General Anime/Manga Discussion 15: The Beach Episode

[LaZodiac]

The anime I'm watching now is World Trigger. also wouldn't exactly say its a favorite, but its written real intelligently with everything making a very consistent amount of sense, everyone being smart and reasonable in their plans and fighting tactics. it feels very sci-fi compared to most action anime, and while Trion is very hard-light particles its doesn't seem to be magic. also its a shonen anime thats more about tactics and skill than spirit, so thats interesting to see and draw inspiration from.

World Trigger's fantastic!

It's anime is cheap as **** though!

[Aotrs Commander]

Who else in this series has blue hair other than Mayuri? It's Mayuri in the ending.

But... Her is is all wrong, it's bluer and it kind of doesn't look much like her.

Seriously, I was, like, expecting her to be some sort of trapped personification of time or something who they needed to resuce to fix stuff or something throughout 80% of the series.

I don't know if Stein's;Gate Zero is good, but I do know there is a sequel movie that is...contentious, to some degree, but is worth watching in my opinion because it stars Christina.

There are other spin offs vaguely related, like ones that explain Mr Braun's backstory and delves more into alternate world lines, but over all you really just need to play the game now if you want more. I'm glad you liked it!

Noticed there was a movie, filed that one away for future reference.

Apparently, this was the right time to do stuff, since the Elite version - i.e. the version of the game where they replaced all the visual with the anime and made More Anime to fill up the bits they didn't already have - which is a RIDICULOUSLY COOL IDEA) is out in - what, just over two weeks. (Sadly, I don't think either version has the English VO, though (though as a game, especially a visual novel, that's less of a practical issue for me anyway because I can't, like miss anything!), but on the other hand, fracking hell, that is so cool.))

Any idea what you will watch next?

No idea ta the moment, I've burned kinda fast through the better-seeming recommendations for one reason or another.

[LaZodiac]

But... Her is is all wrong, it's bluer and it kind of doesn't look much like her.

Seriously, I was, like, expecting her to be some sort of trapped personification of time or something who they needed to resuce to fix stuff or something throughout 80% of the series.

Noticed there was a movie, filed that one away for future reference.

Apparently, this was the right time to do stuff, since the Elite version - i.e. the version of the game where they replaced all the visual with the anime and made More Anime to fill up the bits they didn't already have - which is a RIDICULOUSLY COOL IDEA) is out in - what, just over two weeks. (Sadly, I don't think either version has the English VO, though (though as a game, especially a visual novel, that's less of a practical issue for me anyway because I can't, like miss anything!), but on the other hand, fracking hell, that is so cool.))

No idea ta the moment, I've burned kinda fast through the better-seeming recommendations for one reason or another.

Stylism.

I mean...man. Don't get that though. Get the original Stein's;Gate to experience the original kinda haunting art. It is a cool idea though, but I think it's just stills from the anime except for specific endings getting new animation. It's neat, but...I mean that's silly. Also apparently Elite disc has DLC in the original art style featuring original scenario's from the perspective of the other lab members.

Also I've looked into Steins;Gate Zero. It's a what if game where "hey what if we actually ****ed up and Christina died?"

[Aotrs Commander]

It is a cool idea though, but I think it's just stills from the anime except for specific endings getting new animation. It's neat, but...I mean that's silly.

No, not according to what I've read (or the videos on Steam) - it supposedly runs the animation and pauses on the dialogue, like kinda an extended cutscene, plsu they made new animation for the endings.

Also apparently Elite disc has DLC in the original art style featuring original scenario's from the perspective of the other lab members.

As always, I'll be waiting for the reviews (not as if I ain't got a metric ton of stuff to play at the moment, though I don't think Endless Space 2 is gonna make it past this first playthrough.)

[Lord Raziere]

World Trigger's fantastic!

It's anime is cheap as **** though!

*shrug* I'm one of those people who don't really care about "cheapness" or CGI as long as its a good story.

though I do admit, World Trigger while great story wise, isn't really anything to write home about in the aesthetics department. its very plain and could use more style in my opinion, but I guess the point is its military-political focus so as to focus on it being practical. being consistent and well written is all well and good, its very dry unfortunately. I like and can watch it, but the dryness makes me wish I was watching one of the more passionate, stylistic and less logical shonens that its critiquing.

[LaZodiac]

*shrug* I'm one of those people who don't really care about "cheapness" or CGI as long as its a good story.

though I do admit, World Trigger while great story wise, isn't really anything to write home about in the aesthetics department. its very plain and could use more style in my opinion, but I guess the point is its military-political focus so as to focus on it being practical. being consistent and well written is all well and good, its very dry unfortunately. I like and can watch it, but the dryness makes me wish I was watching one of the more passionate, stylistic and less logical shonens that its critiquing.

Yeah that's super fair. World Trigger can be dry at times, which can make some of it's stuff a little...unhype.

but then there's a scene of Chika just kinda casually jumping a little bit and it's suddenly REALLY hype because of how it matters as far as the meta-game is concerned and it's super exciting without actually being bombastic. It's fascinating.

[Zalabim]

Yeah that's super fair. World Trigger can be dry at times, which can make some of it's stuff a little...unhype.

but then there's a scene of Chika just kinda casually jumping a little bit and it's suddenly REALLY hype because of how it matters as far as the meta-game is concerned and it's super exciting without actually being bombastic. It's fascinating.

Short hop is OP, but there's also conventionally hypeable things like the Large Scale Invasion which will twist the audience's idea of danger and the stakes. Followed by a "dry" press conference which feels a lot more important to the story than any of many similar scenes in a more passionate and stylistic series I could name. (MHA could seriously learn a thing or two about how to handle board meetings and press conferences, if it's going to include so many.) Later, the Galopoula invasion flips the stakes around again. The anime does suffer from drawing things out longer than it takes to read the same scene. The battles benefit, but the stuff in between gets stretched a lot more. It's watchable, but it could be paced a lot better than it is.

[Lord Raziere]

Short hop is OP, but there's also conventionally hypeable things like the Large Scale Invasion which will twist the audience's idea of danger and the stakes. Followed by a "dry" press conference which feels a lot more important to the story than any of many similar scenes in a more passionate and stylistic series I could name. (MHA could seriously learn a thing or two about how to handle board meetings and press conferences, if it's going to include so many.) Later, the Galopoula invasion flips the stakes around again. The anime does suffer from drawing things out longer than it takes to read the same scene. The battles benefit, but the stuff in between gets stretched a lot more. It's watchable, but it could be paced a lot better than it is.

Hm. No.

The press conferences aren't whats dry.

Its the fights themselves that are dry. Sure they make sense, sure they're good. but they're lacking......something. not exactly sure what. my critique is not of how much they spend time on this or that but of the things themselves and how they execute it. its competent but lacking a certain undefinable something to them.

[Aotrs Commander]

As I waded through a couple more episodes of Cleaning The Room telly in Glitterforce (starting to take itself a bit straight, and not as parody-ish as it started, which is a shame), I noticed that Angel Beat? (I think) appeared to be listed on the "recently added." Don't recall that being on my big list before so... Thoughts?

[gomipile]

Heads up: The English dub of SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online recently went up on Netflix.

[Silfir]

As I waded through a couple more episodes of Cleaning The Room telly in Glitterforce (starting to take itself a bit straight, and not as parody-ish as it started, which is a shame), I noticed that Angel Beat? (I think) appeared to be listed on the "recently added." Don't recall that being on my big list before so... Thoughts?

Give it a whirl! It's been a long time since I saw it, but I remember it fairly well. That's never a bad sign.

It's very much a "feels train" kind of anime; it'll either connect with you emotionally or not. It has some funny characters as well, though, and it's reasonably tightly paced.

[Spacewolf]

Angel beats is probably one of my favourite series even if it is shorter than was intended.

[Aotrs Commander]

Give it a whirl! It's been a long time since I saw it, but I remember it fairly well. That's never a bad sign.

It's very much a "feels train" kind of anime; it'll either connect with you emotionally or not. It has some funny characters as well, though, and it's reasonably tightly paced.

Nope, there's Japanese and German audio, but no English, which scratches that off...

A google search indicates that yes, an English dub does exist.

Just... Why then, Netflix?

(Netflix's anime choice really is utterly wierdly ballistic, isn't it?)

[Pendulous]

Nope, there's Japanese and German audio, but no English, which scratches that off...

A google search indicates that yes, an English dub does exist.

Just... Why then, Netflix?

(Netflix's anime choice really is utterly wierdly ballistic, isn't it?)

Sentai lost the license about a year ago. I imagine Netflix should have the dub, so it's weird they don't (or it's just your region). It's done very well, but the show itself overall was meh for me.

Note: Checked Netflix, can't find it here at all. Has a link, but that's it, no way to view it.

[HMS Invincible]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...he_Shield_Hero
This anime started off ok and then went slightly downhill. Standard isekai another world start. Except hero gets crap shield instead of sword of awesomeness.
I didn't mind the setup, or the strange fall from Grace. (Princess colludes with King to cheat protagonist because reasons I don't understand, maybe protagonist isn't cool?). But then The princess is a long-standing antagonist, which is really weird. Like, your kingdom is being invaded every month, and you aren't allowed to replace your support shield hero. Why make things worse by sabotaging him further?

I didn't mind buying a slave to fight for you. But then the mount/chocobo he bought turned into a little girl. To me, this went from slapdash Spice and Wolf to lame harem. I expect more girls to show up now.

[Merellis]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...he_Shield_Hero
This anime started off ok and then went slightly downhill. Standard isekai another world start. Except hero gets crap shield instead of sword of awesomeness.
I didn't mind the setup, or the strange fall from Grace. (Princess colludes with King to cheat protagonist because reasons I don't understand, maybe protagonist isn't cool?). But then The princess is a long-standing antagonist, which is really weird. Like, your kingdom is being invaded every month, and you aren't allowed to replace your support shield hero. Why make things worse by sabotaging him further?

I didn't mind buying a slave to fight for you. But then the mount/chocobo he bought turned into a little girl. To me, this went from slapdash Spice and Wolf to lame harem. I expect more girls to show up now.

Well, if you don't mind spoilers.

Spoiler: Shield Hero Spoilers

Show

The church of the current country they're in has a Church of the Three heroes that worships the Sword, Spear, and Bow specifically. The Shield is the devil to them.

So they conspire with that to keep the devil down, which is a whole other can of worms that goes into why you don't meet the queen for a while.

[theMycon]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...he_Shield_Hero
This anime started off ok and then went slightly downhill. Standard isekai another world start. Except hero gets crap shield instead of sword of awesomeness.
I didn't mind the setup, or the strange fall from Grace. (Princess colludes with King to cheat protagonist because reasons I don't understand, maybe protagonist isn't cool?). But then The princess is a long-standing antagonist, which is really weird. Like, your kingdom is being invaded every month, and you aren't allowed to replace your support shield hero. Why make things worse by sabotaging him further?

I didn't mind buying a slave to fight for you. But then the mount/chocobo he bought turned into a little girl. To me, this went from slapdash Spice and Wolf to lame harem. I expect more girls to show up now.

I feels ya. I really liked the first episode, enough that the online hub-bub* didn't bother me. Around Episode 3, when the hero hits every major Mary Sue note while being a **** to everyone because of his overactive persecution complex, I started to suspect much of the anime would just be pandering to the group behind that hub-bub. It's looking more likely with each new installment.

My BF thought I was joking when I suggested the egg Shieldbro bought would add to his harem. But now he's got a less than one month old bird girl with double-D's that loves him.


*Due to the princess's actions from the first episode, many Men's Rights Activist went to war with anyone who mentioned the show in any light that's not clearly 100% complementary, and imagined The Liberal Elite trying to get it off the air. I searched & saw no evidence.

[GloatingSwine]

I didn't mind buying a slave to fight for you. But then the mount/chocobo he bought turned into a little girl. To me, this went from slapdash Spice and Wolf to lame harem. I expect more girls to show up now.

People are still surprised when isekai turns into lame harem?

Lame harem is one of the pillars of the genre.

[Lethologica]

Isekai might as well be called Harem in Another World. Or Fantasy Harem Fantasy.

[Rynjin]

You guys are talking like harem automatically = bad.

Mind, it USUALLY does, but "battle harems" have a pretty good track record for being aight. Mahou Sensei Negima, Ranma 1/2, Wheel of Time, etc. are all good harem anime.

[Lord Raziere]

You guys are talking like harem automatically = bad.

Mind, it USUALLY does, but "battle harems" have a pretty good track record for being aight. Mahou Sensei Negima, Ranma 1/2, Wheel of Time, etc. are all good harem anime.

You forgot Batman.

What? Catwoman, Talia Al'ghul, Huntress and Wonder Woman counts. Oddly enough, Batman's harem is one of the more stable versions, only surpassed by Rand Al'thors. Batman has actually produced a child from one his harem members, and Rand's harem got over their issues in like....book three or four and got a good epilogue when the series ended. but seriously, in spite of Batman flirting with multiple women, they never seem to fight over him, its weird.

[Lethologica]

The relevant qualifier is "in spite of". Literally so in the case of Negima, that notorious case of genre creep as rebellion against executive meddling.

ETA: Not that I ever paid much attention to Batman, but serial flings aren't exactly a harem.

[GloatingSwine]

You guys are talking like harem automatically = bad.

Mind, it USUALLY does, but "battle harems" have a pretty good track record for being aight. Mahou Sensei Negima, Ranma 1/2, Wheel of Time, etc. are all good harem anime.

I'll let you have Ranma.

And that's only because it's functionally the original from which all harem comedies are derived, and because Ranma hirself is aggressively uninterested in basically all but Akane anyway, whom ze is merely tsundere for so it's not the later more degenerate forms of the genre.

[John Cribati]

I'd put As to No Hanayome as a good harem anime, of only because the harem is more understated and o oh really serves to further the gag nature of the series.

[theMycon]

There's a joke my BF & I share- they named it Isekai after the 3rd most popular trope of the genre, because they figured watchers would be embarrassed by "OP MMO Let's watch", and "Harem" was taken.

I'll let you have Ranma.

And that's only because it's functionally the original from which all harem comedies are derived, and because Ranma hirself is aggressively uninterested in basically all but Akane anyway, whom ze is merely tsundere for so it's not the later more degenerate forms of the genre.

While all your broader points are correct, it's not even the second harem series from that author- Urusei Yatsura (nearly as big as Ranma & Inuyasha) started almost a decade earlier, and Maison Ikkoku was at least popular enough to have an anime & a movie.

And although I'd hold the second Urusei Yatsura movie (Beautiful Dreamer, now on Amazon Prime!) up as one of the finest movies I've ever seen, sharing the rewatchability of Fifth Element/Airplane with the polish & quality of Amalie/Three Billboards; the series isn't much different from or better than modern harem shows. It's openly aimed at male Japanese college students, so I might just be too far off to appreciate it. I think I gave up after one episode of Maison Ikkoku.

[Pendulous]

Harems are good as a comedy. Which is why Haganai, Shomin Sample, and Is this A Zombie? are all good shows, as well as the first half of Shuffle. When they try to take themselves too seriously, that's when it becomes a problem.

[LaZodiac]

The only good Isekais are .Hack Sign and Log Horizon.

At least with regards to anime.

[HMS Invincible]

The only good Isekais are .Hack Sign and Log Horizon.

At least with regards to anime.

Kono Suba would like a word with you. I also liked Re:zero but that was an odd one.

[LaZodiac]

Kono Suba would like a word with you. I also liked Re:zero but that was an odd one.

Fair, I forgot those existed.

[Kato]

Kono Suba would like a word with you. I also liked Re:zero but that was an odd one.

Can't speak for Re:zero but yes, it might be dumb comedy but konosuba is fun. Also, I have fond memories of Ouran High (don't pretend reverse harem isn't harem) and I liked Seitokai no Ichizon well enough, despite it being a bit childish.

Edit: also, why do people never mention Digimon when talking about isekai?