Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 284: Who even watches anime now?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Oh yeah trying to slam more anime recently, I love it so I should watch more.

And uh yeah those two episodes were... painful and also beautifully animated in the worst way. They did not hold back letting us know who the villain was in those scenes artistically and I love it.

Rem's love for him is just major A+ stuff. Simple, earned, and unconditional. His ability to be honest with her and yet so earnest is right back A+ stuff. Great pair of characters that make me love them. His speech about hating himself is something I felt in my bones and was masterful. Her counter, even better. Superb.

Finished watching Baccano! , first time viewing and went into it without knowing anything about story/characters.

It was a great series and while I don't have the anime-viewing repetoire most people in this topic probably have, it's between it & Paranoia Agent as my favourite 1-cour anime of all time. But I think that's moreso because almost everything I've watched and/or loved runs 24 or more episodes so it's a pretty limited sample set to work with.

Which again is the big indictment here, I feel like they fleshed out such a world of possibilities and fun characters, the fact we didn't get more seasons (while I understand there's numerous light novels) is very disappointing. But all in all it was great and I'm actually looking forward to rewatching it, I can also understand how it won the first iteration of SMFAS.

In lieu of heaping more praise, there were just two main gripes I had with it (spoilers I guess).

(1) Episode 1. I was so confused and I guess that was by design, but as the series went on I got a bit annoyed that's how the show started since the first episode was the last time we see several characters chronologically (outside of the 3 unaired episodes) which kills a good deal of potential tension on the train, AND episode 1 also featured a scene that I remembered vividly and never comes into play in the actual series itself. Reading up on wikipedia later on I learned it included new characters from a storyline following the Flying Pussyfoot story, but yeah. Again, we didn't we get more animated Baccano, so sad!!!!

(2) What was my favourite moment in the anime up to that point & several episodes after was the first Rail Tracer reveal at the end of episode 5. After "Rail Tracer" is established by the story that cause Jacuzzi to freak out like a little child who was just told about the bogeyman, it was just so ridiculous - but then we get the payoff, the incredible moment where it's revealed the monster IS real, the lights cut out in the hallway, the violin background music is perfection and this ethereal red creature just casually reaches in, envelops the bad guy and pops out. The camera's left hanging on the open doorway, I was half-expecting a jump scare to happen...

Now at that point the show had already established immortality, and absorbing people through your hand, and transferring memories through touch, and artificial human beings, so there were lots of out-there elements being presented. But the joking "there is a monster that gets people on trains" actually showing up and being real, it just raised so many questions and opened up so many possibilities. I loved that scene so much.

...so was a little disappointing when it was actually just revealed to be a guy covered in blood and not the monster originally portrayed. Still worked out great in the end but ruined how great that episode 5 ending was! And actually my new favourite moment might be when he saves Isaac and Miria in episode 12 by handing the rope to Donny - "those two are splendid customers", lol

But yeah, highly recommend Baccano! if someone's like me and hasn't watched this, uh, 15 year old series...

(Edit: forgot to mention, greatest OP of all time, or at least greatest OP song, damn.)

Next on my "to watch" list are a two-fer:

-Puella Magi Madoka Magica
-A Place Further than the Universe

Pretty sure I'll do Madoka first...

Rem's okay and all, but I love Emilia.

Claire is my favorite Baccano! character and I loved pretty much everything to do with him. Episode 1 is a bizarre choice though, yeah. I've watched through it with a friend and just skipped episode 1 which worked perfectly well...

I've seen Baccano at least 9 times front to back, definitely not a controversial statement to call it one of your favs! Claire is excellent but I'm always going to be the Ladd Russo stan. The light novels are VERY good, and they go MUCH further than the show does, I highly recommend them. They're available digitally but I buy every volume as a hardcover.

Madoka and A Place Further are both top tier anime with top 10 potential, so you're on roll here.

Chris, when you go into season 2 of Re:Zero be aware that it's a very different type of pacing than season 1. Almost the entire thing is a single, much more in depth and expanded upon arc with subarcs inside of it, rather than the many arcs season 1 had. People's opinions on it are mixed as a result, obviously. I'd say S1 has stronger individual moments while S2 is a stronger overall narrative.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I've seen Baccano at least 9 times front to back, definitely not a controversial statement to call it one of your favs! Claire is excellent but I'm always going to be the Ladd Russo stan. The light novels are VERY good, and they go MUCH further than the show does, I highly recommend them. They're available digitally but I buy every volume as a hardcover.

Madoka and A Place Further are both top tier anime with top 10 potential, so you're on roll here.

Chris, when you go into season 2 of Re:Zero be aware that it's a very different type of pacing than season 1. Almost the entire thing is a single, much more in depth and expanded upon arc with subarcs inside of it, rather than the many arcs season 1 had. People's opinions on it are mixed as a result, obviously. I'd say S1 has stronger individual moments while S2 is a stronger overall narrative.

Seems like 2 is higher rated and I like longer arcs so should be good tbh

Season one of Re:ZERO beaten

I can post more detailed thoughts if anyone wants but I will just say one thing for now.

"Because I love you."

What a fucking chad.

You don't have to suffer through the 2+ year suffering that was the final shot of S1 troll for anime only watchers.

As someone who new what the troll was I had to suffer through not *telling* any of of my friends.

Re:Zero S2 is much, much better than S1 tbqh

Also, strongly agree with recommending the Baccano novels to anybody who enjoyed the anime

I finished The Executioner and Her Way of Life. Birdie Wing still has two episodes to maybe get ahead of it, but that's the only competition Executioner has for my personal best anime of the season.

Much like Re:ZERO, Executioner is an isekai that managed to rise above the usual mediocrity of the genre. Menou and Akari are both great. I love their dynamic, I'm a sucker for people growing closer almost in spite of themselves. All the layers to Akari are interesting too. The setting is what really impressed me though. I love how it handles people isekai-ing in, it always bugs me in other anime where the main character is the only person to ever come to the world when it should be a regular thing if it can happen at all. Executioner explored the logical conclusion of what would happen if a bunch of superpowered Japanese people kept coming to the world. I also love the hints of grand disasters from the past and I was always eager to learn more about them.

Really, I only have one complaint about Executioner. While most episodes were well animated, there was one that was distractingly low budget. Like a whole thirty second still frame of a wall while characters are talking, a whole scene where Momo alternates between angrily chewing and frowning over and over... that episode wasn't great! It was probably just so save money for future episodes, though, because man did it ever go back to being impreessive in the last few episodes.

So, yeah, Executioner was awesome.

Very much looking forward to finishing Executioner. I've put all anime on hold for a good moth and a half now while I caught up on about 8-10 years of Marvel and DC Comic I'd missed out on, should hopefully be able to catch up soon. Lots of shows this season I loved.

... wait I am stupid what was the troll supposed to be at the end of s1 of rezero

<_<

DoomTheGyarados posted...

... wait I am stupid what was the troll supposed to be at the end of s1 of rezero

<_<

It cutting out right before Emlia was about to say something.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Lots of shows this season I loved.

Yeah, this was a great season overall! Only one of the dozen or so anime I'm watching has turned out awful, but I'll talk more about that one when it finishes next week...

current seasonal rankings of beated shows:

1. Aharen-san
2. Bookworm S3
3. Ya Boy Kongming

Aharen was great from start to finish. Very funny show and had some nice heartwarming moments too. The most standout aspect was the male protagonist. He wasn't a lame tsukkomi, he was at least as insane as everyone else. The facial expressions were also top notch.

I read the Bookworm novels between S2 and S3, which probably hurts the show a bit, but it was still good. Ink guild stuff was tons of fun. Wish the second last episode had been better.

Ya Boy Kongming was great for the first half or so, but after Steve Kid appeared the show got a bunch of mediocre filler and Kongming's presence went way down. The last couple episodes were something of a recovery, but more Kongming and this could've been #1.

(I gave Aharen a 9 and Kongming an 8 - these are all good show)

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai completed. This was a nice anime. It wasn't my favorite of the season, I felt it relied too much on Raido's fantasy assumptions or him and Aharen having a competition. There were still a lot of good moments between the two, and it eventually built a good cast of side characters (except for the two school friends who had no gimmicks at all, they were boring). It was a chill show to watch every week and I appreciated it for that.

Robazoid posted...

(except for the two school friends who had no gimmicks at all, they were boring)

That was the joke with them. They keep showing up as if they're main characters, but they have basically zero personality. Made me laugh every time.

Kaguya getting 1 hour special next week
https://twitter.com/anime_kaguya/status/1537821116936249344?s=21&t=eQ5X4CLdrZ_pk_EYQZFfbg

Mac Arrowny posted...

That was the joke with them. They keep showing up as if they're main characters, but they have basically zero personality. Made me laugh every time.

I dunno, it felt more like they were included when they needed more people for a scene but Oshiro wouldn't work. If their gimmick was truly having no gimmick I think there would've been more jokes to that effect!

In completely unrelated news, I finally watched the second half of The Aquatope on White Sand a few months after finishing the first half. I adored the first half, and I held off on watching the second half for a long time because I was terrified it would ruin it. And... yeah, it kind of did. Who watches entertainment to experience the all-too-real dread of working a job you hate with bitchy coworkers and a douche boss? This isn't even the first anime I've seen to recreate that so there must be a market for it. The first half of Aquatope was magical and full of heart even when things were at their darkest. The second half was just uncomfortable. I'll at least give it credit for never getting as dumb as Shirobako or Hanasaku Iroha, but PA Works really shouldn't do workplace drama anymore. I can't even say they're bad at it, the problem is that they're too good at it. They're so good at replicating the feeling of a bad job that it makes me depressed. At least there were still plenty of beautiful aquarium shots, plus the Kukuru/Fuuka relationship. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be, but the second half definitely dragged the overall score down quite a bit.

Yeah, Executioner was good. I loved the world and main four characters. I'd love them more if 90% of the dialogue wasn't exposition

Double post to also say that Dance Dance Danseur was really good if you can stomach the bullying in episode 3.

Looking last the last episode of Spy x Family gonna be dat hot filler

ninkendo posted...

Looking last the last episode of Spy x Family gonna be dat hot filler

Where did they end it for this first cour?

gettin the stella for saving the drowning kid then saying she wants a puppy

....they got to chapter 17??

They're going even slower than I thought they would be. They're absolutely not going to get to the boat stuff in the second cour.

I guess that's fine as long as they get more seasons, but if they go in the anime original direction instead and just never do it then lol. Like cutting Goldy Pond out of Neverland all over again.

Just remembered that Stone Ocean is only gonna have 24 episodes out after a full year after premiering while Diamond is Unbreakable and Golden Wind finished in 8-9 months of time....the only thing that could save this is David Production coming out and saying something like their previous Jojo schedules were crunching them and this timeline works better for them and is healthier because man, Netflix really screwed Stone Ocean over on this

UshiromiyaEva posted...

....they got to chapter 17??

They're going even slower than I thought they would be. They're absolutely not going to get to the boat stuff in the second cour.

I guess that's fine as long as they get more seasons, but if they go in the anime original direction instead and just never do it then lol. Like cutting Goldy Pond out of Neverland all over again.

they also had a filler episode right before the start of school too and I thought it was pretty good. One of the few episodes to center around the entire family doing something together.

Nobody gives anything resembling a shit about the Stone Ocean anime at this point. An absolute bungling and the worst type of show they could have done this too. I really feel bad for everyone on the production. Stone Ocean was the part that I feel needed an anime the most to gain a following, and it's just not going to happen.

Netflix is a cancer. If they trap Steel Ball Run too it's going to be one of the worst things to ever happen to this industry that didn't involve someone dying.

Maybe the power of Crunchyroll and Funimation together can bring back Jojo but then Stone Ocean is left out as the black sheep as usual, you hate to see it

David Pro's A-team working on Yatsura remake instead probably doesn't help

Also I'll always be a little salty because I think Johnny is pretty overrated as a Jojo protagonist and Jolyne deserves more

I rewatched Witch Craft Works today, one of the anime I remembered loving but didn't remember super well. It was still really good! I love the dynamic between the main characters and all the little rules governing the magic between them. Ayaka is a total badass, and she has a lot of great deadpan comedy moments. The setting is a lot of fun too with all the unique witches running around. Really my only complaint is that there was never a second season. It left me wanting more

I remember reading the manga a lot. They never dubbed the show (at least I think), so it slipped through the cracks. I got around 8-10 chapters before my library ran out.

Finished Punk Hazard!

Yeah, wasnt really feeling it at first, but I felt like my interested picked up towards the end. Id say the last third or so, once Land of the Dead was released and everyone got into Ceasers facility, everything after that was good. I liked the fight between Vergo and Smoker and Law. I went from having no opinion on Law to thinking that guys neat, so thats a plus as well. And like all One Pie e arcs, ending with a giant party is always a good time.

But, overall, probably one of the weaker arcs of the manga

I've thought of reading Witch Craft Works... think it just finished a couple months ago.

Updated ranking of beated Spring shows:

current seasonal rankings of beated shows:

1. Aharen-san
2. Bookworm S3
3. Ya Boy Kongming
4. Dance Dance Danseur

I mostly moderately enjoyed this. In episode 5 or so, there was a great performance that got me more into the show, and after that I liked it for sure. Then they had an amazing sequence in episode 9... which they destroyed in the next two episodes, so I wish it hadn't happened at all. The MC's probably the strongest part of the show - his sheer enthusiasm without being a total idiot makes for a great sports protagonist. His rival is lame though, and the main girl doesn't get as much development as she deserves, while the secondary girl is excellent but only gets much screentime in one episode. Still okay though (gave the show a 7). The animation's also very good.

GANON1025 posted...

Finished Punk Hazard!

Yeah, wasnt really feeling it at first, but I felt like my interested picked up towards the end. Id say the last third or so, once Land of the Dead was released and everyone got into Ceasers facility, everything after that was good. I liked the fight between Vergo and Smoker and Law. I went from having no opinion on Law to thinking that guys neat, so thats a plus as well. And like all One Pie e arcs, ending with a giant party is always a good time.

But, overall, probably one of the weaker arcs of the manga

A lot of the things that happen in Punk Hazard carries over to even the current arc. The next arc is going to be a real drag. I'm glad you're not reading it weekly like many of us did.

Reading the next arc weekly causes me to drop the series entirely for several years.

I think Wano drags too, but at least it tries to justify itself, Dressrosa has no business being as long as it is. It feels like the anime pacing infused into the manga.

Crunchyroll hasn't uploaded episode 10 of Spy x Family's English dub yet (though Japan is up to 11 already). Guess I'm just gonna make progress with Twelve Kingdoms then.

GranzonEx posted...

A lot of the things that happen in Punk Hazard carries over to even the current arc. The next arc is going to be a real drag. I'm glad you're not reading it weekly like many of us did.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Reading the next arc weekly causes me to drop the series entirely for several years.

I think Wano drags too, but at least it tries to justify itself, Dressrosa has no business being as long as it is. It feels like the anime pacing infused into the manga.

well that doesnt sound good

It won't be nearly as bad reading now that it's over, I can attest. However I still think it's not very good. I don't think I like a single primary character that arc other than the main villain.

The designs and absurdity of some of the characters almost feels like a parody of One Piece made by anime fans who hate One Piece without watching it.

I know there's at least one person here who says Dressrosa is their favorite arc, though, so you never know.

I finished rewatching Urara Mierochou. It's a slice-of-life about four girls training as fortune-tellers in a fantastical town. I actually started watching it way back when I first got my Hidive subscription just to see how their website worked (I first watched it less than legally years ago). It took me a long time to get through it because Urara Mierochou isn't a super favorite of mine, and rewatching didn't change that. Like, it was fine, but nothing special. The characters are mostly the standard slice-of-life girl archetypes, just with fortune-teller twists. I still enjoyed the way that their training led to interesting situations, though. The one girl with the haunted doll was my favorite, I'm a sucker for haunted dolls. The haunted doll was the best part of Konohina Kitan too, which I'd put on roughly the same level as Urara. Anyway it was a nice show, just not good enough to be worth rewatching I guess.

GANON1025 posted...

well that doesnt sound good

We got a lotta haters in here (including myself!). But it's overall a very popular arc

I hope I'm not annoying anyone by posting too much. A bunch of airing shows are ending over the next two weeks and I'm rewatching old stuff on top of that.

I rewatched Planet With today, yet another one I remembered liking but didn't have the strongest memories of. I'd forgotten how impressive the writing in that anime is. It covered so much ground in twelve episodes without ever feeling rushed. There were like four points that were epic enough to be season finales but it just kept going to new heights. Soya was a unique protagonist, fighting against what would be the heroes in a typical mecha story. I liked Nozomi a lot too, but really all the side characters filled their roles well. I'm glad I rewatched this one.

GANON1025 posted...

well that doesnt sound good

You aren't reading weekly so don't worry.

For people who binge it, it is commonly a favorite arc of the entire series.

It's not my favorite but after rewatching it as a binge it is in my top 4. It is my wife's favorite though and i know multiple other people who didn't experience it week to week and who also have it as a favorite.

Chainsawman resumes in a month!!

This month in Dragon Ball Super: LOL VEGETA JOBS
This month in Boruto: Breaking up is easy when your little brother beats people up.

I finished Healer Girl. It was good, but it could've been a lot better if it leaned into the musical aspect more. The best episodes were the ones where they sang at random points during day-to-day stuff, like one of those musical episodes that sitcoms sometimes have where they randomly break into song. In HG, most of the songs were only during the healer segments. They were fine there, but at that point it just became a typical music anime rather than a musical anime, if that makes sense. Like, the only difference between this and an idol anime was that they sang during procedures instead of at a live. Still, it was a nice lighthearted show, and I don't have anything to complain about really. A solidly average anime

Season ranking so far:
The Executioner and Her Way of Life
Ya Boy Kongming
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
Healer Girl

Robazoid posted...

The best episodes were the ones where they sang at random points during day-to-day stuff, like one of those musical episodes that sitcoms sometimes have where they randomly break into song. In HG, most of the songs were only during the healer segments. They were fine there, but at that point it just became a typical music anime rather than a musical anime, if that makes sense.

I get that. The episode where they were stuck singing all their dialogue was definitely my favorite, and when they were just using the music to heal, I found myself not paying much attention to the lyrics. I still loved seeing the girls helping people, though, and loved the show as a whole.

_PandaMaster_ posted...

This month in Dragon Ball Super:

Is this one even a spoiler tho

When the Super manga author sounds as bad as the Super anime writers with regards to certain characters :(

SockoressKnight posted...

I get that. The episode where they were stuck singing all their dialogue was definitely my favorite, and when they were just using the music to heal, I found myself not paying much attention to the lyrics. I still loved seeing the girls helping people, though, and loved the show as a whole.

Yeah, the fact that they sang to heal people provided a nice foundation, and the songs had interesting visuals. I compared it to a typical music anime in my post, but I meant only by the frequency of the singing. I liked how the singing itself usually had something deeper to give it purpose.