big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

[Midgeorge]

Lol, watched 24 episodes of D.Gray-Man today because hangover prevented me from wanting to do anything better with my time

Will write up my thoughts on it tomorrow

[big bad birtha]

I'm not sure if there's a specific place to discuss the Pokemon anime, so I'll just post my thoughts on what I've watched here.

Pokemon
I'm 10 episodes through the first season. I'm not sure what to make of it. The battles are pretty stupid. Koffing and Onix knock each other out after tackling each other? Makes perfect sense! Though Ash's bonding with his early Pokemon is pretty good, especially with his Caterpie. It's not as great as I remembered it being, but it's still charming. Also it's more difficult to understand than I thought it would. I guess I got overconfident from being able to understand most of what was said in a RAW Precure season. I know there's subs for the first few episodes, but I'd rather watch everything in the same format.

I'm on vacation this week, so I have time to do alot more stuff than I usually do. I'm not sure what I'll do though. I might marathon Wedding Peach, or finally get started on Never 7. Just watching Pokemon would be a huge waste of my vacation though.

[lilboocorsola]

Psycho-Pass:

I also thought episode 04 was silly. Not much to say beyond that. Kinda cute how they poked fun at cosplay and internet anonymity though.

K:

I kept asking "Why?" so many times throughout this episode. So much was unnecessary. =/

Spoiler: show

Why does Black know how to sew? >.>; Yeah, yeah, I know he's supposed to be the "waifu" and there's nothing wrong with a guy being able to cook and mend clothes. Still, shameless pandering is shameless.

Why does Blue have to keep drawing out his words? His hamminess was really annoying.

Why did skateboard kid have to spin on his head before getting back on the board? -.- What a waste of time.

Why did we get such a long fanservice sequence of boob lady as she drew her sword? (Stupid question, I know, especially considering the OP. I just wonder if it's going to happen every time.)

On that note: Why the panty shot of the girl at the end? >.>; Yeah, I get it was to emphasize skateboard kid's weakness around girls, but still...

At least the sudden amnesia was interesting. And the fact Shiro didn't turn up in the match search. The plot thickens yet again.

Ghost Stories:

Kuno streamed some of this on Halloween. Watched the first four episodes. 'Tis amusing so far. Looking forward to it improving more as BBB and Kuno claim.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

K:

I kept asking "Why?" so many times throughout this episode. So much was unnecessary. =/

Spoiler: show

Why does Blue have to keep drawing out his words? His hamminess was really annoying.

K needs its own thread almost, doesn't it? Or is it just us two talking about it?

Spoiler: show

Which Blue do you mean again? There's more than plenty enough to get confused by "Blue".

Also, anyone else weirded out by the fact that Mamoru Miyano is playing a crazy bad guy, Fushimi of the blue folks? Yes, I forgot he did Yagami Light back in the day so this is not his first (borderline) insane role. x.x No idea how I forgot!

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

K needs its own thread almost, doesn't it? Or is it just us two talking about it?

Spoiler: show

Which Blue do you mean again? There's more than plenty enough to get confused by "Blue".

Also, anyone else weirded out by the fact that Mamoru Miyano is playing a crazy bad guy, Fushimi of the blue folks? Yes, I forgot he did Yagami Light back in the day so this is not his first (borderline) insane role. x.x No idea how I forgot!

Pretty sure it's just us two. XP Seeing as we're the only girls here, meaning we can watch something boring for the sake of BISHIES. *shot*

That's the guy I was talking about. His hamminess worked for Tamaki, but here it's just... ^^;

As for bad guys, he's also playing Chrollo Lucifer in HxH (main villain of the current arc). Can't get Tamaki out of my mind every time I hear him, it has the opposite effect of making him seem harmless. XD

Dunno. Mamoru Miyano seems to be very hit-or-miss for me. Didn't care for his performance as the main guy in Steins;Gate either. Felt as if he's trying too hard to ham it up, like with Fushimi. I liked him as that blond kid in DRRR!! though.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

Pretty sure it's just us two. XP Seeing as we're the only girls here, meaning we can watch something boring for the sake of BISHIES. *shot*

Dunno. Mamoru Miyano seems to be very hit-or-miss for me. Didn't care for his performance as the main guy in Steins;Gate either. Felt as if he's trying too hard to ham it up, like with Fushimi. I liked him as that blond kid in DRRR!! though.

BL FOR THE WIN

Have you seen Ben-To? Miyano's in that too, in a very small side-role, but still. It's also great to watch people literally fight over half-priced food. *lives on a student budget*

He was also in Chihayafuru and I think he did a great job in that one.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

BL FOR THE WIN

Have you seen Ben-To? Miyano's in that too, in a very small side-role, but still. It's also great to watch people literally fight over half-priced food. *lives on a student budget*

He was also in Chihayafuru and I think he did a great job in that one.

I haven't seen either of those.

Btw if you like BL you should check out Natsume Yuujinchou only it's not really BL so that's not why I'm recommending it it's just a really sweet story about a boy who can see ghosts and it's all sorts of d'awwww and I wish I had someone else to squee about it with other than Talon also it has a fat talking cat *shot for shameless plug*

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

I haven't seen either of those.

Btw if you like BL you should check out Natsume Yuujinchou only it's not really BL so that's not why I'm recommending it it's just a really sweet story about a boy who can see ghosts and it's all sorts of d'awwww and I wish I had someone else to squee about it with other than Talon also it has a fat talking cat *shot for shameless plug*

I have watched...three seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou. Because of that cat. That's the whole reason. THE CAT. To hell with plot and other characters, THAT CAT RUNS THE SHOW.

*cough*

Why yes, I'm familiar with the show to some degree.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

I have watched...three seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou. Because of that cat. That's the whole reason. THE CAT. To hell with plot and other characters, THAT CAT RUNS THE SHOW.

*cough*

Why yes, I'm familiar with the show to some degree.

Thread. Here.

*cough* The fourth season was out in January. You should watch it and post your thoughts there. \o/

[big bad birtha]

After having this downloaded for months, I've finally decided to watch...

Legend of the Legendary Heroes
I'm 10 episodes through this. So far it's a pretty good action title with a pretty interesting plot to follow it. My only complaint is the blonde woman. I can't stand her. As far as everything else goes, I look forward to seeing where the story goes. Episode 10 spoilers

Spoiler: show

It's a shame that the dude in black is actually an evil guy. It was so obvious when he first joined that I was hoping he'd turn out to be a freaking saint.

Did I mention that I hated the blonde girl?

I bet Lelouch houses one of the demons from the past or something like that. He seems to be the perfect catalyst for reviving the demons from legend and restarting everything.

Also I wonder if hero king will turn out like Griffith. I wouldn't doubt it.

[lilboocorsola]

Thanks for making me not have to double-post, BBB. XP

K:

This was a really good episode. Finally, some much needed character and plot development, plus FEELS~

Spoiler: show

So we've got some background on several characters, specifically the mysterious murdered man. And boy did they do a good job of making me feel sorry for someone simply through flashbacks. =< Poor guy didn't deserve to die, he seemed really great.

We also get some deeper insight into the Red King's persona, and how he handles his powers - as well as what is really means to be a king. So the reason he allowed himself to get taken into custody was to protect himself and his people, aw. That's both sweet and sad. He is a noble ruler after all.

Blondie(tits) looks beautiful with her hair down. <3 Seems she does know the bartender pretty well. ;O

The bit with Anna laughing bubbles into her drink was cute. Nice subtle touch to reveal her personality. This whole scene was so relaxing. It was nice to see how HOMRA grew over the years (as also emphasized by the ED pics - is that grumpy Fushimi I spy in one?), seeing themselves as a family rather than a group of thugs. Even though Mr. Totsuka possessed no magic, clearly he had the power to calm them down, and they came together under him as if he were their real king. Having that kind of inherently charismatic character is a gift in itself.

The mystery of Shiro's identity is also developed further - as well as Neko's. Just who are they? Where did they come from? Why does no one remember Shiro now, and how come there are no physical traces of his existence? Why is Neko so afraid of phones? (Though I agree they're pretty scary. >.>; )

Kaiji Yuki's singing is really pretty. ;; Dat ED.

Psycho-Pass:

All I have to say about the episode is this:

Spoiler: show

Using flaming beer breath to dispel holograms = hilarious. Wonder if Gen was drunk when he wrote this. ^^;

Just a note that I'm going home for the long weekend, so I won't be watching any more shows until Monday most likely.

[big bad birtha]

Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Phew. I managed to burn through this entire show in a day. My opinions about this show aren't really different from my last post. I really enjoyed it. After watching episode 4, I just kinda kept going wanting to know what's going to happen next. I had a pure interest in the world and what's going on in LotLH. Sadly, it suffers from something almost all anime do, and that's a bunch of unanswered questions. When the anime ended, it even presented new questions that just....stayed as questions. However, the fact that I care enough to be bothered by the unanswered questions is a good thing. Too bad it's a LN which probably won't ever be translated. Anyway, Legend of the Legendary Heroes gets an 8.5.

BTOOOM
Episode 6 has been watched. Honestly, I don't really know what to make of it. I guess I don't have any real complaints, but I kinda had my brain turned off. However, I loved the scene where

Spoiler: show

Light swallowed a bomb and his punches started exploding. That was effing cool.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by big bad birtha

BTOOOM
Episode 6 has been watched. Honestly, I don't really know what to make of it. I guess I don't have any real complaints, but I kinda had my brain turned off. However, I loved the scene where

Spoiler: show

Light swallowed a bomb and his punches started exploding. That was effing cool.

BTOOOM, my lord.

Spoiler: show

Komodo dragons weren't a made-up thing, I got happy about that - for about five seconds, and then noticed that the writer ignores the fact that Komodo dragons have a poisonous bite, which leads the prey to bleed to death. Taira's been pretty damn alright and not-bleeding-to-death this entire episode! No, wait, poison activated later, with the wrong effect. Research when writing stuff like this would be appreciated.

Also, convenient temporary coma Blondetits was in - and, as it turns out, she's even less useful when awake, so Sakamoto can spend even more screentime playing the hero. By the way, has he, even once, thought about who exactly sent him to that island? I don't recall such a moment.

Ash Ketchum, age 40, returned! What the hell did he do to that worker of his? Drugged snacks? Something so traumatic he can't sleep at night? What is going on here?

Thoughts on K and Psycho-Pass coming soon.

[Talon87]

Not a fan of the look of the girl's face at the very end, but aside from that ... what you could expect from Kyoto Animation were they given a Ghibli budget to do a Ghibli-esque film. Very pretty.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Not a fan of the look of the girl's face at the very end, but aside from that ... what you could expect from Kyoto Animation were they given a Ghibli budget to do a Ghibli-esque film. Very pretty.

A CAT WITH A PLANE

A CAT WITH A FREAKING PLANE

HOW DO I GET TO SEE THIS?!

[tau]

I'm not crazy about anime. It's probably why I've never posted here before. But today, I come with an honest confession that I was told to mention here:

My favorite part of Nausicaa was the fox-squirrel-thinger and I want one.

It was adorable :3

Spoiler: show

Other than that there were some problems with it in general (the movie, not... not the critter) but it was watchable.

Also the Tolmekians were set up as the 'bad guy', when really I felt the Pejite had less justification for their ultimate goals?

Also also if you know there is a hostile aircraft (possibly multiple!) in your general area, why in the hell would you line your entire military force up in a single line? I mean clearly it worked out pretty much fine, and I have no idea how much ammo those gunships carry, but a single strafing run could have theoretically taken out most of Tolmekia's deployed armored cavalry.

[Talon87]

BTOOOM!:
Saw Episode 06. It was one of the series' best yet.

Spoiler: show

The bit with Taira a.k.a. Shittybritches and the Komodo dragons was good. I've been worried all series long -- in fact I'm still worried -- that Taira will turn out to be just another Funai or Andou. But so far the author has been giving us some really promising signs that Taira's really an ally. And this episode explored both men doubting the other (Sakamoto when he got separated, Taira when Sakamoto ascended the ladder all on his own) only to later realize they were wrong to ever doubt the other party. Cool. Let's please keep it that way.

Umm, Kaisap ... the Komodo dragon is famous for its bacterial bite. ^^; The presence of venom glands is only a recent discovery (happening less than ten years ago); but for decades we've associated Komodo dragons' bites with causing necrotizing fasciitis or sepsis. And that's exactly what they show in this episode. ^^; Some experts even suggest that the venom may be vestigial.

The blonde's androphobia came to a head this week. Hopefully she's starting to come around now.

Why the hell didn't she answer Sakamoto's question? If you didn't really kill them then just say so. And if you did, then likewise just say so rather than being all "I don't have to tell you! " Withholding the answer makes you seem so guilty anyway!

The sneak peek for next week looks ... interesting? ^^; Why would the serial killer have teamed up with the lawyer? Writing-wise I can guess why: the lawyer acts as a decoy, allowing the serial killer to hunt their prey effortlessly. But in-universe I have my doubts that the serial killer would've spared the lawyer's life instead of just killing him to take his bombs and crystal. Anyway, it looks like the episode shall also reveal that the blonde is Sakamoto's BTOOOM! wife. Could be interesting but will probably be awkward and earn a lot of ire from Kaisap and ridicule from bbb. But we'll see!

[big bad birtha]

Wedding Peach
I've watched 3 episodes into this. So far, I'm not too impressed with it. Alot of it is a large case of "been there done that". Actually either this is ripping Sailor Moon off, or Sailor Moon rips this off, but there's a bunch of similarities between them. Well either that or it's just a 90's magical girl thing. Also the magical girl bits are retarded. Also this title has a terrible naming sense. One of the power up items is named "Saint Something Four". "Something" is SERIOUSLY part of its name. One thing I like about this show is the relationship between the 3 main female characters. They're all best friends but bicker and compete against each other for a guy, which is kinda amusing. I'll go a bit further, but if things stay this cliche, I'm dropping it.

Also I've noticed that in almost every magical girl anime I've seen, the main character is clumsy, an airhead, or both. Out of everything I've watched, I can only think of maybe 4 exceptions (Dai Mahou Touge, Nanoha, Kiruminzoo, and Jewelpet Tinkle). I know why they make the main characters clumsy airheads, but it's still an interesting stereotype.

If Wedding Peach doesn't work out, I'll probably rewatch Dai Mahou Touge and finally dive into Never 7. Though admittedly I don't have high expectations for Never 7. It seems like it might be the worst of KID's little trio thing, and Remember 11 wasn't exactly spectacular.

[Doppleganger]

After some horsing around, I decided to finally start Banner of the Stars II and it opened with ball-busting chaos. Holy fudge, I don't know what's going on.

Spoiler: show

It's Imperial Year 956, one year after the previous season, and Ghintec has aged/is blind and near death? And Lafiel is crying by his side? WHAT?

I should probably review Banner I while I'm at it.

Banner of the Stars - Good

While not as amazing as Crest, Banner managed to give solid gradual development for the characters. It swapped out some of the un-realistic elements of Crest, but felt a whole lot more empty, with a lot of "filler" fight scenes. Most of the fights involving the Basroil were tense, since it's a small ship with an even smaller crew, but on the whole the show was just not as gripping as the first season.

To its credit, it's better than 95% of anime that came out in 2012. While BBB and perhaps LBC would be interested in Crest (and Banner), I wouldn't recommend it to Talon because the romance isn't explicit. Both characters are hardly aware of anything more than mutual affection by the end of Banner, and in fact I should have paid more attention to Diaho the cat given the relationship proxy I've seen in Sakurasou.

[Talon87]

Psycho-Pass:
Episode 05 brought us, thankfully, brought us the end to this somewhat silly story. It wasn't bad, per se, but I just didn't care for the murderer at all -- his crime, his motive, none of it -- so I was glad to see it come to a close. I don't really have much to talk about other than the core developments we got out of this episode:

Spoiler: show

First off, we learned that Ginoza's former partner was Kougami. That surprised me a little bit since, based on previous interactions between the two, I had assumed that it was Masaoka. Kougami still works, of course. Just surprised me a little that it wasn't Masaoka is all.

Second, Gen is inching our way forward bit by bit with the whole "Watch out, Akane! If you're not careful, you could wind up becoming an Enforcer!" plotline that we've been calling since Episode freaking 01. By having Ginoza basically spell things out for Akane while in the very same scene having Akane once again express her admiration of the Enforcers' intuition and her frustration with her own inability, Gen is neatly setting the stage for her confrontation with this perilous personal development. "To know a criminal, you have to think like a criminal." Akane's confrontation with this fact is what we all signed up for.

Third, this arc further established -- it was barely hinted at in Episode 04 but it got its real first meaty development here in Episode 05 -- that there is a crime lord out there who is either pulling the strings behind the scenes or else who is just so plain skilled a criminal that he can fuck with other criminals no problem. This was explored by having the villain in this story arc apparently securing funding from the big kahuna and then, at the end of the episode, showing the big kahuna psychologically torturing the small fry and stealing his digital assets before the cops came for the small fry and obliterated him. This guy is either the boss of the character we saw Kougami fighting in Episode 01 or else he is the guy we saw in Episode 01. (I haven't bothered to go back and compare character designs. Too lazy. ^^; We'll find out eventually anyway.) Regardless, it's clear that he's going to be something of an archvillain for this series. We certainly haven't seen the last of him.

Aside from those core developments, the episode was just the second half to an underwhelming two-parter. But oh well. We should expect that the episodes in the early middle would be the weakest of the bunch. If you were organizing stories for your own show, isn't that how you'd do it? You'd put a solid episode in the front to hook people, but from there you'd pretty much arrange things from weakest to strongest so you finish on a high note. So if Episodes 03, 04, and 05 represent the crappiest we're going to get out of Psycho-Pass, then I'm quite optimistic about the remainder of the series.

[Doppleganger]

Banner of the Stars

I'm still not very far into this. The Hitchcock-style introduction has legitimately freaked me out, although intuitively I know I have to get through this. See it through to the end, that is.

Episode 2 was amusing in that the characters, in discussion with a civil war/turmoil prison planet, were playing hard line negotiations against the planet administrator. He requested aid to deal with the rioting prisoners (who he obviously didn't respect).

Lafiel and Ghintec threatened to cut off food supplies (the planet can't sustain itself) and depress sections of the atmosphere to kill off any rebellious activity. The administrator was shocked, and I found it amusing. The main characters were advocating something so brutal, it felt villainous, while the presumed villain felt legitimate worry for his people, even the ones he hated. The fear on his face was part amazement, part horror.

Smile PreCure!

Another bad episode, but was more adorable than a rabbit about to be eaten by a boa constrictor.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Saw it before BBB, but I'm going to keep quiet until Battle Tendency ends.

Btooom!

Have yet to watch.

Sakurasou

Have yet to watch, a bit anxious given BBB's correct forecast of the episode content.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

To its credit, it's better than 95% of anime that came out in 2012. While BBB and perhaps LBC would be interested in Crest (and Banner), I wouldn't recommend it to Talon because the romance isn't explicit. Both characters are hardly aware of anything more than mutual affection by the end of Banner, and in fact I should have paid more attention to Diaho the cat given the relationship proxy I've seen in Sakurasou.

I remember watching the first episode of Crest (or was it Banner?) dubbed, though I didn't realize it was dubbed at first since I thought I picked subs on the DVD menu. Wasn't sure whether to laugh or be impressed they found people to speak actual English/they used so much of it in the first place. XP

Only thing I can remember about the actual episode is a discussion on how the princess's people don't reproduce through sex on her planet. =3=

[Doppleganger]

They don't speak English, there's the "Abh language" that the characters speak which is completely incomprehensible to our ears, and the subs can't capture what the characters are saying. This is used for dramatic effect sometimes, the characters speak in the Abh language so the viewer isn't privvy to the information, only to reveal it later.

That happened in the first episode of Banner II, with the translation at the end of the episode, and it honestly killed my heart. In fact, my full cowardice is on display with this series now.

Spoiler: show

I had high hopes for Ghintec x Lafiel, with Ghintec growing old and dying and Lafiel dealing with it...but what's actually happening is so much crueler, and given Ghintec is so introspective, his soliloquy at the end of Episode 1 is absolute murder.

It's a continuation of the prayer to the stars he gave in Banner I, which was the next part of his wish on his home planet.

Originally Posted by Banner of the Stars

I can't see the stars anymore.
The wind has stopped blowing.
But, Lafiel...
I can always see your face.
I can always hear your voice.
But, Lafiel...
I will always be with you.
My heart will always be with you.
When my body is gone...
...my soul will leave the ground.
It will reach you in the stars.
I will always, always...
...reach for the stars.
So...
...I'm sorry...Lafiel.
Goodbye, Lafiel.

;_;

In fact, one of my few complaints of Crest/Banner is the subs overlay over the Japanese subtitles, which translate what the Abh language is supposedly saying. It gets really confusing and makes it tough to follow the background info.

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

Only thing I can remember about the actual episode is a discussion on how the princess's people don't reproduce through sex on her planet. =3=

The Abh are genetically engineered space elves, so yes they're born in incubation chambers. It's pretty curious given natural-born Abh can arise from any human strain. In Crest, we focused on a male Abh whose father was an ordinary human.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

They don't speak English, there's the "Abh language" that the characters speak which is completely incomprehensible to our ears, and the subs can't capture what the characters are saying. This is used for dramatic effect sometimes, the characters speak in the Abh language so the viewer isn't privvy to the information, only to reveal it later.

Oh no, I was just confused because I thought I picked subtitles on the DVD but it still played the dub. So I heard the English voice actors but assumed it was part of the original. (What threw me off at first was the fact that it opened with some space narration or something, so I imagined it was like the random robot Chinese in Cowboy Bebop.) It was only when the MC started speaking in English (even after he grew up from being a boy and moved to a different area/planet?) that I became suspicious. ^^; Don't believe I heard any of the Abh language at that point.

[Talon87]

ARGH! Why must Hunter x Hunter 55 already be over? >_< I want, like, thru Episode 65. Naow. Will discuss it tomorrow in the appropriate thread.