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On a different note, watched the last episode of this series of Log Horizon, and it feels like at a point where it could quite easily jump the shark because it appears to attempting a tonal switch to something a bit more abstract and away from the interpersonal stuff it was actually doing pretty well.

I had the same thought. I'm a little worried, but I hope that it won't ruin itself. The show ain't perfect by any stretch, but damn if I don't really love it as it is.

 

Also, semi-related, this is the first time I've ever followed a Season of Anime as it aired (thanks Crunchyroll!), and it's weird having all these different series end at basically the same time. American TV series endings tend to cascade over a few months. Japanese seasons are apparently much more strict. Every series I watched ended within a two week period. And I think I was watching too many of them.

 

My winners for this season are: Log Horizon, Kill la Kill, Samurai Flamenco, and Hozuki no Reitetsu.

 

I think Samurai Flamenco had my favorite ending. It was very appropriate for the series. Also I hate Samurai Flamenco because I can't explain what makes it great without spoiling it, and also not everyone will think it's great, and they might give up early even if they would find what happens later great. Boo.

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Yes primarily the films, the first to a certain extent and the 2nd to a HUGE extent.

I wonder if it's just a case that watching characters monologiing a philosophical viewpoint is something that is nearly impossible to find interesting twice. It's like having a reindeer who keeps telling the same anecdote time after time.

I rather have a characters life view implied by their actions rather than given to us as a huge chunk of dialog.

Perhaps as well it comes from having to speed read big blocks of subtitles, a process which can often make long stretches of dialog impenetrable.

Which reminds me, I've been giving some thought to trying to learn a bit of basic a Japanese With the aim of perhaps getting to the point where i can get a fairly good idea of what's being said. Perhaps re-watching a few series without subs as practice.

I've been thinking about this for a while, but it came to a head recently when I ended up watching three different subs of Kill La Kill and finding myself feeling different parts of each sub fitted better to me.

So anyone fancy giving it a go with me? Feel having someone else (or even better a group of people) doing the same thing would encourage me to keep at it.

I think Samurai Flamenco had my favorite ending. It was very appropriate for the series. Also I hate Samurai Flamenco because I can't explain what makes it great without spoiling it, and also not everyone will think it's great, and they might give up early even if they would find what happens later great. Boo.

I gave up around episode 13-14 I think, is it worth me going back to it and making a push to the end?

Edit:

This was after the shift from fighting the crimelord, to the wider alien invasion. I guess the discord between presentation and action/plot became a bit to much for me. I was just about able to hold onto its deadpan take on the hero genre, but when it shifted up in scale it became just to much.

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No, probably not. But maybe!

It continues to shift up in scale for a while.

 

FWIW, I've always hated the GITS movies, but SAC I still completely love.

 

Also yeah I've been really wanting to learn Japanese for a long time. I made a lot of progress during my undergrad education and when I lived in Japan, but now it's all gone, unless I really strain my brain. It's the worst. ): Honestly not sure how well just watching non-subbed anime would work for me, though.

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In other news, I just finished watching this: http://www.crunchyroll.com/humanity-has-declined

 

It's a whimsical take on the end of humanity. "Hey, we've had a good run, right? Let's just ride this last bit out. It'll be over soon!" It's got a depressing undertone, but everything on the surface is bright, colorful, and happy. Seriously bright. As in, my eyes sometimes cringe at the use of colors in this series. It's good, though. Also not always so happy. The protagonist (known as the Mediator, between fairies (aka new-humans) and humans) is a sarcastic, unenthusiastic girl. That probably makes her sound boring, but I really enjoyed her attitude. There's no real overarching plot to speak of. The plot is essentially over. Humanity is over. It's just a series of events in the Mediator's life*.

 

Anyway, I like it a lot.

 

*(not a major spoiler, I think, but just in case)

A series of events in the Mediator's life in reverse order, which threw me off until I realized what was happening.

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In other news, I just finished watching this: http://www.crunchyroll.com/humanity-has-declined

It's a whimsical take on the end of humanity. "Hey, we've had a good run, right? Let's just ride this last bit out. It'll be over soon!" It's got a depressing undertone, but everything on the surface is bright, colorful, and happy. Seriously bright. As in, my eyes sometimes cringe at the use of colors in this series. It's good, though. Also not always so happy. The protagonist (known as the Mediator, between fairies (aka new-humans) and humans) is a sarcastic, unenthusiastic girl. That probably makes her sound boring, but I really enjoyed her attitude. There's no real overarching plot to speak of. The plot is essentially over. Humanity is over. It's just a series of events in the Mediator's life*.

Anyway, I like it a lot.

*(not a major spoiler, I think, but just in case)

A series of events in the Mediator's life in reverse order, which threw me off until I realized what was happening.

I quite enjoyed it when I watched it too, It reminds me a bit of the way the minds and drones interact with humans in Iain Bank's culture novels. In both Humans have basically ceased to be the driving force force behind a civilisation but are looked down on with a strange kinda benevolent indulgence and maybe even gratitude by those who have superseded them. They have no purpose apart from that which they find for themselves as Idividuals.

On a different note has anyone watched Erin and have any thoughts about it? Seen a few people speak highly of it and there's a couple of interesting staff involved but I'm cautious to commit to any series which requires me to work through 50 episodes to see its conclusion.

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I remember liking Erin, but I... don't remember much about it.

 

Which probably says a lot more than I want it to.

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I'm four episodes into Princess Tutu and loving it. Thanks, Codicier and Tegan, for bringing it up one last time to push me over the edge. The metafictional and allegorical touches are what I'm sure I'll remember, but right now my favorite thing is a marriage-obsessed ballet-teaching cat. Neko-sensei is already one of my favorite running jokes in any anime ever, except maybe the "You were there?" "Yes, always" and the "Don't call me normal!" bits from Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (which is trying to be a comedy, unlike Princess Tutu, so they don't count).

 

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My favourite thing about Princess Tutu is how much it starts to play with fiction as the series progresses. All of the character arcs go in twisty, fascinating directions; with my favourite being Rue.

Rue coming to terms with the fact that she's essentially the story's villain and how she can never be loved by Mytho without hurting him is heartbreaking. My favourite scene in the whole series is when we see her alone, contemplating her fate in the bedroom, before two crows fly in and she makes a very obviously painful transformation into Princess Kraehe.

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Watching Monogatari was like playing that one minigame in Mario Party where you have to collect the treasure from the ocean floor and bring it back up in time. There's all this incredible stuff that you pick up on, but its a little messy and scattered, and some of it probably isn't worth the effort.

 

The bottom line is that Monogatari Season 2 is tremendous. Really, really great stuff nearly all the way through. I remember being completely blown away by that one Haruhi movie that came out however many years ago about the alternate timeline; It was really great seeing cool things happen to characters I've invested time into caring about. Monogatari is like 26 episodes full of that shit, but the biggest roadblock for watching it is the fact that you have to watch Season 1/Nisemonogatari/Nekomonogatari before you even approach this stuff which basically means 30 setup episodes.

 

To explain, the show is structured around these 2-6 episode arcs, where each arc usually centers around one supporting character. Bake and Nise cover the respective portions of the light novel series, which is basically all character introduction every arc. It's pretty interesting at points but doesn't really give you time to breath before shoving in some other characters.

 

Now with all the characters roughly introduced, Monogatari Season 2 (the naming is weird, yeah) is where they straight up start balling. The show begins to do really fantastic things:

 

-There are a few long stretches of episodes where the main character is never seen. While he is present by the fact that everybody talks about him, those specific arcs are carried by some really, really well realized side characters.

 

-The series as a whole explores this idea of truth and self. Some characters, when presented with what is supposedly their true nature, attempt to escape from it, accept it, reject it, or try and change it. it's one of those shows with a consistent theme throughout.

 

-While the show has always been very dialogue driven, this season has some particularly superb exchanges.

 

-Art has been and continues to be great.

 

On the other hand, the show does do some goofy things. The stories are ambitious enough that the simple resolutions seem farfetched. It's kind of hard to follow relationships between characters because everyone behaves so vaguely. There's also that frequent fanservice that I'm sure really isn't an issue, considering everyone who watches anything is probably used to it by now.

 

It's a rarity but I would definitely recommend watching it if you have the time. I predict that future seasons could only get better.

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It's a rarity but I would definitely recommend watching it if you have the time. I predict that future seasons could only get better.

 

I am avid fan of Shinbo and Shaft, thanks to his pitch-perfect adaptation of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei and his ability to make me understand maid moe with Soredemo I Can't Remember the Full Title, Sorry Tegan, but I lost the faith after Bakemonogatari. I was watching it like I watched SZS, pausing for every interstitial text slide and mentally comparing scenes for visual matches, but while that was there in Bakemonogatari, it was all fluff that meant nothing. The show was really about... I don't know what the show was really about. That's probably why I finished the season, including the silly and confusing "bonus" episodes, and put down the series to pick up again sometime in 2125.

 

With all that said, it's really nice for you to say all that about Monogatari Second Season. It sounds like Shinbo's finding where he wants to take the show, even if he hasn't taken it there yet. I might pick it up again sometime this century now, although I'm still leery of Nisemonogatari, about which not even Shaft devotees have much nice to say.

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With all that said, it's really nice for you to say all that about Monogatari Second Season. It sounds like Shinbo's finding where he wants to take the show, even if he hasn't taken it there yet. I might pick it up again sometime this century now, although I'm still leery of Nisemonogatari, about which not even Shaft devotees have much nice to say.

 

Another reason I was just super floored by it all was that Bake and Nise definitely had NO indication that it was going this direction. As it is now with the 3 series + neko miniseries, the high quality of Second Season is an anomaly in a family of so-so series.

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For show with an episode titled "Swimsuit Fanservice" Sakura Trick was pretty low on fanservice, that is, not counting the yuri kissing. Frankly, the couple is adorkable at how innocent they are... 

 

Yuu thinks she's getting married because Haruka misunderstood when she invited her to a friend's wedding.

 

I really don't have anything to watch now though. :|

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JoJo Stardust Crusaders and Haikyuu!! are two anime that i was looking forward to, and not only is it on crunchyroll for the UK, they're both pretty good. I also checked out Baby Steps and it was a bit shit, as well as Abarenbou Kishi! Which wasn't so bad.

 

Mekaku City Actors, Ping Pong, Atelier Escha and Sidonia no Kishi are other anime that I'm looking forward to.

 

Ping Pong is the one I'm most looking forward to. That anime will be ballin'.

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JoJo Stardust Crusaders and Haikyuu!! are two anime that i was looking forward to, and not only is it on crunchyroll for the UK, they're both pretty good. I also checked out Baby Steps and it was a bit shit, as well as Abarenbou Kishi! Which wasn't so bad.

Mekaku City Actors, Ping Pong, Atelier Escha and Sidonia no Kishi are other anime that I'm looking forward to.

Ping Pong is the one I'm most looking forward to. That anime will be ballin'.

Looking forward to Ping Pong myself, any idea who (if anyone) is going to be streaming that in the uk?

Think I might give JoJo a go, it looks silly and being one season behind the curve means If I don't watch too fast it should last me a while.

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I hope crunchy. But either way Horrible Subs will ;)

 

JoJo is amazing. The first season is the first two arcs, but as the first two arcs all pretty much unconnected to the third, you could jump into the second season no problem.

 

But the first season is amazing, and with the best ending song ever:

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Ping Pong was nabbed by Funimation, and AFAIK Crunchyroll doesn't license something unless they can license it everywhere? I might be wrong.

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Argh Funimation grabbing something means reliance on subs.

I just watched http://www.crunchyroll.com/the-world-is-still-beautiful on a whim while browsing the CR site, really wasn't expecting much at all but actually really enjoyed the episode. It had a nice pace to it, the art though nothing special stylistically was fine, it had some good slapstick timing, a few smart winks to the camera.

Too early to see if it can maintain that energy or gets dragged down into a lore mire, but considering I went in with zero expectations I was more than pleasantly surprised.

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Guh Funimation...

 

I have watched two new shows this season that I'm pleasantly suprised with. The first was Captain Earth which was cheezy mech shit with gallons of predictable with a side-order of foreshadowing, but still quite enjoyable. It reminded me of what I liked about Evangelion, which was the bits when people complained about how much money it costs to run these damn mechs, and the dick-head dad having to keep appealing to SEELE for more money. Sadly that wasn't in there, but I always think about it when the obligatory mech-suit comes into play, which in this show was brilliantly constructed via three giant satellites piecing the mech as the main protagonist flies through them.

 

It also has that hilarious meme whereby the MC has never ridden the damn thing, but somehow knows exactly how to pilot it and to start the ignition.

 

I also watched One Week Friend which was again, kinda obvious as to the plot due to the title and the synopsis, but I guess that's what to expect out of a first episode. It's about a guy trying to befriend a lass who completely forgets all her 'good' memories after exactly a week, like her friends. It was sweet and I liked the setting and characters. I hope the plot is as predictable and sweet as I'm foreshadowing it to be. Either way I'm suckered in.

 

 

I just watched http://www.crunchyroll.com/the-world-is-still-beautiful on a whim while browsing the CR site, really wasn't expecting much at all but actually really enjoyed the episode. It had a nice pace to it, the art though nothing special stylistically was fine, it had some good slapstick timing, a few smart winks to the camera.
Too early to see if it can maintain that energy or gets dragged down into a lore mire, but considering I went in with zero expectations I was more than pleasantly surprised.

 

I just watched it too! It was alright! Although I did find it weird how different the MC's clothes were to everyone else. I thought that was kinda the point, as she was from a distant land, but then when it flashbacks to the elder and her sisters, they are also wearing the same era garb! It confused me. Nether-the-less, I enjoyed it and will probably watch the second episode.

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So uh...I just watched the first few episodes of Attack on Titan, because some people recommended it to me. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen. Like, it's bad in pretty much every way an animated series can be bad. What the hell do people see in this?

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Define a few? There is one particular part at around episode 4 or 5 which is particularly enjoyable. I also liked the whole 'Humanity is totally fucked' angle. It also felt kinda fresh and new on an otherwise dull zombie-theme. Idk, each to his own I guess. I read the manga before the anime was cool, so wasn't exposed to all the hype, so I guess my view of AoT will be different from yours, as I was not expecting anything, as opposed to you expecting something, if that makes sense.

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Attack on Titan is kind of like Evangelion except not completely terrible.

 

I liked it well enough, but I don't understand the massive amounts of love it receives. It's "okay".

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So uh...I just watched the first few episodes of Attack on Titan, because some people recommended it to me. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen. Like, it's bad in pretty much every way an animated series can be bad. What the hell do people see in this?

 

I haven't seen any of it, but i have read quite a bit of the manga. I do like that, but I remember not liking it as much at the start, so perhaps it gets better.

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