3441

Bakemonogatari is, in my opinion, very overrated. It is entirely based on dialog (specifically sarcastic back and forth about basically nothing) with nothing really going on and the dialog is very hit or miss. I liked the first season but haven’t finished the second yet. It is likely something best taken in small doses.

Current Season:

Things i will watch more of:

Suisei no Gargantia: I like this a lot. I’ve enjoyed the battles a lot first of all, but also, i like the general idea of the story. The main character basically crash lands with a super advanced mech on a waterworld’ish planet with current day tech. Interesting stuff happens.

HOWEVER, i don’t like the stupid anime morality that i sense from the second episode. The main character defends other people from people trying to kill him and is scolded with the too often used logic that you shouldn’t kill people no matter what. This of course ignores that the people saying it were trying to kill him in the previous episode and that the people he killed were trying to kill others. I hate this more than anything when I see it and it could ruin this potentially good show if it is is too common.

Shingeki no Kyojin: This is an absurdly popular manga, which i haven’t read (unsure why), so i expect this to be good. Will be checking this out shortly.

Kakumeiki Valvrave: One of my favorites this season. This reminds me a lot of Gundam Seed, so i was hoping they could do gundam seed, but without all of the filler/flash backs/reused scenes. However, i was not too thrilled at the second episode. The first episode had me hooked, but the second was a let down to me. I don’t need more “OH i have this almighty mech but it can only fight for 2 minutes” bullshit. Main protagonist sounded too whiney to pull off the ending in episode 2 as well. I will have to see where they go with this.

Dansai Bunri no Chrime Edge: Enjoyable. This is a weird one. If it wasn’t for the supernatural killer stuff, this would be a somewhat typical school romance/comedy, but there is a TON of supernatural stuff and it is really weird. Hopefully they will eventually explain some of the elements in it. A fun show, but not a great one.

Hataraku Maou-sama!: I Read the manga, thought it was pretty good. I haven’t got around to watching it yet though. From experience with the manga, i’d imagine the jokes will get old fast though (maybe why it is 13 episodes).

Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Bride: I liked the first on well enough. The second is more of the same, although i wish there was something more epic in the second season.

Ore No Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga N: Pretty much the same as the rest of the season. Although i am finding the jokes kind of becoming stale so i hope they do something to keep it fresh soon.

Things i’m unsure of:

Arata Kangatari: Oh i haven’t actually watched this, but read the manga. Was quite good, but this is a long, weird story and 12 episodes isn’t enough to really get far in it. Plan to watch still i think, but i can’t see it ending well.

Date A Live: Pretty typical (likely Harem) romance/comedy. Supernatural/adventure aspects make it decent enough i guess. I might watch, i might not.

Things that don’t exist as far as i’m concerned:

Aku no Hana: I didn’t watch this, but i read much of the manga it is based on. Normally this is a good thing, but not in this show’s case. I was super surprised they made an anime adaption of this as it was an extremely niche manga. This was without a doubt the most angst filled, maddening and revolting manga i have ever read. Ok, that is taking things too far, i know there are worse, but this one was BAD. It has become increasingly popular to make stories focused heavily on BDSM. Some of them work and are appealing to a wider audience. Some of them are Aku no Hana.

If you like MASSIVE angst, tragedy and pretty hardcore domination that makes you sick to the stomach, this might be for you. However, I am hugely in to anime and manga and this is too much for me…

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince: Gundam for idiots. This is basically a very childish gundam, lacking any depth. The art style supports this and the way the main characters act confirm it. Every main character is specifically modeled in both appearance and actions to be “funny stupid.” The mechs are literally powered by “Fighting Spirit” (they don’t call it this, but it is the same) and not actual ability to pilot them. This is clearly aimed at young children. Will not be watching this anymore.

3442

Right now, it’s the show I call ‘Attack of the Feral Japanese Businessman’. I know it’s supposed to be serious, but when they show the titans, I can’t help but snicker.

3443

Man, those things seriously creep us out. Watched third EP last night, as well as first 2 of Valvrave.

3444

Yeah, been watching Attack on Titan as well. Rather enjoying it, but watching series “live” (or via CR, whatever) sucks ass. Just release it all at once, Netflix style!

Super creepy and depressing, such to the point that the occasional glimmers of humor our sentimentality feel REALLY weird, esp. because they’re not of the sort of black humor seen in, say, the Malazan books. The design, animation, and music are all top-notch, along with the plot, so I can look past that :)

3445

Valvrave is pretty good so far. I like that Shoko is turning into a character that is more than a romantic interest, and the resulting plot development.

I’ve watched the first 16 eps of Space Brothers over the last couple of days and am really enjoying it.

You know, I’ve watched the first 14 episodes over the last few days, and I’m digging this. Yeah, the main character can be such a twit early, but I think it’s ok because the other characters don’t put up with his crap.

3446

Watched the first episode of GitS: Arise. It’s not too bad; it’s a little weird seeing the Major as anything but a complete badass. In Arise, she’s fairly skilled but in a few ways somewhat inexperienced and vulnerable (in multiple ways). They do give her a bit more personality at least (as they do Pazu), though I’m thinking they should advance the timeline somewhat. 2027 is only 14 years away, which would have made Motoko’s at-birth-cyborgization right around, oh, now if not in our past, which makes it slightly more hard to believe. The story is decent enough and sets up the creation of Section 9’s squad while also keeping with the themes of Shirow’s post-war militaristic societies. The music I feel is mostly horrible.

Also saw a trailer for Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, which looks absolutely amazing for pre-war Japan. Some great shots of the earthquake, lots of trains, planes (paper and otherwise), and even some fleet carrier trials mixed in. Animation looks superb and typical Miyazaki awesomeness.

— Alan

3447

Is there a legit channel for watching Arise yet? I don’t see it on the funimation website.

3448

Cartoon Network has the rights but dunno when they’re airing it.

— Alan

3449

Anime’ - Whatcha Watchin? (Is it good?)

Goods ones this season:

Uchouten Kazoku
Gatchman Crowds
Maybe Silver Spoon

3450

This is manga, not anime, but I’ve never seen a manga thread

Rightstuf is having one of their manga sales (Seven Seas stuff) right now

I’d really recommend A Centaur’s Life. It’s really sweet and surprisingly deep.

3451

Procured and watched this recently, and I generally agree with Alan. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I’d hoped to, perhaps because the characters didn’t really feel the same. Backstory is nice and all, but what I’d really like is more about the characters that I know, not their younger selves. It also seems a little weird to see Togusa in the middle of things right away, as it seemed he didn’t really know the other team members all that well when he joined Section 9 later in the timeline. None of that will stop me from watching Arise, of course. Any GITS is a step above most anything else.

The music is indeed awful, and a huge disappointment after the SAC stuff that I’d listen to on its own merits (especially Inner Universe, I love that song). As for the timeline, I don’t mind it so much because I consider the timeline to have diverged from reality much earlier…remember they had two world wars, presumably in the early 2000s, one of which was nuclear. To get there, I figure things back a few decades before that must be pretty different too. So I look at it not so much as 14 years in the future, as an alternate history 50+ years in the making.

3452

Bakemonogatari 2nd season, AKA Nekomonogatari White, is more of the same XXmonogatari style of endless amounts of talking by the usual cast of characters. If you’re a fan, you would have started watching this already.

Neptunia the Animation is not worth watching, unless maybe you’re a fan of the games. Even then, it’s merely watching the characters get animated and go into boring situation-of-the-week. There’s no obvious main story arc, so no real draw.

Railgun S is still retelling the Sisters arc from the first Index series. Of course, it’s more fleshed out, and with meaty plot stuff, not just fillers like Naruto used to have.

3453

My ADD doesn’t let me see any Index stuff as long I haven’t read the Light Novels (same for Baccano, Durarara, Kara no Kyoukai and so on…). I’m actually surprised about how much stuff gets translated.

This year we’ll even have all Haruhi Suzumiya volumes published in Japan in english hardcover and for a cheap price too.

3454

I’m actually quite enjoying this one, not that I recommend it to anyone. It’s basically fanservice (in every sense of the word) for fans of the games, and I’m personally interested to see how they’re pulling elements from all of the games into this adaptation. I honestly have no idea what to expect from episode to episode, and I don’t need a main story arc (though one seems to be brewing as of the last episode) as I find the one-offs interesting enough to keep watching.

It’s nothing more than a love letter to the fandom, but I didn’t expect anything more than that anyway.

At long last. The Spice and Wolf novels are also moving rather quickly (about three per year), which I’m very satisfied with. They’ve already advanced far beyond what was animated and are almost half done with the whole series.

3455

I’ve been wondering for a while: does anyone even make anime TV series which aren’t based on manga, games, or light novels anymore? Seems like the industry won’t take a chance on a new franchise, but it has to be something with a built-in audience.

Curiously, my favorite new show so far may be “Servant x Service.” It’s a light-hearted workplace comedy about a group of young civil servants in a ward office somewhere in Hokkaido. There’s nothing remotely deep about it; it’s just refreshing to have a silly show for those of us trapped in gov’t service to appreciate. :-) It’s based on a manga by Karino Takatsu, who also did Working!! which was adapted a couple years ago by a different company. So, if you saw “Working!!” you have some idea what sort of humor to expect.

3456

The noitaminA program lists some original to anime series, like Psycho Pass and Guilty Crown.

I didn’t realize that many light novels have been translated. I’ll need to read some to see what’s ‘light’ about them.

3457

Some of them aren’t exactly light:

2507358-novels1.jpg848×1280

3458

That whole Horizon series gives me headaches when I think about how ludicrously massive its universe is.

3459

OMGWTFBBQ I am not reading that whole thing!
Thanks to Otagan for the hint, I found the wikipedia page. That left stack is 1 of 6 connected series!

3460

Huh? The picture I added? Horizon?

As far as I know it’s just two. Horizon on the right (which is only 1/4 of the planned total) and the completed Owari no Chronicle that is being translated right now.

But I doubt the Horizon side of the translation will make a lot of progress.

P.S.
I just found out the picture is outdated. Add another two volumes to that pile. The last came out this month, it’s just 840 pages.