What anime are you watching right now? Summer 2014

[pwhodges]

Just two episodes to go of Mawaru Penguindrum. For a while now it's been like watching a completely different anime than the one I started - but that's OK. It's awesome, and compelling, but I'm not sure I understand what the heck is going on in some ways. It's starting to feel (and yes, I peeked at a synopsis of the end) like Shouma is the most tragic figure I've yet encountered in anime. Is there no redemption for those who are simply good in the world of this story? Even Shinji deserves less and gets a better deal in the end.

Well maybe when I've finished it, and more seriously when I've had a chance to watch it through again, I may find that this is too simple a view - but it's the way it's making me feel right now.

[Bagheera]

I need to get caught up on Tokyo Ghoul, and I should give Space Dandy a try.

Am I the only one who's giving Terra Formars a chance? I know it's ridiculous, and I remember the manga being widely ridiculed/panned, but the anime seems to have some potential.

Also, I've learned that I am apparently hated on 4chan. Hooray for me, I guess?

[pwhodges]

What does one do that 4chan even notices one?

[Bagheera]

Addressed via PM, because rules re: cross-forum drama.

[Fireball]

you will never take a shit in a Gundam ahahahahaha

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Also, I've learned that I am apparently hated on 4chan. Hooray for me, I guess?

Well, that sounds like an interesting story.

[Ornette]

I forgot to mention:

Barakamon, about a calligrapher that got exiled from Tokyo to a small village on an island, a serious contender for the best anime of the season. It's funny, light-hearted, and dramatic with likable characters and does it consistently well through-out the entire short season.

[Fireball]

Am I the only one who's giving Terra Formars a chance? I know it's ridiculous, and I remember the manga being widely ridiculed/panned, but the anime seems to have some potential.

It's horrendously censored, that's why no one bothers with it.




forgot, I checked this one out too



oh Trigger why are you doing this to me?

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

KLK reference FTW.

[Bagheera]

It's horrendously censored, that's why no one bothers with it.

Censored anime makes me sad, it's true.

[Dr. Nick]

Key the Metal Idol: What's the biggest info dump you've seen in an anime? ROD the TV had an episode-long exposition flood that was in all likelihood just a cleverly camouflaged clip show episode. LOGH famously spent an episode on the empire's history, and there were castratos and fat belly dancers. But those were just standard ~25 minute long episodes. The big dump in Key, I shit you not, lasts over 90 solid minutes, and it does so uninterrupted because the OVA has non-standard varying episode lengths: the first 13 episodes have a standard 25 minute running time, but the last 2 run over one and a half hours while not really changing the presentation or pacing to a more movie-like form.

Funnily enough, this is not even as destructive as it sounds. The show is a mystery play, structured a little like the later Higurashi (full disclosure: I'm a dirty secondary): first you get questions upon questions and weirdness upon weirdness, and the second half then starts methodologically explaining all the baffling, violent things that have been going on for the last 300+ minutes. It bothered me surprisingly little because I'm a sucker for pulp scifi stories of this brand, even though I couldn't help wondering, while the exposition was flowing, how much more effective the "answers arc" could've been had it been realized traditionally by way of flashback episodes. The story goes back all the way to pre-WW2 times, and it's very similar to the backstory of Imagawa's

SPOILER: Show

Tetsujin 28, which indeed handled its exposition in a more balanced, piecemeal fashion. The two shows almost feel like two branching world lines from the same initial situation. In Tetsujin's universe, Japanese scientists manage to start building robots in the late 1930s, whereas in Key's universe these attempts fail disappoingly. Both shows paint fascinating outcomes from their similar conceptual starting points.

Key's biggest problem for me was not the exposition but rather the lack of a proper epilogue. I bitched about these axe chop endings in my previous post, and Key is one of the most brutal examples of this I've seen. Unlike some of the people on Tvtropes, I wouldn't call the ending a Gainax ending because even though crazy things happen, everything makes sense in light of the preceding exposition bukkake. If I wanted to grossly simplify the final act, I would call it moe Akira instead (considering the director's resume, the similarities might not be coincidental). My only beef is with the abruptness: the epilogue scene is 14 seconds long, which in comparison to the length of the info dump speaks of misplaced priorities.

******

Cross Ange ep. 01: a sincere remake of Mars of Destruction or a blunt otaku deconversion anti-anime? I'm not quite sure yet, mostly because of the self-aware (and unfunny) lampshading in the next episode preview. The show might actually be an attempt to make the viewers stop watching anime. Trigger warning for grimdarkness, rape, Gundam Seed shout-outs, Nunnally, Schneizel, pilot suits so slutty that 4chan had to fix them, and unimaginable badness.

[caragnafog dog]

I am hopeful for the new season of Psycho Pass. Akane is clearly going to have to deal with a lot of new things, and with her new outlook I'm curious how she'll respond.

G Reco 3:


I love this guy already. The haircut. The arrogance. It's all there! Just have to wait on the mindbreak.

EDIT:

SPOILER: Show

I can't stop fucking laughing. Yet another one to add to Char's cockpit of joviality.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Censored anime makes me sad, it's true.

Are we talking actual mosaics here, or content changes a la Excel Saga?

[Monk Ed]

@Dr. Nick: What's a "dirty secondary"?

Are we talking actual mosaics here, or content changes a la Excel Saga?

There were content changes in Excel Saga for censorship purposes?

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

The opening of Excel Saga (on Netflix, at least) has been heavily edited.

[CJD]

@Dr. Nick: What's a "dirty secondary"?

Someone who hasn't read the original source material (in this case a VN).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3rhQc666Sg

[Alaska Slim]

G Reco Episode 3

The Capital Army certainly has a... creative approach to putting someone "under arrest" or "guarding" secret equipment.

At first I thought it was just the cheerleaders falling under some " well, they're in a skirt" clause for how able they are in getting people in and out of custody.

But no, the Capital Army is just like this all the time it seems. Going by the preview, it seems the Ameria people will be the same way.

Maybe it's like an honor system that everyone expects, but no one follows?

[Mr. Tines]

Are we talking actual mosaics here, or content changes a la Excel Saga?

This is a lightly censored scene


Some of the screenshots I've seen are 3/4 blacked out.

/a/ has been having a field day with amusing shoops of some of the more ludicrous uses of blots

SPOILER: Show

becomes

Stereotype warning

SPOILER: Show

SZS returns

SPOILER: Show

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

To a layman (me), that seems like a really dumb thing to do.

[Sgt. Griff]

To anyone that's a dumb thing to do. Dumber than jelly donuts and censored cigarettes.

The level of censorship is becoming gradually more absurd, especially with Shonin.