Fireball wrote:Shocking truth. Chaika over. waiting season 2.

Fall, excited, can't wait.

Fireball wrote:Shocking truth. Chaika over. waiting season 2.

I laughed hard when
I laughed harder when
I laughed some more when

Ano Hana, the movie.

This is not a viable stand-alone film. However, as a follow-up to the series it has a lot going for it. Something like half the film is clips from the series, but these are embedded in new material that gives additional detail to Menma's life with the group before her death, and a much fuller exposition of the ending. The repeated use of games of hide-and-seek in both time periods forms an additional link.

A decent watch, but only as an addition to watching the series. Not strictly necessary, either, but there's enough good stuff to make it worthwhile. Rather mixed feelings, in fact, but I'm pleased to have seen it; and if I watch the series again some time, I'll watch the film as well as part of the experience.

Guy Nacks wrote:CLANNAD and CLANNAD: After Story. I still very much recommend them despite not liking the very end of After Story.

Hey, I already watched those! Totally forgot about them. Seems like they didn't leave that much of an impression...

Also: Thank you all! I've made a list and will look into your suggestions later this evening. It will be my reward for studying the next few days (or weeks).

No game no life
Overrated, but I had a great time with this one nonetheless. Visuals were amazing btw.

6/10

My favorite series this season, Sidonia, wrapped up. Once past the round faces I really started enjoying this show. No bad looking female characters and bonus fan service. And good news:

Pupa. A strange presentation; but I was intrigued by what seems to me to be an account of the way the damaging effects of domestic abuse are passed on through the generations, told in a series of out-of-order vignettes. I watched it in a single run, without OP and ED intruding. Definitely not something to be watched for fun; but my feeling is that it deserves better than what has been said of it so far.

pwhodges wrote:Pupa. A strange presentation; but I was intrigued by what seems to me to be an account of the way the damaging effects of domestic abuse are passed on through the generations, told in a series of out-of-order vignettes. I watched it in a single run, without OP and ED intruding. Definitely not something to be watched for fun; but my feeling is that it deserves better than what has been said of it so far.

That was my take on it as well. I lost interest in viewing it as it aired, but I was thinking of going back and rewatching it all in one block, like you did.

Got through the first five episodes of Cowboy Bebop yesterday. While there is no such thing as a bad episode when it comes to Bebop, the series doesn't really hit its grove until Edward joins the crew. Ballad of Fallen Angels is still kickass though.

AR-99 wrote:My favorite series this season, Sidonia, wrapped up. Once past the round faces I really started enjoying this show. No bad looking female characters and bonus fan service. And good news:

SPOILER: Show

Sidonia was great, but man, they need to give it the full year treatment. This cour by cour business is for the birds.

R1cey and I watched the first episode of Kill la Kill.

What the hell did I watch? Seriously. It's like I was on drugs.

Catamari wrote:R1cey and I watched the first episode of Kill la Kill.

What the hell did I watch? Seriously. It's like I was on drugs.

WATCH MOAR. Tell R1CE to do it too, she'll like it once she gets used to it.

Catamari wrote:Seriously. It's like I was on drugs.

Eh, you ain't seen nuffin' yet. Keep going!

I must be the only person who didn't like Kill la Kill, the animation style really turned me off tbh.

Anyways, I (finally) finished Chi's Sweet Home: Chi's New Address. Even though the episodes are like 3 minutes long, the last few episodes of Chi getting lost made me sad. :(

Catamari wrote:It's like I was on drugs.

Perfect segue. It's time for some Avantgarde Animation Appreciation (a.k.a. letting my inner hipster cum). Desperately striving for the next FLCL I pondered and came to the realisation, that there is nothing like FLCL and it seems there might never be something where style nourishes substance in the way FuriKuri managed to do it. What a pity. Yet there's some pretty stylish, empty stuff out there, and so I settled for finding the next Redline.

Of course, if there was something out there sporting better animation than Redline, I already knew about it. But, whatever.

Eternal Family
This little short has nothing going for it except for a wacky premise and lovely animation (which is more than 90% of all the Anime out there have to offer). Disjointed, often funny, sometimes bizarre, short and gorgeously animated for everyone with a short attention span. Needless to say, I loved it.


Hell's
Firstly, this movie reminded me of so many series throughout it's two-hour run, and now I feel the urge to reference them. Let's go.
This is the incredibly entertaining freak child of Hellsing-Hirano’s moody cynism; a gritty drawing style settled somewhere between Furi Kuri’s Manga and Fujiko Minne, and animation-wise I felt I found a few vibes of Yuasa’s Mind Game as well. The trapped in another dimension aspect reminded me of Haibane Renmai, where it was handled a lot better, or Angel Beats, where it was handled a lot worse. But most of the time it felt like a movie version of Kill la Kill. And of course, Utena. But I don't want to insult Utena.

I thought of all those series, but none of them hit the nail, because this movie is all over the place.
While it wasn’t really rushed it felt messy and noncohesive, so IMHO this movie would have needed the breathing room of a one cour series. This movie changes its focus after some time and this is where everything goes down the drain.
The first third seems to set up characters to tell their story and use them to portray the themes but after ~40 Minutes it suddenly switches gears into some semi-philosophical frontal treatment of topics, screaming it’s messages into your face like a Shonen version of the last two NGE Episodes. They spelled everything out for you, no interpretation necessary. Sadly, it doesn't even have anything profound or new to say. While my intelligence surprisingly didn’t feel offended by its silly bluntness of the last half I was annoyed because I had loved to see the movie fold out more like the first third. Also the gear-switch didn’t feel natural at all; suddenly it was strangely over the top after setting everything up nicely. On the surface the movie retained its heart, but everything beneath changed too drastically, which broke my suspension of disbelief. Making me stop caring.

The animation was nice, though. And style, this movie just has it in spades.


It was not bad, but not stellar either. If you have time to spare and like to watch something mildly entertaining with an awesome general style, this will serve you just right. But if you have not seen anything I mentioned in the beginning, start with those instead.


Also, I've finished the first season of Mushi-shi (what can I say, awesome relaxation par excellence) and watched the special that aired in Winter. I was instantly blown away by the updated art. Also, nice to see, they haven't lost it in all those years; even in direct comparison the special was not even slightly weaker than the first season. Really looking forward to finishing the second season now.

Currently not watching anything nor do I plan to finish what I'm currently watching because anime is fucking atrocious and I hate it!

nervshatter wrote:because anime is fucking atrocious and I hate it!

Protip: You gotta avoid the "he was an ordinary highschooler until..." type ones.

Gokukoku no Brynhildr: I feel like this anime reached insane levels of stupidity in the last episodes. I mean, I wasn´t expecting miracles from the guy that made Elfen Lied, but this adaptation was just terrible.

Black Bullet: Oh boy, this anime.



Still, I´m a person with simple needs, and this anime satisfied them, so I enjoyed it.

Edit: bzzt:. ...and that´s that, now, Jim, the new season is starting, what do you think? Jim: Well, you know, I´m watching the second season of Free and it´s nice so far. It tastes like a sterile hospital room but the uh... animation is nice. Tom: Thanks Jim, right now there´s also a new one, called Bakumatsu Rock and... Jim: Does it have rock in it? Tom:... No, it´s that rock, this is just a show for those girls with fantasies about rock stars. Jim: Oh... Tom: Yeah, I might stay with it just to fill time. Anyway, join us in the 5th of July, we´ll be talkin` bout Sailor Moon and other shows! It´s going to b...bzzt

Just finished The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Liked it overall, but it'll take me a while to collect my thoughts.

Warts and all, it's a deserved classic.

swimbros are back