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[Midonin]

Now.

KanColle 01

For me, the cute girls/military series have had mixed results, but I like KanColle because it combines the best aspects of all of them. It has the anthropomorphization of Upotte, but without the lectures. (I don't really care about the military history beyond how much it influences the girls' personalities. They're primarily human for me.) It has the school setting of GuP, but actually focuses on it. It really is close to Strike Witches, and since Strike Witches is one of the series of this kind that I really liked, that's a compliment. The battles do involve some degree of strategy for the people who like that, but work on a quasi-powered armor/magical girl system that feels "anime" enough for me. It has just the right amount of military elements without seeming propaganda-y.

Fubuki and her friends have a nice Yoshika/Lynne/Perinne thing going on, and while all the other girls haven't gotten a lot of time yet - and there is a lot of them. Shimakaze, the only one that I'm really familiar with, basically had one line. There's plenty of time for all of them to have their spotlight moment, and at least the basics of their personalities were delivered. I like this better than GuP's personality in aggregate. There's still some of that by class, but by and large, the Fleet Girls are individuals. Individuals who've had their personalities defined, at least in part, by pixiv and doujins and fan remixes. Viva otaku culture! We're at least somewhat responsible for why this anime is what it is.

I'm kind of impressed they got this much mileage out of a small handful of voice actresses.

I like it. The Strike Witches-ness of it is a plus, and even the CGI action scenes aren't that bad. It's already several steps above Aikatsu! In fact, I think this is what Shirobako has been fudging and alluding to for its second cour. This has potential to be, not groundbreaking, but fun, and it lives up to the hype of its popularity so far.

 

[Tapejara]

I'm over halfway through Nozaki-kun and love it. Anything similar AnimeGAF would recommend? Anything new this season? I haven't watched much anime outside of a few One Piece episodes, all of Girls und Panzer and the aforementioned Nozaki-kun, so I don't really have any preferences.

Only have a Crunchyroll sub, so any recommendations would have to be available on that service.

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

.

I think this is what Shirobako has been fudging and alluding to for its second cour.

Well actually, Shirobako's director wanted mention Kancolle(with fake name) in the show but Kadokawa said no lol
https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/551610324097302529

 

[DiGiKerot]

Based Naka-chan knows whats up.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I would like to. But I don't know if I want people on NeoGAF knowing who I've been on MyAnimeList...

Don't worry. You will be surprised at the amount of people here that have it much worse

 

[MikeHattsu]

Celestial Method 05

If only somebody would tell her...

Well... At least we know what happened now, and things gets patched up. Nice end of episode thanks to Noel.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Ronja 14

Romeo-kun and Juliet-san


Good episode but after 14 episodes the constant laughing is starting to bother me haha. Next episode looks like it gets dark as shit.

 

[CheapJuice]

Parasyte - 13

Intense. I wonder what the detective is going to do,

Spoiler

I guess he doesn't seem to have spilled the beans as he's still observing.

I liked the struggle between Migi and Shinichi for calling the shots. And boy Murano stuff keeps going back up to the surface, it's going to explode soon. That expression switch though, Shinichi is a master of disguise.

 

[Link Man]

I'm over halfway through Nozaki-kun and love it. Anything similar AnimeGAF would recommend? Anything new this season? I haven't watched much anime outside of a few One Piece episodes, all of Girls und Panzer and the aforementioned Nozaki-kun, so I don't really have any preferences.

Only have a Crunchyroll sub, so any recommendations would have to be available on that service.

Denki-Gai, from last season, is the closest I can think of right now. Might be a bit lewd for someone relatively new to anime, though.

 

[Midonin]

Testament 01

So the premise is "war between demons and heroes comes to suburbia." A bit more action-oriented than either Part-Timer or YuShibu ended up being, feeling much more like some of the VNs I've played. The basic characterizations are pretty easy to grasp, too. Maria looks innocent, but is really sadistic, and Mio is a straight-up tsundere. Who just happens to be a demon. There's a little bit more depth to it than I was expecting. Character designs looked a little weird - particularly Basara's in the opening minutes - but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen. That "hand on mouth" moment was a little uncomfortable, though.

Surprised that the OP played at all during the first episode... fourteen minutes in. sweet ARMs has provided consistently good music, and that applies here as well. Still need to hear the ED a little clearer. Both of Wednesday's shows are pretty alright. I think I'm going to like this season.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Encouragement of Climb S2 17

Yarr.

It's all fun and games until somebody walks the uh... bridge. And then things gets really bouncy.

 

[Tapejara]

Denki-Gai, from last season, is the closest I can think of right now. Might be a bit lewd for someone relatively new to anime, though.

Not too worried about lewd content. I'll give it a watch.

 

[Jex]

[Kancolle] - First 5 minutes

Bad. Boring. Nice music. Dropped.

I'd rather watch Milky Holmes.

 

[Yui]

The Testament of Sister New Devil - Episode 1

I like it.

Spoiler

At first it felt totally off and rushed, but I guess that was on purpose(?), because of what happens in the second half. Which felt a lot better to me.
Now please don't go overboard with the suffering. Those two short flashbacks seemed quite dramatic and I usually don't like that in this kind of show

Opening and ending are good and seem fitting.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

I'm over halfway through Nozaki-kun and love it. Anything similar AnimeGAF would recommend? Anything new this season? I haven't watched much anime outside of a few One Piece episodes, all of Girls und Panzer and the aforementioned Nozaki-kun, so I don't really have any preferences.

Only have a Crunchyroll sub, so any recommendations would have to be available on that service.

Regardless of what else you watch, makes sure to vote for Nozaki-kun in the AOTY of the year thread so it beats out Ping Pong.

 

[Maintenance]

My journey through Gundams that are not well received continues. I watched Reco-G and my reaction so far is this:

Now I'm watching Gundam Wing, and boy what a start it has. That

Spoiler

I'll kill you

scene is just...

Before I leave, I'll just say one more thing: Relena is a pain in the ass, fuck that girl.

EDIT: Why are the masked dudes always jobbers? C'mon, I've heard good things about that guy Char but these parodies of him are just terrible fighters (Mask in Reco-G, Zech in Gundam Wing).

 

[Figments]

Parasyte - 13

Intense. I wonder what the detective is going to do,

Spoiler

I guess he doesn't seem to have spilled the beans as he's still observing.

I liked the struggle between Migi and Shinichi for calling the shots. And boy Murano stuff keeps going back up to the surface, it's going to explode soon. That expression switch though, Shinichi is a master of disguise.

Yeah, this ep was pretty great. I can't help but wonder what all the

Spoiler

research the investigator's conducting will lead to.

 

[Moonlight]

Tsuritama 1



I'm watching this because of a watchbet, but it doesn't feel like an obligation because it's pretty legit so far. The introduced characters have potential, the art's great, and it's a pretty easy show to watch. I'm expecting great things from this anime.

Whoever you made a watch-bet with is a good person. Tsuritama is still in my top ten of the last few years.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Parasyte 13-

I understand it's a major topic in the show, but the subject of

Spoiler

I no longer have feelings

is starting to feel grating. I'm still loving the show but I do hope this gets sidelined soonish to a very minor role. If the drama each episode is this I don't know if I can continue to enjoy the show as much as I have so far. We've already gone through two 'phases' of the show, hopefully it goes to another one.

Having said that there's tension in the air and looks like parasytes will once again have a role outside of random monster I gotta battle. I want to explore their psyche and society more. I want less human drama.

 

[Midonin]

Sapphic Ursine Tempest 01

Up until the trial, things were far more understandable than I'd been led to believe. I get the parallel going on with the humans being more restrained in their desire, and the bears living almost entirely by instinct. Still figuring out why this manifests through yuri, other than Ikuhara wants it to, but I don't blame him. I'd manifest things through yuri too, if I was me. Not sure if the "eating" is supposed to be symbolic, but this show talks about love nearly as much as Earth Defense Club, and has almost the same aesthetic too, just with more Ikuhara-isms.

I've watched Penguindrum in here before, have not seen Utena yet, and Sailor Moon, at least where Viz is, is still not really showing his true colors just yet. So this'll be my first time discussing such a show as it airs.

The other day/I met a bear
A great big bear/away up there...

 

[Jex]

[Parasyte] - 13

This has become incredibly grating. Dropped.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Celestial Method 06

Haha. Denied.

This episode eases a bit up on the drama and it's a bit funny instead. Still some drama though.

 

[NaDannMaGoGo]

Parasyte - 13

Intense. I wonder what the detective is going to do,

Spoiler

I guess he doesn't seem to have spilled the beans as he's still observing.

I liked the struggle between Migi and Shinichi for calling the shots. And boy Murano stuff keeps going back up to the surface, it's going to explode soon. That expression switch though, Shinichi is a master of disguise.

Yeh that last scene was fantastic.

I enjoyed Shinichi being confronted with the choice of aiding Migi in killing a human that could potentially be his end or upholding his own vows concerning all that. At the same time though, the guy spying him did a rather bad job and I just cannot fathom why he'd dare returning to Shinichi's house after what he's seen. Maybe he was wondering if he could snatch the camera back when Shinichi's in school and stuff but...eh, seems hardly logical. Overall that spy felt a bit cheap.

 

[Jex]

[Gundam Build Fighters TRY] - 13

Well, two good episodes back to back. Truly, this must be the power of MEIJIN KAWAGUCHI.

Of particular note, I feel, is the facial animation in the first couple of scenes in this episode. Lots of creative, silly, and over-the-top expressions in the manner which we don't see enough from in this season. Of course, a couple of scenes later everyone went back to having absolutely no personality but it was still nice to see.

The fights were decent, I'll give them that and it was great to see the show finally embrace the Super Robot influences that it has been leaning towards from the first episode. My biggest problem was not, for once, with the poor animation but rather visual representation of these super-moves. It didn't really feel like the director knew the correct way to make these things look as 'cool' as they should, it lacked the vision and flair of an Imagawa. It's hard to pin down exactly what was missing, but it felt like the pacing, the music and framing of the attacks were just off. Still, a minor misstep.

 

[BGBW]

Kancolle 1

This character raises so many questions.

Let's list off the names I remember. Well there was Akagi since she was mentioned about 67 times and... no that's it. iDOLM@STER handled introducing a lot of characters in one go much better than this, but it's the first episode so I'll let it off.

And the commander I assume is the equivalent of iM@S' producer, except instead of being a character they are just a dodgy shadowy bloke creeping up behind girls. No wonder the MC (Fu something or other) ran away.

So I was a bit confused. The opening showed the baddy ships and one gal seemed to transform into an actual boat, a demonic one, but a boat none the less, so this could either be taken as the girls are just a representation of real boats or they transform. But then we are shown the goody ships and they are just normal girls with bits added to them when they go to fight. But then we see things like arrows actually transforming into planes in and out of battle. And then there characters in the plane, sentient being who appear out of thin air! What is going on?

If they reveal the map looks like face because the islands are alive I would not even be surprised.

I went into this knowing nothing (apart from they have lots of nendos, though I only just learnt from this show that a bunch of demonic looking nendos were actually from this series as well) and I finish episode one being none the wiser. Girl boats or girls with boat parts or really just boats who think they are girls as they rust away in an abandoned dock somewhere. I don't know. Maybe they'll tell me next episode, but probably not because they probably assume I already am familiar with the source material.

 

[Branduil]

Parasyte 13

I hope the parasytes start killing more people soon.

 

[CheapJuice]

Kancolle - 01

Yes! I loved this shit. When I heard they posses souls of warships I expected them to look like this in battle;

So I'm kinda disappointed that they just surf on the water with some gear on. But the concept of firing warplanes from your bow and surfing moe girls firing weapons and submarine missiles at bad guys is something I can get behind.
Surprised to see them launches. Some spotty cg stuff kinda threw me off a bit though. I don't know much of whats going on but I will definitely keep watching this.

 

[Jex]

[Yuri Kuma Arashi] - 1

I think it's fair to say that, over time, Ikhuara's works have transitioned from relatively normal stories with a few very stylized elements to extremely stylized works with very few elements of normal storytelling. It's pretty funny that at this point Revolutionary Girl Utena feels 'quaint' and 'restrained' to something like Penguin Drum which itself pales before Yuri Kuma Arashi. I know that I'm simplifying things quite a bit here, but you get my idea. This first episode does not feel very 'consume friendly'.

It's not wise to draw any conclusions right away and things might change in a few episodes, but for now it feels like traditional ideas of characterisation and even pacing have been pushed aside to allow the show to dive right into Ikuhara's very unusual vision. I don't think that you should be sacrificing characterisation in an attempt to bathe in melodrama and symbolism, but Ikuhara clearly made that choice here as this episodes rushes along at 100 miles an hour. We're swept from event to unusual event in a whirlwind and given no time to breathe.

Theories abound as to why this might be. Penguin Drum certainly felt like a three-cour series told in two-cours, so could this be a two-cour show shoved into a single cour? Considering how long Ikuhara has taken between projects it's conceivable that he just never got the funding to make the shows the length he wanted and instead just squeezes his material down to fit whatever runtime he can work with. If this was true it would certainly explain a lot about his recent works, but it doesn't excuse the problems with Penguin Drum and this first episode.

Perhaps we're all jumping the gun here and the next few episodes will pull things back somewhat to actually develop the characters to the point where we are actually invested in them. I certainly hope so but even if it doesn't happen this will still be something I look forward to watching every week because nothing else is like it.

 

[Flarin]

Does anyone know where to watch Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, the Ghibli anime? Can't seem to find it anywhere.

Any western distributor picking it up?

 

[Gazoinks]

I look forward to watching every week because nothing else is like it.

This sentence honestly sums up my feelings on this show so far. There's so little truly auteur-driven work in TV anime that I can forgive a lot of faults if it feels like something unique that's the vision of one particular weird dude, even if it's a very flawed vision. Also why I like Yuasa so much.

 

[Shard]

Parasyte Episode 13:

So it the dawn of the new year and thus it is the dawning of a new arc,

Spoiler

it seems that the parasites have stepped up their game and formed a committee deigned to further the collective cause. A curious turn of events given that the parasites tend to act as solitary hunters. Less curious the the fact that they have put Shinichi under observation since he has been killing other parasites. I'll be honest, I am not sure how the detective was supposed to uncover that would be new to Reiko Tamura or whatever name she goes by now, intentionally vague on that point. Still, this episode was mostly about Shinichi dealing or not dealing with the recent events in a emotionally normal way and how it is effecting his personal relations. That is the solid rock core that makes this series very good. The interactions with Murano sadly are just so typical anime romance bullshit.

Still, on the whole it is good to have Parasyte back.

 

[MikeHattsu]

Encouragement of Climb S2 18

Hm... I've heard this before...

Oh... It is actually a cake shop then. and not a factory ;P

 

[Maintenance]

More Gundam Wing commentary, not going to list episode because it is a couple of them. Some questions popped up, though:

- They managed to create Operation Meteor, but didn't they stop for one second to tell the pilots that they would meet others in the fucking mission? That's like, basic information, for christ's sake.

- Gundams are so ridiculously overpowered that it looks like I'm watching a Dynasty Warriors stream, they just mow through everything without breaking a sweat. Yes, there is the Gundanium material but that's like making an army of Wolverines versus an army of Bob, agent of Hydra.

- Am I wrong or Heero is like a huge Gary Stu? He is a pro in everything that he does, plus his body is ridiculously strong for a kid.

- Why are the kids so boring? The blond kid is

Spoiler

all about peace

, the spiky haired kid is so

Spoiler

emo that it hurts

, the asian kid is

Spoiler

kinda badass, but I've not seen him much

, Heero is too whiny, the only one that is remotely good is Duo.

 

[Midonin]

Knew they'd be getting the TBS shows. Unlimited Fafnir, for your weekly dose of D girls.

 

[jman2050]

Kancolle 1

I don't get it.

Also I don't know who any of these people are.

 

[Maintenance]

Unlimited Fafnir, for your weekly dose of D girls.

I expected something complelety different.

 

[Grexeno]

Knew they'd be getting the TBS shows. Unlimited Fafnir, for your weekly dose of D girls.

It's two days till JoJo starts again and Crunchyroll still hasn't announced it. Panic is ensuing.

 

[Jarmel]

Kancolle-1

eh

I feel like the world building in this episode was a complete fucking mess. Stuff is just thrown at you and the audience is either supposed to understand it or just roll with it. I have a very significant suspension of disbelief however this is stretching the fuck out of it. Arrows that magically turn into planes, girls that house the dead souls of battleships, and sharks with cannons in their mouths are really pushing it. None of this makes a fucking lick of sense.

Now ignoring that stuff, I feel the characters themselves aren't that interesting. The main character herself is boring as dirt and as cliche as they come. "I want senpai to notice me" shtick is her only trait so far. The rest of the characters are just as forgettable.

There are only two notable aspects of this production so far. The 2D character designs are fairly high level as it maintains a high level of fine detail. The other being the music which was pretty stellar throughout the episode.

 

[Yui]

Knew they'd be getting the TBS shows. Unlimited Fafnir, for your weekly dose of D girls.

Nice

 

[phaze]

Parasyte 13-

I understand it's a major topic in the show, but the subject of

Spoiler

I no longer have feelings

is starting to feel grating. I'm still loving the show but I do hope this gets sidelined soonish to a very minor role. If the drama each episode is this I don't know if I can continue to enjoy the show as much as I have so far. We've already gone through two 'phases' of the show, hopefully it goes to another one.

Having said that there's tension in the air and looks like parasytes will once again have a role outside of random monster I gotta battle. I want to explore their psyche and society more. I want less human drama.

Yeah the return of Ryoko (?) to the fray and the sign of some bigger organisation is a development I can get behind.

Parasyte 13

As middling as I find this show post episode 3, this one was like the second time I managed to bring myself to care about Shinichi's issues. Wonder what the fate of the investigator will be. Ryouko might very well kill if she finds out what he discovered. Otherwise Shinichi's will be in big trouble.

More Gundam Wing commentary, not going to list episode because it is a couple of them. Some questions popped up, though:

- They managed to create Operation Meteor, but didn't they stop for one second to tell the pilots that they would meet others in the fucking mission? That's like, basic information, for christ's sake.

- Gundams are so ridiculously overpowered that it looks like I'm watching a Dynasty Warriors stream, they just mow through everything without breaking a sweat. Yes, there is the Gundanium material but that's like making an army of Wolverines versus an army of Bob, agent of Hydra.

- Am I wrong or Heero is like a huge Gary Stu? He is a pro in everything that he does, plus his body is ridiculously strong for a kid.

- Why are the kids so boring? The blond kid is

Spoiler

all about peace

, the spiky haired kid is so

Spoiler

emo that it hurts

, the asian kid is

Spoiler

kinda badass, but I've not seen him much

, Heero is too whiny, the only one that is remotely good is Duo.

The first mistake you made was assuming things will make sense in this show. They don't. Not in the slightest. And it seems like you're still in the early parts. It gets much, much worse.

Relena is awful and won't get better. And yes Duo is pretty much the only bearable character in this show.

 

[e_i]

It's two days till JoJo starts again and Crunchyroll still hasn't announced it. Panic is ensuing.

Funimation might have it:

https://twitter.com/FUNimation/status/552929880867106817

 

[Jarmel]

Oh my Devil Testament is something special.

 

[Theonik]

[Yuri Kuma Arashi] - 1

I think the assumption that Ikuhara would still rather be making 3 cour shows is probably right. Condensed storytelling doesn't really suit his style too much I think.

 

[e_i]

Dennou Coil episode 12


New from Gillette shavers: Want to get rid of that beard, but don't want to use razor blades? Use Gillette brand tactical nukes!

Spoiler

What the fuck did I just watch?

 

[Maintenance]

The first mistake you made was assuming things will make sense in this show. They don't. Not in the slightest. And it seems like you're still in the early parts. It gets much, much worse.

Relena is awful and won't get better. And yes Duo is pretty much the only bearable character in this show.

Oh well, I guess I'm in for a treat then.

I had a bet with my friend that I would be able to watch all the bad/lowest-rated Gundams in sequence without quitting, but I'm starting to think that this will be harder than I thought. I plan on watching all the bad ones, then the average, then the good ones and finish with Yamato.

 

[jgminto]

Funimation might have it:

https://twitter.com/FUNimation/status/552929880867106817

Better fucking not.

 

[Envelope]

peasants saying G-Reco is bad smh

 

[ThatChairMan]

More Gundam Wing commentary, not going to list episode because it is a couple of them. Some questions popped up, though:

- They managed to create Operation Meteor, but didn't they stop for one second to tell the pilots that they would meet others in the fucking mission? That's like, basic information, for christ's sake.

- Gundams are so ridiculously overpowered that it looks like I'm watching a Dynasty Warriors stream, they just mow through everything without breaking a sweat. Yes, there is the Gundanium material but that's like making an army of Wolverines versus an army of Bob, agent of Hydra.

- Am I wrong or Heero is like a huge Gary Stu? He is a pro in everything that he does, plus his body is ridiculously strong for a kid.

- Why are the kids so boring? The blond kid is

Spoiler

all about peace

, the spiky haired kid is so

Spoiler

emo that it hurts

, the asian kid is

Spoiler

kinda badass, but I've not seen him much

, Heero is too whiny, the only one that is remotely good is Duo.

It has been a while since I've seen Wing, but when I was watching Zeta recently, I really did notice that it never overemphasized the Gundam's strength compared to the enemy. Probably because it almost always fought alongside allied units instead of solo-ing entire bases by itself.

 

[Theonik]

peasants saying G-Reco is bad smh

The editing is a crime against humanity.

 

[Bomber Bob]

Kan colle was so fucking good

as expected