General Anime Discussion: Area 11

[Grinner]

The anime ended at 366 episodes, with the manga in its final arc (which may be adapted into movie format when done)

It's about time.

Sometimes, I feel like a lot of these shows should be modeled after Soul Eater. The characters run their mouths just long enough to make their point, and the plot moves at a brisk, comfortable pace.

[HamHam]

So after seeing Jesuotaku anime derby about the winter lineup I decided to check out Kotoura-san and I have to say that it based on the first two episodes that I saw I found it surprisingly enjoyable.

Plot

Spoiler

Show

from anime news network
Haruka, a girl who suffers during her childhood due to her ability to read people's mind, is starting her high-school life in a new school. When she transferred in, she feels that her life will be the same as ever, but then she meets Manabe, a guy who always think about erotic things, and a club consisting of people who don't afraid of her ability. With Manabe and her clubmates around, her gloomy life slowly start to bloom and enjoyable.

Watched this with a friend and we ended up having pretty opposite reactions to the same thing. Namely, that it seems like it was written by someone with bipolar issues. It flips the switch from Host Club to Elfen Lied at the drop of a hat. Which makes it kind of fascinating to me but I can see how others might have issues with what is a very jagged mash up of genre and style.

This thread has fallen quite far down the list .

Has anyone else been a bit disappointed with Maoyuu Maou Yuusha? The series was billed to be a spiritual successor to Spice and Wolf, so I admittedly came into it with some pretty huge expectations. Still, the show started okay, but is now exploring...the hero's harem; on top of that, aside from the demon king being an awesome inventor and all, all of its characters are falling pretty flat with nowhere near the complexity of Lawrence or Holo. It's almost as if the show throws some macroeconomics at you and just expects that to carry the show the entire way.

The main issue I think is the pacing. You can tell it's based on a novel, which is not a good thing. There needs to be a lot more breathing room to actually establish characters and setting.

I also have no idea why I'm enjoying Problem Children. It's one of those shows I'm supposed to dislike, and yet it's oddly entertaining in its own sort of way. There's something about the main character being a Gary Stu that is oddly appealing.

Problem Children is pretty great. The characters while seemingly stereotypical actually have a far more balanced personality than usual. They actually have more than one note to their characters.

SAO's problem is that its based off a novel series that isn't really a novel series, but a two part novel/duology, its sequel duology and a side story collection. By mixing in the side stories in chronological order it somehow manages to do the opposite of what nonplot, filler and side-story episodes are supposed to do.

Normally when a series does non-plot stories, this acts as character development (unless its pointless filler that never get mentioned again, but even then it can help you get to know the characters) and explores the characters in situations outside of the plot.

The problem with SAO is that the main character fails to develop at all in these side stories because his character development was plotted under the assumption that there was only the main plot. The side stories written later were supposed to be read later as well and assume you already know the hero and focus on characters who only appear in that side story. When the side stories end and the show gets back on with adapting the original duology there's a massive apparent quality spike because suddenly the series is actually paying attention to its main character.

The effect is that after the first two episodes SAO becomes incredibly boring because of how lame its main character is without the development that comes later.

Hm. That explains why it suddenly became an almost different show half way through. The start was a little slow, but I don't think it was too big a problem.

[Alcopop]

Sorry to complain about anime on the internet but...

SOA, and why it breaks my tiny fragile heart.

Spoiler

Show

The problem I have with this show is that, while good, it squanders it’s potential to be truly excellent. And it could of been excellent, I mean it, the narrative set up alone is amazing; ten thousand players are trapped in a futuristic mmo and are told they must beat the game in order to escape, however death in the game equals death irl.

This is such a powerful narrative hook and it is in turns, fun, deeply psychological, referential to gaming culture, scary and beautifully meta. And while SOA offers some of these things some of the time, it largely falls back on traditional shonen, “who can yell the loudest to defeat the bad guys” tropes. It’s well made but it’s clear that it’s still made for teenage boys, and despite it’s potential ends up playing out a fairly typical, though pleasant, action / romance escape fantasy.

This was disappointing to me, because the narrative scenario had the potential to do something somewhat unique, to blend the complex ideas often only seen in high literature with something genuinely FUN and ACCESSIBLE.
I mean, just imagine what this show could of explored with this set up,

It could of had a lord of the flies-esque struggle in which the players must form a coherent leadership structure in order to beat the game with as few casualties as possible. (which serves as an opportunity to express ruminations about political structures and human nature)

It could of explored all the messy issues between the power we have to fashion digital identifies vs the identities the we have in the real world. (and could of been one of the few scenarios that I think could looked really sincerely into trans issues as well)

It could of had a social divide, in which there was a subsection of people that didn't want to leave the game. This could in turn lead to a conflict based around opposing ideals rather then the childish “good guy bad guy dichotomy” we are all to often stuck with.

It could of had all the tension and trauma of a “battle royal” in the PVP aspect of the game. Looking at what drives people to kill and examining the psychological impact of taking a life. (something I’ve maybe seen two animes do)

It could look at the philosophical and ethical implications of AI. Or the god complex of the games creator, his vision, his fantasy.

I’m just throwing these out, there is so much this anime could of explored. The character studies that could come out of one of these situations alone would be amazing.

This show could of been a true and sincere look at gaming culture and looked at all of this in a light that was referential, refreshing and fun.

But

It just retold a coming of age hero arch and mixed in a little romance.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t transcendent of it’s genre. I know i’m probably expecting a bit too much here but when see a show almost but not quite make it, something inside me breaks.

In other news I just finished monster, it's great! but slow, but great! one of those shows that could of used a higher budget though, I would of loved to see a few of the conflict scenes fleshed out.

[Mercenary Pen]

Well, we're only two-three weeks out from the spring season of anime airing, so its time to research new shows and GET HYPE. By this point there's PVs for everything that's going to air, airdates for about half of them, and simulcast/fansub announcements for none of them.

Nobody has made a chart that is both informative and complete, so I'll just link my normal set of resources:
http://www.fansubwiki.com/
http://psgels.net/2013/02/17/spring-season-preview-7/
http://thecartdriver.com/spring-2013...season-preview

And what I'll be picking up:

GET HYPE tier:
Attack on Titan: An award winning manga adapted by a spin off studio of Production IG directed by Tetsuro Araki (Death Note, Kurozuka, Highschool of the Dead, Guilty Crown) . Seriously just watch the PV and then try to seriously say you won't at least watch this for the action choreography.
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Gen Urobuchi strikes again, with more anime original and more Production IG, now with mechs. Given how much I'm enjoying Psychopass, this is a gimme.
Flowers of Evil: Another great manga as source material, with another great director (Mushishi, Detroit Metal city). Also despite the description you'll read in some places, not a rom com at all. Hopefully it won't get censored too badly.

Mite b cool tier:
Red Data Girl: Based on an actual book, not one of the "Light" variety. I gave Shin Sekai Yori a try on that alone, and its turned out to be a pretty good decision. And while PA Works hasn't ever made anything I've really loved, they also haven't ever made anything I've really hated either.

Valverave the Liberator Sunrise does an anime original mech show, with the director who did Red Garden, and one of the writers from Code Geass. It will either be entertaining and great or entertaining and a train wreck. Should be fun either way.

You have an episode to convince me you're good tier:
Arata Kangatari: Premise=Wut
Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge: Premise = More Wut
Devil Survivor 2 The Animation: Burned by P4 anime, no expectations, but could be good

Some of those look promising to me- and I always lose track of when seasons begin and end, thanks for putting this out there.

[Felyndiira]

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation: Burned by P4 anime, no expectations, but could be good

I've finished Devil Survivor 2 (the game) pretty recently. Unfortunately, it has nowhere near the storytelling quality of its predecessor, and I honestly am curious why they chose the more RPG-ish story of the two instead of the much more survival-horror one of the original (all opinion, of course).

Unless if they actually manage to somehow re-introduce the survival horror through clever directing, DS2 is one of those I'll probably pass.

Arata Kangatari: Premise=Wut

Arata Kangatari's manga was supposed to be pretty good. I'm not sure if it's entertaining good or just "has lots of fanboys/fangirls" good since I haven't read it myself, but I think it might actually be a sleeper 'good series' just based on that alone.

-

For some reason, though, I can't shake off the feeling that despite what seems to be an amazing season, some of the hyped series running this time will end up falling short of expectations again. I guess I might be looking for some contrast to the winter season (since so many winter 2013 series turned out way better than expected, so I'm expecting the opposite for spring 2013 for some reason), but there's still that nagging feeling.

I'll definitely give the top 6 on psgel's blog a try, though. I'm also expecting the second season of Railgun to be good (I cheated and read the manga first), and I'll probably give Photo Kano and The “Hentai” Prince and the Stony Cat a try as well, if only in hopes that we'll end up with another Kotoura-san.

The main issue I think is the pacing. You can tell it's based on a novel, which is not a good thing. There needs to be a lot more breathing room to actually establish characters and setting.

Oh, I understand the pacing issues. There's a lot of other things about Maoyuu that bugged me aside from that, though - including how shallow the Hero appeared to be from episode 1 onwards, almost every single one of the supporting characters lacking any depth of personality, the demon king pulling inventions out of nowhere, and really - the general lack of character complexity especially when compared to Spice and Wolf, which this series is constantly compared to.

I'm thinking of picking up the LN series and reading that instead, though I probably can't help comparing this to Spice and Wolf now, which might mar my enjoyment of this series.

[Fri]

I've been waiting for a while for Gargantia. The setting looks exactly like my cup of tea. I'm looking forward for it. I'm not really taken by the main mech's design though, which is a shame, because the rest of the design, setting-wise, are awesome for me.

And holy ****, that attack of the titan trailer is awesome. Definitely going to watch it.

And another one that I'm really looking forward to: Space Battleship Yamato's remake! Awesome, I tried to watch the original series back then, but never got too far. Hopefully the remake will do it justice. Too bad that they don't use Leiji Matsumoto's famous style though.

[Prime32]

Sorry to complain about anime on the internet but...

SOA, and why it breaks my tiny fragile heart.

[...]

It could of had a lord of the flies-esque struggle in which the players must form a coherent leadership structure in order to beat the game with as few casualties as possible. (which serves as an opportunity to express ruminations about political structures and human nature)

There was more of this in the novels. I mean, that's basically what The Army was, though they got so big that they started developing red tape issues and falling behind "smaller, more agile guilds". Though the story follows Kirito so we get most of the details second-hand.

It could of explored all the messy issues between the power we have to fashion digital identifies vs the identities the we have in the real world. (and could of been one of the few scenarios that I think could looked really sincerely into trans issues as well)

There was a bit more of that. The next arc has some focus on that, and there was a bit with Leafa. Most SAO survivors are noted to have stopped separating their online and offline personas, one absorbing the other (hence creating avatars that look like themselves even when they don't have to).

As for trans issues, the people whose original avatars were the opposite sex get an off-hand mention or two (Kirito assumes there was some quest which let them change their name/status), and a few appearances in the 4koma; heck, IIRC even the Sword Art Offline omake that came with the DVD talked about it briefly.

It could of had a social divide, in which there was a subsection of people that didn't want to leave the game. This could in turn lead to a conflict based around opposing ideals rather then the childish “good guy bad guy dichotomy” we are all to often stuck with.

It did, though the anime didn't focus on it much.

It could of had all the tension and trauma of a “battle royal” in the PVP aspect of the game. Looking at what drives people to kill and examining the psychological impact of taking a life. (something I’ve maybe seen two animes do)

Likewise. It also examines what happened to PKers after they left the game and found out their victims really had died.

It could look at the philosophical and ethical implications of AI. Or the god complex of the games creator, his vision, his fantasy.

That shows up in one of the later arcs.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Watched this with a friend and we ended up having pretty opposite reactions to the same thing. Namely, that it seems like it was written by someone with bipolar issues. It flips the switch from Host Club to Elfen Lied at the drop of a hat. Which makes it kind of fascinating to me but I can see how others might have issues with what is a very jagged mash up of genre and style.

Elfen Lied switches from 80s Gory OVA to 90s Harem at the drop of a hat. Kotoura-san doesn't switch between Elfen Lied and anything, its just Elfen Lied with optimism instead of violence and telepathy instead of telekinesis.

[Alcopop]

@prime32

The novels might be worth checking out then. My only experience was with the anime.

The identity stuff felt really skipped over. (peoples avatars just being dismissed in the first part) And the trans stuff was non-existent beyond "hey look at the nerds who had female avatars harhar" (which isn't really trans but touches on the issue) and I thought this joke was pretty immature. I can't speak for Japan but I know many Asian mmos have had a pretty negative past with gender identity issues (like the mmo that forced player to prove there gender) so I wasn't really surprised by this.

As I mentioned in my initial post, many interesting issues were touched upon, but I felt only in a very superficial way. nothing was fleshed out, which is a shame because the art, design and premise of this anime were all so stellar. But that's really a problem with my own standards, and less with the anime in question. Oh well back to evangelion wheee

[Tengu_temp]

Gargantia looks like the most promising show this season. Who knows, maybe I'll finally watch an anime as it comes out again! It's been some time since I've done that.

Tangent: depending on how you define mecha, there's up to 8 new mecha shows this season*. Maybe /m/ will stop whining it never gets new stuff? Ha ha, who am I kidding, of course it won't.

* - Gargantia, Majestic Prince, Valvereave, Tetsujin, Yamato, Robocar Poli, Gundam SEED Destiny remaster, new Gundam Unicorn episode

[Fri]

Robocar Poli for SRW for the win!

[Tengu_temp]

Less of a crack choice than Iron Leaguer (SRW Neo) or Miku Fei-Yen (SRW UX).

[HamHam]

Sorry to complain about anime on the internet but...

SOA, and why it breaks my tiny fragile heart.

Spoiler

Show

The problem I have with this show is that, while good, it squanders it’s potential to be truly excellent. And it could of been excellent, I mean it, the narrative set up alone is amazing; ten thousand players are trapped in a futuristic mmo and are told they must beat the game in order to escape, however death in the game equals death irl.

This is such a powerful narrative hook and it is in turns, fun, deeply psychological, referential to gaming culture, scary and beautifully meta. And while SOA offers some of these things some of the time, it largely falls back on traditional shonen, “who can yell the loudest to defeat the bad guys” tropes. It’s well made but it’s clear that it’s still made for teenage boys, and despite it’s potential ends up playing out a fairly typical, though pleasant, action / romance escape fantasy.

This was disappointing to me, because the narrative scenario had the potential to do something somewhat unique, to blend the complex ideas often only seen in high literature with something genuinely FUN and ACCESSIBLE.
I mean, just imagine what this show could of explored with this set up,

It could of had a lord of the flies-esque struggle in which the players must form a coherent leadership structure in order to beat the game with as few casualties as possible. (which serves as an opportunity to express ruminations about political structures and human nature)

It could of explored all the messy issues between the power we have to fashion digital identifies vs the identities the we have in the real world. (and could of been one of the few scenarios that I think could looked really sincerely into trans issues as well)

It could of had a social divide, in which there was a subsection of people that didn't want to leave the game. This could in turn lead to a conflict based around opposing ideals rather then the childish “good guy bad guy dichotomy” we are all to often stuck with.

It could of had all the tension and trauma of a “battle royal” in the PVP aspect of the game. Looking at what drives people to kill and examining the psychological impact of taking a life. (something I’ve maybe seen two animes do)

It could look at the philosophical and ethical implications of AI. Or the god complex of the games creator, his vision, his fantasy.

I’m just throwing these out, there is so much this anime could of explored. The character studies that could come out of one of these situations alone would be amazing.

This show could of been a true and sincere look at gaming culture and looked at all of this in a light that was referential, refreshing and fun.

But

It just retold a coming of age hero arch and mixed in a little romance.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t transcendent of it’s genre. I know i’m probably expecting a bit too much here but when see a show almost but not quite make it, something inside me breaks.

In other news I just finished monster, it's great! but slow, but great! one of those shows that could of used a higher budget though, I would of loved to see a few of the conflict scenes fleshed out.

Yeah SAO is not a very deep show or anything. It's just a shounen battle anime. But it's a pretty good one imho given that I don't hate the protagonist or even any of the side characters and the romance actually goes places.

Oh, I understand the pacing issues. There's a lot of other things about Maoyuu that bugged me aside from that, though - including how shallow the Hero appeared to be from episode 1 onwards, almost every single one of the supporting characters lacking any depth of personality, the demon king pulling inventions out of nowhere, and really - the general lack of character complexity especially when compared to Spice and Wolf, which this series is constantly compared to.

I'm thinking of picking up the LN series and reading that instead, though I probably can't help comparing this to Spice and Wolf now, which might mar my enjoyment of this series.

I'm saying that's caused by the fact that we have not slowed down to actually get to know the characters. It's just been event after event, and the result is that the anime has been more a chronicle of things that happened rather than a narrative.

[Laudandus]

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Gen Urobuchi strikes again, with more anime original and more Production IG, now with mechs. Given how much I'm enjoying Psychopass, this is a gimme.
Flowers of Evil: Another great manga as source material, with another great director (Mushishi, Detroit Metal city). Also despite the description you'll read in some places, not a rom com at all. Hopefully it won't get censored too badly.

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THESE TWO

Gen has said that Gargantia is thematically about growing out of childhood and into adulthood, a theme that's relevant to me as someone about to graduate college. Coupled with a writer who cannot make mistakes as long as Phantom isn't in the name of what he's writing and you have a recipe for success. It'll be interesting to see how the original mech world he comes from is childish, and how wherever he ends up is more adult.

Anything directed by the same person as Mushishi has to be good, and Flowers of Evil is a pretty solid manga. I'm not nearly as excited for it as for Gargantia, but it should still be awesome.

[Terraoblivion]

I'll admit that I hadn't expected to ever see being the director of High School of the Dead mentioned as a positive.

Also, none of these shows stand out to me as something to be hyped for, which isn't really surprising as I tend only to get interested in shows after they start airing and I start getting feedback. None of the names involved really appeals to me either, with Urobuchi being the only one to have any meaning for me and the stuff he's written I've seen has been equally split between great and awful.

On the other hand, in things I do have an opinion on, episode 9 of Tamako Market was amazing. The entire show has had KyoAni animate at their very best, with only the stills of Hyouka managing to beat it in terms of plain visual beauty, along with Naoko Yamada's careful, impressionistic cinematography. I have also enjoyed the writing which has generally managed to mix very real, nuanced emotions with both the shows themes of love, loss and moving and the humor which does take up a solid part of the show. Episode 9 was the absolute apex of that up to this point, with Anko staying the most realistic portrayal of a 10-11 year old girl I can recall seeing, while also letting us in to see Mamedai's inner life and his feelings for his dead wife. I'd elaborate, but not only would it be spoilers, but I'd also need to think things through to point out specifically what made it work and find the relevant bits to express. I would also struggle to really express it due to having no academic background in film studies or anything else relating to the study of art or literature. So instead, I'll just leave my personal judgement here, for debate, inspiration or recommendation.

[Wolf_Haley]

How the hell does the romance go anywhere in SAO? I mean in comparision to Guilty Crown it goes somwhere I guess but it was still pretty bad and the show dropped it's premise pretty hard after the third episode outside of a few spots. And we didn't even get the hilarity of glop glop.

[Laudandus]

None of the names involved really appeals to me either, with Urobuchi being the only one to have any meaning for me and the stuff he's written I've seen has been equally split between great and awful.

Out of curiosity, what would you say was awful?

How the hell does the romance go anywhere in SAO? I mean in comparision to Guilty Crown it goes somwhere I guess but it was still pretty bad and the show dropped it's premise pretty hard after the third episode outside of a few spots. And we didn't even get the hilarity of glop glop.

They get married (in-game, but still). It's heavily implied they have sex in the anime and novels. Say what you will about the quality of the plot or characters, the romance goes somewhere. It's a bit unfortunate that when it develops a little bit Asuna immediately goes full housewife, but that doesn't mean the romance doesn't develop.

[mallorean_thug]

@Terra Oh don't get me wrong, High School of the Dead was absolutely awful as a show. I mean I mentioned Guilty Crown as well, and that was also awful. However, in both of those cases, the bad parts were not the directing but the writing. Both of them looked great, and had great presentation and flow, especially in action scenes. With much better source material to adapt, I have every confidence in Araki's talents. Remember the man can make eating a potato chip exciting, I'm sure he can making fighting giants exciting.

Also I hate to get people's hopes up and cause disapointment, but Hiroshi Nagahama should be a name that stands out. If it doesn't, I would highly recommend you watch Mushishi and Detroit Metal City.

@Laudanus Pretty much everyone can agree that all of Gen's work for Nitro+ is absolutely awful besides Saya no Uta. I mean go watch Phantom: Requiem for a Phantom and try to tell me its legitimately good. You won't be able to. Additionally, terra does not care for Fate/Zero, and to keep this thread from becoming a ghost town again, I would urge you to go read earlier parts of this thread instead of bringing the topic back up. Either way Gen's history as a writer is patchy at best, but I like to be optimistic and look at trends rather than entire histories. Also writing for anime is very different from writing light novels or VNs, a fact that Gen has spoken about at length in interviews and Q&A sessions. So, I'll just look at his two most recent efforts, Madoka and Psychopass, and look forward to Gargantia (knowing full well, however, that all the characters will be cardboard cutouts. It can't be helped)

@Fri Actually you don't even have to wait for the Yamato remake. Its actually been steadily coming out direct to dvd for a while now (up to episode 14 or so), and those episodes already have subs. The tv airing will however finish it out before the dvd releases do, and maybe attract faster sub groups.

Also because opinions inspire discussion, and the current season isn't done yet, my personal levels of enjoyment for what I'm still following goes something like (Also I don't even remember whether anybody else is still watching these because we haven't mentioned them in forever):

Chihayafuru S2 >>>>>> Sasami-san@Ganbaranai >> Psycopass > Shinsekai Yori = Jojo's Bizarre Adventure >>>>> Robotics;Note = Vividred Operation

Yes I did drop Tamako Market and Maoyuu but not Vividbutts.

[HamHam]

How the hell does the romance go anywhere in SAO? I mean in comparision to Guilty Crown it goes somwhere I guess but it was still pretty bad and the show dropped it's premise pretty hard after the third episode outside of a few spots. And we didn't even get the hilarity of glop glop.

They actually hook up half way through the first arc, so about a quarter way through overall. Given that the anime baseline is an eternal will they won't they until the last episode with a whole lot of bs in between, that's above average.

The actual content of their relationship is... not bad. We get a decent idea of what they see in each other, and they have pretty good chemistry. It's also a very balanced relationship which is refreshing. Even once Asuna gets damsel-in-distressed in the second arc she still doesn't just sit around and does several things that end up vital to her own rescue.

[Wolf_Haley]

I give HOTD some credit, it never ever ever tried to be something it wasn't, it was stupid and hella echii and never tries to be anything else. I don't mind it so much, I cracked out on the manga when it first got released because it was pretty fun and the anime was to. Though certain things were a bit much, mainly matrix boobs.

[Poison_Fish]

Attack on Titan is the big thing I am hyped up for. The manga I enjoyed.

[Terraoblivion]

My dislike of the writing in Fate/Zero isn't just about the horrible gender politics, it's also about Kiritsugu being one of the most dull, generic piles of walking manpain and grim grittiness ever. He has so little unique personality that the roughly three quirks and half a personality the Achiga girls from Saki have between them is more than he has. The failure to make him even slightly compelling, the lack of restraint on the length of the flashback of his backstory and the sheer stupidity of him learning that miracles don't happen are all huge problems in terms of pure writing quality. The large number of clichés used, like Maiya's backstory, the very ponderous form the exposition takes and the odd lack of rationality the characters showed when the show called for something bad to happen further drags it down.

Also, I'd encourage you to take Tamako Market back up again. While it is not plotdriven, the themes and how it handles them takes a more prominent place tying the show together very well over the last few episodes, while also giving Kanna more room to be amusingly weird. I can't really think of any anime with more consistently strong characterization than this, even if some characters like Kanna or most of the shopkeepers are painted with broader strokes than the more important ones. Not just that, the latest episode preview suggests that the love triangle that came into its own in episode 5 will see major progression.

[Fri]

I've just watched the space battleship yamato remake. There are changes. Some I like, some I don't. But I can't believe I'm going to say this. There are times where I prefer the old graphic.

[Mercenary Pen]

I've just watched the space battleship yamato remake. There are changes. Some I like, some I don't. But I can't believe I'm going to say this. There are times where I prefer the old graphic.

That sounds rather ominous- especially from my perspective as somebody who wasn't turned off by the old animation...

[Fri]

Nah, the CG is mostly decent. It's just some specific moment, like one time when Yamato flies above the ruined earth surface, that really looks like some cg from some cheap game.

[HamHam]

Ixion Saga DT is the weirdest freaking thing. Like, I guess it's supposed to be a comedy? But at times it's taking itself far too seriously.

[Poison_Fish]

Now that I finally caught up on Attack on Titan (that I've been meaning to do for awhile now), I'm even more stoked. I'm looking forward to see how some of the full scenes with the 3D Maneuver Gear are animated.

[Fri]

Oh man, reading the summary in wikipedia makes it look indeed unusual, to say the least. Is it any good?

And the thing that make me stoked for Gargantia isn't the production cast, it's the visual examples and the setting/style the give. I mean, look at these.

http://gdgdtrip.com/games-anime/2938

Reminds me on the game Grandia. I hope they can keep the visual qualityand the style in the animation.

[HamHam]

Oh man, reading the summary in wikipedia makes it look indeed unusual, to say the least. Is it any good?

I honestly have no idea. The protagonist defeats the bad guys' leader by kicking him in the crotch. And then takes his magic sword. The fact that this results in the amputation of a certain piece of anatomy is a running joke for the next couple of episodes. I... have no words adequate to describe it, really.

EDIT: Like, things like him winning a fight because he attacks while the other guy is doing a power-up cut-scene make me think this is a parody. But too much of what is going on is being played completely straight.

EDIT EDIT: Aaand we just had a scene where his fantasy world companions started dissecting his modern slang.

[Matthias2207]

I honestly have no idea. The protagonist defeats the bad guys' leader by kicking him in the crotch. And then takes his magic sword. The fact that this results in the amputation of a certain piece of anatomy is a running joke for the next couple of episodes. I... have no words adequate to describe it, really.

EDIT: Like, things like him winning a fight because he attacks while the other guy is doing a power-up cut-scene make me think this is a parody. But too much of what is going on is being played completely straight.

EDIT EDIT: Aaand we just had a scene where his fantasy world companions started dissecting his modern slang.

So, an Indecisive Parody then?