What anime are you watching right now? Dec10-Apr11

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Up to episode 18 in Linebarrels of Iron.... Wow. Eps 13-16 got dark and serious, very much contrasting the first half of the series. Not only that, but the series actually got better while at the same time it also killed off a few main characters. Then the end of ep 16 had Hideaki return and eps 17 and 18 returned to normal with the exceptions of him now having the Apparition and Idaten being upgraded to Idaten Nogota; oh, and Jack switched sides suddenly. Only six eps left, maybe I'll finish it tomorrow.

[child of Lilith]

This weeks Gosick was solid. Here's hoping the show stays that way.

[Natsuka_Chie]

Finished Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS last night, and saw Madoka Magica 07 and Hourou Musuko 05 tonight.

Madoka keeps getting better every week, I hope it continues until the end.

[symbv]

Thanks for warning - I've based my "schedule" on what I knew of first film's theatric run. This is to say, I think it was still in some theatres 6 months after the premiere.

The venues may have entirely changed after the first 1-2 months though -- Usually movies in Japan start showing in bigger theaters and for standard fares the venues will change after 2 weeks or so to smaller and/or older venues. At the moment there are 6 cinemas in Tokyo (and 6 more in neighboring areas) showing this movie and almost all are cineplex meaning they have hugely different capacity of the theaters inside. http://www.macrossf.com/movie2/theater.html It is worth the effort to identify the cinema that is newer (thus have the best sound and video equipment) and is showing the film in bigger theater -- the ticket price is the same but the experience can be HUGELY DIFFERENT ( I fell victim to such careless selection before so I KNEW) At it stands now I advise Shinjuku Balt 9 as the newest venue with central location in Tokyo -- hopefully MacrossF will still be shown there when you come over. (just let me know when you finally set the date)

it's not like I've expected anyone from this forum to see it before I do with possible exception of LiLi - and now you. As long as you don't spoil it I should be safe here :P

And most big sites are careful with spoilers, at least in west.

Hopefully it works out well then... In Japan discussion boards like 2chan do not have spoiler button and blogs may or may not give spoiler alerts -- so "netabare" (spoiler in Japanese) is a constant presence to live with. The biggest "neta-bare" fight going on is Osaka got shown Puella Magi Madoka Magika one day before Tokyo, and fans in Tokyo had to live with "neta-bare" from Osaka about PMMM development :( The extent of "neta-bare" has reduced since last week as some unspoken compromise between the Tokyo and Osaka camp but it has not stopped all "neta-bare" doing the round every Thursday night (when PMMM is shown in Osaka region).

Bakemonogatari was/is really popular "in the west" anyway and dialogues are big reason for that so I don't see what you're surprised about tbh

Because I am not sure how well the dialogues are translated into English. The subtlety and nuance may get lost in the translation, and there is also a cultural difference factor as well. That scene about the give-and-take pointy exchanges of conversation is just one of the many memorable dialogues in BMG -- outwardly pretentious and unreal but speak volumes about the characters and their situations. I had thought that the main reason for the western fans to check BMG is because of its being done by Shaft and all those artwork, animation and fan-service stuff, but I guess there are indeed some fans who can see deeper into the anime what it can offer.

I intend to get BD player and then start hoarding my favourites on BDs, no matter how slowly.

Same story here -- At the moment I can only play BD on my laptop but I am already hunting for BGM BDs :-o

But you miss one important thing: I doubt Air would move me today like it did back then, for various reasons and growing cynicism is not only one of them. It isn't all that hard to move me a lot - at least I don't consciously hold myself in opposition to work in most cases. But I doubt Air would be able to do it.

I did not miss it -- in fact I am not asking that you should be moved by AIR now. It is just that I do not think that you need to remember that experience with AIR when you first watched it as being "embarrassing" "immature" or "lapse of reason". I see that experience was a wonderful thing you got. I would have treasured it as a piece of warm memory if I were in the same situation.

and you reveal here that you're pretty new member. I can take (and do and have especially done in past) take very analytical, critical stances in evaluation of works. In this regard Oz is no more "critic type" than I am. I still am very picky when it comes to films I watch, for example, but less so with anime

Perhaps I should have qualified that I was talking about "anime critic". I am sure in the past you splashed more flames around criticism of anime (as you told me once you had to plead with admin to come back to EGF). By the time I joined I still remember a lot of sharp tongues and foul mouth from you -- but there is also a mellow and tolerant side of you growing over the past few months I can see. Perhaps it's just a temporary blip and if so I dread when your "super-critic" mode get switched on again

(Main reason I've never written review for MF is because Merri's is already very good :P).

I learnt quite a lot from Merri's analysis and reviews. Thank you, Merri Now I am going to dig out the MF tv series...

Probably it's ACGT though I'm not sure. And I think that blogger is Japanese, actually. And obviously huge SHAFT fan. Why he blogs in english I do not know.

His English is pretty good -- yeah the photos he took seem to indicate he lives in Tokyo... Interesting.. Although he said he would write about the "big four", at the end he wrote only about SHAFT

Shoujo stuff like Todoke requires certain mentality to watch and dig it and I've had hard time achieving that as of late.

That's right. Many girls (at least in Japan) seem to have the innate mentality to take the slow pace and awkwardness of the communication thing. One needs to at least have the patience to follow it through. What is interesting is that there seemed to fewer complaints in the Kurumi arc perhaps many watchers thought that after Kurumi all should have been bright and clear for the couple? I for one never expected it to be so easy when I was reading the manga. In many ways Sawako and Kazehaya are similar -- particularly when it comes to over-sensitivity when they face the true love one. Kazehaya can never do what Kent does because it is far beyond his character and capability, just like Sawako can never do what Kurumi did approaching Kazehaya.

What is this "Animate" thing you speak of? I guess the picture is from the Ranka art book (though I've never seen that one before) but...?

ANIMATE is the biggest chain store specialized in anime/manga stuff. I usually go to the Akihabara branch as the store occupies a WHOLE BUILDING and I can check manga, anime, CD, figurine, light novels (and even the adult stuff) there. It even sells cosplay costumes... Its biggest rival Tora no Ana is just next door and also has a WHOLE BUILDING to itself -- the difference being that Tora no ana is strong on doujinshi while Animate is strong on anime merchandise. There are also a bunch of second-hand manga, anime and figurine stores around and those are my usual haunting place to find my hunt :)

The Ranka Lee Visual Collection is the latest MacrossF book to come out. As you can see, the pic is its cover. Its official release date is Feb20 but like most manga/anime stuff the actual available date is always earlier. I went to Animate on Feb17 but did not see that book; I went again on Feb18 and here it was. I just wonder whether you know about this book -- being a super Ranka fan you are

[Oz]

but yeah, I can't imagine Oz watching half of the stupid crap I've watched and occasionally enjoyed over long period of time.

True, but in turn I can't imagine you watching most of the japshit I've watched during the past 12 months.

wait what? Air isn't harem show by any means, not even the original eroge is "harem" as you can pursue only one route per time.

It has been, what, 2 or 3 years since I've seen Air so I don't remember the details apart from these:

SPOILER: Show

1. Protagonist arrives in town
2. Is surrounded by an all-female cast (with pretty much everyone clinging to him as far as I can remember)
3. DRAMA
4. Main romantic interest is ill
5. Protagonist leaves

[symbv]

GoSick was most excellent as expected. That maid is crazy... I don't have the slightest idea who is behind it. Why do they guests keep being killed? What's up with the town? Why's the maid acting crazy? What about the nun that's dressing slutty now?

Somehow I got very distracted by the very unEuropean (in fact almost Japanese) festival music playing in the background...

[Xard]

QFMFT goddamnit Alesteir what took you SO LONG, I've been waiting for this since I finished S1



...damnit Last Order I can't be angry at Raildex anymore

Reverse Week is awesome as hell thing for this show. If ep 19 was any indication of how the rest of the show will play out I have no idea just how much this one arc will restore my love for the franchise.

This is how J.C Staff's flagship should be like. Ahh, finally I get this feeling from watching Index again.

also: Orthodox Church = BEST CHURCH

Because I am not sure how well the dialogues are translated into English. The subtlety and nuance may get lost in the translation, and there is also a cultural difference factor as well. That scene about the give-and-take pointy exchanges of conversation is just one of the many memorable dialogues in BMG -- outwardly pretentious and unreal but speak volumes about the characters and their situations. I had thought that the main reason for the western fans to check BMG is because of its being done by Shaft and all those artwork, animation and fan-service stuff, but I guess there are indeed some fans who can see deeper into the anime what it can offer.

Well I doubt anyone checked it out for "dialogues" in the first place because barely anyone knew of NisiOisiN anyway I guess after Bakemonogatari and Katanagatari he's starting to get somewhat known among western fans too.

By the time I joined I still remember a lot of sharp tongues and foul mouth from you -- but there is also a mellow and tolerant side of you growing over the past few months I can see. Perhaps it's just a temporary blip and if so I dread when your "super-critic" mode get switched on again

Wellllll, it's not like my opinions have changed, I just express them more mildly because you raised fuss about some Brik's comments and I don't want you to interprept my opinions harsher than they really are simply due to way I tend to write. :P

I learnt quite a lot from Merri's analysis and reviews. Thank you, Merri Now I am going to dig out the MF tv series...

looking at other shit he has reviewed... I especially recommend Kaiba and Mind Game if you haven't seen them yet. Yuasa is genius

ANIMATE is the biggest chain store specialized in anime/manga stuff. I usually go to the Akihabara branch as the store occupies a WHOLE BUILDING and I can check manga, anime, CD, figurine, light novels (and even the adult stuff) there. It even sells cosplay costumes... Its biggest rival Tora no Ana is just next door and also has a WHOLE BUILDING to itself -- the difference being that Tora no ana is strong on doujinshi while Animate is strong on anime merchandise. There are also a bunch of second-hand manga, anime and figurine stores around and those are my usual haunting place to find my hunt

Awesome. I knew Tora no Ana but only anime shop I know is...ohwait, Animate is the Anime Tenchou shop. Yeah looks like I just forgot it

That commercial was directed by Anno and animated largerly by Imaishi (who acted as animation director of course) btw

The Ranka Lee Visual Collection is the latest MacrossF book to come out. As you can see, the pic is its cover. Its official release date is Feb20 but like most manga/anime stuff the actual available date is always earlier. I went to Animate on Feb17 but did not see that book; I went again on Feb18 and here it was. I just wonder whether you know about this book -- being a super Ranka fan you are

ｷﾀ━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━!! is what I should say, I guess... I really am not very interested in hoarding merchandize and "art books" in general - only anime/manga related such stuff I own are Der Mond* and Art of Nausicaa - and if it hasn't even officially come out yet there's no way I'd know about it. Only one I knew is this and supposedly it's very light on any notable content so I haven't got it either.

Hmm, going by this the new one sounds pretty nice (since for some reason they felt need to summarize it with CAPS LOCK and in english, lol). But I must ask: Where is one for Sheryl? With 99% probability the film is last thing of MF ever so they're going to all out milking mode anyway - it would make absolutely no sense if there isn't new collection for Sheryl too.

*this isn't related to anything but it always bugs me out that Mond is masculine word in German. WTF are the huns doing...

***************

Today I marathoned all winter shows I'm following from this week (SD and OG air tomorrow though) and mysterious phenomenom happened. My reactions to all series were pretty much reverse of my usual ones with Madoka in its HOLY SHIT WIN tierness being sole exception. Hopefully Star Driver tomorrow will be another one. Thus I dubbed this week "Reverse Week"

Fractale disappointed me - by no means it was bad or anything but it didn't impress me like four first episodes. It was "just" ok. In general episode was enjoyable but nothing special and the final bit felt a bit awkwardly placed and paced.

As another reversal the glasses guy didn't annoy me at all in Hourou Musuko - unlike everyone else it seems. The episode was pretty nice and all but it didn't grab me all that powerfully like previous ones and I felt little sympathy for Nitorin's GENDER ISSUES and TRAP HABITS, which was yet another reversal.

And how ironic that ep 6 that has bred so much haetraeg ended up being the first Kimi ni Todoke episode I managed to "sync with" properly. First time this winter, just when I had bitched about my inability to do that! Alas I finally had ;___; and HHHHHNNNNGG-infested lolshoujo session with the series. I wasn't even too annoyed by Kazehaya because at least he FINALLY manned up and confessed. The MISUNDERSTANDINGS shit is just, ehh, y'know, shoujo. I can deal with it though I must say it's proof of show's quality and its ability to make me care that I feel extremely stressed whenever things go bad for Sawako and gang in this show. Nervewrecking.

Best reversal of them all however was performed by Index: Index ep 19 was fucking amazing and I was euphoric about all the badassitude on the screen. Holy shit. If it wasn't for Madoka Index would've been this week's best so far!

Following that, Madoka proved to be the only exception to rule. And in what a way! It was most impressing episode since ep 3 or ep 4 to me. Holy shit amazing.

Hooking up with Inu Curry was best thing Shinbo ever did as director.

I hope Star Driver proves to be another exception, especially since ep 20 seems to have all ingredients that are required for BEST EP EVAH.

I've also somewhat enjoyed two last SRW OG Inspector eps. Previous ep was considerably helped by presence of NORIO FUCKING WAKAMOTO.

Let's hope even Inspector is enjoyable during this Reverse Week!

[toe mash]

Reverse Week

Quick Xard, watch Clannad while you can still enjoy it and won't have to power watch through those 23 episodes!1!!1!1!1

You might even find the "Kyou Chapter" special episode not incredibly shit!

[Xard]

I'm not sure if Reverse Week has any effect on shows that have already finished airing

Guess I could test with first ep of Clannad and next ep of Macross 7 (I don't remember where I put it on hold, harumph)...

edit: HOLY SHIT BURIED TREASURE IS BACK

I've known about this OVA before but I've never seen it..guess I could check it out

oh, and I also watched first ep of Strike Witches!!!!!!

I have no face left. This is at the same time most awesome and most stupid thing I've seen in a long, long while. Animation quality was amazing for something so silly though.

Only real criticism I have (I mean, how you can't love pantsu lolis flying around and zapping enemies? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN WIRINGS) is that Chiba Saeko seemed to overact a bit as Sakamoto but that's minor quip

[BrikHaus]

Finished Akagi.

Fuck yeah, it's the Gurren Lagann of Mahjong anime. Hopefully, there will be a season 2 or OVA or something to wrap things up a little better. Nevertheless, it was an awesome series.

[symbv]

I'm not sure if Reverse Week has any effect on shows that have already finished airing

Perhaps the idea is when you are still at a high, it may be easier for you to get into Clannad without too much presumptions? :)

edit: HOLY SHIT BURIED TREASURE IS BACK

I've known about this OVA before but I've never seen it..guess I could check it out

The article said "Angel Densetsu" was now forgotten by manga fans, but given its 9 years run and 15 volumes of tankobon it was not a failure in those days. The 90s artstyle did not work for me somehow (yeah, as delinquents go I prefer the artstyle of Beezelbub) and I found it interesting to see Norihiro Yagi's art style seemed to have changed a bit when he wrote CLAYMORE afterwards. As for the OVA, well it is truly forgotten now in Japan -- interesting to see that in those days film studios like Toei Video was still a major player in the anime scene....

oh, and I also watched first ep of Strike Witches!!!!!!

I have no face left. This is at the same time most awesome and most stupid thing I've seen in a long, long while. Animation quality was amazing for something so silly though.

You have passed the point of no return. MOE heaven is calling for you! IMHO, SW is great but SW2 is even greater. I have just spent 3000 yen to buy the "Ending theme collection of Strike Witches 2" so that I can listen to 13 times the SW2 ending song OVER SKY under various seiyuu combination !! I DEMAND SEASON 3 !!!

[Azathoth]

Just watched Paradox Spiral hence the new avatar from DAT POSTCREDITS SCENE. JESUS CHRIST MY DICK AND HEART BOTH EXPLODED.

It was actually an okay movie too, rather than being Nasu Blather + decent animation + decent acting. Also I'm going to guess that those were Nasu's prototypes for Kotomine and Shirou, in the original LN?

aaaaaand proto-Shirou was voiced by Simon from TTGL. Knew that voice was familiar.

[LeoXiao]

Seirei no Moribito

A very good anime by the guy who directed Stand Alone Complex. Set in an East-Asian style ancient kingdom, it follows the story of a young prince who for various reasons, is assigned a woman bodyguard. The plot is relatively simple, but takes a few nice twists as we are shown what it is that endangers the prince and indeed his entire country. The characters are all rather well-conceived and are well fleshed-out over the course of the 26 episodes. The bodyguard reminds me a lot of a medieval version of Motoko from GitS, which is by no means a bad thing, and the prince, while he is portrayed accurately (relatively) as the child that he is, also has a certain amount of royal courage, which is good to see in contrast to many a spineless anime-boy.

8/10

[Mr. Tines]

Hopefully, there will be a season 2 or OVA or something to wrap things up a little better.

Last I heard, in the manga, they were still on Namek in Washizu's mansion -- that match has been going on for around a decade now.

Seirei no Moribito

Having read the book in translation, there was a lot of fleshing out in the anime of a very compact story -- the anime as we saw it is at least 50% Production IG original, and the better for it.

If you liked that, then you might try the other Production IG adaptation of Nahoko Uehashi's writing, Kemono no Souja Erin.

[symbv]

If ep 19 was any indication of how the rest of the show will play out I have no idea just how much this one arc will restore my love for the franchise.

This arc lasts two volumes of the light novels, so it should take us right to the end of S2 for Index (or Raildex or In-nantoka-san). I must say that the Italy arc is good but the current arc is just GREAT. They even made a new OP just for this arc !! (still counting the number of characters crammed in the OP..)

Wellllll, it's not like my opinions have changed, I just express them more mildly because you raised fuss about some Brik's comments and I don't want you to interprept my opinions harsher than they really are simply due to way I tend to write. :P

I was hoping the shift in style was not because of me.. oh well...
But I stand by my condemnation made before -- it just gave western anime fans a bad name. It is all the more regrettable that such style has to be adopted to attract readership.

Awesome. I knew Tora no Ana but only anime shop I know is...ohwait, Animate is the Anime Tenchou shop. Yeah looks like I just forgot it

That commercial was directed by Anno and animated largerly by Imaishi (who acted as animation director of course) btw

How did you know about Anime Tenchou? Because the animation commercial was done by Anno? I believe for westerners the usual way to know Anime Tenchou would be from Lucky Star....

This is a character created by ANIMATE in the line of the cliched old-school hot-blooded "fighter" like Ashita no Joe to represent the chain, and there are in fact more than one "anime tenchou" for various branch stores, some are real branches some are fictitious, and they appear in the manga that came with the free pamphlets distributed in Animate stores. The compilation of the manga already came to 4 tankobon since the characters were created in 2000.

But I must ask: Where is one for Sheryl? With 99% probability the film is last thing of MF ever so they're going to all out milking mode anyway - it would make absolutely no sense if there isn't new collection for Sheryl too.

Ah, you care about Sheryl too... The Sheryl one was out more than one year ago! Don't know why but they hold back Ranka until one week before the launch of the movie... Perhaps Sheryl is to help push the 1st movie and Ranka is help push the 2nd movie?

Today I marathoned all winter shows I'm following from this week (SD and OG air tomorrow though) and mysterious phenomenom happened.

I take that you just marathoned the latest episodes not watched the series from Ep.1 again?

Fractale disappointed me - by no means it was bad or anything but it didn't impress me like four first episodes. It was "just" ok. In general episode was enjoyable but nothing special and the final bit felt a bit awkwardly placed and paced.

Finally you also dropped the evaluation of the series.... Internet buzz in Japan for Fractale is petering out quickly while PMMM discussions in 2chan has broken the record of the fatest growth rate of comments. At this rate it may even overtake the No.1 holder Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.... Not sure what Yamakan is thinking now -- perhaps he has some tricks up his sleeves for the end stage...

As another reversal the glasses guy didn't annoy me at all in Hourou Musuko - unlike everyone else it seems.

At least not me... I think he is just fine.

Best reversal of them all however was performed by Index: Index ep 19 was fucking amazing and I was euphoric about all the badassitude on the screen. Holy shit. If it wasn't for Madoka Index would've been this week's best so far!

I am glad that Amata Kihara finally took the stage and face off Accelerator !! All the come-together of all those people inside Academy City and the resulted chemistry is just fascinating.

******
Latest watch:

Mitsudomoe Ep.6&7 How come so many jokes revolve around Mitsuba's fatness?? Get a bit tired of it already. I found the stories with grown-ups the funniest (esp the parents' meetings in Ep.6!) The "curling in swimming pool" is deja-vu: Didn't we have something similar on ice back in season 1? Even the idea of using classical music played as ED on the rerun of the footage is same. With only one more episode to go, I can say that while the animation quality is as competent as season 1 the laugh index is noticeably lower in this season.

Oniichan Ep.7 Focusing on the AGE, the hentai classmates of the MC, is not that fun. The episode looks much more boring than other episodes. Was my worry of manga meterial running out becoming true? Or the story is actually in the manga but not being compiled in tankobon yet? This does not bode well for the remainder of the series.

I.S. Yumekui Merry and Koreha Zombie Desuka are keeping their quality and for the latter two the story is getting more interesting as more serious development of the characters happened (particularly Merry in the former and Yuu in the latter).

******

There is one more anime I happened to bump into this morning. I believe for western anime fans most of the time they check out sci-fic/fantasy anime or fan-service/moe anime but there is also the anime that serves for a kind of education + entertainment. This morning I came across an anime for Romance of Three Kingdom made by Chinese/Japan collaboration. Animation production is done by Takara-Tomy, a major toy maker, and the art quality is just so-so but I read that it is the only anime that strives to cover the whole length of the Chinese classic historical literature (which is very well-known in Japan). The series is to have 52 episodes (it is on its 47th episode this week) and anyone who is interested can check this Opening



Some more info (in English) can be found here.

[Mr. Tines]

This morning I came across an anime for Romance of Three Kingdom made by Chinese/Japan collaboration.

That would be the one mentioned here -- http://chartfag.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/spring-v2/ -- by the Beijing Glorious Animation Company, which is languishing in "subs fukken never" along with most of the 50-episode literary adaptations of recent years.

It is an unfortunate fact that both fansubs and the recent wave of legitimate streaming concentrate on the shows which pimp out 2D high-school girls to desperate 20-somethings who don't indulge in 3D enjo-kousai. Series that don't fit that mould have to have really something special about them to attract the effort.

[Xard]

It is an unfortunate fact that both fansubs and the recent wave of legitimate streaming concentrate on the shows which pimp out 2D high-school girls to desperate 20-somethings who don't indulge in 3D enjo-kōsai.

but only one I can think of is Amagami SS!

"Standard fanservice show of the season" ignored, ofc

[symbv]

It is an unfortunate fact that both fansubs and the recent wave of legitimate streaming concentrate on the shows which pimp out 2D high-school girls to desperate 20-somethings who don't indulge in 3D enjo-kousai.

20-something don't have the money to do enjo-kousai. Only middle-aged salarymen have the $$$ and they are usually not the targeted consumer of anime. Even that Romance of Three Kingdom anime is more for pupils and students even though the novel itself has much broader age-group range for readership.

[InstrumentalityOne]

There is one more anime I happened to bump into this morning. I believe for western anime fans most of the time they check out sci-fic/fantasy anime or fan-service/moe anime but there is also the anime that serves for a kind of education + entertainment. This morning I came across an anime for Romance of Three Kingdom made by Chinese/Japan collaboration. Animation production is done by Takara-Tomy, a major toy maker, and the art quality is just so-so but I read that it is the only anime that strives to cover the whole length of the Chinese classic historical literature (which is very well-known in Japan). The series is to have 52 episodes (it is on its 47th episode this week) and anyone who is interested can check this Opening
Some more info (in English) can be found here.

Oh shit, I remember reading parts of this in chinese before I finally gave up because I couldn´t understand the way they spoke back then.
Do they use Japanese old-talk(humble?), formal talk or casual talk?

[symbv]

Oh shit, I remember reading parts of this in chinese before I finally gave up because I couldn´t understand the way they spoke back then.
Do they use Japanese old-talk(humble?), formal talk or casual talk?

The Japanese used is generally modern (not arcane like those NHK taiga historical drama) and in mostly formal style (as befits generals talking to each other or to their master). Perhaps it needs to consider the fact that the audience are mainly middle or high school students.

Also, there is a Chinese language version with seiyuu and OP/ED all done in Chinese.　The Chinese OP can be heard here (which goes on to show Ep.1 in Chinese)