Anime Thread of Doom

[Gelsamel]

Spoiler:

Nashie strikes me as an emotional person so it makes complete sense. The rational characters at the moment are all on the 'Adlet is the 7th' side, minus Hans who was convinced by direct evidence.

[kiniget]

honestly at this point I'm finding Maura to be the most suspicious, but of the three potential suspects left, none are above suspicion

and then there's Chamot who is trying to kill Hans and Adlet pretty much entirely just because she's bored

I knew that girl was bad news

[ConMan]

My current suspicion list is Nashetanya, Maura, Goldov, Chamot, in that order. I'm assuming that we've now essentially cleared Flamie, Adlet and Hans to some extent. I don't know about Adlet's suspicion of an 8th, although I wouldn't be completely surprised if one of the characters has a double or something. It's a great set-up, taking what could be a fairly standard fantasy quest setting and making the plot somewhere between a game of mafia and a mystery.

[Gelsamel]

Spoiler:

Everyone minus Chamot can be cleared if we agree with the character's logics. Namely that there is only 1 traitor and they're out to kill such that anyone alone with the killer will be killed.

Maura and Flamie have not killed each other. Neither Goldov and Nashetanya. Hans hasn't killed Adlet post accompanying him. Chamot is the only one yet to prove their innocence via no killing someone while they had the chance to.

Of course their initial reasoning is probably total bullshit.

Spoiler:

There are almost always co-conspirators in myteries such as this. Either that or motives other than simply murder.

As an aside:

Spoiler:

I think the initial sealing may have been a trick and then, when trying to undo the seal, they actually sealed it.

My suspicions are Nashie and Adlet. I'm hoping there isn't an 8th because it's tacky to have hidden characters in mysteries. Knox plz.

[Grop]

Spoiler:

Everyone minus Chamot can be cleared if we agree with the character's logics. Namely that there is only 1 traitor and they're out to kill such that anyone alone with the killer will be killed.

I didn't notice any implication that the traitor should hurry and kill anyone. But they are certainly being imprudent, grouped by two as they are.

[Gelsamel]

Spoiler:

Everyone minus Chamot can be cleared if we agree with the character's logics. Namely that there is only 1 traitor and they're out to kill such that anyone alone with the killer will be killed.

I didn't notice any implication that the traitor should hurry and kill anyone. But they are certainly being imprudent, grouped by two as they are.

It was Adlet's reason for quickly trying to get his gear so he can try and search out the other groups to make sure the real traitor doesn't kill whoever they're alone with. I was saying that, if he was right, we can clear everyone except Chamot. But I think that the assumption they'll kill straight away is a poor one.

[PeteP]

Yeah preventing the other from knowing there are 7 makes sense, now the goal should be to either stall as long as possible or try to line up a next suspect after the current one dies. Killing could work but is risky if everyone knows you were alone with them.

About shimoneta. Anna is just annoying at this point imo, let her develop from her yandere pervert personality a bit or give her less screentime.


Edit: Also Gate: the lady questioning them about the dragon attack was cringe worthy, please don't waste time with building up and then tearing down weak straw opponents.

[Grop]

Anyone watched Ghost Hound? Anime from 2007, I didn't at that time because didn't feel in the right mood (opens with creepy scenes), but this is actually pretty good.

Main character lost his sister in traumatic circumstances when he was ~3 years old, meets two other kids with complicated backgrounds as well. They have weird dreams and out-of-body experiences.

I have only watched 7 episodes out of 22 so far, and it starts very well. The animation is decent (for a non-action anime at least) and the sound track is nice, mostly made of weird sounds and only occasionally music.

I still don't know what the hound in the title has anything to do with the story.

[Derek]

Anyone watched Ghost Hound? Anime from 2007, I didn't at that time because didn't feel in the right mood (opens with creepy scenes), but this is actually pretty good.

Yes. I can't say I really liked it. It was trying to do mindscrew, but it just came off as weird and not making much sense.

[PeteP]

Just read the manga Save the World in 80 Days. I liked it but honestly it felt a bit pointless at the same time especially with that ending.

Spoiler:

So their world literary is a painting (though why is it so big then?) okay nice twist, explains the painting magic a bit, explains the thumbtacks and the giant monster, though it being visible like that in their world is a bit weird. But anyway my reaction was "So?". It went nowhere it just made the whole thing feel a bit pointless. I think a huge part is that in chapter n-1 they finally find a dragon in chapter n they fly over, the cat damages the painting, the painter crumples up the paining and throws it away and their world goes all weird. Finish. Their individual subplots don't really matter everything just ends abruptly because the plot twist is shown.

[kiniget]

Durarara x2 is in top form now

it's getting back to the things that made me love the show in the first place

and once again, it all ties back to Celty's head

[Grop]

While too lazy to check everything is consistent, I must confess I enjoy watching Rokka no Yuusha.

Anyone watched one-punch man episode one? The manga is awesome.

Also I finished Ghost Hound. While many questions aren't answered, I wouldn't say it was bad.

I am still watching Arslan Senki. I am somehow taken by the story, but action scenes, as well as everything related to people moving in the country, are trolls. This country, unlike any country in the world, was apparently built around hostile mountains: whenever you need to travel you go through mountains, the passes of which are controlled by whatever enemy you may have.

[kiniget]

I just recently finished watching (and reading) this thing called Tasogare Otome X Amnesia. basic premise is guy falls in love with ghost girl who only he (and one other person) can see, and agrees to help her uncover the circumstances of her death, which she has forgotten. along the way they solve mysteries and help people deal with ghost stories as only they can

honestly it reminds me a lot of the Monogatari series in the way it handles the supernatural and how people interact with it.

point is, I really liked it, and if you like a slow-burn plot with a lot of character development you probably will too

[KnightExemplar]

I just recently finished watching (and reading) this thing called Tasogare Otome X Amnesia. basic premise is guy falls in love with ghost girl who only he (and one other person) can see, and agrees to help her uncover the circumstances of her death, which she has forgotten. along the way they solve mysteries and help people deal with ghost stories as only they can

And be sure to watch the silly version of this in "Nanana's Burried Treasure". Where the plot don't matter, and things happen because fun.

I definitely enjoyed Nanana's Burried Treasure for what it's worth. Probably not the best anime I've ever seen... but it surprised me a good couple of times.

---------

Also, Nadia / Evangelion joke:

[Gelsamel]

Rokka no Yuusha

Spoiler:

Turns out I was right?

As an aside, jesus christ the Saint of Blood is ugly.

The two new Obvious Suspects are the Saint of Blood and Goldov. For that reason it probably isn't them. But who knows maybe they'll subvert that expectation and make it Goldov. Not sure who I suspect now. But TBH I'm still suspicious of Adlet. When he claims that he is the only one they *know* can't be the seventh, that is total bullshit.

[PeteP]

Rokka no Yuusha (now I want to read the LNs I wish there was a professional translations, fan translations can be hit and miss. Some professional ones too though.)

Spoiler:

I'm sure that if it is Adlet he doesn't know it. Subtle mind control is a possibility. Or he got a fake seal but is free to act however he wants and it's just there to sow distrust among them with an hard to find eight. Because it's almost impossible to positively identify a fake that is unaware and still acting for the group.

Also I wish anime switched to an international online distribution model because then low rating shows would have a better chance of a second season.

[KnightExemplar]

Also I wish anime switched to an international online distribution model because then low rating shows would have a better chance of a second season.

I went to the Pony Canyon panel at Otakon. Pony Canyon is definitely looking more and more into international audiences, but it seemed clear that they are still in the initial stages of it.

In any case, I'm behind on Rokka, so I'll be staying away from those spoilers. Definitely an interesting show though.

[ConMan]

Also I wish anime switched to an international online distribution model because then low rating shows would have a better chance of a second season.

I went to the Pony Canyon panel at Otakon. Pony Canyon is definitely looking more and more into international audiences, but it seemed clear that they are still in the initial stages of it.

In any case, I'm behind on Rokka, so I'll be staying away from those spoilers. Definitely an interesting show though.

Definitely stay away from the spoilers. The second-to-last episode finally reveals how everything was done, the last episode reveals whodunnit.

Speaking of endings, we watched the last episodes of Charlotte, Rokka and Shimoneta (Boring World) last night, and ...

Spoiler:

What is up with these non-endings? In Charlotte we spend the whole episode with Yu dealing with the aftermath of the previous episode, then he makes a plan to go out and fix everything ... and who knows if it works? Did the mysterious ability user who fought him last episode have any backstory? Do we ever get to find out if the singer from ZHIEND had an ability too, and if so what? For that matter, in this timeline I don't think her concert has happened yet so she hasn't visited the sanitarium where the brother is to help soothe him, so will that still be a thing?

In Rokka, yay we found out who the seventh was, and it turns out she's some kind of fiend-thing? Ok fine, and now we have a new member of the group so there's still a fake who didn't spring their trap this whole season, and the fiend who essentially destroyed Adlet's village is apparently getting in on the action too, but we'll have to find out more another day.

And in Shimoneta, apparently the previous episode was the real finale and this is just an extra episode, which I guess is fine and this was never really about the plot in the first place, but still there's so much more to deal with.

[KnightExemplar]

Rokka was a light-novel adaptation, with 6 books published currently and more to come. Naturally, it was going to take more than a season to cover it. I'd be surprised if 12 episodes was enough to cover more than the first book written.

The majority of anime are non-endings. Sure, more anime have actual endings than say... western TV series, but TV shows in general have the funding problem. Most shows can only afford 12 episodes, so most studios make the run... hope they make enough money on DVD sales or whatever... and then when they have the money to fund a episodes 13 through 26, they do so.

And the studios that don't make the money drop out. It is what it is.

[ConMan]

From what I've heard, the Rokka anime covered several of the light novels, and that's not an unusual situation. In fact, I believe there are a few LN adaptations (and Rokka may be one of them) where the series covered so much material that they can't make another season because there isn't enough material left.

I know it's a thing, it's just a frustrating thing when you want some closure and instead you get something resembling a Takahashi ending.

[PeteP]

You heard wrong the anime covers the first book nothing more.

Anna from shimoneta is so annoying. And the thing about people finding Gori wearing woman underwear super disgusting (having to barf disgusting) is to be expected from anime but I still wish it wasn't

[Negated]

This season is coming to a close. I started by following Arslan Senki and God Eater, but ended up following Gangsta and Overlord instead.

Gangsta started off really well. The chemistry between the main cast was enjoyable. But about 8 episodes in, the story abruptly started to include more and more side characters. Suddenly there are new, unlikable, ridiculous villains that just kill everyone with a tag for fun. There are also putting focus on side characters, to the point where the main cast disappeared for one entire episode. With just one episode to go, too many loose ends to wrap up, and too little budget for another season, there is no way this can end well. It will likely be a "please read the source material for what happens next" kind of ending.

Overlord is....interesting. The setting is unique, and that leads to some funny interactions between the Nazerick characters. Some parts of the story resonate with my experience in playing MMORPG. I liked it enough to look up a fan translation of the LN. I find the LN also quite enjoyable, but it does not really go beyond the original setting. The same formula appears time and again. It's just not clear what is the direction and the end goal that the story is taking. If they make a second season for the Overlord anime, it probably won't be as good.

[ConMan]

And another show coming to a close (I think) is Tribe Cool Crew. They made it all the way to episode 48, there was a preview for 49 but I strongly suspect it will either take a break or take its bows on ep 50. Still, 48 had some cool moments:

Spoiler:

In particular, it was never really acknowledged but the Blossom Bullets routine was fantastic not just because it had some great dancing in it, but that it was specifically choreographed to mean that Yuji never had to put more than a little weight on his bad ankle - but in a way that fit with everyone else's routines, so it also didn't stand out that he was favouring the foot. So when they said that it forced them to embrace the true spirit of their dance, they meant that they had a core belief of nobody gets left out. And I find that incredibly cool, especially in a show where subtlety is not usually a strong point.

I note that there's a new dancing anime next season, but the set-up sounds pretty goofy and I don't know if I'll wind up following it. I still haven't heard of anyone making anything resembling the cutthroat ballroom dance series that I imagined with a couple of friends in a coffee shop many years back.

[KnightExemplar]

AMV Time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5OJL22UiNU

Madoka Magika set to Power Rangers intro theme song. I can't believe how well it works. It really shouldn't have worked at all...

[Derek]

That was pretty good. There's a lot of great Madoka AMVs, here's another one. I could dump a lot more as well (Madoka and general) if anyone's interested.

[Gelsamel]

What I am planning to watch next season:

Heavy Object - looks cool. I like a mecha show that isn't just metal humans.
One Punch Man - of course. Though I get a bit depressed thinking about how much will be adapted by the first season and how long I'll have to wait for the next season.
Owarimonogatari - Fuck yes.
Soukyuu no Fafner: Exodus 2 - Saw the poster for this and instantly thought "Wtf same artist that did Majestic Princes? I'm in" now I just have to watch the first season.

Other than these, just gunna see what shows up and what is popular and so on.

[Derek]

The final few episodes of Charlotte were kind of awful. School Live ended well. Gate just kind of, stopped. I guess they're going right into a season 2, but there wasn't a new episode this week.

[kiniget]

I was actually right about who the seventh was in Rokka no Yuusha, which I am very proud of.

as for next season, I'm with Gelsamel on everything Soukyou no Fafner, and I'm looking at Concrete Revolutio because it looks so much like Kyousogiga, Comet Lucifer, Dance with Devils because why the hell not, Lance n' Masques, Noragami Aragoto because fuck yes,Taimadou Gakuen because someone said the LN was actually surprisingly good, and Valkyrie Drive because it just might be another Cross Ange

[sardia]

I was actually right about who the seventh was in Rokka no Yuusha, which I am very proud of.

as for next season, I'm with Gelsamel on everything Soukyou no Fafner, and I'm looking at Concrete Revolutio because it looks so much like Kyousogiga, Comet Lucifer, Dance with Devils because why the hell not, Lance n' Masques, Noragami Aragoto because fuck yes,Taimadou Gakuen because someone said the LN was actually surprisingly good, and Valkyrie Drive because it just might be another Cross Ange

Did you manage to guess the 8th in Rokka?

[kiniget]

Did you manage to guess the 8th in Rokka?

well, I read the prologue of the second volume, but I doubt that

Spoiler:

maura is the 8th, though she was the second most suspicious after Nashetania. But if it were her then there wouldn't be like 6 volumes would there?

[PeteP]

I read the LNs that were translated and then I read spoilers… Anyway I guessed semi correctly from that prologue what was going on, not the why though.

[Gelsamel]

Well, I picked the 7th but for the 8th, my theory is as follows:

I've not read any spoils, only seen the anime so please label spoilers which are from the LNs.

My theory for Rokka

Spoiler:

To prove he is the strongest in the world, and for some other unknown complication, Adlet teams up with Nashetania to infiltrate the 6 heros. There are some off-screen scenes where they collude. Possibly pre-Tournament or possible during their travel to the Shrine area.

Adlet and Nashetania organize the everything that goes down in the first season. They're both in on it. And Adlet blames Nashetania, as planned, so he can remain in the group and gain their trust.

At the end of the first season, Adlet says they should follow him since he is the only one they know can't be the 8th. But that it total horse shit, that is just what he wants them to believe after the Nashetania ordeal.

Nashetania will go off and do her own things while Adlet continues to confuse and mislead the group in S2.

Why are they doing this? Either just to prove he is the strongest man on earth, by defeating the demon god by himself... OR there is some unseen circumstance that would prevent the heros from winning this time around, and Adlet/Nash are intervening in order to gaurentee the day is saved. Either that or something about wanting to end the cycle forever rather than just resealing him. There also might be something there about demons and humans living together in peace, since we have both Nash and Flemie as part-demon characters.

The exact reason why they need to pretend to be heros, not sure. Maybe just to get into the demon land, they'll need to pretend to be the heros. Or maybe they need to trick them into doing certain things for their plan to succeed.

In the end, I don't think they want to kill anyone at all. They want everyone to survive, and then they want to defeat the demon god permenantly or at least save the heros from what was an inevitable death. Maybe Adlet will sacrifice himself at the end, not sure.

This fits in really well since only the strongest man on Earth could possible pull all of this off, and actually do it for a good reason and end up with a good outcome.

[PeteP]

Rokka no Yuusha novel

Spoiler:

Heh interesting theory there but wrong. If someone wants a big hint:

Separate spoiler for bigger spoiler:

Spoiler:

The eight has no idea they are the eight. Which makes it so much harder to identify them

Also I think Nashetania is quite serious about being willing to let a few 100k people die to achieve her plans.

[sardia]

Spoiler:

Bunny girl isn't a demon, just a race traitor.

[Negated]

I watched One Punch Man episode 1. I think it will be the best anime of the year.

[ConMan]

Farewell, Tribe Cool Crew, you truly were the best youth-oriented anime series about street dance involving assassination plans against robot duplicates ever made.

[Gelsamel]

Owarimonogatari: Amazing beyond expectations.
One Punch Man: Looks like it'll be great fun. I hope the fight scenes are as good as they are in this first ep. I worry about how little will be adapted in the first season though.
Heavy Object: Why fanservice why. Cool setting and all but the constant "Oh me yarm this chick's boobs" is just ridiculous. The first episode also didn't really setup all that much. Was the end a flash foward or was it his imagination? I'll keep up with this for a while to see what it is like.
Fafner 2: After watching the whole of the first season I really feel like I need to have watched the older non-Exodus series as well. This first episode continues on with little fanfare or setup, like it's not even really a second season. Then again the end of the first season just happened at some random point... like no cliffhanger or climax or anything. So weird. Will keep with it though.

[PeteP]

About heavy object, fanservice aside somehow I can buy warmachines so durable that they blow everything away less than I can buy mechas although mechas are quite ridiculous.

Tanking everything doesn't work with modern weapons. (Yes tanks are armored and durable, and battleships too but they can't just shrug off serious attacks.) Also their weapons are on the outside how did they survive the nuclear weapon? And if it is that durable you would use the miracle armor on other things too and then give them the weapons these things use to hurt each other. I can't buy the making planes obsolete for combat. (maybe if the things can also fly)

About the belt-boobs scene, I wish many animes were a bit more mature they often have elements that appear a bit juvenile.

[Flumble]

This seems to be where Ghibli films are tucked away.

Recently, I've watched the tale of the princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) and it was fantastic. Although the plot is simple (it sticks to an old, short folk tale, stretched to 2 hours of art), the animation is wonderful with its watercolours and crayon drawings and the soundtrack is nice. But what makes it really great, is how angry and sad the film made me. It makes you want to punch the father in the face, because basically everything (bad) that happens in the film is his fault, over and over again. (of course, I'm watching it with a individualistic/libertarian view, not a Japanese, feudalistic, buddhistic one) This film does not have a happy ending.

[Grop]

Kowabon may be fun; three minutes horror show (episode one was very soft).

I haven't tried Owarimonogatari yet but I plan to.