Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 297: A Dream of Spring

(+) Yeah! (+)

If Dragon Ball wasn't released the way it was in the west, no one would suggest starting with Z. Anime's fault I suppose. Did Dragon Ball need a rebranding?

But if you really want to get the western cultural appreciation, then dubbed Z is the way to go, but even that's kind of a mess of releases.

I checked the Youtube channel I watched Tonbo on and now the videos are blocked in my country, lol. It was nice while it lasted. Of course now I'm hooked, so I'll have to figure out Amazon Prime after all. I haven't watched a video there in years and apparently now they have ads? I hope it isn't too awful.

Anyway, I said a bit ago that I was done picking up new shows this season. It turns out that I lied! Here's my early impressions on two more that I caught up on over the weekend:

-Wind Breaker was getting good reviews, so I decided to check it out. I skipped it early on because it sounded kind of generic, I mean a delinquent guy getting into fights at his new school isn't exactly revolutionary. Still, it's been pretty enjoyable so far! I expected the main dude to be an angry edgelord, and he totally is, but I like the other side of him where he gets all flustered whenever someone treats him with kindness. The other guys have all been fine characters too. More than anything though, the fight scenes have been super well-animated and lots fun. The production values really lift the whole anime up, plus it's doing just enough unique things to make the otherwise generic premise come alive.

-YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master sounded like yaoi bait based on the MAL description. I mean it's literally just a short paragraph that only talks about a prince who gets a boy servant and they form a, quote, "strange" relationship. I skipped this early on based on that. Nothing against yaoi, I'm just not into dudes. Thankfully, I read elsewhere what the anime is actually about. It's about an interesting fantastical court full of political intrigue! I guess it could potentially turn yaoi later, but I kind of doubt it since one of the big plot points is that there are four royal ladies competing to be the next empress. Forget the prince and the servant, I'm having fun just watching these ladies snipe at each other with backhanded comments. One of the four candidates admits she's only there to get drunk and enjoy the show.

There's a lot of info-dumping and worldbuilding. Like, a lot. Three-legged shapeshifting ravens, a country split in four each with their own lords at different levels, various court factions... everyone has their name and role displayed when they first come onscreen and I still had trouble keeping track of everyone. I imagine that would turn a lot of people away. However, I'm enjoying Yatagarasu so far. I like this style of political intrigue. It helps that it has an interesting central conflict where a younger prince is being chosen as heir over a seemingly more qualified older brother. The servant boy Yukiya has been a relatable main character, too. I'm glad I decided to give this show a chance. It's easily in the upper half of the season so far.

We started watching Apothecary Diaries. Very good show, Maomao is a fun crazy character.

That 3rd episode especially was so good.

Yay, more Maomao fans.

Strife2 posted...

Yay, more Maomao fans.

I love that she (at least initially) is showing more interest in the assistant than the pretty guy.

Maomao exists in her own plane of existence. She's that level of character. Kinda like a Holo or Major Kusanagi where a show is just elevated by their presence.

*Which helps in most cases, since Maomao is in 95% of the scenes*

Apothecary Diaries explosive popularity is definitely 90% MaoMao and 10% the actual plot. Not to say the story isn't fine, but without MaoMao it is nothing particulatly special.

This is not a knock against it, there is nothing wrong with a character driven narrative. She's just that good.

just finished s2e08 of Konosuba (my long-delayed sporadic watchthrough) (episode with running hawk kites/zombies in first half, visit to Axis Church city in second half)

As I was watching the episode I was planning to post in here how Darkness continues to be the best. By episode's end I'm like, that is my favourite Konosuba episode yet, it's the first time I'm probably going to rewatch an episode rather than move on to the next. God-tier ending.

Feeling really fortunate that it's back with a third season because I would feel sad knowing there's only 2 eps + OVA + movie remaining... will be caught up soon.

*heaves uncontrollably at Darkness love*

Maybe that or the waiting for the dub another fucking week just hurts.

Darkness is good. Just not Megumin or Kazuma tier good.

I wasn't a huge Konosuba fan, but Darkness was definitely my favorite.

Megumin is good, but as a balancing act for everyone else. Her side stuff really doused her appeal without any of the others. I think Darkness (if they curb her insatiable thirst a bit) or Aqua could probably hold their own in a spinoff in the right circumstance, but Megumin really didn't work as a "main" at all. She's best as a reactionary character. Then again, I'm not really into the deliberate chuuni, even the ones that make a joke out of the archetype. It reminded me of how everyone loved Gundham Tanaka from DR2 for some weird reason, though all he did was hang around hamsters.

Kazuma really does make the show work though.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8fe3e099.jpg

This show makes a lot more sense after finding out it's from the creator of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan

S2E8 is one of my favorite episodes in all of Konosuba. I rewatch scenes from it fairly often.

Morose Mononokean was ok, but I quickly felt it leaned way too much into the comedy and less into the yokai/underworld stuff and I couldn't wait to skip to the finish.

More rewatching of stuff: Sankarea. Forgot if I liked this or not. Dude wants a zombie girlfriend and to bring back his cat as a zombie too...but whatever. I think I liked it before. Wonder if I will a 2nd time. I remember Rea's family are fucking wackjobs.

oh i decided to do a runthrough of all the bad isekais a couple of days ago just to see if there's any worth continuing

Re:Monster was certainly something, having made it to the end of the third episode. I thought it was interesting to see a series do the same thing as that farming isekai and basically just have the protagonist describe what they'd done in effectively diary form, and even in this presumably relatively sanitised adaptation, one could still tell that this couldn't have been much further from that one in terms of tone lol

Archdemon's Dilemma was a standard master-servant fantasy romance series, it's fine i guess? So far it seems like it's teetering on the edge of deciding whether or not it wants to be a harem series or not, with the most noteworthy aspect being that virtually every relevant harem candidate shares the same backstory of being somebody the protag previously saved in pretty much the same way lol

the Lv2 Cheat Powers anime was exactly standard fare bad, but i guess it had monaca-esque op/eds so it wasn't a complete waste to check it. Side note, this got me wondering what hidekazu tanaka had gotten up to as of late and i guess he's in jail now. "oops"

Banished Former Hero may be in the running for worst anime adaptation of the year tbh. in a way it actually managed to get to the point of being so bad it's enjoyable though. or maybe the shouta aoi voices just got to me, who knows. i love how immediately everyone just knows he's the strongest character in the show, despite having provided all of the obligatory "yeah he's totally the weakest guy ever with 0 abilities" backstory

the mage one (Reincarnated as the 7th Prince or whatever) was cool... well, it's not really a very interesting series, but the protag is fun and carries it on some level

i didn't get on sequels or i think one other one yet

i did also start on Loser Ranger though, not sure how i feel about it yet but at the very least its OP and ED look cool

also i undropped highspeed etoile and it's not my least favourite show of the season any more lol (i bumped it up from a 1/5 to a 2/5 by the end of episode 3)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/10fcceb5.jpg

UF8 posted...

oh i decided to do a runthrough of all the bad isekais a couple of days ago just to see if there's any worth continuing

It definitely looks like I made the right choice by only trying that Appraisal Skill one. It isn't super great but it sounds better than any of these.

Level 2 Cheat is not horrible, it's just brain dead. Still, it's been culled.

This is where I'm at with the season right now in order from top to bottom, after getting at least a couple episodes in everything.

Jellyfish Don't Swim in the Night
Girls Band Cry
Spice and Wolf
Ranger Reject
Train Girls
Wind Breaker
Youkai
Kaiju No 8
Mysterious Disappearances
Voice Actor Radio
Unnamed Memory
Aristocrat
Whisper Me a Love Song

And of course we have the sequels which should be ranked separately.

Euphonium
Konosuba
Jobless

Drops, Astro Note and Salad Bowl are fine shows, I just don't care about them, and that happened sometimes. RoOT of Odd Taxi just doesn't grip me because of it's nature as a side story, if this has taken place after the show or something....and then yeah, Level 2 Cheat just isn't, like, a real show that matters to me even though it's fine lol.

I don't think I'm forgetting anything.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk8xp3-mAS4 since i didn't actually do a good job of defending the mage one i figured i'd share a bit of the mage one

one thing i also like about its particular isekai dynamic is that the isekai'd guy is someone directly killed by a member of the family he reincarnates into ithink (so it's not an actual isekai), though it's not a revenge plot or anything like that, he just happened to be some random nut who was obsessed with magic and is more than happy to get a body with superior genes to further his studies lol

not a series that thrives on its plot by any means and it's not konosuba level entertainment but i would classify it as one of the decent ones at least

also i might as well elaborate on re:monster and say that the protag of that had an [redacted for concerns over site rules] with i think every female character in the show by the end of ep3 and that's why i said what i did. a lot of murder happens too

I watched the first two seasons of The Duke of Death and His Maid and I'm caught up on the currently airing third season. It's about a guy who lives with a sexy maid who constantly flirts with him, but he has a curse that kills anything he touches to they can't get together. The anime is like 50% fanservice and 50% dumb comedy. That's why I was surprised to enjoy it as much as I did! It's not high art or anything, but I had fun with it. The animation is all CGI, which I'm guessing would turn a lot of people off. I didn't mind it though. It had a consistent style that really grew on me.

The premise is vaguely similar to another "sexy maid flirts with guy" anime from a few years ago, "The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious". I absolutely hated that one, it had one awful joke that it told over and over, plus it was creepy watching an adult sexually tease a literal child who was mostly just confused. By comparison, "The Duke of Death and His Maid" handled the concept a lot better. For one thing, it had way funnier jokes. The duke's sister Viola in particular was hilarious. I loved the segments where she came over to visit. She always brought such an energetic, chaotic vibe. The large cast of side characters were all fun too.

Still, the main thing this anime did right was the romance. Sure, a lot of jokes boiled down to the maid flashing some skin to fluster the duke. Their relationship has a lot more going on beyond that, though. While the duke often protests the maid's behavior, it's clearly a dynamic they both enjoy. It was cute whenever they let their real feelings slip out and talked about a potential future together. They each care so deeply for the other. It made me want to root for them to find a way to break the curse.

Anyway, I'll talk more about this once the third (and final?) season ends. The first three episodes of it have been good so far. Hopefully it stays that way!

The Maid I Hired Is Mysterious is such garbage. I ditched that in like a minute.

I hated and dropped both of those Maid series.

Only watched 1 episode of Duke and Death and his maid. I really couldn't stand the whole "I'm not touching you" joke, and I couldn't suspend my disbelief concerning how foolish the maid's behavior was given the premise.

Unnamed Memory reminding me how much I'd rather shows look good all the time rather than amazing sometimes and mediocre most of the time. Yeah there were some grrat animation cuts last week, but I don't think it's a worthy trade.

While waiting for an appointment with nothing to do (I can't read in public and djdnt have headphones), I decided to see if I could narrow down my top 10 anime of the decade. Been thinking about it since I realized a couple days ago that it has been 11 years since I started watching anime seasonally and following along with the chart to check out everything. Obviously I've been watching anime much longer than that, but prior to this I would only even look at anime that I had a predetermined interest in, or that were on TV.

Removing 2023, both due to recency bias and because it gives me a clean decade of time. Not including sequels, so shows that had their first season prior to 2013 do not count. I have not decided what this means for UBW yet....that's a toss up, especially since it's making the list of I count it.

I don't have it in order yet, but I was able to narrow down the top 9 (again, UBW pending how I feel about including it).

A Place Further than the Universe
Land of the Lustrous
Sound Euphonium
Unlimited Blade Works
Odd Taxi
Re:Zero
Konosuba
Devilman Crybaby

That 10th spot..........is heavily contested.

Space Dandy
Haikyuu
Mob Psycho
Re:Creators
Kill La Kill
SNAFU
Made in Abyss
Asobi Asobase
Zombie Land Saga
Kaguya-sama: Love is War
O Maidens in your Savage Season

Some of these I know probably aren't going to make it, but not willing to cut yet.

Although I realize now pasting it that this list makes 20 shows so, uh.....I guess that makes this a clean top 20 lol.

Still going to be hell to order it either way, though.

Konosuba twice, as it should be...lol

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Oh, also, 2014 was a fucking shitshow, huh? Gotta be the worst year of seasonal anime, at least in this time frame.

The 10/10 2014 anime are:

Unlimited Blade Works
Parasyte
Hanamonogatari (sequel)
No Game No Life

4 amazing anime is pretty decent imo.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Made in Abyss

Did you get around to S2?

Oh, dammit.

I don't know if I accidentally deleted something of if I just double listed it, lol.

MacArrowny posted...

The 10/10 2014 anime are:

Unlimited Blade Works
Parasyte
Hanamonogatari (sequel)
No Game No Life

4 amazing anime is pretty decent imo.

Did you get around to S2?

I deleted it because I realized I had some years there mixed up and didn't realize two of these very shows were in it lol.

I was basically just seeing NGNL. And obviously I love Hanamono.

I have not yet watched S2 of Made in Abyss, though I am up to date on the manga.

SockoressKnight posted...

Only watched 1 episode of Duke and Death and his maid. I really couldn't stand the whole "I'm not touching you" joke, and I couldn't suspend my disbelief concerning how foolish the maid's behavior was given the premise.

This bugged me early on too, like she'll literally die if she touches him yet she constantly hovers an inch away. Then, a few episodes in, they had a snowball fight and the maid was doing some Matrix-style impossible dodges. Like they even reference The Matrix even though the show is set in the olden days lol. The maid is too skilled to be in any actual danger.

Definitely not a show for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

Alright I did some undo spam on my list document and thankfully it was a double listing for Konosuba and not an override.

Now I gotta skip 2 show into that top 10, potentially 3!

I really don't think I wanna take out UBW....hmmmm...it's so weird because as an ANIME it's essentially a sequel to Fate/Zero even if UBW proper obviously isn't one....

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I decided to see if I could narrow down my top 10 anime of the decade.

Always interesting to see top anime lists, looking forward to the finalized one! Also glad to see Zombie Land Saga in contention.

Only two shows from my overall top 10 are more than a decade old, so this list for me would just be my normal top 12 minus two older anime

Naw, you know what, I can't let my enjoyment of the series cloud me here. The UBW anime is a sequel to the F/Z anime, I'm not counting it.

1) A Place Further than the Universe
2) Re:Zero
3) Sound Euphonium
4) Konosuba
5) Devilman Crybaby
6) Land of the Lustrous
7) Odd Taxi
8) Re:Creators
9) SNAFU
10) Made in Abyss

I will at least say that UBW would be in 4th if it were here.

Mobilezoid posted...

Also glad to see Zombie Land Saga in contention.

Gonna fucking lose it if MAPPA cancels that movie.

Top 10 of the Past 10 Years (Let's see if i can think of anything)

1. SpyxFamily
2. Quintessential Quintuplets
3. Konosuba
4. Apothecary Diaries
5. Frieren
6. Case Study of Vanitas
7. Death Parade
8. Land of the Lustrous
9. Spaceship Battleship Yamato 2199/2202
10. How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?!

Nagi no Asukara/A Lull in the Sea just misses out by being 2013, but it would be in there too. Interviews With Monster Girls, Fruits Basket 2019, and Helpful Fox Senko-San would be honorable mentions.

I've seen all of those except SNAFU and I really love four of them. It's a good list! A Place Further than the Universe really was an amazing anime.

Edit: for the first list. Only seen six of Stife's list.

SNAFU was super popular back then, but I feel like it's being forgotten.

I would strongly recommend checking it out, it was a more obvious inclusion for me the more I thought about it.

I was extremely salty on the series at the end of S2 for personal reasons, but I definitely got over it lol. If anything having that personal emotional gripe made season 3 even better when it was handled.

https://youtu.be/Atk24cowmmI?si=P0XalAAeiDvymAcd

lessee, top 10 with no sequels...

1. Made in Abyss
2. No Game No Life
3. My Love Story!!
4. Re:Zero
5. Prison School
6. Parasyte
7. Pluto
8. Happy Sugar Life
9. Re:Creators
10. Devilman Crybaby

Something like that? Made in Abyss is way above everything else though. MiA S2's a good best anime contender.

Something I didn't include that wouldn't make the Top 10 at this time, but would criminal for me to leave off the honorable mentions: Rascal Does not Dream of Bunnygirl Senpai. I have a lot to catch up to with this one though, so it's possible it could shake things up whenever I do get to the rest of it.

Pluto and Scott Pilgrim would have both made the shortlist as well if I'd included last year.

Got no idea what my top 10 of the past 10 years would be. Hardly watched stuff the last several years now

I did a ranking topic recently-ish and just looking at that my top tv series from the last 10 years were

1. A Place Further Than the Universe
2. Made in Abyss
3. Kaguya-sama
4. The Promised Neverland Season 1
5. Bloom Into You
6. Haikyuu
7. Girls' Last Tour
8. Devilman: Crybaby
9. Sakura Quest
10. Ping Pong the Animation

Frieren hadn't released at the time I made that topic but probably makes this top 10 list somewhere in the middle now.

SNAFU would make the list (between Bloom Into You and Haikyuu) but at least how I'm defining this it isn't eligible--the first season aired in 2013.

Edit: Oh I see LtM did 2013-2022 and I did 2014-2023. At a glance I don't think any other 2013 series would have made mine anyway

Yeah considering most of the anime I watch is years after it originally came out.... wow this is a challenge, pulling up my tracking file to see what shows I have (and have watched):

01) A Place Further Than The Universe
02) Attack on Titan
03) Spy x Family
04) Rurouni Kenshin (2023)
05) Konosuba (in progress)
06) Goblin Slayer
07) Dragon Ball Super
08) The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
09) Girls' Last Tour

Haven't even hit 10 series, and AoT would probably be disqualified for season 1 being in 2013. Damn.

pyresword posted...

4. The Promised Neverland Season 1

You see I think this is cheating!

I only counted shows where their first season aired 2013 or later, but I did count all the seasons within.

I don't think you can just ignore the absolute inexcusable disgrace to adaptation that is Season 2.

For me there's nothing to ignore because I didn't watch season 2 >.>

Seeing a lot of A Place Promised at #1 alongside me which just feels so good.

I hope everyone ranking it is watching Jellyfish this season!

pyresword posted...

For me there's nothing to ignore because I didn't watch season 2 >.>

Jealous

something something this sign can't stop me

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I hope everyone ranking it is watching Jellyfish this season!

Never heard of it, let's see what wikipedia says

Four girls, "Mahiru Kouzuki", an illustrator who stops drawing, "Nonoka Tachibana", a former idol who wants to prove herself with singing, "Nox Rygasaki", a self-proclaimed "the strongest" VTuber, and "Kimura-chan", a mysterious composer who wants to support her favourite person, together form an anonymous artist group, "JELEE".

....i may be in, but in true MartinFF7 fashion I'll wait 5-10 years before watching it probably, lol.

Well if everyone else is posting a list, I will too! 2014-2023 (currently nothing from 2024 would be on here anyway, nothing from 2013 either).

1- Engaged to the Unidentified (Winter 2014)
2- Dark Gathering (Summer 2023)
3- School-Live (Summer 2015)
4- A.I.C.O.: Incarnation (Winter 2018)
5- Akudama Drive (Fall 2020)
6- Sagrada Reset (Spring 2017)
7- Insomniacs After School (Spring 2023)
8- Snow White with the Red Hair (Summer 2015)
9- Girls' Last Tour (Fall 2017)
10- Laid-Back Camp (Winter 2018)

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Something I didn't include that wouldn't make the Top 10 at this time, but would criminal for me to leave off the honorable mentions: Rascal Does not Dream of Bunnygirl Senpai. I have a lot to catch up to with this one though, so it's possible it could shake things up whenever I do get to the rest of it.

Rascal would've been 11th on my list, so it just barely missed out! I've only seen up to the first movie so there's a chance it could rise in my ranking too.

I'm still salty that series went the movie route and became impossible to follow on streaming.