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TV: General Anime Discussion (Part 3)

syz

syz

[1, 5, 6, 14]
Jul 13, 2007
30,600
16,219




Frieren will have a 2 hour debut episode and the "new" Spice and Wolf appears to be a remake.
 
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oil Leaks

oil Leaks

The Ultimate Decoy
Jul 5, 2011
3,818
3,561
Next week. July 14. My body is ready.
One of my favorite new shows that aired in 2021. Can;t wait for season 2

 
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hoyster

hoyster

Registered User
Dec 1, 2011
1,371
347
Helsinki
The spring 2023 anime season is now over and I feel like this was the best season of anime ever. Although I'm fairly new in the world of anime, I can't imagine there was this amount of quality shows in the same season in the past. And now looking into the summer line-up aside from Horimiya, there's not much I'm expecting (I didn't like JJK and never seen Bleach). So I felt like now is a good time to do a little review of this awesome season: (May include spoilers!)

Oshi No Ko (10/10)
Anime of the season and already close to my top animes of all-time. This show took me by complete surprise. The first episode was one of the greatest pieces of anime I've seen in a long time. I had no idea where this was going to progress from there (and I still don't), but I've loved every single second. You never knew what sort of episode you would face every week. They could be the most wholesome and fun episodes or they could just tear you down emotionally. The awareness that it has for modern social commentary and all the aspects of young celebrities lifes it shines a light to is just so...real? I don't really know how to explain it. Especially the dark side of all is something that this show did so well. I really think that episode 6 is something that they should teach in schools about online behaviour and the effects of it.

Where this show has gone now, you could split this in mutliple animes and I would 100% watch all of them. Whether it's a dark show about Aqua's revenge plot, B Komachi's new rise in the idol industry or a slice of life rom-com of the school life. I'm fully invested in all of it. Calling now that this is the anime of the year for sure. And Kana Arima has secured her spot as one of the best girls of all-time!

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - The First Kiss That Never Ends (9,5/10)
Yeah, so Aka Arasaka is a genius. Two top tier mangas/animes from the same author and they both killed it as an anime (I don't read mangas btw, likely never will) Antoher show where you're cautious of how the show will progress once we've reached the end of the major plotline. Well, it delivered an amazing deep dive into our main characters personalities and feelings. All of the four parts kept me evenly intrigued and the payoff in the end was all that I could've hoped for. They actually managed to drag the 'first kiss' aspect for this long without it feeling too much. I'm so happy that this show doesn't end like normal rom-coms where the confessions happen in the last episode and then we never get the life after.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season - Final Chapters (9,5/10)
First chapter with the rumbling just had me staring at the screen with my mouth wide open. That was absolutely brutal and it just kept going on and on. And as if that wasn't enough, they give one of my top 3 characters the most epic send off. This first chapter lived in my head for like a month. First chapter 10/10

Second chapter was a bit more forgettable for me as it was mostly just setting up for the two final chapters, but we still had some great character moments. Second chapter 9/10.

The way that AoT keeps sewing the story together is just pure madness (in the best way). Attack on Titan is what got me properly into anime so I might always be a bit biased towards it, but I really think this is the best show (not just anime) that I've ever seen. I have had a few things spoiled to me (both minor and major), but it has never taken any of the shock and awe out of it. I guess that would be like if I've read the manga.

Hell's Paradise (9,5/10)
Note to Demon Slayer writers/directors/mangakas/whoever. This is how you make a season of anime with multiple characters that you want to introduce. This is the show I started last, because for some reason I was thinking that I wouldn't like it too much. Thank the heavens I was wrong. I feel like this show wasn't hyped enough (Although I don't have twitter nor do I follow any anime/manga sites etc). This story has the best parts of Demon Slayer (aside the animation) and it mixed in a little Dragonball there as well. And everything they did was weirdly believeable. In this short time they managed to properly introduce us to dozens of characters and they all had their own unique designs and abilities. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole journey and it keeps getting better and better. The unease I have watching these episodes and the fear I have for every characters survival reminds me of early Attack on Titan.

Insomniacs After School (9,25/10)
The romance anime of the season. Just a show of pure wholesomeness and cuteness and I was here for it. I feel like I'm going to call most of these shows underrated or underhyped, but this show really is the under-the-radar gem of the season. They almost hit us with the Your Lie in April -scare, but thank god they dropped the flag quickly. There's not much to say about the characters or the story or anything, but this show just left you with a big smile on your face while rooting for these kids to get all the happiness in the world. When the show actually went deeper into the characters and the cause of their insomnia, it was really emotional and you just couldn't hel but to root for them even more. Also I love how they didn't drag the 'will they, won't they' romance side too long and it felt like a natural progression.

Also I have to give a shout out to the ED Lapse by Homecomings. Just a great song in itself and it fits perfectly with the show. It made me check out more of their stuff and I love it.

Heavenly Delusion (9,25/10)
Another show that should have way more hype than I think it has. What a rollercoaster of emotions this first cour was and seems like we're in for a lot more. I just love show like these where the mystery slowly reveals itself. I love Kiruko and Maru and their journey, but I'm so intrigued about the school stroyline and how it set everything up. We had some great hype moments and good cries and good laughs with the show but also some of the darkest, most disturbing moments I've seen.

KonoSuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World! (8,75/10)
I liked Megumin in KonoSuba, but I wasn't sure what they could do with her origin story so I stayed off of this show for a while. That was actually good thing because I was able to binge this show, because I loved it. Although I could've probably watched hours of all the Crimson Demon shenanigans, I felt like this was the perfect little prequel story. The side characters in the village were just so good. I got a whole new appreciation for YunYun that you didn't really get in the main series. She's just too adorable. Also Megumin's sister Komekko just straight up conquered my heart and she jumped all the way to the top on par with Anya Forger.

Skip and Loafer (8,25/10)
This show is kinda similar with Insomniacs After School where it's just pure wholesomeness, but this show doesn't really have the romance elements (yet). It's good to have a school slice of life show, where we have a female MC. I don't feel like we have much of those. I really loved the friendship that developed between Yuzuki and Makoto. It reminded me a little bit of Gundou and Carol from Tomo-Chan is a Girl.

Dangers in My Heart (8,25/10)
Well this was a very odd one. It took me a few episodes to really start to like this show and a few more to really love it. The over sexualition is the only off-puttiing side of the show and it feels even more weird that they made this characters 13-14(?) year olds. Aside from that I liked how the relationship of our main characters progressed and it was nice to see the feelings and the awkwardness coming from the girls side.

Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village (8/10)
Don't get me wrong, I love Demon Slayer and I really liked this season. But something just felt off and I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the first time I started to notice the heavy plot armors and character power-ups out of nowhere, even thoug they had plenty of these in the previous seasons as well.

I just love the desgin of all the characters in this show. I don't know if any show does it better. The upper moon demons were all more unique than the other which really is a great mirror to the Hashiras and their desgins. I liked Muichiro and I absolutely loved Mitsuri (and her theme song). I really appreciate how graceful and lovable they made her which really fit her character. Genya was also a great add to our group of heroes. The animation in this season was top notch once again (Aside of the weird cgi/3d fish stuff, which was a weird and an awful choice).

What felt off this season was the pacing for me. I get what they did with Muichiros back story and the amnesia, but it really messed up the pacing of the fight. Also I never sensed much danger this season compared to last. Somehow I just knew that they were not going to kill any of the main characters here. Especially the Nezuko stuff at the end was just too obvious that she was not going to actually die. I am intrigued where they take her character for here. I really hope she will get some training done next arc as well.

Anyways the show (and this arc) is still epic and awesome.

Gundam: Witch from Mercury, Season 2 (8/10)
This is more of a review of the whole series as I watched both season 1 and 2 this spring.

I still don't get any of the politics that went on with this show but I was still able to enjoy this season. This is the first Gundam show that I've watched and I'm not sure if I'll watch others, because I'm not really into Mecha anime (even though 86 is one of my top 3 animes of all-time). The emotional journey that we go through with our adorable MC Suletta hits just so good. The balance of love and friendships with tragedy and war crimes is so well done here.

My Love Story with Yamada-Kun (7,5/10)
Another wholesome slice of life romcom this season that I enjoyed and again with a female MC. This is a show where I don't really have much to say other than it was a good balance amidst all these more emotionally heavy shows. I was actually surprised to find out that this wasn't a one-and-done series as we kinda reached a solution, but apparently there's more source material to go with. We'll see if the anime gets another season as well.

Vinland Saga, Season 2 (0/10)
Well here goes my most controverial (and most hated) take. I think I gave the first season 8/10 rating, even though I lost interest there a few times too. This season I was able to watch like 12-13 episodes before I was done. I really don't understand how people call this a masterpiece. People say that this season has great character development, but I didn't feel any of that in the first half of the season. It was just realy really boring. And I did watch until the 'pay off' episode where Thorfinn starts to finally rise back up, but that's where I stopped, because at that point I didn't care about his character anymore. Everything they built up in the first season with him, they tore down. I am going to watch some recap of the latter half, if it'll pick any of my interest back up. The first season somewhat worked asa 24 episode season, but I really feel like the second season would've worked better as a 12-13 episode cour. At least waht I watched could've been done in like 4 episodes IMO. You can hate my take all you want, but this show is a disappointment to me.
 
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S E P H

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
32,561
17,956
Toruń, PL
So I finished 86, brilliant anime even though I thought it might have been 2-3 episodes too long. Interested to see if they make another season because I am not sure how much the manga continues or if you can even continue it. I was satisfied with what we got and the ending.

I didn't start Trigun: Stampede, but I went to Orange because it was on my major backlist and so far I am on episode 8 or 9. I thought it started off fantastic, but it has been sort of a chore to continue watching. The pacing has been so slow, I am not sure what else the story has to tell since all the major parts have been revealed, but yet there are another five episodes or so to watch so yeah...

hoyster said:
The spring 2023 anime season is now over and I feel like this was the best season of anime ever. Although I'm fairly new in the world of anime, I can't imagine there was this amount of quality shows in the same season in the past. And now looking into the summer line-up aside from Horimiya, there's not much I'm expecting (I didn't like JJK and never seen Bleach). So I felt like now is a good time to do a little review of this awesome season: (May include spoilers!)

Oshi No Ko (10/10)
Anime of the season and already close to my top animes of all-time. This show took me by complete surprise. The first episode was one of the greatest pieces of anime I've seen in a long time. I had no idea where this was going to progress from there (and I still don't), but I've loved every single second. You never knew what sort of episode you would face every week. They could be the most wholesome and fun episodes or they could just tear you down emotionally. The awareness that it has for modern social commentary and all the aspects of young celebrities lifes it shines a light to is just so...real? I don't really know how to explain it. Especially the dark side of all is something that this show did so well. I really think that episode 6 is something that they should teach in schools about online behaviour and the effects of it.

Where this show has gone now, you could split this in mutliple animes and I would 100% watch all of them. Whether it's a dark show about Aqua's revenge plot, B Komachi's new rise in the idol industry or a slice of life rom-com of the school life. I'm fully invested in all of it. Calling now that this is the anime of the year for sure. And Kana Arima has secured her spot as one of the best girls of all-time!

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - The First Kiss That Never Ends (9,5/10)
Yeah, so Aka Arasaka is a genius. Two top tier mangas/animes from the same author and they both killed it as an anime (I don't read mangas btw, likely never will) Antoher show where you're cautious of how the show will progress once we've reached the end of the major plotline. Well, it delivered an amazing deep dive into our main characters personalities and feelings. All of the four parts kept me evenly intrigued and the payoff in the end was all that I could've hoped for. They actually managed to drag the 'first kiss' aspect for this long without it feeling too much. I'm so happy that this show doesn't end like normal rom-coms where the confessions happen in the last episode and then we never get the life after.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season - Final Chapters (9,5/10)
First chapter with the rumbling just had me staring at the screen with my mouth wide open. That was absolutely brutal and it just kept going on and on. And as if that wasn't enough, they give one of my top 3 characters the most epic send off. This first chapter lived in my head for like a month. First chapter 10/10

Second chapter was a bit more forgettable for me as it was mostly just setting up for the two final chapters, but we still had some great character moments. Second chapter 9/10.

The way that AoT keeps sewing the story together is just pure madness (in the best way). Attack on Titan is what got me properly into anime so I might always be a bit biased towards it, but I really think this is the best show (not just anime) that I've ever seen. I have had a few things spoiled to me (both minor and major), but it has never taken any of the shock and awe out of it. I guess that would be like if I've read the manga.

Hell's Paradise (9,5/10)
Note to Demon Slayer writers/directors/mangakas/whoever. This is how you make a season of anime with multiple characters that you want to introduce. This is the show I started last, because for some reason I was thinking that I wouldn't like it too much. Thank the heavens I was wrong. I feel like this show wasn't hyped enough (Although I don't have twitter nor do I follow any anime/manga sites etc). This story has the best parts of Demon Slayer (aside the animation) and it mixed in a little Dragonball there as well. And everything they did was weirdly believeable. In this short time they managed to properly introduce us to dozens of characters and they all had their own unique designs and abilities. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole journey and it keeps getting better and better. The unease I have watching these episodes and the fear I have for every characters survival reminds me of early Attack on Titan.

Insomniacs After School (9,25/10)
The romance anime of the season. Just a show of pure wholesomeness and cuteness and I was here for it. I feel like I'm going to call most of these shows underrated or underhyped, but this show really is the under-the-radar gem of the season. They almost hit us with the Your Lie in April -scare, but thank god they dropped the flag quickly. There's not much to say about the characters or the story or anything, but this show just left you with a big smile on your face while rooting for these kids to get all the happiness in the world. When the show actually went deeper into the characters and the cause of their insomnia, it was really emotional and you just couldn't hel but to root for them even more. Also I love how they didn't drag the 'will they, won't they' romance side too long and it felt like a natural progression.

Also I have to give a shout out to the ED Lapse by Homecomings. Just a great song in itself and it fits perfectly with the show. It made me check out more of their stuff and I love it.

Heavenly Delusion (9,25/10)
Another show that should have way more hype than I think it has. What a rollercoaster of emotions this first cour was and seems like we're in for a lot more. I just love show like these where the mystery slowly reveals itself. I love Kiruko and Maru and their journey, but I'm so intrigued about the school stroyline and how it set everything up. We had some great hype moments and good cries and good laughs with the show but also some of the darkest, most disturbing moments I've seen.

KonoSuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World! (8,75/10)
I liked Megumin in KonoSuba, but I wasn't sure what they could do with her origin story so I stayed off of this show for a while. That was actually good thing because I was able to binge this show, because I loved it. Although I could've probably watched hours of all the Crimson Demon shenanigans, I felt like this was the perfect little prequel story. The side characters in the village were just so good. I got a whole new appreciation for YunYun that you didn't really get in the main series. She's just too adorable. Also Megumin's sister Komekko just straight up conquered my heart and she jumped all the way to the top on par with Anya Forger.

Skip and Loafer (8,25/10)
This show is kinda similar with Insomniacs After School where it's just pure wholesomeness, but this show doesn't really have the romance elements (yet). It's good to have a school slice of life show, where we have a female MC. I don't feel like we have much of those. I really loved the friendship that developed between Yuzuki and Makoto. It reminded me a little bit of Gundou and Carol from Tomo-Chan is a Girl.

Dangers in My Heart (8,25/10)
Well this was a very odd one. It took me a few episodes to really start to like this show and a few more to really love it. The over sexualition is the only off-puttiing side of the show and it feels even more weird that they made this characters 13-14(?) year olds. Aside from that I liked how the relationship of our main characters progressed and it was nice to see the feelings and the awkwardness coming from the girls side.

Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village (8/10)
Don't get me wrong, I love Demon Slayer and I really liked this season. But something just felt off and I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the first time I started to notice the heavy plot armors and character power-ups out of nowhere, even thoug they had plenty of these in the previous seasons as well.

I just love the desgin of all the characters in this show. I don't know if any show does it better. The upper moon demons were all more unique than the other which really is a great mirror to the Hashiras and their desgins. I liked Muichiro and I absolutely loved Mitsuri (and her theme song). I really appreciate how graceful and lovable they made her which really fit her character. Genya was also a great add to our group of heroes. The animation in this season was top notch once again (Aside of the weird cgi/3d fish stuff, which was a weird and an awful choice).

What felt off this season was the pacing for me. I get what they did with Muichiros back story and the amnesia, but it really messed up the pacing of the fight. Also I never sensed much danger this season compared to last. Somehow I just knew that they were not going to kill any of the main characters here. Especially the Nezuko stuff at the end was just too obvious that she was not going to actually die. I am intrigued where they take her character for here. I really hope she will get some training done next arc as well.

Anyways the show (and this arc) is still epic and awesome.

Gundam: Witch from Mercury, Season 2 (8/10)
This is more of a review of the whole series as I watched both season 1 and 2 this spring.

I still don't get any of the politics that went on with this show but I was still able to enjoy this season. This is the first Gundam show that I've watched and I'm not sure if I'll watch others, because I'm not really into Mecha anime (even though 86 is one of my top 3 animes of all-time). The emotional journey that we go through with our adorable MC Suletta hits just so good. The balance of love and friendships with tragedy and war crimes is so well done here.

My Love Story with Yamada-Kun (7,5/10)
Another wholesome slice of life romcom this season that I enjoyed and again with a female MC. This is a show where I don't really have much to say other than it was a good balance amidst all these more emotionally heavy shows. I was actually surprised to find out that this wasn't a one-and-done series as we kinda reached a solution, but apparently there's more source material to go with. We'll see if the anime gets another season as well.

Vinland Saga, Season 2 (0/10)
Well here goes my most controverial (and most hated) take. I think I gave the first season 8/10 rating, even though I lost interest there a few times too. This season I was able to watch like 12-13 episodes before I was done. I really don't understand how people call this a masterpiece. People say that this season has great character development, but I didn't feel any of that in the first half of the season. It was just realy really boring. And I did watch until the 'pay off' episode where Thorfinn starts to finally rise back up, but that's where I stopped, because at that point I didn't care about his character anymore. Everything they built up in the first season with him, they tore down. I am going to watch some recap of the latter half, if it'll pick any of my interest back up. The first season somewhat worked asa 24 episode season, but I really feel like the second season would've worked better as a 12-13 episode cour. At least waht I watched could've been done in like 4 episodes IMO. You can hate my take all you want, but this show is a disappointment to me.
Click to expand...
Winter 2022 was also crazy good.
 
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Unholy

Unholy

kesbae
Jan 13, 2010
13,777
398
Southern California
Yuru Camp lesgoo. Comfy greatness.

In addition to JJK and Mushoku, trying out so far : The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, Vending Machine Isekai, Atelier Ryza, My Tiny Senpai and Zom 100.

Non seasonal I just started was Birdie Wing and still going through Summer Time Rendering
 
hoyster

hoyster

Registered User
Dec 1, 2011
1,371
347
Helsinki
S E P H said:
So I finished 86, brilliant anime even though I thought it might have been 2-3 episodes too long. Interested to see if they make another season because I am not sure how much the manga continues or if you can even continue it. I was satisfied with what we got and the ending.
Click to expand...
There are currently 11 volumes of 86 light novels and it's still on going. Cour 1 of the anime covered volume 1 and cour 2 covered volumes 2 and 3. So there seems to be plenty left. I agree that the ending is satisfying enough but I really do hope they continue the anime. I don't think we've heard any news yet.

S E P H said:
Winter 2022 was also crazy good.
Click to expand...
That is true, but I think it was just top-heavy with arguably the best, and full, seasons of two massive animes. (Although spring 2023 also had AoT and DS.) Of course My Dress-Up Darling was a S tier anime too.

Just the depth and variety makes this the better season.
 
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syz

syz

[1, 5, 6, 14]
Jul 13, 2007
30,600
16,219
syz said:
Click to expand...

Worth noting that this is being done by a different team for some reason. New animation studio, director, etc. for the first time. The composer seems to be the only returning staff.

The new studio has worked on a similar series (Yama no Susume/Encouragement of Climb) but it's still unexpected.
 
S E P H

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
32,561
17,956
Toruń, PL
Randy Butternubs said:
@S E P H did you give Stampede a go?
Click to expand...
So I finished it. Definitely did not come close to the original, but I still enjoyed it.

The animation is top notch and a lot of effort was put in, but because they used this type of animation it comes across as really expensive (to me anyway) and I think the show suffers from them rushing it due to the costs. Instead of putting it in 16 episodes, they rushed it to 12 episodes. Another thing is that with this type of animation, the studios tend to go over the top with emotions and dialogue. I honestly think that was the weakest part of the show, instead of saying something normal and how people say it in everyday life, the show goes over the top with the theatrical moments and dramatic elements. I also hated how the dub kept using nicknames that came across as cringe like noobie and blondie. I also much prefer Wolfwood of the OG instead of this one, I thought he was the one that was most ruined. And because it was rushed, there was absolutely zero character development, everyone was just thrown into a role they somehow knew and it didn't come across as natural. Like in the OG, Meryl isn't really convinced that Vash is this amazing sort of legendary gunslinger until the seventh episode or so and there are other situations that get built upon naturally. Him being an amazing gunman is almost considered an afterthought in Stampede.

This show was almost like a prequel to the original show, while I came away thinking that it was a reboot. There are a lot of reboot elements because many of the main characters know him as the billion-double-dollar man instead of the million version, so I am not sure where Orange takes it. I actually loved the battle scenes and I like how they went more in-depth with certain elements I was very confused about in the OG like the plants and Earth. I am still a bit confused about how Knives and Vash are plants yet function as entirely humans, but I guess we ain't supposed to know. I really liked the dynamism of the brothers in this one, where Knives said he's already died because Vash's mortality killed him.

Sounds like Season 2 has already been confirmed. Hopefully, they focus on the Badland's Gang in this season.
 
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hoyster

hoyster

Registered User
Dec 1, 2011
1,371
347
Helsinki
Finally finished Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Well worth the hype even though it took me like 15 episodes to truly get into it. The storyline unfolded very neatly with the last 20 or so episodes being constant action. I felt like the show had dozens of important characters so I was a bit worried how would everyone get their fair share, but it was done really well. Also the animation held up pretty well being an older anime. Tons of great characters and I liked almost all of them. Top characters for me: Hawkeye, Ling (/Greedling), Mustang, Edward

One of the better animes of all-time for sure. Not really sure where it falls in on my lists. Would probably be a lot higher if this was one of the first animes I watched. Also I know that people really like the dub version, but I just can't...so I watched the sub.

Of the current anime line-up, I've really enjoyed Zom 100. Not much else I currently watch. Just started Fruit's Basket so that'll keep me busy for a while.
 
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