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Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Posts 11,541 to 11,560 of 13,138

RR529

Over the past 3-4 weeks I watched through an anime called the Slayers, since I know I've heard someone around here mention it before.

It does have a very fun cast, with great chemistry (especially once Amelia shows up), but overall I'm pretty mixed on it.

Again, I enjoyed the main cast, I liked the art style, and I LOVED the sound effects (due to the era in which it released, it used all the same energy/explosion sounds as DBZ), but the story never really hooked me. It felt too hectic at first (the main antagonist switched 3 times, and was ultimately defeated in the first 10 episodes). It didn't start building up more naturally until after that, and even though it picked up, it was still pretty generic. Also, while I liked the art style, I think the animation in general was aged enough that it dampened it a bit for me, personally (I'd be willing to give a new iteration a go, with the same art style, but with modern animation).

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

Chibita64

My summer anime list is Orange, The Morose Mononokean, Mob Psycho 100, New Game!, Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!, and the anime of the season, Bananya!

Also, for all of you One-Punch Man fans, OPM is getting the dub treatment.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-07-01/max-mittleman...

Currently playing: J-Stars Victory VS. (PS4), Ms. Pac-Man (PS4), Mole Mania (GB/3DS), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES/Wii)
Currently watching: Hack My Life, Impractical Jokers
YUGAMI NEE NA!

CanisWolfred

@RR529 I always viewed it as more of a comedy, really. It's got a story, but the characters and their antics always seemed like they were the focus. Kind of like Gintama, in a way.

As far as the animation goes, there are 5 seasons of Slayers, with the last two being a lot newer. I hear the writing went way downhill during those seasons, though.

I am the Wolf...Red
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Wolfrun?

Wheeler

Going with Masou Gakuen HxH, Berserk, Fate/kaleid, Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara, and Rewrite. Going lite this season because I want to finish other shows that I have on-hold.

Wheeler

RR529

CanisWolfred wrote:

@RR529 I always viewed it as more of a comedy, really. It's got a story, but the characters and their antics always seemed like they were the focus. Kind of like Gintama, in a way.

As far as the animation goes, there are 5 seasons of Slayers, with the last two being a lot newer. I hear the writing went way downhill during those seasons, though.

Ah okay, I didn't know they made that much (they only had the one season where I go).

Also, yeah, it definitely was best when it was just the main cast goofing around without too much to worry about.

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

kkslider5552000

To be fair, I think it might be jarring because Slayers is one of the rare anime (it feels like anyway) that wanted to have story arcs that weren't particularly connected to each other (barring certain plot points throughout a season) so it's certainly jarring compared to nearly every anime to come out since then. Season 3 IIRC has the closest of a focus of what you would look for in a story (though Season 2 is universally considered better than Season 1 regardless).

Weirdly my least favorite part of season 1 was the lighter episodes (later seasons were much funnier in those types of episodes imo). It's not the best paced series in season 1, the first arc begins in episode TWO and then the entire middle of the series has the lighter one-off stuff until things go to the next story arc. Usually you would start with the lighter stories before going too plot focused but I guess not here...

Non-binary, demiguy, making LPs, still alive

Megaman Legends 2 Let's Play!:
LeT's PlAy MEGAMAN LEGENDS 2 < Link to LP

Wheeler

Finish watching Kabaneri. It was a pretty entertaining trainwreck. Think I'll watch Vividred Operation next.

Wheeler

Wheeler

There sure was a ton of assets on the first episode of VD. Looks like the show is going to be a fun ride.

Hayate being smooth af
Untitled
I want Hayate to be a player like Isamu.

Edited on by Wheeler

Wheeler

Rocko52

Well when you're stuck with a mediocre season, there's always the eternal backlog to work on. I can never go wrong with watching an old Gainax show. In fact, I'm planning on watching Nadia The Secret of Blue Water very soon, it's another classic I haven't gotten around to yet, but looks fantastic. I mean the concept was created by Hayao Miyazaki, and the show was directed by Hideaki Anno, like I said can't go wrong. (Still - I've heard the network forced them to add 12 episodes to what was supposed to be a 27 episode series, meaning they had to outsource them & they weren't directed by Anno. They sound absolutely horrible, and apparently right after they're over, the series treats it as if they didn't happen. Seems it really displeased Anno, so I will definitely be skipping those.)

On a side note, has anyone noticed the kind of weird/new things simulcasting has started this season? I have very little interest the show, but Crunchyroll seems to be experimenting with a series called RELIFE - basically they uploaded all 13 episodes at once, before it actually aired in Japan. It seems like they're emulating Netflix's style in that regard. The show's gotten a fair amount of attention so far too. Similarly, they put up the first episode of Orange a few days before it aired. I haven't heard of any other cases, but it seems like Crunchyroll is interested in pursuing a more direct route with their streaming - going from simulcasting to precasting lol. Aiming for the binge-watching appeal.

It kind of reminds me how big of a deal it was when Space Dandy aired dubbed in the US the night before the Japanse broadcast. It helped that Space Dandy's dub was awesome & the way to watch the series. Also how Funimation has started to simulcast dubs with a select few series every season. It's fascinating to watch how anime streaming is starting to slowly evolve.

Edited on by Rocko52

Anime watching: Mobile Suit Gundam, Lupin III, & Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
Reading: The Golden Compass

3DS Friend Code: 3093-7191-2654

RR529

So, Toonami is going to start airing One Punch Man starting the 16th (will probably be Samurai Champloo's replacement).

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

Wheeler

Halfway done with Cross Ange. The show really loves beatings. Someone was a fan of the beatings in Zeta Gundam:

Wheeler

CanisWolfred

^To be fair, Kamille deserved it pretty much every time. In fact, that was basically a "best Kamille moments" highlight reel, for the most part.

The Bright beatings are still hard to watch, though. I know they're trying to establish how corrupt the Gryps guys were, but it just came off as a cheap way to gain audience sympathy, since it was basically just him getting any sort of rough treatment, at least of their own staff, and he was getting disrespected even before he got those Gundams stolen. Though, I guess Bright was still a Feddy, and it was heavily implied that the Gryps Foundation were connected to the Zeons from the One-Year War somehow, so I guess they were supposed to be showing that don't see the Federation as "part of their group"...which makes more sense considering the rest of the plot, actually...

Cross Ange, though...as far as I can tell, it's "Woman in Science-Fantasy Prison: The Animation" for the most part...I kinda couldn't get past the first episode and had to stick to extensive summaries, though. It only got worse from there, as far as I could tell.

In fact, I think one of the bigger reasons why the newest Gundam is getting such high marks from me (well, aside from the fact that I do think it's genuinely good show with a strong emphasis on character development and motivations, on top of consistently reasonable story telling and pacing, let alone some great action scenes with genuine intensity and narrative weight), was the fact that it came out after a string of absolutely terribly written mecha and action shows from Sunrise - Basically everything they were putting out for 4 years (except for some movies, I guess) that weren't Comedies or Phi Brain, were filled to the brim with lazy writing: Recycled tropes and plot points blatantly cobbled together from better shows, "drama" that essentially equated to "shock the audience with excessive cruelty because how else are we supposed to elicit an emotion?!," coupled with cast after cast of characters that ranged from "Unrelatedable" to "Punchable" to "How Do You Function?!" in terms of characterization; and of course, whenever they try to do something to make the story stand out from the pack, they always settled for the nonsensical.

They were the latest set of Emperor's Clothes that a monolith in the animation industry kept gallivanting about in, of which Cross Ange was the Tiara. And Iron-Blooded Orphans was the pauper boy who finally asked, "why is the King naked?"

Edited on by CanisWolfred

I am the Wolf...Red
Backloggery | DeviantArt
Wolfrun?

RR529

Oh great, they reintroduced those Fullbringers in the newest chapter of Bleach.

Should have seen it coming too. Of course the Fullbringer who can rewrite someone's past, is just the key needed to counter Ywach's ability to rewrite all possible futures. Ichigo's Zanpakuto was irreversibly broken because Ywach made it so there was no possible future where it would be fixed, so the Fullbringer made a new past for Ichigo, one where Ywach didn't alter the future.

It's definitely reaching it's end though. Ywach is the last villain still standing (well, Aizen's still around somewhere too. I doubt they're just going to forget about him), the last three chapter titles have had "The End" in them, and a few chapters ago, the front page said that "After over 10 years, Bleach is reaching it's conclusion! Only [blotted out] chapters remain!".

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

CanisWolfred

@RR529 - Yeah, the next volume's the last, so I've been told there's probably only...~4-7 chapters left, I guess. The higher end's probably just me being overly cautious, though. Probably more like 3-5 chapters, but I wanna be safe, man. The anime nazis are pretty scary if you make a mistake, as you've you've very well seen.

I am the Wolf...Red
Backloggery | DeviantArt
Wolfrun?

Chibita64

So I watched Bananya and New Game! today. I'll probably stick with Bananya just for kicks and giggles, but New Game! was really good. It's about a high school graduate named Aoba who starts her job at a video game company. It's the usual slice of life kind of deal but I'm hooked. I'll probably watch Orange tomorrow.

Currently playing: J-Stars Victory VS. (PS4), Ms. Pac-Man (PS4), Mole Mania (GB/3DS), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES/Wii)
Currently watching: Hack My Life, Impractical Jokers
YUGAMI NEE NA!

CanisWolfred

Speaking of Slice of Life, I resumed Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, which I guess you can call a "Fantasy Slice-of-Life/Drama" at this point. I'm up to episode 9, and the "drama" part of that really hit home with me the past 4 episodes. It helps that this series keeps going beyond my usual expectations - the action is great, but not really the focus like you'd expect from the premise, which in and of itself screamed "RPG-meets-Reality" a-la Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, but a lot of that is left so far to the backround that it's arguably just left up to viewer interpretation, especially due to the fact that none of the cast can remember their old lives before becoming "volunteer soldiers." And of course, the slower bits are much more well-written and interesting than I ever expected. At the very least, every character has their quirks, and there's some of the most natural character development and interactions that I've ever seen. It still feels a little rushed, which is probably because of the limited amount of episodes (there's only 12), but then again, I'm not entirely certain this could've held my attention for 2 seasons - but only because I'm an action junkie. Most shows like this would've lost me a looong time ago...

I am the Wolf...Red
Backloggery | DeviantArt
Wolfrun?

RR529

I finished up Gravion (the first, 13 episode series) tonight. A prerty standard "super robot" type show, and though it was nothing remarkable, I had a fun enough time with it, and will check out the sequel in due time.

@CanisWolfred, really!? Only 3-7 chapters left (for Bleach)! Geez, for an arc that's been as dragged out as long as this one has been, that seems like a pretty abrupt timeline for the big final battle, IMO.

Even accounting for the chapters already spent showing Ichigo VS Ywach (5 or 6?), that doesn't seem much longer than the timeframe spent on some of the underlings. Heck, they spent at least 7-8 chapters showcasing the fight against Stern Ritter "M" (where Kenpachi revealed his Bankai, & Toshiro's evolved), which hadn't been resolved when they jumped to the big fight, then they just decide to end it quickly by having Ywach re-absorb "M's" power, so they can get this final battle underway (man, I poorly explained that...).

Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)

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