Anime & Cartoon Megathread V: I, Gacha

Besides watching way too many of this season's anime (I really need to drop some), I started to rewatch Gundam from the beginning since I've basically forgotten most of what happens and it goes along nicely with playing XCX. Some of those Skell models I would buy a model of in an instant. I've watched 5 episodes of 0079 so far and it generally still feels watchable but that could be due to being a fan of Gundam while someone new to anime or Gundam would probably feel differently. I'm interested to see if I have a change of heart with some of the series. I think the main ones I didn't like were ZZ and X but it's been so long I don't recall why.

@akyho: Maaaaaaaaaan, Gundam has some great OPs.

Gintama episode was quite weak, a lot of reused scenes but the one joke was quite funny.

Gundam IBO was alright .

And I don't think I like God Eater. How scenes play out and when music kicks in, or how characters talk between long breaks of silence. Meh.

With each new D. Gray man chapter I am getting more and more confused.

Fuck yeah it does

I've been way behind on anime but I'm caught up with Haikyuu!! (as well as Diamond No Ace) and dammit I love that show.

@instantryan: I watched the first episode of Gundam 0079 10 years ago and went "This is good! I am going to watch this!" same story as 0083 lols. I did watch 0080 shorter series Orguss 02 aesthetic of course it kept my attention, I should give 0079 a proper go now after watching Zeta myself as 0079 is an important thing to witness at least once, I know most of the larger story beats of 0079 however not witnessed the actual events leading up. Hell Lalah was a new character to me just a year ago when she is the main newtype love interest of Amuro and Char! So I am sure there is new stuff to find. I even know the mini story of Matilda with Amuro and never seen the anime.

I found Zeta very watchable as I watched it last year and the only gripes you can make are A: It was a normal thing for anime at the time to do or B: It may seem played about and unexciting....BECAUSE EVERY MECHA ANIME HAS DONE IT SINCE. Yet Zeta did a lot of groundbreaking stuff, much like 0079 it may come off as overplayed yet it was the anime that many mecha based themselves off of so no wonder it's overplayed.

I can also tell you on ZZ that it is UTTER trash, it's so far the utter worst Gundam series I have ever witnessed and I watched Gundam Seed Destiny which I loath...I did watch a lot of it and enjoyed it at a time. So while I realy do not like it I can accept it and appreciate it. This well made article some guy made on his wordpress acount sums it all up. Can you tell ZZ has effected me alot?

Yet ZZ is just so bad that I actualy decided to go back on a previous judgment which was saying "G Gundam and Turn A Gundam are horrible and I will never watch them!" to "Holy shit ZZ is so bad....what...what....what if G Gundam and Turn A Gundam are good...and my previous notions are utterly wrong?" so yes....I am going to watch G Gundam and Turn A Gundam some time and see what I feel like.

On After War Gundam X, I have been watching it and plugging away at very very slowly for the last 10? months...holy shit I think I have been. I mainly watched an episode before going to work cos I had get a bus and then walk a mile to work which would still leave me 45 minutes before I had to start work (it's a tourist place out of the way) so I'd sit in the summer weather and watched Gundam X. I was sort of held prisoner to watch Gundam X here is the thing I realy realy like alot of things about Gundam X, Garrod Ran is one of the best Gundam characters to me, Gundam X is Fing cool, Divider X is cool, Double X is cool, Visargo is cool, I like most of the characters and realy it should be awesome........but I am 15 episodes in over 10 months and......nothing has happened. Yeah Tiffa has a vision go find a newtype.....that's it...NOTHING HAS HAPPENED! Maybe there is a barrier to break but when something asks to watch 15+ episode to get to the good part that's a major investment.

Besides all of this dosnt matter as we all know the utter best Gundam Opening ever.

Its not anime.....It's true.

Jesus does ZZ suck.....

@akyho: Yeah, I remember absolutely despising ZZ. I think the general Gundam crowd doesn't like it very much but we'll see if my feelings change at all (I doubt it). That is a GOAT OP. It describes everyone's feelings about anime -.-

As for X, I think I remember liking the first 7-8 episodes or so but after that is a blur. I also remember really liking the Gundam designs.

Turn A being was fairly weird in comparison to most Gundam shows and I thought it was considered one of the best.

I have an irrational love for G Gundam and it gave us Shining Finger, the greatest contribution to anime.

I watched what there is to watch of Konosuba and it is pretty funny. I didn't have a comedy to watch this season and this will do nicely. The quality of the animation and art is pretty low but the laughs make up for it. The most useless RPG party ever.

I'd take ZZ over Victory Gundam

There's no such thing as an irrational love for G Gundam. Either you love G Gundam...

@babychoochoo: I once knew a guy who thought G Gundam was a terrible pile of dogshit, as well as some other great shows that weren't Gundam, but thought SEED Destiny was one of the greatest animes ever made. I didn't even know how to respond when he said that. He must have been Hitler reincarnated.

Well, it certainly was one of the greatest animes ever made.

@instantryan: Gundam X was actualy realy good up to that point is was building up to something and things were good. Yet episode 10 is were is slows....and that is also were the original airing had the lowest viewers....so it got canceled at that point so the 50 epiode plan was cut short and they made 30 something to wrap the show up sooner, it is an constant problem with Gundam X that everybody knows about, it just makes people drop off by the way it was written.

@jiggajoe14:Yeaaaah......that's why I am scared by Victory Gundam, I know the basic story....12 year old boy falls in love with a 20 something female soldier who showed kindness to him once? So he jumps in a Gundam and she hates him and tries to kill him? Something like that...yet even the events that happened in ZZ seem saner than what happens in Victory. It is something I need to check in on and witness for myself cos....if something with worse than ZZ then I need to know about it. When that had almost and entire episode dedicated to a character being shot and bleeding out with everything going wrong for them and their death seeming certain before they are attacked and strangled for a bit and still survive....ONLY TO HAVE A MOBILE SUIT FALL AND EXPLODE ON THEM. One of the most blunt over the head moments to go "THIS CHARACTER IS FUCKING DEAD! You saw that they were almost died from the 20 minutes of bleeding out and fighting....now that!? Their gone their dead, done an ex character!.......oh? they turn up at the last minute of the entire series in a wheelchair saying "I had to pretend to be dead otherwise I would have only weakened their resolve and would never have made this war end." "

As you can see I can go on about ZZ. Not only was it a disappointment after watching Zeta right befor it just fails in basics of media let alone an anime story teller, an anime were the most annoying useless character gets far more character development than characters in the last series who had great development become not even 2D characters 1D, cmon how could they ruin Haman Karn!

So uh yeah....Victory might make me rupture something if it is worse.

@babychoochoo: I am still in a strange place with G Gundam, I like me some gundams and that's because their "real robots" and G Gundam is all super robots....yet I do like me some ridiculousness.

THIS IS G GUNDAM! THIS IS THE REASON TO HATE IT......yet also the reason to love it.....if I was a kid watching this and years later had to explain the events of G Gundam to someone. They would fucking think I was insane.

@akyho: God damn G Gundam... I watched it, because it is technically a Gundam series, but man that was rough. The only other one I had as much trouble watching was 00 2nd season.

Turn A Gundam was good, especially for a non-UC series. It does have some very weird sections.

Victory was... something. It wasn't good, but it was weird enough to be interesting. It had some of the strangest mobile suit designs of the franchise. Very unsatisfying ending though.

I forgot that Char is in the ZZ opening, despite never actually appearing in the series. I know he was originally suppose to be in it, but then Char's Counterattack was greenlit and they wanted to save him for that. I'd still rather rewatch ZZ than G Gundam or 00.

Erased is so damn good. That episode was making me feel all happy and then the end. I hope she can be saved somehow.

Boy, that Captain Harlock movie was...something...I guess? It's been a while since I've been this apathetic about a thing. I don't even know what else to say. I wouldn't not recommend it, but if you're really in the mood for a good space adventure anime and you have the time, I'd say just go watch Yamato 2199.

Also, @akyho hahaha oh god that scene is great. well, by the time you get around to explaining the Statue of Liberty canon, you've already had to cover that there are nations using giant robots that are half-windmill, wearing fish suits, equipped with magical hands that apparently get really really really hot, or wearing sombreros fighting each other in sanctioned battles for the right to literally control space for four years until the next tournament is held. So I feel like the deeper you go, the more it makes sense...or yeah maybe you just sound increasingly more insane lol

It also has a Gundam fighter whose Gundam rides a mech chariot being pulled by a mech pegasus. G Gundam is a treasure trove of crazy.

@babychoochoo: Are you talking about that CGI movie? It was of those times where being CGI nut burned me.

It has a man piloting a robot man that rides a robot horse piloted by an actual horse.

ZZ is objectively better than Victory. ZZ shits all over the legacy of one of the best shows in the franchise (Zeta), so people are right to hate it more.

G Gundam is wonderful. It is without a doubt the best Street Fighter cartoon ever made, complete with casual racism. In a weird way I have the exact opposite reaction to G Gundam as I do to Saint Seiya. In Saint Seiya these barbie doll looking dudes are talking a bunch of shit to each other causing me to laugh my ass off, then they actually fight and I'm taken aback by how brutal the action can be given the level of animation. Meanwhile in G Gundam these killers and martial artists talk a bunch of shit and it seems badass and weirdly racist and I expect an awesome fight, then the robots actually fight and I'm dying of laughter because it's so over the top and ridiculous.

@edgaras1103: Yeah. You didn't care for it much either?

@babychoochoo: Yep. It was just so bland even with the eye popping visuals. The characters lacked any kind of personality that I could attach myself to. It's a shame , because big budget Japanese CGI films are so rare.

ERASED ep4: Man, time travel can be really scary when things are still repeating. Also shout out to awesome moms being awesome.

Active raid ep4: Man, co-workers can be assholes.

Phantom World ep4: Man, can these characters be anymore flat?

So after rewatching MS IGLOO, I've decided that I really like it. Though it does have some definite uncanny valley issues:

Has anyone else seen it? It never seems to get talked about when these Gundam discussions come up. I like that it focuses more on the military context of the One Year War, which is also my favorite thing about 08th MS team. Admittedly this is a bit of a cheat, since the One Year War is basically a combination of the first two world wars, so they can just draw from a fascinating period of actual military history. Still, it's probably the strongest aspect of the earliest Gundam series and the CGI suits the battles really well.

Anyone else have an opinion on this series? Oh, one final note. Neither the Gundam nor the White Base ever appear in the series. I consider that a bonus.

Keep doing what you doing ERASED. It feels like it's been a while since a show that has had younger kids as the main characters has been this good.

@gnosislord: I never did end up watching IGLOO but I'll be watching it sometime in the future.

Yah the show continues to be good although not without faults. The leads constantly childish reactions to things like touching a girls hand are really at odds with the whole premise of an adult in a childs body. The plot of this latest episode was slightly predictable, I mean we were all waiting for that to happen, but it still had a lot of feel-good moments. Personally I kept hoping that he would wake up the next day back in his time, as an adult, and then the camera would pan out to show Hinazuki all grown up as his current wife or girlfriend. Then this would lead to him having to play catchup in figuring out how his life changed in the past 15 years - sort of like a butterfly effect thing. I certainly hope the whole show won't play out in that one timeline.

@mezmero G Gundam is arguably (inarguably) one of the best Gundams out there. The ridiculousness of it makes the typically nauseating melodrama seem normal by comparison.

Not sure why you're telling me. You're preaching to the choir brother and clearly all the cool people in the thread are into G Gundam.

@gnosislord: While IGLOO certainly presents Zeon's technological silver bullet fetishism in an interesting way, it just doesn't look that good.

@mezmero: Just making sure you know you're not alone brotha'

I've posted this elsewhere, but I'd like some suggestions on what else to watch. I've seen very little anime (comparatively to other people), and I've heard a lot of "this is good, please watch it," but no explanation on why, exactly, or what the shows are about.

Here is what I've enjoyed in the past. I'm leaving out series that I've only seen an episode or two of, as I don't think they really count:

Anime:JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012 anime), Cowboy Bebop (haven't seen the movie yet), Lupin III (Red Jacket, Castle of Cagoliostro), Trigun, Blue Submarine no. 6, Silent Moebius, Azumanga Daioh, Cromartie High School, FLCL, Puella Magi Madoka Magica (I've really only seen the compilation movies), Studio Ghibli (Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso), Akira, The Animatrix, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! (original series only), Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Yes! Pretty Cure 5

@medacris: maybe list a few of the things you didn't like so we can get a better sense of what you wouldn't want to watch. Without that I would probably say

One punch man: great looking action show. The dumb premise is just compelling enough to have 12 fun episodes of gorgeous anime and anime fight scenes. Doesn't have the legs of dragon ball Z but it looks a hell of a lot better. Definitely riffing on the same basic ideas though.

Psycho pass: great cyberpunk show. Similar vibe/mood (half the time) to akira and animatrix.

Attack on titan: the hype is real. You definitely need to be into Lost style mysteries to get the most out of it. Otherwise it's a great dark action show in dark rendition of my favorite anime setting (japanese germany).

I would say watch all 3 first episodes and see what you think. Those 3 tend to make a good first impression.

Dagashi Kashi ep4: To think the show was able to make boobs and bondage to be funny

NSFW:

@metalsnakezero: When they were setting up the first half of the episode, I was expecting to roll my eyes through that whole segment, but goddamn that was a pretty funny episode all around.

@turambar: I'm not as fond of Zeta as most people so it makes sense my dislike of Victory is stronger haha.

Finally got around to watching the first couple episodes of Konosuba, and it's actually pretty fucking hilarious for what I expected was another LN about "NEET finally shines in his dream RPG Fantasy World." It's more like a parody of that premise with the NEET realizing he actually has to work his butt off for food and shelter, and his party members aren't steadfast comrades but more like noobs with no fucking clue what they should be doing: a priest who keeps aggro-ing monsters instead of healing, an archmage who dumped all her skill points into one spell that can only be used once a day, and a tank who can barely hit anything. This story is stupid and you should watch it!

ERASED 04: He gave her fuzzy mittens you damn show. HE GAVE HER FUZZY MITTENS!

Windmill Gundam.

@dochaus: Sounds like the same basic premise as Grimgar, but set as comedy instead of a more serious drama.

@turambar: I am sure everything will be daijoubu. Right?

I feel like I'm either missing something with Divine Gate or it's actually the giant mess it seems to be. I'm pretty sure it's just the latter right now. Also got some more random CGI this week, a servant robot chick, and a messaging service called Friend Log?

Girls Beyond the Wasteland belongs in the anime wasteland with how bland it's been.

@dochaus: Konosuba is real, real dumb. I went in expecting to drop it and got a surprisingly funny show. MC basically got the worst PUGs in existence. Also, flying cabbages?

The opening theme for Erased (Re: Re:) was originally released in 2004. AKFG re-recorded it for Erased. This fucking show, that had to be on purpose right?

@medacris Since you enjoyed Lupin, you should watch the current series (blue jacket) that's ongoing. I'm loving it and I had the same exposure to Lupin you have.

Haikyuu!! is soooo good! I never thought I would care about bench warmers in a sports anime which should be a testament to how good this show is at constructing characters. In other series within this genre bench warmers are exactly that, bench warmers and nothing else. I really hope this show runs for a long time. I'd love to see the 2nd year versions of Hinata and Kageyama though I doubt it'd ever come to that.

One Piece. Pfffffft. That's all I can muster at this point. This is getting just plain stupid.

If pacing is the issue switch to the manga. Not that Oda doesn't take his sweet time with things but it's leagues better than this abomination from Toei Animation.

Well I decided to check out Crunchyroll and ended up watching through all of Parasyte this weekend. I really really liked it up until the last two episodes. Ending spoilers => First Gotou's death was super anticlimactic and then it got weirdly preachy for the last episode and a half. It just took way too long to wrap up I think. Also the thing with the serial killer guy felt like it was just thrown in there to tie up loose ends. I didn't feel like it added much to it. I would have rather had them do another fight sequence with Gotou after Migi came back. Oh well. Still pretty good anime, but that ending definitely lowered my opinion of it as a whole.

@kerse: The last episode felt like an epilogue with the episode before it being the real last episode.

Help.

Looking for a cartoon film I use to own as a kid (early nineties), not much to go on but it was about two groups of knights, one good the other evil, fighting over a large castle and the Knights could transform into beast or animals or summon the spirit or power of those beasts..... Any ideas?

@frodobaggins: Best I could come up with from that description is either King Arthur and the Knights of Justice or Visionaries. I honestly can't think of what else that could be.

@mezmero: Visionaries! Thank you so much, many many childhood memories watching this. Think I'm gunna have a trip down memory lane.

This is going to be super ranty:

One Piece: I do not like the latest transformation as i did not like the gear 3rd and zombie stuff (gear 2nd is cool). It is way too complex and the way he says the name of the transformation is just cringeworthy. Fake haki flame tattoos are lame.

Dimension W: It's alright, i like the art style.

Dagashi Kashi: I don't have context for the love of those snacks, but for now it had some funny moments that kept me going back to it.

Prince of stride: I think they rushed the introduction of the characters and the parkour sport thing. I'm not really interested in watching more.

Yowamushi Pedal: I watched the whole series. I liked it. Few warnings:

• It is slow as hell.
• It often does not makes sense.
• The secret of cycling according to this series is to have an inner monologue to get more stamina, strength and as a result be better than the others.
• The bad guy is annoying.
• Too much bro-mancing between the main character and everyone. Bro-mancing gives you power.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Despite being kinda slow to get moving and talking too much about platonic relationships i really really liked it.

Some of the themes hit really close to home for me. I don't know that's why i liked it so much.

I kinda want to learn how to play the piano. It is amazing how these series motivate you to experience new things, maybe that is their purpose. The ending was really emotional.

Haikyuu: I continue to really like the series. It tries to be subtle and i like it. I don't like when sports series go dragonball Z crazy.