Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Finished Grisaia no Kajistu, plus the OVA of Meikyu, and all caught up now with Rakuen. I’m really liking this series, Yuuji isn't a Gary-Stu, heroines are all awesome (favorite would be Michiru), and honestly can’t wait to play the VNs of all 3 of them later this year.

The VNs opening: Grisaia no Kajistu, Grisaia no Meikyuu, and Grisaia no Rakuen

Fun Fact: The artist of the Grisaia series (both anime and VN version) is Watanabe Akio. Don't get me started on the character voice actors.

I read the new Bleach chapter yesterday!

Can we all agree that Kill la Kill is overrated? There's nothing interesting about it. It's basically a plain anime with nothing to tell it apart from.

if you're gonna troll, plz try next time

I'm not trolling. Kill la Kill has nothing to set it apart from different animes.

Except the art, comedic style, music, and plot structure, I guess.

You forgot the title! The title!

Art isn't unique, since it's identical to Gurren Laguna.
The comedy style isn't funny, it's plain random. I rather watch "Gugure! Kokkuri-san" to get a good laugh.
The music is average when compared to average animes.
The plot structure is literally the same as other animes. It's basically "Avenge my lost ones while fighting students at school anime". If I were planning watch that type of anime, I pick "Madoka Box abnormal".
But if you think those things about Kill la Kill is true. I fine with it's since your opinion.
But it's no denying that Kill la Kill is just a average overrated anime, like SAO.

The art style and animation are similar to Gurren Lagann (and also FLCL). That doesn't make it "plain." It makes it similar to an extremely small sample size of thousands of anime.

Comedy is always subjective, which is why both A Fish Called Wanda and Animal House are considered essential classics, even though a lot of people would only like one of them, or neither.

I think you are confusing plot and plot structure. Reservoir Dogs has the same plot as 100 other heist-gone-wrong movies, but its structure makes it very unique.

This is purely dumb. Obviously there is much denying, or it wouldn't be rated highly enough to be considered by you to be overrated.

"Overrated" is a commonly-used English loanword. It originally comes from the Trollese language, where it had the meaning "WHY DO ALL THESE PEOPLE LIKE THIS THING I DON'T?!?!?!". Legends tell that in ages past, the Trollese would journey far to the East, to a land called GameFAQs, where they would use their mastery of the tongue to provoke the natives and convince them that their taste was rubbish.

If you wish to be taken seriously, never use the word "overrated".

Understood.

Kill la Kill is certainly something else, I'll give it that. As others have said, other than Gurren Lagann & FLCL, I don't know of any other anime that is so bats*** crazy (and they're all crazy in their own, uniquely awesome ways).

Anyhow, I've been watching The Sacred Blacksmith, and it's been pretty good. There is some fanservice (and some of the boob jokes are admittedly forced), but the story is interesting (even if it's fairly standard), and the fight scenes have all been well done (especially fights between those with demon swords). Despite it's generally light hearted tone, it's not afraid to get a little dark when it comes to the fights, either. Just finished up episode 8.

I remember Sacred Blacksmiths being pretty dumb and forgettable fluff.

'Cuz I'm bored, I'll rank them correctly, and I'll try to pick my favorite design from each...or at least the first one I see that I really like, because otherwise I'd be here forever:

1) Shoji Kawamori: VF-1S Super Valkyrie (Like I could've gone without listing one of these babies. The Valkyries from Macross were the first giant robots I ever saw as a kid outside of Power Rangers, and they still influence my love of Mecha to this day)
2) Kunio Okawari: ATM-09-ST Scopedog (I really like his Gundam designs, but I actually kind of prefer his more rugged designs such as the Scopedog from Votoms, or...pretty much anything from Xabungle.)
3) Yutaka Izubuchi: RX-78 NT-1 Gundam "Alex" (surprises no one)
4) Hajime Katoki: MMS-01 (OZ-17) Serpent (It was a tough choice between this and the rest of Gundam Wing's designs, but the Serpent won out because it was the only one that didn't blow up after being sneezed at...and the shoulder-mounted missle launchers. You have no idea how much I love shoulder-mounted missle launchers)
5) Ikuto Yamashita: Gunbuster (The best titular robot to only be featured in one and a half episodes of its entire series)

Toonami Saturday night!

DBZ Kai - Vegeta being a complete a** (killing all those poor "Piccolos"). Gohan, Krillin, & Dende have a close run in but luck out, and find out Goku is on the way. Mistranslation antics: Dende mentioned how Guru made his older "brothers & sisters" (note the bolded), then was confused by the concept of a woman upon meeting Bulma, since Namekians don't have two genders.

Kill la Kill - I'm still not quite sure what it is I just witnessed. Steak shields, weaponized rule books, money guns & swords, and some Japanese kid who is somehow into American "gangsta" thug culture! Whatever all that was, it was fun.

Sword Art Online II - Mostly Kirito coming to grips that he really killed people in SAO, and that a survivor may be after his life, and Sinon (is her real name Asuna too!?) fretting over how Kirito got to her (and coming to terms with a new admirer). Also Lupin III reference? (one of the competitors in Battle of Bullets is called "Jigen", which is also the name of Lupin's sharp shooting accomplice) Also noticed, a competitor by the name of "Jack Reacher", which sounds familiar too.

InuYasha: the Final Act - Naraku taunts InuYasha (who believes he has killed Kagome), so he falls deeper into his demon form. In reality, Kagome is alive & following Sesshomaru. The Jewel's dark will possesses InuYasha and tries to attack Sesshomaru, but upon learning that Kagome is alive, InuYasha regains his senses and forces the dark will out. It tries to possess Kagome, but Sesshomaru kills it with his tenseiga first. Miroku splits up with Sango, fearing that his wind tunnel is about to burst, and doesn't want her caught up in it (she is also freaked out because Naraku fed her an image of the death of Miroku's father).

The Stealthing Dead - Ninjas fighting zombie ninjas mostly (some who are attempting to irradicate the entire village in a single blazing flash). Naruto catches up to Sora, but it soon interrupted by miss "cougar", who keeps knocking him off buildings like he's on the losing end of a Dead or Alive match.

One Piece - Zoro defeats that silly giraffe guy. Finally the big fight between Luffy & Lucchi begins, with the former activating his Kai O Ken type ability, and the latter turning into his leopard form. Thanks to Luffy's increase in power, Franky is able to get passed Lucchi, with nothing seemingly in his way. Robin is biting on to her freedom.

Also, they reviewed Ori & the Blind Forest: 9/10 (though it's kind of sad that they had to assure to the audience that it's not a "kids game").

It's generic western fantasy, I'll give you that, but I haven't seen anything plot or character wise that I would describe as dumb, yet (other than the occasional forced boob joke, but that's a minor quip). TBH, I can't think of that many western medieval anime that I've seen off the top of my head (other than some of those old OVAs I've seen on YouTube), so maybe that's why it's sticking with me so far.

I recall the plot and characters being pretty dumb, but not in memorable enough ways for me to pick out specific examples. I guess I was just trying to say it was "harmless". I gained nothing and lost nothing from watching it. Also, there are a lot of medieval fantasy anime, but yeah, I haven't seen a lot of them either. There are a lot on my to-do list that are apprently really good, though.

I watched episode 4 of Kyokai no Rinne.

Tsubasa was introduced this episode (the Miroku look alike), and thanks to his quick interest in Sakura, we get to see Rinne's feelings for her show for the first time as well, in the form of jealousy (though even he isn't quite aware what's going on with himself). Also, it's hinted that she has developed feelings for him as well (especially that bit in the end).

The general plot revolved around them trying to get a spirit to pass on, by letting him have the date with one of Sakura's friends (Miho) he always wanted when he was alive. Tsubasa treats every spirit as evil, to be destroyed, but learned through Rinne's actions that there's another way to do things.

Also, Ranma 1/2 reference! There was a P-Chan plush in the claw game they were playing that appeared in a different position every time it was shown, and there were plushes of Akane & Genma (panda form) in the claw game behind them. In the manga, there was also an InuYasha reference in this story as a kid had a balloon in the shape of Shippo's balloon form, and while it was still present here, they colored it green for some reason.

EDIT: After reading a review of the episode on Anime News Network, they also mentioned that there were also plushes of Ranma (which I thought I saw, but wasn't sure) & Lum in the claw game behind them as well. Odd that they'd leave the Ranma & Yurutsei Yasutora refrences intact, while altering the InuYasha reference (unless they can't legally depict things from IY, since it's anime was handled by a different studio that still holds the rights to how the series is used in animated form, while the studio behind Ranma & Yurutsei Yasutora is defunct).

I feel sad for Future Trunks; His parents had him via a 'hit it and quit it' affair; Having irresponsible parents like that is greatly scarring for a child, especially when taking into account how children are supposed to be the future.

Read the newest chapter of Bleach yesterday!

Toonami Saturday night!

DBZ Kai - Missed first half. Saw the epic first battle between Vegeta & Zarbon.

Kill la Kill - Satsuki's forces overwhelm the feeble and cowardly power of hip-hop culture! Ryuko managed to gather the last piece of her uniform with the help of... a nudist militia!? (seriously, WTH are you smoking Japan?). Despite Ryuko's victory however, the rebellious forces are crushed by the newfound powers of the elite 4.

Sword Art Online II - The big battle royale is underway, and we get to see the best competitors strut their stuff. Unfortunately, it appears Death Gun is in on the games, and is about to take his first victim. Can Kirito & Sinon stop him?

InuYasha: The Final Act - With the dark will of the jewel destroyed by Sesshomaru, Kagome's powers return (it should be noted that Naraku's own evil has filled the jewel where the previous dark will resided, so there is still evil inside it). With her powers restored, the pure side of the jewel grows more powerful, once again bringing some light to it. Naraku uses this light to draw Sango & Miroku into seperate traps. He presents illusions of himself to each, making them think they can kill him (with the light exposed, they think he is on his last legs). If Miroku attacks, his wind tunnel will finally kill him, and if Sango attacks, she really kills Rin. Luckily Kagome's arrow warps to Naraku's true location, injuring him and disabling the illusions (saving their friends). InuYasha, Kagome, & Miroku are the first to make contact with the real Naraku, while Naraku's last incarnation, Byakuya, captures some of the power of InuYasha's Meido Zangetsuha attack (which he tried using on Naraku) for a mysterious purpose.

The Stealthing Dead - More ninjas vs zombie ninjas. Naruto continues to fight the "cougar" woman. Sakura defeats their illusionist (which also takes down their city wide barrier). The current team leader traps the enemy's rock guy in a tree, popping him like a pimple (eww). Sora turns against the villains, but is getting his butt handed to him.

One Piece - Spandam is unable to deliver Robin as Usopp snipes at him and his forces (much to Spandam's terror). Franky then shows up to free her shackles, after which point she uses her powers to slap the s*** out of Spandam. Celebration seems to be short lived however, as it appears the Buster Call has arrived. (Oh, and Luffy & Lucci are still fighting)

Also, T.O.M. did his best impression of an after school anti-bullying PSA.