Unfortunately this anime fails to merge comedy and the attempted bits at serious drama in a way that works. As such, no poignancy is had. Also, from what we've seen from the MC's life before his 'transformation' he seems like an major egocentric jerk and the few daughter-bonding moments he has had seem minuscule in comparison. There might be more to come about the time of imminent divorce but still, for now I can only pity Min-chan and think that the affection she does still harbor for her father is a bit misguided.
Sound! Euphonium S2 05
In spite of the production accomplishments this episode kind of exemplified just how weak the text is. I understand that characters will live and breath music in this situation, but the cast does not feel like they have lives built out in any meaningful way. Elements of the lives of these characters do not bleed into the picture at all really, and everything is so directed towards the performance that the emotion really does not carry when the cast speak with anything other than their instruments.
As it is now the story basically checks off boxes on its way to delivering the competition and that is almost all this episode did. I enjoyed the backstage stuff because of how well it captured the location tucked off just to the side of the stage, but as a whole this series is just exceedingly insular when it comes to the band and competition, and the message at the end of it all is just far too simplistic. The author's inexperience and youthful absence of wisdom wound up being the strong lingering impression after the flash of the production wore off.
It's a good nostalgia cash-in. You know how some properties get rebooted and you're all "who asked for this, what are all these people doing to my childhood, why can't the creator put a stop to this madness"? Well CCS 2 is the kind of reboot you always wanted from the people you always loved.
That's cool I guess. Maybe I'll check it out after it has released a few more chapters. But personally I was a bigger fan of the anime than the manga anyway, so I may also just wait for basically any details of what it even is or who's doing it before jumping in.
Wolf's Rain ep.29
Ouch, what a way to carry over the despair from last episode. That opening sequence was pretty powerful and it renewed their resolve to reach Paradise together... Then, that closing scene was just as powerful; good stuff. Poor humans are getting pwnd
How can you be a NEET in high school? Surely that puts you as the "E" in "Education"?
The complaints about this being disjointed seem somewhat overblown to me; it all links together rather more effectively than I'd expected. It is full, however, of the same irritations that bug me about all of the stuff that I've seen written by Chiyomaru Shikura; lead characters with loudly voiced extreme otaku inclinations, bizarrely childlike girls etc. That's leaving aside the ridiculous breasts situation in this show...
I think at this point NEET is becoming a more board term, meaning anyone who doesn't follow the more traditional 'step up the ladder' path to classic businessman/job in Japanese society. I agree though it makes it really confusing.
Also I agree with your complaints about the little bugs in the style. The show also, as it goes on, doesn't really slow itself down at all, at least not enough, and I think it's struggling to really make a hook for itself, even by Episode 4.
Cheating Craft Episode 5 – Earth-Shattering! Shark Strike!
'
The part with the shark was hilarious and kind of lewd, the one guy at first nice. Loved this water based episode, even in cheating craft it becomes another epic cheating opportunity.
I wish more episodes were like that one yeah. Whenever the show tries to do character/plot it falls on its face hard. But the wacky test mechanics are perfect.
Also: Saiki K Episode 17:
So glad this is going to keep going to a full 24 episodes. It's giving Konosuba ran for its money in terms of best comedy of the year for me.
Gundam IBO S2 Episode 5:
Definitely some cool developments here, although I'd prefer a little more mech stuff (I mean, it is Gundam after all). Not sure I'm really taking to the new cast members all that well though. Their characterization feels... a tad lacking to how I felt about the original main cast by this point.
Trickster Episode 5:
Probably the best episode yet. Wife and I narrowed it down to March, Trickster, or Occultic to drop (Maybe Ping Pong) at the Mid Season mark, but Trickster might just save itself if the next episode is as good as this one was.
Also wrote an Ajin Anime to Manga Comparison Article today, hoping to do a full 13 article series comparing each episode to the corresponding manga chapters. It's interesting to discover what little changes were made between the two, and I kind of think the anime actually did it better (assuming you don't hate CGI). I'd link to my website, but I don't want to self promote.
Basically the changes boiled down to a few scenes reordered,
the police officer's encounter with Nagai in the forest plays out completely different, and the Africa battle that opens the series isn't depicted at all in the manga (merely mentioned.)
Now that I finally caught up again to current shippuden releases I can go back and buy the disc versions of Naruto Part 1 ( I already bought them all on itunes, but I want it on disc). Also got Owari no Serafu CE.(Artbook with comments from the relevant artists from the series is nice).
I remember liking it enough. The girls voices are perhaps--- painfully squeaky at times, but no more so than most cutesy wootesy anime girls in Japanese anyway.
The OT thread is a total meltdown over the news. I think I read someone in the thread claiming it was actually premium DLC for mounts or something? Not actually one of the DLC character slots? Oh well, at least I'm still excited when it hits over here. I'll probably pick it up for the Vita myself, don't have the money for a PS4 with the Nintendo Switch hitting. Oh if only my Novel takes off.
I think a train wreck is more entertaining to watch than them producing something good. We need to see these products fall apart more often. Everyone except the producers and Chitose's group knows it, but they have to keep on going. And even Chitose's group can tell a bad show when they see one. But Chitose, the smug ass, still salvages what she can by saving the event and growing her twitter followers. The protagonist we all deserve.
I remember liking it enough. The girls voices are perhaps--- painfully squeaky at times, but no more so than most cutesy wootesy anime girls in Japanese anyway.
Yea i'm looking forward to the Trickter DUB tomorrow. Justin Briner as Kensuke seems very fitting too.
I would point out that I really like funimation new simuldub hour blocks. You have 1 hour and a half every day of simuldub from 9 m to 10:30 pm. I like it way more then the random thing they did before.
Now if only my mid-terms could finish. I can't watch my anime with a clear conscience.
Yea i'm looking forward to the Trickter DUB tomorrow. Justin Briner as Kensuke seems very fitting too.
I would point out that I really like funimation new simuldub hour blocks. You have 1 hour and a half every day of simuldub from 9 m to 10:30 pm. I like it way more then the random thing they did before.
Now if only my mid-terms could finish. I can't watch my anime with a clear conscience.
I dont like the time. Its kind of late and in the way if Im watching shows on tv, like I cant watch Wednesday or Sunday stuff because of Secrets & Lies, Quantico, and Designated Survivor. Also their time shift kind of made Saiki Kusuo and Puzzle & Dragons dubs come a few days later than they were before
I'm still not sure what to think about that ending. I'm a little numb at my second open ending to a show in two days. It could be taken many ways.. Is there a directors write-up anywhere explaining what the hell he was trying to convey?
However, on a side note, now I know where Meada got his inspiration for that final 30 second clip in Angel Beats....
Seriously, that ending was brutal as each wolf companion
was killed off one at a time, by the bastard Daria. Dude was waaaay OP. I'm glad he got imploded and his eyeball popped out
So according to some tweets by a disgruntled animator (warning: ads on the linked page are NSFW), who worked as an in-betweener for P.A. Works for three years, P.A. Works requires in-between animators to pay the studio 6000 yen (~$60) per month to rent a desk in the studio building for them to use to animate, on top of paying the usual very low wages. Sounds like a pretty shady practice.
With this community I'm gonna assume 'the gay agenda' means 'will I finally get yuri' in a show where two girls talk to each other with no boys around and don't hate it.
edit: wait nvm I just went through a few pages back and saw the article lol
edit 2 electric boogaloo: looks like the author of the article read my mind too haha
Yeah, it's well known by people who have paid attention to the industry that the burnout rate among young animators is high, and Kyoto Animation is the only studio that actually treats its animators humanely. There was just recently a series of tweets from another animator complaining that veteran animators perpetuate poor working conditions and tell people who complain that they aren't good enough. It's rough, and there's a lot of factors in play, both factors specific to the animation industry and the general culture surrounding work in Japan. Unfortunately I don't see conditions getting any better unless the bottom fully falls out of the anime market and the number of anime productions (and hence the number of studios and number of animators) is drastically reduced, forcing studios and other involved companies to rethink how they do things.
Good to be back with this show. Really looking forward to seeing where the plot goes from here, now that the mysteries surrounding Efidolg are being put front and center.
I still enjoy the action in this show a lot. The melee battles actually feel tactical, instead of just being robots ramming into each other. The victories always feel hard-fought and earned.
There honestly isn't much this season that I'm super duper into at this point, but then again I'm way busier than I normally am.
Yeah, it's well known by people who have paid attention to the industry that the burnout rate among young animators is high, and Kyoto Animation is the only studio that actually treats its animators humanely. There was just recently a series of tweets from another animator complaining that veteran animators perpetuate poor working conditions and tell people who complain that they aren't good enough. It's rough, and there's a lot of factors in play, both factors specific to the animation industry and the general culture surrounding work in Japan. Unfortunately I don't see conditions getting any better unless the bottom fully falls out of the anime market and the number of anime productions (and hence the number of studios and number of animators) is drastically reduced, forcing studios and other involved companies to rethink how they do things.
I've just been thinking about this sort of thing. There's likely lots of veterans who have grown used to all this over many year and might not even want the newer generations to have an easier time. I imagine this petty way of thinking may not be as uncommon as one would hope.
I still find it sad that the successful studio Ghibli failed to foster the next generation(s) to take over and grow the company. And that people worked themselves to death even there. Like, you look at the motives and themes in their works and you'd imagine that studio likely offers a great work environment for their employees and has a hopeful future. But, alas...
Though rather than just anime studios, the Japanese work culture at large appears cancerous to me.
Well things are getting good interesting now but not a lot is really happening in this show, it feels like a major event occurs but nothing else after that.
Gamo is more popular than he seemed with the reporter and now the professor's son after him. Still that ending felt really abrupt haha.
Man, I took this ending much harder than I should have, no tears, but man that was pretty damn sad... Hey, it was well done even though it was predictible. . Good closure to this arc, even though a bunch of new questions came up that I hope are answered soon. Now that anime origin stuff is done, it should be fun getting back into the meat of the story.
((((
