Currently/just finished watching/reading anime/manga thread.

[Hiro]

just finished season 1, FUCK THAT ENDING ;_____________________;
also, episode 12 had one spot with some HORRID animation and drawing, but probably because the finale had some fancier effects

god dammit, I really like all these characters though

[Hiro]

OH GREAT AND THEY CHANGED THE THEME SONG FOR SEASON TWO THIS WHOLE INTRO SEQUENCE SUCKS 

[Samus Aran]

uh almost every anime ever changes the OP for a new season lol

[ME##]

do they use durararara's amazing ed as the op

[Hiro]

uh almost every anime ever changes the OP for a new season lol

i know it happens pretty often but i just liked the old one a lot  
the ending sequence is kind of odd too and again the song is worse
but yeah so far the show is looking a lot better, I'm guessing they have a bigger budget this time. it's structured a bit more cohesively too and there's just a few little changes that i'm not sure how I feel about yet.

[Commander Fuckass]

started watching Gundam 00

[Hiro]

just finished the whole thing including the bonus episode
so yeah overall I just liked season 1 more, although season 2 did have much better character development for birdy and stuff. it was still good, I just prefer season 1.
The ending kind of sucked. I mean it did wrap up a lot of things and answer a lot of questions but there were so many things lefts open and even plot points that just barely started at the very end that were completely ignored. There doesn't seem to be any plans for a season 3, which is really disappointing.

[Nyerp]

i finally watched solid state society

it was...good? i guess? not too much different from the series, and it provided a better ending than 2nd gig did

i was just kind of expecting more i suppose

especially since the story kind of mirrors the original ghost in the shell movie, same name for the villain and everything

except the major doesn't really change after the whole thing so it really loses its impact...and everything is just left kind of ambiguous...and i wasn't really a fan of the "WOW I WONDER WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS LET'S END THE MOVIE WITH A LONG CONVERSATION" type ending...

eh

everything that made the series so great was still present though, so yeah

[Samus Aran]

Super long post incoming.

Okay, so, I just finished a new series this season called "Another." I did not look into this series at all before starting it. I just saw the title, saw the art style, saw the genres being labeled as "mystery/horror" and such, and just decided to give it a shot.

What I got was a pretty mediocre show that was, while moderately enjoyable and quite well-produced, honestly one of the stupidest things I've seen in a long time.

Let me tell you how it went down.

The first episode had me very interested. I noted immediately that it was a very pretty show. The character designs weren't particularly anything special, but the settings were drawn very well, with dark tones and rust and an overall sense of decay. Rather fitting. More so, I noted that the sound design was pretty goddamn great. The "music" was mostly creepy atmospheric noise, electronic hums and such, I don't really know how to explain it, but the point is that the show was very atmospheric and creepy. It was really well done. Everything had a sense of creepy mystery to it. It was tense.

The mystery itself was very interesting as well. I was still under the impression that it was going to be more of a mystery show, after all. The premise is interesting. Basically, this school's Class 3 is cursed - an unknown calamity causes students to die mysteriously in it every year. I won't go into details, you don't need them. Even after the ridiculous death scene at the end of episode three, I was still under the impression it was going to be a slow-moving, interesting show that keeps you guessing, with an emphasis on atmosphere.

It all goes to shit pretty fast around...oh, episode 8, I guess. Yes, episode 8 is where it suddenly takes a massive drop into schlock. Mind you, it was already getting kind of silly before that, but ep 8 is where it just...wow.

First of all, there's a huge problem with this show's "death scenes." I put that in quotation marks because, like Nyerp mentioned to me in stream chat before (and I didn't really know what he meant by it at the time), this show simply becomes Final Destination in anime form. You know everyone's going to die. And they do. In the last two episodes, literally like 15 kids die. It's excessive as all fuck. And the death scenes mostly range from strangely convenient to downright hilarious. I'm not kidding when I say that this is actually a pretty funny show in the last two episodes. I almost started wondering if it was supposed to be a comedy.

Since none of you are going to watch it, allow me to highlight some of my favorite ones:

[spoiler]
-The first girl to die is in episode three, at the end of it. At this point, you don't yet know that it's going to get more ridiculous, you just think that this is one of maybe a few mysterious deaths that will happen. Anyway, she's running down some stairs with an umbrella in hand, and she trips, drops the umbrella, falls down the stairs forward and is impaled through the neck on the sharp end of the umbrella.

-Principal comes to class with a bag. He starts babbling and is reaching around in his bag. He pulls out a knife. He babbles a bit more, and the kids are kind of concerned. Kind of. Honestly they don't react much.


-Skip ahead to episode 8. Guy is swimming out really far (ugh, yes this is a beach episode) to get the ball which drifted away. First, it seems like he is drowning. He turns out to be fine though. Then it happens again, and he comes up limp. But he'll probably be fine, the show's faking us out, right? NOPE, INCOMING BOAT. RUNS HIM OVER AND HE GETS SUCKED INTO THE PROPELLER. Bzzzt. His arm floats up separately from the rest of him.

-Skip ahead to episode 11. Flashback scene to a previous incident, 15 years ago. This calamity has been happening for 25 years. Anyway, 15 years ago, this one kid is first struck by lightning while they're up on this mountain to pray at a shrine to try to stop the calamity. Well, that's sort of funny, but what's great is that this girl is fucking scared shitless by this other kid dying from getting fried by lightning, and she runs ahead and stumbles and falls off the mountain, bouncing off rocks like a rag doll in a pinball machine. Classic.

-Episode 12. Shit gets real. Everyone's dying. Here's a great one. Kids are running down the stairs to escape this flaming resort building, and the chandelier falls and crushes them. All four of them. I was like WOW, FOUR AT ONCE. But wait! One is still alive, and he escapes from under the chandelier, and he runs to the door but NO SUCH LUCK. A column conveniently falls over and crushes him. Owned.

-Episode 12. Girl falls out window. Simple enough. But somehow when she hits the ground, she's in like...a bridge position. You know, where you get on your back and put your hands upside down behind you, flat on the ground, and lift your back off the ground in an arch? She was like that. And her body stayed like that. The whole rest of the episode.[/spoiler]


The deaths are essentially what ruin this show. That and the terrible ending which basically reveals that the whole thing could have been avoided if one of the main characters wasn't retarded. This could have been a nice, interesting mystery show with good visuals and great sound design if it weren't ruined by the show's demand to have EVERYONE DIE in the STUPIDEST WAYS. There are seriously like 25 or so people that die through the course of this show, around 15 of which are in the last episode. It completely ruins the mood that the first few episodes built up.

Earlier, when talking in stream chat, I wasn't yet done with episode 8, in fact I had only just started it before watching Durarara with you guys instead. So yeah...I had no idea what was in store in those last five episodes. Good god.


Here's the break down:

Art: 8/10. It looks great, character design isn't super special but it's good, the environments are drawn very well and the whole thing is MOSTLY animated quite well.

Sound: 9/10 for when it's actually being ambient and atmospheric like it should be, 7/10 for when it's not.

Plot: Tough to say. Plot became largely irrelevant in the last episodes, but it was important before. But the mystery was only very slowly developed, and once you learn things, the show starts sucking. But it is a very interesting and pretty unique mystery. 7/10, good, could be better.

Enjoyment: 4/10. Fucking...god. What the fuck. Fuck this show's asinine gore-hound pandering. At first, I was enjoying this a lot. It went terribly wrong as the show got into its later stages. Sure, some of the deaths were hilarious, but it was still retarded.

Overall: 6/10, and I feel like this is generous.

[Samus Aran]

And if any of you are wondering, yes, I am legitimately mad that the show betrayed my expectations. I was intrigued by the unique mystery. If anything, that's why I kept watching it.

Fucking asshole of a show trolled me.

[Nyerp]

lol

kaz you should become a professional anime reviewer

also lmao wat that picture

[Commander Fuckass]

lol

kaz you should become a professional anime reviewer

also lmao wat that picture

I was going to come in and say this too 

[bluaki]

Around the time Another had two released episodes, I watched them both and felt pretty bored the entire time (even for the purpose of building up mystery, it seemed way too slow). Although I was leaning toward dropping it before even finishing the second episode, I decided to give it a bit more of a chance and watch the third.

That silly umbrella death seemed at the time like it'd be indicative of how the rest of the series was likely to be, which was enough for me to feel no doubt about dropping it, but I apparently underestimated how silly and forced the remaining deaths would be.

I don't drop things often at all

[bluaki]

I recently finished a few things:

Black Rock Shooter: (7, which might be a little generous) I mostly agree with what Kaz said about this series. I don't get why BRS-related merchandise and stuff seems to be so popular; I'd say that, of the original song, OVA, and this TV series, none of them are particularly good. I find it rather dull that most of the fighting in the series is without any purpose and the plot gives a somewhat silly excuse for it in that those characters only exist to fight without any goals or even a care as to whether they win or not.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou: (9) You guys have a pretty good idea of what this series is like. The humor is sometimes hit-or-miss, but it's overall pretty good.

Rinne no Lagrange: (7) Quite simply, it lives up to its premise of three high school girls piloting robots. Good, but not particularly outstanding. Although it shows focus on themes like apocalypse, poverty, rejection, and death, it remains pretty lighthearted throughout the series and the main character stays very confident. The art is extremely colorful. Second season was already announced to air this summer.
By the way, one of those girls names her robot "Orca" after her favorite animal

Last Exile Ginyoku no Fam: (8) I'd say it's about as good as the first Last Exile series. Just like in the first series, battles feel a little too drawn-out but the rest of the series is great.


and I'll finish three more series (Persona 4, Shana, and Kill Me Baby) within the next few days

[Samus Aran]

I watched Kyousougiga last night. I had little idea what was going on, but I figure it might just be a preview for a series, as a "sequel" has apparently been announced.

Was animated pretty well, but I've seen better. The art style was more or less the main reason to watch it. Or just to listen to Rie Kugimiya again. She's always a great seiyuu.

Idk whatever it was good for what it was. Just good.

7/10

Oh and I started watching Death Note, I'll actually finish it this time.