Media Anime and Manga Thread MK3 - Beware Spoilers

Pilo

uses walther
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Sword of the Stranger appeals to my absolute basest tastes. It has a very simple plot that doesn't try to pull any twists or try to be innovative or be unpredictable but it succeeds on the back of its well-realized characters, a believable yet distinguished setting, an amazing original score, and pulse pounding action.

Sword of the Stranger is a movie that I think has something for everyone. It not only has an incredibly heartfelt and well characterized cast but also a semi-decent political drama and awesome scenes of well choreographed, pure, unadulterated violence and totally visceral limb cutting which is in a word: sick. Sadly no movie is without its flaws and Sword of the Stranger although fantastic on most fronts has one or two. My biggest gripe, if you could even call it that was the occasional bit of filler in between a few of the more significant scenes but the movie's charm made them no less enjoyable than any other part of the film. Besides that there were one or two CG scenes that sort of rubbed me the wrong but I didn't really let that bother me. Overall, the film was fantastic and gets my recommendation.

also its by bones. didn't know where to fit that in but if you like their stuff you'll probably love this
 

RODAN

Banned deucer.
im watching macross. the og 1982 series and it kicks complete ass. its a little ugly, because gainax hadn't blessed the world with daicon or gunbuster yet. but goddamn everything else is done really well. you can tell just how many shows were inspired by this. its hard to explain sort of, but there is this level of earnest corniness to it that rules. like, the enemies they are up against are humans who just made themselves into giants so they could fight better. and their weakness is human culture. like, they send 3 spies on to the macross to learn about human culture and they become so infatuated with it that they bring back fridges and shit to their boss.

the soundtrack rules too, as it is like, 30% idol show. but its the cool 80s idols and not the boring stupid bullshit of modern idols.


the mc, haru ichijo, is surprisingly fleshed out for a generic hothead pilot dude. he has doubts, he gets ptsd, he has weird horney dreams. it owns.

this show owns. its a slow burn, but its a damn good one
 
Darling in the FranXX has let me down.

The show takes itself too seriously. Just the whole concept of piloting the girl doesnt work itself with such a dead set tone. It would work much better if the show was something as stupid and self-aware like Daimidaler. So far there's been barely any action (which was poorly animated) making the mecha seemed toss aside and instead we get some dumb teen romance polygon. Kiss of Death is a really dumb OP. A1 + Trigger suck. I am moreover sad this show isnt stupid in the sense that it's 20 minutes of ROBOT ASS (seriously, Genista is the hottest piece of metal and way better than your onis or discount coconas).

I would have lost hope for this season had it not been for Killing Bites. This show is fucking great. Budget seems a bit tight but I feel it still presents itself well enough. Never in my life had I thought someone could make honey badgers interesting. I wonder why subbers used Theriantrope instead of Beastman. Beastman sounds neater for the sake of simplicity. Also Cobra Fucking Cannon. I havent felt so stoked for a show like this ever since I saw Cross Ange (goat show btw).
 
Anyone here ever watch Yu YU Hakusho ? One the best animes imo and the tournament arc is one the best in anime history if not the best tournament arc. Must watch if you haven;t.
 
I actually quite like Kiss of Death but otherwise Franxx is pretty dull and honestly kinda safe, I'm a bit behind on it but the last arc was almost completely predictable. All the weird symbolic (and not so symbolic) sexuality is something that I feel like KLK already did better, or if you want something similar in a robot show that can still take itself seriously, Aquarion Evol already did it better too. Or something like Daimidaler otherwise.

This is mostly a sequels season for me, Saiki s2 and SDS s2 have been solid and Overlord s2 has been kinda slow but seems to be building up nicely. Though Yuru Camp is really nice and Killing Bites is some decent trashy fun.

Not going to lie, I definitely thought Violet was a robot, but after doing some research it doesn’t seem like she is, since I think they state in the LN that she’s human. Now I’m confused as to why everyone’s calling her a tool, why she has hands, and why she has no emotions. It made so much sense before to me haha.
I was confused about it too initially, I still think the robot hands are a bit out of place.
 
Another boring anime season. The only thing that I can somewhat keep watching is Toji no Miko. Maybe I should just watch Pingu in the City, retro anime or American Cartoons.

Anyone here ever watch Yu YU Hakusho ? One the best animes imo and the tournament arc is one the best in anime history if not the best tournament arc. Must watch if you haven;t.
YYH certainly is a great series. Probably the only anime which has a good tournament arc all the way through. I hope the special that is coming out has something worthwhile in it. Though I doubt it will be anything significant.
 

Pilo

uses walther
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
YYH certainly is a great series. Probably the only anime which has a good tournament arc all the way through.
hunter x hunter has a pretty good tournament arc as well fwiw. it sees gon go through a lot of development as a character and serves to inform the viewer about the series' main mechanic, nen which it does in a very organic manner. ig togashi has a certain tact when it comes to things like this.
 
hunter x hunter has a pretty good tournament arc as well fwiw. it sees gon go through a lot of development as a character and serves to inform the viewer about the series' main mechanic, nen which it does in a very organic manner. ig togashi has a certain tact when it comes to things like this.
The HxH tournament was honestly forgetable. After Nen was introduced the Hunter Exam felt pretty much pointless, especially in the remake. It certainly isn't bad... I guess. I honestly can't recall more than 2 moments.
 

Martin

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The HxH tournament arc (well... I guess "ladder arc" is more accurate) is boring as shit; they chose the most dry/dull way possible to introduce Nen to us, and while the arc itself had its fair share of cool concepts (see: the Nen tops) it simply failed to deliver on any of them in any kind of interesting way. The only good fight in the arc was Gon vs Hisoka right at the end; the rest sucked ass even if it was vitally important to introduce the concepts going forward.
 
The HxH tournament arc (well... I guess "ladder arc" is more accurate) is boring as shit; they chose the most dry/dull way possible to introduce Nen to us, and while the arc itself had its fair share of cool concepts (see: the Nen tops) it simply failed to deliver on any of them in any kind of interesting way. The only good fight in the arc was Gon vs Hisoka right at the end; the rest sucked ass even if it was vitally important to introduce the concepts going forward.
I even forget that tournament was a thing. I was thinking about the small one in the hunter exam. Shows how easy I forgot the other one since I only recall the existence of nen.
 

Martin

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I finished Re: Cutie Honey earlier and on the whole I really enjoyed it. The show itself is a lot of fun–its characters are all whacky and likeable, allowing for a reasonably clichéd plot to set itself apart from the rest of its genre just through them making you want to come back and continue watching for them alone. This isn't to say that the execution of the clichéd plot isn't well executed past its characters (or even that cliché is a bad thing in this instance). The fact the whole series only runs for a little over 2 hours in total allows for it to move at a reasonably fast pace rather than padding itself out with filler, and the fact each episode is 45 minutes long allows for it to be filled with action, bombast, and character background/other development without feeling like it's rushing to drop it all on your head at once–allowing for it to retain all of its "dumb fun" factor (almost every scene is action-packed) while still allowing it to be serious in the way that it presents its overarching plot, themes and characters.

Speaking of bombast, this show looks great in motion; having Gainax behind the wheel really makes a huge difference, as it makes all action look incredibly over the top and exciting while also showing its cast (even the minor ones) as extremely expressive and unique individual personalities within the show. The fact it's done by Gainax also means that it knows how to do fanservice right; the show manages to throw some sort of fanservice right at you at least once every five minutes without it ever feeling like the show is forcing it down your throat to the point that it is uncomfortable, and if anything it feels like a natural part of the whole package. It's totally unrestrained and builds on the fact that Honey is an strong female lead who isn't afraid to be sexy, rather than relegating it to awkward, forced hetero-male pandering like too many shows do. Sometimes it's played for gags, sometimes it's used as visual flare, sometimes it's used to add a little romance, and it usually feels justified by the events of the show or its pre-established rules/mechanics. Honey's clothing is kept in tact as a concequence of her having energy from food, transformation sequences aren't recycled and involve her being stripped of all her clothing and having it replaced by whatever she is transforming into (usually her Cutie Honey costume) as opposed to using a white fade or a very restrained/"artful" form of nudity that many other shows do, and the nudity itself is used as an important part of the presentation of battles either as a means of visual flare (ripped clothing to increase the magnitude of the violence, clever censorship that uses a chain that is part of the fight while leaving Honey's tits completely visible, etc.) or as a means of highlighting the importance of love and the ability to connect (or "become one") with others in order to uphold one's own strength and to retain a state of humanity–which is ultimately the villain's downfall (I told you it was clichéd as hell). It's not the type of thing that I watch and feel like a creep or a pervert for doing so afterwards despite the sheer amount of fanservice.

All in all, this show gets a very strong recc from me. It's extremely fun and a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
 
Did anyone here read the Kokkoku manga?

Still any chance of the anime adaption turning out good, or at least ok?

Not sure what ruins this show for me. Probably a mix between the poor pacing, animation and character development. I was hoping it would become better, but the quality is just getting worse. I'm usually very stubborn about not dropping animes I'm more than three episodes in, but thinking about making an exception for Kokkoku.

A shame, really. The OP is great (COMMING IN, COMMING OUT), the atmosphere is unique and the premise had tons of potential.
 

Martin

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I just watched Yorimoi ep 12; that was the first time an anime has ever made me actually cry rather than just leaving me teary-eyed, although the end of AnoHana and the breakfast scene in ERASED also came pretty fucking close.
 
The goddamn horsegirl anime has unironically good racing scenes I swear anime pisses me off more and more everyday
 

Pilo

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first impressions

megalo box:
i can tell this show is good but it's not for me. i watched the whole first episode and didn't absorb any of it. really stellar art direction though, i'll give it till episode 3.

gun gale online: i actually had really high hopes for this one because it was by an entirely different staff working for an entirely different studio not to mention the source material was written by the guy who did kino. even more exciting was the fact that the studio backing it was 3hz who had wowed me with flip flappers and princess principal, but despite that ggo managed to defy all odds and still be a steaming pile of crap. where do i even begin? the first episode consists of the two mcs sitting in a bush watching other people sort of fight until 14 minutes into the episode but that's not even the part that peeved me off the most. at some point during those 14 minutes this one guy was rappelling down a building and the female mc asked if his rappelling skill was high and the male mc just replied "no he's just good at climbing in real life". and if you think that's ggo's only offense then think again, the show is just full of stupid shit that makes no sense like a guy mistaking some complete rando for his teammate and consequently getting killed and the mc wearing hot pink even though everyone around her is clad in camo. don't waste your time on this one.

uma musume:
this is the most boring, predictable show i've ever seen. i was literally calling out everything before it happened.

mahou shoujo site:
this feels like another response to madoka magica in spectacularly edgy fashion. the first episode features domestic violence, hardcore bullying, animal abuse, attempted rape, and a school shooting. forgive me for being unable to take this show seriously but it's just so over the top i couldn't help but laugh at some point. oh, and they cry blood too.

hinamatsuri:
finally, a show i have something good to say about. while nothing particularly impressive in terms of visuals barring maybe the burst of sakuga in the opening scene hinamatsuri still managed to hold my attention and make me smile more than once. hinamatsuri feels like one of those lighthearted feel-good comedies and the yakuza guy and hina have really good chemistry, i think the show's going in a good direction.
 

breh

強いだね
in case it isn't clear to people that haven't read the manga, the first episode of bnha of this season is anime-only; unlike the workplace experience arc where they showed off tsuyu's (where it was just a casual single line in the manga) and actually developed something, this is absolutely recap filler. if you skip this episode you are not worse off.

I've been watching hunter x hunter slowly, enjoying it so far, currently at ep 22, it's good but there are some dumb aspects / characters... I hope leorio becomes less of a comically useless waste of space
 
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Epikhairz

Anything goes
Anyone here ever watch Yu YU Hakusho ? One the best animes imo and the tournament arc is one the best in anime history if not the best tournament arc. Must watch if you haven;t.
watching it right now actually, im about a third of the way through the dark tournament arc

im really liking it so far, most of the fights are done cleverly and in a way thats very gripping. and the characters are fantastic too, they all have great chemistry and theyre funny as fuck - especially Koenma and Kuwabara

one question tho - do yall prefer the dub or sub? i'm watching it in dub rn and I really like it so far especially yusuke / botan / kuwabara / koenma but then again im not comparing it to anything since ive never watched the sub. i usually watch sub for all anime but i was told that YYH dub was exceptional and better than the sub
 
watching it right now actually, im about a third of the way through the dark tournament arc

im really liking it so far, most of the fights are done cleverly and in a way thats very gripping. and the characters are fantastic too, they all have great chemistry and theyre funny as fuck - especially Koenma and Kuwabara

one question tho - do yall prefer the dub or sub? i'm watching it in dub rn and I really like it so far especially yusuke / botan / kuwabara / koenma but then again im not comparing it to anything since ive never watched the sub. i usually watch sub for all anime but i was told that YYH dub was exceptional and better than the sub
I think YYH is one of few classics that actually have a good dub.
 

Martin

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Thoughts on stuff that just started airing:
Amanchu! ~Advance~: The first episode of this was kinda boring, but that was always part of the deal with Amanchu!. I'll give this a few episodes, but I think the first season definitely started out stronger than this one did even if it had a dip in the middle.

Gundam Build Divers: I really don't know what to say about this. The prologue episode was really fucking confusing, and the first episode's conflict got resolved through "your gundam hasn't given up yet!!!11" bullshit which just rubbed me the wrong way. I was gonna give most of the stuff that I dip my toe into the three episode test, but if this hasn't got me fucking enthralled by the end of episode 2 I'm not gonna give it any more of a chance than I already have.

Hinamatsuri: I honestly never thought I'd see the day when an entire building's worth of people getting massacred would make me laugh out loud for a full minute. That's not the only time I audibly laughed either, it was just this biggest one it got out of me. This show is genuinely great; it has lots of charm, it's very funny, and all in all it was just a very enjoyable watch. Also I love the two MCs' character dynamic. Strong recommendation.

Megalo Box: I really liked the first episode of this; its aesthetic (trashy 90s cyberpunk) is great, it's hella enjoyable to watch, and we're gonna get to see people beat the ever-living shit out of each other with mechanised arms. It's gonna be raw, and it's gonna be entertaining. Another strong recommendation.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Honestly I rather enjoyed the first episode of this. The main girl's script was… uh… really bad, and unless they explain it away as some kind of skill the whole deal with her hiding in a suitcase was really stupid. Beyond that, however, everything felt grounded within the mechanics of the SEED engine that the original SAO established, and the tactics that were being used were also mostly grounded and made a lot of sense. It was a fun watch.

Thoughts on stuff that I'm watching/have just recently finished watching:
A Place Further Than the Universe: 10/10—this show is basically perfect; emotional highs that will leave you feeling great for the entire day, emotional lows that will have you sobbing into your palms (the end of episode 11 got me; it's the only time a show has ever made me sob rather than just giving me watery eyes), four utterly brilliantly written main cast members who are all extremely easy to empathise with—each of which having character arcs flawlessly weaved through the show's run—alongside equally well designed+fleshed out supporting cast members, immensely effective sound direction alongside a great OST, brilliant visual direction that makes full use the background elements to pull the most out of every scene (or to otherwise scatter visual gags all throughout the show's run), and a concept that allows it to all come together into one of the absolute best packages I've ever seen in any TV show ever. This show is a must-watch.

After the Rain: 6/10—I don't really know what to say about this show. It was well directed for the most part and the characters were likable, and the show moving past the whole "I'm in love with my boss" thing and setting boundaries was definitely a good+important direction for the series to take. However, there were things that I just didn't like about it. As banal a comment as this sounds for a show called "After the Rain," I think that the rain motif was overused and didn't really add much to the show past a certain point, especially considering that at least half of the time it was used unimaginatively as pathetic fallacy. The last episode felt extremely rushed, and the show overall just felt rather unfulfilling and incomplete. All in all I have very mixed feelings about it.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc: This is still great. Also the OP for the second cour is way better visually than the one for the first cour.

Jojo Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable: Another show that I have rather mixed feelings about; on the one hand it's a huge improvement over part 3, which was straight up awful in just about every regard (the Egypt arc was too middling to save the terrible pre-Egypt arc of Stardust Crusaders), but on the other hand it is still leaving me with a kinda empty feeling. I've seen 20 episodes, but there's only been one non-filler (or non-semi-filler) episode since they beat Red Hot Chilli Pepper. Sure, it's usually pretty good filler, but I'm getting tired of the show not going anywhere; it's really annoying and kinda defeats the point of its action show concept. It definitely handles episodic a lot better than shitty Stardust Crusaders, but whether I'd say it's overall good is still yet to be seen.

ReLIFE OVA: 7–8/10—This reminded me of how great ReLIFE is; I should really get around to finishing reading the manga at some point 'cause it apparently handles the material that was covered in the OVA better than the anime did. Honestly I just love the visual design of it; while the actual characters look extremely "A-1-y" wrt the way they're drawn, the way that it handles static minor characters by just drawing red/blue sillhouettes (or grey in a handful of scenes) is such a cool stylistic choice IMO. Beyond this it reminded me of how great the characters in ReLIFE are.

Rurouni Kenshin: There were some rather shaky filler episodes early on, but from about episode 20 onwards it's been really consistently stellar. When it's in arcs or otherwise moving the plot forward it is easily a 10/10 show, and while there were definitely questionable filler episodes early on there were also fucking stellar ones (the train episode is one of the best filler episodes of anything I've ever watched), and anything before the aforementioned 20-ish mark that was in arc form was also completely stellar. I'm really tempted to say that this show is a better shounen than HxH, but I'll keep that back until I've finished it because I'm only about 40 episodes in atm.

Sangatsu no Lion Season 2: 10/10—Sangatsu is still great after its second season. While I certainly wouldn't label it as virtually flawless like I did with YoriMoi, I feel that what flaws it does have are just so small that it's extremely easy to overlook them. Its characters are all immensely likable (or otherwise very easy to relate to), and all get a good chunk of time dedicated to their development; its visual direction is varied and well designed (even if the overall visual presentation is kinda shaky/inconsistent in places, although there's nothing that a BD/blu-ray redraw can't fix)—none of its motifs ever feel old or exhausted and they all feel like they contribute to the show's overall presentation. It sucks that we're gonna probably have to wait a while for season 3 though; I've heard that we're almost at one of the best parts of the manga, but until it gets far enough ahead of the anime we're probably not gonna see any more of it adapted. I have my fingers crossed that when we eventually do get a third season that we're gonna see more of Kiriyama's family, as it feels kinda weird that they'd get virtually written out as abruptly as they did.
 
thoughts on Winter shows since that's over

Violet Evergarden: 5.5/10. This is a rollercoaster and not in a good way, some episodes manage to hit some solid emotional notes while others are just bad in general (2 in particular stands out) and there's a lot of things that are just handwaved for the show's convenience. Overall it has enough appeal that I'd tentatively recommend it but kyoani budget plays a decent part in that.

Killing Bites: 6.5/10, fun trashy battle seinen. Not really much more to say.

Overlord 2: 7/10. Overlord's thing is slow, deliberate world and character building followed by wonderfully self-indulgent payoff at the end. The latter part was a bit lacking this season but they announced s3 at the end so I guess I can forgive that.

Yuru Camp: 8/10. Excellent SoL with a consistently fun cast. Minor detail but I like that it doesn't immediately throw all of the main characters together as soon as they're introduced, they manage to work well in smaller groups and when they do all come together it feels a bit more special.

Toji no Miko: 6/10. Nothing amazing but a hundred better than most other shows of its ilk (ie phone game tie-ins). In particular the first episode seemed stupid initially then got explained logically later on.

Fate Extra: Not properly over yet, but I like where it's at so far. It's a more unique and far more focused take on the Fate formula than Apocrypha was, at the very least.

Antarctica: 7/10. Forgot about this one early in the season but glad I went back to it. I don't think it ever amazed me at any point but it's never really a bore to watch either and avoids a decent amount of cliche/predictable drama that I was expecting. It's also well animated and has a ridiculous seiyuu budget, which most people probably won't care about but it's cool recognizing not only all of the main characters but a good chunk of the supporting cast too.

Darling in the Franxx: 5/10? idk this was kinda safe and stale where I left off

Grancrest: 4/10, has the ingredients for a nice fantasy show but it wrecks itself with far too fast pacing.

Girls und Panzer Finale 1: 8.5/10. I'm not sure how this series keeps getting consistently better and better but it does somehow. It has a wonderfully stupid sense of humor that's kind of at odds with the subject of the show and which it takes full advantage of and which just generally makes it a joy to watch, the tank battles are alright too but they're more of an afterthought.

NGNL Zero: 7/10. Not what I expected, but it's reasonably interesting in its own right and ties into the existing universe nicely like a good prequel should.

Devilman Crybaby: 8.5/10, weird and edgy in nearly every possible way but a blast to watch with some real emotional highs and an A+ soundtrack that I'm probably going to be listening to for awhile yet.

SDS s2/Saiki s2: 8/10 currently, solid sequels that are pretty much on par with their first seasons


also I kinda like horses so far. The plot looks to be the same type of "underdog trainer with his own methods vs the established veteran who sticks to the tried and true" thing that's been used in a bunch of stuff before but the mashup of horse girls and running and idol-ing gives a certain odd charm to it, along with the stupid-sounding horse names and other general goofiness like horseshoes on top of shoes and the girl running to school with a carrot in her mouth. Maybe it'll wear off as it goes on idk
 
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