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+--- Thread: Summer 2011 Anime (/showthread.php?tid=6253)
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 3rd July 2011
Sacred 7 01 - This is Sunrise shonen mecha. That's about all you need to know. Sacred 7 is very shonen, and above all very Sunrise. The hero is a guy who's somewhere on the borderline between depressed and being a jerk. He's a school student, and everyone except for this one girl is scared of him. He has special powers, and doesn't like that because he hurt a bunch of people with them once. But this girl doesn't believe he's dangerous, so she asks him to join her school club.
First, our MC refuses the rich girl's request for him to fight for good with his powers. Then, villains attack! And oh no, the girl who asked him to join that club is in the area of the attack! The monters are stone Medusas, who can turn people into stone and destroy stuff. Fighting them are an army of girls in maid dresses led by a very rich girl and her butler who is also a strong fighter and can drive a mech. Yes indeed, this is anime, bad anime, what else could you have expected? (That this kind of thing is predictable says some things about anime today I think... but anyway.) Anyway, the hero decides to go save the girl on his scooter. When he arrives his powers go out of control and he destroys one stone monster but goes crazy. The rich girl stops him (somewhat risky move) and then turns him into a costumed superhero with a long red scarf, so he can fight the monsters without going nuts. And so he does. End of episode.
Overall, it wasn't very good. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but it was quite bland and generic for the genre. Its main unique feature of sorts, I guess, is that there were some in this episode, and we can surely expect much more of in the future, Sunrisey antics. ... Problem is, that's probably more a bad thing than a good one... :)
At least there isn't some conspiracy thing, yet, the people in the city clearly noticed the monsters. I wonder where the story's going to go with that, if anywhere.
(Don't ask me anyone's names, I don't remember any of them except for Wakana, the girl he rescued, whose name I just managed to remember. They aren't especailly memorable, and the show's more about destruction, brooding, ridiculousness, and fighting than it is anything else anyway.)
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 4th July 2011
Ikoku Meiro no Croise 01 - Hmm, I'm not sure about this one. It's okay I guess. I'm not sure if I'll find it too interesting, but the first episode was okay at least.
This show is, of course, about a young mid 19th century Japanese girl who goes to Paris. She goes with an old man who had been in Japan and now likes all things Japanese, of course. His grandson runs a somewhat down on its luck metalworking shop. That grandson, however, is skeptical, or if I wanted to be stereotypically anime I'd say tsundere perhaps. At first he insults her (though he does think that she can't understand what he's saying because apparently he's speaking French and his grandfather says she barely knows any French, even though she actually knows a lot more than that), but of course by the end of the episode he's turned around and is being nice to her, even though she broke a piece of stained glass and metalwork his father had made that he says was important to him. He just remade it without much complaint. Huh.
Before he changes his mind and starts buying her things (a book, here) and apologizing for what he said, though, he says some not so nice things that aren't entirely wrong. For instance, he criticizes her repeated bowing. He also criticizes her repeated apologizing. She is like that, and passive too, but that's because that's how Japan believed women should be then; having her be like that isn't unrealistic, and nor is having a European criticize it. At that time they were quite sexist too, but did believe that they treated women much better than the Asians did. They probably did, too, though Victorian culture was in some ways a low point for women's rights. But anyway, getting back to the episode, he does go a bit too far, but of course then that 'heart of gold' (or dere, perhaps) element kicks in and he shows his nice side, such as after she gives him her nicest kimono as restitution for the broken stained glass thing I mentioned above and he sells it, when he learns (from the grandfather) that it actually was a memento of her mother he gets mad at her for giving him something so personally valuable without saying anything about it, promises to buy it back someday, and then buys her that book to show he cares. Not much consistency from this guy... :)
So yeah, it was pretty predictable. Japanese loli, Europeans who are sure to fall in love with Japan and become Japanophiles just like the grandfather is, down on its luck metalwork shop I imagine she'll help make successful through her ability to get people into stores through street advertising or whatever it was she's good at (I think that was it)... that's my guess for some of the things that are going to happen, anyway. Even if it was pretty predictable, though, the episode was decent. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. I like the art design, they put some work into getting things moderately right which I appreciate. There's some good art in this show.
... While watching the episode, I had this comment at the scene where the grandfather introduces the Japanese girl and tries to convince his very skeptical grandson that she should be allowed to stay, as opposed to just being sent back as soon as possible: 'hey grandson, want a real Japanese loli as a servant?' 'No! Send her back, they're too servile!'
It happens kind of like that, anyway! :)
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 5th July 2011
Nichijou 12 - More Yukko and Mai trolling... I guess they feel they need some of that in every episode. Blah. Overall though, this was a good episode with lots of amusing skits. There's a good variety of characters represented, and many of the skits are funny. There aren't any really long ones, instead this ep goes for having more variety. It works I think.
Yuru Yuri 01 - It started out okay, with our forgetful, oversleeping heroine forgetting to put on her uniform instead of normal clothes because it's their first day of jr. high (7th grade). After that though the show's pretty generic and bland until the midway point, when Chinatsu is introduced. I was starting to think that the show would be dull and completely generic. However, the second half of the show was much better than the first half, and indeed was often pretty funny. The long part on our heroine's presence for instance, that was good stuff... a bit too close to being fourth wall breaking (them talking about how she seemed to be a main character, but now nobody even notices her) but they took it so far that it ended up being pretty funny. A lot of random stuff there, and funny, such as the scene that results from the things in the idea box... :lol Good stuff. I hope that the show is more like the second half of this episode than it is the first half.
As for the yuri side, it works I guess. Kyoko likes all of them (though when asked she claimed to like herself the most), Chinatsu likes Yui, the MC's sister apparently is obsessed with her... I too doubt they'll go anywhere with the yuri side, but it's amusing.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 7th July 2011
Sailor Moon S 92-103 - Sailor Moon is nothing if not consistently similar... entertainingly similar yes, but certainly lacking in variety. Oh well, that's the nature of the show. I'm being entertained, I don't regret watching it and will continue. :)
As for this part, finally Uranus and Neptune start to become closer to being allies. That's good. Also, a villain figured out that Usagi is Sailor Moon, but then Neptune (or was it Uranus) killed her, so I don't know that the real villain learned. Also we're finally seeing a bit more of the mysterious scientist who is our real villain, but it hasn't shown his face yet -- that's always in shadow. I don't know what his name is either.
Also, several of the enemies in those episodes were some of the cleverest I can think of from the series. The train enemy, for instance, was pretty interesting and amusing. There was at least one other one as good from those episodes as well.
Oh, and yes, Usagi is stupid. She's not too bright, and often does things without thinking. I mean, going right into the enemy's trap, without the ability to transform, just hoping that everyone else will follow and save you? Not your brightest moment... though fake Sailor V-Moon (or whatever you want to call her) was pretty amusing. :)
Finally, they're doing a lot of studying this season. I wonder, will this help Usagi finally get grades that break into the double digits? :p
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 8th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 8th July 2011
Will stay far away from Twin Angel and Mayo Chiki.
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 8th July 2011
Mawaru Penguin Drum - 01
The madness of Kunihiko Ikuhara is a weird and wonderful thing, as witnessed by his work on Revolutionary Girl Utena [the last 15 minutes of the movie in particular], and time seems not to have dulled this fact as his madness is quite prominent here. The show color, flashy when it wants to be, and very strange. It's everything that most modern anime isn't.
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 8th July 2011
No.6 - 01
A more traditional show, but you wouldn't know it by what's considered standard in modern anime. This is scifi, pure and simple. A utopian civilization that's actually rotten to the core and our meek, but secretly thrill-seeking, protagonist will somehow uncover the whole sordid affair with the help of a runaway lower-class citizen that the government is using for something. Very nice visually and it's got a great OP.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 8th July 2011
Blood-C 01 - Gah, Clamp used borderline xxxholic-style long limbs in this show! It's kind of creepy, like it was in that show but not quite as bad because they aren't quite as long. Still though, it is odd looking. Why do they think that looks good? As for the show though, it was pretty solid. The episode had good production values, okay story, a nice look, and some great action at the end in the fight. For the most part, good episode. I hope it can keep it up -- it took a little while for Blood+, for instance, to reveal how stupid and lame it really was.
My only complaint is about how Saya has both a cute-incompetent side, where she trips constantly, needs to be told when to go to school, gets teased for always being late, etc, and a serious side, where she's a good swordfighter and good basketball player. The two sides really are hard to reconcile, unless the explanation is that they thought that the audience would like her more if she had an incompetent side... which may be true (because of sexism), but is unfortunate.
Besides that though, it was pretty decent to good.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 9th July 2011
No.6 01 - I like this show. I've read the one translated chapter of the manga, this this covers maybe 2/3rds of what happened in that episode, perhaps a bit less. So yes, the pace is slow. That's alright though, it works as it is. The slow pace allows for it to give more detail in what it does show, which I liked. The show has a lot of promise -- the story, if somewhat cliche (seeming futuristic paradise that's actually corrupt), starts off well.
The characters are interesting and somewhat unique, too. The main character's kind of weird, he's not at all afraid of this violent guy and just laughs and acts fascinated when he threatens him instead of being scared, like you'd expect a normal person to be? Huh... interesting guy for an anime character. The other guy doesn't have much depth yet, but he's not supposed to, and it certainly makes sense for him to find this guy confusing, given how oddly he acts compared to how someone like that would expect people to respond. And the girl... *she kisses him on the cheek* "Why did you do the same thing my mom does?" he asks. "No, my kiss was the physical symbolism of the manisfestation of reproductive desire"... lol.
The art design's decent too. It mostly looks modern, as it's supposed to, except with some futuristic or alternate-world elements as makes sense, like the bracelets for instance. Police state indeed.
Overall, the show as a whole could go either way, but the first episode was decent and reasonably interesting, and was well made as well.
Quote:Will stay far away from Twin Angel and Mayo Chiki.For the former, do stay away from it, yes. For the latter, what, you don't enjoy watching bad harem shows? Huh. :)
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 10th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 10th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 11th July 2011
R-15 01 - Eh, it was okay, but Mayo Chiki was funnier. There were a few funny parts, but too much of it was pretty average... that show is better.
Ikoku Meiro no Croisee 02 - This show is quite good, it really is. This was another good episode from this show. This episode is about food, as our heroine starts to get used to French food, meals, and dining habits. I saw some people complain that it was a bit overdone to have so much focus on breakfast, and meals in general, but eh, I thought it worked. It was an entire episode focused on such things, but it is something very different, so why not? She's got to get used to traditional French breakfasts of bread, cheese, and coffee instead of cooked meals of rice and fish and miso soup for breakfast (that sounds like way too much effort on breakfast...); going to the market in Paris; buying fresh bread; watching the guy cook; and more. It was well done and often cute.
Other than that, the guy also takes the girl out to see the town, so she sees some of the sights, and his big competition now, the department store that opened in Paris and is driving small shopowners like him out of business. And indeed, we haven't exactly seen many customers in this place... I wonder how she can help him get business again.
Oh, and again he criticizes her for being too passive and accepting, and tells her to actually say what she thinks (in reference, here, to her refusing to admit she dislikes some of the food even when it's obvious she does). She refuses, pretty much. I at least think he's right on the matter.
Overall, definitely another good episode. The theme of this show is "Paris is awesome" for sure, and the pace is somewhat slow, and there hasn't been a lot of plot yet, but the show is interesting enough and has a nice tone to it. I like it, so far.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 12th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 12th July 2011
I'm surprised that you didn't feel the need to go into a long rant about Manyuu Hikenchou.
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 13th July 2011
YuruYuri is like A Channel-lite. Plus the OP is pretty bad, unlike A Channel's. Meh.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 13th July 2011
A Channel is awful, not funny, and not really yuri, though, while YuruYuri is funny, does have actual yuri hinting, and is a good show. The two don't have much in common.
Quote:I'm surprised that you didn't feel the need to go into a long rant about Manyuu Hikenchou.About what aspect of it, or are you joking with a reference to how long that review of ep 1 was?
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 13th July 2011
No, I actually expected you to tear into it, given the subject matter.
Quote:A Channel is awful, not funny, and not really yuri, though, while YuruYuri is funny, does have actual yuri hinting, and is a good show. The two don't have much in common.
Well, that's pretty much the opposite of what I think. Don't care for YuruYuri at all, after two episodes. I liked A Channel quite a bit, especially it's uber-good OP. YuruYuri's OP was kinda grating and not that interesting visually either.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 13th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 14th July 2011
Quote:YuruYuri has a good op!
It's passable, but painfully generic. A Channel's has great visual style and the song reminds me of 90's anime [specifically Kare Kano].
Quote:Also, what in the world is there to actually like about A-Channel, other than just about nothing?
What does YuruYuri have? Aside from mild yuri hinting, which is a dime a dozen these days.
But if you want me to nail A Channel down to a specific, I'd probably go with Tooru, and say that's the difference. A Channel works for me and becomes a huge guilty pleasure, YuruYuri just doesn't. That's it.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 15th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 16th July 2011
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See?
Quote:It has more of it than most shows... and also, it has funny comedy.
The latter is certainly debatable.
Quote:Which one's Tooru? The dumb one? Or was it the younger one who randomly attacks that other girl who has bigger breasts... that was messed up, I didn't like that.
And yet you have no problem with Mayo Chiki or Manyuu Hikenchou!
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 16th July 2011
A-Channel's op has better visuals than I remember, but the song is quite generic and bland. YuruYuri has the better song for sure, and the visuals are decent enough.
Quote:The latter is certainly debatable.In as much as whether comedy is funny is always a debatable topic, sure, but not beyond that.
Quote:And yet you have no problem with Mayo Chiki or Manyuu Hikenchou!But I do criticize Mayo Chiki, look at my thoughts on the second episode... as for Manyuu Hikenchou, that's a different kind of show.
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 16th July 2011
You are so weird, Brian.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 16th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 16th July 2011
Quote:What, and you aren't?
I'm a perfectly normal human being from Planet Earth.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 17th July 2011
I'm a human being from earth too, though.
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 17th July 2011
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 17th July 2011
Nichijou 14 - Yes indeed, this was one of the best episodes of the show so far wasn't it. I liked the first half of the show a lot, of course, unlike some people, but I will agree that it's getting even better now. Sure, it does stick with the Yukko trolling, but even so it's so, so funny in almost every skit... this is a great show. And apparently episodes 15 and 16 are at least as good or better, I think I need to watch them soon. :)
Bakatest Ni! 1 - Eh, it was okay. Fairly generic Bakatest stuff, except this time as a beach fanservice episode. Is his sister going to be a more important character this season? I hope not, but ep. 1 sure suggests that she will be. They think it needs more incest I guess. Ugh. Some stuff in this episode was funny, though, like the girls punishing Akihisa and the other guy for trying to hit on other girls (and failing miserably)... but overall it was just okay.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 18th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 20th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 21st July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 22nd July 2011
No. 6 - Episode 2
Maybe not quite as good as episode 1 and it did feel like it had some pacing issues, but it also does start to pick up in the second half and it now feels like it's starting to build towards something interesting. The characters are pretty good too, somewhat stereotyped but also with little personality quirks to give them some depth that a lot of shows don't go for. Animation is pretty decent too, so there's that.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 22nd July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 24th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 25th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 26th July 2011
The uncensored version of Manyuu Hikenchou finally came out and...WOW...
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 26th July 2011
Yeah, that's for sure... Unfortunately R-15 doesn't seem to have an uncensored or even less censored version. Wait for the BDs I guess? Those giant white bars are pretty annoying though. Manyuu has more for sure, but there are enough in parts of the show's episodes for it to be annoying.
Sailor Moon SuperS 137-147 - Ugh, a lot of these episodes weren't very good, that's for sure. A few were entertaining, though... Fish Eye is the best of the Amazon Trio for sure. He's another very effeminate, almost certainly gay male character who only goes after guys (while the other two only go after women, the pink haired one older women and the blonde guy Tiger Eye (the one you see the most of of these three) younger women). The three are clearly evil, but perhaps not as much so as some past villains -- Tiger Eye has trouble understanding the concept of "friend" when it's explained to him, but it left room for him to redeem himself, unlike the past villains who never had any scenes like that and sometimes murdered their predecessors. Still though, they're bad for now certainly and have done plenty of bad things, only failing at killing people because the Sailors have stopped them.
And on that note, this section continues the trend that has gone on all season of Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon (Chibiusa) being the central characters, while the other four inner senshi only have occasional bit parts (unless it's an episode focusing on them, in which case they get a bit of screen time. Given how annoying Chibiusa is a lot of the time, this is as always a very bad thing. But this is considered the weakest season, so I'm not surprised that it has the most flaws...
So, I watched the second live action Zeiram movie, Zeiram 2. It's... not that good. Don't bother to watch it, probably. Of course, as a Japanese live action movie of this kind perhaps that was inevitable, but that doesn't mean it's good, that's for sure. For anyone who liked the animated series (as I did), this is a definite disappointment.
First, the interesting setting is gone. Instead, it's just set on Earth, in Japan of course. And not exactly in Japan's most interesting places either; this giant statue part is decent, but a lot of the movie is in abandoned warehouses and stuff like that, really dull.
Second, there are very few gadgets on display. Anime Iria has all kinds of cool stuff, but here about all the suit seems to have in it is shields on the hands... apart from that, all she uses is a gun. And it's a pistol, nothing special there for sure. Um, she does have a slightly larger gun too, but still, it's pretty lame compared to the anime for sure. The only other thing she uses is a flying umbrella thing (sort of like that other guy from the anime's), but she got that from another bountyhunter, she didn't have that herself.
Also, the other two characters in addition to Iria, Bob (the computer version), and of course Zeiram are two human guys. She knows them already, so they probably were in the first Zeiram live action movie too, though given how bland this was I don't know if I care to go look for it. Neither of them are particularly interesting. One randomly changes costume mid-movie too, one minute he's in his traditional Japanese wedding clothes and the next he's in his electrician's uniform... did I miss something in between, or did they mess up there? They get relatively large roles as well, at least as large as the kids in the anime if not larger, and they're not better characters.
As for the fights, expect Sentai-inspired stuff with random explosions, monsters in suits, and the like. Some of it's okay, but it's nothing special for sure. Generic stuff. Oh, and when Iria defeats Zeiram for the first time, why does she apparently think that it's defeated when all she did was stab it through the head? This has to be set after the anime, and first movie, she knows better!
So yeah, overall, it wasn't too good. Stick with the anime series.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 27th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 29th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 29th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 30th July 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 2nd August 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - Great Rumbler - 2nd August 2011
I've been doing a Cowboy Bebop rewatch and, yeah, it's amazing how much better it is than 99.9999999999% of the anime released in the past 3-4 years.
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Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 2nd August 2011
Most anime isn't that great, it's certainly true.
Nichijou 16 - Yes, I know I'm behind again. At least I started to catch up... and yeah, great episode. This show sure is consistent, most of the first half was more Yukko getting trolled... still, it was mostly funny though, and the second part, where Yukko visited Nano's house, was pretty sweet. She sure is easygoing, has no issue with Nano being a robot, etc. Also, Yukko and the Professor get along really, really well. :)
Sailor Moon SuperS 162-165 - And the series ends as it has been going on all along, weakly. Sailor Moon doesn't even really defeat the villain... it's a pretty lame ending. Of course though, the whole season wasn't that great, so that's not too surprising.
Also, it means that finally Stars is on, which is a very good thing... Stars, unlike Supers, is great.
Sailor Moon Sailor Stars 166 (ep. 1) - This is way better than anything from SuperS already! The Outer Senshi all return and are awesome, and the Inner Senshi are in high school now too. Apparently through some miracle of the universe (and it would take a pretty serious one given her grades) somehow Usagi is in the same school as the other three, Ami included. How in the world did THAT happen? It's not explained.
Apart from that though, great episode. It was good to finally see the Outer Senshi return.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 3rd August 2011
Twin Angel 5 - I'd been underestimating this series! I've said it was bad... but yeah, that's being much too kind. This show is just stupid, boring and stupid. Much more like THIS tedious, dull episode and even I won't keep watching this thing...
(Warning - some minor spoilers, for the zero people who care. This show's plot is awful anyway.)
Um, as for the plot, about 90% of this episode is about the teacher. She gets pulled into being the new villain, since useless girl from eps 1-3 is apparently gone (she was dropped through a trapdoor in ep. 3, along with that guy who helps her and they haven't been seen since, though given that they are in the OP I imagine they might reappear sometime...). She needs money you see, so she applies for a part-time job as a secretary for a company with a really sketchy name (Black somethingorother) and job requirements, and a high salary too. It doesn't set off any warning bells for her apparently. So, most of this episode is about her dreaming about how the guy actually likes her and her delusions about what she thinks his motivations are (ie, not the surely evil ones they must be, though we haven't learned them yet). He convinces her to start working for him collecting the seven jewel whatevers with almost no difficulty, as she's blinded by how much she likes him apparently. Then there's a short fight scene at the end, the end.
I guess they were trying to have the episode be dramatic or something like that, but no, it doesn't work. TYhe first problem of course is that the main characters are barely in this episode, and instead a boring side character is the lead. Not a good start, for a show with main characters who are plenty enough lame on their own... this teacher though is just a moron, and the whole episode is really boring. Almost nothing happens and it's all dragged out with boring attempts at "drama". Whether they were trying to make it actually serious, or whether they were going for a comic style and were mocking shows actually like that, it doesn't matter; either way, it fails. This is probably my least favorite episode of this show yet.
Overall... I know it's repeating myself, but this show is awful. Don't watch it unless you like suffering.
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 5th August 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 5th August 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 6th August 2011
Summer 2011 Anime - A Black Falcon - 8th August 2011