What anime are you watching right now? Summer 2014

[Bagheera]

Beast Speaker Erin 11: Oh wow, what a great subversion of the standard tropes. I was already sold on this show, but having it treat a ten-year-old, even a bright and precocious one, like a fucking ten-year-old was damn refreshing.

[pwhodges]

It seems such a simple show, but it really gets its hooks into one. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[Chainsaw Owl]

Kill la Kill has somehow found its way onto Toonami, so I'm giving it the old college try. Actually I'm quite enjoying it so far. High hopes for this one.

[BrikHaus]

But Brik, you don't even like Planetes!

Otherwise, I said my piece here.

Thanks, Tines. I guess I will add it to my backlog, and probably never get around to watching it just like everything else on my backlog.

[Ray]

GUNBUSTER:



I loved watching this. I loved it so much, I had to rewatch it right after I finished watching it. That's how much I enjoyed it. Only adding to my love-hate relationship with Anno's rather unique style of directing.

First the good stuff! Remember back in the day when you didn't have to rely on cheap-looking CGI and actually had no choice but to DRAW and animate your giant robot by hand? It was just so good to see a real hand drawn giant Robot again after so many years of getting nothing but CGI models in my anime. I haven't seen hand drawn animation done this high quality since Akira or Maross Plus.

However, the animation wouldn't hold up without a good story and strong interesting cast to go along with it, and fortunately there's all that and more here. Noriko, Kazumi, Jung, The Coach, all have their own unique personality and quirks that make them all the more believable as characters. This is aided by the pacing of the series, we spend the first three episodes getting to know the characters before we're actually introduced to the existential Alien threat known only as 'the enemy'. We care about the characters enough to want to see them succeed.

I also enjoy the realistic use of time dialation and mostly real world physics applied to the spacecraft and the Gunbuster itself. Most sci-fi in the vein of Gunbusters Space Opera Sci-Fi (like Macross and Gundam) tend not to dwell on real physics, or relativity, feeling it weighs down the story too much. But the addition really added to the setting, there are definite real world consequences to the characters actions because of it, and it adds such an emotional weight and gravity to the characters actions. and that last episode. . . dear god it was too good. That was just a punch to the stomach, at the end of the series. Noriko has paid no small price for mankind's salvation.

Having sung all this praise however, it sure as heck ain't perfect.
You can definitely tell this was made during the 80's. . . The girls wear leotards and legwarmers in what is supposed to be 2015 (seriously did noone back then think fashions would change the way they did?), and 'high-tech' during the eighties meant big analog, ticker-tape computers the size of washing machines. There's no touch screens, instead it's clunky mechanical switches and levers. Which I have no problem with personally. I love classic sci-fi in that vein, and it's refreshing to see it executed the way it is. But it's a bit of a love it or hate it thing for some people.

And there are some huge conflicts of tone in this series. The series wants you to feel the emotional weight of the characters and take the setting seriously, so you'd expect the first few scenes to help set the tone of a serious realistic Sci-Fi right? . . . Then it shows a Mecha doing sit-ups. What? In a setting that wants us to take the setting and the threat of an existential Alien threat that will wipe mankind out seriously. Showing something as silly as that kind've undermines the whole thing. Speaking of the Alien Threat though. . . its a shame Anno and Co didn't do more with it. I really liked their design. Sort've a cross between a plant, insect and an Amoeba, very Lovecraftian in design.

But the biggest issue here is the fanservice. . . There is quite a bit of nudity in this, and I don't mean Eva's deconstruction 'make you feel uncomfortable as your being tittilated' nudity. No. This is full blown male gaze fanservice. With the Bouncing Gainax breasts animated with the nipples and everything. My own personal issues with things like that aren't the reason I dislike it here. I dislike it because. . .it's distracting! Much like kill la kill, the show wants me to take it and the characters seriously. But I have a hard time taking a discussion about the horrors of an alien threat or listen to the characters give exposition about themselves when the shot is framed to focus on the redhead Russian girls backside!

and while I did like the ending. . . it also conflicted with the realistic tone of the series. Just watch it and you'll see what I mean.

But all in all, I did really have a lot of fun with this OVA. . . so I give it a solid 8 out of 10.

[cyharding]

And there are some huge conflicts of tone in this series. The series wants you to feel the emotional weight of the characters and take the setting seriously, so you'd expect the first few scenes to help set the tone of a serious realistic Sci-Fi right? . . . Then it shows a Mecha doing sit-ups. What? In a setting that wants us to take the setting and the threat of an existential Alien threat that will wipe mankind out seriously. Showing something as silly as that kind've undermines the whole thing.

One thing to keep in mind is that the first few episodes are pretty much a parody (the final two episodes weren't originally planned). The basic premise is, "What if a giant robot story is told using the tropes found in 1970s shoujo sports manga." What Anno did spectacularly was that he used the concept to seamlessly shift the tone, such as the ends of episodes two and three, leading to the "punch" as you put it of those final episodes. It can be said that one of Anno's skills as a director is that he can put the first-time viewer into a false sense of security before revealing the seriousness of what's going on. I think I probably muddled my point, so maybe other forum members can clarify things.

[Mr. Tines]

The girls wear leotards and legwarmers in what is supposed to be 2015 (seriously did noone back then think fashions would change the way they did?), and 'high-tech' during the eighties meant big analog, ticker-tape computers the size of washing machines.

The costumes were based on the designs used in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. And at least by the 80's, there were no longer any slide-rules in space.

[Fireball]

Nozaki

This show just wouldn't click with me. Dropped it like 3 times, but powered through it in hopes it might get better. It didn't. I'm somewhat perplexed everyone praising it as the comedy of the year, as it left me more than cold. And as far as romance goes, it was unsatisfying as well. Chiyo is adorable though, can't help but feel sorry for her.


Non Non Biyori

4 girls doing comfy things in middle of bumfuck. Super relaxing. I feel healed.

[mechashiva]

Finished Turn A Gundam finally.

I sort of put off finishing it because the part I was in (about ep. 20-30) were sort of slow going and stuck in a rut but I decided to push ahead and finish because I actually did like it and wanted to hurry up and finish so I could watch something else.

I don't know if its true for anybody else but when I'm watching a show, be it anime or live-action, on my own time, I don't really want to end up watching it go in circles BUT if its a show I'm watching on TV as reruns, I couldn't care less. I guess I'm just at the point where if I'm watching a show online, I don't want my time wasted, not when there's so many other things to watch.

But yeah. I really liked Turn A. The only other Gundam show I've finished Mobile G Gundam Fighter, which was kind of like Street Fighter with Gundams but I actually really enjoyed (considering I was doing that to put off interacting with my family at Thanksgiving ) The things I didn't enjoy so much were kind of small (the Gonk-ish character designs, the at-times slow pacing in the middle) but itemized, the things I liked were:

-the setting of Earth as backwards compared to the Moon due to a largely forgotten nuclear cataclysm. With the steampunk trappings and green, rolling hills, it felt very Ghibli

-even though the pace was something I didn't like, the conflict between the Moonrace and the Earth before they go into space were sort of small skirmishes of largely civilians and Loran either protecting something or trying not to fight. It kept the fighting grounded and small, constrasting the larger, more advanced forces with the smaller, mostly amateur Militia

-Loran as an idealist wanting to live peacefully on Earth and being dragged more or less into a war (or maybe more like a snafu) between his home...satellite? planet? and Earth

-That last episode? HOLY. SHIT. That sword fight between Loran and Ghinganham where he gets sealed inside the cocoon was easily the coolest thing I saw today considering I powered the last ten episodes.

plus, Loran is...kind of cute. I'd...hit that.

[IronEvangelion]

You can definitely tell this was made during the 80's. . . The girls wear leotards and legwarmers in what is supposed to be 2015 (seriously did noone back then think fashions would change the way they did?)

The show wouldn't have been the same without all those '80s vibes (especially those uniforms and that glorious opening theme). I actually love it when I can tell when a show was made just by watching it, because it gives me a glimpse of the social norms and culture of a time period I never personally experienced.

It's sort of like those blocky, analog-switch-studded starships in the original Star Wars trilogy. I get a kick out of looking at those and realizing that people in the '70s really though this is what the ships of an advanced interstellar civilization would look like.

[Monk Ed]

plus, Loran is...kind of cute. I'd...hit that.

Mechashiva gets it. (Man I keep forgetting I still need to see the show the character is from.)

[Lu-Cuss]

I got around to watching Serial Experiments Lain finally. It was pretty good, but also needlessly difficult. It's a lot easier to understand what was going on after shortly skimming a glossary of characters online and then giving myself time to process the events of the series in my head.

[Shinoyami65]

^I managed to work out most of the series after mulling it over a little, although I never could figure out what the hell happened to Lain's sister in her focus episode.

[Lu-Cuss]

^I think what happened is that

SPOILER: Show

The Knights fucked with her so that they could use her body as a sort of drone to have better surveillance on Lain

[robersora]

Even if Lain's narrative is a little bit all over the place, the visual direction is absolutely gorgeous. I hope Despera will be as beautiful as Lain. Gosh, I'm so hyped for Despera, I hope now with a new director it'll really come into fruition.

[Lu-Cuss]

I definitely can't disagree with you there. The visual tone and color palette is all perfect for the show, and it added quite a bit of atmosphere. I'd even go so far as to say it was one of the driving forces of what made the show great.

[mechashiva]

Mechashiva gets it. (Man I keep forgetting I still need to see the show the character is from.)

Yeah, I mean, him cross-dressing didn't hurt anything either or the frequency for him getting buck naked He's such a pie-in-the-sky idealist and optomist that he just wants the protect the Earth and the people he cares about in the last few episodes he turns into such the little bad-ass, I got kind of swoony.

Bwahah. sorry.

Started "Honey Clover" and I'm not sure how to feel about it (like wait...is that college age guy seriously falling in love with an *18 year old* girl who looks a bit too much like she's 12? ) so its not high on my "Must watch" list. Parts of the 1st episode were pretty funny.
Still watching "Macross". Poor Hikaru. Minmay's friendzoned him HARD and she doesn't even realize it.

[Oz]

^ Honey & Clover won't disappoint if you keep watching it. It's a really mature and rewarding story that makes many other similar series pale in comparison.

[Dr. Nick]

Battle Royal High School: I'm pretty sure this is meant to be the cultural festival film project Haruhi directed. Based Haruhi.

[pwhodges]

Started "Honey Clover" and I'm not sure how to feel about it (like wait...is that college age guy seriously falling in love with an *18 year old* girl who looks a bit too much like she's 12? ) so its not high on my "Must watch" list.

Appearances are deceptive. Do not walk away from this - it's top-tier. Also, the end of the first season is only an interim end - you need to watch the second to get the real ending.