General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[Goldfly]

You did watch after the credits, right?

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Yep, waited until it went back to the title screen. It's just that, knowing the series, I'm extremely doubtful that it actually worked.

[Tengu_temp]

From what I heard from Eva 3.0 spoilers:

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The Spear of Longinus did work, but those few moments when Eva 01 was in its pseudo-evolved state were enough to tangify a significant part of human population.

Or something. I purposely try to stay away from spoilers to things I know I'll watch, which is why I was annoyed to even stumble into mentions of this one. Curse you, /m/ and TV Tropes!

By the way, did you know that at least one guy I know doesn't like Rebuild of Evangelion because it's too much Hell Yeah Super Robot Spirits and not gritty and hopeless enough? Some people.

[0Megabyte]

From what I heard from Eva 3.0 spoilers:

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Show

The Spear of Longinus did work, but those few moments when Eva 01 was in its pseudo-evolved state were enough to tangify a significant part of human population.

Or something. I purposely try to stay away from spoilers to things I know I'll watch, which is why I was annoyed to even stumble into mentions of this one. Curse you, /m/ and TV Tropes!

By the way, did you know that at least one guy I know doesn't like Rebuild of Evangelion because it's too much Hell Yeah Super Robot Spirits and not gritty and hopeless enough? Some people.

I know. It's like they never watched the first half of Evangelion, first of all, and second... oh man, they really should have been paying attention to the last act of 2.22.

Also:

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Yep, it's basically as the guy above says. Third Impact begins, Kaworu stops it, and Goldfly realized the implications. Evangelion 3.0 begins in the post-post-apocalypse. And things get crazier from there.

[Terraoblivion]

So I just finished watching Macross Frontier. I need to go read something smarter to get my brain working again. Maybe Adorno and Horkheimer about the cultural industry or maybe some Derrida, that way I won't get a shock from moving straight to something too smart like old Image comics or the Read or Die ova.

I was still entertained by the show, even if I needed to run my enjoyment parallel with the part of my mind pointing out all the stupid bits.

[Fri]

You'd be disappointed with macross 7 even more then :p

Yeah, you don't watch any macross for its science. You watch it for dogfighting on j-pop action.

[Terraoblivion]

It's not really the science. I mean that is stupid, but it is one thing and kinda secondary. The real stupid is that the plot makes absolutely no sense if you poke at it a bit and you can pick pretty much any arbitrary point and watch the stupid.

[Nerd-o-rama]

It's not really the science. I mean that is stupid, but it is one thing and kinda secondary. The real stupid is that the plot makes absolutely no sense if you poke at it a bit and you can pick pretty much any arbitrary point and watch the stupid.

The same also applies to Macross 7, so what Fri said.

[Arbane]

So I am currently on episode 3 of the anime Another and I'm wondering... does it ever get less creepy? Some bits of the show intruigue me, but the overall vibe and the main female character's monotonity so far kind of disturb me.

I'm confused. Isn't a horror anime supposed to be creepy?

At the other end of the spectrum, anyone else planning on watching Maoyuu? I've been enjoying the manga(s) so far.

[Fri]

By the way, anyone got the non-trolling version of this season's anime chart?

[NeonBlack]

By the way, anyone got the non-trolling version of this season's anime chart?

This one looks about right, although it might be missing something, and it doesn't show whatever's continuing from the Autumn season.

Not much of interest for me outside of two sequels of series I still haven't finished (Minami-ke) or even started watching (Chihayafuru), plus Maoyuu I guess.

[Felyndiira]

By the way, anyone got the non-trolling version of this season's anime chart?

Not an anime chart, per se, but some person compiled a youtube reel of all of the new series with summaries. It mostly looks authentic, and I've verified that a few of the series on there are really planned for 2013, but not sure if it's 100% correct yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4qyikWVNA

EDIT: Oops, you said this season, not next. My apologies.

[mallorean_thug]

Man, this season would be absolutely awful if it weren't for the fact that so many fall shows are 2 cours.

It doesn't have pretty pictures or summaries, but it does have links, air dates, and sub groups so I usually go with this : http://www.fansubwiki.com/
and then research everything myself.
Or you could read some other people's opinions: http://psgels.net/2012/11/16/winter-season-preview-5/ http://thecartdriver.com/winter-2013...eason-preview/

That said, there's not much here

Will definitely finish: Chihayafuru s2

Will watch unless it turns to crap: Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (Spice and Wolf s3;Macroeconomics edition)

Will give it 3 episodes to impress me: Tamako Market (Kyoani show)
Vividred Operation (Strike Witches s3;Hotpants edition)
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (SHAFT show)

Though, again, its not like I need more to watch when I have all this to continue:
Shin Sekai Yori
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Robotics;Note
Psychopass
Space Brothers

[Terraoblivion]

I wouldn't call Maoyu Spice and Wolf s3. The romance is way too generic and Hero way too generic for that. I've enjoyed the first two episodes, but Spice and Wolf is in a completely different league than it so far.

As for the other, I'll probably give Tamako Market a shot at some point. KyoAni hasn't failed me yet, with their worst being Nichijou which was fun and pretty, but kinda mindless and Hyouka which is one of those shows that has a lot of good stuff that I want to like, but doesn't click for me.

From the fall shows, I'll definitely keep up with Robotics;Notes and while it never even got close to the quality of episode 1 and 4 Shin Sekai Yori is still good enough that I want to get the answers. I do largely find the latter to be disappointing though. The characters keep being kinda uninteresting and not very developed, the visuals are highly inconsistent and the pacing is amazingly off, making for a show that is far worse than what it promised early on.

[mallorean_thug]

I'm not saying its nearly as good as Spice and Wolf, but between the medieval fantasy setting, the focus on economics, the same staff (director, writer and production company), and the exact same voice actors for the leads, its hard to not make the comparison. Mostly the VAs.

As far as Tamako Market, its honestly on track to become my least favorite KyoAni thus far. However I absolutely adored Hyouka while despising feeling distaste for K-ON!, so I'm pretty sure our tastes are a little bit different on that. I'd have dropped it after this first episode if it weren't for the bird. The bird is hilarious, but I'm not sure I can stomach the mochi-flavored sweetness of the rest of the cast.

Vividred Operation is exactly what they advertised, more Strike Witches with a touch of Precure. The toy ferret and stuffing the body in the fridge are enough that I can know it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as Strike Witches did, and thus it has earned at least 3 episodes before I drop it. Not that its good, but it could definitely be entertaining.

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai thus far is the only show to exceed my expectations for this season. The premise sounded awful, but then Shinbo worked his magic and its probably the most entertaining show airing right now. I honestly have no idea where its going, and I will do my hardest to avoid LN spoilers to keep it that way. Really if you check out only 1 show from this season, it should be this one.

[Morph Bark]

I'm confused. Isn't a horror anime supposed to be creepy?

I went in not knowing it was supposed to be horror. At most, suspense/thriller, which I love.

Also, there's many kinds of creepy. I like cool-creepy, not senseless-disturbing-suspense-creepy. I guess it just depends on taste. Horror is much more victim to that than anything.

[Prime32]

I wouldn't call Maoyu Spice and Wolf s3. The romance is way too generic and Hero way too generic for that. I've enjoyed the first two episodes, but Spice and Wolf is in a completely different league than it so far.

Have you looked at the manga? The official one, that is, since there's so many (Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - "Kono watashi no mono tonare, Yuusha yo" "Kotowaru!"). Things are a bit more businesslike there.

But yeah, genericness is kind of a thing, what with no one in the story actually having a name.

[Terraoblivion]

I have to ask...What about K-On is worth despising? I can see finding it boring or not to your taste, because it does target a few specific tastes and isn't appealing if you don't have those. It just seems so inoffensive and not worth hating even if it doesn't appeal to you. Even taking into account that they put the worst parts of the show first, with the second season being far more developed and complex than the first one.

Also, I think I know why Hyouka didn't click for me. A big one is that it's kinda backwards looking and nostalgic, constantly talking about classic literature, events of the past and so on, with Mayaka's role in the manga club making it pretty explicit, which is something that I've never liked and studying history only made me like less. The other big one is that Oreki is such a boring person. He's well developed and fairly complex, but he's only someone I wouldn't want to spend time with thanks to how dull he seems to be. Finally, I just kinda think that the fact that I don't care for classic mystery novels doesn't help, especially not Sherlock Holmes which I found unreadably bad when I tried.

[tensai_oni]

Supposedly this is because anime plays Follow the Leader and K-on's popularity unleashed a series of slice-of-life Cute Girls Doing Cute Things shows.

Which is bullcrap. I mean the latter is bullcrap, not the former. Hacks like to copy what's popular, but recently the most oft-copied formula was either fanservice harem shows or sekai-kei. And by recently I mean the last 10 years or so.

So overall, I'd chalk it up to certain environments pointing at everything that is more popular than stuff they like: pointing, crying and whining like babies. Yes, I am talking about /m/.

[Felyndiira]

I have to ask...What about K-On is worth despising? I can see finding it boring or not to your taste, because it does target a few specific tastes and isn't appealing if you don't have those. It just seems so inoffensive and not worth hating even if it doesn't appeal to you. Even taking into account that they put the worst parts of the show first, with the second season being far more developed and complex than the first one.

I think the best way to describe it is this: take a post about why people hate Infinite Stratos, replace "fanservice" with "moeblob", and remove references to the male lead. You now have a post about why people hate K-On.

The show itself is pretty much mediocre. For a slice-of-life anime, the girls have absolutely no depth in their personality beyond what can be described in a single word or two (I mean, I could literally sum up Yui in a single word - 'ditz' - and it would encompass the entirety of her personality). The show is supposedly about a light music club, but is in essence about them sitting around and eating cake and doing cute things almost all of the time - there's no development, they don't fulfill any dreams or even work towards any of them, and there's no underlying social commentary or meaning like other shows with no development (Lucky Star) either. It's not even a proper slice of life, given how flat its characters are.

Basically, like Infinite Stratos, it's a very bland show that somehow became popular and sent a message to the anime industry that 'hey, we can make profits by being generic rather than producing a good story!" Normally, of course, it would just be considered an average anime series, althoughthe only difference between the two is that IS is a generic harem show, while K-On is moeblob.

That's the reason, imo, for the hatedom that developed behind K-On. I don't personally hate the show as much as some do (I just think of it as a thoroughly mediocre show), although I could definitely see people getting annoyed at it for spawning literally thousands of shows that have no appeal beyond just moe.

(Although there was one thing good that came out of it all - Sound of the Sky, which had the exact same art style as K-On, taught everyone a pretty good lesson on how not to judge anime from their covers).

[Terraoblivion]

And even if we accept that is true, what is despicable about that? It just sounds thoroughly dull, which is of course a bad thing, but hardly one that ought to trigger more than apathy. To me at least, something despicable would be military propaganda or racist or similar, not just boring.

Of course, I don't actually agree, but that is neither here nor there in terms of bafflement over people calling it despicable.

As a side note, I also find it hilarious that you say the characters of K-On are moeblobs without any hint of personality, then go on to praise Sound of the Sky which gave us Kanata and Kureha, two of the most generic moeblobs I've ever run into.

[tensai_oni]

there's no underlying social commentary or meaning like other shows with no development (Lucky Star) either.

Lucky Star had meaning and social commentary? All I found was references to nerdy things.

it's a very bland show that somehow became popular and sent a message to the anime industry that 'hey, we can make profits by being generic rather than producing a good story!"

Oh, don't worry. The anime industry already knew that since late 90s, if not earlier.

[mallorean_thug]

Really, despise was probably a poor choice of words. I was looking for a word to pair with adore to heighten the contrast in my feelings between the two, and its what came to mind. Because you're right, there is nothing despicable about K-ON!. My personal dislike of K-ON! isn't because I can't stand its genre ( I absolutely adore Aria to give an example) but because I can't stand its soulless presentation. Let me tone down my word choice from "despise" to "distaste".

As far as Hyouka goes, not sharing the same passion that the characters and the creators have for Detective novels is, I think, the piece that you're missing. If this post doesn't do anything for you, I guess you weren't the target audience for Hyouka.

[Sith_Happens]

sekai-kei

[Tengu_temp]

Sekai-kei is a very hard to define type of story that's more and more common in anime. More or less, it's about an ordinary boy meeting an extraordinary girl, and the impact their relationship makes on the world. Tends to be very character-driven. Haruhi, Eureka Seven, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World - all of those are pretty good examples.

[Sith_Happens]

Apparently it's definable enough to have it's own trope page, and for me to immediately match the definition you gave to said trope page.

[Prime32]

Apparently it's definable enough to have it's own trope page, and for me to immediately match the definition you gave to said trope page.

Nope. .

[Fri]

I haven't watched any anime for a while, and I want to rectify that. I've told you before that studio shaft probably is my favourite anime studio, but I actually haven't watched that much of them. What I've remember I've watched are szs, bakemonogatari/nisemonogatari, arakawa under the bridge, and madoka.

What's their best show that I haven't watched?

And while we're at it. Can you recommend to me series with great soundtracks?

[Closet_Skeleton]

What's their best show that I haven't watched?

Not Tsukuyomi Moonphase. Or so I thought before I looked at the list of older Shaft shows. On second thought despite it being the worst show by Shaft I've watched it isn't their worst show.

[Prime32]

And while we're at it. Can you recommend to me series with great soundtracks?

Whatever problems it may have had plotwise, I thought Gundam AGE was decent there. The protagonists' themes all seem fitting, anyway.
AGE-1 Theme: A Tale of 100 Years
AGE-2 Theme: Go Beyond Fate
AGE-3 Theme: Awakening

[Tengu_temp]

And while we're at it. Can you recommend to me series with great soundtracks?

I'd say Noir and Getter Robo Armageddon, but I'm pretty sure you saw those already. And I'm certain you saw Big O already.