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[Russ T]

Grimgar 02

Holy shit that fight was brutal. They managed to convey that feeling very well without resorting to extreme blood and gore. Death sucks and killing sucks. I'm... impressed that it managed to pull this off, considering the dumb shit in the first episode.

Art is still beautiful as hell.

Sequence with the song was maybe a bit too... on the nose? Maybe it'd be different if I understood the lyrics.

Only one gratuitous butt shot, and conversations that felt a lot more... real, a lot less contrived... at least until the last bit, is Ranta just the worst character or the worst character?

Anyway, stronger episode than the first. Hope it continues this upward trend.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Tabi Machi Late Show: 1
Holy tiny bit of animation Mr Affleck!
Intriguing suggestions about the older Chef's past, and I liked her inner monologue about unfair admiration, but I wonder how the show will progress from her. Interested.

It's pretty much a straight up picture drama. Which I don't mind, when the art looks this good. And there's a clever bit of motion (although still not animation per se) you'll see at the beginning of the next episode. This is my favorite out of the currently airing shorts; I like the gentle focus on complex relationships it has - kind of like Shinkai if you took out all the drama.

 

[duckroll]

Glass Something Destroy the World Something Flower Garden I Dunno

Yeah that was... something. I'm not sure what but it was something. The direction was mostly good, at least visually, while it's hard to really get a read on the point the narrative is trying to make. Like, I understand what it was about, I just don't understand how this was the story. It feels more like a bunch of concepts which form a setting, and there's a framework for a story and characters, and there's some loose story tying it all together... but I don't see the -point-. The overall narrative feels really immature. Like a high school composition filled with ideas but having difficultly landing the expression of the central theme. Oh well, at least the two music video style montages in the middle were really neat.

 

[TUSR]

Great. Click on TUSR's Platinum Disco link and now my YouTube homepage is filled with Whatevergatari recommendations.

no problem

 

[SliceSabre]

Grimgar 02

I give'em props. They made a simple fight with a goblin much more intense than most shows make final battles with the big boss. Certainly got more brutal than I was expecting too. Second half music montage was nice to see just to see what they were up to and doing with the rest of their day.

I'm loving this show.

 

[Ascheroth]

Grimgar - 02

Well this was certainly a huge step up from last week. The fight was intense and made it clear again how weak they are. The town montage with the insert song was also really nice.
Only the last part had me rolling my eyes.

Show's still beautiful. Looks like I'll continue after all.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Rainbow Days Episode 2

Why did we need such a femchar in this? She was annoying and very rude and she even spit on him. How low can someone go

Spoiler

not to mention throwing away Hashiba's chocolate, rude

 

[phaze]

phaze was robbed, all his screenshots are gone now. lol

For the record, I posted it cause there is no way to piece together what the hell you're looking at or how that thing came to be thus spoiling pretty much nothing. Still, if it bothered people, then as a firm supporter of spoiler culture, I'll take it down.

Non Non Biyori Repeat 10

Right in my kokoro. Renge &Dagashi have the most heartrending moment in the cour yet again.

 

[Defuser]

Grimgar ep 2
That booty shot + Zettai Ryouiki is a powerful combo jesus. #Teambooty.

Continued to like the background painted visuals. Red hair jerkface is still annoying and still slow as heck despite the intense battle.

 

[duckroll]

Some additional thoughts on that Ishihama movie about a Flower Garden and Virus Scanners and stuff:

I think the biggest disconnect I had by the end of the film is that it felt like a student project, and in that sense I would say it's really not bad, even if it fails to land how it wants to express the themes, but I expected something more... professional given that it was an A-1 production directed by Ishihama. But having thought about it more, maybe I'm a little unfair. Ishihama himself, despite having directed From the New World, is still very new to directing stuff other than OPs and EDs, and it could well be that the staff took on this project (which as I understand is based on material written for some amateur anime writing contest) as a learning process themselves.

If we view the entire thing as a creative anime workshop film bankrolled by Aniplex, I think it's largely fine. There are solid components in the film, the setting is filled with ideas, and there's always a strong sense of the authors having something to say, wanting to shout their feelings to the world in various different ways. That's something that should always be encouraged, but also something which needs to be nurtured and developed to allow for better expression in storytelling.

I hope Ishihama gets attached to a more traditional project next though. I think that would be good for him to grow more as a director.

 

[KharmaPolice]

Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen

First off, I enjoyed this very much. The movie mostly works as a set up for the future events (and presumably upcoming fights), but that doesn’t mean that nothing major happens. The story moves at a good pace, but it did leave me a little bit unsatisfied in the end, mostly because the last scene was losing a bit of steam. Ironically it might have been more satisfying to end the film a scene earlier (but then we would have gotten less Meme; I am conflicted). My favorite parts were the opening scene, the first confrontation with Kiss Shot, which was incredibly tense and Meme’s introduction which was pretty badass.
In terms of visuals and direction this movie hit all the right nodes for me. Some pages back someone linked a tweet about there being little dialogue and mostly silent scenes. I would say it’s about half and half and feels very refreshing for a Monogatari piece. For example the opening scene is about 5 minutes long and contains no dialogue at all. Monologues are nonexistant and instead we get a lot of scenes that establish a mood and the characters feelings through visuals alone. Theses scenes are elevated by the great direction (on par with Bakemonogatari) and the copious amounts of character animation. The TV series often induce a sense of movement through quick cuts and super close ups. While these elements are still there in the movie, they are enhanced by actual character animation. There are also some action cuts where heavy smearing and distortion is applied to create tension. It’s very satisfying overall.
Something I want to point out are the backgrounds, the majority of which are full 3d cg environments (which don’t try to mimic 2d backgrounds). It sounds horrible on paper but imo it worked really well thanks to good use of lighting and shaders. The way the characters move through the 3d paces with rotating cameras in a few places looked really cool.

If it airs near you and you like Monogatari, I say definitely check it out. Personally I can’t wait for the other parts.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Club Rainbow Episode 2

Will others get as much love as Matsuouka-kun Though he does bring many good times (school outfit was his best one shown later).

Also they always make me hungry because they are eating in two of these now.

 

[Eridani]

Hey everyone, I'm in need of some anime recommendations. Due to the current Let's watch anime thread I'm currently about half way through Mononoke, and the show is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This has made me wonder if anyone has any recommendations for similar shows? I ask because I'm by no means new to anime but I can't really think of anything similar.

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

The closest to what I'm looking for, apart from Mononoke, has been Angel's Egg, and I really can't think of anything more.

Also, if anyone hasn't seen Mononoke yet, I strongly recommend it. It's definitely one of the most interesting shows out there. If nothing else, it's visual style is extremely unique and good and is reason enough to watch it.

 

[Haly]

I would recommend Kino no Tabi and Kaiba, although neither are as light on dialogue as Mononoke.

 

[pbayne]

Rainbow Days 1-2

Thanks DTL for reminding me of this.

This shows really misleading I thought it was a reverse harem or a shounen ai. Turns out its neither it a romance told from the guys perspective with 4 different couples. Pretty good so far.

Within 20 minute one guy got chocolates. One guy got a kiss. And one dude already had a girlfriend. Hows that for quick romantic progress. The guys trying to act as each others wingmen and then cutting the legs off each other is pretty funny.

Marie and Matt-sun best couple so far.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Hey everyone, I'm in need of some anime recommendations. Due to the current Let's watch anime thread I'm currently about half way through Mononoke, and the show is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This has made me wonder if anyone has any recommendations for similar shows? I ask because I'm by no means new to anime but I can't really think of anything similar.

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

The closest to what I'm looking for, apart from Mononoke, has been Angel's Egg, and I really can't think of anything more.

Also, if anyone hasn't seen Mononoke yet, I strongly recommend it. It's definitely one of the most interesting shows out there. If nothing else, it's visual style is extremely unique and good and is reason enough to watch it.

I'd say some anime you'd want to check out are:

Boogiepop Phantom
Eccentric Family
Flowers of Evil
Gankutsuou
Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond anthologies: particularly Wanwa the Puppy
Kaiba
Kagewani
Jin-Roh film
Mushishi
Oshii's films in general (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Beautiful Dreamer)
Tatami Galaxy (lots of talking here, but very unique)
Texhnolyze
Trapeze (from the director of Mononoke)

The amount of importance placed on the script varies in these works, but they all definitely satisfy your other criteria.

 

[PdotMichael]

Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen

First off, I enjoyed this very much. The movie mostly works as a set up for the future events (and presumably upcoming fights), but that doesn’t mean that nothing major happens. The story moves at a good pace, but it did leave me a little bit unsatisfied in the end, mostly because the last scene was losing a bit of steam. Ironically it might have been more satisfying to end the film a scene earlier (but then we would have gotten less Meme; I am conflicted). My favorite parts were the opening scene, the first confrontation with Kiss Shot, which was incredibly tense and Meme’s introduction which was pretty badass.
In terms of visuals and direction this movie hit all the right nodes for me. Some pages back someone linked a tweet about there being little dialogue and mostly silent scenes. I would say it’s about half and half and feels very refreshing for a Monogatari piece. For example the opening scene is about 5 minutes long and contains no dialogue at all. Monologues are nonexistant and instead we get a lot of scenes that establish a mood and the characters feelings through visuals alone. Theses scenes are elevated by the great direction (on par with Bakemonogatari) and the copious amounts of character animation. The TV series often induce a sense of movement through quick cuts and super close ups. While these elements are still there in the movie, they are enhanced by actual character animation. There are also some action cuts where heavy smearing and distortion is applied to create tension. It’s very satisfying overall.
Something I want to point out are the backgrounds, the majority of which are full 3d cg environments (which don’t try to mimic 2d backgrounds). It sounds horrible on paper but imo it worked really well thanks to good use of lighting and shaders. The way the characters move through the 3d paces with rotating cameras in a few places looked really cool.

If it airs near you and you like Monogatari, I say definitely check it out. Personally I can’t wait for the other parts.

But did you also watch the superior Sleep tight my baby, cradled in the sky which was part of that double feature?

 

[Hellwarden]

Dimension W Episode 2

"Loser! Loser! Loser!"

"Everyone is calling your name Papa."

Also damn the action is good this episode.
I'm so used to shonen action scenes, where everyone stops to talk or flashback for an extended period of time..

Well, that got dark fast.

 

[KharmaPolice]

Hey everyone, I'm in need of some anime recommendations. Due to the current Let's watch anime thread I'm currently about half way through Mononoke, and the show is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This has made me wonder if anyone has any recommendations for similar shows? I ask because I'm by no means new to anime but I can't really think of anything similar.

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

The closest to what I'm looking for, apart from Mononoke, has been Angel's Egg, and I really can't think of anything more.

Also, if anyone hasn't seen Mononoke yet, I strongly recommend it. It's definitely one of the most interesting shows out there. If nothing else, it's visual style is extremely unique and good and is reason enough to watch it.

Definitely check out these two:

Mushishi: Story set up is similar to Mononoke in that the main character, Ginko, is a sort of traveling medicine man that helps resolve conflicts with nature spirits. Visually not as unique as Mononoke but still very very beautiful. You'll love it.

Aku no Hana: A high school anime unlike any other. Visually very unique (due to the rotoscoping used) and with great direction. Characters are very unique and there are often minute long stretches without a word spoken.

Both of these shows also like to look at the darker parts of the human mind.

 

[veloxStrix]

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

The first things that come to mind are Mushi Shi and Kyousougiga. Natsume Yuujinchou deals with similar themes and kind of hits all the same beats.

 

[KharmaPolice]

But did you also watch the superior Sleep tight my baby, cradled in the sky which was part of that double feature?

Don't remind me... Personally I would have bailed but my company wanted to see it. I think it gave me a headache.

 

[duckroll]

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

Aku no Hana.

- The direction is very unusual for animation, because the entire production was rotoscoped to capture the naunce of real life acting and set layouts.

- It isn't exactly light on dialogue but dialogue is only used when it needs to be. Atmosphere drives the majority of the show, with music, sound effects, and camera work carrying the emotions. There are extended scenes throughout where there is no dialogue whatsoever.

- The art style is certain unusual, and often plain ugly. Intentionally so. As it is a show about the ugliness.

- This is a show about school students which wants to deal with raw emotions and psychological state of mind rather than tropes.

 

[phaze]

Hey everyone, I'm in need of some anime recommendations. Due to the current Let's watch anime thread I'm currently about half way through Mononoke, and the show is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This has made me wonder if anyone has any recommendations for similar shows? I ask because I'm by no means new to anime but I can't really think of anything similar.

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for shows that (in decreasing order of importance):
a.) Have an unusual direction.
b.) Have a script that is very light on dialogue - that is, a show that delivers it's story without a lot of dialogue/talking.
c.) Have an unusual look and style.
d.) Contain characters that break away from typical tropes

The closest to what I'm looking for, apart from Mononoke, has been Angel's Egg, and I really can't think of anything more.

Also, if anyone hasn't seen Mononoke yet, I strongly recommend it. It's definitely one of the most interesting shows out there. If nothing else, it's visual style is extremely unique and good and is reason enough to watch it.

I'd say that Shigurui checks out all your boxes but it is still a very different show, with heavy gore, nudity and continuous story (unfinished), not separate arcs.

Texhnolyze, from the same director as Shigurui has the first episode almost entirely devoid of dialogue and is pretty light on it thereafter.

Also Kuuchuu Buranko, an episodic show from Mononoke's director uses loads of unusual directorial tricks and visual styles. (I wouldn't say it's low on dialogue though.)

+ for Aku no Hana recs.

Edit: + Boogiepop and Lain assuming you haven't seen the latter.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Grimgar 2

God the comfy scenes are so good. The starting scene in the night talking calmly and taking a drink under the stars was great, and the later scene in the city with the song was super comfy. All the little mundane actions like starting the fire and taking the mug with another piece, or cleaning the sword, and the color palette helps a lot to set the tone.
And obviously it produces a nice contrast with the brutal style used for the combat scene.

I mean, it seems to me we have a high change (80%?) of all this being setup for when they kill half the party, or they have to fight the other party shown in the first episode, or some brutal twist like that, but it's good for now.

 

[Clov]

Regarding Garokawa; it was an enjoyable film, but it needed a longer run time to tell its story. One hour was just too short for me to meaningfully connect to any of the characters. Visually it had some great moments, though. Especially loved the silhouettes and shadows. I'm hoping that Ishihama gets attached to something with a better script next time, because he's still clearly got a lot of talent.

I'd say some anime you'd want to check out are:

Boogiepop Phantom
Eccentric Family
Flowers of Evil
Gankutsuou
Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond anthologies: particularly Wanwa the Puppy
Kaiba
Kagewani
Jin-Roh film
Mushishi
Oshii's films in general (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Beautiful Dreamer)
Tatami Galaxy (lots of talking here, but very unique)
Texhnolyze
Trapeze (from the director of Mononoke)

The amount of importance placed on the script varies in these works, but they all definitely satisfy your other criteria.

Seconding literally this entire list. If you want to get into some more obscure Oshii works, and want something unusual in both script and style, you may want to check out his OVA, Gosenzosama Banbanzai. Very strange humor, and the series is set up more like a play than a film. It's probably my favorite OVA of all time, actually.

Edit: To add on to this, Serial Experiments Lain and Kino's Journey are also excellent.

 

[Hyoukokun]

Hey, you all can't go recommending ABe shows like Lain and Texhnolyze without putting a plug in for Haibane-Renmei! (And I'd definitely second Mushishi and many of the others listed).

 

[Clov]

Hey, you all can't go recommending ABe shows like Lain and Texhnolyze without putting a plug in for Haibane-Renmei! (And I'd definitely second Mushishi and many of the others listed).

That's true! Another favorite of mine. I really ought to rewatch it sometime, it's been years since I last saw it!

 

[Sterok]

Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans 15

Wow at taking one for the team Atra. Or more like 10. Biscuit's brother ended up being slightly less terrible than I thought. Mika is good at what he does. So Fumitan is part of the movement to suppress the revolution? How long has this plan been in place? Time for Kudelia to finally do something other than be a symbol.

 

[Hellwarden]

Grimgar Episode 2

I really liked the quiet scenes. Gave us feel of the characters with little talking. I really like how characters move in this show, and their quiet little gestures to each other even in down time. Like the scene where the hunter was holding the Mage's hat.

But the fight scene was basically this.

 

[PdotMichael]

Muv Luv is so cringeworthy, I think I'm dying here.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Snow White with the Red Hair 1

As a pleasant enough watch, this seems better than Dagashi Kashi at the very least. I like the fairy tale atmosphere. I kept expecting Shirayuki to burst into song. It looks better than I was expecting.

 

[Hellwarden]

*sees that Digi Does Anime guy is still making his "The Asterisk War Sucks" miniseries*

I think he probably put more effort and time into examining Asterisk than anyone at A1 did making it.

 

[Crocodile]

I'm getting the impression today was a good day in anime-land. I guess I got some stuff to check out.

 

[Narag]

*sees that Digi Does Anime guy is still making his "The Asterisk War Sucks" miniseries*

I think he probably put more effort and time into examining Asterisk than anyone at A1 did making it.

sounds like going after low hanging fruit for his audience as opposed to anything meaningful

 

[Shard]

*sees that Digi Does Anime guy is still making his "The Asterisk War Sucks" miniseries*

I think he probably put more effort and time into examining Asterisk than anyone at A1 did making it.

8 Episodes and counting, that is an impressive monument to hatred.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Gundam IBO 15

So...do they really not know what Kudelia looks like??? I'm confused here, how could you not know?

Atra is hardcore. Mika gonna destroy some fools.

Dragon Ball Super 27

Man I'm just glad all the recap stuff is over. I wanna see the new shit so I can tell for sure if Super was a good idea or not.

Can't believe Freeza's dumbass plan involved Vegeta siding with him over Goku.

Snow White with the Red Hair 1

As a pleasant enough watch, this seems better than Dagashi Kashi at the very least. I like the fairy tale atmosphere. I kept expecting Shirayuki to burst into song. It looks better than I was expecting.

Why is everyone taking pot shots at my shows ):

 

[pbayne]

Digimon Adventure 21

Slowly re-watching this and I was completely blind-sided by this episode.

For reference its when

Spoiler

Taichi gets back to the real world

. The animation just sky-rockets to like OVA levels, it looks incredible. And the whole sparse atmosphere and washed out colors just made the the whole episode a real somber, emotional ride its such a tone-changer which fits perfectly with what Tachi is experiencing. A real stand-out episode overall.

 

[Puruzi]

Dagashi Kashi is good

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Why is everyone taking pot shots at my shows ):

I'm just giving my honest opinion here!

Digimon Adventure 21

Slowly re-watching this and I was completely blind-sided by this episode.

For reference its when

Spoiler

Taichi gets back to the real world

. The animation just sky-rockets to like OVA levels, it looks incredible. And the whole sparse atmosphere and washed out colors just made the the whole episode a real somber, emotional ride its such a tone-changer which fits perfectly with what Tachi is experiencing. A real stand-out episode overall.

Mamoru Hosoda episodes will do that to you.

 

[SliceSabre]

Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai


Anti-virus programs are actually little girls protecting your computer! No I'm not kidding. I've got the say even after rewatching the story bits a few times I'm still quite unclear on how things got the way the were for this story to come about. There was a whole lot of cute and fun and touching moments, but I never fully understood the plot of even what the movie was trying to say.

Course I've wasted 60 minutes on worse things and I did find it mildly entertaining in the end.

 

[pbayne]

Mamoru Hosoda episodes will do that to you.

There it is then. I knew he worked on the movies but I had no idea he was involved in the series. It was a 10/10 episode so props to him.

 

[veloxStrix]

Thinking back to all the Erased conversation we had, I was definitely calling the resolution of the past scenes 16:9 when it would have actually been more like 21:9. I am an idiot and am unsure of how no one called me out on that when I actually just said:

The shift from 16:9 to 16:9

:l

 

[nintendoman58]

Why is everyone taking pot shots at my shows ):

Welcome to my world in here.

GARGANTIA AND EUREKA SEVEN ARE GOOD SHOWS DARN IT.

 

[Russ T]

Hey I finished Steins;gate!

That was a good Japanimation.

Near the end I was getting concerned it wouldn't wrap up nicely, but they managed somehow. Brought everything back to the beginning.

I feel like it broke its own rules a few times, but what time traveling thing doesn't.

I also watched the OVA, and am sorta disappointed he fell back into his mad scientist shtick, after the show capped that whole thing off pretty well. Just as I was getting tired of it, he stopped doing it, and then justified his reasons for doing it pretty well.

Although him getting arrested as a result in the OVA is pretty funny.

All the jokes about Rukako being a dude got old...

Now to watch 23 beta, or whatever it's called.

 

[Narag]

Thinking back to all the Erased conversation we had, I was definitely calling the resolution of the past scenes 16:9 when it would have actually been more like 21:9. I am an idiot and am unsure of how no one called me out on that when I actually just said:



:l

Because anyone with the capacity to correct you would have recognized the mistake, realized what you meant, and went forward without bringing it up.

 

[Spirited]

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is pretty goddamn good. Now I have 4 anime that I look forward to each week.

 

[Russ T]

Because anyone with the capacity to correct you would have recognized the mistake, realized what you meant, and went forward without bringing it up.

Yeah but then again Rule of Internet says SOMEONE should have made the correction, even if for no other reason than to be a butt.

 

[Qurupeke]

Hey I finished Steins;gate!

That was a good Japanimation.

Near the end I was getting concerned it wouldn't wrap up nicely, but they managed somehow. Brought everything back to the beginning.

I feel like it broke its own rules a few times, but what time traveling thing doesn't.

Now to watch 23 beta, or whatever it's called.

Glad you liked it.

I still haven't watched β, I don't even know how different it is compared to the normal one.

 

[Mailbox]

Hey I finished Steins;gate!

That was a good Japanimation.

Near the end I was getting concerned it wouldn't wrap up nicely, but they managed somehow. Brought everything back to the beginning.

I feel like it broke its own rules a few times, but what time traveling thing doesn't.

I also watched the OVA, and am sorta disappointed he fell back into his mad scientist shtick, after the show capped that whole thing off pretty well. Just as I was getting tired of it, he stopped doing it, and then justified his reasons for doing it pretty well.

Although him getting arrested as a result in the OVA is pretty funny.

All the jokes about Rukako being a dude got old...

Now to watch 23 beta, or whatever it's called.

you should probably watch the movie before the beta episode, since the beta episode is a lead-up to steins;Gate 0

 

[Basileus777]

you should probably watch the movie before the beta episode, since the beta episode is a lead-up to steins;Gate 0

It doesn't really matter what order you watch them. The film isn't connected to any of the S;G games.