[TV] The What Anime Are You Watching Thread!
Get in the pickup, Hank.
figmentPez
Staff member
I've been laughing for like 10 minutes:
Redraw of Rex Morgan MD
"Does that have something to do with ice cream?"
Redraw of Rex Morgan MD
"Does that have something to do with ice cream?"
GasBandit
Staff member
Tokyo Revengers:
TLDR - It's alright... but wait for season 2 before you start watching.
So, there's been some buzz about this and I thought I'd check it out.
I'll tell you this much, what kept me coming back to this show is I literally, at no point, could figure out what was going to happen next.
That said, the protagonist is the most annoying thing ever since early Black Clover Asta or depressed Simon from TTGL. But that's part of the point.
The story is, this dude is a pathetic 26 year old complete and utter waste of human life, barely scraping together the most meager of livings from a part time job, completely unloved, unrespected, and unbefriended by anyone. One day he sees on the news that his first, last, and only girlfriend - which he had in middle school - had been killed, an innocent bystander caught up in a gang war.
The thought of it shakes him up and makes him realize he peaked in middle school, and every day since was the worst day of his life.
And then somebody pushes him off a train platform, right in front of an oncoming train.
He wakes up in his middle-school body.
So, to cut to the point, through reasons that are yet to be adequately explained, Protagonist-kun can leap back in time 12 years, and return to the present - but it's on a moving scale. He can always only travel exactly 12 years back and 12 years forward, and as he jumps into his previous body, his "present" body becomes catatonic and vulnerable while he's in the past. Any changes he makes in the past are reflected when he returns to the present - and only one other person (also for reasons not adequately explained) knows and remembers the "original" timeline.
So these two men conspire to fix the present by going back to the past, and getting young Protagonist-kun to alter pivotal moments that happened 12 years ago to avert the rampant gang violence happening in the present day - hopefully saving the life of the poor girl who died.
So, it's an interesting premise, and it is unpredictable, because the POV of the MC is strictly enforced, and the audience rarely gets anything even approximating the full, accurate picture of events. Protag-kun often gets bad or incomplete intel and things don't go as expected, and there's hints of a larger conspiracy.
Unfortunately, for all it has going for it, it does so much else that I find vapid, silly, tedious, or even inexcusable.
First and foremost, the art. While the character design of the middle school delinquents is very good, the problem is the artists seem incapable of drawing the protagonist as anything but 14 years old. The only clue that would let us know if we're looking at the protagonist at 14 or 26 is what color his hair is (he bleached in middle school, but had returned to his natural black hair by the present). And half the 15 year olds are drawn to look like they're in their early 20s. It just strains credulity and takes you out of your immersion.
The second thing is, it expects the viewer to suspend disbelief enough to swallow the idea that middle school delinquent gangs are anything other than chuuni nonsense. Roving packs of 14 or 15 year olds with those ridiculous pompadour haircuts and "I'm a mechanic who spends every waking moment embroidering my jumpsuit with ridiculously long and self-aggrandizing slogans" gang uniforms are treated as if we're expected to accept that they have the same menace and gravitas of full-on Yakuza, if not at least Hell's Angels grade bikers. And the whole thing just falls flat for anyone who's even read an article about actual gang violence. It's babies pretending, and even more laughably, it's done with the oh-so-Japanesey "being different all in coordinated unison" motif that just doesn't translate to the west at all.
And of course, so much of the fight scenes are such shonen nonsense - you know, the 4 foot 13 year old noodle who can deliver kicks and punches faster than a single frame of film can capture instead of... you know... being the bitch of physics that he would more realistically be, masslessly bouncing off larger opponents.
And the protagonist takes SOOOOOOOooooo long to show ANY kind of character growth. He stays pathetic almost the entire 12 episode run of the first season. But there's something to that that I can almost respect - for once, it's showing something realistic. It takes more than a contrived time-travel power and a literary call to action to stop being a spineless coward and crybaby. It doesn't make it any less unpleasant to watch the protag be endlessly spineless and pathetic, but it does serve as a sort of grounding, showing that whatever else you may see that may try to tell you otherwise, the writers aren't completely divorced from reality.
And even when he does start to get some development, it's thankfully not a flipped switch that suddenly turns him into an unstoppable force of awesomeness - it just shows that even the wretched can make a difference if they can muddle through their blubbering and nut up long enough to take rational action. And in a way, that's a good message. In a world where anime protagonists frequently are effortlessly catapulted into power fantasies where they can't possibly lose because their plot armor is adamantium-plated vibranium, it's refreshing to see someone entirely mediocre realize that there's still something he can do, and see him do it.
So, all in all, I think the good mostly cancels out the bad, and makes the series something worth watching - if you can stomach the laughable notion that these kids are actually dangerous, hardened criminals.
Unfortunately, the first season ends on a HUGE cliffhanger, just as the series seems to finally be hitting its stride, and it sounds like Season 2 may not be out til 2023. So I recommend waiting.
TLDR - It's alright... but wait for season 2 before you start watching.
So, there's been some buzz about this and I thought I'd check it out.
I'll tell you this much, what kept me coming back to this show is I literally, at no point, could figure out what was going to happen next.
That said, the protagonist is the most annoying thing ever since early Black Clover Asta or depressed Simon from TTGL. But that's part of the point.
The story is, this dude is a pathetic 26 year old complete and utter waste of human life, barely scraping together the most meager of livings from a part time job, completely unloved, unrespected, and unbefriended by anyone. One day he sees on the news that his first, last, and only girlfriend - which he had in middle school - had been killed, an innocent bystander caught up in a gang war.
The thought of it shakes him up and makes him realize he peaked in middle school, and every day since was the worst day of his life.
And then somebody pushes him off a train platform, right in front of an oncoming train.
He wakes up in his middle-school body.
So, to cut to the point, through reasons that are yet to be adequately explained, Protagonist-kun can leap back in time 12 years, and return to the present - but it's on a moving scale. He can always only travel exactly 12 years back and 12 years forward, and as he jumps into his previous body, his "present" body becomes catatonic and vulnerable while he's in the past. Any changes he makes in the past are reflected when he returns to the present - and only one other person (also for reasons not adequately explained) knows and remembers the "original" timeline.
So these two men conspire to fix the present by going back to the past, and getting young Protagonist-kun to alter pivotal moments that happened 12 years ago to avert the rampant gang violence happening in the present day - hopefully saving the life of the poor girl who died.
So, it's an interesting premise, and it is unpredictable, because the POV of the MC is strictly enforced, and the audience rarely gets anything even approximating the full, accurate picture of events. Protag-kun often gets bad or incomplete intel and things don't go as expected, and there's hints of a larger conspiracy.
Unfortunately, for all it has going for it, it does so much else that I find vapid, silly, tedious, or even inexcusable.
First and foremost, the art. While the character design of the middle school delinquents is very good, the problem is the artists seem incapable of drawing the protagonist as anything but 14 years old. The only clue that would let us know if we're looking at the protagonist at 14 or 26 is what color his hair is (he bleached in middle school, but had returned to his natural black hair by the present). And half the 15 year olds are drawn to look like they're in their early 20s. It just strains credulity and takes you out of your immersion.
The second thing is, it expects the viewer to suspend disbelief enough to swallow the idea that middle school delinquent gangs are anything other than chuuni nonsense. Roving packs of 14 or 15 year olds with those ridiculous pompadour haircuts and "I'm a mechanic who spends every waking moment embroidering my jumpsuit with ridiculously long and self-aggrandizing slogans" gang uniforms are treated as if we're expected to accept that they have the same menace and gravitas of full-on Yakuza, if not at least Hell's Angels grade bikers. And the whole thing just falls flat for anyone who's even read an article about actual gang violence. It's babies pretending, and even more laughably, it's done with the oh-so-Japanesey "being different all in coordinated unison" motif that just doesn't translate to the west at all.
And of course, so much of the fight scenes are such shonen nonsense - you know, the 4 foot 13 year old noodle who can deliver kicks and punches faster than a single frame of film can capture instead of... you know... being the bitch of physics that he would more realistically be, masslessly bouncing off larger opponents.
And the protagonist takes SOOOOOOOooooo long to show ANY kind of character growth. He stays pathetic almost the entire 12 episode run of the first season. But there's something to that that I can almost respect - for once, it's showing something realistic. It takes more than a contrived time-travel power and a literary call to action to stop being a spineless coward and crybaby. It doesn't make it any less unpleasant to watch the protag be endlessly spineless and pathetic, but it does serve as a sort of grounding, showing that whatever else you may see that may try to tell you otherwise, the writers aren't completely divorced from reality.
And even when he does start to get some development, it's thankfully not a flipped switch that suddenly turns him into an unstoppable force of awesomeness - it just shows that even the wretched can make a difference if they can muddle through their blubbering and nut up long enough to take rational action. And in a way, that's a good message. In a world where anime protagonists frequently are effortlessly catapulted into power fantasies where they can't possibly lose because their plot armor is adamantium-plated vibranium, it's refreshing to see someone entirely mediocre realize that there's still something he can do, and see him do it.
So, all in all, I think the good mostly cancels out the bad, and makes the series something worth watching - if you can stomach the laughable notion that these kids are actually dangerous, hardened criminals.
Unfortunately, the first season ends on a HUGE cliffhanger, just as the series seems to finally be hitting its stride, and it sounds like Season 2 may not be out til 2023. So I recommend waiting.
Yet their brand is on REALLY wholesome stuff like Arte and By the Grace of the Gods.
NO. Earth, Wind, and Fire themselves said it was the entire month.
Well anyway just 2 more days until the anniversary of the day that my daddy died.NO. Earth, Wind, and Fire themselves said it was the entire month.
—Patrick
So, my youngest stepson's ex-wife dropped by to visit. We're still close, regardless of the problems they had as a couple. She brought her new husband. He's into anime, and I told him I had the tropiest, most fan-service-y anime on my Plex server.
And then I played him Keijo!!!!!!!! (yes, the 8 exclamation points are part of the title)
He told her "I'm so getting this as soon as we get back home."
And then I played him Keijo!!!!!!!! (yes, the 8 exclamation points are part of the title)
He told her "I'm so getting this as soon as we get back home."
GasBandit
Staff member
Keijo!!!!!!!! is good, but if you REALLY want tropey, fanservice-y, internet-culture-reference-y goodness, you need to watch High School DxD.
Rias Gremory is waifu 4 laifu.
GasBandit
Staff member
So, I think I've mentioned before, my job (I think after 2 years I can stop calling it my "new job") is an AV programmer, and 90% of my programming is done for Crestron devices, which have their own proprietary programming language.
There's a specific function/application suite for Crestron devices called "Fusion," which is basically a server that keeps track of all the devices in a given location, organized by room. So, for example, you have a Fusion server, which keeps track of all the processors, which keep track of all the rooms and all their projectors, video switchers, LCD displays, touchpanels, audio systems, etc etc etc, and allows admins to remotely control those devices as well as get diagnostic data to let them know if something isn't working so they can send an IT gofer to go check it out.
Anyway, adding Fusion connectivity to any given setup increases the programming time on the job by at least 50%, sometimes doubling it depending on the complexity of the room and how much remote control is needed.
But the first step is always to add the fusion control modules, and import the device logic from the hardware definitions. Thankfully this one step is reduced to a single drag-and-drop operation.
And every time I perform that operation, "Import Fusion Device Logic," I say out loud.... "FUUUUUSION.... HAAA!"
Because I'm a nerd.
There's a specific function/application suite for Crestron devices called "Fusion," which is basically a server that keeps track of all the devices in a given location, organized by room. So, for example, you have a Fusion server, which keeps track of all the processors, which keep track of all the rooms and all their projectors, video switchers, LCD displays, touchpanels, audio systems, etc etc etc, and allows admins to remotely control those devices as well as get diagnostic data to let them know if something isn't working so they can send an IT gofer to go check it out.
Anyway, adding Fusion connectivity to any given setup increases the programming time on the job by at least 50%, sometimes doubling it depending on the complexity of the room and how much remote control is needed.
But the first step is always to add the fusion control modules, and import the device logic from the hardware definitions. Thankfully this one step is reduced to a single drag-and-drop operation.
And every time I perform that operation, "Import Fusion Device Logic," I say out loud.... "FUUUUUSION.... HAAA!"
Because I'm a nerd.
I've got the perfect anime for @ThatNickGuy, The Vampire Dies in No Time. Meet one of the stars, John.
GasBandit
Staff member
Physical media?! Have you been hanging out with Bones?
I see how it is! I am barely even here, a damn phantom, yet you still invoke me as the archivist of anime. you warm the cockles of my heart, maybe even the sub-cockles!
@chris im guessing you are outside the US as those are some janky looking cases.
I know I'm weird. Buying physical media in this day and age?
Germany to be precise. I guess you are talking about the carton cases of the box sets. They are not unlike the Simpsons box sets. Three of the movies are also in carton cases but they come with extra stuff like booklets, posters and cards. The weirdest one is the Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex Movie. It is like a small hard cover book.
Woof.
That was just some dumb cute fun. The MC was just some salaryman who got the pharmacist skill after he got isekai'd.
I buy lots of physical media, too. Of course, I always immediately turn it into digital media...
It was obviously rushed, there's some queer stuff that was referenced awkwardly in the fabsubs. The show is basically "What if Sherlock Holmes hung out with crossdressers and trans girls?" and I love it