The Anime Thread

[Monoriu]

Looks really nice.
Buzz me when it's out and with an english dub.

First season is supposed to be out in April 2018, but these things aren't 100% reliable. 

No idea about English dubs as I always prefer the Japanese version

[viper37]

No idea about English dubs as I always prefer the Japanese version

I don't understand Japanese and I hate subtitles.
Besides, I find the voices are often better in English or French.  In Japanese, all guys look like they're out of Shogun and the female have, by design, this ultra high pitch voice like they're trying to break glass or something.

[Monoriu]

Kizumonogatari, or Wound Story.  The long-awaited prequel of the cherished monogatari series, based on a best-selling novel.  It is a movie trilogy that finally tells the story of how Araragi, the male protagonist, met Kisshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade (yes that's her full name), a female vampire, that led him into the world of oddities and the supernatural. 

This I think is one of the best entries of the monogatari series and an excellent anime movie trilogy.  When I first watched monogatari, Shinobu (the Japanese/Chinese word for Shinobu was a heart under a blade) was a completely silent character despite being billed as a major heroine in all the promotional material.  The only thing she usually did was to get up and suck Araragi's blood when he appeared.  The circumstances of their first meeting, the emotional bond between the two, how Shinobu was transformed from a powerful vampire with an adult body to a silent girl who appeared to be no more than 10 years old was shown and explained in the movie trilogy. 

The usually stylish art of the monogatari series is now given the movie treatment that allows a much bigger budget.  This trilogy has everything.  Great visuals, memorable battles, emotional scenes, comic relief that is actually pretty funny, a strong link with the main story that explains a lot and puts events in a different perspective.  Above all, the relationship between Shinobu and Araragi is explored in great detail.   

[Monoriu]

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.  Yet another dropped into an RPG fantasy game world anime.  Teenagers seem to have their memories largely wiped and dropped into another world in batches.  They form adventure parties, kill monsters and join guilds in order to survive.  The story focuses on one of these parties.

What sets this show apart from the zillion of other animes with a similar premise is its focus on realism.  The other shows usually show overpowered protagonists trying to save the world, rescue the princess, defeat the big bad, show off their unique skills, pull off elaborate strategies and plans, and pick up a few girls in the process.  In Grimgar, the protagonists are the underdogs.  The best and strongest form their own parties, and the protagonists are the leftovers.  They merely try to survive.  They barely make enough money to buy the basic necessities, they have trouble killing goblins even when they outnumber them, and there are much more successful players around.  Figuring out how to work effectively as a team is a long process, and death is a real possibility.  The psychological trauma of dealing with this unfamiliar place and not having too many choices to survive is explored in vivid detail.  This is also one of the few animes that have more balanced gender ratios.  In short, it is somewhat of a deconstruction of the typical locked in a game world shows. 

I realise that the moment when I decided to try this show is not when I read the reviews, which are decent but not great.  It was when I first looked at the poster above.  I am not really an arts person, but I am a sucker for water colour infused images.  On this aspect, the show didn't disappoint.  It isn't just the promotional poster that is done in this style.  The water colour style is shown throughout the show, which has beautiful backgrounds, well-animated action sequences and fluid movements. 

Not much really happens in the show.  Look elsewhere if you want to see heroes in action.  This is a show for the underdogs, but a pretty good one at that. 

[Monoriu]

Princess Principal.  This anime-original show takes place in an alternate Victorian Britain.  First, they discovered an anti-gravity material that allowed them to build airships.  Secondly, a rebellion broke out that divided Britain into two.  A wall was built that divided London and the rest of the country into two, a republic and the old kingdom.  London became a hotbed for spying activities as the two entities tried to gain an advantage over the other in an uneasy peace.  Princess Principal refers to a team of school girls who secretly perform espionage missions for the republic.  Curiously, the team includes a princess of the kingdom, so she is essentially working against her own royal family. 

This whole setup is a bit alienating, because it is difficult to suspend disbelief that a team of moe school girls can do serious espionage.  I initially only watched the show because I like the music composer.  This turned out to be much better than expected.  The credits list reveals why.  The scriptwriter is one of the biggest names in the anime industry.  The semi-absurd setting aside, this is a serious espionage show with exciting car chases, multiple twists and turns in an episode, stunning visuals, a consistent steampunk style, and deep characters.  At first I wondered if this would be a slice of life show with cute girls doing cute things.  The first episode showed how wrong I was with the protagonist mercilessly gunning down an adversary and putting in multiple bullets to make sure that he stays dead.  Even with the massive amounts of fights and violence in anime, it is actually not that common to show the protagonist taking a human life on screen.  Usually it is handled in a subtle manner, with at least a shred of deniability that "maybe he was just wounded".  The first episode screamed to the audience that, yes, she killed him in cold blood. 

Overall a distinctive and enjoyable spy show with some James Bond style flamboyant action sequences, though one needs to look past some of the less believable aspects, like an invincible ninja, girls dressing up in obvious "spy clothes", how come they can cause so much carnage and disturbance and yet are able to maintain their schoolgirl cover etc. 

[Monoriu]

Tokyo Ghoul.   The story began when Kanegi, an ordinary university student, met a beautiful girl.  Turned out the girl was a ghoul who tried to devour him.  She was accidentally killed in the ensuing struggle, but Kanegi was near death.   Doctors saved him by transplanting some of the ghoul's organs into him.  The first thing he discovered after becoming half-ghoul was that he found human food repulsive.  The only things he could eat or drink were coffee, and human flesh.  He did gain combat tentacles, super strength, and regenerative capabilities.  He resisted the temptation to murder humans for food, and joined up with other ghouls to get food in cruelty-free ways (bodies of people who offed themselves etc).  While some ghouls just wanted to blend into human society peacefully, others engaged in mass murder, either for food or fun.  The government created a special agency to genocide all ghouls, and the agents fight using weapons created from dead ghouls.  So the story is set in this three-way struggle (good ghouls, bad ghouls, and the government).

This is a horror and gore show based on an extremely popular manga.  The setting is very interesting and detailed.  While Kanegi is the protagonist, there are points of view from all sides, in particular the government.  They are almost like the other half of the show.  I am not particularly fond of horror or gory shows, but I still find the show engaging and memorable.  If you like this genre, this is probably one of the biggest names and productions in recent years, complete with a live-action version.

I don't read manga, but apparently many people who have read the source manga don't really like the anime adaptation.  There are problems with pacing, particularly in the second season.  Some of the plot developments can be jarring, and smell like horror just for horror's sake.  The introduction of a huge number of side characters and the presentation of different sides of the conflict all contribute to a lack of focus.  Although I find the anime more than entertaining, it doesn't quite reach the level of the true masterpieces. 

[Ed Anger]

An anime character with a bowl haircut. Shocking.

[Monoriu]

An anime character with a bowl haircut. Shocking.

I had that haircut as a kid. 

[Josquius]

I actually tried Tokyo ghoul. Failed to enjoy it.

[Monoriu]

Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?  Or Danmachi for short.  The Greek mythological deities decided that the mortal realm is more fun.  So they descended on the world and gave up most of their powers.  They form "familias" with humans, like guilds or cooperations, and grant them the right to explore a huge dungeon in town.  The story is about Hestia, who only starts with one weak human in her familia, and her partner Bell.

This anime is made world famous by one and one thing only.  The blue ribbon that Hestia wears.  For some reason it took the internet by storm and is even reported in newspapers.  Because of this, and the somewhat unfortunate title of the light novel that the anime is based on, it is easy to get the impression that this show is all about harems, fanservice, revealing costumes, or even softcore porn. 

I have watched the show and I say this is only half-true.  It is true that there is a strong harem vibe, as there are tons of female characters and a very large number of them fall for Bell.  There are ridiculous costumes shown regularly onscreen.  Despite the fanservice, there is a decent adventure story at the core of the show.  It isn't as serious as Re:Zero or Grimgar, but it takes itself far more seriously than goofy shows like Konosuba.  Bell is also as far from a pervert as possible.  He is a serious guy, is only interested in one girl, and is oblivious to all others.

Not a bad show for a sometimes serious, sometimes goofy fantasy adventure series.  It set reasonable if limited goals for itself, and mostly fulfilled them.  The visual quality is surprisingly good.  Sometimes I just want to watch, relax, and forget.  This show is exactly that.     

[Monoriu]

Sword Oratoria.  This is the spin-off of Danmachi.  Danmachi is about Bell and Hestia.  Oratoria takes place in the same universe, at the same time, with roughly the same main events, but from the angle of the Loki familia, allies of the Hestia familia.  It is like someone writing a spin-off of Lord of the Rings that covers the same story, but this time with the Elves and Dwarves taking centre stage.  Or a book by Sherlock Holmes about what he really thinks about Dr Watson. 

The story is often told from the angle of Aiz, Bell's crush.  Having watched the story from Bell's angle, it can be quite charming to watch the same story again from Aiz's angle.  It provides a lot of explanation about why Aiz reacts in a certain way in the main story.  On this aspect, the two stories complement each other well. 

The trouble with this story is that that interesting aspect isn't enough to fill 12 episodes.  It needs a lot of additional content to stretch the story.  And on this aspect, the story is less interesting.  It feels like filler because it is.  The pace is very uneven.  The parts common to both stories are given extensive coverage.  The parts intended to fill in the gaps are glanced over.  There isn't much real story here, because like most fillers, it is constrained by the fact that it cannot state anything that contradicts the main story. 

In theory it is possible to watch Oratoria independently, but this is not recommended.  It works best only if it is watched after Danmachi. 

[Monoriu]

Basilisk.  The story is set shortly after Ieyasu Tokugawa has united Japan after the warring states period.  His two grandsons fought over the succession.  His solution was to decide by champion combat.  Iga and Kouga, two of the most famous ninja clans in Japan, would each nominate 10 elite ninjas.  Whichever team can eliminate the other wins.  These two clans have a 400-year old feud, and the uneasy peace is only kept by a Tokugawa decree.  All Tokugawa needed to do was to lift his ban on violence, and the two were too happy to kill each other.  The problem was, before all that happened, the heads of the two clans were madly in love with each other.  One is an honourable young man who wanted nothing but peace, and the other is an innocent and kind girl who, with one exception, lacked any ninja skills and wouldn't kill an insect.  Now they are forced to fight each other by their clansmen and the Shogun.   

The TL;DR version: Romeo and Juliet with ninjas. 

This is really good.  I have watched all episodes and films of Naruto, probably the most famous ninja show ever.  Basilisk is much better.  Not only because of the tragic love story in the background.  The meat of the show is the anything goes battle by the ninjas, and it more than delivers.  The pace is extremely fast, and the plot moves along steadily.  It is no surprise that the ninjas have outlandish skills (known as jutsu in ninja-speak).  What I like about Basilisk is that, notwithstanding the extreme nature of the jutsu, the show is very consistent.  This is the one or two jutsu that this ninja knows, and that's that.  No unexplained appearance of new jutsus as the plot demands, and no plot armour.  No remembering childhood trauma and internal brain struggles to turn the fight around.  Another great aspect is the much more realistic treatment of injuries.  You get stabbed in the leg, you limp.  You get stabbed in the chest, you die.  Even for elite ninjas.  No losing two limbs but the fight continues. 

Fast and intense action.  Well-crafted plot.  Memorable characters on both sides of the conflict.  Nice visuals.  Serious and dark story.  Realistic portrayals of battles.  This should have been the best ninja show, not Naruto.  Thanks Tim for recommending this show.

The crazy thing is, this anime was made more than 10 years ago, and a sequel will air next year 

[Monoriu]

I am not going to watch this anime, but I can't help but laugh after reading this synopsis of an upcoming show -

"A group of 3 yakuza failed their boss for the last time. After messing up an important job, the boss gave them 2 choices: Honorably committing suicide, or go to Thailand to get a sex reassignment surgery in order to become "female" idols. After a gruesome year long training to become idols, they successfully debut, with overwhelming popularity, much to their dismay. This is where their tragedy truly begins."

[jimmy olsen]

Mono, did you know that the Sengoku Period was caused by a time traveling Joker and his henchmen fighting Batman and his sidekicks?

No? Than feast your eyes on Batman Ninja! Starring the Joker as Oda Nobunaga and Gorilla Grodd as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Trailer
https://youtu.be/wId8XY6y_HA

Subbed trailer (a bit different than the first)
https://twitter.com/damainwayne/status/936476180269748224

Made by an all star cast

Takashi Okazaki (character designs): Afro Samurai

Yugo Kanno (soundtrack): Psycho-Pass soundtrack, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure soundtrack

Kazuki Nakashima (screenplay): Gurren Lagann, Kill La Kill

Kamikaze Douga (animation): JoJo's opening animation, Assorted freelance works for different shows

[Monoriu]

Thanks for letting me know, and no, I wasn't aware of it.  Seems nuts but could be fun.