Seto Kaiba Posted June 24 Posted June 24 Watching a few more shows limp across the finish line... but also some new offerings entering the field. Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture has started streaming on Hulu. I gave that one a watch earlier today, and while it is animated exactly as well as you'd expect from true veteran studios Sunrise and CLAMP, it suffers from a punishing lack of originality throughout every aspect of its execution. Spoiler Roze of the Recapture isn't so much spinning off Lelouch of the Rebellion's setting as bloodily ripping off its entire story. One of the successor states that emerged from the breakup of the Holy Britannian Empire has dubbed itself Neo Britannia (does this sound familiar?), invaded and occupied Japan (again), and is running a brutal repressive colonial regime marked by concentration camps and mass executions resisted by an excessively theatrical disguised noble-in-exile with a geass power who partners with the Japanese resistance forces to overthrow the Britannian invaders. Basically all that's changed is that this one is set in Hokkaido instead of the Kanto block and ersatz-Suzaku starts out on Girl!Lelouch's team. Despite being a distant sequel, the actual design works seem to have changed almost not at all... the Britannians are still using the same guns and body armor they were in 2017atb, the Zi-Apollo looks like a riced out Lancelot, and a whole bunch of pivotal technologies from the second season of the original series are just missing. No radiant wave surgers, hadron cannons, blaze luminous shields, etc. HIGHSPEED Etoile is limping into its final episode, and the writers are going all-in on letting Rin have that unearned win. She's just magically racing like a top-tier pro after being complete dogsh*t all series, and everyone's acting like this is completely expected. A lightning strike conveniently knocks out all of the cars and shuts down the course so that Rin's able to get a free head start because the pit crews have to change tires manually. Her support AI comes back on line just in time to help her win the race against a driver who's actually racing on skill. It's been a while since this series has properly disgusted me, but as endings go this one is thoroughly disgusting. I can usually find something praiseworthy in almost any series, but this... this is just all bad all the way through to the extent that it's actually a little worrying. They even try to end on a title drop for maximum cringe. Astro Note's final episode leans heavily back into the first episode's retro late 70's/early 80's sci-fi anime aesthetic with an alien king threatening to destroy Earth and the main characters facing off against them in a giant robot that looks like the lovechild of a Gundam and Ideon. As a parody goes, it's not bad, but it comes out of nowhere and it doesn't really add anything to the story except explaining maybe the first two minutes of the first episode. So Mira et. al. kill the alien king and the series jumps right back to business as usual like they didn't just turn the boarding house into a giant robot and kill thousands of people. I had fairly high hopes for this one at the outset, but it turned out to be a pretty mediocre series. Vampire Dormitory rushes to its end with a continued escalation of its plot's Unfortunate Implications. We've gone from abusive relationship territory all the way to the border of rape-by-deception. That's pretty creepy in any context, but in what's ostensibly a romance story that's just off-putting. An amnesiac, gender-swapped Mito is going to marry that dhampir guy who forcibly changed her gender and seemingly wiped her memory and Ruka's just going to let it happen... so we get to see the start of a vampire gay wedding (in a church no less!) until Mito finds (s)he is unable to go through with the vows because their memory is returning. Then Ruka crashes the ceremony, taking this well into daytime soap opera territory and thankfully negating the Unfortunate Implications... at least until he realizes Mito's a chick, which he takes surprisingly well all things considered. She's going to keep up the sweet polly oliver routine in order ot keep living in the boys dorm at school... and then the bloom filter's turned up to 11. All in all, better than I thought it'd be... but it does suffer from multiple bouts of Unfortunate Implications that take the romance story in fridge horror directions. Quote
Luca Angeloni Posted June 24 Posted June 24 I have a decent Amount of shows this season, and looking forward to more in the coming season. I am enjoying Code Geass Roze , even if it is a bit derivative. It's just so nice to have a high quality mech anime to watch weekly. Kaiju No. 8 : Probably my favorite new Shonen. The battles and monsters are awesome, the animation is great and the characters are well developed. Irregular at Magic High : I generally ignore the fanservice part of the anime (easier to do than in other series) and focus on the neat story and battles. Megaton Musashi: The animation looks a bit older, but the battle sequences are neat, I should probably start watching it more in depth. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted June 24 Posted June 24 (edited) Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid - just wrapped up. I think it did a fairly good job wrapping up the loose ends and even a few skipped over in the anime, but addressed anyway. Overall once you got passed the CG.. 😑 It was an enjoyable series. I do have a bone to pick with the amount of cut content, but they hit the main points. Manga I believe is still going, we might get lucky and get an OVA episode or 2 later on. Edited June 24 by Stampeed Valkyrie Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted June 24 Posted June 24 Only a few titles left in this season before Summer 2024's simulcast schedule starts... Tadaima, Okaeri... ugh. Just... ugh. I wanna strangle whoever wrote the ad copy for this, because they advertised it like a slice of life series about a gay couple struggling to find acceptance in modern Japan, which would have been both thought-provoking and interesting, but it's actually a very bland slice of life series wrapped around the author's mpreg fetish and unfortunate dialog choices make it accidentally extra-cringeworthy in English because it ends up borrowing terms that are normally in the realm of incel podcasters. Editors exist to keep ideas like Tadaima, Okaeri from seeing print. Clearly someone was asleep at the switch. Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers remained light and insubstantial to the very end. It's cute, it's occasionally funny, but it doesn't do anything unique or take its story anywhere interesting. It's clearly leaning VERY hard on the "Waifu" angle for Rys. It's a solid 6/10 series that's the very picture of that eminently watchable series that gets viewers because it airs between two popular shows and not on its own merits. As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World also ended. The season finale was a joke-heavy episode that was very clearly done to set up a season two... which makes it fortunate that it's actually getting one. I enjoyed this one for its unconventional take on the painfully overdone isekai genre, though this title is definitely not for everyone and definitely won't satisfy viewers who expect isekai to be more action-focused. I'm looking forward to season two. It made me wish they'd get off the dime and produce another season of Ascendance of a Bookworm. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted June 24 Posted June 24 Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers ended on a happy note. The problem is the story gets better after this point. I am glad I read the light novel. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted June 25 Posted June 25 Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu 2nd Season - wrapped with an announcement for a 3rd season. Kinda mixed on this one, the magic school arc was incredibly boring and the general plot requirements of having to deal with the arrogance of the hyumans and demons would make me want to nuke both. The title of this series should be MC is Super OP and dealing with others is a PITA. Lv2 kara Cheat datta Motoyuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life - Not bad, Not Great. Lots of meh shows got a S2 or S3 announcement but nothing from this one. Its got some potential, but not enough interest from me to go delve into its source. I still really only watched it because of Saito and Louise. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 3 - behind on this.. I am on ep 8. Will get to the end once I get some time. Tensei Kizoku, Kantei Skill de Nariagaru - It got another season announced. It has some potential but I think the MC needs to be aged up abit. The ending of this season was so cliche that the Mrs predicted it pretty accurately. I'll stick around for S2. Ookami to Koushinryou MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF - so halfway point.. I just finished ep 12 which ended on the Shepherd arc. Again if you have seen the original anime adaptation there have been some minor changes but... the same. I have a few others to wrap, but I am behind again which is normal at this point. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted June 25 Posted June 25 I watched Sundays Hibike Euphonium and there was a lot of tears again. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted June 26 Posted June 26 (edited) Just wrapped Date a live.. I really enjoyed the 5th season and it renewed my overall interest in this series. Not everything was wrapped up, which I assume the novels address fully. The anime still managed to wrap up nicely and is probably all she wrote for the franchise, with that said if this is it it was a fun ride. I still have the PS4 games to play at some point when I get time.. *sigh* Edited June 26 by Stampeed Valkyrie Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted June 26 Posted June 26 59 minutes ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said: Just wrapped Date a live.. I really enjoyed the 5th season and it renewed my overall interest in this series. Not everything was wrapped up, which I assume the novels address fully. The anime still managed to wrap up nicely and is probably all she wrote for the franchise, with that said if this is it it was a fun ride. I still have the PS4 games to play at some point when I get time.. *sigh* I feel the same way. I have finished reading the light novel. I can see why this might be the end. They ended this season at 19. The anime stopped just before the end of the book. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted June 27 Posted June 27 15 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said: I feel the same way. I have finished reading the light novel. I can see why this might be the end. They ended this season at 19. The anime stopped just before the end of the book. I have questions in regards to his "sisters" and who is related to Shinji and who is related to Shido. Kotori is Shido's Foster Sister. Mana is Shinji's sister correct? Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted June 27 Posted June 27 8 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said: I have questions in regards to his "sisters" and who is related to Shinji and who is related to Shido. Kotori is Shido's Foster Sister. Mana is Shinji's sister correct? Yes. You are correct. I always thought that Mana is also Shido little sister. Shinji was a friend of Kotori's parents. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted June 28 Posted June 28 Well, finished Viral Hit and Mysterious Disappearances today. Viral Hit ended up being one of the more bizarre things I've seen. I started watching it because its premise was so out there I just had to give it a look out of sheer curiosity, and it did not disappoint. Mysterious Disappearances... well... if you're all about girls with great big... tracts of land... then this is the show for you. None of the characters are in any way likeable and the story reminds me of nothing quite so much as Ghost Stories without the gag dub. If it ever gets released on home video, I suspect it'll need a Ghost Stories-esque gag dub to be actually watchable. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted June 28 Posted June 28 Mahouka season 3 ended and already a new movie was announced. Good. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted July 1 Posted July 1 Wrapped S3 of Konasuba.. Overall I enjoyed it, this is another one of those this is all we will get in anime form. I have the novels staring at me at some point, but I need to play catch up on ReZero and Eighty-Six before I go down that path. Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? - wrapped as well. I think this one might be the underdog of the season as there were many interesting characters. Shame its probably only a 1cour show, would be interesting to have another cour of them traveling back to Agano and seeing what changed. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 1 Posted July 1 Spice and Wolf was so funny today. I just love Holo. I see Amati finally appears. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 5 Posted July 5 Watching the new episode of Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture... and so far, it really is just a speedrun of the original Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion plot. Spoiler The only meaningful differences are that the Lelouch equivalent is a girl, the Suzaku equivalent is on the rebel side from the start (but still killed the PM), and the whole affair is set in Hokkaido. It's beautifully animated. I really cannot stress enough that this is an A+ animation job... but the story is just so blatantly unoriginal and so lazy that it keeps pulling me right out of the story. They make only the most token effort to make the obvious replacement characters more than carbon copies of characters from the original. The Neo Britannians were hit especially hard with this, since they're a lot less nuanced and varied than the Britannians in the original were. Most of them are just axe crazy killers drunk on power without a reasonable authority figure anywhere in the chain of command to put a more human (or less insane) face on the regime and highlight that they're not monsters but people doing monstrous things as part of an oppressive system. Spoiler They're holding the Villain Ball so tightly and with both hands that they make their own elite troops commit suicide over a single failed mission. Fanservice is cranked up a fair bit higher than the original too. You could count on the women in the original to mostly be sanely (if ornately) dressed... here, it's like the "when your parents walk in" half of the meme. Multiple resistance members are dressed in a manner that's more appropriate for going clubbing than fighting a war and one of the knights has an outfit I can only describe as looking like a low-budget "sexy drum major" Halloween costume. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 5 Posted July 5 Caught the end of Demon Slayer's Hashira Training arc... and it really impressive how consistently good this series has been. I've heard they plan to do a movie trilogy to wrap the story up, and I hope it's as lovingly animated as this season finale was because GOD DAMN. The trap Ubuyashiki lays for Muzan at the end of the season is so lovingly animated it's probably a strong contender for the most detailed, most technically impressive explosion ever animated. Just... wow. You can see individual snowflakes vaporize, that's how detailed they went with this. Just 15/10 gorgeous animation for the season finale. I'm actually a little impatient for the movies now, after a finale like that. Not finding a lot that's up my alley in Crunchyroll's Summer '24 simulcast season. Starting with The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord's Army was a Human. Not impressed with the animation in this one. It's got that same problem Overlord had where characters (esp. monsters) switch back and forth between being relatively low detail CG models and traditional animation with all the grace and subtlety of a clutchless 8-to-1 downshift. Overlord at least kept it confined to background characters and monsters, in this one it's done for EVERYONE. It feels like it's taking an awful lot of pointers from Overlord too, come to think of it... and a couple overt references. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 5 Posted July 5 I started Failure Frame. I did not enjoy it. I hated all the characters. It also seems like a cheap Arifureta knockoff. Quote
boinger Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Just wondering about Seto's what the couple of overt references he is referring to. I also asked in the messages. I sure need to catch up on a lot of anime viewing from all your suggestions. Thanks! Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Giji Harem started and I am enjoying it. Also Gimai Seikatsu started and I am happy about this one. I read the light novel ready. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Starting Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells... which TBH I am getting pretty tired of shows where the title is a full sentence or a literal paragraph that explains the entire premise. Punch it up a bit guys, seriously. I think I made it all of about four minutes before I started having to pause the first episode because the characters are just so incredibly unlikeable. Spoiler You can tell how overused this premise has become that an entire tour bus full of high school students just takes it in stride that they've been teleported to another world by magic... only two people question it, and only one of them actually bothers to actively deny the possibility. If your exposition is so dull that you're writing your characters being bored to tears by it, that's not ironic it's just a sign that you're a bad writer. Making every single character except the protagonist a sh*thead is also not exactly a winning strategy. This one's clearly intended to be an underdog power fantasy like The Rising of the Shield Hero... but nowhere near as interesting. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 6 Posted July 6 15 minutes ago, boinger said: Just wondering about Seto's what the couple of overt references he is referring to. There's been a few isekai titles now that've just ripped off parts of Overlord and made them their entire story. Skeleton Knight in Another World was probably the most blatant of the lot, basically just making its entire premise a copy of Overlord's Dark Warrior Momon arc. The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord's Army was a Human seems to be borrowing a lot in little ways, the protagonist Ike being a skull-faced mage in an inhuman force who's actually human all along, hsa a big red orb on his chest, a serpent staff, hangs around with a succubus, etc. while governing a town of regular humans with his inhuman forces is basically just the immediate aftermath of Men of the Kingdom. The really blatant one is a nod to Overlord's infamous and awkward first episode grope, with Ike's commander inviting him to feel her up the same way Albedo did. Quote
boinger Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Hi Seto: Thanks for getting back to me, but did you read what my message said? Quote
boinger Posted July 6 Posted July 6 (edited) Sorry about this guys and gals. The messenging system seems to be not be working quite right and I wanted to make sure Seto got my message. Hi Seto: I thought I messaged you and sent you over to see my facebook for a Macross DYRL proposal that I thought would be relevant for Macross and other fans. Here, I'll post a weblink for now. And I"ll delete this message once Seto has seen my facebook post. I wasn't sure what to do other than post here or get Shawn on the job of fixing the messenger service. I'll wait a bit. Just having supper. Carry on. "Ignore me!" Venture Bros reference Anybody can take a look. I thought it was a good idea, but I would need a lot of help from my Macross friends. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0uHw4cSKtYkM4fHckq8cRAHYRtqn4xmDMi4fAW5rxvnWXKpQdwgUds1ZhNTD1QVKGl&id=100008281298711 Edited July 6 by boinger Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Also starting The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible. I am really REALLY missing the days when titles were short and punchy... that is a ****ing mouthful. OK, I thought the OP sounded familiar and kinda tokusatsu-y... that's Akira Kushida! He did the OPs for a bunch of different toku shows, and in robot anime he did the OPs for Xabungle and Godannar. Spoiler So this one is, as the title suggests, the story of a 30-something who's quit his boring office job in a fantasy world to chase his dream of being an adventurer. Definitely gonna be a lot of "don't know my own strength" comedy in this one... ... I'm reminded of that Excel Saga scene where Misaki complains to the producers "Why did you stop the camera tilt there?". The love interest was introduced rack first... like, her face is not even in the frame. She manages to get the camera up to her face for a minute, but it just keeps heading back down there. I guess it's the protagonist's own personal taste. Uh... yeah... this is gonna be some One Punch Man or Mashle level nonsense. He patted a guy on the stomach and left a perfect imprint of his hand, creases and all, in the guy's steel breastplate. This one might actually be pretty fun, if they can stick with the comedy. It's very much in the mold of Mashle and One Punch Man. 1 minute ago, boinger said: Sorry about this guys and gals. The messenging system seems to be not be working quite right and I wanted to make sure Seto got my message. I received two... haven't read either in full yet. Kinda ricocheting around the house doin' chores and setting up two more work PCs. Quote
boinger Posted July 6 Posted July 6 might be important or relelvant to our Macross friends in Japan. "If you can spare the time" I would appreciate it. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 7 Posted July 7 Starting another new one... Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools. Other than the thought that it seems like it'll be another "isekai slow life" title, I honestly have no thoughts on this one. The first episode isn't bad by any means. It's not truly good either. What it is is so unremarkable it fails to register on the critical spectrum. It's like white noise. I just watched it all the way through and I swear I can barely remember any of the story... which is actually pretty surprising in its own right. This show is like one of those cryptids that gives people short-term memory loss so they don't remember seeing it after they've seen it. My Wife Has No Emotion seems like another... questionable... title. If the summary is to be believed, this is the story of a lonely man who buys a household robot to cook and clean for him and decides to get his leg over it for... reasons? The entry level salaryman grind is a lonely one, sure, but I'm calling mental health services if anyone who works for me tries starting a romance with a home appliance. Spoiler "An Appliance Became My Wife" is the title of the first episode. I had to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and question what the **** I'm doing with my life that I'm watching this. About thirty seconds later I had to stop again, take a deep breath, and ask myself "This is incredibly sexist, isn't it?" The protagonist, who I don't think has even been named yet, wonders aloud if having a humanoid automaton who prepares meals randomly selected from an internal menu at preset times of day as long as there are groceries to cook with is like having a wife. Jiro Sugiura... shame on you. SHAME ON YOU. In fact, dishonor on you! Dishonor on your publisher! Dishonor on the whole damn production committee! *sigh* I want to make a joke about how this guy is such a bad cook that he got told to sit down, shut up, and stop ruining food by a kitchen appliance... but I'm worse, so I can't. ... Takuma, our protagonist, announces in his inner monologue that there was a time he dated a girl but it didn't work out, so he's given up on love. Now he's trying to get friendly with a talkative rice cooker. Having another one of those "This is sexist" moments where Takuma attempts to explain to his extremely talkative appliance what being a wife is and all he can think of is domestic chores. I'm not sure how wise it is to let an artificially intelligent appliance connect to the internet either... Ultron was on the internet for all of like five seconds before he decided Humanity needed to die and that was before Elon bought Twitter. This is creepy, on a bunch of levels. This is meant to be a comedy, but this guy needs help. Like, serious professional help from a licensed mental health professional. At some point, someone involved in the development and production of this series should have asked some serious questions about whether the entire premise is sexist to the point of being actually pretty offensive if you think about it even a little. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 7 Posted July 7 Monogatari started and I couldn't be more pleased with the 1st episode. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 9 Posted July 9 The Ossan Newbie Adventurer had a new episode the other day... it's not doing a lot to deviate from the formula, but it's still pretty fun. Definitely very much in the mold of Mashle or One Punch Man in terms of the protagonist being a physical powerhouse who doesn't quite comprehend just how ridiculously overpowered they are. I also started Wistoria: Wand and Sword. It's another series in that same vein... a protagonist in a magic-heavy setting who has zero magical ability but is an incredible physical powerhouse to the point of doing things magic users consider impossible. The twist here seems to be that he's trying to graduate from magic school and achieve a high rank to fulfill a childhood promise to a friend who turned out to be a magical prodigy and is upholding the ancient magical barrier that protects the world from invasion. It's not bad, but thus far hasn't done much to stand out in a field populated by similar premises. Today's new start is My Deer Friend Nokotan... a comedy series about a former delinquent who's made a fresh start as an honor student in high school, who gets thrown for a loop when she encounters a strange girl with antlers on her way to school. This one has been the subject of a lot of memes, and seems to be the same kind of absurdist slice-of-life comedy as Charge! Cromartie High School or Nichijou. This series seems to like throwing photorealistic deer into backgrounds the same way that Cromartie liked doing with that gorilla of theirs. I'm not sold on it, as it seems to be just maximum randomness at all times. Quote
no3Ljm Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Not sure if this has already been posted. Just saw it this morning. NHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS - Anime in crisis? Japan's signature artform at risk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5AR2X6R4TM Youtube won't let this video to be embedded for some reasons. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 9 Posted July 9 I watched the 1st episode of No Longer Allowed In Another World. I will give it a chance. But I am not really hopeful. Quote
Stampeed Valkyrie Posted July 11 Posted July 11 Started.. Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san ... aka Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian. I know of this series from the manga, I missed it was coming out this season. If it follows the manga it should be pretty entertaining if you like Romcoms. Quote
Hikaru Ichijo SL Posted July 11 Posted July 11 I finished the 2nd episode of Days with my Stepsister and I am enjoying it. Which is good. Because I really do not like much else. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 13 Posted July 13 Failure Frame's second episode dropped on Crunchyroll the other day, so I gave that a whirl a bit ago. It's... better than the previous episode. Much of that is simply the absence of all of the other characters, though. There's definitely a very The Rising of the Shield Hero flavor to this series, with the protagonist being an underdog written off by the other "heroes" and saddled with a superficially useless isekai superpower that quickly turns out to be an incredibly broken utility power once he learns to use it properly. Spoiler Episode 2 very VERY quickly reverses the previous episode's ending with the protagonist basically graduating from nigh-on helpless to a one-man extinction event in short order when one of the monsters he was fighting dies from poison damage and he levels up from Lv.1 to Lv.200-something in one go and then gains the ability to turn those status attacks into AOE status attacks. Because he doesn't have to physically overpower monsters to defeat them, his fights quickly deteriorate into him locking hordes of monsters in place and taking a breather while they slowly die of poison. By the end of the episode, he's out of the Ruins of Disposal after effectively one-shotting the boss monster and reaching over level 1,200. Quote
Seto Kaiba Posted July 14 Posted July 14 Watching Pseudo-Harem, and to be honest its premise is feeling pretty thin even just two episodes in. It's just two weird theater kids flirting in the most awkward way imaginable with little to nothing in the way of a plot behind it. It's cute, but it doesn't feel like there's any direction to it. Dahlia in Bloom still isn't making much of an impression. None of the characters feel like they have a distinct personality. This episode supposedly sets up the main plot, but the cast sleepwalk through the entire thing. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.