The Anime Thread

[jimmy olsen]

RWBY

Thanks Tim.  I never would have heard of this on my own.  This sounds awesome and I'll watch this sooner or later.

You're welcome. 

IIRC, you have trouble with spoken English dialogue. On YouTube if you click on the gear in the lower right you can turn on subtitles.

I do prefer to have subtitles on, even when watching English or Chinese videos.  But my preference is to watch from the harddrive.  I have already found...ways to do this.   

Make sue you watch the trailers first, they have backstory that gets referenced later on. Plus, they look fucking awesome.

As you'd expect, the order to watch is Red, White, Black, Yellow.

[Syt]

Battle Girls - a middle school girl is magically sucked into Sengoku period Japan where all major characters have been replaced by females in bikini armor, because Japan.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

[Malthus]

Battle Girls - a middle school girl is magically sucked into Sengoku period Japan where all major characters have been replaced by females in bikini armor, because Japan.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

In some Buddhist Hell, Oda Nobunaga is watching this, and realizes he got just what he deserved. 

[Syt]

Oda Nobunaga is the redhead.

[Monoriu]

Of all the time-travel back to Sengoku shows I have watched, I like Nobuna's Amibition the most.  Yes, the majority of the Sengoku generals are gender-flipped and there is a fair amount fanservice, but it is also capable of being serious and dramatic.  It still loosely follows the historical account of Nobunaga's rise to power. The major flaw about this show is that there are only 12 episodes and it is extremely doubtful if there'll be a sequel. 

This is what I wrote earlier. 

The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, mentioned earlier in the thread.  Yoshiharu Sagara (or Saru for short) is an ordinary high school student who somehow time-travelled to the Sengoku era.  In this world, the majority of the historical Sengoku samurai generals have been replaced by pretty and fierce young girls, and Nobuna replaced the historical Nobunaga.  The first 1 minute of the anime consisted of the historical Hideyoshi dying in Saru's place, so Saru ended up replacing him (Saru means monkey, and most novels portray Nobunaga calling Hideyoshi "monkey").  He must use his knowledge of the video game "Ambition of Oda Nobunaga" to help Nobuna conquer Japan.  Historically, Nobunaga is known as a tyrant.  Saru wants to change that, and help mold a gentler Nobuna. 

(Nobuna's clothing and pose in the pic above is a deliberate attempt to look like Nobunaga's appearance [without the bra of course] in the cover of KOEI's video game).

I like this anime very much.  Although it sounds like a fanservice and harem series (and there is indeed a fair amount of these), it is a lot more than that.  It never strays too far from its historical roots, and contains a good balance of comedic and serious moments.  The animation is of above average quality.  Saru's knowledge of Japanese history is not an absolute advantage, because he has changed history too much, and is basically in unknown territory.  A particular focus of the story is Nobuna's internal struggle to be a ruthless warlord just like her historical counterpart, and a conflicting desire to be herself, which is a lot nicer than she appears to be.

12 episodes.  Too bad there is no news of a second season.  The news is that the merchandise and disc sales are decent, but not sufficient to justify the relatively high production costs.

The other Sengoku show I've watched is Nobunaga's Concerto.  Not a bad show but the animation is an epic fail. 

[Monoriu]

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.

In some Buddhist Hell, Oda Nobunaga is watching this, and realizes he got just what he deserved. 

If he has a choice, he most likely picked the Christian version of afterlife rather than the Buddhist one 

[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.

[Malthus]

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.

In some Buddhist Hell, Oda Nobunaga is watching this, and realizes he got just what he deserved. 

If he has a choice, he most likely picked the Christian version of afterlife rather than the Buddhist one 

Considering what he did to so many Buddhists, that would seen to be a good choice. Not that he'd avoid a Christian Hell, though. 

[Syt]

So there's at least two animes featuring female versions of Sengoku period generals? I didn't know this would be a genre.

I'm still holding out for an all female American Civil War anime featuring Roberta E. Lee and Ulyssa S. Grant as cat girls.

[Valmy]

I'm still holding out for an all female American Civil War anime featuring Roberta E. Lee and Ulyssa S. Grant as cat girls.

Lettow was working on something like that but realized the Southern generals were too manly.

[Syt]

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

*scribbles furiously*

[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.

[Syt]

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.

[Neil]

Heroic Legend of Arslan.  The source novel of this show is written by the novelist who also wrote the Legend of Galactic Heroes novels.  The manga version is done by the same manga artist of Full Metal Alchemist.  This is all I needed to know to follow it.  The story universe has a strong middle east theme.  Arslan is a teenage prince of the mighty kingdom of Pars.  The show is essentially a coming of age story of Arslan, and how he reclaims the throne and kingdom that was lost. 

I enjoyed watching it, but not as much as I enjoyed LoGH.  I think this kind of show is what the anime industry badly needs.  More creativity, seriousness, different points of views, war stories, historical fantasy.  Less pandering to the otakus, cute little girls in ridiculous outfits, highschool settings, harems and incest subtext.  Some of the things that make LoGH great are here.  The setting is rich with different factions, characters and political philosophies present.  The horrors of war and how it affects the normal people.  The avoidance of showing one side as purely good and the other as purely evil. 

But it is no where near as good as LoGH.  The story feels a bit too idealistic at times, with the protagonist party overcoming challenges a little too easily.  There is an over-reliance on a single plot thread to sustain the show, and the pacing is too slow.  LoGH dared to kill off major characters left and right, and presented both sides of the conflict almost equally.  That is something that is seriously lacking in Arslan.  It isn't worthy to be the spiritual successor of LoGH.

They remade Arslan?  Well, I'll have to watch that.

[Monoriu]

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.