Seems like there is competition in that regard. This is the year of Yuri after all.
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Winter-Spring 2014 Anime |OT3| People incapable of guilt usually do have a good time
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Seems like there is competition in that regard. This is the year of Yuri after all.
Sigh.
Well, some of that is what I'm getting at. People do simply go the easier route too often and language can be a tool for obfuscation rather than clarity, but the show undercuts itself and betrays its own persuasive goals.Perhaps it's a very naive attitude that I would no longer have 13 years later, but I've never found the "because it's easier" or "words" episodes that get so much of a pasting here to be that ridiculous. The "words" episode is probably my favourite of the whole series, in fact.
I'm never going to defend Before Birth, though (apart from the ending with that gorgeous music when Juna's on the train and), or learning from the mountain. Or even the ultimate reveal which makes no sense. There are limits even to my mad fanboyismTokio's premature ejaculation
Overall, it's well-intentioned, but that's all you can say about it.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Is that what Nintendo is calling it?
Sure, why not.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Pretty sure there's yet another yuri show coming out today. So have all the shows that are airing for the season aired yet? Or at least are going to air by no later than today?
I believe there is still M3 and also Mekaku City Actors.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
M3 airs way late.
Admiral Woofington
Member
I forgot about both of these. If M3 airs that late it might be that it's a relatively short show who knows. Mekaku City Actors has me intrigued but no more than your standard shonen-sounding anime
edit: I feel like starting either Hajime no Ippo or Space Bros this weekend. Which should I go with? I think last time people recommended me to start with space bros.
astrogamer
Member
Puchim@s 9
Cute how everyone gave them get well presents
Cute how everyone gave them get well presents
firehawk12
Subete no aware
So I guess it's crap then, like the manga!
Ping Pong The Animation Episode 01
Really amazing. Incredibly efficient with its storytelling that's primarily relayed through great dialogue that feels completely natural, carrying a unique tone that always comes off as cool. All of this energy is communicated by the show's visual style even when tone of the characters is muted or easy-going. I really can't wait to get more of this.
Yuasa the god. ToonamiGAF continually wrecked.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Ping Pong 01
noitaiminA shows are so classy that they can use real brands and not get sued!
Beyond the fact that it looks amazing and the characters feel more human than your typical shounen protagonists (compare this to Haikyuu and Baby Steps, if not all the other boring sports shounen protags over the year), I'm amazed that they had the balls to just have a foreign character who speaks his native language. No Japanese with a bad accent, or Japanese but lets pretend he's speaking Chinese. Just pure Mandarin for what amounted to a third or half the episode.
Apply that to the idea of sport itself being a language and boom, you instantly make that connection without needing to spell it out too much for the audience (even if the dude literally explains that to the audience just in case they didn't get it lol).
But really, this was exciting to watch. I knew nothing about it other than the random animegaf hypetrain (we know how that goes), but I'm glad I checked it out. If nothing else, this is the sports anime that makes me want to watch the next episode. Hopefully it becomes anime of the year material.
noitaiminA shows are so classy that they can use real brands and not get sued!
Beyond the fact that it looks amazing and the characters feel more human than your typical shounen protagonists (compare this to Haikyuu and Baby Steps, if not all the other boring sports shounen protags over the year), I'm amazed that they had the balls to just have a foreign character who speaks his native language. No Japanese with a bad accent, or Japanese but lets pretend he's speaking Chinese. Just pure Mandarin for what amounted to a third or half the episode.
Apply that to the idea of sport itself being a language and boom, you instantly make that connection without needing to spell it out too much for the audience (even if the dude literally explains that to the audience just in case they didn't get it lol).
But really, this was exciting to watch. I knew nothing about it other than the random animegaf hypetrain (we know how that goes), but I'm glad I checked it out. If nothing else, this is the sports anime that makes me want to watch the next episode. Hopefully it becomes anime of the year material.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Did you just insult Baby Steps as a shonen protagonist? I can't tell my reading comprehension is off. If so the only shonen aspect of the show is the fact the guy started in high school and has innate talent to eventually become good. But most of his achievements come from hard work and using his brain to come up with patterns for players.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
He's good at studying, so he's good at tennis. Because that's just how life works. lol
Being short makes me hate it less. If it was a 20 minute thing like Sakura Trick, blerrrgghhh.
That reminds me though, that Haiku pseudo yuri anime just sort of disappeared.
The 20 minute version of that this season is Soul Eater NOT!
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I figure I'd just reply rather than edit. But unless I'm mistaken, it feels like it's going to be an arc that's very similar to Knight in the Area, where dude simply has natural talent and will end up working hard and yaddayaddayadda. I mean, it's not stupid shounen like Kuroball, but it's still pretty standard characterization.
It looks so bad streaming. Subs on subs. lolPing Pong is AOTY already. I can feel it in my bones. And like firehawk said, Wenge actually speaking Mandarin Chinese is awesome, I can skip subs whenever he's speaking
It's because the presentation is so over the top and silly, really. Well that and the show's hypocrisy with things like the old man on the mountain who smokes cigarettes and sexually harasses Arjuna.
If you liked words, maybe you should read the short story I just wrote, LOL.
that funi quality.
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
Table will be destroyed, paddle will be broken, blood will be spilled, and training montage involving 100kg paddle and ball.
It will be glorious
selector infected WIXOSS 02
There were moments this episode where the merchandising aspect bumped up against the dark fantasy aspect in ways that felt a little off, but this disconnect is the same thing going on in Soul Eater Not, just on the opposite side of the coin. That's showing the light side of a universe ruled by madness, while this is showing the dark side of a game that will eventually be played for fun. And that's what makes me want to watch it. GochiUsa is far and away my favorite show of the season thus far, but WIXOSS is the one I want to see the next episode of as soon as I can, because I realize where I've seen this combination of elements before.
Mari Okada is finally channeling her inner Yasuko Kobayashi. This is the girls playing card games version of Kamen Rider Ryuki. Somebody created it as a game for fun, but that can very quickly tun to tragedy just by the people involved. Akira and Hitoe need more time to establish themselves, but Akira's sadistic nature adds a nice wrinkle to the game, and Yuzuru's conflict is, while clearly heading in a tragic direction, intriguing to watch.
I like this show, and everything it's trying to do. As far as late night card game anime go, it has my interest more than Z/X, despite (or because?) it plays up the card game aspect so much more. It clicks.
There were moments this episode where the merchandising aspect bumped up against the dark fantasy aspect in ways that felt a little off, but this disconnect is the same thing going on in Soul Eater Not, just on the opposite side of the coin. That's showing the light side of a universe ruled by madness, while this is showing the dark side of a game that will eventually be played for fun. And that's what makes me want to watch it. GochiUsa is far and away my favorite show of the season thus far, but WIXOSS is the one I want to see the next episode of as soon as I can, because I realize where I've seen this combination of elements before.
Mari Okada is finally channeling her inner Yasuko Kobayashi. This is the girls playing card games version of Kamen Rider Ryuki. Somebody created it as a game for fun, but that can very quickly tun to tragedy just by the people involved. Akira and Hitoe need more time to establish themselves, but Akira's sadistic nature adds a nice wrinkle to the game, and Yuzuru's conflict is, while clearly heading in a tragic direction, intriguing to watch.
I like this show, and everything it's trying to do. As far as late night card game anime go, it has my interest more than Z/X, despite (or because?) it plays up the card game aspect so much more. It clicks.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
please, you read this thread with your pants off.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Pretty good, really pretty
Really cool how they actually had a character speaking Chinese.
looks better then Aku no Hana by a mile
AquaWateria
Member
Ping Pong is AOTY already. I can feel it in my bones. And like firehawk said, Wenge actually speaking Mandarin Chinese is awesome, I can skip subs whenever he's speaking
Dont get ahead of yourself now.
Admiral Woofington
Member
That's not it at all. Like whatsoever. He uses his studying skills to apply himself in Tennis and make a schedule. He's organized and hard working. Did you watch the first episode? He literally starts running but doesn't have the stamina and passes out. The whole manga is about a geek who has never had a passion in life finding something he gets into in Tennis and putting all his obsessive studying habits into tennis instead. He makes a crazy ass schedule to coincide with his practice, practices hitting a ball to a wall throughout basically a whole day, and starts from the basic of tennis. He only has one 'special characteristic' that is realistic enough to be believable and not a shonen power. He continues to learn the basics of tennis throughout the manga and slowly making his way up in the world by getting his ass kicked over and over again.
I understand that you're saying Ping Pong is believable, but don't throw a show under the bus without giving it a fair shot with (I assume you haven't read the manga) one episode under your belt. If that's the case Ping Pong already used the "he has a hidden talent and is holding it back" line, so that would imply that this show has a chance of 'all of a sudden he's a beat because innate talent'.
edit: he gets good by practice and because he's in a top notch tennis club in Japan. That doesn't mean he's all of a sudden a beast, it's just that people see he is learning fast.
stop projecting bro!
Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken, I've even forgotten my NAAAAAAAAAME
Please don't talk like that
firehawk12
Subete no aware
You're right in that I'm judging the show based on a single episode, but I mean... Haikyuu and Baby Steps have equal protagonists. It's just that Haikyuu spun the training arc into a montage that covered a year or whatever, while Baby Steps will presumably focus on that stuff.
projection or prognostication??
This is the alternate tennis universe where Donnel woos Lucina.
Hey man, you're just hedging your bets here with that futuregnostication stuff.
I can't rule out the possibility of taking them off~You just sold me on Baby Steps. One more show to watch, are you happy?
firehawk12
Subete no aware
He's destined to end up with Cordelia though.
(I can't even remember who was bugged by that. lol)
Admiral Woofington
Member
Actually not a half bad comparison lol. Only difference is that this guy becomes nearly unstoppable by the end if you use him right. While our protagonist is always meeting people who are better than him and probably won't pass them anytime soon.
edit: this reminded me I made a new character to eventually become a berserker. I should probably keep playing. Thanks a lot Dresden now I remembered I gotta have fun playing games too.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Time is a flat circle, bro!This is the alternate tennis universe where Donnel woos Lucina.
Hey man, you're just hedging your bets here with that futuregnostication stuff.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Not taking into account Great Teacher Onizuka since it's an older and already finished manga, Baby Steps is my currently favorite ongoing manga. And I'm reading a lot of them. It beat Silver Spoon for the top spot. I'll be watching the anime solely to see what changes they decide to make, but I've already seen a couple in the first episode they decided to do for time issues.
edit: also not counting Berserk because that shit takes forever to come back and update.
Baby Steps goes through a multitude of 'training arcs' that after a bit have a slight time skip if it spans multiple days or a year or more. I don't mean time skip as in 'one year later' I mean that they might speed through days for a bit. It's hard to explain, but yes montage-ish, though it doesn't happen too often.But they acknowledge that you won't get beastly with just one type of training, since there are multiple styles to tennis and multiple weaknesses people have that they need to improve. Give it a fair shot if you can, it's actually my favorite sports manga/anime that I've ever sat down to watch/read.
Jex
Member
RIP.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Well, I guess I'll ask if anything really becomes complicated in terms of the characterization?
I assume the romance angle will be like everything else, where they can't hook up because of manga-itis, but beyond the typical sports arc (where they inevitably lose before they can win), what else does he go through?
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selector infected WIXOSS 2
Oh, so they made a card game anime but with a female protagonist. It's like if the HapCha characters grew up!
He is deliberately hypocritical, though - that's the whole point of the scene where he offers Tokio a cigarette. I think we've argued about this before, though, and it doesn't really matter given how terrible the rest of that episode is
Speaking of words, I can't be bothered to screen cap it but in the opening few seconds of that rabbit customer show that started today (don't bother with it, it's moeblob cafe stuff and probably not up your street) the camera goes past a small bistro called "Little Bird" in German, and it made me think of your joyous experiences with Black Rock Shooter!
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selector infected WIXOSS 2
Oh, so they made a card game anime but with a female protagonist. It's like if the HapCha characters grew up!
did they expand on the card game rules in this episode or did the MC just yell bunch of shit and her loli monster punched stuff?
BATTORU! BATTORU! NYAN NYAN NYAN BATTORU!
It's cutesy to highlight how DARK the rest of the show is! That's the power of Mari Okada writing
(the show isn't that bad - I'm surprised you're not giving it more of a chance given how much you like Okada!)
I can't really consider Happiness Charge a card game anime. It uses cards, and they can be used in an arcade game, but the cards are more of a means of conveyance for the power of the heroines than being a power themselves. It's as much a card game anime as Aikatsu is, and that doesn't even have villains to fight.
DiscoShark
Banned
Ping Pong - 1
This > your favorite show of the season.
So GOOD. The visual design alone definitely makes it stand out above the selection of Spring Anime. Some are gonna make comparisons between it and Aku no Hana but I don't believe that they're using rotoscoping here, or at least not as heavily as Flowers of Evil did. Whatever it is it's most certainly distinct and the uniqueness alone is what drew me in from the outset but I came away not only impressed with the way it looks but with the song choice and animation during the bouts. The characters and their interactions are interesting and the antagonist is a character you just have to end up loving (best theme too).
Not too jazzed about the OP but the ED definitely makes up for the slack.
This > your favorite show of the season.
So GOOD. The visual design alone definitely makes it stand out above the selection of Spring Anime. Some are gonna make comparisons between it and Aku no Hana but I don't believe that they're using rotoscoping here, or at least not as heavily as Flowers of Evil did. Whatever it is it's most certainly distinct and the uniqueness alone is what drew me in from the outset but I came away not only impressed with the way it looks but with the song choice and animation during the bouts. The characters and their interactions are interesting and the antagonist is a character you just have to end up loving (best theme too).
Not too jazzed about the OP but the ED definitely makes up for the slack.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
In this episode, it's the power of
bullying
"Like" and "Okada" are not being used properly here!BATTORU! BATTORU! NYAN NYAN NYAN BATTORU!
It's cutesy to highlight how DARK the rest of the show is! That's the power of Mari Okada writing
(the show isn't that bad - I'm surprised you're not giving it more of a chance given how much you like Okada!)
It's more me and CCGs. lol
FelixOrion
Poet Centuriate
If I was following less shows I would keep up with this one, but I decided to let the episodes build up and based on people's impressions how much of an inspiration did Okada take from Madoka while writing this I will decide if I should pick it up again.BATTORU! BATTORU! NYAN NYAN NYAN BATTORU!
It's cutesy to highlight how DARK the rest of the show is! That's the power of Mari Okada writing
(the show isn't that bad - I'm surprised you're not giving it more of a chance given how much you like Okada!)
lol I guess I really shouldn't have expected YGO type card battles.
Admiral Woofington
Member
The romance angle is more that they're so focused on tennis and only have few scenes to just themselves since they basically go to the club everyday. But I'd like to point out (spoilered just in case)
they do actually start going out and not too terribly far in the manga
Typical sports arc is more of a continuous sports arc where he might get good enough to beat character A after one year, but then he meets character B, C, D, E, bla bla bla who are all hurdles that could easily beat him. The manga emphasizes that once you're a good player a game could go either way and might be won by one the very last 'game' (game as in game, set, match) due to stamina being out or a human mistake. Nobody says "Damn that guy is #1 and that guy is #2, he could never beat him".
I do want to emphasize that the characters don't go through massive drama. When we were discussing the manga before with other people, somebody else called it 'very straightforward'. There's no melodrama whatsoever and it's a very lighthearted feel throughout the show, but the games themselves can get very intense.
His biggest issue is that he discovers tennis so late and his older peers (teachers, parents) don't like the idea of this guy who was at the top of the class academically putting all of that as second to tennis. But he goes through multiple views of tennis and what it means to him, how far he's willing to go for it vs it just being a hobby to exercise.
What I do need to point out is that even though it isn't a team sports anime/manga, the side characters are very well done and you genuinely come to enjoy his plethora of rivals. They aren't douches and are working just as hard as him.
Baby Steps Episode 1:
Guess this is the season of sports anime as this is the third one I have picked up this season. It certainly beats out the prospect of watching a second episode of WiXross. That being said, this is certainly the weakest outing of the the sports anime I am currently watching, though I have yet to watch Haikyuu!! Mainly because I can't stand the supporting cast so far, Takuma is annoying and he looks like he came from a different anime entirely. Shit, he is tolerable to that little Saturday Morning Shonen Shit Kid that was at the tennis club, somebody needs to give him a swirly Yesterday. Still, I like the set up here as a honor student is being trusted into a sport and it looks like his vast intellect is going to be key here.
Guess this is the season of sports anime as this is the third one I have picked up this season. It certainly beats out the prospect of watching a second episode of WiXross. That being said, this is certainly the weakest outing of the the sports anime I am currently watching, though I have yet to watch Haikyuu!! Mainly because I can't stand the supporting cast so far, Takuma is annoying and he looks like he came from a different anime entirely. Shit, he is tolerable to that little Saturday Morning Shonen Shit Kid that was at the tennis club, somebody needs to give him a swirly Yesterday. Still, I like the set up here as a honor student is being trusted into a sport and it looks like his vast intellect is going to be key here.
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