Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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louis6578
 Posts: 1861 |
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That's the thing, it can be the most amazingly animated, beautifully directed boring story ever, but it's still a boring, dull story that tries too hard to be artsy about humanity. I don't even get what it's about really, aside from the obvious.
Yeah, Stink Bomb was just Captain Tylor using his powers for evil rather than good. What killed it for me is that no one did the obvious thing. None of the military guys try to tell him that he's a danger to all life. The joke hinges on the stupidity of the military. Had they constantly tried to tell him, but Evil!Captain Tylor (that's what I'm calling him) kept interrupting them, it would work. "Listen! The drug you took made you-" "What...? I can't hear you over the tanks! Sorry, sir! Speak up!" That would make it clear that they at least tried. Even at the end, they didn't say "No! Don't hit the eject button!" Though that begs the question as to why he even got into the suit to begin with if he didn't realize anything was wrong. How did he get one!? Ugh... the more I think about it, the more I feel like lowering the rating I gave it. Cannon Fodder... I nearly fell asleep watching it. Perhaps I shouldn't have watched them all in one go? Either way, maybe they should have saved their best, Magnetic Rose, for last. Is it me, or is Magnetic Rose the only one that had anything to do with "Memories" as a theme. The rest... were completely undeserving of the title. I wish I could buy the thing on a completely separate disc than the other two. Oh well. |
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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Just finished Spice And Wolf. As much as I want to say it was a very good series with one of the best female leads in anime history combined with a romantic subplot that was making me shout "Just kiss already" before it was even half way over...the complications of the show's economics as well as the extremely unsatisfying ending left me with mixed feelings about the show overall. However, I will still recommend it to anyone simply on the basis that Holo is freakin' amazing.
Tomorrow, I'll be starting ef: a tale of memories and melodies. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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with the lack of continuing new stuff coming in I've gone into marathon mode. And with a stressful situation hovering over me I decided to go for "comfort food"
1. A rewatch of Ouran Host Club. I remembered it as a fun and sweet series... although I also seemed to remember being annoyed with it. Oh yes, those boys really are obnoxious, and my socialist tendencies tend to bristle in the presence of conspicuous consumption seen in such a positive light. But half way through, it does get more pleasnt for me. Characters show their feelings and more likable supporting characters have a bigger part. In the end I wish it kept going. I read the manga the last time I watched this a couple years ago and like where they went. Next, I knew it didn't have a great reputation, but harem comedies are my most comfortable of comfort foods. SO I watched Crunchyroll's recently picked up decade old catalog title... 2. DearS. A yes, it is definitely riding the low bar for a harem. Not Green Green bad, but bad. I was generous and rated it "So-So". The "willing slave" really is just about the most offensive of the shonen romance fantasies. And although the MC really is an ass I stayed behind him because his reluctance to take advantage of his personal slave girl wasn't only one of genric MC embarassment, but a noble belief that she shouldn't do such things because she thought he was her master. that was slightly ruined at the end. Extra negative points for the exhibitionist teacher. But bonus points for these two random lines of badly translated dialog (sub) Narcissist teen playboy character: "Oh, are you girls talking about how beautiful I am?" Accompanying girl: "No, we were talking about how we were taking care of the Dog S**t." next, wanting something with a GOOD reputation I watched (just finished) something on my shelf's backlog. 3. Living For The Day After Tomorrow. I think it's best if you go into the show with minimal explanation so I won't spoil the plot except that it somehow involves a young girl and a grown young woman switching places. It is definitely a nice story and all the characters are likable or at least understandable. The only problem is that they tell the story at arm's length, never really letting you to get into any of the character's head. They explain their feeling and problems but its not really easy to relate to them. I'm glad I watched it but I was hoping for a little more... rating it "Good". Next, I think I might squeeze in my yearly rewatch of Cross Game. LOVE that show. |
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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Started ef: a tale of memories. At first, it took me a minute to get into (think I've burned myself out on slice of life shows the last few months). Couple episodes in, though, and I was starting to dig it. Plot isn't close to original as it's just a typical relationship drama between the characters. Characters aren't even all that original, either, but they do well enough to make me interested in what happens to them. Biggest thing that got me into the show is spoiler[how they love to punish the female characters by constantly having them get ditched during dates. Just finished the episode where Hiro and Miyako are supposed to go on a date but Hiro gets held up when Kei hurts herself during the game. The constant phone calls with each one getting more angry before becoming desperate tugged at the heart strings. May not have cared much for Miyako's character before this particular episode but no girl should have to suffer from being ditched like that. Same with Kei during Christmas on the first episode and later with Chihiro when she waited for Renji in the rain. Damn you for manipulating my feelings like that!]
In addition to mentioned spoilers, I'd say the other big draw for this show, to me, is it's art style. The animation studio must have had a very good budget as the show not only uses constantly changing styles during the show, usually only for a few moments but it's extremely effective, but it's use of bright colors contrasts greatly with how depressing some of the material is. As far as slice of life anime go, if it keeps going at the same rate it has been, it could find itself ranking very highly on my list. |
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DuelGundam2099
 Posts: 533 |
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Welp, I finally finished When They Cry Kai to kick off October aka the month of monsters and horror; I marathoned the last seven episodes today after only taking one on a day for the past month. The music grew on me and I liked the last four episodes including the very forgiving ending although the amazingly slow pacing, mediocre cast, for some reason the second half has more scenes after the ending theme (which is dumb since ending themes are meant to signal the end except with special exceptions once in a while), and poor use of the animation budget just killed it for me. Also censoring the fact that Hanyuu has horns was dumb as hell, TV broadcast I might get, but for home release? Eye roll worthy. Granted it is better than the first series, not by a lot, but enough. All that is left for me to take on is Outbreak and Zero (not sure which order).
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louis6578
Posts: 1861 |
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Taking a small break from anime until the weekend to work on School work, but once the weekend hits, I think I'll rewatch the original Neon Genesis Evangelion. See if it's really as terrible/amazing as people seem to think.
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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Honestly, the most disappointing thing about Kai was it strayed from what the fans wanted to see: cute girls brutally murdering eachother. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@Duel
I haven't seen the second half of Higurashi yet, and the only time I saw the first season was before I moved, so that was over two years ago. I thought it was fine. (My sort of horror is body horror, and the one scene that made me cringe in fear was the fingernail scene. Even in the mediocore English track, it is so uncomfortable to watch.  ) I think the reason it's still so beloved is that the basic premise is one of the most terrifying things you could ever imagine. Your loved ones could snap and kill you at any moment, and you will never find out why, only wondering what you could have done until you take your very last breath. Jesus. Christ.
About the animation...it's Studio Deen. I don't think they've ever put out a good-looking product. Like, ever. And that's why they're one of the anime fandom's least favorite studios. @louis Hey! I did an entire analysis on why the ending was so terrible! You can find it on the first page of my Akane Analyzes thread! (Yes, I'm desperate for comments. Sorry if I sound pushy.) |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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They did Sankarea, which looks really good. Surprised the hell out of me when I was watching it. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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^ They did? Huh. You learn something new everyday. Still, you could say that Studio Deen is pretty much Sturgeon's Law when it comes to their productions; ninety percent of anything they animate looks like sh*t, and the other ten percent is actually pretty good.
Same with Pierrot, oddly enough. I'm going to watch Tokyo Ghoul this month, and from what I've seen from the trailer it looks REALLY REALLY GOOD. |
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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I noticed Higurashi gets a lot of hate for it's animation. While it's not the best looking series I've ever seen, I didn't think the animation was nearly as terrible as people make it out to be. Although, I suppose the question is what was it about the animation that people didn't like? The backgrounds were simple enough so I didn't have a problem with that. And I actually enjoyed how they animated the characters (made them going insane contrast so well with how "moe" they appear for the rest of the show). Tl; dr: if anyone can share what they didn't like about the animation in Higurashi, let me know. |
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1886 Location: Netherlands |
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@Spastic minnow: The day after tomorrow looks like a show that I'll like, so I'll put it on my to-watch list.
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Lanvidia
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Deen made Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal somehow, which looks amazing and that many consider to be a masterpiece. All the stars must have aligned, because they never managed to even come close to making another anime this good. |
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DuelGundam2099
Posts: 533 |
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It isn't entirely the animation as much as it was nobody could draw legs and feet realistically.
I've seen a lot of horror movies and with similar premises. This wasn't a bad idea, the problem was everyone called parasites controlled by pheromones as a "disease", it couldn't even remain consistent over what causes it. It is a lot like my least favorite Super Sentais or Kamen Riders (series, not characters), the writing outright contradicts itself and has massive in-universe holes that form conflicts that otherwise should not exist. I guess this is why I am more of an Ultraman fan when it comes to tokusatsu, much simpler plots are harder to screw up!  This series may have worked better if the first and Kai were combined and trimmed down to 39 episodes. I still have two OVAs left to go and even Patlabor had something nice (specifically its third movie), so there's still a sliver of hope.
I rarely take studios into account with the exception of Gainax because you know with them the western fandom is going to find everything they make as "deep" even when they flat out state there isn't and if you know the genre beforehand you'd know it just looks pretty and has a high budget yet isn't much else. Take Satellite Studios, they made amazing art like the Aquarion franchise, the new Macross stuff, M3, Nobunaga The Fool, and Arjuna. They also make rather questionable stuff like Bodacious Space Pirates, that Muv-Luv adaption, and Chibi/Little Goddess Karin (that last one infamous for the derp macro). No studio has all the same staff on their products so I judge a work on its own. To quote Adeu from Ryu Knight: "Hate the sin, not the sinner." |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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^ That's another thing I forgot to mention: Studio Deen has a bad habit of going off-model. I don't think they're as bad as Xebec is when it comes to sh*tty looking anime. Sorry if I forgot to mention it earlier. :'D
I've noticed that a common complaint about the Higurashi anime from fans of the visual novel is that it tends to go down in quality the further you go in. In fact, most fans of the visual novel don't like the anime adaptation. I can't say for certain, since I only watched half of the series. I've heard Umineko was a more polished Higurashi from those who have read both. (As far as I know, both are set in the same universe, but there's a bit more ambiguity as to what connection both series have, since the latter can be seen as a seperate work from the former.) When it comes to Gainax, the only productions I've seen from them are EVA and FLCL, and I don't think either of them are particularly deep. (The latter I felt was more creative and organized with presenting the classic coming of age formula than whatever the hell the former did towards the end.) Hope Chapman did a review of FLCL that mentions Gainax's trademark style, so I won't go further. With certain studios, you can guarantee how their products are going to look ahead of time. For example, Bones and most Madhouse productions will be clean and fluid, Kyoto Animation will have pretty backgrounds and fully animated scenes. (I haven't seen Clannad, but I've seen clips from any scene with The Girl, and they are very fluid and crisp.) Likewise, most of Deen and Xebec's output will look like crap (with the exception of a handful of titles), most of Toei's will be stiff and cheap, and Manglobe's color palate will be dull and gray. I think I've been purusing this site for too long.
Addendum: Oh god I am so exhausted right now. Tomorrow I'm going to put up my Ouran family analysis post, and I'm really nervous it's not going to be as good as it needs to be. I'm also thinking of putting in a new segment where I ramble about a non-specific topic of my choosing. Somebody please tell me how I'm doing! I'm tired of not getting enough feedback from anyone. Sorry if I sound too desperate. 
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