What anime are you watching right now? Summer 2014

[caragnafog dog]

I had to get used to the kitties but Spring and Chaos was beautiful. What an affective way of telling Kenji Miyazawa's story and goals. I will finish reading his stories in translation soon.

[Rosenakahara]

I actually really like soul eater...........the ending sucks but so does the manga's ending, the difference is the manga drags on for faaaaaar too long and Crona just becomes a standard "tragic villain oh woe is me" character, hell at least in the anime they actually kill the big bad, in the manga he just gets sealed again.

seriously though Crona's development is just so much more interesting to me in the anime.

[artesox]

Yuuki Yuuna ended in quite a sequel bait, mostly a happy end but Yuuna's situation is clearly open, considering the info we have from the prequel Light Novel she could be very well fighting alone for all those months she stayed in coma.
Anyway, a 8/10 series right now, one of the best things to come out of this meh year, might go back to my 9/10 when they officially announce the sequel (whose existence has already been kinda leaked)

[Reichu]

Truth-- well, personally, I think it goes downhill when Mello starts becoming a primary character. Otherwise, it's pretty good for a bit after L goes bye-bye.

It's been a while for me, so memory is fuzzy and you could be correct. On the other hand, it could be that I thought the show was already going downhill and L took whatever redeeming value was left with him.

[Soul Eater] was not Bones fault, as they obviously did what they could in shaping this mess of a source material into anything worthwhile.

It's the manga that was at fault, you're saying?

I've heard that the anime departs from the manga about halfway through, so that would be around the start of the third cour. While I haven't factually confirmed this, it does ring true for my bro and me, since the halfway point is where we felt the anime started losing focus and pulling crap out of nowhere. I'm interested in eventually reading the manga and making my own determination, I guess when I feel like I'm in a Soul Eater mood again.

hell at least in the anime they actually kill the big bad, in the manga he just gets sealed again.

Yeah, but if you kill the big bad with a total asspull... IS IT WORTH IT???

seriously though Crona's development is just so much more interesting to me in the anime.

Crona is by far the most interesting character in the show, but s/he felt a bit... underutilized to me, for someone they'd put so much development into. The resolution with Medusa felt unsatisfying (like no resolution at all, really), but maybe I just don't get it. I also didn't feel like Maka's motivations for becoming a die-hard woobie defender were established well. They're just suddenly... THERE.

[Rosenakahara]

^ Dont read the manga, it isn't worth it.
This is coming from someone who LIKED the anime, the manga just pulls EVERYTHING out of nowhere and ends very suddenly.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Yeah, but if you kill the big bad with a total asspull... IS IT WORTH IT???

It's not worse than beating out instrumentality with self-worth, is it?

[Squigsquasher]

Been watching more Macross (up to ep 15). This show is awesome.

[Reichu]

It's not worse than beating out instrumentality with self-worth, is it?

Yes. Yes, it is. (Not that I particularly care for EoTV's ending, mind.)

[Merridian]

I had to get used to the kitties but Spring and Chaos was beautiful. What an affective way of telling Kenji Miyazawa's story and goals. I will finish reading his stories in translation soon.

Spring and Chaos is a beautiful film. The montages in particular made quite an impression on me when I first watched it, easily throwing it into the top 5 or so anime films I've ever seen. It easily cements Kawamori's status as a remarkable, talented, and artful director (assuming DYRL hadn't done so already).

[caragnafog dog]

Spring and Chaos is a beautiful film. The montages in particular made quite an impression on me when I first watched it, easily throwing it into the top 5 or so anime films I've ever seen. It easily cements Kawamori's status as a remarkable, talented, and artful director (assuming DYRL hadn't done so already).

It was clearly very personal too. I'll definitely give it another run when I'm finished with those stories.

[C.A.P.]

Finished MILLENNIUM ACTRESS recently. I take it back, this is probably my favorite Kon film: it's his quintessential film in my eyes. I am now convinced that Kon was an excellent thriller director that was needed in the animation business, and it's sad that he was well aware of it and never got the chance to expand his themes.

[Bagheera]

Spring and Chaos is a beautiful film.

I'll have to take your word for it, as neither Nyaa nor anyone else seems to have it available for download.

[Reichu]

Finished MILLENNIUM ACTRESS recently. I take it back, this is probably my favorite Kon film

What did you like about it? I found it almost unbearably schmaltzy.

[C.A.P.]

What did you like about it? I found it almost unbearably schmaltzy.

Oh woah, wasn't expecting a response.

Well, on the top of my head...

-I feel like this is the most artistic use of Kon's use of blending reality with fiction. All throughout the movie, there's a question about the validity of the past, since the present is always involved with it (with the one PA being heavily involved with the memories) and is just as dedicated to it as the actress is
-The importance of running/chasing after something, and how that can be emotionally hazardous
-The music blends in with the creepiness seemly. Out of context, it'll be great horror music
-There's great color theories throughout; there are a lot of muted colors, but with the use of primary colors, there are given life, probably adding emotional resonance to the actress
-The romance is entirely one sided: One of the movie's purposes is showing how selfish the actress really is, and how she is letting the past define her throughout "social change". The character is selfish and individualist, and I find that utterly fascinating. It got to the point where I felt sorry for her and hoped she finds some happiness.

Ignoring personal connections with it, I feel like this is the most emotionally challenging film Kon did, and all of the elements combined created a experience for me that his other films didn't get out of me. Both Perfect Blue and Paprika, great as they are, felt like they were horror films that happen to focus on topics Kon loved to explore, while Tokyo Godfathers was a wonderful comedy film that, coincidentally, is about the same things as his other films. With this movie, I feel like his themes are expressed the best, and it gave me an emotional high that I wasn't aware he was capable of.

Or maybe I have a love for schmaltz. It's probably that.

[Aiko Heiwa]

Galaxy Express 999, I really enjoy it, but I've been trying to watch it since the end of July and I'm only on episode 16.

I need to step my game up.

[caragnafog dog]

I'll have to take your word for it, as neither Nyaa nor anyone else seems to have it available for download.

PM'd

[Oz]

I'll have to take your word for it, as neither Nyaa nor anyone else seems to have it available for download.

Spring of Chaos is pretty awesome. From what I have seen of Kawamori's work, it is my personal favorite.

What did you like about it? I found it almost unbearably schmaltzy.

I concur with CAP here: Millennium Actress isn't just my favorite Kon film, but also one of my all-time favorite anime films. It's a masterpiece of storytelling and a huge directorial challenge. I can't really understand how anyone could criticize it for being too schmaltzy.

[C.A.P.]

I can't speak for Reichu, but I can kinda see where she's coming from: At its' core, it's the only time Kon did a romantic movie. He finds way to twist and turn his story to come up with a movie that not only embraces romance, but analyzes it throughout.

That kind of romantic exploration is probably going to be a "hit or miss" kind of deals to most people.

EDIT: On another topic, I just watched the first Urusei Yatsura movie, ONLY YOU.

Interesting that for an early Oshii film, he somehow manged to create scenes he would later further hone in with his later films (BEAUTIFUL DREAMER, if anything, is probably his first "true" film). Obviously he's holding himself back from all the comedic mayhem and romantic triangles (and apparently behind the scenes issues, which I'm not sure if they're true or not), but it's interesting that, if anything, the songs and the establishment of certain parts of the movie (like the ships) is what probably gave Oshii the chance to start developing his "craft". Once past that, it's feels like a feature length Urusei Yatsura episode (Jonathan, is that accurate?), and on that front, there's a lot to enjoy. You not only get to see where Oshii got his start in feature length movies, but you get a lot of catchy songs, atmospheric moments, and lot of sexual mayhem. I'd recommend it.

[Blue Monday]

Finished MILLENNIUM ACTRESS recently. I take it back, this is probably my favorite Kon film: it's his quintessential film in my eyes. I am now convinced that Kon was an excellent thriller director that was needed in the animation business, and it's sad that he was well aware of it and never got the chance to expand his themes.

After your last post about Tokyo Godfathers I was going to ask if you'd seen Millennium Actress. One of my favourite films of all-time as well.

[C.A.P.]

If anyone's wondering why I watched all of these, I decided that for Winter Break, I would watch Kon's films I hadn't seen yet and watch the "important" Oshii films I hadn't seen. I'm pretty much done and consider it a success. Probably will get around to seeing JIN-ROH and then take a break from Oshii.