Anime Thread of Doom

[Gelsamel]

KLK and TTGL spoilers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5zjo573zlk


As for new anime series:

Death Parade: I hate it so much. Contrivancy upon contrivancy solely to show off as much depravity, suffering and 'darkness' as possible. I don't mind if a show is depraved or gruesome but the contrivancies and excuses required to get to it makes Death Parade seem like masturbation.

Rolling Girls: Looks really great and fun though I think they need to do a better job communicating what is actually going on in the world because I have no idea what is happening.

Junketsu no Maria: Possibly AOTS, my favourite first episode so far. Animation and character design is just great. Maria has a great personality and the show isn't afraid of the subject matter yet doesn't milk it for fanservice or arousal.

Koufuku Graffiti: Seems like a iyashikei anime about how orgasmically delicious food can be. Studio SHAFT, so it's a must watch.

[KnightExemplar]

Finally, Log Horizon kicks into super high-gear, and am pretty happy.

Spoiler:

An entire episode dedicated to Kanami's return to the East, filled with references to TMNT, Street Fighter, and Journey to the West. This is the kind of stuff I seek Log Horizon for! Also, lulz: Chinese Farming Bot becomes a Player Character trapped in the game. I definitely am intrigued by the existential issues that are occurring here...

KLK and TTGL spoilers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5zjo573zlk

I actually was at Otakon during the KLK panel discussion Amatarasu / Japanese History and how it is referenced in KLK.

The references of Kill-la-Kill to Imperialism, Japanese Foreign Policy in the late 1800s / early 1900s, Shinto state religion and such are much harder to get if you're American. Frankly, the only bits I know about that stuff is what I've watched from Kenshin + Wikipedia articles around Kenshin's historical fiction characters.

On the other hand, Gurren Lagaan's references are more straightforward to Americans. The obvious references to Mech-anime play well to the American Otaku, as mech anime has always been a staple of our diet. But furthermore, the parallels drawn between Gurren Lagaan and ancient epics are far more straightforward. (Gilgamesh's Rival is Enkidu. The rival of Gurren Lagaan is Viral, who drives a mech named Enkidu). Gurren Lagaan is built like an ancient Greek Heroic Epic, a formula that has repeated itself throughout countless stories that we study for years through school... and a formula that has repeated itself through American mainstream culture almost endlessly.

So of course Gurren Lagaan is going to be more familiar to me.

Nonetheless, it is absolutely astonishing to see the references drawn in Kill la Kill. I definitely suggest that anime-watchers study the Kill la Kill references. Learning more about ancient Japanese / Chinese stories has helped me understand anime so much more, and heightened my enjoyment of Kill la kill.

---

For those with Crunchyroll accounts, the "Japanese Folk Tales" anime is pretty good at that... and also seems to be made for 3 year olds. I'm definitely able to pick up more Japanese from that Folk Tale show because they're talking in much simplified form. Its cool how the Japanese Folk Tales have the same techniques as English ones. Names of characters are repeated... often twice or more. The names are simple Japanese words that describe the relationship very well. The number of times characters repeat "Ojisan, Ojisan", or something else in that manner does a lot to help you learn Japanese.

Anyway, despite being made for 3-year-olds, I'm finding that a lot of the other anime actually reference various Japanese Folk Tales very often. Its not necessarily to learn them to enjoy anime of course, but I personally feel bad when I don't get all the references of a particular show.

[ConMan]

As for new anime series:

Rolling Girls: Looks really great and fun though I think they need to do a better job communicating what is actually going on in the world because I have no idea what is happening.

I'd been wondering about this one. The premise of "Sengoku Jidai, in the future, with moe girls, on MOTORCYCLES!" interests me, but I don't know how they plan on playing it. I'll give it a watch for an episode or two.

Koufuku Graffiti: Seems like a iyashikei anime about how orgasmically delicious food can be. Studio SHAFT, so it's a must watch.

Watching the first episode, made obligatory "real food porn" joke, might give episode 2 a try but I think it's a little too much of the "SHAFT I don't like" and not enough of the "SHAFT I do like". so far.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu (Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!): Watched the first episode with trepidation. Will be watching the second episode hoping it's as good as the first. A magical boy anime that somehow has managed to include parodies of Sailor Moon and PreCure that are distinct enough that I could tell them apart. Many very funny moments in the first episode, so my main concern is that they'll run out of jokes 3 episodes in an resort to rehashing all the same gags.

[Gelsamel]

I'll repeat what someone else said about Rolling Girls. It's easily the most fun show of the season.

[kiniget]

Rolling Girls looks to me like it's going to be Kino's Journey + Kyousougiga
which is awesome

[Gelsamel]

Junketsu no Maria's opening theme is awesome.

As for Koufuku, have SHAFT ever done an iyashikei anime before? I think this might be their first. Also it's really weird hearing Nonoka Ai voice an adult with her childish voice.

[SlyReaper]

Just discovered Space Dandy and holy crap it's amazing. It's like what I imagine Cowboy Bebop would have been if it had been an irreverent 90s Saturday morning cartoon. Also, I want to cosplay that gorilla guy that keeps hunting Dandy.

[tastelikecoke]

As for Koufuku, have SHAFT ever done an iyashikei anime before?

They did Hidamari Sketch. (Not sure what's healing type for you, but wideface sounds regenerating)

[Gelsamel]

Rolling girls just gets better and better and better every episode.　It helps that I've been to Kyoto and visited all the places featured in the latest arc, but even so it's really just an amazing show. I really couldn't hope for anything better from it. Initially I thought of it as a great show but not necessarily AOTS candidate, and now it's basically gaurenteed the AOTS spot for me.

In fact as far as individual episodes go, Rolling Girls 8 is probably one of the best episodes of anime for a very long time.

[ConMan]

Rolling girls just gets better and better and better every episode.　It helps that I've been to Kyoto and visited all the places featured in the latest arc, but even so it's really just an amazing show. I really couldn't hope for anything better from it. Initially I thought of it as a great show but not necessarily AOTS candidate, and now it's basically gaurenteed the AOTS spot for me.

In fact as far as individual episodes go, Rolling Girls 8 is probably one of the best episodes of anime for a very long time.

They're in Kyoto now? Sweet - I just got back from there (with fiancée who just finished her year of study there, yay!) so I look forward to catching up. Random note - Uchoten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) is set in the exact area of Kyoto my fiancée was living, and through some slight miscommunication I would up passing the series to her half-way through last year so she wound up getting to watch a show filled with settings she was highly familiar with.

[kiniget]

so who else was emotionally compromised by episode 11 of Death Parade?

[Gelsamel]

So now that everything has finished what did everyone think?

For me this season was filled with poor final episodes. Either they were completely disappointing or just didn't live up to the hype.

Aldnoah.Zero

Spoiler:

They introduced so many plot threads in the last few eps that I honestly had no idea they weren't going to set up another season until after the final fight, which was pretty anti-climactic. I thought, even as Inaho was saving Slaine during the fall to Earth, that next season Slaine would be on Earths side and so on.

Junketsu no Maria

Spoiler:

The resolution made sense for what the show was about, so I can't fault it there. But it was very anticlimactic still. I wanted the Valkyries to come in and bust Michael's ass.

Rolling Girls

Spoiler:

The ending was fine, it just wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be, animation quality even dropped off in the last arc. I was hoping for something even more amazing than the Kyoto arc but I guess the Kyoto arc set a pretty high bar.

[Derek]

Aldnoah.Zero

Spoiler:

They introduced so many plot threads in the last few eps that I honestly had no idea they weren't going to set up another season until after the final fight, which was pretty anti-climactic. I thought, even as Inaho was saving Slaine during the fall to Earth, that next season Slaine would be on Earths side and so on.

Spoiler:

The thing that bugged me is that the entire season was about Slaine's machinations to obtain power. And then in the end, at the first sign of things falling apart, he just gives up. What the hell kind of manipulative bastard just quits at the first sign of trouble? The only reason we even got a climactic fight was because the other Versians decided to fight instead of follow his orders, and he eventually chose to join them, but there was no more tension or drama at that point.

[Gelsamel]

Aldnoah.Zero

Spoiler:

They introduced so many plot threads in the last few eps that I honestly had no idea they weren't going to set up another season until after the final fight, which was pretty anti-climactic. I thought, even as Inaho was saving Slaine during the fall to Earth, that next season Slaine would be on Earths side and so on.

Spoiler:

The thing that bugged me is that the entire season was about Slaine's machinations to obtain power. And then in the end, at the first sign of things falling apart, he just gives up. What the hell kind of manipulative bastard just quits at the first sign of trouble? The only reason we even got a climactic fight was because the other Versians decided to fight instead of follow his orders, and he eventually chose to join them, but there was no more tension or drama at that point.

Spoiler:

Yeah I actually had the same thought, he gave up so easily after putting up with Saaz and kiling him and all this other shit.

[Grop]

At least Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu ended decently.

Just watched the first episode of Re-Kan!, that seems very nice.

[Jay911]

Anybody been watching 'I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying'? Funny show. Even if the episodes are just three minutes long.

Slice-of-life show about an otaku who marries a "normal girl", who tries to make sense of his life and idiosyncrasies.

[Gelsamel]

Kekkai Sensen is actually really cool. It also has Sawashiro Miyuki andKobayashi Yuu in what seems like a yelly-role.

[Mishrak]

Kekkai Sensen. Looks like that's the same guy who did Trigun? Wow. I'll have to check that out. I really enjoyed his art style and his story telling.

[Grop]

Anybody been watching 'we Can't Understand What our Husband Is Saying'? inappropriately frivolous show. Even if the episodes are just many minutes long.

Enjoyed it; a season 2 has just started, but I am not impressed by episode one.

[ConMan]

I'd been a bit behind, but I caught up on the end of three series last week (spoilers for the finale of each lie within).

Yurikuma Arashi

Spoiler:

This was a quite good show, with layers of humour and metaphor and interesting plot, hidden underneath a pitiful layer of fanservice. It was good that the fanservice died off a bit near the end, and I really liked both the reveal that Sumika was Lady Kumalia (should have seen that coming, as it was really the only way to resolve the lingering feelings Kureha felt for her while also letting the relationship with Ginko develop) and the fact that Kureha had committed the grave sin of pride to assume that it was better for Ginko to become human than for her to become a bear, and her acceptance that by "destroying" herself in that way was the key to them becoming happy.

I have no idea what to think of Lulu's resolution - so she died but she went to a Heaven that's just the tree near her castle where she can finally be with her brother again? Kind of cute.

Also, the resurrection (of sorts) of the other bear was ... an unusual choice.

My fiancée watched about half of this with me before she went back overseas, but I don't know if she'll want to finish it. She's fine with the yuri (she doesn't mind a bit of fanservice, even of that kind), she loves the kuma, but the arashi hits a little too close to home. In the episode when the Invisible Storm made their move, I spent a lot of it thinking "I wonder if this is just a trick" but she knew right away what they were doing because it had happened to her

Your Lie In April

Spoiler:

That episode is everything that a final episode of a show like that should be. The piece they chose for Arima's final "duet" was beautifully picked, and my heart completely broke as it played. I love that they didn't even put any dialogue for most of it - and that they worked so many things in that must have been planned from the start. The scenery as they played was the same from the original OP, the story about the lie in April brought together so many aspects of previous backstories, and they even used the Kousei and Kaori version of the original ending theme which had already been released on the single of the song. I was a mess by the end of this.

Cute High School Earth Defence Club Love or whatever it's called

Spoiler:

While not as emotional as the other two shows, this was still a pretty solid ending for a good light-hearted series. While it was clear that the fish of the Press Club would be another interdimensional being, I wasn't expecting Lord Zundar to be his subordinate. And the reveal of Goro as a previous Battle Lover-equivalent was a neat way to squeeze in the crossover-with-last-series trope, alongside the many other ones the show covered. I laughed a lot at the "very important news" at the end of the episode, too - a great way to handle that silly plot point.

[Asmodieus]

Just discovered Space Dandy and holy crap it's amazing. It's like what I imagine Cowboy Bebop would have been if it had been an irreverent 90s Saturday morning cartoon. Also, I want to cosplay that gorilla guy that keeps hunting Dandy.

Space Dandy was an instant favorite of mine. The characters are such broad strokes that every episode can be so radically different and still maintain this essence of Dandy. Also, the animation style is fantastic.


Have any of you guys seen the movie Dead Leaves? It's this 50 minute short directed by Imaishi. It's absolutely ridiculous and it's 100% what Imaishi is about as a director. The art style is idiosyncratic but it knows what it wants to do, and the violence is obscene. I don't want to ruin too much for those of you guys who don't like spoilers, (I will say that the plot is virtually non existent) but basically these two people one is a guy with a tv head and the other is a woman with different colored eyes wake up naked in the outskirts of a city without any recollection of their past, then they go into the city and run into trouble and get sent to a prison colony on the moon.

[Jorpho]

Have any of you guys seen the movie Dead Leaves? It's this 50 minute short directed by Imaishi. It's absolutely ridiculous and it's 100% what Imaishi is about as a director. The art style is idiosyncratic but it knows what it wants to do, and the violence is obscene. I don't want to ruin too much for those of you guys who don't like spoilers, (I will say that the plot is virtually non existent) but basically these two people one is a guy with a tv head and the other is a woman with different colored eyes wake up naked in the outskirts of a city without any recollection of their past, then they go into the city and run into trouble and get sent to a prison colony on the moon.

Yup, went slightly out of my way to rent it once. It's reasonably unique, but I wasn't particularly thrilled with it. Perhaps I've seen too much already.

It would be best described as "a standalone thing from the guy who did FLCL" for those who can't immediately recall Imaishi's name.

Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill are, alas, only somewhere on the increasingly sad list of things that I should get around to watching someday.

[Asmodieus]

I saw Dead Leaves when I was like, 12. Up to that point I had only seen Saturday morning cartoons so Dead Leaves was impactful, it felt sacrilegious but enthralling as well.

I wasn't too big on Gurren Lagaan, but I really got into Kill la Kill as it was coming out. My problem with Kill la Kill is that there are a lot of moments throughout the series that were fan servicy but also really uncomfortable to watch and as I was watching I was wondering what his motivations for writing those things in were.

Speaking of uncomfortable fan service

http://animatorexpo.com/sexandviolencewithmachspeed/

[Grop]

I just watched Dead Leaves, that was fun.

[kiniget]

Triage X is proving to be better than I expected, though far from perfect. some characters are fun, others are deadly boring (particularly the guy who is apparently the main protagonist). The action is generally good, though occasionally stilted and disjointed, the music works, the art is very decent, and the fanservice so far hasn't been that bad, censorship aside.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this one

[Gelsamel]

Kekkai Sensen is proving to be really awesome. It just oozes style. Alternature universe New York with aliens and demons and portals to other dimensions and an awesome jazzy soundtrack. Opening by Bump of Chicken and a character voiced by Kobayashi Yuu! Everything you could possibly want.

Edit:

In other news... Seraph of the End started off kind of interesting but the latest episode has completely destroyed everything good I had to say about the show. It looks really horrible now and unless something drastic happens I don't see it turning around.

[Negated]

Following Arslan Senki and Fate UBW this season. Fate UBW keeps up with the high standard of its first part. I really like the additional background of Ilya and Caster they added. Arslan has a pretty solid start. I think it has a decent story and some very likeable characters to keep me interested.

[Gelsamel]

Hibike! Euphonium is everything good in the world. Everything about it just great. I also love how different it feels to most highschool SoL stuff.

[PeteP]

I just tried the first punchline episode. What a juvenile concept.

Kekkain Sensen is enteraining, Rinne seems alright, Gintama is standard Gintama, Re-kan is okay, haven't tried hibike yet, Show by Rock is okay, Yamada well I know the manga so I already know what happens but seems to be a passable adaption.

Edit: looked at hibike, kyoani still gives all girls a light permanent blush which still looks a bit weird. (Not as weird as the inward facing feet of course.) The show seems alright.

[Gelsamel]

I feel like this video expressed well what I like about Hibike!: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mq96k

[PeteP]

Have watched the first five episodes, "it's alright" remains my assessment.

[Gelsamel]

Everyone likes different things.

Spoiler:

Loved this moment so much

[PeteP]

It looked nice. Btw if it was romance or harem she would be the obvious main love interest.

[Gelsamel]

Btw if it was romance or harem she would be the obvious main love interest.

Not something I really thought about. xD

[PeteP]

Btw if it was romance or harem she would be the obvious main love interest.

Not something I really thought about. xD

It's what I thought after that scene, the way the MC looked at her and then the line about her smile being mysterious. Though really if the MC was a guy almost every sign of interest or positive feelings is an indicator of likely love interest if there isn't already a stronger one. (And I find that kinda annoying, tbh.)

[Grop]

Arslan Senki is ok enough for me to watch it, but the story has some big flaws, especially in everything concerning the Lusitanian army. Grats for calling the slaves to help them right after showing how cruel they are.

[sardia]

Arslan Senki is ok enough for me to watch it, but the story has some big flaws, especially in everything concerning the Lusitanian army. Grats for calling the slaves to help them right after showing how cruel they are.

The cruelty is to make you sympathetic t to the main kid. Both sides are pretty gray, not black and white. Besides it's a good call. They either stay slaves or get a chance at freedom. There's no risk on the sieging side.

[Grop]

The Lusitanian army is trying to get Parsian slaves on their side, but they never do anything to show that they will treat them well. On the other hand they try hard showing they are very cruel. I am not a slave so I can't know everything, but wouldn't a more normal reaction from the slaves be to fear the invaders?

Also, I understand little to what you said Sardia. But I am pretty sure even the slaves in a besieged city should worry about their safety, and yet these ones seem to take for granted that life will be better after Lusitanian invasion, even though ...

That was never stated by anyone !

Lusitanians never claimed they would make the life of slaves better. Maybe some slaves made that assumption, but I don't see anything adressing that. It seems to be granted that slavery is wrong and that slaves should therefore revolt against their masters, independently from people living in a city that is being besieged by cruel foreigners.

[sardia]

The Lusitanian army is trying to get Parsian slaves on their side, but they never do anything to show that they will treat them well. On the other hand they try hard showing they are very cruel. I am not a slave so I can't know everything, but wouldn't a more normal reaction from the slaves be to fear the invaders?

Also, I understand little to what you said Sardia. But I am pretty sure even the slaves in a besieged city should worry about their safety, and yet these ones seem to take for granted that life will be better after Lusitanian invasion, even though ...

That was never stated by anyone !

Lusitanians never claimed they would make the life of slaves better. Maybe some slaves made that assumption, but I don't see anything adressing that. It seems to be granted that slavery is wrong and that slaves should therefore revolt against their masters, independently from people living in a city that is being besieged by cruel foreigners.

Sorry I was on a phone, but it's heavily implied that the slaves were promised freedom in exchange for revolting. And lo and behold in episode 6, they flat out state "will promise freedom and wealth for revolting". Sure they're cruel, but do the slaves know that?

[Grop]

Certainly everything can be explained; what I say is that that is very unconvincing. Slaves may have been kept from every knowledge about Lusitanian brutality, and they may hope true benevolence from armed foreigners that they don't know.