Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

@Ralizah, yeah, as someone who is on episode 10, you summed it up nicely.

It's aesthetically pleasing & varied (due to all the different "worlds" they go to), with some very slickly animated action scenes, but the story could use a bit more work. It introduces some interesting concepts, but I don't feel like it's going to explore them as deeply as it could, and at times feels a bit rushed (it's getting ready to climax, so it'll probably end up being 12-13 episodes long, and I feel like it'd be better served if it were a bit longer). And... episode 3 feels a bit uncharacteristically fanservicy in an otherwise clean show when it comes to that sort of thing (maybe it had something to do with the "world" they were in at the time).

That being said, I do enjoy watching it every week.

@RR529 Interesting. I'll keep my expectations tamped down a bit then. Thankfully, some creativity and a good art style can go a long way for me.

So, what were everyone's favorite anime in 2016?

New in 2016:

5. Kabenari of the Iron Fortress (Spring season/watched subbed) - Superbly animated adventure about a ragtag group of suvivors amidst a zombie (Kabane) apocalypse in steampunk Edo era Japan, with their survival largely dependent on the aid of a Kabenari (one of the group who was bitten, but stopped the virus before it entered his brain). The animation was superb & the world interesting, unfortunately it didn't feel like it had a heart, and was kinda dry.
4. Flip Flappers (Fall season/watched subbed) - Imaginative series about a pair of girls who travel between the real world & the fantasy realm of Pure Illusion. It displays a wide range of artistic variety & imagination, but I feel like narratively, it could have used some more time in the oven. I was left somewhat confused by series' end, and think it should have been longer. It was quite a trip, though.
3. Kyokai no Rinne season 2 (Spring season/watched subbed) - As the resident Rumiko Takahashi fan around here, it's no suprise that I enjoyed the second season of her current work (Comedy about the perpetually in debt half Shinigami Rinne, as he juggles his spiritual duties & life at his human school). It's great "comfort food", if you will, that lasted through the spring & summer seasons, and I'm looking forward for season 3 to start up.
2. Izetta: the Last Witch (Fall season/watched subbed) - Alternate retelling of WWII where a small European nation enlisted the help of the titular witch to help defeat the Germans (or Germanians, as they were called in this alternate Europe). The animation was superb, with some fantastic action, and wonderful looking war machinery. Didn't feel rushed, but I still would have liked it to have been longer. (Oh, and the USA stood for the United States of Atlanta in this world, lol).
1. My Hero Academia (Spring season/watched subbed) - Nerdy kid with no superpowers joins an elite superhero academy after secretly being gifted with the powers of the world's greatest hero (and best anime American since Chibodee Crockett), All Might. Soon however, things get real as villains attack the school. It's just good old fashioned fun. Really, it's the first Shonen battle series I've really fallen in love with since I read HSDK (so much so, that I even started reading the manga as well). Can't wait for season 2.

First time watched in 2016:

5. Maken-Ki (watched dubbed) - It's a totally shameless fanservice show, but it knows who it's for and goes all in. Admittedly it gets a bit too much at times, but I enjoyed it for what it was trying to do (interestingly, I've also started to read the manga, which is not only interestingly much less graphic than the anime in terms of fanservice, in a first, as well as more serious).
4. HunterXHunter (watching dubbed on Toonami) - While it took a bit to get going, I'm actually really starting to like it, and am really into the current arc (it's a tournament arc with a unique setup). Hopefully it continues to be good.
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (watched dubbed on Toonami) - This was a pretty good entry in the Gundam series about a group of young militists protecting an important figure on her way to Earth to campaign for Martian independence. Hope they get season 2 once they're done with MSG: Unicorn.
2. One Punch Man (watched dubbed on Toonami) - This satire of the Shonen battle genré was pretty darn awesome in it's own right, with some spectacular action, and some humor.
1. Eureka 7: A.O. (watched dubbed) - E7 is one of my favorite anime of all time, so needless to say I was ecstatic to watch the followup. While I admit the conclusion had a lot to be desired, the journey to the truth had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, as the son of the previous series' protagonists made his way through an alternate 21'st century, finding out the truth about his mysterious mother who fell from the sky.

@RR529

1. Danganronpa 3

2. Kiss Him, Not Me

3. Keijo

Watched a lot of anime this year, but these were the only ones that stood out to me. I enjoyed all three of these shows immensely.

So much road bike anime. Last season was Long Riders, an utterly vanilla but almost equally inoffensive series about a group of college girls who go on... err, long rides (or Audaxes, if you want to sound special). This season we have the catchily titled 'South Kamakura High School Girl's Cycling Club', which is also about a group of... girls going on rides (of a yet to be determined length). And then Yowamushi Pedal is back in all of it's Shonen glory with lots of grizzly boy's competitive racing and earnest music. It's basically My Hero Academy on bicycles. The main character is almost identical, right down to the voice actor. So if you liked that it might be worth a look in.

Anyway, bikes. Bikes everywhere.

Recent reading about Gundam in general and watching a bit of Gundam Unicorn makes me think I will never care about Gundam. I just assumed Gundam IBO sucked (and it probably does regardless), but it seems like if I can't get into this one either, then Gundam is probably not for me.

I'd certainly say it's worth giving a shot. It's definitely got a very unique feel and tone compared to the rest of the franchise, and I think it really succeeds at telling a solid character-driven narrative, at least so far.

Reading a lot of monster girl manga.
Monster Musume, Monster Musume I heart monster girls, nurse hitomis monster infirmary and the monster girls encyclopedia.

So, now that the first week is out of the way, what shows are everyone watching this season? For me:

elDlive - My Sunday show (alongside Dragon Ball Super). Sci-fi series about a seemingly unremarkable Japanese teen who is chosen to become part of a space police force. Some of the character designs aren't to my liking, but in general it looks better than the last sci-fi series I tried watching, and doesn't seem as kiddie, so I'll keep with it for now.

Youjo Senki - My Tuesday show. Set in Europe in an alternate timeline (another one of those shows where it's set in our world, but they change up the names of the countries, defeating the purpose of setting it in the real world...), it features a fictitious war in the 1920's that sees the Empire (Germany) defending itself from all sides, particularly focusing on their defense against the Republic (France). It's like WWI in terms of war strategy & world design, but this time with magitech. The lead is an anti-hero type (Very powerful & adamant in her defense of country, but seems to take delight in war & her own allies are wary of her).

Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club - My Wednesday show. The highly detailed & picturesque environments are absolutely stunning, but whether or not I stay for the long haul depends on how long the theme can keep my interest (but I managed to stay with Ping Pong Girls last season for it's entirety, so I don't see why not).

Little Witch Academia - My Thursday show. This is looking like it's going to be charming, and probably my favorite show so far. I like the art direction.

ACCA 13 - My Friday show. The story in this one seems interesting, and I like the art direction. Pretty much the main character is tasked with investigating corruption in the organization he works for (which runs the police, fire departments, etc. across the fictitious country it's set in).

As someone who finally watched the whole 12 episode series, I'm gonna be the one to deliver the shocking news that Madoka was awesome. I'm sure no one has brought this up ever.

Damnit, now I'm behind you as far as finishing recent popular series goes. I gotta try harder to keep up!

...after I watch a few more episodes of The Never Ending Stories some shounen battle anime, and polish off a few obscure series that everyone kinda forgot about, except me, maybe. Then I can start watching stuff that was relevant 5 years ago! Yeah...wait, how many shows are in my queue, again?...oh, well, I guess I can update that to "relevant 10 years ago", just to be safe...

That's kinda true for me, with the exception of an occasional newer thing on Toonami or my one new anime each season (half of which aren't even that popular). I have plenty of stuff to get caught up with.

Though I am already watching Yuri on Ice, which is only one season behind. So that's a good start.

Canonical Broly-like character confirmed!?

In the new opening for Dragon Ball Super, you can briefly see a new Super Sayain, who looks to be wearing a red shirt/tunic, has blank eyes (no pupals), and who's flame & hair has a green tinge, not unlike Broly's.

I'm not talking about Cabba either, who appears a bit before this new Sayain.

Huh, so...I haven't really been posting here much, not because I haven't been watching anime, but because I haven't really been finishing anime...well, I decided to try to be more productive lately, and I've finished off a bunch that I had sitting on the backburner for way too long:

ALDNOAH.Zero
Drifters
THE UNLIMITED: Hyobu Kyosuke
Berserk: The Egg of Kings (the only one on Netflix so far)
Both Little Witch Academia movies

Along with the series I finished last year (Gargantia, Kill La Kill, One-Punch Man, and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash), I feel like I'm on a roll.

Also, I really need to stop paying so much attention to what random strangers online say about anime. I was under the impression - via the discussion on some forum or another - that ALDNOAH.Zero needed a third season, but I just finished it, and...that was an extremely conclusive ending. There certainly wasn't anything that they could build a whole season off of. WTF I would've finished it years ago had I known that they were full of crap! Arceusdamnit, why do certain people always call out for another season no matter how good an ending they get? Have they ever heard of "ending on a high note?" Bah, whatever. I finished it, and it was a good watch.

Now, note to self:

1) Learn how to spell "note" so I don't have to keep going back and correcting it every single time

2) Currently watching: The Devil is a Part-Time - I really need to focus on it this time, since I keep having to rewatch episodes whenever I go back to it. I am now on Episode 6...for the third time...

3) Also on the backburner:

...I'll get back this later. I had like, a dozen in my head before I started writing, but the instant I sat down, they started leaking out of my brain, and now there's nothing left. I need a new brain.

I rewatched Little Witch Academia recently (both of them). I've seen the original movie 3 times and the second one twice. Honestly better than when I saw them before, and Studio Trigger is the best.

Wait, who did that? I don't keep up with Manga. Heck, I barely keep up with anime news & discussion anymore, I prefer to just watch stuff.

Anyways, good to see ya, Tsurii. It's been a while, at least for me. I'm surprised you (or any sane individual who isn't new to anime) got into Overlord, is the manga any different from the anime, if you've seen it?

Also, that list of backburner titles was too big, so I'll just focus on what I'm currently watching before I decide what to watch next.

The World God Only Knows. At least the first 2 seasons. Still absolutely brilliant and the harem genre will never be better than this, mainly because of a brilliantly written main character and consistently enjoyable little character arcs. And great humor.

Most of the other anime from this decade I'd immediately recommend are more universally known and watched by anime fans tbh (Madoka, Steins;Gate, Kill la Kill etc)

Recently, I've been watching this series Natsume. Not my favorite thing but seems like something some people loooooove, especially if they like the sort of supernatural, episodic, Mushishi/XXXHolic type series.

Guess I'll do a bit of an overall anime update:

In terms of Toonami, it's nice to see the dubbed version of DB Super. Yeah, I don't get to see it every week due,to it's early timeslot, but it's good to watch it with the voices I grew up with. Also, Gundam Unicorn has been pretty awesome, and is probably my favorite thing on the block at the moment. Naruto Shippuden has entered a filler arc, which has killed whatever real investment I had in the show (hopefully it passes soon enough). And finally, One Piece has FINALLY left Thriller Bark behind. There were some things I liked about the arc, but it dragged on far too long (especially on Toonami, where it took them over a year to work through it), and I was so glad this past Saturday to see them move on (even if Foxy, who I personally despise, briefly showed up). Also, I continue to enjoy DBZ Kai & Hunter X Hunter, even if I have nothing specific to say about them.

In other news, I think this past season is the only one so far where I haven't dropped any shows, which is nice. I really like the trio of Youjo Senki, Little Witch Academia, and Minami Kamakura High School Girl's Cycling Club (Really suprised with how much I'm liking that last one). In terms of the upcoming spring season, I'm definitely giving the new seasons of Kyokai no Rinne & My Hero Academia a go, along with Atom the Beginning & ID-0.

Well, tonight it was announced that Toonami will be dropping One Piece from it's lineup.

While the announcement was sudden, I can't say I find it all that suprising (if it is indeed due to poor ratings). While the show is insanely popular amongst the anime faithful, I imagine it'd come off a bit childish in appearance to a more mainstream audience (especially on a late night block), making it a tough sell at it's 1:30 A.M. time slot. I think it probably would have fared better if it were on earlier in the night (when a younger audience would be more likely to be up), and the Thriller Bark arc dragging on (lasting over a year on Toonami) probably didn't help.

As for me, despite my many criticisms of the show, there were things about it I DID like, and will come to miss it (probably more than I currently realize, lol). My bro, however, couldn't be be more excited to see it go. He's part of the more mainstream audience I mentioned before (he isn't as much into anime as he used to be, and while he still holds nostalgia for the shows we watched growing up like DBZ, InuYasha, Cowboy Bebop, Lupin III, Rurouni Kenshin, and the like, hasn't gotten into any anime in a long time. Just watches Toonami out of habit, as Adult Swim's action block is the only thing we've watched on Saturday nights for years, and because he knows I still like it). He usually doesn't have much to say about anime these days (other than the occasional joke about Gon being "schoolboy Vegeta"), but he has taken multiple occasions to say how irritatingly annoying he finds One Piece.

Time to bump this thread...
New year, meaning I need to get into another anime. lol

I'm just gonna go for another silly/comedy school anime, so anyone know any that are like School Rumble/Azumanga Daioh? Right now I decided to see what this Ouran High School Host Club is about via Youtube, though I read the description on Amazon and can't really tell if it's what I'm looking for.