Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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If you don't care who answers your question, I really really liked it. I ended up watching it again and enjoyed it more the second time around for sure. It's always compared to NGE, but it's far far less angsty if that is a concern. And it definitely feels like its own thing at the end of the day. |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2796 |
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Recently,I discovered a couple of anime that I'd like to tell you about. The first one is called "Kenichi:The Mightiest Disciple." This one's about a teenage boy named Kenichi,who's been bullied for years. That all changes when he meets a girl named Miyu who is immensely pretty. They quickly become friends and Kenichi finds out that there's more to his new friend than just good looks when she beats up some thugs harassing an old man. Interested in learning more and wanting to spend more time with Miyu,he goes to her home,which is a martial arts dojo. But then,he has second thoughts when he sees the type of martial arts masters that are there.
There's the testosterone-filled karate expert who would give Bruce Lee,Chuck Norris,Jet Li,Jean-Claude Van Damme,and other Hollywood martial artists a run for their money. Also,there's the quiet loner weapons expert,the taciturn jujitsu expert,the friendly but perverted Chinese Kenpo master,and the friendly and childlike but tough Muay Thai master. And,last but not least,Miyu's grandfather who's rarely lost a fight in his life. Kenichi wonders if he's made a mistake when they agree to train him. He then finds out that their methods seem to have been inspired by the Spanish Inquisition then any normal method of martial arts training. But he finds out that the training is worthwhile when other,less friendly martial artists track him down. Some want to recruit him to their gangs while some others want to put him in the hospital or the morgue. This is a really fun anime that's helped by the goofy but lovable characters that make up Kenichi's world. There's his kind but overprotective father,sensible mother,and loving but extremely protective little sister. There's also the Vulcan lookalike that has info on everyone and loves to frighten Kenichi to death with the latest maniac out to pound him into the ground. If you can,try to find "Kenichi:The Mightiest Disciple." You'll enjoy it as much as I did. You'll thank me later for seeing it. Some time ago,I had a post here called "Portrayals of America and Americans in anime." I don't know if anything similar about other countries like Great Britain have shown up but if there was one,the one that would fit nicely in the bizarre category is "Black Butler,"an extremely weird show that's set in Victorian London. This show revolves around a kid named Ciel Phantomhive,an aristocrat who lost his parents one night when arsonists burned down his family's estate. With the help of his demonic butler,Sebastian and the staff of his manor,he tries to track down those who burned down his house and killed his parents. Understandably,this sort of thing has made Ciel a very dour person as he solves weird cases like the Jack the Ripper murders. This anime is kind of dark and strange and it's portrayal of late 19th Century Britain is as strange as it gets. It has a London filled with spirits,ghosts,and other bizarre things. I don't know how the British anime fans feel about this but I thought it was a little too dark for my tastes. There are periods of comic relief from the staff but for the most part,it's a little too dark for me. "Black Butler" is an undeniably weird show which will delight some and scare others away. This wasn't my cup of tea but I'm sure that there are other who'll like it. Well,those are my discoveries. Last edited by Snomaster1 on Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Oh, I knew you liked it. I was trying to get lossthief to provide some reasons. Also, I love RahXephon and like hearing what people thought of it, especially someone who just marathoned in a few days. |
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle
 Posts: 1288 Location: Mastic Beach, NY |
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One day recently while home sick from work I was looking at some stuff I bought recently and decided to watch all of Serial Experiments Lain, having just gotten the new Blu-Ray release last month. I had watched it twice before, once in English and once in Japanese with subtitles, which is how I watched it this time (I have the old Geneon Signature Series singles). It's a great show but somehow I had a different impression of it this time around. I actually am wondering if-and how much-the subtitles on this new version vary from the other (they used the same English dub) as they were definitely redone. One thing I recall from the Pioneer/Geneon release was whenever Lain's double was referenced she was called "Rain" in the subtitles, but that is not done in the new titles. Fortunately, unlike the subtitles on some FUNimation Blu-Rays these were legible. The picture quality is definitely improved over the original release, but I don't think the new release has all the extras that were on the old discs so I think, at least for now, I'll keep the old DVDs (even though the new release is a combo set).
Catching up with some more stuff I watched at the end of 2012: I recently completed season 2 of School Rumble. Although it was not as funny as season 1 it was still a lot of fun most of the time. Unfortunately, it seems the writers ran out of gags at times (or maybe were running ahead of the manga) so they sometimes resorted to doing parody episodes. The 2-episode Battle Royale parody near the beginning was OK because it had a point within the initial story arc (class 2-c cannot decide what to do for the festival so they decide to hold a "survival" tournament that devolves into much gunplay and bloodshed) but some of the later parody episodes really felt like filler. Still, all in all it was a fun show to watch. I then watched a couple of OVAs. First up was Mazinkaiser SKL. I have never seen any other part of the Mazinger/Mazinkaiser franchise (though I do own a copy of the 7-episode Mazinkaiser OVA that ADV put out) but I found this was fun to watch. It looks incredible on Blu-Ray. The story has military forces being sent to an island which is blocked behind a gravity shield because the gravity generator there is about to explode and destroy the entire world. The three factions on the island are constantly building mecha to fight which is causing the problem. Two of the factions, predominately male, just want to keep fighting and don't care what happens. The third, comprised of psychic females, wants to cooperate and shut down the generator. When nothing is heard from the first forces sent (which include the title mech) another group is sent which includes a girl who is the only one who can shut down the generator. They crash, leaving her as the only survivor, whereupon she discovers that the previous force was wiped out except for Mazinkaiser and it's two pilots who have become involved in the wars. There are only 3 episodes so there's not that much more to the story, but there's plenty of well-animated mecha action, most of which is totally insane (this is Go Nagai, after all). This is definitely worth a look for those who like old-fashioned anime violence (or who are Go Nagai fans). The other OVA I watched was Genocyber, which the packaging proudly notes was directed by the same guy who directed the animated excrement that is MD Geist. I had read an old "Buried Treasure" column on ANN which indicated that the early parts of this were actually interesting. I must say that the first episode (which is longer than the rest) is actually interesting-and very violent. It concerns a mad scientist who is using psychics to develop powers (to be used as weapons of course). In particular, he is using two "sisters"; Diane is the genius who's limbs are unusable (and have been replaced by robotics) while Elaine is a feral wild-child who can barely speak yet has incredible power. He sends Diane out to capture Elaine so he can fuse their minds together but some corporate entities interfere and Diane gets dead while Elaine turns into the title creature. The next 2 episodes have Elaine on an American aircraft carrier where a delusional female doctor uses her as a replacement for her dead daughter, and another Japanese mad scientist (are there any other kind?) is trying to develop a new kind of creature/weapon, which of course leads to the two creatures battling and lots of crazy stuff. Though not as interesting as episode 1 this story arc isn't bad. Unfortunately, then comes episodes 4 & 5 which absolutely suck on toast. Years after the previous events Genocyber is now in some sort of hibernation in some ruins over which a new city has been built. A blind psychic girl and her boyfriend come to try to get her cured; unfortunately the city is a police state and the BF gets in trouble and there is a crazy cult that worships a God which turns out to be Genocyber and...and what the hell does all this dreck have to do with anything that came before? Don't ask me. It was like I was suddenly watching a different show. As much as I have always hated the last 2 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion I understand some people feel differently and I understand why, though I disagree. I cannot see that there is any reason the last 2 episodes of Genocyber exist. All in all, I would not really recommend this show to anyone (except maybe if you are one of those who just loves MD Geist). |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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After hearing such good things on this forum, I finally watched Angel Beats!. It was a great show. Less serious than I was expecting, but the humor was funny and didn't detract from the darker aspects. And as I had read, the concert scenes were awesome. The visuals were fabulous and the songs fit perfectly. One of the most touching parts of the series was when spoiler[Iwasawa disappeared] on stage. spoiler[Iwasawa and Yui moving on were the two disappearances that affected me the most.]
I am confused about one part though. At the end, we discover spoiler[Kanade has Otonashi's heart. The way they tied that in with how he got his memories back was well done so it didn't feel like they pulled that out of nowhere to me. The problem is, Kanade has been in the afterlife longer than Otonashi, yet Otonashi died before Kanade. We don't know for sure, but it sounded to me like Otonashi died a few years before Kanade, and that Kanade had been in the afterlife at least a few months before Otonashi arrived.] =/ That would be a huge plot hole, so I must be missing something. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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I think that discussion has happened a few times on this forum. For me, I just go with spoiler["I guess there's no reason for the afterlife to be chronological."]
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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^ I guess so, though that explanation seems a little weak to me. The only other thing I could think of is that they mention spoiler[Otonashi's soul was wandering and entered that world by accident. Perhaps his soul wandered for years before finding its way to the school afterlife.] But... that still seems a touch weak to me =/
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Ignatz
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I'm watching Nazo no Kanojo X. I'm at 9 episodes right now. Honestly, the only reason I decided to post this is to let my rage out. Seriously, screw Shigeyasu Yamauchi!! I understand that he has his unique style by using weird camera angles on small details and objects which really makes him stand out of other people, but I don't like his influence at all. I can't explain why, but watching episodes directed by him makes me frustrated. This guy already ruined my pleasure of watching Mawaru Penguindrum and ShinSekai Yori. I wish I would never meet this guy again...
Last edited by Ignatz on Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:50 am; edited 4 times in total |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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According to the Encyclopedia he only directed two episodes of From the New World and one episode of Mawaru Penguindrum, so I struggle to see how he could single-handedly ruin your enjoyment of either series. |
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Ignatz
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Well, that's not what I meant. One or two episodes doesn't really ruin the whole series for me.
EDIT: By the way, dtm42, I must thank you. The sole reason why I started watching this series was your old avatar of Urabe. Anyway, just finished watching Nazo no Kanojo X. What an amazing series! It's a shame that many people call it disgusting. Being put off just by the drool factor is so stupid. I personally rated it as excellent. I'm not really good at expressing my opinion in words, so I don't really know what to say about it besides how much I liked it. Well, the main strength of this series is it's characters. They are all so real and charming. Urabe is probably my favourite female character from now on. She's weird, but that's what makes her interesting (better being weird than stereotypical). I really hope this show gets a second season. I still have things I want to see, for example, Urabe's parents. Next on my list is Psycho-Pass. Let's see how dark it really is! |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Why, thank you. I've never heard before of anyone picking up a series because they liked my Avatar, bit I guess there's a first time for everything. Anime girls who rarely smile seem to have the best and cutest smiles. I can see why you were drawn in.
Yeah, too many otherwise level-headed and sensible people got all squicked out by the drool and panned the show because of it. They don't know what they were really missing.
Same as me. I couldn't quite see it being a Masterpiece but it was pretty close to being one. There's almost nothing wrong with it.
I liked how the characters (even Urabe at times) seemed so realistically awkward. They are in their first real relationships and are still trying to figure things out. They don't even know themselves and yet they now are tasked with understanding a completely different person. But there's no melodrama that afflicts a lot of teen romance stories, it's all very honest and low-key. And of course, there's the fanservice. Normally I wouldn't comment on it but in this show the fanservice is some of the most tasteful (and unusual) I've ever seen. Very nice.
I too wonder what sort of parents Urabe has. Are they linked by drool too? |
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kaydub
 Posts: 318 Location: Cincinnati, OH |
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Ugh, all this talk of Mysterious Girlfriend X just reminds me that I still haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Might have to move that one up in the queue and watch it next since it's on Crunchyroll and I don't have to look for it.
Working on finishing up Lucky Star right now. I like it so far, I was worried that it would be over my head due to all the various references to other anime throughout the show (much of which I haven't seen) but it's not as bad as I thought. The Lucky Channel segments at the end are a riot, and I especially love Akira and her... sunny disposition 
Also about to watch the last bit of Nekomonogatari (Black). Loving it so far, especially the bits where Black Hanekawa is being sexy and walking around in lingerie. Which is, you know, every time she's on the screen 
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MrDandi97
 Posts: 30 |
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Azumanga Daioh.I am really enjoying the everyday life aspect of the anime and the humor which is very pure and light-hearted.The characters,in my opinion are very well-developed and they resemble a lot of students found today.
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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I'm watching Tsuritama. I like it when a show is bizarre, so I enjoy it a lot. And the idea of using a water-gun to control people is awesome!
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SolemnBoy
Posts: 5 |
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Currently watching Bokurano because
1. It's based on a manga by the man who did Shadow Star Narutaru. 2. The OP is awesome. |
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