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Winter 2014 Anime |OT2| Waiting for Sakamoto
- Thread starter madp
- Start date
- Status
strangedopamine
Member
Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho - Episode 2: Momoko's Secret
While Doremi, Hadzuki and Aiko go chasing after boys on bikes in Episode 1, Momoko and Onpu are in New York to visit the Maho-Dou over there. This makes us explore some more of the relationship between Momoko and Majo Monroe before Momoko became a witch apprentice. I liked how Majo Monroe was like a second mother to Momoko in helping her integrate in a different society and through that making friends with the local kids. It's a lot like how Doremi helped her integrate when she returned to Japan again.
Good episode, these stories have been pretty great so far.
While Doremi, Hadzuki and Aiko go chasing after boys on bikes in Episode 1, Momoko and Onpu are in New York to visit the Maho-Dou over there. This makes us explore some more of the relationship between Momoko and Majo Monroe before Momoko became a witch apprentice. I liked how Majo Monroe was like a second mother to Momoko in helping her integrate in a different society and through that making friends with the local kids. It's a lot like how Doremi helped her integrate when she returned to Japan again.
Good episode, these stories have been pretty great so far.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Gintama 160
Despite my current disdain for Otsu, the sheer trolling she pulled off in this episode was utterly magnificent.
Despite my current disdain for Otsu, the sheer trolling she pulled off in this episode was utterly magnificent.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
The weird thing for me in regards of this episode is that they spent time going "American Tamaki" was a horrible person for a couple episodes in Motto!, but then everyone else looked like a bigger asshole in comparison.
gashikunFLCL
Member
MAKOTO, CHIHAYA and MIKI/HIBIKI.
You have to get the game at launch with the pre-order bonus, I got a Kotori film strip.
Is the cover reversible in the The best version?
Edit: Fuck! Now I want to play, I have a Unit in the middle of the game to finish.
ZachDeKoromaru
Banned
You were so close too!
Theonik
Member
ZachDeKoromaru
Banned
All of my UNFs and swoons aren't nearly enough.
gashikunFLCL
Member
B-but, Makoto because Makoto, Chihaya because best Vocal and Hibiki best Dance or Miki best Style
Status
Go for power!
Edit: I have a Takane, Chihaya Mami unit to play...
Soul Eater 40-44
And another batch of episodes that ends on a Crona story. The show's basically been one long war with very little one-and-dones at this point. It's certainly exciting, but a bit of a shift from the show I remember before. Everyone's off doing their own thing. Still plenty of moments of levity that I'm liking, with the whole Spirit/Death/Medusa sequence coming to mind, as well as Blair stepping in to lend a hand with Joe there. Enjoying the ride, and it's nice to refamiliarize myself with the world before Not!
And another batch of episodes that ends on a Crona story. The show's basically been one long war with very little one-and-dones at this point. It's certainly exciting, but a bit of a shift from the show I remember before. Everyone's off doing their own thing. Still plenty of moments of levity that I'm liking, with the whole Spirit/Death/Medusa sequence coming to mind, as well as Blair stepping in to lend a hand with Joe there. Enjoying the ride, and it's nice to refamiliarize myself with the world before Not!
Well, I think I should explain that further. That Rah Xephon is a page for page clone of EVA is only a singular facet of the reason I did not like that show at all. The other problem I had was that while it spent its days ripping off EVA, Rah Xephon was ball breakingly boring. Allegedly the show gets good in the second half, and once or twice I've considered going back to it since the reason I dropped Rax Xephon was ultimately the bullshit incest added into Shinji's relationship with Misato. Since then I've sat through shit like Nisemonogatari and Sword Art Online, so I don't think incest is a fair enough justification for dropping it.
But being derivative alone was not enough for me to drop Rah Xephon. The Big O is also very derivative, and so was Gundam 00's 2nd Season. Yet I have very different opinions of those.
FUCK YOU YOU SON OF A WHORE 1080PIROTESS IS THE BEST. GLORIOUS DARK ELF WAIFU.
Big O is a different sort of derivative though, where it more takes a bunch of obvious influences and synthesizes them into something unique, instead of just trying to rip off a single property.
astrogamer
Member
Seitokai Yakuindomo 2 7
Wow. Tsuda missing a joke. How surprising
Wow. Tsuda missing a joke. How surprising
Right, which is why I cannot say that being derivative alone is a thing I necessarily despise.
Theonik
Member
She has her strengths[REDACTED] but... [REDACTED]
strangedopamine
Member
Mary is well, just like Tamaki really. She seems horrible but she does mean well despite saying things in a condesending way. Momoko is eventually able to see past all the fluff about French imported stuff to see that Mary is just trying to help out. She was even
there when Momoko met Beth again so it shows how friendly they eventually got.
I don't know that I'd say it's a lot. It's mostly me versus everyone.
You little [REDUCTED]!
Well, I don't know about AnimeGAF's opinions, but I remember seeing fairly split opinions on MAL and such.
Fresh Precure! 50 END
Massive luls @
I don't really have all that much to say about the final battle itself. It wasn't particularly outstanding or anything, but it served its purpose well. Seeing
was pretty satisfying, as was the dramatic use of Love's happiness-get catchphrase that accompanied it, and it seems fitting that
.
It was a little sad to see
Oh, and
tl;dr HAPPINESS GET
---
So, thoughts on Fresh Precure! as a whole!
I feel like the most apt comparison is to call it the Splash Star to Yes and GoGo's Futari wa/Max Heart, and that's a pretty damn big compliment in my book. Both Futari wa and Yes felt like they were to some extent trying out a new formula - they both had great characters and a lot to love, but they could feel a little rote at times, never really stretching beyond their comfort zones, and they both suffered quite a bit from dragging themselves out over a hundred episodes. Then along came Splash Star and Fresh and really went to town with the formula that their predecessors had established, piling on heaps of charm, sticking to the short and sweet single-series length while keeping the pacing perfect throughout, and having much more interesting dynamics with the villains that made for some really amazing moments.
Of course, the parallel isn't absolute. For one thing, while Splash Star's mascots stuck close to the mould laid out by their predecessors and were if anything a bit of a step down (I liked Flappy and Choppy a bit more than Mipple and Mepple, but there was no-one in Splash Star who could match Porun, and Moop and Foop were probably the least interesting mascots ever), Fresh went in a completely different direction with its mascots to Yes, and the result was...well, Chiffon is probably my favourite mascot in all of Precure so far, and Tart was a lot of fun too. In a word, the mascots in this show felt...Fresh. I have to give them credit for that, because I really really liked the mascots-with-human-forms dynamic in Yes, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go back to mascots that were just mascots 24/7. Tart and Chiffon proved me DEAD WRONG.
And for another thing, while Splash Star and Fresh both put a lot of focus on
, Fresh really outdid Splash Star in this area by
. And to say it worked well would be an understatement. The dynamic between
was really played for all it was worth, and resulted in tons of sweet and touching moments. Beats
, that's for sure =p
Fresh also benefitted from bringing its own distinctive theme to the table in the form of the girls' dancing ambitions. It formed a pretty solid thread throughout the series that at times added to the drama, at times served to illustrate the dynamics of the group and the struggles they were going through, and plenty of the time just served as a great way for the girls to show off all their positive energy, of which they have bucketloads. Oh, and it justified the gorgeous CG dancing in the EDs, whose only flaw was that it made the 2D dancing animation in the actual show look hilariously bad by comparison.
If Fresh Precure had a weakness, I'd have to say it was the action. Unlike Splash Star, which rose head and shoulders above its predecessor in terms of fancy acrobatic moves and cool battle abilities, Fresh actually played things much more conservatively than Yes in this area, with pretty much all of the Cures' actual battle abilities being different varieties of beamspam. They made up for it a little with their quite hands-on approach and amusingly prevalent use of "Precure Kicks" and "Precure Punches", but on the whole, the fighting itself was never much of a draw in this series.
Thankfully, the series more than compensated for this by making a lot of the monsters of the week have really interesting non-combat abilities, taking the focus away from the actual fighting and placing it more on the unique dilemmas presented by the villains' various plans to bring misery to the town. These unique monsters-of-the-week sadly had to leave later on in the series after
caused the villains to shift their approach to a more straightforward style of attacking the Cures directly, but once this happened the series compensated by making the most of the new actual plot elements and upping the pacing very effectively - between the
, the debut of a new and more threatening villain, and then the early onset of a surprisingly lengthy and involved endgame, there wasn't much opportunity to worry about the monsters themselves becoming less interesting.
In general, I just felt like the series lived up to its name by feeling Fresh in all sorts of ways. As I mentioned already, there was the totally new style of mascots, the monsters-of-the-week with much more interesting abilities than in any previous series, and the fun dancing theme throughout, but there were also other new elements such as the Cures being well-known throughout the town as heroes, as well as their unprecedented late-series decision to
. All of this helped to make the series really stick out from its predecessors.
Finishing thoughts:
Love is bestest girl and for all that I think she'd make a great pairing with Daisuke or Setsuna, really I want them both to lose so I can have her for myself <3
Setsuna is great as a character and as a pairing for Love, but personally I wouldn't call her waifu material. Her Cure costume design also isn't great, feels a bit out of place next to the others, and loses points for screwing up the card-suit theme.
Inori is the sweetest thing and if I can't have Love I'd be totally happy to settle for her. She and Love also have by far the best Cure designs out of the group. I can't stop watching the two of them in the EDs. They're gorgeous. EDIT: Oh, and she has best Cure Stick. Fuck yeah Pine Flute. No, Cure Berry, you're not fooling anyone, that's not a sword.
Miki is worst girl but that doesn't mean she doesn't have redeeming qualities. I like her really, and she did give us some priceless comedy moments - she's just nowhere near as good as the other three. Her Cure Berry form can gtfo though - the hell is that hair?!
Chiffon is bestest mascot, 'nuff said. Tart is a cool fella, and I love the brotastic dynamic between him, Kaoru-chan, and sometimes Wester.
Love's mum is mother of the show and mother of forever.
The OP did grow on me in the end - it's never going to be one of the best OPs in the series, but I can safely say I enjoy it. The EDs, though, were just fabulous from start to finish.
My only real regret is that I spent so long writing up these impressions that I'm not going to have time for the movie this evening! Maybe I could try and wake up extra early and watch it in the morning...
Anyway, I think this post is long enough now, so I'd better stop.
HAPPINESS GET!
EDIT: How did I get through this entire post without mentioning doughnuts? DOUGHNUTS ARE THE SOURCE OF ALL HAPPINESS YOU GUYS! THEY SAVE WOOOOOOOORLDS
Möbius defeated! All worlds freed! Happiness get!
Massive luls @
Love's non-answer to Daisuke's confession. Even outright friendzoning him would have been kinder XD But I guess ambiguity is the best solution, since we can't go sinking the good ship Love x Setsuna!
I don't really have all that much to say about the final battle itself. It wasn't particularly outstanding or anything, but it served its purpose well. Seeing
all the Cures and friends breaking free of Möbius' "administration"
Chiffon saved all their asses in the end, because Chiffon is best mascot
It was a little sad to see
Setsuna returning to Labyrinth when all was said and done, after she'd become a real part of Love's family, but I suppose it is her world, and I can't think of anyone better suited to spread the word of happiness there now that Möbius is gone. Besides, I sincerely doubt this is the last time she and the Cures will see each other. Love x Setsuna still has to happen, after all! (...And hey, we know they'll all be back together for the All-Stars movies at the very least =p)
Oh, and
the Cures finally managed to finish their dance contest! And win it! Their dancing didn't even look quite as awfully-animated as usual! Like, it still has nothing on the gorgeous CG dancing in the ED, but it looks like the animators put a little bit of actual effort into it this time!
tl;dr HAPPINESS GET
---
So, thoughts on Fresh Precure! as a whole!
I feel like the most apt comparison is to call it the Splash Star to Yes and GoGo's Futari wa/Max Heart, and that's a pretty damn big compliment in my book. Both Futari wa and Yes felt like they were to some extent trying out a new formula - they both had great characters and a lot to love, but they could feel a little rote at times, never really stretching beyond their comfort zones, and they both suffered quite a bit from dragging themselves out over a hundred episodes. Then along came Splash Star and Fresh and really went to town with the formula that their predecessors had established, piling on heaps of charm, sticking to the short and sweet single-series length while keeping the pacing perfect throughout, and having much more interesting dynamics with the villains that made for some really amazing moments.
Of course, the parallel isn't absolute. For one thing, while Splash Star's mascots stuck close to the mould laid out by their predecessors and were if anything a bit of a step down (I liked Flappy and Choppy a bit more than Mipple and Mepple, but there was no-one in Splash Star who could match Porun, and Moop and Foop were probably the least interesting mascots ever), Fresh went in a completely different direction with its mascots to Yes, and the result was...well, Chiffon is probably my favourite mascot in all of Precure so far, and Tart was a lot of fun too. In a word, the mascots in this show felt...Fresh. I have to give them credit for that, because I really really liked the mascots-with-human-forms dynamic in Yes, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go back to mascots that were just mascots 24/7. Tart and Chiffon proved me DEAD WRONG.
And for another thing, while Splash Star and Fresh both put a lot of focus on
relatable villains who ended up switching sides
having one of them become a full Cure
Setsuna and the other characters
Michiru and Kaoru spending a good portion of their series in stasis
Fresh also benefitted from bringing its own distinctive theme to the table in the form of the girls' dancing ambitions. It formed a pretty solid thread throughout the series that at times added to the drama, at times served to illustrate the dynamics of the group and the struggles they were going through, and plenty of the time just served as a great way for the girls to show off all their positive energy, of which they have bucketloads. Oh, and it justified the gorgeous CG dancing in the EDs, whose only flaw was that it made the 2D dancing animation in the actual show look hilariously bad by comparison.
If Fresh Precure had a weakness, I'd have to say it was the action. Unlike Splash Star, which rose head and shoulders above its predecessor in terms of fancy acrobatic moves and cool battle abilities, Fresh actually played things much more conservatively than Yes in this area, with pretty much all of the Cures' actual battle abilities being different varieties of beamspam. They made up for it a little with their quite hands-on approach and amusingly prevalent use of "Precure Kicks" and "Precure Punches", but on the whole, the fighting itself was never much of a draw in this series.
Thankfully, the series more than compensated for this by making a lot of the monsters of the week have really interesting non-combat abilities, taking the focus away from the actual fighting and placing it more on the unique dilemmas presented by the villains' various plans to bring misery to the town. These unique monsters-of-the-week sadly had to leave later on in the series after
Chiffon awakening as Infinity
crises involving Chiffon's unpredictable transformations
In general, I just felt like the series lived up to its name by feeling Fresh in all sorts of ways. As I mentioned already, there was the totally new style of mascots, the monsters-of-the-week with much more interesting abilities than in any previous series, and the fun dancing theme throughout, but there were also other new elements such as the Cures being well-known throughout the town as heroes, as well as their unprecedented late-series decision to
reveal their identities to everyone they know, in a hugely satisfying moment
Finishing thoughts:
Love is bestest girl and for all that I think she'd make a great pairing with Daisuke or Setsuna, really I want them both to lose so I can have her for myself <3
Setsuna is great as a character and as a pairing for Love, but personally I wouldn't call her waifu material. Her Cure costume design also isn't great, feels a bit out of place next to the others, and loses points for screwing up the card-suit theme.
Inori is the sweetest thing and if I can't have Love I'd be totally happy to settle for her. She and Love also have by far the best Cure designs out of the group. I can't stop watching the two of them in the EDs. They're gorgeous. EDIT: Oh, and she has best Cure Stick. Fuck yeah Pine Flute. No, Cure Berry, you're not fooling anyone, that's not a sword.
Miki is worst girl but that doesn't mean she doesn't have redeeming qualities. I like her really, and she did give us some priceless comedy moments - she's just nowhere near as good as the other three. Her Cure Berry form can gtfo though - the hell is that hair?!
Chiffon is bestest mascot, 'nuff said. Tart is a cool fella, and I love the brotastic dynamic between him, Kaoru-chan, and sometimes Wester.
Love's mum is mother of the show and mother of forever.
The OP did grow on me in the end - it's never going to be one of the best OPs in the series, but I can safely say I enjoy it. The EDs, though, were just fabulous from start to finish.
My only real regret is that I spent so long writing up these impressions that I'm not going to have time for the movie this evening! Maybe I could try and wake up extra early and watch it in the morning...
Anyway, I think this post is long enough now, so I'd better stop.
HAPPINESS GET!
EDIT: How did I get through this entire post without mentioning doughnuts? DOUGHNUTS ARE THE SOURCE OF ALL HAPPINESS YOU GUYS! THEY SAVE WOOOOOOOORLDS
Theonik
Member
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Right. But then again, that happened before she came to Japan. Whereas badmouthing Mary was when she came to Japan.
Gintama 161
How to win a battle of charisma? Don't use charisma at all!
All this Studio Ghibli fellating
Imagine Eva but with a female Gendo and even more harem antics.
Theonik
Member
Also Yamato 2199 14.
Pls stop posting one after another. It confuses me.
Star Driver 13
I'm actually really into this show, guys.
DXLelouch153
Banned
i thought Ragyo was female Gendo but kicked up to 11
in other news i have begun my A Certain series viewing
A certain vampire and a certain wizard can't be wrong.
ThreePiMatt
Member
All I know is that it's the "WOOP WOOP! Pull ova that ass too fat!" show, so I'll have to watch it. Not until S2 is broadcast though.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Gintama 162
You're in a boxing ring! Why are you playing Idol Monsters!? Did Shinpachi inherit top decking!?
You're in a boxing ring! Why are you playing Idol Monsters!? Did Shinpachi inherit top decking!?
These three are often shown together in official art too
Theonik
Member
It makese sense to try and use your best girls in your marketing.
Orphen 17
Basically Orphen was and continues to be very wrong about Azaly, who has always been a psychotic bitch, and about Childman, who has always been his friend. Orphen continues to act like a pompous badass but basically he's a huge jerk who is blundering through the world, blaming an institution and people who cared about him for a problem that the woman he has been defending created out of her own egomaniacal hubris.
And if I were 15 I would so be on his side.
Basically Orphen was and continues to be very wrong about Azaly, who has always been a psychotic bitch, and about Childman, who has always been his friend. Orphen continues to act like a pompous badass but basically he's a huge jerk who is blundering through the world, blaming an institution and people who cared about him for a problem that the woman he has been defending created out of her own egomaniacal hubris.
And if I were 15 I would so be on his side.
Deputy Dangle
Member
At least this show actually recognizes it.
Theonik
Member
Same director!
Deputy Dangle
Member
You have my attention!
If by split you mean Corvo and the rest of the thread.
R_thanatos
Member
No the cover isn't reversable ... it's a shame i know but nothing actually prevent me from printing a custom cover on the printer i have at work tomorrow .
Quite good choices thus i will start with :
-Takane
-Chihaya
-Hibiki
haven't started playing yet , gonna watch some anime first.
Because fresh doesn't go in places , the dynamics overall is much more well placed ( like splash star too.) But then again everything's a breath of fresh air after precure gogo.
Now you can start heartcatch , you can feel overhyped by this season but don't be ... it's gonna blow you away anyway.
Savour this next ride because after it will be suite and it's ...well "not as good"
Also, I'd like to say that Fafner is pretty much crap Sunrise decided to shit out to capitalize on Gundam SEED's popularity complete with Kira/Athrun clones and Hirai-faces.
Mai-HiME is genuinely entertaining and is the original train wreck anime before best-Goro decided to stop making character-driven shows about space-garbagemen and go full crazy.
Mai-HiME is genuinely entertaining and is the original train wreck anime before best-Goro decided to stop making character-driven shows about space-garbagemen and go full crazy.
Theonik
Member
All you need to know. Unfest voices.
Crash Station
Member
The hell are you doing in that thread if you aren't caught up?
KirbYuuYuu
Member
@cnet: Well you're now graduating into Heartcatch Academy, a rather well loved series by many. Would it be safe to say that it goes downhill afterwards?.... Sure, but even that is entirely up to you. A big thing I would rather point out, is by all means, if you're willing to compare Precure's afterwards, try to pair em off with something more similar, because otherwise, it'll lead to disappointment.
That being said....
Gintama 163
Fuck yes, this is how it should've fucking ended. Toshi and Shinpachi beating the shit out of each other for their waifu.
That being said....
Gintama 163
Fuck yes, this is how it should've fucking ended. Toshi and Shinpachi beating the shit out of each other for their waifu.
On the other hand, RIP Toshi ;~;
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
I'm pretty straight, but Mamoru Miyano totally makes me think I might not be sometimes. >_>
(The visual difference between this and the Wooser S2 ED is pretty amazing. :lol)
(The visual difference between this and the Wooser S2 ED is pretty amazing. :lol)
DAMN RIGHT!
===================================
Engaged to the Unidentified - 05
Not even moms are safe
I love how everyone is shocked at loli mom's arrival, except for Benio who is about to hit that like the fist of an angry god. Based Benio-samaaaaaa~
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Checking to see if the show was still good. And it seems like the Chimera Arc isn't, so I've decided to drop the show.
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