And is it just me, or has the sound direction gone to shit suddenly?
Odd that Nanoha doesn't find it strange that a boy is sharing her bedroom.
How can a trip be long if you can instantly teleport?
Also, I'm guessing there's a ton of yuri fanfiction featuring Nanoha and Fate. I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT.
NOT THE TWINTAILS!
So...why was Yuuno in ferret form during that meeting?
End
So, it was a cute series, with some impressive action at times and some uncomfortable fanservice at others (luckily it moved away from that quickly enough). I really wasn't able to become emotionally invested in the characters, unfortunately, and that may have dampened my enjoyment a bit. And I was a little surprised that, while it did adhere to some tropes for the medium, it handily avoided some others I was expecting. But anyway, I've been told that A's is much better, so onwards to the next season!
"Anybody who doesn't appreciate what I like just doesn't get it."
Don't you think that viewpoint is extremely arrogant? Myopic even? Sure, i'll grant you that my post didn't really give me the benefit of the doubt, but I was clearly, clearly taking the piss. Poking fun at it is pretty much all I can do at this point, because I sure as hell don't plan on seriously reviewing Yuri Kuma Arashi. I was on the Yuri Kuma Arashi train from day 1. It was like someone engineered an anime from the ground up to appeal to me but... it was a no sell. To be clear, i'm not saying that it's bad. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Sorry.
With the internet I can't tell if people are being jerks on purpose or trying to be funny. I've seen people express some of your sentiments albeit in an even more extreme fashion to the point that it comes off as gross ignorance instead of humor.
I apologize if my post offended you though. (Now that I understand what you're getting at) I took your post the wrong way.
I didn't really post your paraphrased sentiment anyways, though I see how you could've misinterpreted it. My original post stated that I didn't believe you were really paying attention, which still holds true. Ikuhara works are usually confusing if you only look at what's happening on the surface level of each episode.
There's a lot going on in the show. We had a mini discussion on some minor themes a few pages back, and there are plenty of internet resources and communities that have been analyzing each episode to bring up the thematic materials, metaphors, visual symbolism, and their relationships with one another.
Just watched all of Oreimo and I really loved it. The incest stuff didn't really matter but I loved the humor and all of the characters were so loveable. Can anyone recommend something for me to watch?
Just watched all of Oreimo and I really loved it. The incest stuff didn't really matter but I loved the humor and all of the characters were so loveable. Can anyone recommend something for me to watch?
Btw. are colored manga, especially for longer running series, a thing or do they simply not exist for the majority? For instance I can understand that the author wants to draw all the art himself, as is the case in Berserk, but couldn't the publisher take care of coloring/outsource that? It would seem to me that it wouldn't take too much extra effort for the author to provide detailed enough instructions for colorization and for a successful manga the cost shouldn't be much of a dent in the profits.
If it simply isn't done in most cases, then why? Are people simply happy enough with black and white (or grayscale)? Printing + higher price doesn't increase enough new and/or higher paying customers to be worth it?
It's up to publisher, but most of the time, only several chapter are colored as it originally published in magazine when the publisher release Kanzenban version.
Outsourcing colorist, even with author permission and detail will probably put a dent in author schedule and risk of backlash from the reader (coloring not from the artist? booo!).
I think it could be done if the author already finished and not doing other work, but since it still ongoing, i doubt most author have time to do it.
Just watched all of Oreimo and I really loved it. The incest stuff didn't really matter but I loved the humor and all of the characters were so loveable. Can anyone recommend something for me to watch?
Btw. are colored manga, especially for longer running series, a thing or do they simply not exist for the majority? For instance I can understand that the author wants to draw all the art himself, as is the case in Berserk, but couldn't the publisher take care of coloring/outsource that? It would seem to me that it wouldn't take too much extra effort for the author to provide detailed enough instructions for colorization and for a successful manga the cost shouldn't be much of a dent in the profits.
If it simply isn't done in most cases, then why? Are people simply happy enough with black and white (or grayscale)? Printing + higher price doesn't increase enough new and/or higher paying customers to be worth it?
What, I should drop this horrible debacle? Why should I do that?
So, in this episode, indeed, useless-moe girl is the one who's going to turn into a dragon once the dragon that is approaching the school gets there. So, the MC is given the mission of
being the one to kill her before that can happen, if the girls fail to kill the dragon first. Useless-moe girl who might become a dragon considers killing herself, but doesn't
. He's supposedly "a great assassin" up to the task of fighting a dragon, though we haven't seen any examples of his skills yet. Well, now the series description is complete.
We also learn that two years ago, the last time a dragon attacked the school, one of the girls, the younger sister of their teacher I believe, turned into a dragon. His sister Mitsuki is the one who killed both dragons, so she says that she should be the one to kill useless girl if it comes to it because she's done the like before.
Serious, huh?
So, the MC and useless girl Iris are in a room together, as he guards her as they wait for the dragon. Naturally this is the perfect time for comic romance and panties humor, yes? Because that's what you get! She says that guys like panties so she starts lifting up her dress to show him hers, he stops her saying something like 'it's the girl who the panties belong to not just the panties', etc. Yes, this exchange happens, after the events of the previous paragraph. She claims she "just wants to thank him" and such, but seems to pretty clearly like him. Naturally, since this is a harem anime neither one of them recognizes it, as per genre regulations.
Then, we get a flashback of the MC and his sister. They did not live together at the time of the flashback when they were kids; are they actually related, or not? If ep. 1 mentioned that, I've already forgotten. Anyway, naturally they've got a childhood marriage promise, because of course they do. This is terrible anime, so naturally there's a horribly stupid incest element too. It would be so great if anime could ever figure out what actual sibling relationships are like, someday...
Next time, the girls fight the dragon! Will the series go down the 'teasing with darkness but not having awful things actually happen' path, or the 'killing off characters path? I"m expecting the former, but we'll see. The most likely result is the stupid but generic story where MC saving the day and the girl, because he's male and the MC and thus superior to those females (self-insert power fantasy for the male viewer!), and she's one of his waifus and such so he shows his abilities by beating the dragon and saving her.
It's either that, or the death-flag-teasing in this episode becomes real and the series goes for the also stupid and generic horror-style plotline, but this really doesn't seem like that kind of series.
Overall, seriously, don't watch this, save yourself the pain.
Saenai Kanojo no Sodeataka 1 (Saekano)
The good things about this episode: The girls' characters are decent, the MC being attacked by Eriri's twintails was great (I don't remember that from the manga version, was it Twintail inspired?), and it's faithful to the source material... and that's about it.
The bad: The plot is quite bland and generic, there's nothing good about it, and there really isn't a good reason to watch this stupid thing.
So yeah, Saenai Kanojo no Sodeataka is a very generic harem anime about a guy who somehow convinces a pair of much more competent girls and one plain girl to join his 'I want to make a dating sim visual novel' group. Yeah, I do find some of the commentary on visual novels and such interesting, but I DO think that it degrades the quality of the commentary when the series it's in is so incredibly generic and plain itself. It's not like this is some good series which also has meta commentary... it's a bad one with commentary about how bad stuff is. Hmm, that's not so great. If you know stuff is bad, couldn't you actually try to make something good? But no.
Also, the MC is kind of annoying. The girls are interesting characters, but the guy isn't at all. It's very hard to imagine why these girls actually like him. And of course there won't be romance worth anything, either; episode 0 showed that to anyone who hasn't read the LN or mangas. The guy sticks quite closely to "I only like 2d and will ignore all 3d advances", the attitude which won him that "morals-kun" moniker from Utaha. Of course, more importantly, it also serves to keep the series going without the romance element going anywhere before the end of the series, necessary for bad harem anime like this.
Anyway, this series is, yes, about a guy and four girls (there's also the annoying one who will join later, I'm not looking forward to it) who make his bad visual novel.
As for commentary...
-Utaha has the best character design
-Utaha and Eriri's criticisms of his game are entirely accurate... but then they'll surely join the group to make the game anyway, as ep. 0 showed. Hmm. I hope that they actually change some things in his concept for the better!
-NATURALLY this otaku guy is friends with the smartest and most popular girls in school, one of whom is a closet otaku artist and the other a writer (not too different). Of course.
So yeah, it's quite a fantasy. It's not the worst harem show, though, there's far worse out there... but it's plain and generic, and the meta commentary isn't enough to get me to like it.
An older series I just recently started: Moeyo Ken TV - 1-2 - This is a fairly generic comedy-focused anime with character art from Rumiko Takahashi of Ranma, Inuyasha, etc. fame. I don't think she actually wrote the story, though, just drew the art, and it shows; while the characters are very much Rumiko Takahashi designs, the story isn't really. Moeyo Ken is a story set in an alternate Meiji Japan, back in the late 1800s or so. In this world monsters are real, and the Meiji government is requiring all monsters to register with the government. A group of three women, called the Mobile Shinsengumi, chase down troublemaking monsters who do bad things or refuse to be registered. Why people inspired by members of the real-world, anti-Meiji Shinsengumi are fighting FOR the new government's laws is, so far, entirely unexplained. The three main girls are all silly and only semi-competent, in a fairly stereotypical style for a show like this. The main character is of course a guy. He just returned to Japan from spending some time in Shanghai, and he's kind of smart, but so far at least has shown no fighting ability. Still, he's done quite a bit to help his mother (who runs the Mobile Shinsengumi, all three of whom live at what is basically her house) and the three women. He also has a cat-monster companion who's amusing. The only other guy is a mad-scientist guy who makes crazy inventions for the group.
This series is very clearly a comedy. In each episode the group is faced with a problem, and generally the three of them fail to fight it well because their combat abilities aren't great most of the time, though they do have their moments. The MC guy can't fight either, it seems, but has at least gotten them out of some trouble for sure. This is a comedy, focused on often-dumb jokes and making fun of the characters. There hasn't been any romance stuff between the MC and the three of them, so despite the harem setting, so far this isn't a harem series, though I don't know if that will change. This is only a 13 episode series, so it's short. It's not a manga adaptation either, though there is also a PS2 game and a 4-episode OVA that aired before this TV series. I haven't seen the OVA yet. Based on its description it sounds somewhat different (no guy?).
As for the three main girls, one is a swordfighter, one (dressed as a shrine maiden) uses shinigamis (paper summons who turn into summon-spirit helpers), and one uses guns. The one with the sword is sort of the main one of the three, and she's the focus of a lot of the jokes; she's not the smartest, for sure. The humor is fairly predictable stuff, and some of it's bad, but it is amusing sometimes. This series is far from great or interesting, though; it's just average stuff, amusing for sure but generic. 'Look at those silly weird girls' is the plot to a lot of anime comedies, after all. But this one does have some bits of that Rumiko Takahashi style, is funny sometimes, and at least it's not the harem show I was afraid it would be, so there is that on the positive side for sure. I will definitely keep watching, it's entertaining enough.
Oh, I actually have the PS2 game. It's part visual novel and part JRPG, basically.
After watching a bunch of themed anime about hobbies like animation, cooking, drawing...why isnt there something about origami? I love origami to a huge degree and will often spend 2-3 hours working on an intricate model. I think it could be a fun anime idea. Shaft could make it work.
It was kind of assumed there would be proper 'Telecine'/scanning of film negatives based on how in all the previous Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection volumes there were, including the case of another recent pre-Studio Ghibli production like Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro even though it already had a previous high-definition digital disc release. However, as in the case of Castle of Cagliostro release there were apparent compromises on the picture quality presentation (softness, heavy-handed digital noise reduction and cropping) due to the state the production material was in (or at least it has been argued by some that was the reason), some suspicions have been raised about what could they have done this time with really old material/prints like those of Prince of the Sun (based as well on what TOEI VIDEO could achieve).
Unlike on the habitual PR releases in the Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection standalone movie releases that sometimes tout "HD remasters" and similar indicatives (like for the aforementioned Castle of Cagliostro), a rather sparse PR release for The Collected Works of Director Isao TakahataBD-BOX didn't make reference to anything like that, being the most remarkable blurb on this case the mention of Panasonic Corporation's proprietary encoding methods like MASTER GRADE VIDEO CODING for bit expansion data (that I referred to before on these threads) which most probably required the creation of a new transfer into a 36-bit colour capable digital master tape for that... so this could be a positive hint at least.
Other than Cagliostro, Nausicaa also had a new transfer with better color balance and dynamic range, alas DNR was applied though not to the same extreme as Cagliostro apparently.
Okay, not really much to comment on this episode, a new Gunpla stadium has been built, the rival connections are reinforced and Team Try Fighters participate against some jobbers in the classic sense of the word. That is to say Team Anamorphus only exists to make Team Try look good, show of the new move-sets and improvements and gauge the new level of teamwork Team Try Fighters has. This was there and not much more.
Koufuku Graffiti 2
The purity garden is real!
Finally, more foodporn.
Omellete with melting cheese. I need to try that one.
The next episode preview is so cute!
Koufuku Graffiti 2
The purity garden is real!
Finally, more foodporn.
Omellete with melting cheese. I need to try that one.
The next episode preview is so cute!
The only reason why i haven't started Koufuku Graffiti yet is that i'm on a diet-like eating treatment and i don't want any temptations in front of my eyes..I guess i'm gonna keep thsi anime close for viewing in a couple of weeks.
The only reason why i haven't started Koufuku Graffiti yet is that i'm on a diet-like eating treatment and i don't want any temptations in front of my eyes..I guess i'm gonna keep thsi anime close for viewing in a couple of weeks.
The only reason why i haven't started Koufuku Graffiti yet is that i'm on a diet-like eating treatment and i don't want any temptations in front of my eyes..I guess i'm gonna keep thsi anime close for viewing in a couple of weeks.
Sakai is the best, he was so hilarious this episode. The elevator scene was priceless. I just cant get enough. He needs even more and then the next episode, its going to be so amazing.
This episode was great too
though in the real world, highly doubt Kyrios Trans Am would lose, as they say the meister makes the gundam and not the gundam itself.
So, it was a cute series, with some impressive action at times and some uncomfortable fanservice at others (luckily it moved away from that quickly enough). I really wasn't able to become emotionally invested in the characters, unfortunately, and that may have dampened my enjoyment a bit. And I was a little surprised that, while it did adhere to some tropes for the medium, it handily avoided some others I was expecting. But anyway, I've been told that A's is much better, so onwards to the next season!
I remember feeling so robbed watching that for the first time. I was ready to watch Nanoha fight Precia in one awesome final showdown only for there to be no fight at all after all that build-up. So dissapointing.
Thankfully though, A's makes up for it quite well!
One of these days, there's going to be a harem anime adaptation of a light novel and it's going to be good. Like, there's no way a streak like this can be perpetual. One day someone is going to wake up, look at the sea of generic light novel trash in Japan, and say: "I'm going to be the one who'll change that!" and actually succeed.
Just going to post it here.....got myself two additional anime DVD in my collection.
Princess Nine and Gunbuster (minus the case and booklet). Never watch both anime and only know Gunbuster because I own Gunbuster 2 (or the final title Diebuster) but never watch any as of now. Going to be interesting to watch them once I get though my backlog right now.
Maybe' it has to do with how i enjoy my food .. i have imagination and i use it ( in my mind when eating ) ( Think yakitake japan ).. make any meal much more awesome
I agree, I was mostly only just praising the song.
Because oh man I was not expecting that awesome of a song for a Tales game. I was expecting something way more J-pop-esque, coming from Graces, Xillia 1 and 2, and the like.
After watching a bunch of themed anime about hobbies like animation, cooking, drawing...why isnt there something about origami? I love origami to a huge degree and will often spend 2-3 hours working on an intricate model. I think it could be a fun anime idea. Shaft could make it work.
Other than Cagliostro, Nausicaa also had a new transfer with better color balance and dynamic range, alas DNR was applied though not to the same extreme as Cagliostro apparently.
Yeah! And precisely such colour balance too is one of the most patent differences from the new Castle of Cagliostro release compared to the previous Blu-ray Disc release (obviating interlacing woes)... Mr. Miyazaki acting as punctual colour coordinator, instead of Atsushi Okui, with corrections made for titles of the collection sure could have influenced that. Some were discontent with the red-ish tint on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, though... even more of a green-lush tint would have been better received?
Being the first title presented on the collection was an advantage, because they gave with it a lot of interesting data about the creation process (6K film negatives scan, a 4K conform DI done for it) which I assumed would be intrinsic to the collection for all the volumes to follow, but that we haven't equally witnessed for the ones on this latest BD-BOX of Paku-san works...
I'm really enjoying SaeKano a lot. It hits pretty close to home for me as a person that dabbled in the amateur visual novel-making scene, particularly since I'd once written a character in a similar situation to Tomoya.
With the internet I can't tell if people are being jerks on purpose or trying to be funny. I've seen people express some of your sentiments albeit in an even more extreme fashion to the point that it comes off as gross ignorance instead of humor.
I apologize if my post offended you though. (Now that I understand what you're getting at) I took your post the wrong way.
I didn't really post your paraphrased sentiment anyways, though I see how you could've misinterpreted it. My original post stated that I didn't believe you were really paying attention, which still holds true. Ikuhara works are usually confusing if you only look at what's happening on the surface level of each episode.
There's a lot going on in the show. We had a mini discussion on some minor themes a few pages back, and there are plenty of internet resources and communities that have been analyzing each episode to bring up the thematic materials, metaphors, visual symbolism, and their relationships with one another.
It's cool man, i'd probably have reacted the same way if I were passionate about Yuri Kuma myself. But you have to believe me, I was definitely paying attention. There are many, many things worth ruminating over, such as the fact that
Kureha's love for Sumika is superficial at best, the bear/human hybrids being a metaphor for lesbianism, all of the girls actually being bears but they just don't realize it etc.
It's pretty clear that Ikuhara is definitely striving for something, i'm just not fond of the execution. Thematic material aside, there are some faults with the anime. I think the repetitive nature of the episodes (while intentional) hurts the anime in the long run. The Yuri Kuma Arashi universe is actually pretty intriguing, but we're only fed bits and pieces of it. I wish the scope extended to outside the school, but I suppose the format really doesn't allow for that. (At the very least, we can all admit that this anime would definitely, definitely benefited from being a 2 cour) I'm also not fond of the transformation sequences; they take up too much time, and the payoff isn't usually worth it. With all that said, I DO like some aspects of the show. I like the trials, and there some great setpieces (like the voting sequence for the exclusion trial). I dig the character designs and the music (jesus christ, the music) is to die for. I still plan on sticking with Yuri Kuma and hopefully the buildup ends up being amazing.
In retrospect, I realize that my post wasn't really suited for this thread. I'm used to the insular nature of other community threads (ie where pretty much everyone knows each other), but AnimeGAF is a pretty busy place, so I can see how my post comes across as a troll.
Got up to episode 30 in Heartcatch Precure. It fucking destroys all the other Precure series I've watched/am watching (Smile, Hapcha, Suite). Why is it so much better
Why is the brother from Non Non Biyori in this? And why does he speak now?
Anyway... So a famous idol comes to a farming school in the country and there's a creepy devoted fan also going to the same school. Hm... Not really funny so far...
Why is the brother from Non Non Biyori in this? And why does he speak now?
Anyway... So a famous idol comes to a farming school in the country and there's a creepy devoted fan also going to the same school. Hm... Not really funny so far...
So are Meijin and Lady Meijin going to be the Chairman and Baker from S1 except not dicks? Not really much to say about this episode. More jobber guys to show that Team Try is stronger now and can actually even use teamwork. Not a bad episode though I liked it more then the last one.
Oh it's that stupid show. "The pantsu guy is so funny haha!" they said (not here)... when no, he's really not. Nothing is funny in that show, it's terrible to the bone.
So this was given to me as a watchbet by someone outside of GAF, I gave them half of Doremi S1 (The more people that watch it the better!). My only contact with the series beforehand was the abridged series, 50% Off, which is worth a watch for Nagisa alone!
Free! is all about a swimming club made up of four very muscular boys all of which have very girly sounding names (Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rei), a girl who has a fond appreciation for muscles under the guise of their manager and a very boyish sounding name (Gou) and a teacher who spouts random quotes out of context and used to be a swimsuit model. They slowly build up their club and eventually enter swimming tournaments in the hope of reaching the National Championships. They also have a rival who also has a girly name (Rin). He has a problem with them for some reason. The series really is about finding out the root and cause of this problem between the two parties.
One standout point that this show has that Rei, the newest member of the swimming club, can't actually swim despite how good he was at track and field. While the idea of him being unable to swim was good I just don't think how he learnt how to swim was executed very well. He finally just 'learnt' by
just doing a different stroke after Haru was talking crypticly about a butterfly that was passing by.
Which I thought was just a copout in the end.
The lead up to the final episodes were initally very confusing with Rin theatening Haru that he'd never swim with him again. Rin and Haru not giving the full story about their past. Despite all that I thought the resolution of the problems that they all had was handled quite nicely
Even better when they ended up getting disqualified because of allowing Rin to race with them!
.
I would say that I enjoyed what I saw and while it isn't the masterpiece I've heard it made out to be, it's still a solid show.
So this was given to me as a watchbet by someone outside of GAF, I gave them half of Doremi S1 (The more people that watch it the better!). My only contact with the series beforehand was the abridged series, 50% Off, which is worth a watch for Nagisa alone!
Free! is all about a swimming club made up of four very muscular boys all of which have very girly sounding names (Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rei), a girl who has a fond appreciation for muscles under the guise of their manager and a very boyish sounding name (Gou) and a teacher who spouts random quotes out of context and used to be a swimsuit model. They slowly build up their club and eventually enter swimming tournaments in the hope of reaching the National Championships. They also have a rival who also has a girly name (Rin). He has a problem with them for some reason. The series really is about finding out the root and cause of this problem between the two parties.
One standout point that this show has that Rei, the newest member of the swimming club, can't actually swim despite how good he was at track and field. While the idea of him being unable to swim was good I just don't think how he learnt how to swim was executed very well. He finally just 'learnt' by
just doing a different stroke after Haru was talking crypticly about a butterfly that was passing by.
Which I thought was just a copout in the end.
The lead up to the final episodes were initally very confusing with Rin theatening Haru that he'd never swim with him again. Rin and Haru not giving the full story about their past. Despite all that I thought the resolution of the problems that they all had was handled quite nicely
Even better when they ended up getting disqualified because of allowing Rin to race with them!
.
I would say that I enjoyed what I saw and while it isn't the masterpiece I've heard it made out to be, it's still a solid show.
