What anime/manga are you following right now?

[Gold Vanguard]

ano hana and fairy tail

I'm liking Fairy Tail right now except for the fact they keep teasing with the endings. Also rewatching Salior Moon. I just now notice how long it takes for them to transform, and it takes forever!!

[tenkiforecast]

I just found out that Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is on Hulu.

So I'm going to be watching the second season of it immediately.

[Helios]

I wonder what the people who haven't read the LN think of SAO

Shinsekai Yori is looking really promising (cannot wait for the next episode!). Same with Btooom! and Chuunibyou. K looks awesome (best art and sound this season IMO) but I'm still waiting on some plot development. Expecting big things out of Robotics;Notes since it's in the same universe as Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head, but I'm feeling like it's gonna start off slow like it's predecessors. Same thing with Little Busters! I have a feeling Code:Breaker is gonna be a flop but I hope I'm wrong because I heard the manga is pretty good.

[Florete]

I think SAO is terrible and the worst anime I've seen this year (and among the worst ever). And I'm serious.

The shows this season I'm enjoying the most so far are My Little Monster, Sukitte Ii na yo, and Bakuman 3 (which is really just a direct continuation). What's funny is that the former two have almost the exact same premise but are quiet different in their atmosphere.

[Gold Vanguard]

1350158128[/url]' post='2155520']

I think SAO is terrible and the worst anime I've seen this year (and among the worst ever). And I'm serious.

The shows this season I'm enjoying the most so far are My Little Monster, Sukitte Ii na yo, and Bakuman 3 (which is really just a direct continuation). What's funny is that the former two have almost the exact same premise but are quiet different in their atmosphere.

SAO wasn't that bad, it had its moment.

[Florete]

SAO has its first two episodes, which are amazing. Everything else is awful.

[Helios]

SAO has its first two episodes, which are amazing. Everything else is awful.

Basically this. It had so much potential but it was just wasted. No main plot, rushed romance, horrible pacing, and they STILL left a ton of stuff from the LNs out. Even the battle scenes became horrible. The next arc should be better pacing-wise at least, but I'm definitely disappointed.

[Balcerzak]

Expecting big things out of Robotics;Notes since it's in the same universe as Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head, but I'm feeling like it's gonna start off slow like it's predecessors.

What I overheard someone say about R;N, and how it seems to be missing something.

[07:39:05]<Futsuu> I think this sums it up pretty well:

[07:39:09]<Futsuu> Chaos;Head: You see a girl brutally murder somebody. Then she's suddenly your best friend you have no memory of.

[07:39:09]<Futsuu> Steins;Gate: You see a girl get brutally murdered. Then she's suddenly alive.

[07:39:09]<Futsuu> Robotics;Notes: You have to win a robotics competition, or the principal will shut down the robotics club! But you'd rather play video games.

Also, from what I heard, compared to the other games, R;N was kind of a flop, but I honestly haven't looked at sales statistics or EGS ratings. So, while it's possible they'll make a good anime out of it, I'm trying not to be too optimistic.

[Helios]

Honestly...that sounds about right based on my knowledge of R;N so far haha

[Florete]

Basically this. It had so much potential but it was just wasted. No main plot, rushed romance, horrible pacing, and they STILL left a ton of stuff from the LNs out. Even the battle scenes became horrible. The next arc should be better pacing-wise at least, but I'm definitely disappointed.

What/how much did they actually cut? I haven't read the LNs, but with the stuff that's happened I can't imagine the source material would be much better, especially coming from an author who wrote that chapter 16.5. The concept was great, but the execution has been atrocious.

[Helios]

What/how much did they actually cut? I haven't read the LNs, but with the stuff that's happened I can't imagine the source material would be much better, especially coming from an author who wrote that chapter 16.5. The concept was great, but the execution has been atrocious.

Ahahaha that Chapter 16.5....

Following every detail in the LN wouldn't have really made the plot any better, but at least you'd get to see more of the SAO world, Kirito as less of a Gary Stu, and see the relationship between Kirito and Asuna develop a little better. You'd get to see what the "first day" was like (after he ditches Klein), how he gets his sword, how Asuna gets her sword, what the first couple boss battles were actually like (they left out some stuff about the first boss battle for example), what the second and third floors were like, etc etc. It still wasted a lot of potential don't get me wrong, but at least it wouldn't be as bad IMO.

[Gold Vanguard]

Ahahaha that Chapter 16.5....

Following every detail in the LN wouldn't have really made the plot any better, but at least you'd get to see more of the SAO world, Kirito as less of a Gary Stu, and see the relationship between Kirito and Asuna develop a little better. You'd get to see what the "first day" was like (after he ditches Klein), how he gets his sword, how Asuna gets her sword, what the first couple boss battles were actually like (they left out some stuff about the first boss battle for example), what the second and third floors were like, etc etc. It still wasted a lot of potential don't get me wrong, but at least it wouldn't be as bad IMO.

Hey what does LN mean?

[Maou]

Hey what does LN mean?

Light novel.

[Blademaster!]

Also, from what I heard, compared to the other games, R;N was kind of a flop, but I honestly haven't looked at sales statistics or EGS ratings. So, while it's possible they'll make a good anime out of it, I'm trying not to be too optimistic.

R;N doesn't even have over 50 votes on EGS's, but it has a ~75, which I would say is mid tier/low mid tier. The main reason people seemed to dislike it was because it wasn't as good as S;G, but S;G is one of the most successful VN's ever, and the only one I know that, since it's release, has come close too (if not surpassing) Fate's success in terms of VN sales. It's just like how people didn't like Mahoyo because it wasn't as good as Fate, though Mahoyo from what I hear still sold decently for a regular VN but awful as a TM VN (though when you have to compete with two of the best selling VN's of the past decade in an age where VN sales seem to be on a big decline, it's not surprising to hear).

[uguu]

Just gonna say that if you don't want to read the jojo manga you need to watch the new anime. It visibly has a low budget but I think that the studio is using what little they have VERY well.

[tenkiforecast]

I should try the new Jojo anime, I like the manga. And just because something has a low budget doesn't mean that it'll be bad in any way. *looks at favorite series--sees that top two had extremely small budgets* It just depends on how it's used. Cowboy Bebop is the prime example--the series is heralded in the West as one of the best anime series ever made, and it had an extremely restricted animation budget. You can tell that they had to cut corners and take shortcuts, and it works beautifully. Revolutionary Girl Utena is the exact same way (the series, not the movie)--limited animation, so every shot is deliberate and for a point.

Light novels or visual novels...you get a coin flip for those. The series that are popular are either extremely good (Higurashi, Baccano!, Spice and Wolf), kind of mediocre in hindsight (Haruhi Suzumiya, IMO...kind of lost its luster for me), or just plain terrible (redacted for reasons of I will be flamed hard). I tend to do a lot of research before I start watching a series, so if something is really bad and it is from a light novel, I won't even notice it. The Visual novels tend to have worse luck, I think, because the ones that are adapted tend to be the dating sims...and those are *always* exemplar studies into human interaction...or just watch the last episode of School Days. =D

[Helios]

Tenkiforecast speaks the truth, except for Haruhi being mediocre (because Kyon is a funny dude) and the VNs that get adapted aren't all just dating sims (like Steins;Gate, Fate/Stay Night, etc), and even the ones that are like "choose a girl!" still have a lot more to their story than that (like Clannad, Kanon, hell even Shuffle). Just my opinion though.

Also if anyone is watching Shinsekai Yori, this fourth episode was awesome. Shit's starting to get real.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Helios

[Florete]

Angel Beats! was anime original.

[Helios]

Oh yeah I knew that...fix'd haha. The other anime mentioned are still great though!

[tenkiforecast]

Tenkiforecast speaks the truth, except for Haruhi being mediocre (because Kyon is a funny dude) and the VNs that get adapted aren't all just dating sims (like Steins;Gate, Fate/Stay Night, etc), and even the ones that are like "choose a girl!" still have a lot more to their story than that (like Clannad, Kanon, hell even Shuffle). Just my opinion though.

Also if anyone is watching Shinsekai Yori, this fourth episode was awesome. Shit's starting to get real.

I really enjoyed Haruhi the first time I watched it, but going back, it lost a lot of its luster for me. I can't really pin down why, but I don't enjoy it that much after the initial viewing. English, Kyon is the best part of the series, by far--Crispin Freeman hit the voice acting *perfectly.* It's similar in Japanese, but with Aya Hirano playing Haruhi beautifully. Aside from that, I don't have much to say. Maybe the abuse undertones from Haruhi's treatment of Mikuru just unnerve me too much.

I am not a huge romance fan, and for a romance series to catch my interest there has to be something else occurring. Fruits Basket, Revolutionary Girl Utena (maybe a romance?), and Princess Tutu build the romance plots into their narrative without it being an obvious "choose your pairing" ending. Those...I just have no interest, I really don't. Some of the others... um... not commenting because opinion is kind of controversial.

I think the biggest issue with the VN/LN adaptations is that fans of that media will watch the series and be so, so critical of *any* deviation from the LN/VN that any other good aspect of the anime is downplayed. I'll give Persona 4 as the example... I tried watching the anime, but decided that I would get the same story with more detail and character development by just playing the game. The problem is they could not make any deviations from the established canon without offending people (except messing with teh audience about the pairing, which I found very entertaining). The Haruhi movie is the other blatant example. It should not be 3 hours long. There is a lot of padding that could be cut out, but because the fandom is more than a little crazy, any change would have made people go nuts. As a result... 3 hour movie... X_x;

[phokingbeast]

fairy tail

steins; gate

toradora

[tenkiforecast]

Finally went and watched Fate/Zero on Crunchyroll. Overall thoughts...well...

They spent a lot of money on this series. Almost every voice actor was a veteran known for at least one major role in the past, and it does show up in the series. Some performances were weaker, but overall it was well-acted. Kotomine seemed really bland early on, but that was probably intentional... plus Joji Nakata can pull off the ham easily, right Alucard?

The animation, well...you can tell that they did have a budget. And that budget was saved for the fight sequences. Most other scenes had extremely limited animation or took shortcuts in character movement to allow for the battles. I would have liked to see a bit more diversity in the other scenes (The opening in particular--HEY KOTOMINE, WE'LL WALK AROUND YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES AND RECYCLE THAT ANIMATION WHILE WE EXPOSIT), but they were conserving the budget for the really flashy sequences. And some of those really paid off.

Rider is by far the best character. Oh Alexander the Great, why are you so awesome. What he did throughout the series really made it enjoyable for me--in particular because he is the one who really challenged Saber/King Arthur. He challenged her ideals, he shook her beliefs to the core, and he gave an example why he became the "King of Conquerors." Gilgamesh never challenged Saber intellectually. He never posed a moral threat, he was simply evil, arrogant, and hedonistic. All of Rider's conflicts arose out of character differences and ideals, not the basic "I want the treasure because its treasure."

Fate/Zero was enjoyable. Overall, well-made even if they needed to conserve a lot on the animation to pull off the major fight sequences (Cthulhu. That is all). The story was also well-told and gave not only the servants but the masters a reason for their conflicts beyond the Holy Grail that was not manipulative in how much the other person exists on the evil vs. good scale. Most of the characters were varying on the gray aspect of the morality scale, and those that were struggled with how it matched their ideals (Kiritsugu in particular by the end). They did not seem wholly stereotypical, and it was slightly difficult to predict how their characterization would change.

The reason it took me so long to watch this, I have eluded to previously. I think Fate/Stay Night is an overhyped piece of trash. The premise has a lot of potential, as pulled off by Fate/Zero. Fate/Stay-Night has characters that are extremely boring to me, are stereotypical, and have no other reason to combat each other except for the treasure and "Hey this guy is a completely evil douchebag, go kill him." The latter part manifested in Caster in Fate/Zero, but even then he found a reason to antagonize Saber, even if not intentionally. I didn't like any of the major characters in Fate/Stay-Night, or their characterization and evolution pissed me off. I could not tell what was going on because of the legions upon legions of padding. Everything is padded in Fate/Stay-Night beyond belief. Most glorious is Kotomine explaining the rules of the Holy Grail War. For 10 minutes. And you get no other option but to listen to it. For 10 minutes. Magic is explained not during combat or a prepared defense but in a classroom sense. Same thing for fighting--all in exposition, we rarely see a scene of learning under fire. And then there are the ungodly long cooking segments (because that is COMPLETELY NECESSARY, RIGHT) and harem shenanigans (in particular piss me off, harem shows are just ugh). I also really do not like the inclusion of sex into stories unless it is really necessary or says something deep about the characters. Fate/Stay-Night, it does not. It is almost always a "means to an end" to be better prepared for battle. Contrast Utena--it shows the manipulative aspects of Akio's character, illustrates how he uses this instinct to control people and bend them to his will. Contrast Berserk--Guts and Casca's relationship has been growing over the entire series (anime) or since volume 4 (manga) and occurs when both are emotionally exhausted and have dropped all their barriers. In the manga, Guts breaks even further as it forces him to recall his childhood abuse. It is rare that sex scenes are pulled off well in media, they are usually there for fanservice. That is what happens here...and it really disturbs me. This is another thing I liked about Fate/Zero. The entire sex thing was dropped. It was never mentioned or brought up in any way, and that was a great move on the part of the writers.

In short, Fate/Stay-Night would have been better in the hands of a better writer. Oh wait, that happened. Go watch Fate/Zero instead.

[Samven]

Fate/Zero does indeed kick arse but I thought the second season was a bit lacking. A lot went unexplained, like this Angra Mainyu malarky that was name-dropped in one episode and I felt the fights lost a lot of their oomph towards the end... and Kiritsugu didn't even get an EMIYA theme music power up. Oh well... Hopefully the blu-ray will fix that.

I've been "watching" Sword Art Online. By which I mean my friends and I have been doing sarcastic riffs on entire episodes. Just... It's rare to find something that's so unapologetically bad in every way, shape and form but it somehow crosses the Awfulness Event Horizon with gusto.

[Florete]

Sword Art Online is just unbelievably bad. I didn't think a show could be this bad, much less one with as good a premise as this one has. And yet its sales are through the roof. It's practically guaranteed a sequel.

On another note, Little Busters appears to be getting down to business. Key hasn't let me down yet, so I'm really hoping J.C. Staff doesn't screw this one up. VN readers seem satisfied overall with the adaptation thus far, and they've already confirmed that they aren't trying to squeeze the entire thing into 26 episodes. Since it was speculated that they'd need ~100 episodes to adapt everything reasonably, that is very good news indeed (although I doubt they'll actually go so far unless it sells like hotcakes).

[Gold Vanguard]

Right right now I'm watching Ikki tousen. Biggest waste of money every!!!