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I'm pretty sure I've already watched Ghibli's Only Yesterday from the library? I guess Europe got a release, or at least Spain did? And I can confirm it is a pretty charming film.

 

Is anybody watching Osomatsu-San, the sextuplet show? I loved the first episode and the the second one was pretty "meh" and I don't know if I should bother with the third one.

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Osomatsu-san is my secret favourite show this season. It's incredible. The first episode is such a misnomer for the rest of the show though. In actual fact, the first episode got into legal hot water in Japan, and has been subsequently pulled from all streaming sites, and won't be in any DVD bundle. The second episode is closer to what to expect. The third one is another outlier. A bunch of collected shorts, but it's just not that good. It also got into legal trouble too, due to a parody of anpanman.

 

Honestly, I really really love Osomatsu-san. It's funny, disturbingly dark in places, and the sextuplets are wonderfully defined and different. Really good gag anime. Give it another two episodes (or just skip the 3rd one). If you don't dig it, then just don't bother watching. For me, it's a perfect gag anime.

 

Also the opening is miles better than other Less-than-perfect insider OP's

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Anything starring DAYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON guy or underwear guy is bound to fail. SHEEEEEH guy is pretty solid, though. Show is at its best when the sextuplets are around, though.

 

IIRC the third episode has some good stuff. Or wait the second episode was good and the third episode was bad.

 

The OP is good but not as good as The Perfect Insider's, which is the best of the season.

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Saekano is getting a second cour, dated to October 2016! That's good, because as complicated as my feelings about Saekano are, they're still incomplete without more episodes. I realize I didn't publish my full thoughts on Saekano in this thread, so here are some slightly edited comments from the Key Frames slack channel:

 

What's truly great about Saekano, rather than just earning the grade of "not embarrassing" in most of its low-level interactions, is that it's an anime about making a game, so the particulars of its depiction of making a game highlight the various creative processes that it is subject to itself as an anime. For instance, the childhood friend, who has the most visually intricate of the main characters' designs, is obsessed with art and aesthetic appeal in their game and also thinks that preexisting relationships make for the best way to drive the plot. On the other hand, the kuudere genius argues for the primacy of chance encounters and the power of fate, precisely like the circumstances under which she met the male protagonist. The titular "boring girlfriend" just wants slice-of-life stuff and the male protagonist, a huge otaku, is constantly pushing everyone to conform to stereotypes in order to please their audience... which makes it so much more clear and pleasurable when the anime subverts those stereotypes. Each of the characters is arguing for their own archetype of character and the style of storytelling that they represent to be the defining feature of the anime in which they take part.

 

There have been some examples of this type of commentary in other anime that I've watched, but in Shirobako it was largely confined to small winks at an audience already in the know and in Seitokai no Ichizon (licensed as "Student Council's Discretion" in the States, barf) the anime functioned as a barebones framework for the commentary, not a proof-of-concept for the commentary's theses. It's all very interesting, even if it takes place in a fundamentally problematic harem anime.

 

Also, Saekano has some of the best gifs:

 

tumblr_njoz8smjv41rec90to1_500.gif

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You get the idea. The general motivations and dramatic situations are presented in fairly plain fashion, but it's way too easy to lose the thread of the specifics, not least because the characters by design are unforthcoming about why they feel and act the way they do. That's actually what makes the end feel weirdly unsatisfying, even though I like its refusal to play into "love conquers all," because the group's decision is to trust each other to try and become friends with who they all really are, as opposed to who they want to be or who they think others want them to be, and that seemed like... what they had already been doing, the whole show? That's a general problem with anime, though — characters who act like friends often insist they aren't friends until some plot point gives them the opportunity for a formal declaration of friendship. Maybe it's a thing with Japanese social mores? I don't know.

 

The student council gag that ran through that christmas arc was actually very telling of how the season was going to end. The confrontation among the three of them in the final episode felt like the same kind of unhelpful ambiguity. 

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I meant to post a translated list of the pitched production schedule for Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is getting a lot of renewed attention now that the first volume of the Evangelion Chronicle, the most complete compilation of production and promotional materials, has been released officially in English... but I don't really have anything deep to say about it. It is really interesting, of course, to map it parallel to the working knowledge of Eva's budgetary problems: the first fourteen episodes are almost perfectly according to plan, then from fifteen onward there are minor differences as it becomes clear that the "traditional" arc of the anime took too long and cost too much money (most of the cuts, tragically, were almost all of Kaji's personal arc and a more explicit relationship between Shinji and Asuka, which was replaced by an expanded but still somewhat sketchy treatment of Rei), and then the last six episodes are entirely tossed out and rewritten to account for the fact that the final arc is more like an entire cour of episodes (an apparently proactive ending that involves defeating the Angels was scrapped and only Kaworu was salvaged from it). Although a recent thread on the usually terrible /r/evangelion subreddit about the ways in which Eva failed almost unanimously agreed that Kaji's briefly implied arc and Rei's sudden elevation into plot MacGuffin remain the weakest points (apart from all the idiots who apparently want the religious symbolism to "mean" something), I think the changes are generally for the best. Shinji transforming into a wholly active or even contentedly passive character is just against the spirit of Eva's themes, and I'm glad (with some qualifications) that the extreme austerity of the later episodes forced that reappraisal.

 

Also, I wish that it was taking Sentai twelve months and then four months to release the two volumes of Shirobako because they're catching every profession-related reference in the characters and shows, but I know that they're taking that long because they want to pad out their release schedule after the holiday rush. Ugh!

 

The student council gag that ran through that christmas arc was actually very telling of how the season was going to end. The confrontation among the three of them in the final episode felt like the same kind of unhelpful ambiguity. 

 

I'm glad someone who's seen the show agrees with me. No anime has made me feel as stupid as SNAFU did. I couldn't tell if I was missing obvious cues because I didn't get the characters or if they were just playing it way too subtly and ambiguously to get anything across.

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Yeah, minus the ridiculous animation problems (aka elevator scene and that other infamous death scene) the show was really made by the tone of the latter half more than the first.  Manga has a much more extrovert take on the story and even though the big plot details are identical to the TV series + movies, it's soooooo weird and I doubt something like that would have created such a lasting cultural icon.

 

That being said, I would have personally benefited lot more from original pitched version because this got me way too emo.  Reading that manga version sure made me feel better even though it's not as impactful as the original.

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I'm glad someone who's seen the show agrees with me. No anime has made me feel as stupid as SNAFU did. I couldn't tell if I was missing obvious cues because I didn't get the characters or if they were just playing it way too subtly and ambiguously to get anything across.

 

I actually tried going over this again and I kind of grasp the idea now.

 

The final decision to try and be Real Friends seems redundant, but makes sense considering that, throughout season 2, all three of the main characters are trying to take agency in the club's future. Hachi wants to maintain the fragile relationship between the three of them, and protect Yui and Yukino. Yui essentially wants the same, but along with Yukino, can't stand by while Hachi continues to throw himself under the bus. Yui also wants everything to be the same because I think she will fight over Hachi if she is to follow her own feelings? Not sure there. When Yukino attempts to run for president before she is beaten (again) by Hachi's plan, it's not so much that she cares about the presidency as much as she feels powerless. Yukino's sister (possibly the most perceptive and able character on this show, which says something) constantly taunts Yukino about how she has let Hachi and Yui take control of her life. I think that her passiveness in the following episodes is her accepting the idea that she can't do anything to protect Hachi or change what he does, so she pushes him out of the club. This sucks even more because Hachi seems to have complete control over Yui and Yukino, and clutches every problem the club has ever solved by himself, basically. She almost gives up in the final scene, where she almost accepts Yui's proposal of feigned friendship before Hachi (again, to the rescue) stops her. 

 

None of this is well communicated in the final episode, of course.

 

Still, I've come around on this show, and have upgraded it in my mind from decent, well-written slice-of-life to a genuinely interesting examination of friendship dynamics. Many shows, especially romance, involve some kind of decision where a character silences his/her own love to see his/her friend happy (multiple times in Toradora, Your Lie in April, etc.), but SNAFU expands this trait to every important character in a broad sense. Everyone wants everything to be the same forever, basically, but are then confronted with the question of if they care more about the friends or the friendship. It is a pretty shitty ending though, so I hope there is a 3rd season.

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Everyone wants everything to be the same forever, basically, but are then confronted with the question of if they care more about the friends or the friendship.

 

I agree that this kernel is the genius in SNAFU, cutting against the "loner whose superpower is self-martyrdom" archetype of literally every other show in the genre, but (as you said) the anime itself is so exceptionally bad at communicating said kernel that I'm really hesitant to celebrate it myself.

 

To break it down more, I appreciate the fakeout that's built by the first season more, where the budding affection that is born out of hidden connections fails to coalesce even into friendly intimacy among the main characters, because life is more complicated than that, but the second season is badly underwritten in terms of its elaboration of that theme into "being a capable and proactive person doesn't automatically make you friends any more than being a passive loser does." Yukino's arc is criminally muddled (like you said, her older sister teases her for being dragged along by her clubmates while approving of how Hachiman drags her in new directions, then disapproves of her following her parents' desires while also being the one who ratted her out to said parents) and Yui seemingly exists to be a middle ground between the contrasting desires of Yukino and Hachiman (while never quite functioning as a lens through which to understand how those desires conflict). The show also starts having the club's former clients, like Isshiki, show up and help out more, which makes for a more varied palette of interactions but muddies the "friendship/desires triangle" as well. It's not even like they ran out of time and money, it's like they weren't quite sure how many episodes they had until the end and so there's a weird mix of filler and vague monologues to pad out the arc (while still leaving the ending feeling rushed and lacking explanation). Likewise, I'm left feeling like all the good ideas are lost in the shuffle there and it's not like many other "difficult" anime where repeat viewings will tease them out.

 

Regardless, I also hope for a third season as well. The very existence of a "loser" protagonist who isn't quickly beloved when he begins to interact with his classmates because he's secretly some kind of saint is enough to justify the show to me. Still, it appears that they might have caught up with the finished arcs of the light novel, though, and since it's unfashionable to have an anime-original ending these days (possibly rightly so) they decided to end it and wait? Who knows.

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I finally did it. I finally saw Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion. 

 

What a raw, emotional experience. It was life affirming and depressing and I loved every minute of it. Fuck me

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On 2/7/2016 at 6:13 PM, namman siggins said:

I finally did it. I finally saw Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion.

What a raw, emotional experience. It was life affirming and depressing and I loved every minute of it. Fuck me

 

I love you, namman. I want to hear more!

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I had a rare anime tasting evening and I saw two things currently going on that I loved: Overlord, which seems a typical 'person gets trapped in an MMO' type of story, but it's funny and the dude's a giant skeleton overlord. I liked how utterly ponderous the show is. There's very little action and a lot of strutting around hallways. I haven't seen a ton of those shows, so maybe it's fresher for me that it is for people who religiously watch anime seasons.

 

And Gundam Thunderbolt, which, well... I've never seen much of Gundam, but that doesn't seem like a huge setback here. It sets up a very simple fight: Zeon against... the Gundam people. Both sides seem believable and human, enduring losses and coping with a really stressful war. And the way they've put together those fights in the first episode is amazing. I hope the budget and the effort stays on par throughout the show. Goddamn. It fuses music, mania and loss in a delectable way.

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Overlord is pretty great. It doesn't take itself seriously and it's just about this guy who's extremely stupid powerful. It's a refereshing change to the formula. I liked it a lot.

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I finally did it. I finally saw Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion.

What a raw, emotional experience. It was life affirming and depressing and I loved every minute of it. Fuck me

Let's all have an Evangelion love-in

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is that like an orgy where everyone has the flu

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I love you, namman. I want to hear more!

 

 

 

I'm still taking it all in, but here it goes:

- What caught me completely off-guard was how visually composed the series and film was. There are some beautifully composed shots throughout Neon that have been burned into my brain. I especially loved the moments where they focused on a scene and let it linger for a long time. The stare between Shinji and Misato at the train station; the wait before a battle between Shinji and Rei; the stare between Kaworu and Shinji before Shinji kills him. They were very meditative and allowed me to enter that space and be with them.

 

-The various religious themes and images hit close to home. Being a former catholic, it brought me back my days in the church, gave me a feeling of nostalgia.

 

-The various surreal imagery brought me to tears. I was crying when the world started to go back to the LCL. I was crying because of how visually striking it was. I was coming at it from a technical aspect. Also, there are few works as surreal and experimental as Neon gets, visually. I LOVE shit like that

 

-The raw and palpable emotions that the anime brought forth were very relatable to me. 

 

I'm a very emotional person and this, imo, a very emotional anime. It's an exploration of emotional states through mecha and religious iconography.

 

And speaking of emotions, I thought Neon did a wonderful job portraying teenagers. The short, intense bursts of emotions that come at that age. 

 

- I loved the OG ending for the series. What a bold and avant-garde way to end a series; that takes a lot of balls to end a series that way and I loved it. It was a wonderful exploration of the themes and ideas that Anno was working throughout the series. It was a beautiful acceptation of Shinji loving himself and of the viewer also coming to terms with their self and the world around them.

 

I know this is all over, but like I said, i'm still taking it all in

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I finally did it. I finally saw Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion. 

 

What a raw, emotional experience. It was life affirming and depressing and I loved every minute of it. Fuck me

 

Congratulations!

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I'm still taking it all in, but here it goes:

- What caught me completely off-guard was how visually composed the series and film was. There are some beautifully composed shots throughout Neon that have been burned into my brain. I especially loved the moments where they focused on a scene and let it linger for a long time. The stare between Shinji and Misato at the train station; the wait before a battle between Shinji and Rei; the stare between Kaworu and Shinji before Shinji kills him. They were very meditative and allowed me to enter that space and be with them.

 

-The various religious themes and images hit close to home. Being a former catholic, it brought me back my days in the church, gave me a feeling of nostalgia.

 

-The various surreal imagery brought me to tears. I was crying when the world started to go back to the LCL. I was crying because of how visually striking it was. I was coming at it from a technical aspect. Also, there are few works as surreal and experimental as Neon gets, visually. I LOVE shit like that

 

-The raw and palpable emotions that the anime brought forth were very relatable to me. 

 

I'm a very emotional person and this, imo, a very emotional anime. It's an exploration of emotional states through mecha and religious iconography.

 

And speaking of emotions, I thought Neon did a wonderful job portraying teenagers. The short, intense bursts of emotions that come at that age. 

 

- I loved the OG ending for the series. What a bold and avant-garde way to end a series; that takes a lot of balls to end a series that way and I loved it. It was a wonderful exploration of the themes and ideas that Anno was working throughout the series. It was a beautiful acceptation of Shinji loving himself and of the viewer also coming to terms with their self and the world around them.

 

I know this is all over, but like I said, i'm still taking it all in

 

It's taken me years and I'm still not sure I've taken all my feelings about Eva in. I do know, however, that the mix of psychoanalysis, philosophy, and theology that most people dismiss as superficial is probably what gives it its impressive emotional weight. Few other characters in fiction appear to experience their feelings with such authenticity as Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko, and even Rei.

 

Related, someone scanned the September 2002 issue of Animerica that reviews End of Evangelion. Fascinatingly, it's a cogent and considered discussion of what the movie means that I'm not really used to experiencing in writing about anime. The death of print really hurt critical discourse on anime, nothing on AnimeNewsNetwork is anything as good as this...

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Read that from start to finish, very good! I'm a little confused about the final remarks in the last article though. The writer states that since the events of End of EVA make it clear that Instrumentality is actually happening (as opposed to just a way to visualize Shinji's mental struggle), it can no longer work as a metaphor for this. But why couldn't it? This is fiction. Something can still be a metaphor, even if it is actually happening in the fictional world.

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Watching Overlord and like the other two posters here have said, it has a ponderous and ridiculous dick-measuring feel to it that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

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