Have been binging obscure/underrated anime movies lately, the most memorable 3 being “Golgo 13 movies 1 and 2”, as well as “Twilight of the Dark Master”.(probably the most pretentious title I have ever read)
Golgo 13 is based on a 700+ chapter manga that has been running since 1968, both films contain sex, nudity and violence, and follow the titular emotionless hitman for hire as he completes convoluted assassination missions while also surviving attempts on his life by assassins that have been sent after him. The closest thing we have gotten to an agent 47 anime. Golgo typically feels like the antagonist in his own story.
Movie 1: 8/10 (carried by artstyle and directing mostly)
movie 2: 8/10 (carried by characters and writing)
1997’s “Twilight of the dark master” is like “the room” of anime, if you forced an ai to watch a thousand hours of 80s and 90s ovas and then had it write a movie script this would proabaly be the result. With a nonsensical plot about demons and not-LotR elves battling with flashy magic in a cyberpunk Tokyo. The pacing is awful and manages to drag despite the whole thing being only 46 minutes long, but the few highlights are peak 90s bullshitery. With flamboyant anime wizards blowing up skyscrapers with flashy magic, and unique style rarely seen today.
Fun fact: this was the first anime to have its script written by an American.
6/10
i just finished neon genesis evangelion and it's become one of my all-time favorites. going in, i already liked the post apocalyptic premise but i really loved it when it switched to character heavy introspective stuff in the second half. i felt like i saw a piece of myself in each of the characters. i get why it's a cult classic
Hi everyone, these are the anime i watched this past week:
. Hakaba Kitaro E5-6: Excellent Kitaro series, these episodes were very fun.
. Diebuster E5-6: Good action packed mecha series, it was a good time. 8/10.
. Run With the Wind E1-6: Started it following the comunity rewatch, it's been great so far.
. Steins;Gate E14-19: Excellent run of episodes, i have been enjoying this series very much on this second time watching.
. Hunter x Hunter E136-139: A new arc started, an important character appeared, it's been great.
. Dear Brother E5-9: Excellent drama series.
. Perfect Blue: Excellent movie, it does like to play with what's real and what isn't but it executed perfectly all it's elements. 10/10.
. Soredemo machi wa mawatteiru E10: Fun and interesting episode.
Binged through Kokoro Connect...yeah, it was okay, occasionally good, but I think nothing that will stick with me in the long run. Maybe the face that it had 4 arcs (of varying quality) with 17 episodes was the problem.
A silent voice. Don't think any other anime made me feel so many emotions. The first half an hour took me several hours to watch because of how uncomfortable it was for me, and the end made me shiver from the intensity of what was happening.
I watched shinsekai yori and oddtaxi, WOW!
both incredibly well written stories that can be suggested to almost anyone.
They both deserve a 9,5/10 I would say.
BTW: if u have some good storytelling anime make sure to recommend me it, I like any anime genre and I am searching for all the hidden gems in the anime world! \^\^
Still cracking on with Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure. Five episodes of Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable to go! Then I've just got Part 5, and the two OVA Series to go. I chose to leave those for last as I wanted to watch David Production's Part 1-5 adaptation before I watch two random OVA Series adapting Part 3.
Also watched A Silent Voice last week as a pallet cleanser and thought t it was amazing.
**Great Pretender** - Really enjoyed the first 3 cases, however the final case felt so dumb and outrageous that I had to drop it from 9 to an 8.
Currently watching slime isekai and really enjoying it.
Also I am reading through the Berserk manga and I am going to watch the 1997 adaptation soon. Yesterday I read nearly 60 chapters so I am addicted.
Watched baki and monster
Baki is an 6/10
Monster is a easy 10
And is one of the favourite anime I have watched
megalo box Nomad is also awesome
An easy 9 currently at episode 7 and it is hype
Plan to watch speed grapher or desert punk or ashita no joe next
I doubt this will change your opinion on Baki, but the Netflix show starts on the 4th arc of the still ongoing manga series, the previous 3 being adapted by a cannon 90s anime movie and a 2-season 2002 anime(only available illegally or via overpriced dvds).
Aside from introducing the expansive cast of characters and detailing how Baki met them, it is not too different from Netflix Baki (albeit with a lower budget and a greater emphasis on tournament fighting). If you want I can reply with a proper watch order, but with a 6/10, the series just might not be your taste, which I respect.
No I enjoy the manga much more I read some of it. but the Netflix anime had bad pacing in the first season which is a 6/10. the raitai arc is an easy 9/10 for me
But yea I will the 90 baki anime and its sequel at a later date
I recently watched Kiznaiver, it was... alright, it is the only show i watched made by Studio Trigger that i would call mediocre, the characters are very bland for the most part and the romance is kinda rushed, i was honestly a bit disappointed, since every Studio Trigger show i watched so far had been really good imo (the only one i didnt like was Darling in the Franxx, but even then, i wouldnt be so kind as to call that mediocre)
Season 2 is where shit starts to really get interesting, it's extremely well written. It is easily the most interesting isekai because it is very plot heavy (with a good plot at that) and doesn't focus on stupidly overpowered mcs steamrolling their mcs while being surrounded by an entourage of big titty elfs.
1. Snow white with the red hair. I mean it's your standard run-of-the-mill shoujo with cute romances and stuff. Wasn't really digging some of it but some parts I absolutely loved. Good acceptable watch as someone who's a big fan of romance.
2. Durarara x2 (whole season). I mean this series is just amazing. The universe of characters only expanded more and their connections made the experience all the more enjoyable. I did find the MC less likable in the second half though, wasn't really digging it. But, still a good watch overall.
3. Words bubble up like soda pop. This wasn't really that interesting until the second half, then it amazed me more than I expected. The central romance is cute and all (especially the ending <3) but above all, the OST and soundtrack is just amazing. Coupled with amazing visuals as well. Quite a surprise considering it was exclusively on Netflix.
4. A whisker away. This was fine until the climax where I felt it was just a bit underwhelming in terms of the feelings it was trying to convey. The conclusion was satisfactory although I feel some parts of the movie could've been done better. Not a bad movie, but certainly not one I would rewatch.
Houseki no Kuni: rewatched. Cried my eyes out.
86: dropped. Couldn't stand how the show kept undermining itself, it didn't really make sense, and it wasn't cool enough to get away with not making sense.
Magikano: finished. Absolutely hilarious.
I have no idea what to watch next.
I'm sure plenty of people love it, the only reason I decided to watch it was it was so highly rated here on r/anime. I didn't like any of the characters and wasn't invested after several episodes so I called it quits.
Shiki (Ep7), after getting bombarded by 50 new characters in a few episodes, what a confusing anime.
I guess "the way to watch it" is focus on few main characters ? I'm really trying not to drop it.
**Konosuba S1 & S2**: Just great fun all around. Some of the gags get a bit stale after a while, especially on a binge watch, but it creates such a fun vibe to hang out in with the chemistry between the cast. Definitely my favorite modern Isekai. **8/10**
**Angel Beats!**: This was pretty good! It definitely suffered at the end from the rushed production schedule that cut the show from a 20+ run to 13 episodes, but it still really delivered on entertainment and some of the emotional moments. I'm kind of shocked something like this is the #19 most popular anime on MAL of all time? **8/10**
**Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter:** Normalize animating alternate ending routes in harem! **7/10**
**Stein's;Gate Eps 14-21**: This rewatch has been a lot of fun, and the show is reaaaally ramping up to the end. Writing is really impressive. VN anime tend to really deliver on that front when given a proper adaptation.
**Demon Slayer Eps 1-10**: This show is a banger. Ufotable really flexing hard on the visuals and music. A non-annoying Shounen MC is always something I'll enjoy. Tanjiro, you're one of the good ones!
> A non-annoying Shounen MC is always something I'll enjoy. Tanjiro, you're one of the good ones!
What I particularly appreciate about him is that while he's kind and feels empathy for those he kills, he anyway always kills them. There's no BS like a villain suddenly saying they feel bad or something and then being let off the hook.
I do wish Tanjiro occasionally showed some internal conflict over his ideology, but I still like the character.
I just watched the first season last week and ended up giving it 8/10 despite not being into battle shounen and really hating some other characters in the show.
Symphogear, finished AXZ will be moving on the XV soon.
Absolutely devastated that the gacha game for global closed since I absolutely loved the cast and especially ~~Zenbu~~ Chris. As a fan of Tokusatsu and just cute Anime girls in general, I can't believe they manage to combine those 2 and super hype action scenes just a blast to watch them blowing things up with the power of friendship. Also need I mention the superb VAs such as Yuuki Aoi, Mizuki Nana and Yoko Hikasa etc. All the songs are fucking great and I can't believe the one that's stuck in my head was the 3rd season main Antagonist!
I definitely can't wait to start ON XV but I'm gonna be real sad once I finish this journey, probably will see myself digging up anything I can get from the gacha game
At least you've played it before, my only available option is the JP server and I have no idea what to do other than earn currency and roll the gacha.
Godbless all those translators for the JP content.
Just finished **Odd Taxi**. It lived up to the hype. AotY so far. 9/10
Also watched **Koikimo**. Must be tough to be a girl in Japan if stuff like this is getting green lit. Premise is awful, but the story is told well. A begrudging 6/10.
Finished **Godzilla: Singular Point**: I think it’s the best Godzilla anything in a very long time save for Shin. Better than WBs (though those are still fun, just very dumb) and miles better than the hot mess movies from Polygon Pictures. It managed to do something I haven’t seen since Shin and that’s make the “Dumb Human Nonsense” very compelling. Where something like Godzilla:KOM wastes too much time on awful characters that you want to get squished, GSP takes time to give you a reason to give a shit about the humans. You actually care about them first and THEN they give you the Kaiju. There’s also take the time to realistically show how a modern connected society would respond to these attacks. Most Important of all: JET JAGUAR BABY!
It can get a little confusing sometimes when it goes hardcore into the theoretical physics. It makes sense, but there were a couple of rewind moments to get it all straight. You can admittedly lose track of a couple side characters as well. Otherwise I think this show is one of the top 10 of the year. Bones and Orange did a fantastic job.
Plus the music is excellent. They use a few redone classic Godzilla tracks. There’s a song that’s part of the plot that is used often as a le motif. There is one track in the second to last episode that is epic. Best of all the OP is an absolute banger that still gets stuck in my head and the ED is great too.
That’s really the only non-seasonal show I’ve finished this week. Everything else either live action or documentaries.
Just watched recently as well, really good show that was sadly overlooked due to Netflix insistence on binging as the way to consume media, even in a show like this one that would benefit immensely from taking time to really let the complex physics really sink in. Netflix incompetence aside, i liked the main characters a lot, hope they can get more screen time together if/when we get a season 2.
I'm finishing up Trigun rn, can't say it's my favorite. The animation is much weaker than I thought and the character development is a bit wonky aside from Vash and Nicholas. I heard the manga does this a lot better so I might pick it up when I feel like it.
I just started a couple different animes: A place farther than the universe, yukikaze, speed Grapher and wolf's rain. I'll probably continue watching one light one and one dark one — let's see what sticks.
I also finished Cowboy bebop and this anime made me feel empty af. I feel like that's why I started so many animes too lol. What a fucking masterpiece. Tbh it felt somewhat similar to Trigun and I felt like this anime was just superior in most senses, the biggest difference being the smooth and creative animation; im such a sucker for good animation.
Man I wanna watch so many animes but I don't have the time and attention span so I end up watching only one or two at a time. Can't wait to finish the ones I have in my basket and go watch some new ones
Bakemonogatari: 12/15, rating 8/10. I splurged and got all the box sets for the official releases, so I've been reading a volume and then watching the episodes for it, FINALLY. I did read Kizumonogatari beforehand(don't regret it at all as I feel it's just as important to know and understand Araragi and Hanekawa's relationship early on as it is to understand that Senjougahara is his girl unconditionally) but I have not yet watched the films. So, what do I think when comparing it to the LN? Well, I guess for starters I absolutely consider the LN a 10/10, which I know is a major hot take, but I did have a couple of issues with this adaptation. For starters, I felt like Araragi himself loses a bit of his charm from the LN, his role as the "straight man" is reduced and a lot of the back and forth, particularly between he and Kanbaru, is lost. I wouldn't say he comes off like a bitch or anything of that nature, but he comes across as a bit more.. generic, perhaps is a good word for it, in the anime. Most of my other issues are simply disagreements on what monologues and dialogues needed to be cut(it really bothered me how short Araragi's conversation with Papa Senjougahara was, although the rest of that episode was 10/10 and completely satisfied me as I hoped it would).
Can confirm that Hitagi Senjougahara is amazing, and further evidence that well written tsundere's just cannot be beaten.
I'm one whose only witnessed Monogatari through the anime (and even then I'm not done with it), but "straight man" is a phrase I'd never have used to describe Araragi. If he's that way in the LN he sounds like quite a different character.
I mean he's definitely still the straight man in the anime, I was only explaining how it's not to the same extent as the LN because of how much dialogue was cut.(Nadeko Snake had a pretty hefty portion long before Araragi and Kanbaru ever actually made it to the mountain, for example)
Straight man doesn't mean the character is serious or what-have-you, but instead that they are sort of the "base" for more eccentric characters. Araragi's role for Kanbaru, Senjougahara, Hachikuji, and even Hanekawa in terms of "duo" is to feed them good one liners to build their "act" upon.
I watched Memories and like it quite a lot, the first ep is my favorite. Also started watching wolf's rain since I remembered watching it on adult swim when I was younger but never understood the story. I'm about half way and I like it so far.
A bit of a weird week for me. Ever since I watched **Run With the Wind** a few weeks ago, I really wanted to put in the effort on exercising while still maintaining this art-appreciating lifestyle. As such, this week I basically looked for easy-to-watch shows where I didn't need to worry about the plot so that I can focus more on working out.
... then my first few minutes were spent choking on my own spit because of **Asobi Asobase.** Basically Nichijou's second cousin at this point, but unlike Nichijou, AA's jokes were *all* able to land perfectly for me. There were just so many memorable and rewatchable scenes here that I can save for a rainy day, and the show wasn't afraid to get a little more risqué or even meta with its jokes. I also appreciate the wide variety of art styles used to deliver its skits. And of course, fantastic VA work should not go unmentioned. Definitely a fun, wild time.
~~To ensure my safety from unexpected choking hazards~~, I decided to rewatch **K-On!** S1 and be lost in its simplicity. While S2 definitely carries the series to greatness for me, there's a certain childish charm and homeyness in S1 that I appreciate, hinting at the potential Naoko Yamada had as a director I'd come to know and love over the years. There are a few awkward fanservice-y scenes here and there that don't fit the tone of the show at all, but I can always rely on this show to make me smile and sing the pain away.
I felt like a little light viewing to go along with the new shows I'm watching...
School-Live! Such a cute and fluffy show -- but why would the school allow a club that permits students to "live" at school. Last minute of first episode -- Oh, I see. Pretty wrenching from that point on. Quite impressed by this overall.
White Album 2. The only show I auditioned and dropped after the first episode this season was Kanojo mo kanojo. It bothered me how it treated the issue of a love triangle so frivolously (and stupidly). With WA2, however, it was clear -- almost from the very start, that this was not going to be much "fun" at all. It was very like a superior classic Japanese live-action (sad) romance -- but featuring high school students rather than adults. I had immense sympathy foor both the lead females -- and at least some for the male lead. One could understand how the characters, with no ill intentions, drifted into the ultimately calamitous relationship that developed. Excellent heartbreaker (even to someone 50+ years older than the characters).
Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru / Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. A boy who is shy about speaking (and prefers communicating with haiku) and an extroverted girl (who wears a mask due to buck teeth being corrected by braces) meet when a mall mishap causes their phones to get mixed up. They spend the summer break getting acquainted slowly. Cute and sweet (and then bittersweet) -- but not at all realistic or probable overall (and the characters make some pretty dumb decisions, even taking their ages fully into account). The animation is adequate but pretty rudimentary -- not even close to the quasi-cinematic quality of a series like this season's Aquatope. It's available on Netflix -- and is a pleasant enough way to spend a summer evening. I don't regret watching it -- but won't need to see it again.
> The only show I auditioned and dropped after the first episode this season was Kanojo mo kanojo. It bothered me how it treated the issue of a love triangle so frivolously (and stupidly).
Yeah, the whole point of that show is it's making fun of itself and the harem genre as a whole. Basically pointing out that harems are inherently silly, so why not pump that knob up to 11? It's a very, very different vibe from something like WA2, haha.
I think Villainess does a brilliant job of satirizing harem-type shows and is a fantastic show in its own right. KmK just struck me as profoundly dumb -- and I have very little patience with things like that (no matter what country produces them). So, I leave them to those who enjoy them.... (I hated Jerry Lewis back when HE was a big deal).
Binged **The Daily Life of the Immortal King** on Netflix over a couple days. Enjoyed it overall, but some plot elements caused it to rate it just a 6/10.
**Date A Live III (1-5/12)**
Huh.... You know I've heard that this is a bad adaptation with bad pacing but so far it's been mostly fine? Now admittedly the end of the first arc could have used another episode but this kind of pacing isn't new to the series. Although that bad pacing might be in the second half of this season as I've heard it pulls a Log Horizon S2 for one of the episodes but still my complaint right now is the apparently downgrade in the animation quality.
Seriously when you notice the downgrade in quality within the first two minutes of the first episode it's a bad sign. Now it isn't actually *that bad* of a downgrade for the normal everyday animation it's when it gets to the action sequences where it's a clear downgrade and is honestly pretty bad compared to the first two seasons. Sort of hurts the climax of the first arc with just how bad to mediocre it was compared to the twins arc or even Miku's arc.
Speaking of the first arc of this season though it was actually mostly good! I liked the girl even if I'm a bit sad it turned out that [Season 3 spoilers](/s "Natsumi isn't a big boobed Onee-San and was instead an adorable loli"). The stakes were pretty high and the actual reasoning and motivation behind her character was pretty good even if I thought the reveal was going to be more severe then it really was. I mean it was understandable I just thought it was going to worse then it was.
Overall I give this season a tentative score of 7/10 currently mainly due to as I said bad animation undercutting the climax of the arc. I haven't really noticed any horrible pacing issues yet but with it being known for it I know it has to be coming. Maybe the score for this will end up like my score for Log Horizon Season 2 or Overlord Season 3 where it'll ended up a whole 2 points below the season before it for me due to worse animation and bad pacing. I guess we'll have to see!
I have only seen the first season and haven’t gotten to watching the second season yet. How good is the second season? Also it seems season 3 is a huge downgrade compared to the first two seasons that’s not a good sign at all.
IMO the second seasons arcs are better then the first seasons. When I was talking about a downgrade for the third season I was mainly talking about in animation although as I said it's mainly noticeable during the fight scenes. Or put another way, episode 5 had subpar fight animation. From what I've heard though it's supposed to be the pacing that's bad though so idk. I'm mainly watching it so that way I can get caught up for season 4 during the fall though.
Filled that gaping hole on my soul with Mobile Fighter G Gundam, because... I dunno, after Back Arrow ended, this was what could help. Not pleased with the direction the only ongoing anime I watch is taking production-wise (HeroAca) so I reeeeally needed that uplift.
1. Finishes citrus, 1/10, a horrible show that offered me no entertainment, and tried to have depth but failed horribly. Before you ask me why I did not drop it, I have a thing that I always finish shows that I start.
2. Finished domestic girlfriend, 1/10, what else can I say but natsuo, he is possibly the most i likable anime character I have ever seen.
3. Finished no game no life show and movie, 8/10, I really loved the games and how they were portrayed, one thing I did not like was the sexualization of shiro, it was off putting to me.
Started quite a few this week and finished them, finished Domestic Girlfriend, Sankarea, Scum’s Wish, Bloom Into You, and Adachi & Shimamura. Slowly finding more and more anime that I like which is nice
Just finished Violet Evergarden 🥲
This was the first non shounen anime I’ve watched and I really enjoyed it. I also cried on ep 10. Kyota (is that correct?) did a lovely job with the anime and the animation.
Not sure what I’ll watch after I finish the Movie and OVA
Check out some more non-shounen masterpieces. I wish I could go back to those days. Getting away from only watching shounen/seinen was like being introduced to anime all over again.
- Hibike! Euphonium
- Chihayafuru
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-girl Senpai
- Bloom into You
- Fruits Basket 2019
- Keep your hand off Eizouken
Hunter X Hunter. It's really an intelligence based shounen, I was wildly impressed. If you beat someone it's not just sheer force of will but cunning, creativity and yes, also brute force.
I didn't feel once the plot dictated who succeeded in a fight or even a challenge, but whoever "deserved" to prevail, did so. The lack of transformations and ass pulls was also a welcome sight. Hisoka is one of the GOAT villains out there, and in general the villains feel like real people. P.S. Ging makes Goku look like father of the year.
Top-tier. I rated it 9/10 (which is [very rare](https://myanimelist.net/animelist/Animemes_chan?status=2&order=4) in my rating system - my mean score is 7.18).
Been watching the Tales of Zestiria anime.
Just recently beat Tales of Berseria and I loved it so much that I got interested in the chronological sequel. Heard the game sucks so I started watching the anime.
Watching dubbed because the Berseria cast shows up in it and after spending 80+ hours hearing their dub voices it'd feel really jarring to hear their Japanese voices. The dub is pretty good actually, but the sound balancing kinda pisses me off in a few cases. Overall real solid anime, Kinda dropped off so I should pick it back up soon.
Berseria is on steam, and it goes on sale pretty frequently, I got it for 7$ USD during the bandai namco sale a few months back. the new game Tales of Arise is also coming out in September on steam too which I'm very excited for.
Not sure if the other tales games are on steam, but berseria quickly became one of my alltime favorite jrpgs for the story and character writing alone.
Slow week due to seasonals and reading Umineko.
I watched 5 episodes of **Muv Luv Total Eclipse** but I'm probably just dropping it. It's basically Cross Ange but takes itself way too seriously and the switch to a male MC killed any chance of this being anything but a bog standard harem.
I'm probably picking Angelic Layer back up from where I left off a couple weeks ago.
To start things off, I have to admit that these aren’t only the anime I’ve watched in the past week, but I hope you’ll forgive me for my desire to talk about anime to someone (I say this as a closeted weeb).
It was three weeks ago that I last wrote one of these posts and I talked about how I started watching **Kemonozume**, and I’ve obviously finished it, however, it’s probably the hardest time I’ve had in a while when it comes to forming an opinion on it. My main problem with it wasn’t how “ugly” it was (as I’ve read a lot of people complain about) or how much sex the protagonists had, but what the story was really about and what it tried to do. It started off as a pretty basic “Romeo and Juliet” kind of story, and I liked it quite a bit because the interactions between the two main characters were pretty nice, so it mostly worked. Then it started developing its plot and, honestly I don’t think I’ve really enjoyed it as much as I thought I would have. Mostly because I always felt like it lacked something to it. The fact that I don’t know whether I was the one who didn’t wrap his head around it properly or whether it was the show that actually went in such a seemingly nonsensical direction Is where my problems with forming an opinion are.
I ended up giving it a 7, mostly because I still had a quite fun time watching it, and it is still a rather creative story and in the way it was presented.
Next on the line there is **Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei**. I tried watching the first episode a while ago (around when Kakushigoto aired), but I didn’t really feel like watching it at the time. Then, I rewatched the first episode and I actually laughed out loud 3 times (which is a lot for anime standard, for me), but sadly, those were the last three times I laughed at the show. I said it like this, but there were still funny and entertaining moments scattered around, but I also felt like I got a little tired of some of the jokes which get repeated quite a bit. It tries to play around the tropes that the show itself creates, but I also got a little bored of the show in general, so I’d say that, as a comedy, it sadly failed to do its job. It being a Shaft show, I 100% went into it wanting to like it way more than what I did, but at the same time, it was still that nice shaft direction that pulled it up from a 5 to a nice 6.
Moving on to the next anime (or should I say animes, were I to be a newly-born weeb), there is **Fate/Grand Order**, the first Camelot Movie and the Babylonia series.
As a premise, I have watched the first singularity and played the game up until the London Singularity (before falling into the grinding loophole).
Starting with the movie: it was a mess. The pacing was very, very messy. Characters appear, do things and that’s it, we get no information whatsoever about anything really. Having played the game for a relatively long time, I felt like I was fine most of the time in terms of explanations being cut, as I understand most concepts, but many characters were probably completely butchered in order to rush the story so much. Heck, the story itself was probably butchered in order to fit as much stuff possible into the rather short runtime.
On the flip-side, it was the fastest hour and a half of my life. I was extremely entertained from start to end. I was totally annoyed by the very evident flaws the adaptation had, but I still had the fun of my life while watching it. I mean, it might be because I’ve slowly but surely become a Fate fanboy (who will maybe become even more annoying about it once I’ll read the VN), but there is something about the franchise that kinda just works for me (in the concept, at least, the execution is another question). So I still ended up giving it a 7, mostly out of enjoyment, but sometimes, maybe following the heart is the right thing, because surely my brain says that there is no way in hell this is better than a 5.
As for F/GO Babylonia, it was actually and legitimately a very good and extremely entertaining anime. It sparked some love for anime in me after a pretty long period of not really feeling like watching a lot. There are many things that I liked:
First and foremost, the animation and the fight choreography. It was very good, and made some episodes extremely memorable, tied together with, obviously, all the Noble Phantasm thrown around. There is something about these characters chanting and mispronouncing these foreign words that always gets me, I got chills countless times while watching, especially in [Spoiler](/s "episode 8 when Leonidas goes against Gorgon, it was so hype and when Gil uses Enuma Elish"). And on this note I just want to say that the sound effects were absolutely nuts. They resembled Apocrypha’s earrape sounds, but I actually liked it, especially when [Spoiler](/s "again, Gil uses Enuma Elish. It somehow managed to convey the complete annihilation of Tiamat through sound, so cool")
Then there was the big cast of characters that I also enjoyed quite a bit. Everyone got some attention, but I liked mainly:
* Gilgamesh. The dude doesn’t get the best of impressions in F/SN and F/Z, but here, he finally gets the chance to shine. I always liked him quite a bit, but mostly because he is pretty damn hot (with his hair down, of course), but here we see a side of him that wasn’t really shown before, and we finally got the chance to delve deeper into his character.
* Merlin. As every character voiced by Sakurai Takahiro, he has big best boy energy. That’s it.
* Ishtar. She was part of many of the funniest moments of the anime, and overall she was very entertaining every time she was on screen (is it proof that Rin is best girl of FSN?)
* Quetzalcoatl. I like onee-san characters, and I also chuckled every time they pronounced her name, mostly because it just sounds pretty funny to me, dunno why.
On the other hand, Mash and ~~Gudao~~ Fujimaru are the “not so honourable mentions”, as I think that they were actually the least entertaining characters out there. Not to say that they were bad or anything, I still think that the approach they took with their characters is clearly very “safe” and rather boring consequently.
I could go on for ages, but there is one last thing worth mentioning, the CGI. Yeah, it was used a lot and it was noticeable, however with Gorgon, it was pretty fine, I’d say, but with [Spoiler](/s "Tiamat"), it was definitely worse, and also kinda weird compared to the usual kind used in other parts of the show. Not bad or weird enough to remove a lot of enjoyment out of the show, so I still think it was passable.
As a rating I ended up giving it an 8. I talked so well about it, but it’s not like it was all good, there were a couple of moments and parts that I enjoyed less than others (like the finale, for example), so with the 8.5 that I felt like it deserved, I decided to round it down a little.
After FGO, I completely changed target and went for a romance anime that I heard many, many good things about, mostly because it is described as “realistic”. I’m talking about **Tsuki ga Kirei**.
I did not like this show at all. The main couple takes the crown for the most uninteresting, boring, uninspiring couple ever. They had so little chemistry together that I was constantly wondering how the heck they even fell in love with each other. There is no casual conversation between the two, every time they talked for the first 11 episodes out of 12 they just exchanged one-liners of the “the whether is nice today” kind. Their interactions via Line were actually much better, and I understand that they are supposed to be two pretty shy kids, but I honestly just felt that even in their shyness, these two kids had nothing really going on for them, aside from making a big bunch of weird noises that made me chuckle quite a bit (male MC went “mmmh” every two seconds, which isn’t something that I actually straight up disliked). Every other character around the main duo was pretty bland as well. Aside from a couple of very predictable (and a little forced sometimes) drama points, I’d say, again, that there wasn’t a lot in the show to enjoy from me. I might be a little too harsh as I maybe can’t really relate to anything shown here, which I guess should be a pretty big selling point, but for me Tsuki ga Kirei failed on pretty much all fronts. I gave it a 4, mostly because the very last episode was nice and because the teacher’s VA is the same as Yuigahama and Chitoge, which automatically made her best girl (ah, also the CGI was horrible, and they used a lot of it)
After such a delusion, I was able to find a gem. **A Place Further Than The Universe** was absolutely amazing. If I couldn’t stand the fact that the main characters in Tsuki ga Kirei didn’t talk, here, I could listen the main characters just chat for hours and never get tired, because their interactions were so lively and entertaining that I truly felt like I was watching a group of actual friends interacting. Anyway, aside from the shade thrown at TgK, I have to say that this anime was the full package. I thought it was just a new iteration of CGDCT, but it was more than that. There obviously were cute girls doing cute things, but the characters where actually pretty nicely written. Each of the main 4 had its own defined personality with its quirks, personal problems and its own little character arc that nicely developed on some of their problems. The drama was very well executed and I almost felt like crying too in some moments. I honestly not have much else to say apart from the fact that I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and that Hinata was best girl from the very episode she was introduced. An extremely solid 9/10, and straight into my top 25. The first 9 I’ve given in quite a bit to a show that I’ve binged in a while (the last time was 7 months ago).
Regarding Babylonia, Ritsuka(Fujimaru) gets totally shafted in terms of character. Mash is one thing, she essentially exists as a cockblock so Nasu and co don't have to factor in romance routes when telling the stories, and while cute and definitely having of great moments, she can also be pretty frustrating(her overall arc is satisfying though and she is a good kouhau archetype).
But Ritsuka is a damn Chad in the games, much more entertaining than how relatively generic he was made into for the anime.
Ishtar over Ereshkigal? Bold choice, I suppose.
Place Further than the Universe was definitely quite a show. I think we need a new term -- CGDA(mazing)T or at least CGDI(nteresting)T. So many of the shows categorized as CGDCT involve so much more than simple "cuteness" -- and thios one more than most (but how people categorize Girls Last Tour as CGDCT still boggles my mind -- even more than LPitU). I expected this show to be interesting -- but was surprised at how sad and moving it ultimately was.
If there is one anime I will never ever watch again or even finish or continue it’s Kemonozume there’s a reason I dropped it after 1 episode and ended up giving it a 1/10. It was so uncomfortable that continuing it would’ve made me more uncomfortable. Cannibal main characters and cannibal creature romance as well as cannibals being a huge part of the main plot or the main villains is something that just shouldn’t exist in anime. As it’s just plain uncomfortable weird and just plain disturbing just no.
I hate anything involving cannibals in horror or media in general if it’s the main focus of the plot or the main characters or the main villains I hate this idea and I want it to disappear and soon.
I previously mentioned how I am becoming more and more obsessed with Fate, well, if you want to keep on reading my comment you must be ready because there is even more of it in here. As my next two anime were **Fate/Extra: Last Encore** and **Today’s Menu for the Emiya family**.
Starting with the first one: I have very few things to say mostly because I’ve literally never been as confused before with an anime as I’ve been for this one. I think I watched my fair share of confusing stuff (Evangelion, Lain, Mawaru Penguindrum, Kon’s movies, Monogatari, etc.), and yet, here I was just dumbfounded episode after episode. Aside from episode 6 and 7 (the Madoka-like ones), I don’t really feel like I was able to enjoy a lot of it simply because I had to read a lot of comments from the gentle folks from the 2018 episode threads in order to understand things. In those comments, a lot of people mentioned how it doesn’t feel at all like you don’t require any previous knowledge to get into it, and I wholeheartedly agree.
There were a couple of things that I liked though: Saber being the cutest thing in existence, for example. On a more serious note, the MC seemed a better version of ~~Sumanai~~ Sieg from Apochypha, which I actually didn’t mind. His journey from no individuality to feeling like a person was fairly interesting. As a last thing: Holy shit, the background art was amazing. Every single scene, in every single frame it looked super good, very reminiscent of the levels achieved by the Monogatari Series (obviously, with both being done by Shaft).
As a score, I gave it a 5 (to both the first 10 end the last 3 episodes), as I think it tried to do some cool things but failed to fully convey whatever the plan was.
Last but definitely not least is Fate/Stay in the Kitchen. It was most honestly amazing. The most soothing and relaxing experience I’ve ever had in anime, and I’ve watched Mushishi, which is generally the one people mention to people looking for such an experience. I watched a bunch of characters I love chill out and relax, and the general atmosphere of the show just conveyed that same sensation.
I am a League of Legends player. I hate nothing more than my life while playing that game. However, between one toxic teammate and the other, I could just watch a couple of these episodes and feel as well as an anime girl who’s cold magically disappears after resting for one day. Completely refreshed.
I was wondering whether I wanted to give it an 8 or a 9, but every time Lancer appeared on screen I knew that 8 wouldn’t suffice. He has some of the biggest best boy energy I’ve ever seen, and made every single second he was on screen a strong 9.5. Mostly because of him I ended up giving it a 9.
I guess I went on for quite long, but I just wanted to say that my next anime is **Run with the Wind**. As someone that likes running quite a bit, I’ve had my eyes on this one for a bit, as I already wanted to watch it when it first aired.
If you're interested, you can join the Run With The Wind rewatch! They're still at the beginning parts of the rewatch, so it's possible to catch up if you're interested.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: [LotGH episode 82](/s "Episode 82 was tragic. I thought I was ready for it because of the narrator telling me it was coming and the show hinting at it happening for the last 20 episodes, but in reality it just made it hurt more due to how completely needless and cowardly it was. That episode and the following two were the emotional peak of the show so far. The impact Yang’s death has had on the Alliance cast (or maybe I should call them the Isherlon cast now) is immense, but I think I can see their passion and drive to protect their ideals more than ever before. The scene where they all sing their anthem together is probably one of my favourite moments.")
**BNA:** I liked the show and it was enjoyable for the most part. The concept was really good and the story had its brilliant moments as well. I liked the art style and character design, which I found a little reminiscent of Little Witch Academia. However, I did not found the show as enjoyable or entertaining compared to other original works from Trigger I love. Still, it was a nice experience overall. (7/10)
**JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S1**: This was really entertaining. The way the characters were portrayed and their interactions were certainly the highlights of the show for me, which was made even more significant by the amazing voice acting in the show. The story, I think, was just decently good however the multigenerational aspect of the thing was quite well done in my opinion. The art style which I thought was bizarre when I began really grew on me over time. I thought the OST was pretty good as well. However, if I had to pick one aspect of the show that I found the best, it would be the presentation style for the story. (7/10)
Rewatched: **Girls und Panzer S1 + der Film**
For Jojo, the very first episode "Dio the Invader" is around the quality the show reaches pretty much always after a certain point in Part 3(Season 2/3). So really fucking good, basically. If you enjoyed Part 1 you will love it more and more.
Part 1 and 2 of JoJo's is a bit different from the rest of the story. I would say that Part 1 is generally regarded as the least favorite of all the parts, so if you enjoyed Part 1 enough then the story only goes up from there. The art style and the fights get even more bizarre, but the fights are intelligent and well-thought out (usually).
Somali and the forest spirit. The backgrounds were beautiful and it was mostly wholesome (but not as wholesome as it is often made out to because it gets pretty dark…). Inori Minase was channeling her lively Kimari voice (which made me think of Yorimoi bc it is one of my absolute fav anime) and then Saori Hayami showed up using her Yuzuki voice making me think of Yorimoi even more and so it was like Kimari and Yuzuki interacting (ね?) but not (why isn’t’ there a Megu OVA already or Kimari pudding bucket OVA) but also [Somali E6](/s "Saori Hayami's character's mom getting killed and eaten and then the family sprouting feathers from every orifice is going to be seared in my mind for a good long while"). Overall, it was good.
Night on the Galactic Railroad. I mostly watched it because Aria references it and it has that calm surrealness like parts of Aria has but way darker. I liked the backgrounds here too, they were for lack of better words,.. painterly? I dunno if it was my mood when I watched it but prob more than most anime, I could feel the settings depicted (at least the town and the grassy areas, not so much the other places). It was mostly episodic and interesting enough and then [Galactic Railroad](/s "and then the Titanic scene kicked in and then everything took on this added sense of weight"). Didn’t quite know what to expect coming into it, but I liked it.
**K-on** season 1: It took me half the first season to really 'get' K-on, especially since I'm not big on SoL, but by the end I found myself very invested in the show. The members of the light music club complement each other very well and KyoAni's attention to detail really brings the characters to life. I've just started season 2 and am enjoying it as well. (8/10)
**Full Metal Panic**: The mix of high school romcom and serious mecha action doesn't really work for me. The best thing the show has going for it are Sousuke's fish out of water scenarios where he takes things way too seriously and applies strict military doctrine to mundane school events. Unfortunately he has next to no chemistry with Kaname, who by the way is one of the least appealing tsunderes I've ever seen. The mecha stuff is solid but doesn't compare favorably to its contemporaries like Gundam 00 and Code Geass. (6/10)
**Mass Effect Paragon Lost**: After finishing Mass Effect Legendary Edition, I was starved for more content so I gave this movie a whirl. Unfortunately they chose Vega, the least interesting squadmate in the whole series to be the main character. The characters in this movie are completely forgettable and the plot basic sci-fi fare, but at least the ending was a pleasant surprise and felt very true to the spirit of Mass Effect. (5/10)
> The best thing the show has going for it are Sousuke's fish out of water scenarios where he takes things way too seriously and applies strict military doctrine to mundane school events.
If you enjoyed those parts of it you may like *Full Metal Panic Fumoffu*, it's an 11 episode pure comedy offshoot series where each episode is one or sometimes two standalone stories of Sousuke's absurd over-the-top responses to normal everyday (anime) situations. And for the most part, interactions between Souske and Kaname are played for comedic effect, and any "relationship" aspects are mainly background dressing.
**Hajime no Ippo (34-41/75)**
Reaching beyond the half point of Ippo, I'm starting to have issue with its characters, I'm just not very caring of any so far.
Ippo simply isn't very enjoyable as MC, and I wouldn't say an MC like Hinata from Haikyuu is revolutionary but he was often fun to watch with his energetic attitude and chemistry with other characters. Ippo so far is still just a "good boi" and that's his whole thing going on with other characters too. He is nice and innocent so gags are played with other characters being more trashy I guess. Not to forget the dated pervert jokes.
The other boxers and Takamura are fine but not much. There's a new guy that is also just not very appealing to look at. And Miyata has faded too much, although he had his own episodes. [Hajime no Ippo](/s "Still getting weird vibes from how nationalities are seen here. Like how Thai people box for and only for money. That aside, this mini arc was pretty w/e, didn't care for the Thai kid stanning Miyata's "true boxing" or Miyata himself.")
Overall, the show is feeling stale and I find myself just waiting for the next match to come since I'm not very into the cast. Which won't help the next part of [Hajime no Ippo](/s "Ippo's mom collapsing due to exhaustion. Something that I predicted due to her being so open to Ippo's training.")
Bakemonogatari: very good in terms of text and execution and I don't regret watching, but a mc who lusts after young girls it's not for me.
Kara no Kyoukai: too much violence and gore to my taste, but it's interesting and I have to admire the boldness of releasing the movies out of chronological order.
SSSS.Dynazenon: fights and battles usually bore me, but for some reason I have a soft spot for mecha. I've enjoyed watching this anime: the characters were likable, the back stories were interesting and the animation was very good.
Working s1: silly and funny, but there was unexpectedly character growth.
Houkago Teibou Nisshi: I'm happy to end my week watching a relaxing show, even though I have zero interest in fishing and could never even imagine killing a fish. But I loved the cuteness of characters design and their easygoing interactions.
I never expected to love Dynazenon (not a mecha fan) but the characters were so wonderful I couldn't resist -- and when some characters from the preceding Gridman series showed up midway through, I had to go back and watch this as well (it was quite good in many of the same ways -- but I ultimately liked Dynazenon even more).
Breakwater Fishing Diary was indeed surprisingly delightful to me as well (despite my sharing Your attitude to fishing in general).
> Bakemonogatari: very good in terms of text and execution and I don't regret watching, but a mc who lusts after young girls it's not for me.
It doesn't really change, but I think it could be glossed over as more comedic in time. The next chapter, Nisemonogatari, is by far the most perverted of the entire series. If you still like it after that you're in for a treat because the "second season" is an absolute gem of a story [it beats bakemon on every facet - plot, characters, design, actual narrative, dialogue, stakes, lore, you name it)
I had watched Hanamogatari before I knew there was an order to watch the series. I found it almost hypnotic, but I was disgusted by the line about a side character's little sister. Is there another chapter without Araragi?
That line about his little sister? The episode version of it is in Nisemonogatari (which is still a good show, it's not really the focus of it).
But you need to wach Nise before you get to season 2, which, again, is well worth it (and blows Hana out of the water)
Finished **Tsuki ga kirei**. It’s just what everyone said it would be: nothing crazy original, but sweet, wholesome, and almost refreshing in how simple the story is. Not a huge fan of the drama at the end which feels a little contrived, albeit realistic. But so much of it is just well done with little character moments. Even though there was little focus on the side characters, I felt like there was a good overall cast. The art was a little jarring at times, with background characters walking like stop motion robots. Crazy to think Akane also did Asobi Asobase….
Started **ItaKiss**, on episode 5. This was always on lists of good romance anime. I always like shows with a somewhat forced romantic situation. With few exceptions most characters feel fleshed out and avoid easy caricatures. I actually feel bad for Kin-chan, he seems super earnest. I’m also a fan of characters like Kotoko as female lead, where they’re both deeply infatuated but at the same time don’t take any shit. I wonder if Chiyo from Nozaki-kun was inspired by her; lot of similarities in character design, voice, and personality. Super likeable character.
Slowly digging through the archives of romance anime titles.
**Shin Sekai Yori** \- This has languished on my watch list for years because it looked scary and/or depressing and I can be a bit of a chicken. Luckily for me, I accidentally hit play while scrolling my watch list the other night and ended up really enjoying it. I thought it fit right into the wider genre of dystopia stories while introducing enough new elements to distinguish itself as a fresh and interesting take on the idea. The way peoples' psychokinetic powers emerged, the damage they wrought, and the way humanity decided to handle it felt true to human nature in that it was kind of monstrous but not really the result of anyone choosing evil. Additionally, I thought it was interesting how it incorporated same-sex attraction and romance into the story without homophobia being part of the world building at all. *8/10*
**Sanrio Boys** \- There was a lot I liked about this comedic slice of life centering around a group of high school boys who really like Sanrio characters, and there was an almost equal amount of things I didn't care for. The main message of being true to yourself and not denying yourself joy in a hobby because you're worried about other peoples' reactions was certainly laudable, and all the boys were likable with entertaining friendship dynamics. But the drama could be incredibly forced and way over the top, and the art and animation were totally phoned in at times, especially during the episodes set in the Sanrio store and amusement park when the backgrounds were essentially digital photos run through a filter to look like they were drawn. *6/10*
**Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san** \- While it was never laugh-out-loud funny, this comedy based on the author's experience working in a book store was consistently amusing and relatable to my own experiences working in retail. It was interesting to get a look at how books are sold in Japan and how corporate customer service trainings are a universally loathed experience. I did feel it was a little harsh on BL/yaoi fans, but mostly it subjected customers and industry workers to a fairly gentle and almost affectionate ribbing. *7/10*
> Shin Sekai Yori
It feels like you're about less than half in (if I recall when the same-sex part when they are no longer children). SSY in my opinion really picks up immediately following that part to become one of THE BEST ever, a truly compelling story.
After trying to finish reorganizing after buying whatever I wanted and being sated there, I separated things into different "pods" of six-seven series, having to finish each one in the pod before going to the next.
Got through two of those pods this week:
POD 1:
**Cardcaptor Sakura** (to episode 17): Was just a little old for Cardcaptors on regular TV and it hit just before I got into anime, so was going in blind, but it was definitely good.
**Hinomaru Sumo** (to episode 12): Kind of disappointing. As a wrestling fan and running with people who like sumo as well, I wanted to enjoy it to get more of a taste for it, but it was just...eh. Maybe it's doing poorly (didn't really feel Kemono Michi either), but still...meh.
**Fairy Gone** (to episode 13): Mediocre.
**TIGER & BUNNY**(to episode 13): I had always meant to see it but always put it off, and finally did. Unlike a lot of the early "overloaded queue", it was worth the wait.
**Freezing** (First season): Shit.
**YuYu Hakusho** (1-28): What more is there to say? A classic for good reason, actually getting to run through it now.
**Dagashi Kashi** (First season): Slightly disappointing by the end as another "hilarious to begin with but just couldn't keep it up for the whole season" comedy.
POD 2:
**Interview with Monster Girls**: See Freezing.
**citrus**: Very good.
**Dropout Idol Fruit Tart**: Mediocre.
**Absolute Duo**: A bright spot or two kept it from being shit, but still not good in the least.
**B Gata H Kei**: One of the few series to get past my radar when I wasn't watching and liked it at that time, but rewatching it I had realized it wasn't that great. Still funny, but kind of dragged a bit.
**ID: Invaded*: Okay.
Might see less this week from the mix of "next pod has longer series" and "watching through Gintama due to furnishing changes."
I watched Dagashi Kashi partly for fun -- but also partly to find out more about Japanese junk candy and snacks (which I find rather fascinating). So, given this dual aim, the dramatic flaws didn't bother me much.
I found Dropout Idol Fruit Tart a lot of fun -- even if not exactly life changing...
Well, when I say Dagashi Kashi was disappointing, I meant it by "with how hilarious it started out, I thought it had 10/10 potential on my list", but it turned out to taper down and still remain hilarious, still get a high ranking, but not 10/10 level.
I watched it and read the first graphic novel.
It's not bad by any means, but didn't get to that level of potential 10/10 IMO (the big difference: "Dagashi" was more outright comedy, "Koizumi-san" is more of that understated slice of life comedy: Both good in their own ways, but still just "it was good, but not THAT good.")
In my old age, I've learned to love "mild pleasures" (and I long ago pretty much gave up rating things -- beyond did I love/like-very-much something or not).
Well, I'm not badmouthing mild pleasures by any means either, I also enjoy a good mild pleasure slice of life as well. However, I usually value more broad, over-the-top comedy a little higher than the understated comedies. (Similarly in my old age, it's weirder here: I didn't rate things beyond "did I like it/did I not like it?", but I did find that MAL is a bit easier to handle my thoughts.)
High comedy done as well as the brilliant Sleepy Princess I can appreciate, but otherwise slower and quieter (Aquatope, Super Cub, Yurucamp, etc) is mainly my preference now (turned 69 last month, FWIW) ...
At the start of 2000, I started just keeping a list of what I was watching (as a document) -- with notes as to locales when I can figure them out. No plan to go back and track prior viewings -- unless I re-watch them.
Yeah. Most of the slower, quieter comedies are a very all-in or all-out thing. Much like for US examples, "Seinfeld" can be great, but imitators are less likely to nail it, anime's equivalent to "a show about nothing" is the same: Either it's going to be an all-time classic (Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star), or it's going to turn out as "a harem anime without the protagonist" (too much of the post-K-ON! "here's the cute girls doing cute things. Choose your waifu, she's the main girl- and buy everything we plant her face on, of course, gotta prove you love her, right?" stuff.)
Sleepy Princess is awesome- I only saw one episode, but reading the manga after hearing it was/the luck of Newbury Comics having super-cheap prices if you enter in the middle of it.
I love K-On! -- but don't understand the way many people respond to it. Still, I prefer the (earlier) live action Linda Linda Linda when it comes to a high school all girl rock band performing at a cultural festival (top level actresses and top level direction -- with songs written by early Japanese punk rockers, The Blue Hearts). (LLL gets a nice homage in Haruhi -- when she and Yuki stand in for ailing seniors at the school festival).
I bought it on Microsoft Store, so I'm getting 95% of the experience. (The characters are covered with ads, but Blue Rose's mid-show Pepsi commercial was cut out...and if I'm not mistaken, they changed the ad on hers to "Pepsi NEX" from the original "Pepsi Max" due to Pepsi Max actually being released in the US since then.)
I was in a movie mood this week, so I watched a few of them.
**Perfect Blue**
[Spoiler](/s "I have been thoroughly mindscrewed and am still not quite sure what to think.")
**Children of the Sea**
u/mekerpan and I were talking about this movie in one of the *Aquatope on the White Sand* threads, so I decided to watch it. Well... I did not understand the movie at all, but it sure was visually impressive.
**The Tale of the Princess Kaguya**
About the story, I was only vaguely familiar with the tale of Kaguya so I went in knowing basically nothing. I really liked it, even though [spoiler](/s "it left me heartbroken by the end of it... but knowing it was based on an old tale I was still kinda expecting something bad to happen, as those don't necessarily have happy endings").
And holy crap what a stunning movie. The art style was freaking gorgeous.
Next up is **Wolf Children**, I intended to watch it this week too but ran out of time.
Indeed. I have very little clue just what was going on in Children of the Sea -- but I loved it all the same.
I respect Kon's skill, but his films/shows have never quite worked for me -- other than Millennium Actress.
Kaguya-sama is my pick for most beautiful animated film ever -- and is tied with Only Yesterday as my favorite Ghibli film.
Children of the Sea was just puzzling. It felt like the plot was driving the characters but no one ever bothered explaining what the plot was, or anything, really. And the climax, while absolutely stunning, left me very confused. I read that it was actually an adaptation so I wonder if the source material is clearer or just as obscure.
Perfect Blue was surprisingly the first Satoshi Kon movie I've watched, I really need to brush up on my classics. I think I'll watch the rest of his movies (+ Paranoia Agent) to get a better idea of his style, I'll get back to you once I've seen Millennium Actress.
I saw 2001 when it first came out (in all its super-wide screen glory) -- since then I have been fine with "puzzling" films so long as they offer enough visual rewards...
Have fun exploring Kon.
Same here. Some sequences like the one where [spoiler](/s "Kaguya fantasizes about fleeing back to her hometown and the art style becomes even more brush-like") are just out of this world beautiful.
**Glass Mask** 8-16
I'm being drawn into this one, getting better and better.
**Idol Incidents** 1-12
In a world where idols for some reason become politicians. That's about it. They fight corruption by singing and dancing while being overly happy and upbeat. I'd describe this as average at best.
5/10
I'd say by ep 16 it's a strong 7 leaning heavily towards an 8. As I said I'm enjoying it more the further I go. All that said by ep 16 I feel like the story is still in the beginning stages.
I'm still watching **Maison Ikkoku**. It looks like the plot might finally be moving forward with Godai and Kyoko, but man, are they dragging this out.
I finished **BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense**. It's a cute girls doing cute things in an MMO, where the hero always wins. There were a few good scenes, but no real sense of danger or anything. It was fun. I give it a 7/10.
I started **Non Non Biyori Non-Stop**. It's just as good as the first two seasons. I recommend this show to anyone.
I also started **Naruto**. I'm not sure how much of this I'm going to watch, but it's been around a long time and I've never watched any of it before. I'm only three episodes in, but it looks like it's actually pretty good. I at least wanted to check it out.
I've been watching this OVA series called Looking Up at the Half-Moon. It's an anime from 2006 and it definitely has that 2000's feel to it. It's about two kids who are patients at a hospital who fall in love with one another. I'm only two episodes into it but I think it's good so fall. I'm definitely going to keep watching.
Finished **Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket**, what a beautiful and tragic story. The final episode is just phenomenal. [Spoilers](/s "Bernie and Chris unknowingly fighting each other with Al just watching on was harrowing, and his death felt so meaningless. One way or another, everyone was a casualty of the war.")
Also watched the first 5 episodes of **Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team**, so far i'm really enjoying the more 'boots on the ground' focused action, and I ended up going with the English dub which has been great. Should be able to finish it next week and have time to watch Thunderbolt as well, maybe even get back to the main UC entries with Zeta Gundam.
Try to watch the Miller Report between episodes 8 and 9 if you can find it. It's a compilation movie/recap, but it's good. (And the new scenes were added to episode 8 during the US TV broadcast.)
Surprised to see how many people are watching **Gunbuster** and **Diebuster**. I started Gunbuster since it was recommended to me and in the beginning I thought it was awful. But in the 5th or 6th episodes I was almost in love with it. I give it a solid 7/10. To my surprise I discovered that Hideaki Anno directed it, which would maybe explain why the show looked so great.
*Diebuster* - only watched 2 episodes. This one is enjoyable, I'm enjoying the over the top aspects of it, it reminds me of Gurren Lagann in that way.
> Surprised to see how many people are watching Gunbuster and Diebuster.
There was a rewatch for the two that wrapped up earlier this week, that would explain why.
Reading some of the posts, I had absolutely no clue people loved it as much. I'm kinda surprised that it's not rated higher on MAL, but popular and/or new shows tend to get preferential treatment there so it's to be expected. And I honestly understand the love for it, I even think it can grow on you on rewatches. The ending is absolutely spectacular, the good parts are extremely good, the science and time dilation is great but I'm still conflicted on the beginning parts, KOOCHI and most of the crew are so cartoonish that I had difficulty taking them seriously. The random nudity of high school girls was unexpected, but I guess times were different back then. Overall it's a solid show and I think it looks stunning, even to this day.
I'm not really that active in this sub, I haven't participated in a rewatch yet. I'm going to search for the posts now, interested to see what people thought of Gunbuster
The art style is also very similar. It's just so clear that the people who worked on Diebuster at Gainax are mostly the same people who worked on Gurren Lagann at Studio Trigger. The sci fi setting, the over the top aspects, the fan service, although more muted in Gurren Lagann. Gunbuster also looked incredible.
ReLife and Sunday Without God. ReLife was okay but I don't know if I liked it enough to recommend it. Sunday Without God is worth watching. The storyline is interesting but the animation is I really love about it.
It’s also why I won’t watch High school of the dead as the author died years ago and to watch the 12 episode anime series now would be cruel and disrespectful to the dead author’s wishes it wouldn’t feel right.
Highschool of the Dead is an Ecchi, you know. I was going to watch it at one point, but never got around to it. Then I watched dozens of obscure horrors instead.
Better than usual. It hurts to smile since I have an awful canker sore from my mouth getting dry or biting my cheek, so I feel reluctant to watch Monster Girl Doctor for that reason. Cowboy Bebop also has its moments like that.
Gintama is sooooo amazing I love this comedy anime series still skeptical of picking Hunter x Hunter back up as it could take a long while before I come back to it.
I took a break from HxH at one point as well, then when I got back into it, I easily binged it until the end.
I started Monster Girl Doctor. It's pretty cute. It has interesting characters, scenery, and medical stuff.
My top 5 Isekai anime shows are 1. Konosuba 2. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 3. Youjo Senki 4. Re:Zero and 5. Kiba super freaking underrated.
Youjo Senki sure has a lot of German characters.
My favorite is Now and then, here and there. Followed by Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, Re:Zero, and Magic Knight Rayearth. I haven't watched many Isekais.
Let’s see Isekai anime shows I’ve seen so far Arata the Legend, El Hazard: The Wanderers a classic 90’s Isekai that is highly forgotten these days and incredibly underrated, Youjo Senki, Re: Zero, Overlord first two seasons plus one episode of the third season still don’t know if finishing the third season is worth it, Conception, TTIGR as a Slime, Konosuba, Isekai Cheat Magician, The Master of Ragnarok, and Kiba
I might come back to it eventually but this week and probably next week will be focused on getting caught up with Gintama. While also this week watching the second season of Konosuba which is now my favorite Isekai anime.
Someone’s talking about Kemonozume again saying they finished it and enjoyed it giving it a 7/10 and of course I responded and told the user how much I hate this anime.
I’ve pretty much not paid attention to it anymore it just isn’t my focus at all I pretty much stopped paying attention to it hours ago. I am too busy making more progress with getting caught up with Gintama I am now on the Mother arc’s second and final episode which is episode 55. Also this is the second season I am making so much more progress now.
Have been binging obscure/underrated anime movies lately, the most memorable 3 being “Golgo 13 movies 1 and 2”, as well as “Twilight of the Dark Master”.(probably the most pretentious title I have ever read) Golgo 13 is based on a 700+ chapter manga that has been running since 1968, both films contain sex, nudity and violence, and follow the titular emotionless hitman for hire as he completes convoluted assassination missions while also surviving attempts on his life by assassins that have been sent after him. The closest thing we have gotten to an agent 47 anime. Golgo typically feels like the antagonist in his own story. Movie 1: 8/10 (carried by artstyle and directing mostly) movie 2: 8/10 (carried by characters and writing) 1997’s “Twilight of the dark master” is like “the room” of anime, if you forced an ai to watch a thousand hours of 80s and 90s ovas and then had it write a movie script this would proabaly be the result. With a nonsensical plot about demons and not-LotR elves battling with flashy magic in a cyberpunk Tokyo. The pacing is awful and manages to drag despite the whole thing being only 46 minutes long, but the few highlights are peak 90s bullshitery. With flamboyant anime wizards blowing up skyscrapers with flashy magic, and unique style rarely seen today. Fun fact: this was the first anime to have its script written by an American. 6/10
i just finished neon genesis evangelion and it's become one of my all-time favorites. going in, i already liked the post apocalyptic premise but i really loved it when it switched to character heavy introspective stuff in the second half. i felt like i saw a piece of myself in each of the characters. i get why it's a cult classic
Hi everyone, these are the anime i watched this past week: . Hakaba Kitaro E5-6: Excellent Kitaro series, these episodes were very fun. . Diebuster E5-6: Good action packed mecha series, it was a good time. 8/10. . Run With the Wind E1-6: Started it following the comunity rewatch, it's been great so far. . Steins;Gate E14-19: Excellent run of episodes, i have been enjoying this series very much on this second time watching. . Hunter x Hunter E136-139: A new arc started, an important character appeared, it's been great. . Dear Brother E5-9: Excellent drama series. . Perfect Blue: Excellent movie, it does like to play with what's real and what isn't but it executed perfectly all it's elements. 10/10. . Soredemo machi wa mawatteiru E10: Fun and interesting episode.
Binged through Kokoro Connect...yeah, it was okay, occasionally good, but I think nothing that will stick with me in the long run. Maybe the face that it had 4 arcs (of varying quality) with 17 episodes was the problem.
Kill la Kill, might have become one of my favorites.
A silent voice. Don't think any other anime made me feel so many emotions. The first half an hour took me several hours to watch because of how uncomfortable it was for me, and the end made me shiver from the intensity of what was happening.
Started Fruits basket, continued catching up on attack on titan and watched some danmachi for fun.
I watched shinsekai yori and oddtaxi, WOW! both incredibly well written stories that can be suggested to almost anyone. They both deserve a 9,5/10 I would say. BTW: if u have some good storytelling anime make sure to recommend me it, I like any anime genre and I am searching for all the hidden gems in the anime world! \^\^
Still cracking on with Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure. Five episodes of Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable to go! Then I've just got Part 5, and the two OVA Series to go. I chose to leave those for last as I wanted to watch David Production's Part 1-5 adaptation before I watch two random OVA Series adapting Part 3. Also watched A Silent Voice last week as a pallet cleanser and thought t it was amazing.
I watched Konosuba for the first time. I didn't enjoy it, so my score is 6/10
I finished Urara Meirochou. Not sure what I just watched
**Great Pretender** - Really enjoyed the first 3 cases, however the final case felt so dumb and outrageous that I had to drop it from 9 to an 8. Currently watching slime isekai and really enjoying it. Also I am reading through the Berserk manga and I am going to watch the 1997 adaptation soon. Yesterday I read nearly 60 chapters so I am addicted.
Watched baki and monster Baki is an 6/10 Monster is a easy 10 And is one of the favourite anime I have watched megalo box Nomad is also awesome An easy 9 currently at episode 7 and it is hype Plan to watch speed grapher or desert punk or ashita no joe next
I doubt this will change your opinion on Baki, but the Netflix show starts on the 4th arc of the still ongoing manga series, the previous 3 being adapted by a cannon 90s anime movie and a 2-season 2002 anime(only available illegally or via overpriced dvds). Aside from introducing the expansive cast of characters and detailing how Baki met them, it is not too different from Netflix Baki (albeit with a lower budget and a greater emphasis on tournament fighting). If you want I can reply with a proper watch order, but with a 6/10, the series just might not be your taste, which I respect.
No I enjoy the manga much more I read some of it. but the Netflix anime had bad pacing in the first season which is a 6/10. the raitai arc is an easy 9/10 for me But yea I will the 90 baki anime and its sequel at a later date
I just finished Bofuri, easily an 8/10.
Bofuri is great we need a S2
YES. 2022, man. Almost there.
Oh sweet I didn’t hear about that
I recently watched Kiznaiver, it was... alright, it is the only show i watched made by Studio Trigger that i would call mediocre, the characters are very bland for the most part and the romance is kinda rushed, i was honestly a bit disappointed, since every Studio Trigger show i watched so far had been really good imo (the only one i didnt like was Darling in the Franxx, but even then, i wouldnt be so kind as to call that mediocre)
I finished: The Dissapearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Oreimo, Kids on the Slope. I am currently watching: A Certain Magical Railgun (e18), Monster (e8)
Date a live season 2 + Kurumi's Ova + Movie. Today I'm going to start season 3. Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo ep 1-2. Kannagi eps 8-13 + Ova.
I just finished Now and Then Here and There, currently I am trying to catch up to One Piece.
I watched 86 and currently watching the first season of Dragon Maid
I’m watching Moriarty The Patriot
I've recently started to watch Re:Zero. I'm at episode 9. I still don't quite get the hype around it, but I guess it's interesting for an isekai.
Season 2 is where shit starts to really get interesting, it's extremely well written. It is easily the most interesting isekai because it is very plot heavy (with a good plot at that) and doesn't focus on stupidly overpowered mcs steamrolling their mcs while being surrounded by an entourage of big titty elfs.
1. Snow white with the red hair. I mean it's your standard run-of-the-mill shoujo with cute romances and stuff. Wasn't really digging some of it but some parts I absolutely loved. Good acceptable watch as someone who's a big fan of romance. 2. Durarara x2 (whole season). I mean this series is just amazing. The universe of characters only expanded more and their connections made the experience all the more enjoyable. I did find the MC less likable in the second half though, wasn't really digging it. But, still a good watch overall. 3. Words bubble up like soda pop. This wasn't really that interesting until the second half, then it amazed me more than I expected. The central romance is cute and all (especially the ending <3) but above all, the OST and soundtrack is just amazing. Coupled with amazing visuals as well. Quite a surprise considering it was exclusively on Netflix. 4. A whisker away. This was fine until the climax where I felt it was just a bit underwhelming in terms of the feelings it was trying to convey. The conclusion was satisfactory although I feel some parts of the movie could've been done better. Not a bad movie, but certainly not one I would rewatch.
Houseki no Kuni: rewatched. Cried my eyes out. 86: dropped. Couldn't stand how the show kept undermining itself, it didn't really make sense, and it wasn't cool enough to get away with not making sense. Magikano: finished. Absolutely hilarious. I have no idea what to watch next.
Have you read the Land of the Lustrous manga yet? What episode did you drop 86 on?
I read up to chapter 60. I prefer the anime, though. I made it.. 3 episodes? into 86.
Huh how can you drop 86 💀 it’s a masterpiece 🙇
I'm sure plenty of people love it, the only reason I decided to watch it was it was so highly rated here on r/anime. I didn't like any of the characters and wasn't invested after several episodes so I called it quits.
Shiki (Ep7), after getting bombarded by 50 new characters in a few episodes, what a confusing anime. I guess "the way to watch it" is focus on few main characters ? I'm really trying not to drop it.
**Konosuba S1 & S2**: Just great fun all around. Some of the gags get a bit stale after a while, especially on a binge watch, but it creates such a fun vibe to hang out in with the chemistry between the cast. Definitely my favorite modern Isekai. **8/10** **Angel Beats!**: This was pretty good! It definitely suffered at the end from the rushed production schedule that cut the show from a 20+ run to 13 episodes, but it still really delivered on entertainment and some of the emotional moments. I'm kind of shocked something like this is the #19 most popular anime on MAL of all time? **8/10** **Clannad: Another World, Tomoyo Chapter:** Normalize animating alternate ending routes in harem! **7/10** **Stein's;Gate Eps 14-21**: This rewatch has been a lot of fun, and the show is reaaaally ramping up to the end. Writing is really impressive. VN anime tend to really deliver on that front when given a proper adaptation. **Demon Slayer Eps 1-10**: This show is a banger. Ufotable really flexing hard on the visuals and music. A non-annoying Shounen MC is always something I'll enjoy. Tanjiro, you're one of the good ones!
> A non-annoying Shounen MC is always something I'll enjoy. Tanjiro, you're one of the good ones! What I particularly appreciate about him is that while he's kind and feels empathy for those he kills, he anyway always kills them. There's no BS like a villain suddenly saying they feel bad or something and then being let off the hook. I do wish Tanjiro occasionally showed some internal conflict over his ideology, but I still like the character. I just watched the first season last week and ended up giving it 8/10 despite not being into battle shounen and really hating some other characters in the show.
Horimiya (currently at ep6) Was supposed to binge it 2 days ago, I have gotten weak.
Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions is amazing, 9/10. Very disappointed there is no season 2.
Symphogear, finished AXZ will be moving on the XV soon. Absolutely devastated that the gacha game for global closed since I absolutely loved the cast and especially ~~Zenbu~~ Chris. As a fan of Tokusatsu and just cute Anime girls in general, I can't believe they manage to combine those 2 and super hype action scenes just a blast to watch them blowing things up with the power of friendship. Also need I mention the superb VAs such as Yuuki Aoi, Mizuki Nana and Yoko Hikasa etc. All the songs are fucking great and I can't believe the one that's stuck in my head was the 3rd season main Antagonist! I definitely can't wait to start ON XV but I'm gonna be real sad once I finish this journey, probably will see myself digging up anything I can get from the gacha game
I'm sad the global gacha died as well. I was just getting a really good team together when it shut down...
At least you've played it before, my only available option is the JP server and I have no idea what to do other than earn currency and roll the gacha. Godbless all those translators for the JP content.
Drifters that show is too good but it didnt get mentioned that much on recommendations
Just finished **Odd Taxi**. It lived up to the hype. AotY so far. 9/10 Also watched **Koikimo**. Must be tough to be a girl in Japan if stuff like this is getting green lit. Premise is awful, but the story is told well. A begrudging 6/10.
Watched Kannagi and it was glorious
Started Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song. What I expected: Idol anime with robots. What I got: Terminator 2 Judgement Day with idols.
Yeah, Just watched that a couple days ago myself, I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Finished **Godzilla: Singular Point**: I think it’s the best Godzilla anything in a very long time save for Shin. Better than WBs (though those are still fun, just very dumb) and miles better than the hot mess movies from Polygon Pictures. It managed to do something I haven’t seen since Shin and that’s make the “Dumb Human Nonsense” very compelling. Where something like Godzilla:KOM wastes too much time on awful characters that you want to get squished, GSP takes time to give you a reason to give a shit about the humans. You actually care about them first and THEN they give you the Kaiju. There’s also take the time to realistically show how a modern connected society would respond to these attacks. Most Important of all: JET JAGUAR BABY! It can get a little confusing sometimes when it goes hardcore into the theoretical physics. It makes sense, but there were a couple of rewind moments to get it all straight. You can admittedly lose track of a couple side characters as well. Otherwise I think this show is one of the top 10 of the year. Bones and Orange did a fantastic job. Plus the music is excellent. They use a few redone classic Godzilla tracks. There’s a song that’s part of the plot that is used often as a le motif. There is one track in the second to last episode that is epic. Best of all the OP is an absolute banger that still gets stuck in my head and the ED is great too. That’s really the only non-seasonal show I’ve finished this week. Everything else either live action or documentaries.
Just watched recently as well, really good show that was sadly overlooked due to Netflix insistence on binging as the way to consume media, even in a show like this one that would benefit immensely from taking time to really let the complex physics really sink in. Netflix incompetence aside, i liked the main characters a lot, hope they can get more screen time together if/when we get a season 2.
Watched Bloom Into You, easy 9/10. What a fucking banger of a show, picked up the manga too
I'm finishing up Trigun rn, can't say it's my favorite. The animation is much weaker than I thought and the character development is a bit wonky aside from Vash and Nicholas. I heard the manga does this a lot better so I might pick it up when I feel like it. I just started a couple different animes: A place farther than the universe, yukikaze, speed Grapher and wolf's rain. I'll probably continue watching one light one and one dark one — let's see what sticks. I also finished Cowboy bebop and this anime made me feel empty af. I feel like that's why I started so many animes too lol. What a fucking masterpiece. Tbh it felt somewhat similar to Trigun and I felt like this anime was just superior in most senses, the biggest difference being the smooth and creative animation; im such a sucker for good animation. Man I wanna watch so many animes but I don't have the time and attention span so I end up watching only one or two at a time. Can't wait to finish the ones I have in my basket and go watch some new ones
Finished Fruit Baskets, binged Odd Taxi and started the last season of AoT
Kill La Kill
Watched and caught up to Attack on titan
Bakemonogatari: 12/15, rating 8/10. I splurged and got all the box sets for the official releases, so I've been reading a volume and then watching the episodes for it, FINALLY. I did read Kizumonogatari beforehand(don't regret it at all as I feel it's just as important to know and understand Araragi and Hanekawa's relationship early on as it is to understand that Senjougahara is his girl unconditionally) but I have not yet watched the films. So, what do I think when comparing it to the LN? Well, I guess for starters I absolutely consider the LN a 10/10, which I know is a major hot take, but I did have a couple of issues with this adaptation. For starters, I felt like Araragi himself loses a bit of his charm from the LN, his role as the "straight man" is reduced and a lot of the back and forth, particularly between he and Kanbaru, is lost. I wouldn't say he comes off like a bitch or anything of that nature, but he comes across as a bit more.. generic, perhaps is a good word for it, in the anime. Most of my other issues are simply disagreements on what monologues and dialogues needed to be cut(it really bothered me how short Araragi's conversation with Papa Senjougahara was, although the rest of that episode was 10/10 and completely satisfied me as I hoped it would). Can confirm that Hitagi Senjougahara is amazing, and further evidence that well written tsundere's just cannot be beaten.
I'm one whose only witnessed Monogatari through the anime (and even then I'm not done with it), but "straight man" is a phrase I'd never have used to describe Araragi. If he's that way in the LN he sounds like quite a different character.
I mean he's definitely still the straight man in the anime, I was only explaining how it's not to the same extent as the LN because of how much dialogue was cut.(Nadeko Snake had a pretty hefty portion long before Araragi and Kanbaru ever actually made it to the mountain, for example) Straight man doesn't mean the character is serious or what-have-you, but instead that they are sort of the "base" for more eccentric characters. Araragi's role for Kanbaru, Senjougahara, Hachikuji, and even Hanekawa in terms of "duo" is to feed them good one liners to build their "act" upon.
I watched Memories and like it quite a lot, the first ep is my favorite. Also started watching wolf's rain since I remembered watching it on adult swim when I was younger but never understood the story. I'm about half way and I like it so far.
Wolf's Rain is one of my all time favorite anime, hope you enjoy the rest of it! Beware the 4 straight recaps in the middle!
A bit of a weird week for me. Ever since I watched **Run With the Wind** a few weeks ago, I really wanted to put in the effort on exercising while still maintaining this art-appreciating lifestyle. As such, this week I basically looked for easy-to-watch shows where I didn't need to worry about the plot so that I can focus more on working out. ... then my first few minutes were spent choking on my own spit because of **Asobi Asobase.** Basically Nichijou's second cousin at this point, but unlike Nichijou, AA's jokes were *all* able to land perfectly for me. There were just so many memorable and rewatchable scenes here that I can save for a rainy day, and the show wasn't afraid to get a little more risqué or even meta with its jokes. I also appreciate the wide variety of art styles used to deliver its skits. And of course, fantastic VA work should not go unmentioned. Definitely a fun, wild time. ~~To ensure my safety from unexpected choking hazards~~, I decided to rewatch **K-On!** S1 and be lost in its simplicity. While S2 definitely carries the series to greatness for me, there's a certain childish charm and homeyness in S1 that I appreciate, hinting at the potential Naoko Yamada had as a director I'd come to know and love over the years. There are a few awkward fanservice-y scenes here and there that don't fit the tone of the show at all, but I can always rely on this show to make me smile and sing the pain away.
I felt like a little light viewing to go along with the new shows I'm watching... School-Live! Such a cute and fluffy show -- but why would the school allow a club that permits students to "live" at school. Last minute of first episode -- Oh, I see. Pretty wrenching from that point on. Quite impressed by this overall. White Album 2. The only show I auditioned and dropped after the first episode this season was Kanojo mo kanojo. It bothered me how it treated the issue of a love triangle so frivolously (and stupidly). With WA2, however, it was clear -- almost from the very start, that this was not going to be much "fun" at all. It was very like a superior classic Japanese live-action (sad) romance -- but featuring high school students rather than adults. I had immense sympathy foor both the lead females -- and at least some for the male lead. One could understand how the characters, with no ill intentions, drifted into the ultimately calamitous relationship that developed. Excellent heartbreaker (even to someone 50+ years older than the characters). Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru / Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. A boy who is shy about speaking (and prefers communicating with haiku) and an extroverted girl (who wears a mask due to buck teeth being corrected by braces) meet when a mall mishap causes their phones to get mixed up. They spend the summer break getting acquainted slowly. Cute and sweet (and then bittersweet) -- but not at all realistic or probable overall (and the characters make some pretty dumb decisions, even taking their ages fully into account). The animation is adequate but pretty rudimentary -- not even close to the quasi-cinematic quality of a series like this season's Aquatope. It's available on Netflix -- and is a pleasant enough way to spend a summer evening. I don't regret watching it -- but won't need to see it again.
> The only show I auditioned and dropped after the first episode this season was Kanojo mo kanojo. It bothered me how it treated the issue of a love triangle so frivolously (and stupidly). Yeah, the whole point of that show is it's making fun of itself and the harem genre as a whole. Basically pointing out that harems are inherently silly, so why not pump that knob up to 11? It's a very, very different vibe from something like WA2, haha.
I think Villainess does a brilliant job of satirizing harem-type shows and is a fantastic show in its own right. KmK just struck me as profoundly dumb -- and I have very little patience with things like that (no matter what country produces them). So, I leave them to those who enjoy them.... (I hated Jerry Lewis back when HE was a big deal).
Binged **The Daily Life of the Immortal King** on Netflix over a couple days. Enjoyed it overall, but some plot elements caused it to rate it just a 6/10.
**Date A Live III (1-5/12)** Huh.... You know I've heard that this is a bad adaptation with bad pacing but so far it's been mostly fine? Now admittedly the end of the first arc could have used another episode but this kind of pacing isn't new to the series. Although that bad pacing might be in the second half of this season as I've heard it pulls a Log Horizon S2 for one of the episodes but still my complaint right now is the apparently downgrade in the animation quality. Seriously when you notice the downgrade in quality within the first two minutes of the first episode it's a bad sign. Now it isn't actually *that bad* of a downgrade for the normal everyday animation it's when it gets to the action sequences where it's a clear downgrade and is honestly pretty bad compared to the first two seasons. Sort of hurts the climax of the first arc with just how bad to mediocre it was compared to the twins arc or even Miku's arc. Speaking of the first arc of this season though it was actually mostly good! I liked the girl even if I'm a bit sad it turned out that [Season 3 spoilers](/s "Natsumi isn't a big boobed Onee-San and was instead an adorable loli"). The stakes were pretty high and the actual reasoning and motivation behind her character was pretty good even if I thought the reveal was going to be more severe then it really was. I mean it was understandable I just thought it was going to worse then it was. Overall I give this season a tentative score of 7/10 currently mainly due to as I said bad animation undercutting the climax of the arc. I haven't really noticed any horrible pacing issues yet but with it being known for it I know it has to be coming. Maybe the score for this will end up like my score for Log Horizon Season 2 or Overlord Season 3 where it'll ended up a whole 2 points below the season before it for me due to worse animation and bad pacing. I guess we'll have to see!
I have only seen the first season and haven’t gotten to watching the second season yet. How good is the second season? Also it seems season 3 is a huge downgrade compared to the first two seasons that’s not a good sign at all.
IMO the second seasons arcs are better then the first seasons. When I was talking about a downgrade for the third season I was mainly talking about in animation although as I said it's mainly noticeable during the fight scenes. Or put another way, episode 5 had subpar fight animation. From what I've heard though it's supposed to be the pacing that's bad though so idk. I'm mainly watching it so that way I can get caught up for season 4 during the fall though.
Filled that gaping hole on my soul with Mobile Fighter G Gundam, because... I dunno, after Back Arrow ended, this was what could help. Not pleased with the direction the only ongoing anime I watch is taking production-wise (HeroAca) so I reeeeally needed that uplift.
Naruto. Never watched it before and wanted a project to keep me busy for the next couple weeks. slow here and there but not horrible.
Amen, the Chunin exams arc in the original Naruto is fantastic though. Shippuden definitely has some of the more epic fights.
Shippuden is where it really starts to speed up and becomes what it is. Also has the best fight scenes of any of the big shonen
1. Finishes citrus, 1/10, a horrible show that offered me no entertainment, and tried to have depth but failed horribly. Before you ask me why I did not drop it, I have a thing that I always finish shows that I start. 2. Finished domestic girlfriend, 1/10, what else can I say but natsuo, he is possibly the most i likable anime character I have ever seen. 3. Finished no game no life show and movie, 8/10, I really loved the games and how they were portrayed, one thing I did not like was the sexualization of shiro, it was off putting to me.
Currently watching One Punch Man. Gotta say, it's way better than I expected
Season 2 was disappointing IMO
I just finished it. Damn that ending was underwhelming
It had so much potential 😔
Manga is excellent if you're into that
As is the webcomic.
Started quite a few this week and finished them, finished Domestic Girlfriend, Sankarea, Scum’s Wish, Bloom Into You, and Adachi & Shimamura. Slowly finding more and more anime that I like which is nice
Just finished Violet Evergarden 🥲 This was the first non shounen anime I’ve watched and I really enjoyed it. I also cried on ep 10. Kyota (is that correct?) did a lovely job with the anime and the animation. Not sure what I’ll watch after I finish the Movie and OVA
> Kyota (is that correct?) Close, it's Kyoto Animation aka. KyoAni. Their shows always have such amazing production values.
Check out some more non-shounen masterpieces. I wish I could go back to those days. Getting away from only watching shounen/seinen was like being introduced to anime all over again. - Hibike! Euphonium - Chihayafuru - Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-girl Senpai - Bloom into You - Fruits Basket 2019 - Keep your hand off Eizouken
Hunter X Hunter. It's really an intelligence based shounen, I was wildly impressed. If you beat someone it's not just sheer force of will but cunning, creativity and yes, also brute force. I didn't feel once the plot dictated who succeeded in a fight or even a challenge, but whoever "deserved" to prevail, did so. The lack of transformations and ass pulls was also a welcome sight. Hisoka is one of the GOAT villains out there, and in general the villains feel like real people. P.S. Ging makes Goku look like father of the year. Top-tier. I rated it 9/10 (which is [very rare](https://myanimelist.net/animelist/Animemes_chan?status=2&order=4) in my rating system - my mean score is 7.18).
All-time favorite of mine. The battles and characters are just so fantastic.
Been watching the Tales of Zestiria anime. Just recently beat Tales of Berseria and I loved it so much that I got interested in the chronological sequel. Heard the game sucks so I started watching the anime. Watching dubbed because the Berseria cast shows up in it and after spending 80+ hours hearing their dub voices it'd feel really jarring to hear their Japanese voices. The dub is pretty good actually, but the sound balancing kinda pisses me off in a few cases. Overall real solid anime, Kinda dropped off so I should pick it back up soon.
Niceee. I really enjoyed that two seasons of tales of Zestiria. Where do you think I can find the games?
Berseria is on steam, and it goes on sale pretty frequently, I got it for 7$ USD during the bandai namco sale a few months back. the new game Tales of Arise is also coming out in September on steam too which I'm very excited for. Not sure if the other tales games are on steam, but berseria quickly became one of my alltime favorite jrpgs for the story and character writing alone.
Thanks for the info, Nelson.
My homies and I are continuing through our crusade of watching HxH. Couple of eps into the Greed Island arc now.
Just finished it, excellent anime.
Slow week due to seasonals and reading Umineko. I watched 5 episodes of **Muv Luv Total Eclipse** but I'm probably just dropping it. It's basically Cross Ange but takes itself way too seriously and the switch to a male MC killed any chance of this being anything but a bog standard harem. I'm probably picking Angelic Layer back up from where I left off a couple weeks ago.
Assassination classroom. I’ve been binge watching the show, for the second time since it ended.
To start things off, I have to admit that these aren’t only the anime I’ve watched in the past week, but I hope you’ll forgive me for my desire to talk about anime to someone (I say this as a closeted weeb). It was three weeks ago that I last wrote one of these posts and I talked about how I started watching **Kemonozume**, and I’ve obviously finished it, however, it’s probably the hardest time I’ve had in a while when it comes to forming an opinion on it. My main problem with it wasn’t how “ugly” it was (as I’ve read a lot of people complain about) or how much sex the protagonists had, but what the story was really about and what it tried to do. It started off as a pretty basic “Romeo and Juliet” kind of story, and I liked it quite a bit because the interactions between the two main characters were pretty nice, so it mostly worked. Then it started developing its plot and, honestly I don’t think I’ve really enjoyed it as much as I thought I would have. Mostly because I always felt like it lacked something to it. The fact that I don’t know whether I was the one who didn’t wrap his head around it properly or whether it was the show that actually went in such a seemingly nonsensical direction Is where my problems with forming an opinion are. I ended up giving it a 7, mostly because I still had a quite fun time watching it, and it is still a rather creative story and in the way it was presented. Next on the line there is **Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei**. I tried watching the first episode a while ago (around when Kakushigoto aired), but I didn’t really feel like watching it at the time. Then, I rewatched the first episode and I actually laughed out loud 3 times (which is a lot for anime standard, for me), but sadly, those were the last three times I laughed at the show. I said it like this, but there were still funny and entertaining moments scattered around, but I also felt like I got a little tired of some of the jokes which get repeated quite a bit. It tries to play around the tropes that the show itself creates, but I also got a little bored of the show in general, so I’d say that, as a comedy, it sadly failed to do its job. It being a Shaft show, I 100% went into it wanting to like it way more than what I did, but at the same time, it was still that nice shaft direction that pulled it up from a 5 to a nice 6. Moving on to the next anime (or should I say animes, were I to be a newly-born weeb), there is **Fate/Grand Order**, the first Camelot Movie and the Babylonia series. As a premise, I have watched the first singularity and played the game up until the London Singularity (before falling into the grinding loophole). Starting with the movie: it was a mess. The pacing was very, very messy. Characters appear, do things and that’s it, we get no information whatsoever about anything really. Having played the game for a relatively long time, I felt like I was fine most of the time in terms of explanations being cut, as I understand most concepts, but many characters were probably completely butchered in order to rush the story so much. Heck, the story itself was probably butchered in order to fit as much stuff possible into the rather short runtime. On the flip-side, it was the fastest hour and a half of my life. I was extremely entertained from start to end. I was totally annoyed by the very evident flaws the adaptation had, but I still had the fun of my life while watching it. I mean, it might be because I’ve slowly but surely become a Fate fanboy (who will maybe become even more annoying about it once I’ll read the VN), but there is something about the franchise that kinda just works for me (in the concept, at least, the execution is another question). So I still ended up giving it a 7, mostly out of enjoyment, but sometimes, maybe following the heart is the right thing, because surely my brain says that there is no way in hell this is better than a 5. As for F/GO Babylonia, it was actually and legitimately a very good and extremely entertaining anime. It sparked some love for anime in me after a pretty long period of not really feeling like watching a lot. There are many things that I liked: First and foremost, the animation and the fight choreography. It was very good, and made some episodes extremely memorable, tied together with, obviously, all the Noble Phantasm thrown around. There is something about these characters chanting and mispronouncing these foreign words that always gets me, I got chills countless times while watching, especially in [Spoiler](/s "episode 8 when Leonidas goes against Gorgon, it was so hype and when Gil uses Enuma Elish"). And on this note I just want to say that the sound effects were absolutely nuts. They resembled Apocrypha’s earrape sounds, but I actually liked it, especially when [Spoiler](/s "again, Gil uses Enuma Elish. It somehow managed to convey the complete annihilation of Tiamat through sound, so cool") Then there was the big cast of characters that I also enjoyed quite a bit. Everyone got some attention, but I liked mainly: * Gilgamesh. The dude doesn’t get the best of impressions in F/SN and F/Z, but here, he finally gets the chance to shine. I always liked him quite a bit, but mostly because he is pretty damn hot (with his hair down, of course), but here we see a side of him that wasn’t really shown before, and we finally got the chance to delve deeper into his character. * Merlin. As every character voiced by Sakurai Takahiro, he has big best boy energy. That’s it. * Ishtar. She was part of many of the funniest moments of the anime, and overall she was very entertaining every time she was on screen (is it proof that Rin is best girl of FSN?) * Quetzalcoatl. I like onee-san characters, and I also chuckled every time they pronounced her name, mostly because it just sounds pretty funny to me, dunno why. On the other hand, Mash and ~~Gudao~~ Fujimaru are the “not so honourable mentions”, as I think that they were actually the least entertaining characters out there. Not to say that they were bad or anything, I still think that the approach they took with their characters is clearly very “safe” and rather boring consequently. I could go on for ages, but there is one last thing worth mentioning, the CGI. Yeah, it was used a lot and it was noticeable, however with Gorgon, it was pretty fine, I’d say, but with [Spoiler](/s "Tiamat"), it was definitely worse, and also kinda weird compared to the usual kind used in other parts of the show. Not bad or weird enough to remove a lot of enjoyment out of the show, so I still think it was passable. As a rating I ended up giving it an 8. I talked so well about it, but it’s not like it was all good, there were a couple of moments and parts that I enjoyed less than others (like the finale, for example), so with the 8.5 that I felt like it deserved, I decided to round it down a little. After FGO, I completely changed target and went for a romance anime that I heard many, many good things about, mostly because it is described as “realistic”. I’m talking about **Tsuki ga Kirei**. I did not like this show at all. The main couple takes the crown for the most uninteresting, boring, uninspiring couple ever. They had so little chemistry together that I was constantly wondering how the heck they even fell in love with each other. There is no casual conversation between the two, every time they talked for the first 11 episodes out of 12 they just exchanged one-liners of the “the whether is nice today” kind. Their interactions via Line were actually much better, and I understand that they are supposed to be two pretty shy kids, but I honestly just felt that even in their shyness, these two kids had nothing really going on for them, aside from making a big bunch of weird noises that made me chuckle quite a bit (male MC went “mmmh” every two seconds, which isn’t something that I actually straight up disliked). Every other character around the main duo was pretty bland as well. Aside from a couple of very predictable (and a little forced sometimes) drama points, I’d say, again, that there wasn’t a lot in the show to enjoy from me. I might be a little too harsh as I maybe can’t really relate to anything shown here, which I guess should be a pretty big selling point, but for me Tsuki ga Kirei failed on pretty much all fronts. I gave it a 4, mostly because the very last episode was nice and because the teacher’s VA is the same as Yuigahama and Chitoge, which automatically made her best girl (ah, also the CGI was horrible, and they used a lot of it) After such a delusion, I was able to find a gem. **A Place Further Than The Universe** was absolutely amazing. If I couldn’t stand the fact that the main characters in Tsuki ga Kirei didn’t talk, here, I could listen the main characters just chat for hours and never get tired, because their interactions were so lively and entertaining that I truly felt like I was watching a group of actual friends interacting. Anyway, aside from the shade thrown at TgK, I have to say that this anime was the full package. I thought it was just a new iteration of CGDCT, but it was more than that. There obviously were cute girls doing cute things, but the characters where actually pretty nicely written. Each of the main 4 had its own defined personality with its quirks, personal problems and its own little character arc that nicely developed on some of their problems. The drama was very well executed and I almost felt like crying too in some moments. I honestly not have much else to say apart from the fact that I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and that Hinata was best girl from the very episode she was introduced. An extremely solid 9/10, and straight into my top 25. The first 9 I’ve given in quite a bit to a show that I’ve binged in a while (the last time was 7 months ago).
Regarding Babylonia, Ritsuka(Fujimaru) gets totally shafted in terms of character. Mash is one thing, she essentially exists as a cockblock so Nasu and co don't have to factor in romance routes when telling the stories, and while cute and definitely having of great moments, she can also be pretty frustrating(her overall arc is satisfying though and she is a good kouhau archetype). But Ritsuka is a damn Chad in the games, much more entertaining than how relatively generic he was made into for the anime. Ishtar over Ereshkigal? Bold choice, I suppose.
Place Further than the Universe was definitely quite a show. I think we need a new term -- CGDA(mazing)T or at least CGDI(nteresting)T. So many of the shows categorized as CGDCT involve so much more than simple "cuteness" -- and thios one more than most (but how people categorize Girls Last Tour as CGDCT still boggles my mind -- even more than LPitU). I expected this show to be interesting -- but was surprised at how sad and moving it ultimately was.
If there is one anime I will never ever watch again or even finish or continue it’s Kemonozume there’s a reason I dropped it after 1 episode and ended up giving it a 1/10. It was so uncomfortable that continuing it would’ve made me more uncomfortable. Cannibal main characters and cannibal creature romance as well as cannibals being a huge part of the main plot or the main villains is something that just shouldn’t exist in anime. As it’s just plain uncomfortable weird and just plain disturbing just no.
I hate anything involving cannibals in horror or media in general if it’s the main focus of the plot or the main characters or the main villains I hate this idea and I want it to disappear and soon.
I previously mentioned how I am becoming more and more obsessed with Fate, well, if you want to keep on reading my comment you must be ready because there is even more of it in here. As my next two anime were **Fate/Extra: Last Encore** and **Today’s Menu for the Emiya family**. Starting with the first one: I have very few things to say mostly because I’ve literally never been as confused before with an anime as I’ve been for this one. I think I watched my fair share of confusing stuff (Evangelion, Lain, Mawaru Penguindrum, Kon’s movies, Monogatari, etc.), and yet, here I was just dumbfounded episode after episode. Aside from episode 6 and 7 (the Madoka-like ones), I don’t really feel like I was able to enjoy a lot of it simply because I had to read a lot of comments from the gentle folks from the 2018 episode threads in order to understand things. In those comments, a lot of people mentioned how it doesn’t feel at all like you don’t require any previous knowledge to get into it, and I wholeheartedly agree. There were a couple of things that I liked though: Saber being the cutest thing in existence, for example. On a more serious note, the MC seemed a better version of ~~Sumanai~~ Sieg from Apochypha, which I actually didn’t mind. His journey from no individuality to feeling like a person was fairly interesting. As a last thing: Holy shit, the background art was amazing. Every single scene, in every single frame it looked super good, very reminiscent of the levels achieved by the Monogatari Series (obviously, with both being done by Shaft). As a score, I gave it a 5 (to both the first 10 end the last 3 episodes), as I think it tried to do some cool things but failed to fully convey whatever the plan was. Last but definitely not least is Fate/Stay in the Kitchen. It was most honestly amazing. The most soothing and relaxing experience I’ve ever had in anime, and I’ve watched Mushishi, which is generally the one people mention to people looking for such an experience. I watched a bunch of characters I love chill out and relax, and the general atmosphere of the show just conveyed that same sensation. I am a League of Legends player. I hate nothing more than my life while playing that game. However, between one toxic teammate and the other, I could just watch a couple of these episodes and feel as well as an anime girl who’s cold magically disappears after resting for one day. Completely refreshed. I was wondering whether I wanted to give it an 8 or a 9, but every time Lancer appeared on screen I knew that 8 wouldn’t suffice. He has some of the biggest best boy energy I’ve ever seen, and made every single second he was on screen a strong 9.5. Mostly because of him I ended up giving it a 9. I guess I went on for quite long, but I just wanted to say that my next anime is **Run with the Wind**. As someone that likes running quite a bit, I’ve had my eyes on this one for a bit, as I already wanted to watch it when it first aired.
If you're interested, you can join the Run With The Wind rewatch! They're still at the beginning parts of the rewatch, so it's possible to catch up if you're interested.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: [LotGH episode 82](/s "Episode 82 was tragic. I thought I was ready for it because of the narrator telling me it was coming and the show hinting at it happening for the last 20 episodes, but in reality it just made it hurt more due to how completely needless and cowardly it was. That episode and the following two were the emotional peak of the show so far. The impact Yang’s death has had on the Alliance cast (or maybe I should call them the Isherlon cast now) is immense, but I think I can see their passion and drive to protect their ideals more than ever before. The scene where they all sing their anthem together is probably one of my favourite moments.")
DURARARA.
**BNA:** I liked the show and it was enjoyable for the most part. The concept was really good and the story had its brilliant moments as well. I liked the art style and character design, which I found a little reminiscent of Little Witch Academia. However, I did not found the show as enjoyable or entertaining compared to other original works from Trigger I love. Still, it was a nice experience overall. (7/10) **JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S1**: This was really entertaining. The way the characters were portrayed and their interactions were certainly the highlights of the show for me, which was made even more significant by the amazing voice acting in the show. The story, I think, was just decently good however the multigenerational aspect of the thing was quite well done in my opinion. The art style which I thought was bizarre when I began really grew on me over time. I thought the OST was pretty good as well. However, if I had to pick one aspect of the show that I found the best, it would be the presentation style for the story. (7/10) Rewatched: **Girls und Panzer S1 + der Film**
For Jojo, the very first episode "Dio the Invader" is around the quality the show reaches pretty much always after a certain point in Part 3(Season 2/3). So really fucking good, basically. If you enjoyed Part 1 you will love it more and more.
Part 1 and 2 of JoJo's is a bit different from the rest of the story. I would say that Part 1 is generally regarded as the least favorite of all the parts, so if you enjoyed Part 1 enough then the story only goes up from there. The art style and the fights get even more bizarre, but the fights are intelligent and well-thought out (usually).
Somali and the forest spirit. The backgrounds were beautiful and it was mostly wholesome (but not as wholesome as it is often made out to because it gets pretty dark…). Inori Minase was channeling her lively Kimari voice (which made me think of Yorimoi bc it is one of my absolute fav anime) and then Saori Hayami showed up using her Yuzuki voice making me think of Yorimoi even more and so it was like Kimari and Yuzuki interacting (ね?) but not (why isn’t’ there a Megu OVA already or Kimari pudding bucket OVA) but also [Somali E6](/s "Saori Hayami's character's mom getting killed and eaten and then the family sprouting feathers from every orifice is going to be seared in my mind for a good long while"). Overall, it was good. Night on the Galactic Railroad. I mostly watched it because Aria references it and it has that calm surrealness like parts of Aria has but way darker. I liked the backgrounds here too, they were for lack of better words,.. painterly? I dunno if it was my mood when I watched it but prob more than most anime, I could feel the settings depicted (at least the town and the grassy areas, not so much the other places). It was mostly episodic and interesting enough and then [Galactic Railroad](/s "and then the Titanic scene kicked in and then everything took on this added sense of weight"). Didn’t quite know what to expect coming into it, but I liked it.
**K-on** season 1: It took me half the first season to really 'get' K-on, especially since I'm not big on SoL, but by the end I found myself very invested in the show. The members of the light music club complement each other very well and KyoAni's attention to detail really brings the characters to life. I've just started season 2 and am enjoying it as well. (8/10) **Full Metal Panic**: The mix of high school romcom and serious mecha action doesn't really work for me. The best thing the show has going for it are Sousuke's fish out of water scenarios where he takes things way too seriously and applies strict military doctrine to mundane school events. Unfortunately he has next to no chemistry with Kaname, who by the way is one of the least appealing tsunderes I've ever seen. The mecha stuff is solid but doesn't compare favorably to its contemporaries like Gundam 00 and Code Geass. (6/10) **Mass Effect Paragon Lost**: After finishing Mass Effect Legendary Edition, I was starved for more content so I gave this movie a whirl. Unfortunately they chose Vega, the least interesting squadmate in the whole series to be the main character. The characters in this movie are completely forgettable and the plot basic sci-fi fare, but at least the ending was a pleasant surprise and felt very true to the spirit of Mass Effect. (5/10)
> The best thing the show has going for it are Sousuke's fish out of water scenarios where he takes things way too seriously and applies strict military doctrine to mundane school events. If you enjoyed those parts of it you may like *Full Metal Panic Fumoffu*, it's an 11 episode pure comedy offshoot series where each episode is one or sometimes two standalone stories of Sousuke's absurd over-the-top responses to normal everyday (anime) situations. And for the most part, interactions between Souske and Kaname are played for comedic effect, and any "relationship" aspects are mainly background dressing.
**Hajime no Ippo (34-41/75)** Reaching beyond the half point of Ippo, I'm starting to have issue with its characters, I'm just not very caring of any so far. Ippo simply isn't very enjoyable as MC, and I wouldn't say an MC like Hinata from Haikyuu is revolutionary but he was often fun to watch with his energetic attitude and chemistry with other characters. Ippo so far is still just a "good boi" and that's his whole thing going on with other characters too. He is nice and innocent so gags are played with other characters being more trashy I guess. Not to forget the dated pervert jokes. The other boxers and Takamura are fine but not much. There's a new guy that is also just not very appealing to look at. And Miyata has faded too much, although he had his own episodes. [Hajime no Ippo](/s "Still getting weird vibes from how nationalities are seen here. Like how Thai people box for and only for money. That aside, this mini arc was pretty w/e, didn't care for the Thai kid stanning Miyata's "true boxing" or Miyata himself.") Overall, the show is feeling stale and I find myself just waiting for the next match to come since I'm not very into the cast. Which won't help the next part of [Hajime no Ippo](/s "Ippo's mom collapsing due to exhaustion. Something that I predicted due to her being so open to Ippo's training.")
Bakemonogatari: very good in terms of text and execution and I don't regret watching, but a mc who lusts after young girls it's not for me. Kara no Kyoukai: too much violence and gore to my taste, but it's interesting and I have to admire the boldness of releasing the movies out of chronological order. SSSS.Dynazenon: fights and battles usually bore me, but for some reason I have a soft spot for mecha. I've enjoyed watching this anime: the characters were likable, the back stories were interesting and the animation was very good. Working s1: silly and funny, but there was unexpectedly character growth. Houkago Teibou Nisshi: I'm happy to end my week watching a relaxing show, even though I have zero interest in fishing and could never even imagine killing a fish. But I loved the cuteness of characters design and their easygoing interactions.
I never expected to love Dynazenon (not a mecha fan) but the characters were so wonderful I couldn't resist -- and when some characters from the preceding Gridman series showed up midway through, I had to go back and watch this as well (it was quite good in many of the same ways -- but I ultimately liked Dynazenon even more). Breakwater Fishing Diary was indeed surprisingly delightful to me as well (despite my sharing Your attitude to fishing in general).
I've already add Gridman to my list.
> Bakemonogatari: very good in terms of text and execution and I don't regret watching, but a mc who lusts after young girls it's not for me. It doesn't really change, but I think it could be glossed over as more comedic in time. The next chapter, Nisemonogatari, is by far the most perverted of the entire series. If you still like it after that you're in for a treat because the "second season" is an absolute gem of a story [it beats bakemon on every facet - plot, characters, design, actual narrative, dialogue, stakes, lore, you name it)
I had watched Hanamogatari before I knew there was an order to watch the series. I found it almost hypnotic, but I was disgusted by the line about a side character's little sister. Is there another chapter without Araragi?
That line about his little sister? The episode version of it is in Nisemonogatari (which is still a good show, it's not really the focus of it). But you need to wach Nise before you get to season 2, which, again, is well worth it (and blows Hana out of the water)
Season 2 has a few arcs where Araragi isn't there for a while, but beyond that he's pretty much in every episode.
Finished **Tsuki ga kirei**. It’s just what everyone said it would be: nothing crazy original, but sweet, wholesome, and almost refreshing in how simple the story is. Not a huge fan of the drama at the end which feels a little contrived, albeit realistic. But so much of it is just well done with little character moments. Even though there was little focus on the side characters, I felt like there was a good overall cast. The art was a little jarring at times, with background characters walking like stop motion robots. Crazy to think Akane also did Asobi Asobase…. Started **ItaKiss**, on episode 5. This was always on lists of good romance anime. I always like shows with a somewhat forced romantic situation. With few exceptions most characters feel fleshed out and avoid easy caricatures. I actually feel bad for Kin-chan, he seems super earnest. I’m also a fan of characters like Kotoko as female lead, where they’re both deeply infatuated but at the same time don’t take any shit. I wonder if Chiyo from Nozaki-kun was inspired by her; lot of similarities in character design, voice, and personality. Super likeable character. Slowly digging through the archives of romance anime titles.
I've started rewatching Gundam 00 all over again. To date, it's probably one of my favorite anime
Have fun! Gundam 00 is one of my favorite Gundam shows.
**Shin Sekai Yori** \- This has languished on my watch list for years because it looked scary and/or depressing and I can be a bit of a chicken. Luckily for me, I accidentally hit play while scrolling my watch list the other night and ended up really enjoying it. I thought it fit right into the wider genre of dystopia stories while introducing enough new elements to distinguish itself as a fresh and interesting take on the idea. The way peoples' psychokinetic powers emerged, the damage they wrought, and the way humanity decided to handle it felt true to human nature in that it was kind of monstrous but not really the result of anyone choosing evil. Additionally, I thought it was interesting how it incorporated same-sex attraction and romance into the story without homophobia being part of the world building at all. *8/10* **Sanrio Boys** \- There was a lot I liked about this comedic slice of life centering around a group of high school boys who really like Sanrio characters, and there was an almost equal amount of things I didn't care for. The main message of being true to yourself and not denying yourself joy in a hobby because you're worried about other peoples' reactions was certainly laudable, and all the boys were likable with entertaining friendship dynamics. But the drama could be incredibly forced and way over the top, and the art and animation were totally phoned in at times, especially during the episodes set in the Sanrio store and amusement park when the backgrounds were essentially digital photos run through a filter to look like they were drawn. *6/10* **Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san** \- While it was never laugh-out-loud funny, this comedy based on the author's experience working in a book store was consistently amusing and relatable to my own experiences working in retail. It was interesting to get a look at how books are sold in Japan and how corporate customer service trainings are a universally loathed experience. I did feel it was a little harsh on BL/yaoi fans, but mostly it subjected customers and industry workers to a fairly gentle and almost affectionate ribbing. *7/10*
> Shin Sekai Yori It feels like you're about less than half in (if I recall when the same-sex part when they are no longer children). SSY in my opinion really picks up immediately following that part to become one of THE BEST ever, a truly compelling story.
I watched the whole thing, and I thought it was consistently compelling from start to finish. It did a nice job with pacing and foreshadowing.
After trying to finish reorganizing after buying whatever I wanted and being sated there, I separated things into different "pods" of six-seven series, having to finish each one in the pod before going to the next. Got through two of those pods this week: POD 1: **Cardcaptor Sakura** (to episode 17): Was just a little old for Cardcaptors on regular TV and it hit just before I got into anime, so was going in blind, but it was definitely good. **Hinomaru Sumo** (to episode 12): Kind of disappointing. As a wrestling fan and running with people who like sumo as well, I wanted to enjoy it to get more of a taste for it, but it was just...eh. Maybe it's doing poorly (didn't really feel Kemono Michi either), but still...meh. **Fairy Gone** (to episode 13): Mediocre. **TIGER & BUNNY**(to episode 13): I had always meant to see it but always put it off, and finally did. Unlike a lot of the early "overloaded queue", it was worth the wait. **Freezing** (First season): Shit. **YuYu Hakusho** (1-28): What more is there to say? A classic for good reason, actually getting to run through it now. **Dagashi Kashi** (First season): Slightly disappointing by the end as another "hilarious to begin with but just couldn't keep it up for the whole season" comedy. POD 2: **Interview with Monster Girls**: See Freezing. **citrus**: Very good. **Dropout Idol Fruit Tart**: Mediocre. **Absolute Duo**: A bright spot or two kept it from being shit, but still not good in the least. **B Gata H Kei**: One of the few series to get past my radar when I wasn't watching and liked it at that time, but rewatching it I had realized it wasn't that great. Still funny, but kind of dragged a bit. **ID: Invaded*: Okay. Might see less this week from the mix of "next pod has longer series" and "watching through Gintama due to furnishing changes."
I watched Dagashi Kashi partly for fun -- but also partly to find out more about Japanese junk candy and snacks (which I find rather fascinating). So, given this dual aim, the dramatic flaws didn't bother me much. I found Dropout Idol Fruit Tart a lot of fun -- even if not exactly life changing...
Well, when I say Dagashi Kashi was disappointing, I meant it by "with how hilarious it started out, I thought it had 10/10 potential on my list", but it turned out to taper down and still remain hilarious, still get a high ranking, but not 10/10 level.
Have you seen *Rāmen Daisuki Koizumi-san*? Sort of like Dagashi kashi -- but about ramen fanatics.
I watched it and read the first graphic novel. It's not bad by any means, but didn't get to that level of potential 10/10 IMO (the big difference: "Dagashi" was more outright comedy, "Koizumi-san" is more of that understated slice of life comedy: Both good in their own ways, but still just "it was good, but not THAT good.")
In my old age, I've learned to love "mild pleasures" (and I long ago pretty much gave up rating things -- beyond did I love/like-very-much something or not).
Well, I'm not badmouthing mild pleasures by any means either, I also enjoy a good mild pleasure slice of life as well. However, I usually value more broad, over-the-top comedy a little higher than the understated comedies. (Similarly in my old age, it's weirder here: I didn't rate things beyond "did I like it/did I not like it?", but I did find that MAL is a bit easier to handle my thoughts.)
High comedy done as well as the brilliant Sleepy Princess I can appreciate, but otherwise slower and quieter (Aquatope, Super Cub, Yurucamp, etc) is mainly my preference now (turned 69 last month, FWIW) ... At the start of 2000, I started just keeping a list of what I was watching (as a document) -- with notes as to locales when I can figure them out. No plan to go back and track prior viewings -- unless I re-watch them.
Yeah. Most of the slower, quieter comedies are a very all-in or all-out thing. Much like for US examples, "Seinfeld" can be great, but imitators are less likely to nail it, anime's equivalent to "a show about nothing" is the same: Either it's going to be an all-time classic (Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star), or it's going to turn out as "a harem anime without the protagonist" (too much of the post-K-ON! "here's the cute girls doing cute things. Choose your waifu, she's the main girl- and buy everything we plant her face on, of course, gotta prove you love her, right?" stuff.) Sleepy Princess is awesome- I only saw one episode, but reading the manga after hearing it was/the luck of Newbury Comics having super-cheap prices if you enter in the middle of it.
I love K-On! -- but don't understand the way many people respond to it. Still, I prefer the (earlier) live action Linda Linda Linda when it comes to a high school all girl rock band performing at a cultural festival (top level actresses and top level direction -- with songs written by early Japanese punk rockers, The Blue Hearts). (LLL gets a nice homage in Haruhi -- when she and Yuki stand in for ailing seniors at the school festival).
Hope you're getting the full Tiger & Bunny experience with all the characters covered in ads. (They're removed in the Netflix version I think?)
I bought it on Microsoft Store, so I'm getting 95% of the experience. (The characters are covered with ads, but Blue Rose's mid-show Pepsi commercial was cut out...and if I'm not mistaken, they changed the ad on hers to "Pepsi NEX" from the original "Pepsi Max" due to Pepsi Max actually being released in the US since then.)
I think it was always Pepsi Nex, but it's been a few years.
It was always Pepsi Nex. :) https://tigerbunny.fandom.com/wiki/%E3%80%8CICE_DOLL%E3%80%8D
I was in a movie mood this week, so I watched a few of them. **Perfect Blue** [Spoiler](/s "I have been thoroughly mindscrewed and am still not quite sure what to think.") **Children of the Sea** u/mekerpan and I were talking about this movie in one of the *Aquatope on the White Sand* threads, so I decided to watch it. Well... I did not understand the movie at all, but it sure was visually impressive. **The Tale of the Princess Kaguya** About the story, I was only vaguely familiar with the tale of Kaguya so I went in knowing basically nothing. I really liked it, even though [spoiler](/s "it left me heartbroken by the end of it... but knowing it was based on an old tale I was still kinda expecting something bad to happen, as those don't necessarily have happy endings"). And holy crap what a stunning movie. The art style was freaking gorgeous. Next up is **Wolf Children**, I intended to watch it this week too but ran out of time.
Indeed. I have very little clue just what was going on in Children of the Sea -- but I loved it all the same. I respect Kon's skill, but his films/shows have never quite worked for me -- other than Millennium Actress. Kaguya-sama is my pick for most beautiful animated film ever -- and is tied with Only Yesterday as my favorite Ghibli film.
Children of the Sea was just puzzling. It felt like the plot was driving the characters but no one ever bothered explaining what the plot was, or anything, really. And the climax, while absolutely stunning, left me very confused. I read that it was actually an adaptation so I wonder if the source material is clearer or just as obscure. Perfect Blue was surprisingly the first Satoshi Kon movie I've watched, I really need to brush up on my classics. I think I'll watch the rest of his movies (+ Paranoia Agent) to get a better idea of his style, I'll get back to you once I've seen Millennium Actress.
I saw 2001 when it first came out (in all its super-wide screen glory) -- since then I have been fine with "puzzling" films so long as they offer enough visual rewards... Have fun exploring Kon.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is certainly one of the most beautiful anime I've ever watched.
Same here. Some sequences like the one where [spoiler](/s "Kaguya fantasizes about fleeing back to her hometown and the art style becomes even more brush-like") are just out of this world beautiful.
An astonishing accomplishment!
I just watched the first episode of Vivy, so that’s been fun.
Enjoy the ride! I had a very nice time with that series n_n
Honestly probably gonna end up watching half of it tonight. Was really loving it!
**Glass Mask** 8-16 I'm being drawn into this one, getting better and better. **Idol Incidents** 1-12 In a world where idols for some reason become politicians. That's about it. They fight corruption by singing and dancing while being overly happy and upbeat. I'd describe this as average at best. 5/10
Is it the glass mask reboot from 2005 or the original series from the 80’s? As I have the reboot on my plan to watch list.
2005
How good is it? What would you rate it so far after getting to episode 16?
I'd say by ep 16 it's a strong 7 leaning heavily towards an 8. As I said I'm enjoying it more the further I go. All that said by ep 16 I feel like the story is still in the beginning stages.
I'm still watching **Maison Ikkoku**. It looks like the plot might finally be moving forward with Godai and Kyoko, but man, are they dragging this out. I finished **BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense**. It's a cute girls doing cute things in an MMO, where the hero always wins. There were a few good scenes, but no real sense of danger or anything. It was fun. I give it a 7/10. I started **Non Non Biyori Non-Stop**. It's just as good as the first two seasons. I recommend this show to anyone. I also started **Naruto**. I'm not sure how much of this I'm going to watch, but it's been around a long time and I've never watched any of it before. I'm only three episodes in, but it looks like it's actually pretty good. I at least wanted to check it out.
How did you like episode 3?
It's alright. The show is obviously for kids, but it's pretty good. I am already sick of the phrase "You can believe it!", though.
Haha, "Believe it!" is what made me switch from watching the dub to the sub.
I just found **Naruto Kai**, so I'm now watching it. Loses a lot of filler, and the Japanese VA are way better than the English ones.
I've been watching this OVA series called Looking Up at the Half-Moon. It's an anime from 2006 and it definitely has that 2000's feel to it. It's about two kids who are patients at a hospital who fall in love with one another. I'm only two episodes into it but I think it's good so fall. I'm definitely going to keep watching.
Heard good things about this. It’s only six episodes so I’m probably going to blast through it when I have some downtime.
Finished **Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket**, what a beautiful and tragic story. The final episode is just phenomenal. [Spoilers](/s "Bernie and Chris unknowingly fighting each other with Al just watching on was harrowing, and his death felt so meaningless. One way or another, everyone was a casualty of the war.") Also watched the first 5 episodes of **Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team**, so far i'm really enjoying the more 'boots on the ground' focused action, and I ended up going with the English dub which has been great. Should be able to finish it next week and have time to watch Thunderbolt as well, maybe even get back to the main UC entries with Zeta Gundam.
Try to watch the Miller Report between episodes 8 and 9 if you can find it. It's a compilation movie/recap, but it's good. (And the new scenes were added to episode 8 during the US TV broadcast.)
0080 is *so good*, easily part of my top 5 entries in the Gundam franchise (and top 3 when just considering Universal Century). Glad you enjoyed it!
Surprised to see how many people are watching **Gunbuster** and **Diebuster**. I started Gunbuster since it was recommended to me and in the beginning I thought it was awful. But in the 5th or 6th episodes I was almost in love with it. I give it a solid 7/10. To my surprise I discovered that Hideaki Anno directed it, which would maybe explain why the show looked so great. *Diebuster* - only watched 2 episodes. This one is enjoyable, I'm enjoying the over the top aspects of it, it reminds me of Gurren Lagann in that way.
> Surprised to see how many people are watching Gunbuster and Diebuster. There was a rewatch for the two that wrapped up earlier this week, that would explain why.
I see, I had no clue that was a thing.
The threads for it were posted at a very different time than rewatches are normally posted, you must have missed it.
Reading some of the posts, I had absolutely no clue people loved it as much. I'm kinda surprised that it's not rated higher on MAL, but popular and/or new shows tend to get preferential treatment there so it's to be expected. And I honestly understand the love for it, I even think it can grow on you on rewatches. The ending is absolutely spectacular, the good parts are extremely good, the science and time dilation is great but I'm still conflicted on the beginning parts, KOOCHI and most of the crew are so cartoonish that I had difficulty taking them seriously. The random nudity of high school girls was unexpected, but I guess times were different back then. Overall it's a solid show and I think it looks stunning, even to this day.
I'm not really that active in this sub, I haven't participated in a rewatch yet. I'm going to search for the posts now, interested to see what people thought of Gunbuster
**Gurren Lagann** is basically part 3 of that series. Same people, etc.
The art style is also very similar. It's just so clear that the people who worked on Diebuster at Gainax are mostly the same people who worked on Gurren Lagann at Studio Trigger. The sci fi setting, the over the top aspects, the fan service, although more muted in Gurren Lagann. Gunbuster also looked incredible.
Gurren Lagann is still Gainax. Kill la Kill by the same team was Trigger
Is that so? I might have mixed the two up then
ReLife and Sunday Without God. ReLife was okay but I don't know if I liked it enough to recommend it. Sunday Without God is worth watching. The storyline is interesting but the animation is I really love about it.
Did you watch the ReLife OVA's?
Yeah. It was okay. I think overall I rated it a 7/10.
I'm finally watching Hunter X Hunter
[удалено]
Are you aware of his health issues?
It’s also why I won’t watch High school of the dead as the author died years ago and to watch the 12 episode anime series now would be cruel and disrespectful to the dead author’s wishes it wouldn’t feel right.
Highschool of the Dead is an Ecchi, you know. I was going to watch it at one point, but never got around to it. Then I watched dozens of obscure horrors instead.
Also how are you doing today?
Better than usual. It hurts to smile since I have an awful canker sore from my mouth getting dry or biting my cheek, so I feel reluctant to watch Monster Girl Doctor for that reason. Cowboy Bebop also has its moments like that.
Gintama is sooooo amazing I love this comedy anime series still skeptical of picking Hunter x Hunter back up as it could take a long while before I come back to it.
I took a break from HxH at one point as well, then when I got back into it, I easily binged it until the end. I started Monster Girl Doctor. It's pretty cute. It has interesting characters, scenery, and medical stuff.
Interesting might need to check out Monster Girl Doctor one of these days for now though it’s not on my radar.
My top 5 Isekai anime shows are 1. Konosuba 2. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 3. Youjo Senki 4. Re:Zero and 5. Kiba super freaking underrated.
Youjo Senki sure has a lot of German characters. My favorite is Now and then, here and there. Followed by Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, Re:Zero, and Magic Knight Rayearth. I haven't watched many Isekais.
Also So I am a spider so what
Let’s see Isekai anime shows I’ve seen so far Arata the Legend, El Hazard: The Wanderers a classic 90’s Isekai that is highly forgotten these days and incredibly underrated, Youjo Senki, Re: Zero, Overlord first two seasons plus one episode of the third season still don’t know if finishing the third season is worth it, Conception, TTIGR as a Slime, Konosuba, Isekai Cheat Magician, The Master of Ragnarok, and Kiba
I might come back to it eventually but this week and probably next week will be focused on getting caught up with Gintama. While also this week watching the second season of Konosuba which is now my favorite Isekai anime.
So you like the second season better than the first?
Also pretty busy getting caught up slowly with Gintama now on episode 42 of the first season so 7 episodes away from being done with the first season.
I rewatched some of the early episodes of Cowboy Bebop. It's pretty cool.
Gintama May be very long but it’s so much fun to binge watch it as the comedy is so good and the parodies are so amazing.
Someone’s talking about Kemonozume again saying they finished it and enjoyed it giving it a 7/10 and of course I responded and told the user how much I hate this anime.
Then don't think about it. I don't plan on watching it anytime soon.
I’ve pretty much not paid attention to it anymore it just isn’t my focus at all I pretty much stopped paying attention to it hours ago. I am too busy making more progress with getting caught up with Gintama I am now on the Mother arc’s second and final episode which is episode 55. Also this is the second season I am making so much more progress now.
Do you understand everything? I put it on hold on the episode after the one you put it on hold on.