Anime Megathread III and Cartoon Megathread I!

I want to know the whole story too and how did he develop his female persona, but what if it's really dark. I don't think I can handle seeing Hato getting bullied or something worse done to her... him?... whatever, in my eyes she's a girl.

And that Kuchiki dude, man, fuck that guy! He's always in the way, he's annoying as hell and he's always too loud. I just can't stand him. Even Catface Girl is better than him.

There's a subtle moment during that exchange in which realizes if he's to survive, he has to take on the persona of a loner and become feared. He seemed to be faking the confidently arrogant demeanor he displayed toward the other players then. That's what I took from it anyway.

It's not really a spoiler, but I'll mark through it anyway. In reference to why he won't join anyone's team...

It seemed pretty obvious when it happened, but it's later directly revealed that the reason he's a solo player is because he didn't want to go through losing comrades like he previously did in his first guild.

@alexandersheen: Hato getting really embarrassed during Yajima's high school "romance" story makes me think that there is at least some good from his high school yaoi lovin' days. So hopefully it won't be too dark.

Also, yeah, Kuchiki is pretty annoying. He's got his moments, like when he decided to take his role as Madarame's top too seriously, but for the most part he gets in the way.

The last few episodes of Attack on Titan have been super tense. I cannot handle that stress. Go back to the walls! (not really)

@superwristbands: Oh, now that you mentioned Madarame, do you think him and Hato gonna get together? She said she's not into guys but how long will that statement hold up?

Oh man. I don't really think so :p

Last episode being largely a flash back it didn't really have me all that tense after the first few minutes but I am right there with you on the last few. I always expect that certain, not "main" characters that I like are going to eat it (Jean attacking the female titan a few weeks ago for instance and Sasha getting caught in a real bad place). I can't wait for the next episode though, even though they will probably find enough things to do to make me have to wait another episode to even see who is in that Titan (if anyone).

Didn't Hato already say that he was bullied for liking boys' love? And he found that crossdressing allowed him to spend time with people that would be okay with him liking it. So, I would definitely say there is bullying in his past.

As for Madarame, I don't think they'll get together, but Hato may develop feelings for him. Madarame's love for Saki is well-established, and he's not going to give up on that. Hato's just going to have to come to terms with his feelings and then find someone he can really be with.

Ketchup Ninja is still really good and people should read it. You can learn useful english phrases just in case you move from Japan to the US!

@rubberluffy said:

Ketchup Ninja is still really good and people should read it. You can learn useful english phrases just in case you move from Japan to the US!

Printed in English, because language teachers are assholes.

Sue noted that when Yajima said "He was better at drawing than me" she turned three times redder than normal. According to the things Hato said before, she never dated anyone, her school didn't had otaku related clubs and she started crossdressing out of necessity. So there must be something that we don't know for sure. The thing I want to know about is the trigger that caused her to have this insatiable appetite for BL.

I'm pretty sure Hato just liked BL. I mean... the other characters got into it just because that's how they are. Can't that be the same case for Hato? I don't see why there needs to be a catalyst for liking BL or crossdressing, as both are things that someone can just gravitate towards without some big trigger.

But the other characters are all girls and Hato said she's not into dudes, so why would she look for BL and how did she know about BL in the first place?

She could have just had female friends who liked it. I mean, I'm not into BL, but I am well aware of a lot of the fandom. I also like shoujo manga even though it's a girls' genre, and I didn't need coaxing into it. I just tried many kinds of anime and manga and found that I appreciated some of the aspects of the stories and relationships.

I agree that perhaps Hato does have an attraction toward men, thus the BL, but then, that wouldn't necessarily take a trigger to start. That could just be a kind of manga she gravitated toward after reading manga for a while. I wouldn't blame you for thinking the anime will throw in some kind of big revealing moment, but I don't think that's really necessary. Could just be that she noticed it and found the genre enjoyable.

@truthtellah: Hmm... you're probably right, we'll see one way or another. By the way, do you have a MAL list?

I do not, and at first, I had no idea what you were talking about. ha. I see now that it's some kind of thing for listing the anime you've watched. Do you have one?

@truthtellah: Yep, here it is.

EDIT: you can also use that for mangas.

@alexandersheen: Cool, thanks. I'll see about starting one.

(oh, and how is watching anime on Hulu? I've never really been a fan of ads, which is why I gravitate more toward crunchyroll. Do you get used to the ads on Hulu or do you somehow use something else to watch some series?)

Well, I live in Hungary (basically the middle of nowhere) so there's not much options for media streaming services. On the upside, on Crunchyroll there are no advertisement, it just skips a little bit. And if I can't watch something on CR or just not convinient for me, then I use other methods.

Mhm. So, the Hulu advertisements are just something you get used to? Are they not too jarring? I haven't used Hulu in quite some time. I didn't like that even when you paid, you still got commercials, and back then, they were kind of annoying.

We don't have Hulu in my country, so I don't know. You should ask someone else about this.

Ohh. Okay. Sorry, I saw a few Hulu exclusive titles on your MAL and thought maybe you were watching them through Hulu. Got it. If it's not available, hey, other methods are understandable.

@superwristbands: I must be behind a few episodes on the website I'm watching it on I just finished the one where they first enter the forest. I guess I need to catch up.

Side note: I thought I saw BGC 2040 popup on Netflix. I am still torn about the whole reboot thing where this show kind of crystallized it the issue.

I don't really have anything to say about anything new, but I did re-watch Macross Do you remember Love yesterday and it continues to be fantastic.

@truthtellah: hulu advertisements are something you have to get used to

Hey guys, got 3 48 hour all-access passes to Crunchyroll.com for anyone interested;

• P7NH7UQ3R78 (expires aug 27th) Redeemed.
• FP4XAYTV6UG (expires Sep 26th)
• 9JG4WB8Q7MJ (expires Oct 26th) Redeemed.

I get these every 30 days and I don't really know anyone using the service personally to gift them to. If this is useful to anyone (for themselves or someone else), I can throw them in here whenever I get new ones.

"Attack on Titan: Before the Fall" Prequel Manga Launches Next Week

The second Attack on Titan Blu-ray has revealed that writer Satoshi Shiki (Kami-Kaze, Riot) has been attached to an Attack on Titan: Before the Fall manga, set to run in Shounen Sirius magazine starting with the issue that goes on sale August 26th.

Three Attack on Titan: Before the Fall prequel light novels, written by Suzukaze Ryo and illustrated by Thores Shibamoto (Trinity Blood) , have been released in Japan. The first follows the the development of the 3D maneuver gear as the scouting legion struggle without knowing the titans' weaknesses.

The second follows the youth of Kyklop, who was discovered as a newborn in a mass of titan vomit. The third returns to Kyklop as he battles titans with a set of primitive 3D maneuver gear.

In my experience, the Hulu ads are exactly like watching a show on actual TV, including the mute button and other tab I have open to occupy myself for the minute or so that ads are on.

Well, OK, they're not quite exactly like watching a show on actual TV in that the ads usually only take up a minute or two of your time, not five or so. As always, ads suck, but just how much they suck really depends on the show (Mushi-shi with ads is terrible. A Shonen like One Piece or Bleach? Probably not so much). If you're lucky, it will offer to let you view a three minute ad before watching your show and there will be no ads after that.

ooo I could handle a three minute ad at the beginning. I'd love that!

How is the free quality? I watched it a few years ago, and it was alright. Still just okay?

Seemed good to me. About on par with Netflix's.

I see. Maybe I'll have to give it another shot.

Yes, while watching Macross Frontier I had a hankering to see Do You Remember Love again. It hasn't been too long since I've seen it for the umpteenth time; about 3 years. Hell, while responding to this thread I wound up watching the first 10 minutes of MDYRL again. I love that movie. I'd like to see another Macross movie or series for that matter.

Speaking of revisiting older shows, I re-watched the first half of Gurren Lagann this past weekend. It's also still very good. I was never a die-hard fan of the series, but I enjoyed it well enough. Stylistically, the animation is nice with the exception of, I think, episode 8 which for some reason looks like it was rushed out without a standard of quality.

This past week I've been checking out episodes of Detective Conan. That show is damned addicting. Still, 700 episodes, nearly 20 years since the manga premiered and Ran still hasn't discovered his true identity. Lois Lane is Einstein by comparison.

It may be somewhat off topic, but given that it's anime related I'd like to draw attention to the recent "Anime Jukebox Thread" for those who haven't seen it yet. There's a pretty good collection of Anime music there and I didn't want it to go unnoticed for any reason.

Macross Frontier never really did it for me, I can't imagine myself ever wanting to watch it in its entirety again. I might listen to the soundtrack sometime though, it was pretty amazing. I would love another Macross series though, even if it was just a handful of episodes like Plus (my personal favourite even with its weird pacing) or Zero. I know that Shoji Kawamori directed all of the anime cutscenes in that Macross 30 PS3 game that came out earlier this year. Oh yeah, and the sequence in DYRL with the space battle and Minmay singing is possibly one of my favourite animated sequences in anything ever.

Gurren Lagann is probably the last big robot anime show I went nuts for before I started falling out of love with a lot of modern stuff. The final battle is one of the craziest things I have ever seen. I really should go back and watch that again sometime.

Mushi-Shi continues to be very interesting and thoughtful to watch.

Anyone other than myself and @truthtellah ever seen it? It seems like one of those small little gems that few people have seen because it's so slow-paced and quiet.

Anyone watching Dangan Ronpa on Hulu?

I just signed up for a two week trial of Hulu Plus, and while I can handle their commercials with the big one upfront, what's the deal with the "high" quality? It looks like less than even 720p, let alone 1080p. Blood Lad looked nice enough, but Dangan Ronpa and its subtitles look blurry at full-screen. What's the deal?

And the subtitles... I like how some are adjustable, but even the biggest size is a little small. And the stroke on them is so light. They also seemed a little delayed. Like a quarter-second behind where they should be showing up. Makes it harder to relate the words with the text.

I'm going to keep trying it out, but so far, I'm kind of disappointed with the quality of the video for the price.

@believer258: Right here, baby. As far as I'm concerned Mushishi is a classic. Weirdly enough, AnimeVice was the place where I found out about this series (now that I think about it, it's the same with Fairy Tail and Gintama.) There is something though that bugs me ever since I finished it. Maybe I wasn't paying attention or I'm just too stupid to put the pieces together: everyone wears traditional Japanese clothes, so how come Ginko has modern clothes and only he?

@truthtellah: While I can't comment on the quality of Hulu Plus, if you wish to talk about Blood Lad or Dangan Ronpa, I'm here.

I thought that it was implied that Asuna was also a beta player based on how good she was, but she simply was never in a party. Since the whole raiding group was about to turn on beta players he declared himself above beta players and claimed that they were all better than the beta players since they didn't even know how to level up. It felt to me that he was taking all the heat off the beta players so there wouldn't be any drama with the rest of the players.

He himself admits that he was only concerned about his own survival and left Klein to die in the very beginning. It's something that's brought up several times during the anime series. It makes sense that he doesn't want to be responsible for the lives of others when he felt he could do it all himself.

EDIT: I activated code P7NH7UQ3R78 @pezen

Mushishi really is a classic. I always recommend it.

As for why Ginko wears the clothes that he does despite it being a fictional period of 1800s era Japan, it's because of two things. The actual reason and the canonical reason. The actual reason is that the author of the manga admitted that he designed the character back when he pitched it as being in a modern setting; after deciding to change it to a feudal era instead, he kept the design close to what he originally envisioned.

The canonical reason is uncertain, but it's commonly believed that he just got the clothes from overseas, as his clothes aren't too odd for mid-1800s Europe. When he is young, he wears normal Japanese attire of the time, and then he gets these clothes(perhaps from his friend who is knowledgeable of the outside world). Ginko is a mysterious fellow, and along with his other odd features, his clothes reinforce the "out of place" feeling he presents. As much as he is a part of people's lives, he's still more or less removed from the everyday. He's a mystical figure that wisps in and out of people's lives.

@truthtellah:

Aaaaah... Thanks for the explonation.

Canonically, Asuna was not a beta tester. She actually states that she had borrowed her brother's NerveGear while he was gone, and after being trapped in the game, she eventually resolved herself to not just wallow in sadness but to try to become the best player in the game. She then had a notable rise through her merciless attempts at level-raising, and it led to her notoriety and eventual high status in the game.

And Kirito definitely made up the whole concept of "Beaters" who were Beta testers that "cheated", unlike most beta testers who he suggested were just lazy and bad at the game. He wanted to take the heat off of most beta testers, and through his infamy, he succeeded.

As for Kirito's motivations, I think it's less that he really believed he could do it all himself. It's more that his initial fear led him to abandon people that needed him, and after that, he never wanted to put himself in a situation where his personal failings might let down people relying on him. Going it alone is just part of how he copes with his guilt, and he constantly blames himself for tragic things that happen. Saying that he could have done more or his carelessness got people killed. (flashbacks to the low level party member that died in a trap) So he was reluctant to let anyone close to him. Yet, Asuna, in her endless determination, was able to get him to open up, and he accepted the idea of facing challenges together.

Any time.

I had forgotten that Asuna borrowed the Nerve Gear.
Agree about Kirito wanting to take the heat off the beta testers.

His motivations were selfish before Asuna broke his shell. His beta experience in the beginning gave him an advantage over the majority of the player base. He didn't want Klein and his group to weigh him down so he left them to fend for themselves in the starting town. He was still at the top of the player skill base after the first boss fight and he knew it. He also knew he wasn't suited for team fights because he was still too concerned for his own safety, but he knew that Asuna would be safe among other players.

Before joining his first guild he still feels guilty about the Klein situation even though it's implied that Klein doesn't care (in ep 3 he wonders why it still bothers him) and actually wants Kirito to join his guild. Once he joins the guild it appears to me that his presence pushed the guild beyond their fighting abilities. They were able to fight enemies beyond their ability because Kirito was there to take care of any dangerous situations. Before they got trapped Kirito did advise them to fight in weaker areas because he knew they couldn't handle themselves if shit got real. In the end only Kirito was able to survive when shit hit the fan. Had he never joined up they wouldn't have advanced beyond their skill level and they'd still be alive.

His final act of cowardice came during the blue eye demon fight. He was too scared to jump into the fight to save the soldiers himself. It was Asuna that forced his hand when she thrust herself into the boss fight. Kirito was even hesitant to use his trump card because he was worried that others would see. It took the power of flashbacks to make him realize that he was the only one that could save their lives.

After that boss fight he stopped prioritizing his safety.

So this is kinda VN related but Aquaplazza is coming stateside

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/08/21/aquapazza-coming-to-north-america-this-holiday/

Just finished reading Masturbation Master Kurosawa and you can put me on the "highly recommended" boat with everyone else. Really good all the way through and anyone putting it off because of the title is missing out on a fantastic coming-of-age (lol) story.

I had seen this comment before and just got around to watching the episode. I was thinking the whole time what was so special about a bath house episode that actually plays it straight and doesn't pander... then it happened.

"As long as you live, there's no way to escape from saying goodbye"

:(

I forgot to mention that Fate/kaleid liner got SUPER HYPED during the last episode. If anyone got turned off by the premise I urge you to watch this clip.

Sort of. The problem with anime is that much gets lost in translation, and even then the writing is rarely of the quality of something like The Wire or Breaking Bad. However, the more you watch, the more you understand about the culture that it comes from and the more you can appreciate and/or hate it.

That said, a list of thinking man's anime with above-par writing and mature story lines that I enjoy, that are also largely moe-free (goddamIhateyoumoe!):

• Haibane Renmei - A serial, slow paced character study in a mild fantasy setting. No action here, just amazing characterization and a plot that makes you think without being completely overblown like most anime.
• Kino's Journey - Similar to the above only episodic and more about the settings it takes place in than the characters in particular. A little bit of action.
• Paranoia Agent - A sort-of psychological thriller. Not jump-scary, more existential-scary. Weird, but worth it.
• Serial Experiments Lain - A convoluted story barely kept in check by minimal bombast.
• GitS - Has been discussed to death across these threads.

Honorable mentions and movies:

The Patlabor movies (at least the first two, I just found out there's a third that I haven't seen) are really smartly written political thrillers with some pretty great action sequences. Miyazaki's films are all worth watching, though they vary from kids-stuff (albeit really enjoyable kids-stuff) to slightly more serious fare (IMHO he hit his peak with Laputa and Nausicaa in the mid-80s.) Cowboy Bebop the series and the movie are both excellent, though not without their not-so-good moments. Wings of Honneamise was really ahead of its time back in 1987 and still certainly worth a watch today (it's got a 100% on Rottentomatoes.) Satoshi Kon does some great work (and was responsible for Paranoia Agent up there) though honestly I'm not a huge fan of his work besides Paranoia Agent and Paprika. Paprika is fucking awesome BTW.