Board 8 > Anime & Manga (And Crabs) Discussion Topic 1

(+) Yeah! (+)

I got some bad news for you lol
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Ace animation so bad it hurts my heart. still enjoy hearing the voice work and ost but the slideshows are depressing

hopefully they're saving all the budget for the next episode or two with Sawamura popping off. presumably just the next episode will cover the rest of this game but who knows

edit: oh this season is only Madhouse, no help from Production IG. that explains things
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One Punch Man s2 beated

best I can say is that it exactly met my expectations

It will be basically impossible for S3 to not be better tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrH71-VISFQ" data-time="
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https://twitter.com/pkjd8I8/status/1147260455301238784

Now just give it to the staff that did episode 11 for the entire season please.
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finished Gunbuster Episode 3 as part of my Gunbuster rewatch. another really good one! this episode did a very good job of conveying what life was like on these roaming battleships that spend extended periods of time in space. things were different, but things were also the same in a lot of ways.

the battle was excellent. I really like long range, tactical battles that are less focused on action and more on the atmosphere. there was a lot of tension and build up even though we did not see much happening on screen. we did not even get a visual of any of the attacking aliens, but it was still very captivating thanks to some stellar directing.

the point of the battle scene here was just how lost and disoriented Noriko feels while fighting in the vacuum of space. she has a partner but he's not even close enough for her to visually see him, even though they are fighting "together." the enemies are so fast that she can't keep up. ultimately she's unable to fire even a single shot due to her fear and inexperience, and her partner dies without her even knowing for sure what happened to him. it's more dark and gritty than you might expect before going in, but personally I really love this portrayal of space combat.

all of the scenes after Noriko returns to the excelion are very good as well. it really drives home the emotional weight and the purpose of this episode that we're able to witness the aftermath of things and it's not just glossed over. that is probably the strongest point of Gunbuster for me. as far as pacing and directing goes, this is a series that excels when it is showing you things that aren't vital to advance the story but are absolutely essential to conveying the overall themes and messages of the episode (and the series as a whole). and the best part is how efficiently it is done with only 6 OVA! there are plenty of mecha series that do so much less with so many more episodes... this is truly a masterpiece by comparison.
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Ace Act 2 Ep14 - lmao Furuya

Gunbuster Episode 4 was just legendary. I definitely don't remember this series being THIS good, so I've been nothing but pleasantly surprised at every turn. This episode in particular though has really kicked it up a notch. The tension and feeling of hopelessness throughout is executed so well. Once again the writing does an amazingly efficient job of setting up, explaining, and executing concepts very quickly with the limited time frame of one episode and yet without feeling rushed.

Of course all of this is just makes the last 1/3 of the episode ever better because of how hopeless the situation is. Everything in the first three episodes essentially builds toward the finale of this episode and it does not disappoint. At this point I definitely feel like this is a 10/10 series and I was crazy for ever thinking otherwise. Also I don't usually recommend anime to others but if you haven't seen Gunbuster, maybe check it out. Although the classics aren't really for everyone I would say this is a true classic.

Some cool narrative parallels contained within this episode:
- When Noriko is thinking about whether or not she would die next time she goes into space, her suit gets destroyed and the pilot who replaced her is killed. I don't think this is saying for sure that if she was out there she would have died at that moment, but it really hammers home the point that pilots out there were dropping like flies and could die pretty suddenly.
- The captain expresses his willingness to ram the enemy ship in a suicide tactic if it comes to that, and later Noriko basically says the same thing in the same words when she launches. The captain is willing to sacrifice the ship and everyone on it to protect the earth, but Noriko is willing to sacrifice herself to protect the ship and everyone on it.

I particularly loved the part where Noriko is going to duel with Jung. In the elevator she is all full of resolve, but as soon as they launch she has a PTSD break down. It was intentionally made as jarring as possible and I think it had a lot of impact as a result. That showed another facet of herself that she needed to improve on. No matter how much you train your body and skills it's not going to make you automatically overcome your mental trauma. The characters in this are so simple but so great. I think that is part of what makes them so great really, the writing doesn't try to over complicate them with personalities and backstories that real people can't relate to.

Only two more episodes left.
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Gunbuster Episode 5 cleared. This episode starts to deliver on the time dilation concepts introduced in episode 2 -- it begins with Noriko and Amano coming back to "graduate" 10 years behind the rest of their high school classmates. We get a brief glimpse of how the world and their relationship with other people has changed. Because of an emergency alert there is no choice but to send the Gunbuster back out into space. But this time there's a catch: 6 months of time will pass on earth while they're gone, and Coach might not even have six months to live.

This episode is all about the development and resolution of Amano, as the previous episode was more about Noriko. We'll see this dynamic pop up again later in TTGL. Noriko admires Amano as her "big sis," someone who she can look up to, rely on, and who would never falter. But in reality Amano is the one who lacks confidence and she needs Noriko to inspire her.

The action in this episode was even more hot blooded and awesome than the last episode, although in terms of raw emotional payoff I might still rate episode 4 higher. I like Noriko's arc more than Amano's, and they did a better job of conveying the hopeless situation in episode 4. I don't think anything could beat the amazing impact of Noriko choosing, on her own, to pilot the Gunbuster for the first time when all hope was lost and they were all going to die anyway.

Noriko's amazing VA kills it again with her battle screams and emotional delivery of her inspiring lines. It's a shame she doesn't seem to have any other similar roles because she is seriously iconic here.
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Noriko's so fucking badass in the last few episodes.
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yeah definitely. and I like her overall growth and development. it's not just that she's badass, but also how she gets there.

anyway finished with the rewatch. I'll do some kind of episode 6 and/or full series write up later.
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