Summer wars had some pretty nice graphics. Didn't Baccano have some good ones as well? And Gankutsuo had lots of shiny.

 

Yep, Kotonoha no Niwa and Byousoku were brilliant. Try out any of Makoto Shinkai's other works (e.g. Kumo no Mukou), his animation is truly spectacular.

That aside, try any of ufotable's works - its fight scenes are the best in the business (Fate/Zero), and its movies (Kara no Kyoukai) are noticeably superior in the technical department (animation and music).

 

Thank you people for all the recommendations, I have a lot to watch now

 

In terms of pure aesthetics, 5 Centimeters Per Second has been unmatched for me. You can screenshot just about any scene in that and turn it into wallpaper that pretty much beat any of the fanmade ones. Everything is so damn detailed and uses great lighting effects to build spectacular shots.

Unlimited Blade Works adaption wins out on spectacular fight scenes (particularly in season 1) from a purely visual angle (as I ranted in the other thread, I had my issues on the lack of tension/emotion/energy in scenes, but that's another story...).

Akira has an interesting art style. It's old, but doesn't feel dated so much as very different. Many anime back then were like that, but I've found most of the others just feel dated. It was so damn smooth.

Redline is one if you're after a more artistic, high contrast, old school American cartoon sort of feel. I never really enjoyed it as much as everyone else did, but it certainly stood out as very unique.

I don't think the latter two are in the same category as 5 Centimeters Per Second in just being beautiful though.

 

I'm really enjoying Gate and Overlord this season. I sort of want to read the LN's.

 

Toradora came up on Netflix and figured I'd give it a go, anyone know if it's any good?

 

Everyone swears it's the best romance Anime out there, but I didn't enjoy it. I'm practically allergic to excessive embarasmemt as a plot device though.

 

Up to episode 8, it's not bad I wouldn't say the best Romance ever though. Definitely watchable in my view but not in my top 10.

 

I would also rec Summer Wars. I really liked the art style and the movie itself is very well done.

 

It gets much better as it goes on.

I wouldn't say it's all that popular because it's an amazing romance. Stuff like AnoHana blows it out of the water on that front. It does however do ALL the genres it takes on exceedingly well (romance, drama, comedy, sliceoflife), and it really focuses on developing the characters (even side chars). Ryuji is still basically the best romcom protagonist of all time.

 

So I went back to re-watch that scene where Yukihira and Nakiri are humming the ending in Shokugeki, and ended up watching what's up for season 2. Wasn't expecting to make it through since I binged the manga after season 1 ended, but enough of the comedy has been amped up that I had no trouble at all.

One thing I noticed was that the opening and ending songs for season 2 completely flipped in terms of quality in comparison to season 1. Season 1's opening was alright, but nothing really special, whereas its ending (animation and music) was godly. Season 2's opening, on the other hand, is every bit as hype as the Autumn Elections deserve, whereas the ending...

What. Why is the ending so trash. It has no rhythm, there's no hook. The animation centers around Nakiri and her assistant who literally no one cares about, along with the girl from The Ring. Because there weren't any other groups that would fit this season any better. Like, I don't know.

coughYukihira/Kurokiba/Hayamacough

 

Odd. I really loved season one's opening as a song. Season two's might grow on me, I dunno. Seems fairly bog-standard shonen fare.

Agreed with endings though.

Regardless, I kinda doubt we'll get to the finals in this season, especially if they focus on the Shokugekis that don't revolve around The Three.

I think that's the only part of the manga that dragged for me. I can see whole episodes being taken up by Tadakoro and Nakiri's Assistant (lol).

 

Rec: Screaming Lessons for good Horror without Splatter.

 

So I binged it, ultimately the last 2-3 episodes left me kinda disappointed I felt it fell away slightly but overall I enjoyed it.

Was 50/50 between shipping Taiga and Ami, Kushieda barely got any of my attention.

7.5/10 Good but not Brilliant

 

Well, they did put the moon roof in the opening. And the anime's been going at a pretty good clip so far, especially when Yukihira himself isn't involved. I have faith.

 

I'm eagerly awaiting your Shokugeki inspired fic btw Menace, lol.

On another note, am I the only one that finds the accusatory 'jiiiiiiiii' stare utterly adorable?

I had a double helping of that this week :3

 

I know exactly how I'd do it, too. Alas. I'll just sit here and listen to Spice a dozen more times.

And no, of course you're not. The eyes are half of Alice's appeal.

 

Watched Shokugeki today, I think compared to manga is kinda lame. It doesn't come across as good as the manga, still funny.

 

Everyone's entitled to an opinion, even wrong ones.

 

Recently, I’ve been seeing this anime called Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace everywhere, so I watched the first two episodes.

Premise: after the protagonist, a thirteen-year-old boy, is framed for the murder of his teacher, his quest to solve the mystery has him crossing paths with a high school genius detective, who ignites in him the desire to solve other murders and “take away the boredom” from his life.

It’s a murder mystery, but I wouldn’t say it’s a smart one. Characters leap to conclusions with no evidence, police procedure is pretty much ignored (I know I shouldn’t be complaining about this in an anime), and characters take such a weird perspective to the murders.

Spoiler

The teacher, the victim, is revealed to be a serial killer who turned his girlfriends into chairs, but everyone calls it romantic and proof that he really loved them. All his girlfriends were said to have consented into being made into chairs. His killer, his FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD girlfriend, killed him because she wanted to be made into a chair, but tragically, the teacher had fallen out of love with her and couldn’t.

Just, what the fuck?

Not to mention there’s no comment made that his girlfriend is fourteen.

Because of this, the tone is all over the place. I just can’t take it or any of the characters seriously.

By itself, the animation and opening are pretty good, but in a weird decision, all the background characters and non-named characters are rendered in silhouettes. This is only seen in the protagonist’s POV, so an argument can be made that’s how he sees people, but it takes me out of the story and I have a funny suspicion it’s just an excuse to save money.

I may watch a few more episodes because I’m really bored, but this is not a good show.