• 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.

Winter 2014 Anime |OT2| Waiting for Sakamoto

Status
Not open for further replies.

Narag

Member
Time to move out of sticksville. :(

The theaters that are screening the film this weekend include Kendall Square Cinema in Boston; Century Centre Cinema in Chicago; AMC Century City, ArcLight Sherman Oaks, Pacific El Capitan, and The Landmark in Los Angeles; Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis; BAM Rose Cinemas, Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York; Hillcrest Cinemas in San Diego; Embarcadero Center Cinema and California Theatre in San Francisco; Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis; and Bethesda Row Cinema in Washington D.C.
So to any of these fine cities?
 

Kansoku

Member
Ignoring the fact there is still a movie. But an OVA, which will finish the 501st storyline, and another tv series based on the franchise are announced.

New season and OVA already announced. Get excited!

Also, there is a movie that follows after S2 that came out a couple years ago. It's more of an extended episode than anything, but it builds off of big events that happen in S2's ending.

So, a new Neuroi hive will appear, new witches will keep bathing every single time, old witches will appear, a
big ship will become a Neuroi, they'll destroy the hive, everyone will be happy.
?
 
Not to mention introduces a lot of cute witches.

Hopefully, the new season while give the 502nd the screen time they truly deserve.

So, a new Neuroi hive will appear, new witches will keep bathing every single time, old witches will appear, a
big ship will become a Neuroi, they'll destroy the hive, everyone will be happy.
?

Even though I don't know much about the events that occur in the manga or LN series, I'd sure like to see them try a different structure. But if they keep improving on the execution of it like 2 did with 1, then that would be okay in my book too!
 

CorvoSol

Member
Full metal panic 04

terrorists on a plane.
chidori and her friends get hijacked on a jet and brought to a remote base. Sousuke hides and sneaks on ghe base to rescue Chidori
I guess this is where this show gets real.
I love that ED so much.

The Second Raid's ED is where it's at, man.

Glad you liked it! And you've saved the best for last— Macross Plus awaits.


Dr. Girlfriend's voice doesn't even phase me anymore, haha.

What about this Macross 2, though?

When Japan's economy went bust and they just couldn't afford to spend so much time, money and manpower on their non-Miyazaki theatrical films, I would say, which includes mecha. This is especially important for stuff with lots of robots and mechanical designs that have greater complexity than their TV equivalents.

People always talk about Akira being a resource drain and that movie certainly has more than enough detail to justify it, but surely Macross DYRL wasn't exactly inexpensive or lacking in its own excess at the time.

I guess it's just heart breaking to know mecha anime can look like this but in reality it looks like Nobunaga the Fool.

They don't. Dio is from the 80's.

The 80s is still more recent than I expected villains to be kicking dogs.

As entertained as I am by Star Driver, I've noticed the three biggest issues I have with it:

1. Forced love triangle. So many girls are interested in Takuto, so he really has no reason to be into Wako. Sugata has a reason, childhood friend. But having two husbandos too hard for her, and these guys dont just leave for god knows why. These characters and their interactions stay static after the first couple of episodes, only the other shrine maidens really seem to have any development.

2. No stakes fighting. Takuto has been established as not being the strongest fighter, but whenever shit is gonna go wrong he pulls another power out of his ass. This is the "fool this isn't even my final form" joke to an extreme.

3. The battles, the best part of the whole show, take like 4-5 minutes of each episode at most. And they all are pretty similar. In fact there's easily a minute out of those 4-5 minutes of battle of him entering the zone, calling his mecha, changing into his pretty boy clothing, and posing after winning. I've been basically watching the same battle over and over again.

Points 2 and 3 I agree with, but point 1 hasn't been much of an issue for me yet. I mean technically there's a love triangle, but mostly it's just every girl trying to get with Takuto. Sugata is barely a part of it, and Wako doesn't really have much more claim than most girls. If anything, Mrs. Watanabe's in the lead, since she's actually kissed him.

1988. Ish.

The year I was born. I myself ruined Mecha anime.

Man. I just accidentally wandered into the GameFAQs anime/manga board.

Never again.

GameFAQs boards are universally awful.
 
Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho - Episode 8: An Honor Student's Secret

Onpu showing some incredible clout in this episode. It was a bit over the top
slamming the money down to pay for the flute
but it showed how strong willed she was to protect the secret.

Next episode looks like a winner. Can't wait!
 
The Magical Sisters Yoyo and Nene

This was one strange film. I've been pretty curious about the lukewarm reception from the Scotland Loves Animation screening last year, and now I totally understand why. This is a pretty unique and original film which has totally garnered the wrong sort of anticipation from audiences since it was announced.

Let's get a few things out of the way before I talk more about it - This is nothing like Little Witch Academia. This is not a whimsical light hearted adventure about two sisters solving curses in a fantasy world. This movie is not even really about what the title suggests. If you think that the movie is about any of those things, the marketing has failed entirely.

Yoyo and Nene is a fantasy movie with blockbuster ambitions and lots of big ideas. It's presented in a way which doesn't make that entirely obvious initially, which makes the narrative and pacing feel confused and disconcerting for much of the first half. Most of it is intentional, but I think it would have been a better idea to settle the audience into the thematic ideas of the movie sooner rather than later, just to make it easier to digest and appreciate as it progresses.

So what -is- the movie really about? It's about a very talented and powerful witch from a fantasy picture-book world who finds herself trapped in our world, and as she uncovers the mystery of why the two worlds are artificially converging, she learns important lessons about life, death, love, society, and how we can all live a life without magic and still find joy. It has far more in common with movies like Summer Wars and Paprika, where there are huge over the top visual and dramatic beats which serve as both blockbuster eye candy and also metaphors for social commentary.

There are things the movie does really well, and there are things it doesn't really succeed at, but it's really refreshing to see someone try to tell a story that people don't really expect, and to tell it in ways which aren't very traditional. The director Hirao is no stranger to being experimental and unorthodox, so maybe this shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. The animation and art in the film is outstanding, and even with the feeling that the movie is a bit too strange for the average audience, I would readily recommend it to anyone looking for something interesting.

Sounds like something I'll enjoy more than LWA.
 

cajunator

Banned
Robotics;Notes 01-06

I really didn't know what to expect going into this series other than "robot club". Honestly, I bought it because I already ordered Good Smile Company's Frau figure and I thought I should probably watch the series. It starts out easy-going with some comedy, and starts injecting some more serious matters a few episodes in. At this point I don't quite know where the series is going, but I'm definitely entertained. Frau's usage of internet lingo in the real world is a bit annoying, but I suppose it's part of what makes her unique.

I just started it and 4 episodes in Im loving what Im seeing. Told it goes off the rails at some point but its really charming so Ill stick with it unless its completely terrible. also seeing as aki is one of the cutest characters in existence, Im definitely watching it for her.
Right now Im getting angelic Layer vibes from the first part but it seems to be shifting to much larger scope.

Kino no Tabi 3

A lot of shows can be difficult to write impressions about because while the episodes are enjoyable, there's nothing in them that particularly stands out as worth mentioning. Kino is the opposite. There's clearly so much significance and discussion to be derived from each of these episodes that I feel a little intimidated by the idea of writing impressions, lest I reveal my own shallow ignorance.

That's why for this episode I'm just going to say "lol religion" and leave it at that.

...Okay, I might go a little more in-depth. After the first two episodes were each an individual narrative focused on a single location that Kino was visiting, it threw me a little that this one was divided into three very distinct parts. Well, four parts, I suppose - the last was more of an epilogue, but was key to bringing the episode full-circle and really laying out its message. But yeah, this structure of including multiple short stories in a single episode turned out to be an excellent fit for this show's style, since the simple-yet-complex short stories that it tells don't necessarily always require a full twenty-odd minutes.

And I have to say, though the real "twist" of the episode was how the different stories turned out to tie into each other, each of the individual stories was very thought-provoking and worthwhile even without that. They were all quite different in tone, as well. The tale of the country with "traditions" in particular stood out to me because while it seemed quite worrying at first, as there was clearly some secret hidden behind the land's strange rituals, it actually turned out to be the most pleasant story we've seen so far - despite the fact that the people of this place were essentially
deceiving everyone who visited them
, there was no malice or bad feeling involved, no sense of tragedy like most of the stories have had, just a slightly unusual form of "entertainment" for locals and visitors alike.

That epilogue, though...damn. That "song of sadness" should really have been called the "song of tragedy", since it sure as hell started with one, and by some twisted coincidence it looks like it's wound up only bringing about more.

Incredible how one small Kino episode can invoke lengthy discussion, but there you go. The show keeps firing away questions and scenarios and by the end of it you will probably feel much more philosophical about things. Its the sort of show that makes statements about humanity without seeming pretentious or preaching. Kino just sits back and observes the world and all these happenings and the viewer is left to decide what it all means.

The Magical Sisters Yoyo and Nene

This was one strange film. I've been pretty curious about the lukewarm reception from the Scotland Loves Animation screening last year, and now I totally understand why. This is a pretty unique and original film which has totally garnered the wrong sort of anticipation from audiences since it was announced.

Let's get a few things out of the way before I talk more about it - This is nothing like Little Witch Academia. This is not a whimsical light hearted adventure about two sisters solving curses in a fantasy world. This movie is not even really about what the title suggests. If you think that the movie is about any of those things, the marketing has failed entirely.

Yoyo and Nene is a fantasy movie with blockbuster ambitions and lots of big ideas. It's presented in a way which doesn't make that entirely obvious initially, which makes the narrative and pacing feel confused and disconcerting for much of the first half. Most of it is intentional, but I think it would have been a better idea to settle the audience into the thematic ideas of the movie sooner rather than later, just to make it easier to digest and appreciate as it progresses.

So what -is- the movie really about? It's about a very talented and powerful witch from a fantasy picture-book world who finds herself trapped in our world, and as she uncovers the mystery of why the two worlds are artificially converging, she learns important lessons about life, death, love, society, and how we can all live a life without magic and still find joy. It has far more in common with movies like Summer Wars and Paprika, where there are huge over the top visual and dramatic beats which serve as both blockbuster eye candy and also metaphors for social commentary.

There are things the movie does really well, and there are things it doesn't really succeed at, but it's really refreshing to see someone try to tell a story that people don't really expect, and to tell it in ways which aren't very traditional. The director Hirao is no stranger to being experimental and unorthodox, so maybe this shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. The animation and art in the film is outstanding, and even with the feeling that the movie is a bit too strange for the average audience, I would readily recommend it to anyone looking for something interesting.

Thanks for that writeup Ducky. Im interested in this movie ever since seeing the artwork, but Im not expecting something exactly like LWA so its good.
 

cajunator

Banned
Zero no Tsukaima 05

Louise is OP. Nerf plz. I bet there's an arc like that coming.
Also how the hell did no-one realise what was going on with that golem breaking shit.

2x2 = Shinobuden 03

Good episode full of :SDBurton. Shinubu is still adorable and Wakamoto still kills it.
#dead.

Wakomoto sells the show (as he often does). Crude humor but it works. They put that poor girl through hell lol.

Not to mention introduces a lot of cute witches.

Thats what we all really want anyway!

So to any of these fine cities?

They dont look very fine to me.
 

Theonik

Member
Zero no Tsukaima 06
Saw lots of this coming. The
staff of destruction being an M72 LAW was kinda unexpected though.
Finally some answers of sort! And a nice scene at the end too.
 

cnet128

Banned
Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono Encore 7

Goddammit now I really wish the girls' rugby manga they came up with was a real thing, it sounded amazing. Trust Tesagure to make me care about rugby of all things. And to solve the Great Light-Beam Mystery. Sasuga desu.

Still enjoying the shamelessly dakimakura-y new ending themes, too. I guess we're going to have one for each character.
please tell me there isn't going to be a Mobuko one. There is, isn't there >.>
 
Kuroko's Basketball Season 2 Episode 45
tumblr_n1fk3vZm0O1qzd219o2_500.gif


This is probably going to be a painful and dull match to watch as apart from maybe one or two, I just cant get into any of Yosen at all. Too big, too tall, all around just unappealing in numerous ways. Probably also why they are the least popular as well.
 

NeonZ

Member
After War Gundam X - 3

Ouch, so Tiffa has a mind-reading ability who feels the pain and fear that enemies feel when they die. This is probably going to do more harm than good when the main character has a massive double laser attack.

I like how Garrod broke out of the cell just so he could go pick flowers for Tiffa then go back to the cell. That was sweet.

Man, the leader of this vulture crew looks like the coach from Gunbuster without the lens flare and the
scar is on his left eye instead of the right.

Wait, considering those comments, is X your first Gundam or something?
 
Wait, considering those comments, is X your first Gundam or something?

Yes, actually. Well it's the first one I plan on finishing all the way through anyway.

Seeing as I've seen nobody here make any comments on Gundam X, I figured it would be a good place to start. I've got zero expectations for this one. I've heard how bad 00 apparently is and how amazing G Gundam is. But with Gundam X opinions are kinda all over the place from what I've heard. I'm making this my first Gundam mainly because I have no idea what to expect from it.
 
That last page scared me a bit, I hope I don't have as bad a taste as ANN Zach!
Zero no Tsukaima 04

Some godly Kirche this episode and ships leaving docks and stuff.
Dat accidentally summoned ero mag.
Gotta lick my chops every time I see Louise, oishi~.
Strike Witches 2 - 7~12
please don't tell me there's going to be a third season.
A third season, an OVA, and various manga and you're going to enjoy them!

Breaker witches save us!
 

CorvoSol

Member
Yes, actually. Well it's the first one I plan on finishing all the way through anyway.

Seeing as I've seen nobody here make any comments on Gundam X, I figured it would be a good place to start. I've got zero expectations for this one. I've heard how bad 00 apparently is and how amazing G Gundam is. But with Gundam X opinions are kinda all over the place from what I've heard. I'm making this my first Gundam mainly because I have no idea what to expect from it.

X is the only Gundam I haven't seen yet.
 
X is the only Gundam I haven't seen yet.

Yet another reason why I'm making it my first Gundam. G Gundam is amazing this, Victory is terrible that, but nobody says anything about Gundam X.

I was curious. Is it really good? Is it a piece of garbage? I've heard some say the former and some the latter, so I figured: "why the hell not?" and just decided to go and see how it was myself.

That's not to say I won't watch G Gundam at one point or another.
 
Ace of Diamond Episode 20
tumblr_n1fp43a2u21qi6xzyo1_500.gif


Perhaps it is time for the rise of Kawakami, I for one am glad.
well that isnt to say that Tanba deserved, but he was was the least of my favorite pitchers. Still glad it wasnt a brain injury
 
Magi The Kingdom of Magic - Episode 20

Finally, Alibaba is back! I enjoy watching Alibaba's side of the story, more then Aladdin's story. Alibaba is just more interesting to me, and his battle's are usually cool.

Seems like Scherazarde actually isn't all that bad of a person I thought she was. While attacking the magician city was a cruel thing to do, at least she agreed to
withdraw her forces
. Now the director on the other hand... he is
pissed
. He just found out that
200 of his fellow magicians died in that war,
he's probably going to go all out against Kou now.

I'm still not sure what the Kou empire wants, but something tells me they aren't the good guys. Judar and Hakuryuu's mom is with them, so they probably aren't one of the nicer country's to fight.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Episodes 20-22

Ok, it was so expected that
Cesar was going to die. The second I heard him say that he wanted to storm the hotel by himself, I just knew he'd die. How come the Zepelli's keep dying? His family line just can't get a break.

Seems like next episode, Joseph is going to fight Wamuu in chariots
. It should be quite an interesting match.
 

Dynedom

Member
Yet another reason why I'm making it my first Gundam. G Gundam is amazing this, Victory is terrible that, but nobody says anything about Gundam X.

I was curious. Is it really good? Is it a piece of garbage? I've heard some say the former and some the latter, so I figured: "why the hell not?" and just decided to go and see how it was myself.

That's not to say I won't watch G Gundam at one point or another.

Gundam X is fun but it was canned during its and had a bit of a rushed ending. It doesn't have the traditionally large cast of characters you'd expect either but I did like it.

Plus: The Frost Brothers are boss. I actually remember more of the cast from X than I do from Victory, but only because I'm trying to erase that steaming pile from my memory.
 

Midonin

Member
Wizard Barristers 07

Road trip! Between this and Nobunagun, this feels like a very international day for anime, spending a fair amount of time overseas. Though Cecil can't even go back to Canada without getting herself involved in some sort of case. The introspective moments during the road trip were nice, and it looks like the show's moving into some answers about what's going on with Cecil's past. How much this has to do with that magic prophecy thing, I'm not sure.
 

fertygo

Member
Kuroko's Basketball Season 2 Episode 45
tumblr_n1fk3vZm0O1qzd219o2_500.gif


This is probably going to be a painful and dull match to watch as apart from maybe one or two, I just cant get into any of Yosen at all. Too big, too tall, all around just unappealing in numerous ways. Probably also why they are the least popular as well.

Basketlball player are big and tall? OH NOES!!!
 

CorvoSol

Member
Yet another reason why I'm making it my first Gundam. G Gundam is amazing this, Victory is terrible that, but nobody says anything about Gundam X.

I was curious. Is it really good? Is it a piece of garbage? I've heard some say the former and some the latter, so I figured: "why the hell not?" and just decided to go and see how it was myself.

That's not to say I won't watch G Gundam at one point or another.

As long as you remember that G really is amazing and Victory really is terrible.
 

Jex

Member
[Space Dandy] - 8

I watch Space Dandy every week because talented people work on it, but most of the time my reaction is just "eh". I actually really enjoyed this weeks episode all the way through, which I guess would make it my favourite episode of the show so far.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
[Space Dandy] - 8

I watch Space Dandy every week because talented people work on it, but most of the time my reaction is just "eh". I actually really enjoyed this weeks episode all the way through, which I guess would make it my favourite episode of the show so far.
Brb, watching Space Dandy so I can say how it was the worst episode up to now.
 

cajunator

Banned
That last page scared me a bit, I hope I don't have as bad a taste as ANN Zach!

Gotta lick my chops every time I see Louise, oishi~.

A third season, an OVA, and various manga and you're going to enjoy them!

Breaker witches save us!

As soon as I saw how terrible his taste was I knew it wasnt you Zachy.
 

Articalys

Member
With regard to Space Dandy ep.8, I do kind of wish they
hadn't explicitly pointed out the whole Laika connection and left that for people to figure out on their own
.
 
Yet another reason why I'm making it my first Gundam. G Gundam is amazing this, Victory is terrible that, but nobody says anything about Gundam X.

I was curious. Is it really good? Is it a piece of garbage? I've heard some say the former and some the latter, so I figured: "why the hell not?" and just decided to go and see how it was myself.

That's not to say I won't watch G Gundam at one point or another.

I really enjoyed Gundam X actually. The ending is a bit rushed due to it's unfortunate early cancellation but it still holds up really well.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
Space Dandy 08
The humor here was more subtle, utilizing heavily cartoonish sound effects with playful animation that didn't make Space Dandy feel totally overbearing for once. Nothing was super satisfying with the ADD attention span though, and at the end it was hard not to just shrug and ask if that was it. Enjoyable to watch but not really that engaging.
 

Theonik

Member
Zero no Tsukaima 07
iMLFEJ6sSIk8j.png

[REDACTED]
Cute episode is cute. I am really liking the development of the main character's relationships too. Shame that the length of this anime tells me that it will probably suck.
 

duckroll

Member
Noragami - Episode 8

I love the amazing hilarious faces this show uses whenever characters are being mischievous or super angry in exaggerated ways. There's something about those faces which totally work for me. That aside, the show is getting more and more serious, and some of it works really well - especially with the solid sound direction. I'm interested in seeing if they will manage to develop Yukine into a sympathetic character though. So far everything we've seen makes him pretty hard to like, but there's definitely something more going on underneath. I hope we get more backstory soon. Maybe next week? I liked the way they handled the bully story this week, but I really hope this is the last scrub job Yato takes on. There aren't many episodes left, and he can't stay a loser forever! Or... can he. :D

P.S. Team Bishamon's uniforms are sexy as hell. Soooo stylish! ^_^
 
Noragami 8

A rather tense and somber episode; I was really holding my breath through some of these scenes. There was some masterful sound direction, especially in some of the particular sound effects that were used. The humorous moments do feel increasingly out of place, but fortunately they are handled in such a way that minimizes problematic tone shifts.

I'm interested in seeing if they will manage to develop Yukine into a sympathetic character though. So far everything we've seen makes him pretty hard to like, but there's definitely something more going on underneath.

I can see why people wouldn't like Yukine, but seeing him so utterly alone this week, desperate to live the normal life of a child his age with a normal group of friends but having that denied him, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
 

Midonin

Member
Saki The Nationals 07

Nice followup on Hisa learning to enjoy herself from the previous episode. I do love the grouping of powers we have going into the fourth round. Monocle vs a goalie vs freaky mask thing vs Nodocchi and her big, soft
penguin
. Nodoka's reaction to seeing the mask and clinging to Hisa was adorable.
 
Gintama' 217

A pool episode! Or how this show panders more to fangirls than fanboys. The closest thing to fanservice was Kyuubey's hounds almost being unleashed on accident.

First half was already glorious, with the usual gang + Tsukuyo wrecking havoc at the pool. AND THEN THE SHOGUN APPEARED

This dude is a tighty whitey's master. Praise the Shogun!
That abuse about his underwear though... poor shogun.
 

Midonin

Member
Tonari no Seki-kun 08

Shogi, Part II. Only now it's more of an American medieval drama than a Japanese one. I love seeing Rumi get so heavily invested in these things, trying to change the course of the story so that love can prevail in the end. The amount of work that must've been done modifying those pieces is a work of art in itself, really.
 
Phi brain S3 - 21
What the heck phi brain !

What the heck ?

Orpheus ... That's playing dirty to the extreme. Especially after last week episode.

Now a part of me
waht to believe that he jumped out of his seat, especiallysince the death in unconfirmed
but the way the handled the ending card makes me quite worried.

This episode was trully great, some cameo of melancholy , anna and cubic on the side.. and a very intense duel for this week

But damn , next week is "the selection" i expect a magnificent battle royale.

No pictures because spoilers , Phi brain fans , YOU MUST watch this one
 
Angel Beats 11


Uh-huh... Somebody is
using stolen computers to hack NPCs and create shadow monsters that can pop up anywhere, take peoples souls and make them into NPCs? Weird. Still not sure why they can use computers to change things like this either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom