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Summer 2012 Anime |OT| Goddesses, canines, and killer MMOs!

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jman2050

Member
Toradora! Ep. 1

I'm really not feeling this; the writing seems too gimmicky, for the lack of a better word. I know it's supposed to get better later on, so I'll stick with it.

Are "cliched" or "tropey better words to use? Cause it definitely qualifies as those for better or for worse.

Honestly, that's part of why I liked it so much. It's refreshing in a way to see all the standard romcom tropes actually being utilized correctly.
 

wonzo

Banned
Toradora's a pretty slow burn but I still enjoyed it in the end.

Sailor Moon 45!

smoon5.jpg
smoon5a.jpg
smoon5b.jpg

Moral of the story is to be cautious but not entirely dismissive of cute things as there's more darkness in them than wisdom knows.

also the lizard lady was kinda hot... damn you hosodaaaaaa!
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Legend of the Galactic Heroes 01 - 04 - This show is special. The direction, the pacing, the...the music! The way they use but don't milk moments. And (so far) they're not telling me what the characters are thinking, so I get to use my brain a little! May be the best initial 4 episodes of a long-ish series I've seen. If I didn't have work and life I would finish this in a week.

LoGH 4
Well, it's little wonder these two managed to exploit their connections to the fullest to get where they are now considering how astute they were at such a young age. This also pretty much covered the rest of the unanswered question I had about them from the movie. Great stuff.
What's with people starting this now? Is it just because the current season?
Not that I'm complaining, it's my absolute favorite.

I still need to watch Yang's Gaiden series, but I'm sort of saving it since it's the last episodes I've yet to see.
 

Jarmel

Banned
Are "cliched" or "tropey better words to use? Cause it definitely qualifies as those for better or for worse.

Honestly, that's part of why I liked it so much. It's refreshing in a way to see all the standard romcom tropes actually being utilized correctly.

I would definitely not use cliche to describe Toradora.
 

survivor

Banned
I watched the first 10 episodes of Cromartie High School and I'm really not feeling it. I feel like it's one of the biggest wasted potentials when it comes to comedy. There are soo many great ideas and skits to use with their characters but it's all so wasted on crap like that episode where they didn't remember the name of the song.

Will keep watching the rest since when the anime decides to be funny, it's actually great. And since each episode is 10 mins, I'm not wasting that much time.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
PGSM - 29

7xxoo.png


Sailor Jupiter has been playing some Tekken I see!

I'm just angry she's an Eddy Gordo player. >:I
 
PGSM - 29

7xxoo.png


Sailor Jupiter has been playing some Tekken I see!

I'm just angry she's and Eddy Gordo player. >:I

that lighting. Couldn't be more subtle with the stunt actor switch eh ;P

and yea PA works stuff can look really odd at certain angles. (Does help that the MC of taritari got hit with the ugly hammer).

But no can should talk bad about sawa :mad:
 

mAcOdIn

Member
Oh come on, can't you at least just read it and admit you're wrong? The way you wrote that made me assume that you didn't even read my explanation.
Sigh. It's not me, it's you. My argument was that they didn't act like privateers. Your explanations do not make what I said wrong you just explained why. Also, being entertainers first and foremost makes them even less of privateers. So somewhere along the way you forgot what you were arguing.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I would definitely not use cliche to describe Toradora.

I'll give you that Ryuji isn't. Taiga is a huge tsundere (more violent than Kirino!), Minori is almost as kooky as Vanille (though a bit more tolerable), Ami is best in this case but that's not saying much. Yusaku's a champ though.

It definitely goes through most of the usual motions though.
 

Narag

Member
Toradora's a pretty slow burn but I still enjoyed it in the end.

Sailor Moon 4



Moral of the story is to be cautious but not entirely dismissive of cute things as there's more darkness in them than wisdom knows.

also the lizard lady was kinda hot... damn you hosodaaaaaa!

They only get hotter. Save your cursing of his name until then! That shot of the youma vs Usagi is great though.
 

wonzo

Banned
What's with people starting this now? Is it just because the current season?
Not that I'm complaining, it's my absolute favorite.

I still need to watch Yang's Gaiden series, but I'm sort of saving it since it's the last episodes I've yet to see.
It's been on my watchlist with Sailor Moon for pretty much forever and I figured I might as well stop procrastinating and actually start watching them and what better time than a season like this!
 

qcf x2

Member
What's with people starting this now? Is it just because the current season?
Not that I'm complaining, it's my absolute favorite.

It's coincidence that we're both watching it at around the same time and pace, though I suspect he'll finish it before me. It's not so much this season, I mean I haven't even seen more than 1 episode of any show yet.

I like space battle anime (Gun/Diebuster are among my all time favorite series) and I'm not in the mood for any of the goofy/cute/shounen/short series that revived my once almost-finished backlog. Plus I don't feel like catching up on Game of Thrones or Spartacus any time soon, so it seemed like a good time to give the universally acclaimed space opera a watch.

I'd really love to marathon the series, but I think a few eps a week will be a more realistic goal.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
Mass Effect Paragon Lost trailer
tumblr_m6z5hjsf0I1qbxqfpo1_500.png


I think action visuals look alright and it does look a bit more pumping and intense than Dragon Age, though great its all humans here.
preordered

Ehhh, not really feeling it but I will watch it anyway. Krogan almost look more like Elites from Halo than actual Krogan.

Was that supposed to be Anderson as the voice over?

I really hope not, there is no replacement for Keith David.
 

Joule

Member
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate 1:
How strange. Given the opening sequence I would have thought there was some government scandal intrigue going on but it turns out that the president is really in reference to a student council president. Anime! Given that knowledge the whole opening scene seems kind of ridiculous. A bit of mood whiplash there as the following content was very harem show stuff with candy and sweets which was really what I was expecting.

At least visually the show looks decent. The amagami character designer is in this staff and it shows in the face and eyes of the characters. The animators can't seem to decide if orange hair girl has green highlights in her hair or not though. The music is kind of interesting. Elements Garden is doing the bgm and a couple of the tracks in this episode is reminiscent of their strings work on Mouretsu Pirates so it sounds pretty good. The OP/ED/insert song are nice enough too.

The premise of the show seems to be centered on the student council election where the main cast gets involved to stop their sweets club from being abolished. Sounds not entirely terrible but given the adult visual novel roots I'm not expecting much. Aside from the main character taking a yaoi stick in his mouth there isn't too much to this episode beyond usual harem antics.

Talk about breast jokes too, I wasn't wrong about that earlier, maybe Chet will enjoy this sequence: 1 2 3

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! 1:
lzPHE.jpg

I am okay with being a cream puff nakama
So brotag, in order to inherit his recently passed away father's large influential company has to not only has to get through training but must also obtain a wife as the two conditions. Okay. With this in mind his mom sends him to the high school his dad went to in his younger days for this purpose and I assume to finish education at that level. However one of the girls in this school is secretly his sister and wants to end up marrying him. Amazing. Dude also has a forehead scar and amnesia of his childhood. I don't think I need expand any further. I guess I'll bank this on yet another harem light novel adaptation.

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai 1:
The highschool dxd of this season? Seems like it. Perverted main character voiced by Hiro Shimono no less along with some death god who needs his erotic thoughts to gain energy. What a pairing am I right. It's kind of nice to hear Aya Endo again though. The action was fairly nice too. Might be a nice little distraction like dxd was.
RYiXm.jpg

Money match me right now!

Hagure Yuusha no Estetica 1:
Was I baited into thinking this was a typical fantasy show? Seems like I was. Not really feeling how they're going about this 'after defeating the demon lord' premise. Seems like it's mostly just a front to establish a battle series. Can't say I'm very invested in the return to the real world. I thought the other world was more appealing. Combat maids and stuff. Well I guess we'll see where this is supposed to go exactly.

I think that's enough trashy shows for one night.
 
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate 1:
How strange. Given the opening sequence I would have thought there was some government scandal intrigue going on but it turns out that the president is really in reference to a student council president. Anime! Given that knowledge the whole opening scene seems kind of ridiculous. A bit of mood whiplash there as the following content was very harem show stuff with candy and sweets which was really what I was expecting.

At least visually the show looks decent. The amagami character designer is in this staff and it shows in the face and eyes of the characters. The animators can't seem to decide if orange hair girl has green highlights in her hair or not though. The music is kind of interesting. Elements Garden is doing the bgm and a couple of the tracks in this episode is reminiscent of their strings work on Mouretsu Pirates so it sounds pretty good. The OP/ED/insert song are nice enough too.

The premise of the show seems to be centered on the student council election where the main cast gets involved to stop their sweets club from being abolished. Sounds not entirely terrible but given the adult visual novel roots I'm not expecting much. Aside from the main character taking a yaoi stick in his mouth there isn't too much to this episode beyond usual harem antics.

Talk about breast jokes too, I wasn't wrong about that earlier, maybe Chet will enjoy this sequence: 1 2 3

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! 1:
So brotag, in order to inherit his recently passed away father's large influential company has to not only has to get through training but must also obtain a wife as the two conditions. Okay. With this in mind his mom sends him to the high school his dad went to in his younger days for this purpose and I assume to finish education at that level. However one of the girls in this school is secretly his sister and wants to end up marrying him. Amazing. Dude also has a forehead scar and amnesia of his childhood. I don't think I need expand any further. I guess I'll bank this on yet another harem light novel adaptation.

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai 1:
The highschool dxd of this season? Seems like it. Perverted main character voiced by Hiro Shimono no less along with some death god who needs his erotic thoughts to gain energy. What a pairing am I right. It's kind of nice to hear Aya Endo again though. The action was fairly nice too. Might be a nice little distraction like dxd was.
Hagure Yuusha no Estetica 1:
Was I baited into thinking this was a typical fantasy show? Seems like I was. Not really feeling how they're going about this 'after defeating the demon lord' premise. Seems like it's mostly just a front to establish a battle series. Can't say I'm very invested in the return to the real world. I thought the other world was more appealing. Combat maids and stuff. Well I guess we'll see where this is supposed to go exactly.

I think that's enough trashy shows for one night.

Isn't there only 1 trashy show out of the bunch though?

oh yeah, hagure has random nipples.
 

Joule

Member
Joule, are you doing the same thing I am and watching every single show this season? lol

I typically at least sample the first episode. I like a bad show every so often too.

Isn't there only 1 trashy show out of the bunch though?

oh yeah, hagure has random nipples.

They're all pretty servicey in one way or another though senkyo has that beam of light censoring going on. And they're all sort of bad.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I typically at least sample the first episode. I like a bad show every so often too.

They're all pretty servicey in one way or another though senkyo has that beam of light censoring going on. And they're all sort of bad.
Well, I just have the BL club show left and I'm free. I've already stopped thinking about all the crappy harem/magical girlfriend shows. lol
(Think Oda Nobuna is going to be my #guiltypleasure while SAO will be my #hatewatch).
 

Branduil

Member
Gunslinger Girl 1(rewatch)

iblNP1Xr0nesz7.jpg


From the very first shot they establish the setting and the primary character relationship of the series.

This is a very effective first episode. They only have 21 minutes or so to establish the setting, premise, and characters, but they not only accomplish that, they do so with style.

One of the things you'll notice when watching this is just how masterful the editing is. Not a moment is wasted as all of the scene transitions are razor-sharp. Scenes overlap one another in an extremely organic manner, as characters speaking in a previous scene continue their dialogue into the next, which may take place at a much later time, yet it still works because the dialogue is relevant to that scene. And it's vital that the editing is as good as it is, because the episode is written in a non-linear fashion, with flashbacks and flashforwards utilized repeatedly. With the wrong director this could have easily ended up completely incoherent and painful to watch. Bravo for Morio Asaka. Other editing techniques which are executed effectively in this episode include montage and establishing shots.

Concerning the latter, I wanted to make note of this scene in particular.


The setup is that the "Agency" is preparing to infiltrate a terrorist hideout. Notice the care taken to establish the spatial relationships in the scene and the way each shot connects to the previous one. The sheer number of cuts used might seem excessive, until it pays off in the following scene. The storyboarding and direction used here is a prime example of elevating potentially mundane material into something impactful. And once the action starts, it is also very well-directed with some nice sakuga gunplay. The weight of the guns and the impact of the bullets is felt clearly, and you're never confused about what is happening.

About the setting, it's important to note this takes place in Italy, not the most typical anime setting. I've never been there, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of its portrayal, but it feels quite believable and there are never any anime-isms that pull you out of your suspension of disbelief.

What's really interesting is how effectively the series communicates how messed-up the government our protagonists work for is, without didactically preaching about it. The name "Social Welfare Agency" is delightfully Orwellian, but for the most part the disturbing nature of the amoral slaughter and child brainwashing that the agency takes part in is communicated by the lack of a response of the people involved. It's encouraging to watch a show that treats its audience with respect and has the confidence in both its visual storytelling ability and our intelligence to treat television as the visual/audio medium that it is and not just wordswordswords.

ibeIarz7qsvoBJ.jpg

iex6vSn1S5lA.jpg

ibwMF62bVxqSEz.jpg


None of these shots need words to communicate the nature of Henrietta's situation.

Oh yeah, the music is also very nice and integrated in a meaningful way in each scene. It has a pleasant and soulful European flavor to it.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Rinne bonus whatever thing

pOhrXl.jpg


I just liked this picture because it's one of those cases where the censorship potentially makes something dirtier than it actually is. I suppose it depends on your own depravity though. lol
 

survivor

Banned
Rinne bonus whatever thing

http://i.imgur.com/pOhrXl.jpg[IMG]

I just liked this picture because it's one of those cases where the censorship potentially makes something dirtier than it actually is. I suppose it depends on your own depravity though. lol[/QUOTE]
It actually reminds of that dirty fan edited gif of Lan from the trailer
 

Joule

Member
Well, I just have the BL club show left and I'm free. I've already stopped thinking about all the crappy harem/magical girlfriend shows. lol
(Think Oda Nobuna is going to be my #guiltypleasure while SAO will be my #hatewatch).

I think I'll try some of the shows that were actually hyped tomorrow instead. Might actually keep up with I can't H though. Maybe check out the Senkyo ost for Elements Garden. The imouto show I'll watch vicariously through someone else (madpierrot?). See if Hagure is good fightan.
 
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