Anime & Cartoon Megathread IV: We Must Limbo To Send This Thread On Its Way

I'm sure a ton of people do this, but I have literally never done anything with these. Here's a Crunchyroll guest pass for whoever wants it:

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Quite excited to check out ERASED, despite the dumb name.

Where is my candy purple hair girl show?

I haven't been keeping up with the new shows this season but I did just watch Ojisan and Marshmallow... Yup that was a thing.

@lentfilms: Seems like a pretty fun season so far between this gif and that limbo dancing thing kyoani is doing.

Somehow read ten or so chapters of Birdmen. It's some kind of superhero/sentai thing about kids that suddenly develop a superpower that lets them manifest wings and a suit, Venom from Spider-Man-style. It's got a big focus on their relationships/interactions and seems to literally skip the fight scenes. Feels like Persona. I quite enjoyed it. They get thrown into a pretty serious situation, but they pretty much just goof around and argue about stuff. For a story that I feel would be pretty serious if I summarized it, it's funny and lighthearted except for some family drama that's in the background so far.

Yeah, the translated title (The Town Where Only I Am Missing) is a bit engrishy but I think it's more striking and grabs your attention a bit better. Erased is just so plain.

@daveyo520: according to my sources, Funimation has the streaming rights stateside but has to delay it for a few days due to reasons. There are fansubs floating around, if you're impatient.

@dochaus: It seems to be a hyped show so i think I will look for it places. A bummer when stupid stuff comes in the way and I can't watch things legit. I have a sub to Funi even. I wonder if the show is actually any good, it would be a shame to let that character design go to waste.

I expected Dagashikashi to be yet another dumpster fire disguised as an anime, but I came out of it pleasantly surprised. There were quite a few times where I went like "oh...this is where you stopped trying, eh?," but for the most part it was a pretty decent comedy. It seems like it could be a fun way to kill 20 minutes every week.

@babychoochoo: Good to know. Though that "stop trying" bit seems worrying.

Just wanna say that the first episode of Erased was absolutely amazing and everyone should go give it a shot.

Active Raid: EXCUSE ME BOSS

Assassination classroom Season 2: Still a silly fun show.

I just found out that Rurouni Kenshin is streaming on Netflix now. So I started playing the first episode and found out that the dub on there doesn't have the English version of Freckles and shut it off immediately.

Is it dub only? It's been years but I definitely remember not liking the dub and loving Kenshin's JP voice (who could switch between goofy dork and badass killer really well).

Maybe now that's it's on Netflix I can rewatch it. Been a long time. Or I might just read the manga instead since the anime goes into terrible filler hell and doesn't include the best arc (except butchered in one of the shitty OVAs). Also, I dunno what it is about Sobakasu/Freckles, but I watched 2015's Animelo concert and they're STILL performing that song. I think it's been in every year's concert.

Sekko Boys might just be the dumbest premise I've ever seen but I enjoyed it? It's only 7 minutes but I sort of want more. GATE is stil GATE. Divine Gate was mediocre but the world could be interesting enough to give it a couple more episodes.

Edit: I really like the ED for Divine Gate.

@daveyo520: Meh, I'm probably making it sound worse than it is. It just had a handful of some very common anime cliches that it doesn't really try to do anything special with and some of the jokes were just Japan's usual "the more we yell, the funnier people will think it is!" Much like DanMachi, I think the reason I describe it as "stopped trying" is that it feels like it doesn't really need to do those things, but they did because they needed to check off some boxes.

I enjoyed it for the most part though.

@babychoochoo: I just finished it. It is odd but in a good way. Not the best but I can see myself watching it. It feels like an older show that just came out now but I think it is trying to do that. Like it feels like it has an old timey filter on it or the colors are faded. I am sure it will get repetitive fast but it is possible it won't.

@rubberluffy said:

The Netflix version has both the English and the Japanese audio. I know the dub is bad but I saw the show on Toonami with that dub so I'm sort of nostalgic for it (especially that English version of Freckles).

GATE is back and it really starts off with a bang. If that bunny girl scene and the whore bird girl are a hint of what's to come I'm all in again. Make it more like Game of Thrones I say.

So no subs yet for Phantasy Star Online 2 but it a interesting show as it like a tutorial of the game as well as the lives of the user outside the game.

All of you whippersnappers with your new shit and I'm watching old eps of Space Adventure Cobra and Lupin III and even a couple eps of the Sakura Taisen anime for some reason.

Oh yeah, guess I should start counting those votes now.

@dochaus: hmmmm, I don't see Dirty Pair in there anywhere, but I know you have to be watching that as well, right? Because otherwise that would make you a terrible person. You're not terrible person are you? Are you?

@metalsnakezero: Just watched it with subs on CR.

I'm interested in what people who play or have played PSO2 think of it.

It also has the worst, by which I mean best, ED of the season. I was dying.

Gawd I haven't watched an anime in ages. What's a good show for someone who generally hates most anime post-1998 these days? I think the newest thing I've watched that I enjoyed at all was Bokurano because it wasn't plagued with moe-blobs or angsty high-schoolers.

I don't have a problem with moe blobs, one might say I even like it. Fight me.

JoJo.

ERASED 01 - it was alright, has an interesting concept to build upon. Sets it up pretty well.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu 01 - liked this quite a bit, though it was 47 minutes long so almost like two episodes. Interesting subject matter.

Divine Gate 01 - seems awfully generic. I thought some of the world building was cool, but really uninterested in anything going on. Will drop quickly unless it turns it around.

I saw Erased. I started off into it with the original premise, but then the end happened and I just went "UGHHHHHHHHHHH."

Someone explain the appeal because little kids are fucking terrible. The only way it can actually be good is if he starts shitting on all the other little kids for being stupid because it's an adult mind trapped in a child body that essentially knows what's going to happen. I can't wait for the adults in the past to start ignoring everything he says because he's a little kid.

@sinusoidal:Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is the first thing to come to mind. Old school look, feel, and sound, but with today's production values. Other stuff that might be worth looking into: Mushishi, Barakamon, Moribito, Redline, and Eccentric Family. Looking for anything in particular or just whatever?

And the age of moe blobs and schoolgirls is the worst thing to happen to anime since forever. Please, no fighting...

...because you can't dispute facts.

I'm already tired of all the CGI lately but at least Bubuki Baranki (or BBK/BRNK as Crunchryoll is calling out) has some of the best CGI I've seen, even if it has a creepy ass hand monster thing.

@babychoochoo: I mean, who would argue it was a good thing to happen to anime?

Psycho pass season 1 on Netflix or Funimation's website. It's a great take on the cyberpunk genre. More optimistic yet more sinister than the usual corporation have taken over the world and it's night/raining all the time.

You might want to be more precise with your tastes if you want more tailored recommendations.

@sinusoidal: You honestly don't need knowledge of parts 1-3 at all. It's really standalone. http://www.crunchyroll.com/lupin-the-3rd-part4

@sinusoidal: Post-90s off the top of my head...

• Baccano! (Durarara!! later if you like that)
• One-Punch Man
• Psycho-Pass
• Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
• Attack on Titan

In other news, results of the 2015 poll have been tallied. The #1 choice blew the others out of the water, and there was actually a tie in the Top 10 voting. Those are the only hints I'll give for now while I write a post and put it up somewhere between now and Monday.

Well, that PSO2 anime was definitely not what I expected. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

@turambar: Yeah it was ok so far. It'll be a few episode in to see if this formula will work for it.

I do want to add to my opinion on Active Raid. It probably the worst show this season. It has some funny parts like the englrish but it mostly thin with the characters, plot, and action.

@dochaus: I bet it was OPM. So I think that show was good I think it was no where close to the best show last year. I think people forgot about shows like Parasyte or others (my favorite was School Live! which I don't think was high on a lot of people's lists sadly) and just voted for OPM because it is the new hotness and is the freshest thing in people's minds. Of course that is just a guess at what won but I have a feeling.

I'm genuinely curious to see what were the other 9. OPM is the obvious #1, but I have no clue what else people liked. I would think School Live would rank pretty high because folks seemed really into that. Rokka and Death Parade seemed guaranteed because bullshit always manage to make the list. Yuri! Euphonium seems like another shoe-in, maybe Iron Blooded Orphans too. Shimoneta, DanMachi, BBB, and Yuri Kuma al seem plausible, but the amount of fucks given about all of those shows seemed to dwindle as time went on. I would have said Monogatari for sure at one point, but I don't remember many people talking about that at all. Food Wars and Gangsta would be my two wild card picks. Fuck trying to predict the actual rankings. That seems like a more impossible task than coming up with what I think would make the cut in the first place.

As long as Nisekoi doesn't crack the top 10, I can still have faith in humanity.

@babychoochoo: I love Monogatari but the stuff that aired this year was not top 10 worthy.

I caught a few episodes of Yokai Watch while channel surfing and I won't lie, it's not bad. Some parts had me legitimately cracking up. Far better than the current Pokemon anime.

Parasyte premiered in 2014 and I voted for it in 2014. I called it a top tier anime that could be recommended to anyone. There were several series that finished in early 2015 (Jojo was one of them), but they already got their props in 2014. There were plenty of shows that came out and finished in 2015 that deserve the 2015 award.

OPM blows everything else away. It's not even a question. The question is what took the other spots because there was a lot of good stuff this year. I bet all the other spots will be occupied by choices I agree with even if they don't mirror my own choices.

EDIT: What I wrote some pages back.

"I think I watched more anime this year than any other year, but I feel that choosing my top 4 was extremely easy. The number 5 spot could have been taken by several other shows, but it ultimately went to Prison School. The reason? Hype and anticipation. It was my eagerness to watch the next episode of OPM, Food Wars, Hestia Dungeon, GATE, and Prison School that guided my top anime spots. It was my excitement as I watched those shows that proved to me that they were the best shows this year."

@golguin: I guess I was not as high on it as everyone else was (actually I know I wasn't because every one thinks it is the second coming of anime). It was still good and better than a lot of things this year but it is not as good as everyone says it is.

@golguin: Parasyte "top tier" really? I liked the premise and opening arc but after that it's all terrible characterization and convoluted bullshit plot. Couldn't finish it.

Also OPM doesn't blow everything out of the water. It's probably the best looking action show out there. I just wish they would spend that talent/good direction on a better story with good characters.

Because OPM is has a very cute and "too cool for school" premise that riffs on action show tropes but doesn't have the legs to go anywhere on its own. It's good popcorn entertainment for 12 episodes but they're probably ok never continuing that story.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is easily the most interesting thing I've watched from the new season so far. The characters already have complicated relationships, the direction is good and it has a cool art style. It also had a good cliffhanger for the next episode because I am very eager to watch it.

Divine Gate is generic as fuck. There's something about the art that is off too. There could be some interesting aspects to the world but I don't think I'll be around if they manifest 'cause I doubt I'll watch any more of this.

Active Raid seems like it might be decent. They had to introduce a lot of characters and they did a pretty good job doing so. The protagonist got annoying really quickly though, which is sad because I liked her at first but then she was constantly jumping the gun and being made to look like an abrasive moron. Which is fine, but they really beat you over the head with it. I'm way into the cop train, though, and the guy obsessed with correct recycling really speaks to me.

Phantom World looks nice... and that's about all that I like about it. The "humour" is awful, the characters are boring, the plot is whatever. I do like that girl they meet who swallows phantoms though, just because I'm way into phantom-swallowing as a concept.

Koukaku no Pandora is something I couldn't watch more than about 10 minutes of. That's all I have to say about it.

Started harem-lite-like shows. Was expecting utter pile of steaming trash, but I enjoy it quite a bit. Or maybe I just want some shallow fun. It's GATE and DanMachi

Also Parasyte was good, anyone who disagrees should feel bad.

OPM is also amazing, but anyone who expects thought provoking anime with deep characters and good message should look elsewhere. It knows what it is and being just good pure action anime is a rare thing right know.

@edgaras1103: Disagree, OPM does have a far bit of social commentary on modern japan society it may be more subtle then the way other shows go about it but it's definitely there.Some messages to.I'll give you its not amazingly deep though which is fine for what it is.

OPM seems like the easy call for #1. Otherwise I'm thinking Haikyuu!!, Gundam IBO, and maybe Gintama make the list for sure. My hope is for Ushio and Tora but that seemed to have a small fanbase everywhere I looked.

It's a new cour and all, but why couldn't we keep the old Gundam IBO OP. I just want to raise my flag every week. At least we got some sneak peeks at some dope ass mechs as well as a possible Char clone.

My guess is that he's just going to be a bit too clever and cynical for his classmates and adults. At least it won't turn into a Mujaki no Rakuen type of deal.

I might be able to deal with one episode of "too clever for adults", but if it goes on for longer than 2 episodes I'm done. I can't deal with a protagonist knowing things and everyone around them just discounts their info for X reason to keep the plot moving.

Totally random thing, but I just saw a comment that made me LOL in real life. It's a spoiler for this week's new episode of GATE and for the ending of Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers.

"Well looks like we know where Nashetania went..."

I'm also going to give Beautiful Bones a shot maybe. Not sure. Is there something I could have missed last season? Some kind of space or magic techno show? I feel like there were several of those that looked similar.