The Anime Thread

[Josquius]

Naruto won't go away huh

Really looking forward to AoT2

[Monoriu]

Naruto won't go away huh

Really looking forward to AoT2

Yeah toward the end I just watched Naruto out of loyalty, not a desire to watch.  80-90% of the episodes in the last 1-2 years were fillers, and poor ones at that.  Even the canon story fell apart.  The author resorted to bringing dead people back to life on a massive scale.  The allegiance of major characters and villains just change at the wave of a magic wand.  People fight for no good reason, villains want to put the entire world to sleep for no good reason, people live for hundreds of years for no good reason etc.  The anime staff felt the need to replay the same scenes over and over and over.  I think the author almost called it quits.  He just skipped the story and ended the misery by jumping toward the conclusion. 

I hope the same thing doesn't happen to One Piece. 

[Lettow77]

This season doesn't look to hold great promise, but we've been spoiled with an excellent run of seasons, and Little Witch Academia will continue its second half through to the end of this one, so it's tough to complain. It would mean dark things for the medium if the CGDCT genre was allowed to wither away to this poor showing every season, though.

The sequel to Uchouten Kazoku should be good. Sakura Quest has some promise and is the original anime that I am most looking forward to from the lineup. I'll also check out Alice to Zouroku, Souryo to Majiwaru Shikiyoku no Yoru ni..., Hinako Note, and Warau Salesman.

[Monoriu]

Planatarian.  In the future, Earth is devastated by war, and only a handful of humans survive.  A scavenger managed to fight his way into an empty pre-war city guarded by killer robots.  There, he encountered Yumemi, a female robot designed to guide customers through a planetarium in a department store.  She is unaware of the war and tries to enlist his help to fix the projector.  This is based on a visual novel by Key, the company known for producing such shows as Angel Beats, Clannad, Little Busters etc. 

It is a short and straightforward story.  There are only five episodes, and each is shorter than the average length.  The interaction between a jaded war veteran and an adorable AI is the only thing that sustains the show.  Nevertheless, it has made the most out of a setting with such a barebones scope.  Key is known for producing bittersweet stories and it has again hit the mark here.  The drama works, the ending is compelling and memorable.  She is probably the only being that still held out hope for humanity's future in the dystopia.  If there is an election for the saint of anime robots, Yumemi should be one of the candidates. 

There is supposed to be a follow-up movie.  No idea what that is all about.

So I have finally watched the 2-hour movie.  It is both a sequel and a recap.  The movie is self-contained.  If you watch the movie, there is no point to watch the TV series again.  Whereas if you have watched the TV series, it is still recommended to see the movie for it covers what happens after the end of the TV version.  Having said that, I'd call it an extended epilogue rather than a true sequel.  The original series is decent.  The movie is also decent, but only because of the TV story. 

[Monoriu]

Yuki Yuna is a Hero.  The setting is fairly standard magical girl stuff.  A couple of middle school girls form a "Hero Club", which mainly involved performing plays for kindergarten children.  One day they were magically sent to another dimension to fight invading evil spirits.  They transform into magical girls and fight the monsters of the week etc.  It is also a blatant Madoka copycat in that there is a dark twist, and the real story is about the girls' suffering. 

The good:  it is a decent story.  The part after the reveal is heart-wrenching to watch.  There is effective emotional impact and the show gives a lasting impression.  It is one of the few anime shows that deal with people with disabilities, as one of the major characters is on a wheelchair from the beginning of the story.
 
The bad: the standard magical girl cover took too long, resulting in a show that is only really interesting in the second half.  The screenplay isn't as tight as it should be and there are too many "I saw that coming" moments.  There is almost nothing from the antagonist's point of view, and they remain just "invading evil spirits", making the story a bit one-sided.  It tries too hard to be a Madoka wannabe, down to character personalities or even some of the colour schemes. 

Probably an ok choice for those who want more of the "magical girl with a twist" stories, but it is no where near as good as Madoka. 

[Josquius]

I made a mistake of watching AoT S2.
Now I can't wait until the next episode.
Watching anime on a weekly schedule ftl

[Monoriu]

I made a mistake of watching AoT S2.
Now I can't wait until the next episode.
Watching anime on a weekly schedule ftl

It is official.  We have waited four years for an Attack on Titan sequel, but there are only 12 episodes in season 2

Not sure if I agree about watching anime on a weekly schedule.  There is something to be said about allowing more time to reflect on an episode and speculating about the next. 

[Lettow77]

Kemono Friends was a breakout hit of the last season getting a huge fanbase after starting with anticipation or expectations at all, but I resisted watching it because it looked awful.

It's not awful. Its very fun and enjoyable, and halfway through I am enjoying it more with every episode.

[Monoriu]

Mushishi, literally, bug master.  "Bugs" in this world are super-natural, basic lifeforms that float around the world, and only a very small percentage of the population can see them.  While most of the mushis are not actively malicious, they do cause problems by their very nature.  Some mushi turn people's dreams, any dream, into reality, some make the host attracted to lightning strikes, some make people invisible etc.  The job of mushishis is to manage the events, like a village healer, biologist, and spiritual advisor combined.  Ginko is a wandering mushishi and he goes from place to place to help people and save lives.  The show is episodic and each episode is on a different encounter and setting. 

This anime is top-notch.  This is one of those rare gems that get most things right.  The overall tone is very mellow, modest and subtle.  I can't recall any fights in 49 episodes.  Yet almost every one of those 49 short stories pack a punch.  Every story feels dramatic, thought-provoking, fresh and unique.  Every episode builds up the tension and often ends in an unpredictable manner.  It assumes an intelligent and mature audience, with many "show, don't tell" moments.  It avoids anime tropes that insult the intelligence of the viewers, or lengthy philosophical babbling that no one really understands.  Ginko is the epitome of common sense and balance.  While he desires to do good, he also recognises the limitations that he faces.  The production qualities are good, with enchanting audio and visuals.
 
Another aspect that I really like is that the show depicts ordinary peasant lives of medieval Japan, instead of the usual focus on royalties and samurai.  Except the mushi, everything is grounded in reality.  It shows how miserable the peasants really are, their rural poverty and constant worries about the harvest and natural disasters.  But it also shows how they usually work together to solve common problems.  The anime feels very well-researched, and my bet is that many stories are variations of Japanese folklore. 

This is living proof that one can do really good story-telling without fights, mechas, tsunderes, school drama, scantily-clad females, harems, magical girls, princesses, transformations, samurai, and armies. 

Some basic information about the anime.  There are three seasons.  First season (26 episodes), Zoku Shou (literally, continued chapter) (10 episodes), and Zoku Shou second season (10 episodes).  There is an OVA for each pack, so it is 26 + 10 + 10 + 3 OVAS = 49.  It is best to watch it from the beginning because there are interesting references to the earlier episodes all the way.  But there is no overall plot and each episode stands on its own. 

[Savonarola]

This is living proof that one can do really good story-telling without fights, mechas, tsunderes, school drama, scantily-clad females, harems, magical girls, princesses, transformations, samurai, and armies. 

Of course not; good storytelling requires tentacle monsters.   




I liked Mushishi a great deal; but I thought it was strange that they had the protagonist in modern clothing while the show was set in the medieval period.

[Savonarola]

That's the Kaga costume.  The amount of effort and money that cosplayers put into this kind of thing is no joke.  A lot of people make their own costume.

One of the last times that I was in Jackson, Michigan (town of about 40,000 and surrounded mostly by farm land.)  I found a flyer from the local community college about a class which offered to teach one how to become his or her cosplay character.  I realized then that the world has changed.

(I did briefly consider shaving the rest of my hair off and becoming Professor X; but I'd have to get contacts.  Plus that might be kind of nerdy.)

[Savonarola]

I saw Your Name on one of my recent flights.  I thought it was well done; a little like The Girl Who Leapt through time, but more brooding.  I'd recommend the film "Arrival" (2017) to anyone who liked Your Name; it has a similar tone and touches on some similar themes.

I also started watching Log Horizon, but I just couldn't get into it.

[Monoriu]

I liked Mushishi a great deal; but I thought it was strange that they had the protagonist in modern clothing while the show was set in the medieval period.

I've read that part of the reason he wears modern/western clothing is that it is a remnant from an earlier draft of the story that Ginko is a time traveler.  That idea was sort of ditched, but the author didn't change his clothes.  His clothing also symbolises that he is an outcast, he is different, he can see things from a different perspective etc.  I think it also tells a bit about the time period of the story, because the Japanese don't seem to react much to his different clothing.  So the story takes place in a period when foreigners were becoming less rare. 

[Monoriu]

I also started watching Log Horizon, but I just couldn't get into it.

Log Horizon is...okish, but only okish, I think.  Probably the folks are too cheerful and the world too happy when they are trapped in another world.  The focus and view point of the story constantly shifts.  Sometimes they simply ditch the party entirely and focus on another one. 

Re: Zero is a much better show, but a lot darker.  Sword Art Online is explosively popular.  Some of the arcs are very good but the writing is a bit uneven.  No Game No Life is also good, and the art is distinct and stylish, but it is only for those who don't mind the fanservice.  Konosuba is a great comedy, but it can be very stupid.  Accel World is basically poor man's Sword Art Online.  Overlord is from the viewpoint of the 'bad' guys, and is a bit similar to Log Horizon in tone, and better.  Oda Nobuna's (not Nobunaga) ambition is for those interested in the Sengoku Jidai. 

[Monoriu]

nyaa.se is down.  All signs point to permanent closure.  This is the biggest and most popular anime torrent site.  Rumour is that there is some sort of copyright court decision in Europe, and that probably made up the site owner's mind to pull the plug.  I have access to Chinese sites for daily updates, but nyaa is great for 1080 blu-ray rips and anime music.  Chinese are generally horrible about seeding. 

Hope somebody does a replacement site soon.  This is just another reminder that one cannot count on web resources being available forever.