The Anime Thread

[Tonitrus]

In that case I should re-write the ACW as sci-fi erotica with each major battle representing sexual encounters.

*scribbles furiously*

The Battles of the Seven Days is going to be a doozy.

And with the rotating Union generals, mecha-cat girl General Lee is going to be one major slut.

[Monoriu]

Girls und Panzer.

[Josquius]

Battle Girls - a middle school girl is magically sucked into Sengoku period Japan where all major characters have been replaced by females in bikini armor, because Japan. So Oda Nobunaga is a chick wearing a battle bra.

Because this is Japan, the middle school girl also gets skimpy armor (and I doubt all those upskirt panty shots when she was in present day were necessary from a story telling point of view), and - like the other characters - floats across the screen in the nude (with breasts and genitals obscured by ribbons) in the end credits.

How many versions of this are there?
I remember seeing another series with pretty much the same plot. Sengoku Otome was the title iirc.

Sengoku Otome is the Japanese title.

Thank god Japan isn' t  crazy enough to make two of them.

I watched the first few episodes of that, don't think I saw it through to the end, it was too awful.

[Malthus]

I can only assume that there are anime shows in which Hitler is replaced by a pretty middle school girl, who is forced to struggle with the disconnect between taking over Europe (and massacring its Jews) and maintaining her kindly, girlish nature.  It will feature many Hitler upskirt panty shots, but maintain its realism with piles of dead Jews.

I think the anime industry in general are quite careful to avoid politics, or explicit references to real and controversial figures.  There are shows with political messages, but those are generally expressed in a fantasy/science fiction setting, e.g. the anti-war messages in Gundam or Nausicaa.  The battleship Bismarck is depicted as a girl in a German military uniform in Kancolle (complete with panty shots), but the animators are very careful to avoid any Nazi symbols. 

Nobunaga in general is quite well-regarded in Japan, I think.  He named his castle Gifu, and that name still remains in the corresponding prefecture.  I see (and own) lots of novels, games, shows etc in his name.

Isn't he sometimes portrayed as a literal demon?

Anyway, the historical general was, by any objective measure, a bit of a monster (as was the other two "unifiers"). Even for his time, some of the stuff he did was considered a trifle excessive. Of course, that doesn't stop them from being considered "great leaders" - the English equivalent may be Henry VIII, who did for Catholicism what Nobunaga did for Buddhism and Tokugawa did for, well, Catholicism. 

[Josquius]

I need a new show. I want to try and work on my Japanese and see something enjoyable at the same time.

I tried The Devil is a Part Timer- seemed interesting but did nothing with it.
Nobunaga the Fool- Awful.

Isn't he sometimes portrayed as a literal demon?

Anyway, the historical general was, by any objective measure, a bit of a monster (as was the other two "unifiers"). Even for his time, some of the stuff he did was considered a trifle excessive. Of course, that doesn't stop them from being considered "great leaders" - the English equivalent may be Henry VIII, who did for Catholicism what Nobunaga did for Buddhism and Tokugawa did for, well, Catholicism. 

Depends where the author comes from perhaps?
People tend to be rather fond of their local bushi. Except for the Tokyo area for some reason- I guess due to that being where the winners set up their base after the war was over. And the Hojo are bloody boring.

[Monoriu]

Isn't he sometimes portrayed as a literal demon?

Anyway, the historical general was, by any objective measure, a bit of a monster (as was the other two "unifiers"). Even for his time, some of the stuff he did was considered a trifle excessive. Of course, that doesn't stop them from being considered "great leaders" - the English equivalent may be Henry VIII, who did for Catholicism what Nobunaga did for Buddhism and Tokugawa did for, well, Catholicism. 

If I remember correctly, he called himself a demon.  One of the problems of the era, and especially for Nobunaga, is that so much fiction has made it into the popular narrative of his rise, that it is difficult to separate historical truth with fantasy.  But yeah, there is no doubt that he killed a whole bunch of civilians and Buddhists, and burnt one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Japan.  That's exceptionally cruel even by the standards of his times.  I still see him being depicted as a cute girl all the time, and that merchandise bearing his name is all over Japan.  My theory is that Japanese love winners. 

[Monoriu]

I need a new show. I want to try and work on my Japanese and see something enjoyable at the same time.

I tried The Devil is a Part Timer- seemed interesting but did nothing with it.
Nobunaga the Fool- Awful.

I heartily recommend the Devil is a Part Timer. 

[Josquius]

I watched Kantai Collection's first episode today....
Jesus.
I guess I kind of knew what to expect. There is a lot of fandom about. I knew that its central thing was something called fleet girls that were somehow WW2 warships in the form of school girls.
I was curious what bizzare explanation they would have for this state of affairs....
Turns out they don't have one. They're just girls with the names of the ships who speak about each other as coming from the same class and all that sort of thing.....Right.
The animation is pretty. The battles are kind of cool despite their silliness- its basically a bunch of school girls with backpacks, aircraft carrier flight deck shields, guns, arrows that shoot fighter wings, and so on, ice skating around on the sea and shooting at sea monsters led by half naked evillll girls.
But....god do I hate the whole "middle school girls being cutesy with each other" genre. It needs to be purged from Japan.- though it is funny how mature high schoolers are always depicted in comparison.
Arpeggio of Blue Steel is much better. At least there the girls are just avatars of actual ships, its more sensible. Plus they don't spend all their time acting cutesy.

I heartily recommend the Devil is a Part Timer. 

It was too quick to turn into yet another fantasy battles show, dropping the potential for comedy in  the whole devil placed in the modern world thing.

[Monoriu]

I watched Kantai Collection's first episode today....
Jesus.
I guess I kind of knew what to expect. There is a lot of fandom about. I knew that its central thing was something called fleet girls that were somehow WW2 warships in the form of school girls.
I was curious what bizzare explanation they would have for this state of affairs....
Turns out they don't have one. They're just girls with the names of the ships who speak about each other as coming from the same class and all that sort of thing.....Right.

I think it is good that they don't explain it.  There is no plausible explanation why ships turn into girls, so I am glad they didn't attempt at one.  Everybody who watches the show knew the premise beforehand, so there is no point anyway. 

[jimmy olsen]

Japanese get all the cool stuff, even for things made in America.

That's one of the largest and most prominent building's in Akihabara.

[Monoriu]

I didn't know that Akihabara theatres play the BD discs.  It says "volume 1", so they just played 2-3 TV episodes onscreen.  I thought the theatres only do movie versions. 

[jimmy olsen]

I didn't know that Akihabara theatres play the BD discs.  It says "volume 1", so they just played 2-3 TV episodes onscreen.  I thought the theatres only do movie versions.

Not counting the trailers or the world of Remnant info clips, Volume One is 126 minues and 19 seconds long by my count, so they probably played the whole thing.

[Monoriu]

I didn't know that Akihabara theatres play the BD discs.  It says "volume 1", so they just played 2-3 TV episodes onscreen.  I thought the theatres only do movie versions.

Not counting the trailers or the world of Remnant info clips, Volume One is 126 minues and 19 seconds long by my count, so they probably played the whole thing.

126 minutes is around 4 episodes, assuming that each episode is normal length, i.e. a bit more than 20 minutes.  The whole thing is only 4 episodes?  I have no idea as I haven't watched it. 

[jimmy olsen]

I didn't know that Akihabara theatres play the BD discs.  It says "volume 1", so they just played 2-3 TV episodes onscreen.  I thought the theatres only do movie versions.

Not counting the trailers or the world of Remnant info clips, Volume One is 126 minues and 19 seconds long by my count, so they probably played the whole thing.

126 minutes is around 4 episodes, assuming that each episode is normal length, i.e. a bit more than 20 minutes.  The whole thing is only 4 episodes?  I have no idea as I haven't watched it.

RWBY Seasons are basically a movie in serial form.

Season one was supposed to be 10 episodes long, but due to the aforementioned budget problems, some of the episodes in season one were split up into two-parters, so there were 16.

Season 2 had twelve episodes (none broken up) and was 173 minutes and 7 seconds long. So an average of 14 minutes and 25 seconds.

Season 3 has had three episodes so far and is 38 minutes and 13 seconds long. So an average of 16 minutes and 4 seconds.

[Monoriu]

I'll watch it for sure, but the queue in my to-do list is long.  Really long