So, Anime You Like Lately

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 2:34 am

Hiram McDaniels wrote:
Kaelik wrote:Just say no to Coffin Princess and Magi. Don't have too many opinions on the rest, but those are both garbage.
Okay. Are there any series that you can recommend?

Depends on what you want. I recommend Madoka Magica, but you've already watched that. Beyond that I need some baseline, and Madoka Magica doesn't provide that, because it is fucking great and everyone should watch it.

But in general, I recommend good storytelling, and not shitty storytelling. Which excludes both of those two.

Hiram McDaniels wrote:
Mask_De_H wrote: Log Horizon is Logistics and Dragons, MMO style.
Maoyu is like that, but without the mmo plot devices.

The anime starts where most jrpg's end, and then goes full-on L&D.

To quote my fiancee: "Why the fuck is that anime guy talking about manipulating wheat futures???"

The difference is that Log Horizon is not written by people who are goddam terrible at storytelling, and who literally cum from exposition dumps, and is instead written by people who are moderately good at storytelling and only figuratively cum to exposition dumps.

Hiram McDaniels · Post by **Hiram McDaniels** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:02 am

Kaelik wrote: Depends on what you want. I recommend Madoka Magica, but you've already watched that. Beyond that I need some baseline, and Madoka Magica doesn't provide that, because it is fucking great and everyone should watch it.

But in general, I recommend good storytelling, and not shitty storytelling. Which excludes both of those two.

That's a good question. It's hard to say what I actually like, since most anime series I watch wind up being wholly mediocre.

I tend to like action-y anime with well animated fight sequences and such, but I'm not into stuff like Naruto and Bleach that go on forever and ever.

I like stuff where the heroes actually have to think their way through problems, rather than the old chestnut of simply gaining exactly as much power as they need to win at exactly the right moment (pretty much every shonen fighting anime).

Series that I've enjoyed:

Full Metal Alchemist (1st series)
Guilty Crown
Sword Art Online (1st season)
Scrapped Princess
Baccano!
Durara!
Book of Bantorra
Future Diary

Also, I've been watching this shit since the days of U.S. Renditions and Streamline Pictures, so I'm probably forgetting some seminal classics that I've seen.

Kaelik wrote: The difference is that Log Horizon is not written by people who are goddam terrible at storytelling, and who literally cum from exposition dumps, and is instead written by people who are moderately good at storytelling and only figuratively cum to exposition dumps.

I agree about over-exposition, but Maoyu is hardly the most egregious example. I don't really know how you would do L&D with out some level of expository wanking. I mean, at some point you have to explain how the Wizard makes a fortune selling iron.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:28 am

I think Maoyu, for a variety of reasons, actually is just about the most egregious example. It's certainly the most egregious example anyone would ever seriously recommend. I managed to finish it, because I have low standards and little respect for my own free time, but god damn.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:31 am

I dunno about that. Nasuverse (F/SN, KnK, Tsukihime) mages absolutely love to hear themselves talk. And raise your hands if you watched Paradox Spiral and have any idea what the mystical underpinnings of the main villain's plan were. I mean, I know because I read the LN, which has even more exposition.

I will admit that I am one of those jackasses who actually likes infodumps and pays attention to them and remembers them when later events contradict previous information. I am not much of a judge of what constitutes too much exposition.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:29 pm

Steins: Gate is good. You should watch it. If you haven't watched it Tengen Toppa is also something you should see.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:38 am

Amagi ended well, but I'm surprised they left some things unresolved.

The evil corporate wizard did not get his colon stomped.
50-Cent has yet to admit her feelings for Kanye.

Possibly hinting at a second season if it managed to hit that "made money back" threshold.

Anyway, it's new anime season, so let's see what we have:

Yuri Kuma Arashi

Some time ago, the asteroid Kumaria exploded in the depths of space.

The resulting fragments became a meteor shower that rained down on Earth, and for some reason, bears all over the world rose up and attacked humanity! In “Man vs. Bear,” the bears ate the humans and the humans shot the bears, resulting in a seemingly unending battle and a cycle of hatred. In the end, a giant “Wall of Extinction” was erected between the humans and bears and a state of mutual nonaggression came to pass…

The human world.

One morning, Arashigaoka Academy students Kureha Tsubaki and Sumika Izumino were by themselves and saw the “Yuri Flower” that bloomed in a flower bed. The two are friends as well as lovers. The flower bed is an important place to the two. At that moment, the Bear Alarms ring out! The bears are invading the human world, and humans are being attacked! Are they really those bears? One mystery invokes yet another mystery, one after another. The curtain rises magnificently on Yuri Kuma Arashi!

SOLD

(This game brought to you by Apocalypse World)

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:49 am

I don't fucking even.

I sincerely hope "arashi" means war or something, because if so the title of the show might as well translate to Lesbian Bear War. I dare anyone on this goddamn planet to tell me that if they saw that on their TV guide that they wouldn't immediately start watching to figure out what kind of show would ever call itself Lesbian Bear War.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:52 am

Close. It means Storm.

Lesbian Bear Storm.

Which sounds like a great name for a prog-rock band.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:00 am

I thought Kantai Collection would be the weirdest and most Japanese thing this season. My world is brightened by the revelation that I was wrong.

GreatGreyShrike · Post by **GreatGreyShrike** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:51 pm

Episode 1 of Yuri Kuma Arashi report: This has the potential to be another Utena. Since Ikuhara is directing it, I fully expect it to be so. Not a huge fan of the OP sequence but otherwise I strongly like it so far. If anything, the summary is understating how batshit this is.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:44 pm

I also watched that first episode and . . i think my head went tilt somewhere around the half way mark @.@

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:05 pm

Well, Kantai Collection has quite the lock-and-load montage.

Also, I've been showing Fateverse shows to my mom. She now wants a Saber hoodie.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:02 pm

OK, yes, the Lock and Load Sequence is pretty good in KanCol, otherwise . . not sure about that one . .

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 1:39 am

Just finished watching "The Wind Rises".
A bit mediocre, beautifull movie, but the message if there is a bit weak . .

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:14 pm

I feel like the first episode of Yuri Kuma Arashi could have been a couple minutes long and hit the exact same story events and made exactly as much sense. Yes, you're very weird, Yuri Kuma Arashi, but twenty-four minutes is a very long time to spend showing off how weird your "what if we made a surreal story about lesbianism using the symbolism of cannibalistic bearpeople and drooling vagina flowers" ideas are. Move things along, please.

That said, I never really planned to watch it to begin with. It's just one of those "have we finally hit peak weird? Let's find out!" shows that you have to investigate. And I did. And so far it's a joke far too long in the telling. But hey, the punchline is symbolic girl-on-girl-on-girl action, so that's something. Or girl-on-girl-on-girl cannibalism. Or both. I'm not entirely clear on the premise here.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:36 pm

It's based on a manga where the main character is just daydreaming/hallucinating that her classmate is a bear in human form that wants to eat her. And said classmate gets the wrong idea (as you might), and assumes the main character has a crush on her.

They appear to have gone in substantially different directions.

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:13 am

Kunihiko Ikuhara and Akiyuki Shinbo are in their own weird stylistic corner. It's the sort of thing that people either love or hate.

Mistborn · Post by **Mistborn** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:26 am

Yeah I tried to watch Yuri Kuma Arashi, but I found it unbearable.

On the bight side we have a Moe 4koma adaptation this season, so business as usual I guess

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:43 am

It is from the guy who once explained a plot point in a movie by saying "I just wanted to have a pretty girl turn into a car." Complete incomprehensible insanity is to be expected.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:49 pm

Aldnoah Zero part two is starting up.

Inaho's alive and has a cyborg eye, Asseylum is floating in a bacta tank and being impersonated by what I gather is her illegitimate sister with the aid of holograms. Inaho has seen through the deception because the fake does not know why the sky is blue.

For reasons that defy ready analysis, Slaine is working with the dude who tried to assassinate Asseylum and having their impersonator openly back continuing the invasion. What the fuck, dude. Chibi maid came along for the ride.

Mistborn · Post by **Mistborn** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 11:58 pm

Let the record show that I totally called it.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:49 am

so far, this new anime season has little promising anime for me in it . .
lesbian bear storm is the only one i consider watching, just for the WTF Random Lesbian Bear Storm? @.@
I will probably tomorrow look at the 1st ep of the rolling girls as well, see how that one turns out.
i am furthermore still trying to aquire pumpkin scissors, because that looks and sounds all kinds of nifty from what i have seen/read on the tubes and wikis <.<

TOZ · Post by **TOZ** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:38 pm

Watched the first episode of Kantai Collection, and my wife commented on it being Pacific Rim: The Anime. I don't hate it.

Need to get my subscription to Funimation going for Tokyo Ghoul now.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:30 am

Well, now that the first episode of Lesbian Bear Storm is avaliable for free on funimation, I have watched it.

That was... a thing.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:50 pm

2nd episode of lesbian bear storm . .
same reaction as last week: WTF? @.@
tilt

KanCol . . nothing remarable about that one . .

Pumpkin Scissors . . kinda slowish . .