What Current Anime Are You Watching Version v4.0

[Seto Kaiba]

2 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

Her... her sneezes?

Yeah, that old gag where the sneeze comes out as a word instead of a sneeze sound effect... she caught a cold in the episode in question, and every sneeze comes out as the name of a mecha from Macross.  Her exclamations of pain whenever she got stabbed with a fork in the first season and a good portion of season two were the names of Mobile Suits from Mobile Suit Gundam's Universal Century timeline.

The pop culture gag density isn't as high as Excel Saga's, but they really lay on the Gundam, Macross, and Kamen Rider references pretty heavily... along with the entire thing being one massive weird take on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  (The episode in question, S2-10, has them beat a Mi-go invasion of Earth with a pop ballad, Macross style, which presumably justifies all the Macross references.)

[Focslain]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yeah, that old gag where the sneeze comes out as a word instead of a sneeze sound effect... she caught a cold in the episode in question, and every sneeze comes out as the name of a mecha from Macross.  Her exclamations of pain whenever she got stabbed with a fork in the first season and a good portion of season two were the names of Mobile Suits from Mobile Suit Gundam's Universal Century timeline.

The pop culture gag density isn't as high as Excel Saga's, but they really lay on the Gundam, Macross, and Kamen Rider references pretty heavily... along with the entire thing being one massive weird take on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  (The episode in question, S2-10, has them beat a Mi-go invasion of Earth with a pop ballad, Macross style, which presumably justifies all the Macross references.)

So after this I'm adding this series to my watchlist. I need a neat short comedy.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yeah, that old gag where the sneeze comes out as a word instead of a sneeze sound effect... she caught a cold in the episode in question, and every sneeze comes out as the name of a mecha from Macross.  Her exclamations of pain whenever she got stabbed with a fork in the first season and a good portion of season two were the names of Mobile Suits from Mobile Suit Gundam's Universal Century timeline.

The pop culture gag density isn't as high as Excel Saga's, but they really lay on the Gundam, Macross, and Kamen Rider references pretty heavily... along with the entire thing being one massive weird take on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  (The episode in question, S2-10, has them beat a Mi-go invasion of Earth with a pop ballad, Macross style, which presumably justifies all the Macross references.)

I loved the entire Nyaruko-san series and the sneezes made me laugh.  Back to the Future and Space Battleship Yamato also have references.  I love when she calls Mahiro Nii-nii a reference to Amagami SS.  Asumi kana voices Nyaruko also voices Tachibana Miya in Amagami SS.

[AN/ALQ128]

12 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The pop culture gag density isn't as high as Excel Saga's, but they really lay on the Gundam, Macross, and Kamen Rider references pretty heavily... along with the entire thing being one massive weird take on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  (The episode in question, S2-10, has them beat a Mi-go invasion of Earth with a pop ballad, Macross style, which presumably justifies all the Macross references.)

Speaking of which, I believe the anime with the densest pop culture references-per-frame count has got to be Pani Poni Dash.

As in, each frame had at least 10 references to movies, videogames, or even mid-2000's japanese internet memes.

[Focslain]

So the weekly group has made it's selections for the season:

My Hero Academia (continuing) - the raid arc is just about done, if not over. The fights were really good, especially against Overload. OP meets OP in a fight OPM would be proud of.
Isekai Quartet 2 - So Shield Hero has been added to the collection. The groups introduction was meh. From the looks their actually side characters for this since Noifumi and I'm guessing Ralphtalia are in Class one. The main cast is Class two, though Puck and Chomsuke were added for reasons... Also if Good Smile isn't already involved in this series they should. It's a literal commercial for their Nenodroid series as now that I have a few, the characters look exactly like their dolls.
Magica Modoka Side Story - Only two episodes in, but seems like this takes place pre-Modoka god mode. Seems to be shaping up to be a nice addition to the series as it has all the look and feel of the original series. 
No Gun Life - This one was suggested to me all last season. Glad to start it finally. It is a cyberpunk noir series with a FMA:Brotherhood mixed in.  
BOFURI - Seems this is going to be a light-hearted SAO, which is good. Will report back one Maple gets her party together as that will be the make or break point.

Personally I'm going to be following Nekopara and Interspieces Reviewers. 

Nekopara - This is looking like a chapter of the VN (non-eroge version). Cute cat-girls doing cute maid/cat things. Simple enough.

Interspieces Reviewers - Oh boy.. so the general premise is we are following two adventurers and their angel companion as they rate the love making skills of fantasy creatures. That's the pitch and while this should be a hentai, it's not. Like Monster Musume, my head was turned by the artwork, but I'm staying for the mechanics. Seriously the review segments are the best part as they are varied and make sense from a pure logical view. I'll have more later, what to make sure some of this is going to be part of the series and not just a one night stand.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I started Lucky Star and it so funny and cute and I really like it.

Isekai Quartet season 2 seems promising.

This season really does suck.  6 shows is a low for me, Including multiple short shows.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Hikaru Ichijo SL

[Seto Kaiba]

27 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

This season really does suck.  6 shows is a low for me, Including multiple short shows.

This season really feels like a weak one.

It kind of says it all that one of the few titles to stand out among the dross this season is Nekopara, an anime adaptation of a pornographic visual novel about bestiality.  Yes, you read that right.  They decided to make an anime out of a visual novel about a guy who couldn't keep his d*ck out of the family pets. 

So far, all that's really caught my interest for reasons that don't cause dry heaving are Isekai Quartet 2, which seems to exist mostly to drum up interest for new seasons of the shows it crosses over (Re:Zero is getting another season in April, we've been promised another season of The Rising of the Shield Hero, and possibly Overlord), the remake of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (just to see how they'll f*ck it up), A Destructive God Sits Next to Me (just to see how cringey it'll be), and a fairly cute romcom I found called Science Fell In Love, So I Tried to Prove It about two socially awkward research students who are into each other but so completely obsessed with the scientific method that they keep missing the point and trying to analyze their mutual attraction scientifically instead of acting on it.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

6 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

This season really feels like a weak one.

It kind of says it all that one of the few titles to stand out among the dross this season is Nekopara, an anime adaptation of a pornographic visual novel about bestiality.  Yes, you read that right.  They decided to make an anime out of a visual novel about a guy who couldn't keep his d*ck out of the family pets. 

So far, all that's really caught my interest for reasons that don't cause dry heaving are Isekai Quartet 2, which seems to exist mostly to drum up interest for new seasons of the shows it crosses over (Re:Zero is getting another season in April, we've been promised another season of The Rising of the Shield Hero, and possibly Overlord), the remake of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (just to see how they'll f*ck it up), A Destructive God Sits Next to Me (just to see how cringey it'll be), and a fairly cute romcom I found called Science Fell In Love, So I Tried to Prove It about two socially awkward research students who are into each other but so completely obsessed with the scientific method that they keep missing the point and trying to analyze their mutual attraction scientifically instead of acting on it.

I am looking forward to the 2nd Re Zero season.  I love Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari, I want more Raphtalia.  I am watching Science Fell In Love, So I Tried to Prove It and it is okay nothing great.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am looking forward to the 2nd Re Zero season.  I love Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari, I want more Raphtalia.  I am watching Science Fell In Love, So I Tried to Prove It and it is okay nothing great.

Sadly, having read the light novels for The Rising of the Shield Hero, they've more or less exhausted the good material in the series already.  

It's kind of the same problem that God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! has, where after they get past the initial bit of character development the series becomes a one trick pony.

I'm mostly catching up on old stuff like Crawl up! Nyaruko-san!, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Saiyuki Reload Blast, and Aldnoah.Zero.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

8 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Sadly, having read the light novels for The Rising of the Shield Hero, they've more or less exhausted the good material in the series already.  

It's kind of the same problem that God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! has, where after they get past the initial bit of character development the series becomes a one trick pony.

I'm mostly catching up on old stuff like Crawl up! Nyaruko-san!, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Saiyuki Reload Blast, and Aldnoah.Zero.

I am reading the Konosuba light novel and I am still really into it.  I enjoyed the old stuff you are watching, I did not see Saiyuki.  Haiyore Nyaruko-san is so funny and silly.  I am a Nyaruko and Kuuko fan. 

I am reading the Rising hero Light Novel and it seems like there is  much that can be adapted.

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Hikaru Ichijo SL

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am reading the Konosuba light novel and I am still really into it.

YMMV, I guess... I found God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! pretty insufferable after about the seventh volume, just because character development seems to have become utterly nonexistent.  Kazuma's always back to being a NEET by the start of the next volume.

 

1 minute ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

  I enjoyed the old stuff you are watching, I did not see Saiyuki.  Haiyore Nyaruko-san is so funny and silly.  I am a Nyaruko and Kuuko fan. 

I've generally enjoyed Crawl up! Nyaruko-san.  Saiyuki's a long one, kind of a show for people who are more into character drama than anything.  A very unfaithful/irreverent version of the old novel Journey to the West, where a very dysfunctional version of Genjo/Xuanzang's party are sent to the west to put a stop to an attempt to resurrect the ox demon king rather than to collect scriptures.  (It's more popular with women, I think, owing to all four members being fairly pretty dysfunctional men with a modest amount of very tame yaoi fangirl bait thrown in.)

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

19 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

YMMV, I guess... I found God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! pretty insufferable after about the seventh volume, just because character development seems to have become utterly nonexistent.  Kazuma's always back to being a NEET by the start of the next volume.

 

I've generally enjoyed Crawl up! Nyaruko-san.  Saiyuki's a long one, kind of a show for people who are more into character drama than anything.  A very unfaithful/irreverent version of the old novel Journey to the West, where a very dysfunctional version of Genjo/Xuanzang's party are sent to the west to put a stop to an attempt to resurrect the ox demon king rather than to collect scriptures.  (It's more popular with women, I think, owing to all four members being fairly pretty dysfunctional men with a modest amount of very tame yaoi fangirl bait thrown in.)

I have stopped reading Konosuba for Kazuma I am in it for Megumin.

[hachi]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:13 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Crawl up! Nyaruko-san's writers seem to really like Macross.  They've been averaging 1-2 references to it an episode in the second season.

Nyaruko's rant about aliens with weaksauce weaknesses brings up a few different kaiju, the aliens from Mars Attacks, and the Zentradi losing their will to fight when they heard music for the first time.

(Hell, her sneezes are her listing mecha from the series... Phalanx, Valkyrie, Armored, Super, Fire, Work-type, and VF-1.  Her last sneeze is "Big West".  The narrator even says "Deculture" at the end...)

Now I feel pressured to research on Lovecraft lol. I'm putting this series on my backlog.

[hachi]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:13 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Crawl up! Nyaruko-san's writers seem to really like Macross.  They've been averaging 1-2 references to it an episode in the second season.

Nyaruko's rant about aliens with weaksauce weaknesses brings up a few different kaiju, the aliens from Mars Attacks, and the Zentradi losing their will to fight when they heard music for the first time.

(Hell, her sneezes are her listing mecha from the series... Phalanx, Valkyrie, Armored, Super, Fire, Work-type, and VF-1.  Her last sneeze is "Big West".  The narrator even says "Deculture" at the end...)

This was mistakenly posted (double post) mods please delete

Edited January 17, 2020 by hachi
Double post

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, hachi said:

Now I feel pressured to research on Lovecraft lol. I'm putting this series on my backlog.

Yeah, it got me reading the TVTropes pages for H.P. Lovecraft and some of his more iconic works that get referenced in Crawl up! Nyaruko-san.

The series drops a LOT of references to the Call of Cthulhu RPG too.

 

Since I'm feeling cruddy and working partly from home today, I've started a new series after finishing Crawl up! Nyaruko-san.  I was in the mood for something light, so I went for We Can't Study! (Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai).  It seems fairly cute, one episode in.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I am really loving Lucky Star.  Love the ending being different every time.

[Focslain]

59 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am really loving Lucky Star.  Love the ending being different every time.

Akira is a treat. She gets better as the series goes on. Minor Spoiler, but Minoru does give her what for eventually. 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

8 minutes ago, Focslain said:

Akira is a treat. She gets better as the series goes on. Minor Spoiler, but Minoru does give her what for eventually. 

I do not like Akira all the much.  I find her grating and annoying.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I had a great time binge watching The Disasterous Life of Saiki K.  I actually didn't expect too much of it, but it turned out to be great gag anime. Now Netflix has new episodes in "Saiki Reawakened" which are next in my queue.

[Bing0]

Just started watching macross frontier and love it 

[Seto Kaiba]

20 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I do not like Akira all the much.  I find her grating and annoying.

You're supposed to... she's meant to be awful, as a comedic counterpart to Shiraishi.

She's the embodiment of that gap between how idols act when the camera's on them vs. in private.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

On 1/18/2020 at 11:14 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

You're supposed to... she's meant to be awful, as a comedic counterpart to Shiraishi.

She's the embodiment of that gap between how idols act when the camera's on them vs. in private.

I get the shtick.  She reminds me of Lunar in Seto no Hanayome, if you have watched it.  Lunar is much different in public vs private.

[Seto Kaiba]

Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai got stale surprisingly fast.

At a bit less than halfway into the second season, the plots of individual episodes have become so repetitive that even the show's characters have not only started to notice but actively predict what's going to happen.  The episode I just finished was a rote copy of a season one episode.  Like, every single plot point repeated verbatim... and Nariyuki acknowledges it.  The first half of the same episode was another recycled plot involving an accidental inappropriate clothing gift.

[Focslain]

So finished Fire Force over the weekend. The fights against the White Clad were up and down. Worse being the Tamaki/Arsenal fight, the rest had nice mechanics and the Shrina/Sho fight was a classic shoenen end battle.

At least there was some closure on the fire that started Shrina's journey. There are also quite a few hooks for another season which would be nice if there is one later down the road.

Other then the group's selection and the two on my personal list. I do need to find a nice talky dubbed anime to play while I work on my many^uptenth modeling projects. 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Focslain

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I saw Tenki no Ko yesterday it was so good.  8.5/10 from me.,

[Bolt]

https://japantoday.com/category/entertainment/Studio-Ghibli-grants-streaming-rights-to-Netflix-but-anime-fans-in-3-key-countries-left-out?

Sucks for us 'Merikans'. But I already own all these titles..

[Marzan]

This season is the poorest one I can remember in a long, long time. Other than Eizouken ni wa te wo Dasuna  and Dorohedoro, everything else is not very good. And the latter is only available in Netflix Japan until the season is over (I hate the way Netflix manages its anime content).

Ishuzoku reviewers while not very good, is quite funny in it's own ridiculous way. I'm very surprised that something like that can stream in 2020. I thought the premise would have certain demographics howling in indignation.

[Seto Kaiba]

So I've finished Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed.  It started pretty strong, but it just kind of ran out of steam about five episodes into season two and never got back on the horse.  The story got really repetitive, and you can only use a gag so many times before it stops being funny.

Kinda bummed out that they never bothered to resolve the love quadrangle they had going on there either, despite deciding to jump forward to graduation and them all leaving for college.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

34 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

So I've finished Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed.  It started pretty strong, but it just kind of ran out of steam about five episodes into season two and never got back on the horse.  The story got really repetitive, and you can only use a gag so many times before it stops being funny.

Kinda bummed out that they never bothered to resolve the love quadrangle they had going on there either, despite deciding to jump forward to graduation and them all leaving for college.

Well it is a Harem title..  harkens back to the days of Love Hina and the like.

It wasn't all that bad,  I enjoyed it enough to keep at it.    Ground Breaking no.. but you need to set your expectations.

As for the resolving the ending.. my understanding is that the manga isn't done yet,   Personally I am rooting for the teacher.. lol

 

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Mikakunin de Shinkoukei is such a strange show but I really like it. 

[Seto Kaiba]

21 minutes ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Well it is a Harem title..  harkens back to the days of Love Hina and the like.

Y'know, it never really felt like a harem title when I was watching it.  

Normally, in a harem anime you expect to see one person being energetically pursued by a double handful of members of the opposite sex.  Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai's main cast never really took the initiative, virtually all of the progress anyone made was the result of a well-meaning third party poking their oar in.  Furuhashi's the only one who really did anything of her own volition, and she was resolutely remaining a non-participant in any romantic shenanigans until the very end.  Ogata's basically clueless about feelings in general, Takemoto's too shy to ever make a move on Nariyuki herself, Kirisu's too professional to cross that line, and Kominami just wants to watch Nariyuki squirm.

It's more like everyone else in the story sees it as a harem story except the main cast, who are resolutely convinced they're living in a slice of life drama.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Y'know, it never really felt like a harem title when I was watching it.  

Normally, in a harem anime you expect to see one person being energetically pursued by a double handful of members of the opposite sex.  Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai's main cast never really took the initiative, virtually all of the progress anyone made was the result of a well-meaning third party poking their oar in.  Furuhashi's the only one who really did anything of her own volition, and she was resolutely remaining a non-participant in any romantic shenanigans until the very end.  Ogata's basically clueless about feelings in general, Takemoto's too shy to ever make a move on Nariyuki herself, Kirisu's too professional to cross that line, and Kominami just wants to watch Nariyuki squirm.

It's more like everyone else in the story sees it as a harem story except the main cast, who are resolutely convinced they're living in a slice of life drama.

I agree it never seemed like a harem to me.  Takemoto really was the only one I found who truly wanted to be with Nariyuki

[AN/ALQ128]

10 hours ago, Marzan said:

 Dorohedoro, everything else is not very good. And the latter is only available in Netflix Japan until the season is over (I hate the way Netflix manages its anime content).

Netflix's decision to wait until months after the airing of the anime in Japan to release the show to the West is incredibly baffling, I just can't figure out the logic.

By the time it comes out for the rest of us, everyone will have moved on to the next big thing.

 

[JB0]

7 hours ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

Netflix's decision to wait until months after the airing of the anime in Japan to release the show to the West is incredibly baffling, I just can't figure out the logic.

By the time it comes out for the rest of us, everyone will have moved on to the next big thing.

 

Presumably because it gives them time to do a decent translation job.

[Focslain]

8 hours ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

Netflix's decision to wait until months after the airing of the anime in Japan to release the show to the West is incredibly baffling, I just can't figure out the logic.

By the time it comes out for the rest of us, everyone will have moved on to the next big thing.

 

 

33 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Presumably because it gives them time to do a decent translation job.

If their insistent on releasing the dub and sub at the same time, maybe. But other services have gotten near semi-dubs running currently. Worst case is that the dub would be a few weeks, not months behind.

Also if your co-producing the series you could make it a requirement to get a translated script. 

Considering their issue with keeping viewships it would be best to do these as weekly series, dropping episodes like they do everywhere else but the US, then a few months later drop the dubs as 'new' episodes. That gets the series a new cycle as then it goes in the sub vs dub conversation or at least how the dub VAs did the characters justice or not.

And Netflix has done sub only anime before so it wouldn't be odd in the slightest.