What anime are you watching right now? May 2012

[Final Messenger]

Gundam AGE episode 43:

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What was the point in introducing her if you kill her off the next episode and I am suppose to feel sympathy for her too?!?!?!?! Oh Age you so rushed and lack any good character development outside like one character. But its mecha action is still very nice

Mirai Nikki episode 1-6: pretty interesting show so far, I have been enjoying it. No other thoughts on it other than that :P but I finally know where this came from

[Mr. Tines]

Trying to figure out if this is a non-linear story.

From /a/, I gather that they are adapting the source material out of order.

[Justacrazyguy]

Mirai Nikki episode 1-6: pretty interesting show so far

The best is yet to come, trust me.

Dragon Ball Z: It has a lot of comedy, obviously, but come on! Could have they dragged the fighting with Buu even longer?

[InstrumentalityOne]

Mirai Nikki episode 1-6: pretty interesting show so far, I have been enjoying it.

ehhhhhhhhhh, it kind of went down the shitter hard after episode 2

[Ornette]

But sort of redeems itself near the end, and I stress the "sort of".

[Dr. Nick]

Have you seen Cosprayers? I'm suffering through it right now, oh god...

Oh yes. It was back when I was just getting into bad anime with Raimuiro Senkitan, uguu-Kanon and G-on Riders. Good bad times.

Gotta love all those repetitive syllables (you know what I mean)

Lordy, there's some on Youtube.

yeah, Idolmaster girls are basically a collection of one notes with a characteristic quirk or two. I never finished the show though it wasn't bad or anything.

Quirks, yeah...



Putting the sausage aside, after 5 episodes I gotta say I'm starting to like this version of Iori as well because there's more to her than just being a sheltered ojou. Didn't expect her to have a pragmatic, responsible dimension based on my first impressions, but now I'm starting to see how they morphed the Xenoglossia-Iori from her template.

Biggest culture shock so far: I can't get over Yayoi being approximately seven years old. Where did the reliable big sister disappear?

Episode 4 was a dedicated suffering episode, but I think it pushed my buttons in a way the creators didn't quite intend. In my opinion, Chihaya's good end would be the producer kicking her the hell out of idol business. I'm not feeling bad for her because she's lonely, I'm feeling bad for her because she's being used and her talents are being wasted. Don't they have legit music academies in Japan? She needs to be in one of those instead of being cattle-prodded around in Takeshi's Cooking Castle (hey, props for this episode for capturing the soul-crushing nature of Japanese variety programming so well). If this continues, she'll be taking squid enemas by the time her first single is out.

A bit off-topic, but episode 5 solidified my opinion that fansubbers are some of the dumbest creatures on earth with no grasp of the visual language of their select medium. A montage of the girls prancing in swimsuits? Quickly, block the viewport with some insert song romaji!

******

Since we seem to be hating on CLAMP here right now, I'd like to contribute by ragging on the TV series version of X, but there are lots of words that want out, and I'm too tired to type them all. Let me just set the stage by saying that it's by far not the worst anime I've watched, but it is among the most frustrating ones, and it has the worst villainy.

A funny coincidence, really: I was around the midpoint of the show a little over a month ago, watching the episodes where most of the really egregiously stupid shit occurs, when Xard posted this in his Ga-Rei Zero review:

I also think central turn for Yomi’s character late in series run felt a bit too “easy” given how strong person she’s portrayed as.

Thanks for the hollow chuckle, man. You were drinking from a golden chalice while I was licking toads with weirdly elongated limbs.

Dear readers, ask yourself this question: if you were writing a story that involves a good person turning evil, how would you go about accomplishing it? I daresay most sane writers would try to establish such a turn in characterisation by providing the character with some kind of motivation, like a betrayal or a loss of a loved one.


Don't you want to be inside of me, Kamui?


X does things differently. The process goes like this, and I'm not simplifying or exaggerating it one bit:

1. Character A is a good person.
2. The writers, in their omnipotent power, flip his ACME evil switch.
3. Character A is now instantaneously evil, non-ambiguously gay and drinks baby soup.

Instant evil. Absolutely instant. No need to even add water.

(rant to be continued)

[child of Lilith]

Watched Ghost Hunt again. As I expected it was as good as ever. It's a classic example of what you get when you actually take the proper amount of time to tell a story. Something sorely lacking with the anime of today.

[CJD]

Sweet Ass Online Episode Episode Seis

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I'm not gonna lie, this episode confused me a bit. I'm not sure if there were some translations errors on Commie's part, wouldn't surprise me, or if the lines were just bad or what. Kirito's lines immediately before the flashback to where he "figures it all out" really lost me, and it didn't get too much better later on. Like, why the hell did they just pick Grimlock up and carry him away on their shoulders? What, are they gonna forgive him or something? It almost seemed that way. I don't like bitching about adaptations not being 100% faithful to the source material but I feel like if this side story was it might have been a lot better. Sigh, I'll have to rewatch it when CR get's off their asses and airs it.

I do hope they get to the main story soon, though. We're 6 episodes in and they're still on side stories, doesn't give me much hope for a good adaption of the main story unless the LN's are really short.

[child of Lilith]

^

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It sure did look like they were going to forgive him, which really pissed me off. Made the episode feel really misogynistic.

And this episode was kind of confusing. It didn't make much since how Kirito just happened to show up right on time.

[CJD]

^

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It sure did look like they were going to forgive him, which really pissed me off. Made the episode feel really misogynistic.

You know it's fucking bad when my first thought after reading the that was "Oh fucking god, here we go. Don't you go there coL." without actually stopping to think about it. I really need to stop reading rage threads because "misogyny" is becoming like red to a bull for me. Now that you mention it I can see how you could get that from it. I'm not entirely sure misogyny is the right word for it, though. I think, if they do forgive him, the scene is just horribly written.

And this episode was kind of confusing. It didn't make much since how Kirito just happened to show up right on time.

I figured that was just typical "dramatic tension". What really lost me was this.

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And the lines after it. Am I experiencing sudden onset dyslexia or doesn't this only make sense as "he didn't go along with it for Griselda's sake."

[child of Lilith]

You know it's fucking bad when my first thought after reading the that was "Oh fucking god, here we go. Don't you go there coL." without actually stopping to think about it. I really need to stop reading rage threads because "misogyny" is becoming like red to a bull for me. Now that you mention it I can see how you could get that from it. I'm not entirely sure misogyny is the right word for it, though. I think, if they do forgive him, the scene is just horribly written.

Perhaps the term is a bit too strong, but it was the first thing that popped into my head after seeing it.

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What I got out of the scene wasn't that the guy was bad because he killed his wife or even because of why he did it, but that he was bad because he didn't understand the difference between love and possessiveness. As if the murder was secondary to his lack of understanding. Her ghost showing up at the end only served to strengthen this feeling. Like even she didn't believe her murder was any big deal. That even in death her duty to her husband/master trumped the inconvenience of her death. Not hard to tell why I found this to be mysogynistic.

I figured that was just typical "dramatic tension". What really lost me was this.

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And the lines after it. Am I experiencing sudden onset dyslexia or doesn't this only make sense as "he didn't go along with it for Griselda's sake."

I'm pretty sure the version I watched said didn't.

[CJD]

Perhaps the term is a bit too strong, but it was the first thing that popped into my head after seeing it.

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What I got out of the scene wasn't that the guy was bad because he killed his wife or even because of why he did it, but that he was bad because he didn't understand the difference between love and possessiveness. As if the murder was secondary to his lack of understanding. Her ghost showing up at the end only served to strengthen this feeling. Like even she didn't believe her murder was any big deal. That even in death her duty to her husband/master trumped the inconvenience of her death. Not hard to tell why I found this to be mysogynistic.

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Well, like I said, I can see where you're coming from with that. My thought after watching it was that it was some extreme otaku pandering. Like they were justifying his actions because his wife didn't live up to his idealized version of her. "How dare she stop being the submissive. How dare she demonstrate strength." I was waiting for him to claim she wasn't "Pure" or something.

I just sort of figured it was bad writing or a bad translation. I mean, they clearly punish him? Right? Right...?

I'm pretty sure the version I watched said didn't.

So yea, Commie dropped the ball. No big surprise. If I may ask, and I'm not sure if this is out of bounds so if it is I apologize, who did you use?

[kuwisdelu]

So yea, Commie dropped the ball. No big surprise. If I may ask, and I'm not sure if this is out of bounds so if it is I apologize, who did you use?

I watched UTW's version and it was definitely "didn't." Nor did I get the impression they were going to forgive him.

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And the "possessiveness" part seemed to me like Asuna just got pissed off when he claimed to have loved her in the first place (implying that his reasons for killing her meant he never really loved her).

[child of Lilith]

SPOILER: Show

Well, like I said, I can see where you're coming from with that. My thought after watching it was that it was some extreme otaku pandering. Like they were justifying his actions because his wife didn't live up to his idealized version of her. "How dare she stop being the submissive. How dare she demonstrate strength." I was waiting for him to claim she wasn't "Pure" or something.

I just sort of figured it was bad writing or a bad translation. I mean, they clearly punish him? Right? Right...?

SPOILER: Show

I don't know if I'd call it pandering because they didn't try to portray him in a positive light, but they did shift focus and try to make the murder and the vile reason behind it into something unimportant. As for never saying pure he really didn't have to. His actions made it pretty obvious that's what he meant.

I think that if he does show up again (highly unlikely) chances are he'll have gotten off with a simple apology. After all, he didn't understand love, so murdering his wife is totally fine. It was just a silly little mistake that happens from time to time. Even the shade of his dutiful wife agrees. At least according to the story.

So yea, Commie dropped the ball. No big surprise. If I may ask, and I'm not sure if this is out of bounds so if it is I apologize, who did you use?

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't actually know. I just watch whatever's available. Never really pay attention to the name.

[EvaBrothers]

Watched Medabots, two episodes of the first series. :)

(But I'm mostly hooked on Star Trek DS9 episodes lately)

[Justacrazyguy]

Watched Macross II: Super Dimensional Fortress The movie: It was fun, nothing special.

[Bagheera]

Watched Macross II: Super Dimensional Fortress The movie: It was fun, nothing special.

I think I liked the design of the Valkyries in Macross II more than those of any other installment in the franchise. The SAP and SAP Special just kick ass, and even the VF-25 Armored Messiah doesn't quite match up (though it is a close contender). And this is to say nothing of the Zentran Fighter. Mmmmm, Zentran Fighter . . .

And really, the Marduk hold up very nicely as antagonists vs. anything from Macross 7/Frontier; say what you will about the characters and the plot, the setting itself and the mechanics were top notch.

[Ornette]

It's not even part of the original timeline, nor made by the same people. And it shows.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Strange, it still felt like Macross to me even without Shoji Kawamori, just updated from DYRL.

[Bagheera]

It's not even part of the original timeline, nor made by the same people. And it shows.

I realize, but between the mechanics and the enemy I just don't care. I mean, spiritia? Vajra? Please. Even though it was done by a third party Macross II seems to hew much closer to the norm established by Macross than do any of the official sequels, and in the end that's what keeps bringing me back for more.