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Spring Anime 2013 |OT -7| My Giant CG Pony Can't Possibly Read This Much Baudelaire

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What episode did you manage to get up to?

The episode with the math teacher, whichever one that was.

I'd be interested to know why if you have a moment to expand on the statement. I'll give it that it has a really insidious message beneath all of the ridiculous anime trappings.

I found its preachiness overbearing and idiotic. ("If everyone turned off their air conditioner for two weeks during the summer, we wouldn't need nuclear power plants!") It felt like it was aggressively slapping me with a MESSAGE every chance it got, and doing so in a way that was completely unfair to anyone who didn't buy into its philosophy completely. Even in cases where I agreed with some of its basic beliefs, such as about education, the way it presented those beliefs made me feel like disavowing them completely. Because of this, I found the show more obnoxious than, say, some generic harem garbage which I can roll my eyes at and then forget about.
 

Syrinx

Member
Heartcatch Precure 37

I am a shadow! The TRUE self!

Tsubomi really got a raw deal here. The others just got "I'm jealous of Momo-nee!" and "I have to suppress my love for cute things!" that they already dealt with when they fought the Desertarians anyway. And Moonlight's wasn't that different. But Blossom's shadow looks here in the eye and just tells her "You cannot change. You do not have the ability to." Much more intimidating and direct. There has to be some reason she got such a strong shadow and is struggling to deal with it.

This really wasn't the best episode for a Blood-C hangover. Too much shit going down and not enough happy.
 

wonzo

Banned
realtalk: If you haven't seen episode 9 of Earth Maiden Arjuna then you truly haven't experienced what the mountain has to offer and why it FEELS SO GOOD.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Heartcatch Precure 37

I am a shadow! The TRUE self!

Tsubomi really got a raw deal here. The others just got "I'm jealous of Momo-nee!" and "I have to suppress my love for cute things!" that they already dealt with when they fought the Desertarians anyway. And Moonlight's wasn't that different. But Blossom's shadow looks here in the eye and just tells her "You cannot change. You do not have the ability to." Much more intimidating and direct. There has to be some reason she got such a strong shadow and is struggling to deal with it.

This really wasn't the best episode for a Blood-C hangover. Too much shit going down and not enough happy.
38 will bring the happy back.
 

Dresden

Member
aiura - 03

This is a pure waste of time. Unlike, say, Yama no Susume, there's no consideration given to the time allotted, no individual hook per episode to anchor around. Mediocre.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
[Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R] 060
hj99Pp7l.jpg
You thought your dream of eternal love was bound to happen, but you didn't count on me, Chibiusa!
Chibiusa is awesome. She's not afraid of kicking arse and taking names. Much better than some Sailor Senshi who just can't get bothered to get off their butts. Yeowch, butts.

This episode actually had a lot of lewd. Mah gawd.
Oh yeah, one step closer to the spinning roses revolution. Soon.

HOLY SHIT THAT PREVIEW D:
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
I found its preachiness overbearing and idiotic. ("If everyone turned off their air conditioner for two weeks during the summer, we wouldn't need nuclear power plants!") It felt like it was aggressively slapping me with a MESSAGE every chance it got, and doing so in a way that was completely unfair to anyone who didn't buy into its philosophy completely. Even in cases where I agreed with some of its basic beliefs, such as about education, the way it presented those beliefs made me feel like disavowing them completely. Because of this, I found the show more obnoxious than, say, some generic harem garbage which I can roll my eyes at and then forget about.

It's definitely a tract, and not even a thinly-veiled one at that. I've watched countless things that try and fail to be entertaining, but Arjuna stands alone as a work that thinks that it's above the need to be entertaining on even the most fundamental level. It's so confident in its own truth and that the audience will be captivated by their newfound enlightenment that it doesn't even bother to dress its message in narrative trappings that reward the viewer for sitting through the endless ideological onslaught; not even a parable, it's just a puppet show. I'm not exaggerating when I say that some of the Happy Science movies have more subtlety.

I still "love" it because of just how insane it is, but there's no doubt that it's a hard, hard watch if you're not in the necessary frame of mind for it.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
[Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R] 060

HOLY SHIT THAT PREVIEW D:
WHY ARE YOU STILL WATCHING THEM?

You'll regret saying that when you watch SuperS.
Utter nonsense. Of all the things that went wrong in Supers, Chibiusa is not one of them. In fact, much of the hate directed at her is entirely unjustified, outside spots in R, but that's like hating anything with Artemis in it because he was garbage in the first series.
 

Syrinx

Member
I actually like the relationship that develops between Usagi and Chibiusa in S and SuperS. They really start to bond with each other and become like sisters.
 
Gah, been so busy... haven't watched much anime in a while. I'll have more time in a few weeks... but I have watched a few things.

Aiura 2 - This show is weird, in that each episode has almost no content, but it's an entertaining slice of life show anyway, even if almost nothing happens in each episode. It's like one or two scenes out of a slice of life group of girls anime, except it's an "episode". Fortunately, it works well enough to keep me watching. This time, the MC girl goes to her new school for the first time.

Cuticle Detective Inaba 1-5 - This is a fun series, I will watch more. There are definite BL tones here, but it's not a BL-centric series, it's a comedy. And yeah, it's an amusing one. The series is about this werewolf (I guess) detective who has a serious hair fetish, and is obessed with different kinds of hair and stuff. He also can track people with just a hair from their head. Useful, for his job. There's also a more serious police detective guy, who has a wife and young daughter. The daughter is ... quite something :)lol). Then there's a generic-ish guy, and also a crossdressing guy who acts like a cute girl, but actually is moderately evil (and wants the police guy dead). Then there are the villains... I won't describe all of them, but they're all quite silly. The main villain, for instance, is a super-scary mob boss... well, as scary as a tiny cute little goat (who can talk, somehow) can be, anyway. Heh. So yeah, it's a silly, entertaining series. Each episode has two stories in it, so the episodes are effectively 12 minutes each. Oh yeah, and ep. 5 has mixed bathing. And there is blood, but not from the usual anime sources, nicely. :) But it's the humor that keeps you watching here. For instance, the ping-pong match after the bath is pretty good stuff... :)

Dansei Bunri no Crime Edge 1 - I've read part of the manga, and it seems okay, but not amazing. This is another fairly serious romance/action shonen series about a guy and young-looking girl. I wouldn't really put this in the same exact category as, say, Dantalian no Shoka or Gosick or something; those are more mystery series, while Crime Edge is more of an action series. But it's not a harem series either. What it is is good -- this episode of the anime was way better than I expected! Sure, it's got some definite writing issues, and I am not confident that the series will stay this good, but this episode, at least, was legitimately good.

Anyway, the anime starts off with another guy with a hair fetish, except instead of being played for laughs like the above series, this guy... here it's played for romance. Romance and compulsive hair cutting. That is, while the series as a whole is likely to be somewhat dark and heavy on the action, this first episode was actually fairly sweet, and had a nice, romance-focused plot. The episode is about the two lead characters, the male main character and the girl love interest, meeting, and how interested he is in her extremely long, uncuttable hair. He then learns that she's cursed, and that no scissors can cut her hair. Naturally, once he goes home after indeed failing to cut her hair, he learns that the scissors he carries around, but for mediocre-writing-demanded-it reasons he did not try to cut her hair with previously, actually are a "Murder Tool". That is, an object that a serial killer used to kill people with, which has been infused with some of their evil and curse. How convenient, now he's got just the thing to cut her hair with! Only a curse can break a curse, after all.

So yeah, that's pretty much the episode.
He cuts her hair, and they get together again, the end. But wait, those other two girls he met sure do seem threatening... and yes, they are sure to be threats in the near future.
I did say that this was an action-heavy series, in addition to depressing drama and some romance. But overall, yeah, this was a pretty good episode. The visuals and music were average. The writing is about average as well; it had some plot issues, but so does most anime, and it mostly worked. I admit that the ... convenience... of him just happening to have that murder tool sure is contrived, but without that there'd be no story, so it had to happen sometime. The romance element of the plot was done surprisingly well, though, and you do get the feeling that he likes her, even if it's just for the hair. And even though the girl does look a bit young, the guy is young too, so this isn't a "older guy and young girl" show like, say, Dantalian.

Overall, I just hope that Crime Edge stays decently good, and doesn't jump off a cliff full speed into terrible as Gosick did in ep. 18, I think it was. Yeah, I'll never forgive that show for that episode.

So who's still excited for Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya in July?
Possibly, depending on how the manga turns out.

I'm actually reading the manga now and I'm actually surprised by how good the art is. The character design for the most part is topnotch and the facial animations are amazing. That said, I'm not sure how well Silver Link is going to be able to adapt it. The mangaka is Hiroshi Hiroyama and it's apparent he's a decent illustrator. His style reminds me of Rei Hiroe to an extent, mainly the way he draws the faces and teeth at times. The story itself isn't fantastic but it's fun. I wasn't sure why Silver Link got it but then I started to read 2wei and it has a shitton of ecchi. I don't know how the action scenes will hold up though.
Yeah, everything about the series except for the loli-service is pretty good. I like the characters, story, that it's actually optimistic (quite the opposite of a lot of Fate series stuff), etc... but I don't know, if they go too far in the anime with creepy fanservice I might not be able to stick with it. Anyway though, the mangas are good, and don't go too far, I think (though some things would be more noticeable animated, I'm sure). I wonder how much they're going to cover, though, storyline-wise... I mean, the third manga series is still ongoing, I think, and anyway, how fast a pace will the anime have? And the second one ends with a cliffhanger for the third... stopping there would be frustrating. :p

Still, yeah, it could be good!
Vision of Escaflowne 2

So I kind of like it when in a mecha anime, you're shown, even if roughly, how the pilot operates the legs of his mecha. I think G Gundam had the best idea on how to work a giant robot's motions, because sometimes these mecha do things that I don't know how two joysticks can operate, but there you have it.

The other thing I like is when some manner of limitation is posed on what the mecha can do. It's all well and good for Kira to do the Hau-Mat beam-spam every once in awhile since the Joy of Kira is that he is so ridiculously broken (and Rau still puts up a fight!), but for the most part, its better if the hero's special powers are reserved. This is true, I feel, of ALL mecha shows. If the hero has amazing powers, his must be limited and the villain must have greater power or at least equal power than his for tension in the fight to be maintained.

It's the problem between SEED and Destiny. In SEED Kira became Jesus, but since Rau had been established as a ridiculously competent foe prior to that, it allowed for tension to remain in their showdown, if not during Kira's curbstomping of the mook armies (which, as KHII proved during that 1000 Heartless battle, can be fun on its own since those are just mooks.) Then suddenly Shinn kills Kira. Which is ridiculous and the plot has to bend so much for it to be made possible that I will not respect you if you did not see that for what it was: the writer forcing Kira to lose that fight. Because there's no other way this guy who took out the final boss of the last season could lose to a second-rate pilot like Shinn, especially since no Mega Man rules are in effect and Kira didn't lose his powers before that fight.

Even if it is Super Robots, this rule applies. GaoGaiGar finished defeating the Zonder, and the Primevals NEVER were shown to be weaker. He had to get a super power and a half to win that. But the introduction of The Power was neither sudden nor cheap. It was built up to, and had a significant impact on the plot. Contrast this with the bullshit Setsuna pulls every other episode in 00 where the writers make up a new power for him every time they can't come up with a legitimate way for him to win a fight. Trans Am is not ever explained and is never built up to. Same with teleporting. Same with space flowers.

What I'm getting at here is that, since Escaflowne is Fantasy Mecha, I accept going into this that there WILL be magic. Having magic powers is fine. What is not fine is never explaining anything before or after, and treating it like a crutch, as 00 did the Trans Am and Aeolia Schenberg's plan and in the movie being an Innonvoantorostkdoskfer. Since this show is so highly esteemed, I expect there to be a very small amount of BS in the fights.

That said, Bargus blocking a mecha's sword with his own was freaking awesome.
Escaflowne's one of my favorite animes ever... but yeah, I know it was said, but one of the best things about the series is that it's for everyone. I don't like giant robot animes all that much, but I love Escaflowne, because it's not just a shonen giant robot anime. It's a shonen giant robot anime, a shojo love triangle anime, and an anime with awesome music, all in one! It really is for everyone, and that's why it's great. It crosses genres, and manages to be fantastic because of that. Really, it's an impressive accomplishment.

(Just don't expect much of anything from the movie, if you ever watch it... it's bad.)

Escaflowne is for everyone.
Yup.

aiura - 03

This is a pure waste of time. Unlike, say, Yama no Susume, there's no consideration given to the time allotted, no individual hook per episode to anchor around. Mediocre.
A mediocre pure waste of time? At least it's still better than Yuyushiki,then!

realtalk: If you haven't seen episode 9 of Earth Maiden Arjuna then you truly haven't experienced what the mountain has to offer and why it FEELS SO GOOD.
Some parts of Arjuna are legitimately good, other parts are completely atrocious, but it's all must-watch stuff if you're interested in anime... it's a bizarre series, both interesting and completely messed up. Watch it.
 
Mawaru Penguindrum 2-12 (end of rewatch)


So now I'm REALLY not sure why I decided to stop watching at this point when this was first airing. 11-12 is what I assume to be the start of shit getting real, as indicated by
the Takakura parent's involvement in some terrorist scheme which ties their fate to Ringo's, and this mysterious pink haired motherfucker and his rabbit shotas
. I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the show/getting overwhelmed with symbolism.

==================================================================================

I've been doing other things and am now something like 15 to 20 pages behind but I thought I'd post in the thread to say Happy Birthday to ZachKoromaru.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHKOROMARU

drama > physics


Happy birthday, ZachKoromaru!

1njtskn9uxwd.png


Happy birthday, ZachKoromaru!

Happy Birthday ZachKoromaru!

Happy Birthday ZachDeKoromaru!

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! I'm going to spend my last teenage year doing what I did with half of the other years, watching anime.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Utter nonsense. Of all the things that went wrong in Supers, Chibiusa is not one of them. In fact, much of the hate directed at her is entirely unjustified, outside spots in R, but that's like hating anything with Artemis in it because he was garbage in the first series.

I don't necessarily know about that. Chibiusa is fine as a character in S, but the need for her to be involved in everything added an element of rigidity to the formula that I didn't like. I mean, Chibiusa and Usagi are 100% joined at the hip at that point; hell, they don't even have individual transformation sequences, only the dual one. Especially with everyone regressing in SuperS, she feels like she straddles the line between character and mascot now.

Basically she got Shiny Luminous'd.
 

MikeMyers

Member
WHY ARE YOU STILL WATCHING THEM?

Utter nonsense. Of all the things that went wrong in Supers, Chibiusa is not one of them. In fact, much of the hate directed at her is entirely unjustified, outside spots in R.

I like Chibiusa in every arc except for SuperS
although the incest joke is a bit too much but whatever
, I just hate how the anime focused so much on her that season. The manga keeps Chibiusa as a centreal character of that arc but gives focus to other characters
outers return, Mamoru is more than a plot device, HUMAN ARTHEMIS, etc.
.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
I don't necessarily know about that. I mean, Chibiusa and Usagi are 100% joined at the hip at that point; hell, they don't even have individual transformation sequences, only the dual one. Chibiusa is fine as a character after R, but the need for her to be involved in everything added an element of rigidity to the formula that I didn't like.

Basically she got Shiny Luminous'd.
That's actually a separate issue! Although they find ways of getting around it
by not having them transform onscreen at all
.
 

CorvoSol

Member
Vision of Escaflowne 5

Merl kinda reminds me of Kat from Breath of Fire II, except Kat was best girl and Merl is kinda fast tracking it to worst girl. Aside from Durandal. Except I think Durandal is a boy, and also that Durandal is meant to be annoying. Even so, I LOATHE super-young mecha pilots (we're talking like, 12 and under) so making the villain at least seem that way is a good way to scratch that rash.

Anyway this episode was about Sefabioroth justifying running from a fight with some heroic mumbo jumbo and also Van's Escaflowne unveiling its DRAGON form. Oh, and the Zaibok Guymelefs are kinda stupid OP so far. I get that your cloak makes you invisible. I don't get how that makes you impervious to fire.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
I like Chibiusa in every arc except for SuperS
although the incest joke is a bit too much but whatever
, I just hate how the anime focused so much on her that season. The manga keeps Chibiusa as a centreal character of that arc but gives focus to other characters
outers return, Mamoru is more than a plot device, HUMAN ARTHEMIS, etc.
.
The manga and anime are almost nothing alike for that arc so comparing them is kinda hard.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
I hope the remake is more of a closer adaption of the anime and not Sailor Moon Kai.
I really don't care. Every iteration of Sailor Moon has been unique thus far and another take on the franchise is fine by me.

Of course, it's said that it won't involve the Dark Kingdom.
 

wonzo

Banned
Aiura 3

It's hard to come up with words to describe just how dull this is, I guess that and the Jobs Crab OP are the only two notable things going for it really. Dropped.
 

Mature

Member
Vision of Escaflowne 5

Merl kinda reminds me of Kat from Breath of Fire II, except Kat was best girl and Merl is kinda fast tracking it to worst girl. Aside from Durandal. Except I think Durandal is a boy, and also that Durandal is meant to be annoying. Even so, I LOATHE super-young mecha pilots (we're talking like, 12 and under) so making the villain at least seem that way is a good way to scratch that rash.

Anyway this episode was about Sefabioroth justifying running from a fight with some heroic mumbo jumbo and also Van's Escaflowne unveiling its DRAGON form. Oh, and the Zaibok Guymelefs are kinda stupid OP so far. I get that your cloak makes you invisible. I don't get how that makes you impervious to fire.
Dilandau is my favorite character =(
 

sonicmj1

Member
I found its preachiness overbearing and idiotic. ("If everyone turned off their air conditioner for two weeks during the summer, we wouldn't need nuclear power plants!") It felt like it was aggressively slapping me with a MESSAGE every chance it got, and doing so in a way that was completely unfair to anyone who didn't buy into its philosophy completely. Even in cases where I agreed with some of its basic beliefs, such as about education, the way it presented those beliefs made me feel like disavowing them completely. Because of this, I found the show more obnoxious than, say, some generic harem garbage which I can roll my eyes at and then forget about.

Sounds like Atlas Shrugged to me.
 

CorvoSol

Member
Code Geass 1

So I'm trying for the second time to get into this show, since I guess we're doing this as a group watch or whatever. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. OP is cool, the idea that America would utterly crush Japan is okay, but that the US would ever call itself Britannia is hilolious.

Lelouch looks like goddamn Slenderman. Except with a worse face. Who thought those proportions were okay? Americans permitting a Prince or a King to exist is also hilolious. And the idea that Britain would defeat America is also preposterous, so let's please not suggest that that's what happened, either.

I know, I know, suspend my disbelief.

DAT PIZZA HUT PRODUCT PLACEMENT.

OH GREAT A FEY SCIENTIST. WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE?

Why does he keep saying "obliterate"? I mean, I don't get that. Why not anything other than that? Sounds so awkward. Still, that's nitpicking, I guess.

Okay, so, episode is over, and fierce nationalism that makes me uncomfortable since I'm a member of the group portrayed as the bad guys aside, I'd say about half this episode was fine. Story of rebels fighting an empire, and so on.

But wow do I hope Lelouch improves and fast. He's a terrible Mary Sue and an all around detriment to this show. Considering he just gained the literal power to make people do what he wants, I somehow doubt that this is going to be the case.

I understand this is the favorite show of some here, and so I hope I come to like it, cuz I'd hate to break more hearts the way I did with Gundam Shit 00.
 

Jarmel

Banned
G Gundam 15-

I think I'm fucking finally down with the Tokyo arc. The Master Asia twist came much much earlier than I remember. I thought it was the lead in to the final arc. Apparently not. The whole arc felt weird as fuck, as if the entire thing was a dream sequence. It just had this surreal feeling to the entire thing.

Edit: JESUS CHRIST I'M STILL NOT DONE WITH THIS ARC?
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Code Geass 1

So I'm trying for the second time to get into this show, since I guess we're doing this as a group watch or whatever. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. OP is cool, the idea that America would utterly crush Japan is okay, but that the US would ever call itself Britannia is hilolious.
That's actually a displaced British crown that crushed Japan, not the United States. In the universe of Code Geass the American Revolution did not succeed because Benjamin Franklin sold the rebels to the British or something.

Then the rest of Europe conquered the British Isles and I don't know what the fuck.
 

CorvoSol

Member
That's actually a displaced British crown that crushed Japan, not the United States. In the universe of Code Geass the American Revolution did not succeed because Benjamin Franklin sold the rebels to the British or something.

Then the rest of Europe conquered the British Isles and I don't know what the fuck.

Why would Benjamin Franklin sell out America? The Revolution made him an incredibly popular, wealthy, and famous man. I mean, of all the founders to sell out, Franklin seems least likely.

I'm just gonna walk away from trying to understand the history of it.
 

Shergal

Member
Aiura 3

It's hard to come up with words to describe just how dull this is, I guess that and the Jobs Crab OP are the only two notable things going for it really. Dropped.

So many negative reactions to Aiura :( I like it, it's endearing. Restrained slice of life shows like this are pretty uncommon. Although yeah, the fact it's 2 minutes long at most makes it pretty hard to get into the show or the characters (+newbie VAs)
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Why would Benjamin Franklin sell out America? The Revolution made him an incredibly popular, wealthy, and famous man. I mean, of all the founders to sell out, Franklin seems least likely.

I'm just gonna walk away from trying to understand the history of it.
http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/World_History
1820s a.t.b. / 1760s - 70s A.D.

The American Revolution (also known as Washington's Rebellion) occurs. The Duke of Britannia bribes Benjamin Franklin with promises of titles and territories in the colonies, who was charged with appealing to Louis XVI for assistance in the American colonies' war for independence.
Thereafter, Benjamin Franklin is given the title of Earl. As a result, the Continental Army suffers a decisive defeat during the Siege of Yorktown with the death of George Washington, marking a severe blow to the American movement for independence.
It turns out that Napoleon won the Battle of Trafalgar and that's why the British crown had to move from England to the Americas, by the way.
 

zeroshiki

Member
Code Geass 1

So I'm trying for the second time to get into this show, since I guess we're doing this as a group watch or whatever. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. OP is cool, the idea that America would utterly crush Japan is okay, but that the US would ever call itself Britannia is hilolious.

Lelouch looks like goddamn Slenderman. Except with a worse face. Who thought those proportions were okay? Americans permitting a Prince or a King to exist is also hilolious. And the idea that Britain would defeat America is also preposterous, so let's please not suggest that that's what happened, either.

I know, I know, suspend my disbelief.

DAT PIZZA HUT PRODUCT PLACEMENT.

OH GREAT A FEY SCIENTIST. WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE?

Why does he keep saying "obliterate"? I mean, I don't get that. Why not anything other than that? Sounds so awkward. Still, that's nitpicking, I guess.

Okay, so, episode is over, and fierce nationalism that makes me uncomfortable since I'm a member of the group portrayed as the bad guys aside, I'd say about half this episode was fine. Story of rebels fighting an empire, and so on.

But wow do I hope Lelouch improves and fast. He's a terrible Mary Sue and an all around detriment to this show. Considering he just gained the literal power to make people do what he wants, I somehow doubt that this is going to be the case.

I understand this is the favorite show of some here, and so I hope I come to like it, cuz I'd hate to break more hearts the way I did with Gundam Shit 00.

Code Geass doesn't exist in AD so I don't know how you're so hung up about present day geopolitics. If you look at the Geass map, Brittania is basically a NA that never got its independence from Britain. I don't see whats so unrealistic about that.
 
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