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The Summer 2019 Anime Preview Guide


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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:48 pm Reply with quote
"To The Abandonded Sacred Beasts" does not take after Attack on Titan. It's a clear cut copy of Berserk, if one would try and make Berserk watchable by elementary school kids. Also, I don't think the anime takes itself too seriously at all; especially compared to the manga, it actually seems pretty childish. All the nuance and mystery are thrown out of the window in this very first episode. I enjoyed watching how these people were when they were just hanging out, but that killed any kind of gravitas the gradual confrontation of each Beast had. The exposition was also horrible, like the plot and the story should hurry up and get out of the way by using the most simple dialogue to ever exist, because the flashy battles need to start. It does not even capture the atmosphere of the manga at all.

This was just too bad. This show was on my "to watch" list, but after this premiere, I will have to seriously consider whether I should continue or not. This was really disappointing.
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2404
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 8:04 pm Reply with quote
The schedule: https://myanimelist.net/anime/season
The season´s lineup is terrible beyond words if it wasn´t for exactly one -Anime Of The Decade- candidate but I am for once busy in RL and am happy to accept the free time. The films, on the other hand, are another matter entirely but let´s first address last season's latecomers:

7SEEDS Good old Gonzo decided to adapt 16 volumes within 12 episodes. 16! So yeah... Netflix anime is still a mess. Do not watch this if you haven´t read the award-winning manga first and only bother if you truly want to see a mediocrely produced super-cut of almost random (!) scenes. 4/10 for manga readers? 2/10 for non-readers? Who even knows.

Aggretsuko S02 finally ran out of steam and I don´t have it in me to watch another season about another cringy love-triangle that overtakes all. Especially if I consider how well Netflix´s very own Tuca & Bertie did everything this show tried. Stop with S01 or watch the more focused (and romance-free) original shorts. 5/10

Vinland Saga Wit is a messy studio but they know how to adapt and to keep a show going. Which will be important here. The source material is one of the most acclaimed comics of all time and frankly speaks for itself but it had a slightly bumpy start. The first vol. ran in a weekly Shounen magazine before moving on to the monthly and Seinen Afternoon. Meaning that the anime will only get better as it goes on and fairly quickly too. The only eyebrow-raising part is the 24 ep. runtime, as something major happens in vol. 8. So I´ll just hope that the anime ends there (for now) and that we don´t get a condensed adapted that runs till vol. 14.

Movie time:
Dragon Quest: Your Story looks interesting enough and the game (DQV) is one of the best RPGs of its generation. This could work if the film stops before the 2nd time-skip.

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These Seiran 1 explains itself. The 80s/90s OVAs remain unmatched but the last TV season was good enough. The production values in the teaser didn´t look "upgraded" but S01 already looked like an OVA.

Mob Psycho 100 got an OVA with an original script. Ok.

Ni no Kuni Game adaptations are dicey even in anime form but I mostly liked the games and this is an original story.

One Piece Stampede The films tended to be alright once Toei started to care about them with No.10. I actually like these more than nearly everything since the time jump.

Tenki no Ko Mr. Your Name´s films/OVAs never truly worked for me but maybe teen-drama No. XYZ will.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 8:15 pm Reply with quote
Scared beast just sound like fairy gone if anything...
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 8:34 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Scared beast just sound like fairy gone if anything...

reverse....Sacred Beasts was released about five years ago.


With this first episode the anime really dropped the ball,adaption wise.
Instead of following the manga's first chapter,the anime dumped(and poorly so) a lot of exposition that the manga doles out via flashbacks.

There's a chance that with the next two episodes this adaption of To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts gets it's act together/align itself to the manga.

But this is not ever going to be in the same league as Attack on Titan-There's no resemblance,more akin to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.


Last edited by Nordhmmer on Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Spike Terra
Subscriber



Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 9:06 pm Reply with quote
I'm really digging Abandoned Sacred Beasts so far, it reminds me of bloodbourne mixed with the WWII arc in Zettai Karen Children. So far the setting seems great and I love the premise. Plus I'm a big fan of fantasy settings that use hilarious names like Cain Madhouse.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:13 pm Reply with quote
You're all wrong. Sacred Beasts is the X-Men with Wolverine leading the pack! j/k (or am I...)

Looks ok so far. Better than fairy gone, easier on the eyes than cgi Berserk, doesn't hold a candle to Titan.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 4784
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:24 pm Reply with quote
I can't say I was too impressed by Sacred Beasts. The animation wasn't that good and I felt lost trying to keep up with all these characters but at the same the big twist at the end felt so predictable. I have to say I liked Fairy Gone more than this because at least I could understand that show and I liked it's action scenes better. I almost forgot this was a MAPPA show with how lackluster this felt. But it doesn't seem like the director has done much outside of a few shows and was mainly a storyboard artist before this.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:29 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Scared beast just sound like fairy gone if anything...

While they share some conceptual overlap, Sacred Beasts won't get bogged down in its world-building and dense plotting like Fairy Gone has. It has a much leaner plot, is much more character-centered, and focuses much more on the premise given in its title.

And I'll flatly disagree with anyone who thinks that the adaptation dropped the ball with its approach. I thought doing it this way sets up the main story very well.

As for the AoT comparisons, those only extend to tonal similarities. Its approach and focus is wholly different. It won't be the spectacle that AoT is is (which is not really a fair comparison, since AoT was a once-in-a-decade series in that regard) but should have its own merits unless the adaptation really screws things up. And based on the first episode, I don't think it will.
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Ajc228



Joined: 29 Dec 2015
Posts: 264
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:33 pm Reply with quote
Sacred Beasts had some nice cuts of animation but the direction and writing is pretty bad. The whole montage of the incarnates killing enemy soldiers to a cheery tune was tonally weird and just a bad choice. Hank cheers up his troops by telling them he’s going to ask for his friends hand in marriage? His choice doesn’t really detract from the greater existential threat his troops face and I don’t buy that would be enough to cheer them up. Characters make decisions more to move the plot forward rather than organically making decisions based on needs/wants. If they can keep this level of animation quality, I’ll stick with it. However Mappa is terrible with scheduling so I’m sure the quality will inevitably slip. 3/5-stupid but fun.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1380
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 10:40 pm Reply with quote
Ajc228 wrote:
Hank cheers up his troops by telling them he’s going to ask for his friends hand in marriage? His choice doesn’t really detract from the greater existential threat his troops face and I don’t buy that would be enough to cheer them up.


While I think Sacred Beasts took a hard left turn into Stupidsville once Elaine pulled that gun out, this part at least makes sense to me. It's meant to remind all of them that despite what they've been through, there's still lives for them to live after it's all over. They all have families or friends or ambitions beyond being Ninja Turtles villains, and him saying he'll work up the courage to propose is a way to reassure them that they can go back to that.
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Ajc228



Joined: 29 Dec 2015
Posts: 264
PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 11:34 pm Reply with quote
lossthief wrote:
Ajc228 wrote:
Hank cheers up his troops by telling them he’s going to ask for his friends hand in marriage? His choice doesn’t really detract from the greater existential threat his troops face and I don’t buy that would be enough to cheer them up.


While I think Sacred Beasts took a hard left turn into Stupidsville once Elaine pulled that gun out, this part at least makes sense to me. It's meant to remind all of them that despite what they've been through, there's still lives for them to live after it's all over. They all have families or friends or ambitions beyond being Ninja Turtles villains, and him saying he'll work up the courage to propose is a way to reassure them that they can go back to that.

I suppose that’s possible. I didn’t really read it that way. Like I wouldn’t care if my commander told me he’s proposing, I’m still changing into a ninja turtle regardless. I don’t think this show is too keen on subtext but this makes sense. I still think there was a better way of conveying this without being so cheesy. The execution of this was rather clumsy.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:44 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:

While they share some conceptual overlap, Sacred Beasts won't get bogged down in its world-building and dense plotting like Fairy Gone has. It has a much leaner plot, is much more character-centered, and focuses much more on the premise given in its title.

And I'll flatly disagree with anyone who thinks that the adaptation dropped the ball with its approach. I thought doing it this way sets up the main story very well.

As for the AoT comparisons, those only extend to tonal similarities. Its approach and focus is wholly different. It won't be the spectacle that AoT is is (which is not really a fair comparison, since AoT was a once-in-a-decade series in that regard) but should have its own merits unless the adaptation really screws things up. And based on the first episode, I don't think it will.


Yeah, Beasts is more about doing this fantastical scenario about soldiers reintegrating into civilian life and how they were abandoned by a government who just threw them away. As such, many don't take it well and either lash out or succumb to despair. That being said, as we've learned about stuff like PTSD it's something that needs to be handled a certain otherwise the conceit can come off as awkward and exploitative. Mappa's track record has been pretty good (Dororo was one of the best of the year so far) so I'll keep up
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LucianGreyfold



Joined: 09 Oct 2014
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:16 am Reply with quote
I've been reading the manga of the Abandoned Sacred Beasts since the official US release of it and loved it from when I picked it up. It starts out building up to when we finally get the full details about what happened in the past, but this episode literally revealed pretty much the majority of the mystery and backstory in what feels like one big exposition episode. What happens in this episode would have more weight and emotion behind it if they had followed the manga and done the hints and pieces of what happened while letting us get to know Hank and his soon to be tag along partner.

I was pretty disappointed with episode one story and plot pacing wise, animation was good nothing great. Last time I was this disappointed with the 1st episode of an anime adaption of a manga I really enjoyed was that terrible 1st episode of Dance in the Vampire Bund.
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FackuIkari



Joined: 31 Dec 2013
Posts: 411
Location: Argentina
PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 9:26 am Reply with quote
To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts: At least the monsters aren't CG so that's something. I can live with a monster of the week plot until we find Cain Madhouse (holy shit that name is awesome)
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aaa1e2r3



Joined: 16 Apr 2017
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:59 pm Reply with quote
Anyone else getting a deadlink to the Are You Lost Preview?
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