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[TUSR]

SAO S2 to cover Calibur Arc (10/18) and Mother's Rosary Arc
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...me-to-cover-calibur-mother-rosary-arcs/.79557

Teaser: http://youtu.be/s34Yy-j2-2s

Good at least its confirmed now, these will be a definite step up from GGO and ALO.

I gotta give it to SAOII they know how to brighten up my morning when the first thing in the new episode is rape face dude with his gollum creepy smile saying "ASADA-SAAAAAAAAN"

God damnit SAO.

 

[astrogamer]

Madan no Ou to Vanadis 1
The character art doesn't feel so great to me but otherwise pretty solid. The plot is proceeding nicely and the characters aren't bad so far. A pretty nice medieval feel combined with a not too complicated introduction to the lore of the world.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Sword Art Online 2 - 14

Well Ill miss Shinkawa. Either I paid attention wrong or something, but it seemed to imply he didnt actually kill anyone, thankfully.

---

Got more Free! (yet another towel cause theyre addicting, and best Rin on a piece of merch, and my third Free! glass cup). Next ought to be Free! figs or either the Pony Canyon book.

 

[yami4ct]

Oh, hey, FSN and World Trigger are both today. Very excited to check both those out.

 

[R_thanatos]

No. Its also impossible to make a judgement on the quality of this season's plot, characterization, and pacing just one episode in. First episode was fine and very Log Horizon.

There is a noticeable change in animation however it is minimal. Some characters look a little worse, others look a little better. Some look the same. Animation isn't as smooth but its not terrible. Given that the first season didn't have the best animation to begin with complaints about DEEN's work seems a bit nit picky. The OP/ED is objectively worse though than S01. That said this a plot/character driven show so animation isn't as important as nailing the story. Given that all the key people are the same as far as directors, etc and that DEEN is only animating, blaming any potential issues to come on DEEN seems misguided even if its fun to shout "DEEEEEN!".

Nobody is shouting "DEEEEN" . it's like you aren't reading the reasons why some people are legit disapointed by the first episode.

 

[CheapJuice]

Madan no Ou to Vanadis - 01

OP soundtrack is good. So we have Robin hood taken "prisoner" by a busty war maiden. I love medieval settings so I hope this doesnt turn to shit, well it kinda already i-

AOTY 10/10

 

[Crash Station]

Otaku Husband 1

Amusing I guess?

 

[yami4ct]

Good at least its confirmed now, these will be a definite step up from GGO and ALO.

I feel like there's a pattern with SAO. After almost every arc I see people who've read the LNs saying "guys, the next one's going to be better". Judging by reactions here, it never seems to be. Oh well, sure some people enjoy it. Gave up on the whole "hate watch" thing some time ago. Stopped being fun.

 

[TUSR]

I feel like there's a pattern with SAO. After almost every arc I see people who've read the LNs saying "guys, the next one's going to be better". Judging by reactions here, it never seems to be. Oh well, sure some people enjoy it. Gave up on the whole "hate watch" thing some time ago. Stopped being fun.

Mother's Rosario will be good. Its the strongest part of the LNs imo.

I hope.

 

[CorvoSol]

I feel like there's a pattern with SAO. After almost every arc I see people who've read the LNs saying "guys, the next one's going to be better". Judging by reactions here, it never seems to be. Oh well, sure some people enjoy it. Gave up on the whole "hate watch" thing some time ago. Stopped being fun.

This is the reason I haven't picked up SAO II. What could possibly be done in this season that wasn't already done in last season?

 

[Jarmel]

Whoever was doing the background art for Fate/Stay Night was on point. Good god.

Also all dat lighting.

 

[R_thanatos]

I feel like there's a pattern with SAO. After almost every arc I see people who've read the LNs saying "guys, the next one's going to be better". Judging by reactions here, it never seems to be. Oh well, sure some people enjoy it. Gave up on the whole "hate watch" thing some time ago. Stopped being fun.

everyone that read the books said that shion was a good character and that it's finnally good/great after GGO. That's what i said anyway.
but hey it's hard to be heard when there is a flood of people bashing this franchise left and right.

 

[victreeb3l]

Is this fate/stay night a remake or a new one? Should I watch this before fate/zero?

 

[PshycoNinja]

CR must be having problems because the F/SN episode isn't playing on any of my devices.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

Gundam Build Fighters 20

Jeezus Christ calm the hell down guys it's not that serious

 

[Blusby]

Is this fate/stay night a remake or a new one? Should I watch this before fate/zero?

You can watch this new ep first if you want, doesn't spoil anything for Zero.

 

[yami4ct]

everyone that read the books said that shion was a good character and that it's finnally good/great after GGO. That's what i said anyway.
but hey it's hard to be heard when there is a flood of people bashing this franchise left and right.

I agree that it's really easy to pile on the hate to whatever the favorite show to hate of the moment is, but you have to admit SAO has earned a lot of the hate it's gotten. Maybe you've been correctly pointing out the arc(s) that's going to be worth watching, and I'm open to checking them out if they get some decent reviews, but I can't help but be wary after seeing a bunch of people (Not necessarily all here, but definitely saw some on gaf) talk about how good the first arc of SAO II was going to be.

 

[victreeb3l]

You can watch this new ep first if you want, doesn't spoil anything for Zero.

Ok cool. So I dont need to know anything about the franchise beforehand? I can just start here?

 

[Dresden]

Never trust a Kawahara.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

SAO 2 Episode 14: End of GGO Arc

Best part of this episode is Kirito's sly bullshit of introducing

Spoiler

Asuna and what's her face to Sinon, and only saying "these are my friends SAO" LAWL. Apparently Asuna didn't mind he only introduced her as his friend and not his girlfriend

Kirito you harem-wanting motherfucker trying to get away with it as much as possible aren't you?

Also

SAOII KNOWS MY PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN

 

[Blusby]

Ok cool. So I dont need to know anything about the franchise beforehand? I can just start here?

Yup, Fate/stay night was written first and is 100% self-contained.

 

[victreeb3l]

Yup, Fate/stay night was written first and is 100% self-contained.

Sweet. Thanks.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

I'm guessing some people might be hyped for Fate/stay today. I've got one Crunchyroll pass in my post if anyone needs it. Please say if you took it.

I wish I was more familiar with Fate/stay night. I just started the VN though so I think I'll hold off on watching.

 

[Terareflection]

I'm guessing some people might be hyped for Fate/stay today. I've got one Crunchyroll pass in my post if anyone needs it. Please say if you took it.

I wish I was more familiar with Fate/stay night. I just started the VN though so I think I'll hold off on watching.

Stolen. Thanks.

 

[darkblade77]

I feel like there's a pattern with SAO. After almost every arc I see people who've read the LNs saying "guys, the next one's going to be better". Judging by reactions here, it never seems to be. Oh well, sure some people enjoy it. Gave up on the whole "hate watch" thing some time ago. Stopped being fun.

I do recall this happening with SAO for Alfheim arc, and again for GGO. Not the same people advocating each one, but it is definitely a thing for this show and several other LN/VN adaptations.

I think this is because when it's in novel form you can mentally downplay or skim over some of the parts that are obtuse or just terrible, essentially thinking 'well that was bad but everything done as a whole was better excluding it'. It's easier to do so because you're doing the mental lifting and creating the world in your mind yourself as you read.

Then when the adaptation comes out, you're forced to acknowledge the terrible parts you may have mentally glossed over to some degree, and the most tempting defense is to look at future non-adapted content and say 'hey, this is better' because--technically, until it's adapted it is better, as far as you're concerned.

I've read up to halfway through Alicization arc in the LNs and I have to say at the end of the day, SAO is SAO. If they decide to adapt things as long as there are novels, you're going to see interesting characters that literally become less interesting via proximity to Kirito, you're going to see impossible scumbag characters, and you're going to see women reduced to the feeling of bile in your mouth as you see them exploited on-screen until they're 'saved'.

You're also going to see some interesting world/setting building which may or may not flagellate the magical dead horse that is Kayaba Akihiko.

There is a lot of content that is distanced from the above things, but you can't really pretend it doesn't exist, so it's a question of tolerance since (IMO) the MMO-driven world settings and systems are interesting, and the cast is pretty good when Kirito isn't around to collectively turn their brain cells off(which the upcoming Mother's Rosario arc is supposed to illustrate).

 

[R_thanatos]

I agree that it's really easy to pile on the hate to whatever the favorite show to hate of the moment is, but you have to admit SAO has earned a lot of the hate it's gotten. Maybe you've been correctly pointing out the arc(s) that's going to be worth watching, and I'm open to checking them out if they get some decent reviews, but I can't help but be wary after seeing a bunch of people (Not necessarily all here, but definitely saw some on gaf) talk about how good the first arc of SAO II was going to be.

All i've seen on gaf is people saying "this shion character is great ", or something similar regarding the voice actress behind the character (who does a good job with what she has to do ) I don't think i've seen people saying anything even remotely positive on the rest of the arc. Since most of the people who actually enjoy SAO don't post their impressions here anymore Heck i'm positive that people were actually talking about the character nor the arc itself since shion is always so high in the character rankings ( before and after the anime aired )

I for example sing the praise of "mother rosario" since the OT of Sao season 1 since everyone agrees that it was the best arc of the entire sao franchise PERIOD.
Now we're just hoping that the anime won't destroy the good things of this arc by some stupid pandering ( because the anime abuses of that it's obvious )

Ps: that doesn't mean that SAO will do a revolution in the way it's going to tell it's story.There are some themes the writter doesn't let go.there is a scene in the middle of an arc much later that will make the 25 of sao S1 like child play and i mean it.
If mother rosario is a mess , then nothing in Sao can be good. This is like the absolute BEST the sao franchise can offer.

 

[Firemind]

I haven't experienced the LNs and I think SAO is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Kawahara is a genius.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

Gundam Build Fighters 21

Add Reiji to the VERY exclusive list of Gundam protagonists who manage to rescue their psycho organization controlled newtype love interest

 

[Midonin]

Fate/stay night UBW 00

My history with this franchise. I saw the first anime (so the opening route does have an adaptation, in some form - that's not a bad thing. Though I've never played the VN.) and the UBW movie, so any future twists for this arc can't be spoiled for me. I saw F/Z reluctantly when I discovered this would tie into it more. The idea of a prequel rewriting its parent series is still weird for me. I liked F/Z, but it's not my favorite part of the franchise. That's Prisma Illya.

I do love a good fight scene, and I know those are certainly part of the appeal here, but I also don't want fight scenes to be the only reason to watch a work. Also, hey, it's a Rin episode that people will hopefully like for once. The story is as I remember it, if drawn out a fair bit, but it's not nearly as exposition-heavy as F/Z's hour-long episode. Plus nobody was walking in circles. It does help that I know a bit of where Rin is coming from, though it was made pretty clear here, too. Like most prologues, I'm not sure if I can discuss it on its own.

I'll wait until we get to the regular half-hour episodes before I see what I think of this adaptation. It's familiar, and I get why the Fate franchise has its appeal, but I'll wait and see what's different. Also looking forward to seeing what the OP and ED look like, hopefully by episode 3.

 

[SliceSabre]

Fate/stay night - Prologue


This episode if everything I wanted and expected out of the first episode, this speaking as a person who has read the VN. Rin's interactions and banter with Archer were top notch and well in line with the VN. Glad that it also stuck with the beginning being from Rin's perceptive since that's pretty much how the VN did it in the beginning. Archer vs. Lancer fight was very well done as well.

Great episode all and all.

 

[R_thanatos]

Madan no Ou to vanadis - 01

So let's see .
- Correct use of Cg
- Cast of characters seems alright ( verylikeable )
- Overskilled MC but it's alright since ....
- Very OP heroine
- Heroine doesn't shy away when MC met her naked ( bonus points because i'm tired of this )
- Best way to wake up someone.

OK i like it ... Almost want to start reading the books.

 

[ShinRPGamer]

Gundam SEED 50 END
When I said I wanted her written off, I didn't mean like that. It was a more of her just going home/being discharged... Damn. At least the war is seemingly over.


With this being my first 'real,' Gundam series I've watched from start to finish it more or less let me wrap my head around what Gundam is. Before I thought it was just mechs in space. Seriously. I remember maybe 7 or 8 years ago watching a few random episodes of a Gundam (it might have actually been Destiny... Go figure), and was overall questioning where the mechs were and why aren't they in space, etc.

Story wise, it was okay. It wasn't the best as some things got retconned and some parts didn't make any logical sense, but over the past 5 days or so, I enjoyed it.

The characters and character interactions that sold me on this though. It was the little things like when a "no-name" character died, his fellow crewman would shout his name and would be angry and may even charge in on the person that killed him. Or when someone dropped their water bottle on the ground thinking they were still in space and Marrue reminded him that they weren't. Small details like that make the show more enjoyable and alive. Even some character arcs I enjoyed as well, in particularly, Flay. Despite her being a thorn in my side all the way up until the middle of the story, she played a big role as she was a living set piece. Kira's growth might have been stunted for a while if she didn't

Spoiler

guilt trip

him into changing. Truth be told, I got a good laugh out of when Kira stopped paying attention to her and she started playing the sympathethy card and nobody took the bait. Although by the end,I felt pretty neutral towards her. Throughout the show she was just protecting her own self-interests. In this case that'd be her survival and with Kira being the only one being able to absolutely provide that, that's where she went.

Overall, it was alright. There weren't any glaring problems. I couldn't really care for most of the fights, but since the fights are more of a means to move the plot forward, that's easy to look past

Glad you enjoyed it, now moving onto G Gundam or-

I'll probably start SEED Destiny on Sunday or Monday.

Or... that, sure. Just don't say we didn't warn you.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Log Horizon II: 1

Let me get it out of the way: I'm extremely happy they kept Database Database Wow Wow Wow as the theme song. Nothing could top that.

Having said that I'm not liking DEEN's style. The character designs look fine in still shots but in motion the faces seem off. Almost like the angles and movements deform the faces for some reason. It bothers me a bit.

Still, it was great to be back even if we were thrown right into the meat of all these plans, the pacing suffered because I was more confused about the jumps than understanding what was going on. So yeah. Hopefully this trend doesn't continue throughout the show and that it was a tool so they could get us excited for future events and asking questions. Log Horizon S1's biggest strengths were the pacing, the writing, and the focus of economics/strategy. Hopefully that continues, because let's be honest we can get over the art since S1's wasn't all that great on characters, even if the backgrounds were great.

 

[ShinRPGamer]

On the subject of Log Horizon's animation, I think it's fair to say that a downgrade should have been expected the moment Studio DEEN was revealed to be animating it. Even in the shows they made that are of good quality, the animation looks like crap. Just look at these beautiful frames of animation from Higurashi.

 

[striferser]

Log Horizon s2 1
Back in the database WOW WOW

So yeah, they decide to spoil what i assume major events that going to happen in the future. I guess this is just to make sure viewer stick for the whole season to understand the importance of that scene.I honestly think that was unnecessary.

Character design change going to take a while to get used to it. Especially Shiroe and Naotsugu face.

Other than the opening and the ending scene (seriously, what the hell director?), the middle is the Log Horizon we all love. Problem happen, and it's up to Shiroe to solve it with his uber skillz.

 

[CheapJuice]

Chuunibyou - 02

That opening with the water splashing going out of hand was great. Rikkas sister Tooka is introduced, and Yuutas past comes back to bite him right in the ass.

For a moment I thought some actual magic happened near the ending, all those sweet effects, and then that cut to Rikka prancing around with her stupid umbrella. I laughed, you got me this time.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

CR must be having problems because the F/SN episode isn't playing on any of my devices.

Worked for me right on time.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Chuunibyou - 02

That opening with the water splashing going out of hand was great. Rikkas sister Tooka is introduced, and Yuutas past comes back to bite him right in the ass.

For a moment I thought some actual magic happened near the ending, all those sweet effects, and then that cut to Rikka prancing around with her stupid umbrella. I laughed, you got me this time.

Its cute, but I think it wears thin after a while. Though I still think I ended up liking the show, at least season 2, more than most people here.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

Gundam Build Fighters 22

I get it was supposed to be character development for Yuuki, but the introduction of Julian's character seemed very rushed. I couldn't find myself to care about the battle at all. It also didn't help that the notion of Meijin losing at this point would be completely ridiculous. No reason to make Mao the sacrificial lamb

 

[Jarmel]

Fate/Stay Night-Ultimate Blade Works [0]

Rejoice!

Rin believes in the sharing of domestic work. Best girl.

So the anime of the season has arrived and good lord does it look good. This was the prologue for Rin and I have to say that the episode doesn't feel padded out, at all. It mostly just covers a day in the life of Rin, her servant summoning, and a few things afterwards. The run time is perfect in that it allows events to play out without feeling rushed or condensed. I think it also helps with characterization and atmosphere. By letting Rin have a normal day, we're introduced to her personality, the world around her, and her relationship with certain people and Masters. Much of Fate/Stay Night is about the characters so I think scenes like those are important. Rin is a fun character so her reactions to some of the events was great as she gets so flustered at times. I should also mention that Garcher is as awesome as I remember him to be.

The orchestral soundtrack was pretty good. It definitely has a different feel compared to Yuki Kaijiura's work in Fate/Zero but it fits the work itself really well. Most of the time it's not that heavy but it can definitely pick up when needed to. I really liked that piece when Rin was entering the main school building and talking to Shinji. The flute work was appreciated.

The animation was about as high as I think everybody is expecting. It's not just the battles, but there were some character animation cuts with Rin herself that I really enjoyed such as when Archer was going to make her regret wanting Saber in the first place. There's only one real battle scene, which is Archer vs. Lancer, and it's really damn good. It's sure as hell isn't 15 minutes but that might be in the extended cut. That said, there were some really high level cuts on display there. I never felt like the digital postproduction was too much compared to something like Accel World and the combatants were easy to follow while moving at a high speed at the same time. There's also some super subtle foreshadowing in a particular scene, in regards to the Rin and Archer's physical positions to each other.

I do have a few complaints though, in that I don't like the character designs. What I mean to say is that the way the noses are drawn on the characters, especially the younger characters, is somewhat distracting to me. It's not that bad though and I sort of got used to it by the end of the episode. The other thing was that there was the scene on the roof where Rin is talking to Archer and the camerawork on that is sort of bad in that it's an overhead shot and it doesn't really do anything interesting with the characters. That's really the exception though as the rest of the episode did look gorgeous. There's also a lot of digital work in the episode such as certain shots of water, the magic, and in the composition of backgrounds. I don't really mind it, I sort of like it actually, but I'm sure somebody will complain.

The background work is some next level shit. In fact it might be a bit too good, in that the composition of the characters juxtapose against how intricate and detailed the backgrounds are. That's mostly an issue indoors as outside is gorgeous. It's really exemplary how much work went into the background art. I should also mention the lighting is fairly decent at times and you can tell some time went into that.

The background art was much better than I expected. I knew the actual animation was going to be topnotch due to that prototype footage that came out in the summer but I was just stunned by how well done the backgrounds are. Fate/Zero was no slouch either with backgrounds but Ufotable really stepped their game up. I thought this was a great introduction episode and I'm looking forward to more.

 

[sonicmj1]

Okay, seriously, is this a joke? Yea, I see differences here and thee but, no, they look pretty much the same to me.

dimb is using backgrounds that DEEN borrowed and recolored from last season to say that any difference in production quality is all in our heads.

Most of the locations you're citing as iconic wouldn't stand out overhead or from a city-wide view. Log Horizon has always had issues when it comes to creating distinguished focal points that the viewer is able to identify. The actual context of the shot you posted is to help show the season change, which plays through a landscape shot.

This is immediately after they had the After Halloween tug-of-war contest to get pumpkins under the autumn-colored Big Tree. The season is already pretty established. While the wide shot helps show the season change even more, it's mostly meant to exaggerate Marie's reaction, the classic cut-to-space shouting shot. Any distance shot containing the area they were in could have served, but they produced a bland background shot that showed very little of the city's identity of overgrown urban landscape.

 

[CheapJuice]

Chuunibyou - 03

Keeps the random humor going. Rikka is starting to feel more and more forced, shes in every scene taking away screen time from the rest. Shinka cheerleading training? Ofcourse Rikka is going to pop up. Oh god now there's two of them

Its cute, but I think it wears thin after a while. Though I still think I ended up liking the show, at least season 2, more than most people here.

Yeah I'm already starting to feel fatigue. I hope this isnt everything the show has up its sleeve. General impressions I've seen is to stay away from S2 like the plague

 

[Se7enSword]

Log Horizon S2 01

Glad to be back in the Database!

I liked Naotsugu's analysis of Shiroe's political ability. The only problem with the episode was that it seemed lower budget than the previous season for some reason. I guess that can be blamed on it being DEEN.

 

[Jex]

[Fate/Stay Talking] - 01

This certainly looked good. Ufotable are truly the Koyani of wasting talent and resources on shlock.

Here are my thoughts:

- These character designs are still garbage. Having these triangle faced weirdos against set beautiful rendered backdrops spoils the effort. If you're going to pay such lavish attention to the setting why not do the same for the faces?

- All these 1st person 'V/N' style shots are creepy as all hell.

- This fight was cool, I guess, but as it's not even the first episode there's zero tension.

- Rin's whole "turn to the side and blush like a 'tsun" routine got tired immediately.

- I wasn't bored.

 

[Link Man]

Regarding the Log Horizon ending:

Spoiler

it at least showed that Shiroe is fallible, and not an outright Gary-Stu (one of my main complaints of the first season)

.

With that out of the way:

Fate/Stay Night UBW 00

The action was pretty good, I'll give it that. Not really fond of Rin just yet (she seems a bit too bossy, stubborn and naive), but then again I wasn't really fond of Waver at the beginning of Fate/Zero, and he grew into one of the better characters in that show. That lunch scene seemed straight out of a visual novel as well (yes, I know). Curious to find out Archer's identity.

Oh, and heaters die when they're dead.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Oh, and heaters die when they're dead.

They really don't.

Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works 1

RETURN OF THE KING

edit: I guess this episode is numbered 0, oh well

 

[Basileus777]

FSN 0

This was a really faithful adaptation from the source material, but while it is slow paced, I didn't find it plodding or stretched out. The quality of ufotable's production has already been stated, but in particular I really enjoyed the sense of speed in the fight scene.

 

[TUSR]

Is CR running like complete shit, worse than normal, right now?

 

[Jex]

Is CR running like complete shit, worse than normal, right now?

Doesn't Crunchyroll generally run like crap during any high-load period of time?

 

[InsaneZero]

They really don't.

Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works 1

RETURN OF THE KING

edit: I guess this episode is numbered 0, oh well

The king hasn't returned yet, we still haven't heard that line!