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Autumn Anime 2016 |OT| The seasons change, but we're still Falling for Euri

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Jex

Member
Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Exodus - Episode 11-13

After they went all Super Robot Wars on us with Kira and Athrun Kazuki and Soshi I wasn't sure what to expect next. It's interesting that they continue to hold them back as the last resort, even though they're basically unstoppable forces of destruction.

The parallel developments between the Exodus journey and the island defense are done pretty effectively. I like the way the show winds tension around the viewer in an unsettling but not necessarily overt way. It's good stuff. Although, as hard as the show tries to hammer home the "all powers have a cost" message, it's hard to really buy that when not only is almost everyone from the first season up to now still alive, but they're getting stronger and stronger!

The annihilation of the civilians was pretty painful, the battle in episode 13 with the two new Fafner gimmicks was very cool. I think I finally figured out why the action in Fafner since Heaven and Earth work so goddamn well. Orange may do awesome mecha CG action, but the fact that the close-up shots and the explosions and various effects are still hand drawn adds a lot to the composition of the scenes. It results in scenes which benefit from both the dynamic flow good CG affords, while also having the 2D details that makes such action scenes extra satisfying. Yum.

So I guess Canon's new power is going to be the narrative device used to make everything even more ominous. Lol.

Good luck, friend.
 

Aki-at

Member
Code Geass, FLCL and maybe Panty & Stocking all getting sequels.

But I just want to see another adaptation of Trigun instead.

Girlish Number - 7

I caught up with this show, Chitose is such an asshole her brother openly calls her trash while Shibasaki and Momoka are characters who's family and how they deal with them is opposites to each other. Surprise of the season so far for me, I didn't realise I'd like it as much as I do.
 

duckroll

Member
I'm not sure why anyone would doubt the popularity of Code Geass today, given that even Akito sells better than Valvrave and IBO. Lol.
 

MSMrRound

Member
Today was a pretty good day...attended the stage event for Tomoyo Kurosawa, who did the voice for Hibike! Euphonium's own Kumiko Oumae.

Been ages since I went to Singapore's Anime Festival Asia, so I have kind of forgotten how crazy the crowd can be sometimes.

Definitely a lot more reaction/hype for Kurosawa's appearance compared to PA Works' earlier stage event regarding Kuromukuro's airing on Netflix, with some of them even breaking out the orange glowsticks to welcome her on stage so thumbs up fellow Euphonium bros/gals!

Kurosawa appeared in her promotional outfit, which was the Kitauji winter uniform (aka the brown colour/concert performance attire) and let us sampled a little bit of her favourite scenes from the two seasons, but not before introducing to us some of the fellow supporting/main cast and her opinions of them in the show.

There were occasionally very loud cheers when a character profile popped up behind her. Even without looking at it, Kurosawa said, "of course, it's Hayamin isn't it!?" when Haruka appeared. "Singaporean fans sure love (and know) their seiyuus!"-the MCs interjected laughingly"

Another loud roar

"Nao-bou (Nao Toyama), without a doubt". Kurosawa joked as Nozomi's profile appeared behind her on the screen.

Everyone started going wild when the first scene that appeared was the mid-and close to ending scene in S1 Episode 8 where Kumiko and Reina went for the walk uphill during the festival.

The Japanese MC slipped up on trying to pronounce AFA in English(AnimeFestivalAsia) and it came out sounding like "apple" instead.

"Apple?" Kurosawa asked.

"I-I have an apple, I have a pen. Ugh, apple pen!?"

*Cue loud cheers from crowd/a few facepalms at the joke*

"do you know Pikotaro is actually going to appear on stage later at AFA?"-asked the female MC/super translator

"Wha-what!? Really!? I want to see him! but I don't think my schedule later on would allow me to do that..."-Kurosawa

Her second more memorable scene was the audition face-off between Kaori and Reina in episode 10 as it was very emotional for her, especially when Yuko (ribbon-girl) started crying at the conclusion, as it started to make her tear up as well.

One thing that Kurosawa revealed was that originally she had auditioned for the role of another character, but the casting director asked her to try Kumiko's role using her natural voice, and somehow she managed to nab the role. She felt a lot in common with Kumiko at the start. Kumiko was cynical and lazy and doesn't really portray the "traits" that you would associate main characters in animes with, so she sort of felt like your average daily Japanese high school girl but stated that as the episodes went on, Kumiko matured as an individual and nowadays she doesn't really draw that parallel between herself and Kumiko anymore, even though she might go back to those feelings of old to draw inspiration from.

Then we fast forwarded to season 2 where we saw Sapphir-I mean Midori exclaiming in happiness on seeing the food on offer (mapo tofu) etc for the training camp and dropping her ice cream...? A puzzling choice but eh, different people, different strokes.

Next scene saw the part where Yuko finding (Kumiko and Mizore) and dissing Mizore for only playing for Nozomi.

Kurosawa said that she didn't pick a lot of scenes that focused chiefly on Kumiko, as the cast were all vibrant and really fleshed out, considering how many members there were in the band (yea seriously, cymbal girl, when?) and shared that some of the cast members even went on their own anime pilgrimage to locations such as the Uji Shrine used in episode 8, but sadly she added, there were so many people making the trip to the shrine at night to re invoke the feeling of episode 8 that local authorities put their foot down and might have imposed a visiting hours restriction e.g no walking up the path at night.

She said that she made the trip over there because with the recording of the series and the then-upcoming Euphonium movie, she had to see the sight herself to place herself in Kumiko's eyes, so that she would be able to better express Kumiko's amazement and delight at seeing the city lights that could been seen from the view.

She also bumped into some Taiwanese tourists that were walking up to the shrine, and they recognized and chatted with her on the way down, telling her that they were doing it because they were fans of the Euphonium series as well. At this point she expressed her thanks once again at how much she appreciate all these support that were coming from overseas fans for the Hibike! Euphonium series.

At this point of time, they are already completed done and wrapped up with the recording for the second season but she stopped and teased for a bit, "would you like to know why the show was named Hibike! Euphonium? The remaining episodes might explain why, so please keep on watching".

The conversation steered towards the show's depiction of the friendship between high school girls in Japan which Kurosawa said mirrored quite a bit of what she experienced. The MCs then turned to the crowd and asked, "so...how's the relationship between Singaporean school girls like?" lots of nervous laughter all around from the male audience.

The trio seemed like they wanted to clearly define where exactly the line is drawn between the relationship for Reina/Kumiko is drawn say, comparing the novels to the anime's version of the story, but Kurosawa and the female MC got cut off by the male MC, who had earlier told us that Euphonium's his favourite of the shows that are currently airing.

He pleaded, "please do not tell/clarify the relationship with us! Many of us male audience watched it because we like to let our imagination wonder, for it be for the better or worse, and imagination that is exactly how the relationship between two high school girls are like in Japan!" to rapturous applause from the male audience side of things, including myself. Sure, it might be bait, but bait like S1E8 was pretty good entertainment.

She's also on the hunt for some yummy fish head curry too, so hit her up if you have any good recommendations! <-typical question foreign guests to Singapore always get. So cringe-worthy like, can't the MCs mention something else without going on about Bak Kut Teh (Pork Ribs in herbal/pepper soup) or Chicken Rice? She's really been hitting those chili crabs.

Wished the MCs wouldn't talk over those scenes that they wanted to share with us though, but really got a feeling that they were trying to rush. Would have been a sight to see them sharing the concert scene from S2Ep5 if they had enough time to do so.

Still, wasn't too bad for the first stage event in a long while that I attended.

On the flip side....

I also brought my very first dakimakura at one of the booths.

Was hesitating a bit here and there for quite a bit, then asked one of the staff for one of the designs that I wanted. Unfortunately, they were out of brand new unopened pieces (since the cover/stuffing etc would be nicely folded for you to take home with)..but they did have the display piece (nicely wrapped in plastic) displayed on the very top with the design I don't really mind...

It wasn't long till the booth had to close, so they agreed that I could take the display piece if I wanted to, so I ended up grabbing the whole dakimakura to the cashier table and my fears were realized when they didn't have a plastic bag big enough to conceal it...

...and that was how I ended up lugging a dakimakura across the entire convention floor with dozens of stares/whispers coming my way. Thought about taking a cab back home but then again I was like, "screw this, I already spent quite a bit, so might as well just take the public transport back home and save some."

Never again. Still, got a couple of pretty nice keychains just I get for free to go along with my purchases at the booth. It's OG Love Live, but hey, at least a couple of my favourite characters are there! Hilariously awkward episode for me though. You can bet I didn't stay at the event till the end. Had no choice but to buy it on the fly since the booth was about to end its operating hours too.

Still thinking whether I should have spent on a couple of CDs at the Pony Canyon booth for that Hibike! Euphonium seson 2 poster (it was like...spend $40 or more, get a free anime poster...but I dunno if I really want to spend 40 bucks for a couple singers that I usually don't listen to just for a Hibiki! Euphonium poster), but eh, there wasn't any autograph session with Tomoyo Kurosawa to seal the deal for me so next time I'll see. A bit bothered by it since Hibike Euphonium merch IS pretty hard to come by if you aren't going by the usual AmiAmi and what's not.
 

NeonZ

Member
Sölf;225515533 said:

Gintama returning at this point likely means it's going to be the same director from last season though, since the 2nd director is busy with that Classicaloid show... I really hope they somehow put Shinji Takamatsu back on the director's chair. Or just get a new director. The last director was extremely mediocre. Gintama generally improved on the manga's gags in addition to adding a few of its own. Last season added almost nothing and actually messed up the adaptation of some jokes. They also didn't know how to plan the budget and staff use for serious stories, resulting in the climatic season conclusion having rather bad animation compared to other serious arcs.
 

blurr

Member
The Great Passage 07

I started this show in hopes to see it reach the heights of Showa Genroku, this is partly that but more on the low-key drama with a smaller scale story. That's fine but despite me acknowledging it right now, I can't shake the feeling of disappointment for wanting it to be more than that.

That isn't to say I haven't enjoyed its low key moments, particularly revolving Nishioka and the chemistry he has Majime in combination with the exceptionally good character animation(which had my consistent attention the first three episodes).They've established the importance of their work in general and specifically The Great Passage which sets a motivation but also an inherent expectation that the challenges they face will be along a societal scale. Reality is that they are struggling at a much smaller scale: their company's management level and a case of staff shortage which made for some compelling moments but they have been less than satsifying in number out of the 7 episodes I've watched. I don't mind a romance subplot or something tying in with the main plot but Majime's perspective of it is not so compelling given his personality, it feels like they've skipped a lot of steps.

No, this is not me suggesting that I will be dropping it but just putting out something that's been bothering me.

This episode was really good, Nishioka's amazing through out and definitely the more interesting protagonist. I wonder how Dictionary department will function in his absence.
 
Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor: Exodus - Episode 11-13

The annihilation of the civilians was pretty painful, the battle in episode 13 with the two new Fafner gimmicks was very cool. I think I finally figured out why the action in Fafner since Heaven and Earth work so goddamn well. Orange may do awesome mecha CG action, but the fact that the close-up shots and the explosions and various effects are still hand drawn adds a lot to the composition of the scenes. It results in scenes which benefit from both the dynamic flow good CG affords, while also having the 2D details that makes such action scenes extra satisfying. Yum.

The trooper fights are probably some of my favorite fights in Exodus. Camerawork and choreography are really fun to watch in them, especially with so many active at the same time.

Have fun with the second cour.
 
I'm not sure what this means. Do you think KyoAni's adaptation is the problem with Euphonium S2?

No the adaptation is quite good, I'm just having fun here. But to give more context, me not being an LN reader and all, that means I wouldn't have read the last 2 chapters that are just riddled with stuff that we discussed before. If there was no season 2 of Eupho on the anime side, I wouldn't be as low on it as I am now.

Provided that Hyouka's writing for its eventual continuation on the LN side was on par or superior to the original product, KyoAni would just do what they do best, and tell us a tale with beautiful visuals.

The problem with Eupho 2 is as you mentioned last time the time and space in which the two novels came out at, and rather than sticking to the formula that I loved for the first season, they decided to shove in a bunch of elements that have been done to death everywhere else, namely all this petty anime high school drama. Again, maybe others like it, but for me personally it just isn't working.
 

Thoraxes

Member
Today was a pretty good day...attended the stage event for Tomoyo Kurosawa, who did the voice for Hibike! Euphonium's own Kumiko Oumae.

....

Still thinking whether I should have spent on a couple of CDs at the Pony Canyon booth for that Hibike! Euphonium seson 2 poster (it was like...spend $40 or more, get a free anime poster...but I dunno if I really want to spend 40 bucks for a couple singers that I usually don't listen to just for a Hibiki! Euphonium poster), but eh, there wasn't any autograph session with Tomoyo Kurosawa to seal the deal for me so next time I'll see. A bit bothered by it since Hibike Euphonium merch IS pretty hard to come by if you aren't going by the usual AmiAmi and what's not.

Thanks for this writeup!
 

duckroll

Member
I know what the writing in S1 is like though!

What I mean is, they spent a year making what is essentially a 60 minute OVA cut into 4 parts, and that just covered 3 volumes of the manga. The next arc is still ongoing now and is already twice as long. Not sure why you would pray when there's no hope.
 

MSMrRound

Member
Thanks for this writeup!

no, thank you for your impressions on the Hibike! Euphonium episodes! They were always very insightful to read, even for a less musically inclined person like myself.

Forgot to add this part. Might not be word for word, but my impression of what was said from the point of the male gaze (added it to original post as well, but in case you missed it): "The conversation steered towards the show's depiction of the friendship between high school girls in Japan which Kurosawa said mirrored quite a bit of what she experienced. The MCs then turned to the crowd and asked, "so...how's the relationship between Singaporean school girls like?" lots of nervous laughter all around from the male audience.

The trio seemed like they wanted to clearly define where exactly the line is drawn between the relationship for Reina/Kumiko is drawn say, comparing the novels to the anime's version of the story, but Kurosawa and the female MC got cut off by the male MC, who had earlier told us (before the show) that Euphonium's his favourite of the shows that are currently airing.

He pleaded, "please do not tell/clarify the relationship with us! Many of us male audience watched it because we like to let our imagination wonder, for it be for the better or worse, and imaginethat is exactly how the relationship between two high school girls are like in Japan!" (e.g maybe the Natsuki/Yuko lovehate bullying gag? I love that bit in Euphonium S1 and 2) to rapturous applause from the male audience side of things, including myself. He said that in a bit of a apologetic tone but I can see where he was coming from. Imagination is good. I admit I like to let my mind wander as well when it come to relationships between people. Sure, it might be bait, but stuff like S1E8 was pretty top notch stuff.

CyQeTQNUUAAalFa.jpg
Kurosawa's appearance earlier today, taken from her official Twitter acccount.

Good post. What character was on the dakimakura though?

Good lord my grammar mistakes here...knew I shouldn't have typed it at 2am+.

Anyway here you go:

Yea, it's SNAFU. Sorry if people don't like it but I seriously quite enjoyed the series so there=P Can't decide between the two, might as well go with the middle ground and split it evenly (though Iroha is equally a very good character as well) thank goodness they aren't as risque if not the stares that I would have gotten....

like I said, quite a bit of Tamako Market/Amagi Brilliant Park/Seraph of the End stuff at the booth, but can't find any thing for our octopus-haired goddess. Sigh. Maybe next year.
 

phaze

Member
Drifters 08
It's pretty funny that in one season we get three shows that are pretty much Nobunaga history lessons, two of them pretty literally so. As someone who just started on Hideyoshi biography, I approve.

They knocked down OP&ED for an episode that was just full of talking. Little of which was particularly interesting but I enjoyed Scipio's little adventure.

Soul Eater 39

This arc is pretty underwhelming so far but yet again I'm enjoying Crona stuff. It feels only right that her switching sides after talk no jutsu would be marred with troubles and turmoil stemming from her previous allegiance. I'm not so hot on other things but with this episode at least, things seem to be picking up.
 

Aki-at

Member
Arslan Senki S2 - 5

Is there anything Narsus can't do? Not even Zhuge Liang was this OP

At this point Arslan is just repeating or agreeing with everything Narsus says, I have to wonder if he's this useless in the original novels, OVA and even the manga this is based on.
 
Arslan Senki S2 - 5

Is there anything Narsus can't do? Not even Zhuge Liang was this OP

At this point Arslan is just repeating or agreeing with everything Narsus says, I have to wonder if he's this useless in the original novels, OVA and even the manga this is based on.

You should have stopped at the end of season 1 to be honest. Season 2 has all the problems of season 1 with almost none of the positives.
 

Jex

Member
[Girlish Number] - 8

Chitose's only role in this episode is to get laughed at, even in the next ep PV. Looks like there'll be more suffering ahead.
 

MSMrRound

Member
NP Jintor. Always glad to spread some of the Euphonium love around if possible (at least, till Symphogear Season 4 finally get released) I get some of the concerns e.g names2hard etc are saying, but I enjoy it cuz at least the animation efforts etc are pretty top notch. Write-ups by Thoraxes and Kvin (aka Yuyucow on Twitter) always give me a second perspective to the episodes. If nothing else at least there's some increase to the Kumiko noise chart.

Marathoned it last night...
end absolutely ruined the series for me, holy shit what a low effort resolution

To be fair the ending's pretty weak in the manga for Erased as well. First half of the direction was pretty top notch. Too bad they were trying to jump through all sort of hoops and (Erased spoilers)
that the culprit was pretty obvious from the get-go. Gee we were introduced to so little characters. I wonder who could it be.
 

phaze

Member
I hate to break it to you, but...

Well I'm aware that at least very ending is supposed to be a shitshow like few others. Erroneously or not, I'm just pinning my hopes on what comes before that.


Also, Maka's mother got a number of mentions in the last ep. I'm starting to again hope I'll get to see her.
 

Ascheroth

Member
Blown away by Occultic Nine so far, didn't expect this at all by the first ep, so glad I stuck with it.

Any consensus on what some recent must-watch shows are, for someone who only dips into anime from time to time and favors either mystery/psychological or comedy/slice-of-life, but isn't opposed to other stuff?

Mob Psycho 100
Kiznaiver
Kuromukuro
Thunderbolt Fantasy

are some recent personal must-watch shows.
And then there's also Haikyuu season 3 and JoJo Part 4 that are currently airing, but you'd need to watch the earlier seasons as well.
 

phaze

Member
Blown away by Occultic Nine so far, didn't expect this at all by the first ep, so glad I stuck with it.

Any consensus on what some recent must-watch shows are, for someone who only dips into anime from time to time and favors either mystery/psychological or comedy/slice-of-life, but isn't opposed to other stuff?

Mob Psycho 100
Kiznaiver
Kuromukuro
Thunderbolt Fantasy

are some recent personal must-watch shows.
And then there's also Haikyuu season 3 and JoJo Part 4 that are currently airing, but you'd need to watch the earlier seasons as well.

Would add to those Luluco and To Be Hero since you favour comedy. And Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu if you feel monocle enough.
 
Blown away by Occultic Nine so far, didn't expect this at all by the first ep, so glad I stuck with it.

Any consensus on what some recent must-watch shows are, for someone who only dips into anime from time to time and favors either mystery/psychological or comedy/slice-of-life, but isn't opposed to other stuff?
I would recommend

For what you asked

Tanaka-kun is always listless

For things that I consider must watch from this year

My Hero Academia
 
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