Lurker > barnnn

MJOLNRVII posted...

GOTY

Octopath Traveler.
Monster Hunter GU and World tying as close second.

But disregarding actual year of release, I'd say the best thing I've played this year was Yokai Watch 2.

Calwings posted...

C

Reaction face material right there.

Some interesting results here...






I did get some decent normal ones too, weird eye proportions aside.

Huh, never knew they're making an anime of it. I've seen the manga around for quite some time now.

If I remember correctly, the spinoff takes place immediately after the original series, so there might be some spoilers in there.

Oh yeah, just noticed that Shield Hero is in the chart. Haven't read much of the LN, but I'll probably be checking it out as well.

As of now, I'm interested in Boogiepop, Dororo, and Promised Neverland.

So... Inoue Masahiro is reprising his role as Tsukasa/Decade in Kamen Rider Zi-O. Confirmed to get post-Decade series forms as well, including Wizard, Ghost, and Build.

http://news.tokunation.com/2018/11/22/new-kamen-rider-zi-o-magazine-scans-released-onore-decade-56954

A bit old news, but the novel "Kimi wa Tsukiyo ni Hikari Kagayaku" that I read a while ago is getting a movie adaptation. There are quite a lot of scenes that I want to see in motion, so I'm looking forward to it.

https://mydramalist.com/article/light-novel-kimitsuki-gets-a-live-action-adaptation-011012940

Completed the main story of Yokai Watch 2 now. The final boss battles were really awesome. Battle 1 is fairly challenging and discourages overleveling and brute force. And battle 2 really challenges your understanding of the game's battle system and team composition.

I'll be playing the postgame of this one since YW3 isn't out yet. That and there's apparently a lot of postgame story content this time around, as opposed to the first game where it's just an extra-hard dungeon.

I've also been checking out YW Blasters on Amazon. Seems like it's low on stock, since all I'm seeing are third-party listings for above-normal prices.
I'll probably pick it up at a local store before going back to the States or something.

Oh yeah, got a few corrections to make regarding the Yokai Watch movies. I previously said movies 2 and 3 were based on Yokai Watch 3, but I was kinda wrong since both came out before YW3.

Movie 2 was actually based on Yokai Watch Blasters, namely the additional storyline in the Moon Rabbit Crew expansion.
And movie 3 was an original story that was later retold as a postgame story in Yokai Watch 3 Sukiyaki.

Also worth noting that the western releases of YW3 will most likely be the Sukiyaki version right off the bat, judging from the content shown in the Nintendo UK trailer.

A new Super Robot Wars game announced for PS4 and Switch. New series include Cowboy Bebop, Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Rakuen Tsuihou: Expelled from Paradise. GaoGaiGar and G Gundam are making their debut in this graphical style, too. Good stuff.

https://gematsu.com/2018/11/super-robot-wars-t-announced-for-ps4-switch

Following only SSSS.Gridman this season, but I'm watching a bit of Yokai Watch Shadowside as well.

Played Yokai Watch 2 up to the beginning of the major story arc now. So far its an improvement over the first game in almost every way.

My two (very minor) gripes are that Whispers character is now closer to his anime counterpart, which means hes not as competent in his butler role as the first game. And Fumiakis (Fumika players counterpart for Keizou) English voice is kinda awful.

But other than that, the overall improvements are great. The town map now marks important locations such as shops and dungeons, and also displays waypoints for sidequests. Natural Yokai befriending rates are higher, and you can set any Yokai you have to follow you around in the overworld. The free story Yokai you get are more helpful (relative to your current story progress), too.

The game begins with a little recap of the first game without spoiling the bigger moments, then goes a few short story chapters before hopping into the major arc (adapted into the first movie). So with all the improvements and bigger story scale, Id actually recommend skipping the first game and going straight to Psychic Specters if youre getting into the series.

Just watched Yokai Watch Shadowside ep.8 after putting it off for a while. My favorite episode so far for the abaurd scenario and comedy cues, and theres also the re-introduction of a Yokai I really liked from the original series, Robonyan (Not the same individual though), with an awesome redesign.

And I also just got YW2 Psychic Specters today. This version lets you choose between the Bony and Fleshy versions stories and encounter pool (indicated by which brand of doughnuts you buy during the tutorial), which is nice.

Jibanyan also got promoted to a main character now, as opposed to a one-off in the first game. Thanks to his popularity from the anime, I bet. Hes got a pretty nice dynamic with Whisper, and is a bit more animated in cutscenes compared to other people. Feels similar to the Monster Hunter World Palico in this regard.

Speaking of the doughnuts, thats actually what they localized manju as. The first game also localized takoyaki as doughnut holes, so I guess its a series trend going forward now...

Huh, the upcoming Dragon Ball movie is getting a novel adaptation. Pretty sure this is the series' first full-length novel, too.

https://goo.gl/2K1dMj

And... the next Monster Hunter World novel is a children's novel by the same author as Nyanta Life. Which is cool and all, but this implies that the Nyanta Life won't be getting a Glavenus volume.

It's coming out in December, but it'll probably be a long time until I get to read it since it probably won't be released digitally

https://goo.gl/FMMUCS

That's the correct British spelling. And yes, the translation is accurate to the original Japanese.

legendarylemur posted...

barnnn posted...

legendarylemur posted...

I want an anime to just go fucking balls deep and screw consistency in the face. Forget CG, forget even actual animations. In the middle of an anime, they should just randomly cut to live-action footages acting out really trivial scene. Oh, that opening door animation was gonna be cg, well replace that shit with live action goddammit

Heh, it's not really like that, but I feel you're gonna like Yokai Watch movie 3...

But really, there's this one episode of Gintama that just showed crudely animated storyboards with voiceovers, with the characters taking about how the production team couldn't finish stuff in time.

Is movie 1 and 2 required?

It's hard to say for sure, but probably not.
Like, you won't know who most of the main characters are, but it's not that important to know, and the movie's story is standalone.

legendarylemur posted...

I want an anime to just go fucking balls deep and screw consistency in the face. Forget CG, forget even actual animations. In the middle of an anime, they should just randomly cut to live-action footages acting out really trivial scene. Oh, that opening door animation was gonna be cg, well replace that shit with live action goddammit

Heh, it's not really like that, but I feel you're gonna like Yokai Watch movie 3...

But really, there's this one episode of Gintama that just showed crudely animated storyboards with voiceovers, with the characters taking about how the production team couldn't finish stuff in time.

Hmm, this trailer pretty much confirms that the western release of Yokai Watch 3 will be one game, not three separate versions like in Japan. Now this is nice.

kirbymuncher posted...

so is the anime ahead of the games, or behind? or is it just same setting and not a direct connection

They're in completely different continuities, but the anime is technically "ahead" at this point.

The original anime series and first three movies are based on the first three games, with the first movie adapting a story arc from the second game, and movies 2 and 3 being based on the third game. But it doesn't have a real continuous plot or anything like that, from what I know.

Then there's movie 4 and the Shadowside series, which take place after the original series. They're completely anime original so far, but will be covered in the upcoming fourth game. What happened to the original series' main characters during the timeskip hasn't been explained in any form yet, but that will be covered in the fourth game as well.

Watched Yokai Watch Shadowside up to episode 7, so far so good. I mean, its nothing elaborate so far, but the show is pretty cute overall, and Im really liking the Yokai redesigns and the new dynamic between Micchi and Whisper.

And Episode 5 in particular is the same story as YW4s gameplay demo. The episodes battle was adapted well into game form, Id say. And the anime episode also revealed another Yokai possession user, which hints that (game) Touma will be getting more options down the line.

And on a side note, I looked some stuff up and found that the original Yokai Watch anime series didnt even adapt the games major story arcs. Kind of a shame, but that also means Im not really missing much from not watching all of it, I guess. Ill probably look for the episodes with my favorite Yokai and just watch those.

Here's the translation of SSSS.Gridman Voice Drama 4.4.

https://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/10/ssssgridman-voice-drama-episode-44.html

Happy birthday to Watanabe Shu, actor of Eiji/Kamen Rider OOO!



...And I just found out he and Takada Riho (Hina) will be reprising their roles for Kamen Rider Zi-O. OOO was the first Rider series I've watched in Japanese (because my country's licenses are behind Japan by one year) so it's special to me in a way.

http://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyaseeds-other-blog/kamen-rider-ooos-shu-watanabe-riho-takada-to-return-in-kamen-rider-zi-o

Hmm, yup. Made and illustrated by the same group.

https://vocaloidlyrics.fandom.com/wiki/Category:CocoaSigarrete-P_songs_list

And... I just started Yokai Watch Shadowside. 3 episodes in, and it's good so far. Still has an episodic structure, but it's now one story per episode instead of 3-4 skits. There's also a bit of overarching plot going on in the background that follows up the movie, but that probably won't go anywhere for a long time.
Looks like Natsume got a new VA though. The difference in accent is pretty noticeable.

And speaking of which, movie 5's second PV just went up. Looks like it'll cover the past Yokai World and the events that lead to Shadowside, which is cool. Pretty nice theme song, too.

https://mobile.twitter.com/kaialone02/status/1055299716882354179

kirbymuncher posted...

I hope covering this song becomes a trend

What's this, another one of those "seyana" stuff?

Alright, just watched Yokai Watch Shadowside movie and liked it quite a bit. This movie really ramps up the series' shounen factor, but the humor is still there. I really like that they're bringing back Slimamander (first boss of the first game) as a main character (nicknamed Micchi). Looks like he'll be comic relief most of the time, but his new design is pretty cool. The new Jibanyan and Whisper are hilarious as well. The movie doesn't really touch upon what happened to Keita and the Yokai during the timeskip though, so I'm expecting the TV series and YW4 to do that.

Worth noting that they've got some great voice actors for the human cast too, with Natsume's being Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha from Your Name.), Touma's being Yudai Chiba (Gosei Red), and Akinori's being Mutsumi Tamura (Kobayashi from Dragon Maid).

So, yeah, I'm definitely importing YW4 when it comes out, and I'll probably start watching the Shadowside TV series soon.

And speaking of YW4. From the movie, only Touma (player character in the TGS gameplay video) can use Yokai possession (oni arm attacks and transformation and stuff), so I wonder how Natsume's gameplay will be like. Keita/Fumika too, since it looks like their watches are now the same model as Natsume's (shame that Fumika loses her pocket watch variation though). And then there's Shin from the upcoming movie, who's still a total mystery at this point.

Just watched Yokai Watch movie 3. It was... weird. Mostly in a good way.

Like, Id expected it to be 100% live-action at first, but turns out the movie switches between anime and live-action. They did great with the world-switching concept, what with how they make it the core story, how anime physics dont work in the 3D world, and how they make jokes that would only work in this style.

Overall an enjoyable watch its presentation and humor, aside from one running gag being a bit overused and some cheesy 3D world moments. CG for the 3D world Yokai are really well-done, and 3D Keitas actor is pretty good too.

SSSS.Gridman Voice Drama 3.3, done. This one might be my favorite so far.

https://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/10/ssssgridman-voice-drama-episode-33.html

Yorai-kun's AURA is complete now, for anyone who's interested. There's a PDF download in there, too.
https://yoraikun.wordpress.com/aura/

Also, I finally got around to doing SSSS.Gridman Voice Drama 1.1 and corrected some mistakes in 2.2. Video embedded in the posts.
Misinterpreting sweet bean paste (tsubu-an) as whelks (tsubu-gai) is kinda embarrassing, really...

https://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/10/ssssgridman-voice-drama-episode-11.html
https://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/10/ssssgridman-voice-drama-episode-22.html

Hmm, cool. I was planning to go straight to Ares since it's an alternate universe and not too long, but from the looks of it, I might check the original series first. A shame that the 3DS is region locked though, what with the GO games never making it to the US.

And when it comes to kid shows, I'm fine with them as long as they're fun, really. I've been watching Doraemon when it comes on TV over here, so there's that.

Speaking of shounen stuff, Black Clover just stuck with me very well for some reason. It's like a modern approach to classic shonen formula, meaning a whole lot more consistent and well-planned. Same goes for My Hero Academia. Some of the Monster Hunter LNs count too, I guess. Style varies between volumes and series, but the more shounen-like ones (Yuuki Rin V2, Tamashii V3, Flash Hunter V4) tend to be my top picks.
I didn't particularly like shounen stuff before, but some of them just seem to stick with me very well recently.

Megalo Box is a close second (or even a tie) for my favorite, really. The drama and art style were spot on. And I especially appreciate the direction they take with the story, and how they end it nicely without trying to drag it on.

And speaking of Inazuma Eleven, I should be fine going straight to Ares, right? I might check it out after "catching up" on Yokai Watch (pretty much gonna watch just movies 3 and 4 then go straight to Shadowside).

Huh, I didnt watch much in the past 3 seasons, now that I think about it. Yuru Camp, Ito Junji, Pop Team Epic, Viloet Evergarden, Megalo Box, GGO. Thats all the current year stuff I finished.

Ive watched a few movies too. Chuu2Koi, Mirai, Maquia, Doraemon.

If I had to pick a favorite, probably Violet Evergarden for series, and Maquia for movie.

So it looks like the next episode of Black Clover is adapting at least part of the side story novel, which ties in directly with the upcoming main story arc. Glad they're doing that, really. The novel characters' sudden introduction in the manga really threw me off.

And with that said, I just bought said novel. Gotta get reading.

Oh, that's one of the groups that did songs for Deemo, right? I knew the OP sounded familiar...

So I've been playing Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and it got me wondering... has there been any character in the main series who calls Goku "Goku-kun"? Hearing the Supreme Kai of Time say that in XV2 felt kinda... new.

The remake Pokemon titles have been my favorites, really. HGSS was awesome, and I liked Gen 3 a lot in general, so ORAS is also given, even if it's not particularly impressive for its time.

And for Sun&Moon, I actually liked its art style and music quite a lot. Having full-scale human models and ditching grid-based movement are steps in the direction I like, too. But it's got a lot of underdeveloped features, and I haven't even played Ultra yet because I don't feel like going through mostly the same story again. It's not bad per se, but a good part of it is paced too slowly for my liking.

The only one I've never played is Gen 2, but I don't think I'll be missing much.

legendarylemur posted...

It's just a Level-5 thing that's been happening for a long time. They get a super hit series and absolute flood the market with them until people grow tired of it, and they just move on to the next hit thing with brief revival of their worn out series here and there.

They did it with Inazuma Eleven, to some extent Professor Layton, a mini mech series called LBX, and now of course people blame Level-5 for doing the same thing with Yokai Watch, though I think it's still plenty big enough. Though now suddenly it's difficult to say Yokai Watch is taking over Pokemon, when a few years ago, it wouldn't have been far-fetched to say such

Hmm, it's always possible. Gonna depend on YW4 and the new anime perform, I guess.
Which reminds me... don't they also have another mecha franchise coming up? That one kinda went silent after the reveal.

And really, Pokemon is likely not gonna be taken over any time soon. It's too prominent of a franchise at this point.

legendarylemur posted...

Yeah I haven't played it myself, but I like the way Yokai Watch does a lot of things compared to Pokemon, though I don't think it can ever get quite as deep in the meta or long lasting as Pokemon to be honest, since this is Level-5 we're talking about.

Eh, gonna be pretty hard for anything new to last long these days, really. Especially when it's a franchise with heavy merchandising. YW doesn't have much of an international presence either. It'll probably stay a while though, just not as big as it was 2-3 years ago.

It's a shame though, since YW1 really did a lot of things right, and I can see myself liking 2 and 3 even more. I especially appreciate the details they put in the environment. I enjoyed the anime (watched about half of the first season) and the movies, too.

As for Pokemon, I guess it's a "wait and see" situation for me. The recent anime and movies are nice, but I'm not too hot on the games right now.

Alright, finished the main story of Yokai Watch 1. Pretty short and sweet, this game.

I find the battle system to be a lot better than what the demo shows, mostly because I get to build my own teams. Still want to try out the grid-based system of YW3 though.

Story is mostly episodic and structured kinda like a 12-episode anime season, which is pretty cool. Also enjoyed playing as Fumika and seeing Keita as a background character. The minor differences in dialogue (from my experience with the anime and manga) gives the story a different feel. That and Whisper shipping Fumika with pretty much everyone...

I also liked in-game world, all things considered. The main city and dungeons look nice, and the building interiors are very detailed. A bit of a hassle to get around for sidequests though, since the waypoints only show for main story missions. The Yokai World is also tad bit disappointing since the section doesnt last long at all, but its supposedly expanded greatly in the later games, so at this point its not really a big deal.

Ill probably get myself a copy of Psychic Specters soon, and YW3 when it comes out next year.
Will probably import YW4 as well if I end up liking the Shadow Side and Forever Friends movies.

Calwings posted...

barnnn posted...

I liked the other stuff in your list as well, but haven't listened to any of their dubs.

If you have, then please tell me what you think of the shows themselves. Disregard subbed/dubbed differences, I only want to know about the quality of the show. I have my personal reason for watching these dubbed, so even if the subbed version is superior or the dub voices are mediocre, I don't care at this point.

Hmm, I'd say Merry is more of a style over substance show. Everything looks weird and/or cool, but not really special in the story department. I liked its theme songs, too.

As for Gunslinger Girl, it's pretty legit with its drama and soundtrack. The guns are done well too, from what I remember. Pacing is fairly slow though, in case you're expecting an action show.

And Little Witch Academia, I don't really have much to say. It's a lighthearted show with good visuals and soundtrack.

Mai-HiME and Princess Tutu, I don't remember enough to give any opinions, really.

Calwings posted...

I have some candidates lined up and I'm open to other suggestions, but keep in mind that no matter which show I pick, I will be watching the English dub.

(snip)

These are what I had picked out for myself, but if you guys have any suggestions based on these, feel free to mention them as long as they meet these two requirements:

1) The series can't be too long. Preferably 26 episodes max, but this is negotiable and I might be willing to go for a longer one if it sounds interesting enough.
2) The series must have an English dub. This point is 100% non-negotiable, so do NOT suggest any shows that do not have a dub.

So what do you guys think? What should I go for once I finish Aokana, and what should I put next in line for when I eventually finish Utena later on?

Cromartie High. The Eng dub is brilliant.
I liked the other stuff in your list as well, but haven't listened to any of their dubs.

I don't remember if you've watched them alrady, but check out either of the Kino's Journey series.
The 2017 series' English dub is good, but 2003 isn't too bad either. The 2003 series' OVAs aren't dubbed though.

Fake News

A world polluted by falsehood, a rain of fake news.

Here it is.

Spidey5 posted...

I wish I could say I'm surprised one of the Tesagure Club songs was the hardest song yet in Miracle Girls Festival, but I'm not. They nuts. Can't find a full video.

Which one?

So... Overlord, Konosuba, Re:Zero, and Youjo Senki are getting a chibi-style crossover anime called Isekai Quartet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-LpK5cdhGM&;

So I got around to starting up Yokai Watch as well. Had a used copy of it for a long time now. It's actually a lot more fun compared to the demo, now that I got to figure things out on my own and stuff.

The localization and translation isn't bad per se, but it feels kinda jarring because of how "Japanese" everything looks.
That and they didn't do so good with Whisper's dialogue. He's supposed to sound super polite.

legendarylemur posted...

Oh cool, Yorai-kun is the one fan translating it huh? I guess I generally liked his shieldbro translation, though it bordered on iffy sometimes.

Also when somebody says Aura I always think of the .hack games. As a kid playing the first game, I thought she was cute as hell, but an in-game email from her has a static-y pic of her in the corner which really freaked me out back then. I guess I don't do well with distorted faces

Heh, happened to me with basic Japanese vocabulary, too. Lots of words make me think of some anime because they're used in catchphrases and stuff...

For English though, the word "ember" makes me think of Pokemon. I loved to spam that move in Yellow and FR/LG for some reason.
And then there's "tomorrow," which I somehow caught from an abridged version of Macbeth I read in third grade...

The light novel "AURA: Maryuuin Kouga Saigo no Tatakai" is finally being fan-translated. They're a bit less than 20% done so far, going from the page count.

This novel is one of my favorites, really. Still haven't checked out how this translation holds up though.
The anime movie adaptation is also competent, but not quite as good as the novel, what with its cut content and all.

https://yoraikun.wordpress.com/aura/

What about Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) and 3?