08-24-2015, 06:39 AM | #6901 |
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Yeah I would second Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood being a good gateway anime, even if I think it's beginning is a little bit rushed and, imo, it's recurring villains aren't as good compared to the original anime.
As for me personally, I haven't really been watching/reading much. Log Horizon: I finally got around to watching the second half of season 1 of this, and I really liked it. Sure it got a little expositioney at times, but I thought it managed to be get past all that. One thing that I really found myself liking was how to managed to balance both plot stuff and slice of life stuff. And that's pretty much it for anime. I've been keeping up to date with the Fairy Tail manga, Sengoku Youko and Tokyo ESP, and I'm trying to get my way through One Piece (The Skypeia arc seems like its never gonna end), but I've got a lot ahead of me still. And I've now got vol. 7-8 of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, vol. 3,4 and 5 of D.Gray Man and vol. 7 of Psyren, headed my way and I'll grab Tokyo ESP vol. 1 when it comes out in October so I've got plenty of reading material.
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08-24-2015, 10:47 AM | #6902 | |
The Uncultured One
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Quote:
Also, I haven't seen any anime since the odd Pokemon episode about six years back, for reference, so essentially: I've seen nothing of anime yet.
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08-24-2015, 10:49 AM | #6903 |
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Try to post about your impressions of the show regularly if you can, so we can get a better understanding of the things you liked and the things you didn't. That way we can recommend you things based off of your preference
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08-30-2015, 08:30 AM | #6904 |
時の彼方へ
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Midgeorge, what is your current signature picture from?
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08-30-2015, 09:14 AM | #6905 |
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That's from Gangsta, I think from episode 5 or 6 or so.
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09-03-2015, 11:40 PM | #6906 |
時の彼方へ
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Have not had a chance to watch anything new in the last two weeks. orz (Well, I have had chances -- but said chances have been entirely consumed by my at-home cinema-going.) Umaru Ep02 post is delayed ... in much the same way that my Ilya 2wei Ep03 post is comically delayed by over one year. ^^;
Only thing I really have to share for right now is what I wrote about in this post -- the '90s X-Men cartoon received an anime treatment for its OP and ED credits only, nothing more, and the video and audio of the second OP are something to behold. Makes me wish we could get an X-Men anime. Oh well. Maybe it's for the best not to get too emotionally invested in such a thing since, let's face it, X-Men's plot gets stupid as it goes on and there are too many "What if?"s / alternate timelines to allow you to please everybody at this point. But I dunno, *grumble mumble* ... maybe it doesn't have to be stupid ... maybe Marvel could work together with the anime studio's writers and figure out a new, 21st century plot that preserves much of what fans loved while replacing the shittier portions with better new material.
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09-04-2015, 12:22 AM | #6907 |
我が名は勇者王!
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We've seen similar with the Iron Man anime, I guess. The plot was less Amerocentric from what I heard, due to simply importing the Iron Man archetype, and as far as X-Men is concerned it's the interplay of those same character archetypes that you probably crave. Hearing political discussion out of the mouths of cartoon characters both intrigued and annoyed me as a child, much like how I actually didn't care for the romantic angles in the story. :p The X-Men story that most interested me was Wolverine fighting that one guy with Captain America.
Anyway, Cyborg 009 is close. If you're interested take a bite of that!
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09-04-2015, 12:23 AM | #6908 |
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We did, it wasn't very good. We also got a Wolverine anime but I never watched it, and just recently there was a Marvel Superheroes anime that could have had some of the X Men in it, I didn't pay too much attention to it.
EDIT: And literally the moment after I posted this I looked at the superhero thread. I would totally be down for an established studio doing a long form X-Men series, especially if they did anything with the New Mutants.
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09-05-2015, 03:03 AM | #6909 |
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Got around to reading some manga over the past couple of days.
D. Gray Man vol. 4-6 The fourth and first half of the fifth volume are pretty much dedicated to introducing Krory, who is an Innocence induced vampire and he is pretty dang awesome. The second half of the fifth volume and the sixth volume focused on what happens when an Exorcist ends up sinning and being rejected by their innocence. I wasn't that fussed on the Sinning Exorcist arc, like it kept my interest but it wasn't until the very end that I found myself fully engaged with that was happening. (Spoilers for the end of volume 6) Spoiler: show Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer vol. 7-8 This is still the chillest book about the end of the world I've ever read, like legit no one seems to be that worried about the world possibly ending. The manga is still trucking along, managing to develop the characters into people that I like and genuinely want to keep reading about. And these volumes have cemented in my mind that Subaru and Yuki are adorable and they only just managed to get beaten out as my av by Krory. And I've watched the first couple of episodes of Negima. Negima My lord, this is harem-y. I know that eventually it changes its tune, and was written by the guy who wrote Love Hina, but it's still very haremy. That being said, it isn't off putting or anything, so I'm going to keep watching it and see how it goes.
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09-05-2015, 10:24 AM | #6910 |
我が名は勇者王!
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The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer is awesome! I tried to sell LBC on it once upon a time, but she was never interested. I seem to remember you mentioning you're reading it, so if you like Mizukami's work do consider Spirit Circle. I'm the only one reading that right now. It's a lot like the visual novel YU-NO.
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09-05-2015, 11:12 PM | #6912 |
我が名は勇者王!
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So apparently in that new Dragonball anime, Videl goes Super Saiyan.
All of my what.
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09-06-2015, 12:30 AM | #6914 |
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I wasn't aware I was a manga title.
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09-06-2015, 09:28 AM | #6915 |
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Negima is indeed incredibly harem-y. I haven't gotten round to watching the anime, but I've read the manga, and I can assure you that with regards to an actual harem being established this isn't the case - those tones eventually become a relevant plot point later. There's few characters who actually have any real feelings for Negi in that sense.
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09-06-2015, 09:54 AM | #6916 |
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Haven't read or seen Negima, but from what I've been told by people both IRL and online, both friends and strangers, it seems like the (first?) Negima anime is a trainwreck, (the second Negima anime[?] I don't know what ended up happening to it), and the manga is the way to go. People often say that -- "the anime is terrible; read the manga" -- but apparently with Negima it's one of the truer cases. So FWIW, if you're enjoying Negima enough to keep watching but find it to only be B-grade, it might be worth your investment to check out the manga. *shrug* No idea. Haven't read or seen any of it.
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09-06-2015, 11:24 AM | #6917 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Negima the manga is basically a throwback to '80s, '90s JRPGs. The peak product is a very different animal from the premise, in that
-the 31 girl harem is largely reduced to maybe a core 11 -Negi and his friends fight either as teens or early 20's, as opposed to 10 year olds -the plot points change from pedo pervertedness to battle-action shounen, with a serious and at times touching plot The manga was very genre savvy, and so as you'd expect a darling of TVTropes and fans who had fond if rose-tinted memories of the era that spawned Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII. Akamatsu also deftly managed to juggle emotions of the readers in the story. There was this one arc that left a pretty big impression on me, where Asuna time traveled to the future and everyone from her era was dead, forgotten, both, or had an ultimately tragic fate. U.Q. Holder (Negima's unfortunate sequel) actually follows up on one of those plot-lines. I really do miss Negima, when it went out it was probably the best shounen manga being published. One Piece was showing its age and Naruto/Bleach had been zombies for a decade. You finally had something comparable to the most iconic series in the previous times.
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09-06-2015, 11:28 AM | #6918 |
Barghest Barghest Barghe-
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Negima and U.Q. Holder I found to both be really good. Negima is probably my shining example of a series which managed to juggle both serious and whimsical fun parts really well and not detract from the series as a whole. If you do like Negima PG I do recommend reading the manga (its rather sizable but I finished it somewhat quickly) and then moving onto U.Q. Holder.
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09-06-2015, 04:37 PM | #6919 |
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Yeah up to about episode 10ish of the anime, and it stopped really being like a harem when Eva first appears, hell even the girls stopped acting like they were interested in him romantically (except for Asuna of course). I'm very much thinking that I'll pick up the manga, especially now that Kodansha has their manga available digitally on comixology and have Negima in 3 in 1 omnibus editions.
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09-10-2015, 06:09 PM | #6920 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I've re-visited the Sharin no Kuni fandisc I started in 2011, however it quickly went down the tuber. It's a struggle to get through right now, with the dense, un-spectacular leads being dense and un-spectacular, and a rehash of the plot events from the first story.
I enjoyed the early parts of it, but the plot went in an un-expected direction (which I didn't hate), but so far has been a real trudge. It feels like an amateurish attempt at capturing the depravity of the situation in the original, but can't shake the hentai feel of it. Why? Well, in the first game, the "Super High Class Individual" - sort of a government agent with a license to do pretty much anything he wants - was an old man voiced by Norio Wakamoto. That portrayal was cold, bureaucratic and merciless. In this earlier game, where said old man is actually the protagonist, the SHCI is a busty young woman. She's superficially as vicious as the old man was, but the fact she's an attractive woman isn't lost on the writers and her sex appeal is pitted against the "princess" girl who serves as the story's rehabilitee. Who is the better girl? Despite what the story would suggest, this isn't a very hard decision. I also hate how the main characters seem to not see through the painfully obvious machinations of this lady. They're portrayed as very promising students, but can't seem to fathom basic government security systems. Like, your conversations are constantly being wire tapped. Don't say stupid stuff over the phone! Bleh. I'm going to fast-forward through this and get to the good stuff.
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09-19-2015, 02:22 AM | #6921 |
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Not much going on in my neck of the woods. Still following shows and whatnot, but that's about it. Watching anime nowadays has lost alot of its magic for me, since playing videogames is much more fulfilling. Though this season has some gems, which is keeping me kinda interested. General overview:
Charlotte This show went from great to meh. Now it has gone from meh to terrible. Now not only do we have to worry about the "evil scientists", but the foreigners are now going to kill us all! The writing is just so simplistic and needlessly over-the-top that I almost feel insulted when I watch every episode. It's such a shame too, since I was really looking forward to this show when I saw Jun Maeda was writing it. I guess he quit writing for a reason! Gangsta Honestly, I'm not feeling it like I used to. The show's still good, but I guess the novelty of "being different" has kinda worn off for me. Also this show has gone Naruto! Gakkou Gurashi This show is still entertaining as hell, and one of the better shows of the season. I still like how it takes two cliches to make a show that's not-so-cliche. Working Shit is progressing! That's almost unheard of nowadays. The show seems like it is going to actually conclude itself! No ambiguous ending bullshit we see too much of nowadays! Season 3 is pretty nice. Nothing groundbreaking, but it has some really good moments. I still prefer Working over SxS. I dropped Monster Musume and God Eater. Monster Musume made me realize the joys of manga where I could just skim over the irritating bits, and the lack of voices can be a plus. That "comedic scream" VAs do in harem comedies is terrible. God Eater is just fucking stupid. For favorite shows, Cinderella Girls S2 has kinda ninja'd its way to the top. 10 episodes and all of them have been consistently good. |
09-20-2015, 02:49 AM | #6922 |
我が名は勇者王!
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So I asked BBB a life-changing question:
Charlotte or Gakkou Gurashi? He picked the former, so I went with that. Yeah, I'm a Kaiji-type, letting others pick for me. Sore wa doushita? Charlotte On Episode 5. This is kind of dumb. The first episode was interesting, but the show rapidly declined into cliches and gimmicks. The art is delightful, however. The series should really be renamed "How I blackmailed a hot guy and made him my boyfriend", because that's how it's rolled.
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09-20-2015, 09:27 PM | #6923 |
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Charlotte: A Pre-Post-Mortem
Charlotte's penultimate episode just aired and a lot of things are at stake. Is Jun Maeda's reputation one of them? If Charlotte were a rollercoaster, it would start off with a nice hill climb followed by a steady but pleasant drop. The following minute or so would be a fairly childish take on the rollercoaster - playing it safe, small bumps, moving at a mediocre pace while leading into a dark tunnel. From there, you can't see anything, but next thing you know the pace quickens and you drop almost vertically while exiting the tunnel into a series of loops and butterfly twists. Nearing the end of the ride, the pace continues at the same speed, but what seems to be left are just some nice sized hills and turns. However, you suddenly feel the track drop out from underneath you, and, realizing this metaphor has gone on long enough already, after being briefly airborne, you land safely back on tracks and are gliding along blissfully while realizing that just up ahead the track turns into every fucking rollercoaster in existence pushed together into one. What does that even mean? It means that Charlotte started out with an interesting premise, followed with a slow amount of fairly uninteresting plot filler that in retrospect appears to have been solely for the purpose of character development, which lead into an unexpected punch to the face, an apology, then a kick in the groin and jab in the kidney. And now, with only one episode left, Charlotte has created a bit of a unique conundrum for itself that most viewers can't see having almost any semblance of a good ending: it essentially has to have a deus ex machina, and all signs point toward the show going full Madoka finale. But do not mistake, despite it's overwhelming amount of flaws, Charlotte has been an entertaining and enjoyable romp. It has managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, make me question the show and its characters, and left me wondering numerous times just how the hell they're going to get out of this mess this time. And it never disappointed. While there have certainly been a multitude of plot threads left hanging and the production choices behind some of the content are extremely questionable, the story has more than delivered in creating endearing characters and putting a somewhat unique twist on the superhero genre. Over the course of this series, I found myself going from the opinion of strongly disliking the main character to getting a deep sense of understanding of him, how he feels, and why he is the way he is. The writing isn't stellar, but it conveys the emotions it's trying to perfectly regardless. Now, spoilers ahead, so beware. We have unfortunately come to a point in the show though where our hero is left with a task so ridiculous that you'd think it would take another 13 episodes just to handle it - but unfortunately, episode 13 is where the series makes its statement and comes to a close. Spoiler: show Tune in next week for the Post-Mortem. |
09-20-2015, 09:36 PM | #6924 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I had no idea VGM was watching this. But I'll say I disagree with your assessment in a few places. The locomotive metaphor for describing the movement of the plot and its inevitable crash has been overdone too. :p
I think the character development has been poor, and the show for the most part a vapid re-tread of Angel Beats. The only interesting episode was the first one. There's very little chemistry otherwise, I can't see how the characters could force main guy x Tomori so consistently, and it's kind of blatant how much of a VEF she is. That said, I need to get to Episode 12 pronto. No more dilly-dallying.
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09-20-2015, 09:43 PM | #6925 | |
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Quote:
A, because Maeda Jun is the guy who gave us "Kaze no Tadoritsuku Basho", "Asakage", "Giniro"/"Aozora", "Negai ga Kanau Basho II", and a host of other great songs. The listed songs alone are songs I listen to routinely. They're classics. Emotional, wonderful classics. Maeda Jun's reputation is locked in -- as a composer of wonderful, simple-but-hugely-effective scores of music. B, because Charlotte is apparently "the second Angel Beats." By which I mean, it's the second made-for-TV Key project that didn't have a visual novel to go off of first. The first was Angel Beats ... and if memory serves, Angel Beats is sort of the a) joke of the anime community and/or b) the blemish on Key's otherwise immaculate record. So if the second is Charlotte, and if Charlotte too ends up sucking ... well, all that will end up proving is not "Maeda Jun is a hack writer" but instead "Maeda Jun and television writing do not go well together." Whether because he's the problem (i.e. he can't write well for television, with a television team, etc.) or whether because they're the problem (i.e. the TV crew inhibit Maeda from writing good stuff), he's just not a good fit for television writing. That's all this would prove to me. tl;dr his reputation as a made-for-TV writer might wind up in the toilet but his reputation as a scenario writer for VNs should still be fine and his reputation as a musician should remain untouched
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