What Anime Are You Watching?

Sakonosolo

Dorohedoro's CGI was hit or miss but it certainly exceeded my expectations. And parts were fully 2D, like some of the flashbacks.

I've been watching Gingitsune and Mokke, two anime series that I wanted to read their manga, but they're barely translated. I did read what's translated of Gingitsune but didn't even start Mokke. Gingitsune was fantastic (which I felt the same way about the manga chapters I read) and it just makes me wish there'd either be another season or that someone would scanlate the manga/it would get licensed. Mokke isn't really what I was expecting. It is a supernatural slice of life but just the way the stories are told is what feels off. It does pick up after a couple of episodes but it's still kind of a disappointment for me. I also watched the You're Under Arrest OVA, which was great and had fantastic animation.

Also started Heartcatch Precure, which is a series I've seen people say is a good entry point into the franchise. I've also already seen Futari Wa Precure but Heartcatch just feels pretty different, even compared to other magical girl series I've seen. It's much more saccharine (more in line with what I expected from Doremi) and it has a really bright color palette too.

pariston_hill

Yes from the previews of it I thought I would dislike more than I actually did.

.access timeco.

@Satsuki:

I watched all of Mononoke since it was on youtube. And no, not Princess Mononoke.

qX3E5F7df&index=1

This turned out to be fabulous, especially if you like Japanese myths and great art, but be warned this is the biggest psychedelic drug fest have I seen since Pink Elephants. Watch it all at once and your brain will overflow.

Oh, boy, some Mononoke love! :wub: Ever since I watched it back in 2007, it has been my absolute favorite anime. Sometimes I wish there was a more orthodox tale to that story so we could know something (anything) about the Apothecary… but I suppose it would ruin the charm if it went that way.

I have it stored here, but I will use the news of it being on YouTube as an excuse to watch it all again.

Crossword

Just finished my rewatch of both seasons of Darker Than Black + the interquel OVAs. Revisiting this series a decade later it still remains one of my favorite anime shows and sci-fi settings, and I still enjoy how colorful and varied the art style is. Not to One Piece levels of exaggeration of course, but pretty much every character with a name, and even many who don't, have an instantly recognizable and distinct look without falling into caricature (mostly). That's good character design.

I can report that the second season, Gemini of the Meteor, is far, far less disorienting if you watch the interquel OVA beforehand to provide the context on why and how Hei and Yin are in the situations that they are. And the plot isn't as confusing as I remember it being but the ending is still confusing on first blush and overall very obtuse. I think it would've helped a lot if the pacing had been tightened up a bit earlier in the series. After Hei and Suou's group reach Sapporo the show spends 25% of its runtime there spinning its wheels on the Norio subplot and I'm confident that you can cut that arc down by half without losing any important information and that way you can give the rest of the cast and the rapid-fire reveals at the end of the show more breathing room. As it is the final episode asks the viewer to hand-wave a lot away through setting-related weirdness which is "okay" since the first season asked you to do the same but it didn't have to be that way. As it stands my favorite part of the second season's ending was when Kirihara's Golgo 13-ass-looking boss randomly showed up during the credits looking exactly like Duke Togo complete with assault rifle and shredded clothing.

The first season is still great noir sci-fi, the second I think I like it a little more than I did when I first watched it now that I actually "get" it (?), but I don't blame anyone who hated it since the storytelling did it no favors and I doubt it was what fans expected or wanted from a follow up. The real tragedy though, was losing Yoko Kanno.

Wintermute

Kagushigoto's ED is so hauntingly good. They picked the right song.
Can't wait to find out what happened at the end.

Satsuki

Fun fact, there's a Black-owned/founded animation studio in Japan:
https://www.cbr.com/japans-first-black-owned-anime-studio-should-be-on-every-fans-radar/?fbclid=IwAR2QRKWd-aDz7VLAEEbSHEi0SW26UAfq28Frx1vwei5JI8zaooL9ReuU9b8

And they've worked on some big stuff. Not the main animators, but still. Keep your eyes peeled for D'Art Shtajio and their works.

Sakonosolo

Almost done with Heartcatch Precure. It's pretty good, better than Futari Wa. Has some really good fight scenes at points and manages to hype some of its moments up really well. Still not one of my favorite magical girl series though. I did like that it had a more slice of life feel than Futari Wa but it still encountered the same sort of repetition of the bad guys coming down and messing things up and having to be defeated. Though the bad guys did get some fleshing out at times, in general more than in Futari Wa, though there was one bad guy in FW that had his own character arc. Interested to see how it ends since it's already went in a direction I wasn't expecting.

Probably going to either watch season 2 of Nanoha or watch the SoreMachi anime adaptation next.

Edit: About the ending

! I think having the Infinite Precure punching Dune and then skipping to the aftermatch of everything was kind of an unnecessary thing to do. In general there wasn't really enough time spent showing how the Earth got rid of the desert, though towards the end in the flashback it shows the world starting to lighten in color after the punch. Other than that though, good ending. We get to see what the villains are up to after they were defeated and returned to their bodies (they all seemed to be in a coma in the same hospital but there's really no explanation for that given in the show, maybe it was part of Yuri's dad's activities after he joined with Dune) but only really a flash outside of Kumojacky, who joins Itsuki's family dojo. And Yuri's dad just dies, which feels kind of out of place considering the three minor villains all get their lives back and Dune even gets purified by the Infinite Precure even though ultimately he dies too. It ends with what seems like Tsubomi's sister finding the photo of the 4 of them together which could be some sort of sequel hook, though outside of the movie I don't think there's a sequel. The movie is interesting too and I'll probably watch it at some point but I noticed (because the copy I watched was the TV version, which had Precure movie trailers sometimes as the opening footage) that during a short flashback of Yuri's dad that the characters in the movie were there, so I guess the movie has them going to France and beating those guys. Whether they're even higher up than Dune or some other of his underlings.

Crossword

@Satsuki:

Fun fact, there's a Black-owned/founded animation studio in Japan:
https://www.cbr.com/japans-first-black-owned-anime-studio-should-be-on-every-fans-radar/?fbclid=IwAR2QRKWd-aDz7VLAEEbSHEi0SW26UAfq28Frx1vwei5JI8zaooL9ReuU9b8

And they've worked on some big stuff. Not the main animators, but still. Keep your eyes peeled for D'Art Shtajio and their works.

They've actually been doing outsourcing work for the One Piece anime since Wano started.

Satsuki

So I saw. Cool stuff.

zeltrax225

Darker than Black was edgey to go to anime when I was young .
Ha, I still remember YouTube comments section about Chinese Batman and the ending.
I'm still sad that the story ends where it did because damn was there a lot of potential.
The main cast character design, the villain of the week, the soundtrack and aesthetics came together to form a series with a lot of style.
Aaand a touch of depression and sadness at the end.
I didnt really get the chemistry/romance between Hei and Yin but I felt he was protecting the only normalcy he had, or you know he wanted her to have a happier life.
The entire season 2 went off the rail a little but never did broke the rules the series had laid out which was fine (despite the ending).
I still feel bittersweet when I replay the anime soundtracks not just of because of the ending but also because it was a great series with obviously a lot of passion and thought put in.
The child in me was really, really fascinated by the change in tone and the change of the main character.
And the animation and new color palette was beautiful.
Bones was the ufotable of anime studios back then.

The teacher student dynamics of Sion and Hei was too short-lived and that's only because it was pretty good.

DTB, The 2000s gem of an anime series. Good but rarely mentioned compared to stuff like Geass.

RoboBlue

I'm about halfway through Ashita no Joe 2 and it's surprising how critical of professional boxing this series is.

Admiral Sakazuki

I just finished Kyouko Surui.Well,not good,not bad.Some dialogues was boring but OST was amazing.Actually,it could be watch only for musics.I'm recommending it for short-anime watchers.

Crossword

I watched Japan Sinks 2020, Masaaki Yuasa's studio's latest Netflix anime over the past couple days so I might as well write a quick review of it while it's still fresh in my mind. No significant spoilers (and please forgive the earthquake puns that are about to come out of my keyboard, I swear they're unintentional):

! So the first episode does a fantastic job depicting the sheer terror and carnage caused by such a cataclysmic "Big One" earthquake. I can't even call it disaster porn because that implies that part of me is enjoying watching the devastation unfold in my lizard brain like in action blockbusters and stuff. What unfolded on screen during the introduction was far too intense and emotionally harrowing to call it that. So it was an extremely memorable premiere.
! Unfortunately after the introductory portion the show gets a lot more shaky, with the psychic weed cult in particular feeling like an arc-long "wut" moment, with the writing generally becoming more rote, sloppy, and predictable if you're at all familiar with disaster movie or zombie apocalypse cliches. Like with many anime the quality control starts to suffer around the middle and Science SARU's particular method of going heavy on Flash animation does them no favors when the show's production isn't on solid ground. Fortunately the show mostly pulled itself together for its final stretch. The part in episode 8 where Ayumu and Go were lost at sea was the best sequence to come out of the middle of the show. The ending was meant to be one big cathartic emotional release after nine-and-a-half episodes of nonstop tension and it was pretty good but it would've hit harder had the show's writing been at a more consistent, higher standard throughout.
! I wonder how much was changed from the original novel? It was apparently written in the '70s so I'm sure things like one of the main characters being a Youtube celebrity or the cast still being able to gather information with their smartphones weren't in the original text.

TL;DR - Excellent premiere, good ending, rather wobbly middle. And now to wait for The Great Pretender to be fully released from Netflix jail so that I can start that…

.access timeco.

Coincidentally came to talk about Japan Sinks 2020 as well. Honestly, I found it awful. It is one of those series that I know if I wasn't quarantined I would have dropped on the earlier episodes, but I am on for anything right now, so why not? Also, I love apocalyptic scenarios (I am totally in for "disaster porn", as Crossword said), so at least I knew I would have that.

Still, the series is really bad. The first episode seems to kick things with a good start, tragic but hopeful. Still, before the first episode ends I could already tell the characters were not behaving in a very believable way and worried this would get worse as it went. And, oh boy, it did. I don't think there is one single character that behaves in a way that makes sense through the entire thing and that really drags the whole series down fast. Most events are nonsensical, even the the visuals that seemed to be a big positive thing for this series become insufferable as soon as the third episode (the episode that made me feel embarrassed for previously thinking this could be good). Honestly, I don't think there is one redeemable feature here (except maybe resisting the obvious cliché of

! making the too-good-to-be-true community end up being vile and full of terrible secrets. Gotta give it to them for not conceding after it was pretty much laid down).

The final episodes get things back on track and the final one does a good job at wrapping the messages and themes properly, but too little too late. Out of the 10 episodes, episode 8 (the life boat one) is the only one I would say is a solid good one.

benrayburn

This post is deleted!

zeltrax225

The Great Pretender is freaking awesome.
I didn't know the writer for The Confidence Man JP worked on this. No wonder the incredible quality and WIT jumping in on this over Titan
If you've watched Pretender and loved it, check out the confidence man JP. It's easily one of the best series out there as long as you don't mind it not being an anime.

Crossword

lol Deca-Dence

! Most shows would've saved the reveal of the setting being an MMO LARP run by cyber-aliens that look like they're from a Nickelodeon show for much later on in the series instead of dropping it casually and offhandedly at the beginning of the second episode!

I was already fine with the show being a retro sci-fi anime Attack on Titan, but now I'm genuinely intrigued.

pariston_hill

This is some big new
https://geekculture.co/30-japanese-anime-studios-to-offer-over-3000-free-titles-in-new-animelog-youtube-channel/

HannaK

I'm watching COWBOY BEBOP and enjoy the music, maybe because I'm getting older and My aesthetic has changed.

Nobodyman

Finally watched Madoka Magica for the first. Yep, this is good stuff. Definitely earned its reputation.

! The ending is, uh…certainly an ending. And I can't help think there must have been some better wish Madoka could have made. I mean, I guess the ending is a net good for Madoka and her friends and the universe, but couldn't she have wished that the heat death of the universe will never happen or something? Which, of course, opens the question, if Kyubei's race can grant literally any wish, including making Madoka an omnipresent deity, why can't they resolve this heat death thing without turning teenage girls into witches? Oh well, maybe I'm nitpicking.
! And even though witches no longer exist, they now have to deal with these wraith things that were never alluded to before. They just...exist. So is this really a net gain? Are they more manageable or less harmful than the witches?
! Also, the writers may have overplayed their hand by making Cleopatra and Joan of Arc magical girls. And apparently Kyubei's race is responsible for the advancements of humans...somehow.
! And how many times do I have to hear that "Do you care about the cows and pigs you slaughter?" comparison? No! That just doesn't work.
! Oh well. The characters are what really make this show stand out. Madoka, Sayaka, and especially Homura have great emotional arcs. And although I knew a fair amount about this show going in, it did keep me guessing and gave me a few surprises with the plot developments.
! Guess I'll watch the Rebellion movie now. Also, I understand there's a Madoka Gaiden TV series, but based on the MAL score, I'm guessing it wasn't well received.

Sakonosolo

! I've heard people wonder about why she didn't just wish for the heat death to not happen but that's kind of just an inherent principle of the universe I'd imagine. Just like she probably couldn't create a new world where gravity didn't exist but keep it mostly the same otherwise that probably wasn't possible without significantly changing things. The wraiths are similar in the fact that human curses or whatever is never going to not exist and there's nothing she could do about that, she just changed the way in which it manifests to keep the issues with magical girls from being a thing. Wraiths are basically incarnations of human "curses"/hatred. Witches manifested from these emotions originally but now that wraiths exist they're basically personifications of those emotions that don't involve anyone turning into them, which was the issue with magical girls turning into witches. The logic for the incubators being responsible for human advancement is that great people (I don't know if it's only women or if they're just the only ones shown because we're talking about magical girls) were great because of the wishes they made. Or the wishes made their potential able to be manifested. How do you think the livestock metaphor doesn't work?
Rebellion's really divisive. I personally think it makes sense and works great but others argue otherwise. It's also imo one of Shaft's best visual works. At least that I've seen.

Nobodyman

! @Sakonosolo:
! > I've heard people wonder about why she didn't just wish for the heat death to not happen but that's kind of just an inherent principle of the universe I'd imagine. Just like she probably couldn't create a new world where gravity didn't exist but keep it mostly the same otherwise that probably wasn't possible without significantly changing things.
! Alternatively, she could have wished for some other method to deal with the heat death. Something that didn't involve the sacrifice of innocents (oh, but then I guess we'd all still be living in caves without Kyubei's intervention for…some reason).
! > The wraiths are similar in the fact that human curses or whatever is never going to not exist and there's nothing she could do about that, she just changed the way in which it manifests to keep the issues with magical girls from being a thing. Wraiths are basically incarnations of human "curses"/hatred. Witches manifested from these emotions originally but now that wraiths exist they're basically personifications of those emotions that don't involve anyone turning into them, which was the issue with magical girls turning into witches.
! Yeah, but the whole point of the witches is that the only exist because Kyubei's race interfered. Introducing some other mystical threat at the end just seems really arbitrary. Like, why didn't wraiths exist in the original universe? It was made clear that only magical girls turn into witches, so what about the negative emotions of all other humans in the world?
! > The logic for the incubators being responsible for human advancement is that great people (I don't know if it's only women or if they're just the only ones shown because we're talking about magical girls) were great because of the wishes they made. Or the wishes made their potential able to be manifested.
! Again, the show made it clear that only teenage girls are selected to be magical girls. I hate to say it, but most advancements over human history have been made by men, so how does the magical girl system factor so much into human development?
! > How do you think the livestock metaphor doesn't work?
! Because cows, pigs, etc. are not intelligent sentient life forms that we can communicate with. That's my reasoning anyway. I guess you could argue that sentience doesn't matter and a life is a life, but they could at least argue that point one of these days. Really, I'm just sick of hearing that same damn argument without them addressing it.

zeltrax225

About the last point,

! I mean I can't communicate with the thousands of people dying everyday and I could only care so much.
I can communicate and reach out to the innocent lives lost everyday or the people working in sweatshops, but I likely won't.
I can at least acknowledge how they might feel similarly to how I can acknowledge how life stock feels before they die.
But life goes on and I think thats the point. Using communication and not being able to do so as a reason doesn't make a strong case when most of mankind history shows that that doesn't make much of a significant difference.
Hope I at least explained that for you.

Sakonosolo

! @Nobodyman:
! > Alternatively, she could have wished for some other method to deal with the heat death. Something that didn't involve the sacrifice of innocents (oh, but then I guess we'd all still be living in caves without Kyubei's intervention for…some reason).
! I mean I don't know what it could have been. The way Kyuubei deals with things works outside of the sacrificing magical girls. So the curses just changed forms and Kyuubei still collects energy similarly through the wraiths.
! > Yeah, but the whole point of the witches is that the only exist because Kyubei's race interfered. Introducing some other mystical threat at the end just seems really arbitrary. Like, why didn't wraiths exist in the original universe? It was made clear that only magical girls turn into witches, so what about the negative emotions of all other humans in the world?
! I think the witches weren't handled very well honestly. It's hard to believe that all the witches they fight over the course of the show were former magical girls. The point is though that Madoka can't get rid of negative human emotions. And the wraiths exist because those negative emotions still exist even without witches and they need to go somewhere. Presumably the negative emotions of normal people feed witches but like I said above I don't think that was very well thought out.
! > Again, the show made it clear that only teenage girls are selected to be magical girls. I hate to say it, but most advancements over human history have been made by men, so how does the magical girl system factor so much into human development?
! I was thinking this when I made my post. But I guess we're supposed to believe that Madoka's universe is somewhat different from ours. You can already see differences in the environment, like how Madoka's school is set up and such. Again, another poorly thought out thing in order to make the magical girl setup make some sort of sense.
! > Because cows, pigs, etc. are not intelligent sentient life forms that we can communicate with. That's my reasoning anyway. I guess you could argue that sentience doesn't matter and a life is a life, but they could at least argue that point one of these days. Really, I'm just sick of hearing that same damn argument without them addressing it.
! Kyuubei uses that argument but also says that he does accommodate humanity for their sentience. So the analogy doesn't fit perfectly but it's an example he was giving to a middle school girl. And I'm pretty sure it's only brought up once (twice at the most) so I didn't feel like the show was hitting you over the head with it.

zeltrax225

I never really got to watch the entire HxH 2011 in it's entirety (was always manga and looking up YouTube clips)
Started a week ago and caught up to mid chimera.
Rewatching and re-experiencing hunter X hunter makes me slightly tear up because of how insanely good Togashi is and how this masterpiece exists.
This reaffirms HxH as the undisputed king in terms of characterization and storytelling.

JinbeiKun

I'm watching Bleach!

El-Matematico

I watched Deca-Dence and Appare-Ranman (both ended this week). The first one was very good, really unexpected twist early on and interesting premise, though it wasn't explored too much (just 13 episodes). Appare-Ranman was ok, it just wasn't what I expected but it was entertaining. It had some tone issues (jumping from serious to humorous and viceversa) but not too jarring. Also 13 episodes.

Also Re: Zero season 2 but that has a thread and I'm not too invested anymore.

Lancer21MiG

I've recently finished whatever is already present on Youtube of Memories of Phantasm, the fan made animated adaptation of the Touhou game series. I wanted to watch it for a while, but committed to beating at least some of the games before watching the adaptation!

starlalilymoon

I'm watching several anime currently. Almost done with Gakuen Alice, it's a really cute anime, though can be rough at times. Besides that I'm rewatching A Certain Magical Index season 1 as well as One Piece. (Never really caught up with the anime, but right now in rewatching episodes from the beginning… though it take me forever since I'm slow on these things.) I do also plan to watch Toradora soon, so can't wait for that.

Captain Krupp

Healin' Good Precure!

Sakonosolo

Felt like rewatching Hidamari Sketch. Rewatching isn't something I generally do but it's nice seeing it again. It also makes more sense now that I have the context of the show as a whole since there's a lot of stuff that just goes over your head because the series is not in chronological order so episodes will reference things that'll only be introduced in later episodes, sometimes not even in the same season. Also started a few more series. Non Non Biyori Repeat, Yuyushiki, and the anime of Hime-chan no Ribbon as I've read the manga already. Trying to see if I like watching a small bit of a lot of series more than binging a single series. Longer series especially can sometimes get tiring if I binge them, and Hime-chan no Ribbon has 61 episodes.

Kinomoto

Finished my rewatch of the original Cardcaptor Sakura anime a week ago or so.

Planning to watch the Clear Card sequel now when which i actually did not get around to watch yet.

Sakonosolo

The Clear Card anime was pretty disappointing imo. The manga doesn't hold up against the original series either, but the adaptation was pretty weird and while the original CCS had a lot of anime original content Clear Card's anime original content is pretty different in quality. That and they tried to combine the manga continuity and the anime continuity and it doesn't work very well.

I'm almost halfway through Hime-chan no Ribbon. Like I expected it adds a lot more slice of life episodes and skips over some of the important story moments of the manga since it won't get the point where it pays off. They created some weird rules for the transformation magic which kind of contradicts other points in the series, even in the anime. I do kind of like that they gave her an item to duplicate herself (though the clone isn't identical to Hime-chan in personality) though. It reminds me of Mirror in CCS, but this came out years before even the CCS manga.

Kinomoto

@Sakonosolo:

The Clear Card anime was pretty disappointing imo. The manga doesn't hold up against the original series either, but the adaptation was pretty weird and while the original CCS had a lot of anime original content Clear Card's anime original content is pretty different in quality. That and they tried to combine the manga continuity and the anime continuity and it doesn't work very well.

I'm almost halfway through Hime-chan no Ribbon. Like I expected it adds a lot more slice of life episodes and skips over some of the important story moments of the manga since it won't get the point where it pays off. They created some weird rules for the transformation magic which kind of contradicts other points in the series, even in the anime. I do kind of like that they gave her an item to duplicate herself (though the clone isn't identical to Hime-chan in personality) though. It reminds me of Mirror in CCS, but this came out years before even the CCS manga.

Well that kinda suck to hear since the original is one of my favorites. Well i still watch it so i can form my own opinion on it.

Sakonosolo

I'm almost done with the Hime-chan no Ribbon anime and it was really good outside of a few missteps. I have no idea why it has so many recap episodes though. It goes like 45 episode without a recap episode but then has 6 recap episodes (though with original framing) between that episode and episode 57. I wonder if they stretched themselves too thin or something. I want to watch the third season of Doremi but I don't really want to start another 50+ episode show right now. Might watch Flip Flappers, which I've been meaning to. I've also been rewatching Hidamari Sketch recently and am almost finished with that too.

Wintermute

New season is packed, and due to Covid I have time to watch everything I like o_o

Watched some crucial episodes of Higurashi for the sake of nostalgia.

Yuru Camp is as comfy as ever, and now you can follow their camp tours even better on google maps.

Neverland deviates from the manga, so I wonder where it goes.

I heard Slime does it too, but it's entertaining as ever imo.

Heaven's design team is both funny and educational.

And then we have Non non Biyori and Dr. Stone, which I just love.

AoT and OP are on the menu too.

Still have to check out Ex-Arm and the new season of Cells at Work.

Guilty pleasure would be Redo of Healer. Depraved people, nothing but doing depraved shit.

El-Matematico

Wonder Egg Priority is an excelent anime original this season, definitely recommended.

Khamolen

Wonder Egg Priority is anime-as-fuck but in a really good way.

Nobodyman

Been watching Gundam 00. Finished the first season and now a few episodes into the first season.

Kind of weird how this is the one Gundam that, supposedly, is set in our world. And, honestly, it does feel kind of in bad taste when they reference real life conflicts, like the Northern Ireland conflict. But thankfully, they don't do that too much.

And it could just be me, but this series really lays it heavy on the drama, even for a Gundam series. Like, there's some seriously dark stuff in this show to the point that it becomes kind of absurd.

And man, even the most villainous characters in Gundam are usually just a very dark shade of grey, but there are characters in this show that are just balls-to-the-wall evil.

! And Season 2 hasn't gotten off to the best start, especially with Lockon being replaced by a twin brother that was never mentioned or alluded to in the first season (hell, they even a flashback to his family and there was no twin brother to be seen).
But aside from all that, I think it's still a pretty good Gundam show. As over-the-top as it can be, the drama is still engaging, and it's got a large cast of mostly interesting characters playing off each other in unexpected ways, which I love. Personally, I'm most invested in Saji and Louise's story and I hope they at least get a happy ending when all is said and done

leyevuqi

Two of the series I'm watching right now are Kira Kira and Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure! I recently finished Healin' Good and loved it, and I'm also in love with Kira Kira and Tropical Rouge. Pretty Cure is so amazing. It's inspiring and healing and cute!
I love big tits. and the best tits I've seen are only here https://www.bigtitsporn.xxx/

Crossword

Continuing my thing of watching some series from the '00s that I missed out on I've finished the two seasons of Ghost In the Shell Stand Alone Complex. Unsurprising for the franchise both of these seasons were extremely dense with all of their asides into philosophy, technobabble, political theory, etc, etc. You really had to be sharp to keep up with the show's conspiracies and I feel like I would've been completely and utterly lost if I had had to watch these episodes weekly. The first season felt a little more "personable" than the second since the stakes were mostly lower and there were more one-off episodes whereas 2nd GIG had every last episode tie into the overarching plot. 2nd GIG giving Motoko a childhood backstory makes me wonder how involved Masamune Shiro was in the project since as far as I remember she didn't have one in the manga and he's given a "concept" credit at the end of each episode alongside the screenwriter that's seperate from the usual "created by" credit at the start of the opening sequence.

Speaking of, having read both parts of the manga a few years ago it's very amusing how…sanitized the rest of the wider franchise is in comparison, exploding heads aside. Like, the anime only implies that Mokoto is fuck buddies with two other women while the manga… And the wider franchise sure loves homaging that "an invisible Motoko falls by a window and blows a guy's head off" from the manga over and over and over again...

I know that Stand Alone Complex had a third season released last year with the same showrunner and voice cast, but since it's entirely CGI I have zero interest in watching it.

mozine

Right now, I'm currently watching Yu-Gi-Oh 5d's for the first time in 10 to 5 years.. And GX in 14 years. GX brought me a lots of memories of the 4kids dub.. I never gotten to viewing the whole series, of course I have to watch the Japanese dub after. I finally re-saw the first GX season and now the 1st season for 5D's. After I finish seeing it's 1st season, I'm intending to resume GX 2nd season, and then 5D's, swiping season to season. A chance to complete it from my backlog.

Nobodyman

Just started watching Devilman Crybaby. Honestly, this show is kinda funny with how over-the-top gory it is.

talleychan

Yes I felt that I was more unpleasant than I really did from the previews.

onemoment

I saw the opening for Dragon Maid, and then the first episode. After all that tragedy a few years ago, where several members of their studio died, seeing this show's second season feels special. It's like they overcame a struggle to bring out an episode that was cute and exceptionally well animated. Good for Kyoto Animation.

Nobodyman

Recently finished the Toradora anime. It was a cute and fun romance anime that managed to tug my heart strings. Though this another example of an anime with a "short" 17-year-old girl, which just feels like the artists' way of getting around having a romance with an underage loli girl, which is kinda creepy to be honest.

Also, I really don't get the point of Ami's character. She's just a bitch who none of the main cast have any reason to hang around with and she never really affects the main plot at all.

zeltrax225

@Nobodyman:

Recently finished the Toradora anime. It was a cute and fun romance anime that managed to tug my heart strings. Though this another example of an anime with a "short" 17-year-old girl, which just feels like the artists' way of getting around having a romance with an underage loli girl, which is kinda creepy to be honest.

Toradora's author is a female author and her subsequent work Golden Time is well known in the community for some really good depiction and subversion of the stereotypical japanese girl.
The loli/cute little girl that looks like an adult is an ingrained part of the anime culture for years and yes maybe some people might find it comfortable but a significant portion of the community do find it adorable and don't sexualize stuff unless the author goes out of his way to do it. Which is usually commercial crap.

Either way, this is the stereotypical superimposition of "my culture and perspective is better" without bothering to even search up the author.

Also, I really don't get the point of Ami's character. She's just a bitch who none of the main cast have any reason to hang around with and she never really affects the main plot at all.

She played a huge part in developing Taiga's character and personality. She may seem like a bitch but there's an actual reason for that (her upbringing and stardom). Also, she's kind of the narrative device to show how unhealthy Taiga/Ryuji relationship can be at times. Her not being in love (At least not explicitly to the extent of the other two) with the mc is actually refreshing back then.

Sorry if I came off strong but I was a huge fan back then and wanted to rebut some of your points.
I'm glad you liked it, there's a reason why it has a classic cult status.

Nobodyman

@zeltrax225:

Toradora's author is a female author and her subsequent work Golden Time is well known in the community for some really good depiction and subversion of the stereotypical japanese girl.
The loli/cute little girl that looks like an adult is an ingrained part of the anime culture for years and yes maybe some people might find it comfortable but a significant portion of the community do find it adorable and don't sexualize stuff unless the author goes out of his way to do it. Which is usually commercial crap.

Thank you for the information.

That said, regardless of the author's gender, it still feels kinda weird. But with Toradora, I'll grant that the author did at least make her shortness an important part of Taiga's character.

Another series I watched a while back, Angel Beats, had another short girl that got into a romantic relationship with a normal-sized guy, but with that one there wasn't even a reason for her to be that short. She just was. Honestly, I didn't even get she was supposed to be the same age as everyone else till towards the end.

And while it's true that these characters are not (explicitly) sexualized, they still end up in romantic relationships with men who are twice their height. It just feels iffy to me.

Either way, this is the stereotypical superimposition of "my culture and perspective is better" without bothering to even search up the author.

I wasn't trying to say that. I'm just saying this one aspect of the show made me kind of uncomfortable.

She played a huge part in developing Taiga's character and personality.

Hmm, didn't really pick up on that.

She may seem like a bitch but there's an actual reason for that (her upbringing and stardom).

Of course there's a reason for it, but it doesn't make her any less unlikeable.

Sorry if I came off strong but I was a huge fan back then and wanted to rebut some of your points.

Not a problem. Thanks again for the info.

zeltrax225

Hello, thanks for the long and thought out reply.
I just want to say I apologize for coming off that strongly and I'm pretty sure that last line of mine was unwarranted.
I think a lot of this have to do with cultural differences and that in anime, "lolis" have been around for so long that it has been somewhat desensitized.
I don't think there's really a need to argue whether that's a major issue or not because that's a whole plethora of issues to unravel.
My point really is so that you can understand that the author likely only did it because of the "kawaii" factor, and that it's an imbued anime culture thing so it's nothing as deliberate.

On the other hand, there's a bunch of series that Japan does such as Oreimo which borders on moral deprivation and have seen mainstream appeal but Toradora is nowhere close.

Personally, I don't sexualize or have any interest down that path but I really would hate that aspect being removed because a huge charm of anime characters is how adorable they are designed.

It's something that western animation rarely comes close to.

If you're talking about how it's implying through a medium that less informed children should form relationships with older adults that are somewhat predatory and manipulative then yeah, I'm all against that.
But Toradora never felt that way, neither did Angel beats.

This is a whole lot of words to basically say yeah I should have maybe considered that you are approaching this from a genuinely fresh angle rather than that of Twitter cancel cancerous culture.
My bad for the outburst.

Nobodyman

@zeltrax225:

My bad for the outburst.

Don't sweat it. I get that you have an attachment to the show and I can understand people seeing it as entirely innocuous. I certainly don't think there was any malicious intent behind Toradora (or Angel Beats), just maybe some unfortunate implications that I wanted to voice my viewpoint on.