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

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Space Brothers 1-5

Loving it. It makes me feel like a child again with all that dream fulfilment stuff, emotional and with likeable comedic relief. I'm an only child so I wonder if it hits closer to home to people with siblings.

It's a wonderful show. I don't know how it'd go marathoning it, but I fondly remember watching it weekly for 2 years.
 

Taruranto

Member
Kemono no Souja Erin - 37



Because you ruined the episode? 37 episodes in and I'm supposed to care about some new brat with a sob story. I probably can't finish this series, even though I'm fairly invested being 37 episodes deep and still sorta curious how it'll all play out.

I think that by now the best parts of an episode are the appearances of yet another cover version of the OP or an entirely new song.

Next episode (or one after that?) is when things start to get going, I suggest keeping up at least until episode 40.


That character is apparently anime original, I suppose it's just another attempt to make the series more child-friendly.
 
Shows like Flip Flappers makes me appreciate Space Dandy more for being able to somehow tie itself together at the end, even though the show is even more episodic than Flip Flappers is.

Space Dandy did it in a way I liked.

Since when is episodic bad?

Its not but it carries the connotation as being lesser because there isn't an overarching narrative, character development or an end goal or anything like that and the events of other episodes are typically ignored or brought up only in jest or as a fourth wall breaking joke. As if episodic stories were less ambitious or captivating or something. Personally I love episodic structures in shows like Mononoke, Space Dandy, Flip Flappers and Mushi-Shi. It is an excellent tool for creative storytelling and creating an anthology of stories.

I think people tend to dislike episodic shows outside of comedies like Osomatsu-san or Gintama (mostly) which is weird, because I've never heard much complaints about stuff like The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, or the works of horror authors like Poe and Lovecraft, where most stories are unconnected but they share a similar theme or even world.

The exception is Cowboy Bebop, because that show managed to have an episodic structure and a satisfying narrative without sacrificing either. In Bebop there are episodes focused on specific characters like Faye or Spike and you get to know more about them, but Flip Flappers has never done that and expects us to suddenly care when it dives into some endgame. Other shows like Mononoke or Space Dandy typically dodge the overarching thing all together, Mononoke by just being a story that follows a traveler and Space Dandy by being more old style cartoonish with a villain trying to catch the hero every episode and ending with the same "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, GADGET!" line every episode. Bebop has more episodes to be fair, but you have to work with what you are given and Flip Flappers is trying to work with more then it has.
 
Flip Flappers 10

You know, having a boring laser fight in the FlipFlap HQ really makes the otherworldly-ness of it a lot less interesting.

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Also, Christ, this show is making me agree with multidimensional clansmen, because Yayaka sure is trash.
 
It looks like Long Riders last two episodes are delayed until February. Ugh.

This is making it very difficult to review.... I guess my best bet is to make notes after Episode 10 and then watch 11 and 12 in February. Otherwise I have to find time to rebinge the entire thing... and I kinda don't even like it enough to do that.

This show is going from a 9/10 to a possible 6/10 real fast. :(

Yikes. Guess I have something to look forward tomorrow when I have time to watch Flip Flappers and Keijo.

It's a similar situation to Girls und Panzer: they delayed two episodes a week and thus ran out of purchased broadcast time to air all the episodes. So the last two episodes will need to be distributed another way (while the studio gets some breathing room to finish them).

Oh that actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks for that.

Well for me it's been the best season in over a year. It's back to the old days of a season that had more stuff for me to watch than I had time. I expect this is just a blip and I'll be back to the 2-4 show average.

But yeah, I am loving Poco. But then given my Barakamon love and love of Sweetness & Lightning and Flying Witch it was a no brainer that it would be a favourite if mine.

Yeah I feel like personally this has been a better season for me overall.

Keijo, MGRP, Gundam IBO, Ninja Girl, Saiki K, Girlish Number and Yuri on Ice!!! are all shows I've really enjoyed this season that keep me engaged while watching. I normally don't have that many that, even by the final episode, I'm still enthralled by.

Note that I'm not defending any of these shows or even disagreeing with anyone, just pointing out what is common sentiment seen in the animegaf threads near the end of every season.

EDIT: I'm the type of person that if I had even a few shows I liked/enjoyed in a season it was a good season.

Same. The vast majority of content isn't going to connect with you
and thus also doesn't mean it's actually awful by default
so I consider it a good season if even just a handful of shows were riveting.
 

jonjonaug

Member
Flip Flappers 10
Main plots in episodic shows are overrated and often lead to garbage like this. It's a lesson that people should just enjoy the episodic goodness instead of demanding progression towards some final big bad or whatever other nonsense that isn't relevant to most of the show.

I mean, it worked for GaoGaiGar and G Gundam.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Dennou coil ep.5
Well, looks like the two "factions" are now set up for the show. The good hackers vs. the bad hackers a.k.a the Encoders...
 

jonjonaug

Member
Oh yeah and Dennou Coil did "episodic->progressing plot" good too.

A lot of shows from the 90s and early to mid 00s had a 26 or 52 episode structure where the first half was episodic for building characters and the second half was straight plot. You don't see that so much these days, mostly due to the lack of original shows and what ones there are mostly being one cour.
 

duckroll

Member
Oh yeah and Dennou Coil did "episodic->progressing plot" good too.

A lot of shows from the 90s and early to mid 00s had a 26 or 52 episode structure where the first half was episodic for building characters and the second half was straight plot. You don't see that so much these days, mostly due to the lack of original shows and what ones there are mostly being one cour.

I'm watching Mob Psycho 100 now and I'm half way through the series and it is exactly like that. So was One Punch Man. You know what else is like that? Garo. The procedural format with an overarching season plot is a very common format. It hasn't gone away either. You just have to watch the right shows to see it. Obviously shitty Light Novel adaptations are going to have less of that.
 

jonjonaug

Member
I'm watching Mob Psycho 100 now and I'm half way through the series and it is exactly like that. So was One Punch Man. You know what else is like that? Garo. The procedural format with an overarching season plot is a very common format. It hasn't gone away either. You just have to watch the right shows to see it. Obviously shitty Light Novel adaptations are going to have less of that.

I'm talking more about shows where there's a major tonal or other kind of writing shift in the second half of the show as it goes from random episodic stories to something where one episode keeps flowing into the next one. Like Devilman Lady, or GaoGaiGar, or Dennou Coil. One Punch Man 's last few episodes aren't really much different from the earlier episodes except that now there's a bunch more not-Saitama heroes to get wailed on. Mob Psycho 100's not really what I'm thinking of there either. I haven't watched Garo so I can't comment on it.
 

duckroll

Member
I'm talking more about shows where there's a major tonal or other kind of writing shift in the second half of the show as it goes from random episodic stories to something where one episode keeps flowing into the next one. Like Devilman Lady, or GaoGaiGar, or Dennou Coil. One Punch Man 's last few episodes aren't really much different from the earlier episodes except that now there's a bunch more not-Saitama heroes to get wailed on. Mob Psycho 100's not really what I'm thinking of there either. I haven't watched Garo so I can't comment on it.

I don't really see the tonal shift you're talking about in Devilman Lady or Denno Coil though. The shows are extremely consistent in tone. I think you're just overthinking it. If you go back and watch the series you'll see that they were never entirely episodic to begin with. Even in the very beginning, the groundwork is being laid for the later plot elements, so there's no real shift, it just takes a while for the main story to get going. One Punch Man is exactly like that. Half the series are episodic stories, with groundwork being laid. Then after that the second half of the series consists of long arcs running episode into episode with cliffhangers and what not.
 
I'm talking more about shows where there's a major tonal or other kind of writing shift in the second half of the show as it goes from random episodic stories to something where one episode keeps flowing into the next one. Like Devilman Lady, or GaoGaiGar, or Dennou Coil. One Punch Man 's last few episodes aren't really much different from the earlier episodes except that now there's a bunch more not-Saitama heroes to get wailed on. Mob Psycho 100's not really what I'm thinking of there either. I haven't watched Garo so I can't comment on it.

I'm not sure how Dennou Coil has more of a major tonal shift when it builds up to its finale than Mob Psycho 100 does when it builds up to its finale.
 

duckroll

Member
Mob Psycho 100 - Episode 3

I wasn't expecting the scope of the stories to be so interesting. One thing I appreciate so far is how the tone of the series is very much about school life for a young kid, but the scope of it is totally fantastical and anything goes. Having Mob take out some weirdass new cult is an awesome storyline and I dig how they manage to introduce new characters in every episode seamlessly. The animation remains really good, but I think what really impresses me is the direction. Tachikawa really knows how to make drama and character interactions interesting and tense in almost any situation and art style. I would say he's a good level above Natsume in that aspect.


Mob Psycho 100 - Episode 4

This show gets a ton of mileage out of making very typical school life drama totally insane by raising the stakes using nonsensical psychic power stuff. The best thing about the story here is how human all the characters still feel even with the over the top stuff. Also, the comedy is fantastic. The stupid ass letters, the typos, great stuff. Mob is a surprisingly compelling character for what he is...


Mob Psycho 100 - Episode 5

wow.gif

BONES is back?!


Mob Psycho 100 - Episode 6

I think much of what I mentioned about the previous episodes gets improved more and more with each episode. As they peel the layers of Mob's immediate world, you see that the characters around him have meaningful connections to each other. Mob's family, Mob's master, Mob's classmates, Mob's rival, they're all people with very real people problems. I think the psychology behind feeling important, wanting to be noticed, and wanting to make something of yourself is what defines this show more than the action and supernatural stuff. I really dig the dialogue and the internal monologues.
 
Mob Psycho 100 - Episode 6

I think much of what I mentioned about the previous episodes gets improved more and more with each episode. As they peel the layers of Mob's immediate world, you see that the characters around him have meaningful connections to each other. Mob's family, Mob's master, Mob's classmates, Mob's rival, they're all people with very real people problems. I think the psychology behind feeling important, wanting to be noticed, and wanting to make something of yourself is what defines this show more than the action and supernatural stuff. I really dig the dialogue and the internal monologues.

It just keeps getting better (and then a little worse for two episodes and then better again).
 

duckroll

Member
It's impressive how Natsume and Tachikawa both picked the ONE series which fit their personal strengths best. Natsume got to go wild with the more shallow but action packed OPM, while Tachikawa got to flex his psychological thriller/drama muscles on MP100. Now if only someone could find the perfect material for Ando-sama... T_T
 
Naruto Shippuden 487

The quality is still good!

The humour was great in this episode, mainly the one about the girl's age, whatever her name is.

Also Sasuke's Shinden design is so cool, I love it.
 

Syrinx

Member
With Flip Flappers apparantly falling flat on its face, Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R stands unopposed as the best magical girl show of 2016.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Fortunately I never doubted Yuri on Ice or Girlish Number for a second so this season's been great for me.
 

Sterok

Member
With Flip Flappers apparantly falling flat on its face, Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R stands unapposed as the best magical girl show of 2016.

Hm,

Maho Girls Precure
Mahou Shoujo Nante Mou Ii Desukara
Koukaku no Pandora
Nurse Witch Komugi R
Sailor Moon Crystal S3
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!!
Mahou Shoujo? Naria☆Girls
Nanoha Vivid Strike
Flip Flappers
Magical Girl Raising Project
Matoi the Sacred Slayer

TBH you might be right. I'll stump for Precure and Raising Project, but it was definitely quantity > quality for the genre this year.
 
selecter infected WIXOSS

So I finished the anime and overall I enjoyed it and most likely will hop over to the next season because of bullshit cliffhanger ending. Earlier on in my impressions of the first three episodes I made a comparison to Madoka Magica and that still rings true even though if the show has a variety of issues and such comparison I feel does Madoka Magica a disservice. The show isn't bad but it has issues with it's plot and general setting.

For example, the show is based off a card game that currently exists in Japan and I assume said show was to market said card game. A similar show that did this (and is still currently doing so) is YuGiOh. For all the hilarious shit YuGiOh gets, the setting, though contrived, was easy to get into in how it explained it all with essentially Kaiba Corp and Pegasus going "oh hey these Egyption fantasy monsters are kinda cool, let's make a card game out of it!" WIXOSS on the other hand revolved on supernatural shit on a card game but never explains the purpose/why of supernatural shit of
girls being granted wishes on winning battles, LRIGs replacing selectors once a wish is being granted, the interdimension where Mayu resides/battles take place, etc.
and I doubt the later seasons (and movie) will explain why; a major effort had to be taken on my part in suspension of disbelief. In contrast with YuGiOh, supernatural shit happened in that show as well but it was explained atleast with Egyptian relics and shit. WIXOSS lacks this and in the back of my mind I kept asking myself, "What fucking company made this card game anyway?"

But yeah I'm glad I was able to binge this show instead of watching tn live due to my effort to suspend disbelief; I think the weekly wait for episodes would've made me drop the show out of irritation which would be a shame as I did enjoy the plot/subplots on
dealing with society's view on incest
(I have a sister, and no I don't want to fuck her)
, idol bullying, and general psychological crap (though I admit, it was a bit light compared to other series like Madoka Magica, Psycho-Pass, and the like).
But still, bullshit cliffhanger ending. Hopefully the next season is just as enjoyable if not more.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Scrapped Princess ep. 13-14
Still discarding all of the warnings thrown their way, Pacifica, her guardians and the fellow warriors head
right into the trap set by the peacemakers
people are sooo gonna die in the next episode. At least the full story of this world's humanity plight came out and a better explaination of what Pacifica can really do.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Blue Exorcist ep.5
These two are gonna be besties, aren't they? Looks like there is yet more mystery around what is going on with the school and it's headmaster. Either way, some pretty good action and comedy again in this episode.
 

Aki-at

Member
Girlish Number - 9


Wow Chitose why do you have to be such a little shit? Just when I started to feel bad for her being slowly forgotten in the group (And the OP title text too haha) how everyone is constantly out of focus in this episode except her and how she was pushed onto another manager by the management but all she does is act as her bratty self and manages to hit her brother where it hurts just because she screwed up again. Poor Gojo.
 
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