Watching:
1. Senkou no Night Raid [2 episodes]
2. House of Five Leaves [2 episodes]
3. Angel Beats [4 episodes]
4. Arakawa Under the Bridge [3 episodes]
5. Tatami Galaxy [1 episode]
6. Working [3 episode]
7. Rainbow [2 episodes]
Dropped:
8. Heroman [2 episode]
9. Kaichou wa Maid-sama [1 episode]
10. Mayoi Neko Overrun! [2 episodes]
11. Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou
12. Hakuouki [1 episode]
12. B Gata H Kei [1 episode]
Notes:
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Heroman features a standard plot about a put-upon kid who receives a giant robot which he then uses to fight evil invaders. Nothing new there, but the show has enough color and energy to make up for any shortcomings in the plot. I don’t know if I’ll finish the show, but it should be fun for a few episodes at least.
-Despite a premise that made it seem destined for utter failure,
Kaichou wa Maid-sama is actually a very earnest shoujo romance. It’s got touches of humor, a strong female lead, and a male lead that’s actually a decent guy. On the flip side, it’s annoyingly generic in its plotting and seems like a ripoff of Kare Kano but without the visual uniqueness and energy.
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B Gata H Kei gets Dropped. DROPPED. Not quickly enough. It’s just so incredibly stupid, with no redeeming values what-so-ever.
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Hakuouki just didn’t catch my interested.
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Arakawa Under the Bridge has that special brand of weirdness that only SHAFT can provide. Some of the humor is stretched a bit too thin, but it had enough humorous moments and interesting quirks to keep me interested through the whole episode. I don’t know if I’ll stick with this one to th end, but I’ll definitely watch at least a few more episodes.
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Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou has a very interesting premise, a student at a magical school is pegged as the second coming of the worst dark lord in history, but it’s all squandered on harem nonsense and a parade of panty shots and other such fanservice foolishness. A pity, but hardly a rare occurrence in today’s anime market.
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Senkou no Night Raid is an action packed thriller about a group of Japanese secret agent in China during the 1930′s. They’ve also got some kind of super powers, one can leap through space and another can performs feats of extreme physical strength and so on. The historical significance of the period and location is pretty dark for Japan, so it’ll be interesting whether they touch on any of the atrocities committed in China or simply leave it as background.
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Working is a show that I should hate, but somehow I don't. It's a slice of life comedy about a average guy who falls in with a bunch of wacky characters that work at a local family restaurant. Somehow it manages to be funny without resorting to sexual innuendo and fanservice, which is much appreciated these days.
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Rainbow, about six kids in a Japanese prison in the mid-50's, is a show that I'd really like to enjoy watching, but it's oppressive depressing nature makes that very difficult. Everything is very downbeat and dark, even the art is stark and unfriendly. Also, all of the adult characters are perverted sadists with no redeeming factors at all, which makes the show kind of ridiculous even when it's trying to very serious.
-I haven't actually watched
KissxSix but everything I've read and seen about it suggests to me that anyone in their right mind should steer far away from it. I don't think this show has anything good going for it whatsoever.
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House of Five Leaves a samurai drama, is one of the best shows this season. It's a slowly-paced series that focuses on the characters and their interactions and what they're all about rather than action or wacky hijinks. Very, very good show with some rather unique character designs.
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Tatami Galaxy is probably the strangest series this season. It follows a college student who has completely failed at love and so decides to make everyone else fail too. For a while, it works, but then he starts to have feelings for a female student who he has known for a while. It sounds standard enough, but the results are anything but. Utterly wild show in every way.
http://greatrumbler.wordpress.com/2010/0...-a-glance/
All I've watched so far...
I only watch 0-2 episodes of anime a day, it's not one of my primary interests such as videogames, politics, history, or books in general. I mean, I like watching some, but not all the time, and sometimes I get bored and want to do something that involves actual involvement, like play a game, so I don't always finish things I start. (This is the same reason why I don't watch movies very often... just not interesting enough for me to want to watch them all the time.)
Anyway.
Fairy Tail - I continue to watch this each week. Good show, I like it. I'm reading the manga as well.
B Gata H Kei - Started episode 1. Abandoned because of the sheer degree of stupid. Not sure if I'll try again, maybe.
Angel Beats - Watched episode 1. It's okay, but I haven't gotten to the next episode yet.
Katanagatari - Anime runs once a month, but episodes are 45 minutes. It's set in medieval or Edo Japan or some time like that, and involves a quest to collect swords. I've watched all four episodes so far... it's pretty good, I like it. It's d efinitely on the depressing side overall, though -- they try to have humor parts, but the overall tone is definitely downcast, and I imagine that it will get worse (episode 4 certainly hinted at some of that). I like it enough to keep watching anyway, I think.
Senkou no Night Raid - watched most of the first episode. It was okay but not great, but as I've said already, the setting is a serious, serious hurdle... the Japanese were not heroes in China in the 1930s! It was pretty much exactly the opposite.
Instead of watching recent stuff, I'm mostly watching Nanoha StrikerS at the moment... watched ep. 8 yesterday, and 7 the day before that. It is indeed so far not quite as good as the fantastic first season or the even better second season (A's), but it's good enough for me to definitely want to watch it, and it's better than anything from the current season, I think.
Oh, and I won't watch Rainbow or KissXSis. Ugh, no way, for the same reasons you stated.
... Should I admit that I just watched three episodes of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao, and found myself entertained? I mean, yes, it's a harem comedy fantasy show, and the main character is pretty much an idiot... and the rest of the characters are mostly bizarre. Sometimes it's insufferably annoying as these shows always are some of the time, but I was just entertained enough to keep watching...
If there was nothing else to watch this season, I might watch that. But I've got several other shows that I'm sticking with, so it's just not going to happen.
So is Night Raid still about the awesome antics of the Japanese in 1930s China, or is there anything of the actual awful history there at all?
They've started fighting against a rogue branch of the Japanese military, but it's still more or less that same action/espionage stuff.
This isn't a historical war drama, so don't expect anything like that.
Quote:The official website of the Senkō no Night Raid anime series has announced on Monday that it will stream the seventh episode ("Jihen"/Incident) instead of having it air on television. The episode depicts the point of view of the Japanese in Manchuria during the events leading up to the 1931 Mukden Incident. The alleged sabotage of Japan's railway in this area of China was the pretext for Japan's invasion of Manchuria that same year.
The streaming of "Jihen" will run from May 18 to May 30, although whether the stream will be geographically restricted has not been specified. Instead of showing "Jihen," the television stations in Japan will air the special episode "Yogen" (Prediction), in which a key person of the story will discuss the story thus far and predict what will come for Japan's Sakura Kikan spy organization in China.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/201...-not-aired
Too controversial to air on television, I guess?
Episode 2 of Tatami Galaxy was really great. They toned down the rapid-fire dialog a bit and the whole sequence of events was just hilarious. This is easily becoming one of my favorite shows this season and my favorite trip-out show since Trapeze a couple of seasons ago.
So evidently Angel Beats is popular. I can see why, Key's stuff usually is, and plus this one has action too, not just the usual Key-style drama... anyway, I finally got around to watching the second episode. It's an alright series, I will keep watching.
Other than that I mostly was watching stuff not from this season (I'm almost done with Nanoha Strikers...), but I have watched all seven episodes of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao... um... yeah... ... I know, it's a harem show, the plot is kind of stupid, most of the characters are either crazy or weird, etc. It's not exactly good. There is a plot though, and it is progressing, which is good. It's kind of silly too, the guy's job is proclaimed to be demon lord but he really isn't evil, etc... can you have a good demon lord? :p
Tatami Galaxy -- I do want to watch that, but haven't gotten around to it yet... I mean to though. Same for House of Five Leaves and perhaps a few more (Arakawa, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, not sure about others).
In the "definitely not recent" category, I also watched episode 1 of the '90s 4 OVA series Ellcia, and episode 1 of Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water. Ellcia... gah, it's weird to see conventional fantasy anime with character designs from the guy who did Kite's character art...
Tatami Galaxy, House of Five Leaves, Angel Beats, and Arakawa are the best shows this season. The first two can be watched legally on Hulu, so do that.
Quote:but I have watched all seven episodes of Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao... um... yeah... ... I know, it's a harem show, the plot is kind of stupid, most of the characters are either crazy or weird, etc. It's not exactly good. There is a plot though, and it is progressing, which is good. It's kind of silly too, the guy's job is proclaimed to be demon lord but he really isn't evil, etc... can you have a good demon lord?
Why are you doing this to yourself? Especially when there are infinitely better shows airing RIGHT NOW.
But most of them aren't fantasy series with swords and stuff... :p
I don't watch every fantasy series or something, generic stuff like Blue Dragon doesn't interest me much at all, but fantasy settings have always been one of my favorites, in books, games, what have you, along with real-world-style medieval ones...
It is an entertaining series too. Stupid, yes, quite so, but funny sometimes.
I mean, if I don't see any reason to watch something I won't, fantasy or no. For instance, I think I got about an episode and a half into The Sacred Blacksmith last year before I dropped it forever because of how horribly stupid and insulting it was and how pathetic the main female character was...
I'm surprised that you bend over backwards to rip Mario's sexist storyline, but actually enjoy a series where a group of women exist for the sole purpose of fawning over the main male character and exposing various parts of their bodies on a regular basis.
Yeah, I agree that it's definitely inconsistent, I've definitely noticed that myself as well...
I mean, I certainly don't like all harem shows or something, but I have enjoyed some. I thought Love Hina was pretty good, for instance, and Kanon (2002) and the first season of To Heart too. But yes, of course if I think about the ridiculousness of the basic concept they look really bad. They're silly wish-fulfillment fantasies, essentially, I think I'd say.
Really though, I have a problem with the depiction of female characters in anime in general. I'm not sure I'd say that harem shows really are worse overall than anime as a whole; most animes have so many negative stereotypes for their female characters that that harem ones have more in some aspects sort of gets balanced out by the other stuff others do...
I mean, anime characters in general don't act very, um, "humanlike" I guess, but while male characters are most definitely stereotyped too in ways that often can be negative, their stereotypes aren't quite as bad on average I think.
I mean, like, even in non-harem animes female characters usually seem to be in love with whoever the main male character is. Of course there are exceptions, but it's often true. The idea that women can exist for anything other than romance is foreign to the writers or something...
Can I compare that to the the conservatives in America saying "Elena Kagan is female, single, 49 or 50, and plays softball, so she's gay" idiocy? It shows a somewhat similar lack of ability to really accept women as anything other than romance items, I think.
So yes, of course I have a problem with the concept of harem shows. I think, though, that I just can't take them seriously, so it doesn't bother me as much as it would if it was "believable". I mean, people obviously don't act like anime characters in harem shows. It doesn't happen, and that's a very good thing. They're just silly fantasies, really, only harmful in that they reflect the sexism of the society that created them, as any media in general will reflect the values of the society that creates it. So I guess that would be the best excuse I can come up with right now. :)
Oh, I find the fact that in real life Japan has one of the lowest birthrates in the world (it's around 1.2, while replacement is 2.1) an interesting and perhaps amusing aside here. I've said all this before, but to repeat... The traditional values that still make up their culture are not entirely compatible with the modern world, like in other places like Southern Europe, South Korea, etc. Women are discouraged from having careers after marriage or having children when not married, so the focus is on the man to support the family -- but in today's world, that doesn't work anymore. The US and Northern Europe have come up with solutions here that result in higher birthrates, from immigration to massive social funding, but in the places that still have the worse problems, those things are not happening. They care too much about the "purity" of their people to allow in many immigrants, don't want to change their social views on women, and don't have the programs either. So in Japan, there are very few children. People simply cannot afford to have children, or even get married in some instances because the woman would be expected to quit her job.
Anime reflects this with the traditional values you often see - all of the things I just listed are frequently present in anime. In America, however, we have come much farther with coming up with effective answers. I do think that it's likely that over time Japan will slowly change and improve on these matters, but before that happens their population is sure to drop significantly, I think.
So yeah, perhaps one reason why harem fantasies are so popular is because of the problems in Japanese society? Most people, both male and female, want to keep doing things the way they have been for some time now, but it's just not working anymore... hopefully sometime they will change, as we have come much farther in doing over the past century.
On a related note, I also blame the prevalence of incest stuff in these at least partially on the lack of children too... I don't think people who actually have an opposite-sex sibling would be as likely to fantasize about that stuff... though it's probably partially cultural too; traditional older Japanese culture did have an incest taboo, but only for immediate family members; I believe that even cousins were okay. Of course, European royalty would have agreed with that, so it wasn't something exclusive to Japan or anything. But anyway, that's just a guess, I don't really know why that stuff is so popular.
Oh yeah, and as an aside, is it worth mentioning that in fact Japanese society was very different before the Chinese influence got stronger? Before the first Chinese contacts in the 6 or 700s AD, and continuing to a lesser extent all the way until the 14 or 1500s, the status of women was higher, Japan was sometimes ruled by female monarchs (in fact, up to the 600s, the usually female Shaman was one of the most important people in any Japanese tribe or society), women could inherit some property, there were a few female warriors, sexuality was relatively open and quite unlike the kind of thing you see in anime today... in both Japan and Korea, most of the conservative, Confucianist changes are thanks to China. I find that kind of interesting.
House of Five Leaves
Tatami Galaxy
Streaming on Hulu. Go watch them!
Evangelion 2.22 is out now at the usual places and an American release has been hinted at as coming up in the near future.
I haven't watched the Evangelion remake, is it any good?
The original show was alright, I watched it once years back and while I thought it was mostly good, it didn't really make me want to watch it again... so my other question is, how different is it? Somewhat different I'm sure, but how so?
The first movie is a recap of the first six episodes of the series, although they've truncated a bit of the extraneous exposition and filler. It's much more tightly paced overall.
The second movie begins a fairly sharp divergence, as it introduces a completely new main character that never appeared in the series. I've only watched about a 25 minutes of it so far, but a lot of things are really different, including Asuka's introduction.
Some stuff I've seen recently, both recent and not:
Older stuff:
(Note -- When I buy VHS tapes, it's because they were $0.50 or less. At prices that low I can't refuse getting movies I have some kind of interest in, even if it is just VHS -- yes even I prefer DVDs, I like the better quality, special features, etc... but at that kind of huge price differential, I'll ignore that stuff, partially at least.)
Dragoon - 3 episode OVA series from 1997 based on a Japan-only RPG that sadly was not continued (outside of the game that is), so it doesn't go anywhere sadly. This is a VHS tape, and it's dubbed. The dub is humorously awful, and contributes to the entertainment of the show really. :)
Gestalt - 2 episode OVA from the '90s, another one based on something else (here a manga I think) that ended without followup and thus has a story which goes nowhere. I've seen this once before, actually, a few years back. It's alright, nothing special. I probably won't keep the tape.
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water - I think I mentioned that I watched episode 1. I've seen copies of most of the series on VHS around, it'd be like $4.50 for episode 5 to the end on tape... hmm, just watch it on the computer, or buy that?
Garzag's Wing - Couldn't stand this one... incredibly generic plot, abysmal English dub, extremely predictable as far as I watched... I abandoned this movie partway, and don't know if I'll go back. Not good.
Newer:
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou - 2009 modern-day-with-magic series, except the magic is pretty much computer code (which has magical effects!). Watched the first two episodes, mostly liked it. I'll watch more.
House of Five Leaves - Watched the first episode. It definitely is stylish and high quality, seems pretty good. Good background art here, too, and a fairly accurate-seeming premodern Japanese setting, for anime -- they're not often as accurate as was seen in this episode, that's for sure. I agree, it is worth watching, so far at least. :)
Other comments:
I've seen 19 episodes of Gintama (spread out, not all at once). It's pretty funny.
So I finished Nanoha StrikerS, watching the last three episodes. The last couple of episodes were the best in the series, but overall my opinion of the series is largely the same -- it's somewhat disappointing compared to the first two seasons, and they make some dumb plot decisions. I mean, yes, in the original series the idea that giant interstellar militaries have no choice but to rely on a 9 year old (Nanoha) to save them is a little silly, to be sure, but this time it's 'Nanoha is now 19 and a training instructor'. Yeah, the JRPG-style 18 year old grizzled war veteran stereotype, sort of, I think. :) Sure, she can fight too, but she spends a lot of time training the other characters...
(Spoiler!) Only for the entire group to break up in the last episode as soon as they win and defeat the badguys. I mean, we've put together a strong, capable organization able to defeat major threats, spent a lot of time training team members... who'd actually want to keep them all together? Nah, that makes no sense. Everyone go your seperate ways now that we won. ... Yeah, I find that really dumb in concept... Also, why did they randomly drop some of the characters from the first series? Why is Arf pretty much nonexistent? Same question for Yuuno. Why does Chrono do so little? Why is Zafira stuck in beast mode 100% of the time, and never transforms back into a human? It makes so little sense... sure, they wanted to make room for the numerous new characters I guess and thought they couldn't focus on all of them (fair, there is a huge cast), but still, it's annoying. It could have used a bit more focus characters-wise I think, there were so many... this was readily apparent in the last 5 or 8 episodes, as often characters would be skipped for an episode or two because of how many characters they were trying to cover, and how they wanted to cover all the fights in depth... yes, it was exciting and ultimately I liked it, but I don't know if it was the greatest design. Oh well.
Despite my issues with it, I do still hope that there is eventually a fourth season of Nanoha... I know a new comic just started, but the last one (ViviD) hasn't resulted in an anime yet, so we'll see. I think the manga is still quite popular, so something is probably likely at some point at least, beyond the movie retelling of the first series that just came out last year. (On that note, I'd like to see that...)
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou - Watched through episode eight now. It's kind of predictable and has some fanservice, and the story is pretty confusing for about four or five episodes until they finally get around to explaining everything (and it's only a 12 episode series), but I'm liking it anyway, for some reason. The characters are entertaining and likable, it involves people with magic powers (some traditional magic, some computer age style magic/programming, which is an interesting element), etc. For some reason one of the characters reminds me a little (in design) of one of the characters from R.O.D... anyway, I'm enjoying it and probably will finish it.
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao ep. 8 - Probably the least interesting episode so far, really.
Episode 9 of Working!! was great, hilarious from start to finish.
You should watch some Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne, ABF.
I don't think I've heard of that one...
It's a six episode OVA from 2008 and is available on DVD from Funimation, all episodes in one set. It's got scifi, fantasy, and takes place over several decades.
I'll look it up.
... Finally managed to find the Koihime Musou OVA, so I watched it. It's the "Koihime Musou characters as modern-day Japanese schoolgirls (in a girls' only school)" episode. And yeah, it was pretty funny...
I don't know if I can get over Enshou's team actually winning the competition though. Somehow that's just wrong... Enshou is so incompetent... :D The first season really was better. I'm still only at episode seven or eight in the second one. It's not nearly as funny or interesting.
I tried watching some of that, but it was just too stupid for me.
Quote:I tried watching some of that, but it was just too stupid for me.
Yeah, it's dumb, I admit. I find it amusing anyway. And there are plenty of dumber things out there... a lot of anime is dumb a lot of the time, really, in some way or another. I thought the first season was funny and entertaining, and I like the setting. I know it's not the only "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but with all the characters as girls" show out there, there's also Ikkitousen (which makes Koihime Musou look tame, fanservice-wise... and Koihime Musou, the second season Shin Koihime Musou, has a good bit of it.), but at least Koihime Musou is set in the original timeframe, so it's a medieval setting instead of yet another modern schoolgirls show (the one episode OVA was funny, but yes, overall the show is better how it is).
I know that Koihime Musou is based on an h-game, but the anime's quite different... they drop the guy main character completely (a guy from modern Japan who was a student of history and gets transported back to ancient times, where he learns that they were actually all girls, assembles one of several different (depending on which side you go with, evidently) giant harems, etc). I have not played the game, but as far as the anime goes, I think it's definitely better that way. There are enough harem shows out there already...
The anime also radically changes the tone, from the often darker game which I think has plenty of killing and violence (as with the original work) to something where no main character ever dies and they generally are not enemies. It's a little absurd, when you consider the actual Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but they don't want the show to be depressing, so I don't really mind. The excuse is that it's set before the empire collapsed, so the war hasn't started yet... sketchy, but who cares. :) It makes for better comedy when the characters aren't killing eachother all the time. :p So yeah, the majority of the show is the main group going around meeting with the various other characters of the massive cast. It's RotTK, there are a lot of characters. As I have only moderate knowledge of the original work (haven't actually read it, never watched more than an episode or two of any other animes based on it, etc.) I have used the Wikipedia character guide for some help, in telling who in the show is which historical character and remembering who is who... it does get confusing when you have scores of characters in a show, even if the main group is smaller. :)
Oh, I also liked that the first season at least didn't have your standard "moron who knows what to do at the right moment" main character; Kan'u (Guang Yu) is actually somewhat intelligent. One reason why I like the second season less is that they add in Ryuubi (Liu Bei), who much better fits that often annoying stereotype...
Quote:I'm surprised that you bend over backwards to rip Mario's sexist storyline, but actually enjoy a series where a group of women exist for the sole purpose of fawning over the main male character and exposing various parts of their bodies on a regular basis.
To give an additional answer to this, I think I have pretty low expectations for your average female character in anime, because of how sexist things usually are... but it also certainly just depends on which things you focus your ire on. I mean, like, with a stupid, obviously exploitative show like Koihime Musou, at least the female characters are mostly strong and powerful, not weak and helpless. They don't rely on men to rescue them in the anime; indeed, there aren't any major male characters in the show really, apart from a few villains. I'd have been a lot less unhappy with NSMB Wii on the issue, for instance, if they'd done everything else the same, but had one of the player characters be female... I definitely prefer stronger female characters to weak, helpless, and "damaged" (eyepatch girls, etc) ones. The words of the story matter a lot, but the actions of who you can be (in a game) or what the characters do matters just as much. And in Koihime Musou's case, most of the characters are strong warriors or leaders; I complain about Ryuubi mostly because she's one of the few who isn't, I think. She's weak, pathetic, and not of much use so far. As of episode 9 she's finally showing signs of starting to be a leader as she should be, which is good. She is supposed to be Liu Bei after all, the great hero of RotTK and leader of his faction! It's funny that in this anime it's Kan'u, not Ryuubi, who's the main character... not bad at all, good considering what kinds of characters they are so far, just a little funny.
Also, I really love videogames and care about them a lot, but movies, anime, etc... I like them, sure, but not to the same degree. Far, far below videogames, and below fantasy/scifi books as well, for sure. That matters too. I'm better at not thinking about it with anime I guess. It is a more passive medium after all... but yes, if I do think about it, there's a huge amount to be angry, or at least unhappy, about. But do I care or think about it as much as I do with games? No.
I know I've probably said a lot of this before, but thinking of an obviously stupid show like this one made me think about it.
I've found that as time goes on I have less and less patience. It's not that I dislike light hearted entertainment and only want heavy dramatic substance, but shows that revel in stupidity, fan service, and genre cliches really don't do much for me anymore. Oh I might watch one or two here and there, but unless there's just nothing else going at the moment then I'll watch, at most, an episode and then toss it away.
So what from this season are you still watching?
Also, I've never liked depressing stuff. I like happy endings... shows which end in horrible tragedy with no hope, constant serial depression, stuff like that, I don't like it. This applies to games too, such as Phantasy Stars II or IV, or in anime for instance why I didn't like Texhnolyze nearly as much as Lain, Haibane Renmei, or Kino's Journey. Sure Lain and Haibane Renmei are somewhat sad shows (the latter particularly), but there is hope in them too, and happy endings, sort of.
I generally don't like American sitcoms and never have, that kind of humor just doesn't interest me... I'd rather watch cartoons, American or Japanese.
Quote:I've found that as time goes on I have less and less patience. It's not that I dislike light hearted entertainment and only want heavy dramatic substance, but shows that revel in stupidity, fan service, and genre cliches really don't do much for me anymore. Oh I might watch one or two here and there, but unless there's just nothing else going at the moment then I'll watch, at most, an episode and then toss it away.
I also need to say, obviously, it depends on which genre you're talking about, and which cliches. I like fantasy a lot, medieval settings have been my favorite since I was a little kid. I have a much, much higher tolerance for fantasy shows than other kinds, for sure. There are other things I don't like, like incest-focused stuff, shows about groups of submissive girls being controlled by some loser guy (and that's where most of the harem-style shows I have enjoyed aren't like that I think, at least most of the girls in them are stronger characters, though the inherent ridiculous stupidity of the genre is very obvious), etc. I don't know, everyone has things they like and don't like... I like Love Hina quite a bit but find Hand Maid May very, very irritating, for example.
Stupidity - Depends on how much, and what kind...
Fanservice - I don't mind some, if the show actually has a point too...
Genre cliches - Whether in anime, videogames, or books, in fantasy set things at least I don't really mind (many of the) genre cliches. In other things I can dislike the cliches more, but it varies. Of course though, my overall favorite animes (Lain, Haibane Renmei, and Kino are my top three, if you forget) are very much not cliched, so I definitely value uniqueness... but sure, I don't mind some cliches.
Honestly, in fantasy animes I get more annoyed at the random mixing of time periods and ridiculous anachronisms than I do the kinds of genre cliches you're probably referring to. But as a history major, that is likely predictable. I notice those things. :)
Anyway, one other show I've been watching off and on now for a few months but haven't really mentioned is Slayers Try. I haven't really mentioned it because, as a Slayers fan (one of my favorite anime franchises really, I think) I feel like I should have seen it years ago, I have seen all of the other Slayers animes, movies, and OAVs after all. It's good, but I'm like 10-12 episodes from the end and it feels like it's almost over, so they're obviously going to pull something out to keep it going longer... good show though of course, like they all are. There are no bad Slayers shows. :)
Also, I hope they make a fourth season of Nanoha at some point. The third season may have been somewhat disappointing, but the first two were fantastic (have you seen them? If not, do!) and the franchise overall pretty good. I know there are a few more recent mangas, so hopefully another anime develops.
Quote:So what from this season are you still watching?
House of Five Leaves, Angel Beats, Working, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Tatami Galaxy [although I haven't been keeping up with this as much], and Senkou no Night Raid [subs for this one have been really slow].
Next season I'm thinking that I'll probably only watch two or three shows.
For one reason or another, Working!! has ended up being one of my favorite shows this season, actually it may be one of my favorites from the past year. It's hard to peg just why it's so good, but it is, especially in the latter episodes. There's only two more episodes left though. :(
The last few episodes of Angel Beats! [10-12] have been really, really good. But also sooooooooooo depressing. :(
So I started watching El Cazador De La Bruja, from a few years ago. I've seen the first three episodes so far and will continue. It's one that I have had the entire series of sitting around since it came out pretty much, but just had never gotten around to watching... well, I finally started it, and it's good. It feels very much like Bee Train's other "girls with guns" series that preceded it, Noir (a fantastic show and a favorite of mine) and Madlax (only seen the first four episodes, seemed alright but nowhere remotely as good as Noir... or El Cazador, probably, I would now say...). Nadie is very much unlike Madlax or Mirelle, she's kind of silly and hasn't yet actually killed people (much?). This show definitely doesn't have the bleak tone of Noir, where the main characters were really pretty awful people (they were assassins... Nadie is a bounty hunter.). Not that Nadie is entirely different, she isn't; it IS basically the third series on the theme, after all. Oh, the other main character (all three series have two main characters, both female) is different, she has ... um, magic or psychic powers, or something like that. There were elements of that in the previous series, but not done quite like this.
... Overall is it better than Noir so far? No. For one thing, just like Madlax, it doesn't have Noir's awesome style of music. Noir and another Bee Train series, .hack//Sign (the first season) have very a similar, and really good, music style; it's too bad that the other .hack series, Madlax, and El Cazador don't use it. I do think El Cazador has a few bits of it in the soundtrack here and there, but it's not much.
Alternately they could have gone with a latin-inspired music theme, the series IS set in the Hispanic part of the Americas somewhere, but they don't do that either, unfortunately. Ah well... At least the location is reasonably well done. Anime has come a long way, compared to how ridiculously inaccurate many series used to be. :)
... As for stuff from this year, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimao's plot really doesn't make much sense, and the series has been going a little downhill I think. I'll probably mostly finish it just to see how in the world they end this thing... I'm guessing that the "Gods" are some kind of computer systems. Will the main character guy (I forget anyones' names) actually destroy them because of how he's convinced that they are causing more injustice than they stop? What happens then? And if he didn't give the red haired girl that item, why does he remember doing so... or was that someone else who looks like her or something? (Yes, lots of generic anime situations here...)
Oh yeah, and though I finished Shin Koihime Musou, I just can't get myself to watch the new, current season of the show now. Maybe sometime. It's just so stupid...
Also, I think Fairy Tail is getting into the arc where the series starts to get a bit less interesting, the Tower of Paradise arc... the first of several arcs where Natsu finally becomes the generic shonen hero, in that he saves the day in the end, etc, etc. The plot starts to get much more complex too. Ah well...
I watched all of Madlax and it was just so painfully boring, I tried to watch El Cazador but I only made it through two episodes before I just gave up.
Really? Boring? I think it's quite good... they still haven't matched the first one (Noir), but at least it's an improvement from Madlax.
Have you watched Noir? Maybe you just don't like this style of show, but as I do think it's probably the best of them, it's worth at least a try I think. I really liked it, as I've said. Great, interesting characters (sure they are flawed and merciless assassins, but that is what makes these shows different, the focus on that kind of character...), interesting stories (yes, it's often tragic and sad. Most episodes are like that. It manages to be quite good anyway, I thought.), the music, attention to detail (I actually watched it on DVD, and the extras were interesting -- they had art galleries showing all the detail they put into getting the guns right, etc. Some kind of voiceover there too, I think, saying more about that?), and more... it is somewhat slow paced at times, I guess, but I don't mind that if the show is interesting and has a good story. And Noir doesn't have any of those episodes like Madlax with no action...
I mean, with Madlax, a bunch of the episodes star that girl in the peaceful city. These shows are supposed to be about girls with guns shooting things, and like a third or more of the episodes are mostly nonviolent? It doesn't work. Definitely makes Madlax feel less interesting than Noir or El Cazador. Also, Madlax herself doesn't really seem to fight as credibly as the others... just in the first few episodes she had several of those stupid "I'm just going to stand here and fire at the enemies without moving as I'm so awesome that they can't even hit me even if I stand still" stuff, like you also see in Black Heaven and some other shows. I don't like that, it's kind of stupid. Madlax does have a classic Noir-ish plot in a lot of ways, all three series have a lot of thematic similarities for sure, but it just isn't done quite as well...
As for El Cazador, I'm only at episode three, but so far I'd put it between the two, well above Madlax but below Noir. The plot is interesting and I want to know what happens next, the action scenes rare so far but well done as always, the characters interestingly different from anything in the past two series (as I said in the last post), and more. What the heck is up with that creepy guy following them around, what is the villain's (erm, I'm assuming that the guy who seems evil is the villain... :)) plan, why does Ellis have those powers...
On a related note, the first .hack show, .hack//Sign is by FAR the best. .hack//Legend of the Twilight and .hack.//Roots don't come even close, Legend of the Twilight especially... haven't seen G.U., but as it's a video version of the videogame sequels to Roots, my expectations aren't overly high. It's really too bad, because the first season, Sign, really is fantastic. I've watched the whole series several times, and still love it. In comparison I haven't even gotten through the other series once, Liminality (the four episode OVA included with the first PS2 game series) excepted. Sign has a near-total focus on plot, very little combat, fantastic music (as I've said, like Noir's and no other animes I've seen) and visuals, interesting characters, and more... but then Legend of the Twilight is a lame, silly, and generic show full of fighting, G.U. is okay but not great compared to Sign, with less interesting characters, more generic music, and a much more standard presentation (quite a bit more fighting, that is), and Liminality was alright but short. It's too bad, the franchise started out so well...
I've watched 8 episodes of Noir and I liked what I watched of it. Madlax was really, incredibly boring for most of its 26 episodes, most of the time there's just nothing happening. There's no action, it's just people blabbering on about whatever. And the main characters? An empty shell and an empty shell that can shoot down a helicopter with a machine gun. There's absolutely nothing about them that I could even remotely care about. And the main villain was so horrible.