I watched the four episodes of Re: Creators that are out now and overall, I'm enjoying it. The animation and the music are pretty good, the type of fictional characters are relatively fun and as Cyclops said, the way they react to their circumstances is interesting.

However, from the four episodes out, 1 + 2 were definitely a lot of fun and rather interesting concept-wise. 3 +4 though, were a lot more frustrating, for a rather simple reason.

Spoiler

The meta balance of a piece of fiction that deals with characters in it being aware that they are kinda fictional is always very hard to hit. Can't really name anything from the top of my head that didn't screw something up on that front and this is no exception. On one hand, it's super interesting to see someone who is used at the staples of their medium, i.e. the magical girl being used to more tame fights coming to terms with how fights work outside of her world is really interesting and compelling.

Having a character who just heard that someone they trusted is a traitor and is going to die (or is someone else important going to die?) go "well, i shouldn't know" I felt an immediate disconnect connect with. Even more, it felt OOC from her, even from what little we know about her.

Basically, we're having three factions so far: The ones who want to protect the world, i.e team good guys, the ones who will destroy the world for various reasons, good or bad i.e team bad guys and the cool character who is neutral about all of this, at least so far.

The problem here is, team good guys or team author wank, despite their interesting circumstance feel off and weird because of their, to me at least, contrived stance on the whole fiction thing. NPC girl being happy that people will have fun playing the game she comes from which makes everything in it worth it is such a bizarre outlook, it couldn't possible be weirder. Who would be happy with that? Oh yeah, all the suffering in my world is worth it if some jerk who shelled out 10 bucks on steam is mildly entertained for five hours. The "hero" who saved their world was some asshole sitting on his couch in his underwear shoving cheetos in his mouth and probably skipping most of the dialogue.

It doesn't seem like a normal/human/understandable reaction. Guess the character isn't a normal person to begin with and all that but while that might explain her views, it doesn't make the character any more compelling and in fact lessens her, imo. Same with the mecha princess girl without her mecha. Her decision to not "read ahead" in her own story seems so bizarre. Her kingdom or whatever is in danger, one of her friends is a traitor and information on all that seems kinda important, seems to be someone who was truly invested in all of that would want answers. Sure, we know it's a story but to her despite all of that, it should still be real and matter.

Which is why team villainy seems more relatable so far because the princess there, her priority is still her world and her people and doesn't that make a lot more sense?

Even if they are being lied to/manipulated. At least she seems human.

That said, we are still only 4 eps in and I am curious on how this will go on. So yeah, worth checking out overall but have some doubts so far. Hopefully things will be made clearer and explored more in-depth.

 

Tsuki ga Kirei is fucking adorable but the CG is so jarring sometimes, and once you notice it you just can't stop.

 

When you guys watch the next episode of Kings Avatar, when Ye Xui speaks, I want you to close your eyes and picture Brad Pitt from Snatch when he is speaking. I shit you not haha.

 

So I watched the first five episodes of King's Avatar and it's really a meh experience. Animation is good and kudos for actually going the actual gaming or pro-gaming route, but the characters are pretty bad so far and as said before here, I concur that Chinese is rather difficult to listen to, at least in this series. Whether this is because of the language in general or the voice actors in particular, I don't know.

I will say that the new girl has the best voice actress though, listening to her isn't a chore so maybe it's the main dudes.

What absolutely didn't work for me was the main character. So far he has been a mostly robotic asshole. Like, the scene where he fights the new girl in a match with money as stakes, wow that was the most pathetic thing I've seen in a long time.

He is a former world champion and he calls out a casual player like that? Fuck off, man. Remember when Ronaldo or Messi challenged someone who only casually played soccer to a match and then completely trashed that person? Wasn't that awesome to see?

How saw is that? Our protagonist couldn't stomach someone saying they didn't enjoy playing his shit game as much as he did and had to beat them in a match. Pretty sure she was aware that there were pros better than her. She was talking about other casual players on the level of her aunt that she beat.

Haven't had a moment where I was disgusted by a protag like that for a while now. You are a former worldchampion, man. Why are you fighting someone who only plays the game casually? Have a bit of pride and dignity.

When he said "if you want to beat me, maybe practice another 100 years" I just wanted someone to smash a crowbar in his face. What an asshole.

That really is a big problem overall with the protag. Not only is he mostly bland and stiff, he's also an arrogant asshole most of the time. He talks down to people a lot and is being a giant prick to others. At the same time, he is so good, that he can trash anyone and anything effortlessly. The battle scenes so far have been blowjobs to the main character.

And yet, despite all that, we are supposed to root for him, because his former team betrayed him and he helped some people in the past. And that the jerks he outplayed on the new server had it coming.

So, our main character is an immensely skilled asshole who has always the moral highground whose former allies have betrayed him and taken his shit and now he strikes out on his own with a superspecial weapon that only he has?

Sound familiar, anyone? Because to me that sounds like a fucking IndyHarry fic. Was expecting a scene meeting the goblins and really getting along with them.

The side cast isn't much better. The boss is super annoying, the people he met in the game are mostly meh and so far only there to be awed at his skill and I guess the new girl and the rogue guy could be interesting as his students with talent but not exactly awed by them yet.

The game itself does give way more of a game vibe than SAO ever did but not exactly awed by it. Really wish they had taken a MOBA, an RTS or a shooter instead. A game where items and lvls don't matter that much or at least it's always for one game only, so that we don't have the main character getting an item no one else has and exploit it. I guess the PVP is a big deal on the proscene but really would have rather have an actual pro-gaming anime, maybe even with a real life game like LoL or Dota.

The game rules also seemed weird. I am aware that the battle scenes we are seeing are highly stylized interpretations of what is actually happening and not really ingame graphics but still, it seems to me he can do main character stuff that only he can and not that he's playing the game correctly but better than anyone else.

So yeah, not really a good show so far but I am watching it and will stick to it for a few more episodes.

 

I've also just watched the first five episodes of King's Avatar. And yeah, undeniably flawed in so many ways.

But I actually really like the voice acting in contrast to the rapid high-pitched screeching that makes up 80% or so of all anime. Regardless of how good the VAs may or may not be, it's different, and novelty has a quality all of its own.

 

Watched episodes 6 and 7. Yeah, he continues being an asshole to everyone he meets, even to his friends and peers who came to help, his idea of strategy meeting is to not explain a single damn thing (no matter how new or experienced his teammates are) and rush headlong into the enemy alone while his teams job it is to be awestruck by his sick moves and bored amusement is pretty much the only emotion he shows, no matter the situation. Doesn't matter if he fights mobs, bosses, noobs or pro players. And he wins them all equally easily.

Not to mention the antagonist couldn't be any lamer or boring.

Think that's it for me. Dropping this.

Watched the first episodes of Sakrua Quest and Eromanga Sensei. The former was okay, the latter was trash. Might try a few more eps of Sakura Quest if I'm bored.

Also tried Sin and wow, is that show bad. Just softcore porn and super clichéd.

Also watched the first two episodes of Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho. This was a lot of fun, actually. The witch and the bear guy were both awesome characters and their interactions were interesting and fun. Too bad the little kid that joins them is an annoying piece of shit and really ruins things for me.

 

I mean, your comments made me watch King's Avatar just to confirm and ... no? I mean, yeah, he's not really the sharing type when it comes to his strategies, but it works out and people trust him, so I don't see the harm. He's really not the massive douchebag you present him as, and I can't really see what spawned all the hate.

Yeah, sometimes the Chinese really sounded weird, but I think that's because I keep expecting Japanese.

The series is alright so far. Not really deep in any kind of way, but you know what you're getting and it presents it to you in a nice, well-animated package.

 

Word. He's not the most gripping character but I wouldn't really characterize him as a massive asshole either.

 

Btw, can I just say that an entire team naming the MC 'the Greatest Boss in the history of Glory' and making it a training exercise to try and beat him is absolutely hilarious?

 

Kado Cube is actually very good. Themes on one government or the limitations of nations and countries are targeted. Basically, I think it juggles the concept of individualism vs collectivism. (Japan!Banzai! sorta) It's a very concept based anime. If that's your thing, try it.

It's by TOEI Animation so there are hints of CG in it but if you have watched Expelled From Paradise, that's the type of CG you're going to be watching

 

Ha, welcome to the current state of wuxia novels. Plenty of "anonymous god" arrogance and smackery to go around, and much worse too. Ye Xiu as a protag is mature in comparison.

In his defense, the girl was an uber-talented noob whose natural APM advantage lent her to think of the game as simplistic and superficial. Take it as a clash of egos, where he reveals to her there are greater profundities that her level of skill can't detect (and thereby igniting her journey to train and beat him).

Well, in his case, he's supposed to be doing all this without ego. He doesn't get any pleasure from it; he's simply building up the resources and sniping hidden talent/future teammates to return to the scene. The climb's the game.

I've actually been enjoying the voice acting for King's Avatar, if only because I've an ear for the Chinese and it's interesting to hear a genuine Chinese anime for once.

The boss's voice is a bit incongruous, though.

 

If you would read the light novel, you'd see it is really that bad too. In the novel there is one thing I have never encountered, even after reading 600 of the over 1600 chapters already translated: an obstacle of any kind for the protagonist.

It reads like a really bad Harry Potter fanfiction whose sole purpose is to be a wankfest for those who like to see godlike!Harry smacking everyone even stupider than him into ground (still hoping for any kind of obstacle in the next chapters but after so many I guess that hope will be futile).

And that is the problem that transferred into the anime. No enemie/rival that's dangerous for his climb back to the top, all other characters are so much more stupid compared to him even when they combine their strengh. Their skill can't compare to a "god" like him in a game that is solely skill based (no bots, no bugs, perfect game balance over all the classes and his knowledg about the game and mechanics is said to be unrivaled).
There is absoulte no suspense, we know how the fights will all end, but the problem is, that along the way there will be nothing at all that will be suprising since he doesn't face any resistence at all.

Still, I will continue to watch A Kings Avatar in hopes they might deviate from the novel in terms of rivals/enemies/obstacles in general.

 

Too much ecchi for me with that Tsugumomo show. I wonder if I'm getting too old for this or something, cause it just seemed super creepy to me. Just shut it off in the middle and I'm kinda over it as a show.

 

New episode of My Hero Academy is fucking phenomenal, the show always helps my saturday morning hangover. The entire season so far has been amazin

 

Yeah, BNHA is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best anime adaptions I've ever seen. Everything from the animation to the soundtrack is phenomenal. Studio Bones has really done a great job on it.

 

Seeing how well Bones is doing with Hero makes me salty that Toei has an iron grip on One Piece. I still wish anyone other than Toei was handling it, but good luck prying it from them.

Also, give me a HunterxHunter style re-do, I don't care if it's 700 episodes.

 

Attack on Titan season 2 is pretty damn awesome. Its a lot better than I remember season 1 being. Maybe its because Eren hasn't really been the main character this season and the spotlight was put on characters like Christa, Ymir, Reiner, Conny, and Sasha. All of whom have had good character moments and drama. I'm completely fine with them stepping up and pulling the focus off of Eren for the foreseeable future.

Still, when he is on screen Eren is a lot better than he was last season. He's a lot less annoying. He isn't constantly screaming about hating titans or killing them, so thats a definite plus. He seems a lot more mature.

The OST is fucking awesome as always, and I love the new OP.


Re:Creators has gotten a lot better over the course of its season. The MC I Complained about has gotten more depth and thus has become more tolerable. He's not as pointless as he was in the earlier episodes of the show.

Selesia and Meteora have taken a back seat for the past couple of episodes, but the show has given us a cool new character in Magane which more than makes up for it. That chick is seriously fucked up, but oh so entertaining to watch.

The naive magical girl had some good development, but given her source material it is understandable that even as she matured she was still naive. I liked her interactions with Alice.

Alice on her own is kind of bland. Her single-minded determination to save her world is understandable, but the character shined in her interactions with the other characters.

We also got some background on Military Uniform Princess as well as her motivation. Its kind of understandable and I suppose I should feel guilty for kind of rooting for her right now. But I don't. She's awesome so far.

The OST and the fight scenes are pretty damn good.

It feels like this show is flying under the radar though. I think it deserves to be more popular.


Boruto has really surprised me with how much I"m enjoying it. The character himself has gotten a lot less annoying and has proven not to be as retarded as his father. Imagine my surprise at him easily completing his math problems at the academy.

The other stand-out character is Shino. Watching him struggle with his insecurities over the fact that his students don't really listen to him or show him any respect has been really interesting. His VA is a bit odd though given I mainly remember his dub voice.

The other characters are fine, but haven't really developed at all. Sarada has barely had any screentime and I would like to see more of her. One line of hers I did like was when Boruto was dealing with the fact that people didn't believe in him over something and she said she didn't think he was a liar. It was a good character moment but I'd really like to see them interact more.

Shikadai is cool and I like Mitsuki so far so I"m glad they both seem like they'll be major players in this series.

Class Rep Sumire is hilarious. Her freak-out's haven't gotten old for me yet. I wonder what kind of ninja she'll be.

Chouji's daughter is an annoying bitch that gets more screentime then she deserves.

Hanabi had a big part in an episode and got to show off her skills as well as have a heart to heart with Boruto. I hope Auntie Hanabi is heavily featured in the future. She's fun.

In the most recent episode we've finally gotten Naruto's POV on his relationship with his son. I liked it and it redeemed a lot in my eyes. His talk with Hinata as they watched Boruto sleeping was great.

Another great scene for me was Shino and Hinata's talk. They feel like real friends with history. I thinks with series will be better to them than Naruto was.

The plot is pretty repetitive at the moments and feels like its been dragged on forever, but I'm assuming this whole plot is filler to give the manga time to get ahead. Still, its the character moments that have my interest so I can deal with the repetitive plot for now.

Most importantly: I am consistently horrified every time Anko and Kurenai are on screen. They've suffered a fate worse than death.