Currently Airing & Watching Anime Discussion Topic

[Gaz 1097]

18 hours ago, Ikki said:

I just watched the first episode of the new Berserk anime and I haven't seen this crappy of animation in a long time.  This is saying a lot as I have a thing for watching horribly animated shows.    The CG looks like I'm playing Dark Cloud 2 on the Playstation 2.  The episode itself was very bland with the plot, but I haven't read the manga and I haven't watched the original TV anime since way  back in the day, so I don't know how much was axed for the episode.  I'll probably watch at least another episode before I'll decide if I will drop it.

 

my thoughts exactly. i rolled my eyes all the time they made slow motions to show Guts off. when i read manga i kinda enjoyed the arc with Farnese, but so far anime doesn't look promising at all, even if to disregard that awful CGI. also it seems they also going to animate mahou shoujo arc, and well that was when manga completely turned out into shit.

will force myself to watch a couple more episodes to see if it gets better but the most optimistic prediction that i will only manage to survive through Farnese arc and that will be it.

[CAT5 9075]

On 7/2/2016 at 7:16 PM, Gaz said:

but so far anime doesn't look promising at all, even if to disregard that awful CGI. also it seems they also going to animate mahou shoujo arc, and well that was when manga completely turned out into shit.

 

 

I can understand your perspective, and it's certainly valid, but personally, I have to disagree. In the response to your "mahou shoujo" comment: In the manga, and even the original anime, Berserk wasted no time establishing the fact that it's a dark fantasy. In the first panel of the manga, he's literally fucking a demon, and it's established pretty early that the world is ridden with demons, elves (and possibly other magical creatures). It's also established early in the manga that there are enemies (like femto) that Guts couldn't touch even if he wanted to. So it's only logical that somewhere down the road, Guts would acquire *something* that would allow him to combat his foes on even ground, or at least give him a fighting chance. But this is where Berserk's brilliance lies for me - everything is well thought out, and when there are new developments in the series (like guts acquiring powers) it's all very convincing and jives with the direction of the plot. Despite all of the fantasy aspects, Miura manages to keep the story both human and relatable. Both the world-building and character development are A+. Even with the berserker armor and the help of Schierke, Gut's isn't necessarily OP like in some shounen or something - these all have consequences for him and he's changed and matured because of all of it as well. I do think the manga's plot has been dragging a bit, but that's probably mostly due to Miura cranking new material out so slowly.

 

As for the anime being promising - personally, I think it's too early to tell. I'm not fond of the animation myself, but ironically, it does kind of stand out amongst other anime atm - whether that's a good thing or bad thing is up to you - but it does stand out, for better or worse. Hell, I've wasted time watching anime with brilliant fucking animation that turned out to be complete shit, so ofc I'm gonna give something as much as I love as berserk a chance. 

 

I know one of the big complaints was that they skipped the black swordsman arc and the lost children arc, but as huge as Berserk's story is, I can understand them wanting to start the series off on an arc that drives the plot forward as much as this one does (The Conviction arc). The current anime atmosphere is not really conducive to long-running shows. Unless you land a certified hit, you're not really guaranteed a 2nd season. So as big as Berserk's story is, I'm pretty sure the producers wanted begin at a point in the plot that has enough going on to reign in newcomers to the show, while also giving longtime fans a chance to rejoice and see some new stuff finally animated.  Both fans have to be catered to. We've seen the Golden Age arc animated twice now, and since that's technically a flashback arc to explain the Black Swordsman arc, I can understand why they chose this point in the story to start with. As nice as it would have been to see the entire manga adapted as is - that's not really a viable option considering the restraints of the anime industry atm. Sadly, no adaptation is ever perfect (no thanks to business and politics), but since Kentaro Miura is overseeing this project himself, I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and see what they can do!

[MaikoMizu 167]

Finished Claymore and I was a bit disappointed but I've heard that the manga is far better than the anime.

[beni 2149]

7 hours ago, MaikoMizu said:

Finished Claymore and I was a bit disappointed but I've heard that the manga is far better than the anime.

 

I adore Claymore. It's one of my favorites. I would always suggest starting from the end of where the anime left off (apart from the Clare vs Priscilla fight which isn't cannon). The manga is already wrapped up, and there's even a timeskip that occurs after the Battle of the North. I wish it was adapted fully, but reading the manga is still more than worth it instead. Also, there's so many more awesome Awakened Beings and the like to be seen in it. And I'll refrain from any spoilers.. but the ending of the manga is extremely satisfying.

[Gaz 1097]

^ the final battle between Claire and Priscilla in manga was one of my favorite manga battles of all times! 

 

@CAT5with mahou shoujo shit i was actually referring to Shierke herself. she is so fucking generic tsundere cunt, i could hardly force myself to read chapter where she was involved. i mean, why the hell did Miura even introduce such a character? was he chasing for more fans? well he managed to lose a lot of hardcore fans with that move, good job! and that dragging... ughhhhhhh. i felt like they could wrap up whole Falconia arc in 2-3 volumes, and making it much more interesting at the same time. 

 

also just checked how many chapters has been released since i dropped the manga 5 years ago and laughed out loud so hard! 20 shitty chapters in 5 fucking years! now i won't dare to say that Hiatus x Hiatus is super slow lel

[Chi 2624]

Checked Taboo Tattoo which i wasn't planning to do at all and must say i was left impressed.... Hopefully this series won't disappoint.

The show already won me during the OP - MAIDS WITH GUNS? Count me in.

 

 

[CAT5 9075]

10 hours ago, Gaz said:

 

@CAT5with mahou shoujo shit i was actually referring to Shierke herself. she is so fucking generic tsundere cunt, i could hardly force myself to read chapter where she was involved. i mean, why the hell did Miura even introduce such a character? was he chasing for more fans? well he managed to lose a lot of hardcore fans with that move, good job! and that dragging... ughhhhhhh. i felt like they could wrap up whole Falconia arc in 2-3 volumes, and making it much more interesting at the same time. 

 

also just checked how many chapters has been released since i dropped the manga 5 years ago and laughed out loud so hard! 20 shitty chapters in 5 fucking years! now i won't dare to say that Hiatus x Hiatus is super slow lel

 

ohhhhhhhh, I see what you mean. I thought you were just talking about the general direction of the plot. Ya know, I never thought of that with Shierke. She definitely does seem like a really typical character now that you mentioned it. I always looked at her as like a naive little witch girl that was just trying to be tough/mature despite her inexperience. I was actually suuuuper weirded out when it seemed to be suggested that she had romantic feelings for guts???? WTFFFF...that's wrong on so many levels. Admiration, I can understand, but nothing beyond that. Guts seems like the father figure of his new little crew.

 

It's funny you mention "Hiatus x Hiatus"  btw:

 

 

 

LMAO... @beni and I just wrapped up the anime. It was my second time seeing most of it and I loved it even more. Why do you guys think such brilliant works like Berserk and HxH are stuck in a perpetual loop of hiatuses? 

[colorful人生 2777]

Excuuuuse me. This is obv. AOTS, hands down.

[Gaz 1097]

3 hours ago, CAT5 said:

It's funny you mention "Hiatus x Hiatus"  btw:

 

 

 

LMAO... @beni and I just wrapped up the anime. It was my second time seeing most of it and I loved it even more. Why do you guys think such brilliant works like Berserk and HxH are stuck in a perpetual loop of hiatuses? 

 

actually this pic is out of date now. Dragon Ball is ongoing again and Naruto is back in that new Boruto manga. and what's more important HxH has returned from hiatus few months ago! i really hope it will last this time...

also it has been confirmed that Bleach's gonna end soon. finally! i guess Kubo will finish it on 700th chapter.

[beni 2149]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

 

actually this pic is out of date now. Dragon Ball is ongoing again and Naruto is back in that new Boruto manga. and what's more important HxH has returned from hiatus few months ago! i really hope it will last this time...

also it has been confirmed that Bleach's gonna end soon. finally! i guess Kubo will finish it on 700th chapter.

 

I would say that Naruto is finished, the main series in which it was referring to. It's a spin off, the Boruto manga, and everything after it. That's just how I see it. It's still Naruto obviously... I'm in denial lol. Guess it will be out of date for sure what with the Bleach news though. But anyway, the pic is still hilarious, since that HiatusxHiatus has become such an unfortunate meme. I read just a few days ago that HxH is on hiatus yet again though.  

I've also seen a lot of varied reports on Bleach with its end finally coming. I no longer read the manga, but was this intended to be wrapped up at this time, or was Kubo pushed for it? 

[Gaz 1097]

36 minutes ago, beni said:

 

I would say that Naruto is finished, the main series in which it was referring to. It's a spin off, the Boruto manga, and everything after it. That's just how I see it. It's still Naruto obviously... I'm in denial lol. Guess it will be out of date for sure what with the Bleach news though. But anyway, the pic is still hilarious, since that HiatusxHiatus has become such an unfortunate meme. I read just a few days ago that HxH is on hiatus yet again though.  

I've also seen a lot of varied reports on Bleach with its end finally coming. I no longer read the manga, but was this intended to be wrapped up at this time, or was Kubo pushed for it? 

FUUUUUUUUUU D; and that's when i just got my hopes up...

and yeah that is not really Naruto but is still Naruto lol. not sure of whether to check it out or not tho.

regarding Bleach: yup, Kubo himself said 3 or 4 years ago that this will be the last Bleach arc. pretty much everything that hasn't been revealed in anime was shown by now (Ichigo's origin, Zero Division, Soul King and some captain's bankai). i wonder if there'll be second season of anime.

[MaikoMizu 167]

On 7/4/2016 at 7:26 AM, beni said:

 

I adore Claymore. It's one of my favorites. I would always suggest starting from the end of where the anime left off (apart from the Clare vs Priscilla fight which isn't cannon). The manga is already wrapped up, and there's even a timeskip that occurs after the Battle of the North. I wish it was adapted fully, but reading the manga is still more than worth it instead. Also, there's so many more awesome Awakened Beings and the like to be seen in it. And I'll refrain from any spoilers.. but the ending of the manga is extremely satisfying.

While watching the anime I did some snooping around on the wiki and I'm hoping that Clare gets vengeance on Priscilla for what she did to Teresa. Even more awakened beasts? Now that'll be interesting to read up on. Thanks.

[Flame-X 441]

I just came back from Anime Expo and caught premieres of a couple new anime.

 

The first one I saw was the premiere of Tales of Zestiria the X. They showed eps 0 and 1. Based on the OP scenes, it seems Zestiria and Berseria are connected. I find it strange not a single character mentioned anything about malevolence. My biggest gripe is the amount of exposition the characters need to vomit. So much talk talk talk talk talk and no show. The visuals are quite nice considering the animation is done by ufotable.

 

The best premiere that made my weekend was seeing Makoto Shinkai's new movie, your name. It's absolutely beautiful is every sense of the word. Without a doubt, Shinkai's best film yet. The man himself was present at the event explaining some of the behind the scenes, and his english is surprisingly good! He literally completed this movie last week of June. During the screening, I didn't notice it (nor did anyone else) but he was walking around the room watching the audience reactions. Everyone was absorbed into this movie. Unlike his previous films, this one isn't super depressing or melancholic throughout. It conveys a wide spectrum of emotions ranging from sad to comedic to audience pleasing. I can not talk about the plot due to risk of spoilers but I assure you that this won't disappoint. 9/10

 

 

Previous Season Finished Shows

 

Joker Game

Interesting show but there's no clear sense of the plot direction. So all these spies do their thing collecting information, but for what? We never get to see anything beyond that. Not only that, but the show ends without any sort of resolution. 6/10

 

Kabaneri of the Retarded Fortress

Nuff said. 3/10

[Gaz 1097]

1 hour ago, Flame-X said:

 

The best premiere that made my weekend was seeing Makoto Shinkai's new movie, your name. It's absolutely beautiful is every sense of the word. Without a doubt, Shinkai's best film yet. The man himself was present at the event explaining some of the behind the scenes, and his english is surprisingly good! He literally completed this movie last week of June. During the screening, I didn't notice it (nor did anyone else) but he was walking around the room watching the audience reactions. Everyone was absorbed into this movie. Unlike his previous films, this one isn't super depressing or melancholic throughout. It conveys a wide spectrum of emotions ranging from sad to comedic to audience pleasing. I can not talk about the plot due to risk of spoilers but I assure you that this won't disappoint. 9/10

 

ugh, i'm so jealous of you right now! Shinkai is one of my favorite directors, would love to see what did he make there. i hope the shit leaks before the end of the year.

[Ito 2438]

God, now I want to see Shinkai's new film even more, which I didn't think was possible.

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

CGI animated film of the Osaka arc in Gantz. To be aired this October.

 

and the first pv for those who didn't see it yet.

 

I CAN'T WAIT

[Gaz 1097]

^ that actually looks promising! will check that out for sure.

it's a shame that manga's last arc was so atrocious tho 

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

^agreed, i didn't like the last arc either. but gantz is still one of my all time favorite mangas~

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

just adding my two cents on berserk having just watched the second episode.

i never read the manga, but i love the original anime to pieces and still kinda enjoy the movie adaptions of the same material.

 

Personally  like most I don't like the look of the animation in general, has a bit of a "Cheap PS3 Game" feel to it, but at the same time i'm rarely really bothered by looks per se. Charakter design is much more important, and thats pretty nice so far, and given it's all in the manga anyways, I'm confident it'll stay that way. On the plus side, this complete dedication to 3D-animation enables them to make some disgustingly cool battle-scenes, Camera movement in particular. some of these perspectives and camera-swipes are just delicious. best thing however so far is all the rest. they manage to set up a very distinct athmosphere with the look, sound design and music., really love the musical choices here. (wasn't sure about the nu-metal stuff for guts in the beginning, but it works pretty well. all the underscoring music in the other scenes is top notch, safe for that weird chant during the flashback in ep1).

Also i think the pacing and editing in the anime has been pretty flawless so far. tons of surprise or suspense moments in these two episodes. Also I'm very much interested in the religious aspect of the berserk universe, that I don't think they touched on much in the golden arc, but which seems to be pretty important in this one so far.

only thing that might turn out problematic for me, as it was already problematic in the original anime and even worse in the movie, is berserks handling of female characters.

little not that important and probably already done to bits rant in spoiler

 

with caska you could see the story trying to give her some actually interesting motives and backstory, but then undermining it by just having her constantly being the damsel. then they make the same cheap stunt they do with sakura in naruto, trying to sell her as super tough and powerfull by having her beat up one or two utterly bullshit enemies and the footsoldiers saying some nonsense lip-service a la "woow, she so badass, not wanna get in a fight with her". at all other times she's just there to provide reason for heroism/revenge for guts and tits for viewer tho. meh. 

with the second episode now already having a woman strapped onto guts's lap and horse, tits hanging out and all I fear this season falling into a similar trap. At least that scene so far still makes somehow narrative sense, but i hope they don't overdo it. That however depends on the source material anyways I guess.

 

So overall fairly optimistic, slightly sceptic, but could turn out great. Also most ppl i spoke to that read the manga said all the other arcs are fairly meh compared to the golden arc, so this season is deemed to have a problem in terms of source material. how do manga-readers here see that?

 

Also watched first ep. of 91days today. seems quite nice so far, great opening scenes

Edited July 9, 2016 by bonsaijodelfisch

[CAT5 9075]

Watched the 2nd episode of Berserk today, and I found it enjoyable - in fact, I felt like it ended too soon, as I was engaged the entire episode. Still getting used to the animation. My biggest issue with it is the lack of emotion they're able to convey. When Farnese was whipping and going crazy on Guts, her voice actress was on point, but the character animation looked super stiff and rigid. Like Bonsai said, it felt more like I was reading a cut-scene on ps3/ps2 game as opposed to watching two lively characters interact. Definitely took me out of the moment a bit.

 

1 hour ago, bonsaijodelfisch said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

with caska you could see the story trying to give her some actually interesting motives and backstory, but then undermining it by just having her constantly being the damsel. then they make the same cheap stunt they do with sakura in naruto, trying to sell her as super tough and powerfull by having her beat up one or two utterly bullshit enemies and the footsoldiers saying some nonsense lip-service a la "woow, she so badass, not wanna get in a fight with her". at all other times she's just there to provide reason for heroism/revenge for guts and tits for viewer tho. meh. 

with the second episode now already having a woman strapped onto guts's lap and horse, tits hanging out and all I fear this season falling into a similar trap. At least that scene so far still makes somehow narrative sense, but i hope they don't overdo it. That however depends on the source material anyways I guess.

 

So overall fairly optimistic, slightly sceptic, but could turn out great. Also most ppl i spoke to that read the manga said all the other arcs are fairly meh compared to the golden arc, so this season is deemed to have a problem in terms of source material. how do manga-readers here see that?

 

The golden arc is fantastic, but I've always kind of viewed that as its own thing. For the other arcs, when I read the manga, I never really got a sense of the "arcs". And I don't mean that in a bad way. There were certainly climaxes and quiet moments, but everything felt to me like one ever-ascending story. As for the current arc, if I have to compare it to the golden age arc directly, then the golden age would win. Although tbh, I feel like the original 1997 anime handled the golden age arc better than the manga did because they were able to better emphasize certain aspects much more. So it's certainly possible that they could enhance the source material imo. Either way, I think there's more than enough to make for a compelling season.

 

Also, I wonder if they're actually going to include this scene in the next ep or so: XD

 

Spoiler

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by CAT5

[Gaz 1097]

just finished ReLIFE in two sits. from the first sight it looked like just another generic school anime crap with fireworks and beach episodes. well there wasn't beach episode yet but i have the feeling there will be one somewhere in the future lol. dunno why but i actually ended up liking this shit. maybe it was because i haven't watched school animes for literally ages and it was in some way "refreshing", or maybe there is more to it than it might seems at first. that twist in the last episode caught me off guard tbh, though it was only because i didn't pay a lot of attention to the anime, watching it in really relaxed mode. character-wise it was also good, nothing outstanding but what would you expect from this kind of stuff? anyway, it was worth watching. will be looking forward to 2nd season in a few years i guess.

[Kaye 296]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

just finished ReLIFE in two sits. from the first sight it looked like just another generic school anime crap with fireworks and beach episodes. well there wasn't beach episode yet but i have the feeling there will be one somewhere in the future lol. dunno why but i actually ended up liking this shit. maybe it was because i haven't watched school animes for literally ages and it was in some way "refreshing", or maybe there is more to it than it might seems at first. that twist in the last episode caught me off guard tbh, though it was only because i didn't pay a lot of attention to the anime, watching it in really relaxed mode. character-wise it was also good, nothing outstanding but what would you expect from this kind of stuff? anyway, it was worth watching. will be looking forward to 2nd season in a few years i guess.

 

Tbh, I've watched a lot of crappy shoujo series in the past few years and didn't expect much of this one either, but it really surprised me. It wasn't very deep or amazing, but it did what it had to do and did it really well.

[Gaz 1097]

have to agree with Cat5 that 2nd episode of Berserk was quite an improvement. still, that CGI is awful and i'm not sure i'll ever get used to it.

[CAT5 9075]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

have to agree with Cat5 that 2nd episode of Berserk was quite an improvement. still, that CGI is awful and i'm not sure i'll ever get used to it.

 

yeah, for me, watching it so far has been oddly masochistic - torture, yet still pleasurable because it's berserk. :s

 

I just started re:life btw, and it seems promising! Glad to see you guys giving it the thumbs-up!

 

 

[Flame-X 441]

Watched the first two eps of Berserk. The animation is stiff without a doubt but I've been so used to the movie trilogy's animation that I can't really complain about it. The one thing I'm disappointed though is the no nipples on the nudity. Maybe that's a uncut bluray thing, I don't know. Otherwise,  I'm just glad and thankful we finally got a Berserk anime that's not covering the Golden Age for the 3rd time.