Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 288 - Heaven

(+) Yeah! (+)

Went and watched the first episode of Giant Beasts of Ars immediately after watching the OP because it gave me major 00s fantasy anime vibes, in a good way. Really glad I did, liked it a lot!

I appreciate any anime that takes a strong show don't tell approach like this one, TBQH.

NO ISEKAI

NO SOURCE MATERIAL

FINAL DESTINATION

https://youtu.be/oD6e5vREbhI

Won't be watching more Trails that shit was boring.

I'll get to that Crossbell game eventually.

Only been watching Buddy Daddies for 5 minutes, but this show is a lock for the watchlist already.

after many years, I finally got around to watching and have now finished Ergo Proxy

I am pretty disappointed. I wouldn't say I went in with very high expectations but I was expecting better. I remember grabbing the series around the same time I got Death Note and while watched the latter summer of 2007 (and the rest is history), took 15 years + acquiring higher-quality version for the former.

Show starts off great and I'm looking forward to the mystery being unraveled and then it drops into like, 8 straight episodes of "Proxy of the Week", many of them bad. A dump of world-building gets dropped during a quiz show (probably the best episode in hindsight, but not saying much), and then the show decides to stop meandering about with 3 episodes left to wrap this up with "big reveals" that we've mostly already surmised. And the show just ends very limply.

Glad I watched it but yeah, don't see it ever going on the rewatch list. Watched it dubbed - googled online before starting which way to go and saw enough positive comments about the dub, but no, it wasn't.

Anyways, will watch a show or two from my non-anime backlog before returning to the top of my "To Watch" queue: Steins;Gate. More excited to watch this show than any since Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which ended up being my #1 all-time, so hopefully not going in with too high expectations there either!!!

100% going to do the sub on S;G in any case, not taking any chances here.

Finished Buddy Daddies. Forget the best premier of the season, maybe one of my favorite first episodes of any anime ever.

MartinFF7 posted...

100% going to do the sub on S;G in any case, not taking any chances here.

Can't go wrong with either for S;G, absolutely great VA work on both fronts. I watched them back to back the first time I saw the series (Sub by myself and dub with my roommate immediately after) and both were tremendous experience. Still my #1 anime!

I think Steins;Gate has a great dub, but at the same time the subbed version has multiple of the strongest voice acting performances I can recall from any anime.

Ergo Proxy's first few episodes are so awesome. It's a real shame the episodic stuff isn't on the same level, and the plot stuff near the end isn't as good as the early parts either.

Oh right, forgot to comment on that. Ergo Proxy was on the path to being a classic until it just stopped knowing what to do part way trough. I still like it, but I don't hold it in high regard.

Dark Deku arc is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr8l-8Obc4k

although this week's episode was half a recap episode of the first half of the season then just a little bit of new content

https://twitter.com/NieR_A_ANIME/status/1611747110134710273?s=19

Didn't watch any PVs so I wasn't expecting Aimer, lizard brain activating at that.

Gotta be honest though, once I get over the "gimmick" of this OP, which does admittedly stand out....kind of lame!

Song slaps though, even if it's not as good as any of her Fate stuff.

The conceipt of Endo and Kobayashi Live's narrative is maybe a bit too ridiculous, but I can't say it isn't funny, the MC in the Otome game becoming unknowingly cognizant and thinking the running commentary from the players is the voice of the gods guiding them. Considering the "Villainess Isekai" genre is...somehow becomingoversaturated, it's a very different take lol.

Seeing some people saying they don't like how part of the mystery of Trigun is just out in the open here in Stampede, and I'm just like....why?

If you're going in as a fan, you already know this stuff, and you're never not going to know this stuff, so going for slow burn reveals again isn't going to be effective at all.

If you're completely new, then the fact that the original series was a slow burn should mean nothing to you compared to this one's different take. It's not a remake, or even an adaptation, it's a new series with a new direction and story.

So really, all I can gather is that some fans are upset that people who AREN'T fans aren't going to get the exact same slow burn show they did on their behalf, in which case....shut up? Should have done a better job getting people to boot up Hulu then, you've had a long time to do it. If they wanted to watch the original already they've had ample opportunity.

That said, just finished the episode itself, and god what a winner.

Studio Orange outdid themselves more than I ever expected. Beastars and Land of the Lustrous are gorgeous shows, but this is next level, it looks like a film compared to them. This is easily the best looking full CG that's ever been in an anime, and I'm including movies. The faces stand out more than anything, all the little expressions and shifts just from Merly's face alone that you really couldn't pull off in a normal 2D production. Mist so hard to believe this is a television production.

Polygon Pictures has a show I'm fairly interested in this season, and it's going to be tough to get over how inferior that studio's CG output is on that front. Hard to believe they were the face of CG anime for so long, but they just didn't have any real competition until now.

Oh is the new Trigun out? Where can you watch it?

It's on Crunchyroll!

Premium I'm assuming?

Now I've watched Nier, and this is like....I dunno, I'm torn between potential Yoko Taro fuckery and what's laid out in front of me.

It's a pretty good looking show, though I think screenshots make it look better than the action, but it's not bad. That's really all I have to say about it though?

It's super slow, covering just what was in the demo of the game in the first episode, and not as good. I mean this without even a hint of exaggeration: I think watching the cutscenes on YouTube for these parts would land better than the anime does. It really doesn't help that most if not all of the soundtrack is ripped from the game, obvious the tracks are stupendous but I've heard them dozens of times, it's totally ripping me out of the experience.

This doesn't even really feel like a TV anime production, honestly? This is like when games in the PS2 era sometimes packed in a promotional anime episode made to come packaged with the game something that wasn't meant to continue and is just a lavish ad for the game. Even artistically it reminds me of that.

Again, I have to stress that it's not like this was really bad, it's just in a vacuum I couldn't imagine watching this having played the game.

But then there's the hiccup, that.....you never know. It's Taro, it could go absolutely fucking bonkers!

I'm just going to take this off the watchlist for now and keep an ear out to see if it does switch gears.

Maniac64 posted...

Premium I'm assuming?

Yeah, I don't know the model for sure but I know at one point it was like a 3 week delay for simulcast to go free. I know that stuff was shook up a few months back but I don't remember exactly how.

I just have a list at this point and some month I will sign up watch everything then cancel again.

New shows don't go free on Crunchy anymore.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

So really, all I can gather is that some fans are upset that people who AREN'T fans aren't going to get the exact same slow burn show they did on their behalf, in which case....shut up? Should have done a better job getting people to boot up Hulu then, you've had a long time to do it. If they wanted to watch the original already they've had ample opportunit

Most of the negativity I've seen is about replacing Milly with a guy.

But we don't know that that's the case! This is an entirely new thing, whose to say Milly won't show up?

Don't dump on Robert Deniro just yet!

And if she doesn't, then the original show is right there. Would I like to see her here, sure, but she doesn't have to be here.

I watched the Tomo-chan is a Girl show. The writing is insufferable, even by dopey comedy standards. I actively felt like punching my TV while watching the first episode. There's no subtlety at all, the "comedy" is "lol, isn't it funny watching a dude get punched every 2 minutes HURR DURR!" YOU"RE TOTALLY NOT A GIRL!"

I don't think I've seen a show so blatantly say it's premise over and over and over as if it's meant for 5 year olds. I watch WWE. I don't need this kind of shit from anime now too.

Seeing Tomo kick people in the face was nice though...for what little that''s worth.

The voice acting in Tomo is pretty awful (Japanese at least). Manga's definitely the way to go so far, despite it being an extremely accurate adaptation.

I like the design of the girl in that show a lot, but from what I've seen I've got no interest in actually watching it. I've seen manga snippets on Twitter for years now and that seems the way to go.

Also I THINK this is a Nagatoro situation where the creator is famous for all the porn they've done? Nothing wrong with that of course, it's always just funny to me when it happens. Black Lagoon fans rise up.

MacArrowny posted...

The voice acting in Tomo is pretty awful (Japanese at least). Manga's definitely the way to go so far, despite it being an extremely accurate adaptation.

I can confirm the dub wasn't much better. Then again, when you have writing on the level of WWE promos or Kingdom Hearts...there's only so much you can do.

maybe Carol will have good voice acting and save it

dunno how she'll work in the dub tho (she's the Engrish-speaking girl)

I stopped around the time those two dorky girls were spying on Tomo and the nice karate guy in the front of the school. I guess I lasted longer than I thought I would considering I started hating it about 3 minutes in.

The original Trigun anime is mostly not faithful to the source material. Or rather, it only covers the first 20% of the story faithfully and then just ends.

It's a shame we need this brand new thing when an actual Trigun Maximum adaptation like HxH 2011 is what could have happened.

Also, holy crap, Space Battleship Yamato 2199 continues to be really freaking good. There was an episode with no fighting. Just the crew partying and talking to their families and loved ones before losing contact (potentially forever). It was a powerful episode, and gave me more chills than any of the 5-6 previous eps did, all without any crazy space fighting stuff. Just like Ergo Proxy did with some episodes about nothing that succeeded in exploring the characters' daily lives and motivations, this one hit me hard. It was good before, but now I'm really a sucker for what's to come.

MacArrowny posted...

maybe Carol will have good voice acting and save it

dunno how she'll work in the dub tho (she's the Engrish-speaking girl)

Well, she's voiced by the same person in both languages, so we'll see how it goes.

I will watch new Trigun, but I will do so begrudgingly

Watched Nier. s'alright. Was that final bit an actual ending from the game?

My latest anime figure:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/8/AAAelnAAEEYg.jpg

Super Saiyan 5 Goku! You know... from Dragonball AF?

Such a ridiculous concept for a figure, never would of imagined a high-quality figure of SSJ5 would ever get made.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/5/AAeolZAAEEeF.jpg

https://twitter.com/zoropng/status/1611911092535689218

now we're in it

Seeing our of context screencaps from the GWitch cour finale that finished airing a few minutes ago and God damn am I pissed we gotta wait an extra day for subs!

Oh wait it did come out!

AND HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT A FUCKING RIDE

I CAN'T BELEIVE THAT POST CREDITS SCENE

And now we goot a wait 3 FUCKING MONTHS

God, I follow so many SulleMio Twitter accounts and some of the content they pumped out over the last 8 hours is deranged.

Huh, I thought next season of G-Witch was July.

MacArrowny posted...

Huh, I thought next season of G-Witch was July.

https://twitter.com/G_Witch_M/status/1612004473324589058?s=20&t=mvSUglyOT4WfgzYMU-msMw

Sasuke Vs Dinosaurs now animated.

What the hell this Handyman anime is also really good and has some good production begins it??

I really did not expect this to end up being a season where I'm worried about cutting shows from the queue for time.

ESPECIALLY after Trails and Nier were both 1 episode drops.

Watched the Revue Starlight movie since I'm a fool and saw some people saying it was much better than the series. Sadly, I did not find it to be so. Absolutely hated it. The dialogue was godawful, it felt like it didn't spend enough time on any of the characters, and the story in general stunk. I particularly despised everything to do with Karen and Hikari's childhood promise. Who the fuck cares about a promise between five year olds? There was zero reason for anyone to fight in this whole thing and yet they insisted on doing so. Screw Nana.

I did a couple other movies, which I at least liked more. Kiniro Mosaic: Thank You was basically just more of the series, and felt like a nice conclusion to everything, though there were a few boring spots in the middle.

Inu-Oh (new Yuasa movie) started out a bit dull, but turned into a delightfully crazy musical experience. The best moments of this were pretty amazing.

I remember you hating the Revue Starlight series, so I'm shocked you watched the movie even if you thought it would be better! It's a series that is basically 90% symbolism, which I think appeals to some people and not at all to others. For example, Hikari is probably my least favorite character and aspect of the series because, on a surface level, her promise with Karen and the antagonism resulting from it is stupid. On a symbolic level, though, it works as one of the many motivations for acting that the story explores. They were driving each other forward with a promise, and then they felt aimless once that promise was fulfilled. I dunno, I enjoyed it. Like I mentioned in the write-up in my anime ranking topic, though, Junna's story was easily my favorite.

Plus, if nothing else, the movie had some amazing visuals!

I like some stuff focused on symbolism! Utena was great. Junna's story would've been better if they had just let her go do college. So gross.

I didn't think the visuals were particularly outstanding either. Pretty meh choreography.

MacArrowny posted...

I didn't think the visuals were particularly outstanding either. Pretty meh choreography.

I thought that 1v6 fight early in the movie in particular was great. It's probably one of my favorite anime battles.

Honestly I think I would have liked Revue Starlight a lot more if I hadn't seen Utena first. Which is a bit unfair to Revue Starlight especially considering Utena isn't my favorite show ever or anything, but yeah.

Watched a few episode 1's:

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady: This was pretty good overall, with the caveat that it's being a bit too indirect with portraying its character dynamics. I can't actually tell if the implication of the scene at the end of this episode is that Euphyllia was set up by Al and/or Lainie or if she was actually being horribly abusive to this girl and somehow didn't realize it.

Trails of Cold Steel The Northern War: This was fine. I don't think this will knock anyone's socks off, but if you're a fan of the games and looking for more Trails content I certainly think it will scratch that itch. Tentatively they also seem to be setting things up for the climax reasonably well.

High Card is Gangster JoJo.

....wait we already had gangster JoJo....

Baccano JoJo?