What anime are you watching right now? 2H15 to 1H16

[Asuka Shikinami Langley]

watching Sereph Of The End

[A.T. Fish]

After watching the first few episodes of shows in the new season those were my impressions:

Mayoiga: Could also be called Lost: The anime. The difference between this one and the infamous TV show is that people strand themselves voluntarily instead of being victims of a plane crash, and there are more high schoolers of course, because anime. At first I was skeptical about how they would handle the massive ensemble cast (30 characters) but the show actually flows quite smoothly, to my surprise. Of course every character is a one-note character at this point, but the thickening o the plot has made up for it thus far. I'm in it for the mystery, but I fully expect the reveal to be disappointing, which would further cement its similarity to Lost.

Kabaneri: Still a fun action show with a cool premise. It's also the best looking show in the season, I think. Probably the best show overall too.

Kuromukuro: Generic mecha show. I really like the characters though, probably my favorite characters out of all the shows this season. It's actually a good watch, despite being undeniably generic. The OP song is catchy, which is always nice.

Kiznaiver: The opposite of Kuromukuro, the premise is really interesting but the characters are boring. So far they are just as one-note as the characters in Mayoiga, who outnumber them 5 to 1. I've only seen two episodes though so things can change, and I hope they do.

Kuma Miko: It's no Non Non Biyori but it has its moments.

[Alaska Slim]

Escaflowne failed the "what do we have available to watch right now" test. It's not a title I've ever acquired a copy of.

And likewise.

VOTOMS? Robotech? Ulysses 31? Battle Of The Planets?

Kuromukuro: Generic mecha show. I really like the characters though

Generic? Gasaraki was boring, not generic. Same to Black Jack & Mr. Space Elf go to a Funeral (link), and this show borrows heavily from both. And judging by the Samurai's flying, windscreen-less box; the LEGO vehicles I built when I was 12.

You mention the characters, and I'd say that they're precisely the point here; generic shows don't have cute girls talking about going to Mars. Or a side character that swears like a mother ******. Or a mother figure that's forgetful in ways that befit human nature rather than just anime tropes.

The action is generic, the presumed fish-out-of-water aspect to the male MC will probably be generic, but I daresay that the heart of the show will be the characters and their off-kelter mannerisms.

EDIT:

Kiznaiver:

Dammit, I got all excited about seeing the Boom Boom satellites in for the OP; only to tune in & find that they've gone and genre switched from J-Rock to vague techno/alternative dance beat crap.

All I want them to do now is Shut up, and Explode.

[Mr. Tines]

VOTOMS? Robotech? Ulysses 31? Battle Of The Planets?

It's not like my MAL is that out of date (at time of writing, it doesn't have the current season's shows on it, but I'll fix that next). There's a big gap between the series I watched on TV in the '60s and the ones I watched on a computer this century.

[Bagheera]

Having early on followed the advice I'd heard of "If you watch one giant robot series, make it Evangelion", I pretty much stuck to the "watch one giant robot series" bit.

That's reasonable. Dougram is not readily available (and even less so legally), and Escaflowne, while strong in its own ways, is somewhat esoteric.

[Kuromukuro]The action is generic, the presumed fish-out-of-water aspect to the male MC will probably be generic, but I daresay that the heart of the show will be the characters and their off-kelter mannerisms.

Though note the reason said mannerisms work is because they're believably human, and not off-kilter in a non-anime setting! They break the mold and speak the truth at the same time, and that is the show's strength IMO.

[Alaska Slim]

It's not like my MAL is that out of date (at time of writing, it doesn't have the current season's shows on it, but I'll fix that next).

VOTOMS isn't there (it's available on Amazon in case you have that), nor Macross. Have you honestly not see anything of the latter? I'd find that pretty hard to believe.

I see you dropped Katanagatari. Shame; it's a rising action plot, everything that's "slow" about it I'd say pays off by the end... Wait, wha--

Professor... where's Rurouni Kenshin?

[Rosenakahara]

I like how the VD OVA's just drop any pretences of the series being anything else and are just porn.

[Mr. Tines]

VOTOMS isn't there

Correct. As for watching anime on Amazon, it's something I'd never really thought of. I do know my wife got social-engineered into getting Prime, and then burned almost a month's worth of our bandwidth in a week binging Downton Abbey , but I've never looked at it myself, so I don't know what the licensing situation is with the property, what with Hulu and Funi both considering the Anglosphere to end with the borders of the US.

Macross. Have you honestly not see anything of the latter?

Remember that big gap I mentioned above? That was when classic Macross happened. So when Frontier came out I just thought "latest instalment of long running franchise -- no point in getting on board this many years late"; and besides, I was following about a dozen other titles at the time.

I see you dropped Katanagatari.

It was pretty and all, but NisiOisiN's logorrhoea made my eyes glaze over.

where's Rurouni Kenshin?

I watched the first episode, which I felt suffered from all the worst of the classic anime tics, and when it looked like it was building up a continuing plot, went and resolved it in the same episode. So not picked up enough to be dropped, not enough hook for it to be on hold.

[Alaska Slim]

Remember that big gap I mentioned above? That was when classic Macross happened. So when Frontier came out I just thought "latest instalment of long running franchise -- no point in getting on board this many years late";

All I've seen of Macross myself is Do you Remember Love? And Macross Plus.

The first is the cliff notes movie; truncated but functional I found. Macross Plus needs almost no fore-hand knowledge, other than that the giant Macross robot was important in way-back-olden-times (it's now just a glorified backdrop), and that humans now live side-by-side with Green humanoid aliens, one of which is a central character.

I watched the first episode, which I felt suffered from all the worst of the classic anime tics, and when it looked like it was building up a continuing plot, went and resolved it in the same episode. So not picked up enough to be dropped, not enough hook for it to be on hold.

Kyoto Arc, you need to stay for the Kyoto Arc (which goes from episode 28-62, the whole 2nd season, so it's a plenty long story). Only then may you know the Final Secret to good action anime.

Episodes 8-11 strut out the Oniwaban, which the Kyoto arc builds on. I'd recommend watching those; they should tell you if you'd think the series gets better or not.

[NemZ]

I enjoyed Kenshin, but I agree the beginning is a pretty rough introduction. It does get better, but it's a long slog. If you're not up for it, skip the whole series and just watch the Samurai X OVA instead. Very different tone than the rest of the show detailing Kenshin's history prior to the series' beginning.

[Bagheera]

Kyoto Arc, you need to stay for the Kyoto Arc (which goes from episode 28-62, the whole 2nd season, so it's a plenty long story). Only then may you know the Final Secret to good action anime.

I agree with this. The Kyoto arc isn't just good Kenshin, nor even good anime; it's rock solid storytelling all around, and I would recommend it to anyone. In particular its critique of "might makes right" is of interest to all sorts of people regardless of their tastes in entertainment. It is very much worth the time investment. It is also one of the few instances where I can wholeheartedly recommend the dub as well as the sub, as both are pretty damn good.

[Alaska Slim]

Amagi Brilliant Park

When I was... meh, 9 or so, I theorized that humanity at some stage had created a race of self-aware, animatronic animals, and that these were the things wandering around Disney World-esce theme parks; waving at people and taking pictures. These creatures thus weren't *actually* the characters they appeared as, but were at their creation programmed with the mannerisms and memories of said character. And since they believed that they were in fact them, it was still totally legit to get their autograph.

Overtime, their Buzz Lightyear-sydrome would wear off, and they would take their programmed selves hand-in-hand with the world they lived in. Any "Mickey Mouse" then would be capable of encountering another "Mickey Mouse" without suffering an existential crisis...

Anyway; this show didn't exhibit any of the above nonsense, but thinking of this did happen to enhance my watching experience.


On its own merits, the story is kind of "meh" overall; I think some details got left behind in the light novel. The MC is refreshing in that he isn't an everyman; but otherwise plays pretty close to anime stereotypes.

Really, the bread & butter of this show I found is the small moments. The way the Diggeries pay tribute to their engineering-baddassery, Dornel's proto-Meow Otaku-dumb, that the security guard randomly says "lucha", that the Fumoffu-mascot character has appeal with Airsoft junkies, whatever the hell Codain is (not) doing, etc.

Speaking of Codain:





It's unintentional meta; but I still got a kick out of it.


In short; a funny show. It's not groundbreaking, but it's different enough from typical anime humor that it kept me wanting more.

[Mr. Tines]

Being a holiday long weekend, I get multiple virtual Saturday mornings, and for once the current season has a non-trivial (i.e. > 1) number of shows that have sounded worth trying out.

I'm now convinced that I Duwang'd out on Diamond is not Crash first time around, and seeing it with English translation (apart from having caught the [VHS RIP] sub of the first episode, just for old time's sake), I can relax into the "What did you say about my hair!?" "You just fell into my trap!" "No, you just fell into mine!" routine of the fights -- for the first time in a long while, it's actually a title where I can say "I want to see the next episode."

The same goes for Flying Witch, but that's a much more relaxed series, so waiting a week is entirely OK. The Crunchy subs for ep 3 were a little flaky (perhaps over-literal) with "There's a farm out the back you can use." when it blatantly referred to a small field -- a good portion of which they then proceeded to weed down to bare soil in a few hours, without using any witch magic, which I felt was the most unrealistic thing I've seen in anime for a long while!

Both unlike Space Patrol Luluco, which is starting to show worrying signs of developing DORAMA and LOLPlot, rather than being just off-the-wall stream of consciousness insanity like Inferno Cop was.

A bunch of first episodes, where I think I'll also watch episode 2 --
Hai Furi which could have done with just a brief explanation of what the ostensible purpose of the Blue Mermaids is by way of scene setting (not an extended exposition, just something quick and to the point like GaruPan introduced sensha-do), before going about undermining the superficial appearance of being just "cute sailing girls doing cute sailing things".

Anne Happy, having heard that that there might something more to it than just being a series of skits; it was more entertaining than most of the CGDCT shows that I've tried, which usually feel like a chore to wade through the first episode, if I even get that far, like Hidamari Sketch, Yuru Yuri, Non Non Biyori or Bakuon (tell me, with the number of likely false flagged cute girl series this season, does that latter stop being just "cute biker girls doing cute biker things"?).

Gundam Unicorn Re:0096, having not seen the original OVA series. It is UC Gundam that looks like UC Gundam, and so hasn't tripped over it's feet to work through the checklist of "it's a Gundam series rather than some other mecha" already, as IBO felt it had to.

[A.T. Fish]

(tell me, with the number of likely false flagged cute girl series this season, does that latter stop being just "cute biker girls doing cute biker things"?).

I was considering dropping this but the Jesus cameo in episode 4 gave me hope that it may be dabbling into surreal humor from now on. It's mostly just cute biker girls though, but a bit more risqué than the usual cute girl shows.

[Alaska Slim]

Active Raid

From last season; it's like Patlabor, if the former had a Sentai-by-Train Fetish... and Giant mecha... and Bridges...

... with combat visuals presented with Gatchman Crowds aesthetics.

The story thinks it has a message:

SPOILER: Show

...but there's really not *that* much to say; it's a fairly competent show, with some passion around the edges.

Romance (surprisingly) doesn't play a big role in this story; the most had is between the Megane-lancer character and his ex (an outsider) in the (not)JSDF.

Besides those two, I could only finger the 50-something Vice-captain and the 19-yr old female MC, when in episode 6, the former tried to induct the latter in GIANT ROBOT LOVE. ... and perhaps, didn't completely fail.

SPOILER: Show

He also gets a moment with the squad's resident NEET girl; who moonlights as a hyper-functional gambler/ femme fatale.
Probably don't need to spoiler this; the show wears nigh-all of its secrets on its sleeve.

Ep 6 is possibly the best episode in the series, and perhaps the one reason I'd give for watching. It, and that hip 90's throwback OP.

[Glor]

Has anyone here watched Ajin: Demi-Human? Probably the first CGI show that doesn't make me want to rip my eyes out. I've made it 5 episodes out of 13 and it's been pretty entertaining, was just curious if anyone else had given it a go.

[chazthesilencer]

^ I read some of the comic on the Crunchy mango index, wasn’t particularly engaged by it, so I’m not interested in the show.
Instead I decided to keep reading the other comic with a focus on immortals: UQ Holder! <sigh>

Amagi Brilliant Park
In short; a funny show. It's not groundbreaking, but it's different enough from typical anime humor that it kept me wanting more.

T’was enjoyable.
Notice how Kobori (the Earth Elementario) had no special talents demonstrated in ep9? She’s either a jack of all trades, master of none or completely dragging the act down. Give her the boot.
I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about a girl getting stabbed by her brother to prevent her from attending a job interview… for comedy. Should I laugh? Feel horrified? Or both?

=====

There’s usually a few short-shorts on Crunchy I’d casually be watching, but right now: nothing. Even Teekyu has stopped. I feel lost and alone.

Guess I’ll pick up Ruruoni Kenshin again, see if this second season deserves the splooging it’s been getting recently.
I’ve seen the first dozen episodes already: Kenshin's pretty handy with a sword.
Hopefully that’s enough introduction to jump in at ep 28.

[pwhodges]

I'm also having a look at Rurouni Kenshin. I initially followed up to ep 11, as suggested, and then jumped to 28 for the Kyoto arc. I'm nine episodes into that, and yes, this part of the show is clearly at another level from the first part (though the start was useful scene-setting). But I guess it's still early days; I may say more later on.

[Mr. Tines]

There’s usually a few short-shorts on Crunchy I’d casually be watching, but right now: nothing.

Not Luluco? Not Crane Game Girls?

[Bagheera]

Macross Delta 05: "Wow wow wowow!" Oh wow, that was amazing. I'm constantly amazed at how this show manages to remain fresh and new while still remaining quintessentially Macross. Well done, Kawamori. Well done.