Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Texhnolyze is probably the most non-silly anime I've ever seen. Even Now and Then, Here and There has more silly moments in it.
Texhnolyze is NOT silly... still a great series, though. :/ |
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GeminiDS85
Posts: 391 |
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Speaking of silly anime, I just finished up Elf Princess Rane:
This 2 episode OAV was a bizarre slapstick comedy that triggered more than a few gigantic outburst of laughter. Everything from the plot to the music is ridiculous; for example, there is a fantastically terrible early 90’s anime rap that almost had me in tears. If you have been looking for some older anime to check out, this short OAV is a terrific choice. Rating: Very good |
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supercreep
 Posts: 526 |
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I watched it when it first came out, and the ending is burned into my mind. At the time, I found it to be devastating. All I could do was stare at the screen until I recovered. Anyway, Natsume's Book of Friends finally made me shed a couple of tears. Epsidode 30 (or the 4th episode of the third season,) "Young Days," broke through my manly exterior. My childhood was never as bad as Natsume's, but there was a time when I was bullied pretty relentlessly. I certainly know how it feels like to be followed home and mocked by a couple of jerks. This series frequently gets to me, but never like this. I am suitably impressed. |
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504NOSON2
 Subscriber Posts: 647 Location: Body:Santa Barbara, CA ~ Heart:New Orleans, LA |
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I've currently been following Mysterious Girlfriend X, and while I've made it a practice to cover my eyes each time Akira imbibes Urabe's saliva, I'm finding the show rather entertaining. The cumulative process of normalcy slowly developing in the leads' relationship intrigues me and I want to see how or if Urabe actually develops normal intimate feelings for Akira, and where the relationship goes from there. The writing is also, impressively, keeping an -- while unique and weird -- simplistic plot entertaining and unfolding.
I'm watching Last Exile for the very first time, and I must say that it is a visual treat. The aviation battle scenes are awesome, but the story and the atmosphere of mystery surrounding the Grand Stream, Exile and how young Al relates to it present a riveting classic. SaiKano was in my backlog (half-watched) for a while, now. So, I decided to start burning through it earlier today. Man, I started from episode 7 and ended at 9, and my chest still pains me. This show took a turn from a silly, contrived attempt at pathos, to the most depressing thing I can even remember right now. Concerning Moribito, while I've seen only a guesstimated total of 7 episodes, I was impressed by what I saw. Balsa's strength and sense of duty and honor parallel the Major's, from Ghost in The Shell. The setting does play a pivotal role in the show, from what I've seen, as there is in fact extensive traveling through forestry and county sides. But, that adds to the beauty of the experience, which includes enchanting music and cool fight sequences. Edit: Hmmm, I think I'll be checking out Texhnolyze pretty soon now. Thanks! |
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Fifth B
 Posts: 213 |
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Over the last month or so, I’ve been rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura. It’s been a few years since I last watched the entire thing from start to finish, and I was feeling a wee bit nostalgic. CCS was one of the first shows I fell in love with when I was just starting out as an “active” anime fan, and the two book sets which Geneon put out were two of the first anime DVDs I bought. Unsurprisingly, the show has some strong memories attached to it, so I wanted to see if it still held up.
The short version is, it most definitely does. Make no mistake, this time around, it’s flaws where much more apparent to me, and I found them harder to ignore. For one thing, the show does slide into formula all too often, and there were several episodes which were simply not needed, such as the one involving the Silent Card. And although I was always aware that it was a children’s show, this was the first time where I actually felt like I was watching something for children, if that makes any sense. To put it another way, the fact that I, a 21-year-old dude, was watching and immensely enjoying a show for ten-year-old girls, fully sank in. Despite all that, however, I still love the show. Those unnecessary episodes? They’re still a whole lot of fun! Even though it shows it’s age, CCS is still beautiful visually, with striking costumes, vibrant yet gentle colours, and some spectacular imagery that blends the occult with more traditional magical girl trappings in an unthreatening manner. It’s also rather commendable for its ability to create its own little hidden world of magic without letting the story of Clow Reed and all that overwhelm everything. I stand by my old opinion that the show is at its best in the final third, after Platinum becomes the opening, and where all the developments, both of plot and characters, come to a head. It is in that final third where CCS truly shines as a charming coming of age story, one which, like so many magical girl shows, deals with themes of love, of encountering new experiences and feelings, of dealing with loss, and ultimately growing as a person. And ultimately, the reason why I love this show, and I think why most people still love it, always comes back to the characters. They are simply delightful, and wonderfully written. I think what makes them so endearing, to both children and some adults (not those kind, but that’s a can of worms I don’t want to open), is that they strike a perfect balance between believable and idealized. Sakura herself, for instance is equal parts childish and mature, capable of making important decisions and handling difficult situations through her own wits, but is not above accepting help from others, or irrational fears. Furthermore, all of the major characters face problems or dilemmas which are relatable to anybody who was ever a child, but their responses are always healthy. When dealing with loss, they acknowledge the pain, but make amends and move forward. Rivalries become friendship through a slow process of interaction and mutual struggle, which, while it also contributes to the bloated episode count, makes for a much more believable shift in character relationships. Indeed, the mood is just so positive that I would compare it to Aria in many ways. Also, I never noticed this the first time around, but it really is quite clever how these kids are shown to be dealing with these emotions and experiences far better than several of the adult characters. So, yeah. At one point I described this show as a deconstruction of the magical girl genre. I no longer hold that view, but realize that it is simply a well-told story overall, that keeps the tried-and-true elements of the genre fresh. I still think Sakura is a wonderful and admirable lead. I still think Tomoyo is weird but a wonderful friend to everybody else in the show. I still think Clow Reed is something of a douche-hound. And I still loves me some Cardcaptor Sakura. It’s not my favorite show, it’s not even among my top thirty, but it is still a supporting favorite. If I ever have kids, and if they, when they’re young, ever express an interest in the cartoons I have an unhealthy obsession with which is why mommy left us and I now live in a loft above a garage in the bad part of town, this is what I’m showing them.
I really dig Last Exile. Great mechanical designs, good characters, spectacular battles. You're in for a treat! Last edited by Fifth B on Tue May 29, 2012 2:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6533 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Same studio, director (the Stand Alone versions, at any rate) and design teams. I see Balsa as a significantly improved version of the Major. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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There are things I'm afraid of in this world. Not spiders or anything (mostly because I'm just not normal there and would be lying if I didn't admit I found spiders gorgeous), but things like dogs, and large bodies of water. And sports anime. Yes, most of this stems from being a nerd and not knowing jack about sports. But well, Hikaru no Go, while not an actual sport, is definitely similar in that I still barely know anything about Go after playing it and lots of games were played. But ok, we all know how much I loved that manga (it's only my favorite shonen manga of all time), Hikago was kinda a bridge to try out an actual sports series, right?
Ok, so Viz started releasing the Cross Game manga (I think they're almost done), probably in part due to a multitude of people asking for some series by Mitsuru Adachi over here, and I read 5 volumes of it. I'd call myself a freakin' saint for reading 5 volumes, almost 30% of the damn series, because I did not like it. I just didn't find it very engaging, it was a chore to read, Hikago read like butter. It read like buttered butter it was that smooth. So with my trust of sports series once again in tatters, in particular baseball, I knew that Big Windup! had been sitting on my shelf for well over a year and knew I'd have to try it out sometime. It was a trade, ok? I can't imagine ever actually buying that series all on my own, because as much as I don't care about football and basketball, I care even less about baseball. Always the most damn boring unit in gym class, even more boring than that yoga thing we did, and always the most damn boring thing I could think to watch on TV. I'd rather watch public access in a language I don't even understand than baseball. I would feel less embarrassed to be at a Justin Beiber concert while watching Jersey Shore on my computer while there and wearing a Twilight shirt than to be caught watching baseball (even as an accidental "cat hit the remote" sort of thing, I'd be embarrassed to have live baseball even on my TV). Seriously, I don't understand Japan's obsession with it, clearly it must be a cultural thing, because for being "America's pastime", I don't think I've ever personally met anyone who cared one iota about baseball. Not to mention that it's a hell of a lot easier to find a few guys to play a game of 3 on 3 or even 1 on 1 basketball or ultimate frisbee (or frisbee golf if there's only two of you) with than to find 18 freakin' people and at least one person to call throws and runs and a baseball field while there are actually basketball and tennis courts in the cities. I dunno, just doesn't seem practical to call it "America's pastime" when it's not exactly easy to set up (and frisbees are cheaper). So yeah, clearly was not looking forward to this. But, after 7 episodes, I must say that while I still think baseball is a silly silly game, Big Windup does have the potential to interest me in sports anime/manga again after Cross Game so neatly and nearly killed off interest for me permanently. And that's because I really think BW had more in common with Hikago than CG if you ask me. Ok, so Hikago never spent 5 freakin' episodes on a single game, but I'm talking about the large amounts of inner monologues, strategy thinking, and personal demons to overcome kind of thing. BW is clearly team based because baseball is, but Hikago gave me some team mentality too, or more just the cheering for your friends thing, even when you were the one playing them (it made them feel kinda like a team basically). So, we shall see how this goes, as BW was literally the last chance I was willing to give the sports genre of anime and manga. I had heard good things about it, and so far, well I'll shamefully admit I was rather on the edge of my seat at points. Strangely, I do look forward to putting the next disc in, and being a massive shipper of the second most inappropriate shippings I can see (I don't ship relatives. No way), I am rather hoping for some bromance between the pitcher and the catcher (no pun intended), not yaoi, just bromance. Actually, isn't One Outs baseball? And didn't that guy do Liar Game? Ok, maybe I'll check that out if BW goes over well enough. Now call me when they make blernsball an official sport, I'd watch that. |
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jmfsilenthill
 Posts: 1863 Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz |
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Just recently finished watching Dance in the Vampire Bund. I thought it was just ok. Too much creepy fanservice in this show for my taste. I might eventually sell my boxset.
Started watching The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye last night. Have had these dvds forever so I figured it was time to go through some of my backlog. I enjoyed the first episode well enough, but I may switch to the Japanese dub as I don't really dig the English one. |
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Kyoyafangirl445
Posts: 11 |
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Watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time yesterday before work. It was good, though I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would. There were just too many questions I had after I finished the film and I felt it should have been longer in order to answer those questions. But it was still a nice watch and I would reccomend it to my friends. I would rate it Very Good.
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FinalArcadia
 Posts: 15 Location: Southern USA |
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I've finally caught up to Japan after watching episode 55 of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal. Despite what people might think about the main character, ZeXal is really good. Honestly, it's my favorite YGO now.
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Botan24
 Posts: 684 Location: Northern Michigan |
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@classicalzawa
So happy you are enjoying Big Windup! I recently posted on another forum about how this title doesn't get enough love. It really is a good character study, even though the games are drug out over four or five episodes. And, I agree that, it doesn't interest me in playing baseball in the least. But what really hooked me were the characters; all of them. Just a quick example of how much I enjoyed the show: I went out and bought parts one and two after watching the first four episodes on hulu. |
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504NOSON2
Subscriber Posts: 647 Location: Body:Santa Barbara, CA ~ Heart:New Orleans, LA |
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I'm 21 episodes in, as of now. I truly don't want it to end.
I agree. She has all the strong points, but with the annoying traits removed. |
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kaydub
 Posts: 318 Location: Cincinnati, OH |
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Finished The Tatami Galaxy, and one word comes to mind to describe it... brilliant.
I was hooked from the beginning and each episode was refreshing and intriguing despite nearly every one telling the same story a different way... or perhaps each one was telling a different story the same way. The Kafka-esque spoiler[descent into madness towards the end] was quite entertaining, and I don't even like Kafka. As an added bonus, the ending was one of the few that I've seen recently in which I was more or less completely satisfied with. Didn't leave out anything that needed to be addressed, didn't include anything that didn't need to be addressed. The artwork was great, as I mentioned in my earlier post. Quite unique compared to anything else I've watched, and it works wonderfully with every other aspect of the show. The music was great as well, the OP by AKG is obviously fitting given the art style (and AKG is always great anyways), and the ED is hauntingly catchy (and I was delighted to discover the chiptune version!). Very glad I decided to watch it, easily one of my new favorites. |
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle
 Posts: 1288 Location: Mastic Beach, NY |
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Catching up on more stuff I watched recently:
I watched all of Puella Magi Madoka Magica in one day. After receiving the 2nd LE set I decided to watch from the beginning. After watching the BDs I decided I did not want to wait until June to finish it so I put on my pirate hat and eyepatch (yarr!) and watched the rest via fansubs. I could go on at incredible length about this show (and probably will on the discussion thread at some point-I'm sure it will get a bounce next month when volume 3 comes out), but I don't want to make a huge spoiler-tagged post here right now. I'll just say that, after thinking about it, this is definitely the best TV anime I've seen come out of Japan in the last 5 years, maybe more. Although I had some slight reservations immediately after watching it, upon further reflection I rated this show as a masterpiece. I've only given that rating to 12 out of 334 anime titles in my "seen all" list and few are TV shows, but I really feel this one deserved that rating. Now if only Aniplex's release lived up to the content... After watching something new, I decided I needed to watch something from my massive backog so I watched the Macross Plus OVA, which has only been sitting in my collection for over 4 years. Although, even allowing for the fact it was made about 17 years ago, it was very predictable I still enjoyed it immensely. I though it was very well written and animated, and felt that they did a great job (considering when this was made) of integrating the CGI stuff with the cel animation. It was also nice to watch a show with adult characters for a change, and they even have facial features like noses, lips and chins (Myung's schnozz could double as a can opener). I rated this anime as "excellent". |
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ailblentyn
 Posts: 1688 Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney |
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I'm with you on Macross Plus. Even the hackneyed youthful-friendship-triangle-soured-over-a-romance but didn't damage it to my mind. The effects are still superb and exciting, and the story surprisingly interesting despite the lack of novelty.
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