Support NeoGAF

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Space Brothers 87:
This was a nice and relaxing episode. I loved the scenes with Mutta, Nitta and Kenji all hanging out and relaxing along with Kenji's family. There was just such a pleasant atmosphere to the whole thing, which worked well coming after the tense NEEMO training, and it just reinforces why all three of them are guys who you want to see succeed. Hibito's arc has also started to approach an end, and I was happy to see him

Spoiler

finally making that last step. He just has one thing left to do.

The video scenes with Olga were really good, and I loved how they tied back in with Hibito and showed him being inspired by watching them.

This is one of the better triumphs Space Brothers has pulled to date, by getting the viewer engrossed in a character getting engrossed in watching a video. It's relaxing, and it does a lot to develop both Hibito and Olga, but also even Olga's mother, who takes over on camera duties from Ivan with an immediate change in the commentary style.

I'm a little bit late digging into the spring lineup. I've kinda put it off. XD

So what's been good so far? I don't really want to waste hours wading through a bunch of so-so anime. I haven't looked at much so far, just Captain Earth, The World Is Still Beautiful, and Blade and Soul. All of which seem decent so far. Any other suggestions?

One Week Friends, Baby Steps and Haikyu are all worth checking out.

 

[Basileus777]

Ace of the Diamond 27

This show is really hitting its stride. It took a lot of build-up to get to this moment, but that only makes it more satisfying right now. An in that a recap episode for next week? Ugh.

 

[Gazoinks]

Mekaku City Actors 1

I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but it's 200% SHAFT. It was like a lost episode of Monogatari after Ararararararagi lost all his powers by having his ahoge cut. It was pretty fun in that SHAFTy way, so I'll keep going.

What does this have to do with vocaloids anyway?

 

[MartyStu]

Nisekoi 14

Raku keeps on acting like a decent human being. Someone should tell him he is in a harem anime.

Hurry, he might embarrass himself.

 

[Articalys]

So the site for upcoming Summer anime Hanayamata is finally up and running for real.

http://hanayamata.com/

Naru Sekiya is an ordinary 14-year old girl who likes fairy tales, but is worried about her lack of other interests. She has a chance encounter with a "fairy", a foreign girl practicing dance at night. On a spur of the moment, Naru asks to join her, and she is introduced to the world of yosakoi dancing.

http://moca-news.net/article/20140413/201404131300a/01/

Staff
Director: Atsuko Ishizuka
Series Compostion & Screenplay: Reiko Yoshida
Character Design: Atsuko Watanabe (Acchi Kocchi, Machine-Doll, Tokyo Ravens)
Music: MONACA
Animation Production: Madhouse

Cast includes Reina Ueda, Minami Tanaka, Kaya Okuno, Yuka Ootsubo, and Manami Numakura.

 

[Narag]

OT list:
Captain Earth
Date a Live II
Hunter x Hunter
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
Mahouka
Mushi-shi S2
Ping Pong

Got this far and gave up. Please let me know if there are more.

 

[JoeFu]

Not sure what to think about The World Is Still Beautiful. Learning more about this king will help I guess, but I think I liked the first episode more. The song at the end of the episode was nice though.

 

[SDBurton]

Why is Yagyu such meh

Not sure. I don't hate her, but I'm not really a fan of her fighting style.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

So the site for upcoming Summer anime Hanayamata is finally up and running for real.

http://hanayamata.com/

Ishizuka + Yoshida on a cute girl show with an intriguing hook? I'm interested.

 

[Midonin]

So the site for upcoming Summer anime Hanayamata is finally up and running for real.

http://hanayamata.com/


http://moca-news.net/article/20140413/201404131300a/01/

Cast includes Reina Ueda, Minami Tanaka, Kaya Okuno, Yuka Ootsubo, and Manami Numakura.

Wherever there's cute girls doing anything, I'm there.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Not sure what to think about The World Is Still Beautiful. Learning more about this king will help I guess, but I think I liked the first episode more. The song at the end of the episode was nice though.

I think the first episode was a little stronger, particularly in terms of the world building and setting up the characters, but there were some really nice moments in the second episode, and I felt like Nike distinguished herself a lot more in the second episode.

 

[Dresden]

So the site for upcoming Summer anime Hanayamata is finally up and running for real.

http://hanayamata.com/


http://moca-news.net/article/20140413/201404131300a/01/

Cast includes Reina Ueda, Minami Tanaka, Kaya Okuno, Yuka Ootsubo, and Manami Numakura.

Ishizuka not being forced to work on junk for once?

 

[duckroll]

One Week Friends - Episode 1

So this is basically Soldier of the Mist reimagined as a high school anime series with a moe Latro? The corny premise aside, it's actually pretty cute. The backgrounds are really nice, there's a nice color palette, and I like the linework on the character art. Not sure how the series will keep itself interesting, but I'll stick with it for now. Akemi Hayashi did the ED too! Yay~

The next step for Brains Base is clearly to actually adapt Soldier of the Mist!

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Not sure. I don't hate her, but I'm not really a fan of her fighting style.

Right. Think the final chapter and doing her story mode was a moment where I was like "NOPE" can't be dealing with this. Used SD mode just to blast through it. Eugh.

Then again, seems like characters who rack up hits faster just don't do much for me.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Not sure what to think about The World Is Still Beautiful. Learning more about this king will help I guess, but I think I liked the first episode more. The song at the end of the episode was nice though.

Like I've warned others, this will turn full shojo. Episode 2 is a pretty good indicator of what most of the plot will revolve around, which is mainly these two people growing closer. Assuming the anime doesn't go further than the chapter I currently am in the manga, it should stay like this throughout. It's a good shojo romance, with their relationship advancing pretty fast. So if that interests you go for it. The two leads have a pretty good dynamic, but if you were here for the world building you might be a bit disappointed.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Like I've warned others, this will turn full shojo. Episode 2 is a pretty good indicator of what most of the plot will revolve around, which is mainly these two people growing closer. Assuming the anime doesn't go further than the chapter I currently am in the manga, it should stay like this throughout. It's a good shojo romance, with their relationship advancing pretty fast. So if that interests you go for it. The two leads have a pretty good dynamic, but if you were here for the world building you might be a bit disappointed.

I think that should be good as long as they can keep some complexity to the relationship between the two of them. I thought it worked well in Episode 2 because the king kind of went back and forth on some stuff, and you got to see a few different facets of his character (and we also saw Nike in a bit of a different light to the way she was in Episode 1). If the show can keep up this sort of character work, I'll be satisfied.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Date some people that aren't quite deceased S2 1

Reintroduction episode utilizing an already captured spirit. Boring! Not off to the best start.

 

[chickdigger802]

mahouka 2

its not really a bad show... but its just so boring... boringly serious?

And man is the sister such a bitch. Dude just wants to chill, but sister keeps on wanting him to do stuff.

 

[JoeFu]

Like I've warned others, this will turn full shojo. Episode 2 is a pretty good indicator of what most of the plot will revolve around, which is mainly these two people growing closer. Assuming the anime doesn't go further than the chapter I currently am in the manga, it should stay like this throughout. It's a good shojo romance, with their relationship advancing pretty fast. So if that interests you go for it. The two leads have a pretty good dynamic, but if you were here for the world building you might be a bit disappointed.

Shoujo is uh 少女 right? From my limited Chinese I'm guessing it means the same in both languages. Its for younger / teenaged girls or whatever? I'll give it another episode or so I guess. Not sure what to expect from a shoujo.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Shoujo is uh 少女 right? From my limited Chinese I'm guessing it means the same in both languages. Its for younger / teenaged girls or whatever? I'll give it another episode or so I guess. Not sure what to expect from a shoujo.

Yes, the manga is published in Hana to Yume, which is a magazine aimed at young girls.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I think that should be good as long as they can keep some complexity to the relationship between the two of them. I thought it worked well in Episode 2 because the king kind of went back and forth on some stuff, and you got to see a few different facets of his character (and we also saw Nike in a bit of a different light to the way she was in Episode 1). If the show can keep up this sort of character work, I'll be satisfied.

Yeah it's a complex relationship, mainly from the king's side but her hard-headed personality also is part of it.

 

[OceanBlue]

Mahouka 2

Yeah, as everyone has said, it's pretty boring lol. Lots of chatting, nothing really happening. Nine Schools Arc when?

Mushishi Zoku-Shou 2

So good~. The sound of the sea throughout the episode was the best.

I think what strikes me the most watching these two back-to-back is how effective the dialogue is in Mushishi compared to Mahouka. There were a lot more lingering, static face shots in Mushishi and a lot more "expressive" body language in Mahouka, but comparatively so much more was said in fewer words in Mushishi than in Mahouka. It's also nice that there's plenty of times when things aren't being said, because it leaves time for previous scenes to sit. Introducing short breathers to the drama while keeping the mood intact is nice to me because it allows for things such as repetition or, in this case, exposition. Drama first, exposition later!

To be fair, nothing is really happening in Mahouka yet. Mushishi's dialogue mostly deals with easy-to-understand, relatable issues while Mahouka's dialogue is mostly technobabble and setting exposition because Mahouka is taking so long to establish the setting. Honestly, it'd probably be hard to compare most anime favorably to Mushishi in my opinion lol. Still, having a 26-episode anime is no excuse for taking so long to introduce some sort of (meaningful) conflict. :<

Too lazy to make this post understandable or to elaborate. Time for food.

 

[R_thanatos]

WHAT HOW CAN YOU NOT APPRECIATE DATABASE WOW WOW WOW

Clearly he is not living in the DATABASE yet.

 

[RurouniZel]

Atelier Escha and Logy

Also, is she a robot, or a moe-bot?
(Couldn't resist. )

She and Marion are awesome! :3 Though Wilbell is the cutest. XD

Atelier Escha & Logy 01:

Aside from a couple of derp faces I enjoyed it overall. It's clearly a low budget adaptation but the source material is strong enough to keep it afloat.

And here's for you, firehawk!

 

[firehawk12]

She and Marion are awesome! :3 Though Wilbell is the cutest. XD

Atelier Escha & Logy 01:

Aside from a couple of derp faces I enjoyed it overall. It's clearly a low budget adaptation but the source material is strong enough to keep it afloat.

I hope it stays mostly chill. I don't expect an Atelier game to turn into a convoluted FF story, but I have no idea. lol

 

[PshycoNinja]

Mahouka 2

Thoughts during episode:

- Way to dispel that dude.
- Yup a harem is developing. Damn.
- This OP is pretty cool.
- Yup this is a harem
- Student council meetings is exactly why I started this anime.
- Well that just happened.
- He just makes it too easy to call him out
- Ouch Vice President.
- He's so easy to call out.
- Why Nee-chan? Shut up!
- Oh Snap!
- Haha dude the plan your planing is so not gonna work.
- Lol that was awesome.

Summary:

Besides the first half being basically a set up the harem, the second half showing a battle simulation was actually pretty cool. Although this did feel like more of a second part of episode 1. The episodes fly by pretty fast and don't feel long at all so I guess I will give them credit for that. I hope the show gets better as it goes.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Hajime no Ippo: Rising 13:
Those were some brutal hits there towards the end. At the end, it all came down to two fighters who could barely understand what was going on around them trying to get every last bit of strength out and grasp victory. I really think the anime version did a great job at showcasing how much strain the sudden stops were putting on Ippo's body. I think you get a really good feeling for just how much that hurt. Overall, I think they did a really good job translating this fight to the screen. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

 

[Hitokage]

Shoujo is uh &#23569;&#22899; right? From my limited Chinese I'm guessing it means the same in both languages. Its for younger / teenaged girls or whatever? I'll give it another episode or so I guess. Not sure what to expect from a shoujo.

The four major manga target demographics are Shounen (&#23569;&#24180, Shoujo (&#23569;&#22899, Seinen (&#38738;&#24180, and Josei (&#22899;&#24615. Roughly corresponding to Boys/Young Men, Girls/Young Women, Adult Men, and Adult Women, and anime tends to follow suit.

However, there tends to be a lot of overlap when it comes to actual audiences. For example, One Piece is Shounen manga but pretty much everyone is reading it.

 

[RurouniZel]

I hope it stays mostly chill. I don't expect an Atelier game to turn into a convoluted FF story, but I have no idea. lol

It's mostly chill. :3 A little drama here and there, but mostly chill.

 

[Narag]

Here's hoping Lodoss TV doesn't let me down!

 

[Basileus777]

The World is Still Beautiful 2

Does this cover the original one-shot? It certainly feels like more of a self-contained story than most early anime episodes. The world, setting, and politics feel pretty shallow and like window dressing for the characters, but that will work fine if they can keep the character dynamics as interesting as it is here. I take it this is a one cour show, I hope there is a good place to end this after 13 episodes.

 

[RurouniZel]

Here's hoping Lodoss TV doesn't let me down!

Pa-pa-Parn!

Pa-pa-Parn!

 

[Basileus777]

I've never actually seen Lodoss TV. I know that it's disliked by many, but what do they get wrong?

 

[Hitokage]

I've never actually seen Lodoss TV. I know that it's disliked by many, but what do they get wrong?

All I know is that the OP is the only worthwhile track on the OST.

 

[RurouniZel]

I've never actually seen Lodoss TV. I know that it's disliked by many, but what do they get wrong?

Everything that isn't the OP or the Chibi Omakes.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Records of Lodoss would've been fine for me if the protagonist's skill with the sword wasn't so uneven. His exponential progress with sword skills is freaking weird.

 

[Narag]

I've never actually seen Lodoss TV. I know that it's disliked by many, but what do they get wrong?

I aim to finally find out.

All I know is that the OP is the only worthwhile track on the OST.

Everything that isn't the OP or the Chibi Omakes.

I could swear the first R1 dvd had a hardsubbed OP. I was about to lose my shit until I turned off subs on the second disc.

Records of Lodoss would've been fine for me if the protagonist's skill with the sword wasn't so uneven. His exponential progress with sword skills is freaking weird.

Nature of all the weirdass time skipping going on. He continually improves throughout but viewer gets dropped into random adventure and it looks like he leveled up overnight.

 

[ZachDeKoromaru]

Only SHAFT stuff I've seen is Madoka, the Kid Icarus short, and these gems. I feel like I'm missing out at times!

Watch all of Hidamari Sketch and call it a day.

 

[Narag]

Someone at CPM must have really liked Lodoss back in the day.

DVD set has a history booklet, a ton of character & promo art on disc, and a dvd-rom app with episode scripts.

 

[chickdigger802]

so what is mahouka actually about, as in why is it popular? It doesn't feel like your typical smut trash or bat shit crazy thing.

i assume it picks up pace later, or is the ln way better than this?

 

[Narag]

Watch all of Hidamari Sketch and call it a day.

I haven't a display wide enough.

 

[Hitokage]

Seriously, check this out:

http://youtu.be/blICu7KsmyA

Sets the bar way too high for the show it's attached to.

 

[Shengar]

so what is mahouka actually about, as in why is it popular? It doesn't feel like your typical smut trash or bat shit crazy thing.

i assume it picks up pace later, or is the ln way better than this?

it's a Perfect MC-Kun Harem Adventure.

 

[ZachDeKoromaru]

I haven't a display wide enough.

The only mandatory wide thing is your heart.

 

[Narag]

Seriously, check this out:

http://youtu.be/blICu7KsmyA

Sets the bar way too high for the show it's attached to.

OP of the forever.

 

[chickdigger802]

ace of diamond 27

that shounen.

 

[Link Man]

it's a Perfect MC-Kun Harem Adventure.

As in, the MC is perfect, or the adventure?

 

[Hellsing321]

Seriously, check this out:

http://youtu.be/blICu7KsmyA

Sets the bar way too high for the show it's attached to.

So fucking good! Someone needs to make a Lodoss show that can live up to that OP.

 

[Shengar]

As in, the MC is perfect, or the adventure?

Possibly both.

 

[Jarmel]

Haikyuu-1

I'm not sure whether I liked this or not. I just couldn't dreg up any emotions for this. After seeing Ping Pong, this felt really flat.