What anime are you watching right now? Jan 2013

[tomrule123]

... I did it. I finally f*cking did it. In only a week, I was able to see the entire series of "Fate/Zero" (honestly, it's a record for me. Rarely do I finish off a show in a week. Thank God it's only 25 episodes.) It's beautiful, epic, spectacular, heart-breaking, and a sheer delight. Makes me wish Ufotable can proceed with remaking "Fate/Stay Night" with all 3 routes. ... but one can dream.
I had to finish it in a short time due to major schoolwork coming up. Delaying the show would only make the temptation a lot worse than how I am now... the show's a big deal to me if you haven't noticed. With that said, I shall end my talks of Fate/Zero, and move on to (not only getting my work done, but) other shows that I now wanted to see. To Ufotable: you are awesome. Thank you for giving this prequel justice.

[AR-99]

Your opinion is fucking WRONG.

I could say the same for yours but I am RESPECTING your opinion, doesn't look like the same is coming from you. Last I checked everyone here was entitled to their own damn opinion and we can disagree with each other if we want. Give me some respect and I'll reciprocate. So we disagree on some character designs. SO THERE. Degenerating the discussion to this level was completely uncalled for. You could have said "I disagree" and leave it at that instead of responding how you did.

[caragnafog dog]

I could say the same for yours but I am RESPECTING your opinion, doesn't look like the same is coming from you. Last I checked everyone here was entitled to their own damn opinion and we can disagree with each other if we want. Give me some respect and I'll reciprocate. So we disagree on some character designs. SO THERE. Degenerating the discussion to this level was completely uncalled for. You could have said "I disagree" and leave it at that instead of responding how you did.

I was joking. I thought saying someone's opinion is wrong would be obvious enough for you to understand.

@LeoXiao I nitpick because menopause. Still liking the show very much.

[Gus Hanson]

Episodes 3 and 4 of The Legend of Korra. Fine action from probenders and chi-blockers alike plus fluid character designs.

[caragnafog dog]

I'm going to watch ano hana. I've heard mixed things, what should I expect?

[AR-99]

I was joking. I thought saying someone's opinion is wrong would be obvious enough for you to understand.

This is an online discussion, we all know that what we type and how someone else may read it may be construed two different ways. Which is why I've seen people say something like "your opinion sucks" and then put in small text but you're entitled to it. Also keep in mind that this was within the context of expressing other differences of opinion.

But now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[caragnafog dog]

This is an online discussion, we all know that what we type and how someone else may read it may be construed two different ways. Which is why I've seen people say something like "your opinion sucks" and then put in small text but you're entitled to it. Also keep in mind that this was within the context of expressing other differences of opinion.

But now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

b-b-but muh opinions

[Oz]

I'm going to watch ano hana. I've heard mixed things, what should I expect?

Melodrama that was utterly screwed up after a promising start.

[caragnafog dog]

Melodrama that was utterly screwed up after a promising start.

I'm 5 episodes in and not much has happened, but nothing particularly cringe-inducing yet. Is the worst yet to come?

[Redtophat]

I'm 5 episodes in and not much has happened, but nothing particularly cringe-inducing yet. Is the worst yet to come?

It really isn't as bad as people say, I liked the show and the melodrama shows up in full force in the last few episodes so you're getting there.

[Xard]

Lips controversy:

I don't mind lips or the glossy feel they give per se (though I disagree with Tines seemingly random claim about this being I.G's trademark given most of their shows don't do this, also whoever was the fucker who dissed SAC Motoko got his name on muh death note), it's just that

- it's seriously out of place in setting - I don't mind LIPS but eg. blonde's lips are of deep red that isn't natural at all and these are supposed to be soldiers in grunt camp, not barbies in ball
- it's seriously out of place in case of Mikasa in particular:



The problem is she now looks like generic hot older chick whose 3DPD variation can be spotted in almost any Hollywood action film. Mikasa's attractiveness is supposed to be more contigential, accidental feature of her oriental genes than a defining feature (unsurprisingly there's 0% fanservice of her in manga). First and foremost she's supposed to be this ripped as fuck, dead eyed monotonous trauma ball- super killer. Basically she's supposed to be like Rei except way less sexualized than Rei ever was.

The one on the right (or heck, show's ED) captures the feel of her character much better. So I'm not just dissing lips per se, I'm dissing her whole lets-make-her-more-obviously-attractive design overhaul in anime. I could say same for most female characters: Ymir doesn't look anywhere near as gruntish as she does in manga. Potato Girl is seemingly only one who made the transition as she is.

it hasn't? Given that the main story has always been something along the lines of "what will Protag-kun's next outrageous, guilt-ridden defense of his little sister involve next?", I can't imagine there being much of a return to form per se with these past three weeks. If anything, it's even further deviating from it.

For me OreImo's main hook has always been this moeblobbified, kinda parodic kinda not, pandering look at modern otaku subculture with some surprisingly decent characters. Hell, that's what the "plot" largerly comes down to: Kirino wants MC to do this or that and in process some aspect of Akiba-kei gets explored and/or parodied. I think Ore Imo is excellent litmus test with how comfortably one sits in the modern fandom. It's not greatest series ever or anything but in some was I think it captures the spirit of this "database animal" era better than any other series.

Ayase episode succeeds very well in this front as a hilarious take on Love Plus, as a self-conscious metajoke on Ayase's yandere character. I've also always enjoyed her quasi-normalfag-quasi-creepy-yandere personality a lot.

Saori episode tried giving another such look at fandom but was way less succesful. But still, I don't think it counts as "derailment" of main topic either.

In terms of character relationship development (only other thing I can think of when people refer to OreImo's "plot") we do have Kuroneko dating shit and Manami-turns-out-to-be-biggest-bitch-ever drama coming later and I look forward to both but honestly, this nonsense has never been the main attraction of the series for me, mainly because the author can't write authentic characters to save his life and the overall direction of where this character drama is going is not up to my tastes at all.

I'm 5 episodes in and not much has happened, but nothing particularly cringe-inducing yet. Is the worst yet to come?

The ymmv cringe-worthy stuff won't arrive before final episodes. I too was one of those who thought the excessive screaming melodrama was rather lame but it wasn't enough to sink nice story and otherwise pretty good series.

In fact part of ANN review of Clannad (first season) is also highly applicable to Ano Hana, in my opinion far more so than Clannad that was much milder in terms of melodrama than I expected:

In and of itself, the fact that Clannad is both wholly artificial and effectively emotional isn't that complicated. What is complicated is how one reacts to that. Many will surrender immediately and emerge eyes red, hearts astir, and mouths full of praise. And more power to them. There are those, however, whose feelings will not be so clear-cut. You could call it resentment, specifically at having been so baldly manipulated; and certainly the series leaves one feeling cheap and used. But that isn't exactly it. It's closer to the feeling you get when you find out that a piece of music that you loved was written by a computer program, or that the bread machine you just bought can make bread that tastes just like your mother's. It isn't a logical reaction. It's a sort of knee-jerk horror at the idea that something you thought was an art could be reduced to a series of mechanical tasks and still work. It gives rise to a deep and, yes, deeply unfair revulsion. It's the reason I burned my original Clannad DVDs and the reason why to this day I'm not entirely sure whether I love or hate the show.

I think this reaction was amazingly well characterized by one of my friends who described the finale in terms of "it's fucking stupidly overblown and you know it but you can't help crying all the same".

So really, how much the (in)famous melodrama of Ano Hana bothers you really depends on your personality and attitude to string pulling more than anything else.


Regardless THIS IS IRRELEVANT. I gave you a lot time to rectify this mistake but you're clearly avoiding your responsibilities. Quick look at your MAL history reveals you recently watched Boku no Pico AND KEPT THAT SECRET FROM US.

What's even worse, you haven't yet watched the two OVA sequels.

SHAMEFUL DISPRAY NEWFRIEND-KUN, SHAMEFUL DISPRAY


No time for writing reviews now so...

Ask a guy who over last week or so watched or rewatched

- Clannad & After Story & OVAs
- Ariel
- Arjuna
- Macross Zero
- Lupin III
- Higurashi Kira
- Steins;Gate
- Mononoke

anything.

[Paranoid]

Ask a guy who over last week or so watched or rewatched

- stuff

anything.

I'm kind of interested to hear your opinions on Steins;Gate. I find that most of the time I wholeheartedly agree with your opinions, but some of the time we diverge considerably and I can't quite anticipate what your reaction to it will be.

Also, is there any reason for me to watch Kira 2-4? I am very fond of Higurashi in general (and Kai specifically), but after struggling through the first Kira episode (seriously, Rika rubbing her ass on a window was just terrible) I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest. Is there any redeeming quality to it?

[caragnafog dog]

Quick look at your MAL history reveals you recently watched Boku no Pico AND KEPT THAT SECRET FROM US.

What's even worse, you haven't yet watched the two OVA sequels.

SHAMEFUL DISPRAY NEWFRIEND-KUN, SHAMEFUL DISPRAY

Please, I saw boku no pico before almost everything on that list, it was only recently that I added it. Furthermore, I assumed the sequels fell under the boku name. Don't cast your shota-shame aspersions on me, it's the Citizen Kane of anime and this fact is not new to me.

And yeah, SAC Motoko looks like an android prostitute. Let's meet up and fight.

also also, is anyone here still watching boku no rotoscope?

[Dr. Nick]

Also, is there any reason for me to watch Kira 2-4?

No.

[Mr. Tines]

Lips controversy:

Not an "all IG shows all the time", more, "when it happens, it mostly happens at IG"; and especially in close-ups (remember the lips in Ghost Hound episode 1, despite the generally stylized character designs, or throughout Real Drive -- though the chunky character designs tended to be what people remarked on in that one).

And in that anime/manga comparison image, what stands out to me, as a complete outsider to this series, is the way that shiny eyes have been added in the anime version.

[Oz]

It really isn't as bad as people say, I liked the show and the melodrama shows up in full force in the last few episodes so you're getting there.

In general it is a very liked show - what you refer to as something that"people say" is the voice of a vocal minority that dislikes the show (and which I belong to). Good drama writing does not mean characters standing around and shouting out their problems one episode after another.

[caragnafog dog]

I haven't seen many shows in the same vein as anohana (SoL drama I guess) but something about it seems different, and whatever that is makes me like it unconditionally (so far). I think the idea of childhood friends drifting apart appeals to me, be it under somber circumstances (Stephen King's The Body springs to mind) or happy ones.

also, parentheses

[Fireball]

Ask a guy who over last week or so watched or rewatched

- Clannad & After Story & OVAs
- Ariel
- Arjuna
- Macross Zero
- Lupin III
- Higurashi Kira
- Steins;Gate
- Mononoke

anything.

Yeah, I'd like to know what you think of Steins;Gate too, since I haven't seen it yet and people hail it as the best shit in recent years but you gave it "only" an 8.

Also Macross Zero, so I can get back at you when I watch that.

[chazthesilencer]

is there any reason for me to watch Kira 2-4? I am very fond of Higurashi

Trust Dr. Nick on this one, Paranoid.
Of the four episodes made- the fourth is the best... or the least bad; so if you want to see some double Nipah~ action, go ahead and hazard it.

seriously, Rika…

Seriously.

[Merridian]

people hail [Steins;Gate] as the best shit in recent years but you gave it "only" an 8.

the people hailing it as the best shit in recent years don't tend to have seen as much stuff to compare it to, I've noticed. I thought it was well put together and quite entertaining, but some bumps in the second cour made some of the flaws stand out.

Besides, 8/10 tends to be a pretty stand-out rating. Personally speaking, I'd put it on par with Madoka, give or take.