Anime Megathread III and Cartoon Megathread I!

I'm glad they brought back the reality warping aspect. The whole "Yura tries to hard to win" arc could have been cut in half. Or at least shortened a couple episodes. It wrapped up pretty well though, and I still like watching it.

Looks like Hunter x Hunter isn't going to be a sunday morning kids show anymore, as it's being moved to 1:30am in the middle of the week, starting next month. Possibly because the Chimera Ant arc is kinda fucked up and not really suitable for young kids? It's a pretty drastic time slot change, it's been sunday mornings since it started in 2011.

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi is a weird anime, you guys. It had interesting parts but... meh.

Why is it so hard for me to give shows a final score?

I tried to watch that series but it just didn't hook me after a couple episodes so I let it go.

And to answer your question: Because you're not getting paid by the point.

@dochaus: The art style was definitely off-putting at first but I got used to it by the end. I liked seeing how other people react to the main character's personality, specifically her pure heart and the conversations about what it means to be alive or dead (technically undead). These are, for me the only positive parts about the whole thing.

Now the bad parts. What bothered me is the inconsistencies. Like, how did this guy had a gun in a place where they confiscate all your shit when you first arrive and hold you there against your will? Or even better, how did he get a blowtorch? And stuff like that which should have altered the story completely. The premise is silly too. God one day said: "Shit! I fucked this up. *sigh* Whatever." (not that far from the actual line), he left and since then the only way people can truly die is if a 'gravedigger' bury them with a special shovel. The world they created had aspects that are well thought out but the rest seems goofy by comparison. Maybe that's because the laws of this world are influenced by Christianity, I'm not sure.

I think 'meh' is a good way to describe how I feel about it overall.

Also, with your answer, I think we are equal.

Will the new Miyazaki movie be coming to the U.S.? There's a cute girl in my japanese class I want to ask out, and that seems like a good idea for a date. (If you want to meet cute girls who like cool shit, take a japanese class.)

JUST ASK HER OUT DO IT DO IT DO IT

Disney will put it in theaters nation wide at the end of February.

I would not recommend taking a girl to an Anime movie just because she is Japanese or taking a class on Japan or Japanese. Talk to her first and see what she wants to do. Maybe she is more into dinner and museum and there is a nice Japanese restaurant and Far East Exhibition at the art museum. Or maybe she really is into it which then go for it but first you got to talk to her to find out.

@extomar:

I'd say a Miyazaki film provides enough plausible deniability that you can backpedal the racism. If he was taking her to see...what other anime movies are there in American theaters? That new Xenoblade film? That's all I can think up.

So I'm watching ultimate muscle right now because I like anime I like wrestling and I watched it long enough ago that it gets a nostalgic bump. Has anyone here seen it in its original Japanese and can tell me if its less dumb and worth starting again with subs?

@video_game_king:

I was more thinking about a common dating foul many commit: First dates should avoid "lets do stuff I'm interested in". Making your girlfriend embarrassed by your hobbies comes later after more commitment to the relationship. :)

While that would normally be a good idea, Kaze Tachinu isn't really a good date movie. It would be like taking her to see Grave of the Fireflies.

So my girlfriend and I finished Ghost Hound: I feel like it didn't follow through on the web it was hinting at building. Also holy shit it loves neurological and mental therapy jargon, almost as much as Kojima likes throwing lectures about the military industrial complex or innovative warfare techniques in his games.

Started watching Shigeki no Kyojin. We're like 11 episodes in. It's starting to get a little silly. I dig the nakama aspects with the cadets and I dig all the different roles and archetypes within it... but they almost did something amazing but then backpedalled immediately and then justified it with something I am not remotely into. So we'll see if that drags the parts of the show I like down with it.

Are Japanese people naturally prone to intense epiphanies of worthlessness or is it just an anime trope? All the anime I've watched these kids are going into Blue Screen of Death mode after every jostle or cutting remark.

@brodehouse: Japanese people are on average more humble than your typical westerner. When you complement them, they are raised to deflect it.

For example: Someone says your Japanese is good. You are expected to say thank you along with things like "No no, it’s not that good at all" or "But my accent is still…".

The very end of Dangan Ronpa... does this mean Super Dangan Ronpa 2 is really gonna be animated in the future? Gosh, I hope so.

Platypus bear. That is all.

@bocam said:

Grave of the Fireflies is super hot. Since it's not out til February I should probably come up with something else though.

@extomar I'm totally with you on that one. I have talked to her a bit though, and she's actually way more into Studio Ghibli and anime than I am. Also she's not Japanese. I do find the idea of taking a girl out on a racist date rather amusing though.

HAHAHA FUCK WIT STUDIO. What a load of shit.

The end of Attack on Titan was pretty good. They had a hard task trying to end the anime at that specific spot but I think they did fine. This is coming from someone who read up to the current point after episode 13.

As far as the manga goes I think the series gets pretty f'n bad for awhile after this, so I can't say I'm looking forward to a possible season 2. It'll have one hell of a slow start.

I don't even know what that final shot at the very end means for The Wall. That text story in the bumpers about the guy digging a hole to go under the wall leaves me feeling what I felt at the very start of the anime with the existence of the 3D Maneuver Gear. You can't have the wall and that technology without something fishy going on with the whole world. I guess I'll see during the 2nd season.

So apparently the final JoJo bluray added a "To Be Continued" to the Stardust Crusaders tease shot at the end of the last episode. Wasn't in the TV airing. Stealth confirmation for the next season or something added just for consistency?

The Manga of Sasameki Koto is finally getting an english release :D

Though they're using the translated english name (whispered words) which I think is a bad idea, but fuck it gonna buy it cause it's the best yuri out there

Monogatari 2nd Season continues to be pretty good. I wish I could have a screenshot of every background used in the show to keep in my graphic design inspiration folder.

The last episode had some great interactions between Shinobu and Nadeko. It always seems like anime has some great passive aggressive drama between female characters.

It's ridiculous have many stylish background shots they use every episode.

The best part about this arc is that all of the crap characters give to Nadeko are valid points. The first time when Ougi did it, I was like "Hmm... I've never thought about Nadeko like that before... Huh... Man, she's right." And every time others talked about her personality, my view of her changed a little bit. It's so good.

If everything goes right, it will end at the very end of the year and I can include it in my AOTY list.

This anime season is all about sports for me^^

and it will be glorious^^

I'm not sure if it's because I marathoned the first 11 episodes over two evenings and then had to wait a week for the finale, but I was quite disappointed by the Gatchaman Crowds ending.

It felt a little like they'd crammed two episodes' worth of stuff into 22 minutes and although I really liked the show overall - especially the whole "what is a hero" puzzle - I think the finale didn't do the characters justice. Just me?

This week's One Piece really trampled all over my heart. Definitely one of those moments when I can scarcely believe that the series is targeted at kids. Unfortunately I can't help but think that everything will somehow work out in the end but it was still extremely horrifying to watch. I also got around to watching One Piece Film Z and it's probably the only OP movie that I actually enjoyed. It's just too bad that they felt the need to shoehorn the current status of certain characters in this animated feature as opposed to revealing it organically in the current cartoon.

First season finale of Attack On Titan was about as disappointing as I thought it would be so I'm actually not as let down as I expected. No desire to catch up with the book because honestly I don't find the story or characters all that interesting. I'm in no rush to ride that train wreck. Finally Bob's Burgers is back and still really funny. Sort of a cliche of an episode but they still manage to make it work.

I can't really think of anything in Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata ep 1 that makes me want to come back for ep 2. Guess I'm done with it pretty early.

Edit:

Kill La Kill episode 1 made me forget all the disappointment from Titan and Kyoukai. Shit was fun as hell and totally bonkers.

Kill la Kill ep1 is gangsta as FUCK. Already in love, can't wait for more!

hahaha kill la kill doesn't give a shit, no filter, pure condensed anime.

feels like i watched 5 eps in one

@darji: I love me some sports anime. I am looking forward to Kuroko no Basuke Season 2. Ace of Diamond looks good, too. It's been a while since I saw a baseball anime. The last one I watched was Touch and that was made in 1985. I've seen baseball animes made after 1985, of course, but not recently. Currently I am half way through both Slam Dunk and Prince of Tennis.

Man, Kill La Kill was crazy. Not really a huge fan of the "comedy" (specifically the side-kick girl) or the main girls uniform but the rest of it was hype as fuck.

Also what @masterpaperlink said. That sums up the episode pretty succinctly.

I'll be checking out some of the new series later tonight. Really looking forward to Kyoukai no Kanata and Kill La Kill.

After watching Kill La Kill I just had to photoshop this together:

Yep Kill La Kill is pretty awesome and fun to watch

I really enjoyed Kyoukai no Kanata. They injected some major Moe into a monster fighting anime and I couldn't be happier. The hipster blood bending girl had some great moves against that fabric monster. Animation looks fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Kill La Kill was like pure anime concentrated into a single episode. There was so much stuff crammed into a single episode that you could probably expand that one episode into a full story arc. I also like that Trigger doesn't give a fuck about how over the top they are with their action, style, and fan service. It's almost like Little Witch Academia allowed them to get all the whimsy and wholesomeness out of their system. I expect the hypest hype from this.

@darji: man, super pumped for the new season of Hajime No Ippo. Too bad I caved in and got up-to-date with the manga. T__T Wonder who's making the soundtrack this time around. I wasn't a fan of the New Challenger OST, it lacked the raw soul and personality of the first season!

So I should watch Kill La kill, huh guys?....... Well after I subject myself to some Infinite Stratos....... for reasons. :)

First season was ass but I HAVE to give every harem-ecchi series a chance. I find them charming in a 'damn I cant believe this is happening' kind of way.

Don't think it'll be better than high-school DxD last season.

Princess Mononoke is amazing. I'm finally going to watch a bunch of Miyazaki movies. I saw Spirited Away a long time ago in school, and though I remember liking it I hardly remember the movie itself. However, I think I'll watch Howl's Moving Castle next, and then My Neighbour Totoro, then Nausicaa, and then Spirited Away.

Dunno about the rest. Porco Rosso and The Wind Rises might interest me.

That Kill la Kill is anime as fuck and i love it for it. Also the "Bestie" is like a super dumb Chie, at least that is how im imagining her.

@penguindust: I really love touch. It is not all about baseball but also more romance. I don't know but if you liked Touch you should check out Cross Game. It is way faster paced but really good or if you want something more classic H2. And If you want a pure baseball Anime go watch Major it is easily the best one in terms of baseball^^

If you like Soccer or older sport animes you should also try Aoki densetsu shoot It is a bit like touch with focus on romance and the sport,

For Pure Soccer I would recommend Wildstriker. Its pure shounen Soccer Action.

The newest one was Area no Kishi which was also really good.

But man there are so many great sport animes. Even stuff like Go a board game can be epic. And we also get a finally a new volleyball one in spring

After I've finished some business, I'll put some new season anime into my system.

Finished Uchouten Kazoku, Railgun and Shingeki no Kyojin yesterday, clearing out the way for the new stuff. Uchouten built up a good amount of tension leading to the end and had a satisfying ending, unlike SnK. I was waiting for the big reveal after the fight scene and didn't get it. I knew there has to be one. "They didn't cut that part out, did they?" In the end, I got what I wanted and was really disappointed. Instead of making it the climax point of the episode, it was put after the credits. Why? Why would you do that? And it wasn't a grandiose reveal where the characters go "Oh shit!", like they supposed to but a BOOM! moment reduced to a whimper.

So if you stopped watching the last episode of SnK when the credits started rolling, just go back and "get surprised."

Railgun was pretty good too.

Kill la Kill:

So far I'm watching Kill la Kill and Coppelion.

Kill La Kill is pretty crazy.

Coppelion is a nice slow pace and kinda dreadful in a good and interesting way.

@metalsnakezero: So what is Coppelion, exactly? Is there any kind of sense of what kind of show it is from the first episode? The description of it really doesn't tell anything about it. Is it action, suspense, drama?

• Kill la Kill: This show is nuts in the best possible ways.
• Strike the Blood: Good set up for a first episode.
• Infinite Stratos 2: The first episode wasn't bad, but it made me remember how annoying the clueless protagonist trope is. I'll probably end up dropping this.

@silentpredator: It set in a chernobyl like Tokyo where a group of girls who are resistant to radiation look for survivors and helping Japan's nuclear research team find clues as to how to fix their nuclear problem. Later on there will be some action.

I agree with Infinite Stratos 2 for just being the same as the first. It tropes on the clueless MC and the harem set up just drag it down. It only got popular because it was the lightheartest of shows at the time Madoka Magica was out.

So I'm watching this Kill la Kill thing. I know nothing about it. It had better be as good as you guys are saying it is.

Seems to be an action drama of some kind. It's also a show with fantastic art for the terrain and back ground accompanied by lackluster art and design for the 3 main characters.

It was also pretty interesting to see the rather grim and dire state of affairs in the ruins of Tokyo juxtaposed by the morning news show-esque back drop of that interviewer's studio.

There is absurdity in events, characters, and presentation on the level of past Gainax shows. It shares the art style of Gurren Lagann. Nobuyuki Hiyama voices a character. It's pretty great currently as some dumb fun, but we'll have to wait and see if it transcends that like TTGL did.

I knew it had something to do with Gurren Lagann going in and that it was pretty fucking nuts. And that's pretty much what it was.

Speaking of Gurren Lagann, it seems like I should go back and finish watching that dubbed. Watching this subbed reminded me of why I just don't like to watch anime subbed. I want to watch the show, not read it.