The Gaming Den

This season is pretty weak in terms of anime . .
The only one i am really watching right now is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Wom ... n_Class_C3
and it's mediocre at best, i'll admit . .

I'm way behind on the new Symphogear, but I did start watching it recently. It's been decent so far. I also finally got around to finishing Valvrave and Gargantia. The last episode of Valvrave was a pretty meh cliffhanger, but the flash forward to the 211th year of the third empire made me realize we don't yet know for certain who founded it. Gargantia was awesome all the way to the end, and Chamber is pretty much the best AI ever. It's a little creepy when he uses the existence of Machine Calibers to justify courses of action, but he has some great lines.

I especially liked his responses to Striker. Including "the ability to make decisions" as a criteria for being human helped cut down his Big Brother-ness in the end. Also, "I am a Pilot Support and Enlightenment System. My pilot is in no need of further enlightenment." and "Response: Go to hell, tin can!" were amazing.

The UVic anime club will be starting up in two weeks, so I'll have more to report then.

according to this horribly nsfw page
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2013/09/0 ... tumn-2013/
valvrave will be getting a season 2 this year.
there's a trailer for season 2 on youtube as well.
sadly, no such news regarding gargantia <.<

When I watched the last episode of Valvrave, it ended with a preview of Season 2 and said that it would be airing in October. I'm not surprised that Gargantia is finished because it ended at an actual ending.

ah, ok.
i don't remember the end of valvrave for some reason <.<

Koumei wrote:So my actual favourite martial arts anime is still Ranma 1/2 after all these years, because fights tend to not be very long and it's "martial arts figure skating" and stuff. In other words, actually calling it a martial arts anime is stretching it. However, I'm willing to be proven wrong, if it turns out there's some amazing fighting one I haven't seen. Because then I'm proven wrong by enjoying something, and it's hard to complain about that.

Have you tried air master? It has a little more blood than Ranma, because it's not made in the 80s ... but the figure skating description is not too far off (the background story for the protagonist is of a former gymnast turned street fighter). No real fan service, just sexuality used for comic relief.

If it didn't have the one episode which essentially had attempted rape I could recommend it without reservation ... but yeah, so there's that :/

Just gonna say I don't recommend Air Master. Personally I just don't think it is very good. I do know of a few alternatives that I equally don't like but have "fighting" and "fanservice. Ikkitousen and Tenjo Tenge leap to mind. I think those are heavily female fighting themed fightan anime.

Anyways. I think the first opening to Attack on Titan is way better than the second. Also even though it isn't done the damn thing sucked me in from episode 1 and I couldn't stop watching it until episode 22. Unfortunately it isn't finished and episodes are still coming out so I may switch over to the manga to see how much further it goes.

Somewhere between half and two-thirds of Attack on Titan had abysmal 'shit is going on' : 'time of your life we've occupied' ratio. I very nearly dropped it between SPOILERS and OTHER SPOILERS because I felt like every episode was a repeat of the last +1 cliffhanger. It kinda sorta mostly got better by the end (and was good at the beginning), or at least was interesting enough to make me power angrily through it.

But seriously. Fuck that show's padding. They could have easily cut ~4 episodes worth of time and not actually lost any content whatsoever.

Yeah, some of the flashbacks and things give new insights to the characters, but I can hardly stand everyone whining and navel-gazing for minutes at a time partway through every episode. Eren was definitely the worst for it in the currently-airing chunk, but pretty much everyone else was just as bad in the super-padded Battle for Trost.

If you like economics and breasts, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. I've only seen the first few episodes, but it looks interesting and does not seem to be in danger of turning into a harem.

CatharzGodfoot wrote:If you like economics and breasts, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. I've only seen the first few episodes, but it looks interesting and does not seem to be in danger of turning into a harem.

Congratulations, that was only mentioned on the last page.

Kaelik wrote:

CatharzGodfoot wrote:If you like economics and breasts, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. I've only seen the first few episodes, but it looks interesting and does not seem to be in danger of turning into a harem.

Congratulations, that was only mentioned on the last page.

The previous page is pretty much entirely "You have added this person to your Ignore List. Click HERE to view this post." for me.

Maoyuu mao Yuusha: The fight between Princess General Knight and the Ice General was pretty cool. Also, Knight looking sullen about her dress was hilarious. Oh, and the bit where no one has an actual name is starting to get kinda confusing as they keep accumulating titles.

Sampler was Big O, which is about a nebulously PI-like guy with lots of advanced gadgets and a giant robot, who has wound up being the bodyguard for a robot girl. Having her decoy a dude with a rocket launcher was probably not the best way for him to kick off that job. I will track down more of it.

Durarara: In which Celty accidentally takes the grocery list instead of the license plate number of the van she's after. Her reaction is great.

Man, the Pyscho-Pass guys are pretty terrible at being a police state. When I think about problems which people in technologically advanced police states have, "a three-year cold case involving multiple corpses deliberately placed in public areas" isn't even on the list.

The Uvic anime club had its first meeting of the year on Wednesday. We'll be watching Spice and Wolf, Hyouka, Accel World, Mawaru Penguindrum, Another, and Chuunbiyo. Apparently nobody wanted to watch action shows this year because every one that was pitched (with the exception of Accel World) failed to get more than 20 "I would like to watch this at all" votes from an audience of ~50 people.

I think I talked about Spice and Wolf way back at the start of this thread. The first season was very well paced, but the second is as slow as Attack on Titan. That stupid city that took up more than half the second season shouldn't have lasted more than two or three episodes.
Hyouka is apparently about a young Mycroft Holmes analogue. He solves relatively mundane problems even though he'd rather do nothing because he can't resist a curious girl.
Accel World is about a boy who's often bullied getting dragged into a virtual reality fighting game and pwning everyone.
Mawaru Penguindrum was described as impossible to discuss without spoiling, but we were shown a clip from the end of the first episode where the previously normal atmosphere is obliterated by a magic hat completely out of nowhere.
Another is some kind of horror/suspense series. The clip we were shown was a bunch of narration about a popular girl at some school who died and everyone just pretended she was alive.
Chuunbiyou is about a guy who thought he was an anime character during middle school who moved to a faraway town for high school to escape his embarrassing past only to meet someone as delusional as he was.

Other series that were ptiched include Shin Mazinger Z, Gargantia, Haganai, Humanity has Declined, Lucky Star, and Welcome to the NHK.


EDIT: I also just finished watching Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince. It was a decent series, but nothing special. I'll probably watch a second season if there is one.

Hyouka and Chuunibyou i have watched and will say are really nice to watch!

Hyouka has one of the most relateable male main characters i have ever seen.

Chuunibyou has some action sequences in it. Especially if you do watch the OVA too. And if you don't look at chuunibyou and sometimes squirm uncomfortably going:"yeah, i remember being kinda like that" you did not grow up as a normal child <.<


What would be your definition of action anime?

i can't believe i actually forgot about Little Busters: Refrain @.@
*hnnngggg* right in the feels again ._.

Stahlseele wrote:Hyouka and Chuunibyou i have watched and will say are really nice to watch!

Hyouka has one of the most relateable male main characters i have ever seen.

Chuunibyou has some action sequences in it. Especially if you do watch the OVA too. And if you don't look at chuunibyou and sometimes squirm uncomfortably going:"yeah, i remember being kinda like that" you did not grow up as a normal child <.<


What would be your definition of action anime?

Sorry for not getting back to you on this sooner. By an action anime, I mean an anime in which combat or similar action scenes occur frequently and are a major force in the plot. Usually that means shonen fighting series, mecha shows, and some magical girl anime. The action doesn't have to be the sole focus (Attack on Titan is really about everything but the actual battles), but having action in the premise without following through wouldn't count in my eyes. Anime like Utena and Star Driver are borderline because combat is a mere formality. Anime like Infinite Stratos and Kampher are borderline because actual combat is sparse for anime theoretically centred around powered armour and fighting a proxy war respectively. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is not an action series because in most episodes the main characters are removed from the action and strategy is far more important than tactics or the low-level details on the front lines.

I'm four episodes into Hyouka, but I'm not that interested in it yet. A plot is starting to develop, but so far the episodes have been boring and the episodes have been bland. The only "mystery" so far that hasn't been utterly trivial is the main plot, so of course they didn't give the viewers all the clues available to the characters until the main character had reached a tentative theory. The main character is much more relatable than many anime protagonists, but he's also a little bland. His dislike of doing anything at all is too overwhelming for me to take seriously. Also, I swear I'll stop watching it if his friend keeps saying "I'm just a database!" every episode. You are not a database, you are a living, breathing, thinking human beings with the capacity to reason and make decisions! So far watching Hyouka is like watching Sokka become the only character capable of creating a strategy halfway through Avatar.

Accel World has been good so far. It also has characters that are a little one-sided, but the plot is tolerable and the action scenes have been done well so far. It also has one of the best conversations between the main character and his (female) childhood friend I have ever seen. The other main female character has been dreadfully stereotypical so far, but it's still been an enjoyable show.

Another is starting to heat up. It's really hard to talk about without spoilers, but there have been several plausible but unlikely accidents in the last few episodes. The class is spooked and still won't tell the main character anything, but I suspect if there really is a curse it's only been triggered because he doesn't know what's going on.

Mawaru Penguindrum is apparently about fate right now. I'm looking forward to watching the next couple episodes on Wednesday and hopefully finding out a little more about what happened at the end of episode four. There's an obvious explanation, but with that show it's impossible to tell whether the obvious explanation is correct.

Unrelated to anime club, I ended up marathoning the first season of Code Geass with my cousin this weekend. It was a good series, and also a good example of one I'd consider an action series even though there isn't a battle every episode. I wasn't thrilled with the first season's ending, but I know there's more to watch. I just hope Lelouch learns from the mistakes he made in the first season. He really needs to remember that he doesn't know everything and not every enemy commander will fall for his traps.

well, if you don't mind disgustingly cute and awkward, then chuunibyou might actually be for you O.o

I liked the main of Hyouka because he was relateable to me lazy bastard, i'll freely admit and yes, the other guy was annoying me too for that reason . . but every holmes needs his watson it seems <.<

Ginga Kikoutai: Majestic Prince is probably my vote for the best Mecha Anime of last season.

Okay, yeah, the characters grate a bit, but the battle scenes are unbelievably well done.

i dropped majestic prince exactly because of the characters x.x

Stahlseele wrote:i dropped majestic prince exactly because of the characters x.x

I totally get that. They eventually become a bit charming in the long run, mostly. Tamaki's voice remains a weapon-in-audio with a penchant for shrieking, though.

the are really pulling a groundhog day on little busters: refrain x.x

also:
valvrave the liberator 13 . . on what episode did last season stop?
anybody remember? it feels off somehow, as if i am missing something . .

What you guys think of Monogatari Series?

Atmo wrote:What you guys think of Monogatari Series?

Two parts pretentious, one part pervy, one part really clever.

SHAFT's stylistic direction really saves a series that's a poor otaku's Murakami. And Shinobu is best girl.

Which current season anime would make a more interesting setting for an RPG: Kill la Kill or Kyousougiga?

oh, seems as if Strike Witches will be getting a 3rd Season and an OVA