Poll of the Day > Anime, Manga, VN, JRPG, Related Things Discussion Topic XCVI

(+) Yeah! (+)

YoukaiSlayer posted...

It's kind of insane to me that stuff with terrible amateurish writing becomes anime. When I think of the insane amount of effort and time thats put into bringing something like that to the screen...is that really the best they could find?

I call it the 50 Shades Effect. As soon as publishers figured out that dreck sells as well as quality, they leaned into dreck, since there is so much more of it. And LNs are no exception.

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Tsukimichi seems decently watchable. The 2nd episode was fine. It's kind of like a worse slime isekai.
I_Abibde posted...

since there is so much more of it.

This is the surprising part though. Like, with how many people exist and how many write stories in various forms, how are we not overflowing with quality pieces? Theres got to be thousands of light novels coming out every year. If 1% are great we should have enough for like 100 great anime per year. Instead we get like 15-20 pretty good shows, 3-5 great ones, and one masterpiece every couple years. I guess I don't want to believe talent is really that rare.

And then like, how many man hours go into a 12 episode anime? Being extremely conservative and looking at a week per episode and employees working 40 hours a week (which is of course really lowballing it) with a decent production team you've got maybe 50 people? That's 2000*12 hours for a total of 24,000 hours being spent on something an amateur hacked out in a few months. It's just crazy. And I'm guessing the real numbers put it closer to 50,000 or even 100,000 hours

Honestly when you think of the hours involved in things that effect a large scale, it all gets hard to really wrap your head around..Like your car breaking down on a really busy highway might cost people a lifetimes worth of hours collectively if it causes a big enough delay. That has almost the same impact as murdering someone, just really spread out.

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Wow, dorm mother is an ecchi series that knows what it's doing. Frame 1 is exposed titty, nipple and everything. It's pretty dang ecchi. Been a while since I watched a genuine ecchi series and not just a series with occasional ecchi moments, I guess it's been since interspecies reviewers. Episode 1 was a fun time.

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YoukaiSlayer posted...

Wow, dorm mother is an ecchi series that knows what it's doing. Frame 1 is exposed titty, nipple and everything. It's pretty dang ecchi. Been a while since I watched a genuine ecchi series and not just a series with occasional ecchi moments, I guess it's been since interspecies reviewers. Episode 1 was a fun time.

lmao I watched the first episode as soon as you said that XD


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I_Abibde posted...

I call it the 50 Shades Effect. As soon as publishers figured out that dreck sells as well as quality, they leaned into dreck, since there is so much more of it. And LNs are no exception.

50 Shades is more than just a matter of dreck >_> iirc, it was a forerunner in the "new adult" genre so there's also the right place, right time coming into effect.

But in general, most of the really popular books at any given moment aren't exactly known for being conventionally good, whether we're talking Dan Brown novels, Twilight Novels, 50 Shades, or anything else.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

This is the surprising part though. Like, with how many people exist and how many write stories in various forms, how are we not overflowing with quality pieces? Theres got to be thousands of light novels coming out every year. If 1% are great we should have enough for like 100 great anime per year. Instead we get like 15-20 pretty good shows, 3-5 great ones, and one masterpiece every couple years. I guess I don't want to believe talent is really that rare.

Because gatekeepers focus on things like perceived marketability and whether something will sell more than just quality. And the people in those positions often aren't great at spotting things that are both highly saleable to a large audience AND are of quality, or in some cases aren't willing to take a risk on what could be a huge hit (so instead you get relatively "safe" garbage like Demon Slayer which looks pretty but rehashes so many other series in a worse manner).

I'd also argue that the sheer volume of VNs probably also buries the really good stuff and, since a lot of the crappy stuff sells, they look at those numbers and go with that. Beyond that, even with how much stuff comes out during any given year, you don't necessarily have good stuff come out.

Then another issue might just be the fact that so many manga, VNs, etc, are solo creations where a lot of content might be better with collaboration. (And, kind of a side-tangent, I enjoy Hero? I Gave that Up a Long Time Ago, which is a *terrible* webtoon based on what was likely a bad VN. Even though the story, writing, etc, often suck (although the scanlation is probably to blame, too), I still find it entertaining enough that I've actively followed it.)

To top all that off, part of it is the anime itself. A good production can make weak material work.

But, in general, it's *very* hard to predict what will or won't resonate with audiences. Some can be absurdly well put together with clever writing, strong characters, etc, and completely bomb. Quality is no indication of success.

The only time I really scratch my head over is when it's something that's just so clearly bad that you wonder what they were thinking in making it. Other things start off mediocre or become mediocre through the process (for example, the Junji Ito Collection took something incredible and apparently made it terrible).

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Zeus posted...

50 Shades is more than just a matter of dreck >_> iirc, it was a forerunner in the "new adult" genre

Ugh it wasn't even close, nor was it even a good representation.

Anne Rices Sleeping beauty books were far more hard core, better reads, and around way before. Laurrel K hamilton did tons of that crap (sadly, cause her non-porn books were great) as well etc. 50 Shades just became popular for some crazy reason, even though the sex parts sucked (I liked them for the relationship stuff etc, but skipped the sex scenes usually).

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wolfy42 posted...

Ugh it wasn't even close, nor was it even a good representation.

Anne Rices Sleeping beauty books were far more hard core, better reads, and around way before. Laurrel K hamilton did tons of that crap (sadly, cause her non-porn books were great) as well etc. 50 Shades just became popular for some crazy reason, even though the sex parts sucked (I liked them for the relationship stuff etc, but skipped the sex scenes usually).

...new adult fiction wasn't even a thing back when Anne Rice wrote her novels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_adult_fiction

And Laurell K. Hamilton doesn't write in the genre either, afaik. They both do paranormal romances, but that's not even close being the same thing. You seem to have 50 Shades confused with Twilight (which, by the way, is *not* a new adult novel; it's just a YA paranormal romance).

Meanwhile 50 Shades led to a boom in new adult novels back when the genre was first starting to gain traction.


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Yandere Pomu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPQz3cfJO_c

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https://twitter.com/Cixouss1/status/1415365175998390272?s=20

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/696221284031266877/862649372127133706/5153.webm

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/717228532937392149/865369971802243103/unknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/717228532937392149/865362285043515442/unknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/717228532937392149/865373604237672467/unknown.png

she put in her notice to quit her irl job in a couple weeks and she's kind of gone a little nutty

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agesboy posted...

she put in her notice to quit her irl job in a couple weeks and she's kind of gone a little nutty

I think it's more of the fact that she's really enjoying doing this.
I heard that all 3 of them were successful elsewhere before they joined NijiEN but I didn't actually do any research into who they were before.

And there was also this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvh7j1B8dNA

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Nani the fuck

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I love NijiEn. They have such good chemistry and they actually play stuff together constantly. And niji in general is much less concerned about seiso or idol image so they go pretty off the rails.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUSPuSP2cj0

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If you want to go back further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJWTEHlZmvc

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Realist hero is really growing on me. This week's episode was basically just introducing 5 characters but it was somehow exciting. Kanojo mo kanojo is also still fun. Seems a lot of people really hate the main character but I think he's funny.

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I might have to have a look at that Dorm Goddess anime. Hidive is effective at picking up more adult titles.

Zeus posted...

But in general, most of the really popular books at any given moment aren't exactly known for being conventionally good, whether we're talking Dan Brown novels, Twilight Novels, 50 Shades, or anything else.

You are correct. Perhaps I should have called it the Harold Robbins Effect? Hmm.

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I took a small anime break to watch the marvel shows Loki, Falcon, and Wanda.

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good

loki is too good

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NijiEN second batch debuts going on right now.

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agesboy posted...

she put in her notice to quit her irl job in a couple weeks and she's kind of gone a little nutty

Judgmenl posted...

I think it's more of the fact that she's really enjoying doing this.
I heard that all 3 of them were successful elsewhere before they joined NijiEN but I didn't actually do any research into who they were before.

It still seems bonkers to me that people are willing to give up a successful, traditional career to pursue a riskier endeavor where they might not have income from it in ten years. It's still such a fledgling industry.

Granted, I guess employers are also more likely to overlook women leaving the workforce for a few years than men.

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Episode 2 of aquatope kinda pissed me off. I guess spoilers although this is a slice of life bitch sends out the new girl to feed animals that proceed to hurt her, with no training or instructions other than "feed them" and then get mad when it goes wrong? New girl could probably sue the shit outta the aquarium after that and it kinda ruined the whole episode for me. Not sure I'll continue watching because even aside from that it just wasn't very entertaining.

Villainess is still awesome but no surprise there.

Kingdom finally started back again and it was a pretty good episode. I wish I could just binge the whole thing but I don't have the patience to wait for it to finish in however many months that'll be.

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YoukaiSlayer posted...

Villainess is still awesome but no surprise there.

hnng cant wait til it finishes

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One Step from Eden is really fun, but it has some glitches. Sometimes when I pause while the game is slowed down for one reason or another, the battle will resume at a glacial pace (like less than 1/100th normal speed), allowing me to move around and dispatch enemies at will. I'm actually typing this while holding down the shoot button waiting for the bullets to reach the boss.

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keyblader1985 posted...

One Step from Eden is really fun, but it has some glitches. Sometimes when I pause while the game is slowed down for one reason or another, the battle will resume at a glacial pace (like less than 1/100th normal speed), allowing me to move around and dispatch enemies at will. I'm actually typing this while holding down the shoot button waiting for the bullets to reach the boss.

Interesting I never ran into that one.

When it happens is it permanent for the run

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No, it ends when the battle does. But it's happened to me at least three times now.

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been playing more one step from eden too and got a lot more alternate loadouts unlocked

had a viruspell run that was absurdly strong

both loadout violette poison build still the funnest two tho

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Pure Frost deck with Seliacy will always be my favorite.
Also Frost/Flame hybrid is pretty fun.

But you cant go wrong with Saffron, shes so adaptable that you can make just about any deck fun. Trinity decks come to mind.

Third runner up would be Flow decks with Terra, but I prefer to keep the terraforming part on the low side.

Bonus deck is a poison shield deck with Reva but thats kind of boring.
(Lots of shield cards, and shit tons of poison cards so that they can slowly die of poison while trying to whittle down your shields)

Last thoughts:
I have played 120+ hours of the game and I would really like more content though. Theres many synergies that are under utilized such as the Censor Bar ability which gives shields when channeling spells, thing is theres only a handful of channeling spells (https://onestepfromeden.fandom.com/wiki/Channel) and most are rare or legendary level spells. But its still a fantastic game and I would buy DLC day one.

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I beat Ys 8. It's good. I regret not playing on inferno though cause hard was definitely too easy. On the other hand, some late game enemies were already a bit too spongy.

Also I started catching up on attack on titan because theres not enough action this season. I'd already seen the first 2 seasons and now I'm on the last episode of the 3rd season part 1. I definitely think this is my favorite season thus far. In a way, it reminds me of game of thrones where the most interesting part is when the supernatural elements aren't in use and it's just very human political maneuvering. I feel the titans are the least interesting part of the show just like the ice zombies were the least interesting part of game of thrones.

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Wow, I can't believe how much I managed to watch today. Starting at episode 4, I watched all the way to the end of season 3 which I think was 19 episodes, all in one day. I don't even feel too sick. Maybe I've been getting a bit better. What a damn good season it was too.

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YoukaiSlayer posted...

which I think was 19 episodes, all in one day. I don't even feel too sick.

You're making me feel sick >_> That's a lot to watch in a day >_<

Granted, I guess they're 25-minute episodes so... 475 minutes, or around 8 hours of solid time. That's a pretty solid binge.

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To be fair I skip the OP and ED and recap so each episode is probably only 20 or so minutes but yeah, it was the most I've watched in one day in over a year I think.

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deoxxys posted...

the Censor Bar ability

The ability to ruin broadcast anime?

Ba-dum-pish.

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One Step From Eden players, you guys into any other roguelikes/deckbuilders? I imagine everyone has played Slay the Spire already but that one was greeeat.

Loop Hero has been really fun
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1282730/Loop_Hero/

Looking to get into Ring of Pain as well, I mean look at this GODDAMN trailer:
https://youtu.be/pxn4hFf8EDo
I really need to try Monster Train as well.

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Honestly I never got into any deckbuilders before Slay the Spire, but I do enjoy other roguelikes/roguelites.

I figured out the trick to that slowdown glitch too. It happens occasionally when you pause/unpause right as the game is returning to normal speed. If you keep rapidly pausing and unpausing at that time, there's a very good chance it'll happen.

This glitch also happens to make Saffron's Chrono style much easier. She can slow time to about 1/10th normal speed at will; do the glitch then and the battle becomes a cakewalk (at least as far as dodging and timing).

This may be a platform-specific glitch though; I'm playing in PS4.

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deoxxys posted...

One Step From Eden players, you guys into any other roguelikes/deckbuilders?

Scroll of Taiwu is a roguelite (but not a deckbuilder) and I've played tons of it. Also played a bit of Loop Hero. Other than that... not really.

I really don't like deckbuilders in general and it's my least favorite part of One Step from Eden, honestly. Sure, lucking into a good power feels great, but then the next ten runs where it doesn't show up at all feel terrible to me.

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deoxxys posted...

One Step From Eden players, you guys into any other roguelikes/deckbuilders? I imagine everyone has played Slay the Spire already but that one was greeeat.

Loop Hero has been really fun
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1282730/Loop_Hero/

Looking to get into Ring of Pain as well, I mean look at this GODDAMN trailer:
https://youtu.be/pxn4hFf8EDo
I really need to try Monster Train as well.

I was intrigued by the Ring of Pain trailer until I saw the gimmick with chain reactions. I just don't feel like investing the time in learning new mechanics for games. When I see something that looks like it's going to take some time to learn or it's gimmicky, that's an immediate turnoff. I like things I can just jump into.

Granted, the horror theme is tempting. Very tempting.

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Whelp, I watched the last 16 episodes of what is out of AoT today. I feel like it deserves the hype although I am naturally worried about it delivering a good ending.

It's easily one of my favorite takes on war. They clearly establish why fighting is necessary but they also show just how horrific and tragic it is. I feel like most things go too far and basically try to say wars shouldn't be fought no matter what, but this just makes it clear everyone is in a shit situation.

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you should check out muvluv alternative when it gets an anime, cuz the AoT guy admitted it was a gigantic inspiration in one of his volumes

(ignore Total Eclipse it sucked)

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Was doing a bit of looking around about AoT and it seems the ending of the manga is really not well received which I was already worried about. Really hoping I end up liking it but not expecting to. I feel like I'm far more critical of endings than the average person and a bad ending completely ruins an otherwise good show for me.
agesboy posted...

you should check out muvluv alternative when it gets an anime

I definitely intend to. Didn't realize it was getting one next season. Although, aren't they fighting against aliens? The point where AoT gets good IMO is when they are fighting humans. Seeing both sides of the conflict really elevates things for me. Not that I don't intend to watch it regardless.

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agesboy posted...

(ignore Total Eclipse it sucked)

I am going to admit that I am not expecting the Alternative anime to be any good, either. VN adaptations do not have a good track record, depending on how one feels about Clannad.

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Man, I feel unsatisfied. I want more war anime/games because I didn't get my fill from AoT since it hasn't finished. Problem is I've seen or played basically everything.

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I_Abibde posted...

VN adaptations do not have a good track record, depending on how one feels about Clannad.

steins;gate, grisaia, ef, white album 2 (and arguably 1), amagami ss, utawarerumono, kimi ga nozomu eien, one of the kanon adaptations, and like half of F/SNs adaptations are all pretty great

higurashi and clannad changed some things but they were still really good imo

and yosuga no sora was glorious because it didn't change a god damn thing

YoukaiSlayer posted...

Man, I feel unsatisfied. I want more war anime/games because I didn't get my fill from AoT since it hasn't finished. Problem is I've seen or played basically everything.

did you ever tanya the evil, its just straight up ww2 with magic

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I will watch 1-2 episodes of the first or second anime I am recommended.

scouts honor

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getter robo armageddon/shin getter robo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pYduET6PwI

its so goddamn fast paced but in a good way

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Bofuri

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There's supposed to be a new Konosuba project in the future. That's about all I know. Think it's a different studio though.

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agesboy posted...

did you ever tanya the evil, its just straight up ww2 with magic

Yep. I've seen like the top rated 100+ military anime. i don't think theres any hidden gems left I don't know about. Hope tanya gets a 2nd season eventually although it's also not really what I'm looking for in a war anime. I want the conflict at the strategic and political levels, not just the tactical one. Stuff like code geass or legend of the galactic heroes or kingdom.

In the game front, the two that really stand out are FFT:WotL and tactics ogre: let us cling together. something like those would be great, not that it really needs to be a tactical rpg, but the overall story and approach to it although both end up more magical than I'd like. It's kind of depressing when I think about it, the two best examples came out like 20+ years ago.I want something like those but much better. I feel like it happens so often when I look back, there was something that amazed and made me wanna see where they were gonna go from there within the genre but they just go nowhere and it turns out that was the peak instead of the beginning of something truly great.

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Okay I guess I am watching Getter Robo.
Btw theres no reason I would ever have otherwise chose to watch a mecha anime but XD I promised.

Also I should still watch some Bofuri I think I saw like the first episode or two when it first came out and enjoyed it.

I will take one more suggestion!

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Here we go
https://wcostream.cc/watch/getter-robo-armageddon-wyaP-episode-1/

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I was thinking of rewatching Pumpkin Scissors. It's more along the lines of post-war, but still good. A lot of people say it's a mix of early episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist (military do-gooders) and Trigun (powerful nice guy protagonist with mysterious past).

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