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Autumn Anime 2015 |OT| Like leaves on a tree… we’re falling one by one.

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NeonZ

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Did Concrete Revolutio get better? Because the plot and characters were utter crap and the pacing was even worse.

Did it stop being shitty all of a sudden?

It still jumps around in time and has similar pacing, but I feel like it has gotten better about making the specific "episodes" compelling while also setting up the overall plot.

Still, if you thought the plot was "utter crap", I guess you dislike the very premise of the series, which means that I doubt you'll take any enjoyment from it.
 
It still jumps around in time and has similar pacing, but I feel like it has gotten better about making the specific "episodes" compelling while also setting up the overall plot.

Still, if you thought the plot was "utter crap", I guess you dislike the very premise of the series, which means that I doubt you'll take any enjoyment from it.

I mean it was hard to gauge the plot because the pacing was horrible and I gave up, but it boiled down to jumping through time to see two different situations in the past and future. I didn't get any appreciation or connections for the characters so why would I care if A hates B but they liked B in the past.

It was a mess and I was not interested enough to keep watching. I dropped around episode... 5 or 6ish when it was going nowhere I cared for.
 
I wish Twin Star Exorcists had gone with the school outfit instead of the other outfit for the image, the visual already has them like this, oh well at least Rokuro is voiced by Takumi Aldini's va [Natsuki Hanae], so he will be great to hear when he's arguing and flustered. Megumi Han as Benio.
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Concrete Revolutio isn't the best show of the season.

But I find myself enjoying it more than any other show this season, if that makes sense.

Something about it inherently clicks with me.

It's all the stranger considering I don't really care for comics, or superheroes.
 
I watched 3/4ths of the first episode of Concrete Revolution and I don't remember anything but thats still more then I remember of Comet Lucifer

It's a chaotic and weirdly structured show. I mostly enjoy it, but even then I have no confidence that they will make good on all of the nonlinear storytelling the show is hinging on.
 

John Blade

Member
Look like today is the last day of new stuff from RightStuff sales. Look like buying new stuff will come to the end now. I guess I will get what I need and stop buying anything else now.
 
Mouryou no Hako 7

This episode was so dense with Japanese folklore, religion, history, literature, philosophy, and language that I had a really hard time following it. Hamasaki's storyboard was really straining at times to make things visually interesting. But the last bit opened up a new interesting dimension for the main story to go down, and it looks like we'll be returning to that with the next episode.
 
Since I'm done with exams I'm gonna use this randomizer to pick what to watch tonight, choices being Hyouka (rewatch), From the New World or Gundam Build Fighters. Just one or two episodes of whichever one gets picked but yea.

ixHjsME.jpg


Nintendoman... You know what you must do.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Shomin Sample ep.11
Interesting way to set up the final show of the season. Definitely, not the direction I thought they were going. The show needs more Maud presence, she's awesome.
 

sonicmj1

Member
Did Concrete Revolutio get better? Because the plot and characters were utter crap and the pacing was even worse.

Did it stop being shitty all of a sudden?

I wasn't that into the first episode, but the show started to make more sense to me as it progressed.

Concrete Revolutio 7-11

I feel like the key to understanding Concrete Revolutio is realizing that it's an ambitious show. The structure fractures the episodic storylines and makes following character motivation a nightmare, but it allows the show to aim for what it wants to aim for: to use Japanese anime the way Watchmen used American comics to comment on the nation's history and legacy.

I'm not saying that lightly (nor am I saying that it executes nearly as well). Concrete Revolutio draws its cast from every form of superheroic pop culture, from magical girls to tokusatsu, ghosts to giant robots, and throws them into the middle of the late 60s and early 70s in Japan, a period of protest and political upheaval. They were created to fight clearly defined evil and save the day, but they're repeatedly thrown into situations where the line between good and evil is no longer clear. And just as the culture changes, they must change with it.

As the show has gone on and gaps in the timeline get filled in, the initially vague characters come into focus. In any episode, a character is not a fixed point: they are a continuity, a juxtaposition, a contrast between the past and future. Events that once seemed one way change because of maturity or knowledge gained. It turns out that everyone actually makes a lot of sense.

So I'm pleasantly surprised by the show now, and very much on board. I'm not exactly watching for the plot (which is another Bones-style overcomplicated web of conspiracy), so much as for wanting to see how the show will use the plot to comment on this era of Japanese history, almost completely unexplored by anime. I'm definitely looking forward to the second season.

Just as an aside, the minor subtheme of inhumane American military experimentation on superhumans feels strange to me in light of Japan's own wartime past.
 

duckroll

Member
So I'm pleasantly surprised by the show now, and very much on board. I'm not exactly watching for the plot (which is another Bones-style overcomplicated web of conspiracy), so much as for wanting to see how the show will use the plot to comment on this era of Japanese history, almost completely unexplored by anime. I'm definitely looking forward to the second season.

Yeah I find that while I'm not really impressed by the narrative plot, I'm very interested in seeing what else the show has to -say-. It's something I feel Aikawa has always been better at expressing rather than telling a good story. For all the missteps in FMA's finale and movie, you can totally feel the passion of what he's trying to say about Ed and Al and their relationship to alchemy and how that might relate to a real world without alchemy. Same with the awkward themes in Un-Go, and even some of the stuff in E7AO.

In the end, what will define Concrete Revolutio is what the message is at the end. Jiro isn't just a rebel or an anti-hero who has "seen the light", he has to represent more and when the show comes to a close it should say something interesting about the world, society, and how we live.

Just as an aside, the minor subtheme of inhumane American military experimentation on superhumans feels strange to me in light of Japan's own wartime past.

I suspect they are not shying away from this. What they seem to have done in this alternate timeline instead, is instead of playing up Nazi connections during the war, they're ignoring Germany and instead making America a complicit partner with Japan on the continuation of inhumane experiments in the name of science post-war. Remember, while America seems like the main "bad guy" to some of the characters, the Japanese government are working with them hand in hand, and there are already hints that Japan has been getting their hands dirty since during the war - with the robotics research, and with Jiro in particular...
 
There are a lot of themes in Concrete Revolutio, and it's maybe too early to pick a key theme, but if I had to I would say Concrete Revolutio is primarily about optimism and cynicism. It's the key driving force between multiple characters on the show.

I see it most in Jiro. Jiro despite his serious demeanor holds a optimistic view of the world and people in it. Even to an extent after his betrayal.
Despite growing older, he
holds onto his childlike love of a fallen superhero, thinks Equus is cool despite its Centaur form offering no real combat advantage, and believes robots can fall in love.
Even after his betrayal, and growing cynical of previous friends, he
still tells
Fuurouta that his childlike naivete was alright despite the fact that it hurt innocent bugs.
He still protects a fused robot from Raito because he believes that it can be "Justice" despite being literally created to be a weapon.
He saves Earth-chan despite her black and white view of the world, perhaps believing that she could evolve and change.

Now cue the next episode coming out at the end of the week, and me being totally wrong.
 
Gundam Build Fighters 01

Boy does this feel like a huge ad for the Gundam models lol. The concept is cool. It looks like they are piloting the models and the action scenes are well done too. Just who is this Reiji that shows up upon wishes though
 

duckroll

Member
Now cue the next episode coming out at the end of the week, and me being totally wrong.

I'll hazard a guess and say that what this is leading to is
Jiro discovering through Claude what he really is and how his "father" and "lover" have been using him as an experiment. I think he might be a clone or derivative of Claude who might have been a fellow researching with the team before leaving them. In the end, Claude will be deemed "evil" by society and be put down, but not before he entrusts Jiro with his mission and makes him take on the mantle of exposing the truth and fighting from the shadows. He might also share the true nature of his power with Jiro, which would explain why he can control his fire powers much better in the future.
 
Gundam Build Fighters 01

Boy does this feel like a huge ad for the Gundam models lol. The concept is cool. It looks like they are piloting the models and the action scenes are well done too. Just who is this Reiji that shows up upon wishes though

This show is what convinced me to get some of the models, haha. Some of us were afraid at the time because we thought that it was only going to be one big advertisement. Luckily, we were proven wrong.

All right, time to start IBO.
 
I had already completely forgotten about Parasyte

I'm so envious.

I'll hazard a guess and say that what this is leading to is
Jiro discovering through Claude what he really is and how his "father" and "lover" have been using him as an experiment. I think he might be a clone or derivative of Claude who might have been a fellow researching with the team before leaving them. In the end, Claude will be deemed "evil" by society and be put down, but not before he entrusts Jiro with his mission and makes him take on the mantle of exposing the truth and fighting from the shadows. He might also share the true nature of his power with Jiro, which would explain why he can control his fire powers much better in the future.

Would you be happy with that storyline?

I feel like your idea is a strong possibility.
 
THE iDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS 1-6 - Now, normally I wait until I finish a series before I really comment on it, but I need to get some things off my chest.

There's a few things so far that I take umbrage with. For one, Producer-san. I dunno, maybe they thought the producer from the first show was too likable and so they felt they needed to model this new guy after the people who play Idolm@ster games; socially awkward, unkempt hair, and cold soulless eyes. Then, the idols themselves are all lazy tropes. The cat girl? Its been done so much better in other idol shows. Then you got the gothic lolita one, the shy one, the fat one. And the push that the three main girls are getting seem totally undeserved. Rin didn't even want to be an idol, and then Mio is ungrateful that her debut wasn't some big spectacle. I dunno, maybe I've been spoiled by the likes of Wake Up, Girls! where that shit is raw, its real, and it isn't candy and puppy dogs.

Also, what's the deal with the energy drinks? It seems like they've suspiciously drawn attention to them. Like its foreshadowing something. Is one of the girls going to pound like 6 energy drinks then go out on stage and have a heart attack or something?
 

sonicmj1

Member
I'll hazard a guess and say that what this is leading to is
Jiro discovering through Claude what he really is and how his "father" and "lover" have been using him as an experiment. I think he might be a clone or derivative of Claude who might have been a fellow researching with the team before leaving them. In the end, Claude will be deemed "evil" by society and be put down, but not before he entrusts Jiro with his mission and makes him take on the mantle of exposing the truth and fighting from the shadows. He might also share the true nature of his power with Jiro, which would explain why he can control his fire powers much better in the future.

Yeah, it seems like something close to this.

The truth driving Jiro's rebellion seems to be the actual nature of the Superhuman Bureau, which seeks to not protect superhumans, but control them and use them in concert with the rest of Earth's military power. He has been looking for the superhumans betrayed by the Bureau to join him in his mission, which I would guess is closer to the Bureau's original mission.

Claude appears to be very much the sort of hero that Jiro styles himself as afterwards, so I can definitely imagine him telling Jiro what he needs to hear to make that split.
 

duckroll

Member
Would you be happy with that storyline?

I feel like your idea is a strong possibility.

I would be okay with it. It's pretty standard and just a means to an end for the narrative to move from point A to B. What's more important is where it goes from there, especially in season 2. Jiro and Kikko's actions in the future will be what defines the story.
 
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - 1

CWZjN-ZU8AEYjfA.png:large

Getting 00 and Marina Ismail flashbacks from this image

All right, this was a pretty well done first episode. It sure does revel in the Gundam tropes though.

We've got the big incident from long ago, mobile suits controlling the battlefield until the main Gundam shows up, the princess who wants peace, etc.

Which was presented well, but I understand the complaints many have with this just feeling like the tried and true Gundam story heard so many times already.
 
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - 1

All right, this was a pretty well done first episode. It sure does revel in the Gundam tropes though.

We've got the big incident from long ago, mobile suits controlling the battlefield until the main Gundam shows up, the princess who wants peace, etc.

Which was presented well, but I understand the complaints many have with this just feeling like the tried and true Gundam story heard so many times already.

Interesting. As someone that never watched Gundam before, to me it was all new.
 
Interesting. As someone that never watched Gundam before, to me it was all new.

I can definitely understand how you'd feel that way because of that.

I felt the same when watching Gundam SEED for the first time, which many long-time Gundam fans say re-hashes elements from the first Gundam show in 1979.

I personally really enjoyed SEED, especially in its second half. But once I finished it I checked out the movie trilogy of the original series, and that's when I began to understand what people were talking about.

Both series at their core were essentially the same story with minor alterations here and there, and that's not what many of the long-time Gundam fans would like from the series now, 30 years later.
 
I can definitely understand how you'd feel that way because of that.

I felt the same when watching Gundam SEED for the first time, which many long-time Gundam fans say re-hashes elements from the first Gundam show in 1979.

I personally really enjoyed SEED, especially in its second half. But once I finished it I checked out the movie trilogy of the original series, and that's when I began to understand what people were talking about.

Both series at their core were essentially the same story with minor alterations here and there, and that's not what many of the long-time Gundam fans would like from the series now, 30 years later.

So I guess IBO is perfect for people jumping in for the first time like myself, but for long time fans... maybe not so much?
 
Maho Girls Precure is a Precure season where the Cures will be Witches.

Someone here said that there's no such thing as a bad anime with witches in it (Soul Eater disagrees, so boom) but...


Not even large hats.

Tiny hats

Tiny fucking hats

TINY

FUCKING

HATS

We have a new bad witch anime.
 

Jaxec

Member
Osomatsu-san 11

I really love this show a lot. Definitely in my top 10 for the year. This episode was a bunch of Christmas skits and they were well done, my favorite ones being the perfect Christmas with Todoko and the groveling skit. These brothers are so fun to watch and so is Todoko. The weakest skits for me were the ones involving that Daiyon guy and Captain Underpants. These two are my least favorite characters in the show and they somehow end up together in multiple skits. Being Karamatsu is still suffering and lol at people writing to be nicer to him. Chibita is also another favorite of mine, his voice is so heavenly. Next week is the final of episode of the first cour and I'm so happy this show will continue with a second cour.
 

Envelope

sealed with a kiss
Maho Girls Precure is a Precure season where the Cures will be Witches.

Someone here said that there's no such thing as a bad anime with witches in it (Soul Eater disagrees, so boom) but...



Not even large hats.

Tiny hats

Tiny fucking hats

TINY

FUCKING

HATS

We have a new bad witch anime.

omg hype
 
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