The Anime Thread

[jimmy olsen]

Lettow, you seen this?

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/03/12/gkids-to-distribute-studio-ghiblis-the-tale-of-the-princess-kaguya-in-north-america

[Lettow77]

I have not. I am interested in seeing it, although of course I have no interest in the english dub.

I actually wonder at the export potential of the story, really..

[Monoriu]

I have not. I am interested in seeing it, although of course I have no interest in the english dub.

I actually wonder at the export potential of the story, really..

I agree.  I bet most people in Japan have heard of the story at some point in their lives.  It is probably their oldest and most well-known folk story.  Not sure if it will appeal to an audience that lack the cultural background.

Lovely visuals and music.  I originally have no interest in the story, but I've changed my mind after seeing this preview.  Thanks for posting this.

BTW, Queen Millennia is one of my favourite shows as a kid.  It is a mix of Galaxy Express 999 and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.  As far as I know, no Chinese or English subtitles are available for this show.  Someone is doing the English subtitles, but it has taken them like 8 years to do 14 episodes 

[Monoriu]

Maou Yuusha.  Maou means demon lord.  Yuusha means hero.  In a medieval fantasy world, humans and demons are fighting a perpetual war.  The human Hero intends to end the war by going straight to the Demon Lord's castle to slay his opponent.  The Demon Lord turns out to be a pretty, nerdish, ditzy girl who is a peace-loving scholar specialising in economics and is somehow already crazily in love with the Hero even before their first meeting.   She points out that too many people from both sides benefit from the war, and killing her won't end it.  She intends to find an alternative way to achieve lasting peace.  The two agree to cooperate on their common goal. 

Jokingly referred to as the "third season" of Spice and Wolf.  The two series are entirely different stories by different authors.  What they have in common are a focus on the non-combat aspects and the interactions between the leading couple, specifically a playful female and a more reserved male.  The production company deliberately invoked the comparison by hiring the same voice actors as the leads of both shows - Jun Fukuyama as Lawrence and Hero, and Ami Koshimizu as Holo and Demon Queen.  The two also voiced a close pair in Code Geass.  None of the characters have names.  They refer to each other as "Hero", "Female Knight", "Head Maid" etc. 

Like Spice and Wolf, the appeal of the show is that it is different.  Sort of the beginning of a recent trend of shows focusing on the interactions between the Demon Lord and the Hero. 

[Monoriu]

The 2014 Winter (January - March) anime season is drawing to a close.  This isn't a great season as I am not aware of any must-sees or heavy weights.



My favourite show of the season is Witchcraft Works, arguably the sleeper hit of the season.  The last episode was broadcast 2 days ago.  The stoic but incredibly popular Kagari is the "princess" of the school, complete with her own personal fan club who fight for the honour of having lunch with her.  Honoka is an ordinary male student.  One day, a tower collasped on him.  Kagari showed up flying with a witch broom and saved him.  She informed him that she is a witch, and her mission is to protect him.  Then she called him "princess".

I like the premise, but I was initially turned off by the comically large breasts of Kagari.  My opinion began to change when I noticed that the director of the show also made the really good Girls und Panzer series.  I decided to follow it after learning that it was getting raving reviews and was one of the shows with the highest number of BD/DVD pre-orders of this season, despite the nonexistant hype before it was aired.

I find it the most addictive show of the season, and I eagerly anticipate it every week.  It is very comfortable with the fact that it is totally over-the-top and crazy.  It is a very good comedy but it isn't just that.  There is a very intelligent and interesting plot underpinning the story.  Honoka is hunted by many rival witches, and the reasons are slowly revealed, layer by layer.  My worry that it is a fanservice laden show proved to be largely misplaced.  Yes, her breasts are still completely out of proportion, but the fanservice is kept to a reasonable and fun level.  The animation is very well done, and there is a good mix of new seiyuu talent and big name veterans. 

[Lettow77]

I had a passing interest in this that was deterred by its cheap fanservice vibe. Since you thought well of it, i'll give it a shot.

A show I haven't seen much mention so far is Revolutionary Girl Utena


Madoka gets far more credit than it deserves for experimental firsts in a magical girl show; generally by people who haven't seen much mahou shoujo besides Madoka itself. Utena has the feel of an Arthouse piece; much about it is not adequately explained, more is open to interpretation, and it almost seems to be daring the viewer to call it out on being insubstantial, empty allegory.

It has enough interpretations that surprising levels of scholarly analysis have gone into it; there are essays compiled on old websites out there. It is a very unique anime, and grew on me strongly through the force of its repetition and compelling oddity. There isn't really anything else like it.

[jimmy olsen]

Honoka's a girls name right?

[Monoriu]

Honoka's a girls name right?

Honoka was originally supposed to be a female character.  Yes, it was originally planned as a yuri show.  The manga artist had a change of mind and turned him a male as a last minute change.  That's one of the reasons why Kagari calls him "princess".  That line works better if Honoka is a male 

[Monoriu]

I had a passing interest in this that was deterred by its cheap fanservice vibe. Since you thought well of it, i'll give it a shot.

A show I haven't seen much mention so far is Revolutionary Girl Utena

The fanservice level of Witchcraft Works is comparable to Girls und Panzer, i.e., not much, despite the disproportionate number of female characters.  I only recall one instance of Kagari teasing Honoka.  There is a recurring bikini girl who is not really relevant to the plot.  That's about it.  Everybody else's attire is quite conservative by anime standards, as you can see from the poster.

Utena has been sitting forever in my HDD.  Its turn will come, sooner or later. 

[Agelastus]

The 2014 Winter (January - March) anime season is drawing to a close.  This isn't a great season as I am not aware of any must-sees or heavy weights.



My favourite show of the season is Witchcraft Works, arguably the sleeper hit of the season.  The last episode was broadcast 2 days ago.  The stoic but incredibly popular Kagari is the "princess" of the school, complete with her own personal fan club who fight for the honour of having lunch with her.  Honoka is an ordinary male student.  One day, a tower collasped on him.  Kagari showed up flying with a witch broom and saved him.  She informed him that she is a witch, and her mission is to protect him.  Then she called him "princess".

I like the premise, but I was initially turned off by the comically large breasts of Kagari.  My opinion began to change when I noticed that the director of the show also made the really good Girls und Panzer series.  I decided to follow it after learning that it was getting raving reviews and was one of the shows with the highest number of BD/DVD pre-orders of this season, despite the nonexistant hype before it was aired.

I find it the most addictive show of the season, and I eagerly anticipate it every week.  It is very comfortable with the fact that it is totally over-the-top and crazy.  It is a very good comedy but it isn't just that.  There is a very intelligent and interesting plot underpinning the story.  Honoka is hunted by many rival witches, and the reasons are slowly revealed, layer by layer.  My worry that it is a fanservice laden show proved to be largely misplaced.  Yes, her breasts are still completely out of proportion, but the fanservice is kept to a reasonable and fun level.  The animation is very well done, and there is a good mix of new seiyuu talent and big name veterans.

It also has the single most addictive/catchy closing credits of any show I've seen in the last five years.

As for this season I agree that there's been no stand-out shows; the best have mostly been the second cours of the previous season's shows. "Strike the Blood" in particular maintained its high quality.

[Monoriu]

It also has the single most addictive/catchy closing credits of any show I've seen in the last five years.

This is one of my favourite ending songs -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkctSzlAKtg

Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (roughly, you and I are alike), by Yuki Kagiura, 4th ending song in Gundam Seed Destiny.

Another one, Your Silver Garden.  Ending theme of Madoka Magica: Rebellion Story movie, also by Yuki Kajiura. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKQ5p0Ya6XU

(the video is spoiler free, but don't read the comments if you don't want to be spoiled about Madoka)

[celedhring]

My favourite show of the season is Witchcraft Works, arguably the sleeper hit of the season.  The last episode was broadcast 2 days ago.  The stoic but incredibly popular Kagari is the "princess" of the school, complete with her own personal fan club who fight for the honour of having lunch with her.  Honoka is an ordinary male student.  One day, a tower collasped on him.  Kagari showed up flying with a witch broom and saved him.  She informed him that she is a witch, and her mission is to protect him.  Then she called him "princess".

I like the premise, but I was initially turned off by the comically large breasts of Kagari.  My opinion began to change when I noticed that the director of the show also made the really good Girls und Panzer series.  I decided to follow it after learning that it was getting raving reviews and was one of the shows with the highest number of BD/DVD pre-orders of this season, despite the nonexistant hype before it was aired.

I find it the most addictive show of the season, and I eagerly anticipate it every week.  It is very comfortable with the fact that it is totally over-the-top and crazy.  It is a very good comedy but it isn't just that.  There is a very intelligent and interesting plot underpinning the story.  Honoka is hunted by many rival witches, and the reasons are slowly revealed, layer by layer.  My worry that it is a fanservice laden show proved to be largely misplaced.  Yes, her breasts are still completely out of proportion, but the fanservice is kept to a reasonable and fun level.  The animation is very well done, and there is a good mix of new seiyuu talent and big name veterans.

Somehow your description made me think of Urusei Yatsura.

[Agelastus]

This is one of my favourite ending songs -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkctSzlAKtg

Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (roughly, you and I are alike), by Yuki Kagiura, 4th ending song in Gundam Seed Destiny.

That's...damn poor, even by Gundam Seed standards.

Sorry, I didn't hear or see anything special there. 

Another one, Your Silver Garden.  Ending theme of Madoka Magica: Rebellion Story movie, also by Yuki Kajiura. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKQ5p0Ya6XU

(the video is spoiler free, but don't read the comments if you don't want to be spoiled about Madoka)

Don't worry, that movie's been pretty thoroughly spoiled for me by the various squeals of outrage in the author's notes of several fanfic writers.

Not that I can disagree with them from what I've heard at least concerning the last few minutes of said film.

As for the music, it's definitely better than your first example. Not enough to my taste for me to call it a classic though.

But as I said, here's a Youtube of Witch-craft works ending (unfortunately, without subtitles.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-3Fgrn7Rls

It's not just "catchy"; what makes it addictive is the imagery. Five chibi witches singing a jaunty song while being strapped to various torture devices. It's just so incongruous (even given the tone of the anime) that one can't help but watch it again and again. Plus given the ambiguous status in the anime of said five witches (enemy, ally, comic relief, sideshow etc.) it makes it all the funnier that they're the closing sequence leads and not the main characters.

[MadImmortalMan]

Honoka was originally supposed to be a female character.

I saw an episode of Utena, and trust me, there are no male characters in that show. 

[Monoriu]

Honoka was originally supposed to be a female character.

I saw an episode of Utena, and trust me, there are no male characters in that show. 

Of course I trust you.  Utena is considered a yuri (i.e. lesbian) classic.  People watch it specifically for the girls love angle.  The Chinese translation means "Girls' revolution".