General anime discussion thread

Dawnstorm said:

Aww. It's really fun to watch. I like the characters, especially Mikorin and Seo (who, oddly enough, get along really well in the few scenes they have together).

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Oh, definitely! Kashima, Chiyo and Mikorin are my favourites, but really I love all of them. It's just fantastic to have such well-rounded characters. I love how they're all talented artists in some form or another, and Nozaki in no way eclipses their own skills (in fact, he can't match any of them in the fields).

My verdict on Aldnoah so far: a bit silly, not always plausible, but it's fun to watch, if you don't take it too seriously.

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Ahh, thanks for that. I was expecting it to be a bit serious/subversive (because of the Madoka team involved) so I'll need to dial down my expectations back to just wanting cool giant robots. I do love cool giant robots, though.

Haikyuu!! is a very, very typical sports anime, but for some reason I can't quite make out I enjoy it a lot (sports isn't usually my genre). It has great character dynamics, and the matches are actually suspensful to watch.

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Yeah, the same thing happened to my friends -- none of us are sportsy types but they've gotten hooked, so I'm willing to give it a shot. It seems to have a strange magic about it.

Black Butler is great; I didn't think I'd enjoy it that much. They're not chickening out on the demon business either.

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I loooveee Black Butler! Completely uncritically, 'cos hey, demons and tea and gothic aesthetics are something I love unconditionally, but I do love that they haven't been pulling their punches in this season. It's such a big improvement on the old Season 2, it's fantastic to see.

I dropped Dramatical Murder. It wasn't that bad, but my motivation to watch it was pretty low each week. It's something to marathon when I'm bored, but even then there's more entertaining stuff around.

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I think they made a critical error trying to make a PG version of a yaoi game. The plot is excellent for a visual novel, and the visual style and character designs are great (though the anime is much weaker than the VN)... but I don't know why they expected to be able to snip out the romance and still have it hold together. It's a bit like cutting open a beautifully decorated cake and watching every layer collapse.

EMaree said:

Ahh, thanks for that. I was expecting it to be a bit serious/subversive (because of the Madoka team involved) so I'll need to dial down my expectations back to just wanting cool giant robots. I do love cool giant robots, though.

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They're trying, but it doesn't quite work.

Madoka worked because it was riffing off on a genre where everything is intensly personal.

Aldnoah, on the other hand, is quite political, and while it does have interesting elements, they tend to throw twists at you that, rather than making things more interesting, reduce the complexity of the politics in favour of stock-standard personal drama.

(After watching a few shows Urobuchi Gen was involved in, I'd say his strength lies in character, but he's not that good with the big picture. Note that I'm not sure of the extent he's involved in Aldnoah; people credit him for the first three episodes; not even for series composition. I'm not sure if the original concept is his or someone elses, and what conceptual work he did.)

The action is excellent, though. Real strategy over "my beam is stronger than your beam".

I do really like that Aldnoah Zero bucks the trend of protagonist getting super strong mech to beat the enemies. Instead, Inaho is using a mech that's considered low quality even by Earth standards, let along the enemy standards, and he's out thinking enemies. And some have complained about it, but I like that he isn't emotional. He's not the cocky protagonist that taunts the enemy, but he's not the type having emotional breakdowns on the field either. He just knows what has to be done, and does.

As long as you just go into it expecting a good mecha show that avoids the standard cliches, you'll probably like it. Just, don't expect it to be the Madoka of mecha shows.

EMaree said:

I think they made a critical error trying to make a PG version of a yaoi game. The plot is excellent for a visual novel, and the visual style and character designs are great (though the anime is much weaker than the VN)... but I don't know why they expected to be able to snip out the romance and still have it hold together. It's a bit like cutting open a beautifully decorated cake and watching every layer collapse.

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'Cause they kinda-sorta-maybe-almost got away with it with Togainu no Chi? I mean, not that it made a great anime (and its lineage was much more apparent than DRAMAtical Murder's--you could pretty much pinpoint where the original must have had a rape scene in one case, frex), but it was more watchable than the current mess.

They would probably have been better off with OAVs in both cases, where they could have gone more explicit without raising any eyebrows.

You watch Aldnoah.Zero for the same reasons you watch Valvrave and Code Geass.

They're not technically good, they're full of plot holes, but they're fun and ridiculously stupid wild rides with emotionally stunted teenage chess masters, and for some reason you don't want to get off.

Guilty Crown and Death Note also fall into that category.

Talk about the new Eva movie made me look up when the damn 3.33 blu ray's are supposed to hit... and it was after a stupid amount of time looking that google itself gave me a date.

Which I now completely forgot.

Why have I not pirated that movie yet?

As for the anime I've been watching this season... Nozaki-kun and HaNaYaMaTa are my favorites.

I know HaNAYaMaTa isn't the cream of the crop of anything, but it's like a good shot of happiness and warm feelings.

Nozaki-kun is now one of the reasons I officially hate Kotaku's anime recommendations. The guy who writes those articles up claims that you need to know things about shojo manga to "get" the show. Which is bullshit. It's all rather self-explanatory and the show is technically a shonen. Which, by-the-way, seems kinda weird to me, but I'm starting to feel that shonen/shojo/seinen/josei are all nonsense marketing terms anyway.

Glasslip is garbage. And I agreed to write terrible articles about it. Someone shoot me.

Antonin said:

Talk about the new Eva movie made me look up when the damn 3.33 blu ray's are supposed to hit... and it was after a stupid amount of time looking that google itself gave me a date.

Which I now completely forgot.

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It should have been out by now, but it got delayed because Anno and the test audiences weren't happy with the dub.

Why have I not pirated that movie yet?

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No idea. Why not?

Finished Love Stage!! It was a lot of fun. Nice humor while still giving the emotions of the characters. The ending was very sweet.

Antonin said:

I know HaNAYaMaTa isn't the cream of the crop of anything, but it's like a good shot of happiness and warm feelings.

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I like the show, but not as much as you. It's got one of the best openings, this season, though. Fits the show to a t.

Glasslip

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is garbage. And I agreed to write terrible articles about it. Someone shoot me.

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I wouldn't quite go that far, but I might if I had write about it.

(Very few people can make giant bows work. Yanagi isn't one of them...)

elindsen said:

Finished Love Stage!! It was a lot of fun. Nice humor while still giving the emotions of the characters. The ending was very sweet.

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That was really sweet. I didn't know it was a ten-episoder, though.

Dawnstorm said:

(Very few people can make giant bows work. Yanagi isn't one of them...)

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Thems fightin words.

Antonin said:

Thems fightin words.

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Ponytail Yanagi > Giant bow Yanagi. There.

Also, Hina's rogue strand with tiny, cute hair ornaments > everyone else in Glasslip. THERE!

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Seriously, though, I noticed that PA Works story with highschool protagonists usually don't ignore the family situation. Whether it's Hanasaku Iroha, Tari Tari, Nagi no Asukara, or Glasslip, family is always at least there. Often an important part of characterisation. Sometimes, like in True Tears and Hanasaku Iroha, family business is integral to the plot. There's no conveniently getting rid of parents in a PA Works show (except in Angel Beats, as far as I can remember).

The latest Glasslip episode has demonstrated that nicely.

Dawnstorm said:

There's no conveniently getting rid of parents in a PA Works show (except in Angel Beats, as far as I can remember).

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Though the parents couldn't be in that weird purgatory place with them, they did bring up families for the ones who shared their backstory. For parents specifically, they were brought up in Iwasawa's and Yui's backstory.

I'm not crying at the Black Butler: Book of Circus finale. YOU'RE CRYING.

Anime...anime doesn't.... doesn't make me cry....

*muffled sounds of SHUT UP NO I'M NOT*

Less-embarrassing-edit: Watched the first eps of Haikyuu! and Yowamushi Pedal. I like 'em both, but I prefer Yowapeda (Crunchyroll's odd amalgamation title for it) -- it told me a lot more about the protagonist and gave me a lot more background.

I barely know much about Haikyuu dude's character other than "nice and driven". He's polite but crazy-obsessive over volleyball for some reason.

Yowapeda protag: a big otaku dork who only knows how to cycle so he can go into the city and get limited edition blu-rays and figurines. Also, sings anime themes while he cycles uphill. Yowapeda dude's clumsy, has no technical biking skill, no skill with girls, probably flat-out broke...

Yowapeda wins for characerisation and body type variety/cool character designs, Haikyuu wins for plot twists and music.

Shadow Dragon said:

Though the parents couldn't be in that weird purgatory place with them, they did bring up families for the ones who shared their backstory. For parents specifically, they were brought up in Iwasawa's and Yui's backstory.

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That's true, but you might see the setting as a conceptual teenage cluster in the first place. I can't remember Angel Beats too well. Did they have flashbacks? Did the parents come across as characters (even if off-stage) or as issues?

I must admit, AB is my least favourite PA Works show, of those I've seen.

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Haven't seen Yowamushi Pedal; I'm a bit wary about a three-season long show. But the manga's from the same author as this season's Majimoji Rurumo san, which is unpretentious and charming for the most part, so I have no trouble believing it's good. (Singing while cycling uphill? Where does he get the breath?)

Dawnstorm said:

That's true, but you might see the setting as a conceptual teenage cluster in the first place. I can't remember Angel Beats too well. Did they have flashbacks? Did the parents come across as characters (even if off-stage) or as issues?

I must admit, AB is my least favourite PA Works show, of those I've seen.

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Yeah, they had flashbacks. Yui's mom could be counted as a character. Though Iwasawa's parents were mainly just shown as a little, as part of what lead to her death.

On more current anime, loved the most recent episode of Zankyou no Terror. Five is a great villain.

Dawnstorm said:

Ponytail Yanagi > Giant bow Yanagi. There.

Also, Hina's rogue strand with tiny, cute hair ornaments > everyone else in Glasslip. THERE!

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Seriously though, I'm having a hard time forcing myself to watch the newest Glasslip... ugh. I think making myself write about it really is making me hate it more. (Why did I agree to this? lol)


So Sailor Moon Crystal's animation has gotten much better, or I've just grown immune to it. Either way I'm starting to really like the show. CG has grown on me too.

Good fansubs are done by people who love the series they're working on and are willing to go that extra mile to ensure both accuracy and quality of prose--among the corporations, only AnimEigo ever cared enough to do that level of work, and they've mostly gotten out of the anime game. Plus, fansubbers don't have multiple layers of idiotic corporate management screwing things up (yes, this does happen). And, if the series is popular enough, there may be several groups competing to see who can do the best translation, which keeps them on their toes.

There are a lot of bad fansubs out there, though. I particularly remember a VHS-era sub of Ruroni Kenshin that had exquisitely terrible broken English . . . Sync errors, missing lines, speed subs with crap translations . . . These days, the availability of commercial streams does seem to create a sort of minimum quality barrier for most series, though. You kids don't know how good you've got it, and get off my lawn! ::shakes cane::

I'm not sure about the subs on the DVD/BD, but most of the Crunchyroll subbers are former fansubbers themselves. Mostly from Eclipse, if I remember correctly, but they hire new people from fansub groups all the time.

I think the biggest difference is the degree of choice in fansubs, when you can usually find a group that caters to your preferred translation style. An oldie but a classic. (Wish I had the newer version of this).

But I wonder how much longer fansub groups have. The cartel is finally dying since most of their groups don't see a point in doing simulcast shows. More and more they're moving onto doing archival work like coalgirls and THORA always have. Daiz (i.e., Underwater) is working on commission now...

And Crunchyroll+HuluPlus are pretty much "good enough" for me now that I don't bother with fansub groups anymore except for movies and OVAs.

It's an end of an era.

"We'll be here even after the world ends."

Well, gg, where are you NOW??!??

Incidentally, most fansub groups for the last couple years have been ripping Crunchyroll scripts and editing them rather than translating from scratch, usually supplemented by the Japanese captions.

Translation is incredibly subjective, and there's rarely a "best" choice. Making a comment about localization on any fansub group's blog or on /a/ is a great way to incite a shitstorm.

Space Dandy has gotten surprisingly smart and philosophical in the second season, with stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61qvDjcEZsM

We've also had a few really bittersweet episodes. Still can't quite call it an anime of the season contender, though I do think A World With No Sadness, Baby, was the best single episode of anything this season.

There seems to be a thriving German fansub scene, and I've seen other languages too (French, and I think some Spanish, Portugese, and/or Italian)--it isn't just Anglophones who do this stuff. Not to mention that legal streaming services often aren't available if you're outside the States unless you go to a lot of trouble with VPNs and the like.

Black Butler was very good. I marathoned it, so I may be behind on some things. The burning of the mansion? Geez! I knew Ciel was hard but damn! The end scene was good but brutal. That kid has a ton of issues and I love him for it.

And yay! Grell! He could be my favorite anime character. One question/issue: Why won't Sebastian do Grell, and the world, a favor and just do a tiny bit of flirting with Grell? I mean, come on, touch his cheek. The world would break into a collective nose bleed and ie!

I want that more than i should*

*nose bleed, not the death part

Dawnstorm said:

Haven't seen Yowamushi Pedal; I'm a bit wary about a three-season long show. But the manga's from the same author as this season's Majimoji Rurumo san, which is unpretentious and charming for the most part, so I have no trouble believing it's good. (Singing while cycling uphill? Where does he get the breath?)

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Ditto on being wary about such a long show: I'm uneasy about the length too, especially for sports animes. I dont' even like sports! How am I supposed to stay hooked for that long?

But hey, Free! surprised me. I'm sure Yowamushi Pedal and Haikyuu will surprise me in similar ways: with excellent characterization, and probably a lot of yaoi ships setting sail.

elindsen said:

And yay! Grell! He could be my favorite anime character. One question/issue: Why won't Sebastian do Grell, and the world, a favor and just do a tiny bit of flirting with Grell? I mean, come on, touch his cheek. The world would break into a collective nose bleed and ie!

I want that more than i should*

*nose bleed, not the death part

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Grell is amazing! It's not quite the same, but Sebastian does occassionally flirt with Grell when he needs to manipulate them.

Have you seen the Black Butler Pop Vinyl figures? I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying all of them. (Waiting to see how they look in the flesh first, though -- the colours look odd in the promo images. The uncorrected original promo image, up on Amazon, is even worse.)

EDIT: Checked on ebay and the colours actually turn out much better than either of the promo images.