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Winter Anime 2017 |OT| John Wick cleaning up KyoAni's mess
- Thread starter TUSR
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GoldCrusader
Member
But that infinte attack that Yugi use to win is pretty hilarious.
The OG Yu-Gi-Oh filler arc were all pretty meh. At least Tamayas was cool.
My man! You have seen the light!
It was going to come sooner or later I suppose. I had my eyes on the series for a little while, but been lazy.
Since Friday night, I been doing a series of short burst into the series, having just wrapped up the sports festival arc. That when the 2nd season of anime is going to start right?GoldCrusader
Member
Indeed, season 2 is starting with the sport festival. Glad you are enjoying it! It's my own personnal favourite series of all time.It was going to come sooner or later I suppose. I had my eyes on the series for a little while, but been lazy.
All but one of the Kemono Friends have no idea what a human is and the one that does just has a general idea.
Weekly Shonen Jump has sure gotten me hooked recently with Promised Neverland and now MHA (thank god cause I don't feel like wanting to just wait for Fairy Tail weekly XD).
Shall see how this goes (probably will catch up in the next couple weeks), especially since I feel like the series is already starting to shine via the sport festival arc. I hope the anime does it well.
Admiral Woofington
Member
man this sun-ken rock manga looks gorgeous. Curious as to why folks don't mention it more.
Meesh
Member
Ok... I'm sorry if I'm derailing the thread, but something's been bothering me about the future of anime and physical releases for quite some time... I frequent a brick and mortar store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada called Phoenix Comics. A little while ago they decided, after years of carrying anime since the VHS days, it's no longer profitable to stock anime. In fact the owner claimed he was losing thousands(?) every month. In line with this, and only loosely related, HMV of Canada is shutting down across the country due to debts they simply can't settle, and they were my second choice if I couldn't find the anime I wanted elsewhere! Now tonight...well maybe I'm reading too much into this, but Funimations website is now so minimalist in its offerings I'm almost inclined to believe they're following a digital only future.... maybe this needs its own thread, I don't know. But right now it feels as though the future of physical anime goods is near extinction? I should add the owner of Phoenix Comics believes in a few years anime will mostly, if not completely be served on a digital basis.... this saddens me greatly. What say you anime GAF? Are we doomed to a digital anime only future??? Or am I just paranoid?? Lol
I think you'll continue to have physical releases but you'll be paying a premium for them like the Aniplex or Pony Canyon releases. I also think brick & mortar stores @ MSRP aren't going to compete in a niche market when cheaper online options abound.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Welcome to Sentai.
Physical media is definitely on the decline, in anime as much as for any other medium, but I would expect DVDs and BDs to still be available as niche products through online outlets such as Rightstuf for the foreseeable future.
Have you ever considered retailers online?
RightStuf as an example.
GoldCrusader
Member
I'm not too scared. If you shop online, amazon as a huge variety of anime from everybody except aniplex(cause f*ck aniplex) and with all the dubs funimation is getting out these days I really don't see physical media dying anytime soon. Crunchyroll even jumped into to the fray themselves recently.
Little Witch Academia 5
We can add blowing things up to Akko's list of skills. Queen Diana putting these peasants in their place. Akko has a better dynamic with Amanda than she does with her roommates. Why would those two get punished when they did have an actual emergency to report? Their source of magic being taken is a bit more important than cleaning being finished faster. Diana continues to lay down the truth and nothing but the truth. Constanze carrying the team. That's the innovation Luna Nova needs. I just wish she actually spoke something. Nice action scene. Akko contributes nothing to the cause. Fafnir is a bit of a jerk, but he knows how to adept to the modern age, so he's cool. Diana of course has to save the day and the school because Luna Nova is run by incompetents. No wonder the school is in trouble.
We can add blowing things up to Akko's list of skills. Queen Diana putting these peasants in their place. Akko has a better dynamic with Amanda than she does with her roommates. Why would those two get punished when they did have an actual emergency to report? Their source of magic being taken is a bit more important than cleaning being finished faster. Diana continues to lay down the truth and nothing but the truth. Constanze carrying the team. That's the innovation Luna Nova needs. I just wish she actually spoke something. Nice action scene. Akko contributes nothing to the cause. Fafnir is a bit of a jerk, but he knows how to adept to the modern age, so he's cool. Diana of course has to save the day and the school because Luna Nova is run by incompetents. No wonder the school is in trouble.
Meesh
Member
Well... perhaps I'm jumping the gun? But times are definitely changing....and as someone else noted, perhaps it'll be around, even if I have to pay a premium for physical copies. I'll try amazon, continue on eBay for other obscure stuff... thanks to everyone for responding.
Little Witch Academia TV- 5
So the audience is left with a first half that just seem like a mess from a writing standpoint but they do enough to justify that later but still it's sort of rough. I should mention though that I'm liking the ongoing narrative about
. I understand part of this due to Liden being a crap studio and so they aren't really capable of animating a high speed broom chase. In which case I'm wondering why this episode was outsourced to Liden instead of episode 4 and having this episode be done in-house at Trigger.
. Thankfully the writing staff mellowed Diana's personality out but her skillset seems way too perfect now. I know the word Mary Sue triggers people here but this is coming across like that. Come the fuck on,
. On top of that, nobody else in that initial party of six does anything to resolve the events in this episode. Constanze, Jasmine, Lotte, and Sucy don't really do anything of note other than look pretty. Instead of using this as a chance to flesh out those other characters, it turns into another reason for the teachers to rimjob Diana. The cast is coming across as too large where a number of characters just aren't doing anything. How many lines did Lotte even have this episode?
. I should also mention it's a little puzzling that this episode had better sakuga moments such as with the smoke at the beginning, despite it being outsourced to Liden than the previous in-house Trigger episode. lol
I'm posting this in both threads because this episode was the first flat out bad episode and it also exemplifies some of the larger writing concerns. This is a weird episode to talk about because the first half of the episode seems especially poorly written but they do somewhat explain some of the writing issues later.
For example the security being somewhat light around the Sorceror's Stone is because the Academy can't directly stop Fafnir from repossessing the stone.
Luna Nova being broke and how it seems magic is dying in that world. It goes well with Brexit.
There are two serious problems with the episode. The first is that the storyboarding and art is pretty much garbage. I know it's the first outsourced episode to Liden but damn. I don't so much mind the character models being off-model for the entire episode. Yes it's obviously a problem but the bigger issue is how lackluster the storyboarding was. The above screenshot is an example of bad storyboarding in that Akko is obviously supposed to be weighed down/pushed back by Diana's criticisms and instead of some visual motif weighing Akko down, it just has Akko bending her body back for no visual reason. A better storyboard would have had Akko being pushed to the ground by a literal visual representation of Diana's words. Instead the sequence comes off as Akko doing the limbo. Another example would be the chase/fight sequence in the forest which was just atrocious. The camera takes on a number of flat angles and there's never any sort of real tension despite the action going on. There's no sense of danger and so when the
classmates are grabbed, the emotional effect is 'oh okay' instead of eliciting any real emotional response from the audience
Not to mention the composition is terrible in this sequence as well. This is only highlighted by the contrast between the high level fire animation, which was probably corrected by Yoshinari himself, and the poorly drawn character models. This might be a bit too harsh but Nomura isn't even coming close to Kaneko's level, hell I'm not even sure he's doing a good job at this point. The backgrounds art this episode seemed pretty bad, especially in the forest and ruins. There's just nothing. On top of that, I noticed that with an earlier scene, with the broom flying above a bunch of flat leaf textures, the framerate of the background was slower or off compared to the broom which was distracting.
This is really bad composition.
That was just the first problem with the episode and it mainly relates only to this episode in particular. This second problem is a larger issue with the series as a whole. The problem is that the characters' skill sets are largely fucking gone compared to the OVA series and also the cast is way too large at this point. What I mean by the first point is that Akko isn't good for jack shit at this point. I understand nerfing her so her growth into a capable witch is more prominent but she isn't doing shit in these episodes. Akko isn't learning jack shit. She doesn't seem to show much effort in learning and is completely inept. This might be fine if she showed some of her earlier emotional range where she was depressed at her own lack of skill but the last two episodes have sidestepped that and she comes off as annoying more so than anything else. She doesn't really show any sort of frustration about her own incompetence and it's played off for laughs now rather than some of the earlier moments in episode 1 and 2. The show needs to make a bigger focus about her actually learning something. Amanda also seems to have gotten hit by the nerf stick as this episode had the crew trying to break into a place to steal something back and she didn't do shit either. This episode was straight up her alley and she does nothing of worth. Diana however has seemingly gotten the most extreme of buffs.
Come the fuck on.
wut
This is like some high-school student being able to read ancient Latin perfectly
there's zero build up or set up that she could read ancient dragon
The next episode has Akko actually attending a class so maybe the staff will remember that she's supposed to be going to school. I think this would be less of a problem if she wasn't so inept or if she was somehow resolving events, like if
she got the dragon to stand down instead of getting into an argument with him where she's name-calling him
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I mean, for Scum's Wish in particular, the fact that they're doing both a live action and an anime kind of points to that to me. I don't mind, but it just is what it is.
I can turn my brain off for "tanoshii wa tanoshii dai yo", but if I'm not thinking critically about something I'm consuming, then it's probably something dumb like Independence Day 2 where it's not really worth thinking about.
I literally have a degree in Math and CS too, so... lol
Derrida and Foucault are just unavoidable. I have yet to read a single word of Freud though, and I went out of my way to avoid psychoanalysis. I think the fact that someone made the argument that Freud was anti-Semitic because he only used Hellenistic references was enough for me to justify my ignorance. lolNone of the people I worked with during my MA wanted to touch Derrida with a ten foot pole. That's some headache inducing stuff right there. I did read an interesting article on him that popped up on my Twitter feed recently, though.
Bah!
And they hand out MAs in English these days. lol
Even though I'm digital only for the most part (mostly except for films) I can't say I see a dearth of anime on disc. Even in B&M stores.
Fuck it. I'll write it.
I got the equivalent to a minor in film analysis. And that pretty much caused me to by default consume film/tv through film analysis glasses so I wasn't just enjoying film as entertainment. So for a good while I was mostly seeing film as its constituent parts and not a whole piece of entertainment.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Funimation basically gave up their physical media part of the company to Warner or whatever, and they'd be the first to see the writing on the wall. I think people are more willing to spend money on actual products related to a property (figures, posters, artbooks) than on the actual anime itself.
There's probably a market for selling anime online in Canada though. I know there was a site that someone here recommended a while ago, and they seem to be the only major player if you don't want to deal with Rightstuf's silly policies.
The majority of anime fans are pirates by nature who have been trained to acquire things as fast as possible for as little as possible to watch in as convenient a way as possible. I'm not saying this in the "haha all emulators are for piracy" way but rather being very honest about the culture of anime fandom. The vast majority of anime fans don't care to pay (or pay much) for the actual watching of anime, but would love to spend on a ton of other goods and events instead. You can find anime fans who spend thousands on cosplay, mechandising, music CDs, artbooks, or just paying for stuff like concerts and live events, but would never spend a dime on a DVD or BD. They're not bad people, they're not selfish or trying to destroy the industry, they just don't see anime itself as something that is "paid" for because that's the culture. This is why streaming and simulcast subscription models work. People feel they are paying into a community or group thing, or just generally paying "anime tax" to watch stuff. But if it were an individual product or even a PPV thing, you will see payments decline significantly.
I'm not saying literally no one buys anime, but that very few do and they are getting fewer as they drop out of the hobby. Owning media isn't attractive. Here in Singapore, we used to have local distributors release DVDs of anime with English and Chinese subtitles. In some cases there were really good deals because the video and subs were sourced from the US and JP releases (via Japan licensors) but at dirty cheap prices. Of course extras were minimal. Yet no one bought them. But lo and behold, the biggest player here, Odex, thought of an alternative plan. What if instead of getting people to buy anime to keep, and ending up losing tons of money when stores can't sell the stock, we just charge people a huge premium to declare they are fans and watch a movie once. Enter: Premium theatrical events. They license anime films, have a fan premiere that costs 50 bucks a ticket with "exclusive goodies" handed out at the screening. They sell out completely, profits are made. 2-3 weeks later the same film is released for limited 2 week runs at regular movie prices. They sell fine too. Profits are made. No more production headaches, no more inventory concerns. There's money in anime depending on how you sell it. People clearly don't care about home media.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Legend of the Galactic Heroes 092
Reinhard: Shoot me bitch, I bet you won't
Lutz: Wow this guy is cool
Reinhard: Shoot me bitch, I bet you won't
Lutz: Wow this guy is cool
Jex
Member
[Little Witch Academia TV] - 5
This was pretty er, bad. I've largely been talking about the writing when discussing this series so I'll focus on that but rest assured, the visuals were pretty lacklustre this episode as well.
The biggest problem with the writing here is once again centred upon our protagonist, Akko. All the evidence that the show is supplying to me suggests she's an unlikeable, untalented, brat. She cheats in races, steals food, talks back to teachers and she seems to revel in her own ignorance. Not only is she perhaps the worst witch in Luna Nova history (still can't fly a broom!) she appears to have no inclination to improve and in fact she disrupts other students lessons with her bullshit. When she receives punishments from the teachers you can't but help feel that they were completely justified.This isn't the way you generally characterise a protagonist or at least that's not how I'd imagine acting in episode 5 - I'd expect some character growth but she appears to be regressing rather than advancing.
I get it. The idea is that Akko is going to grow into being a better witch / person in due course, but this isn't the way that you handle this arc. The character that needs to grow generally has some positive traits and there's at least an indication that they want to get better or a frustration with their current selves/inability. Akko has none of those characteristics and, as such, isn't really likeable at this point in the series.
Unfortunately this was also the first episode where we get the "complete crew" of six magical girls rolling out to undertake an adventure and boy does it seem like the cast is completely over-stuffed. Having all of these underdeveloped characters tag along is a bad move because there's just not time in the story to have any of these characters have any motivation / storybeats / dialogue in this episode because there's so many of them. I feel like the writers should be asking themselves "is there any reason Lotte/Sucy have to go on every single adventure with Akko?" before dropping them all into a story that doesn't really concern them. It's just not very well thought-out. Worse still, they're all in fact useless because Diana is the only witch in the whole academy (including the teachers) that's actually worth a damn.
This was pretty er, bad. I've largely been talking about the writing when discussing this series so I'll focus on that but rest assured, the visuals were pretty lacklustre this episode as well.
The biggest problem with the writing here is once again centred upon our protagonist, Akko. All the evidence that the show is supplying to me suggests she's an unlikeable, untalented, brat. She cheats in races, steals food, talks back to teachers and she seems to revel in her own ignorance. Not only is she perhaps the worst witch in Luna Nova history (still can't fly a broom!) she appears to have no inclination to improve and in fact she disrupts other students lessons with her bullshit. When she receives punishments from the teachers you can't but help feel that they were completely justified.This isn't the way you generally characterise a protagonist or at least that's not how I'd imagine acting in episode 5 - I'd expect some character growth but she appears to be regressing rather than advancing.
I get it. The idea is that Akko is going to grow into being a better witch / person in due course, but this isn't the way that you handle this arc. The character that needs to grow generally has some positive traits and there's at least an indication that they want to get better or a frustration with their current selves/inability. Akko has none of those characteristics and, as such, isn't really likeable at this point in the series.
Unfortunately this was also the first episode where we get the "complete crew" of six magical girls rolling out to undertake an adventure and boy does it seem like the cast is completely over-stuffed. Having all of these underdeveloped characters tag along is a bad move because there's just not time in the story to have any of these characters have any motivation / storybeats / dialogue in this episode because there's so many of them. I feel like the writers should be asking themselves "is there any reason Lotte/Sucy have to go on every single adventure with Akko?" before dropping them all into a story that doesn't really concern them. It's just not very well thought-out. Worse still, they're all in fact useless because Diana is the only witch in the whole academy (including the teachers) that's actually worth a damn.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I guess the flip side is that I enjoy the exercise of trying to think about what I'm watching or reading. There's something fun about being active when reading something.
That's why I read shitty books. I'm interested in the flaws of construction as much as I'm uninterested in the plot.
Turin Turambar
Member
Cross Ange > Little Witch Academia.
I'm just saying, at last it has character change and eventually character growth.
Jex
Member
Wow, and people call me mean!
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
when the fuck is symphogear season 4
I want to watch LoGH just for the yellow subs experience, to be honest.
Diamond is Unbreakable 29
This continues to trigger my very soul and kokoro.
Kuzu no Honkai 04
And this continues to be a major surprise. This retained the sharp directon of ep 3 and added some really nice and well integrated OST tracks, that I don't think worked quite as well before, other than ending of #3.It also continues to astound me with its depiction of sex and where the story dares to go, I think I stared at the screen in disbelief for 5 minutes when it became clear where the whole Minagawa thing went.
This continues to trigger my very soul and kokoro.
Kuzu no Honkai 04
Congratulations !
And this continues to be a major surprise. This retained the sharp directon of ep 3 and added some really nice and well integrated OST tracks, that I don't think worked quite as well before, other than ending of #3.It also continues to astound me with its depiction of sex and where the story dares to go, I think I stared at the screen in disbelief for 5 minutes when it became clear where the whole Minagawa thing went.
*sigh* When I started watching Hellsing I thought I would really like it. The dark and grim atmosphere was great, Alucard is a cool character and the series seemed somewhat mature. I was bored throughout the whole thing though. Nothing EVER happens and Seras Victoria is the worst character one could have chosen to be the protagonist. I have never been so bored with an anime that I went in with such a positive mindset.
I'm currently watching Hellsing Ultimate and somehow this is even WORSE! The episodes are now 45 min long which makes them twice as hard to endure and the atmosphere is ruined by the not-even-funny comedy and the fanservice seems so out of place coming from the original anime.
I have no idea why people liked this so much back then. It has been recommended to me so many times I lost count. Can anyone explain to me what's so special that people see in this anime?
I'm currently watching Hellsing Ultimate and somehow this is even WORSE! The episodes are now 45 min long which makes them twice as hard to endure and the atmosphere is ruined by the not-even-funny comedy and the fanservice seems so out of place coming from the original anime.
I have no idea why people liked this so much back then. It has been recommended to me so many times I lost count. Can anyone explain to me what's so special that people see in this anime?
Excuse me, but one of the card battles is a fist fight.
How does Akko's personality differ between the show and the OVAs? I enjoyed Akko as the rambunctious protagonist in both OVAs but haven't watched the show yet since Netflix is holding it hostage.
Even if each 'maestro' teachings introduce their own lineage of thinking, for some people deconstruction (or 'desestructuración') as culinary means or method isn't about the ingredients on itself but about singling specific combinations of said ingredients by techniques used on many popular recipes and consequently harmonising certain processes used for them in particular, and obviating some further preparation steps, with the objective of taking as a final result wanted textures and flavours on its most pure or intermediary state, extracting their momentary "shape and temperature" as Ferran Adrià would mention on his book Los Secretos de El Bulli.
One famous example is the 'tortilla deconstruida', where one of the objectives was to obtain on its own the mix of potatoes and the eggs emulsion to serve it as such, instead of it being like the necessary frying batter for the traditional 'tortilla de patatas' recipe... so, just a mere step in the incomplete process.
I think it is the time for Mr. Umetsu to KISS & CRY already, no?
Dedication Through Light
Member
Guang Hong Ji getting the love he deserves.
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