Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Finished Windy Tales. It was an enjoyable watch and gave me some things to think about. I actually ended up writing a mini essay, but I'll just make a short version here.
While it definitely has an overall positive message, I couldn't help feeling a sense of melancholy in some of the episodes. The show focused a lot on possibility/the unknown. I liked that it didn't shy away from the fact that even though there are some things you really want to do, you don't always have the luxury of doing them. I also liked how it showed how the future doesn't have to be a scary thing to think about. The main character Nao started the series not being able to think past her decisions in the present to being more accepting of what the future may bring. The music really fit the show and had a pensive, dreamlike quality in some of the tracks. Some people may not like the animation but I thought it was great. I don't think it would have had the same effect if the characters had that generic moe look. tl;dr Windy Tales is a great show. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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^
I'd definitely be interested in reading that mini-essay! |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Finally, after a busy week, I got done watching Ga-Rei-Zero. It's a show about the supernatural and the special bond between two girls, Kagura and Yomi. The latter half of the show in particular gave me a bit of a scare when the scenarios become incredibly gory and even fatal.
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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Watching the two first dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal, and I fell in love all over again with the franchise. I just love this art style and wouldn't mind seeing it in future arcs. I also love the VA, as they got the vibe of their characters in comparison to the first time they voiced in the 90's anime. Kate Higgins voice for Ami is different but still Ami-like in Crystal and it fits. Didn't think I would like the 3D transformations, but after watching them, it kind of fits for me. Looking forward to watching the rest of this arc.
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DuelGundam2099
 Posts: 533 |
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I just finished Nodame Cantabile: Paris Chapter and WOW this was unpleasant. I assumed the previous series was just build up and BOY was I wrong as very few things carried over to the point where you could literally go into this without prior knowledge. Lets get the positives out of the way: There were points that resembled plots, the pacing was slightly better than the first series, the scenery art was nice, and romance elements were actually *gasp* more relevant! Unfortunately the pacing is still bad overall, plot points don't go anywhere, the humor and animation are really poor, if you are not a music expert it is extremely easy to get lost, and the dialogue is lackluster. I would stop there, but episodes 5 and 10 made me realize this isn't a romance story, this is clearly abuse. Megumi actively assaults (and almost strangles to death) Chiaki while saying she is his wife (she isn't), he rightfully does not try to fall for her, but she keeps getting under his skin intentionally until she does a Mozart session which gives him the puppy love feel that was tacked on right before the credits (which was also at the end of the first series). She drove him insane over the course of many months and attacked him until he gave in. This is a yandere story and if someone told me anime like Future Diary was inspired by this I would completely believe them!
Oh wow I kept that to one paragraph! Next series I finish will either be Ghost Hunt or Scrapped Princess since I am finding enjoyment in those; Samurai Champloo has a special long rant review when I get done with it between the total monster, the air head, and the guy with the glasses who is the buoy in the sea of really bad mismanaged mistakes. I want to slam my head on a desk, but I recently had a root canal and I'd rather not have the senses in my gums go off by accident. |
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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Watching this right now. Thoroughly enjoying it. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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You have my sympathy. Are the pain killers working? 
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DuelGundam2099
Posts: 533 |
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Thank you, nobahn.  The pain has died down now, but the edge between the tooth and gum is sensitive.
While I'm here I might as well briefly talk about a short OVA I watched recently called Sin in The Rain. A mystery story about some teenage girl finding her dead teacher for a murder she didn't commit. It had nice animation, art, music, and atmosphere, but sadly it only went for one episode before being cancelled before the plot could go far. What a shame, I kind of liked it.
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louis6578
 Posts: 1861 |
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Just finished two anime. Sailor Moon R and Dragon Half (OAV).
Sailor Moon R was a pain to sit through. Rather than seeing Usagi develop, she hops archetypes. She goes from klutzy girl to troubled teen finding it difficult to forgive ChibiUsa, to caring mother, to klutzy girl again. Granted, the villains, as always, were the most interesting thing about the show. The other guardians and Mamoru took a backseat whenever plot happened, but during filler, they get some nice screentime. The best episode, in my opinion, was the beach episode where ChibiUsa met a baby dinosaur. Even the climax of the arc felt too stale and unambitious, but then again, this was made in the 90s and set the standard. Maybe if I had watched this as a kid, I'd have loved it. I do regret that this dub wasn't around when I was a kid, or I would've gotten into Sailor Moon way easier. Even so, I felt that the first season of Sailor Moon was far superior to R on the whole. The filler episodes were far more watchable (Luna and the fat cat, plus Zoisite running from hordes of mice were hilarious), the characters, even side characters, were far more engaging (Naru was a favorite of mine who got little to nothing to do in R), and the villains were more entertaining and interesting. Zoisite and Kunzite's relationship, while not delved into, was nice (I'm a sucker for gay romance that isn't just there to be exploitative), Zoisite was an entertaining character in my mind (in no small part to Lucien Dodge's brilliant acting, reminiscent of Waver Velvet), Nephrite was interesting because of how human he was despite never understanding humanity, and Jadeite... well, a Team Rocket is always nice once in a while. Seeing the transformations every episode eventually got depressing. Ugh... I guess I can't say much more without repeating myself, but my favorite Magical Girl transformation is from Duck to Princess Tutu and that was only 15 seconds long. On another subject though, I liked how when Duck transforms into Tutu, she becomes elegant and refined, speaking with the grace of a fairy godmother to a frightened child. When Usagi and the others transform, they're... essentially the same characters, for better or worse. I think I'd like it more if Sailor Moon was a little less cartoonishly scared than Usagi would be. On the note of improvements though, I'm a little proud of this season for not sidelining Mamoru too much. He's a good character. Although, I have to say that the Doom Tree arc ranged from mediocre to terrible, especially with the explanation behind the Moonlight Knight. Yes, I know this was made for little girls, but so was Princess Tutu, one of the greatest anime ever made (not taking that back  ).
Dragon Half though... a great OVA. I watched the English Dub on Crunchyroll and I have to say that I was entertained. Nice popcorn material after a fairly heavy arc of "will they won't they" shojo BS and the fate of the future. There was only one flaw with this show that had fun characters, hilarious jokes, witty dialogue, and good voice acting by THE voice of Excel herself. The flaw? It's only two episodes long! Dammit! It was a great series. With it being made in 1992 though... another episode with the same consistent quality is... nigh impossible. Up next, Macross Plus! |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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^
I'll definitely be interested to know what you think of Macross Plus. I didn't rate it a Masterpiece, but I did like it. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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So I just finished watching Yuki Yuna is a Hero and I'm posting this here to figure out why the show left such a bad impression on me. The technical merits are fine to exceptional, the story starts out well and the resolution was appropriate if a little too "and they all lived happily ever after...somehow" but everything that happens in between was in the wrong order, forced or just entirely made up. Even for a fictional story, it was too...
The ending as I understand it: I was rooting for Togo to spoiler[destroy whatever she was trying to destroy in order to end the whole farce only for her friends to come in and stop her. Then the two trying to stop had to come together to help Togo stop... the sun? Enemy God complex but were unable to without the aid of the fourth one... who was already shown to be deaf and blind. Good trick? Spider sense? Doesn't matter? But it was all good because Yuna came back and she punched out the sun triangle thing, winning the day. For now, they're gods so they'll be back? And then the other gods were so impressed... for some reason... that they gave back their lost abilities, also meaning they didn't have to lose them in the first place.] So... to make a long story short, humanity is spoiler[a toy in the hands of gods, both "good" and "evil"] and this situation should be continued because it's better than the alternative, spoiler[that the small section of Japan remaining joins the rest of the world in whatever Oblivion await it?] It also doesn't help that the gods are spoiler[ironic creeps who take abilities that make the most drama, which directly makes them the writers in the "outside the story" sense. Remember, these are the good guy gods, not the bad gods who just want to end everything in one go. I guess that's better?] Digging deeper, there something about it that reminded me of Stephen King's novella The Langoliers and their plots are too similar to be pure coincidence. In that story, a group of people get pulled into a strange world devoid of people to face beings that are balls with only mouths on them. spoiler[ Not surprisingly, they're the only things that appear in the anime that don't get named. I guess they're the enemy gods, even if they all look alike? But Karin destroys them all with one super blow so they can't be them either?] The Langoliers are there in King's story to devour all existence but as it turns out, what was really happening was spoiler[yesterday was becoming today which was the reason there was no rest of the world there, no people and no future. Kind of a silly thing to fight, even if it looked like the end of the world.] With this in mind, the whole show does become more metaphor than story and slightly easier for me to swallow in the process, though still not like; Another popular King work uses the phrase "the world has moved on"; It also applies here but it gains a second part; "Japan refuses to move along with it." Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of outsiders, they're all used here and only because... spoiler[the people talking for the gods told the rest of the world left that was the truth of the situation? Wow, such blind acceptance is wrong on too many levels, from the religious to governmental... To them, the next step is the apocalypse but they can't know that, not for certain and even if they heard it directly from the gods] I wouldn't trust them, not after seeing how spoiler[they treat the ones who do their fighting]. And at the end, spoiler[the gods/leaders are rewarding the youngsters who give their all to fight for their status quo. Or so the kids rationalize, even if their reward is getting back what was taken in the first place.] And that's worse, that's some classic "history repeating itself" nonsense right there. Japan, don't make me point fingers and name dates as to what part of history I mean. Hero club tenant number 6: Don't think, just follow? There's no series or story ever that ever made me want an spoiler[everyone dies] ending more. But to be more accurate, I guess it would be an spoiler[everyone else dies] ending. I liked the characters but the backstory created renders any other ending completely pointless and ridiculous. spoiler[The moral of this story is "Where there's life, there's hope?" I can't even figure out how this scenario supports life- and I mean that literally as only a small chunk of the planet remains in a lifeless yet fiery void of space- let alone hope. Gods hate the sciences almost as much as writers, is that the truth?] The series tried so hard to be Madoka that it forgot to be plausible. Now that is the truth. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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I can tell you why I was unimpressed: It seemed to me that that it was a pale imitation of Madoka Magica. When I finished Yuki Yuna is a Hero, all I wanted to do was to rewatch Madoka Magica. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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I just finished Charlotte and I really liked it. I will be happy to add the Blu-ray to my shelf.
Since October, I have been rewatching and blogging and evaluating my favorite vampire anime since 2000, Night Walker. I'm delighted that I still love it as much as I did as a teenager, if not even more so (them adult jokes just FLEW over my head back then  ) The RihoxShidou ship is still amazing and the best thing about the show....but I'm also appreciating the other characters a little more too.
Yay for older anime holding up. My anime club watched the first two episodes of Dance in the Vampire Bund WOW. WHAT A COOL SHOW. This anime has my complete attention after the last few minutes of episode 02. Thanks to increased work hours though, it'll be a while before I get to see more. Le sigh. |
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faridania
 Posts: 11 Location: London, United Kingdom |
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I'm starting to watch Overlord. The first episode seems okay.
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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Rewatching Princess Tutu at college with a friend. On episode 19 or 20. It's still as awesome as I remember it. It makes me miss ADV's golden days before deteriorating into this sinful hell spawn that is Sentai Filmworks. Amazing dub, perfect soundtrack, and every character is likable in some way (except... Pique and Lillie). A borderline perfect show that sadly, a lot of people miss out on because "OH MY GOD! IT LOOKS SOOOO GIRLY! NOOOOO! NO! NO! NO!" Real shame. Then again, I'm glad it stayed as an underground hit of sorts, since if it aired on American TV, they'd have to edit the crap out of it and change everyone's name to Americanized BS.
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