Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Just finished the last episode (episode 12) of Cheer Boys!!, and because of reasons like there is no series discussion thread on it, and I don't want to make one, I will just put my thoughts here.
By the last episode, I don't know if it was because of finished most of everything else, I was just kind of done. I was finding that I was just bored. It is not like Cheer Boys was bad, it was just that in spite of everything else it was kind of boring. There was a plot with going to nationals and all that, but I don't think I ever bought that point because it did not seem that relevant to the actual plot, the characters just suddenly decided they were going to nationals and there was all sorts of drama. They kind of built on too much of a large cast, and even glasses guy who was like the best character, kind of got washed away with the 13 person team. Not bad, but I kind of just lost interest as we got to the final "how far we have come" bit. I am giving it a rating of So-so (5/10). |
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SnowyLightning44
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Thought I'd try something a bit older than I usually would so I gave The Vision of Escaflowne a try and just finished it yesterday
First off I have to say that the animation was consistently good and didn't both me at all (well expect the noses, those were unnaturally long...) so no problems there and the soundtrack was well suited to the show, especially the opening by 'Maaya Sakamoto' and also her voice acting performance was exceptional. The main plot of the story with all the feuds and battle was done nicely and the concept of 'Fate Alternation' was cool, although I felt like some characters like Merle were quite underused and I kind of wished the show spent longer with Hitomi on Earth when see did travel back the first time as well (but I read that due to lack of budget it was cut down from a 34 episode series to a 26 episode one so it's hard to tell whether or not that was originally planned or not). The romantic conflict in the show a good factor in the show involving 6 (?) of the characters with a few misinterpretations and once I felt it was taking a bit of the main point of the show but the end result was pretty satisfying as well as the overall ending (spoiler[after watching the backstory I was sad that Folken died in the end though], also the fact the some more minor characters deaths (like spoiler[Balgus and Dilandau's comrades]) held a lot of weight in the show was a refreshing change to the usual were they'd just end up being forgotten and greed, ambition and emotion of everyone in general was portrayed well throughout the series All in all I found pleasantly more enjoyable then I'd expected so I would give it a 8/10 |
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Paul D. Atreides
 Posts: 128 |
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So over the last few weeks I've watched two anime I've wanted to watch for a long time.
The Garden of Sinners After having gone though the entire Fate franchise, I decided to dive deeper into Kinoko Nasu's soul by delving into his masterpiece. I was very excited to watch this because from what I'd heard it is a story that is difficult to get through, but once you get to the end it will all make sense. That wasn't quite my experience as I enjoyed it all the way through, but yes, the ending is very emotionally touching and leaves the show much deeper than it began. The thing is: I'd learned that Nasu's style of writing is similar to poetry, and Garden of Sinners is a story best appreciated if you look at it from the perspective of the theme as opposed to the plot. Unfortunately I'm that kind of person with an untrained theme-eye who only sees writing quality. I don't understand Ikuhara and his Ikuharaism, for example. So watching Sinners was a great opportunity to practice my theme-seeing, and it made the show even more amazing to watch. To anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's a clue: the title is the message. Make of that as you may 
Mobile Suit Gundam - The Movie Trilogy Finally I got around to finishing this, the trial of passage of anime fandom. It's also pretty darn good, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Mobile Suit Gundam is really what launched the Real Robot genre in the wake of the Super Robot genre. It portrayed Giant Mecha as weapons of war as opposed to superheroes. Hideaki Anno talked about this change in an interview, how Gundam blew his mind and was unlike anything he'd seen before. Speaking as someone who only became an anime fan 32 years after Gundam aired, I obviously didn't have the same experience as it's influence is ubiquitous now. But I can understand that if your exposure to Mecha up to 1979 had just been things like Magaziner, something like Gundam would be very unique and influential. It was great to see where it all began, and it made me eager to see more such as Zeta and Turn A. That being said, at times I did feel like I was watching compilation films. That makes me curious about watching the original TV-show, but I'm reluctant to do so. I've read that the movie trilogy is the best version of the original Gundam story: it removed certain Super Robot elements, worked in the Newtype concept more efficiently, cut out all of the chaff that dragged down the story, rerecorded the voice acting and sound effects, and reanimated all the poorly animated content. I've heard about how the original series dropped in artistic quality towards the end, and quite badly so. Then again, I sat through the entire original Macross show, so is the original Gundam show any harder to get through? |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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Miami Guns
This is one of the shows that I watched once, have forgotten, and am watching again so that I can rate it. I have seen eight of the thirteen episodes and, so far, it qualifies as Good. The show reminds me a bit of You're Under Arrest but the two main characters are more like a contemporary version of the Miami Guns is primarily a comedy and most of the humor has been working for me. I do not know if it would be more proper to call them parodies or tributes but the show has a lot of references to other anime and American movies, and pro wrestling in one episode. The DVDs from AN Entertainment have some nice translation notes that explain the references and other things, such as the name of the character called Kaken Musume. There is quite a bit of fanservice but no full frontal nudity, yet. There is a bit more violence than I am comfortable with in some episodes, and it is not what I call "cartoon violence" because some characters are actually killed. But I suspect that most people would not be bothered by it. I am definitely looking forward to watching the rest of Miami Guns. |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1861 |
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After watching some weird, artsy-looking anime called Fear The Walking Dead (which was trash btw, not one of Gen Urobuchi's or Hideaki Anno's better works), I got back into it with 91 Days. Good so far. I just wish it would move along faster. Hopefully the payoff is worth it.
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Touma
Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I have finished Miami Guns and the last few episodes had me laughing enough that I decided to bump the rating up to Very Good.
I read a review here that complained about the show trying to be dramatic at the end, but I did not see it that way. I think that it remained true to its comedic beginnings entirely through the end. I do not know if the reviewer missed the parody or I saw a parody where there was none. I do know that I thought that it was damned funny and I believe that it was intended to be funny. The city in the anime may be named after the city in Florida and may have some superficial similarities (I really do not know) but it is definitely not Miami, Florida USA. Other than that I do not have anything to add to what I said in my previous post, except that I do definitely plan on watching Miami Guns again. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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On episode 6 of Lodoss Wars and 11 of 91 Days.
Lodoss Wars... not much to say about it. Record of Lodoss Wars isn't the sort of thing that gives me a lot to say. I don't care if it's the "standard setter." Fist of the North Star is the same for shounen and Gundam is the same for Mecha, but I could at least tell what characters I liked by this point. It's too "archetypal" if that makes sense. 91 Days is amazing, but I still feel like it's lacking that extra push to make it a truly legendary anime. It doesn't quite feel like the serious, dramatic equivalent to Baccano that I want it to be. Am I weird? |
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Out of curiosity, what is the 'extra push' you're referring to? I feel the same way about the show as you, but my problem stems from the fact that I find Avilio to be lacking as a protagonist. I found the other characters, especially Nero, to be more engaging than him. I know that he was essentially a lifeless husk due to what happened to him, but the little bits of personality that the series tried to show fell flat for me. His interactions with Corteo later in the series were a step in the right direction though. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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^
Having finished the show, I feel like it's exactly what you said. Avilio felt too archetypal. The cold, calculating Ciel/Lelouch/Light Archetype. While Light could be argued to either have good intentions at the start or be an engaging villain protagonist, and Lelouch and Ciel both have tons of redeeming, humanizing factors about them, Avilio/Angelo feels too much like a plot device more so than an actual character. It doesn't help that a lot of his plans require the enemy to be incredibly gullible/stupid/naive for them to work THAT well. Seriously, these guys are Mafioso! They plan around assassination attempts all their lives, but this little nobody can waltz into their ranks and screw stuff up? Come now... That being said, episodes ten onward were all great. Having to kill spoiler[Corteo] was a difficult decision for Avilio that painted him in a somewhat more relateable light. The entirety of episode 11 was intense and awesome, partially because, while he turned out to have everything under control in the end, WE as the audience didn't know whether or not Avilio was done for. And episode 12 finally completely humanized Avilio by showing me that, yes, he actually did befriend Nero after all. My one major complaint about the final three episodes is the ambiguous ending. I don't like those in general, but here it felt especially lazy. Two friends turned enemy and you won't even let me know if one killed the other? Lame. |
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Touma
Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I am watching Samurai Girl Real Bout High School again mostly because I took an interest in Keiji Gotoh, the character designer who also did Those Who Hunt Elves, which I recently watched.
When I previously watched RBHS I rated it Very Good. After watching 9 of the 13 episodes I see no reason to change that. If your standard of excellence is faithfulness to the manga then RBHS would be really bad because all that it takes from the manga are the main characters and the general idea of a school where fights between the students are sanctioned by the faculty, and those fights are not really very important in the anime. But that is not my standard so I was able to enjoy the show, which has a lot of fanservice and comedy. The show always has a lot of fanservice and the beach episode, episode 8, must have been about 80% service. Even though there is a lot of fanservice I think that it is rather mild. There is no nudity, just tight tops short skirts and panties. The comedy in the show also works for me, especially Magical Waitress Oyster Lulu in episodes 5 and 9. I wish that there was more of that. RBHS is also a fantasy, with our heroes being taken to an alternate universe to fight various monsters. I do not think that was in the manga. So far the fantasy aspect has not gotten very serious and is tertiary to the fanservice and comedy. For me Samurai Girl Real Bout High School is just a fun, and funny, show. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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I enjoyed Real Bout High School.
 The kendō matches were an awesome sight and the 1990s BGM was pleasant to the ear. The only problems I had with the show was Ryōko's spoiler[breakdown] and the ending.
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Touma
Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I finished Real Bout High School and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Much like Miami Guns, which I wrote about earlier, I think that the ending should not be taken seriously. It was a parody battle of stereotypes and tropes (stereotropes?). I had fun with it. |
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ryoukosan245
Posts: 81 |
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I'm in the middle of watching Sailor Moon subbed and I have to say, it's so much better than the DiC/Cloverway dub. I find the voice acting so much better especially for Usagi & Luna. I hated ''Serena's'' voice in the Cloverway dub & I didn't think Luna's dubbed voice fit her at all ,but the japanese voice acting is superb. I like the japanese music better even though DiC's music wasn't that bad, it's a hell of a lot better than any of the music 4kids ever put in their dubs. I also like Rei and found Chibi-usa much more tolerable where as I previously hated both of the in the DiC/Cloverway dub.
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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^ I recommend checking out the Viz dub. I personally love it! They're all very fitting voices there.
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ryoukosan245
Posts: 81 |
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I've already seen the first 2 seasons of the Viz dub, I just decided to watch the japanese version because it's going to take a while before everything is released. |
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