What Current Anime Series Are You Watching? v2.0

[Keith]

Dirty Pair TV has been licensed!!

[bluemax151]

I do love Right Stuf. They're the only company I'll order Anime from online.

FALL 2010

[Bri]

Started watching Banner of the Stars. It is kind of confusing in the beginning, but it is better now since I am on the 4th episode. Lots of large space ships attacking another group. No real cool mecha like a mobile suit or variable fighters. But the store seems to focus on the human emotions in a war setting.

Yea, it focusses heavily on Lafiels and Jintos development. In my humble opinion the whole Seikai trilogy one of the best space opera's out there.

[Dynaman]

Yea, it focusses heavily on Lafiels and Jintos development. In my humble opinion the whole Seikai trilogy one of the best space opera's out there.

I just finished watching it, I got the feeling it didn't really go anywhere, could just be me though.

Lafiel's english VA doesn't seem to know how to put any emotion in her voice.

That said, I do have the follow up series in my NetFlix queue - but it has to wait behind Planetes and FMA.

[Castel]

Re-watching some Gundam Seed and, well, all in all it's quite enjoyable.

Some bad points, some good points, as usual.

Beside that, Kimi ni todoke ( ) and Seto no Hayanome. ( )

Edited March 18, 2010 by Castel

[bamboo-learning]

Hi guys

I am watching the following Anime:

Myself Yourself

Plot: Sana Hikada returns to his hometown after 5 years away living in Tokyo. Although there are some changes to the town, most has remained the same. On a detour to his apartments, he notices a girl in a shrine maiden outfit watching him when he visits the shrine. He finds out, the next day at school, that this girl is actually Nanaka Yatsushiro, his old childhood friend whom he gave a bracelet to before he left, that she still wears, even to this day. Life is what’s ahead of him, so he needs to jump over the gap between his memories and the reality in front of his eyes and move on.

It's a nice anime!

Regards,

[wolfx]

Yea, it focusses heavily on Lafiels and Jintos development. In my humble opinion the whole Seikai trilogy one of the best space opera's out there.

I second that. I just wished they released more seasons for it quickly. 3rd season spent too much time on the prison planet and not enough time in space.

[Ghost Train]

The best animu space opera is Irresponsible Captain Tylor, no arguments .

[aerocombatpilot]

I just started watching Zeta Gundam on Youtube. I think they have all 50 episodes on there!!!!!

[Keith]

I just started watching Zeta Gundam on Youtube. I think they have all 50 episodes on there!!!!!

Dubbed, which is like 0 episodes!

[Scream Man]

some of us like dubbed. Who are you to say we're wrong? i dont step all over people who like subs. Hell, I'll watch em if i have too.

Finished Planetes, which was amazing. From start to finish, one of the best all round animes Ive ever seen.

Now alternating FMP Second Raid and Fate/Stay Night.

hey is the Patlabor series 11 DVD's? That seems to be it, buit I cant tell if that includes the AMV follow up.

[Ghost Train]

The Railgun finale totally exceeded my expectations. For a show that never treated itself very seriously, everything from the non-canon filler came together quite nicely at the end. I'm really looking forward to Majutsu or Railgun S2, either one of which will inevitably come in my opinion.

[Vic Mancini]

some of us like dubbed. Who are you to say we're wrong? i dont step all over people who like subs. Hell, I'll watch em if i have too.

I used to be a sub/purist guy, but I'm all about dubs now. Especially for mecha/action anime. You miss so much of the detail and fast intricacy of the action when you have to keep shifting your eyes to the bottom of the screen to catch the dialogue. Hell, even in non-action slower dramatic scenes there is usually something I want to look at more than yellow text. You can appreciate the artistic visuals so much more and not feel like you're missing so much. Dubs are way more satisfying for me. It took me a while to realize it though.

[Ghost Train]

I've never had issues with subs, or felt that I have to "scroll" my eyes up & down, and I only started using English extensively as a language when I was 13.... so if I don't have a problem, no one really should.

Perhaps I'm just too right-brained and can read fast... or y'all need to work on your reading skills (jk)

[Marzan]

some of us like dubbed. Who are you to say we're wrong? i dont step all over people who like subs. Hell, I'll watch em if i have too.

Finished Planetes, which was amazing. From start to finish, one of the best all round animes Ive ever seen.

Now alternating FMP Second Raid and Fate/Stay Night.

hey is the Patlabor series 11 DVD's? That seems to be it, buit I cant tell if that includes the AMV follow up.

The Patlabor tv series is 47 chapters spread out on 11 dvd's. It does not include the Patlabor; The New Files which is another 16 chapters.

[shiroikaze]

The Railgun finale totally exceeded my expectations. For a show that never treated itself very seriously, everything from the non-canon filler came together quite nicely at the end. I'm really looking forward to Majutsu or Railgun S2, either one of which will inevitably come in my opinion.

I know man,

the part when the crazy lady completed the crystal and turned into a level 6 with laser powers was pretty awesome. Then Touma saves the day again, as usual.

I kinda find it weird how they don't mention anything about the clones... but then again, maybe they'll touch the other side of it in the next series.

[wolfx]

I know man,

the part when the crazy lady completed the crystal and turned into a level 6 with laser powers was pretty awesome. Then Touma saves the day again, as usual.

I kinda find it weird how they don't mention anything about the clones... but then again, maybe they'll touch the other side of it in the next series.

Just finished it myself. Like Ghost Train said, the finale took me by surprise and was quite awesome.

And I'm not sure if they purposely made Terestina become so much like Beatrice (from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni) in her batshit mode. Same voice actor too.

bring on the next series in the index-verse.

To quote someone on another board, "A Certain Scientific Hotplate. "

[Scream Man]

The Patlabor tv series is 47 chapters spread out on 11 dvd's. It does not include the Patlabor; The New Files which is another 16 chapters.

excellent, thank you.

And i have no problem watching stuff with subtitles, I just prefer dubs. i do other stuff when watching shows, so having to watch the screen intently take sme away from that. I'll do it, thats how I watch anything macross and how I watched all of gundam 00. But im watching a bunch of shows dubbed now and dont feel Im missing anything important.

[Vic Mancini]

I've never had issues with subs, or felt that I have to "scroll" my eyes up & down,

Well unless you have ambidextrous eyes that can independently focus on more than one thing at the same time, they have to be scrolling. And every time you scroll your eyes, they have to find their new focal point. We all know what it's like when we're trying to read a book, then something distracts us, and we have to take a moment to find where we last were on the page. Our eyes are doing this constantly when we are using subs.

As a test, try looking down at your keyboard right now and focusing your eyes on the "y" key. Don't just find it, because I know you know where it is before you even go to look for it, but focus your eyes on it. Then look back up at the monitor and find the word in this post that I italicized, and identify the spelling error in the word. Go.

How long did it take you? Was it an unfair test because your keyboard and monitor are further away than two objects on a TV screen across the living room?...or was it unfair because one italicized word doesn't stand out very much in a field of text? Fair enough. Move your chair back and try it again even after knowing where the word is. It still takes a suprising amount of time to focus from this screen onto your Y key and then back up to the spelling mistake in the italicized word, doesn't it? Now think about how fast the dog fighting sequences in Macross Zero are, and how much you could have missed in that short span of time.

Every fraction of a second spent reading dialogue, or re-acquiring your focal point, is a fraction of a second that you are focusing on the visuals less, or trying to find where your eyes were last focused. A fraction of a second doesn't sound like much, but in a fast paced sequence a lot can happen in less than a second. Hell, even in a slow dramatic sequence you might miss something...or at the very least have a fraction of a second less to appreciate it.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Vic Mancini

[Ghost Train]

Well unless you have ambidextrous eyes that can independently focus on more than one thing at the same time, they have to be scrolling. And every time you scroll your eyes, they have to find their new focal point. We all know what it's like when we're trying to read a book, then something distracts us, and we have to take a moment to find where we last were on the page. Our eyes are doing this constantly when we are using subs.

As a test, try looking down at your keyboard right now and focusing your eyes on the "y" key. Don't just find it, because I know you know where it is before you even go to look for it, but focus your eyes on it. Then look back up at the monitor and find the word in this post that I italicized, and identify the spelling error in the word. Go.

How long did it take you? Was it an unfair test because your keyboard and monitor are further away than two objects on a TV screen across the living room?...or was it unfair because one italicized word doesn't stand out very much in a field of text? Fair enough. Move your chair back and try it again even after knowing where the word is. It still takes a suprising amount of time to focus from this screen onto your Y key and then back up to the spelling mistake in the italicized word, doesn't it? Now think about how fast the dog fighting sequences in Macross Zero are, and how much you could have missed in that short span of time.

Every fraction of a second spent reading dialogue, or re-acquiring your focal point, is a fraction of a second that you are focusing on the visuals less, or trying to find where your eyes were last focused. A fraction of a second doesn't sound like much, but in a fast paced sequence a lot can happen in less than a second. Hell, even in a slow dramatic sequence you might miss something...or at the very least have a fraction of a second less to appreciate it.

The problem with your test is that you're asking me to look down then back up on the screen (unless I misunderstood you), which is not something you would do when you're watching TV, a monitor, or any type of screen, unless I was multitasking, say reading a book and watching TV at the same time. I don't really hyper-focus on every letter of every word. Even if the word on the subtitle were misspelled I know the meaning - which is proof that the brain is only trying the bare minimum effort to understand what that word is. And if the bare minimum is used, more bandwidth is focused on the action on screen. My objective is not to pick out spelling errors, but just doing the bare minimum to quickly scan the sub.

I concede there is a loss of focus, but the effects for most people are less pronounced than what you make it sound like. Likewise, your argument is self-defeating. Say, you're watching Macross Zero which is absolutely gorgeous and contains rather high levels of details. If I'm watching a dub, and say I'm focused 100% on video now... I go "wow, that cockpit is neat!" I will thus loose focus on the other 100 things that are going on on-screen. What about your cat/dog sitting at the corner? Your noisy neighbors? The hum of the computer? They're all distractions that can supposedly detract from my non-English video viewing experience, but they don't really.

Empirically, I know I'm right, the vast majority of anime fandom has no issue with subs... in fact, I'd argue that the cringe produced by crappy dubs is far more distracting than quickly picking up a few words on screen, at least for me. Of course, good dubs are good, but those are rare.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Ghost Train

[eugimon]

gods, just drop it, watch it however you like, stop trying to convince other people your way is "right". If you can't read without vocalizing, then yeah, you're probably going to have problems with subtitles, if you can speed read, a sentence doesn't take long to read.

If you like dubs, that's great, if you think they're awful and like to hear the original actors, that's great.

seriously, it shouldn't affect your enjoyment of whatever when someone else enjoys the same thing differently.

Edited March 22, 2010 by eugimon

[Scream Man]

That's my point exactly Eughi. I personally dig dubs, whatever you dig is your call. But don't talk down to me because I like a diffgeren tthing to you (Not you personally Eugi, i mean anime fans who think of us as lesser humans).

i was litening to a podcats recently where they encouraged the use of downloading and said not to buy the US releases of things, because it was better for the Japanese market, and western companies didnt deserve to get money for anything they released because "Every single one of them was worse, and broken". That kind of attitude is so stupid it hurts, and its not an uncommon thought in anime.

[ron5864]

I have postpone watching Banner of the Stars since it follows Crest of the Stars.

So now, I have begun watching Crest of the Stars. After this, then I'll will watch Banner of the Stars, which is the continuation. Don't want to mess up the story or spoiler, like how I watched Gundam Zeta first before Mobile Suit Gundam. So I already knew who was going to survive into the sequel.

[Vic Mancini]

The problem with your test is that you're asking me to look down then back up on the screen (unless I misunderstood you), which is not something you would do when you're watching TV, a monitor, or any type of screen,

Which is why I also said to try the test again with your chair back so you don't have to move your scope of vision more than you would for a TV or monitor. Hell, forget my test and just try your own little tests around the house...looking from one thing to another and noting how long it takes to fix your eyes on a detail. It always takes time for your eyes to find what they are looking for. You may not realize it, but it does. It has nothing to do with being a fast or slow reader. I'm just talking about the physical limitations of human anatomy.

Even if the word on the subtitle were misspelled I know the meaning -

Whoa. You're missing the point I was trying to make with the spelling of a word. I wasn't trying to prove that you can't catch spelling errors or make sense of the meaning of a word. I was trying to make a point about moving your eyes from point A to point B and focusing them on a specific detail. I could have have asked you to do the same test with a picture instead of a spelling error, and asked you to note some random detail....like count the number of head lasers on a valk, or note how a missile pod opens. In retrospect, I should have done that originally. That's my fault for making you think this was about the ability to read sub titles quickly and understand them and their spelling.

Likewise, your argument is self-defeating. Say, you're watching Macross Zero which is absolutely gorgeous and contains rather high levels of details. If I'm watching a dub, and say I'm focused 100% on video now... I go "wow, that cockpit is neat!" I will thus loose focus on the other 100 things that are going on on-screen.

Except that's something that can't be helped. That's just the nature of the world around us and the limitations of our eyes and the muscles that control them. Using dubs instead of subs is something that can be helped.

Hey, by all means watch anime the way you like. There is no reason this has to get heated. I don't know why people are so sensitive about it. I was just backing up Scream Man and trying to point out the benefits of dubs in response to what Keith said. It's just a simple fact that every time you use your eyes to read a subtitle you are not using them to scan the visuals. But I can totally see your point of view about dubs being more distracting than subs if the dubs are bad or annoying. That's a good point, and I'd go for subs in that case too. I used to always go for the subs when I had a choice. But if the dubbed voice acting is decent I pick the dubs every time now.

[dreamweaver13]

That's my point exactly Eughi. I personally dig dubs, whatever you dig is your call. But don't talk down to me because I like a diffgeren tthing to you (Not you personally Eugi, i mean anime fans who think of us as lesser humans).

i was litening to a podcats recently where they encouraged the use of downloading and said not to buy the US releases of things, because it was better for the Japanese market, and western companies didnt deserve to get money for anything they released because "Every single one of them was worse, and broken". That kind of attitude is so stupid it hurts, and its not an uncommon thought in anime.

Funny how you implore people to respect your opinion, and in the same breath call someone stupid for expressing theirs.

Up to ep 30 of FMA Brotherhood, and oh yes, it keeps getting better. After I update on the latest episode, i'm going for Railgun next.

[Scream Man]

But that isn't an opinion. Saying that illegally pirating fansubbed anime doesnt hurt the anime industry is just plain wrong! It's an incorrect assessment of facts, not an opinion that can be taken from either point!

The arguement the podcast made was that fansubbing only hurt the american industry. Now I extrapolated that to mean the western industry; any country that gets dubs or releases through an American company. They said that by fansubbing, we showed the american industry we wouldnt take their editing hack jobs, and that if American companies went out of business, it would be for the best, and then anime could get back to its pure roots or somesuch.

What this fails to take into account is that part of the money a Japanese anime company would earn comes from the lisencing of their products to an American company for re-distribution. In the case of a company like Bandai, that could also shrink their market in terms of the lisenced products they sell, the toys and whatnot. Now how much money a company makes on soemthing like that I have no idea, but I would bet there is a licence fee and possibly some sort of royalties or something. And then maybe there is money made when the american company sub-licences to another country (Say ADV licneced to Madman in Australia). Other than the first licence fee i cant be sure if that happens or not, but it wouldnt surprise me.

But regardless, it made their point wrong, and their emphatic enforcement of it stupid.

[Castel]

Saying that illegally pirating fansubbed anime doesnt hurt the anime industry is just plain wrong!

Wrong, it's just like the online manga chapter release on site as onemanga, it doesn't hurt the manga industry one bit. (in fact, it helps it)

Just as fansub doesn't hurt the anime industry at all.

There is a lot of facts to prove it and that's not an opinion, just the reality.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Castel

[wolfx]

ah..the great fansub debate again. Who would've thought it would make it into this thread.

Get back on topic, ppl.

[Keith]

Bottom line, if you like listening to things in english, then anime isn't for you, changing the native audio just because you can't handle it being in another language is changing the product into something that it was never intended to be, and in the process giving you a completely different viewing experience than the one that was intended by the creaters.

Subtitles are on the exact same screen as all the other action that's going on, claiming that reading letters and reading images (both involve recognition & interpretation by your brain) is inane. A ball and the letter Q are both pictures. Now excuse me while I enjoy my anime with its superior original audio track, and extra words over the already existing pictures to translate the words. BTW, shouldn't you be over at robotech.com posting since you like dubbed/changed things better?

[eugimon]

Bottom line, if you like listening to things in english, then anime isn't for you, changing the native audio just because you can't handle it being in another language is changing the product into something that it was never intended to be, and in the process giving you a completely different viewing experience than the one that was intended by the creaters.

Subtitles are on the exact same screen as all the other action that's going on, claiming that reading letters and reading images (both involve recognition & interpretation by your brain) is inane. A ball and the letter Q are both pictures. Now excuse me while I enjoy my anime with its superior original audio track, and extra words over the already existing pictures to translate the words. BTW, shouldn't you be over at robotech.com posting since you like dubbed/changed things better?

err, I'm firmly on the "sub" side of the argument for any foreign language media but that argument is pretty flawed. Unless you're a native speaker, any translation is going to change the experience "intended by the creators". In fact, EVEN if you're a native speaker the experience is different since every part of the show is a translation from what was originally intended. Adding a dub layer is just another layer of translation, from the story to script, from script to editing, from edit to key, from key to animation and then there's interpretation of the actors, on and on and on.

back on topic... just watched Summer Wars, enjoyed it, even the wife liked it and she's not into anime at all.

[Keith]

err, I'm firmly on the "sub" side of the argument for any foreign language media but that argument is pretty flawed. Unless you're a native speaker, any translation is going to change the experience "intended by the creators". In fact, EVEN if you're a native speaker the experience is different since every part of the show is a translation from what was originally intended. Adding a dub layer is just another layer of translation, from the story to script, from script to editing, from edit to key, from key to animation and then there's interpretation of the actors, on and on and on.

back on topic... just watched Summer Wars, enjoyed it, even the wife liked it and she's not into anime at all.

Let me put it this way. Even if you have a bonkers way off base subtitle translation, you're still watching the original show, just with a bad translation. When you have a dub, you remove an entire part of what's being watched, and replace it with someone elses interpretation of it.

[dreamweaver13]

ah..the great fansub debate again. Who would've thought it would make it into this thread.

Get back on topic, ppl.

Stop combining smileys and text! You're confusing my eyes. lol.

back on topic... just watched Summer Wars, enjoyed it, even the wife liked it and she's not into anime at all.

Summer Wars was fantastic. Mamoru Hosoda is amazing, and I can't wait for his next films.

Edited March 22, 2010 by dreamweaver13

[Gubaba]

Bottom line, if you like listening to things in english, then anime isn't for you, changing the native audio just because you can't handle it being in another language is changing the product into something that it was never intended to be, and in the process giving you a completely different viewing experience than the one that was intended by the creaters.

I like watching anime while on LSD, lying on the floor with my head towards the TV screen, so that I see everything upside-down. Am I a terrible person?

Keith, I know you're passionate about this, and I watch subs EXCLUSIVELY, but please don't get all authoritarian about what people should or shouldn't do when watching their own DVDs. We should all just be grateful we're no longer living in the time when subs were more expensive than dubs, and harder to find.

Back on topic, while it's not eactly "current," I'm finally getting around to watching "Now and Then, Here and There" (or, more accurately for Keith's sake, 今、そこにいる僕, which is not at all the same title). I'm only five episodes in, and it's already depressing the hell out of me (i.e. I think it's great).

[Keith]

I like watching anime while on LSD, lying on the floor with my head towards the TV screen, so that I see everything upside-down. Am I a terrible person?

Keith, I know you're passionate about this, and I watch subs EXCLUSIVELY, but please don't get all authoritarian about what people should or shouldn't do when watching their own DVDs. We should all just be grateful we're no longer living in the time when subs were more expensive than dubs, and harder to find.

Back on topic, while it's not eactly "current," I'm finally getting around to watching "Now and Then, Here and There" (or, more accurately for Keith's sake, 今、そこにいる僕, which is not at all the same title). I'm only five episodes in, and it's already depressing the hell out of me (i.e. I think it's great).

Truly a cat smashingly good series!

Edited March 22, 2010 by Keith

[Gubaba]

Truly a cat smashingly good series!

Now THAT, I can agree with.