To be fair, the only other KyoAni shows that Kadokawa were in charge of licensing out were FMP, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and Nichijou, all of which are now, coincidentally (or not so coincidentally, I guess) enough, with Funi. See: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4890667#4890667
(Though since Sentai just licensed all the TBS show movies, the list is just a bit out of date for those.)
So since I was off from work today I decided to watch the first season of this while studying for the GRE. As I was watching it I checked out information on the series and apparently during production there had only been one volume of the Light Novel released, so that made it obvious how KyoAni stretched themselves thin with this adaptation. The plot and tone is literally all over the place here.
I liked the early "slice of life" episodes and even the beginning of the middle arc when they touched into Rikka's backstory, but the romance itself felt very by the numbers. I also found it pretty weird how Yuuta and Shinka keep experiencing second-hand embarassment for all the Chuni acts, and yet none off the students ever seem to mock or even be weirded out by Rikka's antics.
So since I was off from work today I decided to watch the first season of this while studying for the GRE. As I was watching it I checked out information on the series and apparently during production there had only been one volume of the Light Novel released, so that made it obvious how KyoAni stretched themselves thin with this adaptation. The plot and tone is literally all over the place here.
I liked the early "slice of life" episodes and even the beginning of the middle arc when they touched into Rikka's backstory, but the romance itself felt very by the numbers. I also found it pretty weird how Yuuta and Shinka keep experiencing second-hand embarassment for all the Chuni acts, and yet none off the students ever seem to mock or even be weirded out by Rikka's antics.
Yeah, the problem with the show is it didn't know what it wanted to be. I still enjoyed my time with it but at the end it went for the "and the strength was in you all along to not be a chuuni!" drama and the second season COMPLETELY ignores literally any character development the first had to go back to chuuni adventures and ups the stupidness of it even more.
Future Card Buddyfight X [Batzz] Episode 1 [EngDub]
Yes after DDD [Triple D] wasnt dub we finally get engdubbed buddyfight again and this time, with an assortment of vocal talent mix ups. Gaos voice actor is now Kamui's from Cfvanguard which is actually a really good fit. Gao's voice is actually being used for Beyblade Burst engdub for Valt which I thought works well there. Tokoha original CFvanguard voice is now used for Kuguru, which actually works too, curious to see and hear other voice changes as we go on. Beyblade Burst must have really through off many of the plans.
Episode wise, its so good to have this back, I missed having Buddyfight since DDD [Triple D] ended. Saint Holy Sword Dragon will be a cool mascot type character to have as we have this multi parallel world tourney going on. While Gao having the ultra powerful Demon Lord Dragon Batzz (with a might epic impact finisher) will be a huge change from Drum and Bal.
Antagonist Sakate is a good design so Im glad he appears to stick around.
Cardfight!! Vanguard G NEXT Episode 19 Sorrow Skyscraper [engdub]
The meal time with Chrono was probably the more interesting part. New Nippon being concerned with Old Nippon like they are dead or hidden is funny since we know where all three of them are (shin is litrally above them, Ride is not dead, etc).
Queen of Vanguard having her same issues was not that exciting but at least she got interested in Vanguard again.
Your Name
It was fine. Early on the story is tapping into themes of interconnection that feel more worthwhile, universal, and important, but most of that stuff really gets lost along the way. The ultimate objectives that the movie sets just do not feel particularly realized, in large part because the movie wants to be romantic, but the interaction between said characters is wildly limited. The romantic slant actually kind of renders the twists completely inert, and the
time travel element winds up committing the most egregious sin of simple backtracking to change the future.
As a result the economically paced story of the movie's first half simply spins its wheels while it hopes the audience bonds the two main characters together. It is sort of difficult for me to tell what emotion the movie is really trying to convey overall. The strong sense of loss or missed opportunity certainly come through the strongest near the middle of the movie, but the film works very hard to keep pushing towards a place that feels very bland and meaningless.
Good fight, but I'm hoping that there's going to be some actual diversion from the usual Gundam formula soon.
I mean, so far the plot's mostly been by the Sunrise "Let's try and remake 0079 again" book. Seriously.
Some arbitrary event causes a bunch of young dudes living on a distant colony/planet to board a ship on their way to Earth, most of them are all inexperienced/new to this whole working on a space ship thing, there's an enemy power who constantly gets in their way, and the MC is the guy who's the most competent at piloting the main mecha that frequently secures victory for the team.
While I'm glad that Mika is closer to Heero and Setsuna on the Gundam MC spectrum and further away from Kira and Amuro (because if he was closer to them in this regard this really would be another full on UC Gundam remake), if Tekkadan ends up smack-dab in the middle of enemy territory when they do get to Earth, I'm probably going to burst into laughter.
Your Name
It was fine. Early on the story is tapping into themes of interconnection that feel more worthwhile, universal, and important, but most of that stuff really gets lost along the way. The ultimate objectives that the movie sets just do not feel particularly realized, in large part because the movie wants to be romantic, but the interaction between said characters is wildly limited. The romantic slant actually kind of renders the twists completely inert, and the
time travel element winds up committing the most egregious sin of simple backtracking to change the future.
As a result the economically paced story of the movie's first half simply spins its wheels while it hopes the audience bonds the two main characters together. It is sort of difficult for me to tell what emotion the movie is really trying to convey overall. The strong sense of loss or missed opportunity certainly come through the strongest near the middle of the movie, but the film works very hard to keep pushing towards a place that feels very bland and meaningless.
While I mostly agree with this breakdown, I can't say I dislike what it was attempting the later half, it just didn't come off as effective IMO. It tried to convert this sense of loss in the middle to a desperate attempt to reconnect which is something I haven't felt as strongly as I was supposed to.
It's great being able to settle right back into this world. Same strong visual craft courtesy of Yoshihara and company and same strong dialogue courtesy of Morimi (who remains one of the luckiest Japanese authors alive when it comes to adaptations). This Nidaime fellow is a fascinating enigma of a character, and his interactions with Yasaburo were delightful battles of sharp wit, with both of them carefully keeping their guard up while attempting to feel out the other. I'm not sure if he'll end up being the primary antagonist, or really where the story will end up going, but I'm excited to find out.
I liked the first season of Chunnibyou. Good music, decent characters and a happy ending. Season 2 was disappointing though and the series is probably dead :'v
I do like my swimsuit rikka figure tho
I'm loving this. I love the cast and the character designs for the adult females are awesome. Its a shame they couldnt sell more manju but I loved that silly video they put together to promote them. Favorite scene was when they were discussing Yoshinos appearance on the website as well as the "Its all my fault" signs lol. Hilarious stuff. The chupakabra thumbs up was great too.
I do hate CR's subs for this show however. They keep calling her "Yoshi" when its clearly "Yoshino". They also misspelled another characters name few minutes into the episode.
When this show goes for the hard-hitting drama, it hits hard. I'm glad the direction has the confidence to nail these stories; I was worried with some of the earlier episodes that the quirky humor bits would interfere with more serious storytelling.
I unironically love everything about this OP. It looks so much like the Persona 5 OP tho. The ED is good though but its a happy upbeat song about suicide so ???
Probably the best show of the season atm, and thats without FAVAROOOOOOO
First episode had enough promise to get me to give it a few episodes.
But man the Chinese dialogue is not something I can really listen to, it sounds like everyone has marshmallows in their mouths. Its incredibly distracting.
So I see there's been a disagreement of what can be regarded as a masterpiece when it comes to anime (btw Hyouka isn't one) so I feel we should here and now come up with the definitive list of what the masterpieces are.
So I see there's been a disagreement of what can be regarded as a masterpiece when it comes to anime (btw Hyouka isn't one) so I feel we should here and now come up with the definitive list of what the masterpieces are.
