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

The Monogatari series is really reliant on wordplay and puns that I don’t think translates all that well. I like it alot but it definitely requires more active attention than a typical anime series.

I’ve watched more of it, and I like it more, but I’m still a little ambivalent. The pun thing is definitely a barrier to entry. I’m familiar with the trope of that style of magic, so I’m okay with it, but when I realized what it was doing, it makes translation kind of…inherently not-good? They do a fine job with it, but it seems like a kind of thankless task.

I think that the second story arc (Mayoi Snail) is also just not very good? The show hasn’t generated much goodwill in the viewer yet at that point, and it elects to be boring on purpose. Which is fine, but you kind of need to make me trust you before you do that.

There’s also a huge feeling of somebody just reading a book aloud to you, which…I kind of hate (I don’t like audiobooks, and I usually click through voiceover in games). I kind of appreciate the way that they use prose dialog in another medium, but don’t really like it.

I like the use of the different opening themes as a storytelling vehicle, and I do like yokai stories, so there’s enough good about it that I’ll probably finish watching the first season. However, it doesn’t feel like essential viewing to me. It does enough that’s interesting enough that I don’t regret watching it though.

Upon further reflection, I’m not really curious about the light novels, because I feel like they’ve already been (slowly) read aloud to me.

Great points. The anime does feel like an animated form of the light novels (you can probably just listen to it like an audio book and get most of it).

What I appreciate the most about the series is how each story eventually ties together and it’s non-chronological story telling method. It’s pretty unique amongst anime series, I think.

Overlord is not the worst thing ever made. I was so bored that I watched the second season and it was… subtle? layered? Not smart, not that good, but actually took the time to do good worldbuilding and I appreciate that.

If you are terribly bored, is not the worst thing you can watch.

So my wife and I started Violet Evergarden on Netflix. It looked beautiful, the trailer music awesome, epic, and uplifting (from the OST) and it had a fullmetal alchemist vibe with the location, metal hands etc. It won some major awards. Count us in.

4 episodes in and my wife and I have come to the same conclusion…
WHAT A BORING SHOW!!!

Violet Evergarden? Is she some sort of wizard?
No. It’s a show about a post war torn world that is rebuilding and using auto dolls to write letters to deal with PTSD and other emotional issues.

Autodolls that write letters! So it’s about war robots recommissioned to do good, right?
No. Violet is just a normal girl who lacks any kind of emotion (due to traumatic events).

But she’s a super soldier with metal arms, right?
No She’s a regular kid that lost her arms in the war.

Okay… So she’s going on a quest to help people and make the world right?
Sort of. The story is really about people’s interactions with Violet and how she changed their lives.

Ah, so it’s Forest Gump with girl?
No she really doesn’t do anything or meet anyone of any importance or have any impact on the world at large.

Oh.
But it’s pretty.

I know I’m being cynical and I’m fine with a drama anime about life, but if anyone has finished this series please tell me it’s worth continuing or that something more happens with this series.

Uh… there are several phrases there that are wrong. I won’t say which ones because spoilers, but oh boy, if you keep watching, you’ll see.

That said, if what you like in anime is action, there’s little point to keep watching.

But if you like gorgeous animation, amazing soundtrack, great character development and some big kicks in the feels, keep going. The best is yet to come. The first 3-4 episodes are just “setting the pieces”, so to speak. Violet Evergarden is intentionally slow and pensive most of the time, and it revels in the use of “negative space”, so to speak (and uses it brilliantly, I might say). And if you learn to care about Violet, oh boy, you better get prepared because oh my.

Anyway - I loved it. I loved many things about it. But I do enjoy that kind of narrative and I’m well aware that it’s not to the liking of everyone, so YMMV.

So, I’d say perhaps watch it until episode 7. If you’re not hooked by then, and you’d rather watch something else, then do so.

I’ll keep watching, but man she’s such a robot that if she isn’t she needs to be. I like all kinds of anime. I knew going in this wasn’t going to be an action anime, but still. We just finished 4 and 5 school and a birthday party and my wife and I were ready to fall asleep. It totally has the drama down, but it’s just such a slow burn towards whatever it is that’s going to burn.

Oh shit, it’s available in the US finally.

Been wanting to check it out.

One of the three templates of the female ideal in modern Japan.
Not creepy at all.

In the case of Violet (spoiler!) she is neither.

Wow, I’m jumping back to an old post, but this is the only Darling in the Franxx post out there.

I’m not quite sure why so many people are raving about this show? Is it the giant mechs, or the fact that you have 2 pilots in them? Or maybe it’s the pretty explicit way you have to pilot the mechs doggie style (NOT KIDDING)? I’ve seen 8 episodes of the show, because “No trust me man it gets really good”, but while the first two episodes are the strongest on the stupid fan service crap, plenty of episodes have some variant of it. But, that’s OK, because the underage kids in the show don’t even know what kissing is or love, so it’s really a coming of age story about a bunch of kids who may never grow up, but if they do they’ll feel incredibly awkward about what they were doing when they didn’t know any better?

Finding good anime is hard. The last series I saw that I think is worthy of a rewatch is still Ping Pong the Animation, but that’s not for a lack of trying.

All I can say about Franxx is this: my daughter is studying animation in college. She ADORES studio TRIGGER. She thought all the promos for the show were gorgeous. There may be no one in the world that wanted to love this show more than she did. Even she gave up after 6 episodes.

The animation is definitely nice, I’ll give you that. But, unlike porn, I like watching anime for the story. This is why Ping Pong (which sometimes has slightly off-putting animation) scores so well with me.

Finished up Escaflowne the other day and watched the first two eps of the Last Exile sequel. They were epic! Can’t wait to see where they are going from here.

I’m not sure how long its been on Netflix but I discovered One Punch Man the other week. I know it from clips, memes, and its popularity but I’ve never watched it until now.

It was worth the wait. Easily my favourite anime in a long time.

Personally, I like Mob Psycho 100 a lot better (same creator)

I listen to j-metal / j-rock and I always wondered why the lead singer of Band-Maid was always so fucking miserable. Turns out they all play archetype characters, and hers is Ice Princess.

There’s decades of Japanese cultural references I’m familiar with or instinctively got from watching anime and playing games since the 80s but its only recently I’ve actually had access to a large library of it and bothered to reading up on the culture in general and all of a sudden all these things click into place.

I thought both were great, but liked OPM more. There’s a ton of single frame stuff hidden in OPM that’s on the edge of your perception that redditors found. I can’t find the frame by frame to post it, but there’s a moment when OPM fights the deep see king where he punches so hard he PUNCHES THE WEATHER FROM CLOUDS TO SUNSHINE. Also, this guy is one of the best characters in the history of anime. His fight against the deep see king was incredibly moving.

OH FOUND IT:

I prefer One-Punch Man over Mob Psycho 100 but both are great.

Purely by dumb luck I discovered that Tokyo Ghoul season 3 just started airing. You can watch it legit for free on Yahoo View.

So, it ignores most of season 2, which apparently went completely off the rails from the manga. And the art style has changed. And the tone seems significantly less serious than previous seasons. And the first episode dives in after a two-year time skip… except it doesn’t acknowledge the time-skip, making zero attempt to recap the many changes and new characters. So this supposed first episode of a third season instead feels like dropping in on the sixth episode of a first season of some other show.

I’ll stick with it for a few more episodes, but so far I’m not thrilled with it.