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Summer Anime 2015 |OT| SharingMana

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I think going that far is blowing the thing completely out of proportion. They're weird, forced and make no sense in a moe SoL show
guest-starring zombies
, but they aren't the kind of scenes that'd make me shy away from recommending the show to others. Rather, they're the kind of scenes that I feel would be horribly awkward for somebody to walk in to, since they don't represent the show at all.

Well, it's more that I'd genuinely would recommend this show as "Hey look at this, it's cute girls but they have
to fight zombies"
but with the fanservice bits the barrier of entry is definitely raised. The fact that there isn't a lot of it is the reason why I'm blowing it out of proportion as it also could've been left out and the show would be able to bring the same point across.

In a way it's kinda like Ninja Slayer with Nancy but that's a story for another day, it's worse in Gakkou tho.
 

cajunator

Banned
I mean soul crushing or not, there's plenty comedy in there and it works quite well. There's some pretty funreactions and reaction faces, too.

Kare Kano gets really heavy at times, too, but as long as you aren't looking for a lighthearted RomCom I'd say either are recommendable just fine.

Kare Kano can occasionally turn on the faucets, but mostly its just slapstick insane comedy and cute situations. Gainax was really special back then.

FANTASISTA DOOOLL…….. =)

Welcome to Fantasista Doll, it’s about a young high school girl named Uzume Uno. When she was really young, she was a professional card game player and had won a renowned tournament; though upon entering high school, she has given up playing cards. Uzume is our main protagonist, she’s sweet, kind, absolutely sincere and will protect her dolls no matter what.

So what the heck are dolls? Oh that’s easy, imagine a card game, now imagine the cutest, prettiest, most beautiful girls you can, good good, now every time you decided to play this card game, you would summon your girls and you can battle with them, they can have different outfits and all sorts of things. Yeah, Dolls live inside of cards and can be summoned at will. A large portion (all of it), has the Dolls saying “master” a lot, if you hate that stuff, this isn’t for you.

So what the heck is Fantasista Doll really about? Uzume is gifted cards from a stranger and a device to use said cards. These cards contain her 5 dolls, Katia, the super cute, super little blue girl, Shimeji, the eccentric pink haired girl, Akari, our gothic lolita (sorta) who is expressionless, Madeleine, the large breasted, level headed/tactician girl with purple hair and lastly Sasara, the “leader” of sorts with golden hair. They all fight with different weapons, Akari: Yo-yo’s, Katia: Colored Dango (I think: Think Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6), Sasara: Fencing Sword, Madeleine: Polearm and Shimeji: CQC. The plot makes little sense; there are two organizations, one you can consider very good and the other very gray. Uzume is somehow in the center of it all, and this gray organization wants her cards (dolls). The over arcing plot may be a little cliché, the way all the fights are handled are most definitely cliché, if you hate seeing “friendship rules all” types of resolutions, Fantasista Doll is not for you; I on the other hand love seeing “friendship rules all” in anime so this was fantastic for me. Expect to see Uzune stand up for her dolls, expect to see a lot of tears, expect to see some really good combat and expect to fall in love with Fantasista Doll (seriously).

The cast of characters is thankfully limited. Each “Master” has 5 dolls and in the anime, we witness around 3-4 “Masters” that Uzume fights. The other “Masters” are taken care of by a support character named Kagami. We also have Komachi, Uzumes friend who is always ready to give Uzume advice, Manai, Uzume’s friend and creator of the Card Club and of course, Kagami. The plot of Fantasista Doll intertwines all the girls stories with Uzume in a well thought out manner. I honestly wasn’t really expecting twists in the story to happen, but once I hit episode 7-8, I was like, “Oh crap, that’s that and she’s that and oh my gao, what just happened?”. It may seem simple in comparison to other anime, but I still found it very gripping.

I’m also too sensitive and got a little too emotional for Fantasista Doll, but “friendships rule all” is so touching and Uzume is great. (I don’t expect others to get a little teary eyed watching this)

The Art: As you would expect, it’s very cute. The entire art style is super, I’m talking, super adorable; though a little on the “bloomy” side. The girls and Dolls are all drawn well, the lines are smooooooth and the quality of the art doesn’t take a dip the closer we get to the last episodes, so it’s a good mark from me. Animation is a little different. The first couple episodes have the flashiest animation in battles/fights. Near the end of the series, certain attacks are just cut/quickly shown, either to reduce time or just not draw out the intricate details; it’s a noticeable change from the earlier episodes too, unfortunately. That’s probably the “biggest” issue with Fantasista Doll, though it’s only an issue if something like that matters; I didn’t care so it didn’t affect me, I was way too busy squeeing and being too happy.

Music: FANTASISTA DOOOOLL, yes, that’s the OP and yes, it’s very addicting. OP is beautiful, both the song and the animation that goes along with it, super gorgeous art work is involved and you would/should feel bad for skipping it if you do, because hearing FANASISTA DOOOOLL is too much fun. The ED is just as good, being pretty. The music that accompanies both OP/ED is also really nice to listen to, happy, cheerful and beautiful vocalists. About the BGM: just like the anime, most sounds/music is very cute, very happy, very cheerful, and very magical; yes, magical, perfect word to describe it. Though there are some sad moments and things like that, not much, so a lot of happy involved with Fantasista Doll.

Overall, Fantasista Doll is amazing, I love the concept of the card battle (even if it’s been to death before), I really liked Uzume and her Dolls (even if Sasara is a bit hidoi), I liked the twist(s) that occurred and I most definitely liked the entire package that Fantasista Doll brought, would watch again if a new season was in the works without a doubt. Will probably watch again just because it’s super fun.

Squeeeeeeee You final;ly watched it!
Now enjoy the opening stuck in your head foreverrrrrrr :D

I don't know about any bullying. Maybe you were set straight when duckroll sent his minions to corner you.

I've seen the footage ;)

Naaaaafe! Where you been?

I kind of love the Himouto Umaru-chan opening.

OQ7y1fp.gif

Its definitely top 3 this season

Looked Wixoss up, is it similar to cute girls doing things with a Madoka type of twist? (Only ask because Madoka is a recommendation). I can understand the complaint you had though, Fantasista has the issue of not knowing what it wanted to "be" exactly, but I guess I just didn't mind that as much as you did, loved it a lot.

Wixoss has its cute moments (Bataruuuu!) but its really strange and dark. You might not be too familiar with Mari Okada's writing, but she puts characters through hell and despair. Its not cheery like Fantasista Dolls. Characters lie and cheat and hate. But its such a trainwreck that its kind of fun to watch.
 
My phone browser keeps crashing when I attempt to type up my thoughts on the fall TV season so I'll have to do that later, but I do want to caution Yuru Yuri fans to be wary of the upcoming third season as it has completely different staff from the first two seasons. People should watch the most recent OVA, which was done by the new team who will be handling the third season at TYO Animations, to get a sense of how it will likely turn out.
Maybe they listened to the critics and the result will be closer to the previous seasons ?

it's not like the first two seasons of Yuru Yuri were any good, why would the third be different?

^^^^^bad taste detected^^^^^^
 

javac

Member
You know, when I'm currently watching a show I don't like listening to the OP and ED by itself until I finish the show or the OP/ED changes, because I don't want to be over exposed to it I guess, so it doesn't get old or loses its impact at the beginning/end of each episode, plus its a nice reward to finish an episode and to be greeted with a fantastic song but fuck man I can't do it...I can't stop listening to the ED for Space Cobra. It makes me feel so good. Give it a listen if you want, I can't stop shuffling and smiling while listening to it. I wish it was longer :)

Link
 

JulianImp

Member
Well, it's more that I'd genuinely would reccommend this show as "Hey look at this, it's cute girls but they have
to fight zombies"
but with the fanservice bits the barrier of entry is definitely raised, for no reason at all since they aren't needed for the show.

In a way it's kinda like Ninja Slayer with Nancy but that's a story for another day, it's worse in Gakkou tho.

The fixation on lingerie Miki is weird, but it doesn't cross the fanservice boundary IMO. It isn't like Monogatari where I recommend the series wholeheartedly but feel forced to say that it has pretty blatant fanservice in it, or like KLK where fanservice is actually an integral part of the series' themes.

Hell, even that Kotoura-san scene with the MC's grandfather was a lot more squick-inducing and felt way more out-of-place than lingerie Mii-kun.
 

Ascheroth

Member
Whew, was to lazy to post impressions last week, so here's everything combined:

Ushio to Tora - 06
Hell yes. I love giant-ass creatures and the Ayakashi certainly fit the bill. And this episode about fighting said giant-ass thing actually had character development for Ushio, Tora, Nakamura and the little boy who's only relevant for this episode. I love this show.

Soma - 18
I'd eaten before watching and i STILL got hungry. Damn. That said, the Karaage mini-arc comes to end. Fun little breather arc outside Tootsuki that also introduces another Elite Ten seat. Next arc is going to be intense and tomorrows episode should have one of my favorite scenes:
Shokugeki no Soma is a cooking manga

Symphogear GX - 06
THIS SHOW! I was slightly dissapointed at the end of episode 5, where it looked like project Ignite didn't change their outfits at all. But nope, Symphogear writers know what they do. This episode delivered on all fronts. Action, upgrades, drama, songs, everything. Great episode.

Durarara!! x2 - 18
That crazy stalker is doomed. You don't mess with Shinra. Celty is going to mop the floor with him. On another note: it's nice seeing Mikadeo interact with others on screen, really highlights how 'off' he currently is. Not that I mind. He should go full psycho, over-shy Mikado is boring anyway.

Rokka - 06
They were only talking half the episode, but damn was it tense. Adlet got really cornered there, huh. I still have no idea how they would have activated the barrier, assuming everything we heard is true. I also have no idea who the culprit(s) could be,
aside from Nashetanya
. It also helps a lot that there's not a single brave who isn't shady in one way or another.
The whole mystery-stuff is way more interesting then them fighting the demons, so I'm glad that it seems the show keeps going in that direction.

God Eater - 04
Great episode. The 'team' needs a lot of work... And that part with the survivors at the end was brutal.The way the little girl looked at Lenka when they were driven out after surving the travel... Damn.
Lenka is also still a pretty cool protagonist.

Gangsta - 06
I love the worldbuilding and character development in this show. It feels so natural instead of the hamfisted infodumps that are common. I even like the flashbacks, although I usually hate them (thanks Naruto, One Piece, etc...)

Overlord - 06
Eh, I'll be honest. Every part that isn't Momonga and subordinates wrecking shit is way too slow and boring. Didn't like that part with the adventurers in the LN, and the anime doesn't cut anything, so yeah.

Kuusen Madoushi - 06
...I don't even know why I'm still watching this. No, I know: I need my generic action/fantasy/shool/romance/harem LN adaption fix. And I'm a sucker for flying islands.
But this show is so bland and bad. Not Mahou Sensou bad, though. I disliked every single character in that show, whereas I actually like some of the characters here.
The biggest problem I have is the action. Seriously, it looks bad. Animations are floaty as hell (pun not intended), completely lacking any sense of weight. Then there is the constant switching between 2D and 3D character models. And my biggest problem: The soundtrack is garbage, or at least the usage of it. You have that supposedly dangerous and epic battle between Kanatas trainees and hundreds of those 'Devil Beetles'... And the soundtrack sucks every bit of tension out of the scene.
 

cajunator

Banned
Humanity Has Declined 5

Watashi's met a new character named Pion who is a cat girl. She seems straightforward I guess. The faries have fled due to EM waves being harmful to them. Watashi and Assistant are lost in a huge maze and have been attacked by slimey creatures. Pion comes and saves the day.

Good episode.

All hail Pion! Not enough fanart of her I have to say. She deserves love!

Valkyrie Drive looks like it's going to be sooooo gooooooood!!!!!

I really admire your enthusiasm for anime
*supersqueezes Arcy

My phone browser keeps crashing when I attempt to type up my thoughts on the fall TV season so I'll have to do that later, but I do want to caution Yuru Yuri fans to be wary of the upcoming third season as it has completely different staff from the first two seasons. People should watch the most recent OVA, which was done by the new team who will be handling the third season at TYO Animations, to get a sense of how it will likely turn out.

Really? Didnt know that. I really dug the flow of the first two. I can deal with change since it still looks the same, but hopefully the direction isnt off putting. Though I dont see why it would be.

I got an anime in the mail today (+ some other movies):

I see Kino. You have done a noble and wise thing here. Perhaps one of your best life decisions.
 
The fixation on lingerie Miki is weird, but it doesn't cross the fanservice boundary IMO. It isn't like Monogatari where I recommend the series wholeheartedly but feel forced to say that it has pretty blatant fanservice in it, or like KLK where fanservice is actually an integral part of the series' themes.

Hell, even that Kotoura-san scene with the MC's grandfather was a lot more squick-inducing and felt way more out-of-place than lingerie Mii-kun.

You could kinda compare it to that weird scene in episode 8 of Humanity has Declined with the "fake assistant", it's not a super big deal but it definitely was a bad move to put it in, that scene in the shower in the last episode of Gakkou was the worst of those scenes though, I'm mainly confused by the inclusion of that.
 

Arcadius

Banned
I really admire your enthusiasm for anime
*supersqueezes Arcy

Yaaaay. Wait until the rest of the write ups are posted, oh man, I lost myself so many times watching anime, it's kind of incredible I'm not dead yet from squeeing and smiling and gasping at all the greatness.... =)
 

Cornbread78

Member
Ore Monogatari ep 17-19
Seriously, can this show get any cuter. Between the Christmas. birthday and Baby episodes I'm all done on cuteness. It's amazing that they can continually keep up the cuteness through almost 2 seasons now...
 

Arcadius

Banned
Ore Monogatari ep 17-19
Seriously, can this show get any cuter. Between the Christmas. birthday and Baby episodes I'm all done on cuteness. It's amazing that they can continually keep up the cuteness through almost 2 seasons now...

You can never be "done" on cuteness, continue being cloaked and draped in cuteness, let it make its' passages over your soul, let it fill you with gleam and happiness, cuteness is the ruler of all that is great!!! *bows*
 

cajunator

Banned
Oh man, don't destroy my hope here. The synopsis sounded pretty good.

Infinite Stratos was actually pretty entertaining and fun for a harem with no forward movement with anyone, lol.

I have Absolute Duo on my list to watch in the future as well.

Infinite Stratos is terrible stuff but several characters famously make it tolerable and my preferences of these are well documented. As a story and harem show it is wholly forgettable aside from those character moments.
I literally cant remember what happens in IS2 except episode 5 which mofu fans never forget!

So Akame Ga Kill was the most watched Toonami debut in the channel's history?

The Esdeath Effect

Some new screens for the Date A Live movie.

OLeNxUa.jpg


Just over a week to go now. The main DAL site's running a countdown.

GODDESS RETURNS
*kneels with respect to Kurumi

Yaaaay. Wait until the rest of the write ups are posted, oh man, I lost myself so many times watching anime, it's kind of incredible I'm not dead yet from squeeing and smiling and gasping at all the greatness.... =)

If I could survive it, Im certain you can! Anime is pretty wonderful though yes. Aside from Japan having an absolute mastery of what makes something cute, the stories and characters are often able to push boundaries that other mediums are seemingly scared to explore. Im not talking about the sexual stuff but the killing off prominent characters, not so happy endings, and making characters make very uncomfortable decisions and sacrifices without a happy fairy tale outcome.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Oh, I forgot to mention Takeo offering his
his baby sister to Suna as a bride
was hilarious.

Seriously, when does Suna get his girlfriend?


Infinite Stratos is terrible stuff but several characters famously make it tolerable and my preferences of these are well documented. As a story and harem show it is wholly forgettable aside from those character moments.
I literally cant remember what happens in IS2 except episode 5 which mofu fans never forget!

It definitely wasn't great, however, I don't remember hating it or feeling uneasy with it like I got with Shuffle!
 
School live - 06

This episode served as a better send off toward megu-nee than anything else.

Now the question is : where do they go from there ?
Next episode will prove whenever this anime can sustain his setting properly or not.
 

cajunator

Banned
You can never be "done" on cuteness, continue being cloaked and draped in cuteness, let it make its' passages over your soul, let it fill you with gleam and happiness, cuteness is the ruler of all that is great!!! *bows*

Nope you cant! I promise you that!
It can become a lifestyle!

You know who else liked cute things?

NO. Leave my buddy Arcy alone goddammit

She hasn't even shown up yet

I suppose when she does it will look like this -

17f.gif


however that image translates into ratings, also the dub is pretty bad, can't wait to see the voice they give her since Leone sounds like Joan Rivers

When she does she will certainly be what keeps them watching!
Maybe its the catgirl? Or the dark tone and brutality?
 

javac

Member
Nana - 21

Yikes, had some Koi Kaze flashbacks. "Please don't do this..." ah fuck you did it.

I really liked Koi Kaze, watched it on a whim totally blind a while back, didn't know what to expect and I really liked it. Totally out of my comfort zone for what I usually watch but I'd say my little experimentation paid off and I enjoyed the series. Nana looks interesting too :) Been eyeing it for a while but looking at your impressions, again not what I was expecting.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Gakkou Gurashi! Episode 6:

Well, so the truth is once again revealed, not that it was hard to discern in this case.
Yes indeed, it turns out that Megu-Nee is indeed a delusion of the stage five bug fuck insane mind of Miki. Also, we have learned what happened to the real one, oh dear, I think we have seen why Miki snapped in the first place. Though there might be more here as the roof is currently clear of corpses, so that is going to be some lovely imagery. Anyway, I know they are trying to spin her delusion as a positive because of the circumstances to the point of tediousness but I am still not buying it. I think I would prefer to have a companion that isn't ready for Arkham Asylum.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Gakkou Gurashi 06

I don't really know how I feel about this show anymore, at first I was pleasantly suprised with the way the main premise was handled but as time went on the show kinda dropped off for me.

The fun thing about a
zombie story are the encounters, the life and dead situations, never knowing what will happen next
but since we've spent a good part of this show on flashbacks there isn't any tension to the story, at the end of the day we all knew from the get-go what the outcome off all these flashbacks was going to be.

I also don't like the fact that they've bothered to give attention to
Megu-nee's situation and Yuki's crazyness
, I didn't feel like they needed to explain it, just leaving it in as a thing that "assumed" by the viewers and the non-yuki cast would've been fine, It's not that the "reveal" had any impact on me at this point, this is kind of a minor point though. The only real complaint I have with it is that It would've been nicer if the show came up with some other ways to showcase Yuki's genuinely interesting character, after the first episode it has all been just this one obvious gag.

Since we've finished the flashbacks of our main cast I think that we'll get some actual story progression in the next few episodes which is nice, I hope we'll get some actual tense scenes now, the part in the library was my favorite scene just for that reason.

Unfortunately, the fact that this is only happening at the halfway point is something that will always drag the entirety of the show down with it, why did we need three full episodes about Miki-san anyway?

The answer to that is in the manga the Miki arc was not a flashback as the anime decided to start later for some reason.
 
I really liked Koi Kaze, watched it on a whim totally blind a while back, didn't know what to expect and I really liked it. Totally out of my comfort zone for what I usually watch but I'd say my little experimentation paid off and I enjoyed the series. Nana looks interesting too :) Been eyeing it for a while but looking at your impressions, again not what I was expecting.

Some of those brilliant moments in Koi Kaze where Koshiro's inner struggle is portrayed really well aren't dissimilar from what's occurring rather often in Nana. I mean not like those monologues etc. are anything special, it's rather the execution thereof is much, much higher than the average.
 

kewlmyc

Member
Not sure how I feel about Comet Lucifer. The scriptwriter is from Xam'd, the director is of Infinite Stratos/Macross Frontier fame, and the series director's only major directorial credit is Absolute Duo.

Actually nevermind, I think I do know how I feel about it.

That's a mediocre anime stew right there.
 
Not sure how I feel about Comet Lucifer. The scriptwriter is from Xam'd, the director is of Infinite Stratos/Macross Frontier fame, and the series director's only major directorial credit is Absolute Duo.

Actually nevermind, I think I do know how I feel about it.

I'm looking forward to the soundtrack at least.
 

cajunator

Banned
Literally, the only anime I couldn't even finish 1 episode of. Watching a group of brothers basically gang rape a girl in the first episode was enough for me to shut it off to never look back again. Complete trash.

I dont call many shows garbage but that show really is. It is horrible.
 

Mandelbo

Member
Literally, the only anime I couldn't even finish 1 episode of. Watching a group of brothers basically gang rape a girl in the first episode was enough for me to shut it off to never look back again. Complete trash.

...sounds weird. My very narrow knowledge of the show led me to believe it was just some generic shoujo with vampires in it.
 

cajunator

Banned
So how good of a Studio is Tezuka Productions?

It seems like they've done a lot of old school anime like Astro Boy for instance.

Tezuka is like the God king of animu. He started it all. His studio is of massive importance!

...sounds weird. My very narrow knowledge of the show led me to believe it was just some generic shoujo with vampires in it.

Its fucking terrible. Very abusive and hateful to the poor cutie in it.
But she goes along with it. Who knows why.
Honestly I dont really want to even discuss that show so Im stopping here.
 

jonjonaug

Member
Literally, the only anime I couldn't even finish 1 episode of. Watching a group of brothers basically gang rape a girl in the first episode was enough for me to shut it off to never look back again. Complete trash.

I dont call many shows garbage but that show really is. It is horrible.

You guys missed out.

...sounds weird. My very narrow knowledge of the show led me to believe it was just some generic shoujo with vampires in it.

It's based off of a series of drama CDs and otome games (games for girls where you control a female character and have your pick of various men to get with). All of the guys are various degrees of sadistic/yandere/crazy and continuously abuse the main character. They're also all vampires and suck her blood a lot. "Rape fantasy" may be a strong/loaded term here, but that's sort of what it is. The game apparently did enough to get a sequel, so there's an audience for it. Anyway it's very bad and also completely hilarious.
 

ibyea

Banned

Literally, the only anime I couldn't even finish 1 episode of. Watching a group of brothers basically gang rape a girl in the first episode was enough for me to shut it off to never look back again. Complete trash.

Its fucking terrible. Very abusive and hateful to the poor cutie in it.
But she goes along with it. Who knows why.
Honestly I dont really want to even discuss that show so Im stopping here.


Wow. o_O Especially that link.
 
Breh.

Tezuka Productions.

Tezuka.

Tezuka.

He is pretty much the most important figure in Japanese animation and he laid down the foundations that are still used today.

Maybe I should of worded more clearly, but I've seen some of their old anime like Astro Boy and a little bit of Black Jack. I was just wondering how much of their modern animation keeps up currently.

Maybe I should of said Modern Tezuka Productions as of right now to be more clear because I know how highly important Osamu Tezuka is.
 
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