-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Summer Anime 2015 |OT| SharingMana
- Thread starter TUSR
- Start date
- Status
ThatChairMan
Member
I like to think that Ayumi caused everyone's rationality to collapse. That is literally the only reason I can justify all the bullshit that happened in that one episode.
Basileus777
Member
Ushio to Tora 9
This was pretty terrible. I don't mind MOTW when done well, but this preachy moral lesson of an episode certainly wasn't.
This was pretty terrible. I don't mind MOTW when done well, but this preachy moral lesson of an episode certainly wasn't.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Right now, the only stuff I'm sure of for my list are Shirobako, Yuri Kuma Arashi, Euphonium, and Baby Steps.
I'd be happy with a win for either Shirobako or Yuri Kuma.
Basileus777
Member
I don't see Yuri Kuma having much of a chance. It wasn't widely watched and had a pretty mixed reception even from Ikuhara fans.
NCR Redslayer
NeoGAF's Vegeta
Kinda makes you wish neogaf would have a drafts you can save to.
I agree. The show keeps having characters undergo very radical changes in their characterization in ways that don't even appear to make sense. Yuu was a freaking asshole who loved abusing his powers in EP1, but come EP2 he has already mellowed down for some reason and was okay with helping his new "friends" (read: people who set him up and made him join their team of power hunters), and then he does the exact same thing a second time during EP7. The girl that later tried to attack Ayumi with a box cutter looked like she was resenting her, but the show suddenly having her go all yandere came absolutely out of nowhere, as was the boy suddenly getting really pushy with Ayumi. I mean, I don't even remember either of them having showed up before EP6...
It's like the show pretends to be character-driven, but the truth is the whole cast is prey to the plot making them do things that don't even make sense given the way the audience has previously seen them act. Next episode promises to shake up the status quo more than EP7 did, so hopefully things end up working out in the remaining four episodes.
Hellwarden
Member
The clear front runner for anime of the year, and anime of the century is Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid.
This is the only image of the show that wouldn't get me banned.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
It had pretty good reception from Episode 4 onward, as far as I can recall. It's definitely hurt by not being seen as widely. Still a few months for everyone who hasn't seen it to watch the series.
I figure it's a longshot, but I hope that it can at least get pretty high up on the list.
names2hard4you
Member
I was thinking the same. I mean as soon as people started posting theirs, that was the first one to come up in my head.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
It will probably be 9 or 10 on my list. It was alright but there were far better shows.
The ice skating episode was really good, though.
I dunno what's going to win. The top 3 will probably be Shirobako, JoJo and something airing in the Fall. Shirobako because lots of people here liked it and JoJo because lots of OT people watched it.
Aaronrules380
Member
Why? Why would they do that? This sounds so dumb on so many levels
Gate 9
The reason for the divorce seems kind of dumb but I sort of understand. What I don't get is
Also still enjoy seeing the reactions from the girls as they see new things in Japan.
The reason for the divorce seems kind of dumb but I sort of understand. What I don't get is
Japan letting people shit on them like that. Maybe that is what the author wants because of his political agenda.
Also still enjoy seeing the reactions from the girls as they see new things in Japan.
Hellwarden
Member
So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
Huh, I thought it was from last year. It would definitely take second place in my own list after Shirobako.
I hope not. Death Parade was great and is definitely in my anime of the year list.
So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
To be fair, death parade is something much more suited for a western audience.
I know I'll be buying the BD when it hits.
That said those sales numbers are a travesty
So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
The clear front runner for anime of the year, and anime of the century is Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid.
This is the only image of the show that wouldn't get me banned.
Hopefully Valkyrie Drive shies away from the horrid melodrama that Senran Kagura, in the games at least, liked all too well. In my opinion, shows like these are best when they fully embrace the absurdity of their premises rather than trying to force drama where it isn't really necessary.
PshycoNinja
Member
Your lie in April is the frontrunner for me for AotY this year and I really don't see that changing. SNAFU, Orimonogatari, Soma and Plastic Memories are close behind it.
names2hard4you
Member
Holy shit. This is why we keep getting moe-crap instead of nice things. What the fuck Japan.So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
If you expected Death Parade to sell you were fooling yourself.
CheapJuice
Member
Gate - 09
The reactions and the comparisons to 'modern' things by the visitors are great.
For all I care they can spend the rest of the show just traveling across the world and react to absolutely everything.
The reactions and the comparisons to 'modern' things by the visitors are great.
For all I care they can spend the rest of the show just traveling across the world and react to absolutely everything.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Lupin III will win, I have little doubt. It's a franchise popular enough to attract the attention of a large audience, including people who don't watch much anime, it airs at the end of the year and continues into the next, thus being fresh on everyone's mind, and it's aimed for mainstream appeal with little niche elements that would turn people off. Plus it's likely to be good, which does help.
Sales numbers have absolutely no correlation with quality, or anything except the fickle and unpredictable tastes of the narrow otaku disc-buying market in Japan. Examples of shows that didn't even sell enough to be ranked include Kaiba, Kaiji, Monster, and Paradise Kiss; and shows lsuch as Aoi Bungaku and Flowers of Evil did little better. If you hope for the shows you like to be represented at the top of the sales charts, you're only going to be disappointed.
Completely forgot that your lie in April was this year :S
Man, this year wasn't half bad in terms of quality, huh? I mean, it was not 2011, but damn
Oh, I had somehow forgotten KimiUso happened this year. That's definitely going into my list, since it got me to care about the cast without doing so in an overly forced or random way, and it was really emotive at times.
I also liked how the show didn't overly rely on a set-up I'm seeing quite often in anime, where there's build up to a dramatic event that gets defused in a second either by some character making a joke/blunder, or somebody crashing into the conversation and ruining the mood. I just can't stand seeing such a cheap way of brushing things aside get used so often... I mean, I enjoy drama and comedy equally, but abruptly interrupting one with the other every five minutes gets tiring rather quickly.
I didn't expect it to sell well but seeing the number is still depressing.
2015 has been pretty bad. very few good shows and even the good shows tend to have terrible art direction and backgrounds.
dunno what happened to anime this year. at least lupin looks good in all ways.
Actually they did that a lot of times. The show could have been so much better if they toned down the slapstick in the right places.
I really must finish Yurikuma (stalled at episode 3? I think?). Then I'll have finished SOMETHING this year. Aiming to get that and Death Parade watched at least.
Hmmm. I will admit that I've never really got the appeal of Lupin, mostly because I dislike how much of a perve he is. I also don't really know, in this day and age, how well known it is as a franchise. Cagliostro is no longer the only Miyazaki film easily available like it was in the late 90s, and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is now an unfortunately bizarre footnote in anime history...
I am coming at this at a negative viewpoint, however; I was under the impression it was only really popular still with hardcore people who know the difference between the red jacket and green jacket series.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Wait if it wasn't for you who was it that wanted me to watch Blackjack.... oh wait it was nintendoman.
Don't trust nintendoman. I'm joking of course, but Blackjack had that annoying little girl character that got way too much focus and brought down what could have been a good show.
nintendoman58
Member
Only show that I've truly loved this year is Shokugeki no Soma. So if I'm voting for anything to be number 1, it's that.
Ushio and Tora I've also been enjoying, mostly due to it being an enjoyable 90s esque shounen. The show hasn't done anything AOTY-worthy yet though. We'll see how that goes down during the show's third cour next year.
Akagami no Shirayukihime is a cozy little shoujo show, but that's pretty much all it is. Nothing truly amazing or bad has happened in it. It's just one of those shows that are just kind of there.
But we'll see how Fall goes down. I'm hoping Comet Lucifer turns out to be a decent mecha. Because we sure haven't gotten one of those this year yet.
Black Jack is a good show! One of my favourites. If you can get past Pinoko, there's some really heartfelt stuff in Black Jack.
But man...every time I think about Black Jack reminds me that I had a watchbet with Hito for him to watch that for me to watch Doremi last year. He made to episode 3 and seemed to be rather content with it. As I was with Doremi.
And then well, you know.
I still need to get on with finishing Doremi too.
Ushio and Tora I've also been enjoying, mostly due to it being an enjoyable 90s esque shounen. The show hasn't done anything AOTY-worthy yet though. We'll see how that goes down during the show's third cour next year.
Akagami no Shirayukihime is a cozy little shoujo show, but that's pretty much all it is. Nothing truly amazing or bad has happened in it. It's just one of those shows that are just kind of there.
But we'll see how Fall goes down. I'm hoping Comet Lucifer turns out to be a decent mecha. Because we sure haven't gotten one of those this year yet.
Black Jack is a good show! One of my favourites. If you can get past Pinoko, there's some really heartfelt stuff in Black Jack.
But man...every time I think about Black Jack reminds me that I had a watchbet with Hito for him to watch that for me to watch Doremi last year. He made to episode 3 and seemed to be rather content with it. As I was with Doremi.
And then well, you know.
I still need to get on with finishing Doremi too.
Turin Turambar
Member
Bureau of Proto Society
That was cheeky as hell.
It's clear, Trigger only is good doing short stuff.
That was cheeky as hell.
It's clear, Trigger only is good doing short stuff.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Ushio and Tora 9
Meh. Didn't feel this episode. I mean every episode so far has been decent to good but this one was mediocre. Can't expect gold every time I guess.
Meh. Didn't feel this episode. I mean every episode so far has been decent to good but this one was mediocre. Can't expect gold every time I guess.
Jex
Member
I have to agree with you here. It's been pretty disappointing so far.
Charlotte-7
Where do I begin with this? Well first let me start off saying the cliffhanger was absolutely fucking pointless and feels cheap in how it was handled and resolved. They should have just ended the previous episode with Ayumi's death and moved on from there. So now Yuu is essentially in shock and being, by all accounts, lifeless.
I think the director was going for the notion that Yuu was in his own world and ignoring everybody else, hence the series of jump cuts. I think it would have been more effective with actual match cuts instead of the psuedo-match cuts presented early on. There's also some trite saying from one of the guests at the funeral and it's supposed to be presented as essentially noise for Yuu. It's fine as it is although I think a better director would have overlayed multiple 'speeches' together or possibly things such as white noise, so as to make it clearer that it's just going in and out.
Now this was a big misstep. It's not so much that Yuu is crying but rather it's placement is completely out of place. The earlier parts of the episode and later parts portray Yuu in shock but here he starts breaking down and crying. Usually when you depict a character in shock, it's for them to have a big cathartic moment later on when they reflect on the person that's gone or whatever traumatic event. By having him cry here, it undercuts that moment down the road and also hurts the presentation of Yuu just shutting down. Crying is a form of release and so this scene should not have been used at all.
This was just a poor choice on the director's part as comedic jokes like this feel inappropriate especially when the main character is having a serious emotional crisis. It reflects poorly on both the staff and characters. Jojiro can't stop being a stupid fanboy even when his colleague is having a crisis. Not to mention the joke has been overplayed and isn't really funny anymore.
No. Just no.
I do like the focus on the ramen noodles as a way of not only portraying Yuu's state of mind but also as a tool to depict time progression. It shows that Yuu has been holed up in his room for a long time now and that he's just going through the motions. He's doing the bare minimum to stay alive. It's a good way of visually contrasting his life with Ayumi and now. I gotta wonder though whether Japan's mental health systems are as poor as they're portrayed in anime. Like nobody tries to send him to counseling or to see a therapist despite his obvious need. I wouldn't have been shocked if he tried to commit suicide but everybody just lets him sink away.
I found it funny how he had a balance of over $2000 this episode while the previous one he was freaking out about roughly $40 bucks when they were buying groceries.
Anyway I thought seeing Yuu lose even his tenous grasp on reality was ok until he started laughing like crazy when playing the videogame. This was overdone for a couple of reasons; the first being that I imagine it would freak out the arcade owner. Imagine a guy going into an arcade and while playing a shooter and starts laughing his head off screaming, "Die! Die! I'll kill you all". The second is that while I understand that it's supposed to play up the idea that he's enjoying himself, even something like a basic smile would have gotten the point across. Instead it's presented as hammy with stuff like him holding the gun sideways and screaming like a lunatic. I also couldn't help but wonder whether there was some criticism of using video games as escapism entertainment.
Gotta love PA Works blatantly shilling their own works during a dramatic episode.
I'm not sure I think the show did a good enough portraying Yuu as a full sociopath and all he needed was a push. There was the truck incident in the first episode but episodes 2-6 significantly toned that down to the point where this comes off as somewhat extreme. I'll get to this a bit later but part of this is due to the pacing in that his moral collapse feels a bit too hard in certain areas. For example being willing to stab someone's eye out with a dango stick is vastly different in level than getting into bar fights and defending yourself. Something like that should have been built up more and possibly done at the end of the episode so the audience has more time to reflect on it.
I would like to add though that this was a really well done shot visually in that depth of focus is used so the audience takes the perspective of the beaten gangster whose attention is focused on the dango stick.
Now this is bullshit. I can understand her following him if this had been going on for a couple of days but instead we're talking weeks. She's been following him for weeks and only steps in now? I can understand Japan's hatred of drugs but he was about to stab someone's eye out. If there's some sort of imaginary line, it got crossed a long ass time ago. The only way this makes sense is if Nao did an awful job tailing him or if she's just as crazy as he is. Oh not to mention how she wouldn't appear invisible to the other gangsters as she can only be invisible to one person at a time. So despite her tailing him for weeks, none of these guys thought to grab her or even acknowledge her.
I think this was a good way conceptually of ending the episode and start to reel Yuu back in but I feel this would have been much more effective as a two-parter. The first episode delving into Yuu's collapse and the 2nd with Nao trying to stabilize him. As it stands, too much of this episode feels rushed in delivery. I have to see the followup but the resolution is a bit too sudden.
Remember kids if you use cocaine you're no longer human. Just dump some stew on the floor and eat the stew off the floor like an animal, you piece of shit.
I blame my selective memory. At least the emotive scenes managed to get me more than Charlotte and its crappy imouto setup.
Slapstick comedy is okay in small doses (mostly depending on the show's tone and theme), but I absolutely loathe when it's used as a diabolus ex machina in order to difuse just about any situation that could lead to actual plot development.
At least other overdone generic anime tropes such as characters going PWAAAH!" after drinking a beer aren't used for the sake of derailing non-comedic situations at will, which is why I kind of tolerate them even if I whince a bit whenever such scenes show up in things I'm watching.
Admiral Woofington
Member
The thing that bothered me the most about that episode is that all it took to get him back from a borderline-murdering bender is to eat a fucking omelette.
it reminds me of that bad I'm gonna say trope where shit like this happens
"I am going to murder everybody in this room because my wife is dead!"
"Is that what your wife would want?!"
"Oh... you're right. She would hate that. Wow, thanks I'm changing my life around"
it reminds me of that bad I'm gonna say trope where shit like this happens
"I am going to murder everybody in this room because my wife is dead!"
"Is that what your wife would want?!"
"Oh... you're right. She would hate that. Wow, thanks I'm changing my life around"
Hellwarden
Member
Oh, I was fully aware that Death Parade was in all likeliness, going to bomb.
Doesn't mean I couldn't hope I would be wrong.
Prison School 8
Hello censors, my old friend
I've come to hate on you again...
No mercy for traitors....if they nearly got some.
I disagree with that. Much of the series has been focused around food and it being a way of tying people together. For example it's not so much about the omelette itself but the memories Yuu shared with Ayumi. Yuu hated the pizza sauce but he put up with it as a way of supporting his sister. In many ways it's the most direct connection he has with her now. Also note how in episode 6 a big bonding and happy moment for Ayumi was when everybody was at the table eating the porridge.
Turin Turambar
Member
So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
Jesus, that's bad. I didn't expect more than 3.5K, but... damnit Japan!
Yep, I think this has been the weakest year in the last four or five years?? It has been so weak that I don't know if OPM will be enough to fix it, even if I suppose for this point that it's going to be a good adaptation.
Hell, in Spring and Summer seasons I started more series than usual, thinking I had to have an open mind because sometimes they are stuff that seems mediocre and in the end it's the sleeper hit of the season. It didn't work out, in fact I think it had the opposite effect and it convinced me of how desolate is the actual industry landscape.
I just watched the first episodes, because the insistence of a friend, with hints that it was more special than it seemed. The twist was good, I confess, I totally didn't see it coming. But yeah, even with that, the series isn't good enough to stick around.
Boulevard Bob
Banned
So, looking up Death Parade's sales numbers, it only sold around 1,000 units.
It sold roughly the same numbers as World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman.
Makes me really sad, but I can't say I'm surprised.
Admiral Woofington
Member
It still is ridiculous in the sense that here he was, a murdering junkie picking fights with thugs in the streets and all he needed was an omelette. And then the next episode
everything is back to wacky adventures with small hints of what happened
Things like smells and foods have a way of triggering memories for people. Individuals can recognize smells and bring up memories long forgotten. I'll have to see how the show handles the material going forward but I'm more than fine with the concept of someone eating something and it triggers memories of a happy time for them, causing them to mellow out. I do think the pacing was wonky in this episode but I do like some of the ideas trying to be presented even if the execution is woefully lacking.
I think it's better than someone just giving a peptalk.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Are you aware of Osomatsu-san? Also I suggest watching Shounen Hollywood; it's a good show with pretty decent art direction.
It's popular enough to get a show made for the Italian market.
Sure, Lupin III isn't as popular with avid anime fans as more recent popular franchises like Attack on Titan, but many people who have some exposure to anime over the years are at least aware of the franchise and likely willing and interested enough to check it out. The only other TV anime this year that could rival it in mainstream popularity is Jojo.
Iron-Blooded Orphans has more of a chance of being a decent mecha series than Comet Lucifer. Also the first episode of Gundam the Origin came out this year, and while that's not exactly mecha-focused, it is part of a mecha series and is good.
The big problem with Trigger is that Imaishi and Imaishi Jr. are bad,, so of course something by Yoshiura (or Yoshinari) is going to be superior.
- Status