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[Jex]

Sailor Moon 7-10

I'm not sure what cities these girls live in, but it's the worst. You can't engage in any activity, even prayer, without secretly giving up your life spirit to shady demonic beings.

 

[pieatorium]

Sailor Moon 7-10

I'm not sure what cities these girls live in, but it's the worst. You can't engage in any activity, even prayer, without secretly giving up your life spirit to shady demonic beings.

Detroit?

 

[Hitokage]

Arjuna 9 (Rewatch)

Holy shit.


Street Fighter 2 V 1-2 (Rewatch)

PUB RAINBOW

I remembered this show being unintentionally hilarious, but I forgot about all the constant innuendo in these episodes.


Strike Witches 0:00~10:00

Fuck this show, and fuck you if you actually like this shit.

 

[tiff]

Everyone hating on Strike Witches now.

 

[jman2050]

Strike Witc--

Stop right there.

No.

 

[Lafiel]

Sailor moon 8-10 - Pretty fun, it has a retro charm that i really like for some reason, kinda want to watch the rest of it, particularly the ikuhara directed episodes!

Strike witches - Bailout.jpg... both offensive and really really boring, couldn't stand a entire episode of it.

 

[trejo]

It would seem you guys had some fun last night.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

You guys are crazy. Actually watching Strike Witches seems like an act of courage...or foolhardiness.

Spoiler

Voice of a generation confirmed!

 

[Hitokage]

Sailor Moon 6 (Rewatch)

Ikuhara already lifting this show up in an otherwise slow going arc.

 

[Steroyd]

Sailor Moon - 1-3

I must have had ADHD or something when I was younger because i remember these transformation scenes being much, much longer.

 

[Uchip]

Jin Roh Bluray
tried watching the english dub
failed
will try again soon with original track

 

[7Th]

At least the mecha-musume battles in Strike Witches are hand-drawn instead of CG!

 

[Uchip]

Strike Witches is better for the sole fact that its shameless and it knows it
IS tries to be good and fails miserably

 

[trejo]

I'm pretty sure both shows are self-aware of their status as panderbait and embrace it. The difference lies in that one is just silly and mediocre while the other one is downright offensive and should not actually be watched by anyone, even though it totally is the voice of our generation.

 

[7Th]

You don't trust already in those 'nouveau-jeune', those young recruits that GAiNAX is trying to indoctrinate, right? I (in part) think like you, but some of their latest series of adaptations like Shikabane Hime, Hanamaru Yōchien and Dantalian no Shoka were aimed to give more background and experience to those new employees that the studio needed to expand itself, so that Mr. Imaishi & Co. could continue with their top-of-the line projects. It seems that GAiNAX right now depends very much on a little core of great animators and other workers (a part of the old guard), and given the compromises, and possible departure, of some of their most important ones, they wanted to train that young recruits with medium-to-low-budget productions and assistance from those more experienced.

I actually enjoyed Hanamaru, it was a loose and cute show with lots of visually creative bits and it gave the chance to talented young animators like Megumi Kouno to prove what they're made of; as long as Shoka and Medaka are more like Hanamaru and less than Shikabane, they should be somewhat fine, I think.

 

[BluWacky]

Everyone hating Arjuna makes me sad.

Everyone loving Ikuhara's Sailormoon episodes, however, doesn't. Except, of course, that SuperS is everyone's least favourite season, which was his proto-Utena.

I'm slightly amazed that Junichi Sato has been a chief director for over 25 years. The man is very good at mahou shoujo, I'll give him that.

 

[Hitokage]

Everyone loving Ikuhara's Sailormoon episodes, however, doesn't. Except, of course, that SuperS is everyone's least favourite season, which was his proto-Utena.

SMS episode 117 is proto-Utena. SuperS was an unfortunate disaster that wasn't entirely Ikuhara's fault.

 

[/XX/]

I actually enjoyed Hanamaru, it was a loose and cute show with lots of visually creative bits and it gave the chance to talented young animators like Megumi Kouno to prove what they're made of; as long as Shoka and Medaka are more like Hanamaru and less than Shikabane, they should be somewhat fine, I think.

Certainly! Lets hope for the best! You know, I think I'm overly optimistic about this, and in part it is because right now I am a little worried about the future of the studio. I want them to be successful to stand on their own, and to continue making those characteristic projects that are more appreciated by their usual supporters.

Spoiler

Mr. & Mrs. Kamimura and the Rebuild of Evangelion copyrights incident and, in general, the Studio Khara (or χαρα) assimilation of GAiNAX regulars are certainly a little worrisome, for me.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Everyone hating on Strike Witches now.

When did they ever stop?

 

[A Black Falcon]

Strike Witches 01-02 - I don't mind this show. I'd avoided it in part because I thought if I watched some I might want to actually watch it and I didn't really want to do that given how stupid the concept is, but now I guess I can't avoid it...

I do think it helps the show a little that while none of the girls have pants/skirts nobody makes an issue out of it (so far at least), though; that's just how things are. That makes it much less bad than it could be. It's still very stupid and wrong otaku-bait -- why does everyone else wear pants/kimonos/etc, but not young girls -- but it could be worse. In the series that kind of dress is simply normal.

As for the plot, it was alright. It's the 1940s and aliens invaded the Earth, and only magic can stop them -- normal military force is useless. So, the main character's father invented flying leg-attachments that apparently only work on teenage girls (making them planegirls of sorts), who then fly around and fight the badguys. Um... no ulterior motives there at all, I'm sure... but he's dead now, so we can't ask.

Earth Maiden Arjuna 07-09 - Gah... episode 9, so offensively insane...

Even so though, I didn't hate the show for it, I just strongly disagree with the message and concept. On that note I have some strong disagreements with their main complaint in episode 7(-8) as well, while words can divide they also bring together, and history, etc. are every bit as important as the other things Chris mentions. The idea that only the earth and the now matter are completely absurd.

Also, yeah, Chris continues to be really annoying. Just tell her things! Stop acting angry at Arjuna for not understanding you without any explanation, actually explain things and make everything better. But no, instead he insults, and even attacks, her while continuing to criticize her for fighting back against the enemies. Even when Arjuna begins to understand some of his motivations, he refuses to explain more of them and continues being annoying.

Also, so this show cares about the pesticides and preservatives in food and drink, but not about what you do with the waste (Tokio tosses a can in the trash and Arjuna says nothing). Also apparently they aren't bothered by the potential negative health effects of cellphones because they come across in a quite positive light here, in ep. 8 I think. It's just odd when a show criticizing so many things passes on certain ones.

As for episode 9... yeah, anti-sanity, anti-science, anti-reality, and anti-female (because opposing abortion is very much anti-female). Just sad. And insanely weird too, as some people have said -- fetuses are aware, almost omnipotent? What? It's so, so stupid...

Kampfer: fur die Liebe 1 (aka Kampfer 13) - This is the actual Kampfer fur die Liebe 1; the one from April is actually the second episode, even though it released first (I thought it was first, then, and called it #1). And this is a gigantic improvement over that one. I mean, that episode had some amusing harem antics, with more sexual content than the TV series had, but this episode actually advanced the plot, which was badly needed. It's got some sexual content too for sure, but it's actually in the name of the plot, not just random stuff like the other episode.

So, this episode continues from where episode 12 left off, after the first battle between the goodguys and the white kampfer badguys. The four goodguys are trying to think of what to do now that they know that Sakura is with the enemy for sure. The idea comes up that evil, moderator-aligned Sakura and "regular" Sakura actually might be separate personalities; that is that the "regular" one doesn't know about the other. Huh, perhaps... but the evil side sure seems to be the dominant one.

But yeah, this episode was good, I liked it. The good and bad kampfers face off again, after Sakura turns one against the other goodguys (temporarily) and tries to seduce Natsuru (both genders) as well. It might have worked, given how much Natsuru likes her no matter how many times he/she is told or reminded that she's evil, if the other two goodguys hadn't shown up just in time. Apparently Sakura doesn't get hurt when shot, huh. There was a bullethole in her clothes I think, but it didn't look like it even made a dent on her skin...

Also, the episode ends with Sakura and her four white kampfer underlings all in her bed together, naked. Well I think we know what they were doing.

So yeah, this episode definitely made me wish that the series was continuing. At minimum I hope we get more OVA episodes in the future, the story still has a long way to go.

Everyone hating Arjuna makes me sad.

Me too, the ridiculous idiocy of episode 9's plot aside it's a good show.

 

[Hellsing321]

Hanasaku Iroha 9
This is was nice episode and Ko and Ohana seem made for each other. They both do stupid stuff without thinking it through except for Ohana everything works out in the end and Ko gives up and goes home. Nice little contrast there.

Nichijou 9
I enjoyed this episode especially the restaurant and mosquito bits. Child abuse has never been so fun. Show is really more of a skit show instead of a typical comedy with a linear story structure.

 

[tiff]

When did they ever stop?

That's true.

That reminds me, though, I have no idea what Amazon's doing with my order ever since the new boxset went DVD only.

 

[Hellsing321]

Uh oh
Tiger and Bunny 1

Tiger and Bunny 5

Tiger and Bunny 7

Tiger and Bunny 8

Tiger and Bunny 9

Poor girl can't catch a break. Or she is in on everything!

 

[Steroyd]

I never knew recycled extras existed in anime, until today.

 

[tiff]

I like her style.

 

[Jex]

Uh oh
Poor girl can't catch a break. Or she is in on everything!

Considering the wide variety of lovely character designs present within the show as a whole, that seems to be an elaborate joke. Then again, maybe not.

I never knew recycled extras existed in anime, until today.

You want to see some real recycling?

 

[Crash Station]

I never knew recycled extras existed in anime, until today.

Pretty much all long running shounens have them. Maybe not much in the same scene like what Jex just posted, but still.

 

[Steroyd]

You want to see some real recycling?
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz278/Jexhius/toriko.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Pfft those rich noble folk needed to use the cloning machine, so they can live forever.

 

[shintoki]

Hana Iro 09. Ko. Friend Zone. Don't bullshit on me now Japan! That is 100% cuddle bitch, writing sonnets, spare her 5$ to buy condoms so she can fuck he man, friend zone material.

 

[Dynedom]

Cross Game 29-31

Aww shit @ introduction of Akane. Shit just got real.

This anime handles tragedy in such an elegant way. It doesn't constantly throw it in your face but it always reminds you of it in brief touches but with more presence in episodes that require it. The above episodes are no exception.

Something about the way the sense of loss is conveyed in this anime is superior to about every anime I've watched/am watching (including AnoHana. Sorry GAF).

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Wow, I finally had to time to watch some anime.

Blue Exorcist ep 6 (Chef)

Funniest episode all season, Rin gets better and better. I wish VIZ had gone ahead and announced if they were gonna bring it to disc...I would definitely commit to buying this show.

Oh and bought the Soul Meister Collection Blu-Ray set (26eps), nice having it in HD. I need to boot it up to see if Psychedelic Souljam is still the Menu Theme like it was in the DVDs.

 

[Jex]

Vampire Princess Miyu 8

I joked earlier that it seems rather unfortunate to live in the same town as Usagi in Sailor Moon, but it's a definite step up from Miyu's haunt. At least Buffy has the in-universe explanation that the town was built on a hell mouth!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, that's not a great review for Shinkai's upcoming Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below -

It has some pretty pictures that are best enjoyed on your computer screen. The plot has some good elements but is overall incoherent. Character development was apparently ignored. Overall, Shinkai needs a co-producer.

Dem clouds?

 

[Neo C.]

rewatched Minami-Ke Ep8: God, Hosaka...
On the bright side, Atsuko is really cute.

 

[Cwarrior]

Tiger & Bunny 2-3

Fantastic super hero show so far, love the art style as well

 

[hellclerk]

Hidan no Aria 7
Oh how I love it~ It's the half-hour of the day I turn by brain off and wallow in the awesome. And now I'm excited for the next one! They left it on such a cliffhanger! Ice Powers! I wonder who this guy's gonna be! (I bet it was that guy that Kinji relieved for receptionist duty)

 

[Crash Station]

Blue Exorcist 7

Meisters? This HAS to be inspired by Soul Eater at least a little.

 

[mAcOdIn]

Part 2 of 3! Yeah, I'm breaking it into thirds.

Yeah, the two shows have very different design philosophies. That much is obvious anyway. Which design is better, however, is obviously very much a matter of opinion...

But first, no, I don't agree that all of the TTK hardships help character growth. I mean, that idea -- that one of the best ways to have characters develop is to have bad things happen to them -- is a traditional theme, but I just don't entirely agree. I think that there are ways to have character growth and development along those same lines that doesn't involve randomly killing people off. Like, what did that woman Youko had been staying with's death accomplish, for her character development? Not much. It just provided another pointless tragedy for the writers, so they could once again say "see, this is a serious, dramatic show!"

Again, I don't see your damn gripe! Was her death pointless to a degree? Sure but so was everyone's death in Escaflowne! So what? You can level this argument against anything where people die. Can there be character development through positive events? of course! That said, I'd love for you to tell me how to shoehorn some positive developments into this story without it being some forced contrived crap. Perhaps Youko and the girl should have had a bath house scene? Lol. The fact of the matter is one's position or profession directly affects the types of growth one will have, a policeman or soldier will probably have a lot more negative events in their life that they learn from than happy positive ones just by nature of their work and so it is for rulers, that's realistic and that should be mirrored in good fiction so that that fiction carries an air of believability.

And hence I use the word pointless. But I think that this clearly shows how different our viewpoints are here -- while you approvingly talk about how the tragedies exist to further the characters' emotional journeys, I find that frustrating. If there are going to be things like that, I don't like it to happen just to affect other, more important characters. Randomly killing off minor characters just to make the main character feel differently isn't something I like. And it's not realistic here, either -- such things happen a lot in TTK, as I said, far more than would be believable if you just went by realism. There are just so, so many horrible things that happen to these characters! It's ridiculous.

So much wrong again.

I do not believe the tragedies exist to further the character's emotional journey I believe the characters use the tragedies to grow, there's a key difference. The fictional tragedy and the path the fictional characters take during and after the tragedy are two separate things, you can assume that the tragedy would occur either way so really you either learn from it or just go the Escaflowne route and ignore it and move on to a new country.

As for killing off minor characters, umm, duh? Until you got far enough into Achilles' story where he died(sorry for the spoiler!) all kinds of characters not Achilles died, that's the nature of telling a certain person's story, but Youko will also die at some point too, again it comes down to scale and perspective. If the Twelve Kingdoms had a thousand episodes I'm sure you'd see her get killed or step down from the throne, thus dying, and then you'd gripe about the lame ending, throw shit at the TV and ask what the fuck was the point of it all if they were just going to kill off the main character. It feels like there is no winning for you so long as a story takes itself remotely serious.

Sure, in a story like this of course some bad things are going to happen; completely avoiding that would be quite unrealistic. But TTK does that a LOT. Some stories do that, and TTK is clearly one of them, but it isn't something I'd call entirely realistic, first, and it's also not something I like.

Again, there's so much BS I gotta put on my waders, I gotta fish out your point from this lake of shit here.

Again, the events that happen being negative is primarily because of where the focus is and who the characters are. Look at the difference in problems between En and Kei, clearly not the whole world is some shithole beating the people down, so you have a story following the ruler of a troubled Kingdom that happens to be filled with, well, trouble. Go figure. They could do a hot springs episode in En you know! This isn't K-on, these aren't kids in school and the focus and tone is different because of it. It would make no sense for the author to shoehorn some nice shit into the middle of the story to make you feel better.

But again I have to ask you to alter your perspective of these events. If you want happy events then what are their victories if not good events? You sit and hark on their negative experiences and just gloss over anything positive.

And again, I think the 12 Kingdoms does not have a central story but a central theme which is self determination from my perspective. This may be a "you can find happiness anywhere" excuse but I honestly feel what it's trying to convey is that as long as you live for yourself, by yourself and don't compromise yourself that no matter how long or short you live you can be happy, that an early death where you didn't sell yourself is worth more than a delayed death filled with all manners of hollow memories and experiences at the expense of your integrity. That kind of thing.

I think you'd like the show a hell of a lot better if Suzu, Shoukei and Youko just formed a harem around Rakushun, you'd probably be raving about the titilating shit they could do with his form then or some shit, lol.

As for Escaflowne, and as I think I said, it'd be hard for Escaflowne to have much sadness over most of the deaths, with its pace. Maybe if the series was a lot longer there'd have been time for more of that; as it is they only had time for that for key moments. I thought that worked; that's a fairly standard way to handle things in a story like this, and over time anyway the characters are going to get more used to it... but anyway I remember some. As for learning from the action, I absolutely disagree that no one learns from the action in Escaflowne. Nobody learns anything from the violence in Escaflowne? Huh? What are you talking about? Sure, the Escaflowne characters don't have TTK levels of depth, but it's a different kind of story so that's okay. It has depth in the main plot instead, and the characters themselves have more than enough for the story themselves.

Which is why I've always maintained that Escaflowne's pace was too fast. There is no depth in Escaflowne's main plot, that's an illusion created by its convolutedness. Listen well ABF, you can have more depth in a simple story than a complicated story when the complications are all artificial pieces of shit made for twists, that's all Escaflowne was. It'd make for a better dragon riding big screen ride at Universal than it does as an anime, well that's not fair, lets just settle for "story." Honestly, it's D or C grade fantasy shit here.

And allow me to go on another tangent related to perspective and scale. Escaflowne and other standard higher power intervenes in some cliched fantasy story infuriate me for a simple reason, the fucking arrogance of the thing. Much like idiots in real life that just have to believe that their generation will be the one to see Jesus return or some shit I find it equally as arrogant and idiotic for a fictional higher power to only intervene in a handful of people's lives over but a tiny footnote of the people's existence in a fictional story. It's so fucking idiotic. At least in the 12 Kingdoms they're always intervening to a degree and even then they're still more hands off than the shit in Escaflowne was allowing the characters to retain some ownership of their actions within the world.

Even so, I agree that they wanted to have a lot of action in the series. It WAS made by Sunrise, after all! And sure, some was mostly there to make things more exciting, have more fight scenes and show again and again how powerful and determined the bad guys are to stop our heroes, etc., but it wasn't all entirely pointless action for the sake of action. There was some of that, sure, but it wasn't all that.

And anyway, action just for the sake of making the main character sadder isn't any better, in my opinion.

But ultimately, it's hard to directly compare these two shows, though, because with storytelling styles so, so different it's quite difficult to directly compare them...

The problem is the characters were not involved in a tug of war with the plot they were just yanked along. The characters influenced nothing, literally every single action in Escaflowne, from the action to the "romance" were the result of the plot just yanking them off their feet and dragging them along all while having the fucking gall of making clear to the viewer that that was just what they were doing. Everything for the sake of the plot.

And I wish I meant that Escaflowne had a strong plot but it didn't, it was just overbearing. A decent or better character hsould be able to also influence the plot as opposed to just being swept away by it but not so in Escaflowne as none of the characters were important. You get the feeling that even Van and Hitome were expendable and could have been replaced by anyone and frankly, that's true in a story ripe with divine otherwordly intervention complete with time travel and alternate worlds. Because the characters were that unimportant and by happenstance and all the actions of the world were being directly manipulated from various idiotic angles the events that happen in the plot are also meaningless and without weight. So while yes, there was romance for the sake of romance, action for the sake of action it was even baser than it sounds in print, it was just checking bullet points on a list, neither the plot nor the characters could sell any of these actions so what use was any of it? Again, it'd work as a ride but as a story? It was of such low quality that they might as well have just placed an outline of what they want in Escaflowne and set it to Yoko Kanno's music and it'd carry the same impact.

Yeah, until they get killed off later on when she isn't there in time the next time they get into trouble.

Well, two out of three live and according to meatloaf that ain't bad.

As if that's the only way to have her learn that lesson? I disagree.

You're right, she should have learned while Suzu was grabbing her chest and commenting on how big her boobs were or maybe there should be some kind of ruler school where Youko could go and join a band and she could just learn it in her Humanities class.

Most definitely. For instance, do you REALLY need to show that poor kid getting run over something like ten times in five episodes? Really? We get it, it happened. We don't need to see it yet again, can't you do anything else to show the characters' sadness?

Finally something I sort of agree with, flashbacks are boring.

 

[Geneijin]

Broken Blade - 5
This reinterpretation is lovely. It's more or less still faithful yet even better in some ways to what transpired in the manga so far.

Edit: Sharing my newfound love for Nike.

 

[Articalys]

Apparently I missed a lot over the Fanime weekend. What's all this about a Medaka Box anime now?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Hidan no Aria 01:

Oh, wow. That's amazing. They actually tried to create a show which combines all available fetishes into one. Loli, tsundere, girl with guns, small breasts, high school, high school with guns (?), Rie Kugimiya. It's like somebody asked Gary Oldman what they should include in their new show, and his response was "EEEEVVVVERRRRYYYTTTTHIIIINGGGG!!!!!!" God this show is hilariously terrible, but I can't help myself, I have to keep watching it so I can bask in the awesome awfulness. I'm so glad I watch anime alone, because if I actually tried to watch this with other people I would never be able to live it down. Now on to episode 2!

 

[mAcOdIn]

Oh, wow. That's amazing. They actually tried to create a show which combines all available fetishes into one. Loli, tsundere, girl with guns, small breasts, Rie Kugimiya. It's like somebody asked Gary Oldman what they should include in their new show, and his response was "EEEEVVVVERRRRYYYTTTTHIIIINGGGG!!!!!!"

That's not that amazing, loli, tsundere, small breasts and Rie Kugimiya are essentially always together so it's really no stretch to see them all together at once. I'd actually be more amazed if the Rie Kugimiya voiced character was NOT a small breasted loli tsundere.

 

[Instro]

That's not that amazing, loli, tsundere, small breasts and Rie Kugimiya are essentially always together so it's really no stretch to see them all together at once. I'd actually be more amazed if the Rie Kugimiya voiced character was NOT a small breasted loli tsundere.

Just to throw off the fanbase she should voice a character that's the exact opposite of her normal shtick.

 

[jman2050]

Just to throw off the fanbase she should voice a character that's the exact opposite of her normal shtick.

 

[trejo]

Blue Exorcist 7

Shiemi is so unapologetically moé. Eyebrows chick is so mean! ;__;

 

[Instro]

hahaha perfect, totally better than Aria too.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Hidan no Aria 02:

Is there any particular reason the show's official English title is 'Aria the Scarlet Ammo'? Is there any particular reason why this scene is totally awesome? Is there any particular reason why I can't help myself and keep watching this show?

 

[mAcOdIn]

Is there any particular reason why this scene is totally awesome? Is there any particular reason why I can't help myself and keep watching this show?

Ask a doctor!

 

[flawfuls]

Just to throw off the fanbase she should voice a character that's the exact opposite of her normal shtick.

She was doing a Doraemon voice this week on Gintama. I think Gintama is the only place I have heard her do anything than her typical loli tsundere voice.

 

[jman2050]

Hidan no Aria 02:

Is there any particular reason the show's official English title is 'Aria the Scarlet Ammo'? Is there any particular reason why this scene is totally awesome? Is there any particular reason why I can't help myself and keep watching this show?

*waits anxiously for episode 4 impressions and beyond*

 

[trejo]

Ask a doctor!

Worst case scenario it goes epidemic.

Or is that best case?

She was doing a Doraemon voice this week on Gintama. I think Gintama is the only place I have heard her do anything than her typical loli tsundere voice.

Not a big FMA fan?