J-E Discussion

[Weeaboo Name]

After getting kinda excited about that show before it aired I still haven't gotten around to starting it, seems to be one of the most discussed shows so I will eventually hit it up.

And some thoughts of my own.

After a couple of meh episodes Persona finally seems to have picked up, the qulity is a little shaky but it's interesting enough. I haven't played the game so I can't compare but it works well enough as an anime.

Kimi to Boku is funny, cute boys doing cute things has been proven to work with Hetalia but this is much better.

Rurouni Kenshin, I finally caved in and started a "superior shounen". Seems the same as any other to me but I guess I'll keep going de gozaru.

 

[digi-kun]

I'm still sitting on the fence with regards to this show, and I still have the impression that it's just NWO conspiracy theory claptrap with giant robots. Mind explaining how it was well executed, and would it be sufficient to sway an undecided person like myself into watching the series?

Come to think of it, Madoka also took three episodes before finally hitting its stride, and we all know just how well it turned out. Who knows, really.

People who haven't watched ep 3 yet, spoilers.

Spoiler:

Episode two ended with the usual "mysterious girl met on this side transfers to this school" trope. Obviously this means that Gai hasn't given up on him. From this, along with the fact that he didn't join his group, I was thinking along the lines of it going to start detracting from the appeal of the series in general with crazy school life blown out of proportion and having absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot (kinda like Geass). They didn't do this. After basic introductions and fuss of her being in the school (They didn't forget that Inori's an idol, thank god.) After which, he finds out that one of the students was there at the incident in episode 2. Cue collection of him pulling out Voids of various students. He ends up finding out the person he's looking for is his one of his closer friends, and does intend on turning him in. A bit happens from there involving Inori about to kill him, Shuu stopping her, and them agreeing to keep a secret. Speaking of which, he actually does turn Shuu in, which is where the episode ends.

Along with that, there's some more stuff like that Gai can indeed see people's Voids, the rules on being able to pull them out, and villain introduction.

Overall, I think it was well executed because the school side didn't detract from plot, it ended with him being captured, the main character isn't the one with the plan, it shows the naivety of the main character, and what kind of negative consequences it can result in.

On another note, Guilty Crown is part of Fuji TV's noitaminA block, which has a reputation of having pretty good shows.

 

[Chairman Kaga]

I'm probably in the extreme minority, but I haven't enjoyed a noitaminA show since Higashi no Eden. Granted, I haven't watched every noitaminA show that's aired since then, but they seem to have deviated from their original niche of more mature/avant-garde anime pretty considerably since then. Especially this year, Fractale and C were outright bad, No. 6 and Un-Go pretty much seem like fujoshi pander, most of you probably don't want to hear my opinion on AnoHana, and Guilty Crown is pretty much the antithesis of everything the block used to stand for.

It's frightening how Japan's increasing reliance on otaku to keep the anime industry afloat is affecting parts of the industry that everyone had previously thought untouchable. noitaminA is still capable of producing fare more traditional to the block like Wandering Son and Usagi Drop, though I can't comment on them too much because they just had too niche of a subject matter for me. I just know that Wandering Son managed to depict gender identity issues in a non-exploitative manner and Usagi Drop managed to focus on a young girl without turning her into moe pedobait, and I really wish they'd swing their programming back in that direction. Though with an anime on BLACK ROCK SHOOTER of all things premiering in January, they seem to be rushing headlong in the otaku direction.

 

[digi-kun]

It's definitely true that noitaminA has been moving into sci-fi as of these last few years. Guess they're main problem would be that final stretch of episodes, cuz most of the falling apart of the recent series came from there...except fractale...they probably needed more episode time on that, though I have no idea how the original story went. Great concept, not so great execution there.

as far as BRS, i'm not really sure what to think of it....it's definitely gonna be the same storyline as the OVA, so.....

 

[Weeaboo Name]

noitaminA, yeah their quality has dropped a lot this year. Ok, Usagi Drop was good but the rest not so much. Best shows in that timeslot in my opinion were Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Moyashimon, Kūchū Buranko and Usagi Drop. Still to watch EotE, Ayakashi, Honey and Clover, Hipster Galaxy and a few others though.

 

[parallelzero]

I haven't posted in here in a while. >.> Time to catch up.

I really have no complaints about Guilty Crown's showing thus far. Sure, it takes elements for other series, but it'd be extremely hard to show me something made in the past 20 years that is completely, truly original in every single aspect. The only thing making it annoying is how everyone keeps pointing out similarities, really.

As for the BRS TV series... pass. I was really hoping it would be a new project and wouldn't build on that sad excuse for a movie plot, but lo and behold. >.> There are so many more creative things that could do with that series. Look at the PSP game plot for example. It at least looks interesting.

Persona 4's plot probably won't pick up to full speed for a little while, likely not until after all of the main characters have been introduced. So far, it's done a spot-on job of keeping up with the game's plot. Next week's episode looks like it'll be stepping away from the action to focus on some Social Links though (which will give Yuu access to more Personas), so that should be interesting.

Shakugan no Shana III... let's just say I'm looking forward to it each week and leave it at that. I have no real gripes, particularly since with the plot developments from the get-go, it all makes the series feel fresh.

I'm still trying Gundam AGE, and I'm still not really engaged. Character designs and mecha designs aside, the plot better get good and fast if I'm going to keep watching.

C3's darker side has me intrigued, but... Mummy Maker. ;.;

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is my guilty crown pleasure of the season. It can be downright inappropriate sometimes (particularly this week), but it makes me laugh. That's all you can really expect out of a series in that genre, really. That, and I'm loving the character designs.

The episode of WORKING'!! from the past week was likely the funniest of this season so far. Satou's character has always been one of the funniest in my opinion, and his exchange with Yachiyo in the storage closet dealt a fatal blow to my sense of humor.

Mirai Nikki has definitely piqued my interest after the ending to last week's episode which gave me Higurashi vibes. Disturbing, yes, but that's what makes it captivating.

And Ben-To... when I was looking at the preview for this season, I had no intention of watching it even once, let alone following it all season. And yet... it's one of the shows I'm most looking forward to each week. XD

 

[Chairman Kaga]

Penguindrum 16:

MISTER PRESIDENT, WATCH OUT!

Spoiler:

finally FINALLY FINALLY NEW SEIZON SENRYAKU. And in the most freakish, nonsensical, quasi-erotic way possible.

noitaminA, yeah their quality has dropped a lot this year. Ok, Usagi Drop was good but the rest not so much. Best shows in that timeslot in my opinion were Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Moyashimon, Kūchū Buranko and Usagi Drop. Still to watch EotE, Ayakashi, Honey and Clover, Hipster Galaxy and a few others though.

My personal favorite noitaminA shows were Moyashimon, Hakaba Kitarou (which is basically a classy Dororon Enma-kun) and Mononoke (though the Bakeneko arc at the end of Ayakashi that inspired Mononoke is the best noitaminA anything, period.) Some of the series I haven't seen I just have no interest in (Honey & Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Wandering Son, Hipster Galaxy) though there are a few that have just sat on the viewing backlog forever. House of Five Leaves looks especially good, and I guess I'll watch their adaptation of Genji Monogatari someday just because it's probably easier than reading the book.

It's definitely true that noitaminA has been moving into sci-fi as of these last few years. Guess they're main problem would be that final stretch of episodes, cuz most of the falling apart of the recent series came from there...except fractale...they probably needed more episode time on that, though I have no idea how the original story went. Great concept, not so great execution there.

as far as BRS, i'm not really sure what to think of it....it's definitely gonna be the same storyline as the OVA, so.....

Fractale might have been better if it was double the length, though there were some things inherent to the show that would have driven me up the wall no matter how short or long. The horrible overuse of that "if I could make a wish to the day star" song and the girl whose only purpose was to call Clain a pervert every ten seconds killed it for me. I went in expecting Eureka Seven meets Ghibli, but it just didn't live up to that at all. So disappointed, especially since I loved Yamakan's work with Kannagi and thought he was going to hit it out of the park with this one too.

If you really want to talk about a good show that was destroyed by its final stretch, it would be AnoHana.

Spoiler:

The second that it was revealed that Menma was no longer a delusion of Jinta's mind but was an ACTUAL GHOST that suddenly became able to interact with physical objects and directly communicate with the Super Peace Busters halfway through the series, the whole poignancy of the series just disappeared for me.

Up to then it was a story about teenagers coming to grips with regret, how Menma's death had messed up their lives in unique ways, and specifically how Jinta was going to be able to symbolically grant Menma's wish and free himself from her "ghost", but once the quotes around ghost disappeared, the story transitioned from symbolic to literal and went downhill from there.

I still wanted to cry a little during the final episode.

About BRS, haven't seen the OVA, but a show adapted from a Vocaloid song is about as otaku-centric as it gets. I'm not saying that it won't be good, but it might be even less noitaminA than Guilty Crown.

 

[parallelzero]

Andy and I watched the second Macross Frontier movie a couple of hours ago, and it was absolutely ~gorgeous~. Even if you know nothing about the Macross universe, or even don't really like mecha that much, I recommend that set of movies hardcore.

 

[Chairman Kaga]

Hit me up with some mild spoilers. Is there a good end for people on Team Sheryl?

 

[digi-kun]

Hit me up with some mild spoilers. Is there a good end for people on Team Sheryl?

Spoiler:

Woot! Team Sheryl wins! There are a few technicalities behind it (go watch the movie), but regardless, the confession was made, and the confession was at Sheryl.

 

[parallelzero]

Spoiler:

Woot! Team Sheryl wins! There are a few technicalities behind it (go watch the movie), but regardless, the confession was made, and the confession was at Sheryl.

Spoiler:

I really prefer Team Ranka, but they made the ending in a way that I guess I can live with. I consider the anime ending my Ranka ending, anyways.

 

[Ryoutarou]

You know, I'm starting to realize . . . aside from the original series, the romances in Macross never end the way I want them to. (not that I felt one way or the other when it came to Frontier too much, but that's definitely not the ending I had in mind)

 

[Taemin]

I wonder if I'd like the newer Macross movie(s).

I haven't seen anything to do with Macross since my friend I watched Macross Plus when we were 13.
>.> Back then I wasn't too impressed, though now days the newer ones might seem more epic to me.


As for Persona 4, loving the anime just as much or more than I loved the game. Or maybe in a different way, because the game engages you in a different way, and you see the game through Souji ("Yuu"), where as the anime tends to show you more of the other characters than him. I have a feelings it's also going to add more drama into the issues of the characters, and the dungeons. Yukiko's episodes in the anime made me tear up (plus awesome Chie action), but I felt nothing for her in the game. Here's to hoping the other dungeons in the anime are just as nifty, or better.

 

[Charizard★]

Haven't really seen any anime lately, and I'm not up to date with some of the newer ones. Anyone want to suggest me a new anime to watch from the new season?

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Mirai Nikki and Ben-To. Mirai Nikki has been a really good adaptation of a good manga and Ben-To is hilarious.

I'm probably going to watch the second season of the Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two tonight if I can be bothered, Been meaning too for ages.

 

[Charizard★]

Mirai Nikki and Ben-To. Mirai Nikki has been a really good adaptation of a good manga and Ben-To is hilarious.

I'm probably going to watch the second season of the Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two tonight if I can be bothered, Been meaning too for ages.

I've watched the first two episodes of Mirai Nikki, and it's quite good. Never seen Ben-To, but I'll look into it.

And I know this isn't an anime, but Transformers Prime has been catching my attention, which is a bad thing for anime.

 

[Ryoutarou]

That's never a bad thing. :P Prime's the first series in some time that's not actually animated in Japan. It's actually one of the better series in some time. Animated came to an end way too soon.

...and I totally have to try and watch a few of the shows I said I was going to this season. Time to go find Phi Brain and Guilty Crown!

Annnd random, has anyone else seen that new Space Battleship Yamato movie? It's pretty amazing, especially the CGI/live action integration. It's supposedly the most expensive Japanese film ever made and I'd believe it.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Good stuff.

Never liked transformers of any variety as a kid, doubt anything would have changed, didn't even like the big budget Hollywood films.

 

[Ryoutarou]

didn't even like the big budget Hollywood films.

Neither did 90% of the fandom, those movies are pretty terrible all around.

 

[Chairman Kaga]

Ben-To 04:

Spoiler:

Consider me fanserved.

I'm still enjoying this show more than any other this season, no lie. Guilty Crown just feels more generic and disappointing with each passing episode.