Media Anime and Manga Thread MK3 - Beware Spoilers

Sukasuka is my favorite non-sequel first episode though Grimoire of Zero is pretty solid

Re:creators and Rokudenashi look like good dumb/guilty pleasure watches

Sakura Quest I have high hopes for since it's the spiritual successor to Shirobako which was one of the best shows in the last couple years

Warau Salesman was probably the weakest, it's about people making deals with the devil but said devil isn't particularly interesting or fun to watch nor are the people sufficiently dumb or hateable for it to be good schadenfreude. it just feels like it's lacking a good hook?

This thread needs some Shingeki no Bahamut love, the sequel's off to a nice start and should be plenty of fun to watch. Outside of that, most interested in how Re:Creators, SukaSuka, and Sakura Quest will progress.
Yeah, Bahamut was a nice little show, with Mappa providing solid animation as always. The one big flaw I felt it had was that it was trying to bring its cast of ordinary-ish main characters into a cataclysmic plot about gods and demons and the apocalypse and had some difficulty doing that effectively in the 12 episodes it had, but apparently season 2 is slated for 2 cours so it should turn out well.
 
Did you ever get the haunting feeling that you've forgotten something really important? That's what , I feel, Your Name taps into. It may not be a message in the sense that you are thinking of, but it's very thematic akin to Italian neorealism. These are movies that convey very subconscious feelings that often don't have words to describe them. That's not "fluff". And to be entertaining on top of that is pretty nice too.
I do say at the end of that write-up that this isn't strictly even a flaw, but more... mistaken expectations on my part? Don't get me wrong, I would have still enjoyed it if it was 100% fluff, but given my experience with Shinkai's other works (and, admittedly, the monumental amount of hype behind Your Name), I think I expected to connect more with it than I did.
 
Hey didnt noticed that there was an anime thread on smogon. Lets talk a bit about this spring season:
Re:Creators and Zero Hajimeru Mahou no Sho are the best non-sequels in this moment for me, they had an awesome start.
Sakurada Reset, Eromanga Sensei, Grandblue fantasy and Rokudenashi Majutsu koushi no akashic records seems ok, expecting they get better in next chapters.
Didnt liked clockworks planet and gin no guardian at all and probably I'm dropping bushou shoujo and sakura ques. Maybe I'll give a chance to the first ones.

And of course I'll talk about the sequels too: Shingeki no Bahamut and Boku no Hero Academia had a pretty nice start, wish they are they are at least as good as their respective first season. Shingeki no Kyojin had a nice start too, hope its better that the first season because I didnt liked it.
 
huh, LWA seems like it might finally be stepping things up, good to see

it was marketed that way but especially after the 2nd episode it seems more like a show about the protagonist moving to a new place and living a new life rather than about working a profession like Shirobako. That doesn't mean it's bad though, I like it so far.
 

breh

強いだね
I watched the first two eps of eromanga sensei and it's actually ok... better than you'd expect given the plot summary, I guess.

also I forgot how much the events of the most recent episode of bnha pissed me off in the manga til I rewatched it today. it's so stupid that it made me unable to suspend disbelief in a story about superheroes
 

Pilo

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eromanga sensei ended up being surprisingly good all things considered. even though episode 2 introduced two incredibly unlikable characters in megumin and yamada but i think both still add a lot of comedic value to the show that would otherwise be absent. on the topic of comedy, this show really gets me, like, really.


re:creators is also looking pretty good, its got a high production value and some pretty good writing so im excited to see more of it
 
Challenge 53 - Watch an anime tagged as Dementia, Demons, Horror and/or Vampire - Hellsing Ultimate
I watched the original Hellsing a while back before getting to Ultimate, and I had a lot of problems with it, in particular its nonsensical plot and lack of good character development. While Ultimate technically still has those problems, it has enough theatrics to distract from its flaws and be a very entertaining anime. The main focus of the series is really not the plot, which is kinda absurd tbh but not as bad as the original TV series that strayed from the source material. There is nothing thought provoking or deep about it in general, so it's relatively shallow but has its own charm to keep it afloat. The action scenes are top-notch, throwing lots of EXPLOSIONS in your face, and the animation is very nicely done, which makes it pop out a lot. It's a very graphic and gory anime with a LOT of bloodshed, so there will be quite a bit of disturbing scenes. Sometimes they throw in some weird slapstick humor which detracts from the series but isn't prevalent enough for me to complain too much. The characters are ridiculous in their own sense, with rather shallow motives and cheesy dialogue, but they manage to have really interesting personalities, so it all works out in the end. I feel like it lost some steam at times towards the end, but for what it's worth, it was an entertaining anime to watch. 7/10

Challenge 34 - Watch a completed anime with a popularity of or lower than #601 - Cross Game
Cross Game made a massive first impression from the first episode, which is fantastic and immediately hooked me into the show. The story is not really that different from typical sports shounen when looking at the baseball aspect, but when considering the backstory of the main characters, it carries a lot more weight on how it is presented. A good chunk of the story is spent on slice of life moments, and it fleshes out the characters very well while carrying a lot of impact on the overall picture of the story. I loved the way the anime uses flashbacks which were timed very well and made the peak moments of the series much more impactful. Nothing about the anime is overdramatic and it’s relatively simple, and I like that because sometimes certain anime can be a drag for me when they pile on the melodrama. Despite its simplicity, this anime had some incredibly heartwarming moments and plenty of feels for me due to how great the storytelling is. The character relationships are phenomenal because they mesh so well and are very likable, so I got a lot of attachment towards most of the main cast (except for that damn cousin guy). The romantic development in the anime is very subtle and admittedly pretty slow, but since the show is so much more than just a romance, it didn’t bother me at all. Terrific anime, it’s a pity that it is so under-watched but I guess some people are turned off by the sports aspect. It’s a major aspect of the show but hardly the main reason why I liked it so much. 9/10
 
So Netflix now is going to have an adaptation of death note. It's funny to look at the youtube comments whine about how the show is ruined despite there only being a trailer. Unfortunately I haven't watched it with sound so I can't judge the trailer. I find it interesting though and am curious on how it will turn out.
This movie will just turnout like Dragonball Evolution.
Although i like Death Note i am really fed up with it.The series already has a Japanese version movie,a Japanese TV series on it and now another movie...
Let it end already.
It will surely be like the Dragonball Evolution,if not even worse than that.
 
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breh

強いだね
I finished watching Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso... It felt kind of like a triple A big budget game. I can feel that it's good, but (at least personally) there's some sort of pang of "special"-ness that's missing from it. Even something like, say, Steins; Gate, which I really didn't like, you can without a doubt say had its own feel to it. Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso was just really enjoyable shounen with drama, but still felt oddly samey with respect to other anime.

Also every time they show the CG piano fingers it made me cringe a little
 
This movie will just turnout like Dragonball Evolution.
Although i like Death Note i am really fed up with it.The series already has a Japanese version movie,a Japanese TV series on it and now another movie...
Let it end already.
It will surely be like the Dragonball Evolution,if not even worse than that.
I would bet 10 dollars that it wouldn't. This is purely due to the fact that it has a competent director at the helm.
 
I would bet 10 dollars that it wouldn't. This is purely due to the fact that it has a competent director at the helm.
I dont want to say that its outright bad,but have you seen the trailer?
What were they thinking while casting?,really L is completely ruined.
Sure if you want to see it as a standalone thing then it will have some merit,but comparing Original to this thing is not right in any sense,also no famous actors and good directors can save an already ruined film or whatever just take example of Assassins creed and Ghost in the shell floppiness even great and oscar nominated actors couldnt save it.
In the end it all comes down to each and everyone's opinion so in your sense you like it so of course its alright,but for me in my opinion its just a thing that is only going towards nothingness.
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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Commenting on shows as of the point I'm at in them; gonna watch Sakura Quest ep 4 and Tsuki ga Kirei ep 4 after typing this, but I'll comment on anything I've watched so far.
This show's good, but I definitely think people are selling it as better than it is. I'm a big fan of the countryside SoL sub-genre, which suggests that this should be a perfect show for me on paper, but this honestly isn't appealing to me quite as much as other shows I've seen do, with it instead not quite matching the calibre of other shows in each individual aspect; it's characters lack the same charm and relatability of characters like Renge from Non Non Biyori (although I'm sure that it's going to get better in that regard as the series goes on and the key cast get fleshed out more), it doesn't pull you into the character interactions as well as shows like Anohana, it doesn't give me the laid-back enjoyment that shows like Flying Witch and Barakamon do, and it isn't as fun as a lot of other SoLs both among those in the countryside and those in more urban settings. It's trying a bit too hard to function sort of like a lot of the city-oriented SoLs with regards to the way its characters interact with one another to the point that it just results in it not really hitting top marks a lot of the time. That said, it is doing a lot of things that I do like too; like I said before, the concept is very original and has a lot of scope to go very well without having much trainwreck potential given how the writing has been so far, and I feel like it is really highlighting something a lot of straight-up SoL shows in the countryside like to skim over in that a) there is a lot of brain drain out of the areas combined with low birth rates due to an aging population, and b) that there is fucking nothing in the country. I like the way that both of these are very much a driving force within the plot in the respect that the former it is the cause of the town being unchanging and the latter being the focus of the main character's desires within the first two episodes. The fact that it even goes as far as directly addressing this and adjusting the MC's intentions in that speech at the end of episode three further cements this, and I really hope that it keeps focussed with what it's doing as opposed to going through a load of bog-standard SoL "a new activity every episode" bull because that wouldn't suit the show at all. That is the way that I think this show will stay good as opposed to descending into "ok" territory.
This show is extremely good (personal AotS atm out of the handful of shows I'm following with any kind of religiousness). IDK quite the right way to justify me saying this 'cause honestly it's just the kind of thing that I just kinda understand is really good as I'm watching it, but if it means anything the way that the two main characters are interacting both with each other feels a lot like the way that I've functioned for around two or three years now due to social withdrawal habits (I'm fine once I get going, but I'm not good at building the confidence to reach such a stage when it's not online) and lack of social ability to approach people I crush on for prolonged periods whilst just generally getting very invested in my virtual relationships and conversations in the exact same manner to that of the two main MCs are doing right up to being able to get closer to people they talk to like that than they are to people irl and due to their frustration at being unable to update each other/find out how the other did. That's an aside though; the point that I didn't actually get to with that ramble is that I was left with that empty feeling you get when you have to wait a full week for an incredible show when I caught up with it on Saturday, and it just really appeals to me as a show. Strongly recommend.
I'm gonna have a hard time getting this one into memory (I still need to reference the title at this stage), but I'll try to fulfill that promise I made to RODAN back in January or February or whenever it was where I said I'd memorise the whole title of this before the end of its run and only refer to it by its full name itt.

This show is pretty solid for what it is; it's a perfect example of how generic≠bad in just about every aspect, from its opening animation to its OP's rocking JPop backing (the actual real full ver's out btw for anyone who's interested (see below)) to the way that both the scenario and plot are set up to the character designs and whatever else I want to point out. Honestly it's really impressing me in just about every area I could pick, from the way that the characters are set up (the main male is neither brutally overpowered nor an underdog here, showing that he's a strong warrior whilst putting in the handicap which means that the show is going to have him as a mentor as opposed to someone who's going to be a massive action-based influence on the plot, which is an issue that a lot of these fantasy shows with harem casts handle badly due to the aforementioned "OP or useless" factor they always choose to go down). I really liked the use of Scarborough Fair in episode 1, and the montage that it was over did an excellent job at building the world and giving us a picture of the relationship between those creatures on the surface to a stage that I really hope we get to see more of that little town later on. Once again, I don't really have much of a point here, so just take it as another thumbs up.

It took a while to get going and had two episodes of a combination of filler and introducing us to what would happen in episode 3 (seriously, it should have reached the stage it was at at the end of ep 2 by the end of ep 1 smh), but once it gets going it is so entertaining. Even if the race was a bit of an arsepull, it was still a fun watch regardless, and the cavalry fight is the peak of the show so far, perhaps tying with Deku vs. Bakugo. It isn't exactly anything new (anyone who saw S1 knows that it's a pretty bog-standard shounen), but it is still an enjoyable watch and something I look forward to each week.
It's Attack on Titan; the direction is stunning, the action is entertaining; it's better than I expected it to be if anything, because I remember season 1 succeeded in the direction, action and animation dept just like s2 but just didn't hit home as well as this season has been doing in its other elements. If you have seen AoT S1 you have no reason to not be watching this imo.
This show is very good so far; I like the concept a lot, and its implementation of said concept has been both engaging and enjoyable. It is the pure definition of hype and it does a good job of playing off of a lot of its generic aspects to improve it. Honestly there isn't really much to say other than watch this.

Ranking list out of what I've watched so far (I might give more shows a try later on):

S: Tsuki ga Kirei
A+: Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu Ka? Isogashii Desu Ka? Sukette Moratte Desu Ka? / Re:CREATORS
A-: Shingeki no Kyoujin 2 / Sakura Quest
B: Boku no Hero Academia 2

Edit: oh also I got sick of looking at Berserk 'cause of how ugly it is, so I dropped S2 after ep 2.

Edit 2: moved Sakura Quest up from B+ to A- after ep 4
 
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Sukasuka is still my pick for strongest, ep2 had a moment where it shifted awkwardly from a good emotional moment to fanservice but on the whole it's pretty solidly done. There's also the fact that the source material is finished and pretty short, I'm guessing they'll do the entire thing in one cour which might be a bit rushed but I'll take that if it means a proper conclusion.

Re:creators is weird. It's a fairly goofy concept (anime/game characters coming to life) being taken almost completely seriously, I feel like it's missing a lot of opportunity for culture clash humor. It's still good in spite of that but I'm going to be disappointed if there's not a moment when a characters discovers that porn of them exists.

Zero had a good start but the second and third episode were kinda on the predictable and generic side.

Eromanga Sensei feels like the creator throwing away all pretense and embracing how trashy it is and it's actually kind of hilarious, hard to say if it'll stay good though.

Sakura Quest I like but it's kind of hard to feel much investment in the goal of boosting tourism to a small town that doesn't have much to see, especially when most of the residents themselves don't seem to care.
 

breh

強いだね
I watched wolf children yesterday; what do people think about it?

is there a better example of an "idiot plot". It takes itself so seriously, but all of the characters are so goddamn stupid. Beyond the obvious of "don't have unprotected sex while still an undergraduate in college", moving to the sticks without a stable job / any wealth, that scene where she chases after her son in the storm, and probably some others I can't think of off the top of my head... it's almost painful to watch. beyond that I imagine it's hard to explain to her relatively chatty neighbors where her son went if he's playing wolf permanently :/

I know this was the studio's first movie, but they went through all the effort to animate things really nicely but they still settled on ugly cg at the beginning. those couple minutes leave a larger expression than they should. the mc's eyes are also spread a little too far apart to the point that there are shots where her face (and also her daughter's sometimes) looks wrong.

even the ending is kind of lukewarm and leaves a looot of strings untied.

also why does the boy get first billing he was born second?? simply outrageous


oh and I watched bakemono no ko as well but didn't feel anywhere near as strongly about that one and just enjoyed it more in general
 
Wolf children is one of my favorite anime movies of all time. With some of the most unique editing and some of the coolest use of cinematography. Also I was crying like half the time. Things like watching people growing up and family bonds as well as community really strikes a personal cord.
 

Martin

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This is on my MAL challenge but I've given up on that 'cause the novelty isn't there anymore for me so consider this independent.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (Season 1)
★★★★★

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is very good, to the point that it's taken the spot of my favorite anime of all time. It is a triumph of direction, with it not only turning a very still scene into something immensely dynamic with its brilliant use of the camera, but it also managed to directly mirror the quality of the rakugo being performed with how dynamic and visually interesting it was; also, outside of just its direction in the rakugo performances, it also allowed for a large number of things to be implied without actually showing them (for example, I like the way that they used a drop of tea on the spout of a teapot followed by what I think was a poker for the charcoal fire (don't quote me on that 'cause I can't remember now) slamming into the ash around it being used to imply that Kikuhiko was crying whilst hiding it from the viewer, suggesting he doesn't want the people around him to know that he is) whilst also just being both visually and symbolically stunning at multiple points all the way through the series. I remember the scene where Miyokichi says that the next time she sees Kikuhiko would be in hell and how it left me feeling shaken in large part due to the way that the visuals were handled in the scene, and honestly even beyond that the the visual direction was just utterly flawless all the way through the show. Beyond this, the character writing and development are both just excellent. I felt like I knew the whole leading cast and major supporting cast on a personal level as the series went on, and
as Sukeroku fell to his death in episode 12, it just felt gut wrenching in a way which just really shows that a show doesn't need to leave you in tears to leave you feeling like there's a hole in your stomach where they used to be (or whatever metaphor you want to use for feeling like you've lost a close friend).
The writing was just generally excellently considered all the way through, with me particularly liking little details such as
the fact that in episode 6 or 7, or some time around there, the show backed up its spoilery name ("shinjuu" being "double suicide" or "lovers' suicide"--i.e. what happens w/ Sukeroku and Miyokichi in ep 12) by choosing to foreshadow Sukeroku's death by telling a story about an attempted double suicide whilst throwing you off of the scent by making the one in the story not actually come into fruition.
There were lots of other elements of its writing that I really liked, but just overall I strongly recommend this show to anyone and everyone.
 
Just watched 3 episodes of re:creators. God help any rape hentai characters that people connect with.

Edit: some extra thoughts I want to expound upon. I feel like this show is going to walk a tightrope of being either really amazing or being absolutely terrible. Like I feel it go into gate or generic getting stuck in a fantasy world territory. Luckily from how the show is going so far it seems to be very aware of common tropes and seems to purposely avoid falling into certain traps while making good on it's premise. I am concerned about our main character, he definitely feels a bit self insert ish. I hope they do something interesting with him. Also just want to say there is a pretty neat use of a lateral tracking shot used to transition him from his regular life to a life of magic and what not.
 
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Koe no katachi is releasing the blueray tomorrow. I can't express how excited I am for this one.
I am happy to say it did meet my expectations. I will say that the subs were pretty awful.
 
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Koe no Katachi was pretty good despite not really being the type of thing I'd normally be into

best thing Kyoani has done in a long, long time
 
I’d recommend the manga for Koe no Katachi for anyone who liked the movie. They ended up cutting out a decent chunk, including an entire story arc, and the characters are much more fleshed out, which is nice from a viewer perspective. I liked it a lot more than the movie for what it’s worth due to having a more complete feel since the movie had its time limitations.

This thread’s been pretty inactive for a while, so I’ll try to liven things up with some write-ups of anime I’ve seen for the MAL challenge that no one seems to care about anymore, covering the pinnacle of Japanese animation and two series from the mid-2000s that I’ve been putting off for a long, long time. Also after writing up these, I realize how much I suck at analyzing stuff -__-

Challenge 73 - Finish an on-hold or dropped anime - Inferno Cop
Challenge 11 - Watch one of the 5 lowest scored anime from your favorite studio - Inferno Cop: Fact Files

So, technically I had no on-hold/dropped anime when starting this challenge, so I had to wait three months after initially watching 3 episodes of Inferno Cop for it to count. I also wouldn’t call Trigger my favorite studio, although I do like their works a fair amount. Either way, Inferno Cop is a nonsensical story that is incredibly over-the-top and hilarious. The characters are so absurd with their reactions and ridiculous dialogue. It was amusing and way more entertaining than I thought it would be, but it’s pretty hard to hold it to the same standards as other anime due to the lack of proper animation and its very short episodes, so I’m not bothering with a rating here.

Challenge 52 - Watch an anime tagged as Fantasy, Sci-Fi and/or Supernatural - Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha (7/10)
On to a more serious anime, Darker than Black is full of interesting concepts based on a solid premise, with super powers infiltrating the masses and turning people into contractors and dolls, both of which are detached from humanity and are used to fight due to their supernatural powers. It has a great main character in Hei, who is a very complex character and has many traits that differentiate himself from other contractors, such as letting his emotions take over even when the action he takes is not rational. The other characters are a little hit or miss with me, but some of them are properly fleshed out to make them compelling, like Yin and Huang. There are some gripes I had with the anime, though, as the plot is largely episodic, choosing to focus on missions every 2 episodes until the end, so I wasn’t really invested in the anime for most of the first half. The plot also seemed to lack a real focus due to its episodic nature, so I wasn’t sure for the most part where the anime was headed. Eventually, when the plot comes into focus, I came to appreciate the series more, but it sure takes its time to clear up things.

Challenge 18 - Watch an anime which began airing between 2000 and 2009 - Black Lagoon (7/10)
Black Lagoon is incredibly over the top action with strong-willed and crazy characters shooting at each other in absurd ways. It displays some of the ugliest aspects of life, incorporating subjects like greediness, terrorism, child abuse, and mafia. The characters (especially Revy) are really fun to watch and the dialogue is pretty hilarious to listen to, as they have some pretty snarky lines and lots of profanity to go along with. It lacks a real overarching plot, but makes up for it by developing its characters decently, especially in the last arc of the 2nd season. A complaint I did have was that sometimes it felt a bit dull at times, as the villains most of the time couldn’t shoot for crap and there were some pretty drawn out dialogues. Otherwise, a pretty nice, thrilling show that is kinda shallow entertainment yet has plenty of interesting themes to think about when it comes to the real world.

On the subject of anime written by Rei Hiroe, the last episode of Re:Creators sure ended with a bang. I was getting tired of the monotone exposition, so hopefully this is a sign for more exciting things to come.
 
I’d recommend the manga for Koe no Katachi for anyone who liked the movie. They ended up cutting out a decent chunk, including an entire story arc, and the characters are much more fleshed out, which is nice from a viewer perspective. I liked it a lot more than the movie for what it’s worth due to having a more complete feel since the movie had its time limitations.
Aww man, I was afraid of this. I know the Koe no Katachi movie got a warm reception but I'm still thinking maybe I should read the manga, since it seems like a find.
 

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