• 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 2016 |OT| Makes Me Happy When Skies Are Grey

Status
Not open for further replies.

e_i

Member
So Yen Press is putting a omnibus version of Spice and Wolf collecting all 17 volumes. Numbered and limited. $150. I'm a book collector, so I ordered right away.
 
Apparently Kameda was on MP100 #8. Rewatched the episode in lieu of the missing Danganronpa episode and maaaan its some fantastic stuff. The episode is just a never ending barrage of cool shit. If I wasn't so JoJo biased I'd say this episode put MP100 over JoJo for me...but I'm JoJo biased.

Here
are
some
examples.

This part by here by Yutapon is just absurd. It puts his Concrete Revolutio and One Punch Man parts to shame.

Really this is the best case scenario we could've got when we heard who the staff was on Mob Psycho 100. From the first PV it looked impressive but its blown past that, good shit. Episode of the season? Where tf are duckroll and narag to shill this
HEAR HEAR
 
Hunter x Hunter '99 Episode 22

9kqtkum.jpg
DgC9rZt.jpg

Do people actually crack their knuckles like this? wtf leorio aren't you a doctor
 

Qurupeke

Member
It's funny that Mob Psycho 100 has been getting better and better and other shows like Orange are taking such a huge dip in quality. Even DiU had several rough episodes, but I suppose it's a long show, so it's a bit more understandable. And considering Bones' output this year, I'm surprised that Mob Psycho 100 is the show that seemingly got the most attention from them.
 
Yeah MP100 has been improving as it goes on. Interested to see how they go on from now after this spectacular episode.

JoJo has had two or three weaker episodes, but weaker as in being a 7/10 instead of a 9/10. There have also been four or five stronger 10/10 episodes imo.
 
It's funny that Mob Psycho 100 has been getting better and better and other shows like Orange are taking such a huge dip in quality. Even DiU had several rough episodes, but I suppose it's a long show, so it's a bit more understandable. And considering Bones' output this year, I'm surprised that Mob Psycho 100 is the show that seemingly got the most attention from them.

It's not particularly funny. Mob Psycho 100 is a well scheduled production, with an ambitious director and a lot of top-notch animation talent involved. Meanwhile, Orange is a very poorly scheduled production and that shows as the staff increasingly struggle to get an acceptable product out on time. Proper scheduling and production staff who can move things along smoothly are key to maintaining a consistent production quality.
 

Sölf

Member
Higurashi #5-8

Schrödinger's animu. This current arc has confused me. Are they dead? Are they alive? Is this Lost? I have no idea what's going on anymore, but I'm hoping that's supposed to be the case and I haven't missed anything important.


It's pretty nutty, and despite being confused by the current arc I'm really enjoying it. If Umineko has a similar vibe then I'll definitely make a note to check it out because I love stuff like this.

Enjoy the ride. As for Umineko, I like it even more than Higurashi, but it is quite different. And yeah, read the novels (1-4 is already available on Steam). The anime skipped many things and only animated the first 4 novels, but 5-8 never got animated so if you watch the anime you get no conclusion at all.
 

Line_HTX

Member
Sölf;215368552 said:
Enjoy the ride. As for Umineko, I like it even more than Higurashi, but it is quite different. And yeah, read the novels (1-4 is already available on Steam). The anime skipped many things and only animated the first 4 novels, but 5-8 never got animated so if you watch the anime you get no conclusion at all.

Damn, I was thinking of watching this but I guess the adaptation wasn't the same as in Higurashi.
 

Paltheos

Member
I hate summer wars just like i hate my 5 centimeters a second
Pretty but mostly nothing.

That's not fair. Summer Wars at least give yous an adventure of sorts. I mean, it's not super exciting but it's a perfectly serviceable movie. 5cm Per Second is the boringest thing ever. It's filled with longing and melancholy over a preposterous situation. If they missed each other so much, use some damn phones. If they didn't, then they'd just move on with their lives. What people are actually like this? Why didn't anyone in their lives talk to them about their problems? Basic questions aren't even addressed in the movie, and it's impossible for me to take any of it seriously.

I didn't understand it at the time but I think I understand the movie now. From the focus on the sadness of the characters and the bright but mellow colors, I think it's just a movie for feeling. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't have to for its intended audience. I have a tough time believing most people would enjoy it, but I'm told its demographic is female.
 

Sölf

Member
Damn, I was thinking of watching this but I guess the adaptation wasn't the same as in Higurashi.

I still haven't read the Higurashi Novels, but if I remember correctly even back then people said the anime wasn't a good adaption (it probably also cut quite a few things). As for the Umineko anime I can definitly say it's not a good adaption. And yeah, the main problem is definitly that you only see the first 4 novels animated and the anime basically ends with a giant reveal which never gets resolved in it - because there is nothing more to it.
 
So Yen Press is putting a omnibus version of Spice and Wolf collecting all 17 volumes. Numbered and limited. $150. I'm a book collector, so I ordered right away.

Welp...there goes $160 of mine....but this is about even to buying the 13 novels I'm missing (around $10-$12 per novel) so I guess it works out for me.
 

T-Rex.

Banned
Bit by bit it unravels, and then you'll find what you need in the 2nd season. It's very worth it.
Sweet, I was kind of worried that the payoff wouldn't be satisfying but happy to read that isn't the case.

Sölf;215368552 said:
Enjoy the ride. As for Umineko, I like it even more than Higurashi, but it is quite different. And yeah, read the novels (1-4 is already available on Steam). The anime skipped many things and only animated the first 4 novels, but 5-8 never got animated so if you watch the anime you get no conclusion at all.
I made the mistake of ignoring similar advice and watching Tsukihime (before checking out the VN) so I won't do that again, ha. I googled it and they both have "When They Cry" in the title, are they connected?
 

Arcticfox

Member
So Yen Press is putting a omnibus version of Spice and Wolf collecting all 17 volumes. Numbered and limited. $150. I'm a book collector, so I ordered right away.
Damn it. I waited for the longest time for this to happen and just gave up and started buying the books one at a time. I am only up to book 4, but I hate re-buying stuff.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Taboo Tattoo ep.9
Go figure, the best episode so far (no princess/loli /yuri shit) is a backstory episode about the memories of a dead guy. At least the story makes more sense, but yeah, we'll see how cringe-worthy next week is again..
 
Legend of the Galactic Heroes 024


Where Yang Wen-Li destroys all of an orbiting defense mechanism by running massive blocks of ice into them at high speed because he dislikes what the mechanism stands for and the fallacy of believing one to be safe because of some untested new technological trump card.

Interesting arc with the coup de'tat inside both the Empire and the Alliance, one that shows the deep seeded troubles within the Dictatorship and the Democracy. With the Nobles of the Empire you have the truly disgusting and completely self-serving nobles that the respectable Admiral Merkatz can't reign in and hardly wants to protect up against the vastly superior forces of Reinhard who simply wishes to replace the current brand of tyranny with his own. But looking at Braunschweig and his nobles with an outdated worldview who would destroy their own allies to escape, nuke their own civilians to prove a point and are deeply in love with the idea of honorable deaths in battle (for the sole purpose of honor and being remembered. They are terrible soldiers.) even at the cost of their crews lives and Reinhard's brand of tyranny looks a lot less amoral. Sure you're just replacing the aristocracy and rule by Divine Right with a kinder one with a pretty face, but it is better. Reinhard doesn't really have pure intentions but his utter hatred for the current ruling class is an easy rallying point for the citizens of the Empire. As history will show, people will easily behead the current tyrant and applaud the next one at any convenience, thinking that this time for sure things will change for the better. What will be interesting is to see if Reinhard can remain as noble as he is now once absolute power over billions of people falls into his hands.


Speaking of that, on the side of the Alliance you have the well intentioned but naive Greenhill heading up the Alliance coup. Unbeknownst to them, they are playing right into Reinhard's hand by occupying themselves with their own coup so they cannot have a unified strike on an Empire with it's back turned. Why result to a coup? Well lets face it...the Alliance is falling apart. What the Alliance wants to present itself as is the righteous opposition to the cold-hearted Empire. A free democracy that will stand against tyranny without stooping to its level. Turns out, that's actually really, really hard. When you are up against an absolutely massive militaristic society with required military service, intense nationalism, a populace stripped of power akin to serfdom, the tactical genius of people like Reinhard, Kircheis, Oberstein and Mittermeier, and waging a war for centuries for voidless space - trying to fight on equal terms becomes extremely difficult. The problems of the Alliance run deep. A crumbling infrastructure due to an over-need on the military leads to a distinct lack of expertise in nearly every field - engineers, scientists, architects and even historians, which Yang wanted to be. A society that is slowly decaying because it cannot keep up with its own budget in fighting this never ending war. Politicians that take under the table money and are more concerned with their positions then the goodwill of the Alliance. Heightening pressure between hardcore right-wing war hawks and anti-war liberals (gee this sounds familiar.) At the center of all this you have Yang Wen-Li, a genius tactician no doubt, but someone who would be more fit to be a philosopher then an Admiral. He quips at the leaders of the coup de'tat that while the idea of getting rid of political corruption on paper is certainly nice, its also incredibly short-sighted. Within weeks of declaring control over the capital, the coup begins to heavily militarize the police, crack down on free speech and ends up in an unfortunate massacre involving police and anti-war protestors leading to the death of a popular anti-war speaker and Yang's friend. Their solution is to fight despotism with despotism, like Reinhard. They will be quick to claim that it shall only be until the Empire is defeated and its a noble cause, but that is an even greater level of naivety. When you claim to be the moral high ground for humanity and you start to slip into despotism to beat despots, you've already lost. A war that has been going on for centuries will suddenly be crushed by a new leadership, and after that the government will willingly decide to loosen the grip it has had on its people. Its painfully obvious to Yang where this road leads to. After the defeat of the coup, the head of the government Job Trunicht who went into hiding finally emerges. Trunicht is everything Yang despises. A smoothtalking politician with a fake smile who knows exactly how to manipulate public perception. Knowing a military juncture would fail, Trunicht once uncharacteristically was opposed to a deployment. When it turned out to be a bad idea, Trunicht was able to reap the successes of his opposition despite being a well known war hawk. While Trunicht isn't a big fan of Yang, he can at least hide it. Yang can't. While Yang is incredibly intelligent about historical subject matters and very opinionated about the military, he struggles at speaking or saying the right thing. He greatly dislikes speeches and most politicians. When trying to cheer up Greenhill's daughter the best he can do is "Don't lose heart." I'm going to guess that like Reinhard attempting to keep his morals and nobility high with absolute power, Yang will have to struggle with his growing alcoholism. Yang loves to drink as a way to relieve his stress, and the man has a lot of stress. He likes tea mixed with brandy, but slowly his drink is becoming less tea and more brandy. Yang had to take down a friend to preserve the image of a man he despises. Despite the victory, Yang has gained nothing, save for the arrival of Admiral Merkatz and his crew after their defection at the loss of the Nobles.


Again, LoGH is no War and Peace but hell if it isn't an interesting treatise on a number of complicated issues. I can't think of another anime that even attempts it. One thing I don't get is the specifics of how Ale Heinessen escaped the Galactic Empire's internment planet on ships of ice. How does that make sense scientifically? What did they do?
 

Sölf

Member
I made the mistake of ignoring similar advice and watching Tsukihime (before checking out the VN) so I won't do that again, ha. I googled it and they both have "When They Cry" in the title, are they connected?

It's the same author and both are murder mysteries.
 

zulux21

Member
HNNNNGGG THATS A LOT BUCKAROONIES

Im selling my laptop i dont give a fuck.
Edit: on second thought. How much would i save by buying all the individual books.

really it's about equal. it's 17 volumes and light novels run around $10 each. you can get some of the spice and wolf ones cheaper used thus reducing the cost some, but even if you get lucky you are still likely looking for 100-125 for the 17 used copies.
 

Theonik

Member
It's on Amazon.

And here's a picture of it
Sold. Kinda weary of Amazon.com though Every time I ordered for them their packaging has been absolutely horrid. Never got anything that wasn't smashed from them.

HNNNNGGG THATS A LOT BUCKAROONIES

Im selling my laptop i dont give a fuck.
Edit: on second thought. How much would i save by buying all the individual books.
It's 17 novels for $10 each on sale currently. You might be able to get a better
 

Cornbread78

Member
No there are other LNs that are younger and more popular while also being more generic and cheaper.
I have question.
How much of SAO would you sacrifice for all seasons of Spice and Wolf?


Well, they are completely different animals and I like them both for completely different reasons..
 

jonjonaug

Member
Again, LoGH is no War and Peace but hell if it isn't an interesting treatise on a number of complicated issues. I can't think of another anime that even attempts it.

You're at about the point where the series goes from good to great, I wonder how you'll be thinking of it about 10 episodes from now.
 
Damn it. I waited for the longest time for this to happen and just gave up and started buying the books one at a time. I am only up to book 4, but I hate re-buying stuff.

I'm in the same exact position, but really think of it as paying $30 extra (assuming you get the 13 other volumes for $10 a piece) to get a really nice hard cover version of the series. And realistically you could make up most of that $30 by selling the previous 4 books for cheap and quick at $5 a book.
 
Except for its dismissive, shallow approach to religion, I've always admired the thoughtfulness and sensitivity with which Legend of Galactic Heroes approaches social and political issues. It doesn't fall into the easy "Democracy is Good, Autocratic Rule is Evil" trap.
 
Mob Psycho 100 - 08

This show is an untamable beast. You just can't hold on to its reigns. You think you have seen the best of it, but no. You haven't seen anything yet. How they manage to make it better every week when it's quality is already crazy high, I don't know.
 
Except for its dismissive, shallow approach to religion, I've always admired the thoughtfulness and sensitivity with which Legend of Galactic Heroes approaches social and political issues. It doesn't fall into the easy "Democracy is Good, Autocratic Rule is Evil" trap.

Yeah when it comes to sociopolitical stuff and the military LoGH is quite well thought out. I can see it faltering when it comes to religion and maybe on women in the military, but this is supposed to be WW1 so I think I can let that slide. It'd be cool if they did show how women were taking up jobs left behind by men in service but its a long series, we'll see.

Frankly its insanely refreshing the way LoGH handles Democracy vs Despotism. In nearly every fictional scenario where you have the Super Huge Not-German Empire and the rival Alliance Of People Who Don't Like Tyrants it gets boiled down to laughably simple levels. LOGH isn't saying both sides are the same or that they are both as bad as each other, I still think it portrays the Empire as worse, but not in a comically evil way you'd see in say, Fire Emblem Fates - which is about a big empire and a big free kingdom. And this isn't just a Japan thing either. Despite modern society and its values, there are absolutely benefits to autocracy, despotism, tyranny and monarchy. There's a reason they were so common not even that long ago. Like I said its no War and Peace, but there are relatively few fictional things that come to mind that attempt to grapple with such things, and fewer that do it successfully.
 

NCR Redslayer

NeoGAF's Vegeta
really it's about equal. it's 17 volumes and light novels run around $10 each. you can get some of the spice and wolf ones cheaper used thus reducing the cost some, but even if you get lucky you are still likely looking for 100-125 for the 17 used copies.

I guess its the the giant book then. Now im off to pawn my laptop/
Well, they are completely different animals and I like them both for completely different reasons..
one's a wolf and one's a fox. which one is better?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
lol. I only did the A and B endings, but I've heard C is the one to watch. Unfortunately, I forgot to get one of the special weapons and got the B ending my third play through and got annoyed, so I haven't gone back to get the final 2 as of yet.


Doesn't seem to have significant different. I'm playing ps3 version and it run just fine

can't wait to experience it!

I think that ending to Nier is perhaps one of the best ending to a video game I've ever seen... it's on the level of Spec Ops: The Line in terms of using the actual medium in a meaningful way to tell its story.

Yeah when it comes to sociopolitical stuff and the military LoGH is quite well thought out. I can see it faltering when it comes to religion and maybe on women in the military, but this is supposed to be WW1 so I think I can let that slide. It'd be cool if they did show how women were taking up jobs left behind by men in service but its a long series, we'll see.

Frankly its insanely refreshing the way LoGH handles Democracy vs Despotism. In nearly every fictional scenario where you have the Super Huge Not-German Empire and the rival Alliance Of People Who Don't Like Tyrants it gets boiled down to laughably simple levels. LOGH isn't saying both sides are the same or that they are both as bad as each other, I still think it portrays the Empire as worse, but not in a comically evil way you'd see in say, Fire Emblem Fates - which is about a big empire and a big free kingdom. And this isn't just a Japan thing either. Despite modern society and its values, there are absolutely benefits to autocracy, despotism, tyranny and monarchy. There's a reason they were so common not even that long ago. Like I said its no War and Peace, but there are relatively few fictional things that come to mind that attempt to grapple with such things, and fewer that do it successfully.
Watching DS9 again, what I remember of LOGH has some of the same problems, where forces are just single amorphous homogenous blobs and they just oppose each other in order to have broad philosophical allegorical juxtapositions. The Nazis being facists who chase racial purity are bad, but so is the corrupt Democracy who - I'm sure purposefully - has a black man at or near the top of the hierarchy.
 

Syrinx

Member
iM@S Cinderella Girls 8-9

For real, I don't remember the names or basic characters of half the girls in the Cinderella Project.

These two episodes were alright though.
 

Aki-at

Member
Macross Delta - 11

It's all ramping up now with the King's trump card of the
supersized protoculture starship[/spoiler and a great closure to the episode. A fine send off
for Messer.

It still stings...

:(

It was brutal
the blood splatter on the screen, I was not expecting that... the battle leading to it was magnificent too, I could feel the hype. Definitely going to remember this send off :(

But what about godzillas island?

It has some of the best choreographed dance scenes in anime history.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Re Zero Episode 22

Great episode. But the fuck was up with that ending?

I'm guessing she thinks they are an invading army.
 

Thud

Member
Except for its dismissive, shallow approach to religion, I've always admired the thoughtfulness and sensitivity with which Legend of Galactic Heroes approaches social and political issues. It doesn't fall into the easy "Democracy is Good, Autocratic Rule is Evil" trap.

I think that's where the authors view comes in place. Where he strongly favors science and makes religion more like a scary cult thing. Perhaps it's ignorance.

Either way it's a pretty daunting series in terms of scope. There's bound to be a few opportunities left untouched.

I'm expecting the second volume of the novel soon to arrive. Kinda finishing some stuff before starting the rewatch. There's nothing that comes close on this scale imho.
 
Yeah when it comes to sociopolitical stuff and the military LoGH is quite well thought out. I can see it faltering when it comes to religion and maybe on women in the military, but this is supposed to be WW1 so I think I can let that slide. It'd be cool if they did show how women were taking up jobs left behind by men in service but its a long series, we'll see.

Frankly its insanely refreshing the way LoGH handles Democracy vs Despotism. In nearly every fictional scenario where you have the Super Huge Not-German Empire and the rival Alliance Of People Who Don't Like Tyrants it gets boiled down to laughably simple levels. LOGH isn't saying both sides are the same or that they are both as bad as each other, I still think it portrays the Empire as worse, but not in a comically evil way you'd see in say, Fire Emblem Fates - which is about a big empire and a big free kingdom. And this isn't just a Japan thing either. Despite modern society and its values, there are absolutely benefits to autocracy, despotism, tyranny and monarchy. There's a reason they were so common not even that long ago. Like I said its no War and Peace, but there are relatively few fictional things that come to mind that attempt to grapple with such things, and fewer that do it successfully.

At one point Yang explicitly says when musing to his associates, "If the dictator is benevolent, dictatorship is probably better for the ordinary people than democracy with all its weaknesses. But I still believe in the democratic ideal and that's what I've committed myself to fight for." I won't get too much into specifics of what you haven't seen yet, but there's a lot of nuance in how the various political factions shift back and forth.

Watching DS9 again, what I remember of LOGH has some of the same problems, where forces are just single amorphous homogenous blobs and they just oppose each other in order to have broad philosophical allegorical juxtapositions. The Nazis being facists who chase racial purity are bad, but so is the corrupt Democracy who - I'm sure purposefully - has a black man at or near the top of the hierarchy.

I'll assume that last sentence is in reference to Deep Space Nine? Legend of Galactic Heroes certainly isn't what you describe, a conflict between homogeneous blobs; the series goes to great lengths to show many different individuals with their own beliefs, personalities, and ways of acting on both sides of the war. It explicitly deals in philosophical ideas, but it doesn't boil existence down to abstract concepts.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
That Spice and Wolf book is going to have a switcheroo where the front cover looks like a young adult novel with a real life person right?
 
I think that's where the authors view comes in place. Where he strongly favors science and makes religion more like a scary cult thing. Perhaps it's ignorance.

When I brought this up on Twitter once, another person speculated that Yoshiki Tanaka was reacting to the fringe cults who were popping up around Japan in the 1980s, such as Happy Science. If that was his main exposure to religion, I can understand the perspective LoGH takes towards it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom