General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[Terraoblivion]

It's Junji Ito. Even with the crackiness of the walking fish, screaming is entirely the right response. So whether you want or not is entirely dependent on how much you like horror. Unless they botch it I guess, in which case the answer is probably "no" since a bad show is a bad show regardless of genre.

[endoperez]

So I just finished Clannad including season two, and I'm a good chunk of the way through the VN. I'm pretty new to the whole anime thing, but I've really enjoyed Clannad. Any recommendations for a series like it? Except maybe one that doesn't make me want to vomit out my soul, I'm already staring at a couple days of feeling down.?

You could try out short series, that's an easy way to probe at the genre medium and see what parts of it you like. For a short romantic series, I recommend REC. 9 ½ short episodes of romance, comedy and slice-of-life.

[Deepbluediver]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Heya, thanks for that!

I have a lot to get done this week, and now that I won't be spending any time in the next few days sleeping I might actually get caught up!

[KingHywel]

"Poor Sunohara"? It's more than clear that he loves being beat up.

So he's a gay masochist?

[Teutonic Knight]

Anyone else watching Moretsu Pirates bothered by the rapid introduction of characters we've never met before but are supposed to like now because they are on the bridge crew of the main character? It's like with each new episode they skipped half of episode that was supposed to have fit in between each episode.

Also guys, what is the Playground's opinion of Bakemonogatari (not Nisemono yet) or Senki Zesshou Symphogear?

[Fri]

I like bakemonogatari, but it's more because of my personal taste, and people could easily hate it. To be precise, I like studio shaft, and I like the two main characters.

It's a shaft show, so if you're familiar with sayonara zetsubou sensei, you'll find it has similar visual style for good or worse. The story is... I remember reading someone comparing it to tarantino (I wouldn't know). There's a overaching story per arc, but most of the episodes are the characters meandering and chatting.

[Terraoblivion]

Anyone else watching Moretsu Pirates bothered by the rapid introduction of characters we've never met before but are supposed to like now because they are on the bridge crew of the main character? It's like with each new episode they skipped half of episode that was supposed to have fit in between each episode.

Also guys, what is the Playground's opinion of Bakemonogatari (not Nisemono yet) or Senki Zesshou Symphogear?

Can't claim to have been. I feel that stopping to give them a formal introduction would have distracted from the introduction to piracy and Marika and Chiaki's development. I'm pretty sure we'll get to know them as Marika does and that their being weird and hanging out in the background was an entirely intentonal choice. Also, how much could a formal intriduction really present about them? You get to know characters as they act and talk, just like people.

In general I'm quite enjoying the sense of restraint the show has, whether it is Marika's subdued ponderings over what to do or the way it's taken its time setting things up. Only real complaints I have is that the basic politics of the setting weren't explained before and that we didn't learn what piracy meant in peacetime, given that Marika presumably learned in the first episode.

[Prime32]

Also guys, what is the Playground's opinion of Bakemonogatari (not Nisemono yet) or Senki Zesshou Symphogear?

I'm watching the latter because of its similarities to Nanoha and Madoka (including casting Nana Mizuki and Aoi Yuuki as the leads). Also, the singing.

[Dispozition]

Bakemonogatari is possibly my favourite anime of the last few years. I think it's extremely well visualised and the characters are astoundingly good compared to almost every other anime I've had the misfortune to watch. I will admit I haven't seen anything from the last 2-3 seasons though, so I'm surely missing a few good ones in there (like Madoka and AoiHana).

But yeah...I loved Bakemonogatari and you should all watch it.

[Eldariel]

So he's a gay masochist?

Fully possible, given the story. How else do you explain him practically begging for Tomoyo to beat him up time and time again (and overall, getting into fights with the whole Rugby club for the hell of it)? Hell, the game does have the "Sunohara Ending"

[Kato]

Can't claim to have been. I feel that stopping to give them a formal introduction would have distracted from the introduction to piracy and Marika and Chiaki's development. I'm pretty sure we'll get to know them as Marika does and that their being weird and hanging out in the background was an entirely intentonal choice. Also, how much could a formal intriduction really present about them? You get to know characters as they act and talk, just like people.

In general I'm quite enjoying the sense of restraint the show has, whether it is Marika's subdued ponderings over what to do or the way it's taken its time setting things up. Only real complaints I have is that the basic politics of the setting weren't explained before and that we didn't learn what piracy meant in peacetime, given that Marika presumably learned in the first episode.

Dunno... I rather like the show as it is but really, I'd like to have names for the crew, at least the bridge crew... Marika should have gotten to know them since they are ***** teaching her. How can you not get to know your teachers/subordinates/crewmates? At least a minute to get their names would be nice...

[Kato]

It's quiet in here... too quiet...

So... Gundam AGE continues to to make weird references to Gundam 0079, and has girls slapping men on their butt, Rinne no Lagrange has sexual harassment nobody complains and someone who looks to me like Wild Tiger's twin brother no matter how I look at him (and soft core fanservice), Highschool DxD has... FANSERVICE.... and Koyasu as a demon harem king (I approve), BRave 10 has... whacky stuff in feudal Japan... and Daily lives of Highschool boys varies a lot in quality each week but I still find myself loving the show...
So, my anime season is going well enough. Anything great I'm missing?

[Terraoblivion]

Space piracy is quite good thanks to its solid world building and character development. It is rather slow, but it uses its time well for development and setup so that when payoff strikes it's really nice. Also, while the plot is only truly starting, it seems promising. Still, you mostly watch for the characters and setting so far, with Jenny and Ririka being high points.

[tensai_oni]

I am watching Rinne no Lagrange currently. The show plays its super robot tropes and cliches (and general anime storytelling tropes) 100% straight and self aware. But somehow it still works. It helps that the real focus is not on plot but characters, and the characters are very sympathetic and likeable. Also, there is on average at least one Crowning Moment of Heartwarming per episode.

It's pretty light on fanservice, or maybe I am just immune by now. But except for one scene (those damned eels...) it doesn't feel grating or out of place. Also, the mecha fight scenes are rare but very pretty. Overall it is a fun show with some dramatic moments but an overall light feeling.

Mouretsu Pirates is directed by Tetsuo Sato too so I am going to watch it next.

[Kato]

Space piracy is quite good thanks to its solid world building and character development. It is rather slow, but it uses its time well for development and setup so that when payoff strikes it's really nice. Also, while the plot is only truly starting, it seems promising. Still, you mostly watch for the characters and setting so far, with Jenny and Ririka being high points.

Oh, right, forgot that one. Yeah, it's pretty nice but just... dunno, really, really slow. I still can't get myself to drop it which is saying something for it, I guess.

[Fri]

On Negima

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Another parallel universe? Oh man, what if eva's prediction is true.

Losing Asuna is indeed the thing that made negi self sufficient, and now with Asuna here, he'll be spoiled, and won't become a great magister magi, and all of his project won't be a success, and this timeline will ended up as a dystopia!

Nah, I'm just kidding. Man, how many reset point 'blank state' for negi's choice of partner do we have? I guess there's actually as many parallel universe as the number of the girl in the class, with negi marrying a different person in each universe.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Speaking of Negima I finally caught the "Anime FINAL" movie they made awhile back. (Yeah remember that?)

And let me tell you.... I think it would be shorter to list the anime movie cliches that this movie didn't use. Bad movie OC is about it. There are still some fun bits (Negi vs Ku, Kaede vs Mana, then the winners fight!) but the early half of the movie is plagued by the illogical nature of its premise which if you forgot was:

Negi must choose a single permanent partner and the rest of the class will have their memories erased.

Yes the rest of the class. First off no it doesn't explain why really, particularly what exactly will do that. I think the script writer tried to imply the Pactio would do this, realized it made no sense but didn't want to say that a bunch of mages would show up and do it forcefully. And just underline that nonsense, half the focus scenes are basically a selection of the girls brooding while noting how it shouldn't effect them.

How is it resolved though... its shoved away in the most cliche way possible.

It shouldn't be hard to guess, its the one you think. But it doesn't stop there, because it can't be a movie without some big threat. And the threat is actually a reasonable take off from the manga plot (no not a battle with Nagi) combined with Negi outlining a different (and even I think a bit cooler plan) then the manga's space elevator. Here I give the movie some small points for something not bad and I suspect this might be a direct contribution from Akamatsu.

However it still basically throws what we've spent have the movie on away to quickly resolve the sudden problem. And there it completely throws away the promise of the idea. Forget Cliche Storm, this is Cliche Colony Drop. Including no less then three uses of deus ex machina. And some of the weakest attempts at a big action scene I've ever seen. Seriously think the conclusion to that first Sailor Moon arc way back when only played for action rather then emotion.

(And they didn't even start off the move by giving us any of the best bits from defeating Cosmo. Literally only the duels carry any decent action)

Oh and so help me maybe I'm imagining it but I swear the animation is a notch down from the last OVAs. Though I've always heard this is fairly normal for anime. Maybe its just the style choices, I swear someone tried to invoke the first anime series flat aesthetics. Oh and I have an exceptionally low tolerance for obvious CGI which pops up a bit

All in all even more disappointing then I anticipated.

[tensai_oni]

@Fri

So Negima is Steins;Gate now?

@Soras

I was surprised that when the movie came out, everyone was so silent about it. Not just here, everywhere. Only thing I got was Akamatsu trying to very politely say that he considers it not as good as his own manga. I guess I know why now.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Well Negima never seems to gets attention. Its like the Dogged Nice Guy of the Shonen world. And accordingly gets no respect at all.

Which sadly seems to finally apply even with the creator. The more I think about it the more I have to conclude that Akamatsu hit some horrible case of writer's block or otherwise wrote himself into a corner he felt he couldn't get out of.

[NeonBlack]

I'm gonna wait for the final two chapters before deciding if I like the manga ending or not, but yeah, not too happy with how things are going thus far.

The whole post-Magic World stuff looks a bit like Akamatsu flailing around and making time until he found an idea for the final "serious" arc, and when he didn't find it he just went "eh, screw it" and decided to end it. Which is not bad per se, better than becoming a zombie series like many battle shounens do, but I don't know, I kind of expected more.

I might still be proven wrong with the final chapters, though, or an hypothetical sequel. I'd like that, actually.

[Tengu_temp]

I will wait with final opinion until Negima ends, but for now I'll say this:
Despite all the crazy and awesome stuff that happened during the magic world arc, the school festival arc was still my favorite.

[Fri]

My favourite part of negima was magic world adventure up to the final fight with rakan. That's where the series frayed out for me.

[Tengu_temp]

I, on the other hand, didn't like that part very much. Jack Rakan's antics aside, the magic world arc started to pick up for me only after the tournament was done and everyone gathered up again.

[Dispozition]

I will wait with final opinion until Negima ends, but for now I'll say this:
Despite all the crazy and awesome stuff that happened during the magic world arc, the school festival arc was still my favorite.

This. School festival arc was the best by so much :D

[Soras Teva Gee]

Negi vs Rakan will always be my favorite part of it. Then again I'm a sucker for a good fight. I always found the School Festival a touch bloated as an arc. Yes that sounds odd coming what with the Magic World being far more massive, but I feel the latter has a better passage of time in it. I don't know that I have a broad favorite arc though, I might go with Kyoto actually.


As for the conclusion... while its something of a self fulfilling prophecy no epilogue will be completely fulfilling to me. That said latest chapter. So Yue becomes Aozaki Touko? Extremely Appropriate.

[Sciina]

...

So... Gundam AGE continues to to make weird references to Gundam 0079
...
So, my anime season is going well enough. Anything great I'm missing?

You say this like it's a bad thing

EDIT: and you're missing Persona 4: The Animation on that list

[Fri]

Yes. Awesome future yue is awesome.

Anyway, I actually really like the adventure of the casts of negima in the magic world before they meet up and continue with the main plot. I guess that's why it's my favourite part.

[Tengu_temp]

Depending on what we get in the next chapter, this could either be a good conclusion to Negima or totally pointless.

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Also, what the hell is up with those last few pages? Suddenly it turned into uncomfortable borderline hentai. Not going too far, Akamatsu? Also, I wonder is he trolling us with Chichigami-sama, or does he seriously think the fandom feels anything but deep hate for this character.

Actually, the most worrying scenario would be if the fandom does feel anything but deep hate for that character.

[NeonBlack]

Never underestimate the average stupidity of most fandoms, Tengu.

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And yeah, future Yue was great until that happened and what could have been a nice glimpse into the future turned into a titfest. Damn it, Akamatsu. To me, those final pages are further proof that he just doesn't care anymore.

Betting here that the only thing resembling some kind of resolution we'll get is the name of Negi's permanent Ministra, if that. And no, two paragraphs from whoever explaining how they finally found Nagi somewhere and then this and that happened, or how they're about to go on the final stage of the search (which we'll never see) don't count as resolution.

The best I can hope for at this point is an open ending leaving the way open for an hypothetical future sequel/spin-off that will deal with the unresolved issues. And even that requires Akamatsu to care, and well...

/pessimisticrant

[Prime32]

http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.ph...50829#msg50829
The MM discussion thread has pie. And also explanations.