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Spring 2017 Anime Season

Discussion in 'Books and Anime Discussion' started by Pure Infinity, Mar 31, 2017.

  1. Celestin

    Celestin Dimensional Trunk

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    Right now I only checked Re:Creators. While the characters and their settings are a little bland and generic, even if they're suppose to be just that, generic representations of specific genres, it's the general concept of the show and its details that I like.

    Things like a different amount of information making our world and fictional ones making a difference in how much they're perceived by senses like taste. Because while the creator's subconscious helps to connect various pieces and fill missing ones, there're still limits to it.

    That the act of creation is not enough to make something "canon", but whether or not it has a chance to leave an impression on the audience is good point too.

    Maybe with few more episodes the series will stand out a little more, but even if it doesn't it's probably going to be a solid anime.
     
  2. Wynter

    Wynter Order Member

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    Tried out Akashi Records, it feels really cliche, but it's had some decent moments in the first three episodes. I was actually surprised when it turned sort of dark, so hopefully it beats my expectations by a fair way.
     
  3. KHAAAAAAAN!!

    KHAAAAAAAN!! Troll in the Dungeon –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    There seem to be a lot of decently watchable shows this season, but I wouldnt say anything is truly good so far, with the exception of the second ova in the Mahoutsukai no Yoma ova trilogy (the full anime in october is going to be amazeballs).

    So yeah.... stuff I've checked out:

    AoT is AoT.

    Dungeon ni deai spinoff... needs moar hestia plox.

    Gin no guardian... meh. Missable.

    Eromanga-sensei dropped like a hot sack of moe shit.

    Granblue is your generic fantasy, but I'm enjoying it. The art is pretty damn good too.

    Re:Creators is worth it for the fight animation and music alone. This one is at the top of my list.

    Renai Boukun.... i mean yeah, it's shit, but it made me chuckle on more than one occasion. I'm a sucker for a yandere gag.

    Enjoying akashic records... but I really want it to decide whether it's going to be a lighthearted jokey fantasy or a shouneny action show. The balancing act it tries to pull off is a tad disconcerting.

    Shumatsu nani shitemasu ka... well, the art is okay... setting is neat.. but far too many annoying one dimensional lolis.

    Sin... immediately dropped. A fairly pathetic excuse for tits and ass and people fondling each other.

    Zero kara hajimeru.... i like it so far. The nonhuman protag is a fun premise. Although, the first two eps deeply suffer from the "wouldnt all this be solved if everyone sat down and discussed things like rational people" problem.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2017
  4. Poytin

    Poytin The Arby's Hipster DLP Supporter

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    I actually picked up The Royal Tutor. Or as I like to call it Ouran High School Host Club: Royal Babysitter Edition. I find it pretty entertaining.
     
  5. Rehio

    Rehio Bad Dragon ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Akashic is good, I guess. I'd prefer if they concentrated more on the whole battle fantasy and neat magic system instead of bouncing between that and super-comedy.

    Zoroku is awesome. A grumpy old man protagonist? Refreshing as hell. Tiny girl getting shot in the leg while having a discussion about whether or not it matters if she's human or not? Hot damn, let's go.

    Kado is.. interesting? Everyone seems to enjoy it because it's some weird sci-fi mystery, but nothing about it is particularly entertaining to me, so far.

    Tsugumomo is kinda standard ecchi fantasy. I wasn't really having fun with it until the fourth episode where the main character actually expresses some competence. We'll see where it goes from here? Ecchi too strong for my tastes, but I guess this author is rather famous for it.

    WorldEnd: I like it. It's going to be tragic, I think, and it's going to have Feelings, but I like it. Main character also seems a lot more adult than the usual fare, which is nice.
     
  6. oakes

    oakes Unspeakable DLP Supporter

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    Dan'machi: Sword Oratorio is shit. I've never seen such a lackluster writing. I thought the purpose of this was to see things through Eins point of view, instead we get Lefiya's point of view with the silly Kohai-Senpai shit every anime loves doing plus some Dan:Machi cameos with Loki sexually harassing people and nothing else.

    I don't know what I expected but this certainly wasn't it.
     
  7. Jarik

    Jarik Chief Warlock

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    Quite a promising season so far actually.

    Shingeki no Kyojin S2 -
    Season 1 was completely overrated and didn't get close to its potential, but it remains fun and energetic and exciting. So quite enjoying it.

    Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho - Reminds me a bit of Spice and Wolf, but I'm actually enjoying it a lot more so far. The use of a non-human protagonist actually gives the anime a different tone to the usual and Zero is actually quite a likeable main girl. I'm wondering whether it'll be an episodic series of stories exploring the universe and the character interactions, or whether we'll actually see a main plot start to build up. Either way, really liking this.

    Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul - I know the original series wasn't really all that popular, despite being pretty enjoyable (if completely unmemorable). So far, I've actually really been enjoying the sequel, perhaps even more so than the original. I can barely remember anything about the original, so you could probably get away without having seen it as well. If you're interested in an epic fantasy that takes itself seriously, it's worth a go.

    Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records - The most generic of generic magic high school anime. And yet, it's so cliche that it ends up quite fun. The idiotic teacher who is actually stupidly powerful, the generic evil organization who are purely there for him to show off, the tsundere he keeps baiting, etc. It's trash, but it's fun trash.

    Berserk (2017) S2 - All the disappointments of Season 1 remain (though, there's actually been a slight improvement in storytelling ability), but it's Berserk. So I will still faithfully watch.

    DanMachi Gaiden - A big fat meh. I just finished season 1 last week, and it was mildly entertaining. The side story however pretty much drops all the stuff that made it mildly entertaining and (so far at least) you're left with the most generic of generic filler episodes, side stories and fanservice. Probably drop this if it doesn't get any better. Dunno why they wouldn't just do a sequel instead of wasting their effort on this...
     
  8. Krieger

    Krieger Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    I ended up looking this up because game animes are a guilty pleasure of mine aswell, it's not bad. The animation is good, although it can be off putting when they speak their thoughts. Their mouths move even though their thoughts are internal, sometimes it can be hard to differentiate between when a character is actually speaking out loud and when they are having an internal monologue, which can create confusion when another character doesn't respond to what they think (but actually speak out loud).

    I loved the 3-4 seconds of likening a pro player to playing a piano scene, it was a nice touch.

    Even though this is a game anime the gameplay while he is in the mmo is the least interesting part of this anime so far. The in-mmo scenes are just a typical overpowered person who no one can touch, eventually in the end soloing a world boss 3 of the top guilds (might of) had trouble with. But this is to be expected, and it is my biggest gripe with game/mmo animes, making one person out to be a god. A bit of realism would be nice in one of these animes one day.

    What makes this anime interesting so far is what is happening outside of the mmo in the real world. Not enough to make this anime anything but a guilty pleasure, but cheers for mentioning it because I probably would of overlooked it as I don't really keep up to date with the seasons anymore beyond what is mentioned on this forum.
     
  9. KHAAAAAAAN!!

    KHAAAAAAAN!! Troll in the Dungeon –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    Are yall talking about Gin no guardian? Or a different show?

    Edit: king's avatar maybe? I watched half of one episode but the shit mouth synching annoyed me so much I dropped it. Also, chinese, like german, is just not a super pleasant language to listen to.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2017
  10. Krieger

    Krieger Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    Yeah kings avatar. The one I'm talking about at least. I think the syncing your talking about is the same thing I was talking about, the thoughts that are voiced even though they are meant to be internal. Tis nothing but a guilty pleasure.
     
  11. KHAAAAAAAN!!

    KHAAAAAAAN!! Troll in the Dungeon –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    Yeah that annoyed me too, but I meant the actual movement of the mouths didnt quite match the sounds. It's a frequent problem with chinese anime because of all the slurred and harsh consonants in Mandarin. Japan has it easy. Nihongo, like English, is mostly vowels and concise clean consonants.
     
  12. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    Surprised no one has mentioned Sakura Quest yet. It's a nice SOL, and I'm enjoying the break from the standard high school setting.
     
  13. Eilyfe

    Eilyfe Supreme Mugwump

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    Fuck off. German is a beautiful language! I could make you drop your knickers within one dirty German sentence.

    Zieh dich aus Du geile Sau.

    But yeah, still waiting on something to happen in the Chinese game anime. So far he just pwned everyone; and I'm still not clear on what his work actually is. Seems like he gets food and shelter for playing games? Anyway, I'm surprisingly excited for new episodes. Not sure why, most probably though because of the gaming part.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2017
  14. Krieger

    Krieger Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    I looked the the manga up and the anime has already overtaken it. His actually meant to be a night supervisor for the net cafe, I do think the anime said that once but its never shown after that, he just plays games.

    Edit: Looking it up again some sources says its complete, the site I read only had 28 chapters. Should keep me busy for a few days.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2017
  15. Jarik

    Jarik Chief Warlock

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    Finally gave King's Avatar a go, and probably feeling what everyone else is feeling on here.

    There are some good things. The visuals are beautiful. I really like how they show games as a mixture of "in game segments", but also showing the players actually navigate menus and all that on a screen to remind the audience that it's a typical MMO and not like, a Sword Art Online VR simulator.

    The plot is dull. There's absolutely nothing to create anticipation apart from the "big reveal" of him being the ex-Pro. Taking an unbeatable legendary player who can apparently solo bosses by himself isn't how to make an engaging shounen sports story.

    The characters are dull. The protagonist is the definition of a generic bishounen who seems polite, calm and completely unemotive. The rest of the cast we have seen so far have either been entirely there to be the "shocked and awed" audience to his amazing exploits or be generic assholes for him to overcome. And come on, bawling your eyes out because your favourite professional player retired? Really?

    And of course, as discussed, I am struggling with the language too. Probably because I'm not used to it, but given the emphasis the Chinese language puts on strict intonation, it just comes across as very unemotive to me (or maybe that's just bad voice acting).

    Anyway, probably going to drop it unless something amazing happens in the next few episodes.
     
  16. Tehlaziboi

    Tehlaziboi Ninja Meido

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    King's Avatar is China's first real attempt into the anime industry so of course they'd choose the most wide-appeal thing in the country. I've started watching it mainly because very little else interest me this season but also because it's somewhat amusing to watch an anime produced by Tencent, the company that owns Riot Games.

    So the pros:

    - Production quality isn't bad. Music, animation, and artwork are quite good even if the art is not exactly something that appeals to me. The sharp angular faces reminds me too much of shoujo manga or Bleach.

    - What I did like was the novelty of this premise. The protagonist wasn't dumped into the gaming world like in SAO, Log Horizon, or Overlord, he's literally just playing in a new server of his favorite game and leveling up from scratch again. Mundane but fresh for me personally at the same time. That alone will probably ensure I'd keep watching.

    - Adding to above, most of the actions taken by side characters are reminiscent of real life people in MMOs. Who doesn't know of that one douche tricking noobs into getting killed so he could get most of the loot/recognition? Or the guilds nearly starting a fight with each other for who gets first clear against a server world raid.

    The Cons:

    - Voice acting is bad, even discounting the fact that it's in chinese instead of japanese. It's not as much as I'd feared but certainly not good at all. The new girl introduced probably has the most normal voice in the cast while the main character sounds like an emotionally stunted twat. Special mention goes to that long haired guy introduced in episode 4 for the worst character design and voice acting to boot. I legitimately cringed when he started talking, it was that awful.

    - They reused certain scenes, small ones like when the main character's weapon is switching modes or when you get a closeup of him just comboing someone to death. But they're noticeable all the same. When you're trying to introduce a domestic product for the first time - literally the first of its kind - why would you even think of cutting corners like that?

    - The series suffers from cultural differences. There are scenes like the above-mentioned crying that aren't as disbelieving for a chinese audience as it is for western ones. The main character being good looking and extremely talented is almost required as people there enjoy that type of thing. Obviously the anime was made to appeal to its target audience but that would mean a much more lukewarm reception internationally.

    So overall, its average to below average in terms of quality. I personally don't mind it too much and will probably keep watching until it finishes.
     
  17. Krieger

    Krieger Minister of Magic DLP Supporter

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    I swear Accel World would of been way more popular then it was if the protagonist didn't look the way he did.
     
  18. Eilyfe

    Eilyfe Supreme Mugwump

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    Not sure how much you watched. I agree in general though. There are some moments in which he shows a broader range of emotion, but they are far and few in between.

    When that one chick says the game is easy for example; it's a subtle shift but I could feel his anger there.

    It should be interesting to see when, or rather if, they give him credible opposition.
     
  19. Jarik

    Jarik Chief Warlock

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    I guess despite being a Western audience, we are completely used to Japanese tropes, character archetypes and culture, so while there are a lot of things anime characters do that make no sense in Western stories we don't find it strange. But for any person not exposed to anime, they may bring up all those same criticisms - over the top/shallow/dull characters, etc.

    So yeah, it might just be cultural things that we need to get used to to appreciate.

    Also if it wasn't completely overshadowed by Sword Art Online, which came out the subsequent season.

    Gigguk actually did a really interesting video that put forth some really insightful points on why SAO was so successful, and does also compare it to why Accel World, with a similar premise, never worked. The protag character design was definitely one the reasons (and I still for the life of me can't work out why the author decided to do that in the first place).
     
  20. Rehio

    Rehio Bad Dragon ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Personally, I kinda enjoyed the character design of Accel World. It was something different, and the way he acted with complete lack of any self-confidence matched his design.
     
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