The Anime / Manga Thread (MK2) | Beware Spoilers

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brightobject

there like moonlight
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Like what you like. It really doesn't matter, and no amount of snobs is ever going to change that.
thanks man, you spit da truth

also I was gonna qdb this but its too niche

[22:06] <@breh> https://i.imgur.com/WurSurx.jpg
[22:06] <&die_Entruckung> They defn wont ATK
[22:06] == zorbees [zorbees@tell.the.whole.world.how.you.did.it.im.onto.you] has quit [NickServ (GHOST command used by afklol)]
[22:06] == afklol has changed nick to zorbees
[22:06] <@breh> when fanservice gets so bad that both breasts are on the same side of the body
 

Martin

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So i just watched Garokawa: Restore the World and decided to write an essay/review-length response that probably noone will read/may get repetitive to the thread about it 'cause wynaut?
Anyway, I thought that it was pretty good. Its certainly not a must-watch or anythiing, but if you have an hour to kill then it is worth trying out. It was nothing lime I expected it to be, with me beang pleasently surprised to find out that it was nothing like SAO (i expected it to be kinda like a vision of SAO if it were good and lacked any male protagonists) and I liked a lot of aspects of it. It had between five and ten minutes in the middle of just music over scenes of the characters exploring the worlds followed by them having fun and showing the relationship between the characters developing (kinda like the marketplace scene in ep. 2 of Grimgar) after giving us a notice which is easy to miss/gloss over, and this did kinda get on my nerves 'cause the film is only an hour long and did leave me feeling kinda cheated out of potential dialougue-based development (and this lack of dialouge did mean that I was never quite able to connect with the relationship between the characters like I could in stuff like Hibike!, AnoHana, Toradora! And (for the sake of comparing it to something else with limited time for development, Spirited Away).

However, what it showed off was the studio's capability to produce a handful of genuinely breathtakingly beautiful scenes (not Grimgar beautiful, but there were around five scenes in the interlude that looked absolutely gorgeous) and really encouraged me to pay more attention to the soundtrack. I kinda noticed it before the interlude, but the focus on the music during this period of five to ten really did make me realise just how good both the soundtrack and the audio effects really are. It captures the mood of the film perfectly regardless of whether it was the amazing piano (which featured very prominently throughout the soundtrack as a whole), the sound distortion of both the soundtrack and the other audio when encountering "viruses" or anything else in terms of the film's audio. The studio has clearly put a lot of effort into making this film sound as good as possible, and I wouldn't be surprised if the seemingly purposeless interlude was just there in order to really show this aspect of the film off i stead of just posing as wasted/filler screentime.

The plot and concept weren't bad, but it didn't really feel like enough time was spent on it's execution and, as a result, it felt unfinished and patchy. They crammed what they should have spent 90-120 minutes executing into the space of 60, and as a result the plot lacked sufficient development and was ultimately rushed to its conclusion. This isn't all that much of a dealbreaker, but it is difficult to not notice this when watching. In addition to the ending felt really lacklustre. It tries to make you sad, but ultimately it lacks the emotion necessary to stimulate a response when watching it due to the very limited emotional investment in the characters and their relationship and the lack of a silver lining. To compare it to disappearance scenes in Angel Beats! and AnoHana, the disappearances in those never felt like they were a completely negative thing to happen due to the former meaning that the characters had no more regrets and the latter meaning that Menma's final wish had been fulfilled. Garokawa lacked any silver lining to Remo's disappearance. Sure, she was able to teach the anti virus data about emotion and all, but honestly the disappearance itself was visible from a mile off (unlike Madoka's infamous episode three, which shocked me into shedding a tear or two due to it being nothing like the tone of what came before and, as such, me not expecting/being ready for it it at all) and lacked the same type of lining as anime which successfully execute disappearances. Sure her disappearance leads to humanity being restored, but the film gave me no reason to empathise with humanity and, as a result, didn't feel like a proper silver lining at all. Disappearance scenes are meant to have a happy hidden meaning encased in their sadness, but the one that was provided lacked the depth required for an encased meaning to be of use. Therefore it fails to make me sad while also failing to make me feel even releif and, as a result, the ending was a flop.

The characters are okay. Nothing special overall, with them being uninteresting for the most part due to lacking development. Kinda fond of Dual, who was the only character I felt was likeworthy enough to be of note, but I never had any interest in the other characters as they didn't stand out. This stems from the lack of development, so I won't talk more anout it, but honestly I can't say anything else about the characters without just listing their emtire personalities, so I won't talk more on the matter.

Overall, I think its worth a watch if you have spare time, just don't feel obligated to. I'd give it around a 7/10 personally, so take what you will.
Anyway, Erased is still really good and Grimgar is still really beatiful/well written. I still hold my opinion that the former is the most likely candidate for AoTS at this stage (still too early for anything final tho) although Grimgar also has huge potential for this position if anything happens to shift my opinion of which is better. They are both a clear cut above the others too and are honestly spectacular :).

Dagashi Kashi is verry funny and worth watching, and Dimension W is pretty defo a keeper along with Swarzenmarken. Not all that keen on Active Raid personally and may drop it depending on what I think of ep 3; I can see where people find appeal in it though, so I won't downplay it too harshly.
 
the more i think abt it the more i realise i enjoy lots of anime and manga on a rlly shallow level... if it looks good and makes me feel something then i like it. is that a good thing or a bad thing, do you think?
hell yeah, i'd say this is a good thing. if you don't enjoy something then stop watching/reading it

i have the same philosophy when rating things - for example, gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun is a 10/10 on my MAL because it's the most fun i've ever had watching a show and it means a lot to me personally, even though i recognize there are plenty of flaws in it. on the flip side i didn't enjoy cowboy bebop as much as a lot of other people did so it's sitting at an 8/10. i think that people should always be aware of things like plot holes, animation, voice acting, soundtrack, et cetera, but that personal enjoyment should always come first


RE: current season:

erased is head and shoulders above literally every other show currently airing and arguably every show to come out in the last year or so. the pacing is pretty solid so far and the animation is gorgeous. apparently shouwa rakugo is also quite good but i haven't checked that out, and dimension W is supposedly also good but i haven't started it yet
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
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i have been rewatching neo genesis evangelion and one thing I have noticed is how Asuka's breasts size fluctuates constantly

but the OP is really great imo
 

soulgazer

I FEEL INFINITE
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Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku looks cool on paper, but then I saw the weird / shit animation, scenes being used multiple time (plus, those fucking hills WITH NOTHING. JUST GRASS SO BORING), potato faces, and boobs moving around for no real reasons ...

only watch that if you want some basic comedy in a SAO-esque environment/situation
 

RODAN

Banned deucer.
Erased is easily the best show this season, but Grimgar if it keeps up the pace its going at could easily match it. Dimension W is cool as fuck too.
 

soulgazer

I FEEL INFINITE
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what's the opinions on Dagashi Kashi and Luck & Logic so far by the way? that's two shows i'm tempted to try, but don't really have the time to do the "3 eps test" guh

e: and Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (esp. since its DEEN, who is making the show i talked about above 9.9)
 
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i'm giving dagashi kashi a few more episodes because of hype and because a good friend of mine recommended it. the humor hasn't really stuck with me so far, and while episode 2 was an improvement over episode 1, the show itself is still not quite up to par for me yet. the humor is kind of absurdist but misses a lot more often than not. probably going to stick with this one at least until episode 6

i've heard good things about shouwa genroku, a lot of people are saying it's one of the top two shows this season (along with Erased) but i haven't seen it myself

EDIT: oh yeah I finished Chihayafuru season 1 yesterday and it was an absolute delight. ended up knocking Shirobako down a spot on my top 5 list, and season 2 is supposedly even better than season 1
 

Acklow

I am always tired. Don't bother me.
But Japanese chocolates are great, have you not eaten a single Meiji chocolate in your life?



CZTSn5zWwAE9MrT.jpg-large.jpg
 
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Finally caught up with some stuff this season

Dagashi Kashi: just some light slice of lifey humour. A lot better than a lot of other slice of lifes out there but not really that good. I'm still enjoying it though.

Sekkou boys: Lol what. each episode is only 7 minutes and the voices of the statue idols alone are so absurd that they illicit a chuckle. Worth your time if your feeling a little sour.

Sushi Police: This is awful do not watch it

Ao no Kanata no four no whatever: Anything thats animated by P:A tends to slowly become shit in my opinion (Angel beats fans come at me) but this so far seems nice. Really over the top and dumb cliche characters but if it can ride on the coat-tails of this cool flying sport concept I can see it going somwhere. I'll probably drop it sooner or later but who knows?

Erased: First episode was a bit laggy and with too much monologue IMO but I'll be damned if it didn't get good real quick. Probably gonna be one of the best things this season.

Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo mezasu: I can't really tell where this one is gonna go. I hope it stays more shoujo and slice of lifey then serious. Not gonna judge it just yet but I think this has the potential to become fun. Characters are a little simple but they feel strangely original. Also has some Welcome to the NHK vibes going about it so I wonder if thats gonna come into play.

Phantom World: Sick of your shit Kyoani, I hope that midget pixie girl dies in a fire.

Dimension W: This futuristic setting is awesome and the concept of the illegal coil hunter is pretty well thought out and has some great potential. I hope the main character recieves some more development other than badass whos caught up in old ways. The robot girl should be fun too. Assuming they don't get too busy fanservicing her I'm expecting some Asimov shit to come out of that. Overall watch this. Its great.

kono subarashii sekai: This show is dumb. The concept has been done a thousand times before of being in a game world but never exactly in this manner. I was also happy to see that annoying god girl get completely screwed over. Probably gonna drop it but it may impress.

I'll watch some more later.
 

Martin

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Gonna give detailed opinions on the stuff that I've seen so far. I'm making it a target to watch as much of the new stuff that currently airing (i.e. not including sequels) as possible, so I've been mostly unbiased in regards to what I watch (mostly avoiding video game adaptations though) and being much more strict about what warrants me dropping one. Still have a lot of stuff that I need to watch though, so I'll just comment on the stuff that I have seen. Anyway...

Dagashi Kashi: I'm personally finding dagashi kashi rather funny. Sure, its not good that good an anime, but honestly with shows like this it really doesn't matter whether the anime itself is that good because it is more there for the sake of making you laugh. It is very absurd, which is part of why I am enjoying it, and I reckon I cracked up at least three or four times within the first ten minutes. The characters are likeable in the same way that the Haruhi Suzumiya characters are likeable (i.e. most of them are likable cause they're reasonably normal but Hotaru is just so whacky that it is hard to dislike her) and it feels like its taken a page from Yamada-kun, Toradora! and (to a lesser extent) Non Non Biyori when it comes to the types of character interractiosn (comparable to the former two) and activities of each episode (somewhat comparable to Non Non Biyori in that it is taking normally banal activities, such as being/working in a sweet shop or playing with those viral kids toys, and making them feel kinda interesting). It just feels like a really good time waster and really appeals to me due to it being very out there kinda like Shokugeki no Souma except not ecchi and with characters which are more comparable to Haruhi Suzumiya than they are to Shokugeki. I am expecting good things from it personally :)

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!: I stopped watching ep. 1 of this after around ten minutes because it felt like it was moving into the realms of ecchi/harem where the only purpose of females is for sex appeal, but I might give it another shot and try to force my way through an episode or two to see if it gets any better. Honestly it might just be because I started watching it immediately after watching episode two of ERASED and episode 1 of Grimgar, but I'm not going to get my hopes up about this too much.

Sekkou Boys: I'm in the minority here in that I'm not completely sold on like Sekkou Boys yet. I'll keep watching because every now and again I chuckle a bit, but honestly I find the busts to just be plain annoying more often than not. Their attitude kinda pisses me off and I've never been keen on idol shorts all that much, but the concept is original enough for me to respect it enough to not group it with other idol shows. It is not the kind of short I can watch if I'm in a bad mood, which is not a point in its favor considering that one of the reasons that I watch shorts is as a way of improving my mood with some comic relief.

Mahou Shoujo Nante Moujiidesukara: I didn't know whether I should call this cute or if I should call it pandering when I started watching it. However, the types of interraction and banter between the main characters is definitely entertaining and leads me to believe that it is meant to just be cute, and the combination of it feeling like a short aimed at kids and the PG13 rating means that I don't think it is trying to pander. They do try to explain why the magical girl outfit is a swimsuit of all things by making her power be the ability to summon and manipulate water at her will, so I'm gonna assume that it is innocent until I see a more blatant case of pandering. Its moderately entertaining (Yuzuki's blatant rejection of Miton is enjoyable to watch) but overall its not that spectacuar. Not much like full length magical girl shows so far as it has put more of a focus on everyday life than it has on the actual activities of the magical girls. It feels a lot like Hakone-chan in terms of the type of humour, so I will keep watching it for now.

Active Raid: I'm going to watch episode three of this either immediately after I finish typing this post or after I watch episode three of Musaigen no Phantom World, but personally I'm not all that impressed by what I've seen so far. The action isn't particularly interesting to watch imo, the characters are really hard to like, it has lacked much of anything even resembling a linked plot between the first two episodes (its making it easy to forget the main character's purpose of being assigned to that unit at times) and the soundtrack is flat out forgettable. The equipping scene that they use doesn't have the same flare that it does in most mecha shows, and the studio seems to be indecisive on whether they want the mechas in this to be OP, average or underwhelming even within fight scenes. Its not bad, its just not really meeting the expectations that I had of it.

Musaigen no Phantom World: Honestly this is very entertaining. It is a good time waster from what I can tell of the first two episodes and definitely needs to be taken with a pinch of salt to be enjoyed to its fullest. Mind you, Ruru is still extremely annoying and the show would probably be better without her, because the character fails to achieve its goal of comic relief due to not actually being funny and all of her gags make me feel like I've wasted five to ten seconds of my life after watching them. The rest of it is entertaining though. It is definitely very fanservicey, with scenes of note in this regard including the infamous limbo scene from episode 1 and the peeping phantom scene from episode two, and the story is mostly superficial, but honestly when I'm watching I don't notice that much because it succeeds in staying entertaining at most points of each episode.

Bubuki Buranki: This is extremely confusing, but regardless I am entertained. It is a rare example of good looking CGI in anime and it matches the quality of the 3DS Fire Emblem CGI in its quality - which is a feat to say the least. The opening few scenes were genuinely beautiful, and honestly I think that a spin off series just focusing on the two main characters as little kids would have a lot of potential in its own right. It is nice to see an original anime that is succeeding in being good, just so long as it tries to remove the confusion that I have atm in its next episode. Its worth watching.

Dimension W: This has an interesting plot and has a lot of potential as a series. The action is interesting, the characters will most likely become multi-layered and it is just entertaining as a whole. Enjoyable at all points so far and definitely one of the better shows this season. It makes me want to know more about the back-stories of the various characters too, which is a good thing with these kinds of shows. Looks like it will be kinda dark, which is good in my book. Watch this.

Ajin: The plot of this is good, but something that really bothers me is just how ugly the CGI of this is. This is a shame, because the characters had the potential to look really good with a non-CGI art style, but instead the movements, emotions and overall look of all of the characters is just... yuck. If I look past this though, it is definitely good. The plot feels original, it looks like it will be very dark and it makes me want to find out what will hppen next and about pasts of the main character, his friend and his sister. Watch if you don't mind the visals looking weird.

Schwarzenmarken: This has been good so far and I expect it will stay like that throughout the series. The tone is dark and the execution is good. It keeps leaving me on the edge of my seat wanting to find out what is going to happen next and with more and more questions about its universe. Definitely one of the top shows of the season.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar: This thing is near perfect. The characters are likeable and complex, the visuals are beautiful, the soundtrack is great, the concept is good. Honestly the only problem with it is that it is airing alongside something as good as ERASED. Definitely an amazing show and if you are not watching it you are missing out big time.

ERASED: This is honestly better than the entirity of last year's shows and head and shoulders above Grimgar. If Grimgar is near perfect, then this being better than it is really testamony to just how amazing it is. I like literally everything about this show, from the setting to the plot to the characters to the visuals and soundtrack to any other criteria that I have missed, it hits a solid 10/10 in every single area. If you are not watching this you are severely missing out on a genuine example of amazing television.

With the exception of Garokawa and Aokana (the latter of which I forgot and am editing into this paragraph), anything here that is missing because I have not seen yet. All that I can say now is that I am hyped about the Phoenix Wright adaptation scheduled for later this year :toast:

Edit: might as well post an opinion on Aokana considering I took the time to edit it into the last paragraph.

Aokana: Something I noticed with this was that the first episode was kinda entertaining if you didn't think too much into it, but then the second episode just left me feeling kinda pissed off and unhappy with what it had turned into. They took what had left me feeling a bit of promise for the series and chucked it out of the window. The girl who is constantly immitating a cat is freaking annoying, the episode left me bored out of my skull and, while the first episode had left me kinda liking the quidditch-like game, the second episode just made it seem much more boring than the first episode did. The clichés which were kinda fitting in the first episode suddenly felt really displaced for some reason that I can't quite work out, and the characters didn't really feel as likable as they did in the first ep (once again, I can't work out why - aside from that cat girl). I'll watch ep 3 but honestly if it doesn't redeem itself by the end of that episode I'm dropping it for good.
 
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RODAN

Banned deucer.
Our naïve protagonist proposes to a female character in an online game, only to find out that the player is actually a guy. Traumatized by that, he decides to never trust a girl online, but now, two years later, a female player is proposing to him. What will happen?
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
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Decided to watch the first two episodes of the Fairy Tail dub on a whim because it's on Netflix.

Dropped it almost immediately because Lucy is fucking useless and almost became a sex slave twice. I'll at least say that some of the comedy works and the voice acting doesn't sound bad.

Going to try out Gurren Lagann now.

EDIT: Okay so I'm like 5 minutes in and this is already way better than Fairy Tail.
 

tcr

sage of six tabs
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i love ttgl!

its just so awesome and hilarious. Once you finnish that, watch kill la kill, and you'll get the full experience
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
It's 4 in the morning and I've just stopped a Netflix marathon of pre-time skip Gurren Lagann.

This show is fucking awesome. I got a huge rush that no other show has given me when Simon and Kamina combined for the first time, and I couldn't bring myself to pause anything and go to bed. I haven't enjoyed myself this much from watching television in a long, long time.
 
It's 4 in the morning and I've just stopped a Netflix marathon of pre-time skip Gurren Lagann.

This show is fucking awesome. I got a huge rush that no other show has given me when Simon and Kamina combined for the first time, and I couldn't bring myself to pause anything and go to bed. I haven't enjoyed myself this much from watching television in a long, long time.
lmao you ain't seen nothing yet
 
i finished both seasons of chihayafuru and ended up being horrifically blue-balled by the lack of romantic closure SO i went to read the next 60 chapters of the manga and am now horribly depressed by the direction that it went (it's still amazing, just not exactly heartwarming)

pls send recommendations for good romances / romcoms / SoLs with actual romantic closure that will make me feel warm and fuzzy inside
 
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