General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[Soras Teva Gee]

This. Have you seen 00? At one point Setsuna's beam saber is big enough to chop a space station in half from several miles away. Or heck, what about 08th MS Team, Stardust Memory, or Unicorn, with Mobile Armors so big that they shouldn't be able to move even with the most advanced thrusters ever created? I personally think that Zero makes just as much sense as Deathscythe Hell, I mean it's the same thematically, and just as unnecessary and awesome.

And don't even get me started on the genre as a whole...play a Super Robot Wars game for about ten minutes and you'll get a pretty healthy dose of insanity.

Umm just so you know at least with the Universal Century (and so help me this may not be specified for every case) but whenever you see something big and unaerodynamic flying around on Earth its using a Minovsky Particle drive that allows it to float and such. This goes back to White Base itself in the original, continuing through such ships as the Garencieres and Ra Cailum, which are bigger then most mobile armors.

As for thrusters the UC setting moves colonies and asteroids around on a regular basis. Axis could navigate the solar system under its own power. And you know their capital ships. So mobile armors are not even close to the top of the scale.

Finally those armors are really not even close to the craziest. Really can't beat old school Zeon design crazy... imma gonna eat u!

[Terraoblivion]

The only shows released this year I've seen are Bodacious Space Pirates and Rinne no Lagrange. The former is excellent and you should definitely watch it, the characters and Marika's development are both great. The latter is fun, but has some major problems with plot points dropping and coming up out of nowhere in the second half and one of the villains seems to constantly switch motivation later on.

[Deathkeeper]

Umm just so you know at least with the Universal Century (and so help me this may not be specified for every case) but whenever you see something big and unaerodynamic flying around on Earth its using a Minovsky Particle drive that allows it to float and such. This goes back to White Base itself in the original, continuing through such ships as the Garencieres and Ra Cailum, which are bigger then most mobile armors.

As for thrusters the UC setting moves colonies and asteroids around on a regular basis. Axis could navigate the solar system under its own power. And you know their capital ships. So mobile armors are not even close to the top of the scale.

Finally those armors are really not even close to the craziest. Really can't beat old school Zeon design crazy... imma gonna eat u!

I remember that thing! Fun stuff!
And yeah, I remember the in-universe explanation. Given the lore as a whole, it makes perfect sense. I just mean that looking at some of these things in an ordinary sense, they seem a little too bulky to be just cruisin' around.

[Nerd-o-rama]

There's a pretty big difference between a floating chunk of armor like the Apsalus III existing and the sheer wtf-where-did-that-even-come-from of late-game Gundams in some of the TV series. (I won't blame this entirely on AU given the sheer ****ing shenanigans Kamille and Judau pull in their respective series finales, but that's more Newtype Space Magic than their machines being crazy-overpowered like Wing Zero or 00-Raiser.)

(Although I guess 00-Raiser's main point of insanity was Innovator Space Magic, really.)

Come to think of it, in 08th MS Team, given the physics of the universe we've already been presented with (which includes flying battleships), the biggest technical question I had was exactly what Norris's Gouf Custom was webslinging off of in some parts of his fight scene. They were good about showing it at the beginning, but...

And I don't even see the complaint in 0083. Sure the Neue Ziel looks stupid, but it's not like it's an impractical design for space, which is the only place you see it.

[Deathkeeper]

Ziel? I was referring to the Amazing Space Brick. Of course it doesn't mean anything being in space, but in a series mostly about things looking cool and doing cool things, I was expecting Unit 03 to be a little more elegant that a big blob made of weapons strapped to a Gundam. Which apparently was popular enough to spawn its lookalike, R-3.

Although to clarify, I'm not really complaining about the designs, I was trying to say that stuff like Zero was most certainly not the most over-the-top or "out-of-nowhere" of a Gundam design, as every series has its share of silliness somehow, be it Gundams with exploding hands, Gundams with angel wings, or just enormous machines somehow capable of amazing maneuverability. I apologize if my comment came off as negative.

[Kato]

The only shows released this year I've seen are Bodacious Space Pirates and Rinne no Lagrange. The former is excellent and you should definitely watch it, the characters and Marika's development are both great. The latter is fun, but has some major problems with plot points dropping and coming up out of nowhere in the second half and one of the villains seems to constantly switch motivation later on.

I utterly failed to see the big appeal in Space Pirates. I've seen about half of it and it was decent but that really all I got out of it. A decent show. Admittedly, I like my shows to be more flashy and over the top but usually I think I can see if something is better than average and... well, there really was nothing there said did that for me.



Concerning the Gundams... the bigger problem with Zero (I'll admit) is that it was pretty overpowered, along with... what was that red dragonn like Suit again? Anyway, that one looked cool. And it kind of started the trend of absolutely overpowerfull suits as compared to just overpowerful suits... But yeah, there have always been crazy suits at least in the series finales. It's not like Wing was the first show to come up with something like that. But here it was the "good" Gundam that was overpowered, not the enemies one. (Okay, there were good guy overpowered suits before, I know)

[Closet_Skeleton]

Deathscythe Hell Custom and Epyon were just as silly with their wings, but at least they never visibly moult like Wing Zero Custom does. That was probably meant to be thematic/non-literal but it still makes Wing Zero Custom feel like the most ridiculous in my opinion.

Come to think of it, in 08th MS Team, given the physics of the universe we've already been presented with (which includes flying battleships),

Not to mention the land ones.

I utterly failed to see the big appeal in Space Pirates. I've seen about half of it and it was decent but that really all I got out of it. A decent show. Admittedly, I like my shows to be more flashy and over the top but usually I think I can see if something is better than average and... well, there really was nothing there said did that for me.

I think it was the best thing in the season, not that I can exactly remember what else was on at the time. Pretty sure it wasn't all rubbish with Mouretsu Space Pirates only coming out on top by being average.

[Prime32]

Deathscythe Hell Custom and Epyon were just as silly with their wings, but at least they never visibly moult like Wing Zero Custom does. That was probably meant to be thematic/non-literal but it still makes Wing Zero Custom feel like the most ridiculous in my opinion.

IIRC the official explanation is "light refraction". Shaped like feathers. Yes.


EDIT: So who's seen the first ep of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime? They cram in a lot of chapters.

[Terraoblivion]

The big appeal in Mouretsu Pirates is the characters, Kato. They're complex, nuanced and develop in a very natural manner as the show goes on. Especially Marika stands out in that regard and, really, the main story is about development from a talented amateur to an independent and confident leader.

[Kato]

The big appeal in Mouretsu Pirates is the characters, Kato. They're complex, nuanced and develop in a very natural manner as the show goes on. Especially Marika stands out in that regard and, really, the main story is about development from a talented amateur to an independent and confident leader.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hell bend on disagreeing or anything but I've seen the show up to... episode 10 or 11 I think and even though I liked all the characters well enough and Madoka was a decent character I really didn't see much in the direction pf character growth up to then. Maybe I left at just the wrong time but things were just kind of meh up to that point. Not bad but just... nothing spectacular, neither in terms of plot nor in character development. She was just a nice kid from beginning to "end".

[Closet_Skeleton]

I didn't find Mouretsu Pirates' characters that nuanced really. Marika's personality doesn't change, she just gets more confident so that personality shows a bit more and that's a process which finishes pretty quickly.

Its just a fun adventure show based around short arcs really.

[Yora]

Anyone else here waiting for AMV Hell 6? I just remembered it having been announced for fall and apparently it's pretty much finnished. Should be any day now.

[kamikasei]

So, anyone remember when a few pages back we were laughing at some obviously fake Autumn 2012 anime chart because, among other things, it listed a Saint Young Men anime? Welp...

Oh hells yes.

[Felyndiira]

So, anyone remember when a few pages back we were laughing at some obviously fake Autumn 2012 anime chart because, among other things, it listed a Saint Young Men anime? Welp...

...wait, it's actually possible to animate Saint Oniisan?

I'm at a loss for words.

[AlterForm]

I Play: Reborn the Thread, to summon GAD in attack position! Go, rapidfire season review! (Opinions ahoy)

Aikatsu: Horrificly cutesy CG, based off an arcade game, the primordial quintessence of a merch-focused show.

Btooom!: In the same way SAO could be said to be "people being bad at MMOs," Btoom is "people MC-kun, mostly, being bad at FPSs," despite MC being top 5 in the video game the death game is based on. (seriously, your bomb has a button and a timer; how does it take you more than one use to figure out you have timebombs?)

Busou Shinki: Custom Robo if the robos were little girls. Not very good.

Chuunibyou: You know a kid like MC-chan. Or maybe you were that kid. A show to remind you about your middle school days that consisted of ZOMG NARUTO AND ONE PIECE AR ETEH AWESOMERST.

Code: Breaker: Cool premise, failed to hook me with the first episode.

Girls Und Panzer: JA WOHL! This show is so much better with the terribly-germanized subs :3

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Fast paced and full of hilarious victorian antics. Also includes Jojo mainstay SFX "GOGOGOGOGO" and "ZA-KYUUUUUUUN" Liking it so far.

Jormungand 2: Actually still watching S1. Which is good. So I'll maybe come back to this one some time.

K: Flashy and relaxed. A very street-gangstery vibe in the arts and music. Unfortunately short on plot in the first episode. Might be giving it another ep.

Kamisama Hajimemashita: Generic shoujo

Little Busters: It's Key, so I'm going into each episode with a box of tissues at hand, just in case. I, for one, look forward to bawling my eyes out.

Magi: Surprisingly good adventure comedy. First adventure is almost wrapped up, so I look forward to seeing if it can keep its momentum.

Onii-chan ga afhafaghaohuv~~~: Nope

Psycho Pass: Urobochi Gen. NoitaminA. This show is going places. First episode is like a mashup of GitS and Minority Report. Very cool.

Robotics;Notes: The OP sells some sort of super-mecha, the plot is selling a student-run project to build a less-than-stellar-looking mecha, so I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet.

Sakurasa: Generic Anime #153413

Shin Sekai Yori: Episode 1 was great, Ep2 felt out of place, Ep3 has things starting to pick up at just the right time. Looking forward to more of this, and hoping it doesn't flop.

SukitteYo: Generic Shoujo #2

To-Love Ru Darkness: Do you know why it's subtitled darkness? Because half the screen is blacked out! DOHOHOHO

Tonari: Snark off for a moment. This show is legitimately much better than it should be. Probably because of how hard it's shaking up the Generic Shoujo Plot^TM; Boy confessed in episode one, Girl confessed in episode 2 (then took it back), and now they've decided to 'start over' in episode 3. Characters are likeable, art is 'softer' than a lot of anime nowadays, and I'm just a sucker for a good RomCom. (And, FWIW, my group of ~8 male friends has decided nigh-unanimously that everyone is going to watch the show in secret and not tell anyone because MANLY MEN DOING MANLY THINGS)

Zetsuen no Tempest: Like K it has a cool setup, but doesn't deliver any sort of plot or hook in the first episode.

My viewing list for the season is probably going to consist of Tonari, Little Busters, Psycho Pass, and Shin Sekai Yori. Robotics;Notes might get on there too, as might Magi.

[A Rainy Knight]

My two cents on what I've seen as well!

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: Better than I was expecting, in that I expected an average awkward teenage comedy and got a pretty entertaining awkward teenage comedy.

Shin Sekai Yori: Only watched the first two episodes so far, but for some reason I'm not really hooked. Still, my friends tell me to keep giving it a chance, so I'll make an attempt to keep up with it for a little longer.

Teekyuu: Much, much weirder than I was expecting. Still somewhat enjoyable if you stop thinking about it, and not hard to keep up with at ~2min per episode.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun: My current favorite of the season. I can't put my finger on anything specific, but I just generally love the art style and find myself having a good time every episode. Also, favorite OP of the season.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Chuunibyou is at least fun, which outside of the shoujo series most things this series seem to be failing at.

Btooom! just annoyed me too much. 'Real life bomber man with jerks'.

K, Zetsuen no Tempest and Psycho Pass seem to be fighting some kind of pretentiousness war with each other. So far I prefer Tempest. Psycho Pass seemed too generic dystopia and K just failed to establish its characters in the first episode.

Shin Sekai Yori is interesting, but just not fun. Doesn't help that here in Englandistan, the Dvorak symphony its named after and uses as the soundtrack is best known for this bread advert.

Girls and Panzer is pretty much what I guessed it would be. Cute and fluffy but not actually engaging. Needs to develop some characters or it won't go beyond its joke premise.

Magi bored me.

Bakuman is still Bakuman.

Hayate the Combat Butler on the other hand feels like a half animated corpse of a once lively series.

Little Busters didn't seem very interesting and knowing the creators of the source material I don't see why one is supposed to bother.

Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne is not a stand out harem show and its a genre so over played only the best are worth considering.

[danzibr]

Question to all you learned anime people.

If I like flashy shows like Bleach and Dragonball Z and YuYu Hakusho and History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi that involve lots of battles and powering up and whatnot, what else would I like?

[Tengu_temp]

One Piece. And if mecha are okay too, then Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and G Gundam.

[danzibr]

One Piece. And if mecha are okay too, then Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and G Gundam.

Man that was fast. Thanks!

I've been considering watching One Piece for a while. And I loved Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

I've watched a bit of the Gundam stuff... I'll have to check out that one.

[Felyndiira]

Katekyo Hitman Reborn is pretty much exactly what you are looking for. Heavy focus on fight and powering up, with a standard shonen plot.

One Piece is...a bit different. Unlike the series you listed, it has a considerably greater focus on world building and character focus. It's a bit nonconvential as a shonen series, but that is most of its charm. I'd recommend Fairy Tail and Naruto over One Piece if the shonen experience is your main focus, but One Piece is awesome, so it's worth giving a try (I personally think the manga flows better than the anime here, but that's just personal preference).

Also, Prince of Tennis is the king of the shonen experience. Mostly one dimensional characters and no real plot aside from a giant tournament arc, but every chapter or episode is just that exciting from the ridiculous power up of utterly unrealistic and over the top moves.

Edit: before I forget, Hajime no Ippo/Fighting Spirit is also awesome.

[Sith_Happens]

So I just finished watching Angel Beats! While the ending was incredibly touching, it also created one of the biggest plot holes I've ever borne witness to:

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Seriously, ending spoilers here. Click at own risk.

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If Kanade/Angel was one of Otonashi's organ recipients, then by necessity that means she died after him, probably by a large margin. Except that somehow, she's been at the school longer than him, presumably much longer than anyone in the Battlefront in fact.

As far I can tell, there was never any indication that it's possible for someone's entrance into the school to be delayed, so... What?

Seriously, is there some kind of explanation for this that I missed, or do I just have to not think about it?

[Terraoblivion]

The ending of Angel Beats! is a mess of changing motivations, characters getting unceremoniously written out of the story and villains getting added and dropped immediately. I wouldn't think that this weird bit of continuity stands out all that much compared to the complete change in Otonashi's motivation and personality in the last episode or that guy in the basement a couple of episodes before.

And on a more positive note, I've been watching From the New World and Robotics;Note this season. The former is quite effective at setting up the mystery and the atmosphere, creating a world that seems alien yet composed of recognizable parts. Especially the infodump of the history of the setting in episode 4 along with the reactions of the kids was creepy and disturbing.

The latter has been quite entertaining for the first one and half episodes so far, with the main girl seeming like the hypothetical off-spring of Haruhi Suzumiya and Okabe Rintarou who is well on her way to joining Genshiken once she goes to college. Nothing particularly deep or complex, at least so far, but the characters are fun and the production values are alright.

[Sith_Happens]

complete change in Otonashi's motivation and personality in the last episode

Hm... Nope, not seeing it.

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From the point Otonashi gets all his memories back he's staying at the school specifically to help the other Battlefront members find peace. It's a logical next step to realize that there will inevitably be more like them later and that someone needs to be there to help those people too. Meanwhile, he pretty clearly starts falling for Kanade as soon as episode 5.

[Felyndiira]

Completely random - news of a second season of Railgun (and potentially third season of Index):

http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/545/545771/

I'm quite excited for this, although still trying to figure out how much content they'll really have with the Daihousei Arc of the manga still nowhere near resolution (and given the long delays between updates, it might be quite a while before that arc is fully released). I can see the new season's release being delayed until the Misaki arc finally concludes itself.

I do hope that the animators won't just animate the sisters arc and throw in a filler for an early release, though.

[Terraoblivion]

Hm... Nope, not seeing it.

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From the point Otonashi gets all his memories back he's staying at the school specifically to help the other Battlefront members find peace. It's a logical next step to realize that there will inevitably be more like them later and that someone needs to be there to help those people too. Meanwhile, he pretty clearly starts falling for Kanade as soon as episode 5.

I mostly meant that.

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His motivation was suddenly revealed to not be "save everyone" but rather "get rid of everybody so he could be all alone with Kanade forever". Which basically went against every bit of characterization ever before, as well as being a stupid, unnecessary twist that stole screen time forcing the already rushed mess that had gone before it in the previous three or so episodes to have even less time to get developed.

[Sith_Happens]

I mostly meant that.

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His motivation was suddenly revealed to not be "save everyone" but rather "get rid of everybody so he could be all alone with Kanade forever". Which basically went against every bit of characterization ever before, as well as being a stupid, unnecessary twist that stole screen time forcing the already rushed mess that had gone before it in the previous three or so episodes to have even less time to get developed.

Except that the actual sequence of events doesn't support that interpretation.

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Remember that Otonashi tried to leave third, but Hinata insisted on going before him. He wasn't planning on being alone with Kanade, he just noticed that it had worked out that way and tried to roll with it. (Edit:) Heck, Hinata's stated reason for going before Otonashi basically amounted to "Go get her."

Besides, you're expecting a lovestruck teenager to act with any sort of reason or consistency?

[Closet_Skeleton]

Besides, you're expecting a lovestruck teenager to act with any sort of reason or consistency?

My days as a lovestruck teenager were pretty consistent. But I didn't have a plot to force me to actually do anything I suppose.

[Rising Phoenix]

*Apllies cpr to thread*

So anyone here watching Shinsekai Yori? Probably the most intriguing show of this anime season for me atm. For those of you who haven't watched but are curious be warned that it has some questionable themes going on.

Edit: Also watching Magi and Psycho Pass. They are good though not great... but it seems there hasn't been truly a really good anime in the last 2-3 years.

[Closet_Skeleton]

*Apllies cpr to thread*

So anyone here watching Shinsekai Yori? Probably the most intriguing show of this anime season for me atm. For those of you who haven't watched but are curious be warned that it has some questionable themes going on.

Saw up to about episode 5.

Seems to be changing genre every episode, but that was mainly made obvious by the last one.

Characters are still pretty much just there.

but it seems there hasn't been truly a really good anime in the last 2-3 years.

Define an anime more than 3 years old that you consider great and they'll probably be equivalents.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Usagi Drop
Steins;Gate
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Kokoro Connect
Hanasaku Iroha

Are considered quite good.

Oops I just listed slice of life and stuff other people rave about.

By definition its hard to know what's classic until its old.