Support NeoGAF

[ColossalLazy]

It's actually just the artist.

The mangaka is the reason why HSOTD is still on hiatus.

Oh I see. From Koukoku no Shugosha to HSOTD holy shit.

 

[R_thanatos]

No to HSOTD. No more.

Boo this man .gif

Triage X anime is coming. Apparently the mangaka is currently working on it but I want more HSOTD.

I want to hope and believe

It's actually just the artist.

The mangaka is the reason why HSOTD is still on hiatus.

Damn , my hopes were shut down

 

[Isotope]

Yoru no Yatterman - 01

http://a.pomf.se/fhcvjj.webm

oh gosh :>

 

[Rebel Leader]

You're wrong.

Stage of grief Denial. Confirmed.

 

[cajunator]

I think that person called the fanservice stuff disappointing and not the show.

Fanservice other than cute doesnt do anything for me so I would agree with that.

 

[Jarmel]

It's Ikuhara, Penguindrum already showed he has no ability to stop himself from over-indulging in pace and flow ruining flashbacks. He also loved flashbacks in Utena, even if they were used much better there.

Well the problem is that the flashbacks don't add anything necessary to Sumika and Kureha's relationship. As it stands, it's fluffing out a relationship that is pretty much already over. The other thing is that the flashbacks are pretty shitty and boring in actual content. Why don't we see Kureha and Sumika act like normal human beings and do activities outside of school? Kureha keeps saying her love is real and yet all that the show has displayed is a relationship that could have just as easily been platonic or childish in nature.

 

[Thoraxes]

shame you can't romance a sassy bear

One day.

You shame bears everywhere.

Bears like to eat... hunnie..

Kureha keeps saying her love is real and yet all that the show has displayed is a relationship that could have just as easily been platonic or childish in nature.

Don't you think that's part of the point?

 

[sonicmj1]

Girls Watch continues.

Rolling Girls 2

If anything, this episode was even better than the one before it. The action reinforced the emotional highs, with the desperation of Ma-chan trying to save Nozomi reinforcing how much she cares about her, and how important preserving her identity is. And that makes the payoff worth it in the end.

It's hard to tell where the show will go from here. Nozomi wants to prove herself, and they'll meet new people and gather those stones that seem to be related to Best powers, so maybe there'll still be some fighting? I hope so, considering how great the animation was. Either way, this is the strongest start of the season for sure.

Cinderella Girls 2

This was... not as exciting. It was inevitable, given this is based on a property with even more girls than Kantai Collection, but a lot of the main Cinderella crew have me dreading what's to come. The primary trio are pretty fleshed-out as characters, and some of the remaining group seem like they could be alright (Rika's already got a conflict in this episode, and a few of them, like Anastasia, are inoffensive enough), but as befitting a mobage with a loaded cast of girls, a number of them seem to be nothing but crappy gimmicks. Miku and Kirari seem like you could combine them to get Kaeru from Turning Girls (not a good thing), and a lot seem like nothing but a single trait, Anzu in particular.

Maybe they'll develop into something more than just being the rock idol, or the chuuni idol, or the idol who sleeps all the time and dreams about being lazy and wears shirts about being lazy, but this feels like a potential red flag. I might not stick around much longer if things don't change on that front.

 

[Jarmel]

Don't you think that's part of the point?

The problem is that there's no depth to it. If the point of the show is to have the main character pining over a superficial relationship, fine. But don't repeatedly waste airtime in order to do so.

 

[Puruzi]

Stage of grief Denial. Confirmed.

More HSOTD should happen. It must happen.

 

[John Blade]

Well...the show is starting to get bad as I start to see more issue right now. Just notice the animation is starting to look a bit like the production team is running out of money of making the episode and need to cut corner a bit. It doesn't feel smooth when watching and this get weird and bad when they is action scene as it look odd to watch. Don't know if it's was suppose to look like at all as from Forte, it was smooth and look nice. I am guessing it might be the animation is maybe done partly by computer.

Another issue is the fighting scene. It look a bit bland from the fight scene I saw to down right boring a bit. Episode 4 is a good example with the fight against the android with Tomohisa and Kenichi. It look boring when watching the fight. For episode 3, the slowness of the fight scene kinda kill the mood a bit when Mikura and Tomohisa shooting against the truck with they car.

The dialogue is okay for the most part but a bit dry from what I gather. For the new character, Asami, she have some potential but won't say anything this early right now. Also, more of the supporting character, Kazuto and they is something with him and Mikura . Might be interesting.

Story of the mission isn't much to say really. For Episode 4 and 5 about Mikura friend and her past is something interesting to see about her past. A small note from Forte when they talk about the baseball team and her friend past, Sakura with Mikura enemies in Forte.

That's all I can say right now. Not really interested to finish the show quick so I will take it slow for now but will get it done.

Minor Update: Episode 5 near the end is actually decent done with the story of Sakura and her hatred of her old friend, Mikura. Might be one of the better side of the show even though it's small. Do hope the show get more better later on.

 

[Thoraxes]

The problem is that there's no depth to it. If the point of the show is to have the main character pining over a superficial relationship, fine. But don't repeatedly waste airtime in order to do so.

I can see that as a valid argument. I also think the way his shows play out tend to have every moment be important for some reason, even if the reasoning isn't shown right away. He doesn't seem to show something for no reason.

May or may not be a flaw depending on how things ultimately play out, so for me anyways it's too soon to tell. I'm too fascinated by what's going on with all the symbolism and "Ikuhara-isms" to really mind a lack of characer depth because it seems to be pretty deliberate that everything is constructed this way for a reason.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Well the problem is that the flashbacks don't add anything necessary to Sumika and Kureha's relationship. As it stands, it's fluffing out a relationship that is pretty much already over. The other thing is that the flashbacks are pretty shitty and boring in actual content. Why don't we see Kureha and Sumika act like normal human beings and do activities outside of school? Kureha keeps saying her love is real and yet all that the show has displayed is a relationship that could have just as easily been platonic or childish in nature.

Maybe that's the point.

 

[Necrovex]

It's actually just the artist.

The mangaka is the reason why HSOTD is still on hiatus.

What is going on with him? What's the story behind the continued hiatus?

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Death Parade 2

After such a strong episode 1, we get a freaking recap episode? what the fuck.

Yuri Kuma 3

I think I had enough of this nonsense, dropped.

Yoru no Yatterman 2

As a Yatterman fan, this is easily my favorite anime of the season so far. Leopard and co are awesome and I can't wait to see more of this anime.

Rolling Girls 2

GREAT episode, I wonder where this show is going after this, hopefully we still get amazing action scenes.

Also, Crocodile ftw.

 

[Narag]

Death Parade 2

After such a strong episode 1, we get a freaking recap episode? what the fuck.

It's not a recap episode, it exists to show the grayer side of things and that were wasn't a black and white decision for Decim to make, ~chu

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

It's not a recap episode, it exists to show the grayer side of things and that were wasn't a black and white decision for Decim to make, ~chu

I don't feel like a whole episode was needed for that, anyways, I'm excited for episode 3 as it seems like it's going to be like episode 1.

 

[Thoraxes]

I don't feel like a whole episode was needed for that, anyways, I'm excited for episode 3 as it seems like it's going to be like episode 1.

I appreciated the info dump. Basically answered any questions I had.

 

[Serious]

Well that sucks, what's the main reason? Also are there even any zombie survival anime besides this?

There's the upcoming

Spoiler

Gakkou Gurashi

. Only spoiled because it's technically supposed to be a twist at the end of the first chapter, and I have no idea whether they're going to reveal the show's true nature in the advertising or not. But I've heard great things about it.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I appreciated the info dump. Basically answered any questions I had.

It was interesting, but I feel like I understood what had happened and didn't need any "answers", I like when a show doesn't have to explain everything to us and leaves some mystery. I think it's fine if they only do it for the first game, to make everything clear for the watchers but I hope they don't do it again.

 

[Jarmel]

Maybe that's the point.

A more effective way of doing that would be by fleshing out the bears, their motivations, and their relationship with Kureha (as I'm sure bear/Kureha is endgame). Instead at this point, all the audience has is shallow characters and their shallow relationships. Kureha as an individual hasn't shown any signs of having any interesting character traits or personality so why should the audience then be invested in her character or relationships? If Ikuhara's message with the work is to point out how superficial everything is, then I feel his approach was a poor decision on his part as there is nothing engaging the audience.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

A more effective way of doing that would be by fleshing out the bears, their motivations, and their relationship with Kureha (as I'm sure bear/Kureha is endgame). Instead at this point, all the audience has is shallow characters and their shallow relationships. Kureha as an individual hasn't shown any signs of having any interesting character traits or personality so why should the audience then be invested in her character or relationships? If Ikuhara's message with the work is to point out how superficial everything is, then I feel his approach was a poor decision on his part as there is nothing engaging the audience.

Bears are there to eat humans. The bears are acting like bears, hence why they're shallow. Them having shallow relationships (which I wouldn't be surprised if this was true) is clearly showing the crowd how shallow pairing other girls are just because of friendship, and that there's nothing more meaningful than that.

 

[Jarmel]

Bears are there to eat humans. The bears are acting like bears, hence why they're shallow. Them having shallow relationships (which I wouldn't be surprised if this was true) is clearly showing the crowd how shallow pairing other girls are just because of friendship, and that there's nothing more meaningful than that.

What I'm saying is, why as a viewer should I care about this? What makes that information interesting?

You have to flesh the characters out.

 

[Thoraxes]

It was interesting, but I feel like I understood what had happened and didn't need any "answers", I like when a show doesn't have to explain everything to us and leaves some mystery. I think it's fine if they only do it for the first game, to make everything clear for the watchers but I hope they don't do it again.

Oh for sure. It would be terrible to repeat any of it. I think it was just a one time thing though.

Bears are there to eat humans. The bears are acting like bears, hence why they're shallow. Them having shallow relationships (which I wouldn't be surprised if this was true) is clearly showing the crowd how shallow pairing other girls are just because of friendship, and that there's nothing more meaningful than that.

The bears do bear things supports this too.

I don't necessarily think that looking for character depth is the right approach either. Fleshed out characters aren't the central point in this show, but the concepts they represent are and thosthose relationships are.

It's kind of like when people say Hyouka was a bad mystery show and you have to point out to them that it was about the characters and character development, not the mysteries. This is basically the opposite.

But I've never been one to really care about characters and character depth in a show outside of maybe LOGH, so I can't really say I see it as a negative at all.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

What I'm saying is, why as a viewer should I care about this? What makes that information interesting?

You have to flesh the characters out.

And what if making everything intentionally shallow is making a point about shallow relationships perpetrated by viewers, in where characters may not actually be lesbians?

 

[Basileus777]

And what if making everything intentionally shallow is making a point about shallow relationships perpetrated by viewers, in where characters may not actually be lesbians?

Is this like how everything bad in KLK was just part of the parody?

 

[Thoraxes]

Is this like how everything bad in KLK was just part of the parody?

This is actually intentional.

 

[Jarmel]

And what if making everything intentionally shallow is making a point about shallow relationships perpetrated by viewers, in where characters may not actually be lesbians?

So what you're telling me is that the only reason I should be interested in the work is for the symbolism?

 

[R_thanatos]

Dog Days'' - 02

Man that was some positive thinking here

Our heroes are so good they go to where someone need their help in advance !!

Anyway i think i've understood where the play ground of season 3 is going to be.
We're back to the serious stuff , but with another fresh look .. and it doesn't change much the formula since we've touched to demons in season 1 a bit .

Regardless, the new threat is still intresting if only because we need yet another ESCUSE for everyone to go full power again . ( that'sz something to look forward to )
However the animation is not as smooth as i remember ( i mean it IS smooth , but not as detailed at times )

The dragon prietress is a nice fighter with crest moves indeed and so far i like it even if Cinque HOLDING didn't melt her heart yet. but it's going to happen ( the head petting is a given at this point )

So yeah Dog days Season 3 is what i needed, an escuse for EVERYONE in the cast to go all out , without worring about power levels and they even gave us A nice upgrade to everyone powers... so GIVE ME MORE NEXT WEEK

PS: i see that rico examining Cinque phone in S1 lead to some pretty big changes for communicating ..way to go rico !!!

 

[sonicmj1]

A more effective way of doing that would be by fleshing out the bears, their motivations, and their relationship with Kureha (as I'm sure bear/Kureha is endgame). Instead at this point, all the audience has is shallow characters and their shallow relationships. Kureha as an individual hasn't shown any signs of having any interesting character traits or personality so why should the audience then be invested in her character or relationships? If Ikuhara's message with the work is to point out how superficial everything is, then I feel his approach was a poor decision on his part as there is nothing engaging the audience.

I'll take "Anthy or Kuma" for $200, Alex.

We're at episode 3. Some of this is going to take time, and I trust Ikuhara enough to give him that time.

I think that Kureha's actually developed really nicely here, but I'll give that its own post.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

So what you're telling me is that the only reason I should be interested in the work is for the symbolism?

Well you know what you're getting into.


Also lets bring back the whole comments about the show only being 13 episodes long, which wouldn't be enough time to flesh both the characters and the plot out at once.

Maybe this is also intentional, to inherently restrict development, and keep it shallow, since not much can ultimately change character wise in such a short span.

 

[Dice]

So I got really bored from it being winter time and watched some anime for the first time in a long while. I watched Madoka Magica. Way darker than I expected, but holy shit every character is sooooo dumb... or at least that's what it seemed like until I watched the first episode of K-On

Spoiler

I don't think I want to know what happened to the thread

and Yui made them look like geniuses. Now, I also watched the first episode of The World is Still Beautiful and it seems more interesting. Not sure if I want to watch one of these or try to find something better.

 

[nintendoman58]

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid - 8

Oh man at

Spoiler

Tessa's breakdown in this episode. :O

Other than that, in this episode

Spoiler

we're introduced to what I initially thought was a double agent but actually turned out to be a pretty cool guy. He reminds me of Schwarz from G Gundam, in how he lectured Domon.

The fight he had with Sousuke's Arbalest was really well animated. It's a shame Kyoani hasn't made more mecha anime since this show.

But man, that last scene with that familiar-looking mecha. O_O

 

[Thoraxes]

I'll take "Anthy or Kuma" for $200, Alex.

We're at episode 3. Some of this is going to take time, and I trust Ikuhara enough to give him that time.

I think that Kureha's actually developed really nicely here, but I'll give that its own post.

I look forward to reading your insights.

 

[phoenix296]

Momoiro Clover Z vs KISS

Bizarrely awesome. Wish there was more vocals from Kiss. The music was pretty good and there surprisingly wasn't much of a clash in style, it just sort of worked. Gene Simmons tongue was animated perfectly.

EDIT:

Mako cameo?

 

[Admiral Woofington]

watching Battle Royale again for the second time in ages. So anime.

 

[Andrew J.]

Thinking of the characters in an Ikuhara anime as people is a mistake. They're metaphors.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

watching Battle Royale again for the second time in ages. So anime.

Pf, not when the closest anime I can find like it is Future Diary or Btooom.

 

[CorvoSol]

Now, Now. It looked pretty good most of the time.

are we talking about the times when it was gouge your eyes out lolis in skimpy sheets for clothing or the times when it was meaningless beam spam battles

 

[Jarmel]

I'll take "Anthy or Kuma" for $200, Alex.

We're at episode 3. Some of this is going to take time, and I trust Ikuhara enough to give him that time.

I think that Kureha's actually developed really nicely here, but I'll give that its own post.

The problem isn't just that Kureha has no development, it's that nobody does. So he's got 9 episodes for the entire cast.

Maybe this is also intentional, to inherently restrict development, and keep it shallow, since not much can ultimately change character wise in such a short span.

There have been plenty of 13 episode series where characters display growth in addition to whatever plot.

 

[R_thanatos]

Yuri kuma Arashi - 03

Again ? AGAIN ?

Maybe you should n't go to the roof after receiving an anonymous phone call ?
It's the third time !! Can you please learn from your mistakes ?

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

The problem isn't just that Kureha has no development, it's that nobody does. So he's got 9 episodes for the entire cast.



There have been plenty of 13 episode series where characters display growth in addition to whatever plot.

But are they greater or less than the amount of other shows where not much significant actually happens? Because you can generally do a lot more if you have more episodes.

And going back to my Bears are bears comment. They may look like humans, but from the getg, we already know for a fact... that they are bears. Have you ever heard the story about the frog and the Scorpion?

A scorpion needed to get across a river, and so he asked a frog to get across the river on his back.

The frog says "I won't take you. How will I know you won't kill me?"

The scorpion replies "Because if I sting you, then you would sink and we will both die".

The frog then says "Fair point, hop on my back".

So the Frog begins to cross with the scorpion on its back. While in the middle of the river, the scorpion stings the Frog and poisons it.

The frog asks, "Why did you go and do that, now we will both die in this river"?

And the scorpion says "because I'm a scorpion."


The moral of that story being that you are who you are, which is why our two bears were being very obvious on the fact that they are bears. They can't hide what they truly are, and that is being a bear.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Yurikuma Arashi 3:
As of yet, I'm not really sure where to take my thoughts on this show, aside from the fact that I'm enjoying it.

My theory from last week doesn't seem to hold as much water this time. Instead, I think I'll just give some random thoughts on possible themes/motifs I've picked up on so far.

Approval. The two repeated bits from each episode (the phone call and the court scenes) both center around approval being given. In both cases, the approval is also coming from male characters, the only male presence in the show at all so far. It's impossible not to read some gender politics into this, and to see some of this as a commentary on girls being forced to live their life in a certain way to meet the approval of men running society.

Living in the present vs thinking about the past. The biggest difference between bears and people is contained here. This is definitely going to be a running theme. Interestingly, Lulu seems to be thinking about the past more and falling into some of the same thoughts as Kureha, so there might wind up being some more overlap there. Also overlapping with this is the role of the previous generation vs the current one, which is something Ikuhara enjoys playing around with. In this episode we find out that Kureha's mom and the teacher were once 'close', and that a lot of Kureha/Sumika's life mirrored aspects of theirs. This will definitely be something to watch for, as the show is probably going to explore how Kureha winds up going about things differently. Another overlap with this is the human focus on love towards a single person vs bears living the moment and passionately going after whoever they want.

The Invisible Storm remains a running thing, but explained a little better this episode with the Exclusionary Committee. The crux of it seems to be going after people who don't fit into acceptable society, and targeting them for elimination. It's unclear exactly how this ties in with everything else so far, especially since they've just been introduced.

The Wall of Severance. Not sure exactly what to make of it right now. Last week I thought maybe we were on the bear side of the wall of severance, but this week I'm not really so sure. Either way, I feel confident in saying that it doesn't actually exist to keep bears and humans separate. It might also tie in with whatever the motivations of the Exclusionary Committee are.

The Kureha/Ginko/Lulu scene after the approval of yuri was different this week, and Kureha seems to be becoming more aware of what's going on. Of course, this culminates with

Spoiler

her killing Yurizono, and perhaps that means she's finally succeeded in the first part of why she keeps getting called to the roof.

This is a somewhat long winded way of saying 'I really don't know', but I guess that's all that can be said. At this stage in watching an Ikuhara show, I think the key is really just to pick up on some of this stuff, and we'll find out where everything is going later on.

So what you're telling me is that the only reason I should be interested in the work is for the symbolism?

Well, you knew what you were going to be getting into. It's hardly just symbolism, but with an Ikuhara show you should be expecting for the show to be highly centered around metaphors and themes, and for things to not be completely obvious right away.

 

[Basileus777]

Thinking of the characters in an Ikuhara anime as people is a mistake. They're metaphors.

In his good shows they're both.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

There's the upcoming

Spoiler

Gakkou Gurashi

. Only spoiled because it's technically supposed to be a twist at the end of the first chapter, and I have no idea whether they're going to reveal the show's true nature in the advertising or not. But I've heard great things about it.

There's an anime being made for this? It looks interesting so I'll definitely keep an eye out for when it starts airing.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Shugo Chara 27-28

It's a whole new beginning, and there's a boys vs girls faction based on the new transfer student.

We lost two characters and gained two more with quirky personalities, but so far, they've been shitting on Amu and Tadase in different ways.

 

[Jarmel]

Well, you knew what you were going to be getting into. It's hardly just symbolism, but with an Ikuhara show you should be expecting for the show to be highly centered around metaphors and themes, and for things to not be completely obvious right away.

I feel like Penguindrum did a much better job of balancing Ikuhara and the characters as actual characters at this point.

The moral of that story being that you are who you are, which is why our two bears were being very obvious on the fact that they are bears. They can't hide what they truly are, and that is being a bear.

So because the bears act on instinct, you find them to be engrossing or interesting?

 

[ibyea]

watching Battle Royale again for the second time in ages. So anime.

I recently had the misfortune to watch the movie. Ugh. It basically takes the most silly cliche aspects of anime, along with bad editing/continuity, nonsensical action sequences, and terrible production values, and with all of that it tries to take itself seriously. The results are laughable. The only redeeming aspect was the guy in charge of the killings. He was actually pretty good.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

I feel like Penguindrum did a much better job of balancing Ikuhara and the characters as actual characters at this point.



So because the bears act on instinct, you find them to be engrossing or interesting?

I never said that

 

[Jarmel]

I never said that

So again what about the bears attracts you to them as characters?