The robot thing is so ingrained that it even pops up in places you wouldn't have expected, given the premise (I'm looking at you, Wizard Barristers, where the "Perry Mason with magic" premise and things like animation for most of an episode were all sacrificed for a CGI mech fight climax).

Heck, even Pokemon has them, courtesy of Team Rocket (though needless to say they're anything but awe-inspiring). My point is, they're that ubiquitous. If an anime series goes on long enough, and has a reasonably sci-fi/fantasy-based setting, chances are it WILL involve giant mechas at some point.

El Squibbonator wrote:a reasonably sci-fi/fantasy-based setting, chances are it WILL involve giant mechas at some point.

But that was already a thing 20-odd years ago, with Escaflowne and RayEarth being the most obvious examples.

Bagheera wrote:I don't think a dead girl trying desperately not to be completely forgotten by everyone she ever knew (and failing) is first world problems at all. I think it's about the worst fate I can imagine, and that the cast of NGE got off lightly by comparison.

I can never understand why people think Eva is so gruelling, honestly. Nothing that happens is permanent, so what the hell? It's rough the first time through, yes, but once you know what's going on it's plain ol' character development and not all that terrible at all. By contrast, genuine loss -- loss that doesn't come with a reset button -- is much more tragic and harrowing.

By the way, I just realized this is the plot of the movie Bleach: Memories of Nobody.

Bryan wrote:By the way, I just realized this is the plot of the movie Bleach: Memories of Nobody.

Me Too.

The bleach movies are a lot better than the manga despite having flaws of its own.

So, uh, Kantai Collection. I haven't actually watched it. I've just read the description on Wikipedia.

This:

The gameplay is centred upon building squadrons composed of individual characters represented as cards with different attributes, and then sending said squadrons out on missions. Each of the characters are moe anthropomorphisms of World War II naval warships which are depicted as cute girls, known as "Fleet girls" (艦娘 kanmusu?).[9] These personified warships are based on real-life vessels which are explained in detail within the game; the physical characteristics, appearances and personalities of each of the girls correlate in some way to the real-life vessel (for example, ships with a larger displacement tonnage are usually depicted as older girls with more mature bodies, while smaller ships have petite and underdeveloped figures, with a few exceptions). The player takes on the role of an admiral (提督 teitoku?) and organises their fleets in battle in order to win. Combat is largely automated, and manual actions by the player include micromanagement such as building and repairing.[2][10] The player can organise up to four different fleets.[11]

And this:

Whilst the game is free-to-play, special premium bonuses can be obtained through prepaid game money and credit card micropayments, such as repair dock expansions, home shipyard furniture tokens, ship possession limit increases and special consumable items.[13] Although each ship in the game has an experience level cap of Lv.99, the player is able to obtain the "marriage papers and ring" item with a monetary purchase priced at 700 yen or via a one-time special quest, which allows the player to "marry" the girl, thereby breaking the original level cap and allowing a new maximum of Lv.150, in addition to other perks such as stat boosts and decreased operating costs; this process can be repeated as many times as the player wishes, and there is no limit to the number of girls that can be "married".[14]

WAAAAARGHBLAAAG?

Well, that explains the amount of porn this series seems to generate. But that still means people can marry (and apparently want to bone in the porthole) god damn WARSHIPS. WTFBBQ?

I am amazed Moral Guardians haven't yet found out about this and are not using it as an argument about why all anime is bad.

Kancolle is mostly good for the oodles of yuri it produces, mostly between akagi and kaga but thats just me.
And yeah the marriage thing was dumb but i read this one Akagi x Kaga doujin where the admiral was a total bro and took the marriage forms for the two, cut them in half and stuck them together so the girls could get married, because admirals can do that now.

Throughout history men has given ships female names because the ship was the only woman allowed at sea and as such was treated with deference and respect. The idea that seamen are married to their ships they are sailing isn't anything new.

Shamsiel-kun wrote:So, uh, Kantai Collection. But that still means people can marry (and apparently want to bone in the porthole) god damn WARSHIPS. WTFBBQ?

Warships in the form of cute girls. Let's be clear about that. You name it, Japan has produced a cute girl version, and someone has said "she's mai waifu". If there's an issue to take with the franchise, it'd be about historical revisionism, and not about the ubiquitous culture of kawaii.

As is, I'm not sure that "LOL, Japan" really counts as a controversial opinion.

Rosenakahara wrote:Kancolle is mostly good for the oodles of yuri it produces, mostly between akagi and kaga but thats just me.

De ja vu, I swear you say this everytime we mention Kantai Collection.

Mr. Tines wrote:The robot thing is so ingrained that it even pops up in places you wouldn't have expected, given the premise (I'm looking at you, Wizard Barristers.

And I'm looking at Digimon Xros Wars.

Digimon aesthetically has always been a send up to Super Sentai/tokusatsu and Kaiju films. Other influences cropped up, to include a robot-looking one here or there, but the first two influences dominated.

But in Xros Wars, mecha is suddenly the order of the day, with inorganic lines and boxy shapes. Because now combining a la Voltron is the central fighting mechanic and making the (non-evil) Digimon mish-mashed FrankenScheusal just wouldn't do.

On paper, I should like this better. Mechanical depictions of power beat out squishy organics in my mind. In practice, I loathe it, because now everything the protags have look like cheap, gaudy, plastic toys, and the Digimon are thrown in like gumballs, only to be thrown out next episode to let the new guy up to bat.

The reason the Xros wars good guys look like toys is because that is what they are designed to sell, all digimon technically are but that just became the entire focus of the design in xros wars.

Simple controversial opinion*: There hasn't been a single new anime series released in the past 12 months that hasn't been absolute garbage.

*It's not really opinion. It's a fact.

^ Anime De Wakaru Shinryounaika ? It's not pure gold with every joke, some are even a bit tired or , but I've enjoyed it.

Gendo'sPapa wrote:*It's not really opinion. It's a fact.

Have any facts to back that opinion up?

Gendo'sPapa wrote:Simple controversial opinion*: There hasn't been a single new anime series released in the past 12 months that hasn't been absolute garbage.

*It's not really opinion. It's a fact.

You really enjoy baiting, don't you?

Gotta keep the thread going.

But I'm serious when I say I haven't seen anything that isn't garbage in the last year. Hence my controversial opinion.

Well, if it is any consolation I am discovering that some anime in the past suck too.

Gendo'sPapa wrote:Gotta keep the thread going.

But I'm serious when I say I haven't seen anything that isn't garbage in the last year. Hence my controversial opinion.

If your talking about 2015 I almost agree with this, but I do like the new season of Jojo, Durarara season 2 seems decent so far too, didn't focus as much on the lame protagonist like the old Durarara did.

Gendo'sPapa wrote:There hasn't been a single new anime series released in the past 12 months that hasn't been absolute garbage.

Because neither JoJo nor Mushi-shi count as "new", I presume. Or Fate/*, for that matter, though that barely moves the needle.

Seems like you need some more School/Slice of Life in your diet.

Oregairu*? I've enjoyed the first season more than I expected, though I wouldn't call it great or anything. I've seen hints that the current second season (which I haven't quite got to) is a step up; the first season certainly improves as it goes.

* the show with the greatest number of stupid names of any! I've decided just to use the shortest.