Forum - View topicThe Stream - Swim City
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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My number one, like many here is The Eccentric Family. Anything that is based on folklore is like fanservice aimed directly at me. Even before the season started, it was my most anticipated title of the season. It has not disappointed in the least. I sure hope someone licenses it ...*cough* NISA *cough*.
Second place is probably a tie between Free! and Gatchaman Crowds. Free! was kind of a no-brainer, since I'm the targeted demographic. Still, I don't think I've ever seen a show that has as much blatant fanservice aimed at women. I used to say that there was no female directed fanservice that focused so obviously on butts and crotches like the male directed stuff. I can't say that anymore. 
Gatchaman Crowds was a complete surprise. I didn't expect such a thoughtful show that is basically about superheroes. Unlike others, I never found the protagonist that irritating. She's just kind of a brilliant oddball. The nail that sticks up. I like how this show insinuates that maybe it might be a really good thing to not hammer down those sticking-up nails. N'est ce pas? I also love how it discusses ideas that pertain to community, in all its different forms, and how it is evolving with technology. It is a really cool show. I'm so glad S23 licensed it, and I'll definitely buy. I like Servant X Service a lot more than Bamboo does. I get a laugh out of it every week. Maybe it has something to do with how much a person is exposed to cube-farms. If you have a LOT of exposure, like me, the show is probably funnier? In any case, I can say for certain that there is "that guy" in every cube-farm who always gets away without doing any work. Everybody likes him, despite the fact that he does very little, and gets other people to complete his projects. I'm also watching Makai Ouji, Mushibugyo, and Brothers Conflict, to some extent. None of them are particularly memorable, but they are weekly entertainment. I'm amused how Makai Ouji's writers base the magical systems on what seems to be a quick speed-read of Wikipedia pages. Brother's Conflict is surprisingly soapy. I'm not going to blame Bamboo for dropping it, but I think it does develop into something other than what it seems in the first few episodes. The presence of the female lead, instead of being just a "self-insert MC" actually becomes more of a catalyst that spoiler[causes a lot of disruption and dispute in what was a harmonious environment prior to her arrival]. I feel sorry for her, in a way, since from her POV it just seems like she is spoiler[looking for family, and not romance]. I can't deny Bamboo's view that there is ton of fangirl pandering. Though, to it's credit, it did make an attempt at an actual plot. I have been saving Attack on Titan to watch later, and am glad I did. I get kind of twitchy with shows that end each episode on cliffhangers. Those shows always work better for me when I have the option to marathon. Silver Spoon is also on my "to watch" list. -Should get around to that one soon. I've dropped a few shows, but I'm not going to bother listing them. I have more that I plan to check out, and won't list them either. Still watching a few ongoing shows like Hunter X Hunter, Space Brothers, etc. blah blah. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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*glances at avatar* A fine taste indeed 
Still, I'm always surprised at how often our opinions seem to be so similar. I might want to try out Gatchaman Crowds soon. |
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The Mad Manga Massacre
Posts: 1166 |
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I'm really enjoying the Eccentric Family I'm glad I'm not the only one. I've actually been enjoying Makai Oji though I admit the animation quality is low and the story is a tad boring. Free! continues to be awesome! I like what JesuOtaku said in her review "Let there be manservice!"
 Gatchaman Crowds is a lot of fun! I really enjoy the gender-bender elements and it's nice to see a female protagonist in a super sentai show. Genshiken second season is really good as well! I'm really enjoying it and am finding it easy to relate to Hato. Monogatari second season is nice to look at (I'm a big fan of shinbo). Attack on Titan is great and I'm still enjoying space brothers (I hope it continues on for a long time).
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zensunni
 Posts: 1293 |
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And the first volume of the manga is available on Manga Reborn, posted by the mangaka and waiting for someone to finish the localization. (It looks like a couple people have translated, but nobody has actually done the photoshop work to clean and letter the pages...) On to the topic at hand... My favorite show of the season is one that doesn't qualify for the Stream. Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - This is probably just a personal thing, since the first time I saw any of the Tamyura franchise was right around the time that I had spent a weekend teaching my daughter about photography, which I do professionally on the side, and the base story line really hit me hard. I am emotionally impacted by the story every episode... Of the others, Eccentric Family is at the top. I just love the story and the characters. Love Lab jumped into the top group for me. I have only just started it and am watching in order on CR, which means I have seen the first four episodes, but I am absolutely loving it. The most impressive part is how well the show flows, given it's four koma source material. (However, I read a bit of the manga and it has the same type of flow. I guess you could call it a 4-koma serial, since each group of 4 panels ties to the next so well.) It is one of the finest 4-koma adaptations I have seen. Most of the gags are funny and they come fairly fast and furious, but the story still flows well. Impressive! After that, I still am loving C3-bu, even though I was not pleased with the recent developments in Yura's character. However, I do think they are fairly logical, given her personality going in, she is really just seeking acceptance and got off track when her intensity seemed to drive people away instead. Kimi no Iru Machi, another one that isn't being simulcast, is next on my list, but that may be more because of the manga than the anime. The anime is making some mistakes in terms of skipping development of minor characters and jumping around a lot. (though the big time skip that happened recently is also in the manga, for people that wondered about the jump to college age and haven't read it.) I still love the story and the characters though. TWGOK is also up here near the top. The episode with Chihiro was absolutely fantastic! It changed my view of Keima, to a certain extent. After that, Servant X Service and Sunday without God come in. I love the characters and their interactions in SxS. I find them engaging and loads of fun. They are also considerably more rounded than Bamboo's review gives them credit for. spoiler[Hasabe, for instance, is not actually a playboy at all. He has never even asked a girl out until he asked Lucy out.] Sunday is kind of inconsistent. The first arc was amazing, though it nearly lost me in the middle of the third episode. The second arc was good. The third arc was a bit bland, but the two new characters added to the microbus were good additions. The 1 episode arc about Scar was fantastic and the set-up for the current arc raised my expectations. I am also really enjoying Day Break Illusion, but it could go off the rails at any moment. If it does, I don't know if it will be a magnificent train wreck or just a train wreck. Silver Spoon is enjoyable, but none of the characters really engage me, other than Aki. Hachiken came close in the summer break arc and the pizza episode, but he is still just meh... Kin Iro Mosaic is cute, but the four koma nature of the source material frequently messes with the flow of the episodes too much. Chronicles of the Going Home Club is similarly cute and similarly disjointed, but I feel like the only jokes that really work for me are the 4th wall violations. It is probably a cultural issue... Dog and Scissors is enjoyable, but it is also a ridiculous mess. I haven't exactly dropped Rozen Maiden, but I am not keeping up with it either... |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Ah I miss the stream articles but glad to see this month's version out!
I agree with The Eccentric Family and it is one of my top 5's for this summer season. I just love the way the dialogues are engaged as well as the character interactions. Given the fact that it's the same author that also worked on the Tatami Galaxy, I enjoy the humor of this show too. For me, the best shows this season are Monogatarai Second Series, Blood Lad, Watamote, Silver Spoon, High School DxD New, TWGOKIII, Genshiken Nidaime. This summer season have been much better than last year's so far imo. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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The Eccentric Family is one of those shows I want to like so bad but just really failed to grab me with it's opening stretch of episodes to the point where I just found my interest waning considerably at points every time I'd go to watch. I find the whole backstory surrounding the patriarch Tanuki interesting, but I guess I'm just not cut out for the segments that love to depict the every day life things. They just do nothing for me and really never had in most shows, I just get absolutely nothing out of that sort of I guess feeling they try to illicit. Others seem to love it though and I'll probably end up finishing it eventually, I'm just getting really mixed feelings from that one, but I guess just as a result of how middling Summer has been overall by my standards it'll finish somewhere in the top 3 even still, keeping in mind I'm only watching 4 shows at this point and am not extensively fond of any of them aside from perhaps Watamote.
Still it's better than most as this Summer season has left me with almost nothing to watch. I really like Watamote with it's black humor and some of the jabs it takes at modern anime tropes and Tomoko's VA is really crushing it episode after episode. Considering it wasn't even on my radar at the start of the season I consider it something of the dark horse that could. Silver Spoon has been better at bypassing my usual lack of interest in everyday life things by often rolling those experiences back into growth and realizations by Hachiken about his lifes trajectory and I find the cast pretty well rounded and the humor at least workable. Symphogear G is a dumb guilty pleasure for me, but I don't fine it anything particularly special or memorable and the writing can really lame at times, especially with how the main villain could not be more over the top evil if they tried as a means of building sympathy for some of the other antagonists. There's nothing though I feel will be all that memorable come Fall though, it's just been that kind of season for me. 
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sakuragtin
 Posts: 222 |
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Firstly, congratulations to Bamboo! That is a stunning accomplishment!
Well favorite of the season hands down is Free!. It's full of good looking men who seem devoid of any major mental issues that seem to populate shows aimed toward women, it's a sport anime which equals love for me, and it's gorgeous to look at. I was actually surprised at how well it's developed. I went in with no expectations for plot or character development or anything except pretty guys looking hot. Turns out it's quite a nicely balanced little piece of entertainment. Already hoping it'll have a second season. Second favorites are Senyu, Makai Ouji, and Hakkenden . Senyu is just fun and hilarious and it's a great for a quick pick-me-up. Makai Ouji is actually a pretty good show and William Twining is one of my favorite characters of the season (spoiler[Hurray John Dalton!]). This show also provides for those who want to see a straight up magical girl transformation sequence with a guy complete with sound effects, sparkles, and rainbows - only happened once but it was priceless. The BL trappings are a big bonus. Hakkenden S2 has been just as enjoyable to me as the first was so no complaints here. I'm just wondering if it'll be able to wrap everything up before the end of the season. I don't think the manga has ended so I'm not sure if the last couple of episodes will conclude the series or leave open for a possible third season. Other shows Day break Illusion: I'm enjoying it?....guess that's not a way to put it, I don't hate it, in fact I was enjoying it up till spoiler[the counterpart cards showed up. After Ginka died/disappeared and it started focusing more on Luna and Akari my interest suddenly dropped. I didn't really care what happened to any of them anyway but I liked Ginka and her dad, so I guess that meant she was my favorite character of the four. Plus the mob scene was ridiculous, really? A mob of hundreds of people are going to randomly show up at a school no one in town seems to have really heard of cause of a few strange instances happened and a rumor of witches. Really? Did you just....really?] I'll finish it though, if anything just to see if they actually explain the bad guys' motives and the organization behind the elemental card users. Wakamote: I have a hard time with this show cause it reminds me of me back in high school. There was always a little something in each of the episodes that made go ahead and give the next episode a chance but episode 5 didn't have that so I stopped with it. I'll finish it later maybe, depends if I hear that she's made some improvement for herself. There's still a lot of stuff I need to get around to watching/catching up. I enjoyed the first episode of Eccentric Family, but I wanted to watch it in one full go so I've been holding off until the end of the season so I'm glad to hear it's doing well. I still haven't seen Gatchaman Crowds or Gifu Dodo, but it's my aim to be caught up by the end of the week. Shows I dropped Sunday Without God and Servant X Service. Servant X Service wasn't bad, it just wasn't that interesting to me. I dropped after the first episode or rather I kept forgetting I watched it at all and still probably won't watch more. Sunday Without God.....hmm, I didn't like it. The world had very interesting premise but I didn't like the first episode. Random loli baiting and an emphasis on emotionally scarring the cutesy 12 year old heroine you don't care about is a no for me and also the character designs. They looked like they came from three different shows and didn't belong together. Kind of like they took the extras from Attack on Titan, rejected bishonen from K, those big-eyed girls from a show from the early 2000s and put them together. So dropped, the premise is interesting but no. (Maybe if it was someone putting the dead to rest Fist of North Star style I'd watch it.....spoiler[like Bisky from HunterxHunter with a shovel]). @Merida I was actually looking for the Makai Ouji talkback thread the other day to find there wasn't one. I was curious how other people were enjoying it (I personally like it a little bit better than Black Butler since the humor is more to my taste). Edit: I totally forgot about Blood Lad, guess that's what happens when I watch more then four shows. Liked it like I did Binbogami ga, not a favorite but certainly proves interesting. Plus HunterxHunter and Toriko are fun like always. Last edited by sakuragtin on Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:12 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Spleen
Posts: 56 |
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The only way I can watch Watamote is to wait until that week's episode of Gatchaman is out, and then watch the latter immediately after the former to cheer me up. Anyone else?
It's great because it hits the awkwardness of being a teenager so perfectly, but at the same time hard to watch, because at the end of the day it's about a girl having a really miserable time. I liked the reviewer's exhortation to "keep going" - that sums up how I feel. Eccentric Family is a good pick for number 1 although not my personal favourite. Servant x Service I think has been harshly dealt with, it's not a classic but good in an old-fashioned sitcom sort of way. What A Gorgeous Sunset To Punt Twelve Year Old Girls In The Face By is this season's pick for "show I'm surprised I'm still watching". It doesn't really go anywhere, the main character is a plank of wood with "  hnn hnn ganbarimas..!!" written on it, and I am almost certain that the interesting premise will dissolve in a mist of loose ends and total bollocks by the end, like so many similar animes. But now I've got this far I'll probably stick with it for the artwork.
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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I didn't watch much of Black Butler since i simply couldn't stand the bratty main character at all. William is a bit of a brat himself, but in a good way. The show is almost a reverse harem, only that the...errr...'focus of affection' is a pretty stubborn guy. The humour is also a plus. Seeing that you're also watching Senyuu and Hakkenden 2, i would probably rank Makai Ouji about the same as Hakkenden 2 with Senyuu being slightly above both since i've got a soft spot for silly, absurd Gintama-style humour.
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Mirri
Posts: 313 |
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Just a quick aside, Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA was serialized from 2007-2008, so it's not like this is derivative of Madoka☆Magica. |
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The_Moe_Dome
 Posts: 2 Location: The Moe Dome |
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I've been looking to get back into the Summer anime's I started last July - then left for vacations & such - I love how break everything down.
Plus, I like that you watch a variety of stuff and you're not a "Genre snob" like some people. Keep it up! I wish you'd do a video review of these because you're really good on the podcast. I loved the discussion you and Zac had about "Penquin Drum" - you both made it sound way more compelling & esoteric than I thought was possible. I too enjoyed "The Going Home Club" (in a passive way) and I was REALLY frustrated with "Danganrompa" & it's story tell telling - you lasted way longer than I did. |
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blaizevincent
 Posts: 407 |
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Outside of the continuation of Attack On Titan these are my favourite shows from this season
01. Silver Spoon 10/10 02. The Eccentric Family 9/10 03. Genshiken Nidaime 9/10 04. Watamote 9/10 05. Servant x Service (I cannot fathom why you think there are Zero personalities!?!?) 8/10 06. Free! 8/10 07. Danganronpa 8/10 08. Blood Lad 7/10 09. Yamishibai 7/10 10. Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist 7/10 the others are a mix of 5-7/10 The Worst shows of the season for me were - Chronicles of the Going Home Club 2/10 - Gifuu Doudou!! 3/10 < I have a love hate relationship with this show |
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EternalKnight001
 Posts: 24 |
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Few quick comments (PS. I’m so glad The Stream is back! Missed this column like nuts!)
The Eccentric Family: Anyone else find this show boring? I want to love it; but... maybe its that I’m not all THAT familiar with some of the different aspects of Japanese folklore. Anyways. Love Takahiro Sakurai so will keep coming back for more, but a lil painful to watch sometimes, for me in any case. Watamote: This show is heartbreaking. The lunch episode particularly; draws so many parallels to my own life. Flashbacks, of the worst memories possible. Yep. Genshiken 2: Kicking myself for not keeping up with this series as I love two of the new characters (Rika and Kenjiro).... have heard its actually not all *that* linked to previous iterations of the show, but still irks me when characters come on screen from past seasons and I don’t know who they are (espec Madarame – such a good character...). Might have to bite the bullet and go back to previous seasons, but guess crunchy doesn’t stream em... FREE!: Definitely my favorite anime of the summer season. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, but the characters are more than just pretty faces (although they are VERY pretty faces, indeed .... just my kind of show. Can’t wait to see how it wraps up 
Sunday without God: Finding this show really intruiging; lots of original ideas here- just a few mentions: The Baby. JulixScar. But- still not cool killilng of my favorite character in the first couple epis. I also agree that the idea of ‘permadeath’ and what this truly means calls so many things into question... Makai Ouji: Drawn to this series as it’s a genre I tend to gravitate towards *coughs*. But. Have to admit I don’t like the characters much (read: Dantalion; Satyr, or however you spell his/ers name, lol). But still enjoyable all the same- draws a few giggles each week. (also, too many random new characters popping up; hard to keep track of them all) Danganronpa: Enjoying this show but really worried I’m spoiling the game for myself, which is set to be localized by NISA for next year. ANYWAYS. Find that the storyline and ‘discoveries’ are a bit too rushed/fast for me to follow, constantly rewinding to stream to find out exactly what the heck they’re talking about, so I agree- that sense that you’re watching someone play a visual novel is a little devastating. Nevertheless, raises the hype for the game
ServantxService: Ok, so sue me. I find this show hilarious. Particularly Hasebei. Not sure why I don’t find it boring, but for some reason, I just... don’t
Dog&Scissors: Another show I find hilarious, but just because its so hilariously bad. Will keep watching for the laughs, but honestly, oh geeze- who came up with this storyline. Just the fact that the show revels in how bad it is is a testament to... yah, how truly horribly awful it is, in actual fact. Brothers Conflict: Again, a show I like; although everything that happened in episode 9 was oh so predictable. Knew it would come to that. (not saying anything else due to spoilers). Call me a fangirl, whatever, s’all good. (PS Azusa FTW). *phew...* and... I guess we’re almost into Fall anime, now aren’t we? (crazy- time flies!) |
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