General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[tensai_oni]

I wouldn't be harsh on Gundam Wing, because thanks to it being shown on Toonami it was a getaway series for many - a lot of anime and/or mecha fans wouldn't be here if not for the show.

However, if you praise it but didn't watch it in years, I suggest rewatching because it could be just your nostalgia goggles doing the talking.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I haven't watched Gundam Wing. Much like SEED/Destiny, I know just enough about it to mock individual aspects of it (Heero's suicidal insanity, Kira and Athrun's narmtastic yelling, Shinn's entire life) without being able to form a valid opinion of the entire thing.

However, I can explain Eureka 7: people from Sunrise decided to combine Gundam's plot structure, Evangelion's refusal to explain ****-all, and a lot of drugs.

Oh, and Kawamori's obsession with missiles and the Power of Love. (He was only the mechanical designer, which is why it's the Power of Love and not the Power of Triangles).

[Closet_Skeleton]

However, I can explain Eureka 7: people from Sunrise decided to combine Gundam's plot structure, Evangelion's refusal to explain ****-all, and a lot of drugs.

Oh, and Kawamori's obsession with missiles and the Power of Love. (He was only the mechanical designer, which is why it's the Power of Love and not the Power of Triangles).

That's not an explanation, its an excuse.

Just like 'Anno lost his anti-depressants and Gainax lost their budget' doesn't make Eva make sense, it just makes me not interested in bothering.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Honestly the main thing with E7 is that the explanations happen, they just don't start until the second half of the show. Up until then the audience flailing around blind is entirely intentional on the part of the writers, if not to everyone's tastes (including mine). For one thing, by the time you get to the exposition, you've forgotten what it's explaining, and for another, most of the plot still makes no logical sense if you spend any time at all trying to analyze it. It's all very high-concept and pretentious, following the Evangelion path but at least trying to be self-consistent.

[hanzo66]

On the subject of Mecha, has there been a series where the Mecha itself has a sentient A.I.? I mean, I generally assume that there has to be a rather advanced computer in most Mecha. Just sorta pondering the idea a bit. The only one I can sorta think of is the Zone of the Enders anime series.

On another topic, how did that Visual Novel thing work out? Is it officially canned or on hiatus?

[Prime32]

On the subject of Mecha, has there been a series where the Mecha itself has a sentient A.I.? I mean, I generally assume that there has to be a rather advanced computer in most Mecha. Just sorta pondering the idea a bit. The only one I can sorta think of is the Zone of the Enders anime series.

Lots and lots of Supers.

On another topic, how did that Visual Novel thing work out? Is it officially canned or on hiatus?

The GitP one? It never really took off.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Also, Zechs' motivations don't make the slightest bit of sense and the logic of most people involved is more than a bit strained. Like Treize who starts a world war to eliminate war or the creators of the Gundams. A big part of Gundam 00 was pointing out just how ridiculously stupid most of the Wing cast was, by casting the people who think they can eliminate war by shooting at it as being in the wrong and realizing so as the conflict develops.

Except the pilots in Wing weren't out to end war in the first place or anything so lofty to start they were outright terrorists to start with nothing so high minded. Much of the series was more about survival under ever changing conditions. Relena was really the only one with high ideals, which even she questioned after a time.

Without commenting on whether this is good or bad Wing is a complex show. In a way more about breadth then nessecarily depth. I know of few stories I would have more trouble summarizing. Where as 00 for example can be cover pretty well with "Part I, trying to fix the world. Part II trying to fix the mistake that was Part II" which is not something comfortable doing with Wing.

However, if you praise it but didn't watch it in years, I suggest rewatching because it could be just your nostalgia goggles doing the talking.

Oh I've watched it... yeah still this year actually after having not in years. Many things to be said about it that are problematic. Many technical ones, like I still love the dubbing (also dem narrations <3) and its acted well but there are some pretty bizzare translations. And the animation hasn't held up as well as others of similar vintage.

Story wise its got so much going on it doesn't detail things as well as it probably could. Kinda like its a "lite" version of itself without an original. And many unanswered details around.

That's not an explanation, its an excuse.

Just like 'Anno lost his anti-depressants and Gainax lost their budget' doesn't make Eva make sense, it just makes me not interested in bothering.

The difference is that Eva does make sense.

While Eureka Seven I think never quite figured all of itself out.

Reflects a pretty common tendency I've gradually noticed. The Japanese seem to have a greater tolerance for being given "this [premise] is true" and rolling with it without question.

[Tengu_temp]

On the subject of Mecha, has there been a series where the Mecha itself has a sentient A.I.?

Full Metal Panic, Idolm@ster Xenoglossia, Big O, Layzner if I recall correctly. Does a sentient robot buddy who connects to the robot count, like Lockon's Haro (Gundam 00) or Lowe's 8 (Gundam SEED Astray)? Evangelion, RahXephon and Eureka Seven, in a way. I assume non-piloted robots don't count.

Lots and lots of Supers.

Actually, name some? There's a lot of shows where the robot is treated as a person by its pilot, but I don't recall any other than those I mentioned where it's actually sentient on its own.

On another topic, how did that Visual Novel thing work out? Is it officially canned or on hiatus?

It was never a real project, just people playing around with ideas.

[Prime32]

Actually, name some? There's a lot of shows where the robot is treated as a person by its pilot, but I don't recall any other than those I mentioned where it's actually sentient on its own.

Headmasters, Galeon, Mazinkaiser, Shin Getter...

Does it count if the robot and a human copilot a larger robot?

[Tengu_temp]

Transformer Headmasters are not piloted, and I haven't seen the Mazinkaiser OVA. Shin Getter is sentient in some continuities and not in others - there's no hints to its sentience in Armageddon, for example. I completely forgot that Galeon turns into GaiGar (and then combines with vehicles to make GaoGaiGar), though.

[Prime32]

A lot of Super Sentai mecha are also sentient.
EDIT: Raideen, I think?

[Closet_Skeleton]

Honestly the main thing with E7 is that the explanations happen, they just don't start until the second half of the show.

One of my main problems was with

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the 'limit of life' concept. That everyone would die if the Scub Coral woke up. Most of the plot seems to be based off this but it always feels like 'because we said so'. They made up a rule that they never explained a good reason for, then based the plot around that rule. A bit like how Deathly Hallows has Voldemort being defeated by some random bit of lore that isn't introduced until that book. Why does Voldemort lose despite being more experienced and powerful than Harry? "because of wand lore" What is want lore? "something introduced because Voldemort was too experienced and powerful for Harry to defeat".

At least Eva was vague in its mythological references. Eureka 7 requires its young Japanese audience to know about a 1890 anthropology book published in English.

The difference is that Eva does make sense.

While Eureka Seven I think never quite figured all of itself out.

A lot less stuff is happening in Eva.

Does a sentient robot buddy who connects to the robot count, like Lockon's Haro (Gundam 00) or Lowe's 8 (Gundam SEED Astray)? Evangelion, RahXephon and Eureka Seven, in a way. I assume non-piloted robots don't count.

Depends if you count Haro as sentient. I wouldn't count Gundam SEED's Haro as sentient, don't know about Astray.

You kind of have to define sentience. Technically 'sapience' is what most people think of when they say sentience (eg self awareness) while actual sentience is more emotional and present in most vertebrates.

Eureka 7's Nirvash seems more sentient than sapient, though

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the robot's 'soul' isn't artificial

Non piloted but remote controlled Super Robots are often at least sentient, but may not speak. Which can vary from animal-like intelligence to something more like the old Samurai 'my sword has a soul' style thing.

Actually, name some? There's a lot of shows where the robot is treated as a person by its pilot, but I don't recall any other than those I mentioned where it's actually sentient on its own.

There's also the whole animist thing in Shinto. A robot doesn't need an AI to be a person from that mindset. The idea of a super robot as a kind of modern guardian statue deity is there in quite a few works (even in real robot ones like Turn A Gundam). Names that imply some kind of divinity aren't uncommon among super robots.

[Soras Teva Gee]

A lot less stuff is happening in Eva.

Also true, and that's not counting the outright filler used for Eureka Seven.

[hanzo66]

Thanks for answering my questions. Thing is, I never really watched a lot of Mecha anime and it's been a while since I've popped up around here.

Is something wrong with me if I say that I find this tune kinda catchy? Like, I'm not exactly caring much for the series itself, but I'm sorta diggin' the tune.

[Nerd-o-rama]

8 from SEED Astray definitely seems to be self-aware. Nirvash is as well, even if he only gets "lines" at the very end.

(Trust me, you don't want to see anything with Nirvash as an active conversational participant. That movie was awful.)

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Of course, like the Evangelion units, Nirvash is a living thing and not really a machine with what we would define as an AI, but it kind of amounts to the same thing.

And while we're on spoilers for old, weird-ass shows, you could technically count Buster Machine Seven from Diebuster, and Dix-Neuf seems pretty self-aware at points too.

[Kato]

Insert after writing the post: Oh good, I was ranting again. sorry. But now I've already typed it down.

Wing's characters were terrible.

I'd say a big issue was there were so many and sadly many of the more main ones were worse than the second grade ones.

Apart from Treize, who gets cut out of the plot by the two new enemies (yes, there are only really 2, that gets exaggerated a lot doesn't it?) and then comes back just to have an okay death scene that's wasted by reducing it to giving the second most boring Gundam pilot some minor character development (can't remember his name even though I liked his Gundam best).

Wufai. No, he wasn't very interesting. And yes, it was a shame Treize got so little attention. He is kind of THE antagonist and against Terra's claim I'd say his "war to end all wars" thing wasn't that bad. Sure, it's not genius but in a narrative I'd say it works.

I don't see how you can hate Lacsus but not mind Relena Peacecraft.

Oh, I never said I don't have issues with Relena. I don't like her, she's my least favorite in the show. But Lacus was way more perfect. She could steal the super secret new MS without any trouble, she was a famous singer, everyone who met her fell for her (well, pretty much), she could never ever hurt anyone and then she even got her own super pink MS, iirc... At least Relena was just useless and mostly stupid. I like neither but I like Lacus less.

Zechs isn't even a character after the first half of Wing. He just does whatever the writers need him to. His assistant Noien was more interesting and she didn't really do anything.

I like Noin as well but.. I never got the feel Zechs did something that didn't make sense with what I felt his character was. Okay, he did stupid things but being smart wasn't an integral part of his character.

Heero Yui is just so dull.

Yes
2-4 were okay, with Duo being my favorite as well (kind of a remake of After War's ... Garren? Garrod. Just a likable, lively character who doesn't have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Or isn't dwelling on it all the time.
But yeah, I guess they were trying to get girls into Gundam or something with the different pilots, serving various stereotypes? I don't know...

Lady Une was okay as an antagonist and at least had personality (or two), but was just kind of there and made no sense as a military officer. Dorothy made even less sense and was basically just there to be a Relena rival, except she actually did stuff while Relena didn't so Quatre had to steal her to be his rival.

Une was... I liked her. But I think she needed some more development than what she got. She was only just Treize's right hand for pretty much all of it. I'd start about sexism in Gundam but... better not.
I hates Dorothy the first time watching the show back in the days but even though her plot was really weird I kind of like her by now. She's not great but she's better than others.

Wing's fights were dull.

Admitted. But I rarely see actually interesting fights in any mecha show, really. Most of the time I can predict who will win and the action itself is only lately getting on the same level as other shows. There are noticeable exceptions but for the most part... Also, I really didn't like WIng for their fights.

Wing Zero Custom is the stupidest real robot design ever...

Including G Gundam's designs?
Yeah, it was overpowered. I see your point and it annoys me as well, I still feel it is less ridiculous than Kira fighting battle without killing anyone (with the rare special exceptions)
When Kio made the decision in AGE I got really pissed but I guess they did a somehow better job since he actually did have trouble going through with it and Seric had an argument about it with him.

Funny, I've never seen anyone on the Internet who praises SEED.

Maybe I do visit the wrong sites.

Wing is way more anti-war than SEED is.

Of course it is but some other people seem to think SEED was the first show to have a "war is bad message". (I'd redirect you to a site with especially stupid posts but it's German so...)
I got kind of off-topic there, my point really being as you said: SEED is not anti-war. If anything it's anti.racism and even there it makes a mood point because the coordinator problem is/would be a serious issue and not just "Well, we will just treat everyone the same". And ignoring that racism is rarely a cause for war as opposed to religions, ideals, social problems, resources, nationalism... SEED tries to say "war is bad" (and Kira is great because he can wage war without killing anyone) and has for example the scene where a few thousand soldiers get killed by that microwave thing.. I forgot what it was called. But it really got no depth to it.
It's not that Wing is so much better but... well, you pretty much said what I can say on it. Except I'd say the supercomputer thing at the end was just stupid and not really any kind of point. It just felt they didn't try that hard and failed that hard with their message.

...but in the end was more science fiction with its benevolent dictatorship vs freedom theme (which would have made a good series if it hadn't been ruined by FLAWLESS VICTORY). You can't really call Destiny an anti-war story when the war ends and then the clear cut heroes start another one in order to save humanity from enforced peace.

Yesssssssss, thank you Destiny actual had potential with Durandal's character and other things but of course Kira and Lacus' little alliance just rushes in and crashes everything because... Durandal wanted to kill Lacus so she didn't spoil his fake Lacus plan? How was that even necessary? Because Lacus is Mother Mary and he could never go through with his plan without his fake? Just thinking about it makes me grind my teeth.

Now part of me wants to write a list of historical wars that need fictional analogues set partly in SPACE!.

I'm slightly reminded of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere... except they kid of waste the chance to do that properly to instead make crazy jokes and have cool fight scenes...

[Tengu_temp]

(Trust me, you don't want to see anything with Nirvash as an active conversational participant. That movie was awful.)

Hey, muck you!

[Closet_Skeleton]

Oh, I never said I don't have issues with Relena. I don't like her, she's my least favorite in the show. But Lacus was way more perfect. She could steal the super secret new MS without any trouble, she was a famous singer, everyone who met her fell for her (well, pretty much), she could never ever hurt anyone and then she even got her own super pink MS, iirc... At least Relena was just useless and mostly stupid. I like neither but I like Lacus less.

I don't hate Relena because she was perfect, I hate her because she was annoying. Lacus starts out a bit annoying but she's a pro-active and strong willed woman. That doesn't make me hate her character. Destiny made her a lot more boring, but mostly just by not giving her any real reason to develop and just keeping her as she was at the end of SEED.

Lacus never had a pink MS, Cagari had Strike Rouge and Meer had a pink Zaku as a prop during concerts as fake Lacus. Lacus had a pink spaceship that Andy did all the command work of.

At least being a singer/celebrity/military figurehead only requires one attribute, charisma. Lacus didn't exactly have a list of tons of random skills that had no purpose but to make her seem more perfect.

Lots of people steal Gundams in SEED. I don't see what's wrong with a non-combat political character using connections and subterfuge to do so rather than violence.

No one really fell in love with Lacus in a Mary Sue sense. Fray hated Lacus and was still sympathetic. The crew of Archangel came to tolerate her during her stay, but she was more or less being nice to them. Its not like she was heaped with undeserved love from people she did nothing for. Most people liked her because 'popular celebrity singer'.

Including G Gundam's designs?

G Gundam's designs have a context. Wing Zero Custom does not.

Yeah, it was overpowered. I see your point and it annoys me as well, I still feel it is less ridiculous than Kira fighting battle without killing anyone (with the rare special exceptions)

Its not really a matter of over-poweredness, phase-shift armour basically gave the same benefit as Gundamium alloy (only beam weapons can hurt you). But Freedom gets damaged, Wing Zero doesn't.

Endless Waltz did the 'not killing things' first and Freedom's super targeting makes more sense than Heavy Arms Custom somehow managing not to kill anyone.

Either you can accept the heroes breaking away as a third faction to save the world or you can't, but that's an argument you can use in SEED vs some series, but not in SEED vs Wing.

Yesssssssss, thank you Destiny actual had potential with Durandal's character and other things but of course Kira and Lacus' little alliance just rushes in and crashes everything because... Durandal wanted to kill Lacus so she didn't spoil his fake Lacus plan? How was that even necessary? Because Lacus is Mother Mary and he could never go through with his plan without his fake? Just thinking about it makes me grind my teeth.

Durandal wanted Lacus out of the picture because fake Lacus doesn't work if real Lacus is around. Fake Lacus was needed because Durandal wanted to use Lacus' popularity but wanted complete control. Durandal not trusting Lacus with his plan isn't because she was a saint, its because she was a wilful subversive influence. Lacus is a threat to Durandal because she's a political figure that has already betrayed a PLANT Chairman before. Durandal is concerned with hearts and minds, so he considers his natural enemy to be someone who like him is mainly charismatic. Durandal knows not everyone is going to want to go along with the Destiny Plan, but also that without a figure to unite behind the resistance is going to be pretty easy to defeat. Its a problem with the story that there aren't any charismatic earth leaders so Lacus is Durandal's only real threat, but why he treats Lacus as important and how he tries to deal with her makes sense.

Its explicitly stated by Kira that Lacus' main motivation for going against Durandal is that Durandal made her his enemy, not because she's necessarily in the right.

[Prime32]

[Lacus] even got her own super pink MS, iirc...

Meer used the hands of a pink Zaku as a stage during a concert. Cagalli is the one who actually piloted a pink rouge MS.

Yesssssssss, thank you Destiny actual had potential with Durandal's character and other things but of course Kira and Lacus' little alliance just rushes in and crashes everything because... Durandal wanted to kill Lacus so she didn't spoil his fake Lacus plan? How was that even necessary? Because Lacus is Mother Mary and he could never go through with his plan without his fake? Just thinking about it makes me grind my teeth.

Technically it was never actually confirmed that Durandal sent those assassins, it's just that they were Coordinators using recent MSs, and a fake Lacus under Durandal's control had just shown up. Some people even think Lacus sent them herself to motivate Kira (and she probably has enough connections to arrange something like that).

[Closet_Skeleton]

Cagalli is the one who actually piloted a pink rouge MS.

Which is oddly less pink than Char's 'red' suits.

Technically it was never actually confirmed that Durandal sent those assassins, it's just that they were Coordinators using recent MSs, and a fake Lacus under Durandal's control had just shown up. Some people even think Lacus sent them herself to motivate Kira (and she probably has enough connections to arrange something like that).

Durandal causing the colony drop was ambiguous, him sending the assassins really wasn't.

Motivate Kira to do what? Go around aimlessly helping out his friends and stopping Destroy? Lacus has no motivation and has no idea what's going on until Durandal's true plan starts slipping out.

Lacus as evil mastermind doesn't make any sense, doesn't make Destiny less black and white (Destiny is less black and White than Wing and SEED even with the terrible execution) and just makes Lacus even more powerful. Destiny's problem was that it gave up and sabotaged its white vs white conflict at the end, theorising that it was a black vs black duel of behind the scenes evil masterminds doesn't improve it.

[Kato]

Okay, I'll try to keep myself short.

Sorry about the mix up with the mobile suits. It's been a while.

I never said I liked Endless Waltz. To be honest... the only good part was when Zechs and Noin flew of to Mars at the end. (and that's probably because I'm kind of a fanboy for the two of them)

Its explicitly stated by Kira that Lacus' main motivation for going against Durandal is that Durandal made her his enemy, not because she's necessarily in the right.

Yeah, I kind of remember that scene... but isn't that stupid? Okay, yeah, characters are allowed to be stupid. But Durandal's first step to communicate with Lacus is to send assassins after her? He didn't even know whether she would interfere with his plans. There really was no need for the fake Lacus. Yes, it might have been a useful tool but it should have been obvious that it would cause more harm than necessary.. I guess I'm just disappointed in him.


I guess my big stick with the show is that both Kira and Lacus are perfect little goody-two-shoes who never can do anything wrong. They're not morally ambivalent or anything but what they do is right, whether they have a proper reasoning to do so or not and this is just something I utterly hate. I'll give it to a show like One Piece or even something like PMMM but in a Gundam show with so much grey and gray like Gundam both utterly white and utterly black characters feel very out pf place to me. If someone is clearly mentally insane I'll accept a very dark character who has little to no motivation but someone like Lacus or Kira or even Relena (or 00's Princess)... they just ruin the show for me. And them being the main character and role model makes things even worse.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I guess my big stick with the show is that both Kira and Lacus are perfect little goody-two-shoes who never can do anything wrong. They're not morally ambivalent or anything but what they do is right, whether they have a proper reasoning to do so or not

Except that's really just the end of Destiny. Which I don't think is fare to project back onto SEED. Its also something that I feel got thrown around by detractors so much that it basically became gospel. Its got tied into a lot of pointless creator hate.

Shinn basically only exists because Kira caused civilian casualties, even in his 'trying to only disable enemies' mode. Kira then kills Stella, which while pragmatic, isn't the perfect success that Kira somehow magically becomes capable of by the end.

Kira spends the second quarter of SEED emotionally manipulated in an abusive relationship.

Kira fails to protect loads of people during the first quarter of SEED.

Kira's not killing anyone is a change to his previous position when he killed loads of people. If he couldn't do anything wrong he wouldn't have had to change.

Gundam SEED is basically a progression from 'Gundam pilot as ace in a war' (UC style down to copying a lot from '79) to 'Gundam pilot as superhero' (Wing Style). Wing has a kind of similar progression despite them starting out as super heroes in that they go from terrorists fighting some kind of colonial independence war (that still makes no sense to me how it was supposed to work) to fighting some terrorists and their super weapon (who also made no sense).

Kira ended up as a super hero in SEED, but didn't start as one and made loads of mistakes. Destiny really should have killed him off when Shinn defeated him, since his character basically goes no where after that and just gives us the worst ending to a Gundam series ever.

I'm not defending Destiny, but Destiny sucking doesn't make me hate the previous series. More like my love of the first series makes me hate the sequel more. If you're going to say that all of Destiny's flaws are present in the first series then I just can't agree with you.

[NeonBlack]

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...

[Soras Teva Gee]

G Gundam's designs have a context. Wing Zero Custom does not.

I'm getting a little bit of this being a pot & kettle situation.

Zero Custom isn't all that different from Zero's design. Instead of wings with thrusters on the end and a transformation, we have wing with variably geometry and a multitude of thrusters. In the realms of mobile suits being practical at all that's a completely passable reason for looking like angel wings. And well there's Heavyarms doing acrobatics and outright mocking the conservation of mass. Honestly Zero is probably the second most reasonable Gundam in design in Endless Waltz.

And Wing is far from alone as a series for going more over the top with designs. I mean even ignoring the size of the mobile suits there's plenty of insanity to go around... both Gundam and the mecha genre in general.

[Kato]

Except that's really just the end of Destiny. Which I don't think is fare to project back onto SEED. Its also something that I feel got thrown around by detractors so much that it basically became gospel. Its got tied into a lot of pointless creator hate.

Maybe it's just me but it felt to me that was SEED starting with the second half. About after his mysterious survival moment. I'd make a comparison to another person who was basically born a second time but I guess I'll keep my mouth shut.
SEED wasn't terrible from the beginning, the first half was very decent and promising, and even later had it's good parts but these two as main characters just spoiled too much for me to give enough credit for the rest of the show.

Kira spends the second quarter of SEED emotionally manipulated in an abusive relationship.

One could argue he spent most of his life in that one way or another...

Kira fails to protect loads of people during the first quarter of SEED.

Kira's not killing anyone is a change to his previous position when he killed loads of people. If he couldn't do anything wrong he wouldn't have had to change.

But it's more to have to kill people in war. Kira starts out fine. He's a good pilot, but he has his flaws. He fails to protect that civilian ship. He fights against people but he would rather not. That's how a good soldier who is still human at heart should act, that's how it is in real life. And then, as you say, he is a super hero. He is Superman or Batman, who can afford not to kill people because he is so powerful he doesn't need to. But that's not what war is like. But SEED tells a story about war, not about super heroes. Or rather, it's what I expect from a Gundam show. I didn't hate Kira from the start, but what he turned out to be starting with the second half of SEED and really through most of Destiny, if not all. And I already said my part on Lacus, I guess.

[Terraoblivion]

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, wow, that's awesome. Saint Young Men is one of the funniest manga out there, so seeing it animated is great news.

[Closet_Skeleton]

But that's not what war is like. But SEED tells a story about war, not about super heroes. Or rather, it's what I expect from a Gundam show.

I don't think its my place to argue your about what your tastes should be, but while I can accept that you don't like SEED because it ruins its war story by turning the protagonist into a superhero, that's really not something Wing does any better from my admittedly patchy decade old memory of it.

I wouldn't expect anything from a Gundam show except for fighting, giant robots and shoed in merchandising possibilities. Not after G Gundam. If every Gundam series explored war in the same way there wouldn't be much of a point to all the alternate universes (other than toys that it costs too much to import to my country ).

[Dispozition]

Hey guys, dropping in because I haven't kept track of the last season or two of anime so I need some recommendations.

I have around 40gb to use today before I reset, so I may as well use it :P

What are the best 2-5 animes of the last few seasons that are fully subbed and available to download in 720p+

I've seen Moyashimon Returns (so gooooood), and daily lives of high school boys (also so good :P) but that's it for recent stuff. I like basically anything except harem/rom com stuff (although some rom com is good, like Seitokai no Ichizon (best ever)) and love me some slice of life. My favourite animes are Haibane Renmei, Nausicaa, FLCL, TTGL, and Bebop. Basically, I love a good mix of humour, action, and quiet moments. Or just flat out wtfery (god FLCL is so good).

[AlterForm]

Lessee, stuff I enjoyed in the last few seasons...

Nisemonogatari (and Bakemonogatari, but that's older)

Thermae Romae (absolutely hilarious)

Bodacious Space Pirates (action, humor, space)

Tsuritama (very mild wtfery)

Lupin III: Mine Fujiko (even better if you saw old Lupin and can nostalgia trip through it)

Nyarlko (have a high tolerance/aptitude for references; my friend's reaction to each episode suggested I missed about of half of them)

Binbougami Ga (if you prefer your references to have a lower "power level" compared to Nyarlko)

Jinrui 1-3 (after that it kinda gets meh. first couple episodes are great though)

Sword Art Online (still airing)


Bolded the ones I got all the way through.



In other/newer news (heh), I checked out My Little Monster. I have my hopes up just a little bit that it can be a guilty pleasure for me this season. First episode looked promising (clear setup, strong characters) and probably set a record for fastest main couple kiss in a shoujo.

[Deathkeeper]

And Wing is far from alone as a series for going more over the top with designs. I mean even ignoring the size of the mobile suits there's plenty of insanity to go around... both Gundam and the mecha genre in general.

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.