Anime Megathread III and Cartoon Megathread I!

@alexandersheen: Well really I like Chiyo and Seo most but it is funnier calling Mikoto best girl.

@zomgfruitbunnies: Tomato tomato. (that doesn't work so well in text)

@nasp: So it's been a couple of days since I watched ep 12 of Tokyo ghoul. And since then, I have thought a lot about that last episode. This was the result of some philosophical questions it had raised in myself. And the more I thought about those questions and the progression of ep12, the more I liked the show. Part of this was realizing Kaneki's attitude change is important and not some half assed attempt to make him edgy or something.

Persona_4_The_Golden_Animation 12 END ~ It was alright some stuff was meh other stuff was awesome. Anyways, i liked this better than P4A it was perfectly acceptable

this right here is why i love the show so much.glad you thought about it and saw what i saw.

I don't mean to sound condescending but....you serious? Like, really? I'm shocked at that.

I kinda enjoyed this anime with the final 2 or 3 episodes being the most confusing thing on planet earth, but good god no way in hell do I think this is better than the first show. I'm one of the very few people who think the first show is GENUINELY decent and pretty well done for the most part. No guilty pleasure there, I'm being objective.

But Golden was...just.....good lord. I don't think it even qualifies as a show. It's messy, the pacing is non-existent and some ending events are confusing as all fuck even if you play P4G.

HOWEVER,,,I just came out of the last episode and I seriously thought it was a trainwreck up until the epilogue which of course kinda got me in tears because how can you not form tears when listening to Never More during those moments ._.

well i did not really like P4a all that much so all this had to be was decent for it to be better than P4a.

I've been watching a lot of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately, and man, that show is good. Like, damn good. Like, probably the best incarnation the Turtles have ever had good.

Also, the season 2 finale was all kinds of crazy. Nickelodeon is killing it for me right now with TMNT and Korra. (Although the latter is on its last season and ending soon =( )

@frostyryan: I felt the opposite for KLK - I thought the transformations were much less hype than they are in TTGL. However, that's if you stick around till the end, where the last three episodes are the most hype and crazy pieces of audiovisual entertainment ever.

But I can definitely understand how it doesn't appeal. I, for the life of me, could not get into Mobile Suit Gundam 00, despite how well received it was, and eventually gave up. I'm struggling to get into Code Geass also, so maybe something is just wrong about me.

Now that I'm not on a phone and can type more than just "it happens" I figured I'd chime in a bit about why I thought it was so jarring for me to transition from TTGL to KLK (and speculate of the vice versa).

When you've fallen in love with one and are starting the other after hearing things like "Oh, it's every bit as crazy," the hardest thing to come to terms with is how the the other anime handles that craziness (at least, this was true for my case, coming from TTGL to KLK). Yes, it's true they both turn it up to 11 and beyond, but they aim to achieve differently with that over-the-topness.

Kill la Kill is this bombastic, stylistic, nonstop-roller coaster ride where the only constant is awesomeness. Something along the lines of character action game. It's like Bayonetta: its identity is action and action is its identity. Even when the credits are rolling you're beating the shit out of bad guys. Gurren Lagann is a methodical ride-- one that capitalizes on few key moments. The more the ride climbs, the more it drops. The more it drops, the more it climbs. And by the end, you're climbing out of the atmosphere and smashing back down to earth. It's more like an RPG of sorts. Take Persona 4, for example, and the combat is not the focus of the game. It exists as sort of a figurative underlining of the narrative's themes and development. Kanji only drop kicks you out of the way of danger because you befriended him, you can only summon Izanagi-no-Okami because all of the time you spent with your loved ones. Kill la Kill is constantly oozing style and action, and communicates everything through its craziness. Gurren Lagann uses its craziness to punctuate its ideas.

So, going from TTGL to KLK just takes a bit of adjusting of expectations. But after giving it some thought, perhaps KLK to TTGL isn't as advisable. Maybe it's like playing Nocturne and then playing Persona 4 Golden. Neither is better than the other and it'd probably even be silly to compare the two but.. Going from one of the most hand-hold-y SMT games (P4G) to one that starts kicking your ass right off the bat (Nocturne), makes sense. But starting with Nocturne is like a trial by fire, so it'd probably feel less fulfilling to play a much more easy-going, character-focused one immediately after. Especially if you're trying to follow up on your enjoyment of the former.

I'd be willing to bet that Gurren Lagann's characters probably spend more time talking about fighting than actually fighting. And if I came from Kill la Kill to that, I'd probably be kinda turned off by it, too. I'm know there're a lot more factors-- ones I intended to address-- but honestly I think I've put a little too much thought into a show about cute girls with giant swords and another show about giant robots and (spoilers) gianter robots and gianterer robots and giantererer robots. But my point is, even considering TTGL is one of my favorite things, I can completely see where you two are coming from.

Okay, Barakamon and Nozaki-kun are definitely my favorites from this summer lineup with Nozaki-kun taking the top spot. Re-watching past episodes still elicits chuckles! :D

That show needs another season, dammit! I NEED MORE OF THIS STUFF...

;_;

@daveyo520@alexandersheen@zomgfruitbunnies@hamst3r

@frostyryan: I saw Gurren Lagann awhile back, before I even saw Kill La Kill and I kinda agree with you so you're not alone. It's not like I wouldn't recommend Gurren Lagann but I ended up not enjoying it as much towards the end for some reason. It's hard to explain it since I haven't watched it in awhile but I just remember my feelings of it when I finished watching it.

Gurren Lagann had moments where it got pretty ridiculous just like Kill La Kill but I can never say that both anime had the same kind of vibe. I just enjoyed Kill La Kill more because it had (a lot of) moments where it got dumb but in a way that I can totally get behind and just enjoy and relish in its absurdity so I was having a lot of fun watching it. Gurren Lagann wasn't like that for me when I watched it and I think it might have been because it started becoming a bit too serious in tone towards the end despite raising the absurdity level. It wasn't that I don't like the serious tone, it was just I think it wasn't able to pull it off as well as they intended it to be and it didn't really resonate with me as much.

Also for anyone reading this, I apologize if I didn't give specific examples or moments from Gurren Lagann since its been awhile since I saw it (the first time it was on Netflix...so around 3 years ago more or less). I hope I was able to make my explanation clear enough though.

@billymaysrip: Just let the power of Pizza Hut carry you through to the end. It is super long though with 2 25 episode seasons.

Finished Attack on Titan, I predicted what was revealed by the end and It makes my idea of the Titan origins more possible.

I'm off to book 3 of Korra but i'm re-watching Moribito, I forgot how much I liked that anime.

I started watching Tokyo Ghoul recently over the week and am not really sure what to make of that show so far after watching episode 4. The main character seems like a caricature of a lot of male protagonists I've seen in anime, very wimpy. For some reason this might be the first time I've really gotten annoyed by it. The show feels like it wants to be two things, cool shounen-esque fighting where only the strong survive and j-drama considering what has just happened to him. I'm still early in and the shows premise is pretty cool but I think the series probably feels more fitting if it didn't take itself too seriously.

Another anime I really felt like touching upon again was Michiko no Hatchin. I remember really liking that anime.

Mahouka - "I just caused this bigass crater on the center of the earth"...ROLL FUCKING END OF SERIES CREDITS. Fucking 10/10 let our lord and savior Tatsuya wash over you.

The action was the fraction of the whole show. It was mainly about the struggles, the motivations and the relationships of the people on the ghoul and the human side. And I think Kaneki was a very timid guy but at the same time he had a strong sense of justice, which balances things out.

If you think he was wimpy and annoying, maybe you should watch Neon Genesis Evangelion and you will see what a truly pathetic main character looks like.

My only complaint about the show for me is the overbearing censoring. I can't believe Akame ga Kill has no censoring whatsoever while this has all of it. Speaking of Akame ga Kill, now that is the show that wants to be two things. One part moe/comedy and one part dark/serious. And also harem.

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 26 ~ The END of the an ERA

Bask in Tatsuya

he just doesn't destroy

10/10 NOTHING wrong with this show.

Yup that show is fantastic and so was the season 2 finale. That series has propelled itself near the top of my favorite comic book cartoons of all time. If anyone was a fan of TMNT at some point then the Nick show is the complete package of action, humor, and suspense. I especially like all the references and callbacks to the older cartoons and live action movies sprinkled throughout as well as how they update the heck out of that stuff for a contemporary audience. Now for the long wait until season 3.

@alexandersheen: I think the timidness of the character is probably cause I haven't watched the series too far in. I'm sure the character will develop going further like most do.

Well, just finished Tokyo Ghoul. I liked it for the most part, and I think I'll just jump into the manga at this point. The last couple episodes were kind of rough to watch, due to the torture. (I know people don't like the censoring, but I think it did a more effective job at unnerving me, than if I actually saw the gore. My mind was left to fill in the blanks.)

I'll probably watch Aldnoah Zero next. People seem to think that's good.

Agreed, they've really hit the perfect balance of humor, action, and suspense like you said. And those callbacks, man. The worm episodes with the 80's Turtles had me dying.

As for season 3, I've heard it's starting next week! Gonna be interesting with Seth Green voicing Leo now.

:D

Did anyone else find the finale of Mahouka kinda fucked up? What I mean is that Tatsuya basically drops a hydrogen bomb on those dudes and no one really bats an eye. I got MAJOR flashbacks to Trigun, and how much of a big deal they made out of Vash's obliteration of that city. For a Japanese show too, I thought they would have at least some of the characters be really upset over what Tatsuya did - cause that shit is against the Geneva code, that is some straight up Alan Dershowitz preemptive strike shit right there.

Oh, yah, if Tatsuya wasn't so fuckin cool, this finale probably would have ranked as one of the most unsatisfying conclusions I've ever watched. But Tatsuya was so cool they pulled out the archaic Buddhist terms, so it was all cool.

Edit: SAO II 13, So I guessed from the beginning who Death Gun was, but I was kinda hoping that Asada didn't end up in Kritos' harem of unsatisfied girls, so I was hoping that Asada would end up living happily-ever-after with loner kid, but hey, Reki Kawahara seems to only able to write creepy-raper dudes as his bad guys, so that's that/

pyscho pass new edit or aldnoah zero? which should I watch first?

edit: or maybe... season 5 of breaking bad?

Aldnoah Zero will be faster to finish so do that first. I finished both last week and they are both really good for different reasons.

I like that Sword Art Online 2 has kept the creepy raper guy tradition alive. You can't go wrong when you have a creepy raper guy as a bad guy.

Is anyone else watching INVADERS of the ROKUJYOMA!?, cause I'm a little bit in love with Yurika's voice actor.

All in all, this show was a distinctly average harem. The story lines and comedy were very hit or miss at times, and MC's weird mormon communal setup at the end was strange, but 6/10 would watch and completely forget about again. I doubt they'll get the dvd sales to make a second season, though. Not much would be lost if they didn't manage it, really.

Not going to spoil anything but if you can be patient, I'd suggest waiting on watching it until the continuation/2nd half of Aldnoah starts on January. :D

Koe no Katachi is pretty fucking great for a manga that's super depressing

@billymaysrip: It is kinda weird that the author only seems able to write obsessive, creepy, pervy, control freaks as major bad guys... Kinda makes me appreciate bad guys like Makishima even more. I do like the pacing for this arc of SAO though considering that its sort of a mystery/detective story.

it was alright, also Yes VA for yurika is awesome.

One Piece 663: I've been waiting for this episode for awhile. They definitely did it better in the anime than the manga imo. I hate using this phrase, but... THE FEELS.

YO, I'M A WIZARD AND THAT'S FUCKED UP!

Nah, who am I kidding? If my onii-sama was like that I'd be all brocon, too.

A question for people still watching Mahouka: Did they skip the flashback of Tatsuya as a child committing genocide of the Chinese people?

@turtlebird95: I really need to catch up on One piece. I'm still at the start of punk hazard. :| Glad to hear the most recent arc was well done.

@gaspower: Yeah? Maybe I might just do that. I can only stand so many cliffhanger anime seasons at once.

@themanwithnoplan: I thought Punk Hazard was a bit of a slog but trust me, Dressrosa more than makes up for it. It starts kinda boring but then out of nowhere it dials the crazy meter to 11 and, well, that's all I'll say.

Yeah the past few episodes of One Piece have been pretty damn breakneck. This arc has been way better than the previous two in my opinion. I wish I could stockpile episodes the way some people do but I've just been too deep in it to stop now. There's not a lot of weekly entertainment in my life as good and reliable as this series has been for many years. It's waaay better than wrestling because that's so fucking bad right now.

Terraformars is off to a bad start. I think the prologue episode was way better at getting me interested in this premise than the actual first episode is. I just kept thinking "man you guys just want to make this thing as anime as hell don't you?" It was kind of pathetic to watch for something that feels like it should be much more bad ass.

Akame_ga_Kill! 13 ~ he's been found!

nah they did not show any Tatsuya as child in this

@bocam said:

C'mon, now. That would never fly on Japanese TV. If they had the balls to do that... well, I would be impressed in a weird way.

Finished Gurren Lagann.

Wwwooooooowwww. That was one hell of a finale. I wish more battles were like that one. The whole episode was also very sort of touching and emotional in the best way. This is one of those final episodes that makes me think "I wish I loved the rest of the show"

Good show though. I wish I liked it more than I actually did as a whole. Perhaps I'll revisit it one day and grow to like it a lot.

@frostyryan: So a solid Okay?

As someone who was reading the manga long before the anime came out, I highly recommend starting the manga from the beginning. The anime while fine cut out a ton of vital character and world building.

That's what I keep seeing people reading the manga say. I think I'll do just that.

To be fair the anime is not terrible, but they basically crammed 70+ chapters (four arcs) into 12 episodes. They also switched the Hinami arc (second arc) and Gourmet arc (third arc) around in the anime.

Sword_Art_Online_II 13 ~

Watched the first episode of Terra Formars, this has to be the most absurd censoring I've seen, they blacked out most of the screen.

I know Naruto is limping, but I continue to read the series anyway... I don't even know why.

But anyway, did anyone read the most recent chapter?

I have to wonder if everyone is sick in the Sword art online world?

I always know how to separate my preferences with what I think is competent.

Gurren Lagann was definitely more than a solid okay. It was very good. I just personally didn't like it all that much :p

Yeah, I read it. Hmmmm...