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Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

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CanisWolfred

@Knighty_IX I mean, it's a fun watch for sure. I still recommend finishing the series, because...Do You Remember Love is practically parody in terms of how it handles its story, whereas the series has a story that still resonates even to this day, with its more grounded characters, realistic action, and dramatic moments that actually feel earned. At the very least, it feels like its creators actually took its themes seriously, which is probably the last time I could say that about a Macross series outside of Macross Plus (which I recently saw again, and now I think it might be the best thing the franchise has ever produced). The movie might have great animation and a shorter run time, but I really think the original earned its status as a classic, particularly in its latter half when it lightens up on the action to focus more on the characters and their struggles.

Edited on by CanisWolfred

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CanisWolfred

@Knighty_IX Yeah, I was listening to it the other day, actually. It's an incredible song that perfectly punctuates the scene.

Oh, and one more thing about Do You Remember Love: supposedly it's been retconned as an in-universe Movie dramatization of the Zentradi War. Like, it's their equivelant of Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor or whatever. I always thought that was a nice touch.

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kkslider5552000

On top of a handful of new anime as they air, I wanna watch/start to watch before the year ends...

-Jojo part 5
-A Place Further Than The Universe
-Isekai Quartet (its a Re:Zero year, I just watched season 1 of Konosuba and Overlord, etc)
-Spice and Wolf
-Toradora
-Symphogear
-FMP: Invisible Victory
-Stars Align

also the three anime I only watched half of last year

Wish me luck :V

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Heavyarms55

@kkslider5552000 FMP: Invisible Victory was good, but because it's been so very long since the previous seasons, I was upset at how they focus so much on new characters. But I quite liked it.
Isekai Quartet is short and funny but you get the most out of it by watching all 4.5 shows that make it up before watching it. I say 4.5 because Shield Hero joins in season 2 as part of the supporting cast. I had some friends in university that loved Spice and Wolf and Symphogear a lot so they're also on my radar to watch eventually.

You mentioned Re:Zero, have you been watching the director's cut on Crunchyroll? It's been pretty cool to revisit the series re-edited prior to the new season coming.

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CanisWolfred

Also, I thought he was making a joke when he included "Stars Align", but it turns out that's the actual title of a series that aired last year. Huh.

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Heavyarms55

I've been watching the Director's Cut of Re:Zero and I thought that maybe, years later after watching it back when it first aired, my opinion of it wouldn't be as high. That without the shock factor, and knowing what happens ahead of time, maybe I wouldn't like it as much.

I couldn't have been more wrong! If anything, this re-edit takes it to a whole new level. No other work of fiction I've seen or read comes close. The way the show is able to show the emotions of the cast so profoundly is really unparalleled. Subaru's pride, hopelessness, despair, desperation... Rem's love, loyalty and lack of self-worth. Ram's crass attitude hiding her fear and helplessness... and affection. Emilia's naivete, compassion and selfishness... The way the music so perfectly adds to the tone and mood. It's truly astounding!

When the show was new and the first season finished, I said in my review on Crunchyroll that if they allowed a single 6/5 rating for any anime, I'd give it to Re:Zero. And I still hold that opinion now. I've watched anime basically all my life. I read a lot of books, play a lot of games, and have seen a large number of movies. There's a lot that have stood out. But among those that stand out, Re:Zero is really something else.

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kkslider5552000

I entirely agree. While there are at least a handful of anime I like better, I can't think of another one that works on every level in quite the same way. At least for me. Even the parts I didn't like at first are better in hindsight.

There's like a dozen characters that would be the best character in most anime as well.

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Heavyarms55

@kkslider5552000 There are other shows and things that I like better for different reasons for certain! But what Re:Zero does, it does best. Obviously it's not a sci-fi show, and, although there is romance in it, it's really a more minor subplot. It's not historical fiction or comedy.... etc. There are honestly a lot of MCs I like more than Subaru, and "waifus" I like better than Rem (though not many). There are action scenes in other shows I like more. But Re:Zero really has a unique experience that is so powerful that in it's niche it's not matched.

Although Rise of the Shield Hero delivers a couple scenes that came very close, the overall tone is still much lighter, with Naofumi larger able to overcome much of his initial weakness and desperation. As of the first season of Re:Zero, while Subaru grows immensely as a person, he remains largely powerless, unable to even die.

Even in Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road" which follows some of the last surviving humans eking out their last days on a dead, hopeless Earth - a novel that was so harsh to read I had to set it down for a few hours my first time reading - does not deliver that sort of trapped, helplessness for a character.

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Elvie

Remember P.T.? That demo of sorts for a Kojima lead Silent Hill?

Some years back, before Konami pulled the plug, I read that mangaka Junji Ito would be contributing designs to the game. Now, for whatever reason, the only work of his I looked into was Gyo which was about fish with metal legs and I wasn't sure how that would play out as terrifying so I decided I was going to judge his work in Kojima's Silent Hill before I dipped my toes into his manga.

Cut to 2019, Adult Swim drops a teaser for a new anime they're producing called Uzumaki based on Ito's limited series of the same name. I watched it and I think I'm going to enjoy it immensely when it rolls (or spirals) out in 2020. For some reason, this is the sort of J-Horror I could get on board with.

Now I kinda felt like I pre-judged when I got slightly turned off from Ito after reading the premise for Gyo. Did I make a mistake?

Edited on by Elvie

Elvie

CanisWolfred

Over the past month, I've finished Fairy Tail, watched both seasons of Radiant, watched MHA through episode 80 and saw the dubbed version of the latest film in theaters, and I still have a ton of shows that I've started that I need to finish. This'll be tough to sum up, but here goes nothing...

Fairy Tail - The final season pretty great overall, and it really wrapped the show's story up, which I really wasn't expecting. Like, seriously, for a series that felt so disjointed for much of its runtime, they managed to make it all feel like one long adventure once all the dots are connected. It still had pacing issues, mind you, and there were a TON of info dumps. Still, I think they ended it on the right note, and I'm definitely going to miss this show. It's hard for me to believe it's really over...I've been watching the adventures of the Fairy Tail guild off and on since 2014. It really feels like the end of an era. Even with its ups and downs, it'll always hold a special place in my heart, and I'll cherish it always.

MHA: Heroes Rising - Holy cow, this was amazing! It really felt like I was watching an arc from the series with the animation dialed up to 11, and outside of some potential issues in the finale, it felt like it could've easily fit into the main story (around episode 80-ish). Considering I'm back to waiting for new episodes so I can binge the next arc, it really helped scratch that itch for more MHA. I heard that the finale used ideas the manga's author was saving for the final arc, so here's hoping the final battle is even half that good whenever we finally get there.

Radiant S1 & S2 - I knew this series was right up my alley, but I didn't really how much until I finally saw it. It's not perfect, but the visuals, the characters, and the story all suited my tastes to a T. It genuinely makes my laugh whenever its lighthearted, and it doesn't pull any punches when its time to get serious - and oh boy, does it get serious! Things are rarely black and white in this series, without ever falling into grimdark territory, and the main cast grow a lot by the end of the second season. I can hardly wait for more, though it seems they more or less got caught up with the source material, so it'll quite a while before the next season is ready. I can only hope it still has an audience by then...

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kkslider5552000

I've heard a lot of good things about the new MHA movie. Shame the current season has been such a letdown though (at least for me it has). I'm not even the biggest MHA fan but a lot of the best parts of the series just haven't been the focus, and I'm so sick of everything the series does being about THE FUTURE OF HEROES AND ALL MIGHT. Make your current arc good first, then you can talk about the future every other episode. I mean...I guess its fitting for a school focused series to be obsessed with the future of its students.

Btw: The past year of shonen action stuff has had some real disappointments from my end (and this is from a long time shonen fan). Between MHA struggling, Fire Force being a massive downgrade from Soul Eater and the genuinely not good OPM sequel that misunderstands the entire appeal of the series, it's not been good times. And I'm not hard to please, so its really stood out for me. Especially since a lot anime are so great nowadays, so when stuff disappoints that kinda shouldn't, its easier to notice. And despite being from a different genre, the not especially well liked Darwin's Game is doing shonen better than a lot of actual shonen right now. Honestly that series is underrated, you should watch Darwin's Game if you like cool fights with cool powers. It's also nice to see it doesn't pretend to be deeper than it is.

I'm not complaining "shonen isn't what it used to be!" because that would be stupid and I think Dr. Stone was great, I just noticed a weird trend lately. Though it certainly doesn't help that I didn't get to Mob Psycho season 2 or the last Jojo series yet, which I've heard nothing but praise for.

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CanisWolfred

@kkslider5552000 I actually felt the opposite. I've had the best time with Shonen series since 2014, and I feel like there's a lot of great stuff on offer. I really like where MHA's been going with its story, the return of the Dragon Ball franchise has been a pleasant trip down memory lane, Fairy Tail came to a fitting end, Radiant was a faithful western recreation of Japanese shonen tropes while still doing just enough to stand out as its own thing, One Piece is at the best its ever been, and Dr. Stone is still a fun romp (even if its character motivations and attempts at interpersonal drama between main cast members are flimsy at best). Oh, and I'm really looking forward to getting caught up with Mob Psycho and Jojo someday, and while Boruto and Demon Slayer aren't my thing, I can appreciate why they've garnered such large fandoms. Even Black Clover is starting to look more and more appealing lately.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I still need to watch the latest season of Seven Deadly Sins! That's another show to look forward to.

Really, I've been having a great time with the shonen genre overall. I'll agree that season 2 of One-Punch Man was a huge disappointment, but personally, OPM was one of the few manga I enjoyed reading, so for once I could just turn to the source material without recourse whenever I'm disappointed with the adaptation.

And speaking of manga, while Fire Force definitely wasn't as good as it could've been, I still enjoyed it a lot. I mean, you compared it to the Soul Eater manga, and speaking as someone who felt SE kinda fizzled out towards the end, I'm just happy to see that Atsushi Ōkubo still has some creative ideas running through his head.

Edited on by CanisWolfred

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CanisWolfred

@Knighty_IX Katanagatari was great, IIRC. Also, Kaiba was the first streamed anime I ever watched, and a big part of what got me back into anime.

I never got into the other series from the same director, though. They always have great animation, but I rarely found their stories engaging.

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CanisWolfred

@Knighty_IX I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming from. I admittedly didn't get too far in before I checked out. All I saw were a bunch of animator proxies showing off a bunch of disconnected scenes that admittedly were visually impressive and would probably look good in an AMV, but didn't seem to build towards a central story or goal, so I quickly lost interest. I also didn't find whatshername's enthusiam to be "infectious" as much as completely exhausting. Tatami Galaxy had a similar issue, except everyone in that series talked way too fast for me to keep up with. The story might have been interesting - I don't know, honestly, because I was never given a chance to process it.

Really, I'm reminded that the most interesting characters in Kaiba, were the ones that didn't talk...

Edited on by CanisWolfred

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RR529

I recently rewatched Evangelion 2.22, the first time I've done so on *Blu-Ray, and I enjoyed it. I put more full thoughts (though nothing too deep) in the movie thread.

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kkslider5552000

I can second the opinion that I was immediately turned off by Tatami Galaxy but absolutely love EIzouken. I'm not gonna say its my favorite anime ever exactly, but it is one of the most undeniably great anime I've seen in years, and the fact that everyone immediately fell in love with it has been one of my real joys in the past couple of months

and yeah i realize part of the problem is just bad luck, I just happened to have run into the lesser shonen series (not watching the latest Jojo and Mob Psycho certainly hasn't helped). like OPM2 and Fire Force legit upset me considering what I loved about what they were following up though, like they should just be so much better than they are.

it doesn't help that the best shonen action i've seen lately, Demon Slayer, has a unexpectedly mediocre dub despite seemingly getting every popular VA they could. The price I pay for still watching Toonami I guess.

Edited on by kkslider5552000

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Heavyarms55

OMG this week's episode of Re:Zero Director's Cut was the entire White Whale battle as one seamless episode! It was OUTSTANDING!

Followed by the sad, yet understandable news that Re:Zero season 2 is being postponed to do COVID-19...

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CanisWolfred

kkslider5552000 wrote:

it doesn't help that the best shonen action i've seen lately, Demon Slayer, has a unexpectedly mediocre dub despite seemingly getting every popular VA they could. The price I pay for still watching Toonami I guess.

Really? How?

Watches Demon Slayer dub trailer

Oh, I see what you mean...might be down to the voice director. The casting is good, but even among those short clips the voice acting felt...uneven, I'd say. Like I was watching the trailer for a JRPG.

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Heavyarms55

Demon Slayer died on me so hard. The action is cool but Zenitsu is disgusting. He takes the horrible "desperate pervert" trope way too far. He comes off as a "rapist in waiting" and I hate that that's just treated as a laughable comic relief.

I have a similar complaint for My Hero Academia's Minetia character - but he is rarely in the spotlight and the other characters kinda hate him most of the time - so it's a bit more forgivable. But in Demon Slayer the pervert-psuedo-rapist is one of the 3 main characters and I can't watch it.

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kkslider5552000

Uh I hope you're being hyperbolic because at least...20 episodes in, he's mostly just been pathetically trying too hard to get a girl to marry him and...been pathetic in general. Not a favorite character but mostly fine.

Please tell me you're being hyperbolic.

CanisWolfred wrote:

kkslider5552000 wrote:

it doesn't help that the best shonen action i've seen lately, Demon Slayer, has a unexpectedly mediocre dub despite seemingly getting every popular VA they could. The price I pay for still watching Toonami I guess.

Really? How?

Watches Demon Slayer dub trailer

Oh, I see what you mean...might be down to the voice director. The casting is good, but even among those short clips the voice acting felt...uneven, I'd say.

Yeah, uneven probably the best way to put it. Sometimes it is good enough, not like top tier but the quality you expect from a dub of a well liked series nowadays (especially one that actually took a bit of time to get dubbed). But enough times it's just off enough that you just don't believe the performances.

Edited on by kkslider5552000

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