General Anime/Manga Discussion 13.5: Recap Episode

[Hiro Protagonest]

And it has the best price which is free, just download it from the website.

Really? Great. I was interested in it after watching the MetaDating episodes on it (which is a series on YouTube where three guys played various games about romance for a few hours a game then reviewed it based on that), since it was definitely the best game they played. One of the guys even played it a while between the weeks that they played it for the show, and noted that the path he took was quite different than the one they played for recording.

*adds to list of unfinished games*

[HMS Invincible]

Psychopass 5 continues to treat women badly but if the cast is majority women that somehow makes it ok. I did like a couple scenes where the characters were showing off cool poses and the angry birds reference.

[Prime32]

Five episodes in, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru continues to be very interesting and very good at keeping you guessing without coming off inconsistent or half-assed. I have some guesses at where it is going, but it seems way too clever about setting up expectations and then taking them in different directions while making it all make sense for me to truly say where it is going. I don't think it'll live up to my fears when I first started watching it, but I can't say for certain that it won't. It has also been quite good at getting me invested in the girls and what's going on with them and it's clearly saving something big for the second half of the series given what was in the latest episode.

Really, I'd probably say that it is the most interesting show of the season or possibly. It does some new and unusual things, mostly centering on Togo, and it is genuinely unpredictable where it is going. It can still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but so far it is really good and keeps me engaged by trying to guess what is going to happen as well, which is very rare for me.

I'd say a big contributor to the unpredictability is just how they handle the OPs and EDs. Nothing shows up in them before it shows up in the show itself, no matter how important.

[mallorean_thug]

Really, I'd probably say that it is the most interesting show of the season or possibly.

Hmm, I had completely dismissed it when I watched the trailer pre-season, which seems to have been a bad idea. I guess a recent episode was really good? Because I also hadn't seen any buzz about it since then until this week. Oh well, another show can't hurt, and I can't pass up something that has recs from both Terraoblivion and Prime32.

Personally, Shirobako is maybe my favorite thing airing right now. Its at least the best anime original thing this season. Its firmly established itself as a workplace drama instead of a CGDCT show, and Aoi has far more depth than I was going to give her credit for at first. It has just as much detail and reference oriented fanservice for anime industry otaku as Girls Und Panzer had for military otaku, but the show still works perfectly fine even if you don't immediately recognize Ichiro Itano. The director's plight is just as funny even if you don't remember that GUP did in fact, end its tv run with a recap episode. Honestly, I think that anybody whose at all interested in the medium, the industry, or in watching good shows should really pick this one up.

Parasyte is also in the running somewhere, with the most recent one finally managing overcome its only flaw, the ost.

Spoiler: Parasyte EP5

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I really don't know how I dismissed all the death flags in the first half of the episode. I mean, at the point the parasyte was thinking to itself that it needed to find a new female body, it was obvious where we were going, but the show overtly discussing the possibility of his parents dying to an attack should have told me something was up.

Either way, the plot for this show is definitely going somewhere and fast. If only if it could leave the inappropriate dubstep in its dust more often.

Garo is also pretty great, and with the amount of discussion Samurai Flamenco got around here, I'd have thought that there would be more discussion about it. Maybe I should have brought it up earlier? Sadly, I haven't gotten around to watching today's episode yet.

I was going to type that "Psycho pass 2 is really stupid compared to season 1" until I actually thought about season 1 with its Spooky Boogie and Hyper Oats. Either way, the last two episodes have come off as pretty hamfisted and silly to me.

Spoiler: Psycho Pass 2 EP5

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The hacked killer drones was telegraphed from a mile away, and both making the police "culpable" and seeing how people's hue's react to finding out that they inadvertently murdered people is perfectly in line with how Kamui has been presented so far. That doesn't make the presentation any less silly.

Mika continues to be awful, and even worse (better?) the show acknowledges that fact. The scene in the chief's office had the show itself reacting in the same way the fans are, but being self aware about the problem doesn't make her a better character.

I did like that Kamui is apparently using old fashioned disguises in addition to holo wizardry, and the way that the fake representative was unmasked. And the reveal at the end of the episode was nicely done, but I wonder how much thought was put into the screenshots from s1 that were chosen. Because 1 of them was from a scene when Akane was in the brain room. Does he know that much, or was that just the staff choosing pretty pictures of her face while ignoring the context of where he'd get them in-universe?

[Terraoblivion]

I'm not necessarily saying that Yuuki Yuuna is the best show this season, though I do think it is very good. I'm saying that it's the most interesting. It does things that haven't really been done before with Togo and it keeps subverting expectations without making it seem like an asspull to keep you guessing and creating a unique experience that way. I mean, it has even subverted the expectations of how it is going to subvert expectations by this point. There just isn't anything quite like it because of this and just seeing where it is going and working out what it's trying to do makes it interesting. It wouldn't be if it just seemed like a broken narrative, but it doesn't, it's all very clearly deliberate.

And, yes, episode 5 was really, really good. Even if it seems like something that would normally be in an entirely different place in a show.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Episode 1 of Garo was so dire and pretentious I didn't bother with any more.

Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de aru just felt 'not terrible' in a really bland way from the first three episodes. I could happily never watch another one.

Shigatsu wa kimi no Uso is amazing so far but I can't shake the feeling I'll hate the plot once I know what it is.

Parasyte is enjoyable enough to want to keep watching.

Rage of Bahamut doesn't actually interest me enough to have watched past episode 3 yet but did continuously surprise me with how fun it is.

[mallorean_thug]

I'm not sure that "pretentious" is the right word for Garo. That implies intellectual ambitions that the show plainly doesn't have. I think the right words are maybe self-serious and Metal? Which is an aesthetic that you definitely have to buy into to enjoy. I don't think that the show would work if it didn't take itself seriously though. Sure its easy to snark at Power Rangers in a very dark medieval setting, but I think that the show is making it work. Its not like its humorless, its humor is just character based and not making fun of its own premise.

Shigatsu wa kimi no uso has definitely had some moments of brilliance so far, with major props to its direction, ost, and animation. Its brought down by its over-reliance on internal monologues, chibi scenes/exaggerated violence, and that our main girl hasn't been defined well enough to move out of Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory. Basically its painfully Shoujo to a fault. Though

Spoiler: Shigatsu wa kimi no uso EP5

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I do like Shoujo's willingness to include failed relationships in their character arcs. Really, there's nothing worse than a show about romance ending without showing a single active relationship. I feel really bad for baseball team captain though. He's going to be crushed when this relationship ends, and then he'll probably just disappear from the show.

I'm also enjoying Bahamut, but I've been watching it with a friend, and we're several episodes behind, so I can't really say much.

[Kato]

I guess I need to get catch up to some more shows but I at least feel the need to spen a few words on the two recent Gundam shows...

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Try is... okay? It doesn't have quite the charm of its predecessor, somehow. Maybe we need to get more involved in the battles for this to happen. I DO like the triple teams, instead of one-on-ones, it's a bit closer to the realite of a real Gundam fight which in the middle of war happened more rarily between only two suits. Also: Chance for more action.


G however... I just have a hard time getting hooked on. There are nice parts once in a while but most of it seems either really disconnected, boring, confused, or... weird. So the slur we've seen used once in a while is a term refering to people who were bred to commit cannibalism? a) What the eff happened during the end of UC? And b) what sick society uses people who were treated like that as an insult and it seems to be okay? Unless the message is the Capital people are way more eff-ed up then it seemed so far (well, they are a bit, but that really turns up the scale) Also, still not really happy with the animation... it's not AGE but it somehow seems... childish, in a way.

[Prime32]

I'm not sure that "pretentious" is the right word for Garo. That implies intellectual ambitions that the show plainly doesn't have. I think the right words are maybe self-serious and Metal? Which is an aesthetic that you definitely have to buy into to enjoy. I don't think that the show would work if it didn't take itself seriously though. Sure its easy to snark at Power Rangers in a very dark medieval setting, but I think that the show is making it work. Its not like its humorless, its humor is just character based and not making fun of its own premise.

While I've never watched any incarnation of Garo myself, I hear that the writing goes downhill after the first series. I don't know if that applies to the anime.

[Tengu_temp]

I might like GBF Try more than GBF S1, actually. Sekai is a way better and more likable character than Reiji, and his martial arts are more interesting and flashy than just ending every fight with a freakin' Build Knuckle. Fumina is great and gets equal spotlight despite being a girl in a Gundam show. Also, Try seems to already operate on the same level of ridiculousness that S1 took a while to reach, which is good because that's the show's biggest strength.

As for G-Reco... The writing is pure Tomino, if you hate his writing then you'll hate this show too. I'll defend the animation though: the designs might be a strange Turn A Gundam/Eureka Seven mashup, and characters are off-model sometimes, but there's a huge amount of background details going on in almost every scene, details the show doesn't draw your attention to and leaves for you to discover. The animation itself feels very alive, with lots of unrelated things moving at once - this is rare in western animation, and even rarer in anime which usually has very low budget.

Overall, I like both shows, GBF Try more than G-Reco. To balance them out, Sunrise is also airing Cross Ange this season, which suuuuuuuucks.

[Prime32]

Sekai is a way better and more likable character than Reiji, and his martial arts are more interesting and flashy than just ending every fight with a freakin' Build Knuckle.

Had Build Knuckle even been invented by this point in S1 though?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

This week's Unlimited Blade Works in a nutshell:

Spoiler: Image, not terribly spoilery

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SHIROU DID YOU JUST DO THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT PLEASE STOP BEFORE YOU DIE

Spoiler: Fate/stay night UBW Episode 5

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Wow, they give just enough of a fight to catch my interest, then cut it short because they're a massive tease like that.

The dynamic between Rin and Shirou is absolutely hilarious now. Shirou's perfect stupidity has completely foiled Rin's savviness! It'd be a perfect strategy if it weren't so unintentional! I think I just enjoy watching Rin get utterly baffled by his gross incompetence. Not because I have anything against her, it's just hilarious to watch her beholding Shirou's lack of experience as it reaches new depths.

Though, I gotta hand it to him: he has a knack for whacking Servants with a magical stick and managing to not die immediately.

[Tengu_temp]

Had Build Knuckle even been invented by this point in S1 though?

They can't devolve from using varied attacks and tactics to just ending every battle with the same boring Shining Finger knockoff, right?

...I'll keep a gun near, just in case.

[HMS Invincible]

This week's Unlimited Blade Works in a nutshell:

Spoiler: Image, not terribly spoilery

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SHIROU DID YOU JUST DO THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT PLEASE STOP BEFORE YOU DIE

Spoiler: Fate/stay night UBW Episode 5

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Wow, they give just enough of a fight to catch my interest, then cut it short because they're a massive tease like that.

The dynamic between Rin and Shirou is absolutely hilarious now. Shirou's perfect stupidity has completely foiled Rin's savviness! It'd be a perfect strategy if it weren't so unintentional! I think I just enjoy watching Rin get utterly baffled by his gross incompetence. Not because I have anything against her, it's just hilarious to watch her beholding Shirou's lack of experience as it reaches new depths.

Though, I gotta hand it to him: he has a knack for whacking Servants with a magical stick and managing to not die immediately.

He's actually still terrible at fighting. Rider is just humoring him to force him to waste command spells. It's kinda odd though, cuz you could just kill him. Not that it would work, but you should try to kill him right away, not mess around. I can't think of a reason besides plot to not go for the kill right away (as when rider tried killing Rin).

[deuterio12]

He's actually still terrible at fighting. Rider is just humoring him to force him to waste command spells. It's kinda odd though, cuz you could just kill him. Not that it would work, but you should try to kill him right away, not mess around. I can't think of a reason besides plot to not go for the kill right away (as when rider tried killing Rin).

Thing is, Shirou is your typical shonen main character that may be dumb as a brick but has excellent natural reflexes, strength, and battle instinct. Blocking Rider's chain sneak attack and then shrugging off the pain of having a hole of that size in your arm, he's somebody you probably wouldn't want to directly brawl with.

Plus remember, Shirou probably has the highest victory count between the 3 game routes:

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-Defeated the evil priest x2.
-Defeated Gilgamesh.
-Defeated Berseker in close combat with some help from Saber.
-Defeated corrupted Berseker in close combat by himself.
-Defeated Dark Limit Break Saber.

Also fought his servant version and the assassin monk master to standstills.

On the other hand

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In the third route it's implied that Rider had a crush all along for Shirou, since her personality is quite similar to her actual master, Sakura, and that's why she prefers to "play" around with him instead of going straight for the kill.

[Pronounceable]

The things I did not expect in UBW ep5:
-...
You know, that went about exactly as I expected it would go. I'm a future psychic now. Also it's good but we already knew that.

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Rider not killing them both here is as weird as it was in VN. Rider does kill Shirou in bad ends and started by trying to kill Rin, so she's clearly not ordered to spare them. The only reason I can find for her retreat is plot, which mildly pisses me off. If Rin only had brought Archer along, everything would've been dandy.

Spoiler: deeper nonanime spoilers

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Yes I know, Sakura, but Shinji's calling the shots and Rider is demonstrably not considerate enough to spare them for Sakura's sake.

Also Shirou continues to get his face mashed into trees by girls. It's quality entertainment, hopefully Sakura and Taiga can also take their turns.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I'm not sure that "pretentious" is the right word for Garo. That implies intellectual ambitions that the show plainly doesn't have.

It was meaningless noise all the same. "Pretension" can be of anything, not just intellectual meaning.

[DoctorFaust]

I've been watching a few episodes of Nanoha and Tutu, and I have to say, Tutu is by far my favorite of the pair. I feel like the animation has held up better than most, the characters and interesting, especially Ahiru, and I'm really liking the ballet theme/references so far. Nanoha is pretty decent, but the first few episodes were too saccharine for my tastes. Tried watching YuYuYu, which felt kinda bland, and Fate/KLPI, which I thought was a pretty good parody of the main Fate-verse.

Also, Ore Twintails is by far one of the funniest shows that I have ever seen, and is now beating out UBW for my favorite show this season. Genuinely surprised by how good it is.

Spoiler: Katawa Shoujo

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Hanako is best girl, by the way. The last scene in her route almost had me in tears.

[BWR]

Spoiler: Katawa Shoujo

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Hanako is best girl, by the way. The last scene in her route almost had me in tears.

Spoiler: not spoilers but off topic

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I liked Emi best, but Rin struck as the one with the most trouble and the one who had the hardest time starting to heal. Hanako was obviously troubled but understandable. Rin just left me with the feeling that she would end up broken no matter what, with her difficulties communicating with people and knowing herself.

Oretwinail is my second favorite show this season, after Mushi-shi. I'd hardly say it's the funniest thing I've seen but it's amusing. Still, it doesn't have much competition among currently airing stuff.

[DoctorFaust]

I haven't watched a lot of comedy anime, which probably explains my opinion of it. But it still had my laughing more than anything since Baccano!.

[HMS Invincible]

Re nanoha. Try watching the movies, it'll give you the same summary with less fillery sweetness and more mecha class friending explosions.

[Tengu_temp]

Holy crap, why didn't anyone tell me there's more Mushi-shi this season? Time to catch up!

[deuterio12]

I've been watching a few episodes of Nanoha and Tutu, and I have to say, Tutu is by far my favorite of the pair. I feel like the animation has held up better than most, the characters and interesting, especially Ahiru, and I'm really liking the ballet theme/references so far. Nanoha is pretty decent, but the first few episodes were too saccharine for my tastes. Tried watching YuYuYu, which felt kinda bland, and Fate/KLPI, which I thought was a pretty good parody of the main Fate-verse.

Then I'm gonna give +1 for you to try watching Card Captor Sakura if you have the time. I just feel like you would enjoy it based on your reactions to those other animes.

Also, Ore Twintails is by far one of the funniest shows that I have ever seen, and is now beating out UBW for my favorite show this season. Genuinely surprised by how good it is.

I've also been positively impressed by this anime, quite refreshing and funny.

[Nerd-o-rama]

This week's Unlimited Blade Works in a nutshell:

Spoiler: Image, not terribly spoilery

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SHIROU DID YOU JUST DO THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT PLEASE STOP BEFORE YOU DIE

That's all of Fate/Stay Night in a nutshell. Unless you enjoy watching Shirou get ganked, which is a perfectly valid form of entertainment in and of itself.

The man's ignorance and utter lack of self-preservation instinct is the greatest source of comedy in the story, even in Unlimited Blade Works, where

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Addressing the latter is played entirely for drama and is part of the fulcrum of his character development.

[Prime32]

That's all of Fate/Stay Night in a nutshell. Unless you enjoy watching Shirou get ganked, which is a perfectly valid form of entertainment in and of itself.

And just think, the adaptations don't even include the bad ends. In the VN you're required to get all of them to unlock some bonus scenes, and each of them comes with a skit of Taiga and Ilya mocking Shirou for his incompetence.
Tsukihime had one point where taking the wrong choice will get the protagonist eaten by a shark... on the third floor of an apartment building. Some of Shirou's deaths are almost as bizarre.

[deuterio12]

And just think, the adaptations don't even include the bad ends. In the VN you're required to get all of them to unlock some bonus scenes, and each of them comes with a skit of Taiga and Ilya mocking Shirou for his incompetence.

Not exactly true, since at several times taking what looks like the competent option leads to a bad end, whereas choosing to recklessly charge into danger while screaming "Let's do this! SSSHHHHHIIIIRRRROOOOUUUU EEEEMMMYYIIIAAA!!!" is the only way to advance! This leads to the player always being on the edge of whetever he should do the sensible thing, or act as Shirou would.

(and then for hilarity's sake there's the fake bad end where turns out Shirou was simply knocked out, and Taiga and Ilya mocking him being just a nightmare).

[Pronounceable]

bad ends

Bad ends are the best thing about FSN. Tsukihime might have really odd deaths but Ciel Sensei cannot prevail against Tiger Dojo. Maybe they'll do some Tiger Dojo extras later on. Zero had ECR skits, we still have some hope.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Spoiler: Katawa Shoujo

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Hanako is best girl, by the way. The last scene in her route almost had me in tears.

You should be more specific with the spoiler titles, Katawa Shoujo is like six different stories.

If you didn't consider that a spoiler, just off topic, the second sentence is vague but still kinda spoilery.

Spoiler: Thoughts on Katawa Shoujo

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I just finished Hanako's story after Lilly's, and... wow. I don't think I realized something until now.

Spoiler: Lilly's story, minor spoilers about Hanako's Act 4

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I think I got the bad ending for Lilly's story. The credits were rolling down the center and there were no images.

I got a/the bad ending for Hanako's too, but it seemed obviously bad and unfulfilled. The scene was titled "Misstep", and the act had a picture of her resting her hand on Hisao's surgery scar, while Hisao never showed her his scar in the bad ending.

On the other hand, Lilly's seemed bittersweet. Not a happy ending, but better, and looking to the future with hope. The choice she was given seemed like a catch-22. External forces were at work, and it felt like there was nothing that I could have done to change it. I don't think the game ever gave me a "press the issue" option whenever the foreshadowing of Lilly being troubled came up.

What's funny is that I got the kinda crazy idea that in Lilly's story, the relationship was destiny because of the amount of bumping into each other in Act 1.

Now I'm going to have to go through the options that pop up in Lilly's story by trial and error. Good thing I decided to save all the choices, just in case.

The difference in pacing between the two stories is quite interesting. Lilly's story goes all the way through the school year, while Hanako's ends when Lilly's still away on her trip. It's not just that Hanako's story is more compact in terms of in-game time either, the overall structure is different too. Hisao does really seem to have some personality differences too; both are plausibly the guy from Act 1, but different.

The perfectionist in me wants to get rid of that scrap of paper on the title screen showing that I started Emi's story. Overwriting the save I made after her Act 2 cutscene didn't work. I originally planned to try Emi's story, but I'd just feel bad about not being a major presence in Hanako's life.

I never had any interest in dating the other girls. Rin is weird, and while as a weird character I prefer her to Kenji, I have no interest in trying to get her to talk about meaningful things in ways I understand. Misha... I feel like she has hidden depths, but I don't care. I'd have to get through a lot of time spent on Misha being Misha. Shizune kinda scares me, and while she does seem to be less abrasive and more caring when not arguing with Lilly, I don't really have any interest in her and her ambitions, except as a mental note to remember her and see where she goes after school. Even if I did have an interest in Misha or Shizune, I'd have to always be with both of them for quite a while before I could pry one away from the other.

Also, I'm adding a lot of the Katawa Shoujo soundtrack (uploaded by others) to my favorites playlist on YouTube, maybe I should just make a new playlist. Maybe.

[DoctorFaust]

You should be more specific with the spoiler titles, Katawa Shoujo is like six different stories.

If you didn't consider that a spoiler, just off topic, the second sentence is vague but still kinda spoilery.

Eh, yeah, I know. On a slightly more relevant note, I started watching Seitokai Yakuidomo on the recommendation of my brother. And, well, two and a half episodes in and I'm still not sure what to think of it. It's a pretty funny slice of life, but so far there's been about as much plot as K-on! or Azumanga had.

Spoiler: More thoughts about KS

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I actually had the same trouble with Rin's route. A little too weird, or strange, or out there, or something, for me to want to do anything meaningful with her. Lily's route seemed a bit like a gender-flip of Hanako's, with a few less emotional issues and a damn cool music box. I am probably going to get around to Emi's at some point, but my time has been severely limited as of late. She seems cute and less emotionally scarred than some of the other characters from the interactions you have with her in other routes, but I have heard dark things about her route.

Spoiler: Sorta spoilers for Shizune's route?

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Shizune's route seemed kinda bland to me, but I wanted to punch her goddamn father right in the egocentric face. As much as I hate to admit it, my first time playing it, I got the bad end with Misha. Felt even worse about that then I did in some of the bad ends of Hanako's.

[TheFallenOne]

This week's Unlimited Blade Works in a nutshell:

Spoiler: Image, not terribly spoilery

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SHIROU DID YOU JUST DO THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT PLEASE STOP BEFORE YOU DIE

Most glorious moment of the episode

We're watching UBW in our university Anime Club, it's actually the first time we manage to keep up with a current production(we finished Zankyou no Terror last week).

Yesterday we started Girls und Panzer and NKH. The next weeks' meetings promise to get very surreal...
Girls und Panzer was my suggestion; Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was my first pick, but watching Girls und Panzer with those subs as a group of German speakers is absolutely hilarious. The reactions of the others really add to the experience. As one said, "I don't think I'll retain my sanity if we watch two episodes of this every week".