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

MakuMaku · 2013-10-10T06:54:43.000Z

I have currently watched sofar:
Outbreak Company: place an hardcore otaku in a fantasy parallel world where magic and mythical beasts exists. Gonna stick with this one :)
Kill la Kill: Good Gurrann Lagann vibe
Ars Nova: Scifi anime where there are sentient alien sea battleships. See if this one holds my interest…
Log Horizon: imo a light version of SOA

Other ongoing series i’m watching:
HxH
Space Brothers

KaoFloppy · 2013-10-10T08:46:26.000Z

Miramon:

I watched the Phantom series (Requiem for a Phantom) over the last week. At first it seemed like a soulless self-rip-off of Noir, but it grew on me over time. Satisfying ending, too. The silly happy-killers-enjoying-Japan opening credits for the final group of episodes threw me at first, but after a bit I thought even that made some sense.

Speaking of Noir, I just started El Cazador de la Bruja. 2 episodes in, no impression yet.

Miramon · 2013-10-10T11:46:54.000Z

Yeah, I watched a bunch of Cazador episodes a year or so ago. Kept waiting for it to get better. But it felt both dull and sort of random. Not awful, just weak. Much inferior to Noir, and also to Phantom, which though pretty good itself also isn’t as good as Noir.

Bandersnatch · 2013-11-09T23:02:08.000Z

Hajime no Ippo is so damn good. There isn’t another show that leaves me feeling as stupidly happy as it does. I need to get caught up on the manga!

Miramon · 2013-11-10T07:01:23.000Z

I just watched the first GITS:Arise episode. I thought it was actually pretty good. Not as good as some of the earlier stuff, but still much better than then general run of anime. Also, this first episode does a lot of character introduction and exposition, so perhaps subsequent episodes are tighter in terms of plot and story.

ineffablebob · 2013-12-17T09:09:26.000Z

Miramon:

I watched the Phantom series (Requiem for a Phantom) over the last week. At first it seemed like a soulless self-rip-off of Noir, but it grew on me over time. Satisfying ending, too. The silly happy-killers-enjoying-Japan opening credits for the final group of episodes threw me at first, but after a bit I thought even that made some sense.

I really like Noir, so I was looking forward to Phantom, and finally took the time to watch it. I tried to like it, but it just never did much for me. Hard to put my finger on exactly why, as the whole innocents-twisted-into-killers thing was similar. Maybe it’s the lack of the big background mystery that Noir had; the mafia wars in Phantom never seemed to really matter.

Miramon · 2013-12-17T09:14:32.000Z

ineffablebob:

I really like Noir, so I was looking forward to Phantom, and finally took the time to watch it. I tried to like it, but it just never did much for me. Hard to put my finger on exactly why, as the whole innocents-twisted-into-killers thing was similar. Maybe it’s the lack of the big background mystery that Noir had; the mafia wars in Phantom never seemed to really matter.

Yes, Noir was clearly much better. But I liked Phantom more than Madlax or El Cazador de la Bruja, which were intended as siblings in a tryptich of series. I think you’re right that in Phantom, the mafia wars are just a backdrop for the character stories, so they really don’t matter that much, and that’s definitely a flaw.

KaoFloppy · 2013-12-17T13:37:27.000Z

I stopped watching El Cazador de la Bruja. I’m watching 7 series this season, all of which are more interesting.

KILL la KILL continues to be exciting and over-the-top, although now it completely follows other shonen fighting series tropes. I guess there can only be one Gurren Lagann.

Kyoukai no Kanata spared no expense on the art and animation. I cannot wholeheartedly endorse the story. It’s good, and but somehow doesn’t evoke as much sympathy from me as other stories. I don’t know if it’s because I wanted more explanation of the world, or more introduction to the characters.

I liked both Strike the Blood and Tokyo Ravens, but watching them at the same time is bad…they both blend together as if both are made from the same plot/story/character generator. Tokyo Ravens looks like it wants to be a long running replacement of Bleach…

Yozakura Quartet: Does anyone know why they keep making anime of this series? And every series reset from the beginning and goes to a slightly different place. It’s odd. But its touchy-feely let’s all get along angle is always welcome. (I’m a sap.)

ineffablebob · 2013-12-24T12:28:27.000Z

HRose:

Bakemonogatari is SHAFT. Which means it’s a masterpiece.

Picked this up and have watched about half of it. HRose is right, it’s awesome. Reminds me of XxxHolic, with all the mythical creature plots.

unbongwah:

I’ve seen the first season and enjoyed it, but it’s kind of a tough sell to others. For one thing, there’s a lot of dialog, including wordplay which doesn’t seem to translate well. This also means there are a lot of static scenes of characters just standing around talking; SHAFT does what it can to make those scenes pretty, at least, but it’s not exactly action-packed.

And this is certainly true also. I don’t mind the wordplay and standing-around, but if you do, Bakemonogatari might not be for you.

unbongwah:

Plus there’s an awful lot of fan-service shots, which gets ratcheted up in the second season - particularly of the more loli girls - and is a big part of why I haven’t finished Nisemonogatari yet. I consider myself pretty jaded / inured to such things (I managed to watch “Highschool of the Dead” while barely flinching), but it still managed to cross my comfort zone.

Doesn’t seem too bad yet, but I haven’t gotten to the second season yet. Of course, I also just finished the first season of High School DxD not too long ago, so my fan-service sensitivity is way suppressed.

Edit: Finished the second season and unbongwah is right on about it. Crazy sexual innuendo, mostly with underage girls. Too bad because the actual supernatural-creature-mystery story bits are good, but getting to them is painful. First season, I can recommend. Second, not so much.

Quikzen · 2013-12-24T14:02:59.000Z

Yowamushi Pedal and log horizon absolutely amazing the best of this season, last season was silver spoon, damn i rly enjoyed that farm life, hope they make a 2nd season very soon.
Also watching valvrave season 2. pretty cool!

Otagan · 2013-12-25T06:50:16.000Z

ineffablebob:

Doesn’t seem too bad yet, but I haven’t gotten to the second season yet.

The second season is a mixed bag. I don’t have access to the episodes at the moment to double-check, but I recall it starting decently, lulling quite heavily in the middle, and ending on the currently-airing arc that I frankly consider to be the best one they’ve animated yet (unless they somehow botch it in the next couple of weeks, which is more or less impossible).

tiredtypist · 2013-12-26T11:30:07.000Z

Just finished watching the Gintama 2 movie and it was really good fun. The alt. future counterparts were brilliant fun too the point that I wouldn’t mind a spin off of some kind.

Alstein · 2013-12-26T11:33:19.000Z

Bandersnatch:

Hajime no Ippo is so damn good. There isn’t another show that leaves me feeling as stupidly happy as it does. I need to get caught up on the manga!

Scan sites are your only hope- and you’re about 800 chapters behind if you’re going off the 1st anime, 500 off the 2nd.

Bandersnatch · 2013-12-26T13:20:15.000Z

I think I read to somewhere in the 800’s. Plowed through it pretty quick. The anime this season introduced Sawamura and I was confused for a moment thinking Ippo had met and fought him years ago.

I’m surprised the manga has never been licensed.

Alstein · 2013-12-27T05:41:47.000Z

Generally, if something is over 20 volumes,the costs to license make it way too risky, and sports manga/anime doesn’t sell well on top of that. The original HnI anime was one of the worst commercial bombs in US anime history, despite doing very well in Japan. (some stuff that bombs in Japan does well here in comparison, such as Cowboy Bebop)

Only sure-fire hit series tend to get long-running manga adaptations in the US. (think Naruto/Ranma/Sailor Moon-type stuff)

Given the above, Ippo will never be licensed

NuclearWinter · 2014-01-04T14:44:21.000Z

Bumping this because Mushishi is my favourite anime ever and after 8 years a second season has just been announced for Spring 2014!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-04/mushishi-anime-gets-2nd-season-in-april

forgeforsaken · 2014-01-04T15:05:11.000Z

Hunter X Hunter and Kill La Kill mostly currently. I might start Space Brothers since I hear good things. Hunter X Hunter is pretty consistently great. Kill La Kill is sort of amazing, a bit lewd, but clever and funny.

TurinTur · 2014-01-05T05:45:30.000Z

NuclearWinter:

Bumping this because Mushishi is my favourite anime ever and after 8 years a second season has just been announced for Spring 2014!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-04/mushishi-anime-gets-2nd-season-in-april

Yeeesss! Great news, great anime.

Also, I watched today the new Mushishi OVA, excellent.

Otagan · 2014-01-05T08:15:58.000Z

FYI (mostly for GeeWhiz), Silver Spoon’s second season starts on Friday.

geewhiz · 2014-01-05T11:49:09.000Z

Oh, thank you, thank you, Otagan; I was talking about when it might start up again, just this morning with my kids! We subscribe to Crunchyroll and I was looking for news but did not see anything; I really appreciate the heads up.

My son and I have been enjoying Log Horizon. We also saved up about 25 episodes of both Naruto and Hunter X Hunter for a huge marathon over the holidays. Yes, we do enjoy Naruto, the kids all watched it from a young age. We regularly save up a bunch of episodes and when all the work schedules line up we watch them all at once together. I find watching certain shows works better watching a bunch in a row rather than once a week. Anyone else feel that way about certain shows?

Ippo is also another one we really enjoy. I personally am enjoying Yowapeda which surprised me, but I just like it for some reason (it is lightly amusing).