Winter 2018 Anime discussion

[pik3rob]

On 2/2/2018 at 6:50 AM, ittaku said:

So the theme material of yuru camp should be boring me to tears yet I find myself grinning throughout and occasionally laughing. What a fun harmless show.

Ah, so you've succumbed to the comfy too.

[Jun Inoue]

Wew, I've "marathoned" Darling in the FranXX, and gotta say it is pretty good. Still have to see if the MC will be more inspiring or bitchy, though, and the show obsesses a bit too much with its themes and symbols (yes, we get it, the dynamic of the pilots is about marriage and sex).

[littleshogun]

Watch Hugtto Pretty Cure (PreCure) first episode, and I think it's definitely have some potential compared to Kira Kira PreCure. While for now I have some doubt in regard of the episode, I would like to keep following this year PreCure seeing that I'd already absent for almost two years. More so because now that we finally have Yukari Tamura joining PreCure cast as one of the villain, which mean that I could pair the villain with Cure Blossom (Voiced by Nana Mizuki) lol.

Edited February 5, 2018 by littleshogun

[Mr Poltroon]

I've caught up with Overlord II. I've always been a fan of nature documentaries, so I quite liked the epi--*shot*

No, but really, it seemed to be going in a direction I didn't quite appreciate there for a while, but now I'm happy again.

[Jun Inoue]

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I've caught up with Overlord II. I've always been a fan of nature documentaries, so I quite liked the epi--*shot*

No, but really, it seemed to be going in a direction I didn't quite appreciate there for a while, but now I'm happy again.

Worried we were going to miss on the sexy time, eh? Let's all be grateful the show is saved

[Mr Poltroon]

1 hour ago, Jun Inoue said:

Worried we were going to miss on the sexy time, eh? Let's all be grateful the show is saved

Hm. Since you brought it up, I can and will elaborate on what, precisely, it is that I feared and why my happiness was restored.

People seem to dislike overpowered protagonists. I don't, and I never have. In fact, I rather like them. What I do dislike and does, unfortunately, often accompany said overpowered protagonists are attempts by the anime or the plot to make it seem like the protagonist is in danger of losing. That's just annoying. In Overlord, Ains is flat out one of the most powerful existences, which gives him the freedom to world conquer, experiment, or mess around at his own pace.
Also one of the reasons I so liked GATE.

I also might like villain protagonists. I'm not sure. I liked Tanya from Tanya the Evil for a lot of similar reasons as to why I like Ains. The main difference, however, is that Tanya the Evil tried to portray Tanya as someone who took delight in others' suffering, which I don't. And since I don't, I don't really like those parts. Ains, on the other hand, doesn't feel much in the way of emotions, and has no need to cause other people suffering, generally speaking.
Well. If I take no delight in suffering, or people being evil, why do I claim 'I might like villains'? It has to do with the general principle that being cunning, crafty, trying to control the world or using any means necessary to achieve your goals is predominately associated with being 'evil'. I love such kinds of characters.
However, I am also somewhat of an idealist. I believe the best way to control things is to have people like you. The idea came to me just the other day when I was playing Eiyuu Senki, actually. The way the protagonist goes around making the leaders of all countries fall for him is ingenious. If I were a villain, that's what I'd do. Unfortunately, this 'being an evil guy who wants to control the word' business just doesn't seem to be feasible without requiring you to toil away at it. Which leads me back to Ains.

Spoilers for Overlord II:

Spoiler

For a while, it appeared they were simply going to slaughter the whole tribe and get free corpses. That'd be such a shame! It'd be an excellent asset to have people working willingly under you, Ains! (Aside from the dozens of overpowered minions that just happened to be a freebie. Seriously, how come one of your minions alone is practically enough to take you out?! I can hardly imagine what a real coup would be.) But, thankfully, it does seem they've decided to head in that direction after all.

As an aside, I really like the Overlord Pleaides OVAs.

[Beichuuka]

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

*snip*

You would like the WN version better, then.
Ains has absolutely zero competition over there, whereas in the published version there's at least some hint as to powers on his level.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Beichuuka

[Jun Inoue]

8 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Jun is so beautiful, though.

Oh, I do agree on the OP thingie. Adding to that, rather than cheap drama, I dislike it more when a show sacrifices itself for the sake of portraying the MC as even more OP. We even had two great examples of awful MCs this season and the past one. MC from Death March and MC from Smartphone. On the other hand, Saitama from OPM is one of the best ways to do an OP MC.

And, yeah, Overlord is a similarly good attempt at an OP MC (attempt cuz the anime is still not finished). Perhaps slightly less meaningful than in OPM but clearly great and the pull of the show; a MC who's an actual overlord.

[Mr Poltroon]

9 hours ago, Beichuuka said:

You would like the WN version better, then.
Ains has absolutely zero competition over there, whereas in the published version there's at least some hint as to powers on his level.

WN? 'over there'? 'published version'?

[MaggieROBOT]

56 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

WN? 'over there'? 'published version'?

I think he's talking about the differences between the web novel and the light novel.

[Beichuuka]

^that

[Mr Poltroon]

I don't know why, exactly, I so frequently enjoy Shougi anime, especially given that I do not know how it is played. Yet, The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! is very much my sort of thing. I'd perhaps prefer it if the loli elements were less prevalent or removed outright, but they do allow a number of funny scenes to ensue. Most notably, one of the emotional scenes actually got to me. As I can't empathise with this sort of 'sports' anime I generally am quite detached from most scenes, thinking 'why are they making such a big deal' and such things. The anime succeeded in conveying their passion and ability in such a way that it neither broke my suspension of disbelief nor remained simply boring.

[Mr Poltroon]

Just finished catching up with Death March and I can say I really like it. The way he goes around just secretly solving problems is pretty nice, and the fifth episode was somewhat surprising with the princess. Poker face skill is best skill and I love the way the in-game titles often seem to be making fun of him. I also like the fact that the anime recognises there's an unreasonable amount of skills and titles for every little thing.

Also tried out Takunomi. Not exactly bad, but focuses too much on drink and food, neither of which I care for in anime (unless it's Black Butler).

[ittaku]

On 09/02/2018 at 2:14 AM, Mr Poltroon said:

I don't know why, exactly, I so frequently enjoy Shougi anime, especially given that I do not know how it is played. Yet, The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! is very much my sort of thing. I'd perhaps prefer it if the loli elements were less prevalent or removed outright, but they do allow a number of funny scenes to ensue. Most notably, one of the emotional scenes actually got to me. As I can't empathise with this sort of 'sports' anime I generally am quite detached from most scenes, thinking 'why are they making such a big deal' and such things. The anime succeeded in conveying their passion and ability in such a way that it neither broke my suspension of disbelief nor remained simply boring.

Ryuou didn't work for me at all. It seems to only be about the rori cuteness and very little convincing about the sport which doesn't work for me on any level.

On the other hand if you want to watch a sport anime about an obscure sport you know nothing about and are likely to never play but will get you actually involved in the sport, and is an exceptional watch, Chihayafuru is brilliant.

[Mr Poltroon]

10 hours ago, ittaku said:

Ryuou didn't work for me at all. It seems to only be about the rori cuteness and very little convincing about the sport which doesn't work for me on any level.

On the other hand if you want to watch a sport anime about an obscure sport you know nothing about and are likely to never play but will get you actually involved in the sport, and is an exceptional watch, Chihayafuru is brilliant.

Chihayafuru commits the cardinal sin of the sports anime which is never letting go. Sports anime rely on the cliffhanger factor too much, and this annoys me to no end. If it's done occasionally I won't mind, but sports mind do it almost every episode after a while. I watched the whole bloody thing in a couple of days, and while I don't mind being forced to watch something too much, it still makes me uncomfortable.

Ryuo seems to be a shorter anime so I'm sure they won't pull that card too much, if only because they don't have time to do so. The other Shougi anime I watched was also a self-contained story that didn't seem infinite like Chihayafuru (or Ryuo, I suppose).

The number one factor that kills an anime for me is things seeming like they'll take too long. I didn't finish Hunter x Hunter because of this. I didn't finish Chihayafuru's second season because of this. I still don't know why I started Inuyasha. I still fear Arslan Senki won't have an actual conclusion.

I believe this is a result of the binge+expectations combination. I have a tendency to binge anime, but when doing so does not produce tangible results quickly enough my experience is irreversibly soured. 13 episode anime (even if incomplete stories), or episodic anime generally manage to escape this trap. Episodic anime with reliance on a greater plot, like basically every shounen are absolute no's.

As for the ones that I manage to like even when they have these failings, I consider those to be the ones I truly do enjoy even without getting hooked on the story.

[ittaku]

Well I consider 12-13 episodes too short for a serious watch. I think optimal is around 50 episodes to tell a great story, and to tell a shorter story with impact more like half that.

[Riku]

Enjoying the hell out of Saiki season 2. The comedy is really right up my alley. Will most likely ends up as AoTS for me, like season 1.

[pik3rob]

Slow Start continues being the best anime of the season week after week and it's score on MAL is criminal.

Tama is life.

[MaggieROBOT]

Somehow, I'm still with Poputepipikku. And I'm glad I did. The ep 7 Hellshake Yano skit alone is anime of the season!!!  (Actually, I should add that the only episodes that were really funny were 2, 5, and now 7).

Dropped Fate/Extra after the second episode. In fact, I'll pretend that F/E was never animated and stick with the game.

[tahu157]

Despite some philosophical issues I really enjoyed the Death March LNs that have been translated so far. The anime is painfully low budget though and idk if I can keep watching it. The OP is nice though.

[Jun Inoue]

I'm quite positive that Princess Renne in Overlord is a literal monster, and not a figurative one. That cute acting is so forced.

[bakauchuujin]

1 hour ago, Jun Inoue said:

I'm quite positive that Princess Renne in Overlord is a literal monster, and not a figurative one. That cute acting is so forced.

Just look at her picture during the ed, there is definetely something evil about her.

[tahu157]

Darling in the Franxx E7 spoilers:

Spoiler

One of the girls picked up a sex-ed book in the abandoned town. This is clearly going to end well.

 

[ittaku]

Well episode 12 of Sora yori mo tooi basho certainly was not remotely how I expected it would play out given its tone so far.

Spoiler

Boy did I shed some tears on that one. I was going to rewatch it with my wife and kids because its tone was so upbeat but that episode just ruined me and no way could I sit through it again and show it to others as something allegedly upbeat. I can't remember the last time a show made me cry so much.

I wonder where episode 13 will take us from here.

[Jun Inoue]

Need to find this damn first episode of FLCL season 3 somewheeeeeeeeeeeere.