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Winter-Spring 2014 Anime |OT3| People incapable of guilt usually do have a good time

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Gbraga

Member
I'm not sure what the hell is going on in Mekakucity Actors, but it sure was a visual treat. Also really like the thing they did with Ene's voice when he was hearing her through his phone.

The ED makes me believe that the series will probably become less obtuse from now on, which is a good thing, I liked this first episode, but it would be pretty tiresome to watch an entire series like that.

Ene talks too much >_<
 

Quasar

Member
I think it's fair to say that certain types of threads aren't for everyone, and it's definitely true that some people would be better off avoiding certain types of threads due to personal reasons. What I'm against is the suggestion that posting anywhere outside of certain "chosen" megathreads is a great way for the forum to function.

We all love anime here. Well most of us maybe. Some of us love to hate anime maybe. I'm not sure! But either way, I think it benefits everyone to support individual threads about anime more, simply because it will also help balance the representation of what people who actually consume the medium think about certain things with regards to it. If everyone who likes a topic holes up in a megathread about it, and then complains that people who post in threads about the topic outside of the megathread don't know what they're talking about, then WHOSE fault is it really? It's ours because we don't engage and don't exchange views!

But isn't the point of megathreads so you don't have endless numbers of threads about a topic swamping a forum?
 
The World is Still Beautiful 2:
Well, two episodes in and the show remains pretty solid, with a decently set up world. The interactions between Nike and the king have worked out fairly well so far. I like that things seem to be going back and forth some; he seems to be changed in some ways by things she says or does, but then he can just as easily slip back into old habits. They've done a decent job of showing where his conqueror streak can come from.

I felt that there wasn't quite enough setup for
the assassination attempt that leads to Nike getting injured.
I know there was some setup with people plotting in the first episode, and there was a quick mention of this earlier in this episode, but the whole scene seemed to come largely out of nowhere in terms of the actual framing of the episode, and I think it would have worked out better if there were a couple of scenes earlier in the episode
which showed the would be assassins making a plan and then creating some suspense around what would happen as a result, rather than just having an arrow fly in out of nowhere.
One thing I did like about the way that scene was framed, though, was the way the glass shattered from the drink and it was the color of blood. I thought that was a neat little visual touch. Overall the visuals of the show have been fairly standard at best, but there were a couple of neat moments like that (there's also one very brief scene afterwards where the king's facial expression is more detailed around his eyes than usual, which made his glare look pretty menacing). The music is probably the standout element of the production. At least, the background music is; the song Nike sang near the end of the episode felt a little out of place to me.

Also, it never rains at all in the Sun Kingdom? Now, I'm not exactly a scientist, but shouldn't they not have any grass, plant life or trees if that's the case? I guess the answer is 'magic', but it feels a little weird on the world building end.
 

Pooya

Member
So what you're saying is that you'll... protect this forum?

image.php

The little keychain that saved the world, sounds like it could be an anime plot.
 

Branduil

Member
Ping Pong 1


Well that was certainly a Yuasa anime. You could say that it's a pretty standard opening for a sports story, but the idiosyncratic visuals do set it apart from most of those. There was certainly a nice amount of sakuga in the ping pong animation.
 
The World is Still Beautiful 2:
Well, two episodes in and the show remains pretty solid, with a decently set up world. The interactions between Nike and the king have worked out fairly well so far. I like that things seem to be going back and forth some; he seems to be changed in some ways by things she says or does, but then he can just as easily slip back into old habits. They've done a decent job of showing where his conqueror streak can come from.

I felt that there wasn't quite enough setup for
the assassination attempt that leads to Nike getting injured.
I know there was some setup with people plotting in the first episode, and there was a quick mention of this earlier in this episode, but the whole scene seemed to come largely out of nowhere in terms of the actual framing of the episode, and I think it would have worked out better if there were a couple of scenes earlier in the episode
which showed the would be assassins making a plan and then creating some suspense around what would happen as a result, rather than just having an arrow fly in out of nowhere.
One thing I did like about the way that scene was framed, though, was the way the glass shattered from the drink and it was the color of blood. I thought that was a neat little visual touch. Overall the visuals of the show have been fairly standard at best, but there were a couple of neat moments like that (there's also one very brief scene afterwards where the king's facial expression is more detailed around his eyes than usual, which made his glare look pretty menacing). The music is probably the standout element of the production. At least, the background music is; the song Nike sang near the end of the episode felt a little out of place to me.

Also, it never rains at all in the Sun Kingdom? Now, I'm not exactly a scientist, but shouldn't they not have any grass, plant life or trees if that's the case? I guess the answer is 'magic', but it feels a little weird on the world building end.

I assume it's either magic or they have huge bodies of water, either surface or underground, that they use some form of irrigation system to get around. But chances are it's magical plants that only require minimal amounts of watering. Or magic in general.

Glad to see somebody else enjoying the show. My only gripe with the transition from manga to anime is that the song she sings sounds like an idol song, with engrish and everything. I would rather they kept it to a chant/choir-like song.
 

duckroll

Member
But isn't the point of megathreads so you don't have endless numbers of threads about a topic swamping a forum?

Nah. We can deal with clutter by locking inconsequential threads which have no purpose. Megathreads only exist because some types of discussion can't sustain their own threads, or don't make sense to have multiple threads about the same thing (in the case of sports). For entertainment, it's pretty normal to have individual threads for any show popular enough to have even a few people posting in them. It also makes it more accessible to the forum at large because no everyone posts and reads megathreads.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
I just speak the truth.

Shitoge is shit! Shiiiiiiiiit!

Nisekoi - 14

BmNTflI.png

We got pop offs

It wasn't until this scene that I
recognized Marie's potential as best girl. Sadly Onodera did jack squat this episode aside from her terrible attempt at stalking Raku and Marie, even letting Shitoge outperform her causing my girl to lose a great deal of points in the rankings.

If
Marie continues to act like she did in the last 3 minutes, I'd be willing to drop my Onodera banner and support her cause
.
 

Midonin

Member
Happiness Charge Precure! 11

After several episodes of teasing, Yuyu's true debut. I like her transformation - the motion's fluid and the poses are nice - the weird pose that she struck at the end of the previous week was her hero stance, amazingly. It's not quite Go-Onger's Saki level, but it's just goofy enough to leave a lasting impression. And I love the attacks in this show. In addition to her laser eye beams and energy sword, we can now add giant energy fist to that arsenal. I'm not sure if it counts as a rocket punch, but it was awesome. Then there's Yuyu's finisher - the clover bomb. The heavens opened up, and the giant energy clover hovered above them, and said "Your ass is grass."

The backstory about her coming from a family of rice farmers is heartwarming, and the origins of her name are simple enough. She's one of the most "country" Precures I've seen, even outdoing Akane. But having her as a member of the team going forward is going to be great.

Cure of the Week: Nao.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Happiness Charge Precure 11 (Why you should be watching this.)

Fantastic episode.

The bulk of the episode was mainly to properly introduce Yuuko as Cure Honey, and played off the natural tension of the unspoken reason she wouldn't tell her friends with Hime's social anxiety. One scene in particular was surprisingly quiet as Hime stewed over it, showing a level of direction above what one might expect. The fight itself was totally hectic, immediately going into a gag and then continuing to show the Cures improvising when necessary as things don't go according to plan (to humorous effect) and it all built to Cure Honey casting Meteor on the bad guy. Overall, an example of how to take a simple episode concept and make it highly entertaining to watch.

BASEBALL NEXT EPISODE
 
I assume it's either magic or they have huge bodies of water, either surface or underground, that they use some form of irrigation system to get around. But chances are it's magical plants that only require minimal amounts of watering. Or magic in general.

Glad to see somebody else enjoying the show. My only gripe with the transition from manga to anime is that the song she sings sounds like an idol song, with engrish and everything. I would rather they kept it to a chant/choir-like song.

Yeah, that was the main gripe I had with the song. It just sounded like a pop song, which didn't really fit the moment at all, and really just made it feel like a standard anime insert song. Something more religious sounding would have probably fit the mood better.
 

Link Man

Banned
Also, it never rains at all in the Sun Kingdom? Now, I'm not exactly a scientist, but shouldn't they not have any grass, plant life or trees if that's the case? I guess the answer is 'magic', but it feels a little weird on the world building end.

They did mention irrigation in the first episode.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
Harmonie
At a glance this wasn't really one of the Anime Mirai projects I was very excited for this year. It's set in a very modern classroom that seems about as normal as they come. Classmates pick themselves out into smaller circles that share interests and these groups seem to bump up against one another. At the very least this standard setting plays heavily into one of the characters, who goes out of her way to say that she does not want to stand out in a crowd.

The short sets up one small secret after another that brings parties who wouldn't normally talk to one another together. There are essentially two devices that connect the two main characters: music and
a heavy shared dream sequence
. The music serves as great connective tissue, integrated into the story naturally through the main character's cell phone piano that bleeds into richer tracks. There's definitive progression through these repeated audio and visual elements that becomes more and more grand throughout Harmonie.

Even as the short sheds light on certain questions it initially posed it does a good job of opening up new related questions that relate to the validity of the relationship being forged. This second guessing helps to erase some of the idealism and eventually addressing the oddly fit fantastical elements of Harmonie.
The dream sequence was actually probably my least favorite element of the short, so I was really glad the entire story didn't wind up hinging on this shared dream.

It's a pretty strong if not very distinct short. It's hard for something to have much emotional draw when it's entirely about the creation of the initial connection between two parties. See also: Romeo and Juliet, slapkuga, obvious Hyouka inspiration
 
HappinessCharge Precure 11


KirbYayoi casts Meteor. WHO SAID I'M JUST SUPPORT!? Eat your heart out, Rosetta.

Wish I had a GIF of sorts but Embarrassed KirbYayoi was a thing of wonders, and we're strangely playing off some madp x KirbYayoi that has been budding for a while. I'm starting to think I'm the harem protag. Also some good old fashion trolling.

Man, it's like the terrible art from last week was a distant memory, because this was notably better in terms of art direction. Then again, I think that also chalks up to Yellow Bias.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
imho OT's work best when it's a show with a very popular genre of anime or long-running series. Shonen action shows having OT's work great because fans of those tend to have to many things to say. Gundam isn't a genre, but if somebody made a 'whole encompassing Gundam thread' (if it doesn't already exist) it'd be popular as all hell. I have very little interest to post in an OT for a show I barely care enough about or it doesn't have enough episodes to be impactful for me as a viewer. I post in gaming side to discuss several topics with very little sense of community, I come to this thread to talk about anime and talk to you gais about other interests as well. All as a community.
To add to this, having people with marginal interests together allows people to share those interests and possibly discover things they wouldn't normally, as the general thread offers a broad clearinghouse of experience. In effect, single-show OT threads are insular in a different way because the people posting in them are self-selected. One might argue that this would allow for deeper focus on the issue, but that's kind of the point. No matter what you do, audience selection is the name of the game.
 
R_thanatos you certainly make a good point because context is obviously important (as is generally the case) so a one-off still from a scene doesn't really tell you that much, especially if in context you realise it's a "joke".

However, when you take that scene in the context of the show itself and especially how the protagonist and his sister act with each, it's just more fuel for a fire that's already being burning pretty well on it's own! Why would the writer even have the character say that line if he didn't expect the audience to already be thinking on those lines?
There is one thing that the author wants to add something to the fire and a part of the viewer that want/expect/wish that the fire keep burning.
Sometimes its better to see whats hapenning not what might happen
 

Gbraga

Member
tumblr_n3xythkVRb1r9b5wlo1_400.gif


I'm enjoying this scene way more than I should be. Miyuki is awesome, but I hope we get to see more of that adorable brown girl.

Tatsuya needs to stop playing with her heart, the girl almost had a heart attack, you jerk. About him being overpowered, that I've seen some people talking about, I don't know, as a concept I'm completely fine with it, I don't mind a character being a badass and dominating their oponent throughout the entire fight as opposed to just getting hit until a bs comeback happens, but they're doing it wrong, there's nothing to see there, he could be more powerful than everyone at the same time that he wasn't so powerful that we can't even watch the fight.

It was just a simulation though, so we'll probably get something better later on. I want to like the President because of her voice, but I can't get into the character so far, she does seem to be ok with Miyuki and Tatsuya being all touchy feely, so that's a plus for her, Kuroneko strikes again. The voices in this show are definitely to my tastes.

The whole discrimination plot is still dumb as fuck, I hope they don't waste too much time with that.

Persona 3 Movie 2 version of Mass Destruction -Lotus Juice Remix- is definitely becoming one of my favorite songs from P3_M.

Holy shit, this is amazing! Can we have a Persona Music Live 2014, please?

I LOVE that they added the final part of the Live 2012 version of Mass Destruction, which is definitely my favorite version of this song.

Mass Destruction is now our slogan ;_;
 

cajunator

Banned
Posters can only do so much, since it only takes one obnoxious poster to ruin things for many decent posters. (Speaking of which, you might want to investigate holykael in the FF thread or whatever I'm overhearing complaints about.)

Mods need to be a part of this picture as well!

Holybaikal? They might listen to me if I talk to them. Which thread?

imho OT's work best when it's a show with a very popular genre of anime or long-running series. Shonen action shows having OT's work great because fans of those tend to have to many things to say. Gundam isn't a genre, but if somebody made a 'whole encompassing Gundam thread' (if it doesn't already exist) it'd be popular as all hell. I have very little interest to post in an OT for a show I barely care enough about or it doesn't have enough episodes to be impactful for me as a viewer. I post in gaming side to discuss several topics with very little sense of community, I come to this thread to talk about anime and talk to you gais about other interests as well. All as a community.

An OT is effective when a show is popular but yeah I agree that not every show can have an effective OT cause some are way too niche. Its better to discuss some shows in passing.
 

Andrew J.

Member
Captain Earth 02

It only occurred to me this week that the Earth Engine combining is the inverse of a multistage rocket launch, with the machine adding new sections at certain intervals as it ascends. "Expand" is as good a verb as any for it, I suppose.

I can't tell you how amused how I am that the pilot is referred to as the "Earth Driver". Warmed my Shounen Kakumei Takuto-loving heart, that did.

Glad the protag isn't wishy-washy; there's no way the likes of Shini Ikari or even Renton Thurston wouldn't have agonized for several minutes of screentime over whether or not to destroy that signal tower
 

Gbraga

Member
I'm kind of starting to feel like I'm getting burnt out not on watching anime, but on discussing it. Not sure why.

Just don't force yourself to. Ignore this thread and go watch your anime until you see something that you just have to share with someone.

Why is MadHouse leaving blank previews that say enrollment and not showing anything to glimpse at for Mahouka?

Because they're awesome.
 
Madoka Rebellion (Actual impressions)

This seems like a movie that was made with the fans in mind, in some ways to piss them off and in other ways to appease them.
Bringing Charlotte back as an ally, really fucking with Kyubey, making Homura evil; there was definitely some playing with fan expectations here.

I knew nothing about this before watching it other than it being new material.
For a while, I thought it was a legitimate alternate retelling and not a direct sequel. Knowing how the TV series played out, it was pretty obvious the saccharine first third should not be taken at face value, but I really had no idea how far they would take the sharp contrast on both ends. As they tried to play things off as legitimate magical girl happenings, all I could think of was "you guys aren't fooling anybody", but goddamn did they go all out with that facade. The over the top seizure-inducing transformations, the animation, the cake song; it was glorious!

Then the mystery furthered and it was clear SOMETHING was going on. This gave us the Mami/Homura fight, which was phenomenal. Cool fights was never the reason to keep an eye on this franchise, but goddamn was that something. I would watch a lot more magical girl shows if there was action like that in it.

Then once we start getting bombarded with revelations, it becomes more ridiculous than anything in the TV series, at least in presentation.
It was particularly interesting to see Kyubey's role, who was a mostly neutral entity with malicious tendencies and portrayal in the TV series before becoming truly neutral in the new world, go full-on villain depriving Homura of her freedom and other shitty stuff that essentially acted to override his portrayal in the final episode. This of course made his ultimate fate all the more satisfying, which he had coming since day 1.

I'm not gonna lie and say I was smart enough to follow everything as it was happening. This wasn't some self-contained reset, it was building on the already obscure concepts present in the TV ending, making them even more confusing for me. But hey, I'm cool with being confused if I'm having fun. However, this applies to more than just the plot. Visually, there was SO much going on that I had to rewind many scenes to figure out what the hell I saw. I understood what they were going for when it became clear it was
essentially a dream
but I have a tough time with visual incoherence with how OCD I am.

So yeah, damn interesting and surprisingly fresh follow up to a damn interesting franchise. Cool movie.
 

Link Man

Banned
Humanity Has Declined 5

THIS SHOW HAS A CATGIRL. A ROBOT CATGIRL.

Well, that was interesting. And the fairies can be a bit creepy at times.
 

survivor

Banned
Mekakucity Actors 1

Good opening episode. And finally I get to enjoy Shaft's trademarked visuals again without having to deal with the awful Nisekoi source material. It's a good episode partly because it pandered to me a lot in some areas like lots of fantasy elements especially in terms of the visuals and how the story is told.

Anyway, I'm glad Shaft is handling this. Looking at the story or what little we have seen from it, this is the sort of thing I wouldn't care about if it was done by another studio. High school shut-in student with a virtual waifu voiced by the goddess Kana Asumi having an adventure. However, due to the way it's presented, it's something I'm willing to accept and enjoy. The visuals, the fact cuts to pointless scenes, the stills, the lighting, it's all things that appeal to me.

One little thing that really bothered me is the last scene. It's one thing to have background characters lack any sort of detail cause it's pointless, but it's another when the masked men seemed unable to move or react to their surrounding. I know, cheap episode, but it's really jarring to see them standing there with zero emotion. Or maybe that's the point and it was just 2deep4me?
 

Andrew J.

Member
If you really think that NeoGAF as a forum is a "warzone" and that posting outside of a single megathread is akin to venturing out into some dangerous area which isn't safe, then maybe you should stop frequenting this forum. We seem to have a fundamentally different way of looking at how things are.

We've all seen madp switch to a non-anime avatar because he wanted his posts elsewhere to be taken seriously a half dozen times or so, right?
 

OceanBlue

Member
Atelier Escha & Logy 1

It's a pretty straightforward adaptation so far. I was surprised at the fighting and item gathering montage but it makes sense with what they wanted to end the episode at. I was really surprised at the amount of time Awin appeared though. Logy is also far less handsome than the game verson lol.

The production values are pitifully low :(. The show doesn't really speak too positively towards the talent of the staff behind it either, but at least it wasn't too bogged down by one thing or the other like some of the other first episodes this season. Also are they really spending an entire episode on Wilbell? Lol I get that she's popular, but they should spend more time on the other main characters!

Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 2

This was actually really entertaining! Usa and Ricchan have really cute interactions and it's nice that Shiro and Mayumi can interact with the two like normal characters (at least, normal for their archetypes). It's nice that the show isn't completely about the two main characters because it's fun watching scenes where everyone is getting along.

Also I watched Ping Pong and Nanana a while ago and forgot to post about it but I liked them a lot. Nanana's probably my favorite of all of the new shows so far. Ping Pong was really stylistically interesting, but I need the character drama to start rolling out before I can get really invested in the matches.
 

Eusis

Member
I take it we'll only see Knights of Sidonia legit once it's all done, huh? I think Netflix's approach to uploading complete seasons is interesting but not so great when clamping down an exclusive on a show actively airing elsewhere in the world. :/
 

cajunator

Banned
Mekakucity Actors 1


Good opening episode. And finally I get to enjoy Shaft's trademarked visuals again without having to deal with the awful Nisekoi source material. It's a good episode partly because it pandered to me a lot in some areas like lots of fantasy elements especially in terms of the visuals and how the story is told.

Anyway, I'm glad Shaft is handling this. Looking at the story or what little we have seen from it, this is the sort of thing I wouldn't care about if it was done by another studio. High school shut-in student with a virtual waifu voiced by the goddess Kana Asumi having an adventure. However, due to the way it's presented, it's something I'm willing to accept and enjoy. The visuals, the fact cuts to pointless scenes, the stills, the lighting, it's all things that appeal to me.

One little thing that really bothered me is the last scene. It's one thing to have background characters lack any sort of detail cause it's pointless, but it's another when the masked men seemed unable to move or react to their surrounding. I know, cheap episode, but it's really jarring to see them standing there with zero emotion. Or maybe that's the point and it was just 2deep4me?

one thing Shaft does is pick interesting subject matter to adapt. Their shows arent boring. They have a way of approaching things thats fascinating due to the styles they choose to utilize and the way they depict characters. Its intoxicating really. Im addicted to Shaft studio works.

We've all seen madp switch to a non-anime avatar because he wanted his posts elsewhere to be taken seriously a half dozen times or so, right?

I still dont understand the point of that. Someone who wont talk to someone unless they have a different avatar has ZERO credibility whatsoever. There is literally no useful information that can be gained from such a person.
 
Why hasn't anyone told me that Haikyuu was this great, I mean I didn't think Volleyball would be this entertaining. One of my favorites this season.

SXQaxBA.jpg

Dat jump though.
 

striferser

Huge Nickleback Fan
Mekakucity Actors 1
Need more Kana Asumi talking. Eh, let just say if you have no idea what Kagerou project are, chance are you'll be confused.


Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 2
Still funny, also there's :3
 

wonzo

Banned
Matsutaro 2

The MC's still a complete ass, the overall subpar quality of the show conveys all too well the staffs inability to give a shit, and they still haven't really gotten to the sumo stuff. I kinda want to give this the benefit of the doubt but it's just too lackluster to. Dropped.
 

JoeFu

Banned
Ok I watched Mekaku City Actors because of the 3SHAFT5ME posts and it was a pretty interesting first episode. I like Mai Nakahara's voice because of Humanity has Declined and Katanamonogatari, so having her voice being the first thing you hear was nice. The SHAFT was strong in the first episode, but I can't get enough of it. No idea what the story is supposed to be about yet, but I'm looking forward to episode 2.
 

Narag

Member
Matsutaro 2

The MC's still a complete ass, the overall subpar quality of the show conveys all too well the staffs inability to give a shit, and they still haven't really gotten to the sumo stuff. I kinda want to give this the benefit of the doubt but it's just too lackluster to. Dropped.

Disappointing, kinda wanted to give it a shot given the old school talk I've seen around it but if the staff can't care, I can't care.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
The SHAFT domino effect. Like gay marriage, all it takes is one spark to start a chain reaction.

Greatest studio in the industry.
 

cajunator

Banned
Mekakucity Actors 1
Need more Kana Asumi talking. Eh, let just say if you have no idea what Kagerou project are, chance are you'll be confused.


Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 2
Still funny, also there's :3

Kana sounds a lot like chiwa saito sometimes. Or theother way around. I have trouble discerning different seiyuu sometimes.
 
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