General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[Haruspex_Pariah]

War or any kind of violent conflict?

Violence is okay (in fiction, that is). I saw a few episodes of Ghost in the Shell, and something like that would be alright. Darker then Black was cool too.

I don't know if it's okay to discuss this here, and I'll drop the matter it if it's inappropriate, but does anyone else read/watch

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the To Love Ru series? It has become rather risque (and it was dirty to begin with) of late. It's basically porn now, which is why I'm spoilering it.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Oh come on, we just had this discussion like 5 9 pages ago (EDIT: which was about 3 months ago... So I guess its been long enough to have it again) Unless you're somebody that forces yourself to wait for official non-japanese releases and thus watches anime at Funimation speed, there's been plenty of awesome stuff in the last couple years.

EDIT: @Soras Well, if you're looking for epic to get behind, my top picks from the list I just produced would be: Mawaru-Penguindrum, Katanagatari, Kaiba, Steins;Gate, Skiki, Kaiji, Kara no Kyoukai. In that order. My top picks that don't necessarily go with your request would be: The Tatami Galaxy, Nodame Cantabile, Time of Eve, Horou Musuko, Ano Hana, Working, Chihayafuru, Kuucho Buranko, Sora no Woto. In that order.

Yeah I just went and tracking down your list for the past two years in particular and this is only confirming my observation. Even before that outside of Nasuverse stuff I'm not sure I initially neglected anything but Birdy the Mighty (which is a reboot of some stuff from before my time) and maybe Tiger & Bunny. And some movies.

Now being fair this is getting into matters of taste. However as I generally treat quality as an objective matter and trusting your ability to select it I'm seeing a trend in quality going to... low key with possible weird elements. Way, way too much 'set in modern Japan' stuff. Which I know comes out a bit hypocritical from a Negima fan among other things I like, but I see it as I only have a certain amount of tolerance for that which some of the good stuff has been filling just fine. I have my slice-of-life/comedy quota all filled up (look to the left) for at least some time

It seems like nobody in Japan wants to compete with the Big Three shonen series that have been running for years now, unless some of their clones like Fairy Tail are unrecognized gems I'm just not aware of. And I do enjoy 2/3 of said long-running shonen series, up recently from just 1 even, I've just always wished that their good elements and in particular some epic scale fights (looking at Naruto vs Pain here) were supported by better and broader solid writing. Gundam seems to know how to get up there production value wise, but aside from Unicorn their recent offerings have been lackluster on substance.

[mallorean_thug]

Eh, I think that its really just a matter of taste. Keep in mind of course that my list is rather self-selecting. It can only include shows that I thought that I'd want to watch, then did and enjoyed. And I really enjoy shows that are "lowkey with possibly weird elements" while I also personally dislike all of the Big Three shonen, don't care for Negima at all, have yet to finish a Gundam, and have never found "epic scale fights" to be something I want to see in more shows. Oh well. (Though I would to hear what made the Gurren Lagann and StrikerS era any better besides those two shows and rose tinted glasses.)

On a different note, I mentioned all the shows I was watching right now in an effort to kickstart discussion without saying anything about my own impressions. Let me remedy that (while sort of responding to AlterForm's comments)

Guilty Crown: Before this show was suffering from completely horrible writing and largely unlikable characters while still managing to keep every other aspect of production (music, visuals, direction, worldbuilding) fairly top notch. As of recent episodes, everything is much the same including the horrible writing, except the characters are more likable now and the plot is actually exciting. Probably the show I look forward to the most week to week because I want to know what the heck the writers will do next. Plus, as an anime original title, I can speculate about it online without fearing spoilers, unlike some other shows I'm watching right now (I'm looking at you Mirai Nikki and Another). Honestly its just like Code Geass R2 all over again, but without a first season giving me higher expectations and making it look horrible in comparison. Your friend is only spouting memes about the show circa 2 weeks ago. Ignore him. Oh, and the OST is top tier and hasn't left my CD changer in my car since it was released.

BRS: No matter what I might say about the writing in other shows this season, BRS takes the crown for stupid. The melodrama is rediculously forced, the setting and setup make little to no sense, and I don't give a **** about any of the characters. Not that this is a suprise. I originally wanted to watch this for the Supercell, huke designs, and the fight scenes, and in the last 6 episodes I've only found one additional reason to watch it: watching the internet try to figure out what the hell is going on.

Nisemonogatari: Came for the fanservice, NisioIsin dialogue, SHAFT, and SenjougaharaxAraragi. Stayed for the fanservice, NisioIsin dialogue, SHAFT, and Shinobu. On one hand we're never getting anything nearly as good as Bakemonogatari ep12 with Kimi no Shirainai Monogatari. On the other hand, we got Platinum Disco, and we're going to get Kizumonogatari. On the whole I'm entertained and satisfied.

Moretsu Pirates: While I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as Terra, its still a good part of my week. I absolutely love how hard sci fi it is. I'm slightly put off by the slow pace but as Terra said, it does a very good job of delivering on build up.

Mirai Nikki: This show is still entertaining, not good. Its basically completely carried by Yuno and suprisingly good direction and music . . . about every other episode. Not consistent at all, and I've been told the ending, which is approaching quickly is a big let down. As long as you turn your brain off, its enjoyable, but thats really it. I expect people who haven't seen enough to know better to laud it as the bestest for years to come.

Rinne no Lagrange: Fun as long as its not taking itself seriously, but showing signs of preparing to take itself seriously in the future. The mood whiplash will be horrible, and I don't think the show will do a good job at being serious. In the meantime, the cast's entertaining antics have nearly made me forget they even have mechs destined to cause the apocalypse. The split cour is going to be just as painful as its been for Fate/Zero. Why the hell did split cour start being a thing?

Ano Natsu de Matteru: Having not seen Onegai Teacher, I keep ignoring the writer's influence and focusing on the (much better) director, so in my head, comparisons abound between this and Toradora or Ano Hana. So while yes, it is a generic anime romance full of the genre's tropes and cliches, it is an extraordinarily well directed one that makes you ignore the existence of those cliches. Additionally, even a generic anime romance is relatively hard to find. Seriously, try to name the most recent non-harem high school romance anime. You're going to have to go back a lot farther than you'd think. That said, this show's failings most come down to the abundance of plot devices, and the "with a twist". I honestly can find no good reason why they made the female lead an alien. At all. Besides getting more convenient plot devices.

Another: I wanted this to be good, it wasn't at first, it got better, but it really hasn't done anything with the fact its gotten better. The Final Destination style deaths are dumb and keep it from working as horror, and the way character stupidity keeps obfuscating the facts is dumb and keeps it from working as a mystery. I like the premise a lot, and the technical aspects are well executed but so far it just hasn't clicked.

Chihayafuru: This is probably my favorite show that is airing right now. Everything about it keeps letting me make parallels to my days in high school playing Quizbowl so well it hurts. Everything is well realized and executed and my only fear is that it won't get a second season like it needs. Madhouse is back baby.

Daily lives of High School Boys: Japanese sketch comedy I like!? Must come down to the commonality of the high school boy experience. Again, has dredged up some hilarious memories of crazy and dumb stuff I did in high school and been consistently funny. Some jokes are misses, but thats just how sketch comedy works.

[Terraoblivion]

I'll admit to being a bit surprised by how much I like Mouretsu Pirates myself. If I were to estimate it is that while it is slow and very low-key most of the time, the fundamentals are very solid and seem believable to me. When there is a confrontation, I feel like I understand why people did what they did and why it turned out the way it did. Similarly when characters act in certain ways, it comes off very consistent and like a logical progression of what came before. Nor there is very little cheap drama and exaggerated character traits shoehorned in to do the heavy lifting of characterization, making it seem somehow more solid. A final reason that is hard to discount is that it is a show about cool, capable and independent girls and women who solve problems by being smart and never gets reduced to posing sexily for men. It's just nice to have a show with characters I can identify with and this is one of them.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Oh well. (Though I would to hear what made the Gurren Lagann and StrikerS era any better besides those two shows and rose tinted glasses.)

Nothing so much in the particular shows themselves, just that in the past two years I've found sharply diminishing prospects and those I can find a personal pivot point where after I went from clearing up a backlog of some older shows... to not finding much made from '08 onward. And even the stuff I'm watching I'm not enjoying as thoroughly as I have in the past.

Hmm looking at dubiously reliable measure of wikipedia page listings via yearly categories, starting in 2000 with 80 listings (and about when I started watch in real earnest) rising to a peak of 206 listings in '06 and 199 in '07... down to 152 listings in '08 and not exceeding it since. Given that the further I go back the more I supplement with a backlog of things from the 90s I'm definitely seeing something resulting in my having slimmer pickings.

[Fri]

And I'm pretty sure I forgot about some things, and that there are cool recent shows I haven't watched yet, like Moretsu Pirates.

If by moretsu pirates you mean Level E, you're right.

Can that show be considered as sci-fi show without war? Is that a sci-fi show?

Level E is the second best anime in its season, in my opinion, and it's only second best because it unfortunately faced madoka. I'm still hoping for an OVA, because there's actually one more tankoubon that's not adapted into animation yet.

And yes, I used to read to love ru when it's still just an somewhat ecchi harem manga. IIRC, the author got cheated by his wife very badly, he got some sort of creator breakdown and cancelled to love ru, and after a while he continued to love ru in a different magazine as what basically softcore porn.

[mallorean_thug]

Winter season is ending, Spring season is about to begin, and our thread is on the second page? Blasphemy. Lets talk about the shows that just ended.

Ano Natsu de Matteru:

In the end, it was rather nolstalgic and heartfelt, but that was really about it. Nagai is extraordinarily good at getting viewers to be able to share in the emotions of the characters he's portraying. Now if only he could collaborate with a writer with better chops than Mari Okada or Yosuke Kuroda. I'm actually not sure how highly I want to rate this. On one hand I enjoyed every episode, found the characters extraordinarily likable, and found several moments touching. On the other hand, the show had more contrived plot devices than you can shake a stick at, and the characters didn't really ever get any depth beyond their personality and who they liked. For me, a solid 5/10.

Another:

Well, I can safely say that this show completely failed as horror. While the atmosphere managed to be very consistently doomy and gloomy, it was never suspenseful or frightening. And the Final Destination style deaths often came off as far more hilarious than tragic. The OST and animation were both top notch, especially during the scenes they were trying to make suspenseful, but I also felt writing fell through. The mystery was never particularly solvable, and as one character said, it was kind of pointless to figure it out until a certain revelation. Its not like the dead person was killing people, it was the curse and its bizarre power over coincidence. And then the mystery was solved via deus ex machina. Lame. Oh well, my favorite character lived but my second favorite character died. 6/10 for being entertaining in ways it never intended.

Chihayafuru:

In the end, it was still the best show airing this last season. Excellent OST, great characters that all have their own story and something to contribute to the main story, and it never loses its focus on Karuta. Still constantly makes me nolstalgic for Quizbowl. So it damn well better get a second season. Yes, Chihaya, I would love to play more Karuta with you. (Madhouse are bros right? We got Kaiji S2 despite S1 not selling at all. Chihayafuru will be sure to get a second season right? Right?) Easy 8/10

Rinne no Lagrange:

While it hasn't "ended" it is going on haitus until summer. Did I mention I hate split cours? The last episode before break was incredibly disappointing. As I feared, it has no idea how to balance serious with the lighthearted comedy its kind of good at. I mean, with the way ep. 11 ended, you'd think they'd be able to get some actual tension right? Nope, time to destroy that with more yuri. I can't even imagine how you'd parse that transition if you were marathoning it. The only well done scene all episode was the extended "Bye bye" with the instrumental Try Unite playing in the background. Why can't we have that level of quality more often, Xebec? The half finished "Maru" was perfect. Sadly I still can't say that of the rest of the show. Another solid 5/10.

Guilty Crown:

The last episode delivered everything I was expecting, with the exception of not actually really having much of a fight scene. So much concentrated stupid and wasted potentential. I found it hilarious. And at least they used the best track on the OST for what was supposed to be the most dramatic moment in the show. I was worried they wouldn't use my favorite track. Overall, I feel about the same for this that I felt for Code Geass R2. However, I didn't have any expectations for this, so I could happily enjoy the spectacle. Trainwreck/10, generously 5/10 for how much fun it was to watch and how good the OST was.

Black Rock Shooter:

On one hand, I'm amazed at how coherent the plot for this was, given the source material they had to work with. And by source material I mean a song and a couple half baked ideas from the OVA. On the other hand, it was still stupid beyond belief. I honestly have no idea what the point of all of it was supposed to be besides 1) middle school girls are incredibly mean to each other and 2) they want to sell a huge number of BRS figures. Maybe I should go cut out all the fight scenes and string them together. Sure it would make less sense, but you wouldn't expect it to make any sense anymore. The whole CG overlayed with hand drawn worked suprisingly well when they framed the scene properly and I hope to see more of it in the future, if CG must be used at all. But then again, here it worked because of the disconnect between the worlds. I can't imagine that technique still working if you want the CG to blend in with the hand drawn. Guess we'll have fake looking anime cars for quite a while. Oh, I got off topic. 4/10 for BRS.

Nisemonogatari:

Was more Bakemonogatari, with less Senjougahara, less plot, more imoutos, more fanservice, and more budget. Not really much more I can say about it. 7/10, looking forward to Kizumonogatari.


As for the rest, Moretsu Pirates is continuing, Mirai Nikki still has 3 episodes, and Daily lives of High School Boys will be finished as soon as I have a chance to watch the last episode with my little brother.

[Kato]

Level E is the second best anime in its season, in my opinion, and it's only second best because it unfortunately faced madoka. I'm still hoping for an OVA, because there's actually one more tankoubon that's not adapted into animation yet.

I also kind of marathoned Level E the last days and I'm pretty glad I did pick it up after it's run. It got some issues with sticking to a mood but it was really good and I think had the hreatest troll in the universe and I liked it anyway.

Rinne no Lagrange:

Actually, I enjoyed the show quite a bit for the most part. I guess the "ending" wasn't perfect but it was okay anyway... Though I guess a good part of it came from personal little things, like how the girls try to stop whatever they started by flying in circles around it just the day after Fluttershy hurricane aired... Also, I LOVES Vilagulio for some reason. I could anjoy about any moment he was on screen. It certainly wasn't a perfect show but it was decent nonetheless. The goodbye.. was well done if you like the sappy goodbyes, I guess.

As for the rest, Moretsu Pirates is continuing, Mirai Nikki still has 3 episodes, and Daily lives of High School Boys will be finished as soon as I have a chance to watch the last episode with my little brother.

To be honest... I dropped Mirai Nikki after the first episode because I had no wish to see ANOTHER crazy obsessive girl in anime this season. I think I will need to go back and watch it, though...
I'm behind with the pirates and feel like dropping it. It's not bad but... it's kind of mediocre and I don't feel a strong urge to get back on track.
Daily Lives suffered badly from the fact that the stories were just SO different... one or two episodes had hardly a good sketch where others were amazing. Probably my favorite for the season.

What else did I watch... Brave 10 was okay action comedy... I guess the best part was how it played the most overused cliches absolutely straight and I'm not sure if it's intentional or not...
And I got Highschool DxD which was... fanservice, comedy, fanservice, action, fanservice and fanservice. I was reminded a lot of Sora no Otoshimono, thought a bit more serious and it worked. But if you got a problem with Ecchi stay away from it.

[Tengu_temp]

My short throughts on Rinne no Lagrange:
It's better when it's fluffy, cute and funny than when it tries to be serious - you don't really watch it for the mecha action, you watch it for the shenanigans. Fortunately, it seems that apart from the eels there wasn't too much unnecessary fanservice. Episode 9 was probably my favorite, it develops a lot of the characters and is very funny on top of that. I thought the last episode was pretty damn good, too - the mood dissonance didn't bother me, I like when it's realized well and here it definitely was. Besides, this was made by the Nadesico guy, so expect that and playing on the audience's expectations.

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Also, if not for the last five minutes or so, this ending would be pretty damn sad. And even then it was bittersweet.

Overall verdict? Not a masterpiece, but good and worth checking out. I'll definitely be watching the second season.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Xebec doesn't know how to do tension or endings?



I wa Shock.

[Tengu_temp]

Except that here, it was a good ending. The last episode is probably the best serious one.

Tension though... Yeah, there's not much of that in RnL.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Except that here, it was a good ending. The last episode is probably the best serious one.

You're either joking, have a really low opinion of the other serious episodes, or are counting "intentionally bad but with well-executed intentional badness" as "good". I personally appreciate it from the latter perspective, but outside of the context of a parody, it's a freaking terrible ending.

[Tengu_temp]

I'm talking about Lagrange, not Nadesico.

Why are all of this guy's shows named after flowers?

Also, the OST is on youtube now. If you like soundtracks that are in equal measures Eureka Seven, Evangelion and Persona 3 and have lots of piano in them, that should be to your liking.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Persona 4 is "over".

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Igor: "Very good. Now go buy the DVDs to see the real ending."

Overall this show was pretty fantastic. A couple of weak episodes, but it's one of the better adaptations of something that damn long I've ever seen, it covered everything it needed to while putting its own twists on it to better suit the TV medium, and Jesus Christ Nanako is still mind-bendingly cute.

The show was a lot better with regards to character moments and shenanigans than it was with stunning action scenes, and it played to these strengths extremely well, whether it was through amusing shenanigans episodes ("A Stormy Summer Vacation" parts 1 and 2 were easily my favorite episodes) or the more-conversational-than-ever boss fights. The action scenes that were there adapted the game well and were occasionally freaky as hell in their interpretations of things like SPOILERS's fear skill and SPOILERS's dominate ability.

Oh, and one more thing about the last episode:

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Silly Adachi, you're not in Persona 3. Stop that.

[NeonBlack]

Another:

Well, I can safely say that this show completely failed as horror. While the atmosphere managed to be very consistently doomy and gloomy, it was never suspenseful or frightening. And the Final Destination style deaths often came off as far more hilarious than tragic. The OST and animation were both top notch, especially during the scenes they were trying to make suspenseful, but I also felt writing fell through. The mystery was never particularly solvable, and as one character said, it was kind of pointless to figure it out until a certain revelation. Its not like the dead person was killing people, it was the curse and its bizarre power over coincidence. And then the mystery was solved via deus ex machina. Lame. Oh well, my favorite character lived but my second favorite character died. 6/10 for being entertaining in ways it never intended.

Having just watched the final 3 episodes, I'll agree with everything you said. The show would've been miles better without Mei's eye messing things up, and if it had been 50% shorter. Still entertaining, though, and the final two episodes were a riot.

Now, time for spring. Space Bros has already aired, I guess I'll look for it later today. And damn it, the 6th of April can't come soon enough, I need my dose of mass octopi slaying and general Greek badassery already.

[Lord Raziere]

My thoughts on Puella Magi Madoka Magica:

Episode 1:

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Oh huh, heard people talk about this anime, I should check it out.

weird place thing. looks like the Wyld.

Episode 2:

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The witches and stuff are really unique in how they are portrayed, with the strange art and such. I like it.

Why do I have a feeling that the egg thing will be important later?

Episode 3:

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Mamis dead! I'm calling it: They will become magical girls by wishing Mami back to life, and it will go horribly wrong.

This got dark quickly.

Episode 4:

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Aaaw, I was wrong. But hey, at least the violinist is cured and Madoka rescued.

Episode 5:

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Kyoko, your evil and you should feel bad.

Episode 6:

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Ok why does Homura seem to be everywhere? She just happened come out of nowhere and end the battle? Then come out of nowhere and get the egg? I'm calling it now: she is a time traveler.

also, wow this highlights how alien Kyubey is.

Episode 7:

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Disturbing.

Also, Kyubey seems awfully…..serene about all this. What is it planning? I'm calling it: the eggs actually make you become witches, and Kyubey is growing witches for some reason, and Sayaka is already a goner.

Episode 8:

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Called it. Called it. Called it.

What? isn't that hard to guess. the Grief Seeds are too similar to the egg things, and Homura just seems to know too much and be everywhere at once. and in a dark show like this, Sayaka was a goner the moment Kyoko showed up.

and now I'm calling it for the next four episodes: either Kyoko or Homura will take down the Witch Formerly Known as Sayaka in some manner that will make Madoka distraught, some other stuff will happen between Kyoko, Homura and Kyubey probably centering around Madoka, the Wasplurgnicht (what kind of name is that? couldn't they have gone with something less….vomit sounding?) will be Madoka herself once she gains the Magical Girl powers (she is part of the shows title and a lot of talk is over how powerful she could be, it is inevitable that she will make a wish)

what the wish will be and how it will end? NO CLUE! It can honestly go either way with these dark ones.

[Wiwaxia]

Episode 8:

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Called it. Called it. Called it.

What? isn't that hard to guess. the Grief Seeds are too similar to the egg things, and Homura just seems to know too much and be everywhere at once. and in a dark show like this, Sayaka was a goner the moment Kyoko showed up.

and now I'm calling it for the next four episodes: either Kyoko or Homura will take down the Witch Formerly Known as Sayaka in some manner that will make Madoka distraught, some other stuff will happen between Kyoko, Homura and Kyubey probably centering around Madoka, the Wasplurgnicht (what kind of name is that? couldn't they have gone with something less….vomit sounding?) will be Madoka herself once she gains the Magical Girl powers (she is part of the shows title and a lot of talk is over how powerful she could be, it is inevitable that she will make a wish)

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Walpurgisnacht is a reference to Goethe's Faust, as the whole show homages it extensively.

[Terraoblivion]

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Not quite. It is a German holiday, which old superstition held was celebrated by witches gathering on the mountain Blocksberg in the Harz Mountains. It might be in Faust, but it is an older, strongly witch related concept.

[Kato]

It's not really a spoiler to discuss Walpurgisnacht's origin... I wouldn't call it a holyday but yeah, it's nothing they or Goethe came up with. It's been around for forever but I don't think anyone except for some eccentrics still care for it... Though I hear you can see some nice things if there is good weather on that certain night (and the eccentrics are cute young women)

Many people foresaw quite a bit about the show... Let's see if you keep up on the last episodes. And I still don't share all the hate Kyubee gets

[Closet_Skeleton]

Walpurgisnacht is pretty much just german halloween.

The moment I heard that word using in Madoka Magicka I assumed it was being used in the 'gathering of witches' (eg a Black Sabbath, the band that named a song after Walpurgisnacht).

Walpurgisnacht probably arose during the witch hysteria of the 15th century. Its an older feast day named after a 8th century saint but that doesn't really have anything to do with witches. Many saint's feast days were originally christianised versions of pagan rituals but witches weren't really a big thing until around the time of the reformation and for a long time the official Papal position was that they didn't exist. Its not that likely that Walpurgisnacht represents a truly ancient tradition (unless you consider 400 years to be long enough to be ancient).

Its use in Madoka Magicka is probably a referance to Goethe's use of the term.

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The Walpurgisnacht is actually just one big super witch in the show, but it does have bits that make it look like lots of dancing witches.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Walpurgisnacht is pretty much just german halloween.

Halloween IN SPRING!

[Closet_Skeleton]

Halloween IN SPRING!

While Halloween is Lemuria NOT IN SPRING.

Or was it Samhain IN AMERICA.

[Kato]

Walpurgisnacht is pretty much just german halloween.

Well, now that's just wrong... maybe some common origins somewhere but it's treated entirely different, the things happening are very different, the cultural significance is entirely different... No, sir, that statement is just wrong. If anything in Germany comes close to Halloween (not that we didn't adopt Halloween by now) it would be "Fasching" but that's actually our Carnival, which has a very different origin still. (But kids dress up and stuff and adults as well, so it that manner is is like it...)

[aldeayeah]

It seems like nobody in Japan wants to compete with the Big Three shonen series that have been running for years now, unless some of their clones like Fairy Tail are unrecognized gems I'm just not aware of.

What about Gintama?

[Closet_Skeleton]

the cultural significance is entirely different...

Halloween has cultural significance? Always seemed like the prime example of cultural insignificance to me.

[Mistral]

Halloween has cultural significance? Always seemed like the prime example of cultural insignificance to me.

Really? Halloween is kind of a big thing, I always thought. Sure, it's around fun and games, trick or treating, and that sort of activity, but if you say Halloween, a lot of people are going to know what you're talking about, not just locally, but even globally. I mean, not all holidays and festivals are rooted in "haute culture," but the culture of the people as a whole is not solely what people refer to as "cultured". Festivals and the such are a key aspect of the culture of a society as a whole, as well.

Now, if you want insignificance, I suspect most Amis don't really know what Labor Day is beyond the "three day weekend before school starts", if that. Just looking down a list of federal holidays in the US alone, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day don't get really celebrated culturally in anywhere near the same way, and Veterans Day and Memorial Day aren't likely unless you have a military background in the family, either.

[Raistlin1040]

Hey Anime bros.

So, I enjoy anime from time to time and I've popped in here every now and again to ask about things. I don't actually watch all that much, but I've had a lot of free time and have been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time. On episode 14 and I'm really liking it. However, a friend of mine told me to not watch the last two episodes and watch the movie instead. Another told me to watch both the episodes and the movie. What do you guys think?

[NeonBlack]

Hey Anime bros.

So, I enjoy anime from time to time and I've popped in here every now and again to ask about things. I don't actually watch all that much, but I've had a lot of free time and have been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time. On episode 14 and I'm really liking it. However, a friend of mine told me to not watch the last two episodes and watch the movie instead. Another told me to watch both the episodes and the movie. What do you guys think?

I'd watch both, if only to see both angles. It's been a while since I watched Eva and I don't really remember which exact events were on which part anymore, but budget issues aside, I don't remember anything in the last two episodes that made me appreciate EoE less when I watched it afterwards. In any case, I'd rather see something I may not like than ignore something I might like.


Now, some first impressions on the spring shows:

Space Brothers: Two episodes in and loving it. Funny and melancholic at the same time, lovable characters and one of the best OPs in recent times. Will follow for sure.

Fate/Zero: Still awesome. Still following.

Accel World: Surprise of the season so far. I didn't expect much, but it's well done technically speaking and the looks at augmented perception and the integration of the net in the daily lives of the characters look promising, while the actual plot could go anywhere but has potential. If the MC grows some much-needed backbone this could be good.

Medaka Box: Chapter seemed much longer than it was. That's bad. Nothing really caught my eye, and with so many interesting stuff going around this season I don't think I'll have time for this unless I hear it gets much better.

Zetman: Man, only 13 episodes? I haven't read the manga, so I'm ignoring some complaints I've read about it changing too much from the source and enjoying it for what it is. So far I'm liking it.

Acchi Kocchi: Generic characers in a generic setting (tsundere girl likes oblivious guy, wacky school friends do wacky things while trying to push them together). Not too promising of a premise, but the first episode was just too damn cute. If you don't mind the puni plush style, the "I'm sure I've watched this before" feeling and the fact that cats are everywhere, this could be an entertaining fix for all your diabetes-inducing needs. Although Hime needs to fix those explosive nosebleeds, and fast.


Not gonna touch Upotte! with a ten-foot pole. Still waiting on Jormungand, Hyouka and the noitaminA shows. Looks like a busy season ahead. Fun.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Medaka Box: Chapter seemed much longer than it was. That's bad. Nothing really caught my eye, and with so many interesting stuff going around this season I don't think I'll have time for this unless I hear it gets much better.

It felt 'so average its meh' to me. I enjoyed it a little but don't see a reason to see episode 2 unless every other comedy series this season turns out to be worse.

Zetman: Man, only 13 episodes? I haven't read the manga, so I'm ignoring some complaints I've read about it changing too much from the source and enjoying it for what it is. So far I'm liking it.

I read the manga ages ago and that episode 1? Adapted the first 12! chapters.

It did it quite well but no suprise not all the fans are going to be happy.

Apart from the ridiculous compression the only real change has been introducing characters and concepts earlier.

[endoperez]

Oh my, oh my, oh my....


I'm watching Madoka for the first time. Oh my.

Spoiler

Show

I had heard about episode 3 being bad. I had, unfortunately, come across some motivational posters with a certain white face, a pair of button eyes and the caption "eldritch horror, now available in cute". I had seen the limp body of a girl, looking like she had hanged herself (.... not).

It was still a heartbreaking series with things I didn't except.

I just saw episode 10, with all its timetraveling glory. Oh my god Homura...

Wow. Still a few more to go...