Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

No. But then again, I can't remember the last time I thought the first few episodes of a mecha show were any good. I guess Code Geass, but that's probably it.

@CanisWolfred
Just watched Gargantia ep 1, it was quite good. The battle sequence was beautiful.

Also, I found a forum where a lot of people make the case for or against why TF is a mecha:
http://www.animenation.net/forums/showthread.php?t=206684

Toonami Saturday night!

Bleach - Pretty much amounted to the first half of a 2 part series recap (kinda cool to see some of the biggest moments of the series all bundled together, though). Oh, and the villain fused with the Shikon... err, Hogyoku...

Naruto - The group got their butt handed to them.

Soul Eater - The action continues to be as fast and fluid as always (Needs more Death the Kid, though. He's hilarious).

ThunderCats - Repeat.

IGPX - It kinda felt like a lame Saturday morning cartoon, but it's narrator is the guy who used to do all the old Toonami commercials, which more than makes up for any shortcomings

Eureka 7 - Great episode. The action was intense!

Tenchi Muyo! GXP - Umm, so Seina suddenly becomes the pilot of some random ancient robot, and goes from being the most useless hero in history, to being a complete bad@ss that can wipe out anything with minimal effort... (this show is all over the place).

Also, Toonami has a new look! I preferred the more clean cut look of the older graphics, but I can get used to it, and Sara is back, so there's that. T.O.M.'s new look is terrible though (he looks like some sort of school science project).

Oh, and they reviewed Bioshock: Infinite (9/10)

Fun fact: I actually frequent that forum.

Anyways, I always go by the definitions set by Wikipedia and MAHQ when it comes to mecha, and Transformers do not fit those categories.

Ahhh. They changed Tom's look again? I thought they wouldn't keep doing that after Toonami's reboot.

I dont love the new look of Tom,but i can live with it.

As for me, I don't know squat about Toonami. If I had Cartoon Network, or cable for that matter, I'd watch it I guess, but it doesn't make a difference to me right now.

@CanisWolfred
Isn't Mecha just any anime focused on giant robots?

"Mecha anime cover all series that revolve around the use of piloted robotic armors in battle, which is broken down into two subcategories of Super Robot and Real Robot." — Wikepedia

ANN has a similar definition, although it also includes the Japanese definition, which is completely different and far too broad to actually be useful.

@CanisWolfred
Well if the actual Japanese definition is broad, than the TRUE definition might cover shows like Transformers...
Cause what would anime about living giant robots be? I mean, it's close enough to that definition...

Anyone watching the new Attack on Titan?

Another fantastic Attack on Titan episode, the cliffhanger made me so anxious for the next episode!

Action-adventure/Science-fiction. They don't really need their own genre when there aren't a ton of shows outside of one series that follow that formula...

@CanisWolfred
Well then what genre would you supposed such shows should exist in?

Science-Fiction/Action-Adventure. I don't know how many times I have to say it.

@CanisWolfred
Aww well...that's your opinion I supposed. On a different matter, heard of Gundam: The 3D Battle?

finished watching tsukihime for some reason i thought that anime was 24 episodes but its only 12 o.O vampire type anime i thought it was good eh kinda didnt like the ending to it though

also finished boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai rly liked this anime weird, ecchi(mostly first season), but i like the main point of the storyline i got a bit lucky cuz the second season had just been released a month ago

I know there are a lot of fans of Robotech and Voltron, but they really turn me off since it sounds like they're both american productions where they took a couple of mecha animes, spliced clips together, and made a completely different plot and characters.

Also, anyone excited for Pacific Rim? The monsters are obviously supposed to be Japanese Kaiju, and the Giant Robots would classify as Mechs as they're piloted.

Just watched both parts of M.D. Geist on YouTube!

It was very well animated for the time, and it had good action, but I just couldn't get into it.

I just never could get invested in the first part, and while the second part was better, by that point, Geist simply wasn't a character you could root for (seriously, at times I was rooting for the villain).

I'm surprised you didn't hate it. It's notoriously bad, and I thought it was terrible even before I heard it's reputation. MD Geist II is better, but still bad, IMO.

Voltron was pretty terrible, IMO. Robotech was pretty good, though. The Southern Cross Saga was actually improved over the original, IMO, and the Macross Saga wasn't changed too much from its original story. I never really cared for either version of Mospeada, though...

And I want to be interested in Pacific Rim. I really do. But it just seems like a phoned-in attempt to copy the standard Super Robot/Giant Monster Movie formula that even Japan doesn't really use anymore. :/ When it comes to knock-offs, I'm more excited for The Middle-East's attempt at a super robot film. I mean, yes, Torkaiser's story sounds exactly like every Super Robot Anime ever made, where as Pacific Rim is at least trying to sound somewhat original, but that animation just comes off as so genuinely Japanese that I can't help but be proud of their attempt. At least it proves that they have potential, and if given a good writer and an original concept, they could really go places.

Pacific Rim, on the otherhand, doesn't look bad, but for an American Mecha anime, I was kind of hoping they'd have some mechs that looked...you know...feasible. Seriously, that used to be American Mecha's greatest strength: They looked like something people would realistically build. I mean, yeah, PR's designs could be worse, but they seem unreastically big and over-complicated. Also, plot aside, the trailers have made PR seem like every other Big-budget action movie ever. Not to say that'll make it terrible, but it does make it hard to get excited for.

Really, though, it does seem like a good movie, and I'm actually hoping its successful and spawns imitators who might actually make even better movies. Heck, who knows, maybe it'll spawn the Battletech/Mechwarriors movie I've always wanted. Now that would be a dream come true.