Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
|
Goto page Previous Next |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
|
|||
|
So I got in lots of anime (yay! A backlog...not yay) and I might said that I'd watch Haibane Renmei first, but after a week of death in the family and lots of stuff from that (ever been in a police funeral? It's quite the spectacle), I went with Martian Successor Nadesisco first instead. I've watched the first disc (which took longer than expected because my damn cold over the weekend made reading subtitles and concentrating ever more difficult), which is 5 eps. When a disclaimer showed up saying that the English audio might not sync up in all parts because with the Japanese remaster, some scenes were apparently re-animated, and it was a semi-early dub, I just decided to go with sub.
Anyway, I am so far enjoying the comedy, it's not the sort of beat you over the head type (except when other characters do pratfalls, how I hate pratfalls), but stuff like how hard the one guy is friend zoned by Yurika made laugh. Or just how troperiffic it's clearly being on purpose sort of thing. Or their in universe TV show (it's on disc 7, which has all the extras, and some interviews and stuff). Though at the end of ep 3, there is one, very spoilerific thing I'm unclear on (though I seem to recall the revenge of the 90s ANNCase kinda hinting at it, so I did totally predict it, just not how), so if anyone could help clear it up for me: spoiler[who exactly killed Gai Dogoji? Like, people showed up from nowhere and shot him. I know Jun was stuck on the other ship for a while, were some of their people still on the Nadesico? I'm a bit hazy on that...still I was expecting him to go out in a blaze of glory, not just get shot like that], so yeah I would love that cleared up. But yeah, I am often hesitant on comedy anime as they don't usually match my sense of humor, or they don't properly understand what parody is, but so far, this one seems to, while also clearly being a member of its genre too. So I do look forward to more, and TRSI put out a damn nice set (I always appreciate 2.0, as I do not have surround anywhere in the house). |
||||
|
||||
|
Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6523 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
|
|||
It's from the prologue of episode 8. Several of the prologues have a blackly humorous vignette not directly related to the story line. Another favourite takes place in a nursing home when a senile, toothless old man gets the hots for a nurse, transforms and tries to gum her to death. Thanks for the encouragement.
School Days can be interpreted as a harem parody. Most harem leads are douches. It follows, therefore, that Makoto would be an uber douche as part of the harem treatment. If you think things are bad up to episode 6, it only gets worse (or better, depending on your point of view - I really liked the inevitable trainwreck). |
||||
|
||||
wanderlustking
 Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
|
|||
|
Kokoro Connect and Sword Art Online at the moment, having just finished Anohana. Kokoro Connect is very dramatic, but in a very normal and believable way; despite it's fantastical main premise, most of the conflict still comes from the feelings and actions of our main cast, and are only exacerbated (not outright caused) the mysterious outside force. I'm not sure what to think about SAO just yet. There's more than a little wish fulfillment going on here, the protagonist is a 17 year old who uses his vast knowledge of game theory in general, and MMORPGs in particular to survive in a cutthroat and dangerous enviroment. That's ostensibly the premise anyways; unfortunately the show seems to be headed in the direction of telling rather than showing, now that we've gotten past the first few episodes and the novelty has worn off. Much of the action/drama is removed from the central premise; much like in Kokoro Connect, none of the action or drama seems to require that premise to work (if this show were to take place in a completely generic fantasy world, there wouldn't be much difference), save for those pesky 100 floors that are more often than not ignored in favor of character angst. I'll probably finish this season, if only because once Natsuyuki Rendezvous and Tari Tari are done, I'll only have Kokoro Connect for company.
|
||||
|
||||
Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
Pixelationist
 Posts: 111 Location: London, UK |
|
|||
I'm quite interested in Masaaki Yuasa's work too so I'll definitely check this out. I don't think I like anything visually as much as I do Tatami Galaxy. If this is anything as effed up as Kaiba than it should be a treat. |
||||
|
||||
Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
|
|||
|
A milestone of sorts. I've reached 150 episodes of Urusei Yatsura. The show is starting to fade, new ideas aren't working so well so they are relying on rehashing characters introduced before, but there is enough gas in the tank to keep running for a little bit longer. The show probably peaked at episode 88, when Ataru and Lum finallyspoiler[ slept together], but it has managed to remain entertaining so far. Inshallah, I'll finish the TV show before the end of the year. Then I can start on the movies.
Also, I have watched half of Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. It's just not working for me. It's odd, because I thought I'd like it. I've been thinking about it, and the problems are threefold. 1) Racism. I'm a university-educated white middle-class male. Sensitivity to racism has been ingrained in me. And while watching Ikoku, it gets uncomfortably close to racist at times. Yune isn't a character inasmuch a collection of stereotypes. Now, most of these stereotypes are positive, but it hangs over this show like a cloud. 2) Yune. Like I said above, Yune isn't really a character. And she has absolutely no personality. She is boring—boring to listen to, boring to watch. It's not even on moeblob levels, Yune doesn't do anything cute, she cleans the place and generally acts like a servant. 3) The setting. The story is set in Paris, the most cultured city in Europe. And the characters spend all their time in a dingy little store front. Setting the story in Paris should be one of the shows strengths. It's exotic and exciting, it should be a feast of sights and sounds. But all this is negated by the spending so much time in the shop. Hell, you could take this story and change the setting to Rostock, Germany, (cold, dour, and unromantic) and you couldn't tell the difference. This is unforgivable. There is also the creepy lolicon 'wife-raising' theme going on, but if you had fixed problems 1-3, this probably wouldn't be an issue. But instead of the exotic romantic adventure I was expecting, the story has basically become a show about a loli mail-order bride. Episode 6 tried to give it a little substance with the whole 'rich ladies are like caged birds' faux feminism, but that tired old theme lacked any real outrage and just vaguely depressing. Much like this show has been so far. |
||||
|
||||
|
Masakaki
Posts: 166 |
|
|||
|
[edit]
Last edited by Masakaki on Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:44 am; edited 13 times in total |
||||
|
||||
Dalvyn
 Posts: 86 |
|
|||
|
About to finish up the third season of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It was a great show, I love the dark humor and observations on some of the absurdities of everyday life.
Also I don't know an anime with a more entertaining opening and closing animations. |
||||
|
||||
|
Pixelationist
Posts: 111 Location: London, UK |
|
|||
Good to hear that people are still picking this up. I don't think I've seen anything before or since that got beneath my skin to the extent Koi Kaze did. The fact that there is no closure or clean solution makes it kind of unforgettable. |
||||
|
||||
Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
|
|||
|
Just finished watching the 2nd season of K-On!. Gosh, I really got attached to the girls and I could totally relate to how Azu-nyan felt at the end, and their final song for her was pretty amazing. Yeah, it's a series about cute girls doing cute things, but I thought there was a sweetness there -- a warmth, I guess -- that's really rarely seen, at least by cynical guys like me. I could probably watch twice as many episodes about their doings and still not get tired of it, but I think that the way they went about it is probably for the best.
If my high school years had been even vaguely like theirs, I think I would've enjoyed them a lot more. Still, I'm glad I ended up getting this after seeing a clip of it at Sakura-Con a while back. I think it's really a great series. |
||||
|
||||
Beatdigga
 Posts: 4367 Location: New York |
|
|||
|
Eureka 7 and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Two shows that the Adult Swim Action fanbase made me want to burn in a fire, but now, I'm trying to watch them again via Hulu. The experience has been interesting to say the least.
|
||||
|
||||
nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
|
|||
|
Beatdigga--
May I ask exactly how the experience has been "interesting" for you? I myself rather enjoyed both series. |
||||
|
||||
|
Beatdigga
Posts: 4367 Location: New York |
|
|||
FMA Brotherhood I have a friend who watches the series and has recommended it to me for months, so we snark about it. I'm enjoying it quite a bit though. I'm enjoying Eureka 7, but I just noticed a rather dramatic change in tone, which coincided with the change in tone from the lead. We went from " Jerkass hippies on a floating commune pursued by the man" to what feels a bit like Z Gundam of all things, only with a romance story central to the plot. Again, good, but quite the tonal shift. And it's a far cry from the seething hatred I projected onto both due to Adult Swim Action. |
||||
|
||||
|
Pixelationist
Posts: 111 Location: London, UK |
|
|||
I only saw K-On earlier this year after avoiding it like the plague previously, and like you, immediately yielded to its overwhelming charm. Like many others I often lament the ubiquity of moe in contemporary anime, but I think K-On is a pretty special show despite the fact that it is, in a way the epitome of moe. The animation quality, while subdued, is sublime. There's a naturalness and fluidity to the way people move that makes everything else look stiff in comparison. I also adore how kyoani uses animation to accentuate character idiosyncrasies, so that personality not only comes through how they look and sound, but how they move. I even came to love the agonisingly glacial pace eventually, it puts me in this meditative state that has me literally feeling the passage of time, which seems to be a key theme of the show. And I agree, the whole lead up to their graduation and Ayunyan being left alone is really bitter-sweet and lovely, but not over done. That said, I have a hard time recommending K-On to people, it baffles me a little that it is as popular as it is. |
||||
|
||||
DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15458 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
|||
|
I checked out a recent OVA of .hack, I think it's title is .hack//Versus: The Thanatos Report, it was a little strange having a .hack anime, which actually had no time in The World, and in fact had it only mentioned a couple times. But I also found the plot kind of confusing, and could not find it in this sites encyclopedia, but I did find some comments that said it was linked to a .hack movie. Upon looking up here for the movie, I found it has an ugly poster, which automatically made me not want to watch it, but with only being this year, the actual movie graphics can't be that bad.
So I just watched .hack//Beyond the World (.hack//The Movie), and I think the graphics has to be one of the main points I have to make a bout it. The movie is done entirely in CG, which started feeling like it kind of goes against some of the earlier series, it was good CG, but it didn't feel quite right with all of the RL scenes since it clashed with earlier styles (like say the grainy look in SIGN). The movie took its time showing our female lead, watch other people play, various things pushed her, but she did not seemed to get right into playing. There was some pretty good use showing the other technology they had which was not inside a game, like better glasses now. Still the blocky look kind of annoyed me. But after all these problems came when the female lead actually played the game, and OMG, now that was a total game changer. The graphics set in The World were amazing, and I could see why they chose the style they did, I would probably describe it as something akin to Final Fantasy cutscene. I think the choice was probably that doing the RL scenes any other way would not have worked, and was definitely worth it. The story was fairly easy to follow, although mine was watered a bit by awful subtitles, and I could pick up that the copy did not use it's full potential due to limitations of illegal stream and my computer, but a getting DVD would be great. Characters felt, I would say like normal people, not the larger than life brooders you tend to get in anime, which might turn off some viewers, but the main character is likeable. As a final thought, some of the movie characters were in the OVA I watched before, but I am still confused how things reached that situation. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group