Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 297: A Dream of Spring

(+) Yeah! (+)

MAL has moved Frieren into the "Finished Airing" category and adjusted the viable user scores accordingly, and Frieren....is still comfortably locked into #1, by a large margin.

Finally, Brotherhood's longtime top rank on this completely insane list seems to have been dethroned for good.

I cannot imagine anybody here cares lol.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I cannot imagine anybody here cares lol.

You kidding? I'll take anything remotely resembling GameFAQs contests that I can get. I've been following the stats for a while now.

Eww, MAL updated how it displays scores on show pages. High ones have pictures of a mountain and says "PEAK", lower ones have two thumbs-up and says "Okay" and one of the lowest ones I could find had an image of trash being thrown out and says "Uhhh"

I don't want MAL telling me what to think about scores! I preferred it before when it was just a number

Yeah they got a little too lost in the sauce there.

Saying something is "peak" is officially dead now

Robazoid posted...

Eww, MAL updated how it displays scores on show pages. High ones have pictures of a mountain and says "PEAK", lower ones have two thumbs-up and says "Okay" and one of the lowest ones I could find had an image of trash being thrown out and says "Uhhh"

I don't want MAL telling me what to think about scores! I preferred it before when it was just a number

pst check the date

MacArrowny posted...

pst check the date

I thought about that, but it's still March 31st and this is a terrible April Fools joke if it is one

MAL often goes by Japan time for their April Fools jokes. They're pretty low key every year.

I only remember that one where they added a show to everyone's watchlist that had infinite episodes.

It looks like it is an April Fools joke though! They definitely got me by doing it so early, plus it's a pretty low-key design change that I could see a clueless website designer thinking was a good idea.

Robazoid posted...

I only remember that one where they added a show to everyone's watchlist that had infinite episodes.

They added One Piece anime to everyone's list?

Was the cat AF thing last year or earlier? I legitimately loved that (had this nice fluffy white cat for Legend of the Galactic Heroes lol)

It's a shame it's not real because that's hilarious.

And would also be fuel on the bonfire if Anilist supremacy.

Today I finished Muromi-san, a comedy about mermaids. I found it by checking MAL for anime similar to Squid Girl, which I loved. Sadly, I wound up really, really hating Muromi-san. It was agonizing to finish even with half-length episodes. Most of the plots followed a boring main dude who was fishing on a pier as various mermaids of other mythological creatures came and bothered him. Muromi-san herself was never funny, but most of the side characters were somehow even worse. The bottom of the barrel was the big-boobed mermaid whose only character trait was lusting after Muromi. Most of her scenes verged on softcore porn, only somehow it wasn't remotely sexy. Just a bad anime all around.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

And would also be fuel on the bonfire if Anilist supremacy.

*thumbs up*

Waking up this morning, seeing a "Steel Ball Run Confirmed" graphic on Twitter, getting excited and then immediately remembering it's April 1st

Hate this shit man

Apparently hot Godzilla x Kong makeouts are a touchy subject. I will return to my proper ID tomorrow to those it affects lol.

5 minutes into the Train anime.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/17c61638.jpg

They sure buried the lead on this one!

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Waking up this morning, seeing a "Steel Ball Run Confirmed" graphic on Twitter, getting excited and then immediately remembering it's April 1st

Hate this shit man

I've quickly grown to despise April Fools, for every joke that lands there are 3 that don't and 2 than infuriate. Also nobody cares outside of corporations anymore so it's basically just a marketing holiday.

OK Anilist I guess you heard me talking shit about AFD.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b303519b.jpg

Two new first episode reactions

-Gods' Games We Play was honestly pretty entertaining. I like what they've explained about the setting, though there's still a lot I don't know and a lot of room for it to turn to shit later on. The dynamic between the two main characters looks like it'll be fun, plus there's a weird mystery between them that I'm curious about. More than anything, though, the first game they played was what gave me hope. It was Memory but with a few twists that made it more entertaining to watch. It also served a purpose of helping them get to know each other. I'm not sure if future games will be handled with as much care, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic about this one! I enjoy shows about high-stakes games (such as Kakegurui).

-Train to the End of the World was... intriguing? The cause of the apocalypse being so goofy, and having such goofy effects, wasn't where I expected this show to go. I hope it isn't just nonstop goofy all the time, though. The main girl has a decent motivation in looking for her friend, and I like what I've seen of the other main characters too. I was really excited for this show, and I'm even more excited now that they've finally begun their journey! Having said that, I'm worried it's just going to be goofy nonsense the whole way through, and I'm not sure I'd enjoy that very much.

Spring 2024 Ranking so far
-Gods' Games We Play
-Train to the End of the World
-Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included

That is partially my worry with the train show, too. I thought the first episode was incredible personally, but I don't know if it will be able to live up to that first episode moving forward.

Fox time.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/02cd7c1d.jpg

That was an excellent premier.

As cynical as it sounds, I was kind of hoping this would be bad so I had an excuse to finally watch the original.

However, from what I am seeing briefly perusing reddit and such afterwards, it would appear that even lifetime fans are of the opinion that this was an even better first episode than the original show, so for now I'll stick with it I suppose!

I always wanted to watch Spice and Wolf, like literally when I first started watching anime it was on my shortlist. I liked the World End Economica visual novel from the same author. Somehow I just never got around to it.

Now I suppose I'll wait until this new one is over and see what the consensus is, whether I should watch one or the other or both.

https://twitter.com/DistantValhalla/status/1774837457931948471?t=k2RNTSY9-6gUORft2BjYOA&s=19

Manga localization is just gonna get more and more cooked.

it just means a return to the glory days of fan scans

Did we ever leave? We wouldn't even have "Nah, I'd win" without fan translations

That was actually the line that caused me to find out there was such a big push against the current state of official manga translations (at least for SJ stuff).

Normally I assume that the people complaining about translations are the...delightful folks obsessed with stuff being 100% literally translated (Unicorn Overlord fiasco), but the current state of manga translation discourse actually seems to be the opposite? Stuff is getting translated TOO literally and feeling stiff. JJK is far from my favorite series at the moment, but even I can't help but raise an eyebrow comparing some of these official translations to the fan ones.

But that's still preferable to literal machine translations. People lost their shit when Ancient Magus Bride said they were moving to AI translations for good reason, but now it's popping up more and more, very depressing.

Anime won't be far behind, they already tried it a couple seasons ago with that Brothers show and backed away when they got caught with their pants down, but I doubt they means they've given up.

And then you get weird things like Official One Piece translation still using Zolo.

LtMplusCATS posted...

Stuff is getting translated TOO literally and feeling stiff.

Aside from cost-cutting, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a direct result of all the complaints that purists made over the years. As usual we get to blame them.

Spice and Wolf remake episode 1

We are so back

I thought this was about the same as the original so far, though I'm not sure how much that says. This episode was always just about establishing the premise when the real meat of the show is when Lawrence and Holo are already traveling together. Personally I'd have told you the next 2 episodes would have been my litmus test for the remake*. Of course, if this was going to be a disaster then we would probably already be able to tell, but there are no signs of that.

*If I'm remembering correctly...but it's been a while

Not gonna watch the episode, but Re:Monster may have the worst anime OP I have ever seen.

https://youtu.be/ctoVqK-AYiA?si=fQ4PQV4VYpVzfNTJ

I'm really trying to clear out my backlog, so I finally completed Stellvia, an older mecha anime. I thought it was pretty good in the first half. The premise is that a distant star exploded and nearly destroyed Earth with its energy shockwave, but humanity rebuilt in order to defend against a second wave of physical debris coming two hundred years later. So, although it was a mecha anime, it wasn't the kind to have flashy robot battles or anything like that. Mostly it was about a group of students getting to know each other and training so that they could defend Earth when the time came. It was an interesting sci-fi premise, and that first half of the show was neat.

Sadly, the second half of Stellvia really dragged it down. It went from being hyperfocused on a cool idea and instead got bogged down in a bunch of melodrama. I liked the main girl Shima overall, but her emotions kept hitting rock bottom over and over and it got really annoying. At one point she gave up and sobbed for six hours straight and it took several episodes for her friends to even begin getting her back on her feet. I'm fine with characters having to overcome adversity and whatnot, just not in this way or to this extent. I wanted them to focus more on the sci-fi stuff in that second half rather than Shima's self-inflicted relationship woes.

I was still glad I watched this, though! It was recommended to me a few months ago when I asked about mecha anime. On paper that feels like a genre I should enjoy, but quite a few mecha shows have found their way into the bottom of my ranking instead. I was beginning to wonder if the genre just wasn't for me. If nothing else, Stellvia showed me that this genre has more diversity than just the "defend against waves of monsters" plot in shows like Evangelion or Franxx. It has convinced me to give the mecha genre more chances in the future, and hopefully I'll find ones I love.

Yeah, Stellvia has issues. Personally, it was a 10/10 show for me in the first half. Absolutely loved it. Parts of the second half annoyed me, but I still liked the show overall and gave it a 9. Wish it could've stayed at the same quality, tho.

Robazoid posted...

Stellvia showed me that this genre has more diversity than just the "defend against waves of monsters" plot in shows like Evangelion or Franxx.

All of Gundam is battles against other humans!

MacArrowny posted...

All of Gundam is battles against other humans!

I still need to watch one of the golden age Gundams someday. All I've seen is Witch from Mercury and it was meh.

Anyway, thanks again for the Stellvia recommendation!

Metallic Rouge is over and absolutely nobody I trust and follow is saying it's worth going back to to finish the second half at all.

So depressing. This was supposed to be the best show of the year. It could have been! I was so openly excited.

At least Bravern was there to catch my fall.

Without having seen the last episode yet (but have been watching it every week), I agree. The show has oozed potential greatness from start to finish, and I stuck along every week in hopes that it would finally capitalize, and... It just never did.

I do think the two main characters are quite likeable though.

Oh definitely. They're why I still had so much faith after the first episode that it would all come together, I love them and their dynamic.

But everything in the show that isn't them interacting.....

Funny: I dumped Rouge after 10 minutes because the main character was boring as cardboard.

https://youtu.be/j5Mh7vZvo60?si=VG8V6iZwoLaoEwzw

OK to be fair this was episode 2.

A Sign of Affection - Very good stuff that got better as it went along, IMO. The way they handled signing was excellent. Yuki's a fun protagonist - it's neat to have someone with a disability for a protagonist and still not really focus on that, which I feel is uncommon. Itsuomi wasn't amazing, but he did have some fun quirks. I liked his habit of asking double questions all the time - "Do you want to? Do you not want to?" and "Do you like it? Do you not like it?". Fun little personality quirk. The animation was consistently great, too. I feel like the cast was a bit big for a show this long, though. The Emma stuff was... fine, I guess. And then you have characters like Izumi (Oushi and Yuki's friend) who show up every other episode and barely impact the main story. Guess that's what happens when you adapt part of a long manga tho. I wish there was more of Yuki's deaf friend Madoka, because she was great in her few scenes. Would be fun to see Yuki traveling abroad, too. Man, I hope this gets an S2. If not, I'll just have to read the manga someday.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic was fine. For a show that focuses on comedy, it often wasn't that funny. The main sin in this department was probably the scenes with Rose and Usato, which is basically one violent joke repeated over and over, which wasn't particularly funny to start with. The cast is okay in general, though, and there are some funny scenes. Story had good progression and basically always made sense. It didn't really get me excited to see more, though. It's just okay.

Winter Rankingz:

1. Frieren
2. Dangers in My Heart S2
3. A Sign of Affection
4. Gushing Over Magical Girls
5. Brave Bang Bravern!
6. 'Tis Time for Torture, Princess
7. Mr. Villain's Day Off
8. Apothecary Diaries
9. 7th Time Loop
10. The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic
11. The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil
12. Pon no Michi

Will probably slow down on winter shows now. Not a lot left to watch regardless. Villainess 99, Weakest Tamer, Undead Unluck, Doctor Elise, Mashle, and Shangri-La Frontier are all the ones on my list, I think? There might be one or two others I'm not thinking of right now.

MacArrowny posted...

Itsuomi wasn't amazing, but he did have some fun quirks. I liked his habit of asking double questions all the time - "Do you want to? Do you not want to?" and "Do you like it? Do you not like it?". Fun little personality quirk.

Huh, this was what bugged me most about Itsuomi. It always felt awkwardly phrased to me.

https://twitter.com/AIR_News01/status/1775722090840383694?t=rFqisPnI--_NIkn94UbHkg&s=19

I am weak to marketing.

Mama Yuyu cancelled.

https://twitter.com/MangaMoguraRE/status/1775765225976774907?t=uaLM7Dh62lWJOyPTapKIew&s=19

That's mega fucking depressing. This series had so much potential, he was setting so much up.

https://twitter.com/noeyniie417/status/1775941295175037142?t=80IFhbflUhycnzUV2OnH0Q&s=19

Wind Breaker has a dumb name, and even dumber looking main character, and the PVs did nothing for me.

...But God damn if that wasn't a great first episode.

Doesn't hurt that it's the best looking show of the season so far, that fight directing was fantastic.

Three more first episode impressions!

-Laid-Back Camp S3 started great as expected. I was worried about it moving to a new studio, but it's been awhile since I watched S2 so any changes in the animation or art style went unnoticed. What I did notice, however, was that a pinecone went "cone-ichiwa". Perfect. That's all I needed! It was nice seeing all the girls again, and the flashback to tiny Rin was cute. I'm looking forward to sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying this comfy anime again.

-A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics looks like it's going to be this season's reverse isekai. It barely even bothered to set it up. Princess in a fantasy world was facing a rebellion, oh no. Better jump into the convenient portal to another world she had in the basement for some reason. Then she landed on a private detective and started living with him, despite the princess being thirteen and the detective being thirty. To the shows credit, at least it wasn't creepy about it. Instead it saved the fanservice for the lady knight who bathed naked in a river. I'm sort of intrigued about where this could go. I got some Hinamatsuri vibes from the way these superpowered weirdos are trying to fit into regular society. I just don't think this show will ever manage to be anywhere near as hilarious as Hinamatsuri was.

-A Condition Called Love is a romance about a handsome guy who finds himself drawn to a dorky girl. A tale as old as time. It kind of reminded me of Skip and Loafer from last year (the main girl in this even looks like the main girl from that). Still, I can tell this is going to be much more romance-focused. I mean, the main dude confessed to her five minutes in. In a medium where it usually takes two seasons before the couple even admits their feelings, that's gotta be a speed record. The crux of the show is that the main girl isn't sure what love is, like she strikes me as aromantic or demiromantic. Despite being so open and forceful about his feelings, it's clear that the main guy has no idea what love is either. He's self-sacrificing to the point that it's really off-putting.

It's a dynamic that I'm not sure most people would enjoy... but I kind of did! I think the most interesting part of a romance is what happens after the confession. So many stories (especially in anime) usually end at that point. It's like most authors have no idea how to make a relationship interesting, so they just trail off with a bland "I guess they lived happily ever after". There are still so many hurdles that a relationship can face, though! Simply trying to fit another person into your life can be a difficult thing even for the most well-balanced couples, and the couple in this show is anything but balanced. They're going to have to endure lots of struggles and lots of soul-searching. This show sounded like a bland romance when I first read about it. After seeing the first episode, though, I'm really excited for it! It's an interesting dynamic, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the story explores it. I just hope it doesn't get too melodramatic.

Spring 2024 Ranking so far
-Laid-Back Camp S3
-A Condition Called Love
-Gods' Games We Play
-Train to the End of the World
-A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics
-Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included

I finally finished the last of the Winter shows too. I might watch a few more someday like Mr. Villain or Solo-Leveling, but this is it for now.

The Witch and the Beast was fine, but it should've been better. I really liked the dark fantasy world, and the characters were all interesting. The main duo had a fun dynamic. Both their personalities and their specialties/combat styles complimented each other well. I also enjoyed the various story arcs they embarked on, whether it was hunting witches or some other supernatural threat. The production quality wasn't always the greatest, which held it back a bit, but I'm not usually one to care too much about that. In the end, I just felt like it didn't live up to its potential as much as it should have. I love so many of its individual components, yet for some reason the overall whole left me feeling kind of meh. This was hard to slot into my ranking because I could slide it up or down depending on how I'm feeling. Since the last episode was a big info-dump setting up their next adventure and there's no way this ever gets a second season, my final feelings towards this show were kind of negative.

Sengoku Youko wasn't for me. It was competent in most regards. The animation was fine, the characters were fine, and the setting was fine. I just didn't enjoy any of it very much. The only character I really liked was Shakuyaku, and she didn't get anywhere near the focus she deserved. Shinsuke was just a random hanger-on who added nothing... until he wasn't, but even then he developed instantly in ways I didn't like. The dynamic between Tama and Jinka mostly just annoyed me. I also didn't like how the story progressed, it never felt like it was building towards anything interesting. This is an adaptation of a work from the same guy who made Planet With, which I loved, so I'm kind of sad that Sengoku Youko pushed me away as hard as it did. I can see some narrative similarities between the two, but this one felt like it was missing all of the things I loved so much in Planet With. Sengoku Youko just wasn't for me, I guess. Maybe the future seasons will turn me around on it.

Metallic Rouge was really, really bad. The only good thing about this show was the animation quality. Everything else sucked. The characters were all bland and undeveloped, and their motivations rarely made sense. Part of me wonders if this could've been a good story told in the worst way possible. Certainly it didn't do itself any favors with bad pacing and the nonsensical way it provided information. However, now that it's over and I can look at all the pieces that built the story... this whole thing just feels random and uninspired. Even in the hands of competent storytellers, I think this anime would've always sucked. At least it wasn't as bad as Fluffy Paradise.

Winter 2024 Ranking
-7th Time Loop
-The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic
-Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
-Ragna Crimson
-Villainess Level 99
-A Sign of Affection
-Doctor Elise
-The Witch and the Beast
-The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
-Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable
-The Foolish Angel Dances With the Devil
-Sengoku Youko
-The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash
-The Apothecary Diaries
-Sasaki and Peeps
-The Demon Prince of Momochi House
-Metallic Rouge
-Fluffy Paradise

The pain still hurts.

I will never forgive Bones for fumbling putting it all together when all the piecea of the puzzle were there.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f7e2986a.jpg

....Come again?

I still gotta watch the movie!!

2 completely unrelated shows today starting with an investigator tailing a salaryman suspected of cheating on his wife.

.....So two of the anime I specifically called out as being excited for, Mysterious Disappearances and Girls Band Cry, do not appear to have even been licensed for Simulcasting at all.

....I didn't think this happened anymore! I've quadruple checked every source I could find and not a single mention of either. I guess I can maybe understand Girls Band Cry, but Mysterious Disappearances appears to be a major release.

Also, Loser Ranger seems to have been sentences to die in Hulu jail, absolutely tragic. Guess I was already going to have to go with fansubs for the previously me ruined two series, anyways.

Rinkai and Tonbo aren't going to be streaming anywhere either, as far as I can tell. A lot of shows are weirdly unavailable this season.