Fall 2012 Anime |OT| Meet the new world, same as the old world

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Rinne no Lagrange S2 09:

I've officially forgotten why I ever enjoyed this show to begin with. Was it actually ever better than this? (don't answer, Envelope) Did I ever actually enjoy anime? The summer season made me forget what it feels like. I can't be so jaded by everything when I don't even have particularly good taste, because that just makes me an asshole. And I don't want to be an asshole :( Need Shinsekai Yori ep. 1 desperately.

Plot note:
So Dizelmine wants Space Tiger's head after all? Fine, I guess. I guess that makes episode seven retroactively slightly less stupid. But only a little.
 
Moral Panic said:
I hate SAO, I hate the fact that it's dumb otaku wish fulfilment nonsense that barely holds itself together to form anything of a plot. I hate the fact that it feels like the show was designed by ticking boxes, rather than trying to tell a real story.

More than anything I hate the fact that it's incredibly popular, that so many people are so devoid of taste they mistake pyrite for gold. That anyone would call it "the smartest anime" and not burst out laughing immediately afterwards. That anime ranking lists would contain it, high up with real shows that could rival the best of live action. That newcomers would be told to step into it's world of mediocrity and have their standards forever poisoned by the sweet poison of a power fantasy.

SAO is a bad show, and you should probably feel bad if you think otherwise.
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Sorry. Can I hate on your show too can call you names because of it?
 
Girls und Panzer is a fun light-hearted show about a world where high-school girls join a Tank Club like anyone would join a normal sports club. There are inter-school tournaments, and international tournaments, where teams from all over get into tanks and... Fight it out!
 
Mad Pierrot said:
Rinne no Lagrange S2 09:

I've officially forgotten why I ever enjoyed this show to begin with. Was it actually ever better than this? (don't answer, Envelope) Did I ever actually enjoy anime? The summer season made me forget what it feels like. I can't be so jaded by everything when I don't even have particularly good taste, because that just makes me an asshole. And I don't want to be an asshole :( Need Shinsekai Yori ep. 1 desperately.

Plot note:
So Dizelmine wants Space Tiger's head after all? Fine, I guess. I guess that makes episode seven retroactively slightly less stupid. But only a little.
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I think Mad Pierrot is broken.
 
No one streaming From the New World? (its already airing isn't it)
Waiting for the impression.
Jarmel said:
It's really exaggerated in that case when you compare it to other shows that were airing this summer.
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Just look to Kuroko's Basketball rank... Any anime rise quick at MAL if kids like it.
 
fertygo said:
No one streaming From the New World? (its already airing isn't it)
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The TV Asahi CS screening (which is the one that started tonight) is a "preview" screening - "CS" means it airs only on their satellite channel. The official broadcast isn't until the 4th - which is when the Japanese NicoNico stream will happen.
 
BluWacky said:
The TV Asahi CS screening (which is the one that started tonight) is a "preview" screening - "CS" means it airs only on their satellite channel. The official broadcast isn't until the 4th - which is when the Japanese NicoNico stream will happen.
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Aw.. I do recall ducky saying similar stuff though, still waiting for the impression.
 
Maedhros said:
The hate SAO gets is the reason why I don't like to discuss it. I just enjoy it quietly.

Reading the thread to see what I'll watch this season.
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You know that there are more people in this thread that enjoy the show rather than abhor it, right? The latter is just more vocal.
 
BluWacky said:
The TV Asahi CS screening (which is the one that started tonight) is a "preview" screening - "CS" means it airs only on their satellite channel. The official broadcast isn't until the 4th - which is when the Japanese NicoNico stream will happen.
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It's not a preview. It's an actual broadcast. Satellite channels are real channels too. It's an official broadcast, just not on the terrestrial network.
 
kayos90 said:
You know that there are more people in this thread that enjoy the show rather than abhor it, right? The latter is just more vocal.
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You can't prove this. You also can't prove the inverse either. People should really should stop making vocal minority statements.
 
Deconstructing the Kotaku SAO Review

In fiction, a story like this would normally last about a month their time—long enough for the players to become inseparable friends, but not long enough to change who they are at their core. Twelve episodes in and more than two years have already passed since the start—two years spent living in a VR world. This allows for an in-depth look at the psychological implications of being in a virtual reality for so long that you start to wonder if the real world even exists. And if it does exist, should everyone still be trying to get back to it instead of giving up and starting to make new lives for themselves inside the game world.
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Sure the psychological change and the time gap is great but it comes at a great cost. By sacrificing pacing and a good narrative drive, you only get on reward: a plot point. It's not very smart and while this problem doesn't exist in the LN, it's glaringly annoying in the anime. The anime skips numerous floors and only focuses on a few of the side stories essentially rendering all the psychological change or change in actual character meaningless. You don't see what happens in-between, and while this doesn't necessary matter, the huge time gap absolutely ruins the sense of impact of the development because we don't see what directly comes after. Essentially a good point but pacing of the story counteracts this and pacing is more important than a plot point in an anime.

But beyond discussions of reality, Sword Art Online also delves into the sociological issues of living in this virtual world. Some people trapped in the game are hardcore gamers while others—casual players or young children—don't have the experience or skills to be risking their lives in the still unbeaten dungeons. So do you, as a hardcore gamer, draft the whole lot and make them fight? Do you just leave them—including the children—to fend for themselves? As a non-fighter, can you really spend all your time leveling up a trade skill—trusting the hardcore gamers to get you back to reality? And with a return to the real world always there to motivate you, can you justify slacking off, falling in love, or training in the cooking skill? All these questions and more are addressed over the course of the story.
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Interesting premise. This is actually a point of detriment rather than praise. If the anime actually focused more on this it'd be cool and it'd be very awesome world building. Sadly, the anime doesn't address this as nearly as much as this reviewer thought. You only get hear a few lines about what others do and it doesn't really go into the lives of other people besides Kirito. The handful of times you meet people that aren't fighting in the fields or dungeons, is severely limited as it only serves to move the plot along. The reviewer clearly doesn't recognize this and praises something that isn't there.

Because everyone is trapped inside the game, their knowledge of the virtual world is limited to what they learn in the game itself. So while everyone knows the basic rules of the world, no one knows the specifics other than the data collected in the beta test. This makes the world perfect for adventures from a wide range of genres. Sometimes it's a mystery; sometimes it's a love story; sometimes criminal suspense; sometimes supernatural horror; and sometimes it's a straight-up fantasy adventure.
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Yes. Nice point about the premise of the show but it's just that. A premise. Everything that follows isn't greatly executed and isn't as nearly as great as it's made out to be. The idea of people being trapped and fighting in the frontlines isn't shown at all except for episode 2 and 8. Instead the story dabbles in the misadventures of our anti-social hero, Kirito. Just like everything else the reviewer praises in his review, he praises the ideas that make up the show but not the show itself.

If there's one overused cliché in anime, it's that once two characters hook up, it's the end of the story—like the relationship after that point is a given. Thankfully, Sword Art does not stick to the norm. Thus the plot explores a love story in Sword Art's unique setting and brings definition to exactly what love is like in a virtual world.
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Wait... what? Have you seen other animes that go far beyond the simple hook up and first couple of dates? This isn't the first time this has happened. Not only that but rather than focus on how Asuna and Kirito meet and fall in love, the anime focuses on their relationship after they are committed. What you get is a horribly paced relationship that feels like it came out of the blue. While there are subtle hints here and there, not making it explicitly clear even once throughout the course of the show makes their relationship feel like a sudden event. While well-thought out and depicted better in the LN, the anime doesn't portray their relationship in an interesting manner for their start.
 
Jarmel said:
You can't prove this. You also can't prove the inverse either. People should really should stop making vocal minority statements.
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Really? Let's see the people that post positive/neutral comments about the show every week to those that post negative comments all the time.
 
dimb said:
These girls aren't cute at all.
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yukarigdk5c.gif


Yukari is love.
 
Jarmel said:
There could be people who rarely post and just lurk. Silent majorities can work either way.
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Sorry, but in this case, I feel that those who don't post or just lurk are excluded. If they don't post, they clearly have other priorities or don't care enough to post about the show. Also, if we're really talking about lurkers then I guess we should count anyone who isn't a NeoGAF member but still lurk this thread.
 
BluWacky said:
It's set in an alternative universe where "the art of operating tanks is a traditional martial art for girls". Apparently Japan has only one kind of tank in its army, so presumably they've gone for a bit of variety.

I know nothing about tanks - or Girls und Panzer - other than what Wiki says, but that's my best guess.
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I don't think that's the reason. Japan's, by which I mean military-otaku (and many anime fans) appreciation of WWII German military design is well documented. But who can blame them? Once you separate the horrors of what they did from the designs, the aesthetics are pretty hot. Military uniforms designed by Hugo Boss, tanks designed by Porsche. What's not to like?
 
So how's Sengoku Collection? Is it all fanservice for the sake of fanservice or is it watchable for a good fun anime?
 
Tizoc said:
So how's Sengoku Collection? Is it all fanservice for the sake of fanservice or is it watchable for a good fun anime?
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It's actually not as much of a fanservice show as a cry for help from pretty talented people who wished they weren't working on a cash-in anime based on a f2p social mobile card game. Every single episode references and/or parodies some movie(s)! Some are obvious, others more obscure! Not just English films either!
 
Jexhius said:
That reminds of that smut anime which is mentioned in Helen's book where like, the girl falls in love with a guy over summer but really he's a dead ghost or whatever. Of course, at the end they had to be separated because, like, that's what being a ghost's all about. I seem to recall cherryblossom. It was pretty :firehawk
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lol

BGBW said:
Well I said I would. Though back then I didn't realise I'd be working on a 600+ frames animation.

Also I find it funny that a rapping bear got more response that a DJing one. Apparently the latter is far to normal to raise people's eyebrows.
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Polar bears > Grizzly bears.


Steroyd said:
They need to finish season 2 first.
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Snap!

Regulus Tera said:
Read some of the manga. It was awful. :/
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The new band has no keyboard!
 
UK anime streaming site Anime-on-demands announcement for today is the new season of Hidamari Sketch, which is great. Also kind of amusing given none of the series has previously been available over here, but frankly, I'm not complaining...
 
DiGiKerot said:
UK anime streaming site Anime-on-demands announcement for today is the new season of Hidamari Sketch, which is great. Also kind of amusing given none of the series has previously been available over here, but frankly, I'm not complaining...
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Uh oh.........
 
From The New World 1

shinsekai_zps780dabb5.jpg
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A very, very interesting start.

It's clearly a show directed by an excellent animator - there's a huge amount of attention paid to how everything looks, not just in terms of the world design or whatever but the colours, shots, even the changes in visual style throughout the episode. It all combines to make what is, in some ways, quite a "low key" story very interesting to watch - and that goes without mentioning the good voice acting and the very evocative music.

I say "low key", but the first few minutes show
psychic children destroying modern civilisation in a fairly graphic manner
and then settles into an extremely creepy vibe.
Even if calling the Nekodamashi "DeceptiCat" in my head takes some of the tension out of it.
. The atmosphere - and the narrative - are deliberately unsettling.
 
KimiSan said:
Wow, everything looks awful again this season. Maybe Psycho-Pass will be interesting.
At least we still have Space Bros.

EDIT: I'll try watching Tsuritama (per recommendations from the previous thread).
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Might want to keep an open mind here. This is the best season all year.
 
Jexhius said:
I still expect Jo Jo's to be thoroughly enjoyable but I am a little wary of the level of talent that Studio David has ready to bring to the fore. People may find that I'm being rather over-sceptical considering that hey, Jo Jo's is a good work so how badly could a weak studio screw it up? I feel that time has shown that some works and some studios really aren't a great match for each other - see Studio 4oC and Berserk.
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A bad studio getting a good source is better than a good studio getting a bad source.
 
Tizoc said:
So how's Sengoku Collection? Is it all fanservice for the sake of fanservice or is it watchable for a good fun anime?
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Watching the show for fanservice or fun will both lead to disappointment. It's an episodic series about genderflipped historical figures from Japan's Sengoku era finding new lives for themselves after being transported to the present day, and each episode depicts a different character in their own little self-contained narrative. The quality of episodes is extremely uneven, with some being works of mad brilliance and stunning art while others succumb to the trite and horrible premise, being so bland and terrible that the minutes crawl by like hours. Unless you're so extremely hardcore a fan of cute girls doing cute things that you can derive entertainment from a cute girl doing literally anything, you will find that watching the series in its entirety will generally be agony.

Fortunately, there's some level of consensus on what episodes are worth watching, so we recommend these:

5.
8.
16. (a personal recommendation not shared by AnimeGAF)
18.
19.
21.
23.
 
Mad Pierrot said:
Watching the show for fanservice or fun will both lead to disappointment. It's an episodic series about genderflipped historical figures from Japan's Sengoku era finding new lives for themselves after being transported to the present day, and each episode depicts a different character in their own little self-contained narrative. The quality of episodes is extremely uneven, with some being works of mad brilliance and stunning art while others succumb to the trite and horrible premise, being so bland and terrible that the minutes crawl by like hours. Unless you're so extremely hardcore a fan of cute girls doing cute things that you can derive entertainment from a cute girl doing literally anything, you will find that watching the series in its entirety will generally be agony.

Fortunately, there's some level of consensus on what episodes are worth watching, so we recommend these:

5.
8.
16. (a personal recommendation not shared by AnimeGAF)
18.
19.
21.
23.
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I feel like this is a massive conspiracy perpetrated by the Sengoku Illuminati. lol
I still have dakkumauji's list saved and he recommends the same episodes!

(I mean, you like this more than Oda Nobuna, right? :p)
 
kayos90 said:
Deconstructing the Kotaku SAO Review
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This is largely my problem with SAO. The premise is interesting but the show does almost nothing interesting with it. It gives me no reason to care about the characters because they're so paper thin and we only see brief snippets of their lives in this world. I have no investment in seeing weather Kirito actually gets out of the game because I have no idea if he actually wants to get out or not. I have no sense for his motivation because we know almost nothing about him, other than that hes a gamer and likes to help people. What was his life like in the real world? How is his relationship with his family? For spending 2 years these people don't seem very close. You'd think these people would talk about their personal lives more after spending so much time together.

To contrast this show with another trapped in an MMO show, .Hack//sign; which isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel it did much more with its premise and ideas than SAO has. Characters in .Hack have actual motivations beyond just clearing the game. They have desires that sometimes run counter with other characters and there is actual political intrigue in the world. We also see brief glimpses into their lives outside of the game and see what it is that drives them to continue to play the game.

What would be really interesting is if we saw the aftermath in the real world of people becoming trapped in a game. To me that would be far more interesting than watching people I don't care about play an MMO.
 
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