Anime General Discussion

Ghadis_God wrote:The premise is interesting and the first season is pretty decent, but I can't stand the MC. Kirito is ridiculously overpowered and can't do anything wrong, he even gets brought back to life because of some retarded plot magic and none of the other characters ever do anything compared to him. He's the ultimate self insert fantasy and I found him really dull.

Fair enough. I'll still respectfully disagree though, at least when holding it against SAO specifically, since most of those elements can be ascribed to any Shounen protagonist.

On a personal diary kind of note, I just finished Steins;Gate. Quite possibly the most well-realized story involving time travel I've ever experienced. I try not to read too hard into time-travel stories as you inevitably find something confusing, but in the general way it presented itself and wrapped up its ending it all worked out very smoothly and I can't find any immediately apparent or obvious holes in it's twists that usually arise when dealing with time-travel. There were some decisions by the main character past the halfway point that kinda confused me, but ultimately it paced itself incredibly well and had an incredibly fleshed-out cast of characters (though there was one who I felt got pushed a bit to the side a little too much and with they had spent more time with). If you're into psychological mystery shows definitely give this a watch.

I just finished angle beats. I am less than impressed, for a number of reasons.

I started it years ago then never finished it.  Now I'm remembering why that is lol.

The premise is interesting and the first season is pretty decent, but I can't stand the MC. Kirito is ridiculously overpowered and can't do anything wrong

Yet another reason I felt the show fell off after the first season.  Kirito was not infallible in the first season:

Spoiler:

After that, the story took on a much more generic premise and pattern, sadly.  The ending to the first season was OK but not great, but it COULD have been and its buildup was very solid.  I truly enjoyed those episodes.  2nd half was so-so and I'd have probably not stuck with it if I wasn't invested in the story already.

Also, in the second season, he has the mule trololololol .

"Coping with dystopia?" Both of the main villains of the shows sought to fight against the injustice, albeit their methods were questionable. In a sense, they are both perfect dystopias as they both, From the New World especially, give convincing arguments for their existence;

Psycho-Pass From the New World Spoilers:

Both series went against the typical dystopian plot (main character finds out disturbing secret and then begins a revolution of sorts and triumphs over evil), and I liked that a lot about them.

I'm way behind on current anime, but I've managed to keep my foot in the door by watching the recent-ish dvd release of Mad Bull 34, which is incredibly offensive, but one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.  Here and there, I've also been trying to make my way through The Guyver, which hasn't been terrible, but kind of a disappointment.  For a show about a man in a semi-organic robot suit punching things, it's really slowly paced and almost somber in tone.  Here's hoping it picks up.

hey its andres wrote:"Coping with dystopia?" Both of the main villains of the shows sought to fight against the injustice, albeit their methods were questionable. In a sense, they are both perfect dystopias as they both, From the New World especially, give convincing arguments for their existence;

Psycho-Pass From the New World Spoilers:

Both series went against the typical dystopian plot (main character finds out disturbing secret and then begins a revolution of sorts and triumphs over evil), and I liked that a lot about them.

Most western dystopia stories involve the main character being crushed and broken by society after realizing the injustice in it. Think 1984 or Brave New World.

Yes, but we're talking about anime, which is Japanese and not western. Even then, though, I'm talking about contemporary plots. If you found an anime that had the plot of Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World, presumably with a good director, it would be amazing because of how much it would stand out against it's competitors.

One of the current popular plots with regards to dystopian societies is the one I mentioned earlier.

Anyways you have your tastes and I have mine (Getting back on topic). That's what I've always liked about anime: the fact that their are so many different genres. I think people who say they don't like anime just haven't watched one from a genre they'd enjoy. It's almost like saying you don't like movies.

hey its andres wrote:That's what I've always liked about anime: the fact that their are so many different genres. I think people who say they don't like anime just haven't watched one from a genre they'd enjoy. It's almost like saying you don't like movies.

This right here is why I love anime. There's nothing off-limits to it. This stupid "cartoons are only for kids" mentality (here in America at least, I dunno how the rest of the world treats animation) is what prevents us from having so few honestly great works of animation. The ones we do have are wrapped up in kid-friendly packaging and it comes as a surprise to people when an animated work actually manages to somehow have a real message or point behind it (think Pixar movies like Toy Story or shows like MLP:FiM for exceptions that prove the rule).

With anime it's not surprising to find some kind of purpose to it. You'd never see an American cartoon have the guts to pull something like the huge emotional twist in the middle of Clannad After Story, or depict something inherently violent at face value like Alucard in Hellsing (say what you will, I believe Alucard to be the best-realized and accurate historically-based vampire in modern fiction). They'd skip right to the feel-good ending of Clannad, skipping all the dark and actually thought-provoking emotional parts so people could be spared from having to feel bad, and they'd tone down all the violence and inhuman behaviors of monsters devaluing why we enjoy the idea of monsters in the first place. Because, hey, these are just cartoons, you know?

That, reaper, is why I'm loath to admit to being an "anime fan" at face value, because it associates me with obnoxious weeaboos who worship every cultural abortion from their glorious nippon. They're what beliebers are to music, or CoD/Halo dudebros are to gaming, and the association of anime as a hobby with these outspoken morons is seriously damaging its cultural legitimacy in the US.

 I'm not *just* an anime fan, I'm a fan of animation. It's got more artistic and practical (budgetwise) freedom than film, and adds an extra dimension for artistic statement compared to literature. It just so happens that the Japanese are pretty much the only ones exploring its nearly limitless potential.

RWBY ep 3 is out.

While I like the character development, and the transition between each episode is flawless, I wish they would hurry up with a bit more action....

Ghadis_God wrote:That, reaper, is why I'm loath to admit to being an "anime fan" at face value, because it associates me with obnoxious weeaboos who worship every cultural abortion from their glorious nippon. They're what beliebers are to music, or CoD/Halo dudebros are to gaming, and the association of anime as a hobby with these outspoken morons is seriously damaging its cultural legitimacy in the US.

 I'm not *just* an anime fan, I'm a fan of animation. It's got more artistic and practical (budgetwise) freedom than film, and adds an extra dimension for artistic statement compared to literature. It just so happens that the Japanese are pretty much the only ones exploring its nearly limitless potential.

I spent 15 minutes thinking up how to respond to this when I realized nothing I said was anything beyond a drawn-out and ultimately unnecessary lead-in to "finally, someone else who gets it!"  I screwed up/gave up trying to convince my family that people besides Pixar could do anything worthwhile, and some of my friends who claim to be film buffs still write off and ignore great animated movies with a "pretty good" at best.

"'Eh, it's just another jack black comedy.  You seen one, you seen 'em all"    ~an idiot:

I think anime is actually the reason I don't watch hardly any TV anymore.  There's just nothing worth keeping up with in terms of what's new in American animated shows (at least until November, or maybe September if Nick decides to finally stick to a release date for Korra season 2), and with anime there's at least options for stories and ideas that aren't just tween slice-of-life romcoms, slapstick comedies, or superhero shows, and when I want to watch a good show that's actually about something it just so happens to be an anime.

Reaperfan wrote:I think anime is actually the reason I don't watch hardly any TV anymore.  There's just nothing worth keeping up with in terms of what's new in American animated shows...

This right here. Even when I do feel like watching tv I watch Netflix with no ads and only watch what I want as to filter out all the crap. People like us are going to kill tv ,while the idiots resurrect it with Honey Boo Boo and sh--.

I don't mind the whole otaku/weeaboo fanbase, but what bothers me is the emo/scene kids. Anime fans get to choose between being lumped in with them and getting lumped in with the nerds (using that lightly) who play Yu-Gi-Oh. Luckily this only lasts as long as public schooling does and the moment you leave high school you can hopefully find friends who will resist this stigma. I know that anime being "nerdy" and "weird" actually led me into a bit of self-denial for a few years. Then I learned that people are morons, and if they can procreate and spread their stupid genes and habits then I can watch anime in peace. 

Time for a less emotionally-charged post with an anime progress update!

So remember that "in case a major desire in tone shift on my end" bit I said earlier potentially messing with my backlog schedule? It happened. I started watching Another and even by the first episode it lost my interest. I always follow a strict "3 episode test viewing" policy, so I plan to return to it for at least 2 more episodes, but the first episode just wasn't interesting enough to make me want to continue it at this time.

So I started watching a show called Kino's Journey. This is a show I find very hard to classify or describe, but I'll still do my best. I suppose you could call it slice of life due to it's lack of an overarching plot and "message of day" approach to episodes, but the situations used are so atypical of what you'd expect. The review I watched that made me initially interested in the series described it as akin to a kind of Twilight Zone in its approach, with each episode using a relatable and seemingly normal scenario but with a bizarre twist to make you think about things and explore a thought or possibility. It's incredibly simplistic in it's presentation as well, and uses that simplicity to staggeringly good effect, especially in the early episodes. If I had to point out my biggest problem with it, it's in that last bit where early episodes are stronger than later ones. The first two episodes were the most powerful ones for me and as the series went on it felt like some of the twists they used got too extreme, or at least were handled in too extreme a manner by comparison. All in all I'd highly recommend this if you're looking for a quick (it's only 13 episodes, not counting movies and OVAs) yet thought-provoking show.

And while not a series, something else I watched was a movie called Summer Wars. All I will say is this; watch Summer Wars.

Aw, you don't like Another?  

hey its andres wrote:Aw, you don't like Another?  

Haven't given it enough of a chance yet to say yes or no. All I can say for sure is that the first episode on its own didn't really catch me. Since I've already started it I can't do anything else until I finish my 3-episode test run of it anyway, so by tomorrow I'll have a more solid opinion when I get back to it.

Has anyone else here heard of/watched/played the anime, Shuffle! ?

There's a game of it and an anime of it.

Vinyl Scratch wrote:Has anyone else here heard of/watched/played the anime, Shuffle! ?

There's a game of it and an anime of it.

Heard of it yes, and I plan on watching it eventually, though it's very low on my backlog so I have no earthly idea as to when I'll actually get around to it.

And it's not surprising that there's a game. Alot of anime these days are visual novel adaptations.

I have half of all the anime episodes on my ps3. I'm surprised PSN had it.

Shuffle is such a great anime i believe it's the anime that got me into harems, There is two seasons of shuffle i only watch the first one.

i recently just watch 11 eyes and princess lover, watching High school DxD atm :''D

shadowzninjaz wrote:watching High school DxD atm :''D

Third season currently in the middle of airing, new episodes every Monday or Tuesday (I forget exactly)  

You know whats awesome? howls moving castle.

Highschool DxD isnt that bad so far only watch 6 episodes might finish it today or 2morrow the 1st season might watch the 2nd season, there is a 3rd season airing interesting.

Oh did u guys here about angel beats going be having 2 more seasons same with darker than black.

Forum Pirate wrote:You know whats awesome? howls moving castle.

Anything from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki is utter gold.  Depending on my moods my favorites are Tonari no Totoro (aka My Neighbor Totoro) or Princess Mononoke.

shadowzninjaz wrote:Highschool DxD isnt that bad so far only watch 6 episodes might finish it today or 2morrow the 1st season might watch the 2nd season, there is a 3rd season airing interesting.

I like just how honest it is with it's main character's...main defining trait. There's nothing accidental about it like with other Harem protagonists and they actually make it part of the power of his character.

shadowzninjaz wrote:is two seasons of shuffle i only watch the first one.

Say what now!?
Really???

I think anime is actually the reason I don't watch hardly any TV anymore.  There's just nothing worth keeping up with in terms of what's new in American animated shows...

Probably what drew me to anime, and what keeps me there, is new content.  Western animation and anime both have a relatively high "miss" rate when it comes to quality new content.

But there is much, much more new content/characters in anime.  Western cartoons follow a pattern of recycling the same IP over and over again and only changing a little bit.  Don't get me wrong, I like Batman and such as much as the next guy, but I've seen him in various forms for over 20 years, and aside from the 1990's series animated batman been soso (though the 1990's series is one of the better iterations of him in any form ever and had a heavy influence on the recent trilogy).  Regardless, go to any anime site and look at the listings by year, and see how that compares to western cartoons.  #'s game indeed.  You're going to get at least a few pretty solid works every year when you have 100's.

Occasionally you get some new stuff.  I think Ben10 and such are western?  Don't know.  I'm too old for that style of show though, similar to how a lot of the shounen anime doesn't have any appeal to me.  This is yet another notch in favor of anime in my book; writers at least *attempt* to write for adults.  Indeed, I enjoyed aqua teen hunger force for a while and still am amused by the occasional Futrama episode and Robot Chicken, so it's not like western animation CAN'T work for adults...just rarely does anyone bother.  Other than you get ninja turtles reboots, spiderman reboots, marvel comic reboots, and animations aimed at ages 5-15 or so.  Nothing wrong with those; they work well enough for their audiences, but anime is basically entering the states unopposed for other demographics...a rather interesting situation from a business standpoint.

TheMeInTeam wrote:Occasionally you get some new stuff.  I think Ben10 and such are western?  Don't know.  I'm too old for that style of show though, similar to how a lot of the shounen anime doesn't have any appeal to me.  This is yet another notch in favor of anime in my book; writers at least *attempt* to write for adults.  Indeed, I enjoyed aqua teen hunger force for a while and still am amused by the occasional Futrama episode and Robot Chicken, so it's not like western animation CAN'T work for adults...just rarely does anyone bother.  Other than you get ninja turtles reboots, spiderman reboots, marvel comic reboots, and animations aimed at ages 5-15 or so.  Nothing wrong with those; they work well enough for their audiences, but anime is basically entering the states unopposed for other demographics...a rather interesting situation from a business standpoint.

The Ben 10 series is indeed western. I actually kept up with it for a fair bit up to and a little past it's first series/season. Back then it was about more than just "kid gets superpowers and does cool things with them." It focused alot on how those powers and interactions affected Ben as a person and grew with him. As it went on it got more formulaic though, so I lost interest.

As for adult western animation, it exists and it works. Oftentimes it works really well. The Simpsons is the longest running animated show in history, Futurama and South Park are almost universally praised both by fans and critics, Family Guy is still going strong despite its uneven fanbase and has had more impact on comedy in television than most people give it credit for. The problem? Every single successful mature-audience oriented western animated work is of but a single genre; the raunchy comedy sitcom. It's an even more limited field than kids' animation where you at least get some action shows via superheroes and the like.

Anime is filling an entertainment void in the west that the western media doesn't even acknowledge exists. It would be an incredibly more lucrative field for liscensing and localization companies if most western audiences didn't get almost all their anime via internet piracy. I don't wanna start a debate about the morality or reasons of piracy, just pointing out that it's a fact that alot of people are introduced to anime that way and simply don't know any better and it's more convenient than waiting for things to be localized.

Hell, I got into anime when I realized back in sixth grade "if I'm willing to put up with subtitles, there's like...60 more episodes of Naruto I could see on youtube!" From then on streaming anime online was all I knew and developed my viewing habits to this day.