Discuss anime here.

[coyotecraft]

I'm watching Sailor Moon Super S. I'm not a fan of Sailor Moon. I'm just watching it for the pop culture value. I knew a girl in college that was a huge fan with with DVD boxset collection. I vaguely remember her saying "S" was the best in the series.
Apparently that's Sailor Moon S. Not Sailor Moon Super S.
Sailor Moon Super S is kinda bad. Bad in the sense that the sailor scouts fade into the background. It's been a long time since I watched the original season, so I don't remember if this was the typical formula. The episodes focus on a victim's problems and dreams. The bad guys are attacking people with "beautify dreams" looking for Pegasus. And the Sailor Scouts just happen to be there by proximity to save them every time. So you get a lot of introspective on the victim's part, who are mostly one-off characters that never make a second appearance. The main cast is distant.

I think some of the episodes are cleaver in keeping it relevant for the search for pegasus. One girl rides horses. Another girl published a story about a pegasus. So it makes sense for the bad guy to suspect Pegasus is in their dreams.
But some of the episode are just random excuses to plug an old character classmate into the show.
Just judging by the episode list, the whole Pegasus Arc doesn't go anywhere till the last 5 episodes. The rest is just monster of the week type stuff.

 

[coyotecraft]

Speaking of "Super"
Dragon Ball Super's Battle Royal arc should be ending soon. It's all kinds of dumb. Idk why they decided to give the tournament a time limit. It wouldn't bother me, except they keep drawing attention to it. The last 2 months the show has been in "the final 30 minutes" and as of this weekend there's only 10 minutes remaining.

They've stretched it out by switching perspectives. So have one episode focusing a fight between 2 characters, then the next episode features what another team was doing parallel to the event of the last episode.
And in one episode, a fighter could stop time, so relatively no time passed at all.

 

[Fayte]

Dude the last ten episodes of Gurren Lagaan or however you spell it is way better than the rest of the anime. I like this anime.

 

[Byron]

Just started World Trigger.
It's pretty slow, but overall good.

 

[coyotecraft]

I'm watching Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor on crunchyroll. I had avoided it before because it looked like more harem garbage. BUT wow, what a surprise. I just finished episode 3 and it feels like the series could have ended there. So complete and satisfying. I hope the rest of the episodes can follow suit.

I'm also watching Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody. This IS harem garbage. But I'm watching it because it's set inside a RPG world.

Speaking of RPG settings, Overlord II is still going. I got to say, it's a lot slower and not living up to the first season. But the episodes are mostly from the perspective of weaker characters facing who are facing their weakness and limitations. Being level caped but desperate to be more. I love it.

Dragon Ball Super only has an episode or 2 left. It's obscene how much they've stretched it. And the last dozen episodes have be recycling so much animations. With the first 7 minutes being: Preview, OP, then recap. Then like 5 minutes of "progress" and lots of still talking frames, then the credits and the next episode preview.
I guess i said all that back in December.
I'm not sure which is worst. Super or GT?

 

[Byron]

Just started World Trigger.
It's pretty slow, but overall good.

I finished World Trigger. Pretty annoying though as they end it just as they are about to start up a new Arc. Like legit they have the episode play out as if they're starting a new story and then in the after credits they were like "Yup. That's the end of the show!"

I finished Devilman: Crybaby last night. Probably one of my favorite animes just under Berserk.
It's visually stunning and I love the story too.

Spoiler: Devilman: Crybaby spoilers

There are a few things that bother me about the ending. God destroying the earth makes everything feel really inconsequential. If that was the outcome anyway why did Satan need to have this plan at all? Also if keeping Akira alive was Ryos goal why did he end up killing him over a minor difference. Ryo said that humans are demons, so why does it matter if Akira wants to lead the devilmen? That's a way to keep him alive.

 

[ZenVirZan]

watching initial d after i got into cars somehow

shits fab

not quite my usual moeblob

 

[Xilef]

I started watching Cowboy Bebop last week as it kept getting recommended to me.

It started out as a 7/10 anime and it's grown to be a 9/10.

 

[coyotecraft]

It was announced in February so I'm behind. But Danmachi a.k.a. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon? is getting a movie adaption and second season.

It's weird, but I guess they really don't want to call last year's Sword Oratoria a second season but rather a side story or spin off. I mean, it's wasn't really a continuation of the first season, but a retelling from another character's perspective with a different story. Idk. There are two spin off light novels, Sword Oratoria and Familia Chronicle. So I don't know how much of Sword Oratoria was adapted into the anime or what continuity differences there are. Both Sword Oratoria and Familia Chronicle were adapted into mangas too.

It's crazy that light novels would get adapted into manga in the first place. What does it lose or gain? Descriptions in exchange for panels? I don't have much taste for manga, just because in English the sentences become too brief to be palatable.

 

[coyotecraft]

I watched The Irregular at Magic Highschool
It was interesting. Maybe too many characters. I mean, it's a high school anime. So you got to have students and teach- wait...they didn't have teachers. Huh, I didn't think about it until now.

 

[ZenVirZan]

rewatching ouran hs host club
still just as good as i remember

nostalgia feelsgoodman

 

[coyotecraft]

Overlord season 3 started last week. Hooray! First new episode featured more of Albedo than the entire last season despite her being the poster girl. I wouldn't mind if this season focus entirely on her.
For context she's a succubus NPC belonging to this guild which disbanded before a server shutdown. The main character stayed online during the shutdown and ended up transported to new world will the the guild npcs now alive who treat him as a Supreme being and "Overlord". But just before the shutdown he altered Albedo's backstory for kicks to say she was madly in-love with him.
At the end of season 2 there was a short scene where she's specious of her master's motives.

In the last episode

Spoiler

She summons a Bicorn mount that she's never rode before apparently. It's like the opposite of a Unicorn in that it only allows impure maidens to ride it. Apparently Albedo is a virgin so she can't ride her own horse. She can't fix it either since she's saving herself for her master. So she's slowly becoming seriously unstable.

I'm a little worried that the show is going to lose the context of it being based on MMORPG rules. Like, the detail above^ sounds more like a fantasy world continuity than an in-game rule. Hard to believe a game would give characters a virginity status.

 

[Xilef]

Potion got me to watch Made in Abyss when I was visiting him last week and I watched all the episodes now. Very good anime.

 

[coyotecraft]

Dragon Ball Super is bring Broly into it's continuity with a movie. I guess that's the best way to put it. I mean, the movies that had Broly in them before were always said to be "not cannon". Even the movies "Battle of the Gods" and "Resurrection F" were reiterated as story arcs in the DBSuper anime. So idk. This is still just another movie.
I'm seeing that they go to an Ice Planet. I've read "Ancient Saiyan" somewhere. So maybe this Broly has been on ice the whole time. Frieza will be in it, maybe he kept Broly there? It's definitely different from the other Broly movies that showed him as a baby at the same time Goku was sent to earth.

Oh, And there's this promotional anime series for Dragon Ball Heroes. Set in the online game continuity I guess with Xenoverse that deals with infinite alternate timelines and such. Trunks is a Time Patroller and get's taken to a prison planet (literally a bunch of planets chained together with a giant padlock) So Mai goes to Goku and Vegeta to save him. It's very fast pace and convenient, which is hilarious compared to how drawn out Super was. Like Mai just pulls fusion earrings out of her pocket saying "Whis gave it to me earlier" and they use them without hesitating.
Ep1 had a SS4 Goku from the GT...er, timeline?
Ep2 had a "Golden" Coola, because "I can do whatever Frieza can do." There was also a new "evil" Saiyan call Kanba or Cumber (for Cucumber, obviously). He was in a straight jacket and muzzle. Edgy.

 

[coyotecraft]

I watched Escaflowne (the film) again the other night. The visuals of it were a source of inspiration to me for a long time but I had only seen it a few times over, idk, 10 years.
I think I saw the anime once. But I hardly remember it. I remember Hitomi being psychic with premonitions and stuff. And that was after I had seen the film version.

I was surprise to go back to the film version and see that they left her visions out completely. I was even more surprise at the very beginning they're on a rooftop where her friend reads her suicide note and makes fun of her. I don't remember that at all. This is was the subtitled version not the dub. But it puts the whole movie in a completely different context.
She was depressed and she wishes everything would just fade away. Then she's summoned to a world where she's suppose to bring about the end. But she watches Van, with his own tragic backstory and deathwish, and that gives her a new take on life.
It was kind of sweet, except it was really muddled since it didn't play out in that sense. The suicide note seemed like a quick gag to show how familiar she and her friend were (they prance off giggling like everything's fine). Once she's on Gaea she's perpetually confused and doesn't have a depressing thought for the rest of the movie. It's only towards the end that she learns she's "the wing goddess" because she shared Van's Brother's wish for everything to "fade away." By that point she realized she only wanted things to get better, not end. So she gave Van the power to keep going. But it doesn't quite acknowledge that he had given her the power to keep going as well. I mean, the message is there. The symbolism is there. He flies in on actual angel wings and saves her from actually falling to death.
It's just that the rooftop scene at the beginning was so distant and so subtle. So many anime series have rooftops scenes. They don't show her hanging over the edge contemplating. It's not written in her note. The only clue that she was going to jump to her death were her shoes. Apparently barefoot suicides are a thing in Japan. I'm just now learning this.
So it's really easy to miss that, while Van was actually saving Hitomi from falling to her death, he was figuratively saving her as well. I mean, gee, without that context what else are you suppose to think?
You got a teenage girl who spent the whole movie staring at this shirtless boy with only murder in his heart. And once his obsession is gone, he's holding her in his arms and they stare into each other's eyes smiling as white feathers fall around them in slow motion. At the beginning her friend said she was just frustrated and needed a boyfriend. So there you go, dream come true.

 

[coyotecraft]

Had Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions on my to watch list since it came out in 2016. I'm finally getting through it. I knew it was going to be a somber one. I expected it to be one of those anime where everyone dies. Part of the reason I couldn't watch it when it first came out was because my grandparents had died and I didn't need anymore grief.

I'm over halfway through it and there's no plot to speak of. It's basically a slice-of-life revolving around an RPG party. It's kinda mysterious how they just suddenly appear in this world, with no memory and are forced to fend for themselves. I don't know if it'll ever dive into that in the few episodes I have left to watch. It's all about surviving and teamwork and sharing emotions in a kind of unrealistic way. But then again, maybe that is realistic since they're all young and equally socially inept like that. I expected it to be more brutal in a "Lord of the Flies" kind of way, but it hasn't gotten that savage yet.

 

[coyotecraft]

Not really anime, but I caught up on the latest season of voltron.
I totally missed out on the queerbait scandal. I only found out about it because, what the hell, why show that a character was in a gay relationship if they're not going to do anything with it?
It sounds worst when apparently it was hyped up before the season premiered. Because it was nothing in the end. None of the other characters are aware of it. It's barely acknowledged. Zero impact or relevancy. I'm pretty sure I've talked about this kind of characterization before in writing discussion. You don't make a character a genius and never have them do anything smart.

 

[coyotecraft]

I didn't talk about the latest anime season.

Goblin Slayer was interesting, but it's not a character or plot driven story. It's a milieu piece, and most people don't have a taste for milieu because they want to be lead somewhere.

Sword Art Online: Alicization had a very promising beginning, I thought. It started with themes of Alice in Wonderland and sounded to me like they were going to explore the mysteries of the unconscious or something. Like Kirito would be trapped in his own mind and they were going to dive in to bring him out of a coma or something. But that wasn't the case, and just like the first series, it gradually moves away from everything it promised at the beginning. I'm not sure, but I think it's still only halfway through.

That Time I was Reincarnated as a Slime, another comfy power fantasy isekai. I guess what sets it apart from others is that the MC was a genuine good guy with lots of good karma or something, so he got reincarnated as an over-powered slime. Rather then the MC learning about friendship and compassion, it's the other way around as he starts a building a village out of different monster tribes.

 

[Byron]

I have just been consuming gundam over this holiday.
08th MS team is a nice side story that deals with the realities of the one year war. Quite a nice addition and really adds a lot to the story I think.
0083 Stardust Memory was also a nice addition.
The issue I had with both of these though is that there are plot points that are fairly big. They're supposed to be self-contained pieces but overextend to the point where it's hard to just write them off as a side story. There is also conflicting tech it seems. Obviously because the side stories are made after the original series' but they want to add new ideas. The issue with this is I'm now watching Zeta Gundam like "Why doesn't Kamille have something like Gundam Zephyranthes."

Spoiler

It really does bother me that in 08th MS team also has Apsalus. Is it supposed to represent a precursor to big zam or something?
0083 also has issues like the fact that operation stardust is a second colony drop and it doesn't really seem to be mentioned at all in Zeta.

I started watching Zeta Gundam and am about 20 episodes in. I think it is good. It took me a while to start enjoying it though.

 

[coyotecraft]

I want to be a fan of Gundam because I like robot designs. But I'm not a fan of war and politics. And even when I try to pay attention, I can't retain any of the history or significant events. Like, a month later I won't remember any of the plot.
Something something prototype. Something something philosophy.
I find myself stepping so far away from it that I'm watching the clock and episode structure more. I remember watching Gundam 00 a long time ago, and seeing how every episode was exactly the same. 20min of talking heads then a space battle. But that's true of a lot of action shows. It's been a long time, but i remember thinking that the battles had nothing to do talking head segments.
Idk, were they fighting a personal demons in their head and the the battle was some kind of catharsis? I think I would have understood that.
But then again, I would have been watching dubbed episodes. And english voice actors or the translated scripts sometimes get scenes wrong.

Edit: I think Japan has a different representation of a solider mindset too. Which made me see Sephiroth and Cloud from FF7 in a new light once I understood that as soldiers they were conditioned to follow orders and carry out missions. And their rank was suppose to mean something.