Anime Discussion Thread

[ciphertul]

14 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Normally, I only watch romance shows that are about two people who are already a couple at the start of the series

I’m definitely the opposite here, I generally don’t like those kinds as I feel like they often waste good characters. Like take Tonikaku for example, I like the childhood friend more than the wife but she has 0 chances as Nasa was already married before she confessed. I will admit this might just be my dislike of the “first girl, best girl” trope.

[vanguard333]

5 hours ago, ciphertul said:

I’m definitely the opposite here, I generally don’t like those kinds as I feel like they often waste good characters. Like take Tonikaku for example, I like the childhood friend more than the wife but she has 0 chances as Nasa was already married before she confessed. I will admit this might just be my dislike of the “first girl, best girl” trope.

Honestly, I feel stringing along characters as if they have a chance, when they don't, is the real waste, so I really liked how Tonikawa handled the childhood friend character. Since the author isn't trying to pretend that she has a chance, the story instead does other things with her character, though admittedly most of those are in the form of comic relief.

That said, I would say a far better example would be Kamiya from Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie: her finding out that she has no chance with Izumi is handled dramatically rather than comedically and she forms a strong friendship with Shikimori.

[joevar]

On 12/24/2022 at 10:11 PM, vanguard333 said:

Did I just describe Lodoss War, or most Fire Emblem games?

uhh..

On 12/24/2022 at 10:11 PM, vanguard333 said:

Record of Lodoss War and the Dragon Quest games basically became the template for the sword-&-sorcery genre in Japan;

you just explained yourself in previous paragraphs 😄

---------------

On 12/24/2022 at 10:11 PM, vanguard333 said:

Deedlit is none of those things; she does have a couple characteristically elven traits like being a friend to all living things, but she's also outgoing, friendly, cheerful, enthusiastic, full of life, and generally a ball of fun. I believe the term TV Tropes uses for this is Genki Girl. She is not only the character that stands out the most, but she's probably also the best character in the series.

iirc Japan elf design become like it is now because of deedlit. everyone is just a cheap copy of deedlit. while previously it was more abstract/fairy-like like in Berserk's elf. 

But i want to ask: which one did you watch? since afaik theres more than one anime of Lodoss. and also how "complete" it is, regarding the anime vs source material story? been wanting to watch this for so long but holding it in fear of disappointment from cliffhanger story. (i hate story thats left hanging like many discontinued 80-90 anime story)

[ciphertul]

11 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Honestly, I feel stringing along characters as if they have a chance, when they don't, is the real waste, so I really liked how Tonikawa handled the childhood friend character. Since the author isn't trying to pretend that she has a chance, the story instead does other things with her character, though admittedly most of those are in the form of comic relief.

That said, I would say a far better example would be Kamiya from Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie: her finding out that she has no chance with Izumi is handled dramatically rather than comedically and she forms a strong friendship with Shikimori.

I haven’t watched Shikimori as I don’t like the pre-establish relationships. Now I’m not saying everything has to be like Isekai Nobiri Nouka but I at least like seeing often better options be given a chance. There was a manga I read that did subvert expectations on it that was nice.

[vanguard333]

6 hours ago, joevar said:

uhh..

you just explained yourself in previous paragraphs 😄

Yes; I originally made the point, then I provided an example to illustrate my point (the "did I just describe Lodoss War or Fire Emblem?" was rhetorical and was there to reinforce the point).

 

6 hours ago, joevar said:

But I want to ask: which one did you watch? since afaik there's more than one anime of Lodoss. and also how "complete" it is, regarding the anime vs source material story? been wanting to watch this for so long but holding it in fear of disappointment from cliffhanger story. (i hate story thats left hanging like many discontinued 80-90 anime story)

I watched the original OVAs from 1990. I haven't read the light novels, so I can't really say exactly how much of the source material the OVAs adapt, but, if I remember correctly, the OVAs cover the first couple volumes, and then the later anime picks up roughly where the OVAs left off only to also end before the end of the novels.

That said, while the OVAs do end long before the end of the light novels, they don't end on a cliffhanger; they do have a proper conclusion.

[joevar]

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

I watched the original OVAs from 1990. I haven't read the light novels, so I can't really say exactly how much of the source material the OVAs adapt, but, if I remember correctly, the OVAs cover the first couple volumes, and then the later anime picks up roughly where the OVAs left off only to also end before the end of the novels.

so the one with 13 episodes, correct?  

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

That said, while the OVAs do end long before the end of the light novels, they don't end on a cliffhanger; they do have a proper conclusion.

oh thats nice. hopefully now i can find a way to watch it.

got another "old but gold" series to recommend?

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, joevar said:

so the one with 13 episodes, correct?  

oh thats nice. hopefully now i can find a way to watch it.

got another "old but gold" series to recommend?

I believe so, yes.

It's available on Crunchyroll thanks to Crunchyroll's recent merger with Funimation.

Um... no; not really; Lodoss War is the oldest anime that I've watched. The next-oldest on the list of anime I've seen are Naruto and Bleach; both of which began in the early 2000s. And I began my existence in the late 90s, so please don't say the early 2000s is old.

Edited February 28, 2023 by vanguard333

[ciphertul]

Supposedly The 100 girlfriends who really, really, really, really love you (yes that is the name) is finally getting an anime. I can’t wait for it, it has been one of my favorite mangas.

[vanguard333]

Well, I just watched the first (and so far only) episode of the new Konosuba prequel/spin-off about Megumin: Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

My brother introduced me to Konosuba a couple years ago, and I kept watching because it's hilarious. It's cool to see it get more content. One thing I particularly like about this new series is this: it's hard to get a prequel right, and it's hard to get a spin-off that focuses on only one member of the original ensemble cast right; this new series is doing both at the same time, and yet it's really good.

[ciphertul]

26 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Well, I just watched the first (and so far only) episode of the new Konosuba prequel/spin-off about Megumin: Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

My brother introduced me to Konosuba a couple years ago, and I kept watching because it's hilarious. It's cool to see it get more content. One thing I particularly like about this new series is this: it's hard to get a prequel right, and it's hard to get a spin-off that focuses on only one member of the original ensemble cast right; this new series is doing both at the same time, and yet it's really good.

The problem I have with base series (and all of this mankata's) is that the characters are just so one note. I have read and watched Konosuba,  Kemono Michi and Combatants will be dispatched but all the characters are pretty same-y and boring. Except Grimm, she is great.

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, ciphertul said:

The problem I have with base series (and all of this mankata's) is that the characters are just so one note. I have read and watched Konosuba,  Kemono Michi and Combatants will be dispatched but all the characters are pretty same-y and boring. Except Grimm, she is great.

Interesting. I never really saw the characters as one-note, but I can definitely see how one would see them that way.

I've never heard of those latter two series; what are they about?

[ciphertul]

5 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Interesting. I never really saw the characters as one-note, but I can definitely see how one would see them that way.

I've never heard of those latter two series; what are they about?

Kemono Michi is about a professional wrestler that get isekai’d. They want him to kill all the demonic beasts but he is an animal lover who makes to make them all happy pets.

Combatants is about what if a power ranger villain lackey got sent to a medieval world on a mission to conquer it.

I do think Combatants is the best, the main female cast is Snow (she really reminds me of a fusion between Aqua and Darkness), Rose (who is a lot like Megumin but is embarrassed about being a chuuni) and Grimm (She is literally the butt of almost every joke) who is best girl.

Edited April 7, 2023 by ciphertul

[vanguard333]

I just remembered another show that I decided to try during what little spare time I have had these past few weeks: The Case Study of Vanitas. I figured I'd watch the first three episodes and then decide if I want to keep watching it or not.

It's an anime about vampires, and it's set in a steampunk version of 19th Century Paris. If that already sounds weird, that's only scratching the surface of how bizarre it is so far, and I'm only at episode 2.

And that's by no means a point against the show; I actually tend to find... unique... premises very interesting; the first anime I ever watched was a Canadian & Japanese animated series called Spider Riders.

I'm not normally a fan of steampunk, and I only recently became interested in vampire stories after reading the Dracula novel, but I am finding this show interesting so far. I can't really say much else about it right now though since I'm only on episode 2.

 

EDIT: I have now finished seasons 1 and 2, and I am definitely looking forward to season 3.

Edited April 28, 2023 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm typically full of praise for Full Metal Alchemist but I seem to be in the minority in the sense that I somewhat dislike the ending. The Final arc was great and all but Ed's last choice always rubbed me the wrong way. The decision Ed reached to get what he want would make perfect sense if Alchemy was some sort of magic but its....not. The series keeps establishing that its more science based rather than outright sorcery. 

So in that sense....

Spoiler

Edward making a deal with god to give up his alchemy just sounds weird. Its like him being allowed to bring back Alphonse because he gave up his ability to do math, or lose his grammar skills. 

On another FMA related note I've always been conflicted about Kimblee. His personality is interesting and he looks absolutely fabulous. These attributes makes it such a shame that he's honestly kind of a loser. If Kimblee doesn't rely on an in universe cheat code he's a pretty awful fighter who gets his ass kicked very early on in the fight. 

[ciphertul]

They started to release PVs for the 100 girlfriends that really love you and it’s looking really good. Supposedly it releases in October.

[vanguard333]

I recently tried a rom-com called Horimiya, and at a rather good time to do so, as it turned out, as I began watching it right around the time trailers released for season 2.

I'm most of the way through season 1, and I enjoyed it overall. I like that the two main characters get together fairly quickly and most of the show is about the two of them being in a relationship, unlike most shows which drag things out endlessly and end the moment the relationship starts (if it does actually start).

[Akemi Nakajima]

I never watch any anime subtitled unless there isn't already an english dub available for it. And once there is an english dub, I never watch it subtitled again. And it is so annoying when you are looking for a clip of an anime on YouTube and when you find it, the damn thing is subtitled and not with the english voice acting. And the weebs who upload them don't even mention this either as if they want to force you to listen to it in a language you don't even speak. I can't stand people like this. I'm not japanese god dammit. Post the thing with the english voice acting or don't post it at all. Almost every single clip of Spy x Family on YouTube is subtitled too. And the excuses that these people like to make such as "the voice sounds bettur!" or "It's out of respect for the creator's work" are annoying, even if the characters aren't japanese, like the ones in Spy x Family which doesn't even take place in Japan, they always pull that shit. Plus they disregard the fact that the creators of these shows go out of their way to get the shows dubbed in the first place, and some of these creators even go as far as to say that their english dubs are far superior.  And no, Spy x Family's japanese voice cast especially doesn't fit ANYONE in the show at all. How could anyone sit there and say the japanese voices in something like Spy x Family are more fitting when in the english dub, Loid and Yor are played by ACTUAL adults, and don't sound like fucking teenagers like they do in japanese? What are they smoking?  Another good example is Robotech. In the english version, the character Max Sterling is played by the legendary Cam Clarke, and the voice suits the character perfectly, unlike the japanese voice which is too monotone and doesn't fit the character at all. But again, annoying weebs continue to make stupid excuses trying to justify this and just use the whole mindless "ENGLISH VOICE = BAD, JAPANESE VOICE = GOOD" mentality, no matter what. It's also annoying when weebs try to compare dubbing an anime in another language to dubbing a live action work in another language. Live action productions are completely different! Live action works feature real people on camera! Animated productions aren't like that! Some of these people even refuse to watch NON-japanese animated works in anything other than japanese, like that guy on "X" who constantly harasses various voice actors telling them to quit their jobs and let japanese voice actors take care of all their work for them. I don't want to say his name here because I don't want to draw attention to him, but there's a chance certain people here probably know who I am talking about since he has become quite infamous on there as of late.

[Etrurian emperor]

In general its hard for me not to feel a little disillusioned by the recent anime offering.

Partially it has to do with the Isekai craze but that's mostly a taste thing. Shield Hero might not be for me but I'm sure it has some artistic merit. But lately there seems to be a very common sub set of Isekai that turned everything cringe about Isekai up to eleven. A sub set where the self insert isn't just perfect but extremely so. I've not have the displeasure of seeing it myself but I heard grumbling about one isekai have the main character effortlessly killing and then reviving the strongest person around endlessly to show how uber amazing the self insert is. Then you have titles like ''My unique skill makes me OP at level one!'' which speaks for itself.

And what's up with anime names lately? You almost literally have titles like this

''I got run over by a train but then I got warped to another world where I'm god, but my mom is the main villain there, and she hooked up with the train that killed me!'' 

[vanguard333]

@Etrurian emperor The Isekai craze is absurd; there are so many of them now. My favourite statement about the huge amount of Isekai would have to be a comment I saw under a video of the opening of Record of Lodoss War (the 1990 anime that was one of the earliest sword-&-sorcery anime):

"Not as clumsy or random as your 108th Isekai rehash; an elegant anime for a more civilized age."

That said, there is some good anime releasing right now; the second cour of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is airing now, and... I actually can't think of much else. There's season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen, which is getting to a part of the story that a lot of people like but isn't really my cup of tea.

[Hrothgar777]

On 9/17/2023 at 10:28 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

''I got run over by a train but then I got warped to another world where I'm god, but my mom is the main villain there, and she hooked up with the train that killed me!'' 

 

I would watch this, not gonna lie.

[ciphertul]

1st episode of "The 100 girlfriends who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You" is finally up on Crunchy. I can't watch it yet but I can't wait too.

[vanguard333]

Season 2 of Spy x Family has begun, and it is really good so far. Moreover, I've heard a lot of good things about the cruise ship arc that it seems like season 2 will be adapting, so I'm looking forward to season 2 getting to that story arc.

[Etrurian emperor]

Dragon Ball did the most spooky halloween reveal of the decade. A return of GT's premise but for every single character. 

 

 

[vanguard333]

Season 2 of Spy x Family is in the middle of the long-awaited cruise ship arc: the first major story arc to focus on Yor's career as an assassin rather than one of Loid's spy missions, and it is fantastic so far.

In other announcements, there's now a trailer for the upcoming Spy x Family movie: Spy x Family: Code: White

I'm both looking forward to it and a little nervous. On the one hand, it looks like it'll be following the typical anime movie template: Main Characters go to [insert new location here] and have an isolated adventure, which makes me a bit nervous. On the other hand, the studio has demonstrated that they are able to make anime-original content that is almost indistinguishable from manga content, so this is probably going to be pretty good.

 

EDIT: Speaking of anime movies, I finally saw the Black Clover movie: Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King. It was really good, though I say that as a Black Clover fan. If I had one criticism (besides the movie only being on Netflix when the show itself isn't), it would be that the movie's pacing was a bit too fast; Black Clover is always very quick with its story arcs, both to its advantage and disadvantage, and I think, for the movie, the fast pace meant there wasn't much room for certain moments to breathe. In any case, the action and animation are great and the new villains are interesting.

Edited December 13, 2023 by vanguard333

[ciphertul]

Today was the last episode of 100 Girlfriends and it got greenlit for a second season so I can't wait. The first season goes up to GF 6 and the end of the final episode teases the nest 5 GFs. As most of my favorites are in that group, it's gonna be a good season.