If you want :firehawk then look no further than the Korean masterpiece, DOGGY POO.
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Spring Anime 2013 l OT One l All roads lead to this
- Thread starter Dresden
- Start date
- Status
firehawk12
Subete no aware
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Probably the only one I haven't comprehended yet.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Wonder if the quality will still be worse than the dragon box.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
I don't get it...
EDIT: OOOOOOOH
EDIT: OOOOOOOH
This is so beautiful :'(
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Remember that episode of Smile Precure! about Yayoi's dad? That's :firehawk.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Uh huh.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Hyouka 20:
Oh come on, Chitanda. You can't even notice
What's up with that? And then she goes and has to make things really difficult for the rest of the episode.
I'm not sure exactly how they did it, but I think the staff did a really good job on this episode of conveying a sense of how cold it was, which is something that I think is not done effectively quite so often. Even though there were a few moments of stupidity, I liked most of the character moments in this episode, and I thought it was perfect that Oreki spent most of his New Years day lounging around the house and watching TV. Mayaka getting defensive about her role in things immediately was also a very good character moment.
Oh, it's that guy. Story just got even more bizarre.
Oh come on, Chitanda. You can't even notice
a fucking door closing just one foot away, or hear people talking about closing the door right next to you?
I'm not sure exactly how they did it, but I think the staff did a really good job on this episode of conveying a sense of how cold it was, which is something that I think is not done effectively quite so often. Even though there were a few moments of stupidity, I liked most of the character moments in this episode, and I thought it was perfect that Oreki spent most of his New Years day lounging around the house and watching TV. Mayaka getting defensive about her role in things immediately was also a very good character moment.
Oh, it's that guy. Story just got even more bizarre.
Toothpaste of the Stars 1
That was pretty intriguing. Some of the editing and unusual canted angles were disorienting, but that seemed to be intentional, to communicate the feeling of being on the planet for these events. Otherwise, the direction was pretty good, with some skillful use of chiaroscuro, especially in the scene where Jinto
. Although
. There was quite a bit of nice, hand-drawn mechanical animation and some neat background art. The character designs are not very appealing, especially for some of the minor characters.
The story itself has a lot of potential, certainly the idea of
is ripe with potential for interesting drama. And of course, there's the question of what exactly the genetically engineered Abh are. I'm sure that question will be addressed pretty soon.
That was pretty intriguing. Some of the editing and unusual canted angles were disorienting, but that seemed to be intentional, to communicate the feeling of being on the planet for these events. Otherwise, the direction was pretty good, with some skillful use of chiaroscuro, especially in the scene where Jinto
watches the invading ships fly by
a car ride with no scenery wasn't the most exciting place to have an infodump
The story itself has a lot of potential, certainly the idea of
the son of the planetary leader who backstabbed his people becoming a prince in the conquering empire
Chet Rippo
Member
Muromi-san 2
I don't really know what else to say about it really. I love how crazy it can get.
Not until even more people see it!
dakkumauji
Member
Lucky Star 03
How lewd.
Also ponytails and moe.
How lewd.
Also ponytails and moe.
Crash Station
Member
Date a Live 9
We're entering Superior territory of just how ridiculously far a character can go, yet still be forgiven and/or portrayed as sympathetic. I can deal with a lot of stuff, but that just completely breaks my suspension of disbelief. If Kurumi seriously becomes a good guy after this, the next target may as well be Hitler.
Oh well, at least it's still fun.
We're entering Superior territory of just how ridiculously far a character can go, yet still be forgiven and/or portrayed as sympathetic. I can deal with a lot of stuff, but that just completely breaks my suspension of disbelief. If Kurumi seriously becomes a good guy after this, the next target may as well be Hitler.
Oh well, at least it's still fun.
Lavalamp1138
Member
Hyouka 1-3
I'm digging this. The short and sweet mysteries are pretty engaging, but it's not just that, it's how Oreki adapts to them in order to minimize the amount of effort it takes to solve them. Pretty cool spin on his character. Beyond that, I just really like his character for reasons I can't even explain. Innate swag? Maybe it's the hair, I dunno. I feel like these episodes have barely scratched the surface of the Chitanda case and I have absolutely no theories as to what's going to be uncovered. But I'm certainly excited to find out!
Also this
As soon as Ibara made her debut she became the best girl. She has short hair so it's just simple science.
I'm digging this. The short and sweet mysteries are pretty engaging, but it's not just that, it's how Oreki adapts to them in order to minimize the amount of effort it takes to solve them. Pretty cool spin on his character. Beyond that, I just really like his character for reasons I can't even explain. Innate swag? Maybe it's the hair, I dunno. I feel like these episodes have barely scratched the surface of the Chitanda case and I have absolutely no theories as to what's going to be uncovered. But I'm certainly excited to find out!
Also this
As soon as Ibara made her debut she became the best girl. She has short hair so it's just simple science.
This has been brought to you by the self-proclaimed leader of Team Short Hair
firehawk12
Subete no aware
And this is when you start singing Secret Base.
chickdigger802
Banned
snafu 9
Yeah... that was boring. yukata was nice though.
Yeah... that was boring. yukata was nice though.
Lavalamp1138
Member
Stop it, you! Yesterday when you posted some of the lyrics I unconsciously sang them in my head while reading them and then I had it stuck in my head for the rest of the GOD DAMMIT!
Chet Rippo
Member
I wouldn't say EVERY minute. Every minute of every episode from ShirleyGate to the Nunatomic Bombing, yes, but after that sweet, sweet N-Bomb dropped, I believe I've cracked.
In case anybody cares about similar breakdowns to games, and is capable of dealing with GameFAQs' format, and has also played Parasite Eve: The Third Birthday, allow me to present my reaction to that: This game has no coherence (spoilers!)
It was a dark day.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume
Ookina kibou wasurenai
Juu nen go no hachigatsu
Mata deaeru no wo shinjite
Saikou no omoide wo...
Remember, AnoHana is coming back next season!
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
If you're already liking the show based on these first few episodes, you'll definitely be head over heels very soon. I agree with you about Oreki. He's just such an easy going protagonist, and he feels very refreshing to me. His views on life really do make for entertaining television.
Also this
As soon as Ibara made her debut she became the best girl. She has short hair so it's just simple science.
This has been brought to you by the self-proclaimed leader of Team Short Hair
Indeed. I'm glad there's another new convert who has seen the light. Everyone knows that Team Mayaka is the one truth of this world. She also happens to be the most well developed character in the show.
Time for a rewatch.
KnightBuster
Member
Out of the many things Smile took from Yes 5, why didn't they take the concept behind Shibiretta in Go Go? Her plans always involved dragging the heroines into fantasy tales, which Smile only did once... which is odd considering the setting and "theme" of the season was supposed to be storybooks (with a library base at that).
MotionBlue
Member
Railgun 08
They outdid themselves with the fight this week. I wish Misaka would just demolish more enemies, the fact that she's a level 5 seems to be downplayed a lot. I get that they're trying to show tactics beat overwhelming might, but c'mon!
They outdid themselves with the fight this week. I wish Misaka would just demolish more enemies, the fact that she's a level 5 seems to be downplayed a lot. I get that they're trying to show tactics beat overwhelming might, but c'mon!
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
[Gaijin Soldier Sailor Moon S] 108
Amazing sound design, and that
had me in stitches. What song was playing during the loading sequence?
By the way, I love the character art in the Harume Kosada episodes. There's a "wideness" to their design that makes the girls so goddamn cute. Yes, I'm in :cajun mode right now.
Mamo-chan to party!
Demo Eigo...
Amazing sound design, and that
yodel surprise climax
By the way, I love the character art in the Harume Kosada episodes. There's a "wideness" to their design that makes the girls so goddamn cute. Yes, I'm in :cajun mode right now.
Drunk Usagi should be a regular character.
Jex
Member
So, would you classify it as something of a retreat for Shinkai? Has he moved back into his shell where he feels most comfortable?
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Because that would be too easy.
It's not like they remember they can go places either.
The cast is pretty much Yes! 5 but dumber and yet much better at the same time.
Anyway, surprisingly I did not think of that myself. It's weird.
Well, I promised I'd follow up my first monsterpost with a rundown of the non-current anime I've been watching this season, so here's the goods! First up, a number of series that had been sitting unfinished in my backlog for ages, and I only recently got around to finishing.
Nisemonogatari 7-11 END + Nekomonogatari (Kuro) 1-4 END
I believe it was around the transition period between last season and this season that I finally got around to watching these, so I figure they just about count. I watched Bakemonogatari quite some time ago, and dove straight into Nisemonogatari afterwards, but after getting distracted by gaming, and watching too much current anime to keep up with, I ended up leaving it unfinished for many months. As the Winter season came to an end, I finally managed to get back up-to-date on current series, and took advantage of the lull to finally finish off the ~Monogatari saga (well, what's been released so far, anyway).
I'm in agreement with what seems to be the prevailing opinion that Nisemonogatari wasn't quite as good as Bakemonogatari was before it, but I nevertheless enjoyed the heck out of it. It certainly helped that there was so much lewd attention given to Araragi's smoking hot sisters (pun entirely intended), and the infamous toothbrushing scene lived up to all the hyperbole I'd read about it beforehand. As for the narrative itself, it wasn't as tightly executed as Bakemonogatari's neatly focused character arcs, but the presence of the enigmatic Kaiki (bringer of top-notch Nisioisin dialogue) made it a worthwhile experience nonetheless.
I've seen some people complaining about the relative lack of Senjougahara in Nise. Personally, I don't rate her as highly as a lot of people (her abusive relationship with Araragi and their witty conversations are nice, certainly, but similar things could be said of almost all the other characters in the show). Their
back in episode 12 of Bake was touching, so that works in her favour, but I still don't find her as appealing as some of the other girls.
My favourite ~monogatari girl is, of course, Mayoi (one of the most epic lolis ever to appear in anything, praise be to Nisioisin's godly writing and Watanabe's godly character design), and there was no shortage of scenes with her in Nise, so I came out satisfied.
As for Nekomonogatari, it suffered from being a little too predictable, since we'd essentially heard this whole story before in flashbacks, but some of the action in there was brutal, and it was nice to
. The best scenes, though, were probably Araragi's lewdtastic interactions with his sisters in the first episode. What can I say? Nisioisin+Watanabe+SHAFT fanservice is best fanservice.
At any rate, it's nice to be all up-to-date on Monogatari in time for the upcoming new season in Summer. I have high expectations. GET HYPE.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 23-26 END
Evangelion is a series that I've been trying to watch for literally years, but never seemed to actually reach the end of. Immediately after catching up on the ~Monogataris, I finally got around to watching these last three episodes. I already had a fairly clear picture of how the series ended due to internet osmosis, so it was something of a surreal experience (well, more surreal than it would be anyway) actually watching these last few episodes at last - they felt at once incredibly familiar and yet new at the same time. But at least now I know where the "Omedetou" meme comes from!
On a side note, I still haven't got around to watching End of Eva (or the Rebuild movies, lol). I should probably do that at some point.
Revolutionary Girl Utena 18-39 END
Yet another series that I'd had "on hold" for quite a while due to not finding time for it. I think I started watching this one before Bakemonogatari - I was inspired to watch it by the then-recently-ended Penguindrum and some strong recommendation from a friend IRL. I managed to make it about halfway through the Black Rose saga before other things pulled me away from it for many months.
After catching up on Bakemonogatari and Eva, this was next on my list to catch up on, but for a lot of this season, due to watching too many things, gaming and so forth, I still didn't find time for it. It was only over the past couple of weeks, when a number of Western series I was following had ended and I'd decided to drop a few of the current anime I was watching, that I finally found time to blast through the rest of this series. I marathoned most of these episodes over the course of last weekend, and it was totally worth it.
Utena really does defy description. I don't pretend to understand every nuance of the story and the symbolism, but I don't feel that I need to either; just letting the themes and the sheer fabulousness of Ikuni's stylings wash over me is such a stimulating experience in and of itself. It's particularly impressive how the series manages to get more fabulous, bizarre and symbolic as it goes on, despite starting out at astronomically high levels of all three factors. When Akio's arc hit, the sudden CAR focus initially seemed strange and out of place, but it took less than a couple of episodes before I embraced it as the natural zenith of all the fabulousness the series had accumulated up until that point. I mean, godDAMN. Ikuni, I am not worthy.
---
After catching up on Utena, I finally felt free of the backlog of incomplete series that had been haunting me for so long. (Okay, so I still have End of Eva to watch at some point, but let's pretend that's not there...) So of course, the logical next step was to fill the void with even more series that would take me even longer to finish! And luckily, there were a few series that reading AnimeGAF had given me powerful urges to get into, so I started watching...
K-ON!! 1-2
I watched the original K-ON! when it originally aired, but for reasons even I cannot fathom, I never got around to watching the second series until now. As a lover of all things KyoAni, this was clearly a mistake that needed to be rectified, so after watching through the amusing URA-ON! extras from the disc releases of the original series, I finally started my journey through K-ON!!
So far, the series has gained 100% more
content. I cannot complain about this development. Oh, and there are cute girls doing cute things. Yep, this is K-ON all right.
Hidamari Sketch 1-7
The wideface, it was calling to me! And similar to my dismay at missing out on a high-tier KyoAni series in K-ON!!, I felt vaguely terrible missing out on a prominent SHAFT series in Hidamari. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't quite feeling it for the first episode or two - the main characters all seemed to blur into one, and even for a slice-of-life, it felt a little aimless and empty - but I'm happy to say that it's grown on me quite quickly, and I have come to fully appreciate the love that AnimeGAF has for Yuno. She really is adorable in the extreme. I want to hug her so badly. (This is not a euphemism...probably.)
Miyako's endless genki-ness, too, has grown on me almost as much as Yuno's adorableness, and the sweet chemistry between the two of them (particularly in the episode where Yuno fell ill) is priceless. Hiro and Sae still have yet to grow on me to the same extent, but they round out the group nicely and I'm sure they'll have plenty to offer over the heaven-knows-how-many episodes of this series I have yet to cover.
---
Between K-ON!! and Hidamari Sketch, I figured I had plenty of episodes to be getting on with, and my new backlog felt pretty damn well established. However, with both of them being slice-of-life series rather low on actual plot, it still felt like something with a little more substance was perhaps missing from the equation. And there was one last series AnimeGAF had given me a mighty strong urge to get into, despite all my instincts saying that the episode count alone made it a full-on crazy idea.
But a couple of days ago, on Thursday, when I had the day off work due to a public holiday here in Germany, my willpower finally gave out and I embarked on my greatest and most terrible quest of all...
Futari wa Precure 1-11
OH GOD, WHAT AM I DOING.
Hi, PrecureGAF. I have succumbed to your promises of cute and happiness and OH GOD OVER 450 EPISODES AND COUNTING. You'll probably tell me that I should start with Heartcatch or Smile. To that I say: HAH! When I start a series, I start from the beginning, damn it. I don't CARE if there's no continuity. I don't CARE if Max Heart is the most terrible creation known to man. I don't CARE if the chances that I'll actually find enough time to get as far as Heartcatch or Smile in my lifetime are depressingly low. I'M STARTING AT THE BEGINNING AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME.
...Honestly, if I get through Futari wa to Max Heart and it successfully breaks my spirit, I might at that point consider skipping to some of the later series. But if I do, that will mean I have LOST. This is not what I desire. I'm going to do my damnedest to do this the way my heart tells me I should do it, and that means I start here, where it all began.
And after watching through these first 11 episodes, my heart is telling me I made the right choice. I love this so much. It's so easy to watch. It brings happiness to my soul. With most anime, if I try to watch too much in one sitting I inevitably burn myself out. Even Hidamari and K-ON!! are no exception to this rule. With Precure though, I feel like I could sit watching it for an eternity.
I cannot say how long this state of mahou shoujo nirvana will last (perhaps once Max Heart hits, it will transform into mahou shoujo purgatory?) but I fully intend to savour it while it does.
So, as for the actual episodes! I have been introduced to our heroines, spunky lacrosse player Nagisa and soft-spoken academic Honoka. By the way, lacrosse is probably the best sport ever. Why do more things not have lacrosse. Just look at it. I don't even like sports as a rule, but that shit just looks inherently awesome. Those players are tossing around a ball using great big fuck-off nets on sticks. Hell yes these are the most awesome middle school girls ever. When Nagisa shoots for the goal, that shit is dynamic. Fuck Shingeki no Kyojin with its swinging around on measly ropes. THIS IS REAL ACTION, GUYS.
So yeah. Honoka gets all the love letters from the guys and Nagisa gets all the love letters from the girls. This does not make Nagisa happy because yuri goggles do not apply here. Guys, I am as much a fan of The Garden as the next man, and I am all for girls falling head over heels for other girls. I am all over that. But I am not sensing it here at this point in time. Nagisa and Honoka are just awesome best friends and I am totally cool with that. Nagisa wants love letters from guys? Can I send her all my love letters? She deserves all the love letters.
DISCLAIMER: The above statements do not in any way indicate that I would be opposed to the existence of NagisaxHonoka doujins. Give me those now.
So yeah, Nagisa and Honoka are, like, awesome and stuff. Especially Nagisa. Slightly less awesome, perhaps, are the mascots who descended from the sky like shooting stars (
) and now require Nagisa and Honoka to attend to their every need. Which mostly involves swiping MERCHANDISE MERCHANDISE GUYS BUY OUR CARDS in their MERCHANDISE MERCHANDISE GUYS BUY OUR PLASTIC MASCOT PHONES so that strange bubbles can pop out and Mepple can demonstrate what a massive douche he is, but also involves doing battle with the forces of evil. Which Honoka is totally okay with from the start, but Nagisa is not quite so convinced. Not that she really resists the call. She just says ARIENAAAAAAI a lot. Then she gets down to fighting. This is the correct reaction to sudden mahou shoujo life.
Their first enemy is some evil dude called Pisard who is actually a pretty cool guy. He seems to have honour and stuff. Sort of. This doesn't stop Nagisa and Honoka
because that's what PRECURE MARBLE SCREW is for. And he is, after all, ZETTAI MACHIGATTERU. Thank you, Honoka, I think I got that after the four billionth time you said it. The subsequent eight billion may have been overkill.
Meanwhile Nagisa is totally deredere for some guy called Fujimura. This is okay because it is adorable. Nagisa, you are adorable. But OH NO, WHAT'S THIS? Fujimura is
This must result in angst and an inability to catch balls in nets on sticks.
I should mention that the show actually managed to surprise me at this point, because judging from the episode preview I thought it was a dead cert that Fujimura would
. This was backed up by the fact that
However, when the reveal came, it turned out that
But this outcome is totally superior in the long run because it creates the potential for MORE TENSION. Insert angst here. Adorable angst. Love you, Nagisa.
Meanwhile another bad guy has to show up on the scene, of course, and this one is more straightforward. His name is Gekidrago and he is a dumb brute. Seriously, taking this guy seriously as a villain is pretty impossible, which is okay, because it allows Nagisa and her sidekick to focus on important things like angsting and fighting and then reaffirming friendship. Oh, and befriending bears. Let's just look at that sentence again. These girls make friends with mountain bears. Any doubt that Nagisa and her sidekick are the most awesome middle-school girls in the world should be gone forever at this point.
And then it's sidekick's birthday, so she gets to have a focus episode, except Nagisa steals the show by
. She achieves this by
. The number of flaws in this plan is zero. Honoka, Mipple, you guys are lucky Nagisa is the most awesome middle-school girl on this planet because that would never have worked in any other scenario.
Incidentally, the birthday present Nagisa makes (by hand, because she is awesome
) is an accessory of some sort in the shape of everyone's favourite mascots. This accessory is in fact superior in every way to the actual mascots it represents (I mean, it was made by Nagisa, this seems fairly obvious) so Mepple and Mipple are now officially obsolete. Thanks guys, you can leave now.
Oh and then Gekidrago
but that's okay because PRECURE MARBLE SCREW boom Prism Stone get.
And that's about as far as I've got so far. I NEED MORE, YOU GUYS. I don't know why I'm posting on GAF when I could be watching more Precure. Goddamn this series is beautiful.
Nisemonogatari 7-11 END + Nekomonogatari (Kuro) 1-4 END
I believe it was around the transition period between last season and this season that I finally got around to watching these, so I figure they just about count. I watched Bakemonogatari quite some time ago, and dove straight into Nisemonogatari afterwards, but after getting distracted by gaming, and watching too much current anime to keep up with, I ended up leaving it unfinished for many months. As the Winter season came to an end, I finally managed to get back up-to-date on current series, and took advantage of the lull to finally finish off the ~Monogatari saga (well, what's been released so far, anyway).
I'm in agreement with what seems to be the prevailing opinion that Nisemonogatari wasn't quite as good as Bakemonogatari was before it, but I nevertheless enjoyed the heck out of it. It certainly helped that there was so much lewd attention given to Araragi's smoking hot sisters (pun entirely intended), and the infamous toothbrushing scene lived up to all the hyperbole I'd read about it beforehand. As for the narrative itself, it wasn't as tightly executed as Bakemonogatari's neatly focused character arcs, but the presence of the enigmatic Kaiki (bringer of top-notch Nisioisin dialogue) made it a worthwhile experience nonetheless.
I've seen some people complaining about the relative lack of Senjougahara in Nise. Personally, I don't rate her as highly as a lot of people (her abusive relationship with Araragi and their witty conversations are nice, certainly, but similar things could be said of almost all the other characters in the show). Their
stargazing date
My favourite ~monogatari girl is, of course, Mayoi (one of the most epic lolis ever to appear in anything, praise be to Nisioisin's godly writing and Watanabe's godly character design), and there was no shortage of scenes with her in Nise, so I came out satisfied.
As for Nekomonogatari, it suffered from being a little too predictable, since we'd essentially heard this whole story before in flashbacks, but some of the action in there was brutal, and it was nice to
see Oshino again after his absence for the whole of Nise
At any rate, it's nice to be all up-to-date on Monogatari in time for the upcoming new season in Summer. I have high expectations. GET HYPE.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 23-26 END
Evangelion is a series that I've been trying to watch for literally years, but never seemed to actually reach the end of. Immediately after catching up on the ~Monogataris, I finally got around to watching these last three episodes. I already had a fairly clear picture of how the series ended due to internet osmosis, so it was something of a surreal experience (well, more surreal than it would be anyway) actually watching these last few episodes at last - they felt at once incredibly familiar and yet new at the same time. But at least now I know where the "Omedetou" meme comes from!
On a side note, I still haven't got around to watching End of Eva (or the Rebuild movies, lol). I should probably do that at some point.
Revolutionary Girl Utena 18-39 END
Yet another series that I'd had "on hold" for quite a while due to not finding time for it. I think I started watching this one before Bakemonogatari - I was inspired to watch it by the then-recently-ended Penguindrum and some strong recommendation from a friend IRL. I managed to make it about halfway through the Black Rose saga before other things pulled me away from it for many months.
After catching up on Bakemonogatari and Eva, this was next on my list to catch up on, but for a lot of this season, due to watching too many things, gaming and so forth, I still didn't find time for it. It was only over the past couple of weeks, when a number of Western series I was following had ended and I'd decided to drop a few of the current anime I was watching, that I finally found time to blast through the rest of this series. I marathoned most of these episodes over the course of last weekend, and it was totally worth it.
Utena really does defy description. I don't pretend to understand every nuance of the story and the symbolism, but I don't feel that I need to either; just letting the themes and the sheer fabulousness of Ikuni's stylings wash over me is such a stimulating experience in and of itself. It's particularly impressive how the series manages to get more fabulous, bizarre and symbolic as it goes on, despite starting out at astronomically high levels of all three factors. When Akio's arc hit, the sudden CAR focus initially seemed strange and out of place, but it took less than a couple of episodes before I embraced it as the natural zenith of all the fabulousness the series had accumulated up until that point. I mean, godDAMN. Ikuni, I am not worthy.
---
After catching up on Utena, I finally felt free of the backlog of incomplete series that had been haunting me for so long. (Okay, so I still have End of Eva to watch at some point, but let's pretend that's not there...) So of course, the logical next step was to fill the void with even more series that would take me even longer to finish! And luckily, there were a few series that reading AnimeGAF had given me powerful urges to get into, so I started watching...
K-ON!! 1-2
I watched the original K-ON! when it originally aired, but for reasons even I cannot fathom, I never got around to watching the second series until now. As a lover of all things KyoAni, this was clearly a mistake that needed to be rectified, so after watching through the amusing URA-ON! extras from the disc releases of the original series, I finally started my journey through K-ON!!
So far, the series has gained 100% more
turtle
Hidamari Sketch 1-7
The wideface, it was calling to me! And similar to my dismay at missing out on a high-tier KyoAni series in K-ON!!, I felt vaguely terrible missing out on a prominent SHAFT series in Hidamari. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't quite feeling it for the first episode or two - the main characters all seemed to blur into one, and even for a slice-of-life, it felt a little aimless and empty - but I'm happy to say that it's grown on me quite quickly, and I have come to fully appreciate the love that AnimeGAF has for Yuno. She really is adorable in the extreme. I want to hug her so badly. (This is not a euphemism...probably.)
Miyako's endless genki-ness, too, has grown on me almost as much as Yuno's adorableness, and the sweet chemistry between the two of them (particularly in the episode where Yuno fell ill) is priceless. Hiro and Sae still have yet to grow on me to the same extent, but they round out the group nicely and I'm sure they'll have plenty to offer over the heaven-knows-how-many episodes of this series I have yet to cover.
---
Between K-ON!! and Hidamari Sketch, I figured I had plenty of episodes to be getting on with, and my new backlog felt pretty damn well established. However, with both of them being slice-of-life series rather low on actual plot, it still felt like something with a little more substance was perhaps missing from the equation. And there was one last series AnimeGAF had given me a mighty strong urge to get into, despite all my instincts saying that the episode count alone made it a full-on crazy idea.
But a couple of days ago, on Thursday, when I had the day off work due to a public holiday here in Germany, my willpower finally gave out and I embarked on my greatest and most terrible quest of all...
Futari wa Precure 1-11
OH GOD, WHAT AM I DOING.
Hi, PrecureGAF. I have succumbed to your promises of cute and happiness and OH GOD OVER 450 EPISODES AND COUNTING. You'll probably tell me that I should start with Heartcatch or Smile. To that I say: HAH! When I start a series, I start from the beginning, damn it. I don't CARE if there's no continuity. I don't CARE if Max Heart is the most terrible creation known to man. I don't CARE if the chances that I'll actually find enough time to get as far as Heartcatch or Smile in my lifetime are depressingly low. I'M STARTING AT THE BEGINNING AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME.
...Honestly, if I get through Futari wa to Max Heart and it successfully breaks my spirit, I might at that point consider skipping to some of the later series. But if I do, that will mean I have LOST. This is not what I desire. I'm going to do my damnedest to do this the way my heart tells me I should do it, and that means I start here, where it all began.
And after watching through these first 11 episodes, my heart is telling me I made the right choice. I love this so much. It's so easy to watch. It brings happiness to my soul. With most anime, if I try to watch too much in one sitting I inevitably burn myself out. Even Hidamari and K-ON!! are no exception to this rule. With Precure though, I feel like I could sit watching it for an eternity.
I cannot say how long this state of mahou shoujo nirvana will last (perhaps once Max Heart hits, it will transform into mahou shoujo purgatory?) but I fully intend to savour it while it does.
So, as for the actual episodes! I have been introduced to our heroines, spunky lacrosse player Nagisa and soft-spoken academic Honoka. By the way, lacrosse is probably the best sport ever. Why do more things not have lacrosse. Just look at it. I don't even like sports as a rule, but that shit just looks inherently awesome. Those players are tossing around a ball using great big fuck-off nets on sticks. Hell yes these are the most awesome middle school girls ever. When Nagisa shoots for the goal, that shit is dynamic. Fuck Shingeki no Kyojin with its swinging around on measly ropes. THIS IS REAL ACTION, GUYS.
So yeah. Honoka gets all the love letters from the guys and Nagisa gets all the love letters from the girls. This does not make Nagisa happy because yuri goggles do not apply here. Guys, I am as much a fan of The Garden as the next man, and I am all for girls falling head over heels for other girls. I am all over that. But I am not sensing it here at this point in time. Nagisa and Honoka are just awesome best friends and I am totally cool with that. Nagisa wants love letters from guys? Can I send her all my love letters? She deserves all the love letters.
DISCLAIMER: The above statements do not in any way indicate that I would be opposed to the existence of NagisaxHonoka doujins. Give me those now.
So yeah, Nagisa and Honoka are, like, awesome and stuff. Especially Nagisa. Slightly less awesome, perhaps, are the mascots who descended from the sky like shooting stars (
roughly a hundred years apart, as it turns out
Their first enemy is some evil dude called Pisard who is actually a pretty cool guy. He seems to have honour and stuff. Sort of. This doesn't stop Nagisa and Honoka
blasting him into oblivion until nothing remains of his physical form
Meanwhile Nagisa is totally deredere for some guy called Fujimura. This is okay because it is adorable. Nagisa, you are adorable. But OH NO, WHAT'S THIS? Fujimura is
sitting next to Honoka and they are TALKING?!
I should mention that the show actually managed to surprise me at this point, because judging from the episode preview I thought it was a dead cert that Fujimura would
actually turn out to be Honoka's brother
when we saw the two of them talking in the episode itself, Honoka conveniently never addressed him by name, thus creating the possibility of a hidden ONII-CHAN.
they were actually just childhood friends. Oh. Because that's totally safe. Never heard of romance between childhood friends before. N'uh-uh.
Meanwhile another bad guy has to show up on the scene, of course, and this one is more straightforward. His name is Gekidrago and he is a dumb brute. Seriously, taking this guy seriously as a villain is pretty impossible, which is okay, because it allows Nagisa and her sidekick to focus on important things like angsting and fighting and then reaffirming friendship. Oh, and befriending bears. Let's just look at that sentence again. These girls make friends with mountain bears. Any doubt that Nagisa and her sidekick are the most awesome middle-school girls in the world should be gone forever at this point.
And then it's sidekick's birthday, so she gets to have a focus episode, except Nagisa steals the show by
showing up at the last second like a goddamn pro just in time to beat up bad guys, hand over birthday present, and depart as coolly as she arrived
using her superhuman intuition to turn on the TV during the exact same two seconds that Mipple is waving at the TV cameras
Incidentally, the birthday present Nagisa makes (by hand, because she is awesome
...and has no money
Oh and then Gekidrago
turned into a great big fucking shark-lamprey-monster-thing through the power of GATTAI
And that's about as far as I've got so far. I NEED MORE, YOU GUYS. I don't know why I'm posting on GAF when I could be watching more Precure. Goddamn this series is beautiful.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I would say he refined himself rather than retreated. It doesn't try to build a strange science-phantasy world with weird rules and with character motivations that are muddled, if that's what you mean.
It relies on the crutch of real people living in modern day Japan having real, relatable emotions. Like 5 cm/s, I suppose, but without the need to rely on a
massive time skip or other gimmicks to show the :firehawk happening.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
cnet is the new A Black Falcon.
So jealous that you got to watch Utena and Eva for the first time, btw.
So jealous that you got to watch Utena and Eva for the first time, btw.
Definitely. This is some next-gen level of clouds/scenery porn. I don't know the exact wizardy for it, but I want more anime to look like that.
Yeah, length wise it was perfect. I mean I guess he could have showed more of the other characters, but it's not like they were relevant.
Garden of Words
It didn't really hit the emotional high of 5cm/s, but it was still great.
The music montage in this one was way weaker, don't think I will even bother with listening to the song that much again. Also regarding the final scene, I'm not really a fan of the execution or all the nonsense the MC was yelling about. I still cried in the end so I guess it all worked out?
Would rewatch many times again for the scenery porn and the feet.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Well good on you for starting from the beginning instead of just playing hopscotch. Seriously though, don't kill yourself shoving everything down. Max Heart will probably break you or at the very least, slow you down.
No, you are not skipping ahead in the series, I will not allow that. Don't be like that dang it, especially since the one that follows Max Heart is also much better too.
Jex
Member
I do really recommend that you watch End of Evangelion as soon as possible after watching the series, because viewing them in close proximity to each other makes for a fairly intense experience.
Also, you're watch too much anime, you lunatic!
ZachDeKoromaru
Banned
The first season of Hidamari Sketch is a bit rough around the edges, with some really great episodes packed in. It's one of those shows that gets better with each installment (though the second season is my personal favorite).
Also Yuno is a miracle of every universe, a true being of cuteness.
The "waltz"? The same song you bashed a while back in the s1 tower episode! It appears twice in the entire franchise and that's the second. You said "good".
"Pinchi... soshite, ketsui" on the Sailormoon Music Collection Extra Version
NICE TO MEET YOU CREAM STEW
Yes, another Mayakabro. Be proud, for you have the most refined of tastes in waifus.
Glad you're liking the show! The Chitanda case was really good, and I only fully appreciated it after rewatching it, knowing how everything plays out.
You're gonna love the mid-series arc.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Mr. Gaijin was better. GOOD EVENING READIES
Ultimadrago
Member
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
You could be finishing Diebuster.
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