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[Unknown Soldier]

I feel there are two schools of thought when it comes to episode titles. One is rooted in literature, while the other is rooted in reporting. This theory is not researched at all, but rather one of observation, so I could be completely wrong. But I feel that in general episode titles are either written as a chapter title based around the context/theme of the content in the episode, or they are written as alarmist headlines reporting on the content of the episode. The latter type are the ones which generally contain massive spoilers, because it is probably felt that the nature of the content is not important, but rather how the content is presented. So in that sense they feel that spoiling what happens might actually attract more readers, and people simply want to know HOW that event goes down, without being too bothered that the event itself is spoiled in the title.

Alternative short short version: Sometimes the show's creators know that people aren't there for the story anyways, so it's irrelevant if the story content of the episode is spoiled or not.

 

[A Black Falcon]

CardCaptor Sakura 12 - The time-loop episode. They don't do too much with it besides having Sakura get annoyed at having to take the same test three times, but having her forget once time stops so that the next day she prepares for that test again was kind of amusing... Also, Sakura, Syaoran beat you this time? Don't lose again, can't let him get too many cards...

Clannad 03 - The main character girl is kind of dumb. She even admits it, but main character guy says he doesn't care (maybe because he's kind of dumb too). Also, his male friend is an idiot, but some of his beatings several of the girls in this show regularly give him weren't really deserved... I mean, beating him up for touching her dog, really? Classic anime thing to do, sure, in the Naru vein, but stupid. Overall though, generic harem stuff so far. Okay and watchable but not special.

She is already obedient, hard working, responsible, independant and outgoing. She's naive, but that's all that she lacks compared to her mother. Hell she's even well versed passive aggressive maneuvers like her cooking thing.

True, true, she's already well on the road to achieving that not-so-great goal, I agree... that's part of why I thought it, because she sort of seemed to be aiming in that direction in the first episode.

Is it too much to ask for just one show in a season season to have female characters - especially under 18s - who are both interestingly written and not overtly sexualized in an off-putting, pandering, creepy manner? And does this one show for Spring 2011 have to be fucking Nichijou?

It's too much to ask for because the otaku demand otherwise. And that Nichijou doesn't do that is something good about it, yeah. But I wouldn't put it that way because I actually like the series.

I don't think I've seen any overt sexualization in Nichijou?

Not sure if this was replied to, but no, the point was that Nichijou is the one that doesn't have that sexualization, not that it does.

It's actually "Strange (Physiology) Seminar". For some reason the Z is there.

And maybe I'm the I9 of this situation, but the psychological perversion stuff is hilarious to me. I feel like this is sex for grownups, whereas bland fanservice shows feature sex for nerds. I still remember the curry/shit eating gag from the first OVA. :lol

The sex humor's sometimes funny, but the grossout stuff? Yeah, not so much... which is why the TV series isn't as good as the OVAs.

We've only just had Revolution/Evolution-R!

Yeah, and they were great, and more Slayers is always a good thing. I'd love to see another Slayers anime!

The Twelve Kingdoms 19 - Nearing the end of this somewhat tedious story I hope? Sure, some thing happen, but Taiki's story just isn't as interesting as Youko's. It's just not. Still, seeing him tame that giant monster was kind of cool, he is impressively strong when he actually uses his power.

I don't disagree, I was just saying why I think they did it. I think that kind of world expounding works in books but not so much in TV. One thing that I think is important to remember is that most of the side stories in the Twelve Kingdoms are set in the past, before Youko arrived in the other world, so having them play out simultaneously along with hers would have been equally a bad choice. So essentially while I agree they're the weakest part of the show I also don't really see a better way they could have been handled outside of just not including them which I think would have been a loss over all as they're not bad just not as good and interesting as Youko's story.

Maybe, and it is somewhat interesting, but it's not as good as Youko's parts, and that there is so much of it all at once does have to bring the series down some... Escaflowne doesn't have anything like this.

Shows I felt were better than your top 2:

House of Five Leaves - Good, but I stopped watching after a few episodes (I should go back and watch more!)
K-On!! - Didn't watch, I didn't like the first season.
Katanagatari - Quite good, as I said, my #3 for the year.
Kuragehime - Didn't watch
Gundam Unicorn - Didn't watch, Gundam rarely interests me.
Otome Yokai Zakuro - Watched some of. It's alright, I should continue.
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt - One of the better shows of the year, yeah.
Rainbow - Didn't watch, reading about it made me have no interest in ever watching it.
Shiki - Haven't watched, not sure if I'm interested.
Soredemo - Didn't watch, lack of interest.
Star Driver - Watched some of. Horrible show, mind-numbingly boring.
The Tatami Galaxy - Haven't watched
Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail - Didn't watch, but I quite dislike the franchise (it's bad.) so I have zero interest in watching it.
Yozakura Quartet ~Hoshi no Umi~ - Haven't watched

Stop watching Clannad and finish Twelve Kingdoms!

No, I think I'll watch both.

Hey now, I'm not him, I wouldn't rank Star Driver over Sora no Woto, they're equally crap, not that any of this matters as star driver and Sora no Woto, in my world, are fighting for who gets to be ranked a low 5 and a high 5 on a scale from 1 to 10.

I wouldn't rank Star Driver over much of anything I watched that year... and no, I really disagree with the rest of that too, about SnW. It was good. Not perfect, but good and well above average. I really liked it, great setting, great art (just incredible backgrouns sometimes...), pretty good story, good characters. It just needed to be longer so that the plot could maybe progress more. And ditch that one stupidly themed episode with something better.

Sure, in some years it wouldn't be show of the year, but that it is isn't an indictment. I don't know if on average anime is getting worse or not, I haven't been watching lots of shows from each season for THAT long, if you only watch the better ones you get a skewed perspective...

Err, not really, more like only one show I absolutely know I will hate at a time, some shows start bad and yet I continue because I see a glimmer of hope in them and think there's a chance it'll be good, like Sora no Woto, I kept waiting for them to "get real" and it just never happened, but a show that's already finished doesn't get that luxury.

But when you seem to hate almost everything, like you do, but watch stuff anyway, it must make sticking to that difficult sometimes...

What do you mean by "get real" though? I don't know.

Can you separate the work from the work done on it? Technically Last Exile is mediocre in everything except the audio and animation, every technical aspect about it is poor, because it's a unique enough story that it survives being delivered so poorly is a testament to one thing, there was nothing else like it to make it apparent how bad it actually sucked. It's true, Last Exile only seems strong because there's little if anything else to compare it to, I have to give Gonzo props for trying and daring, but objectively it's not really that good.

I can't find much to say to these statements because in my opinion they're so completely wrong that it's hard to respond... also I haven't seen it in a couple of years so I don't remember all the details (while you watched it recently), but I definitely liked the story and characters as well as the setting and audio. Sure, there are a few flaws with it here and there, but that doesn't weaken it much when I compare that to all of the ways it was so good.

That is, I have no opinion about the sequel right now, apart from that I'll wait and see... I'm not going to say "just because it's Last Exile it'll definitely be good" or something, because who knows.

There's nothing wrong with you liking it, or recommending it but recognize it's because you have no choice not that it's really that great. Like, I'd love for there to be something akin to Shadowrun as an anime. Some may say Ghost in the Shell's close but I don't think it really is, now if someone made a mediocre Shadowrun anime I'd probably like it, because it's all there is of that genre, hell I'd recommend it to people looking for that genre because, again, it'd be all there was but I like to think somewhere in the recesses of my brain I'd know it was still mediocre.

That would depend on whether it was good or not, I imagine. You are right that a good setting doesn't always make something good, sure, though.

See, I think it was more entertaining than some of the shows Jexhius will list that I think are better than Sora no Woto but part of that is my bias. I'm always aware of my bias, there's things I just like more and from the start Sora no Woto's world was more interesting than any of the other "real" good shows that season, sadly the work never lived up to that world, that's partly my fault because I went in with fixed expectations but be that as it may I'm still biased and more inclined to watch Sora no Woto than the Tatami Galaxy. Yet the Tatami Galaxy was still better than Sora no Woto, that make any sense?

Everyone has bias. The problem is trying to figure out how to rate things without including bias... what's the best way? Trying to think truly objectively is nearly impossible really, people always think of their bias at least somewhat. What's better, ratings from a bunch of people? Trying to find people who really are able to rate things with no bias? Say "everything's good if you think it is"?

But on the other hand, that latter statement obviously isn't true. Despite the above I do think it's somewhat possible for people to think about things objectively, if they try... the problem is even then people still greatly disagree. Opinions are hard things to reconcile. There has to be some kind of standard for things, even if not everyone's ever going to agree to it. It's just difficult to a) find that standard (sometimes easy, sometimes hard) and b) get people to agree to it (usually very hard).

In this case, you claim to have a bias towards SnW, but on the other hand you seem to think it's awful for other reasons, so I'd say that you have at least as much of a bias against it as you do towards it, for sure! My argument would be that your bias against it is not entirely justified.

 

[shintoki]

Since people are talking about lists from last year, I finished Katan over the weekend. Fits in as my second favorite for the year behind Shiki and about Jellyfish Princess.

I also started Kimi II... This has got to be the most mind-numbing, frustrating bullshit in the year. I'm half way through and it's just one goddamn cockblock after another of misunderstanding! BITCH CLEAN YOUR EARS OUT! Fuck his shit, first Honey and Clover. Now this shit again? I'm gonna go watch some Hentai or something. No misunderstanding when the love is cleaned up with a mop in the morning.

 

[Geneijin]

That... looks disturbingly appropriate. Let's just hope it never makes it stateside on disney. GOD FORBID Miley Cyrus or some shit singing English Cageyake Girls...

Well, to be truthful, at least it would be better than the other English dub songs...

A good lyricist would be required before that happened. I can't imagine the current translation of the song working as lyrics, much less an English version of the song... and I haven't heard the K-On! dub either.

Could this be a sign of things to come on the Western side?

plus IIRC the channel has more of a female audience anyways so it could fit.

I kind of hope it does actually for the reactions alone. That, and I wouldn't mind seeing how an unknowing female audience would respond to it.

Delay? Are we making the cat episode the ending? I don't know if I see it that way, even if it was the last stuff released, I consider that like a bonus episode like the bonus episode of Spice and Wolf on DVD.

Yeah, the ending as the cat episode. What episode are you saying is your ending? 12? I guess it works but it doesn't for me knowing at the time there would be more episodes.

Wasn't episodes 12 and up all delayed?

AnoHana looks really nice and it at least has me caring about the plot, so that's good. Has there been mention of how many episodes it's supposed to run?

11 episodes I believe.

Edit: On a related note, anyone know where I can read the novel spoilers of AnoHana?

 

[firehawk12]

A good lyricist would be required before that happened. I can't imagine the current translation of the song working as lyrics, much less an English version of the song... and I haven't heard the K-On! dub either.

There are too many Japanese-isms for a K-On! to work as a straight cartoon in America. A live action remake seems almost too perfect though... you can basically launch an entire girl band if the concept takes off.

The sex humor's sometimes funny, but the grossout stuff? Yeah, not so much... which is why the TV series isn't as good as the OVAs.

Honestly, I haven't really found anything actually disturbing/creepy. Then again, GAF is where I find lovely stories such as grandmother/grandson incest, so maybe nothing shocks me anymore.

 

[Geneijin]

There are too many Japanese-isms for a K-On! to work as a straight cartoon in America. A live action remake seems almost too perfect though... you can basically launch an entire girl band if the concept takes off.

True.

And the live action idea does sound perfect. Too perfect. Why haven't the rights been licensed yet? It would make the perfect Disney show strangely enough o.o

 

[firehawk12]

True.

And the live action idea does sound perfect. Too perfect. Why haven't the rights been licensed yet? It would make the perfect Disney show strangely enough o.o

Rice > bread/potatoes.

And I figure a show about girls forming a band is probably so generic an idea that they probably don't need a license...

 

[Jex]

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail - Didn't watch, but I quite dislike the franchise (it's bad.) so I have zero interest in watching it.

Wait, so, Noir is good but Black Lagoon is bad?

 

[Geneijin]

Rice > bread/potatoes.

And I figure a show about girls forming a band is probably so generic an idea that they probably don't need a license...

But it wouldn't be K-On!: U.S.! Think of the international appeal like the Got Talent series.

 

[Shouta]

Wait, so, Noir is good but Black Lagoon is bad?

Don't try to work it out, your brain will explode!

 

[firehawk12]

But it wouldn't be K-On!: U.S.! Think of the international appeal like the Got Talent series.

You wouldn't even call it K-On! though. At best you keep some of the character traits and maybe use some of the stories... but even then, it's not like kakifly's ideas were all that original.
"Let's go to the beach! Twice!"

I guess if you pay for the license, you can sell the show in Asia/Japan as "K-On!".

 

[mAcOdIn]

The Twelve Kingdoms 19 - Nearing the end of this somewhat tedious story I hope? Sure, some thing happen, but Taiki's story just isn't as interesting as Youko's. It's just not. Still, seeing him tame that giant monster was kind of cool, he is impressively strong when he actually uses his power.

Getting there.

Maybe, and it is somewhat interesting, but it's not as good as Youko's parts, and that there is so much of it all at once does have to bring the series down some... Escaflowne doesn't have anything like this.

Well Youko's boss but I like one of the side characters introduced in the next arc almost as much. Granted, Escaflowne doesn't have anything like this but Escaflowne also is pretty shit as far as the world and characterization goes, Escaflowne's like a ride not a story, they just move and move and move.

No, I think I'll watch both.

Everything in balance, eh?

I wouldn't rank Star Driver over much of anything I watched that year... and no, I really disagree with the rest of that too, about SnW. It was good. Not perfect, but good and well above average. I really liked it, great setting, great art (just incredible backgrouns sometimes...), pretty good story, good characters. It just needed to be longer so that the plot could maybe progress more. And ditch that one stupidly themed episode with something better.

For me to say Sora no Woto's "good" is actually to say Sora no Woto has potential to be good. Sora no Woto's like a beautiful piece of land that's undeveloped and you're out looking for a place to build a home and you find this beautiful piece of land that's Sora no Woto and compare it with other homes that are already built but the land they're built on is just shit. Many of them are fine homes, great even, but since they're on bad land they are what they are, they can't ever be anything more. But Sora no Woto's land, while undeveloped, has infinite potential but nothing's there yet, it's undeveloped. So which home is the better home? That's Sora no Woto. If a season two came out I would be first in line to watch it. Would that be because I felt that season one was great and I wanted more of the same? No, it's because I'd hope that with the second season that they were able to deliver some of the latent potential the series had that was lacking in season one.

Sure, in some years it wouldn't be show of the year, but that it is isn't an indictment. I don't know if on average anime is getting worse or not, I haven't been watching lots of shows from each season for THAT long, if you only watch the better ones you get a skewed perspective...

But it is. There's two questions here, "what are good shows" and "what are the best shows from 2010?" If I was asked the former Sora no Woto wouldn't be anywhere near the tip of my tongue but force me to recommend something only from 2010 and all of a sudden it's on the shirt list of what I'd recommend. That's not true quality. I don't judge something's worth on a curve, a good show is always a good show but there are people who are going to watch something every season regardless of how they stack up to past or future works just because they want to watch something new.

Just like Clannad, if you asked my favorite girl from Clannad I'd tell you it's Kyou Fujibayashi but ask for my favorite female anime character and she's not even on the list. Favorite girl from Samurai Girls? Gisen. Does she make the list of favorite anime girls? Not by a long shot.

Sora no Woto's like that.

But when you seem to hate almost everything, like you do, but watch stuff anyway, it must make sticking to that difficult sometimes...

I like to think it's not that I hate almost everything but that I come to the table with a uniform set of expectations. I believe many here like anime, of course I like anime too but I think some here, like, like anime. What I mean is that if they had the exact same show, live action, exact same quality or lack-thereof and everything else that they'd choose the anime over the live action, because they like anime. I'm not quite like that, I like anime because I like the drawn look, because I like the fact it was created by scratch as opposed to dressing someone up I've seen before in new clothes and selling them as someone else but I don't like, like anime. Because of that I'm not inclined to necessarily like anything in a given year, let alone a season. But even then of course I don't hate everything, I like the Twelve Kingdoms, right? This season so far I like Ano Hana, Iroha, Denpa and maybe some more once I get to see them, of course they may end up sucking but clearly I'm not truly full of hate and scorn. I'm not some self hating otaku like Ogiue from genshiken.

What do you mean by "get real" though? I don't know.

Well this part is my fault but I thought the show would get "serious." They were pretty heavy handed regarding the state of the world despite never spelling it out, they tied the current girls to the past maidens, they were a military unit, had serious flashbacks and they had the princess of the kingdom there. I just couldn't wrap my head that they were going to take all of these pieces and essentially make a military K-on in a fictional world. Is that my fault? Oh yeah, but that's not entirely my fault because they constantly alluded to it. Constantly. Of course they also constantly never delivered on it and treated it like K-on so there was as much a hint that they wouldn't go that direction as well.

Last Exile stuff, we're just going in circles here.

Everyone has bias. The problem is trying to figure out how to rate things without including bias... what's the best way? Trying to think truly objectively is nearly impossible really, people always think of their bias at least somewhat. What's better, ratings from a bunch of people? Trying to find people who really are able to rate things with no bias? Say "everything's good if you think it is"?

But on the other hand, that latter statement obviously isn't true. Despite the above I do think it's somewhat possible for people to think about things objectively, if they try... the problem is even then people still greatly disagree. Opinions are hard things to reconcile. There has to be some kind of standard for things, even if not everyone's ever going to agree to it. It's just difficult to a) find that standard (sometimes easy, sometimes hard) and b) get people to agree to it (usually very hard).

In this case, you claim to have a bias towards SnW, but on the other hand you seem to think it's awful for other reasons, so I'd say that you have at least as much of a bias against it as you do towards it, for sure! My argument would be that your bias against it is not entirely justified.

Right, no real way to subjectively quantify my opinion nor anyone else's but I'll still try damnit!

Anyways, you may think I'm biased against Sora no Woto but it's only because of my bias that I finished it and watched every week. If I went in expecting nothing, saw that the first two episodes were K-on in fatigues and had no reason to think otherwise then that would have been the end of it, I wouldn't have watched any more. So it's my bias that even allows me to say it was my favorite of 2010, I only finished it because of my preconceived notion of what should be coming down the pipe, it's what kept me watching and sure, it's also why I'm rather disappointed in it. Had I not even been wrong about the show and had not formed a preconceived notion over where it was headed I would have unceremoniously ditched it early on and I wouldn't care about it enough to bother talking about it. Like Star Driver, I saw it sucked early on and dropped it. No prefabbed notion of how it'd be, I saw it for what it was, realized it was crap and moved on and because I didn't invest any time real time in it while I think it was utter shit I don't feel any emotion to it. But I wanted Sora no Woto to be good, I invested that time and that makes it's failings all the more painful.

Yeah, the ending as the cat episode. What episode are you saying is your ending? 12? I guess it works but it doesn't for me knowing at the time there would be more episodes.

If the cat episode is the "ending" then yeah it's a let down, I agree.

Wasn't episodes 12 and up all delayed?

I can't remember to be honest. Too many things on that show were delayed, OPs, cat episodes, I couldn't keep track, but now that it's been mentioned here I'm sure Mandoric will read it and rage a little, even if he doesn't post.

 

[duckroll]

X TV continued again

Cleared episodes 13-18 today. Lots of subtle and not so subtle homoerotic stuff. Extremely tasty. Subaru x Kamui, Kamui x Fuuma, Subaru x Seishirou. This is the part of the show where the story takes a backseat, and everyone just indulges in CLAMP-smut. I'm not ashamed to say that I love it, even though it definitely feels like nothing is really happening. I guess this is what fanservice is all about! Oh there was a pretty offensive recap episode too. Luckily it was followed by the delicious Inuki pup episode where the story totally justifies a 14 year old schoolgirl hanging out and having ice cream alone with a strange military man who is twice her age. Remember girls, it's OKAY to hang out with strangers as long as they're cute, who knows they might not be child molesters at all but instead a noble gentleman who will save your life even if destiny says he is on the opposite side of the battle! It's such a sweet feel-good story I think I'm going to cry now! ^_^

 

[Articalys]

True.

And the live action idea does sound perfect. Too perfect. Why haven't the rights been licensed yet? It would make the perfect Disney show strangely enough o.o

Okay, after a couple of sidebar clicks I found this.
Why can't I stop watchingggggg

 

[A Black Falcon]

Clannad 04 - The girl talking to him (I don't know her name, the one with the wooden star she made) is spacing out thinking about how cute that star is, so our main character... sticks his juicebox straw in her nose, planning on squirting it up there (but he's denied by her noticing the feeling so he had to quickly pull back)? Ah... yeah, he's messed up. Also, male friend continues to be a moron. Now that girl is depressed because of how she thought she was acting like a normal girl, but isn't. And then we get it confirmed that his friend is a moron again (believing the bread story)... but of course, why IS the main character doing so much to help the main girl? It isn't for the bread for sure, so it must be because he likes her whether he admits it or not. Given how long this series is though, and that it's harem too, I doubt that plotline will exactly move very fast. After that, some amusing but again not that nice humor (getting the girl to come by saying "there's someone who likes you"? MC is cruel...). And finally, so this show has a character with Ayu's backstory too? Being original, aren't you, Key... except this is making it obvious way sooner than Kanon does. She isn't the main female character in this one though, so I guess that makes sense.

Overall, everyone in this show is weird. The episode is about as good as the first three - okay, but no equal for the other Key animes so far. The main character's kind of mean to everyone except for main girl, too. Yuuichi teased the girls in Kanon sometimes, sure, but not as much as this. But eh, it's okay. At least the plot is going somewhere now, if slowly.


Also, on the lists note, my list for this season, so far. Mostly based on the first episodes.

The order for the first two is tentative, 12 eps vs. 2+1 OVA isn't a fair comparison.
(good)
1. Nichijou (easily the best new show this season)
2. Gosick (it's 24-26 episodes, so it can count I think...)
(medium, will see)
3. Hanasaku Iroha
4. Dog Days
5. Softenni
(definitely poor so far)
6. Hen Zemi (the OVAs are quite a bit better than TV ep. 1)
7. A-Channel
(worst easily)
8. Sengoku Otome (Battle Maidens: Time Paradox)

Movies/OVAs (not as sure about the order here, don't take it as seriously as the above list)
1. Nichijou OVA
2. Evangelion 2.22 (sorry, I have to punish it for what it does to Asuka... otherwise it would most likely be in first. It had some other issues, but that was the biggest.)
4. Hen Zemi OVAs 1-2 (2 is probably better than 1)
5. Bakatest OVAs 1-2 (the first one would go above #4, maybe, the second well below it)

Honestly, I haven't really found anything actually disturbing/creepy. Then again, GAF is where I find lovely stories such as grandmother/grandson incest, so maybe nothing shocks me anymore.

The "growing flies in the ear" thing was pretty gross. That was what I meant by that, mostly.

Wait, so, Noir is good but Black Lagoon is bad?

(Note - I watched some/most of the first, um, 26 episodes or so of Black Lagoon. Two seasons maybe? Through the arc with that yakuza girl.)

Yes, definitely. Sure, both are bleak and depressing action series, so I can see the comparison, but beyond that they are very different. First and most importantly, Noir got me to care about the characters. Certainly they were morally ambiguous, doing bad things as often as they did good, but they were well characterized and I came to like the cast. As I suggested the story was decently good as well. Learning about the characters' backstories, as they were revealed, was interesting. Somewhat shocking stuff at the end, but it held up and I thought the series was pretty good overall.

Oh yeah, and I really love the music, too. Great stuff!

In Black Lagoon though, all that happened was I came to hate them... every recurring character in that show is such a ridiculously horrible person that basically I wanted all of them to lose. And there's no good in Black Lagoon, either; they're pretty much all entirely evil. How am I going to enjoy watching a show, or even just want to watch a show, about horrible people going around killing people and such in their world of black versus black morality? I didn't.

I always watch the OP (unless it's absolutely terrible and since animu music is never very good it helps if the OP is nice looking but that ultimately doesn't matter) it puts me in the mood for watching a show, plus nothing is ever really important or interesting enough to warrant skipping it in the first place. ED's I usually leave on in the background while I do something else.

Yeah, I usually do the same.

It is true that American shows rarely have either, and that's not really bad if they're making room for more show... but if it's just for more advertising, then it's unfortunate. At least there sometimes still are openings, though; endings, though, are often just a credit roll while the other half of the screen shows a preview for what's playing next... that's been true for a long time now, over a decade. I remember being pleasantly surprised when UPN would actually show the credits with sound for Star Trek Voyager, DS9 reruns, etc...

Serial Experiments Lain 1-4

Note to self: don't watch the rest of the series when slightly drowsy and at 11pm. It makes it about ten billion times harder to understand. Then again I don't think I'd know where it was going anyway.

There's a certain something about the style of these late-90s anime that I can't quite put my finger on, that makes them look cool.

Lain has some pretty unique design elements... all those shots of power lines, the meals, etc... so "normal", and yet in the show so creepy too. Brilliantly done stuff, and original.

And yeah, the plot is confusing. It does make sense by the end, mostly, but it is confusing. But yes, you do need to pay attention.

The series is, overall, my favorite anime series ever. ABe is amazing.

It's also decent but there's going to be fanservice in it too.

I'm not going to be as harsh as icarus-daedelus regarding it but I also dislike it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure enough of my attraction to real adult women as opposed to facsimiles of children that I can handle watching kids be placed into sexual situations, it's the childish framing of it all that gets me. None of these kids react how a kid would react, it's so surreal. You wanna make a show about some teens fucking like rabbits? Go ahead but don't make it so juvenile it feels like a 12 year old dreaming about it wrote it. Take out the stupid nose bleeds, stop making men pass out when a girl touches them, stop making girls shriek like banshees if they think a guy's looking at their breasts, I'm not asking them to be adult about it I'm asking them to be at least juvenile about it but current fanservice isn't even up to juvenile standards. It's off putting and creepy.

So basically, you dislike the ways that anime expresses sexual interest, like nosebleeds, etc? I find that stuff stupid too, but that's cultural difference as much as anything; those things aren't familiar to us as love myths so they just look stupid. I'm sure that's different for Japanese people.

That's not entirely a defense, a lot of it is indefensibly stupid, but that is a partial reason.

I guess I should note that I'm not inherently opposed to the presence of sexuality or nudity, just the use of those things for titillation - "fanservice" - in something that exists for purposes other than that (so pornography and ecchi and what have you get obvious exceptions.) There are degrees of tastelessness, of course, depending on the situation; there's more of this in ten seconds of Ikki Tousen than episode 3 of HanaIro, but I don't expect it or want it effecting my coming of age animus whereas skimpy-dressed girls whacking each other's clothing off without injuring each other (a fine skill, to be sure) is like a whole sub genre that I can knowingly avoid. It's especially hard to watch a coming of age show where I'm supposed to identify with these characters, teenage girls, who are being sexualized in such a casual and off-putting manner by the creators for presumably an older male audience. That's, like, no. I can't handle that at all, no matter how innocently they might play it off. Maybe it's too touchy for me, personally, but I really don't think it's necessary or adds anything, and certainly in my personal case it detracted from the experience.

I do watch fanservicey animes sometimes, but yeah, I can understand what you mean -- when you've got something otherwise worthwhile, tossing in stupid stuff definitely does matter a lot more than when something entirely dedicated to it does that same thing yet again; the former will likely hurt the show, the latter will have no impact but to reconfirm what the series is about.

Like, in some shows pantyshots would not be helpful to the tone, but in Aika...

So yeah, I agree that casual sexualization in shows supposedly not about that is an issue. I think it says something (not so great) about the intended audience of most anime as much as it does anything else, though -- that stuff wouldn't be there if they thought there was no audience for it, after all.

As for the question that raises of whether it's the anime maker's or the audiences' fault that there's so MUCH stuff like that, though... that I don't know, but it is a good question.

 

[Silh]

Bought Tatami Galaxy.

I remembered some of the more sane folks in here saying good things about it. lol at HSotD being one of Madhouse's key credits on the back cover.

Great series. It's something I wasn't able to marathon though, keeping up with the narrator made me feel tired.

There isn't a U.S. release yet? Just what is Funimation doing?

 

[7Th]

First trailer for Koji Yamamura's new short film, Muybridge's Strings, is out.

 

[Danj]

Denpa Onna is pure Shaft through and through. Like the points-tallying thing at the end of each episode. Let's see where it goes.

I also watched the first ep of Denpa Onna and am interested enough to give it another episode or two.

 

[Articalys]

Well hey, how about that, looks like that Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) pilot OAD did well enough to warrant a full anime series:

Mirai Nikki TV Anime Confirmed for Fall

Not quite enough for me to make up for the manga's ending, but we'll see.

 

[Steroyd]

Well hey, how about that, looks like that Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) pilot OAD did well enough to warrant a full anime series:

Mirai Nikki TV Anime Confirmed for Fall

Not quite enough for me to make up for the manga's ending, but we'll see.

Noice!!

 

[Nonoriri]

First trailer for Koji Yamamura's new short film, Muybridge's Strings, is out.

Dat fish.

 

[Ezalc]

Can anybody tell me of a giant robot anime that is more like G Gundam than the other Gundams?

 

[Jex]

Can anybody tell me of a giant robot anime that is more like G Gundam than the other Gundams?

Every super robot show? In other words, any Mazinger, Getter Robo, Gunbuster, Giant Robo type show. Admittedly the genre definition is kind of loose in places.

Speaking of which the second round of Sai Mecha is open for voting! http://saimecha.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/sai-mecha-round-1-colonies-side/

Kaiji 3

Sure is Kaiji in here. Waiting a week is starting to get a tad annoying. I feel this is a show that will work better as a marathon.

 

[exarkun]

I just watched Blue Exorcist for the first time...and wow. I really like the art, pretty good pace, and the writing is actually personable. Anyone else watching it? I'm kind of surprised I enjoyed the first episode so much.

Is this show new? And you guys are always complaining about moi stuff.

 

[Dresden]

Yeah, a few of us watched it. Problem is that posts about it are spaced like a couple hundred posts apart.

 

[Jex]

I just watched Blue Exorcist for the first time...and wow. I really like the art, pretty good pace, and the writing is actually personable. Anyone else watching it? I'm kind of surprised I enjoyed the first episode so much.

Those who watched it seem to have enjoyed it, but that was many pages ago.

 

[Haly]

Mirai Nikki get hype.

 

[Solune]

Not quite enough for me to make up for the manga's ending, but we'll see.

Manga ending wasn't too bad I thought. Animated Yuno should be good.

 

[Steroyd]

Sure is Kaiji in here. Waiting a week is starting to get a tad annoying. I feel this is a show that will work better as a marathon.

I got that feeling while watching Season 1, the big question is can you wait till the season is over to then start watching it.

 

[NewFresh]

Haven't been keeping up and I am starting to build a backlog
I need finals to start and end quickly

 

[Crash Station]

Well hey, how about that, looks like that Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) pilot OAD did well enough to warrant a full anime series:

Mirai Nikki TV Anime Confirmed for Fall

Not quite enough for me to make up for the manga's ending, but we'll see.

Oh shit! It could probably complete the manga storyline too. Sooooooooooooo many scenes I want to see animated like (big mid-story spoiler)

Spoiler

Akise holding up the phone after being decapitated.

 

[Dresden]

That pilot OAD was like a five-minute trailer, unless more came out that I wasn't aware of.

 

[Articalys]

Manga ending wasn't too bad I thought. Animated Yuno should be good.

Well, I guess it wasn't bad as much as it just got confusing for me with

Spoiler

all the parallel time line stuff with multiple Yunos and a contrived happy ending for everyone

, all dumped on us in the last five chapters or so. If the anime makes it all the way maybe it can clear some of that up.
Also, I really wish they find a way to get the Paradox side story animated as well.

 

[Risette]

Yeah, looking forward to the second episodes, will be fun. I need to remember to buy popcorn on the way home from work in preparation.

I was thinking more about Madoka's ending than second episodes but that works too I guess.

 

[Uchip]

has Evangelion desensitized everyone to "wtf" endings?
or can madoka create some kind of uproar
I loved that eva had people writing death threats

 

[hellclerk]

Take deep breaths. Say to yourself, "The movie is coming this year!" Exhale slowly. Everything will be just fine. :3

I usually fight mine by playing in a rock band, but we're not meeting today because people couldn't make it! D:

 

[Ezalc]

Every super robot show? In other words, any Mazinger, Getter Robo, Gunbuster, Giant Robo type show. Admittedly the genre definition is kind of loose in places.

Well I mean, when I said that G Gundam was my favorite I forgot who it was but they told me that it's because it's more like [Insert name of anime I'm trying to figure out} rather than other Gundam shows.

 

[tiff]

Haven't been keeping up and I am starting to build a backlog
I need finals to start and end quickly

Madoka's probably going to be the only thing I can watch until May begins. School sucks :/

 

[Jex]

Well I mean, when I said that G Gundam was my favorite I forgot who it was but they told me that it's because it's more like [Insert name of anime I'm trying to figure out} rather than other Gundam shows.

Well, G Gundam is clearly a super-robot show as opposed to real robot, which makes it more like Gurren Lagann and those other shows I mentioned.

 

[Crash Station]

has Evangelion desensitized everyone to "wtf" endings?
or can madoka create some kind of uproar
I loved that eva had people writing death threats

People have gone over nearly every single possible scenario for the Madoka ending. That coupled with the fact it's written by Gen Urobuchi should make it so that no one would really be surprised about a wtf ending and might be disappointed if they got something different.

 

[flawfuls]

First trailer for Koji Yamamura's new short film, Muybridge's Strings, is out.

Can't wait.

 

[hellclerk]

A good lyricist would be required before that happened. I can't imagine the current translation of the song working as lyrics, much less an English version of the song... and I haven't heard the K-On! dub either.

Well, it more has to do with the manufacturing and mass production of the music for the Disney Channel audience. Not that K-On didn't do that in Japan with those AWFUL live shows, I'd just like to limit it to a place and an audience I don't have to interact with on a regular basis. For K-On to go mainstream American tween, I just feel that it would end up making a mockery of the actually fantastic musicianship displayed in the music. That's actually what I love about K-On, some of my favorite episodes were the performance ones because KyoAni does such a damned good job of animating the performances and really knows how to show of the band's musicianship. This wouldn't really be upheld or uplifted by Disney. Much less if they made their own live-action show based on it...

 

[Grzi]

Finished Death Note the other day. It was much worse than I expected it to be.
I truly consider Code Geass to be the superior show.

Watching Black Jack (the OVA) now, and it's sooooooo good. Loving it.


Also trying to catch up with this season, saw that Exorcist show, it was fun, Stein's Gate was pretty cool, now I'm off to watch C and Tiger & Bunny.
Anything else I'm missing?
Also, must marathon Madoka past episode 5, so I can watch the finale when it gets subbed.
Damn, a lot to do.

 

[Risette]

Also trying to catch up with this season, saw that Exorcist show, it was fun, Stein's Gate was pretty cool, now I'm off to watch C and Tiger & Bunny.
Anything else I'm missing?

Hanasaku Iroha and Dororon Enma-kun.

 

[Grzi]

Hanasaku Iroha and Dororon Enma-kun.

Thanks, will check them out.
Oh, and I forgot to add Deadman Wonderland on my list, will give that a go too.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Yay Madoka finale soon! I'll wait by playing some more Portal 2.

 

[Crash Station]

Finished Death Note the other day. It was much worse than I expected it to be.
I truly consider Code Geass to be the superior show.

Watching Black Jack (the OVA) now, and it's sooooooo good. Loving it.


Also trying to catch up with this season, saw that Exorcist show, it was fun, Stein's Gate was pretty cool, now I'm off to watch C and Tiger & Bunny.
Anything else I'm missing?
Also, must marathon Madoka past episode 5, so I can watch the finale when it gets subbed.
Damn, a lot to do.

Toriko and Kaiji (though watch season 1 first if you haven't already).

 

[Forkball]

Hey guys, a friend of a friend helped make this short anime film called Anemone. You can watch it on Youtube here. The animation is pretty incredible for such a small team, and supposedly it took about 3,000 hours make.

 

[JKTrix]

Madoka is officially off the air.

 

[Steroyd]

Madoka is officially off the air.

Fansubbers ASSEMBLE!!!