[TV] The What Anime Are You Watching Thread!
"ok ok....making sweet love to every cute heroine in a 300 sq mile radius"
GasBandit
Staff member
Owarimonogatari 1
Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Drama, Mystery
Fanservice: Shockingly little
Premise: Oshino Ougi has been a minor, mysterious character, showing up at various points in past arcs of Monogatari, but it was never really clear who she is or what she is doing. She claims to be Oshino Meme's neice, but several accounts contradict that. This series covers three arcs that start to reveal more about Ougi, and go into detail of what has been occupying Araragi during the recent previous arcs that kept him from having a more direct hand in the stories of his supporting characters.
Well, the pendulum swings both ways. Tsukimonogatari might have been disappointing, but Owarimonogatari gets the series back on track again. For the most part. Veering away from action and confrontation, this 13-episode series of arcs gets downright cerebral, even philisophical at times. It's by far the most dialog-heavy Monogatari series I've seen thus far. It's still very jarring at times because, by way of flashbacks and "Telling stories," it's hard to keep track of the chronology of events. I really wish everything in this anime were just presented in chronological order, already. It makes my head hurt trying to keep the sequence of events straight. It was refreshing, too, that Owarimonogatari stopped using fanservice as a crutch like Tsukimonogatari did (and as did Nisemonogatari much earlier) - Kanbaru is still a ribald pervert, but manages to keep herself clothed except for a couple for-laughs scenes involving her wearing nothing but a large giftwrap ribbon for a grand total of about 10 frames of animation. It's a much more easily enjoyed series for an absence of lolicon and incestuous sexual tension - not that those things can't be done right/tastefully, but so far, Monogatari hasn't managed that.
My biggest disappointment, though, is I'm unable to find the next two serieses (Koyomimonogatari and Owarimonogatari 2) on iptorrents. I guess I'll have to get creative in my searches, or perhaps just resign myself to wait.
Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Drama, Mystery
Fanservice: Shockingly little
Premise: Oshino Ougi has been a minor, mysterious character, showing up at various points in past arcs of Monogatari, but it was never really clear who she is or what she is doing. She claims to be Oshino Meme's neice, but several accounts contradict that. This series covers three arcs that start to reveal more about Ougi, and go into detail of what has been occupying Araragi during the recent previous arcs that kept him from having a more direct hand in the stories of his supporting characters.
Well, the pendulum swings both ways. Tsukimonogatari might have been disappointing, but Owarimonogatari gets the series back on track again. For the most part. Veering away from action and confrontation, this 13-episode series of arcs gets downright cerebral, even philisophical at times. It's by far the most dialog-heavy Monogatari series I've seen thus far. It's still very jarring at times because, by way of flashbacks and "Telling stories," it's hard to keep track of the chronology of events. I really wish everything in this anime were just presented in chronological order, already. It makes my head hurt trying to keep the sequence of events straight. It was refreshing, too, that Owarimonogatari stopped using fanservice as a crutch like Tsukimonogatari did (and as did Nisemonogatari much earlier) - Kanbaru is still a ribald pervert, but manages to keep herself clothed except for a couple for-laughs scenes involving her wearing nothing but a large giftwrap ribbon for a grand total of about 10 frames of animation. It's a much more easily enjoyed series for an absence of lolicon and incestuous sexual tension - not that those things can't be done right/tastefully, but so far, Monogatari hasn't managed that.
My biggest disappointment, though, is I'm unable to find the next two serieses (Koyomimonogatari and Owarimonogatari 2) on iptorrents. I guess I'll have to get creative in my searches, or perhaps just resign myself to wait.
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Are her sleeves that ridiculous in the show? And is there a reason for it?Owarimonogatari 1
GasBandit
Staff member
Her uniform is too big. It's just kind of one of her "things." Overall I find her a very annoying character, but I think I am supposed to. I'm beginning to suspect she's not actually human, but an aberration in plain sight. Too much wierd shit happens when she's around.
Must be all the fish that's being eaten.
Last night I watched "Sin" which I think is the latest episode. OMGWTF!!!
My First Girlfriend is a Gal
My First Girlfriend is a Gal is a series I bought on a whim for the sake of an interesting female main character. The viewer is introduced to the male lead Junichi, a virgin, a pervert, an outcast, and a straight up "dudebro". He and his three friends are the literal poster boys for the modern incel "red pill" warriors joked about on the internet and they live and breath every moment of being the lowest levels of human scum to every woman they meet. The cute lady in the center, Yukana, is the previously spoken of female lead, and the victim of a prank that leads to the title of the series in which Junichi's actions instigates the two of them going out together.
With that out of the way I would like to add that the series almost lost me in that one of Junichi's friends, a large man with a thing for little girls, made a remark about the love letter in the shoe locker that went something like "I hope to someday get a love letter scrawled in crayon!". I let many things go without a second thought in my hobby of anime, but pedophilia is one of those things that I cant let fly. Thankfully as it might be, this interest is not well received by anyone in-universe either.
So these four girls pictured are the "gals" that Junichi and his crew spend 11 episodes interacting with. Each one has a unique reason to why they are gals that is told through the winding story. If you as the viewer can put up with some opening cringeyness, I do feel like the anime explains a gradual transformation of the boys into better people. Junichi for one is a better person for dating Yukana, the story of his relationship is moral of "how i learned to stop be a shit, and be the man my girlfriend always saw in me."
I rate My First Girlfriend is a Gal a 7/10.
My First Girlfriend is a Gal is a series I bought on a whim for the sake of an interesting female main character. The viewer is introduced to the male lead Junichi, a virgin, a pervert, an outcast, and a straight up "dudebro". He and his three friends are the literal poster boys for the modern incel "red pill" warriors joked about on the internet and they live and breath every moment of being the lowest levels of human scum to every woman they meet. The cute lady in the center, Yukana, is the previously spoken of female lead, and the victim of a prank that leads to the title of the series in which Junichi's actions instigates the two of them going out together.
With that out of the way I would like to add that the series almost lost me in that one of Junichi's friends, a large man with a thing for little girls, made a remark about the love letter in the shoe locker that went something like "I hope to someday get a love letter scrawled in crayon!". I let many things go without a second thought in my hobby of anime, but pedophilia is one of those things that I cant let fly. Thankfully as it might be, this interest is not well received by anyone in-universe either.
So these four girls pictured are the "gals" that Junichi and his crew spend 11 episodes interacting with. Each one has a unique reason to why they are gals that is told through the winding story. If you as the viewer can put up with some opening cringeyness, I do feel like the anime explains a gradual transformation of the boys into better people. Junichi for one is a better person for dating Yukana, the story of his relationship is moral of "how i learned to stop be a shit, and be the man my girlfriend always saw in me."
I rate My First Girlfriend is a Gal a 7/10.
GasBandit
Staff member
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Genre: Beginner, Shonen, Action, Drama
Fanservice: Mild, infrequent, tame
Premise: Two alchemy prodigies join the military to try to undo the mistakes of their past, and end up fighting a vast shadowy conspiracy that threatens the world.
Finally got around to watching it, after having been told by so many how much better it is than the first anime version of FMA.
Truth be told, I don't think it's "better," just different. And a major strike against it, in my book, is it seems to rely on the viewer having watched the first FMA and skips a lot of the world/character building based on that assumption. It also feels less fleshed out, less "polished." Like it could have done with another rewrite or two (which, maybe, is how the first FMA came about).
It's not "bad," per se, but I'd been told it was leagues better than FMA, and it feels more like an alternate what-if story, much like Stein's Gate Zero is for Stein's Gate. I can also see why FMA condensed down characters and events, and eliminated some of them entirely - there's just a lot going on, and it feels cluttered. And above all, it's still very firmly in the "basic anime for people who haven't watched anime before" category. The kind of stuff you show someone that you're trying to get into anime by exposing them to the simpler, shallower, easy-to-digest stuff first, rather than scare them away with overly convoluted or zany stuff.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you already saw FMA, you don't need to feel like you HAVE to watch FMA:B, unless you're just really really into FMA. In fact, I still kinda think FMA is a better watch for beginners than FMA:B is.
Genre: Beginner, Shonen, Action, Drama
Fanservice: Mild, infrequent, tame
Premise: Two alchemy prodigies join the military to try to undo the mistakes of their past, and end up fighting a vast shadowy conspiracy that threatens the world.
Finally got around to watching it, after having been told by so many how much better it is than the first anime version of FMA.
Truth be told, I don't think it's "better," just different. And a major strike against it, in my book, is it seems to rely on the viewer having watched the first FMA and skips a lot of the world/character building based on that assumption. It also feels less fleshed out, less "polished." Like it could have done with another rewrite or two (which, maybe, is how the first FMA came about).
It's not "bad," per se, but I'd been told it was leagues better than FMA, and it feels more like an alternate what-if story, much like Stein's Gate Zero is for Stein's Gate. I can also see why FMA condensed down characters and events, and eliminated some of them entirely - there's just a lot going on, and it feels cluttered. And above all, it's still very firmly in the "basic anime for people who haven't watched anime before" category. The kind of stuff you show someone that you're trying to get into anime by exposing them to the simpler, shallower, easy-to-digest stuff first, rather than scare them away with overly convoluted or zany stuff.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you already saw FMA, you don't need to feel like you HAVE to watch FMA:B, unless you're just really really into FMA. In fact, I still kinda think FMA is a better watch for beginners than FMA:B is.
That's not exactly what happened; rather, FMA the anime went into production very early in the manga's life... so when they caught up to the manga very early on, the mangaka basically went "I'm not going to be close to being done with this for years, here are some rough story notes, write your own series". And they did. FMA Brotherhood is simply the adaption of the finished manga, which is why it's wildly different than the original series, which was basically created wholly by the anime team.
GasBandit
Staff member
Man, it must have been REALLY fuckin early in the manga, because they diverge almost immediately after Lab 5. And the story notes must have been very rough indeed, or perhaps changed after being given. All the people from Xing got left out, General Armstrong and the Briggs soldiers got left out, and they changed the very fundamental nature of the homunculi - what they are and how they're made. Not to mention who the final antagonist turned out to be!
GasBandit
Staff member
Welp, so that was...
How Not To Summon A Demon Lord
Genre: Ecchi, Harem, Stuck-in-a-video-game, overpowered protagonist
Fanservice: Constant, a hair's breadth from full blown hentai, enough lolicon to raise warning flags
Premise: A NEET supernerd shut-in who hates everybody and retreated into an online game finds himself one day accidentally summoned into a parallel world that seems to have much in common with the game he played.
Naturally, he is summoned as his game character, not his RL self - and as he's king of the Catass Crew, his avatar is a self-styled nigh-invincible demon lord. As he is a complete and utter social failure, the only way he can interact with people around him is to keep up the "Demon Lord" persona 24/7.
Naturally, he builds himself a harem, blows up a lot of shit, and gives us High School DxD fans something semi-palatable (if extraordinarily lewd) to watch while we drum our fingers waiting for more episodes of Overlord.
It just finished its 12 episode run, and it's not clear to me if there will be a season 2 or not.
How Not To Summon A Demon Lord
Genre: Ecchi, Harem, Stuck-in-a-video-game, overpowered protagonist
Fanservice: Constant, a hair's breadth from full blown hentai, enough lolicon to raise warning flags
Premise: A NEET supernerd shut-in who hates everybody and retreated into an online game finds himself one day accidentally summoned into a parallel world that seems to have much in common with the game he played.
Naturally, he is summoned as his game character, not his RL self - and as he's king of the Catass Crew, his avatar is a self-styled nigh-invincible demon lord. As he is a complete and utter social failure, the only way he can interact with people around him is to keep up the "Demon Lord" persona 24/7.
Naturally, he builds himself a harem, blows up a lot of shit, and gives us High School DxD fans something semi-palatable (if extraordinarily lewd) to watch while we drum our fingers waiting for more episodes of Overlord.
It just finished its 12 episode run, and it's not clear to me if there will be a season 2 or not.
GasBandit
Staff member
GasBandit
Staff member
Yesterday was the first episode of "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime." I've been reading the manga all along, so I'm interested to see how the anime goes. So far, so good, imo.
I don't know how much material is in the LN, but I think they'd be hard pressed to get more than a couple seasons out of the Manga, though - it's still very much in progress.
I don't know how much material is in the LN, but I think they'd be hard pressed to get more than a couple seasons out of the Manga, though - it's still very much in progress.
GasBandit
Staff member
The Ancient Magus' Bride
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy, Fantasy
Fanservice: A little, mostly vampire-based
Premise: Chise's life has been harsh and sad - her father disappeared with her brother in tow, and her mother's final words before committing suicide were "I never should have given birth to you."
That'd be enough to mess anybody up, but on top of all that, Chise is a rare human who is able to see the spirits and demons that inhabit the everyday world - and generally, when they realize she can see them, they attack her. By the time she is 15, she's been passed around between so many distant relatives who resent having to care for the "odd" child that she is about to throw herself off the school roof to her death, when she is given an alternative - one any person who was not 100% sick of life would not consider - allow herself to be auctioned to the highest bidder on the occult black market. The bidding is fierce, once the potential buyers realize her rare gift/curse... but ultimately she is bought by a "thorn mage" from England for 5 million pounds, who informs her that he will teach her to use magic - and that she is to become his fiancee.
It isn't long before she is learning more about her abilities, the nature of magic and the Fae, the difference between a mage and a sorcerer, and the ultimate tragedy of her condition - if a solution isn't found, it is unlikely she will live more than 3 years before her curse overwhelms her body, causing her inevitable death. Particularly bitter, as living with the Mage is just beginning to show Chise that life could be worth living after all, and the Mage is surprised to find that she is having much more of an effect on him than he thought would be possible, as well.
The series is somewhere between Spice and Wolf and Studio Ghibli. The visuals are spectacular, the characters interesting, the story compelling and especially poignant, on a slow burn. Not all the interpretations of Hibernian Fae lore are spot on (I suspect the topical research was done with sources only available in Japan/Japanese), but if you can ignore the errors and creative liberties with the folklore, it's definitely worth a watch.
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy, Fantasy
Fanservice: A little, mostly vampire-based
Premise: Chise's life has been harsh and sad - her father disappeared with her brother in tow, and her mother's final words before committing suicide were "I never should have given birth to you."
That'd be enough to mess anybody up, but on top of all that, Chise is a rare human who is able to see the spirits and demons that inhabit the everyday world - and generally, when they realize she can see them, they attack her. By the time she is 15, she's been passed around between so many distant relatives who resent having to care for the "odd" child that she is about to throw herself off the school roof to her death, when she is given an alternative - one any person who was not 100% sick of life would not consider - allow herself to be auctioned to the highest bidder on the occult black market. The bidding is fierce, once the potential buyers realize her rare gift/curse... but ultimately she is bought by a "thorn mage" from England for 5 million pounds, who informs her that he will teach her to use magic - and that she is to become his fiancee.
It isn't long before she is learning more about her abilities, the nature of magic and the Fae, the difference between a mage and a sorcerer, and the ultimate tragedy of her condition - if a solution isn't found, it is unlikely she will live more than 3 years before her curse overwhelms her body, causing her inevitable death. Particularly bitter, as living with the Mage is just beginning to show Chise that life could be worth living after all, and the Mage is surprised to find that she is having much more of an effect on him than he thought would be possible, as well.
The series is somewhere between Spice and Wolf and Studio Ghibli. The visuals are spectacular, the characters interesting, the story compelling and especially poignant, on a slow burn. Not all the interpretations of Hibernian Fae lore are spot on (I suspect the topical research was done with sources only available in Japan/Japanese), but if you can ignore the errors and creative liberties with the folklore, it's definitely worth a watch.
GasBandit
Staff member
Albedo and Shalltear just exploded.
GasBandit
Staff member
You guys might remember when I first wrote up Overlord... I hadn't solidified my template yet.
Overlord
Genre: Supernatural, Fantasy, Stuck-in-an-MMO, comedy, drama, a smidge of harem
Fanservice: a little here and there
Premise: The leader of a PvP guild is the last one left online as the servers for his favorite game are shutting down for the last time. To his surprise, instead of being disconnected, the world turns real. But, unlike other animes of this genre, the MC here isn't a handsome male protagonist... he's an ultra-powerful undead lich. Time to... I dunno, conquer the world or something?
For more plot details and critique, read the spoiler section in the first quote above.
However, if you want to know what it feels like to watch Overlord...
There's a sexual practice called "Edging." The idea here is that you get yourself "close" but stay just short of climax. For as long as possible. The idea here is that the buildup and the tension and the wait will make the eventual release all the more explosive.
A lot of people thought the climactic battle of season three was going to be that release, but for most, it left them a little wanting.
THIS IS "EDGING:THE ANIMU."
The problem is... too much edging without release just leaves you with the most massive set of frustrated blue-balls ever, and is painful.
And now we've heard there's not enough material written yet in the LN upon which the series is based to even start production of season 3 yet.
Oh my aching metaphorical prostate. What did I do to deserve this ;_;
And given how I handled the two seasons that followed...
Ok... so...
Overlord
Genre: Supernatural, Fantasy, Stuck-in-an-MMO, comedy, drama, a smidge of harem
Fanservice: a little here and there
Premise: The leader of a PvP guild is the last one left online as the servers for his favorite game are shutting down for the last time. To his surprise, instead of being disconnected, the world turns real. But, unlike other animes of this genre, the MC here isn't a handsome male protagonist... he's an ultra-powerful undead lich. Time to... I dunno, conquer the world or something?
For more plot details and critique, read the spoiler section in the first quote above.
However, if you want to know what it feels like to watch Overlord...
There's a sexual practice called "Edging." The idea here is that you get yourself "close" but stay just short of climax. For as long as possible. The idea here is that the buildup and the tension and the wait will make the eventual release all the more explosive.
A lot of people thought the climactic battle of season three was going to be that release, but for most, it left them a little wanting.
THIS IS "EDGING:THE ANIMU."
The problem is... too much edging without release just leaves you with the most massive set of frustrated blue-balls ever, and is painful.
And now we've heard there's not enough material written yet in the LN upon which the series is based to even start production of season 3 yet.
Oh my aching metaphorical prostate. What did I do to deserve this ;_;