What anime are you watching right now? Nov 2013

[Fireball]

I'm in.

[Bagheera]

White Album 2 #13: Okay, I'm not normally a fan of harem endings, but seriously guys, there's a really simple solution to your problems. You don't even have to go the yuri route, just come up with a schedule and it's all good. If you want to be together forever, be together forever and stop angsting over it. Loved the show anyway, would watch again.

Nagi No Asukara 13: So much awesome! I don't even know what happened in the end, but I'm dying to see what comes next. Hikari, you've become ten kinds of awesome. Kaname, you're kind of a dick. Everyone else, you make the show worth watching. Thank the gods this is two cours!

[riffraff11235]

Thank the gods this is two cours!

Don't you mean "Thank Uroko-sama!"?

But yeah, that was pretty awesome.

The Lucky Star dub wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but it was still pretty difficult to watch. After it, my friend and I watched the last episode of Monogatari: Second Season. That was definitely one way to end a show.... Good thing we won't have to wait too long for Hanamonogatari....

[A.T. Fish]

Nagi No Asukara 13: So much awesome! I don't even know what happened in the end, but I'm dying to see what comes next.

SPOILER: Show

Timeskip

Can't wait to see it either.

Kaname, you're kind of a dick.

I feel sorry for the guy.

[Shinoyami65]

Finished marathoning Kill la Kill so now I'm watching Fate/kaleid Liner Prisma Illya. It seems to be a strange combo of awesome Fate/Zero-esque fight scenes and super light-hearted scenes from typical shojo anime...

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

That picture alone is enough to interest me in this. I've been hooked.

[Fireball]

That picture alone is enough to interest me in this. I've been hooked.

Are you sure? Because that's what you have to do when want to be on the ride.

[pwhodges]

I finished Mahoromatic - both seasons, but not the extras (yet). I enjoyed it - but I can see why some - most! - people are upset by the ending.

But to start at the beginning, the first thing to think about is fan service - and how! Lots and lots, but actually rather tastefully done, and mostly well integrated into the story. This is a little less true for episodes 2-6 of the second season, where the main plot goes for a vacation; these episodes are more concerned with establishing the normality of Mahoro's experience as a human, but rather lose their way doing it. Still, the plot returns, and gets on with it.

As for the plot, some reviewers seem a bit confused by the change in relationship between Vesper and Saint with the appearance of The Management, but it makes perfectly good sense if you concentrate a little (oh right, fan service - well it shouldn't turn you stupid, you know).

And then the ending. I've been reading around, and almost everyone who's written about it has complained what a mess it is. Some complain that it's not as good as the manga ending - but that hadn't been written at the time (same deal as FMA, Nausicaa, Akira, lots of anime), so it's not really a useful criticism. For me it works well enough. Sure, there are some loose ends and some stretches, but I don't think it's as bad as some people say...

It gets a bit off the rails near the end of episode 13, when Suguru seems to lose his confidence, and Mahoro lies to him when she knows she won't be coming back; she really should have told him earlier, but certainly at this point:
Then at the start of episode 14, we see Suguru twenty years on, a bitter bounty hunter, destroying androids as one destroyed his hope:
It is a shame, as many have said, that we get no closure on the other children, Minawa, or Slash, though we do meet Shikijo-sensei briefly. But then at the ending we see that Mahoro is in some way an aspect of the mysterious Matthew:
who decides, now that the Earth is recovering from The Management (the need to reach this point explains why Matthew didn't do this earlier), that Saint can now leave for another place - but realises that Mahoro's memories would be of more use to Suguru, and so sends them back to him in her image:
After a scene in which we see him replaying his memories of former happiness with her:
we are given the briefest glimpse of them together again in the present:
Because he was badly wounded when she returned, we cannot tell if he survives to live happily with her, or whether he now dies with his contentment restored.

Overall, perhaps not the "very good" that I marked it at the halfway point, but still "good" overall, with intermittent flashes of "excellent".

[Ornette]

The summer special and Tadaima are just side stories, which are still worth the watch if you like Mahoro. There's a couple of Mahoromatic threads sitting around, but surprisingly, not many people seemed to have watched the show.

[Dr. Nick]

Coppelion: Here's a show that has no idea whether it wants to be a serious, moody post-apocalyptic adventure or, well, Raildex, although the first half of the show gravitates more towards the former and the second towards the latter. The writing is stupid starting from the nonsensical schoolgirl outfits, and the characters have a grating habit of repeating out loud everything that's happening around them. As the action content ramps up, we are treated with things like asspull superpowers, the return of the mechanical spider from Wild Wild West, a de-facto evil Biribiri as a maniac antagonist and all firearms, including tank cannons, being Trigun-levels of useless. But I hope there's a sequel and they dig up Violence Jack from the ruins.

[Xard]

Aura Battler Dunbine as of ep 40

This series has been losing steam considerably during new "Upper Earth" arc. It started really strong, dipped a bit in endless hiding-in-haven semi-filler stream around ep 20, got really good in 25-32 or so and has been in a serious slump since then. Thankfully eps 39-40 were the first ones of the second Upper Earth to be actually interesting again. Still, the show loses surprisingly much of its luster whenever Byston Well is abandoned as background and the fact this arc seems to bring in creeping incoherence to storyline/setting, something it has managed to avoid pretty well, doesn't help at all.

I'm starting to suspect they're never going to explain why

- Why Aura Battlers have ridiculous AT Field tier overpowered barriers in Upper Earth in the first arc despite them not having those in previous time they visited Earth
- Why Aura Battlers are so much stronger in Upper Earth in the first place - you'd think if aura power was so rampant over there (here) the suits would've been developed here long ago, they've actually never really explained properly why earthlings have such strong "aura power" (and why this somewhere down the line became irrelevant and now Byston Wellers can pilot just as well as earthlings, but I digress)
- Why Shou, Marvel etc. can still understand all languages through lolmagic despite it being explicitly made point that this was something Byston Well made possible. They ain't on Byston Well anymore
- Why the hell "black knight's" characterization seems to flipflop between episodes. In end of ep 34 he was crying like broken manchild on some boat in middle of sea having lost his Battler - in beginning of ep 35 he's again his old self with a squadron of Drake's goons, wtf


Tomino please, just bring the show back to Byston Well already and stop raping the previously established settei in this repetitive borefest of a arc.

[Squigsquasher]

OK, so I actually watched this a few days ago, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway. I watched legendary movie Akira. My thoughts, shamelessly copypasted from the thread I just posted:

Mindless Fanboying  SPOILER: Show

At first, the film was fairly confusing, seemingly flitting between subjects like a butterfly on cocaine- one minute we're watching gang warfare, the next we're seeing a massive riot, then suddenly political intrigue, and then technobabble. However, it soon begins to make a lot more sense, and as the film progresses the elements that seemed confusing all pull together. For all its layers of psychic craziness and insane philosophy that would make Mamoru Oshii proud, however, at its heart is a simple, poignant story of the struggle of growing up in a world that has abandoned you, in many ways a damning parallel to the situation that was to come, with the bubble economy about to collapse and the entire country about to be thrown into disarray. The human element, the characters that drive the story, are some of the strongest I've ever seen in any film, let alone anime- the youths are honest depictions of real people, who live, love and suffer in a way few other stories have successfully portrayed. Even Evangelion's characters don't seem quite as genuine- and Evangelion's characters were superb.

On the technical side of things, this film is a masterpiece. The animation is fluid and smooth, looking far greater than one would expect a movie from 1988 to look. Seriously, it puts Disney animation to shame. The style of the film is brilliant as well, with much more realistic-looking characters than most other anime, combined with truly gorgeous cityscapes and mechanical detail. The soundtrack, too, is excellent, taking a minimalist approach of tribal percussion and chanting vocals, with very cleverly used silences and even breathing noises. By far the best song is Kaneda's theme, a hauntingly melancholic yet strangely lively tune.

About this point I'd be saying "However, it's not all sunshine and roses..." but the truth is, aside from the previously mentioned start, a confusing ending and a few slightly dodgy lines of dialogue, there really isn't that much to pick on. It's a fantastically crafted film, easily one of the all-time greats.

One thing I will mention is that this film pulls absolutely no punches. There is violence everywhere, some of it disturbingly graphic, and a few other scenes that can make you feel a little uncomfortable. This is absolutely not a film for the faint of heart.

Overall, this film is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. With an interesting plot, brilliant characters, surprisingly good philosophical elements, a wonderful soundtrack, intense action and some of the best animation in any film ever, this deserves to be ranked not just one of the best animated films ever made, but one of the best films of any format of all time.

VERDICT: About to Explode.

[A.T. Fish]

Coppelion

Episode 4 was so laughably bad that I just dropped the show after it. I was thinking about picking it up again but it seems that it somehow managed to go further downhill from there, glad to know I can let this go without any regret.

In other news, I just finished Uchouten Kazoku and I liked it very much. I couldn't help but draw some superficial comparisons to Kyousougiga while watching it, mainly due to the fact that they are both centered around unusual families and set in Kyoto, but while Kyousougiga's story ends up growing a lot in scale, Uchouten Kazoku remains grounded in its laid back atmosphere throughout the whole thing. Both of them are charming in their own way and I'd have a hard time if I had to choose a favorite between them.

[robersora]

Coppelion: Here's a show that has no idea whether it wants to be a serious, moody post-apocalyptic adventure or, well, Raildex, although the first half of the show gravitates more towards the former and the second towards the latter. The writing is stupid starting from the nonsensical schoolgirl outfits, and the characters have a grating habit of repeating out loud everything that's happening around them. As the action content ramps up, we are treated with things like asspull superpowers, the return of the mechanical spider from Wild Wild West, a de-facto evil Biribiri as a maniac antagonist and all firearms, including tank cannons, being Trigun-levels of useless. But I hope there's a sequel and they dig up Violence Jack from the ruins.

Well, thank god I've managed to pull out from that early enough... What a pity, I really liked the visuals and setting. The series' fuck ups hurt so much more, because it had the potential to be good.

Well, I've finished Monogatari: Second Series, and what can I say

SPOILER: Show

As happy I was that they've managed to get rid of the elementary school snail ghost girl, as sad am I to lose Kaiki. Especially after his narration I will miss him forever. Senjougahara loses more and more of her appeal, and Hanekawa is tolerable, but I hope she'll never get an whole arc again. Nadeko as bitch-god was fun, I really am sad that she's normal now again. Shinobu rocks anyway. And Gaen, Ougi and the green-haired chick are interesting, I hope they manage to bring their game on in future seasons.

Is it only me, or was this season of Monogatari far less hyped than all the seasons before it? All in all the second season was a nice watch on a weekly basis, nothing groundbreaking, but there's no better style with sufficient substance to not bore me out there in the moment. Coming back for Hanamonogatari.

[Bagheera]

Is it only me, or was this season of Monogatari far less hyped than all the seasons before it? All in all the second season was a nice watch on a weekly basis, nothing groundbreaking, but there's no better style with sufficient substance to not bore me out there in the moment. Coming back for Hanamonogatari.

It's not just you. I keep feeling like I should talk about it, given its significance, but I haven't even been watching since the middle of the Shinobu arc. I'm sure it's nifty and all, but I just can't muster the interest. Glad someone can.

[caragnafog dog]

I worry that we'll have to wait longer for hana than shaft says. They're not very good at juggling projects and they have nisekoi starting next season.

also

SPOILER: Show

if shaft just aired hanamonogatari BEFORE this arc like they were supposed to nobody would be worried about kaiki.

EDIT: I've been watching nagi no asukara but I stopped paying much attention about 5 episodes ago. I get the sense something important just happened though. I'll definitely try harder next cour.

[Azathoth]

I watched Adieu, Galaxy Express 999 last night.

Don't know if I should have watched any of the series or anything like that beforehand, but I didn't. (Stupid Crunchyroll keeps freezing after the first advert)

Not the series (though it's pretty great in that crappy 70s way if you have a spare month to spend watching like four episodes every day), but you should definitely have watched the first movie (Bonjour). It helps with context though it doesn't really make Adieu any less cracked-out, but hey it's a Matsumoto movie so if you don't want it to be cracked-out you can always watch something more sane, like End of Evangelion.

[Xard]

Adieu is fine if inferior rehash of first GE999 in most aspects and having seen it would've helped with a context quite bit, yeah.

It's still watchable on its own but I think you did end up missing some finer detail this way.


Anyway, I have three eps remaining of Dunbine for tomorrow. None of my questions above have been answered but I don't really mind because otherwise episodes in 40+ range have been pretty great and more than make up for mid30s slump.

[Fireball]

This is the gayest thing I have ever heard.

[Stikuru]

Well, I've finished Monogatari: Second Series, and what can I say

SPOILER: Show

As happy I was that they've managed to get rid of the elementary school snail ghost girl, as sad am I to lose Kaiki. Especially after his narration I will miss him forever. Senjougahara loses more and more of her appeal, and Hanekawa is tolerable, but I hope she'll never get an whole arc again. Nadeko as bitch-god was fun, I really am sad that she's normal now again. Shinobu rocks anyway. And Gaen, Ougi and the green-haired chick are interesting, I hope they manage to bring their game on in future seasons.

Is it only me, or was this season of Monogatari far less hyped than all the seasons before it? All in all the second season was a nice watch on a weekly basis, nothing groundbreaking, but there's no better style with sufficient substance to not bore me out there in the moment. Coming back for Hanamonogatari.

I have always liked the style of the series, mainly because it continues to prefer dialogue and character development over a ton of action, and it still manages to put in enough fan-service and humor to entertain me throughout.

To be honest, the one thing I have not liked about it is that

SPOILER: Show

I get a little annoyed that they don't show more of Senjougahara's relationship considering how much they talk about it with other characters. I get they are dating, but, do they ever actually go on dates? I'm sure I haven't even seen them together in the same scene the entire season. Or at least if I have, it's been so insignificant that it wasn't even worth remembering. I miss the scenes like the playground or the night sky from Bakemonogatari.

But oh well, i thought the ending of Monogatari was pretty much as perfect of an ending that I could imagine, and I will also be watching Hanamonogatari.