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

[Joy Evangelion]

ERASED

I feel you on your problems with the animation, but I haven't had much issue with it besides for how some of the adult characters can look a bit wacky and that can be distracting. But, beauties in the eye of the beholder, for sure. I think the snow covered environments are pretty nice, and the design of the town in 1988 is something I can really dig. Story-wise, I'm happy with how it's been progressing so far, and gets me looking forward to it every week.I really like that the series is all about looking out for your friends and family and having some courage while doing so, but I have a pretty big soft spot for animes with that particular message so I can see why people wouldn't go for it. The only thing I wasn't too crazy about in the series happened over the last couple weeks,

SPOILER: Show

i.e. the kidnapper having candy in his glovebox. It just seemed way too cliche.

Looking forward to how it ends.

Also, the OP and ED are very, very nice.

[C.A.P.]

I just finished MAHOROMATIC.

I'm still processing what I just witnessed in the last episode.

[chazthesilencer]

I still plan on watching Konosuba
I've dropped ERASED. The presentation was ok, but I could still not handle the ugly character designs

Crikey, Rob. If you couldn’t handle the looks of Erased…



Speaking of Konosuba- ep 9… wow. Droopy tits overload.

[robersora]

Nothing really specific - just the idea of redemption and the like.

Oh well. Would have been cool if Railroad would have been the key for a hidden reading of Penguindrum.

Crikey, Rob. If you couldn’t handle the looks of Erased…

Lol, yeah. You're right. But Konosuba is a shitty comedy, and the weak animation doesn't bother me, because the underlying designs are fine with me. ERASED's animation, on the other hand, is very good, but the underlying designs are really not my thing at all. But I wouldn't care that much, if the the thriller plot wouldn't have dipped into the shit-tank so deeply. The OP and ED is gorgeous, though. Full version should be around, but I can't find it. My heart can't handle another Mathemagics...

I went to see that Psycho Pass movie in the theater today. I'm glad I did, it was much nicer in dub than the sub version I saw online. It also was meant for the big screen, great production quality.

Fun film, action packed and political, just the way I like em. Also, very violent! Guts and gore everywhere!

Yeah, the movie is a lot better than the second season. Also they gory parts had impact again, because they didn't overuse it. I would have loved to see this concept fleshed out more... I'd rather see the plot of the movie as the second season, than whatever actual season two was supposed to be. Then again, the movie had the luxury of being produced by the original team, who had a grasp on what Psycho-Pass should be about, compared to the accident that was season 2.

I feel you on your problems with the animation, but I haven't had much issue with it besides for how some of the adult characters can look a bit wacky and that can be distracting. But, beauties in the eye of the beholder, for sure. I think the snow covered environments are pretty nice, and the design of the town in 1988 is something I can really dig.
Story-wise, I'm happy with how it's been progressing so far, and gets me looking forward to it every week.I really like that the series is all about looking out for your friends and family and having some courage while doing so, but I have a pretty big soft spot for animes with that particular message so I can see why people wouldn't go for it. The only thing I wasn't too crazy about in the series happened over the last couple weeks,

SPOILER: Show

i.e. the kidnapper having candy in his glovebox. It just seemed way too cliche.

Looking forward to how it ends.

Also, the OP and ED are very, very nice.

Yeah, the background art is nice, and it's shot well - but it doesn't help if those shots are populated by ugly bean-heads. I'm really conflicted on the change of aspect ratio for 1988. I like this devise, as it makes everything look cool as shit (loved it in Q), but then again being used by such a 3/10 show cheapens the cool factor of this device quite a bit. Oh well.
The problem with Erased is, that its strong aesthetics go to waste as soon the under detailed, sloppily designed bean heads appears. The music is fine, but Kajiura's prime time has been more than 10 years ago. And the plot was already standing on flimsy feet (in terms of suspension of disbelief), but crashed and burned so badly in Episode 4 and 10, it killed the whole show. This is a show so inherently boring and asinine, one dip in the admittedly tight quality of the the first few Episodes, on slip in tone crashes the whole series. This series reminds me a lot of Terror in Resonance. But that at least had a message, nice designs, better directing throughout and a better OST.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Watching this Shirobako show mainly because I'm interested in the nitty gritty of how animation is done. The show is mostly failing on that department & if it wasn't for the kingly cameo of Hideaki Anno - all the other various cameos fly right past me - and the occasional moments it hits a universal truth about your 20s I wouldn't stick with it. It's also nice to see an anime about work in your 20s (even if idealized.... I'm guessing all these girls get to live out their dreams in the end) as opposed to the usual "10 year olds discovering their sexuality" or whatever gross nonsense is big in Japan right now.

Though I am having a major issue with the moe elements of it & the lame male wish fulfillment going on with the production crew. I struggle to believe that ANY anime house in Japan has a staff that is mostly made up of cute, bubbly, bright-eyed girls.

[robersora]

^
That's what I meant when I said, I would have liked it more, if the female characters would have gotten the same diverse character designs as the male ones.

[Seele00TextOnly]

ERASED is anime of the year material by far. One of the best shows I've ever seen, already in my top five. Music, animation, direction, acting, writing, everything works so very well and is pitch perfect.

[robersora]

^
Weren't you bothered by the over the top revelation and the relentless foreshadowing that took any suspense out of who the killer was?

[Seele00TextOnly]

^ Doesn't matter, not one bit. Whether I knew wasn't important; the main character didn't know and didn't even suspect that someone they trusted so much and felt so comfortable with could be the killer. It was perfect. Hitchcock once described suspense as knowing there's a bomb under the table but not knowing when it would explode. The suspense here was similarly Hitchcockian; the audience knows or suspects but they feel for the characters as they fumble about. Essel and I suspected early on. It was no harm that our suspicions were correct, absolutely none. Storytelling doesn't always have to work the same way, some sort of formulaic approach to mysteries doesn't fit all great works such as ERASED.

[esselfortium]

I think episode 10 was actually made more effective for me because I knew

SPOILER: Show

who the killer was, watching Satoru ignore what was in front of him and unknowingly walk right into the trap. The entire car ride was nonstop dread.

Also, I'd argue that Kajiura is even better now than she was a decade ago, not worse. Her earlier works were fine enough, but they had the distinct advantage of frequently being the only redeeming or memorable quality of the plodding, mediocre Bee Train shows that they accompanied. Erased's OST has been mostly pretty understated (in comparison to her godlike work on the Madoka OST, which takes much more of a spotlight) but it's been effective and served the show's needs really well.

[pwhodges]

Erased is great; Shirobako is meh - OKish, but not really gripping.

[Justacrazyguy]

Erased is great; Shirobako is meh - OKish, but not really gripping.

That sums it up nicely.

Anyway, Konusuba was great, hadn't seen a comedy that good in some time. It's a shame that it's so short but at least there's the OVA and the second season has already been confirmed.

As for Erased, having read the manga in its entirety, I'm really pleased with all the changes they made, big and small and it's just much better than the manga was at this point. Not like the manga is bad, I really enjoyed it for most of its duration, but the last chapters and the ending left a really sour taste on my mouth. That said I feel like the anime could have used a couple more episodes since(spoilers about the latest episode and corresponding manga chapters ahead)

SPOILER: Show

The events during the coma and immediately after the awakening went by in a slower fashion in the manga... sometimes too slowly and the anime goes by them in a hurry. That said, even for those that didn't read the manga the fast pace of this episode should be evident.
Another nitpick is the way they cut the teachers story. I liked they way they told the tiny part they left in and I would have loved to see it animated in its entirety.

[esselfortium]

Erased is great; Shirobako is meh - OKish, but not really gripping.

I really enjoyed them both, personally! I wouldn't put Shirobako on quite the same level, but I liked its character dynamics and found it to be a lot of fun, and often pretty tense from how well it captured the stress and struggle of deadline crunches. Shirobako felt like a love letter to the anime industry and everyone in it, and IMO that love really shone through in the work itself.

The only downsides I can remember are the blubbering "I can't speak in sentences" animator girl, and the occasional unnecessary stuffed-animal narration. Everything else was good enough to more or less cancel them out, though.

As for Erased, having read the manga in its entirety, I'm really pleased with all the changes they made, big and small and it's just much better than the manga was at this point.

I've only read the first 7 chapters of the manga so far, but from what I've read I agree with you. The excised scenes are nice and I'd have enjoyed them in the anime too, but the streamlined pacing and structuring of the anime's first episode works perfectly, and the anime's presentation massively enhances the experience.

[Compiling_Autumn]

Watched Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade for the first time. Brilliant film, probably the saddest anime film I've seen since Grave of the Fireflies.

[Stan]

Yeah, the movie is a lot better than the second season. Also they gory parts had impact again, because they didn't overuse it. I would have loved to see this concept fleshed out more... I'd rather see the plot of the movie as the second season, than whatever actual season two was supposed to be. Then again, the movie had the luxury of being produced by the original team, who had a grasp on what Psycho-Pass should be about, compared to the accident that was season 2.

They tweeted today that we need to wait a bit longer for more Psycho Pass. So I think Season 3 is happening. Let's hope they get it right this time (although I don't mind S2 too much, a solid 7/10 for me).

[robersora]

They tweeted today that we need to wait a bit longer for more Psycho Pass. So I think Season 3 is happening. Let's hope they get it right this time (although I don't mind S2 too much, a solid 7/10 for me).

Well, I'm not too hyped. I feel like they already said everything that could be said with season 1. But let's see. Season 2 wasn't quite bad enough to be hilarious. (though that scene where everybody exploded was insanely funny). 2/10.

[BrikHaus]

Giant Robo seems to be pretty beloved, but I can't overcome it's ugliness... If I manage to overlook the hideous designs, though, it just seems like campy robot fun (which I'm not a fan of), so if anybody knows, if it gets more than that, I'd greatly appreciate it.

It maintains some level of campiness, but in later episodes it definitely takes a darker and more serious turn. The character designs aren't for everyone, I suppose, but I've definitely seen far worse in many other anime. If you want to see some of the greatest hand drawn animation in your life, you should watch the final episode. It was incredible.

I've dropped ERASED after I read about the stark dip in quality.

Why would you quit watching a series because you read the quality gets worse? Why not just watch it and decide for yourself. As most people know, I hate pretty much everything, and drop most anime after one episode. This show has managed to hook me, and I'm still watching it, so it can't be half bad, right?

[robersora]

It maintains some level of campiness, but in later episodes it definitely takes a darker and more serious turn. The character designs aren't for everyone, I suppose, but I've definitely seen far worse in many other anime. If you want to see some of the greatest hand drawn animation in your life, you should watch the final episode. It was incredible.

Whoopsie, just saw that I wrote "it's", when it was supposed to be "its". Man that sure happens often to me.
Yeah, maybe I'll come around to it. Ugly was a bit harsh, maybe, since there's way uglier designs out there.

Why would you quit watching a series because you read the quality gets worse? Why not just watch it and decide for yourself. As most people know, I hate pretty much everything, and drop most anime after one episode. This show has managed to hook me, and I'm still watching it, so it can't be half bad, right?

I dropped it, because I knew that the ridiculous premise would only work with solid execution throughout. Then I read that it'll dip into the campy in key moments, and thought - well... There's other stuff out there. Also the characters look devoid of personality all the time, which really clashed with the otherwise pretty nice visual execution. So it was a constant struggle for me to stay invested. And a show that takes itself so seriously really demands staying invested.

But, I decided to pick it up once again, actually. It was hilariously bad in Episode 5&6 - like unintentional comedy bad, but kind of redeemed itself in latter Episodes. Only to have one huge cringe-worthy part in Episode 10. It's rather entertaining though.... I'll be having a writeup of it, after it finishes, where I'll lay out my gripes with it, and also which parts I enjoyed. I'm mostly sad, that it could have been the new Monster, but ended up failing too hard in certain moments to pull that off.

Also, picking it up, after you telling me, would operate under the same logic as my dropping of the show after I read about it. So you argument kinda falters
But I know what you mean.

[esselfortium]

Dimension W (2016) - 11 of 12 episodes aired

I had heard lots of good things about Dimension W, so Seele and I checked it out a few weeks into the season. Dimension W is an anime that starts out as one show, then several episodes later becomes another completely different and worse show, and then becomes yet another completely different and even worse show. What started off as merely slightly disappointing has turned into something of a fascinating disaster, though somehow not quite fascinating enough to make it worthwhile.

Review is full of spoilers  SPOILER: Show

The premise is that unlimited energy is now accessible via "energy coils" that tap into "Dimension W", an alternate dimension of pure magic and possibility, or something like that. The actual workings of this dimension start out pretty vague, and manage to make less and less sense as we learn more about it. In practice, Dimension W is just whatever the show currently needs it to be, which usually comes down to something involving someone-or-another's tragically deceased girlfriend.

There's a potentially interesting thread in the idea that energy coils are tracked and monitored, but the show completely ignores the surveillance and privacy implications, seemingly not even noticing that they exist. The world also doesn't feel believably like a place revolutionized by infinite energy. Energy coils are used to power stuff, a few people have robot bodies, and that's about the extent of it, at least when energy coils aren't malfunctioning and ripping holes in the universe. Hooray for needlessly dangerous technology that's barely being utilized.

Having a nonsensical universe can sometimes be workable, if the characters and their journey is meaningful enough to make up for it. Unfortunately, Dimension W doesn't really deliver there either. Our main character is Kyoma, a grumpy luddite whose job is to seek out and collect illegal coils. Kyoma hates coils, which we know because someone randomly tells us "Kyoma hates coils" every few minutes in the first several episodes.

Kyoma's assistant is a robot girl named Mira, who he hates (because coils!), and who may or may not actually be his dead girlfriend. Mira has some cute moments which are generally the highlight of the show, but aren't really enough to make up for its other shortcomings. There's also a guy named Loser, which is a wonderful name for a character. He's a failed thief whose attempted heists have become a spectator sport. He's pretty fun, at least early on. Other characters seem to appear and disappear from the story with no reason or explanation, and it's often unclear what purpose any of them serve.

Four episodes in, the show leaps off the rails with a two-episode haunted house arc in which we discover that Dimension W can house dreamworlds made from memories of alternate timelines and the ghosts of peoples' dead girlfriends, or something goofy like that. It's honestly hard to even write about this show because of how quickly it's piled up nonsensical story threads.

I've seen comments suggesting that this arc needed more episodes to be fleshed out better, but I'd actually say the opposite: this story maybe could have worked as a streamlined single-episode diversion in the middle of a show twice this length, where it could be sandwiched between some episodic coil-collecting adventures to develop the characters and set up their idea of normalcy before shattering that normalcy for a story climax, a la Cowboy Bebop, but in Dimension W it's just a weird derail that precedes the even weirder derail that overtakes the show's plot. What do Evil Steve Jobs, the flamboyant technician from Gurren Lagann, and an African cyborg prince have to do with each other? As far as I can tell, the answer to this question is "basically nothing".

Then a few episodes later, we're suddenly introduced to a massive number of new tertiary characters who are comically incongrous with each other and the rest of the Dimension W universe, and have no apparent narrative purpose. They're like this show's equivalent of the "Sense of Right Alliance", the bootleg-knockoff superhero toy set for sad children, that pairs Batman and Spider-Man with a Power Ranger, a talking Pixar car, and Shrek.

Dimension W's Sense of Right Alliance is like a set of ethnic stereotypes as remembered by someone from a parallel universe, and includes such unforgettable characters as "Mexican guy with sewn-shut eyes and shark-toothed catgirl girlfriend", "morbidly-obese Norwegian twins with hands bigger than their abdomens", and "geriatric Aquaman cosplayer". They mostly exist to occupy a lot of screentime and make the story even less coherent.

In the end, the Sense of Right Alliance amounts to nothing, Kyoma meets up with Loser and an old war buddy, and our heroes end up on Easter Island to face off against a genius scientist who went mad and started wearing a lot of eyeliner when his teleportation experiments were confiscated. He steals a magical do-anything coil and restarts his teleportation experiments in secret, turning hundreds of human test subjects into exploded piles of goop. And because dead girlfriends are apparently Dimension W's one and only consistent narrative theme, his plan also involved turning Loser's wife into a giant killer tentacle monster, for some reason.

I'm doubting that much of this will make more sense after the final episode airs. Dimension W is a show in which few things make any sense or add up to any coherent whole, but it's not even as entertaining a trainwreck as that description might imply. It's just bewildering and disappointing.

To end on a positive note, the OP and ED are quite good, much better than the show they're attached to. The ED theme is especially fantastic, and the OP has a fun song full of memorably broken English that's charming in the same way as the lyrics to Black Lagoon's OP, accompanied by stylish action visuals from the better show that Dimension W initially looked like it was going to be.

[esselfortium]

Erased (2016) - complete

Wow, I was sad to see this one go. It started a lot stronger than it ended (though I did love episode 10 and like episode 11), but even with some imperfections, it was a great show to look forward to every week, and I'm going to miss it! It covered a lot of things really effectively in a short period of time, presented itself impressively, and had some great emotional moments throughout it.

I posted about the finale on SA earlier this morning, and I'll repost my thoughts here:

Final episode review  SPOILER: Show

I'm not sure what to make of this ending. I enjoyed all the epilogue stuff, but the conclusion of the rooftop confrontation made very little sense to me. The rest of the show was so fantastic that I've been trying to give it the benefit of the doubt and make sense of it instead of just writing it off, but it's not really doing it for me.

On the one hand, I guess it's thematically appropriate in a show about trust for the finale to be a massive leap of faith, but it was very uncharacteristically cartoonish, in a way that I had a hard time taking seriously. And yet it seemed almost like it was actively intentionally trying to give that impression, with the landing and Satoru's knowing wink. So I don't know what to make of that. I guess such a cheesy plan kind of fits with a story about someone who aspired to be a superhero and never got to truly grow up, but it still felt really out of place and inappropriate to me. Not to mention the question of how Satoru and his friends were able to predict events enough to set any of this up, and Satoru's nerves of steel while dangling off the edge in the midst of his crazy life-or-death gamble.

So even with the possible thematic significance in there, I think I like the idea of the ending more than the ending itself. The show was so strong for the rest of its run that probably the lowest score I could possibly give it is a 9/10, but I can't deny I'm disappointed by this ending.