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The entire DBS Broly movie was uploaded to youtube, and repeatedly removed. Thankfully I was fast enough to see it all (in full english 1080p).
I liked the movie. Impressive action. The animation was pretty good, but it dropped down dramatically near the end. I won't spoil anything, but Broly was hit with a Soul Punisher / Star Duster / Rainbow glitter bomb. (Make up your damn mind when naming attacks please.)
I just hope we get an official canon Cooler movie. With his "shredder" form. A golden "shredder" form! Holy shit that would be awesome!!
I saw it in English too, usually I'm all about the dubs. I don't know if it was just the English tack, but the vocal BGM when Goku started fighting made me smile. It's was like the beginning of a 1-minute melee or some Fighting Game.
KKKKAKAROTE!....BROLY!....SAIYAN BATTLE!
And then they charge each other.
It's weird, Goku had more of a unique fighting stance here that I hadn't seen since the original Dragon Ball series. It actually looked like martial arts.
And I never noticed before, but Broly is more like Sun Wokong from Journey to the West than Goku, in respect to the shock collar around his neck. If you aren't familiar with the Legend, Sun WoKong had an enchanted Circlet placed on his head as a means to control him that would get tighter and tighter.
I can't remember any point in the DBZ series where Goku had something like that. Unless you count the Halo when he died.
This anime season it putting me to sleep. Everything is based off social apps. Blah.
Manaria Friends aka Mysteria Friends looked interesting. It's got a half-dragon princess in a magic school with lesbian undertone. But it's like watching a silent film with no point to it.
Grimm Notes was another series with an interesting concept. It's based off an online game by square-enix. But after 3 episodes, I'm not sold. It's set in world of stories where people in a "story-zone" have a book of fate that guides their life and they play out a story like Little Red Riding Hood. But some people have blank books, and others can rewrite the story. So the heroes have to find what's wrong and correct it.
In the story zone of Don Quixote his delusions were made real. That's such an awesome concept, but it's poorly executed. I dunno. Maybe because it should be an event driven story, but they're focusing on the character motivations from the P.O.V. literal-who OCs.
The only show I'm really looking forward to each week is The Rising of the Shield Hero. It's another isekai game-world genre. If you're going to have a character driven plot that explores character psychology and relationships - this is how it's done. It's only got a sprinkle of harem/hentai elements. The latest episode, for example, was the mandatory hot-spring/tentacle monster. It's much more serious than How not to summon a demon lord and Death March to the Parallel World where every episode found the protagonist in a compromising position.
I've read the manga somewhat. The Shield Hero's companions are mostly demi-human slaves for reasons. He does acquire a male demi-human slave, but it's pretty late in the manga. The anime probably won't cover it. For story reasons the Shield Hero is isolated from the other "weapon hero" guys. There is a budding bromance between him and this guy with a scythe, and the shield hero finally think this world that's treated him badly since day one might be worth protecting. He thinks he's found someone who isn't magically bound to him or wants something from him. But then he learns there are other worlds struggling for survival and his new best friend is his new worst enemy because he's the Scythe Hero for this other world. And it's just another cruel eat-or-be-eaten scenario for the Shield Hero who is developing serious trust issues.
I watched Re:Zero pretty much straight through last night and this morning. Although I did go to sleep at one point. Some parts make me feel guilty for watching it. 'Cause Subaru is this shut-in otaku that thinks he's was wasting his life. (Should I stop? Nah, one more episode)
The uplifting message and show's namesake is that you can always start fresh from nothing.
Subaru get's transported to another world and whenever he dies he starts over at select points. Like save points. People keep getting killed, himself included, so he keeps trying to change things for the better.
I'm interested in re watching the story but with all the timeloops cut out. Just to see how crazy Subaru must look from an outside perspective.
Also, Betelgeuse is one of the most entertaining villains in anime that I can remember. The insane ones usually are because they're fun to watch. I'd pick them over military or melancholic lords who just kinda sit around navel-gazing half the time.
Re: is just short for Reincarnation Restart Redo ect...
A common trope of the Isekai(another world) genre is that the protagonists died and are taken to another world through the process of reincarnation. In contrast, the Isekai stories where the protag is summoned to a parallel world make them more or less soul bound to complete some sort of destiny. The Reincarnated protags on the other hand have freedom and do everything by choice.
So you have these 2 conventions of being Summoned or being Reincarnated. No choice, and choice. The stories are grounded heavily in how one engages with the world. It's juxtaposition of their old life vs their new life. The world needs you; the world doesn't need you. Often in the prior life, they were just a shut-in neet wasting their life away living a little too comfortable.
Think Biblo Baggins in LotR, who's living comfortably under his hill, then goes an a big quest to help dwarfs reclaim their much grander, much more luxurious, home under the mountain.
In the case of these Reincarnation Stories, the protag isn't obligated to do anything. AND on top of that, they're reincarnated as something undesirable or seeming useless. So even if they wanted to help, there's going to be a lot of resistance. That time I was reincarnated as a slime, Re: Monster, I was reincarnated as a sword
In which this DBZ-enthusiast dies a pathetic death by falling down some stairs. He's reincarnated as Yamcha with all his memories of his old life. At first he's like, sweet, I'm in the dragon ball universe. And then he's like, shit, I'm Yamcha. I'm going to die. So rather than enjoy life, he uses his foreknowledge to prepare. He trains with Master Roshi, then even flies to Planet Namak to have the Elder there unlock his potential. So then when Vegeta and Napa show up, Yamcha managers to survive.
However, he notices someone else must have been reincarnated too. It's Chiaotzu. Apparently if they die they loop back to the beginning. So this guy who is Chiaotzu has lived the same life 7 times. Yamcha recognizes this other soul as another DBZ-enthusiast from his world - and that he's the reason he got into DBZ in the first place (literally and figuratively)
At that point, they realize as Humans, they have limited power level and have no hope of surviving the coming threats like Majin Buu.
Then it's revealed that Beerus and his brother had placed them in those bodies to fight and bet on who would win. But because they didn't fight nobody wins, but nobody loses either.
Rising of The Shield Hero touches on all the Isakai tropes. He is summoned to this other world with 3 others. They'll all from different earths. The 3 other recognize the setting from a video game, so consequently they are all operating on assumptions based in different rule set. The other 3 also died in their worlds before arriving. One was hit by a truck. One was murdered by a serial killer. And one was killed for cheating on too many women.
The Shield Hero, on the other hand, knew of no such video game, he was summoned by opening a book without the chance to read it so he's completely oblivious about the world.
Following the reincarnation trope, the other 3 should be free to do what they want and Shield hero is the soul bound one as he was the only one called on while still alive. But actually, this world prefers the other 3 as the more capable heroes and tells shield hero to stay out of the way and gives him hard time since he doesn't have a weapon to fight and needs everything explained to him. There also this church cult that thinks shield hero is evil and is bad news for their anti-demihuman agenda, but I digress.
What a coincidence, I re-watched Re:Zero over the past two nights. I think it is very good, but it's not entirely free from fault. Emilia's character takes a back seat after the initial arc and becomes rather weak willed. The speed in which Rem falls for the hero is jarring too, it is presented quite softly and nicely, but then she reveals she fell for him in like the 60 seconds between him saving her and then facing off the giant dog monster in the forest.
I re-watched it because it is good enough to watch a second time, and because of the nature of how Subaru operates (gather information over and over until enough has accumulated to get the best scenario) re-watching does reveal a few "ahhhh" moments, mostly in the subtle reactions on characters' faces that as a viewer you think is just animated detail, but watching a second time it's because they're flinching from a name being said or raising an eye brow because something aligns with their interests that Subaru doesn't yet know about. That kind of detail does disappear somewhat after the second arc.
It is disappointing that Felt doesn't get much focus at all. One of those animes that sets up a lot for a second season but book-ends its own season nicely as they can't guarantee a second season.
Not much is done with Felix's character either, despite having a lot of design focus invested in them. That invested design somewhat disappears when they're in uniform too, which dilutes the character a lot.
In general there's so much they can continue doing with the premise in a second season. What I'd love to see is a character that figures out Subaru's situation just by observing him - even if they don't figure out the mechanism, someone could probably figure out that he's sort of time travelling.
EDIT: I gave it a 7/10 "good" rating
The main series I'm going through right now is actually Inuyasha.
In order to get my friend to watch boku no hero I said I'd watch Naruto Shippuden.
It's not entirely bad. I'm 300 episodes deep and it's fun but if you think about it too hard there really are some glaring flaws in most of it. Why is Edo Tensei considered to be taboo yet Chiyo can resurrect Gaara and everyone is fine with it Why can Naruto use shadow clones in Kyuubi form when like 10 episodes earlier Bee straight up said he cannot do that
I found the Pain arc to be the best and Shinra Tensei is hands down the most versatile ability in the entire series.
Currently I'm watching RWBY. Like OMG. Where has this anime been all my life?! Apparently YouTube. I absolutely love RWBY.
My favorite girl is definitely Weiss. She's like me! OMG, ahhhhh! She's perfect, rich, stylish, ice cold, and arrogant. I even used her as an avatar before I knew anything about her! Ahhhh, I picked the best girl without knowing!! AHHHHH! AMAZING!!!!!
Okay, okay, okay, I'm on season 2. There's a food fight. The most epic food fight in the history of animated fiction. Like, seriously. S2 Ep1.
Nora is definitely the most fun girl so far. I love her design. RWBY's fight scenes are very good too. I'm so happy I have something to watch.
Edit:
Volume 3 gets crazy emotional! I haven't cried like that in a long time. Poor Glynda, her failing to repair a building stuck with me. Everything gets depressing. Currently, I'm starting volume 6 at the time of this edit.
My girl Weiss is no longer an 'A-hole' like me, sadly. She went through the best character development I ever seen. Her family sucks ass unfortunately, except Winter. She's cool.
There's a handful of fantasy anime this season, but I don't think they'll keep my interest.
I was just about to drop this Midnight Occult Civil Servants, but then they reveal this effeminate spirit was the Aztec God Huehuecóyotl (lit: Old Man Coyote) ; So I'm kinda watching it with a mix of disgust to see where this goes. I mean, Aztec mythology is rarely touched on so that's kinda cool, but this characterization is, idk, less of a happy-go-lucky trickster god and more of a socially impaired transvestite. Nothing against transvestite characters. I loved Fish-Eye in Sailor Moon. But I guess I'm biased because I'm pretty familiar with Coyote myths and this isn't doing it justice. Not that I can't see a coyote archetype acting queer, but you'd expect something like Bugs Bunny who catches people off guard with sudden personality shifts. My impression of this coyote so far is something between obsessive girlfriend meme and I don't know what else.
Fairy Gone has a Dark Fantasy appeal to it, but it hasn't hooked me yet. I need more than just "edgy" visual style, you know?
And there's The Wise Man's Grandchild, or The Sage's Grandson, (like a riff on The Magicians Nephew maybe?) which is a reincarnation isekai magic school type show. It's refreshing to have elderly characters, and a balance mix of adult characters and not a giant cast of teenagers. Not sure where the story is going.
Kinda dropped all these shows mid season to do other things. Going to spend the next couple days catching up.
Saw the Danmatchi Movie Orion's Arrow. It's been a few years since the first season came out. It had a spin off series, with parallel events to the first season. But we're finally getting a continuation this year I think.
Discussing anime with friends and I realized most fighting themed anime have tournaments. Kind of a lame and washed plot device. Completely unoriginal.
Currently binge watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. I was on the fence about it, but it's gotten pretty interesting. In the sense that I want to see more of what these character can do. But the risk of this formula is that they just keep introducing more characters, endlessly, to be abandoned before reaching a conclusion.
Danmatchi came out with a new season and movie. It wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped. I personally want to know more about the dungeon and the potentials of the game metaphysics. But they avoided it entirely to focus on familias and character relationships. Boo.
It's pretty rare to have a show that runs around in people's unconscious. And this anime season there are 2. So naturally I'm eating them up. Gotta love the whole psychonaut thing.
PET is about some kind of Psyop hypnosis team. I'm a little behind so I can't detail exactly what it's about or what it is they're doing except altering people's memories, leaving suggestions, and extracting information.
ID:INVADED is more scifi. Detectives using some special technology to go into the "unconscious wells" of serial killers and dead people. Picking up clues to figure out the killer's real life location and stuff. Almost like Jennifer Lopez's movie "The Cell" except the killer is running around on the loose instead of in a coma.
I'm paying extra attention into how they explain the rules through dialogue. That's something I've always struggled with in my own writing projects. In ID:INVADED the one character conveniently has amnesia whenever he "dives" and then wonders outloud to himself and he makes observations. Meh, that's kind of a dirty trick but I can't blame the writers. Pretty much every episode 1 of any anime is guilt of the "as you know" bit, talking about stuff they already know for the sake of the audience.
"PET" does it too but with dramatic flare. They can "crush" people's mind but the protagonists don't like doing it. So they don't just tell you what it means, they tell you how they feel about it. Some feel guilty about messing with people's heads. Others feel competent like it proves how much they know.
It's nice to see that Netflix added a bunch of Studio Ghibli films. There are some conspicuous missing masterpieces though. I have a feeling it has something to do with Disney being their US distributor.
