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[Jex]

Started writing this last night while people were being mean to shounen. Might as well finish it to make you guys think I'm even crazier/pathetic (and hopefully take back my title from DTL). I doubt it will change the rather negative opinion of the genre around here, but whatever.

Why Battle Shounen is an awesome genre

Escalation

Now when I say escalation, I don't just mean in scale. I'm associating the term with virtually everything important to plot advancement. That means character development, relationship growth, bigger conflicts, more significant fights, all coupled with an increase in a sense of scale[...]

In a good battle series, it will actually feel like things progress. The protagonist, regardless of how willing he or she is to go through all this crap, will grow as a person. And it won't be a sudden change. It will be gradual, something you won't notice until looking back at earlier chapters and/or episodes. It's like growing up alongside a friend. Subtle changes happen little at a time.

Then there's the conflicts and growth in abilities. Again, a good shounen will not throw a character into the middle of something beyond their capabilities unless they are destined to lose. That's not to say things can't be crazy at the beginning, but the point is they will get crazier. The protagonist might start out in a small town and have to beat up some powerful douchebag that keeps stealing fences. Later on, that guy alongside a bunch of new allies will end up raiding a government facility staffed with uber-powerful guards or something, with insanity everywhere! You want to be able to say "wow, that guy totally couldn't do this stuff at the beginning of the series" while actually believing the growth. This is something good shounen series can do[...]

A good sense of escalation is generally among the more difficult things to pull off within the genre. Many authors fall into the same pitfalls as Inuyasha, albeit nowhere near as bad. However, when it is pulled off well, you got yourself a large scale adventure akin to a good epic.

I see that you've tied 'escalation', as a concept, into story-progression, character growth, relationship growth etc. That's all fine and dandy, but as most works in most genre's do all that stuff as well I won't really address that side of this because those ideas can be found in a wide variety of genres.

There's a less positive spin on this whole concept of escalation, which others have dubbed 'shounen power creep' but I think it can be applied to lots of things as well.

The argument runs something like this: the need for the next adversary or challenge in a series to be more powerful than the last, sometimes by an order of magnitude, inherently limits the kind of the story you can tell and eventually collapses into ridiculousness when everyone has powered up multiple times.

In the end it makes no difference that the next bad guy is tougher than the previous one because the cast have gotten stronger too (or if they haven't they can train) and so the sense of progress is nothing more than a moving of goalposts. It doesn't make any real difference, besides say, showier visuals or simply having 'bigger' guys.

Moreover, the endless cycle of escalation is a predictable formula that feels route at this point, but as these works are designed to be endless money making machines there's no reason to ever stop them (besides financial difficulties) and so the escalation continues unchecked.

Sequels, whether they may be movies or games or whatever, have this problem too. Bigger, better, more baddass (to quote Cliffy B) is not always better, more exciting or more interesting. The need to continually top everything you did last time is a spiral that just leads to sillyness. I certainly prefer my battles to be complicated and tactical, as opposed to simply on a larger scale.

Of course, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a series that's steeped in spirals, escalation and the desire to top itself. It goes from the smallest to, quite literally, the largest possible confrontation over the course of the series. The difference here, I feel, is that they're doing it to make a very deliberate point and they also have a natural end point - there series ends after 26 episodes. It peaks at exactly the correct point. Still, even with a series as carefully constructed as TTGL the escalation doesn't necessarily make anything better. The first confrontation in episode one makes far better use of scale, and is far more exciting and interesting, than the galactic showdown of the finale. Which just goes back to my earlier point about battles being exciting and interesting for reasons other than scale/escalation.

Which isn't to say that every series and work well handle escalation, scale and power creep in the same way. I'm sure some do it far, far better than others. I just think that there's nothing inherently positive about escalation.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Yuru Yuri ♪♪ 6:

The first half of this episode was about Mirakurun. And by about Mirakurun, I mean it's about Kyouko's obsession with Mirakurun, and by extension, with poor Chinatsu who looks like Mirakurun. I'm not sure I like when they are re-treading stuff from the first season. The return to Comiket was quite a bit less amusing the second time.

The second half of the episode was just everybody sitting around having random conversations. Despite this, it was still better than the first half of this episode. Other than the fake Mirakurun OP, this episode was in general not as good as previous ones this season. It feels like they're losing some steam and running out of material to adapt. I hope they're just saving the good stuff for the end of the series.

 

[firehawk12]

@Firehawk
Lina Inverse?
She's not less iconic than those name, and such like Gutts.

Ahh, Slayers. That's fair - I didn't think of it because it's a bit before my time as an anime watcher.

 

[madp]

Aren't you too busy calling people morons in IRC where you think they won't know because they don't hang out there? Next time you're going to call me a moron, grow a pair of balls and say it to my face instead of behind my back.

It's fine, you have a right to be upset. I have no problem owning up to what I said--I called you a moron in IRC. Let's just handwave all of the unhelpful rhetoric about courage and whatnot and get to the heart of the issue: I've had a pretty negative opinion of you for the past couple of weeks, and this confrontation is the result of letting my emotions seethe instead of properly engaging you over a statement that you made about me that genuinely and deeply offended me.

You may recall a recent post that you made that, in essence, implied that I was lying or otherwise maintaining a false pretense as to the reasons that I enjoy shows in the mahou shoujo genre targeted at children but dislike those targeted toward otaku. I was alleged as having a "holier-than-thou" attitude on the subject used as a mask to hide the fact that I actually enjoy such programming solely due to the presence of cute little girls. The post had a highly vindictive tone and I was genuinely hurt by its presumptuousness and the various unsavory implications about my personal character (namely that I intentionally misrepresent the reasons that I enjoy what I enjoy and that my true reasons for enjoying something are nefarious or somehow deviant.) Everyone here has been very accepting of my somewhat unorthodox takes on certain programming, and for someone to swing wildly in the other direction--not simply in disagreement with my opinion, but a personal assault on my character--came as a shock to me.

I do know that I responded to you, but I realize now that I was angry and dismissive and that no further dialogue between us occurred on the subject. Had I been more level-headed and engaging, perhaps we could have come to an understanding before my emotions got the better of me, but I took entirely the wrong approach and allowed my resentment toward you to build. I haven't exactly been interpreting your posts in the most positive light since then, and a post that you made last night in the course of the shounen discussion wherein it felt as though you were attacking the people who enjoy the genre rather than merely the genre itself reminded me a little too much of the kind of presumptions I'd felt that you'd previously made toward me, and I went too far in expressing my discontent in the private (well, not really, apparently) environs of IRC when the topic of discussion spilled into there as well.

I don't actually think you're a moron--I had an entirely positive opinion of you before the incident that I took offense to. I've just been feeling hurt, and I dealt with it in an improper and negative way. I understand if this explanation doesn't ease your offense toward me, especially when all of this may appear to be a gigantic attempt on my part to deflect blame or play the victim--you can tell me to fuck off or whatever and I won't mind. But, if you have any interest in salvaging some kind of peace or respect between the both of us, I think that this can all easily be resolved. I'm genuinely sorry, and I'm ready to hear whatever you have to say.

 

[Crash Station]

I mean a character that can be iconic and last 10-20 years as a manga/anime.

Oh, I see. Closest one is Maka from Soul Eater I guess. Does female Ranma count?

 

[Jex]

Well atleast in regards to Brotherhood, this was a deliberate choice in regards to tone as the manga itself is more lighthearted compared to the first anime adaptation. So in this case Brotherhood is being more accurate to the manga. That's also something that marks how different the first adaptation was in that it made the manga into more of a tragedy than it actually was.

I believe other's have said similar things about the adaptation, although none of them have phrased it quite like you have. In that case it simply highlights how much better the first adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was and how that original team should be praised for altering the tone of the material and, in turn, improving upon it.

 

[Crash Station]

I see that you've tied 'escalation', as a concept, into story-progression, character growth, relationship growth etc. That's all fine and dandy, but as most works in most genre's do all that stuff as well I won't really address that side of this because those ideas can be found in a wide variety of genres.

There's a less positive spin on this whole concept of escalation, which others have dubbed 'shounen power creep' but I think it can be applied to lots of things as well.

The argument runs something like this: the need for the next adversary or challenge in a series to be more powerful than the last, sometimes by an order of magnitude, inherently limits the kind of the story you can tell and eventually collapses into ridiculousness when everyone has powered up multiple times.

In the end it makes no difference that the next bad guy is tougher than the previous one because the cast have gotten stronger too (or if they haven't they can train) and so the sense of progress is nothing more than a moving of goalposts. It doesn't make any real difference, besides say, showier visuals or simply having 'bigger' guys.

Moreover, the endless cycle of escalation is a predictable formula that feels route at this point, but as these works are designed to be endless money making machines there's no reason to ever stop them (besides financial difficulties) and so the escalation continues unchecked.

Sequels, whether they may be movies or games or whatever, have this problem too. Bigger, better, more baddass (to quote Cliffy B) is not always better, more exciting or more interesting. The need to continually top everything you did last time is a spiral that just leads to sillyness. I certainly prefer my battles to be complicated and tactical, as opposed to simply on a larger scale.

Of course, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a series that's steeped in spirals, escalation and the desire to top itself. It goes from the smallest to, quite literally, the largest possible confrontation over the course of the series. The difference here, I feel, is that they're doing it to make a very deliberate point and they also have a natural end point - there series ends after 26 episodes. It peaks at exactly the correct point. Still, even with a series as carefully constructed as TTGL the escalation doesn't necessarily make anything better. The first confrontation in episode one makes far better use of scale, and is far more exciting and interesting, than the galactic showdown of the finale. Which just goes back to my earlier point about battles being exciting and interesting for reasons other than scale/escalation.

Which isn't to say that every series and work well handle escalation, scale and power creep in the same way. I'm sure some do it far, far better than others. I just think that there's nothing inherently positive about escalation.

The way to remedy this is something that plenty of shounen authors already do; introduce the big bad relatively early. There is a clear point they want to get to and presumably, won't move past that point.

Anyway, when I say escalation, I don't necessarily mean the battles are physically bigger or causing more explosions or stuff like that. More in-depth strategies are also part of that description, as is the case with stuff like Jojo or Flame of Recca. The level of tension increases, but the actual physical levels or property damage remains static.

Also, I completely disagree that episode 1 of TTGL is more exciting than the final battle. Yes, there's a better sense of scale because they don't have to take into account humanity looking up at something that is light years tall, but that could probably be chalked up to the artificial dimension, where the laws of physics clearly do not apply, so perspective might not either.

Edit: Also, the concept of "training arcs" are quickly becoming an outdated aspect of the genre.

 

[cajunator]

Well I for one do enjoy shows based on the fact they contain cute girls.
Us Cajuns we like dem cute things cher.

 

[Crash Station]

So how bad is Ga-Rei anyway(manga)? I've heard from a a couple of different places that it's extremely pedestrian compared to the prequel and not really noteworthy on any level.

I kind of liked it. I don't want to call it outright bad because it isn't. I really think underwhelming is the best word to describe it, especially after the above average Zero.

 

[Defuser]

Sword Art Online ep 8

Hey there little bunny, sorry I have to kill you for your meat.

Goddamn! Were you packing that much meat in your little body?!

Hey guyz, I'm suspecting Kirito is actually a amnesiac Kayaba Akihiko. He must be using hax to grope despite her wearing a chestplate.


Asuna is totally showing a waifu side by cooking her for man Kirito.

 

[duckroll]

Sword Art Online second season ED theme announced: "Overfly" by Haruna Luna.

 

[Jex]

Sword Art Online ep 8

Goddamn! Were you packing that much meat in your little body?!

Look at that ugly, shiny, cheap looking background art. That's the kind of bad background art that plagues far too many shows today.

 

[Articalys]

Sword Art Online second season ED theme announced: "Overfly" by Haruna Luna.

Same composer, OP1 singer, and ED2 singer as Fate/zero, huh? Musical coincidences are everywhere, I suppose.

 

[duckroll]

Same composer, OP1 singer, and ED2 singer as Fate/zero, huh? Musical coincidences are everywhere, I suppose.

Aniplex gotta pimp their artistes!

 

[wonzo]

Look at that ugly, shiny, cheap looking background art. That's the kind of bad background art that plagues far too many shows today.

Unfortunately for us, not every anime can have backgrounds as good as Sengoku Collection.

 

[Kurita]

Nothing's Carved In Stone doing the OP for the upcoming Zetsuen No Tempest anime.
Guess I'll watch it then. (yeah, I'm a fanboy but hey). They already did Kingdom's OP fyi.

 

[OceanBlue]

Um... I'm just gonna come out and say it.

What in the FUCK?? Okay, I love Hnnnngazawa Kanna's seiyuu voice as much as the next mustache, but she can't fucking SING to save her life! Meanwhile they have Mizuki fucking Nana in the cast, and she is not only a super popular idol, she can really fucking sing!! Like, her singing voice is both gorgeous and powerful. The fact that they have Hanazawa Kanna singing the end and NOT Mizuki Nana is positively baffling.

Maybe Mizuki Nana singing the ED would've cost a lot more? Mizuki Nana is a superstar. Her singles get tons of sales compared to regular anime singles. That's the only reason I can think of that they wouldn't have her do it.

 

[duckroll]

Maybe Mizuki Nana singing the ED would've cost a lot more? Mizuki Nana is a superstar. Her singles get tons of sales compared to regular anime singles. That's the only reason I can think of that they wouldn't have her do it.

Or, the more obvious conclusion is that Hanazawa is playing Aika, and the ED is meant to tie into the character's theme. The song is called "happy endings" after all, which is a major plot theme for the character in the manga.

 

[Jex]

Unfortunately for us, not every anime can have backgrounds as good as Sengoku Collection.

They could if they tried harder, but they'd rather not try.

 

[Cameron122]

Watching Vision of Escaflowne episode 4 right now. I love the mecha designs so much.

 

[Femmeworth]

Why Battle Shounen is an awesome genre

Doesn't make me look at battle shounen much differently, but I respect the effort. Makes me a bit more interested in checking out One Piece eventually. I don't think it's an inherently flawed genre. I do think the deck is stacked against the long-running shows, though.

 

[Jex]

Doesn't make me look at battle shounen much differently, but I respect the effort. Makes me a bit more interested in checking out One Piece eventually. I don't think it's an inherently flawed genre. I do think the deck is stacked against the long-running shows, though.

Of course, that's not something that's only true in anime. It's the same in any medium. The longer your work runs the more likely you are to:

a) Run out of good ideas
b) Recycle old stuff
c) Completely lose track of what made your work unique in the first place
d) Have characterisation slip
e) Lose the plot
f) Decline in quality

 

[OceanBlue]

Or, the more obvious conclusion is that Hanazawa is playing Aika, and the ED is meant to tie into the character's theme. The song is called "happy endings" after all, which is a major plot theme for the character in the manga.

It didn't occur to me since I don't really know anything about the show. That definitely makes more sense.

 

[BGBW]

Legend of the Overfiend.

Oooh. Nothin' like a bit of bare cheek on a Sunday morn.

Spoiler

Also flip his head upside down and it's still a face!

As a Brit I realised it was sacrilege that I hadn't watched the the UK's favourite anime series in its entirety.

Overall it's funny and yet slightly worrying how tame this show seems compared to the gore and filth of today.

As an aside, I liked how they decided to go with really upbeat music for the credits after the final part. You know, just after we've been told the whole of humanity (despite the Demon of Destruction seemly staying still in one place) will be destroyed. Happy days are here again!

Would SDBurton like it? No. The lesbians are killed
Would Cajun like it? No. Unless there's a twisted side to him that finds the blood of his enemies being spilled HNNNNNG worthy.
Would HRH like it? Yes.

 

[Kazzy]

Doesn't make me look at battle shounen much differently, but I respect the effort. I don't think it's an inherently flawed genre. I do think the deck is stacked against the long-running shows, though.

Agreed. I think that shows within the genre are typically structured in such a way, that they're always going to be incapable of sustaining themselves for long periods.

Maybe there are exceptions to the rule, but I'm yet to find one, that doesn't fall under its own weight of expectation.

 

[Jex]

Legend of the Overfiend.
As a Brit I realised it was sacrilege that I hadn't watched the the UK's favourite anime series in its entirety.

For starters we refer to it as Urotsukidoji.

More importantly, did you watch the British compilation movies or the actual series? There's many important differences.

 

[BGBW]

For starters we refer to it as Urotsukidoji.

More importantly, did you watch the British compilation movies or the actual series? There's many important differences.

Oh I am sorry. I'll make sure not to make that mistake again. And I watched the first three OVAs. Birth of the Overfiend, Curse of the Overfiend and Final Inferno.

 

[Jex]

Zetsuen Preview Trailer Thing

Like most trailers created by the anime industry this short piece doesn't really tell you anything about what the work is about. Unlike say, Hollywood style-trailers which are obsessed with telling you the complete story of the movie, Japanese anime trailers seem to more concerned with highlighting the 'mood' of the show.

Which is a very long winded way of saying that this trailer doesn't really give me anything to work with in terms of anticipating the show. All I can really say is that it has some characters in it, and some action, maybe. At least the character designs look as nice in the show as they did in the promotional art, which is always nice to see.

There are, however, a few dubious shots in the trailer that I'd like to call out. There's some fairly standard pieces of visual language that infect anime and this is an example of one of them:

This particular one is usually associated with a girl being all "tsundere". I imagine that isn't the case at all but it's just the unfortunate connotation of such a pose.

This is is the 'folded arms, bossy Haruhi pose' that's found favour since the airing of Haruhi Suzumiya.

This is the 'slow pan up to fanservice-y shot of blushing girl'. There wasn't really anything in the trailer to suggest that the show would contain such moments so it just felt a little out of place. I guess they wanted to highlight that this show has cute girls and cute boys.

In much better news, dramatic umbrella attacks! Now this I can really get behind.

In short: anime.

 

[cajunator]

I am pretty sure everybody has watched part of urotsukidoji out of sheer morbid curiosity.

By the way if you want to watch a really :cajun light hentai watch Magical Twilight.

 

[Jex]

Oh I am sorry. I'll make sure not to make that mistake again. And I watched the first three OVAs. Birth of the Overfiend, Curse of the Overfiend and Final Inferno.

Okay, I just had to check because most releases, whether it be as the three OVA's or as Urotsukidōji I: Legend of the Overfiend had a lot of the terrible material edited out, so it obviously makes quite a big difference as to your opinion on their awfulness.

 

[Neo C.]

Kuroko no Basuke 21: Hyuga is teh man. He dies for the rest of us.

 

[BluWacky]

I sleep and I miss autumn 2012 listing time. I ALWAYS miss listing time.

Looking forward to

Psycho-Pass - I know they're only drip-feeding us information, but this looks damn cool. Maybe it's not going to be revolutionary or anything, but as long as it's decently animated and the story is solid it should be good.
From The New World - this looks bloody awesome. Good animation! Interesting premise! Creepy music! Very hyped for this.

Will try

The Monster Next To Me - I actually think this is going to be pretty good, but I don't like to get my hopes up about shoujo anime because they're usually so poorly animated and lose the charm of their manga in the adaptation process. Hopefully this will prove me wrong.
Kami-sama Kiss - I like Akitaroh Daichi as a director but I'm not sure about the quality of the story here; as I mentioned elsewhere I think it suffers from damsel in distress syndrome.
Tempest of Isolation - I will admit to reading the first couple of chapters of the manga and I don't think it makes any sense at all, but I am a Bones disciple so... the second PV gave me a much more positive impression of the production values so I'm sure one episode won't kill me.
K - I have absolutely no idea what this is about, and it looks perhaps a little bishie-heavy, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I think the PVs are pretty excellent for this show.
Say "I Love You" - see note on Monster Next To Me above, except this is a serious show so will probably be even worse.
Magi - I love duckroll hype, and occasionally the TBS/MBS shounen adaptations are entertaining for at least 13 episodes or so.
Robotics; Notes - I hated Chaos;Head and I have forced myself to watch 6 or 7 episodes of Steins;Gate but keep being put off by all the otaku mannerisms of its characters. I want to give this a try anyway, but I'm not hopeful.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - I am purely taking other people's word for it that this series is crazier/more exciting than most shounen fight shows.

Might watch the first episode but won't tell anyone except you lot I did

Wooser's Hand-To-Mouth LIfe - probably terrible, but I always like the idea of cute mascots that are actually horrible, and I quite like supercell's music, so...
Haitai Nanafa - (what does that title even mean) - I expect this to be shit, but I like the whole Okinawan religion thing.
Little Busters! - I think I may have admitted before in this thread that I loved Air - not so much for the melodrama of its story, but I thought it was beautiful to look at. I've really disliked what I've seen of all the other Key anime but I keep hoping that one of them will measure up. I know Little Busters won't be that show, but I'll give it a try just in case.
Lychee De-Light Club - I know nothing about this other than it's supposed to be gross, so why not?

Abort abort abort

Jormungand 2 - didn't watch first season
Spin Beast Battle Monsuno - toy anime
Hayate 3 - don't think the show's funny
Gintama - don't think the show's funny
Hidamari Sketch - didn't watch other seasons
Armoured God Princesses - fanservice toy anime
Bakuman 3 - didn't watch other seasons
Te-kyuu - moeblob tennis
Ixion Saga - otaku sucked into game, no thanks
Aikatsu - Idol Action! - please stop aspiring to be idols, little girls of Japan, why can't you aspire to be Ringo Sheena or at least a singer-songwriter like Angela Aki instead?
My Girlfriend's the Pet of Sakura House! - I read the title, that was enough
Girls und Panzer - I read the title, that was enough (I have no interest in military stuff)
Super Transforming Gear Gyrozetter - toy anime?
Medaka Box 2 - one episode of the first season was mooooore than enough for me
As Long As We're In Love, It Doesn't Matter That He's My Brother, Right? - I read the title, that was enough
To Love-Ru Darkness - fanservice anime
I Want Love, Even Though I Suffer From Delusions Of Grandeur! or whatever the hell you want to translate chuunibyou as - I read the title, that was enough
Code:Breaker - I have long got "dull generic shounen" out of my system
Btooom! - I have long got "dull generic shounen" out of my system - also why is everything so dark and ugly in the PV?
The (New) Responsibilities of a Student Council - didn't watch first season
Scarlet Shards 2 - didn't watch first season
Initial D 5 - didn't watch other seasons
Bum-Biting Insects - ummmm no
In The Middle of The Blue World - looks rubbish, basically

 

[duckroll]

But Zetsuen isn't "isolation"... ^^;

 

[sonicmj1]

I guess I'll put out a fall season list.

From the New World
Psycho-Pass
Robotics;Notes
Chuunibyo demo Koi ga Shitai
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Space Bros

EDIT: I might try Magi, but for some reason I'm not hopeful.

 

[PdotMichael]

Do we some list wars again?

I have only 6 animes in my to watch list at the moment.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
Girls und Panzer
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb
Jormungand: Perfect Order
Robotics;Notes
Shinsekai yori

maybe I will add one or two animes but I don't wanna watch more than 6 or 7 animes.

 

[Caesnd]

But Zetsuen isn't "isolation"... ^^;

Yeah, that would be 絶島 or 絶縁, depending on which type of "isolation" I think... "Zetsuen" is just a name in this case.

 

[BluWacky]

But Zetsuen isn't "isolation"... ^^;

Bollocks! -_-

 

[duckroll]

Bollocks! -_-

Welcome to the wonderful world of we-make-up-cool-construct-words-with-kanji-because-we-are-hipsters.

 

[Kurita]

I have a hard time following different animes. I dropped Zetman, Kuroko (I read the manga so...) and focused on Space Brothers and Sakamichi No Appolon.

I'll try to watch these animes though :
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Magi (the manga is so good)
Zetsuen No Tempest (OP by one of my favourite bands, and I wanted to read the manga.)
Maybe Btoom.

 

[Caesnd]

Welcome to the wonderful world of we-make-up-cool-construct-words-with-kanji-because-we-are-hipsters.

Well, they sort of use the Kanji readings to imply the "end of the world" theme, don't they?

 

[Pooya]

for me;

Psycho-Pass
and probably From The New World,

everything else look uninteresting or just bad to me. maybe after positive impressions :3

 

[Kurita]

Zetsuen No Tempest english subtitle is The Civilization Blaster, I guess they will use that if they export it.
They already do it for the manga (in France at least).

 

[Kazzy]

I have a hard time following different animes.

There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, I'm pretty much incapable of watching shows concurrently.

If I intend to watch a couple of shows, I have to bookend what I view, preferably at the end of a series/arc. It only makes sense for me to do otherwise, when I intend to keep current with the schedule, but that's a fool's errand.

I'd much rather build up a backlog. Binging is much more conducive to an enjoyable viewing experience, at least in my opinion.

 

[duckroll]

Zetsuen No Tempest english subtitle is The Civilization Blaster, I guess they will use that if they export it.
They already do it for the manga (in France at least).

I don't think that makes for a great title on its own though. Maybe calling it just "The Tempest" would be better for the English market. After all, the story has a lot of.... *cough*.... direct influence.... from The Tempest.

 

[Jex]

I don't think that makes for a great title on its own though. Maybe calling it just "The Tempest" would be better for the English market. After all, the story has a lot of.... *cough*.... direct influence.... from The Tempest.

Oh dear lord, really?

Also, what did YOU think of the PV?

 

[Firemind]

I watch battle shounen for the realistic breast physics.

 

[cajunator]

I watch battle shounen for the realistic breast physics.

That is a very noble reason to watch it.
I watch it for the sakuga personally.

 

[Jex]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - I am purely taking other people's word for it that this series is crazier/more exciting than most shounen fight shows.

Don't just take our word for it, go and watch the Jo Jo's Bizarre Adeveture OVA's right now!

 

[BGBW]

Battlia Spiritia Swordia Eyeas - Sorry. Anything that resorts to just slapping on "ia" to the end of words is worthless. You're not going to sell me on your card games Sunrise.
Kamisama Kiss - I want to imagine it as a typical American sitcom where the God of the week just pops in through the door and the audience cheers. Now I'm in despair because I know it won't be like that.
Ixion Sage DT - I used to be pretty good at DT. Made a toy train for my GSCE project. Anywho the show sounds like the plot to Super Mario Bros with all the keywords changed.
Magi - If I don't watch this Duckroll threatened to stick his Fantasia hat up my bum so I have no choice in the matter.
Robotics;Notes - Another semi colon. Another club on the brink of being killed off. Another set of confidential notes left on a school hard drive.
Psycho-Pass - TBA
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb - I still haven't finished the first series. I guess it's just too 'cute girls doing cute things' for me to cope.
Busuo Shinki - Tamagotchi Vs Digimon
Hayate no Gotoku! - Well the fact sheet tells me nothing. I've got too many blurbs to read to bother researching things on my own.
Chou Soku Henkei Gyrozetter - No! I'm not going to watch your marketing ploy. Bugger off!
Monsuno - My ol' University helped in the discovery of DNA. Luckily it had no part in the making of the concept of this show otherwise I may have had to start pretending I never went there.
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun - If every time the post of someone else is accidentally mailed to me and I thought that person was proposing that we be friends then I would be friends with my whole street. This concept is freaky and I want no part in it.
Aikatsu - More cards!? At least use something else like POGs.
Sukitte li na yo. - Full stops in the title; how crazy is that? As for the summery; eh.
Little Busters! - There's only so many things you can say about highschool based shows. Especially ones that tell you bugger all about what they are about. He goes to school with friends! Wow.
Onii-chan Dakeko Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne- - if this was a PDF I could at least copy and paste these titles. This is another incest show isn't it?
To Love-Ru Darkness - No point in watching something if I haven't seen the first lot.
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! - Eh. it's KyoAni KyoAnus so I have to give it a chance.
Seitokai no Ichizon - More of a show I haven't seen.
Tempest of Insulation - First half of summery: Thriller with a bit of witchcraft. 2nd half of summery: WORLD APOCALYPSE!

I'll do the other half later.

 

[BluWacky]

I hope duckroll will excuse me for taking inspiration from his Twitter feed for this post.

I suspect very few people in this thread are aware that the long-forgotten film adaptation of the Hell's Angels manga - which always looked pretty cool and was animated by Madhouse - was finally released on Bluray in Japan earlier this month. I don't know whether it had any festival screenings in the West, but the Bluray has English subtitles, which is nice. I've not seen the film but I know that there's always been a lot of buzz around it from an animation perspective and I was very surprised to discover it was getting released at all as I actually thought the film had never been completed! You can see the first 10 minutes or so (untranslated) here, for reference.

As far as I am aware, though, no-one bought the damn thing. I don't remember it even showing up in one of Articalys's sales tracker posts. I had a look on CD Japan a week or so ago and it appeared to be sold out so I thought it had done okay (turns out Amazon still has copies though!). The disc was only £30 or so - significantly cheaper than a Ghibli Bluray - and there was truly a lot of hype in sakuga circles about this film. And still, nobody bought it.

I realise that the film would never have sold anything anyway, but you'd have thought that it might have sold a thousand units or so as a curiosity at such a reasonable price. Of course the film didn't have the benefit of a proper theatrical release like other "minor" anime films like Niji-iro Hotaru and Nerawareta Gakuen this year, and it's a good four years old now, but I'm still a little surprised at just how far under the radar this seems to have gone. I realise that "sakuga fandom" or whatever is a niche of a niche, but Hells is kind of a big deal to fans-of-a-certain-age I'd have thought!