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[Nafe]

Since the topic of indie animation or animation shorts have been a bit of a topic recently, maybe some would be interested in some others that, I think, came out this year.

There's Yutaro Kubo's 00:08 which you can watch legally here. I was made aware of the link through MyAnimeList of all places. Go figure,haha. He also did the animation for the music video Crazy for it. I think I remember some talking about that months ago. Even though it's not from this year you can watch it on his vimeo page here.

There was also Saho Nanjo's nini. You can watch it on his YouTube account here. He did the short Binetsu before which looks like he remade this year but so far all I've seen is a trailer for it which you can also take a look at on his YouTube channel here.

There was also Omoi Kumo from Kohei Nakaya. It's a nice little short that can be found here.

---

I don't really have much to add (mainly as I haven't finished all the shorts yet) but Airy Me can be watched in full on Vimeo right now. People should check it out because it's awesome: http://vimeo.com/70463623

I still haven't watched all of those either but I had just looked Airy Me up and found it. I will echo your sentiment that more people should take a look at it. The animation in this is really great and the way the camera moves and spins around the characters. Really good work. The story around it seems a bit sad or morbid though.

Seeing as there's a sudden interest in indie animation and particularly Mirai Mizue's Wonder, I thought I'd post the thingy he put on Youtube today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFijpZdt6Lg
It's pretty cool. Fairly different from his previous work too, there's none of the cell characters he's known for; it's more like a modern Norman McLaren "visual music" short. It also has some images you'll probably recognize if you've seen Fantasia (1940)

It's nice seeing more of these smaller or maybe more obscure works getting mentioned and talked about in AnimeGaf again. Thanks for bringing attention to this. I gave it a watch and it was pretty neat.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Guys, we're so close to the new Durarara.

Hyped for more Masaomi Kida!

 

[Vito]

Sore ga seiyū! gets TV anime?!

 

[amrod]

decided I liked funimation so much I subbed to it for a year.. if you can get over the shitty interface and so-so apps (for example lack of what ep you watched last on android), the actual anime encodes seem nicer then crunchyroll

 

[dimb]

More stripes. What a let down.

 

[wonzo]

lol ann

More stripes. What a let down.

( ´ 3 `,)

 

[Midonin]

Sore ga seiyū! gets TV anime?!

Shizuka doesn't have a major role in Shirobako just yet, and Love Getchu is kind of obscure, so maybe this can be the anime about voice actors I'm looking for. As opposed to Girlfriend Beta, which was an anime about voice actors. Edit: Wait, this is a Hayate spinoff?

Sailor Moon R 21-22

Why did Usagi use Moon Princess Halation on a volcano? Why did Rei shoot Burning Mandala into a volcano? Why are there dinosaurs still existing in modern-day Japan? 21 would've been an okay episode for most other shows, but it feels so out of place in Sailor Moon. 22 was pretty good, though. A nice, if slightly slideshow-y fight scene set to a cool song, and lots of stuff about what's going on finally being clarified. This show, in all the episodes I've seen of it, is not kind to the cats. Does anybody care that Luna was scratched up? Because you just kinda left her there...

 

[John Blade]

Didn't have a chance to post this as I got it from last week before christmas but here are my pickup from the Right Stuff Christmas sales. Man....so much anime....so little time.






Forgot to add the 3 PSP title I also get from them.

 

[dimb]

That's not a bed. I need to see the bed.

 

[DigitalRicket]

So I'm finally catching up on Sword Art Online S2 and I'm curious does the show fall in quality once it gets passed ep.13

Spoiler

much in the way it did in the first season

?

I wasn't a huge fan of the ALO direction last time around so I'm a little skeptical.

 

[Erigu]

Yeah this was what really started to sour me on Urasawa. What a piece of shit.

And Urasawa/Nagasaki made the same claims regarding Pineapple Army. Seeing a pattern, there...

dude should just stick to stuff like yawara

Pretty much.

 

[NCR Redslayer]

So I'm finally catching up on Sword Art Online S2 and I'm curious does the show fall in quality once it gets passed ep.13

Spoiler

much in the way it did in the first season

?

I wasn't a huge fan of the ALO direction last time around so I'm a little skeptical.

It

Spoiler

kinda does, but not as hard.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Toradora Episode 20
Pretty good episode honestly, but its also obvious where this is leading which sucks because my personal pairing was super connecting this episode

 

[Quasar]

So I'm finally catching up on Sword Art Online S2 and I'm curious does the show fall in quality once it gets passed ep.13

Spoiler

much in the way it did in the first season

?

I wasn't a huge fan of the ALO direction last time around so I'm a little skeptical.

No. But then I feel the last arc is the best thing since the first one. Though that's damning with feint praise given how low the bar got.

 

[firehawk12]

Yama no Susume S2 fin

I feel like this show came together fairly well, even if it's earnestness was lost when compared directly to something like Hanayamata. I'm still not sure how I feel about Fuji being the mid-series climax, but that's probably because it's the only mountain in Japan that I know of and I have no idea if the other mountains in the show are as significant (or perhaps even more significant). If nothing else, it leaves room for a third season.

And minor quibbles about moeing up Kaede aside, I feel like the core friendship between the girls - including a late addition - works really well for a show that is simply meant to be about personal growth and literally about enjoying the moment. The climb itself is supposed to be as fulfilling as reaching the summit, I assume, and this show represents that in spades.

Oh, also the opening of episode 24 is genius considering how episode 23 ends. That final episode just works so well as a denouement and shows that whoever was arcing this story was thinking about this ending well in advance.

---

Shirobako 1-3
I have no idea if I like this show or not at the moment. It's very insidery, but also heightened to the point where you wonder if it's supposed to be dark humour or at least some form of satire. The problem is that I'm left to wonder if these are the types of conversations the people had while making Shirobako itself.

Like, when they were discussing Arupin's facial expressions and how her face is contextualized in the realm of moe, I couldn't help but wonder if they were reproducing any discussions they had about making Shirobako itself. Which is why I thought it was interesting that Miyamori gets her own "face cut" to both play up and de-mystify her moe:

Which is why I was a bit disappointed when they actually showed the new Arupin face cut at the very end of the episode, since it just confused me more about what the show's characters were talking about.

It doesn't help that I'm watching this right after finishing The Comeback, which is an HBO show about making a behind the scenes documentary film about making a fictional HBO show (and the show within the show is actually about the making of a fictionalized TV network show, so you have so many layers of meta bullshit to think about). The difference is that The Comeback was much more biting and on message, focusing on the sacrifices that a woman has to make in order to maintain any semblance of relevance and fame in Hollywood. Much like The Congress meditated on this through Robin Wright, The Comeback has another laying since Lisa Kudrow is playing this washed up actress trying to remain relevant... and although she is probably the most interesting of the ex-Friends cast, she is still relatively obscure in the grander scheme of things.

I'll probably watch more of Shirobako, but other than being so insidery, I'm not sure what I'm actually supposed to get out of it. Like, at least The Newsroom allowed me a glimpse into the darkness of a single man's narcissism even while it pretended it be a show about making a nightly news show. Shirobako seems to be both mocking and documenting, and at the moment, lacks a clear sense of voice to me.

 

[Quasar]

Special A 1 - after seeing it listed amongst a lot of other show's I've like (such as Kaichou wa Maid-sama! and Lovely Complex) I figured this might be a thing for me.

Episode 1 really didn't grab me. Characters really didn't grab me and I expect the MC reaction to being called #2 by her boy is going to get old fast. Dunno whether I should persevere.

 

[DigitalRicket]

No. But then I feel the last arc is the best thing since the first one. Though that's damning with feint praise given how low the bar got.

Interesting. I was invested deep in the first arc of SAO until it practically became a softcore porn.

 

[Quasar]

Interesting. I was invested deep in the first arc of SAO until it practically became a softcore porn.

That's not to say it was great. Whilst I liked the story (and I liked the novel it was based on) I felt it was mishandled a bit. That said nothing in S2 comes close to the awfulness of the second arc of S1.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

I've got two episodes left of Shirobako. I would definitely say it starts off kind of slow. It throws a lot of names at you which makes it tough to really follow. It definitely gets better as it goes on, but the technical and procedural elements of making an anime do get in the way of the narrative. I still really like it, it'll probably find a spot on my top 10 list, albeit in the bottom half I'm sure.

 

[firehawk12]

I've got two episodes left of Shirobako. I would definitely say it starts off kind of slow. It throws a lot of names at you which makes it tough to really follow. It definitely gets better as it goes on, but the technical and procedural elements of making an anime do get in the way of the narrative. I still really like it, it'll probably find a spot on my top 10 list, albeit in the bottom half I'm sure.

I will say, at least isn't as dull as Bakuman. But I don't know if it's because I like anime more than manga and because I don't have to suffer through the stupid shounen bullshit in order to see an anime get made.

But as it is, it's all procedure pornography but without any interesting contextualizing it. I mean, The Wind Rises is a "boring" movie about a guy trying to design a plane, but at least Jiro was recognizable as a human being. So far, every person on the show is reduced to their job title. Which, admittedly, might be meta commentary on the Japanese corporate lifestyle or something.

 

[Andrew J.]

NGNL 01-06

What even is this show

I must have more

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

I've got two episodes left of Shirobako. I would definitely say it starts off kind of slow. It throws a lot of names at you which makes it tough to really follow. It definitely gets better as it goes on, but the technical and procedural elements of making an anime do get in the way of the narrative. I still really like it, it'll probably find a spot on my top 10 list, albeit in the bottom half I'm sure.

They do throw a lot of names out, but they reshow the name nearly everytime they appear for the first few episodes.
But that doesn't stop me from shortening them to stuff like Gothloli-sama, Producer, Director and hair colors.
I can only remember Miyamori and Tarou's names. I'm pretty bad at that.

 

[Quasar]

Rage of Bahamut 12 - Wrapped up better than I expected, but still overall it did not live up to the first few episodes (which I feel could have been fixed by being a 2 cour show). Hopefully that tease leads to an actual second season.

 

[fertygo]

I will say, at least isn't as dull as Bakuman. But I don't know if it's because I like anime more than manga and because I don't have to suffer through the stupid shounen bullshit in order to see an anime get made.

But as it is, it's all procedure pornography but without any interesting contextualizing it. I mean, The Wind Rises is a "boring" movie about a guy trying to design a plane, but at least Jiro was recognizable as a human being. So far, every person on the show is reduced to their job title. Which, admittedly, might be meta commentary on the Japanese corporate lifestyle or something.

Watch more after eps 4 and up they had their own theme going.

 

[Jarmel]

I will say, at least isn't as dull as Bakuman. But I don't know if it's because I like anime more than manga and because I don't have to suffer through the stupid shounen bullshit in order to see an anime get made.

But as it is, it's all procedure pornography but without any interesting contextualizing it. I mean, The Wind Rises is a "boring" movie about a guy trying to design a plane, but at least Jiro was recognizable as a human being. So far, every person on the show is reduced to their job title. Which, admittedly, might be meta commentary on the Japanese corporate lifestyle or something.

Well that stuff actually gets in later. Some of the later episodes really are pointed in that it's discussing themes such as lack of ambition, how dreadful it is to actually work in the industry, and some pointed jokes about anime in general.

It's not going to be deep as a HBO show so if you're going in with that standard, you're going to be disappointed.

 

[faridmon]

Guys, we're so close to the new Durarara.

Show me the receipts!

 

[Tuck]

Rage of Bahumut - Final
Ehhh.... I wasn't really big on the finale. Felt super rushed. Kind of disappointed, to be honest - I really enjoyed the rest of the show.The way they dealt with the evil demon guy was a neat little trick but felt unsatisfying. The big epic battle with Bahumut never really came. He sat there stationary, letting the angles put up a new forcefield around him and just let off a few fireballs. The action in this episode felt substandard compared tot he rest of the series, which is pretty strange. And the final scene didn't really give us anything. It was a super quick goodbye.

I still enjoyed the show overall, would definitely recommend. Fun fantasy adventure though with some escalation issues in the second half. But the ending should have been expanded. Tbh I wish the show was 24 episodes. Felt like we never really got to know a lot of the demons and angels, nor even Jeanne.

 

[Kave_Man]

I'm bored so I'm watching Witch Craft Works.

This has been my Kave Man post of the month in the anime thread.

 

[DigitalRicket]

That's not to say it was great. Whilst I liked the story (and I liked the novel it was based on) I felt it was mishandled a bit. That said nothing in S2 comes close to the awfulness of the second arc of S1.

Okay, that makes me feel better. I was dreading watching the rest of this season but now I'm looking at it more optimistically. Thanks

 

[Lurky]

Rage of Bahumut - Final
Ehhh.... I wasn't really big on the finale. Felt super rushed. Kind of disappointed, to be honest - I really enjoyed the rest of the show.The way they dealt with the evil demon guy was a neat little trick but felt unsatisfying. The big epic battle with Bahumut never really came. He sat there stationary, letting the angles put up a new forcefield around him and just let off a few fireballs. The action in this episode felt substandard compared tot he rest of the series, which is pretty strange. And the final scene didn't really give us anything. It was a super quick goodbye.

I still enjoyed the show overall, would definitely recommend. Fun fantasy adventure though with some escalation issues in the second half. But the ending should have been expanded. Tbh I wish the show was 24 episodes. Felt like we never really got to know a lot of the demons and angels, nor even Jeanne.

Yeah I was hoping for more epic battles too (and more Jeanne fanservice). Oh well, maybe next time.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I'm bored so I'm watching Witch Craft Works.

This has been my Kave Man post of the month in the anime thread.

Most catchy ED ever.

 

[Narag]

I'm bored so I'm watching Witch Craft Works.

This has been my Kave Man post of the month in the anime thread.

See you next month, Kave.

 

[dakkumauji]

Might as well say the RightStuf sale slayed me and my wallet:

 

[fertygo]

I likey this Ange's doujin art.

 

[Jarmel]

Parasyte-12

And no I'm not mad about

Spoiler

the character dying

but rather that we wasted this much time in the show on a mentally disabled character.

Oh god, Kana is too stupid to live.

Spoiler

Past sentence should be changed to past tense. heh

So fucking dumb. How many times does Shinichi have to warn your stupid ass? Five or six? Oh wait he did it that many. So a dozen then? Good fucking lord. The writing in this for females is flat out atrocious. It's like I'm watching a shitty harem, not even a good one, in my horror anime. When the characters are this stupid, I can't feel any sort of sympathy or sadness but rather annoyance.

Apparently if you live in the Parasyte universe, if you're a female, your IQ is automatically lowered by 20 points. Automatic deduction, other rolls still apply.

I thought the "Migi, handle the defense" scene was really good as well as the end fight between the random thug and Shinichi. The direction though for the final scene wasn't as strong as I would have liked as I felt an instrumental version of the normal ED would have been more effective than the one with vocals. Felt a bet messier than it should have been.

 

[Blusby]

Shingeki no Bahamut (End): The series started off strong but descended into the realm of mediocrity.

 

[fertygo]

Eh Kana's scenario isn't bad writing, there's foreshadowing, line of thought, and theme behind it.

Sure people can argue the scenario is vile etc, but I don't think the technical behind writing itself is bad.

 

[Jarmel]

Eh Kana's scenario isn't bad writing, there's foreshadowing, line of thought, and theme behind it.

Sure people can argue the scenario is vile etc, but I don't think the technical behind writing itself is bad.

Well the things you listed are certainly elements of good writing however if your character's line of thought feels contrived or idiotic, even if you're consistent, that's still bad writing. It also was fairly obvious that something like this was going to happen so it hurts the pacing as well.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Somebody help me vote up Interstellar and True Detective in the AOTY thread.

 

[TUSR]

Somebody help me vote up Interstellar and True Detective in the AOTY thread.

no

 

[Lurky]

Somebody help me vote up Interstellar and True Detective in the AOTY thread.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. Was there even any notable anime this year aside from the strike witches OVA?

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Somebody help me vote up Interstellar and True Detective in the AOTY thread.

The only western pig show available for AOTY vote is Agents of Shield Season 2, sorry.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

The only western pig show available for AOTY vote is Agents of Shield Season 2, sorry.

Seriously? Not Arrow?

That's like the most anime show I have ever watched in the west lol it's basically a harem anime. Has Agents of Shield gotten better with S2? I haven't really heard anything and i remember pretty negative things of S1.

 

[nintendoman58]

Accel World - 24 + Series Review

Honestly, this is now one of my favourite shows. Yeah, I liked it that much.

Going into this show, I pretty much expected a decent show that was supposedly better than SAO, hearing it was from the same writer. And it is. Now, I know that SAO isn't exactly a high bar to jump over, but I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this show.

The ending to this show felt just right. It concluded the current arc, while still leaving a couple things open that I assume are covered in the light novels. And this arc concluded on a really satisfying note.

Spoiler

So it turns out that Chiyuri figured out that her power was not healing, but reversing time. So by pretending to be Noumi's ally, she was levelling up that ability to reverse time enough to get Haru's wings back. Haru then deals a finishing blow to Noumi, leading to a really cathartic scene where you see his broken avatar on the ground begging for mercy from Haru before he finishes him off. It's interesting how the show doesn't try to redeem Noumi, yet at the same time kind of does so by wiping his memory of Brain Burst, which was a key factor that caused him to act the way he did, essentially causing him to turn over a new leaf and start over.

Then we see another super touching scene between Haru and Kuroyukihime, to which the former brings the latter to Raker, allowing them to reconcile, and thus end the show on a positive note.

I'd say I want a Season 2, but I'm perfectly content with endings like these. Yeah, there's some stuff left open, like the organization, reaching level 10, etc. But that's the kind of ending that I feel allows the viewer to think about what happens next, but not so much like a big cliffhanger where I feel like I NEED to know what happens next. It's a conclusive enough note with a few loose ends, but not so much as to be unsatisfactory.

As for the general show itself, I haven't found an anime like this in a long time. The kind of show that keeps going forward, with little to no lulls. I love the world-building in this show. Every time I thought that that was as much as I was going to learn about the Accelerated World, they always found some new interesting mechanic for the characters to learn that it never goes stale.

And the characters themselves are pretty likable! Which brings me to the point I applaud this show the most for. It could have very easily been a harem anime, but it chose not to be. Accel World has a lot of female characters, and the set-up and premise of Haru's character is something that you'd think would be just another harem anime set up. But the show constantly makes it clear that Haru and Kuroyukihime love each other and nobody else, and nobody else wants Haru. Most of the girls Haru meets don't become regular characters you see all the time in the show. In fact, they help contribute to the show's world-building in little mini arcs that last for a mere 2-3 episodes or so that all connect to the show's current arc in one way or another. It does so in a way that the show never loses its footing on what it's about and stays on track.

That being said though, this show does have quite a bit of problems. While the show never does go full-on harem anime, it does have quite a few things that could certainly be taken from harem shows that may put some people off. I'm not gonna BS you folks, some scenes in this show are downright unecessary and can cause one to get the wrong idea of the show if they were to see those scenes by themselves. But they don't occur so often that they flat-out ruin the show. They're just little one-off things that I just wish weren't there.

Another problem I have is that the main villain's backstory is kinda cliché. I mean, it just feels...lazy. I mean yeah, it does a good job in showing just how crazy it's made him, but I don't know. I felt like it was kind of rushed.

The fights and animation on their own are really cool, but there's a lot of stock-footage animation used in some scene every now and then. Not to a point where it becomes horrendous, but it's still a little distracting.

But in any case, nothing about this show is super spectacular though. The characters themselves, while likable, don't exactly grow into super-interesting people. I mean, don't expect super deep characters like in Madoka Magica or Fate Zero or anything. It's nowhere near that level. They're all charming and enjoyable with their own little quirks, but that's all they are. But you know what? That's what I like about this show. It never takes itself so seriously that you feel like it's trying so hard to be a big hit like those shows I mentioned. It has just the right amount of action, a great amount of world-building, yeah it's a little heavy on the drama, but never to a point where I found it unbearable. I don't know, everything about this show just clicked with me for some reason, and I just had a ton of fun with it.

So, if you're looking for a nice little action show with some really decent world-building and enjoyable characters, I'd say give it a watch. Just don't go in expecting a masterpiece, and don't let the fact that SAO writer Reki Kawahara himself wrote this dissuade you.

It's a decent ride that I just so happened to end up really enjoying all the way though.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Seriously? Not Arrow?

That's like the most anime show I have ever watched in the west lol it's basically a harem anime. Has Agents of Shield gotten better with S2? I haven't really heard anything and i remember pretty negative things of S1.

No.
Arrow is definitely not allowed.

 

[Jarmel]

Seriously? Not Arrow?

That's like the most anime show I have ever watched in the west lol it's basically a harem anime. Has Agents of Shield gotten better with S2? I haven't really heard anything and i remember pretty negative things of S1.

It would be Flash moreso than Arrow this year. Arrow was floundering for most of this season until the final few episodes. Flash has been mostly nailing it.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

No.
Arrow is definitely not allowed.

You're stuck in the old mind set. Let go of your preconceived notions and accept that this is the new age. WELCOME TO THE NEW AGE, TO THE NEW AGE.

It would be Flash moreso than Arrow this year. Arrow was floundering for most of this season until the final few episodes. Flash has been mostly nailing it.

Apparently I gotta watch Flash. But does it have new age and ways to welcome it?

 

[Jarmel]

Apparently I gotta watch Flash. But does it have new age and ways to welcome it?

hahahaha

It takes New Age to the next level.

 

[ThatChairMan]

And the characters themselves are pretty likable! Which brings me to the point I applaud this show the most for. It could have very easily been a harem anime, but it chose not to be. Accel World has a lot of female characters, and the set-up and premise of Haru's character is something that you'd think would be just another harem anime set up. But the show constantly makes it clear that Haru and Kuroyukihime love each other and nobody else, and nobody else wants Haru. Most of the girls Haru meets don't become regular characters you see all the time in the show. In fact, they help contribute to the show's world-building in little mini arcs that last for a mere 2-3 episodes or so that all connect to the show's current arc in one way or another. It does so in a way that the show never loses its footing on what it's about and stays on track.

Not that I disagree with the rest of your thoughts on the show, but I thought they made it pretty clear that almost every other girl did want Haru. It was one of those odd harems where the main couple is decided from the start, but that doesn't stop from adding more girls to fall for the MC.

 

[Blusby]

Oh yeah I forgot about that. Was there even any notable anime this year aside from the strike witches OVA?

Anime is truly dead.