Hanamonogatari is even more “two persons talking while the camera goes crazy” than usual. Most of what matters is in two key scenes, one of it is super lengthy scene where one of the characters goes in a soliloquy/flashback to explain what happened to her in the past, so it isn’t even interaction between two characters talking. Also, it doesn’t have the crazy personalities of Arararagi, Shinobu or Senjohara, it’s more an introspective look at Kanbaru and her indecision and issues so it lacks some of the light humor (though not totally). In the other hand, it does what it tries to do pretty well, dealing with Kanbaru in a nice character arc with interesting parallelism between characters and a proper climax for her that let the character grow.
Teiman
3662
I has been watching a lot of series lately… but mostly because I like the exposition phase of animes. I like when a anime uses infographics and clever ways to show me a world unlike our own. I know that is technically bad historytelling (show, don’t tell), but I still enjoy it.
Started watching Kiseijuu AKA Parasyte and the first episode was pretty good. I loved the manga back when I read it, but it’s been a few years. They did a great job with the alien transformation stuff. Also got to check out the live action movie when it becomes available. Only things that bugged me about the first episode were that Shinichi wore glasses for some reason, and the dubstep music.
I’ve started watching Space Dandy. The first three episodes weren’t great, but episode four really makes up for it. Also, I love the music in the episodes I’ve seen. As a huge fan of Bebob and Champloo, it shouldn’t be surprising that there are things to enjoy about this, but Space Dandy is so incredibly different from either of Shinichiro Watanabe’s previous efforts.
I’m watching the new Fate Stay Night TV series. For some odd reason, the first episode is numbered 00, and episodes 00 and 01 are 1 hour long. This allowed many more side characters and scenes from the VN to be crammed into the show, although maybe they’re just noise. Big budget shows through in the animation details. For those familiar with the VN, the show is about the 2nd route “Unlimited Blade Works”. I wonder if they will borrow scenes from the movie?
I still haven’t watch Hanamonogatari…I’m intimidated by 2 straight hours of dialog. I don’t seem to have that kind of free time lately.
I enjoyed that, but it wasn’t anything super-special. I’d say you’re not missing much by waiting until you’re bored enough that it sounds exciting.
Watching Parasyte, Mushishi and Bahamut as the “good ones” of this season, also F S/N UBW though I’m less convinced (I’m not a fan of the VN or anything); but at least it looks very pretty. Also Your Lie in April, for now I’m not seeing what it makes it so special as manga fans say it’s great, for now it’s a very predictable in both the drama and the triangle romance.
I watched Bayonetta: Bloody Fate since Bayonetta 2 is coming out today. It was a pretty entertaining retelling of the first game. The dub had the same voice actors from the game. They tweaked and changed some scenes for brevity and the movie ending was really weak compared to the game, but it was a fun watch.
Backstory: I just wrapped up a huge science project which will hopefully be submitted in the next few days, and my poor hands are wrecked from writing code for 12-14 hours a day. So, no video games for me. I’m on an anime binge, which really only requires a click every once in a while to start a new episode of whatever I’m watching.
Recently, I’ve been watching Code Geass. I sorta liked Season1, especially the late game “ooops” with Euphemia in episode 22. However, it seems like season 2 involved lots of random technology upgrades to mechs for no reason, so it’s just a string of “Ah ha, I have the super mech THIS time” combats, centered around a few decent mechs and a million red-shirts on either side. The same thing happened to the characters, where Geass was something special to one character, then later on tons of characters pop up out of the wood work all sprouting super powers. Maybe I just haven’t watched enough shonen anime where maybe this is just…the accepted plot line that must occur.
I think my disappointment with this anime stems from everyone who said “Oh, if you like Death note, you’ll really like Code Geass.” I find them to be almost not at all alike. Deathnote’s characters were less super-powered, had to be considerably more clever, the focus on the important characters was much tighter, and I personally found the characters easier to care about. Lelouch is kinda an asshole, ya know? Suzaku would have almost been a better character to be the primary, as he’s strong but not super powered, and he seems far more flawed (but striving to do something right) than Lelouch.
After watching a few episodes, I find myself longing for an epsiode of Spacy Dandy just to cleanse my pallet.
ShivaX
3670
So Light is less of an asshole than Lelouch? You lost me there.
The mech thing does get a little silly, but at least it ends well imo. Death Note lost it’s groove and jumped the shark past Ep 25 in a lot of ways (hey look we have a secret rocket base! wut?). Neither are so long they overstay their welcome. I preferred Geass of the two, mostly because I liked Lelouch a lot more than Light, even revenge is a better goal than playing God just because you can. Suzaku is also a great character and in a lot of ways he really is the hero of the story.
Edit: And as far as powers, I think Light is more powerful than Lelouch, especially once you throw in Shinigami-eyes. At least with Lelouch he has to be in the same room as you. Or on the same planet. Or see more than your fricking picture. Anyway, YMMV, they’re both excellent series.
I’ll agree with you that death note sure did jump the shark for the last arc of the series. Ug, that was awful, and it’s a reason I have the live action movies on my to watch list, as I hear then ending arc is handled far better since it’s not needlessly extended by forces external to the writers.
Both Lelouch and Light had a huge quotient of “I’m super smart, so I can just do <X> magic because I’m nifty.” I like that L was on the other end, which put a cap on Light’s powers - he could do something, but if he did then he’d tip his hand that it was him and not external forces. The L/Light tension reminded me of WW2 code breaking (see: Cryptonomicon), where sometimes in order to do something to advance your cause, you had to critically fail somewhere else. I generally didn’t get that sense of limitation on Lalouch, and the writing style where the story constantly changed because “We got a new mech” or “haha, we decided that this character is really…your MOTHER” I found a bit more wearing. I don’t remember constantly rubbing against deux ex machina in DeathNote, but it’s been a while since I saw the series, maybe it would irritate me more if I re-watched it.
I think I overall enjoy the suspense/psychological nature of DeathNote over the mech-fighting of Code Geass. That’s not a pronouncement that one is universally better, but a statement of my preferences. I don’t think I’ve watched very much of any other giant robot fighting anime like Gundam, Full Metal Panic, etc. The only one I’ve seen is Evangelion.
PS: Is there only one radio frequency in the Code Geass universe? How does everyone shout at each other (and be heard) while they are fighting?
ShivaX
3672
There is only one radio frequency in the future. It is a side effect of creating battle mechs - everyone talks directly to each other.
Edit: If you’re not into any sort of mech fighting then I can see Geass not doing it. For a mech show it’s fairly tame on the mech side of things, but it is still there.
Otagan
3674
I don’t have any sources I can cite for this, but I recall Geass getting a different, much earlier timeslot for its second season than it had for the first one, so the production staff had to adjust the tone and rewrite a chunk of the originally planned follow-up storyline to be more comparatively kid-friendly (read: less dark). They obviously didn’t go incredibly far down a different path, but from what I understand it threw a wrench into what they had originally intended to do.
Watched Ghost in the Shell: Arise part 4 recently. The Arise series has been interesting, but I think I’m too invested in the Stand Alone Complex series to really appreciate it. I keep comparing it to SAC in the back of my mind as I’m watching, which isn’t really fair since they’re very different: season-long vs OVA for one thing, and a significantly different take on the characters. That’s my fault though, not a failing of the show itself. The production is good, and it definitely follows the GITS formula of convoluted plots and long conversations about complicated politics interwoven with cyborg action scenes. Sometime I’ll have to sit down and watch all 4 of the Arise episodes together, maybe I’ll get a better feel for it that way.
JFrazer
3676
Started watching Parasite on Crunchy Roll. Was able to watch 9 episodes before catching up with the current episode rollout.
So far, I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Definitely a more mature anime and it’s blessedly free of fan service. Some violence-porn for sure though, so best to avoid if you were put off by things like Attack On Titan
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I think it’s good. Stupid as hell but often it trips into sheer greatness.
Got my hands on Death Note recently, after seeing the discussion upthread about it and Code Geass (which I liked quite a bit). I enjoyed most of it, although…
Most definitely. If the show had ended a dozen or so episodes earlier, I’d have been much happier.
I felt like the opposition actually had more unbelievable leaps of faith than Light did in Death Note. The worst was in the last few episodes, when Near deduces who Mikami is with basically no information whatsoever. Some of the earlier incidents when L kept suspecting Light despite evidence to the contrary felt similar. As the viewer, we know they’re right, but the characters didn’t have the information we did. Most of the time, those sorts of moments are easy to just ignore when watching anime, but when the whole premise of the show is that these characters are making super-smart decisions, it sticks out.
As for Code Geass vs Death Note, I prefer Code Geass, but not really due to characters. And certainly not due to a better ending, since to my mind both shows got significantly worse near the end. More the art style, and the additional element of action, though said action wasn’t particularly well done. Even mediocre mech fighting breaks up the constant thinking-and-manipulation stuff.
I feel like there could be an excellent theme song / anthem called “Mediocre mech fighting”, preferably as part of a montage.
Gil102
3680
I’m curious as to whether anyone feels Eureka 7 is good, bad, or in-between. The two seasons are on Netflix now and I’m watching it again for the third time. But I wonder if what I consider “Good” is more my own personal taste, or more because it really IS good. If you really dislike Eureka 7, I’d like to know why. I need a different perspective.
