Anime Megathread III and Cartoon Megathread I!

Remember how Aldnoah Zero was written by Gen Urobuchi? Yup. That was an ending. Bad Luck Slaine till the end.

@nasp: Yeah, to each his own. I'm not saying that I completely ignored the fan-service (it's right there so you really can't ignore it at all), I just didn't let it get to me or affect my viewing but I can totally understand if you had high expectations for it because you've seen a lot of good/better anime and be let down by it.

@golguin: Aldnoah.Zero predictions:

The T800 is a robot and not really a cyborg...but I needed an excuse to put in the Terminator 2 theme. :P

Can we talk about the end to the Tokyo Ghoul manga? I heard there's some suggestion that there will be a sequel or some such.

@commisar123: Already shared in a previous page but apparently there's going to be an announcement in October. The implication is that its going to be about the anime since voice actors and the anime director would also be there but hopefully there's going to be announcement for the manga as well.

I was more giving an example that most people know when to hold back despite it being common knowledge what somthing like Elfen Lied and they do look for something beyond kids being gory. However your reaction to High of the dead is me several steps before....so when Highschool of the dead happened and people got behind it my mind explodes even more. While people like yourself talks about Elfen Lied's story holds up and such, I do not hear the same for HotD

On your other point, Higurashi and Elfen Lied my problem is the tone shift's and the overall thing is unappealing. Not Fanservice while Elfen Lied plays around with that awkward kid with a naked girl and such. It is not the same as it is nows....I mean...I saw a few clips of Rail Wars and...all I see it boobs boobs boobs then a train!...ramming into a boob.

Sure use boob jiggle and pantie shots in comedy shows have at it...but so many "serious" toned anime resort to this because Evangelion did it, a lot of modern anime really does come back to Evangelion for many reasons.

Which is why there is meme/joke Boobs=Plot in anime.

It is not just Highschool of the dead and its horrible amount of low brown fanservice...its not the only one....all of them do it...everything does. I remember the days when an anime boob jiggle was rare and unusual.

Hell Burn up excess half the jokes WAS the boob jiggle!! ADV put on their DVD a jiggle counter and it was funny, Rio won with over 100 boob jiggles over 13 episodes. Now a days opening scenes will feature 20 boob jiggles before the show even starts....and if its like Rails wars then its in the 50's before the halfway mark of the first episode.

I am surprised when I see an anime made after 2007 were the boobs stay still.

While gestating over Anime a lot the last year because they just put up so many barriers for me to enjoy something...pretty much everything is so generic and bland. Something I am finding how bad it is now I watch more west stuff and enjoy it, I am watching Twin Peaks and enjoying it alot , taking note of characters,scripts,lines,cinematography and very much on the edge of my seat.

Something I have tried to do with anime after 2007 yet it all falls flat, I look at the seasonal line ups of past and noticing there is an utter lack of stand out shows, not even to my opinion just to what people remember and maintain. Like Gurren Lagann or Baccano, It is not until 2013 that there was anime to note Kill La Kill and Attack on Titan...which...I think Kill La Kill despite being a whacky show where the protagonist is forced into skimpy clothes to fight...has less fanservice than 90% of current anime showings. I would be willing to bet the boob jiggle counter is closer to Burn Up Excess.

This sums up my feelings.

I sit frustrated going "PICK UP THE BALL! PICK UP THE BALL!.

This is really what I have been like for the last 7 years.

http://youtu.be/PidqxAAjUl4?t=1m13s

While I do not like Attack on Titan and I have not finished Kill La Kill due to pacing issues. I hope those two shows beat the stagnant anime industry into some shape...I really do.

PS

On the forums I spend most of the time bitching about the current state of anime.

AMV hell 7 has a trailer and also a release date. So October 4th the Jem-a-thon shall commence.

@akyho: so basically besides or opinions on elfen lied and such,we pretty much were agreeing on everything else.i hope anime tones it down on the fanservice as well.i wouldnt say get rid of ALL of it because if used right it can be funny.only thing i dont agree with is the anime being bland and generic,or being better years ago.most of my fave anime arent older then maybe 2006.i mean just for example zetsuen no tempest,guilty crown,and another are in my top 5 anime ever,and code geass,death note,elfen lied and higurashi,while a little older are still somewhat new and are also in my top 10.there actually isnt a anime on my list that isnt atleast from 2000 and up,and i dont feel alot of the older anime hold up.i mean i really dont like cowboy bebop and people love to use that anime when they say older anime is better.whatever though,opinions are opinions in the end.

Yeah we are.

I thrive on older anime from the 80s and 90s. With many good anime taking my interest since 2000 and I keep chipping away at all three decades with a little hit of the 70s.

Like you say not ALL anime should hark back to the 80's type of anime, not all anime has to get rid of fanservice and such, just most. The anime line ups need some variation and more above the bar efforts. Instead of someone going "Ok so tits sells.....ass sells...what about tits and ass on a loli! yes that sells! buuuut everybody does that....ok lets put them in tanks/planes/trains/mechs/fantasy world! ok done!"

Like I keep saying, I love Burn up Excess and its tits and ass police officers. I will not look down on someone for having their own guilty pleasures or such...just when that is all that there is. The guilty pleasure is seeming more an anime with story and well written characters.

Everyone has their own tastes but there is just some things that are universal, look at Attack on Titan it is done as if it was an older anime. It has many of the flaws current anime has, it follows the manga so it has to wait, the style is a little bright and less on a reality scale (I know its all from the manga, but its all current trends that influence.)

However its going for a smarter story and not even trying to sex object the female characters. I do not like it as I feel like I have seen it all before and better, yet just because I see a baby taking two steps and falling doesn't mean I will kick it over the next time I see it walk. I really feel like anime has gone back three decades and needs to relearn what made it in the first place.

70's and early 80's anime was rife with fan service even the intros would be filled with it and these were not seen as adult.

Hell this intro focuses on the main villanese and the trope her top is ripped off every episode and how her henchmen are always trying to spy on her...MORE THAN what Itadaki man it about.

NSFW realy.

I do not know much it mirrors today stagnation but....we need something more.

As for your feelings on Cowboy Bebop it is not the end all be all anime, it can simply not interest you on theme and not connect by story. That can have nothing to do with it being good or bad it is your taste.

On older anime the issue is as I have said before stagnation. So the anime you watch and uphold as great in your top 10 may very well be almost carbon copies of older great anime that set the new direction of the genre. So for you going back its all the same and nothing is different, for me going forward its all the same and nothing is different. In fact for you going backwards it only gets worse (it is a fact as things are refined, art,stories,genres) while for me going forward it is getting worse (because everything is becoming unrefined, art is getting lazy, stories are getting lazy,genres.....are so cut and paste)

Yet I go back all the time, recently I started and finished Gundam Zeta which is the second Gundam series, a lot of things i noted were the same as more up to date mecha anime in a lot of cases it was lesser. However I can put myself back into that time frame and see from the perspective of what anime fans of that time would have seen and why it was good.

With the storylines of the time all being light and happy. With previous Gundam hinting at a darker story letting Amuro grow, Zeta starts off pretty freaking Dark and follows Kamille in many ups and downs. All the character growing.

Nowadays this is common for mecha anime, however Zeta was one of the more prominent and early ones.

Gundam Wing was another prominent darker story at the same time as Evangelion. So much so they redid that story as Gundam 00 yet updated it to a more modern like anime. I have watched both and I watched them in chronological order...I would say 00 does do it better as it knew the flaws of Wing and did not repeat them, however they did fall for some of the flaws as Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny its predecessor.

I watched and enjoyed a certain amount of Seed Destiny till it became so bland and generic. Which now after watching Zeta it is basically a rehash of ZETA! Except this time not done better.

Basically, stand out stories and idea's stand out at the time after that they can become normal. Meaning anyone going back may have a hard time realising why it was a stand out in the first place when better is now. However I do not think current is better and that more people need to look back and find what needs to be done to make now better.

So you may have seen the better of anime in less stand out shows as they are doing what's normal now.

It would be a lot more detailed to figure out what what better old or new, just enjoy what you enjoy and much like what I want everyone to do is seek better, ask for better, look for better. What ever form it may be old or new, better is better.

Side note, Code Geass I love, it is as flawed as Gundam 00. It has many problems that are problems with anime now. However the story and execution stood out and remains well done, I will and have done rewatched Code Geass. Nothing else is like it........however....it was done before...better even...and wooooooooooooooooow does it do it better. Code Geass is the lite version of this. It is not mecha however the storytelling is similar. This is not only a high bar for anime...it is a high bar for ALL entertainment media. Any other person who has watched this is just the same.

I had high standards on anime before....WOW after this my standards are far higher than ever.

Finished Gankutsuou. It was pretty fuckin great. I feel like I want to like it more than I ultimately do, but either way, there's very few negative things that I can say about it. Shit, the worst thing I can think to say is the CG doesn't really hold up...but yet it still kinda works in this really weird way even though it really kinda shouldn't in this day and age. It's a solid show all-around and well worth a viewing if for no other reason than it's probably one of the more unique anime in existence at the moment.

I don't know what to watch next. Maybe marathoning shows is a bad idea.

aldnoah zero and tokyo ghoul, worth watching? From whar i know about these shows. One is a cool mech show, the other is a psychological thriller. Do they hold up and/or have memorable non-generic story?

Yep. There's also Maicching Machiko-sensei. It's about an elementary school teacher who is constantly groped, has her skirt flipped, and is peeped on naked by her male students.

i loved tokyo ghoul and it is one of my fave animes at this point,so yes go see it.aldnoah zero i just started watching yesterday,and im at episode 4 or 5,and i have to say its pretty good and it saposedly gets way better later.so i would say its worth a watch as well,but i like tokyo ghoul way better.

@akyho: ill give that legend of galactic heroes a try one day.ive heard of it,but never got around to it.we will see if it holds up against the anime i like.i agree that the settings are alot alike what we saw from older anime,but honestly its really hard coming up with a new setting at this point.i do understand that some older anime started alot things we see today,which is why i dont hate cowboy bebop because i realize how important it was to anime and how new it was at the time.honestly the only older anime that really holds up well to me is berzerk,the animation still looks ok to me,the music is some of my favorite music in a anime,and the ending was shocking when it came out and still is.i honestly believe though that there are way more unique ideas in anime now then there were before.i look back at older anime and realize alot of what i watched was mecha,or some other generic stuff(which is why coewboy bebop was so big at the time because it was new).now even if you dont like elfen lied or higurashi,i love them and there never was anything like it that was this good back then.there isnt anything older to my knowledge that competes with death note,because there isnt anything else like it really.im just one person so i cant and noone can watch all anime,but i just feel that we have more unique stuff now.no game no life came out recently and while it has problems its VERY unique.so i think honestly the new anime needs to look at older anime and tone down the fanservice,but besides that ill take the new anime in every category over what was offered before.because if the best anime we would get now is stuff like cowboy bebop and gundam,i probably wouldnt really like anime as it stands.on a side note you said you like more western stuff now,which is funny because i dont like any of the stuff we make right now,which got me into anime in the first place because i hated what we were making when it comes to tv shows.

The Urobutcher strikes again! Helluva way to set up for a second season. At this point, I don't even care where Aldnoah.Zero takes things, just keep the it coming. That ending is as classic as Urobuchi endings get. Lull the viewer into a false sense of security then kill everyone. Can't wait for January.

Also, bitchin' soundtrack. Sawano Hiroyuki might write completely bullshit lyrics, but those songs are catchy as fuck.

Spoiler-free interpretation of the ending of Aldnoah.Zero

I predict the next season puts Rayet and Edelrittuo as the MCs trying to stop a crazy-ass Slaine from blowing shit up with his comatose princess. Alternatively, they pull a Gundam SEED Destiny where Inaho magically comes back to life in the last three episodes and yanks the MC mantle back with no explanation before saving everyone.

Aw man, now I really wish there was some form of continuity between episodes in Space Dandy. I've been catching up and the ending to episode 10 left me kinda bummed. Oh well, still great...but damn

The anime I've been watching is Metal Gear Solid. Going to start 3 today!

Akame_ga_Kill! 12 ~ Very handy new member

@nasp: I just finished ep4 of Tokyo ghoul. So far it's ok, I am, however, happy Kaneki is not super emo. I really like the CCG tho. Now when it comes to how unique Kaneki is...I feel like people in that universe could just produce a bunch more. Whether ghouls do it for the "delicacy" aspect, or humans do it because they are fans of ghouls(like in Blade?or was it Underworld?). Either way, There could be a large number of one eyed Ghouls at anytime. Also, what the hell is wrong with their society? They are told there are cannabals all over town and Kaneki and friends care nothing about it. You would think they would have routine checks to make sure everyone was human.

@hunter5024: lol, thanks for the heads up

Watching Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is like having a water balloon thrown at you. You can see it coming a mile away, but there's nothing you can do to stop it. I knew the show was going to troll hard, but it still hits hard.

10/10 on the awwwww scale. Thus Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, aka the many faces of Chiyo, ends as it started: by stealing my heart. I'm very much anticipating another season, and all of the many ships this anime produces.

Also, now that the anime is over, time to ruin it by reading all of the manga!

Gekkan_Shoujo_Nozaki-kun 12 END fantastic show not a single bad episode hope thereis more !

i wish i liked that show, I hated pretty much all the characters so it was hard to care about what happened...

Jumping back into Fist Of The North Star and am up to episode 39. It just keeps up with the wonderful brutality.

@super2j: yeah i was happy kaneki wasnt a generic emo character.i dont have a problem with emo characters themselves,but they have been WAY over used.as for the characters not making a big deal out of the current situation.i feel its just one of those things where theres nothing you can really do about it,so you try not to worry about it.either way i wanna tell you if you already like it a little like you say,it gets way better as it goes up till the end when it gets amazing.which is why i cant wait till season 2.

@azrailx: Oh, really? Why's that? Just thought they were poorly written or something of that nature? The only I kinda hated was Albert, but everyone constantly points out how stupid he is so that made me feel better haha.

On a different note, man, the ending to Nozaki-kun was perfect for that series. Left a big, dumb smile on my face. Bravo. If there is a next season though, I demand more Seo.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is so good. I laughed more than a few times at the latest episode. Michelangelo is such a party dude.

One PIece is really popping off now. Not sure that I like the direction it's going but it's always at least a fun ride. Proud to stick with it exclusively as an anime.

Haikyuu! is over for now. I have really enjoyed that show. I have a few issues with it like the overly sappy music and the excessive anime hair but I'm coming away from the first season very satisfied overall. They do right by making the sport of volleyball look both slick as hell and oddly compelling. Mind you I have a certain affinity for sports anime so take the recommendation with a grain of salt.

Also when was someone going to tell me about this?

So I get to beat up on Kenshiro with a volleyball player (Shoyo)? Dudes...sometimes anime is awesome...

I just finished the first season of Aldnoah Zero... And holy crap was that one of the most shocking season finales I've seen in a long time!

Slaine, that a*****! I hope that back-stabbing bat gets shot in the second season... While highly unlikely considering it looked like a head-shot, I'm just hoping he managed to survive, somehow... But damn, that Urobutcher might have surpassed even Kill 'Em All Tomino with his ruthlessness.

...The last time I remember seeing a shocking season finale like that were probably Code Geass and Gundam 00 some five years ago.

Either way, Aldnoah Zero could very well be my favourite anime of the year so far, and possibly the mecha show I've found the most engaging in the last five years.

Overall, I give the first season a 9/10.

@billymaysrip: @bigjeffrey: That was a great end to a great series. I really hope it gets a second season one day but I guess the manga will have to do. If I actually end up reading it that is. Does anyone know what volume or chapter the show ends on?

@babychoochoo: naw it was one of those shows where i can tell everything is well done but I couldn't sympathize with any characters.

Hey guys, a friend of mine was trying to get my to watch the show Fairytail, Do any of you duders recommend it as well?

I've only seen a few episodes so far. From what I've seen so, it was pretty interesting, like a cross between Rave Master (from the same creators) and One Piece.

@entreri10: I've only seen a few episodes of the anime as I prefer to just read the manga, so take that for what you will, but I think it's a fun shounen series. Don't go in expecting deep characters or great writing and I feel like you could have a good time with it.

@jagged85: I think Inaho is dead for good. If he isn't, then the show betrays the theme it's been running with this whole time. Good intentions and having a heart don't win wars. Inaho's little philosophy lesson to Asseylum near the end of the episode is as much for her sake as it is for the audience. The irony is, of course, Inaho goes against this when he sees Asseylum dead on the floor. His smile before getting shot holds a lot more meaning than most people would likely realize.

Watch JoJo and Hunter x Hunter instead.

The anime covers a lot of different parts of the manga, so you honestly start from the beginning. For example, episode 11 is based of chapter 40 but the entrance ceremony bit from this final episode is from chapter 48! Just read it from the start, it's good stuff.

@entreri10: Fairytail isn't bad, but neither is it very good. It's your average run of the mill shounen that lasts forever. Give it a shot, and if you like it, keep with it. Fairytail is to anime as all of the Friends-clones are to network television. It's mostly fun saccharine entertainment that you can enjoy like cotton candy without having to think too hard about anything - which is sometimes a welcome respite from the rest of the stuff out there. Just as people used to argue that Two and a Half Men is better than How I Met Your Mother, or how The Big Bang Theory was better than all of them, or Modern Family is better than The Big Bang Theory, people argue about the quality of shounen battle anime. At the end of the day, they're all kinda similar, relying on the same old tropes, and it's up to you to figure out which one will become your favorite. (Irregardless I would recommend Hunter x Hunter over Fairytail (I've watched Fairytail twice too!))

I'll pretty much echo what @babychoochoo said and say it's a fun, dumb series. Don't go in expecting a really deep and meaningful plot, this is generic Shonen through and through. Friendship overcomes anything and Lucy's body are pretty much the main things you'll take away from it. (And oh man, Lucy. The amount of cleavage shots and upskirts that character gets is kinda disturbing imo. Especially in the manga.)

Yeah, erm, so it's fun, dumb, full of fanservice and occasionally sick fights, stupid plot twists, and is generally always happy and silly. Give it a try if you're okay with that.

@billymaysrip: Thanks.

this is a fantastic way to describe fairy tails quality.

Then I'd say the show is doing its job right. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo is a story crafted around the ugliness of the human condition, namely greed, selfishness, and vengeance. Everyone's a fucking cunt and you're not supposed to like anybody save for a few side characters and Albert (some deserve maybe pity, but certainly not sympathy), not even Edmond. The catharsis comes when all of the cunts get their just rewards one after another. My memory of the anime is dodgy at this point, but I think the story framework does deviate from the book at some point during the second half.

Fullmetal_Alchemist up to 45 ~ damn dat greed v king bradley

I just finished watching Persona 4 The Animation and Persona 4 The Golden Animation. I'm not so big into anime really. I think the last thing I watched was Macross Frontier a couple of years ago and before that Neon Genesis. But the pull of the Persona brand was too much to handle. I just had to. So good.

Sort of want to dig deeper.

@zomgfruitbunnies: I get what you're saying, but... there's a part of me that kind of wants the show to actually pull a deus ex machina and bring him back. I mean, if Kyojin could get away with bringing back Eren, I don't think it's such a bad thing if they did the same in Aldnoah.

@perilator666: It's time for you to dance!

@jagged85: Hey, man, whatever the fuck they end up doing, I'm on board. Inaho alive? Fuck, yeah! Asseylum alive? Alright! Saazbaum becomes a good guy? Give it to me! More crazy, please!

Just finished Psycho Pass. Pretty good. Good thing the next season is starting soon.

@daveyo520: I'm all over it dude.

@perilator666: The next thing I am getting is Q myself. Though I really should get the fighting games. I also plan to watch the anime eventually, but that list is a mile long and grows faster than I can attack it.

@zomgfruitbunnies: Or my favourite possibility: Inaho rises from the ashes, actually starts expressing his emotions, and slays Slaine and Saazbaum in revenge for what happened to Asseylum. That would be pretty sweet.

Just burned through all of the remaining episodes of Fullmetal_Alchemist:_Brotherhood fantastic all around. Glad i finally got around to it, now back to watching garbage.