Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 184: Spring is Creepy for Magical Girls

(+) Yeah! (+)

Huh I sure picked a time to catch up to Ancient Magus' Bride. That's some good shit going on right now.

Although it's gonna annoy the fuck out of me on what made her dad leave, and if him and/or her brother are still out there. Like especially the younger brother, that's PRIME anime shit to bring him back
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I'm not sure why Hero academia isnt on Toonami

Maybe the Japanese company doesnt want it on there for some reason
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swordz9 posted...

Surely the dub lead actor doesnt sound as horrible as the sub one right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaDeobqouGQ" data-time="

Lots better
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As I've said before though, the VA work is the least of that show's a problems.
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https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-03-11/dragon-dogma-online-collaboration-offers-re-zero-character-outfits/.128795

NOPE
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FranXX episode 9

Real best boy and best girl making that delicious progress
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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Huh I sure picked a time to catch up to Ancient Magus' Bride. That's some good shit going on right now.

Although it's gonna annoy the fuck out of me on what made her dad leave, and if him and/or her brother are still out there. Like especially the younger brother, that's PRIME anime shit to bring him back

I bet we don't see this happen :/
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Caught up with the HxH manga.

Neon casually killed off screen.
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jeez so many long series ending this month
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I think only one other person here has watched A.I.C.O.: Incarnation (hopefully more do) but I want to post some thoughts about it. This is the first anime to enter my top five that came out recently rather than being one you guys all watched months or years ago. And while reaching top five might not mean as much for me as it would for someone who has watched 500+ anime, I still thought it was pretty special. I also recently had someone semi-jokingly wonder if I'm trolling with all my unpopular opinions. I realize it might seem that way at times, what with me disliking a popular movie series while heralding Katana Maidens as best anime of the season, but I assure you my opinions are all genuine! There are just certain pet peeves that can instantly degrade a story in my eyes no matter how good the rest of it is. On the flipside, I can also be endlessly forgiving of a story that does things that appeal to me. I figure that talking about AICO might be a good way to illustrate how I form opinions.

Anyway, sorry for the preamble. Spoilers for all of A.I.C.O.: Incarnation

To begin with, I did have a few problems, primarily with the setting. It was never clear to me why the matter was restricted to that one river when it has no problem creeping through buildings, meaning water isn't a necessity. I also don't get why the matter attacked people to begin with, the one controlling the red matter never intended to be hostile and the confused lashing out of the purple matter was treated as a recent phenomenon. Still, this is science fiction, so problems like that are usually ones I can look past on the basis of 'this needs to happen for there to be a story'. I would've appreciated a two-minute technobabble answer to these questions, sure, but the absence of one doesn't ruin the story for me in the way other things might.

However, aesthetically, I loved everything about the matter and watching a small team fight their way through hostile, shape-shifting terrain. I also appreciated the way combat was handled. Fiction often has little strategy beyond 'shoot the thing until the plot says the thing has been shot enough'. In AICO, positioning mattered, like when Kaede accidentally led an enemy to the main vehicle and cost them a day in repairs. I also loved how they often needed samples of new enemies. It added tension by having them rush to synthesize ammo even as the matter threatened to overwhelm them.

There's lots more I could talk about, but my favorite thing was the character of Aiko. Given her role in the story she could've easily been a lifeless plot device for the others to drag along. In my opinion, this was very much not the case. Right from the beginning I sympathized with the trauma of her losing her family, and how she struggled to bear it rather than letting it throw her into all-encompassing angst. I also loved how she dealt with the revelations about who she really was, particularly the final one where she learned who would need to be sacrificed. So many heroes in fiction are the gung-ho self-sacrificing type, instantly willing to throw their lives away. Here, Aiko freaked out and ran away, only coming to terms with it after having time to think. Also, this was a small moment, but I loved the conversation where she was afraid the real Aiko would be fine with sacrificing her. After all, she had been willing to sacrifice the real Aiko earlier and they were basically the same person so it makes sense, right? Fiction doesn't usually take character motivations to logical conclusions like that.

Beyond that, I've always had a soft spot for characters who encounter pain, clearly let it impact them (rather than stoically bearing it), but never let it destroy them. Aiko's connection to the matter frequently left her writhing in pain but she never once wanted to stop. She also refused to be a damsel in distress, often taking over firing the laser or using her enhanced body to dual-wield huge guns.I dunno, I really liked her.
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Something that kept surprising me about AICO is how it kept looking like it was gonna fumble but never did. Every step of the way there was a plot point that I assumed they were going to fuck up but didn't, a story thread I thought they were going to leave dangling but wrapped up, a stupid error that ended up being intentional for the story, etc. This show was walking on pins and needles and the history of Bones original series was making it all the more precarious, but I'll be damned if it didn't all come together.
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I hate people that think someone is trolling if they have an unpopular opinion. It's something I notice on a lot of boards where if you even criticize anything about a particle subject the hivemind immediately labels you a troll even if your criticisms are valid.

I'm still making my way through catching up but be the beginning and AICO are on the top of the list for things I want to finish before the new season arrives
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voltch posted...

Caught up with the HxH manga.

Neon casually killed off screen.

Oh jeez I didn't even make that connection. Is that the only possibility?
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B the Beginning is objectively pretty messy. I really enjoyed it a lot but I don't know if I can even say it's really great, it just appealed to me a ton. It definitely needs a sequel.
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96 episodes of anime in my folder right now

that means I have 32 hours of anime to watch, maybe more since I think one of the items is a movie
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Another Netflix original drops on the 23rd, Sword Gai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcJfDiw1464" data-time="

Children of Whales finally comes out on Tuesday, too. Never got around to that one.
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LapisLazuli posted...

Another Netflix original drops on the 23rd, Sword Gai.

Dammit they need to stop. My Internet can't keep up.

LapisLazuli posted...

Children of Whales finally comes out on Tuesday, too. Never got around to that one.

It's pretty damn boring imo
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ReLIFE is over

just in time for that OVA coming soon
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pjbasis posted...

voltch posted...

Caught up with the HxH manga.

Neon casually killed off screen.

Oh jeez I didn't even make that connection. Is that the only possibility?

I believe Hisoka killing off Chrollo's powers this way, would be in line with what he's capable of.
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I thought ReLife was a full series dump a long time ago?

tazzyboyishere posted...

It's pretty damn boring imo

Dang, it looked pretty good, too. I like the premise. Will have to give it a shot at least.
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the ReLIFE manga just ended and it's getting an OVA to cover the ending
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GranzonEx posted...

96 episodes of anime in my folder right now

that means I have 32 hours of anime to watch, maybe more since I think one of the items is a movie

Should be able to clear that in a weekend then.
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if only!

my record was 25 episodes of anime in a day, Code Geass R2
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My record was Death Note in a day. However long that was.

Never again.
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35 episodes of Precure baby

(150 in a week)
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my record for one show is 20 (the last bit of LoGH)
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I just finished the second season of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions. I have a few spoiler comments but overall liked it more than the first!

I'm glad this season wasn't a rehash of 'stop being chuuni', Rikka got to have more fun and there were even plotlines dedicated to strengthening her power! It was also refreshing to watch an anime where the romantic pairing was already together. They got to explore things like truly coming to know each other and when/if they should escalate (they really should've kissed though, man what a tease). Satone was an excellent romantic rival, too. She always tried to do the right thing despite her feelings and she became a true friend to Rikka in the end.
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Two write ups from you about Chuunibyou and no mention of Dekomori...

Also did you watch the OVA? It's good.
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Dekomori was good! Not my favorite but a solid character overall, she played well off of Rikka and Nibutani especially. I also liked she had a verbal tic that sounded like 'death' or something.

And I haven't watched the OVA but I read about it after. I keep meaning to go back and try to find all the OVAs and stuff that I've been missing.
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Just mentioning it for this show since it's good.
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caught up with Franxxx

it's impressive that they managed to turn a beach episode into a stealth world building episode
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ReLIFE manga beated

fantastic stuff even if the ending was a bit predictable, I'm a sap and it made me happy so I don't care
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I don't think ever done more than a one cour series in a day. eh maybe like 16 or 17 episodes of some other show, not sure what though
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Think I did like 17 episodes of Toradora in one day. That's probably my most?
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Just mentioning it for this show since it's good.

Yeah, I've watched it now and it was a fun episode. I also watched some random shorter episodes which were also okay. There's another OVA and more mini-episodes with the second season too but I couldn't find them, and I guess a sequel movie came out in January? I'll have to try and track that down someday too.
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I can't binge shows anymore.

I'll do max 4 episodes in a row but it starts to really hurt my retention if I do more.
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I can marathon much easier if it's dubbed.
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Binge is the best way. I'm really bad at following things weekly, so I like to just sit down and knock it out quick.

The phoenix scene in Ancient Magus' Bride was excellent
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pjbasis posted...

I'll do max 4 episodes in a row but it starts to really hurt my retention if I do more.

I don't even like watching episodes of the same anime in a row nowadays. I tend to load two eps of different shows and at best alternate between them.
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I'm trying to watch anime, but I can't tear myself away from Berseria :/
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I watched the first episode of B and this seems dumb as fuck. Looking forward to the next episode!
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I've been rewatching it to show it to my roomate. It is astounding how much more sense it makes if you've already seen it, and is equally astounding how much it DOESN'T if you haven't. There's a way to set up your story with the intention of retroactively filling in the blanks, and B goes a bit too far.

Still had tons of fun. The chase/fight in episode 3 is magic to me, though I think from the point the "police" side of the story continues to get more interesting while the "B" side continues to lose me some.
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I'm on Episode 10 of B The Beginning, and it's pretty great. I'm loving it.

episode 13 Magus Bride Kotomine Kirei shows up, and exactly what you would expect happens
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Finished B The Beginning. That was some really good stuff. Really enjoyed it.

Catching up on Ancient Magus' Bride and man does this show have some truly hate-able villains.
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Cartaph- I mean Joseph is p dope
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Did anyone watch the Saiki anime? Is it as funny as the manga?
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Since it released on Netflix today, I just got done watching all of Children of the Whales. I didn't like it as much as AICO but I still thought it was really good. It had an interesting setting and approached it with solid world-building (aside from a few small details that I was willing to overlook). I found both the plot and the characters to be enthralling, too. A lot of moments really got me in the feels.
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