What Current Anime Are You Watching Version v4.0

[CrazyDude]

Rewatching an old Anime series whose mecha I enjoy "Panzer World Galiant/Galient".

[Frogze]

I just watched episode 2 of Ping Pong. Mind completely BLOWN!!

[Marzan]

I just watched episode 2 of Ping Pong. Mind completely BLOWN!!

Normally I don't really like sports anime, it's one of the few genre's that leaves me cold but I keep on hearing good things about this one. Care to share a bit more on how Ping Pong is a mindblowing experience?

[Frogze]

Of course, Marzan. First off, I was struck by the visuals. The animation ranks among the best I've seen lately and the character design is fresh and expressive, very much un-mainstream. Then there's the story.

It is actually based on a movie, you can check more about this here :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328258/

I haven't seen the movie but a friend told me it was one of his favorite movies ever.

What I really like about the story is the great characterization, the story itself isn't just about a sport, it's mostly about the friendship of the 2 main characters Peco and Smile who have almost opposite personalities.

I highly recommend you watch it, even if sport anime isn't your usual taste because this thing has depth, you'll be surprised and I'm sure you'll love it.

Also I've recently seen Mindgame from the same director, Masaaki Yuasa. It was really a great experience, very powerful, admittedly weird at times (experimental animation sequences) but if you let go and get carried away then it's an incredibly rewarding watch!

[ron5864]

Started watching Fate Zero. Had this for a long time and was trapped in the anime backlog zone. Never got around to it till now.

[DuelGundam2099]

Up to ep 14 in GTO, I am convinced this is a parody of the crime genre, otherwise this many felonies being committed at the same time would make no sense. I can't say it is a comedy as that would imply this is funny. Real shame too because there is actually some good writing in this. Also watched the first episode of TV Patlabor an hour ago. I like how they try to make this realistic yet labors are perfectly capable of kicking and throwing each other (way to contradict your own element!).

[frothymug]

Looking for some new material to whet my appetite. I started watching Brynhildr in the Darkness. Looks like it has potential, so I'll keep watching.

I watched one episode of a "Blast of Tempest" on Crunchyroll. The series description and viewer reviews got me interested, but the way the episodes are structured rubs me the wrong way. I couldn't tell what was going on because they kept seamlessly switching from present events to flashbacks. Plus, the some of the main cast of characters were real a-holes. The action looks cool and the animation is top-notch. I just want to know if anyone's seen this series and if it's worth sticking around for.

[s001]

Is the Mospeada movie any good? I'm tempted to watch it.

[Beltane70]

There is no Mospeada movie. If you mean Love, Live, Alive, it's more of a music video than it is a movie.

[DuelGundam2099]

Looking for some new material to whet my appetite

Go with Zegapain, Dai-Guard, Metal Armor Dragonar, Dunbine, Ideon, Pretear, Witch Craft Works, Devil Lady, Shin Mazinger Z, or even Violence Jack.

Last night I took on some two part OVA called Bounty Dog. The writing could have been better and and the color filters were annoying but otherwise I thought it was kind of good. Also watched eps 2, 3, and 4 of Patlabor. Well.... It is more interesting than the OVAs so far, but it has another 43 eps, plenty of time to screw up.

[karmajay]

I started watching Brynhildr in the darkness, Captain Earth and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

I just finished watching Golden Time and although I don't typically like slice of life shows this was pretty good.

[DuelGundam2099]

I just watched some one shot OVA called Bride of Deimos. I was expecting some sappy love story, but got a very well made horror story with very good art to it. I am legitimately surprised at how good this was.

[Dangard Ace]

Knights of Sidonia. Getting creepy awesome.

[frothymug]

No input on Blast of Tempest? It's also known as Civilization Blaster, if that helps.

Brynhildr in the Darkness episode 3 leaves you with quite the cliffhanger. Looking forward to next Saturday!

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

watching jojo on crunchy roll up to episode 18... they still use other names on the subs to prevent legal matters but some are still intact.

ACDC is Esidisi... that's so stupid. but Lisa Lisa is still Lisa Lisa lol. i hope they leave in Vanilla Ice

Edited April 21, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[Marzan]

watching jojo on crunchy roll up to episode 18... they still use other names on the subs to prevent legal matters but some are still intact.

ACDC is Esidisi... that's so stupid. but Lisa Lisa is still Lisa Lisa lol. i hope they leave in Vanilla Ice

Don't forget Suzi Quatro and my personal favorite Robert Edward O. Speedwagon (REO Speedwagon).

Brynhildr in the Darkness episode 3 leaves you with quite the cliffhanger. Looking forward to next Saturday!

Brynhildr is starting to resemble Elfen Lied now. The guy who wrote those seriously

likes to see his female characters dismember each other in all sorts of ways

[DuelGundam2099]

Today I marathoned Mad Bull 34 and holy mother of f**k this was manly and awesome as hell. Yes the animation could have been better and it could have had less sex junk, but for an OVA like this it worked with its gritty atmosphere and the fact it was in the crime genre. Remember when villains were actually evil, protagonists were manly, and anime was told more in visuals than words? We need more of that these days. Basically it is one of the best OVAs ever made.

[Major Focker]

I watched one episode of a "Blast of Tempest" on Crunchyroll. The series description and viewer reviews got me interested, but the way the episodes are structured rubs me the wrong way. I couldn't tell what was going on because they kept seamlessly switching from present events to flashbacks. Plus, the some of the main cast of characters were real a-holes. The action looks cool and the animation is top-notch. I just want to know if anyone's seen this series and if it's worth sticking around for.

No input on Blast of Tempest? It's also known as Civilization Blaster, if that helps.

i'd say see it through to episode 8 then decide. i would've unconditionally recommended it but you did mention that the storytelling style may not be to your liking. it is unorthodox in that aspect, among other things, and there are certainly going to be more flashbacks (and a number of feints and misdirection), so it may not be for you.

the casting and characterizations are very deliberate and for good reason-- the story revolves around an intricately crafted logic structure and the narrative style of exposition and juxtaposition means that it becomes almost necessary for the characters to be polar opposites, foil-counter foil, distinct facets/personalities. a debate would be far less interesting to watch if both sides were always taking the middle ground. the show actually invests a lot on character building, showing their histories (yep, a lot through flashbacks), and exploring their underlying motives. note i said character building and not development. the characters do not develop per se because of the narrative reasons i mentioned earlier. they pretty much stay the same and remain in-character, but you do get to know them better so your opinion of some of the characters might change as you go along. only one of the main characters undergo actual development, but i thought that was actually a bad idea and at times cringe-inducing.

personally, i thought it was one of the best shows i saw last year. it did demand quite a bit of foreplay, at times bordering on indulgence, but ultimately proved satisfying. i've read afterwards that it came up against a number of fan-favorite (and i imagine, more accessible) animes at the time of its original airing. if not for that, and a serious lull at the start of the second half, it probably would've enjoyed more popularity. as it is, it'll likely remain a well rated but hidden gem.

[Vepariga]

started watching Asthetica Of A Rogue Hero last night, incredibley fanservicey as its from the makers or Queens Blade, but it has some great humourous moments and a somewhat enjoyable cast.

[Marzan]

Blast of Tempest sounds really interesting. Unfortunately Crunchy doesn't stream it in my location. Ouch.

Anyone else seem M3? It's the newest production from Satelight (Kawamori's studio). The first episode was rather decent and lot less goofy than some of the other stuff that Satelight has done lately. The mecha were ugly as sin, so I hope Kawamori is just using this to put away all the designs that he's NOT going to use for the upcoming Macross tv series.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Marzan

[DuelGundam2099]

I just got done finishing some six episode ONA called 6 Angels, noted for being one of the worst anime of all time.... And I'm not surprised. Stock music, half the cast being useless and annoying as hell, weird editing, suddenly throwing in angels at the last episode, pacing that goes either too fast or too slow, lackluster villains, and some flimsy execution. It is a real shame because there is some decent action and robots in this. In fact this might have been decent if some scenes were placed into different episodes, but oh well. It is not AS BAD as people say it is, but that is not saying a lot. I also caught up to ep 19 of GTO or as I am thinking of calling it: WHY THE HELL IS NOBODY IN JAIL? The Anime. It is like it is TRYING to insult the audience.

[renegadeleader1]

I just realized that much like Scrapped Princess had all the characters named after guns, or weapon manufacturers its spiritual successor has every characters last name named after cars. The main characters are Chaika Trabant(a cold war era german econobox) and the Acura siblings.

[chyll2]

Knights of Sidonia. Getting creepy awesome.

i just hope it will not turn out like another Muv Luv lol.

[frothymug]

Thanks for the input, Major Focker. I will give it another go soon, then.

I also watched Chaika the Coffin Princess through episode 3 and I am liking the story and visuals displayed so far. The melee fight in episode 2 was so impressive, I hope to see more like that throughout the series. Combat is not relegated to a handful of overpowered moves, but it's more like a visual ballet. It's displayed in real-time, so each move, each strike, each feign, each riposte may be missed if you aren't paying attention. The storytelling is pretty good so far and there is a distinct lack of annoying characters. Definitely worth looking into.

One of the other shows I'm following this season is The Irregular at Magic High School. The title makes this show sound pretty cliché, but it's anything but. The animation is top-notch and the CGI is integrated seamlessly so that it is somewhat hard to distinguish the two from each other. Shiba, the male lead, is a total badass and has no problems taking care of himself. The writing is very good so far and it does a great job of explaining what is going on, including logical and engineering-style breakdowns of the mechanics of spellcasting. In one scene, spells are explained to behave like electromagnetic waves, where the user "loop-cast" three spells of the same type, but varied the frequency and speed so that they would converge on the same point to hit the target simultaneously. I like this show! The music is also pretty cool, as it has a touch of EDM in it. Check it out!

Finally, I just watched the first two episodes of Kill laKill. Me after the first episode:

After the second episode:

I can now see why everyone was crapping their pants over this series. You just have to get over the craziness and fanservice-y elements. It's more like a visual treat. Looking forward to seeing more soon.

[Marzan]

Kill la Kill rocks. I cannot help but tell everyone to watch it. And wait to be fleeced with the inevitable high price special edition BD set.

Finished watching the first season of Gundam 00 (very good) and for a change of pace I re-watched Angel's Egg. Oshii and Amano created an amazing film. The art, the soundtrack, the mood it creates. Extraordinary.

[DuelGundam2099]

Since yesterday I tried marathoning Uta Kata and just got done with it. This is without a doubt the most boring anime I've seen in months. Where to BEGIN? Lets start off with the pacing, it is sluggish as all hell and only in the last two episodes is it actually reasonable. Until then it is mostly slice of life babbling endlessly with only eps 4, 7, and 10 having anything interesting happening in them. Each episode has the main heroine collecting or taking (it never explains) life forces of jinns with one of them following her the entire series that, until the last episodes, does not bother doing jack squat. Ugh. Ignoring how some jinns overlap each other, most are representatives of nature, and the last of the bunch represents MIRRORS. WHY? You broke your own motif? I also don't get why this happens, they never explain why the jinn powers need to be collected and based on the end of the last episode it seems like it is the final/mirror jinn and some disembodied voice (God? They never say) teaching people life is valuable (kind of a sick joke because mirror jinn used one of her minions to fall in love/be friends with their target). Then there is fan service, so many unneeded panty shots in this although unlike most ecchi anime they don't draw emphasis on them so I'll give them a point for having some restraint I guess. Add a really bland cast so uninteresting that most of them contribute nothing to what little plot there is and you get this series. Oh yeah and the last episode has yaoi and yuri fan service for no reason, the former of which wasn't even built up. I don't get it either, were the creators anti-homosexual or something? Because bad things happened to them.

I like how this anime was deemed a tragedy yet not only did only two people (actually mirror jinn's minions who she can resurrect at any time give her magic powers) died and those affected were able to move on, does nobody know what tragedy is? The sad part is that there are good parts to this, mainly in the scenery art (character art was not noteworthy) and background music (opening and ending themes are lackluster) and I'd be lying if I said the final two episodes were not SOMEWHAT good. Still does not make up for all the schlock leading up to them. I will take on the OVA eventually, but there are other things I intend to take on so eh.

Edited April 26, 2014 by DuelGundam2099

[Dangard Ace]

Since it's getting the SoC treatment I've been hankering for some Gutsy Galaxy Guard....GaoGaiGar!

[DuelGundam2099]

I just finished GTO after marathoning it from ep 20 since yesterday. Good lord nothing changed, at least the pacing was good and I have to give credit for the principal being pretty friggin bold. Not going to bother retreading ground even if Onizuka should have been incapacitated by that bomb set off in episode 40. Just.... Ugh. On Saturday I got up to ep 8 in TV Patlabor, which is more tolerable than the OVAs thus far. I think Hal X-10 might be my favorite labor, but ep 7 having the "you must be ethical with labors" bit was dumb, especially considering the SRX-70 won't be used again. Honestly, what a waste of a labor, couldn't that company just give it to division 2 if 1 didn't want it? I like how it acts like it is so realistic and yet it flops on details like this.

Edit: You know what? I'm taking a break from anime for a while after all the drek. Not for too long, maybe just until the final episode of Unicorn gets released or so. With that said, you won't be hearing from me here for a while so enjoy.

Edited April 28, 2014 by DuelGundam2099

[Marzan]

Saw The Wind Rises in the cinema yesterday. What a beautiful film. The art and animation, soundtrack were just something else. About the only thing I didn't like too much was Hideaki Anno's voice as the protagonist. It was just too flat for my liking. Still a great movie though. A fine goodbye by Miyazaki.

Also caught a short series "Time of Eve". Really good take on robots becoming sentient and a part of everyday life. What "I Robot" wanted to say, this did it with one thousandth of the budget, but ten times more imagination.

[ron5864]

Still watching Kill la Kill and Fate Zero. Not enough time in the day.

[treatment]

Well, I consider this current since it's just been finally officially released in the US...



The US-edition's english-subs seems so much eerily like Animeigo's distinctive subbing style and form.

[DuelGundam2099]

Yes, Mazinger Z is indeed awesome as hell and these subs are *gasp* accurate!

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

finished mospeada last night. first time i watched the japanese ever from a.d. vision. i honestly liked the robotech music and dialogue better bc i grew up with it as a kid. but one part of the story i liked was that the dark fighters were automated that were going to scorch the whole earth so it made sense for Stick to shoot them down. in the robotech revision the "shadow fighters were implied to be manned by human pilots, i thought it was b.s. that S. Bernard would fire on a Mars Base ally. the Japanese version made a lot more sense.

[Marzan]

Of course, Marzan. First off, I was struck by the visuals. The animation ranks among the best I've seen lately and the character design is fresh and expressive, very much un-mainstream. Then there's the story.

Thanks so much for the recommendation. I'm up to the 3rd episode of Ping Pong so far and have to admit it's absolutely brilliant. The direction, dialogue and animation are all top notch and the "ugly" art somehow keeps on growing on you.

[johnkillingsworth]

finished mospeada last night. first time i watched the japanese ever from a.d. vision. i honestly liked the robotech music and dialogue better bc i grew up with it as a kid. but one part of the story i liked was that the dark fighters were automated that were going to scorch the whole earth so it made sense for Stick to shoot them down. in the robotech revision the "shadow fighters were implied to be manned by human pilots, i thought it was b.s. that S. Bernard would fire on a Mars Base ally. the Japanese version made a lot more sense.

I really enjoyed watching the original and comparing notes to Robotech. A lot of differences and I agree the music in RT was iconic (plus the nostalgia factor). I absolutely loved the opening theme song to Mospeada!