I notice you have Hellsing on here. Have you watched/heard about the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series? Unlike the Hellsing tv show, it follows the manga to the original ending as opposed to running out of source material half way through and making up it's own ending like Full Metal Alchemist. Just curious because I also enjoy both shows but the OVA series is my preference to the tv show.
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Media Anime and Manga Thread MK3 - Beware Spoilers
- Thread starter Martin
- Start date
I notice you have Hellsing on here. Have you watched/heard about the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series? Unlike the Hellsing tv show, it follows the manga to the original ending as opposed to running out of source material half way through and making up it's own ending like Full Metal Alchemist. Just curious because I also enjoy both shows but the OVA series is my preference to the tv show.
Yes, I've seen both. There was also a prequel called "Hellsing: The Dawn" that takes place fifty-five years before the main Hellsing storyline.
It focuses on the backstory of Alucard and Walter C. Dornez, their first enjounter with The Major and the resulting rivalry between the two.
In hindsight I should've been more specific, I just used "Hellsing" as a general term to denote all 3 versions. I'll fix that!
This inspired me to do my own Top 10. I'll also explain a bit why I like them/why they are in the top 10.
Honorable mentions: Kyoukai no Kanata, Overlord, Interview with Monster Girls
Yuru Camp is not the anime you want to watch when craving action, heated battles, detective work or gorgeous backgrounds. It's the anime you want to watch while under a blanket or two, rain falling outside, and a cup of hot cocoa in one hand. This anime is peak comfiness, greatly aided by a very relaxing soundtrack. It's all about camping and the joys of doing so. There's nothing much happening on-screen, and yet that nothing just feels right. All of the girls are rather cute (Aoi is best), and seeing them revel in camping outside brings that sort of warm fuzziness you rarely get anywhere else. It's even based off real-life locations, so in these times of quarantine, you can travel without going out! Isn't that great? It's also part of the "Season 2 soon" gang!
Let me set this straight: I'm not usually into idol anime. Love Live and Idolm@ster Girls aren't my cup of tea, despite my penchant for "cute girls doing cute things" type of anime. Why did I check out this one then? I can't remember, but boy did it deliver. All of the cast is well fleshed-out, but the palm for best character undoubtedly goes to Manager-san, who radiates some serious Hououin Kyouma vibes (which is normal, they're voiced by the same seiyuu). He alone elevates the anime from "okay" to "great". The story itself is srange for now, but a season 2 has been announced so we'll se how it goes. The songs are bangers as well, which is a good point for an anime about, well, singing.
Nudity becomes a weapon! Don't get fooled by the boobs though: if you're turned on while watching Kill la Kill, chances are you're not sufficiently paying attention to what's on-screen. It's an action-packed anime with lots of twists and turns. In traditional Trigger fashion, it can become either ridiculously epic, ridiculously lewd, or any combination of both. There is always that kind of Trigger-like animation, reinforcing the battle scenes. It hits kind of a low point around ep 14 before swinging back full force a few episodes afterwards, so don't drop it then. Oh, also, Mako is the best character in the show. Change my mind.
Chuunibyou manages to introduce fantasy elements into a completely normal world, which is already a tour de force. As a slice-of-life anime, the main focus is on the characters, as well as this (real life) quirk called chuunibyou, where people pretend to be a fantasy character and constantly roleplay. It was really heartwarming to see how the main characters manage to bond, first depsite the chuunibyou, then thanks to it. It's an absolutely adorable anime with absolutely adorable characters (well it's KyoAni we're taling about), not devoid of its own sad moments either.
Watch out though, I fel like Season 2 is much weaker as there is no substantial progression, so feel free to only watch S1.
Watch out though, I fel like Season 2 is much weaker as there is no substantial progression, so feel free to only watch S1.
As a microbiologist, I checked this one out of curiosity, expecting an average anime about science. What a surprise, bedcause it's actually really good! YMMV on this one, but I appreciated how accurate the scientific data was, and the numerous references added to each and every character to call back to the cell they are adapted from. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the interaction of the various cells within the body, and the way each incident was portrayed was very clever. If you're not that much into biology/immunology, most of the scientific stuff might fly over your head, but you'll certainly learn from it. Really excited for Season 2 (January 2021, why so faaaaaaar?) and BLACK!.
It's a bit hard to tell why I like Made in Abyss so much, but it might have to do more with the visuals and soundtrack than the story proper. You see, the anime hasn't reached the good part, since it's mostly been a big introduction for now. However, the backgrounds (and art in general) are stunning, and the OST is said to surpass Attack on Titan's, which says something given how the latter is often praised. The unfiltered cruelty, among with the beauty, of the Abyss makes for a poignant mix, and it's hard not to feel for the characters undertaking the journey (the arm breaking scene was difficult to stomach). This will likely get better once I get to see the movie and the anime continues rolling.
This used to be my favorite anime, but it fell down a bit because its main flaw is actually a huge hindrance. I'll also go into a bit of spoilers there, so DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH IT BLIND, ALSO IT'S GOOD SO DO IT.
Don't listen to the pesky killjoys that find this anime trash, their opinion is objectively wrong anyway. Madoka is without contest the third queen of the magical girl genre, ushering other shows to copy it to... various degress of success. You're led to believe it's a regular cute MG anime, then episode 3 rolls over and you're diving into the horror of being a magical girl. This anime subverts a lot of previously rock-solid magical girl tropes, which is incredibly entertaining. You finally get to see the realistic side of things, and oh boy it's not pretty. There are plenty of colorful characters to like and then watch as they hopelessly spiral into depression. Animation is made by SHAFT and therefore pretty good, OST is great.
The main flaw though? The pacing gets awful in eps 8-12, with a lot of character development out of nowhere. This kind of ruins the finale. The Rebellion movie alone raises the quality very high though, so definitely watch it as well.
Don't listen to the pesky killjoys that find this anime trash, their opinion is objectively wrong anyway. Madoka is without contest the third queen of the magical girl genre, ushering other shows to copy it to... various degress of success. You're led to believe it's a regular cute MG anime, then episode 3 rolls over and you're diving into the horror of being a magical girl. This anime subverts a lot of previously rock-solid magical girl tropes, which is incredibly entertaining. You finally get to see the realistic side of things, and oh boy it's not pretty. There are plenty of colorful characters to like and then watch as they hopelessly spiral into depression. Animation is made by SHAFT and therefore pretty good, OST is great.
The main flaw though? The pacing gets awful in eps 8-12, with a lot of character development out of nowhere. This kind of ruins the finale. The Rebellion movie alone raises the quality very high though, so definitely watch it as well.
NGNL is a weird mix of 4D chess and blatant fanservice (in more ways than one). I don't tire of rewatching it because the absurd amount of mind games and rule-bending is always so captivating. I like that the focus in this one was away from "battle" in the proper sense of the word and more about a constant underdog story. The characters aren't OP because they can one-shot everything in sight, but because their brains are on another plane of existence. Oh, and it's animated by MadHouse, which results in a very beautiful anime. Highly recommend if you like mind games and nerve-wracking tension. The MadHouse Season 2 curse is strong with this one, though.
Yeah, I'm too lazy to write that one down in full. Okay, so isekai is a popular genre, even today with its decline. I've seen a fair share of isekai anime, some good, and some bad. KonoSuba is definitely good. The comedy is excellent, the main characters are likeable with clearly apparent flaws in their character that help them not being Mary Sues, and Kazuma is one of the best protagonists of all time. I'd even say the story, while not necessarily a core element of the show, is still present even in the background. That prevents it from being another basic slice-of-life fantasy setting, which is good! As someone who has read the light novel, some juicy stuff is ahead as well.
This anime is legendary, known by most, and for good reason. The characters are unusually complex, the animation is of the utmost Trigger quality, the various leitmotivs are expertly woven into the narrative, the music is aptly epic, and it's memeable to death. Rarely have I seen battles with such intensity it went into orbit.
At this point TTGL is a classic and I'd recommend giving it a watch if you like mechas and/or hot-blooded action and/or drills.
At this point TTGL is a classic and I'd recommend giving it a watch if you like mechas and/or hot-blooded action and/or drills.
Honorable mentions: Kyoukai no Kanata, Overlord, Interview with Monster Girls
The manga/anime covered some of the history in brief correct, does it just expand on that premise and include better animation, etc?
Walter is the one who captured Alucard during WWII and brought him into service of the Hellsing family from what I remember
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Yes, sadly the manga/anime provides the reader/viewer with only a few flashbacks here and there and a lot of the backstory remains a mystery.
The Dawn, the prequel to Ultimate, briefly shows you in only 3 episodes the events that took place when Hellsing, in the form a female Alucard (the one that we see in Ultimate when he taunts Walter while releasing all of the souls he has consumed) and a teenage Walter C. Dornez (14 years old if I remember correctly), raided Millenium's base in Warsaw during WWII.
In addition to this, it also also shows you the reasons as to why Walter ends up betraying the Hellsing Organization and where the rivalry between him and Alucard originally stems from. It's unfortunately very short, but it's better than nothing, since it's safe to assume that it's all we'll ever get. The quality and animation style are fortunately still the same though!
Also, no, it was actually the Dutch professor Abraham Van Helsing, one of Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing's ancestors, that defeated Count Dracula back then. He did however not finish him off, but took his body with him to England (the one that Integra finds in the secret basement after Richard Hellsing's betrayal). In Ultimate, he is only briefly shown in the dream that Alucard has in which he asks the "Count": "So what are you going to do now, No Life King?", before the latter abruptly wakes up and cries tears of blood.
Hopefully I was able to refresh your memory a little bit, but, ultimately, the backstory of Hellsing will unfortunately always remain fairly patchy.
Time for another summary of last month's anime intake. Because I live in freaking Lincoln Nebraska, the COVID-19 pandemic has been very slow to affect us (and the governor is a moron about enacting mandatory social-distancing) but the plating plant I work at is currently at 15% capacity and I'm fortunate enough that the line I run still has several weeks of parts to work on. However if the current stoppage continues I will no doubt be applying for furlough unemployment over the coming month and will thus have triple the time to watch anime. If I do get time off work, I will be tackling some huge series such as Gintama, HunterxHunter, Eyeshield 21, Aria The Animation and completion of the Monogatari series among other things. One thing of note is Bleach, which I previously stalled out at episode 266 years ago due to filler fatigue. I've decided to return to the series and watch it through from the beginning using a guide to skip all the filler. I will provide a score for each arc as I progress and then a final one upon completion. Because of the massive amount of series I watch, I will not be writing reviews for each one, however if anyone would like further details or my greater opinion on a particular show, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to elaborate. I'm also open to suggestions; my MAL account is located in my sig. Cheers!
I will be adding a few more highlights to my list
KEY
Highly Satisfying
Very Enjoyable
Average
Regrettable
Recommended
Dropped
Re-watch
Must Watch Once
March Watchlist
.hack//Sign (5/10)
Magical Warfare (3/10)
Blood Lad (8/10)
Sound! Euphonium [s. 1 & 2] (8/10, 9/10)
Sound! Euphonium [ep. 14 Ready, Set, Monaka] (7/10)
gdgd men's Party [ep. 3] (1/10)
Bakuman [s. 1, 2 & 3] (8/10, 8/10, 9/10)
Gangsta. (5/10)
Ouran High School Host Club (6/10)
Cromartie High School (8/10)
Urara Meirocho (6/10)
Full Metal Panic! (5/10)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (7/10)
Dagashi Kashi (6/10)
Days + Days: Touin Gakuien-sen! (6/10, 7/10)
Sword of the Stranger (7/10)
Bunny Drop (9/10)
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (6/10)
Record of Grancrest War (8/10)
Children of Whales (4/10)
Sword Gai The Animation [s. 1 & 2] (3/10, 2/10)
Kino's Journey -The Beautiful World- The Animated Series (7/10)
In This Corner of the World (9/10)
Atom: The Beginning (5/10)
The Princess and the Pilot (7/10)
Honey and Clover [s. 1] + Specials (5/10, 5/10)
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend [s. 1 & 2] (7/10, 8/10)
Bleach [ep. 1-32, 34-49, 51-63] (7/10)
Storm Rider: Clash of the Evils (1/10)
Scum's Wish (6/10)
Sinbad: A Flying Princess and a Secret Island + The Magic Lamp and the Moving Islands + Night at High Noon and the Wonder Gate (4/10, 4/10, 4/10)
Magical Girl Site [ep. 3] (2/10)
I will be adding a few more highlights to my list
KEY
Highly Satisfying
Very Enjoyable
Average
Regrettable
Recommended
Re-watch
Must Watch Once
March Watchlist
.hack//Sign (5/10)
Magical Warfare (3/10)
Blood Lad (8/10)
Sound! Euphonium [s. 1 & 2] (8/10, 9/10)
Sound! Euphonium [ep. 14 Ready, Set, Monaka] (7/10)
Bakuman [s. 1, 2 & 3] (8/10, 8/10, 9/10)
Gangsta. (5/10)
Ouran High School Host Club (6/10)
Cromartie High School (8/10)
Urara Meirocho (6/10)
Full Metal Panic! (5/10)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (7/10)
Dagashi Kashi (6/10)
Days + Days: Touin Gakuien-sen! (6/10, 7/10)
Sword of the Stranger (7/10)
Bunny Drop (9/10)
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (6/10)
Record of Grancrest War (8/10)
Children of Whales (4/10)
Sword Gai The Animation [s. 1 & 2] (3/10, 2/10)
Kino's Journey -The Beautiful World- The Animated Series (7/10)
In This Corner of the World (9/10)
Atom: The Beginning (5/10)
The Princess and the Pilot (7/10)
Honey and Clover [s. 1] + Specials (5/10, 5/10)
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend [s. 1 & 2] (7/10, 8/10)
Bleach [ep. 1-32, 34-49, 51-63] (7/10)
Storm Rider: Clash of the Evils (1/10)
Scum's Wish (6/10)
Sinbad: A Flying Princess and a Secret Island + The Magic Lamp and the Moving Islands + Night at High Noon and the Wonder Gate (4/10, 4/10, 4/10)
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breh
強いだね
with this thread unlocked, I finally got around to watching this and strongly agree. very triggery, cool world built. curious how they work aliens into it
tbh I thought Eizouken was kind of... maybe not disappointing, but a bit more slice-of-life-y than I thought it would be. There really isn't that much of a running plot in the whole show and the whole thing never feels like anything consequential happens. The protagonists also feel like they can only succeed. Maybe it just stopped abruptly and the manga goes further, but it doesn't feel like as much of a contained story as, say, Ping Pong or Tatami Galaxy did.
Watched the first season of Golden Kamuy and liked it but am procrastinating the second. Also procrastinating Beastars and Tower of God.
You know even though I actually enjoyed the isekai genre it has gotten quite stale in the last few years. I'm hope we'll get a renaissance of mecha or pure fantasy in the next decade. Call me a nostalgist but I miss the innovation and inventiveness of the 80's and 90's. The early 00's was filled with so much mediocrity and garbage I really hope the 20's don't follow suite. Stuff like the Ancient Magus Bride severely underwhelmed but as a massive fan of The Wheel of Time saga I hope to god we can get some throwback magical fantasy epics and ditch the light novel trash heap that has plagued the industry for the last decade plus. /rant
One week bros
u shouldn't be so quick to dismiss toei, in fact a great deal of ur fave anime will have been produced by people who moved up from their ranks. there's a lot to be excited for in the new digimon as we already have confirmed cuts from kanada style effects fan, yuu yoshiyama.
part of the strength of toei has always been having legendary animators like shida and itaoka who have made it their base and impart their knowledge and skill onto new animators. this along with the brand appeal of the huge IPs they pick up gives them lots of opportunities to work with outside animators who want to be involved on the projects.
basically theres more to toei than dragon ball super and u should look at their rich history and wealth of talent before u jump to conclusions like this and go on to shill madhouse or bones or something
to elaborate thanks to an old conversation w/ pilo
yasuji mori, yoichi kotabe, yasuo otsuka, rintaro, isao takahata, hayao miyazaki, kazuhide tomonaga, yoshinori kanada, junichi sato, kunihiko ikuhara, yutaka nakamura, mamoru hosoda, yoji enokido, yoshihiko umakoshi, ken otsuka, akio watanabe, naotoshi shida, nishiki itaoka, yoshikazu tomita, hironori tanaka, yuki hayashi, tanaka yuuta, shingo fujii, koudai watanabe
If you want to blame someone for the One Piece situation you need to point the finger at the executives rather than the animation studio of Toei. OP was my favorite anime growing up but the way the show has been bastardized to keep a constant stream of mediocre content churning out is beyond frustrating. I get that it's the #1 series in Japan but I cant help but wish the MHA model could be adopted. I would much prefer a two-season cour every six months to the disgusting snail's pace that has been the norm for the last decade or so. Obviously the show doesnt want to catch up to to manga, but there are better avenues to accomplish that rather than ~seven minutes worth of OP, ED and recaps within each episode. This is the main reason I have changed my approach to watching One Piece and now binge entire arcs rather than follow weekly and keep up with the manga releases more closely. I suppose the saying that you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain applies to the One Piece anime.
Did a quick rundown of One Piece arcs in terms of chapters per episode. The higher the number, the faster the show was going.
Romance Dawn 2.33
Orange Town 2.8
Syrup Village 2
Baratie 2.25
Arlong Park 1.93
Loguetown 0.71
Reverse Mountain 2.5
Whisky Peak 2.25
Little Garden 1.88
Drum Island 1.79
Alabasta 1.62
Jaya 2.11
Skypiea 1.53
Long Ring Long Land 1.46
Water 7 1.51
Enies Lobby 1.22
Post-Enies Lobby 0.85
Thriller Bark 1.07
Sabaody Archipelago 1.14
Amazon Lily 1.1
Impel Down 0.93
Marineford 0.94
Post-War 0.65
Return to Sabaody 0.83
Fishman Island 1.04
Punk Hazard 1
Dressrosa 0.86
Zou 0.79
Totland 0.82
Reverie 0.5
Orange Town 2.8
Syrup Village 2
Baratie 2.25
Arlong Park 1.93
Loguetown 0.71
Reverse Mountain 2.5
Whisky Peak 2.25
Little Garden 1.88
Drum Island 1.79
Alabasta 1.62
Jaya 2.11
Skypiea 1.53
Long Ring Long Land 1.46
Water 7 1.51
Enies Lobby 1.22
Post-Enies Lobby 0.85
Thriller Bark 1.07
Sabaody Archipelago 1.14
Amazon Lily 1.1
Impel Down 0.93
Marineford 0.94
Post-War 0.65
Return to Sabaody 0.83
Fishman Island 1.04
Punk Hazard 1
Dressrosa 0.86
Zou 0.79
Totland 0.82
Reverie 0.5
Now no one would argue that 1.53 for Skypiea is good. 2-3 chapters per episode should be pretty standard for a battle manga. But once we hit Thriller Bark, we were just slammed with that 1 chapter per episode pace, which then dipped below one chapter per episode. There are now more episodes than there are chapters, and keep in mind Dressrosa was already 102 chapters, so it added 16 episodes. There's more than a whole cour of pure filler in Dressrosa. That's 4 months of TV. Totland got 17 episodes, even though it's original arc was only 4/5 as long. So while One Piece was always standard bad, anyone who watched enough anime was used to that kind of poor pace. Now they're just taking the piss.
after binging 'the woman called fujiko mine' two days ago i have now watched every lupin iii tv series, thus completing my masters in lupin studies :) dedicating this achievement to my poetry mfa program whose funding has enabled this critical research
RODAN
Banned deucer.
now do the movies
Netflix best moe show by a mile. The ending was vague and I came away somewhat unsatisfied but the journey was very enjoyable.
I finally got around to watching gunbuster and diebuster and while neither series blew me away, I appreciate the artistic and production values that went into both, especially the first show. I can only imagine how amazing gunbuster was at its release. The tie in at the end of diebuster got me hungry for the theoretical third season that will probably never get out of the studiogainax gaina development limbo it is currently in.
I finally got around to watching gunbuster and diebuster and while neither series blew me away, I appreciate the artistic and production values that went into both, especially the first show. I can only imagine how amazing gunbuster was at its release. The tie in at the end of diebuster got me hungry for the theoretical third season that will probably never get out of the studio
finished 'revolutionary girl utena' yesterday and am obsessed. actually started it like a month ago and made it to episode 27 but then quit (i loved it at first but started to get impatient with it). glad i picked it back up though since 28 on was hit after hit, especially the last few episodes, and the later sections even redeemed earlier points i forced myself through when i was watching them