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[InfiniteNine]

Infinite Stratos 11-12

FREE

For now...

 

[Articalys]

Anyway, I guess now is as good a time as any to get started on the other series I've been putting off watching for too long... Evangelion. A bit of mood whiplash there, but I'll space it out a bit and get started after Fanime this weekend.
And then I'll be authorized to worry about the wait for 3.0 too!

 

[/XX/]

Today has been released in selected stores the first number of ANIMESTYLE Magazine (月刊アニメスタイ&#12523, and it is already sold-out and being in resale for near double the original price (thankfully I reserved it in time, yeah). They have already posted the details of the second number to be released on August, 25. Apparently, it's going to include an special feature dedicated to Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, as well as another devoted to the work of one of the series key staff members, Takeshi Honda:

「月刊アニメスタイル２号」
http://www.style.fm/as/getsuani2/index.html

Iblard Jikan

Holy fuck that was gorgeous. I literally knew nothing about this before watching it (I just gave it a shot because it had a pretty cover picture). I only found out after that it was done by Ghibli. It's an odd anime, there isn't any story and even barely any animation. It's basically a slideshow of stunning backgrounds with very subtle animation. The animation reminded me of the gifs in this thread, it was mostly just water moving or grass blowing in the wind. You have to pay very close attentions to notice all of the animation and that actually kept me engaged. The music is amazing as you would expect from Ghibli, but really notable thing about this was the artwork of the backgrounds. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't made for the purpose of the anime because they are all clearly professional paintings.

Such a gorgeous film! That imaginary world represented here, and called Iblard, already existed in various old Naohisa Inoue paintings, and those even inspired the 'Shizuku's fantasy tale' scene directed by Mr. Miyazaki, from Yoshifumi Kondō's movie Whisper of the Heart (http://www.iblard.com/english/gallery1.html).

Iblard by INOUE Naohisa / ART SPACE CO.,LTD / Naohisa INOUE
http://www.iblard.com/english/

 

[Infinite Justice]

Quiet you! S3 will come... soon ;_;

Stop it, the salt is too much for my wounds

 

[daffy]

Howdy y'all, don't really know where to ask this, so I'll just post here:

Is the BluRay of High School of the Dead any good? Looking at it on Amazon and was going to preorder it...

Thanks for any response.

 

[Jex]

Yami to Troll to Troll no Trolling 12-13

TROLLING FOR ETERNITY

Best ending or best ending?

 

[Extollere]

Spice and Wolf II 9-12 (end)
On one hand, that was absolutely beautiful. Both ep. 12 and the series as a whole.
On the other, I'm now going to be in withdrawal waiting for the nonexistent season 3 for the rest of my life [...] Well, on the bright side, they'll eventually finish it. Or I learn Japanese first..

thatsthejoke.jpg

=(

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Quiet you! S3 will come... soon ;_;

and what a beautiful day that shall be ~sniff.

 

[Jex]

Today has been released in selected stores the first number of ANIMESTYLE Magazine (月刊アニメスタイ&#12523, and it is already sold-out and being in resale for near double the original price (thankfully I reserved it in time, yeah). They have already posted the details of the second number to be released on August, 25. Apparently, it's going to include an special feature dedicated to Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, as well as another devoted to the work of one of the series key staff members, Takeshi Honda:

That's sound pretty interesting, actually. I love me some Nadia. But not in that way.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colorful

Did I mention this was a hard watch? I can see people having a serious time getting through the movie because some of these characters, well...they aren't particularly likeable. Yet I can appreciate that the writer didn't hold back when working on these scenes, it's not designed to be a palatable experience.

 

[Crash Station]

Infinite Stratos 11-12

FREE

Gonna watch season 2?

 

[Jex]

I did not notice how Wandering Son messed with the ED music placement to fit the mood. I guess that's what I get for not watching end credits.

Best harem show ever.

 

[7Th]

Today has been released in selected stores the first number of ANIMESTYLE Magazine (月刊アニメスタイ&#12523, and it is already sold-out and being in resale for near double the original price (thankfully I reserved it in time, yeah). They have already posted the details of the second number to be released on August, 25. Apparently, it's going to include an special feature dedicated to Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, as well as another devoted to the work of one of the series key staff members, Takeshi Honda:

「月刊アニメスタイル２号」
http://www.style.fm/as/getsuani2/index.html]

Interesting, the Panty & Stocking spin-off manga is an on-going feature.

 

[Crash Station]

Betterman 7

I don't know what it is about caves in fiction that make me zone out, but they do for some reason.

 

[Jex]

Miyuki-chan in Wonderland

It's like Alice fell down the rabbit whole and all she found where horny lesbians in lingerie outfits. No, really. Alan Moore got here wayyy later.

 

[jman2050]

Infinite Stratos 11-12

FREE

Cheater!

 

[sleepykyo]

That's the one that "Re-sublimity" is from, right? Awesome song.

So you guys have now seen both Yamibou and Kannazuki no Miko? Aren't those the two prototypical yuri anime series?

Probably. Lesbians in anime tend to either have a tragic fate or they're basically "prison gay". Or they're Aoi Hana and no one watches.

 

[Jex]

Vampire Princess Miyu 5

This story far outstripped it's clumsy execution. An old man trying to live in a literal sepia-tinted nostalgia is hardly new but

Spoiler

when it's revealed that he actually married his dream girl we've got a twist that's actually slightly clever, his wife's actions actually make rather more sense in this context.

Both her actions and her husbands are explained to the point where they're somewhat fleshed out human beings, for such a brief appearance. That's nice writing.

However, at no point do we actively care about them or their fate, we may even actively dislike them which is far worse. But there's more!

Spoiler

Think about the family captures in that cellioid. We never saw then while we were alive so now that they're trapped/burned it doesn't make much diffidence. Instead of that, we just see this wobble wobble of people trapped in a film. That's not very horrifying, for me least, and I'm not affected by their cruel fate in the slightest.

In other words, eh!

 

[firehawk12]

First episode of Angel Beats dubbed is free on iTunes for your horror/amusement. :lol

That was very average... like the Glass Fleet dub.
Also, there must be an English equivalent of a kuudere... but if such a tone of voice exists, no one seems to be able to do it right. It seems all the actresses have been told to just try to read their lines as flat as possible, which doesn't really sound right.

 

[Articalys]

That was very average... like the Glass Fleet dub.
Also, there must be an English equivalent of a kuudere... but if such a tone of voice exists, no one seems to be able to do it right. It seems all the actresses have been told to just try to read their lines as flat as possible, which doesn't really sound right.

I've never watched the Haruhi dub but I heard it was alright, so however Michelle Ruff handled Yuki's voice might work as a baseline. I guess.

 

[flawfuls]

Two Walnuts

This is about a little girl who get's trapped in a phone booth in a thunderstorm which of course transports her back in time to World war II era. At first it seems like a relatively lighthearted educational kids movie teaching kids what life was like for people in Japan, but then it channels it's inner grave of the firefly/Barefoot Gen and everybody starts dying horrific deaths. The shift was pretty damn sudden too.

I assume the moral of the story is that when you grandma complains about how hard things were in the old days she wasn't exaggerating. Well either that or the fact that the only difference between normal phone booths and the one from Dr. Who is that the one form Dr. Who has controls.

Apparently this is part of an annual thing where they make World War II movies for kids. This supports my hypothesis that there is an organized body in Japan that tries to scar as many Japanese children as possible for life. Most likely made up of people who watched Dog of Flanders when they were kids.

 

[firehawk12]

I've never watched the Haruhi dub but I heard it was alright, so however Michelle Ruff handled Yuki's voice might work as a baseline. I guess.

I did a while ago, I don't remember it much, but it was fairly similar.

I dunno, I figure if they're going to dub and localize, why not just come up with a different vocal trait for the emotionless robot?

 

[/XX/]

Interesting, the Panty & Stocking spin-off manga is an on-going feature.

Yeah, it's really cool! Apparently, Mr. Imaishi would have continued making ones for the old ANIMESTYLE Magazine as well (if it wasn't for the premature death it had, that is).

 

[Ezalc]

I started re-watching Aria, since a long time ago I started it and never finished it. This is the most calming and relaxing anime I've ever seen. The OP, ED, setting they're all amazing and just extremely peaceful. Even though this show is about little girls I have to say it's pretty damn good and I'm surprised at the fact that I don't hate the characters, well except Alicia I don't think I could ever hate her. There were only two things that bothered me about the show. One is that we barely ever see Athena and when we finally see her she barely talked. In episode 11 of the first season she finally communicates but I hope that this isn't the last of it since for some reason I really like her character, probably since she spaces out so much. The other thing is that there are no male gondoliers. The fuck is that shit? I can understand the main characters all being women but you're going to tell me there are no men who are gondoliers in these companies? Fuck that, I guess the men aren't worthy to be an undine and can only be sylphs, gnomes, or salamanders, (personally I'd say working as a sylph/salamander would be fucking awesome though.) So yeah I'm really enjoying it, I'm still only in season 1 are the other two and the OVA worth the watch?

 

[firehawk12]

I started re-watching Aria, since a long time ago I started it and never finished it. This is the most calming and relaxing anime I've ever seen. The OP, ED, setting they're all amazing and just extremely peaceful. Even though this show is about little girls I have to say it's pretty damn good and I'm surprised at the fact that I don't hate the characters, well except Alicia I don't think I could ever hate her. There were only two things that bothered me about the show. One is that we barely ever see Athena and when we finally see her she barely talked. In episode 11 of the first season she finally communicates but I hope that this isn't the last of it since for some reason I really like her character, probably since she spaces out so much. The other thing is that there are no male gondoliers. The fuck is that shit? I can understand the main characters all being women but you're going to tell me there are no men who are gondoliers in these companies? Fuck that, I guess the men aren't worthy to be an undine and can only be sylphs, gnomes, or salamanders, (personally I'd say working as a sylph/salamander would be fucking awesome though.) So yeah I'm really enjoying it, I'm still only in season 1 are the other two and the OVA worth the watch?

There are several Athena-centric episodes later on, mostly where she plays off Alice. So, if you like her character, there's your reason to finish off the show. There's also the throughline of the girls becoming Primas (it's not really a spoiler to say that the younger generation will replace their mentors), so there's that as well. And, of course, it's Aria so you should just watch it anyway.

As for the gender thing, Amano likes her girls I suppose. :lol
But really, I have no idea why other than it's a way to flip the gender thing in the real Venice, where women have not been allowed to become gondoliers.

 

[Ezalc]

As for the gender thing, Amano likes her girls I suppose. :lol
But really, I have no idea why other than it's a way to flip the gender thing in the real Venice, where women have not been allowed to become gondoliers.

Huh I never knew that women couldn't actually be gondoliers, I wonder why that is.

 

[Lafiel]

I'm pretty sure they are boys in the series later on, but they are annoying shotos!

 

[trejo]

I'm pretty sure they are boys in the series later on, but they are annoying shotos!

Now I'm picturing Ryu and Ken as gondoliers. I'm not gonna lie, I would watch that show.

 

[firehawk12]

I'm pretty sure they are boys in the series later on, but they are annoying shotos!

No shotos, for better or for worse.

Huh I never knew that women couldn't actually be gondoliers, I wonder why that is.

Yeah, it was a big story when the a woman became a gondolier a couple of years ago:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/26/venice-female-gondoliers

She was the first in 900 years, according to the article.

 

[Lafiel]

Oh yeah.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Adolescence Apocalypse

- Greatest transformation sequence ever animated.
- Amazing use of classic "utena" songs, I'll never think of the OP the same way again!
- A truly fabulous appearance from my favorite character - nanami.
- Some of the sexiest architecture ever animated on the screen, gives hogwarts a run for it's money.
- That dance man... THAT DANCE! such a incredible sequence.
- The yuri overtones were far more overt then they were in the original series.

But yeah, what a awesome experience the movie was, it basically took all the crazy stuff from the original series and amped it up 100x it was truly fabulous!

 

[Ezalc]

I'm pretty sure they are boys in the series later on, but they are annoying shotos!

There are male side characters, but that's all they are, side characters. The sylph is my favorite of the male characters, I asked why there weren't any male gondoliers though.

Is this the Amano that does the Hitman reborn manga?

 

[shintoki]

Set Hat 07: Please stop with the Junjou characters drop ins. It's far too much for this fanboy to handle. Sending me into a flutter.

 

[firehawk12]

There are male side characters, but that's all they are, side characters. The sylph is my favorite of the male characters, I asked why there weren't any male gondoliers though.

Is this the Amano that does the Hitman reborn manga?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozue_Amano
It's that Amano.

And yep, the men are mostly side characters. The three "main" guys will show up and two of them are paired off pretty quickly with the girls, but for the most part these stories are about the three leads and their lives.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Howdy y'all, don't really know where to ask this, so I'll just post here:

Is the BluRay of High School of the Dead any good? Looking at it on Amazon and was going to preorder it...

Thanks for any response.

Like pretty much all mid-to-late 2000's and 2010's anime, it was digitally animated for HD broadcast. So buying it on Blu-ray will give you better quality than buying it on DVD. In general HSotD was a well-animated series, Madhouse won't disappoint you there, and it had a pretty decent sized budget behind it compared to most 13-episodes series. There's an OVA coming out this summer too, so buy it now I guess and continue the story in July when the OVA comes out.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Like pretty much all mid-to-late 2000's and 2010's anime, it was digitally animated for HD broadcast. So buying it on Blu-ray will give you better quality than buying it on DVD. In general HSotD was a well-animated series, Madhouse won't disappoint you there, and it had a pretty decent sized budget behind it compared to most 13-episodes series. There's an OVA coming out this summer too, so buy it now I guess and continue the story in July when the OVA comes out.

AHAHAHAHAHA.

 

[mAcOdIn]

Maria+Holic Alive 7 now this episode was great, hope we see more like it.

 

[Dresden]

Like pretty much all mid-to-late 2000's and 2010's anime, it was digitally animated for HD broadcast. So buying it on Blu-ray will give you better quality than buying it on DVD. In general HSotD was a well-animated series, Madhouse won't disappoint you there, and it had a pretty decent sized budget behind it compared to most 13-episodes series. There's an OVA coming out this summer too, so buy it now I guess and continue the story in July when the OVA comes out.

HotD doesn't look good at all in brooray, I'd avoid.

 

[DrForester]

Oh yeah.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Adolescence Apocalypse

- Greatest transformation sequence ever animated.
- Amazing use of classic "utena" songs, I'll never think of the OP the same way again!
- A truly fabulous appearance from my favorite character - nanami.
- Some of the sexiest architecture ever animated on the screen, gives hogwarts a run for it's money.
- That dance man... THAT DANCE! such a incredible sequence.
- The yuri overtones were far more overt then they were in the original series.

But yeah, what a awesome experience the movie was, it basically took all the crazy stuff from the original series and amped it up 100x it was truly fabulous!

Yeah the Utena movie is really an amazing piece of eye candy.

 

[Jex]

Oh yeah.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Adolescence Apocalypse

- Greatest transformation sequence ever animated.
- Amazing use of classic "utena" songs, I'll never think of the OP the same way again!
- A truly fabulous appearance from my favorite character - nanami.
- Some of the sexiest architecture ever animated on the screen, gives hogwarts a run for it's money.
- That dance man... THAT DANCE! such a incredible sequence.
- The yuri overtones were far more overt then they were in the original series.

But yeah, what a awesome experience the movie was, it basically took all the crazy stuff from the original series and amped it up 100x it was truly fabulous!

I hear some people don't like that movie. Presumably because it changes thins from the show and it's also TOTALLY NUTS.

HotD doesn't look good at all in brooray, I'd avoid.

Yeah it's a really cheap and ugly looking show in general. Maybe 480p would help to hide that.

 

[DrForester]

I hear some people don't like that movie. Presumably because it changes thins from the show and it's also TOTALLY NUTS.

Yeah but it doesn't go away from the show in the same way the Escaflowne movie did. Utena did the alternate retelling thing very very well. And I liked how they changed up some of the character personalities.

 

[Instro]

Kaiji 8

Haha god damn after all the build up over the first 7 eps of S2, this episode was completley awesome.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

AHAHAHAHAHA.

I didn't specify exactly what resolution it was animated at. :3

Spoiler

Most of the TV animes are animated at sub-720p resolution, but it's still a million times better than the interlaced-SD 480i digital era.

 

[Hitokage]

I hear some people don't like that movie. Presumably because it changes thins from the show and it's also TOTALLY NUTS.

Back when I was a stupid teenager and didn't know any better, I was prejudiced against the movie because they changed everything.

...then I learned the error of my ways.

 

[Kevin]

Has there been any new news on the Berserk movie that is suppose to be coming out sometime this summer?

 

[InfiniteNine]

I didn't specify exactly what resolution it was animated at. :3

Spoiler

Most of the TV animes are animated at sub-720p resolution, but it's still a million times better than the interlaced-SD 480i digital era.

Bones anime arent animated at HD resolutions either but it doesn't stop them from looking better than HSotD. HSotD was animated at 480p and upscaled horribly.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Bones anime arent animated at HD resolutions either but it doesn't stop them from looking better than HSotD. HSotD was animated at 480p and upscaled horribly.

I haven't seen the HSotD Blu-rays, so I can't speak to the quality of the upscaling, but for a show as action-driven as HSotD was it certainly looked pretty damned good for the budget Madhouse presumably had. Kara no Kyoukai was upscaled very badly but that didn't stop you from paying $400 for it, so it seems like you're overly harsh on HSotD here.

 

[InfiniteNine]

I haven't seen the HSotD Blu-rays, so I can't speak to the quality of the upscaling, but for a show as action-driven as HSotD was it certainly looked pretty damned good for the budget Madhouse presumably had. Kara no Kyoukai was upscaled very badly but that didn't stop you from paying $400 for it, so it seems like you're overly harsh on HSotD here.

I didn't get the set so probably I'm not being overly harsh!

 

[zeroshiki]

Nah, the broadcast version of HSotD (at least as far as I was able to watch) looked like upscaled crap.

 

[Risette]

It's also worth noting that Sentai uses VC1 which is inferior to H.264/AVC. Their Xamdou BDs had some artifacting in dark scenes which really shouldn't happen on Blu-ray anime.

 

[Crash Station]

Kaiji S2 8

Kaiji, you mother fucker. What a move. Wow. Almost started to feel sorry for Ohtsuki at the end. Totally merciless.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Kaiji S2 8

Kaiji, you mother fucker. What a move. Wow. Almost started to feel sorry for Ohtsuki at the end. Totally merciless.

Such greatness! Kaiji truly is our hero.