Forum - View topicTheron & Rebecca's Anime in America 2015
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Merxamers
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Very enjoyable read. I wasn't able to watch as many streaming titles this year as I usually do, so i almost feel like i can't really object to any choices. Just for fun, i'll list off a few personal awards:
Best Performance (japanese): TAKEHITO KOYASU as Dio Brando, JJBA: Stardust Crusaders. Every scene Dio was in was entertaining as hell, and I loved this supremely hammy but riveting performance. I believe Koyasu may have been born for the sole purpose of playing Dio. Best Scene: "Roadroller" from JJBA: Stardust Crusaders. Yes, I know. There are MANY scenes out there that are objectively better (afore-mentioned DanMachi scenes, etc.), but in terms of what i found entertaining, this was IT. It's a perfect example of an animation studio being fanboys of what they're animating, and the fun is infectious. Just watch it and try not to smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fK13ZjmMEI Runner Up: Mumen Rider vs Deep Sea King, One Punch Man. Hearing the little boy start to cheer for the "Cyclist of Justice" made me more emotional than i expected this series to make me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVNyTtEaI7k Biggest Surprise: Overlord/DanMach I expected both of these shows, based on early feedback, to be yet more mediocre light novel adaptations. To my pleasant surprise, DanMachi was a genuinely good show that I ended up liking quite a bit, and while Overlord has some issues, I had a ton of fun watching it. Biggest Disappointment: Fate Stay Night: UBW Right around the point wherespoiler[ Saber got kidnapped] (episode 13, i think), this show just stopped being fun for me to watch, and i couldn't bring myself to dive back in. From what i've heard, i didn't miss much. Guilty Pleasure: Monster Musume. Kinda shocked this didn't even get a mention in the article! I still can't believe i watched all of it, but i couldn't bear to look away. I can't decide whether i'm ashamed for liking it, but you can bet i'll be one of the first on board for a season 2. Fight of the year: Saitama vs Subterraneans, One Punch Man. This was the moment of truth for this series, and it delivered in a big way. A fantastically animated sequence with ludicrous scale, it both had great action and delivered on the surprising emotional beats that the manga chapter had. Great sequence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=632U5bWTzKk That's it for me! Couldn't let this article go without defending the honor of Stardust Crusaders 
Last edited by Merxamers on Wed Dec 30, 2015 5:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1778 Location: South America |
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Is School Live better than the manga?
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18240 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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*looks at characters list.* Oh, my. There are some pretty bad ones there, too, are't there? Nothing that tops Pina Co Lada or Touch Me, but it's nearly in league with Iron-Blooded Orphans.
Oh, I doubt anyone was aware of that. Do keep in mind that Rebecca is an English professor, and even she didn't spot it at first.
Enh, for me at least it fell into that zone where it wasn't either good, bad, or interesting enough to warrant mention. I suppose "Most Unusual Harem" could have been a way to go there given that it has some decidedly non-humanoid members, and that goes at least a bit beyond other "monster girl" harems. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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@Jose Cruz
School-Live moves at a different pace than the manga, with less revealed (I thought) in its time-frame and more playing with the viewers' perceptions. At this point I've only read one volume of the manga, but I do think I liked the show a little better. (Liable to change as the manga progresses, of course...) @killjoy_the I think it does add a bit to The Seven Deadly Sins to know the King Arthur stuff, especially with Elaine. The reveal at the end of the series spoiler[about Elizabeth's powers] stands to have a root in Arthurian legend as well. (And two of my favorite things, King Arthur and theSDS manga, combining? That makes me a happy little nerd!) And yeah, it took me reading 11 volumes of manga and re-watching the first 8 episodes to even notice it before running for my Illustrated Arthurian Encyclopedia. 
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killjoy_the
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I'll get in the spirit and so some as well
Most Entertaining Series Nobody Else Watched Anime de Wakaru Shinryōnaika (Comical Psychosomatic Medicine). It's an actually-not-very-funny comedy laced with some shallow knowledge of Psychosomatic Medicine, and it just works. Learning some trivia while laughing works really well for me, and that's why I liked this show. Best Sequel Yuru Yuri San Hai. I could explain it myself, but somekindofthing already explains it much better than I could. Props to OreGairu's second season as well, but I've talked about that in other threads. Best Worst Animation Lance 'n Masques + Ninja Slayer. Ninja Slayer is an obvious one, as it uses its (lack of) animation for added comedic effect, but Lance 'n Masques doesn't. Its animation is pretty terrible all throughout except for maybe one episode or two, and it just makes everything so much funnier, even if it didn't seem like it was meant to be a comedy. You take what you get, though! Biggest Disappointment Chaos Dragon. Okay, think of a series where Nasu does the world building and setting, Urobochi is in charge of writing, and Narita is in charge of making the characters. That sounds amazing, and it's totally not what this series was, as it was just an RPG played by these guys and some others (who nobody really remembers), and everything is extra awful because it could've been so much better. Best Onion Cutting Noragami Aragoto. I've cried reading the manga, and I still cried watching the anime. I'm thankful for the 2014 series for introducing me to the manga, but this gets quite a bit better when they stick to the manga stories with little deviations. Best Fight Scene Saitama vs Genos, One Punch Man. I was one of the seemingly few people who weren't all that enthusiastic about the series, but this fight scene in particular, much more than any others, felt like it had lots of personality. Saitama's just having fun bouncing around, and that little flick on Genos at the end is just priceless. Best Single Episode Owarimonogatari 01. There were a few episodes I'd say were 10/10s, in several different shows, but I'd have to give it to this both for scratching my Monogatari itch so well, and because Ougi is just so damn good. Most Entertaining Discussions Concrete Revolutio. Reading about the timeline, the real-world parallels, the themes, the references, the writers, is just so much fun. It helps that the show itself is very entertaining as well, and all the side reading doesn't feel necessary for understanding the show, but it enhances it. Biggest Not-Really-Surprise Prison School. I'd always snubbed the manga as overrated ecchi trash, so I went in with the lowest of expectations. And what do you know, it is ecchi trash. But holy hell is it entertaining ecchi trash. Everything in it is done really, really well, so much that I didn't even mind the awful censoring with the TV release, which I usually do. Best Character In a Show I Didn't Like Nao Tomori. The voice acting, the design, the personality, almost everything about her is just so good. And I started the series actually disliking her, too, but she grew on me so much. I wish I'd actually liked your series, Nao. Worst Character In a Show I Liked Saber. It just ain't your route, Saber, and by God do you turn useless because of it. Wanna save Rin, your new Master? No, you wanna hang around the two boys discussing whether they should suicide or not instead? Gotcha. Best Character Designs God Eater. I'm an underboob fan, call the cops. Worst Character Designs Chaos Dragon. What is even up with these clothes? |
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Valhern
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Title of the Year: By this I take you mean best show in this year, not best "title" per se, yes? In that case, I would definetely pick Kekkai Sensen (or Blood Blockade Battlefront), it was tremendously fun to watch and re-watch, all of its symbolism, world-building and social commentary, even if sometimes dense, bought me time and time again. Euphonium and OPM are good runner-ups, OPM is not my fave since I'm biased considering I've red farther in the story so far, but I still love it nonetheless.
Surprise of the Year: Saekano, most likely. I was baffled when I watched the episode 00, since I just watched it out of curiosity, but then kept going and the whole concept bought me in, and the girls did a pretty good job for me to watch the end of the harem, although some of them did not click very well for me. Character of the year: I'm very torn on this one. Picking Tanaka Asuka, not being an actual major character or protagonist seems quite biased, although the protagonist of the series is a very good pick, I guess I'll stick with Leonardo Watch, most people don't like the crybaby beta male kind of protagonist, but he reminds me so much of Takato from Tamers that I just can't help it, his whole character is amazing in how it interacts with the show's setting and cast. Bishamonten or Ebisu from Noragami as the best runner-up. Duo/Group of the year: Out of pure bias, I'd choose the Crusaders or Yoruzuya, but no. I guess I'll stick with the Helping Club or whatever it is called from SNAFU 2, it's been long since I paid so much attention to all the interesting chemistry between the characters within the group itself and outwards. Rin/Shirou/Saber team-up is as lovable as always but that can happen any year. Biggest bastard: I think the Father Bernard from Maria the Virgin Witch is one really interesting villain, from the extents he's gone to oppose the protagonist, to the arguments he exposes, for those interested in Feudal history is quite a pleasure to watch. Other good bastards to mention are Father in Noragami, Amai Mask in OPM, and well, DIO, if you want. Scene of the year: No doubts here: Shirobako episode 23, we all know what it is, so I'm not spoiling that. Death scene of the year: I'm thinking it should be spoiler[Kakyoin's death against DIO] [EDIT: This concerns Jojo. Please indicate at least what series the spoiler tag refers to! - Key] since it's truly impactful, from the soundtrack to the movement, the whole death scene hits you the same way it hits the character, the anime take on it is especially suspenseful and nobody wants to believe it. Battle scene of the year: First of all, I'm extremely picky with fight scenes. It takes a lot for me to actually like one, just cool rays and swords slashes (like K always does) isn't quite enough, I think I only enjoy them when the one (or many) who did it enjoyed it. That's why I loved to death Saitama vs Boros final showdown, I could literally feel the passion behind the work, however, I think that the best done in terms of both animation, directing, and actual battle weight is Polnareff (and Iggy) vs Vanilla Ice in Stardust Crusaders, since it's one hell of an adaptation from the manga source, all the slow bits are rushed up but not fast enough to miss them, you get how the fight ends instantaneously, and it keeps you on edge all the time, especially since it's a two-part one. Opening/Ending: FLYERS by Bradio for Death Parade, and Sugar Song and Bitter Step by Unison Square Garden for Kekkai Sensen, I guess everybody knows why. Guilty pleasure: I'm not sure if I watched any so bad it's good, but I'd daresay that...whatever it was called the show with the mahou shounen, that one would be the closest, it's fun, but I know it's not that good. EDIT: Oh wait, just remembered SHIMONETA, same argument, but fits better. Worst concept: I'm really not sure on what to pick on this one. Fall from grace: Agreed with Kaleid Prisma Illya, and with UBW S2. And as best fanservice I guess Prison School has been the best I suppose. |
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Wokka
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From the article, regarding Pina Co Lada:
Actually it tells what god she follows. I can't remember who "Co" represents, but Tuka Luna Marceau worships Lunaryur, Yao Haa Dusi worships Hardy, Lelei La Rellena worships La, etc. Worship may be too strong of a word, "follows" or "feels aligned to" is closer. This is explained in the source material but I guess hasn't made it to the anime yet (if it ever will). Your point about it being a joke name is still true, there are several. The author called his loli character Rory after all (which is pronounced the same as "loli") Last edited by Wokka on Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sahmbahdeh
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Best Name: Steven A. Starphase, from Kekkai Sensen. Seriously, this guy gets to walk into a bar, a party, anywhere and introduce himself as Steven A. Starphase. I'm gonna name my dog that. Heck, I'm gonna name my kid that.
Honorable Mention: Superalloy Blackluster, from Onepunch Man. He has like three speaking lines but I cannot get over that name. Lots of characters from this show, BBB, and Jojo's could go here, honestly. Biggest Surprise: School-Live! I don't even like zombies or moe slice of life, so imagine my surprise at ranking it as my #3 for the year. Honorable Mention: Maria the Virgin Witch. Oh god, this name. Awesome show with a really skeevy sounding title, that managed to respectfully and tastefully touch upon sexual assault, had a critical yet fair depiction of Christianity and took place in the 100 Years War in France. Few shows manage to do even one of those things, so three is really pleasantly surprising. Best Soundtrack/Sound Design: Tie between Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Tokyo Ghoul Route A. These soundtracks are both incredible, and even better is the utilization of said soundtracks at just the right moments. Honorable Mentions: BBB had a really eclectic and fun soundtrack that I found myself respecting more than actually enjoying, and special mention should be made of School-Live!'s use of its soundtrack at a couple key points. Finally, FSN:UBW deserves recognition for its phenomenal use of foley, carried over from its first season. Best Fight Scene: Onepunch Man: Episode 1, Saitama vs. the Subterraneans. Between all of the fights in Onepunch Man, I think this one best encapsulates the show's message, and is potentially the most viscerally animated fight scene I've ever seen. Honorable Mentions: From the same show, Genos vs. Saitama and Boros vs. Saitama easily rank among the year's best. Archer vs. Lancer from FSN was also amazing, as was Shirou vs. Gilgamesh. Zapp vs. the demon from episode 1 of BBB was incredible, too, and Polnareff vs. Vanilla Ice was the most harrowing battle of the year for me. Most Unexpected Sakuga: The entire last episode of Monster Musume. The staff seems to have put more time and effort animating this episode than they spent in the rest of the second half of the season, and I enjoyed every second of it. Most Interesting Power: Vanilla Ice's and his Stand, Cream. His ability to swallow himself into a reality destroying void and roam around as an invisible ball of vaporization was very weird, cool and incredibly intimidating, forcing Polnareff into a corner. Also honorable mention for best name (both him and his Stand). And that's all I have for now. |
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gedata
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the anime tips a fair bit more into the moe slice of life side of things (mainly due to the abundance of Taroumaru scenes). I don't think this was a particularly good idea.
Well this is a pretty hard one, mainly because there's just so much to say. For starters the animation/art was rather pitiable with how off model it was often and how the DRAGONs could never seem to figure out if they wanted to be CGI or not. spoiler[ What really drives the nail in the coffin here is how the female they are constantly shown as sex objects first and foremost and that continues with all the sexual assaults on them. It wasn't even easy to sympathize with them since they often came off as extraordinarily unlikable. They're all over unpleasant people that victimize each other even going so far as trying to kill someone they dislike. Ange probably was the biggest example in all of this, especially with her forced transformation into "badass" early on in the series that saw her become a hardened no-nonsense warrior overnight, with annoyingly pompous attitude. Isn't a protagonist someone you want to see succeed instead of being put in her place? Attempts to make them sympathetic also ended up annoying me even further, like that one episode dedicated to Hilda and her mother, which was played so over the top that it became laughable. The plot itself was total nonsense as well (lesbians in mechas, fighting dragon chicks from an another dimension, while a some slimy date rapisty God-like character is torturing naked girls into submission while planning to make the whole world his personal brothel) so it was too stupid and uneven in tone to take seriously, but also too gross, ugly and unfunny (too much of the show's humor is derived from repetitive ecchi slapstick) to work as decent fun. The whole series just feels like a cynical endeavour from the creators, as if they knew the show had horrible writing but didn't care because the fanservice and violence would get people to buy it.] |
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Gina Szanboti
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Until I saw this after link-hopping from Merxamers' post, I would have picked Death Parade's or BBB's OP for OP of the Year, but I'm kinda blown away by this almost frame-by-frame analysis of JoJo's Stardust Crusaders. Even more so by its companion piece for the PB and BT arcs. Clearly a lot more creativity, thought and love went into all of these OPs than I ever appreciated, so I'm switching parties here.
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A random dude
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It appears there weren't a lot of memorable deaths this year since I feel that the picks in this category are somewhat lacking in impact. I would say that spoiler[Megumi Sakura's death] from School-Live was a lot more impactful to the audience and to the show itself as it demonstrates the psychiatrical toll it takes on Yuki.
My pick for this category would be the anime adaptation of Corazon's death from One Piece. It left the biggest impression on me and I would say one of the most memorable death's in the series. I would also say that DanMachi deserves to be a top contender next to School-Live in the Surprise of the Year or change the category to The Most Misleading Anime Titles of the Year. And I know you guys didn't get to finish One Punch Man before writing this, but I'm pretty sure that the last fight with Boros would have been a consideration for the Best Battle Scene And I'm really surprise the opening of Death Parade or the ending of Blood Blocakade Battlefront wasn't mention in that category's since the music was pretty catchy Last edited by A random dude on Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:36 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
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You uh, might want to fix those spoiler tags. {Spoiler tags fixed. ~nobahn} |
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A random dude
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Opps, thanks for the heads up my laptop was being kinda funky when I was finishing writing that post
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Mathias2001
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Actually, Ep 3-5 aren't actually pure fillers. They, at least for two of these episodes were in the 3rei manga. They were just randomly there in the middle of an ongoing plot which kinda killed the tension completely. Not to forget that there was another chapter like that which is the reason why they didn't put the characters immediately in that worst. Since, instead of breaking the tension of the story like 3rei did, they are going to insert it where it actually makes sense to insert. I for one, wholeheartedly enjoyed all of these episodes as much as the canon part of the story. It made everything coming afterwords not only more impactful but made me characters much more than I did when I was reading the manga. So if you want to be technical, 3rei dropped the ball completely with it's out of place chapters, 2wei just fixed it before the problem would arise much later. For UBW S2, I ultimately had no inch of disappointment when watching it. It was the anime I had most fun watching of all time, so I was just satisfied ultimately. I enjoyed it more so than the Vn, which if you wan to know, I also thoroughly enjoyed. |
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TG72
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With almost every anime series made in a year being legally available now, I appreciate articles like this (and the feedback) to pick up on what I've missed and might enjoy.
A few thoughts: Best Episode:#4 of Non Non Biyori Repeat One of the best parts of the first season was the half-episode story of Renge becoming friends with a girl who was visiting over the summer. Repeat struck on similar themes spoiler[discovery, loss and recovery]in her experience with "Flatty San". The spoiler[drawings she made showing her feelings]worked beautifully. Honorable Mention to the same series for episode 10 (the bicycle episode) Outstanding Performance (English Dub) I didn't see enough to pick out a 'best' but have to give a big compliment to Bryce Papenbrook in The Seven Deadly Sins. Although I thought Meliodas was too pervy, Papenbrook was excellent bringing out the playfulness, determination and loyalty I expected. Most Overlooked Series:Tantei Team JK Kizen Note While the characters' abilities are exaggerated (it's aimed at a young audience, after all), the heroine deals with some believable, serious issues like feeling less valued than her siblings and where she fits in with/how to approach her peers. I was pleased by how well this show managed to balance those moments with the humorous ones. Hopefully more is on the way... Last edited by TG72 on Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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