Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Tales of X vs. Zero Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Friends season 8 complete

dat season finale
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whew I'm home which means I can watch the new P5 anime episode here shortly

and whoa the English dub for AoT starts tomorrow too

just in time now that FMP IV is finished
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I guess I could continue watching P5 since I already know the story

Can't start S;G 0 yet though because switching from binging to weekly sucks
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well you can do half and half since the show's like 2/3 complete
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Persona 5 anime episode 20 complete

good work by the anime on cutting out the worst part of the game and still managing to make Morgana come across as less likable by having Ryuji's attempted apology be way more heartfelt and sincere and still having Morgana reject it anyway

oh well at least we got a little Chihaya in this episode and Haru's great
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LeonhartFour posted...

and whoa the English dub for AoT starts tomorrow too

oh ya

AoT S3E1 beated.

I'm pretty hyped for this, really liked this episode, excited to see how this season goes. OP is weird though and I don't particularly think I'm a fan. It's not bad, per se, but it feels so weird for an AoT opening. Also, maybe it's because it feels like it's been forever since I saw Season 2 but Eren seemed like he had an art shift or something. He just looked weird to me the whole time. I think the others had some more subtle changes too, but there were some shots of Eren where I almost wasn't sure it was him. Really liked Historia's "I've seen some **** and have no ****s left to give" voice too. Levi still the best.

Also, Leon, since I suspect however you're watching this (Funimation?) is tied to the Toonami schedule, get ready to get episode 2 next week and then have a week off because of Labor Day. it's the worst. or i dunno maybe i'm wrong and you just end up a week ahead of me but i feel like season 2 and toonami were synced.
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The entire anime topic was also trashing the AoT season 3 OP, so you're not alone there.
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xp1337 posted...

but it feels so weird for an AoT opening.

didn't you like ED2 though

xp1337 posted...

Also, Leon, since I suspect however you're watching this (Funimation?) is tied to the Toonami schedule, get ready to get episode 2 next week and then have a week off because of Labor Day. it's the worst. or i dunno maybe i'm wrong and you just end up a week ahead of me but i feel like season 2 and toonami were synced.

yeah I'm sure they'll be on the same release schedule
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LeonhartFour posted...

didn't you like ED2 though

Yes. Season 2 ED still the best AoT OP/ED (Followed by the first opening.)
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the last couple seasons of Friends have some clunkers in them

while it's not the worst The One with the Sharks is pretty bad
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Attack on Titan season 3 episode 1 complete

It's nice to see that Eren has settled down and decided to become a househusband. Also, the fact that all the important characters are part of what is literally being called the Levi Squad gives me great hopes that he'll have a big role again. Well, that and the way the episode ended.

KENNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
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LeonhartFour posted...

It's nice to see that Eren has settled down and decided to become a househusband.

Historia is super lucky Mikasa didn't see that talk she had with Eren. Last time she suspected Eren might like someone they were cut down trying to flee over the wall!

Also, the fact that all the important characters are part of what is literally being called the Levi Squad gives me great hopes that he'll have a big role again.

may they last longer than the previous levi squad
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xp1337 posted...

may they last longer than the previous levi squad

while I know AoT has no qualms about killing people off it at least looks like we're going to have a Levi-centric arc to kick off the season so it's already got more potential than season 2 had
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I'm just still sad that Petra died. The rest of original Levi squad was whatever, but I liked her!

Agreed on the season looking like it has potential.
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xp1337 posted...

I'm just still sad that Petra died. The rest of original Levi squad was whatever, but I liked her!

Agreed on the season looking like it has potential.

Yeah, she was great. She was voiced by Caitlin Glass, too (the voice of Yakumo, Miria, Cammy, the OTHER Haruhi, and Winry), so it was a double loss.

although the girl who got killed off at the end of episode 1 voiced Chitanda in Hyouka so that made me sad too
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Attack on Titan Season 1 spoilers
Making Petra likable before killing her off was probably intentional. >_>
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okay finally time to play some more MMX3

just Gravity Beetle and Blast Hornet to go

Bit and Byte beated too
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And now MYSTERIOUSMAVERICK Vile beated with his weakness so I can get the Z-Saber later

and all Armor upgrades get so I can get the Golden Armor later too
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aw yeah Golden Armor get
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double air dash rulz
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Steins;Gate 0 episode 16 complete

yeah that was good
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16 definitely my favorite Steins;Gate 0 episode so far. The whole thing was good but I particularly loved the scene with Okabe and Maho on the rooftop of the lab
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Aw yeah Z-Saber get

now to finish off X3 and finally get to the games I've never played before
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So I haven't been talking about it but I'm almost at the end (certainly I'd be shocked if this wasn't the final dungeon) of 7th Dragon III: Code VFD.

Surprisingly fun game! My track record of picking up games that I acquire an interest in through their music is basically untarnished. In a lot of ways, it feels like what I wish Persona Q had been in terms of Etrian Odyssey influences. Gameplay is quite fun even if I've completely broken it open at this point. Story actually got surprisingly pretty compelling towards the last few chapters too.
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Mega Man X3 beated

thank goodness for the Z-Saber for that final Sigma form
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I probably won't play much of MMX4 today, but I wanted to start it up to see what it looks like.

Man, that intro cutscene is vintage early PS1
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My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU book 5 complete! At least half of the content in this book wasn't in the anime, so that was kinda neat since most of it was new to me. The big event here that was in the anime was Hikigaya and Yui going to the fireworks together. These books are pretty well written, but I like first-person stories in general, so yeah.

Next up is Toradora book 2.
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man I don't know if I can get used to these new MMX sprites

why is X breathing so heavy every time he stands still

he's a robot
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it's his cooling system obviously

<_<
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Whoo, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya won the Save My Favorite Anime contest. Sounds like a good excuse for a rewatch!
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When I join things they win occasionally
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if by "occasionally" you mean "this one time" then sure
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It's always half-empty with you!
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12 votes is too much but i did them all because on the low chance it mattered, i wasn't about to let haruhi go down against shinsekai yori of all things

I meant to help Monster out for the top 10 but then it died. Whoops
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Im just happy that Paranoia Agent cracked the top 10. I hope more people give it a shot!
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pjbasis posted...

It's always half-empty with you!

hey man I'm just glad something I voted for in the finals of a Save My actually won

that's an exceedingly rare feat for me
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Web Spider beated and hover boots acquired

Dr. Light is way chattier in the capsules here than he is in the first three games
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is there a hotter trio of fictional sisters than Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Christina Applegate
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Oh hey, they finally put out another episode of that Final Fantasy VII Found in Translation series (technically it was put out a couple weeks ago but I just randomly thought to check today and found it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dGdPh4ewjE" data-time="

It's a full hour's worth of stuff this time, too! It covers meeting Vincent, meeting Cid, and the date scene. Apparently, he's only going to do one more video, so I guess he's not going to do anything past Disc 1 (or he's going to very briefly skim the rest of the game beyond that point).
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Since I have a greater familiarity and I've never really talked about the series in-depth before (and also to celebrate its victory), I'm going to do some running commentary as I re-watch the series. I might watch the Nagato spinoff, too, while I'm at it.

Episode 1 (Melancholy I)

Kyon's opening monologue is pretty telling about the kind of guy he is. Despite his repeated protests throughout the series that he's just a normal dude who wants to live a normal life, there's a part of him that still craved a supernatural life. Of course, he can't bring himself to admit it until the end of Disappearance.

I also like the way the anime portrays Kyon's perspective in the opening scene here. The show is dull and colorless right up until he sees Haruhi for the first time, and then the show bursts into vivid color. There are a lot of hints just in this first episode that all of Kyon's protests about Haruhi and the S.O.S. Brigade are just for show. He claims not to be interested in her at all, but throughout the episode, he's very clearly watching everything she's doing.

Kyon can't really figure out how he got Haruhi to open up to him, but the reason is really that he's just being himself. He basically treats everyone the same. It's part of the reason all the members of the S.O.S. Brigade feel comfortable around him. None of them are normal, but he treats them as normal people and they appreciate that about him, even Haruhi. As much as Haruhi says she wants to live a supernatural life (partly because deep down, she thinks she never will), she doesn't want to be treated like a weirdo or a freak. So when Kyon talks to her about her eccentricities like it's a totally normal thing (and that he makes an attempt to understand her rationale, even if her logic is absurd) and like he's actually interested in her as a person (as opposed to everyone else who feels too intimidated to approach her or talk to her normally), that's what gets her interested in him, too. Ironically, it's Kyon treating her as normal instead of "special" that kickstarts everything in the series. Kyon and Haruhi have this Mulder & Scully relationship, but it's not until later in the series that you discover that the person you think is Mulder is actually Scully, and vice-versa.

Taniguchi's comment about Ryoko Asakura ("On top of being beautiful, I bet her personality is wonderful") is hilarious on so many levels.

It's interesting that Kyon talks so much about how he hates being called "Kyon," but we still don't know what his real name is, implying that he doesn't hate it as much as he claims. Even in Disappearance when he meets alternate Haruhi, he clearly must have introduced himself to her as "Kyon" since she talks about what a dumb nickname it is, but she couldn't have known about it unless he told her. I've heard people speculate that Kyon's name is really John Smith since it would fit in the alphabetical order in which the class is introduced in the first episode (meaning his last name is close alphabetically to Haruhi Suzumiya and Taniguchi), but when Haruhi calls him "John Smith" in the movie, Nagato has no idea who she means, so that can't be it. I've heard people speculate that his name is Nagaru Tanigawa (the dude who wrote the books), but we may never know! It's also interesting that we never see Nagato talk about Kyon to somebody else because she'd use his full name instead of his nickname. He's always just "You" to her, even in the Nagato spinoff. As a side effect of reading all the books, I tend to call everyone here what Kyon calls them, which is why I call her "Nagato" instead of "Yuki" or whatever.

The whole "dragging Kyon around by the tie" thing is exclusive to the anime. She doesn't do it in the books.

Oh hey, I can understand what Nagato means when she describes Hyperion as "unique" now!
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Episode 2 (Melancholy II)

I love the song that opens this episode. It's fun and upbeat.

My personal theory about Asahina (I doubt I'm the first to come up with it, but I haven't really discussed the series with many people or visited fansites or whatever): She's actually much younger than she claims to be. Nobody believes she's a senior when they meet her. She also gets along especially well with Kyon's little sister, far better than anyone else in the S.O.S. Brigade, even Kyon himself (although he shows evidence of doting on her quite a bit despite what he verbalizes about her). That would suggest that Asahina might have been given implants to make her look older (and more attractive, obviously). The stuff Asahina has to endure throughout the series is often played up for laughs, but honestly, she gets treated like crap by Haruhi and by her superiors, including her future self. The one time it gets played seriously is in book 7 (Intrigues), and they pull it off really well, to boot. Book 7 is one of the big reasons I want a season 3.

Episode 2 is probably my least favorite one in the show because this whole bit about Haruhi blackmailing the Computer Club President with fake sexual harassment pictures is just so bad. In the book, it's even worse because Haruhi informs Kyon about the plan before they even go over to the Computer Club (instead of him being just as shocked as everyone else) and he just goes along with it. He's even the one who takes the pictures instead of Haruhi. Kyon blindly and apathetically goes along with everything she says early in the series and never does anything to stop her (despite his complaints and even a promise to protect Asahina, he just lets Haruhi drag her along in the bunny girl outfit later on in the episode), but I guess it makes his growth later on more pronounced as a result or something. It's still bad though.

It's also unfortunate something like this happens so early in the show because I'm always afraid it'll turn people off to it due to how bad it is. I have to try to convince them that this is the worst the show gets and it only gets better from here, but I'm not always successful. Ed Bellis, for instance, couldn't handle the show beyond this point.

The show is generally pretty faithful to the books, but they do make some minor deviations. In the books, Koizumi isn't introduced until after Nagato and Asahina have revealed their true natures to him. In the show, Koizumi is introduced between Nagato's and Asahina's reveals, presumably just so they can have all the reveals happen in a single episode in succession to make things smoother.

I love the gag here at the end where Nagato keeps filling up Kyon's cup with tea every time he finishes it off, but he's too polite to tell her to stop or just not drink it. It's a good introduction to the fact that Nagato doesn't really understand human behavior all that well at the moment (as well as the fact that her apartment is practically empty with bare minimum furnishings).

It's weird that the English dub refers to Nagato's creators as the "Data Integration Thought Entity." Not sure what the sub calls it, but it's just the "Data Overmind" in the books. There's a lot of really good potential with this thing. The books beyond the anime have explored it a bit more, but the whole concept and what they've revealed of it is pretty interesting.
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The term "Data Integration Thought Entity" is at least as old as the English fansubs for the original airing of Haruhi. I don't remember if the English fan translation of the first volume predates the anime but it used the name "Integrated Data Sentient Entity" anyways. I think "Data Overmind" might have first come from the English LNs which didn't exist when the English anime was first released.
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Do you skip episode zero?
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pjbasis posted...

Do you skip episode zero?

LOL watching in original airing order
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Man that episode is shot to be first regardless of the order you watch it in.

The way it transitions from the handheld camera to the widescreen pan of Haruhi at the end screams "introduction to titular character"
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I watche it twice because the Mikuru song is great
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pjbasis posted...

Man that episode is shot to be first regardless of the order you watch it in.

The way it transitions from the handheld camera to the widescreen pan of Haruhi at the end screams "introduction to titular character"

yes it is clearly shot as a first episode to introduce new people to the characters because it was the original first episode

but it doesn't go there in terms of chronology
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LeonhartFour posted...

yes it is clearly shot as a first episode to introduce new people to the characters because it was the original first episode

I would say distinguished from the rest of the broadcast order though. None of the "out of order" episodes particularly feel meant to be watched that way.
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no thanks I'll just watch the episode about the movie after the arc where they film the movie
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