The only good thing that's come out of DxD is Jon's fanfic.

 

I watched the first two seasons over the last couple of nights, and I now think of it in the same vein as say, the fast and the furious series. Woeful, but I still like it.

The ludicrous amounts of fan service very quickly desensitised me and now I can appreciate it for what it really is, a comedy show that's so bad its good.

There's also this.

https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/h...=f0785ca1d73bb8471e64774393db4ff7&oe=55B9D72E

 

I just watched the first season of OreGairu in it's completion, and I'm starting to think its my favourite work of anime I've yet seen.

The humour in it is nice, as is the overly cynical eyes the protagonist sees the world through, the maudlin essay's which are hilarious when juxtaposed with the world presented are an extra. All of that is irrelevant in the face of it's biggest achievement, which is the frankly beautiful way that it's intelligent, isolated main characters are presented to the rest of the world in there efforts to achieve some sort of connection.

I like that the two characters are presented as very intelligent, and I like that it's done in a way that's very much 'show not tell', I like that in a highschool based romcom there's characters that have removed themselves from the experience of highschool after being burned by it, and I like even more that they're willing to 'enter the matrix' in order to help others (even if they are somewhat forced), and achieve the desired result in a witty, cynical and intelligent way.

That's not to say that the two main characters (Yuki and Hikki) are unable to make poor decisions, or that they're able to even understand their peers in a meaningful way. Hikki in particular has somewhat embodied knowing something but not understanding it, and while he has his moments of insight the depressingly humorous essays underline a thorough, if somewhat accurate, misunderstanding of people.

This is a show that I think is critically good, and one I'm quite glad I watched after a spree of shounen's (hxh, ttgl, f:sn) and hdxd. If you haven't seen it, and feel like a reasonably small time investment or like romcom genre at all I heavily encourage it, as it is in my opinion the apex of the genre. At least in anime.

 

Oregairu Zoku is currently airing, for what it's worth. First episode was enjoyable.

 

My shoujo streak is still going strong. Idk why.

Just watched the first season of Kimi Ni Todoke. Figured I should write a review about it before going into the second season, while my thoughts on it are still fresh.

Well, to be fair this won't be nearly as long as my other reviews, due to the show's nature.

Anyway, this is Kimi ni Todoke:


Plot: Kuronuma Sawako is a gentle high school student who, due to her scary appearance (resemblance to classic ghost girl) has been unable to make any friends so far. Everything changes when Kazehaya, the most popular guy in class, starts talking to her, prompting others to do the same. From there Sawako begins to understand how friendship and, eventually, romance works.


Sounds like your usual, run-of-the-mill highschool anime, right? Well, you wouldn't be wrong, but this is heads and shoulders above the rest of the rabble.

Despite the summary, most of emphasis is given on the friendship between Sawako, Chizu and Ayame, rather than the (very) slowly building romance with Kazehaya. In fact, the show seems intent on stressing the importance of friendship, since Sawako is completely new to the concept.

KnT actually shocked me with how much I enjoyed it. Well, not exactly. What shocked me was that I couldn't find anything in particular to point at and say 'that kind of sucked'.

In more detail:

The protagonist, Sawako (often called 'Sadako' after the ghost in 'The Ring') is genuinely likeable as a person. She is ignorant of a lot of things to do with interpersonal interactions due to her circumstances, but she is not stupid like a lot of protagonists are. She does have the always-positive attitude often encountered, but she does not take it to the annoying extremes often met. She is firm when she wants to be. She's gentle but not a pushover.
I'm generally not a fan of female protagonists. I'm generally not a fan of the 'always positive/nice' archetype. Sawako makes me question a lot of things about myself.


Similarly, the rest of the main cast (about 4 other people) are all well developed. Sawako's two friends, Chizuru and Ayame, have unique personalities, both likeable but equally distinguishable, without needly extra long character arcs to make them feel unique. Similarly, Kazehaya and Ryu are also like that, in that they don't instantly fall under an anime character archetype. I found it particularly impressive how the show managed to make the supporting characters feel unique seamlessly through the regular story arc instead of going into long-winded tirades/flash-backs/side-story in order to give them a personality.


Well, Chizu does get an arc to herself near the end and I admit that the transition was a little jarring, but that is about the extent of the show's sin in that regard.

I hesitate to classify this as a romcom. The show can certainly be funny. Whenever it wants to be, it succeeds, but comedy isn't the focus of it, it just occurs. Similarly, while the romantic feelings of various people are often discussed/thought on, for the majority of the show they're not the driving force or the center of attention. I'm not describing this very well, but KnT avoided going into drama territory while still technically being a romance story, basically. Slice-of-life fits it bets, perhaps, although considering the somewhat unique circumstances of Sawako I'm not sure how accurate that is.

The show's intro and closing sequence actually had songs I enjoyed, which is something I don't say often ... or at all. Music is a nonentity besides these two instances, however.

What else, what else ... oh right. The animation is pretty fucking good. I really liked the style. Well above average. The character models are very well made and movements are not wooden, though background suffers a little bit. The focus on the quality of characters themselves really impressed me.

A gripe I have is that there's wasn't any closure towards ... anything, really by the end of the season. I guess it doesn't matter that much since there's a second one, though. Still loses some points because of it.

Overall, there's not much else I can say about this. Perhaps light-hearted, certainly positive overall, watching KmT will make even a rock feel better. However, if one doesn't enjoy this kind of show, there is exactly zero reason to watch this. The biggest 'action' sequence is a slap. I think someone got shoved once, too. So, be warned.

If you are a romcom/slice-of-life fan, however, I wholeheartedly suggest this. Even if you're just looking for something positive to pass some time, this is for you. 8/10, and only because the ending felt weak.

Here's hoping the second season doesn't bomb it.

Wow this wasn't actually that short, huh.

 

Yet another Republic recommendation that I'll second. Though I'll have to add that you shouldn't go into Kimi ni Todoke for "romance." I watched the show (and then read the manga) while I was on a particularly big Shoujo kick some time ago, and going into KnT for the romance just left me unsatisfied. Treat the show as one about friendship and relationships between people and you'll find yourself having a great time!

 

So ... I watched the second season of Kimi Ni Todoke.



...



Disclaimer: Kinda sorta spoilers, but not really.

I came into the second season immediately after watching the first. I was this close to giving it a 9, which for me is an amazing grade. The point is, I came into the second season with very, very high hopes and expectations.

They were not met. In fact, they were crushed.

Let me get some good points out of the way. The animation is still very good, with some very powerful moments here and there.

The music, surprisingly, fit in a bit better and actually left an impression at times rather than being nonexistent like in the first season. The closing song sounded better this time, too.

Now, on to the plot:
Dissapointing first few episodes. In fact, the first 7 episodes were a total disaster. Cheap drama created by characters thinking but not actually saying what would fix an otherwise simple situation.

Total reboot of the relationship, invalidating the last several episodes of the first season and cheapening the plot overall for pointless drama.

A lot of the things that I hate about drama anime surface on the second season, while they were absent the first. Namely, it's the retarded misunderstandings. The sort of situations that arise only because a character took something someone said completely the wrong way, or didn't say something simple yet vital. These sort of things are easy, cheap drama generators and would never happen in real life because in real life people are not that stupid.

Similarly, Sawako seems to have taken the same steep dive the show itself has. There is no sign of the backbone that she had in the first season. She's turned into the depressed, passive and utterly stupid classic anime chick who believes whoever's mouth is moving at the time. What the hell? Sawako in season1 spoke her mind and, even though she was afraid, always tried her best for what she wanted to achieve and wasn't afraid to contradict other people. What happened to that? For f-'s sake, even Kurumi admitted that she didn't expect Sawako to be such a mindless sheep.

Similarly, Kazehaya seems to have realized he's starring in an anime and started doing all the retarded shit anime characters sometimes do, even though he'd made it a point to contradict those expectations in season 1. Things like being led around by the nose by everyone who speaks to him, having no personal conviction, and not respecting other people's right to a decision, like he demanded in season 1 for himself. The latter episodes kind of fix this, but the damage is done by then.

I mean, what the actual f-? Did they seriously make more than one episode's worth of drama based on the misunderstanding that both think the other meant a different definition of 'like'? How can that elicit any emotion other than bafflement from the viewer? How are we supposed to empathize with the characters when their only problems consist of having exactly 0 communication skills?

When the answer 'Does your anime's conflict get solved if the characters say a single reasonable sentence to each other?' is 'Yes' then you're doing something wrong, goddammit.

I wanted to drop it on the first 4 episodes. I really wanted to drop it on episode 5. I should have dropped it on episode 6. I kept going because I'm the kind of guy who can't look away from a train wreck, and because after watching the first season I at least wanted to see how the second one concluded.

The episodes after 6-7 seem to merely be trying to reel back in the shit parade. They're not bad. In fact, they're fine. However, that doesn't erase the fact that none of this should have happened. Much as I enjoyed the episodes from 8 onwards, the fact remains. The last few episodes are spent resolving situations that arose out of pure and unadulterated stupidity that are definitely not the kind of thing I was expecting coming into this.

The last episode is appropriately heartwarming, I'll give the series that. However, imagine the last two episodes being, in fact, the FIRST two, and then the rest of the season being the two of them exploring their new relationship. There was no need for the pointless and outright silly drama of the first 7 episodes.

The fact that the last few episodes were good kind of softened me up by the time I finished it, but it doesn't change the fact that more than half of the season was garbage. I want to rate it high because of the last two episodes, and I want to rate it very, very low because of the first few.

I guess I didn't do myself any favors by having high expectations.

As it is, I'll just sigh and give it a 5/10.

I just had to go and say it.

 

Okay so in the past 2 days I've watched the first season of OreGairu (previously mentioned in this thread) and Death Parade (from the season of anime that just finished). Both are 12 episodes long and absolutely superb. It was a great couple days. They are totally different shows, but both are wonderfully human. In OreGairu you get so much more than your standard high school anime rom com. It's clever, it's funny, and any drama is tastefully done. The interaction between the main cast is natural and entertaining. So many of the insecurities of being a teenager and the stupid things we do at that age are represented with startling sharpness. It's a much watch in my opinion, and the second episode of the new season will be out soon.

Death Parade was discussed on the thread for last season's anime, so you can see a bit more detail there. I'm too tired to go into furthers detail. But it's a beautiful show. The setup of the show makes you think that it's going to be an interesting but dispassionate dissection of human nature, but it becomes so much more heartfelt than that. It's also a much watch.

 

Just watched the available 2 episodes of Shokugeki no Souma and was more than just amused. Several laugh out loud moments, and in the back of my mind always the thought that an anime about cooking shouldn't be this entertaining...

So far it gets 5/5 from me. I wonder if it'll continue like that.

 

Oops, wrong thread.

Edit: May as well ask for a recommendation while I'm here, though:

I'm thinking of watching a few gundam/mecha anime. Can someone recommend the best ones? I've already seen Neon Genesis and Code Geass.

 

Standard mecha recs: Gundam (each series/AU is different) avoiding Age, Seed Destiny and Reconqueista in G, however I would wait for a few Universal Century Gundam series before watching Turn A Gundam. For Super Robot stuff there is G Gundam, Getter Robo Armageddon/ New Getter Robo, Gurren Lagann, GaoGaiGar+Final, Macross, and Shin Mazinger/Mazinkaiser. After that you should know if you like Real Robot vs. Super Robot. Then I could probably give you more specific answers.

 

The only other one I'd add is Armored Trooper Votoms. Very much a hard sci-fi show.

 

>avoid Reconguista in G
Disagree on that front. Still, it's a matter of taste in the end, I suppose.
Keep in mind for most of these shows you'll have to brave somewhat dated looking animation.

Also, have a chart for Gundam:
http://i.imgur.com/ZSKyauX.jpg
This is the most recent version I know of.

 

Kakumeiki Valvrave. It's so fucking bad it's good.

The OP is fantastic too - no anime is least deserving of such an incredible OP.

 

A friend likened it to Code Geass on crack, it was such a weird show.

Just watched all of Diamond no Ace and Haikyuu, both are pretty good although DnA is such a slog, first season is 75 eps.

 

Watched the "horror" anime Another today on a recommendation. I'm sure there will be a few people who watched this already - from the people behind Angel Beats it was apparently really hyped up around 2012 when it came out.

It was looking like a solid 7/8 out of 10 until it totally jumped the shark in the last few episodes. I know that there's always a suspension of disbelief with these shows but the events of the last few episodes (I don't want to spoil them in case someone decides to go on and watch this later) just completely ruined the characterization and atmosphere they'd been building up throughout the show.

The series as a whole though was very atmospheric, it made good use of misdirects and drawing suspicion onto several side characters (as well as dropping hints for the real reveal). I found most of the characters to be unsympathetic, and any of the ones who you maybe start to care about are either killed early on in the show or turned crazy in the last two episodes. I wouldn't expect to be actually frightened or scared while watching this, and the deaths seem more Final Destination than realistic, but the tension it built up was very nicely done. It went slightly overboard with the tense background music though - although I've always find dead silence to be more tense a lot of the time so that could just be a stylistic preference.

I hear that the manga is a lot better so I might have to check it out, but as it is a promising show ended up going off the rails in the end. Shame.

Moving onto Turn A Gundam now to scratch that Mecha itch, hoping it's a good one!

 

Vampires. And the fucking hari-kiri move. And the "inspirational" speech. Valvrave is one of the funniest things I've watched, and it's all the more hilarious for taking itself seriously.

 

I think I got up to episode 9 of the second season but never went back to it, endings meant to be typical Valvrave though

Just watched Psycho Pass again, the opening song in the first half of the season is so fucking superb.

 

I just finished Baby Steps, it was super fun.

It's a tennis anime with some romance in it. It's more technical and realistic than Prince of Tennis.

I didn't realize there were more tennis animes. Sports anime has never really drawn me but this one was a lot of fun, mostly because of the realism.

 

Are you telling me you don't like Hajime no Ippo and its jet engine sound effects?