Author Topic: What Anime are you watching? (Read 481562 times)

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3330 on:** Jan 27, 2025, 01:02:25 PM »

See, having never engaged with the TV series, I thought the movie was alright. At least, I remember enjoying it for the most part. It looked really nice, didn't it? Maybe I don't actually recall any of it and I'm just giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, I'll watch the show.

B E C K · « **Reply #3331 on:** Jan 28, 2025, 10:21:07 PM »

How remiss of me. I'm also watching Zenshu this season. It manages to be good but also forgettable somehow.

B E C K · « **Reply #3332 on:** Jan 28, 2025, 10:37:16 PM »

Quote from: jonhammstein on Jan 27, 2025, 01:02:25 PM

See, having never engaged with the TV series, I thought the movie was alright. At least, I remember enjoying it for the most part. It looked really nice, didn't it? Maybe I don't actually recall any of it and I'm just giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, I'll watch the show.

It's probably better that all you remember about the movie is enjoying it and you can go into the series fresh. The movie is similar in name and general concept only. The designs, presentation and even the personalities of the characters are drastically different.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3333 on:** Jan 29, 2025, 11:24:08 AM »

First episode of Esca is off to a good start. They really designed the hell out of that dragon for maximum revulsion. Blech.

I'm also watching Zenshuu, but I've avoided talking about it because I can't decide whether I love it or hate it.

Take the most recent episode, for example. The "villain" has lived so long and seen so much death and destruction that she just wants an end to it all, and the MC "cures" her simply by turning her into a bishi simp. "Oh I have a new zest for life so long as I have these pictures of beautiful men to look at!" It's almost a meta commentary on certain types of anime fans. Yuck.

B E C K · « **Reply #3334 on:** Jan 30, 2025, 09:11:55 PM »

Quote from: jonhammstein on Jan 29, 2025, 11:24:08 AM

First episode of Esca is off to a good start. They really designed the hell out of that dragon for maximum revulsion. Blech.

I'm also watching Zenshuu, but I've avoided talking about it because I can't decide whether I love it or hate it.

Same! It's weird. I feel like I'm supposed to love it but I'm not sure. To the point I forgot it's one of the few shows I'm watching this season.

Quote

Take the most recent episode, for example. The "villain" has lived so long and seen so much death and destruction that she just wants an end to it all, and the MC "cures" her simply by turning her into a bishi simp. "Oh I have a new zest for life so long as I have these pictures of beautiful men to look at!" It's almost a meta commentary on certain types of anime fans. Yuck.

Yeah, I found that so weird. Like Frieren crying at Himmel's funeral but instead of her going on an adventure, someone gives her pictures of hot dudes and she's all better. Don't get me wrong, I liked the song sequence. But, really, that was the solution to existential dread?

B E C K · « **Reply #3335 on:** Feb 10, 2025, 07:32:38 AM »

You know, Zenshuu's kinda growing on me. The elf episode was still a bit of a miss but the show itself didn't lose its footing. I wonder what's gonna happen with the unicorn tho'.

Spoiler (hover to show)

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3336 on:** Feb 10, 2025, 11:55:13 AM »

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling better about the show as it progresses. Having her finally lose in the previous episode really got me on board.

B E C K · « **Reply #3337 on:** Feb 23, 2025, 03:01:23 PM »

It's not anime but there's been leaks on art for a new Avatar series and it sounds dumb as shit. Which is whatever, I guess. Korra already pissed all over ATLA's legacy until the warm yellow steam reached heaven so I guess its whatever.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3338 on:** Feb 24, 2025, 03:01:28 AM »

They'll never stop trying and failing to recapture the magic!

B E C K · « **Reply #3339 on:** Feb 28, 2025, 09:08:20 PM »

And it'll become more and more of a withered husk with every attempt... like everything else we ever knew and loved. $:-\$

B E C K · « **Reply #3340 on:** Mar 21, 2025, 10:26:43 AM »

This upcoming show kinda interested me. Thought it could be the second coming of Bocchi...

But nah. I'll still chell out the first episode but I read some of the manga and it's like jamming out together is hate sex for the two lead girls. Not in a hot yuri way but in a gross way as if they're assaulting one another. The other characters that join up appear to be garbage just based on the preview alone.

I dunno. Music sounds like it could be good.

B E C K · « **Reply #3341 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 09:13:50 AM »

This looks cute. I hope it's cute. Because it looks cute and wholesome.

B E C K · « **Reply #3342 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 09:20:12 AM »

People in the comments promising this one's good. This one's not like the other girls. But I can't trust a show that gives the main character three-quarter gloves and then thinks they can get away with depicting said gloves but not even drawing gloves: they just color part of the guy's hands black and call it a day. Not seeing the edge of this dude's gloves killed my immersion. I'm not joking. It really bothers me.

B E C K · « **Reply #3343 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 09:27:38 AM »

You're a heavy knight? SLAAAAP! Dude, why? Why's that a problem? I know it's a trailer and the show will probably tell us but I think something like this in a trailer should make sense. Like, you can infer things from someone getting slapped for having no magic. Or like that one anime Chillin' in Another World with Cheat Powers or whatever where the dude was level 1 with no skills. That shit deserves a slappin'. I dunno, getting slapped for being a heavy knight sounds fucking stupid.

Also...

H
A
I
R

B E C K · « **Reply #3344 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 09:45:58 AM »

This dude's supposed to be 18.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3345 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 03:02:50 PM »

B E C K · « **Reply #3346 on:** Mar 22, 2025, 09:38:34 PM »

Yay, two sassy twinks. $:-\$

B E C K · « **Reply #3347 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 12:31:55 PM »

Last ep of Zenshu. Thoughts? Overall, I give it an A. It looked good, it had good music, it told a story and it tried to stick the landing. It really needed one more episode though. It spent so much of the latter episodes on depair and not enough time bringing the viewer along with it back to a happy place. It's like Natsuko got there before the viewer did and it feels very jarring.

We needed an episode of everyone settling in, being cute and happy, and of Luke accepting that Natsuko was going to part from him again. I mean, he turned into a void because she died. Isn't her leaving like she died again? I guess all of his friends are back so that fixes things but HOW does it fix things? Wouldn't the original world's creator go right back to fucking up this world again? What's stopping her from doing it? How does she do it? Does she even control it? I don't really need all of those things answered but we don't so much as get a hint. Something like "all the soul futures are back so nothing can ruin this world again!" I needed something.

But yeah, there needed to be time to become chill again. Maybe Luke makes Natsuko one more meal and they talk and laugh together before they part. Then I needed a bit more of Natsuko settling back into her world. Isn't part of these stories that the asshole comes back from their adventure a changed person and people are "wow! Natsuko's so nice now!" or some shit like that? Show a couple of scenes of everyone working together and celebrating that their film's a hit. There's needed to be, I dunno, more of a catharsis, I guess.

But the bar for anime endings is low for me, especially anime-only stuff. They gave everyone a happy ending and left it open-ended for everyone to meet again so I guess we can't ask for more than that.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I forgot... Y NO KISS THO?

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3348 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 08:01:07 PM »

Hmm. I was kind of ready for it to be over, so I didn't mind how abruptly it concluded.

I'd say I mostly liked it. It's not an all-timer for me, though. Definitely won't be rewatching it anytime soon.

I've honestly grown to despise viewing shows week to week. I'm always better off waiting for something to end and then watching it once daily until I get through it all. I think that would have helped here, because the pacing got a little draggy at times.

It was the only thing I stuck with from Winter '25, though, so that's saying something.

B E C K · « **Reply #3349 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 09:35:17 PM »

I was hoping it would be a rewatch for me but it doesn't really seem that way with these last few episodes. I did skip about an episode and a half because I wasn't vibing with despair. The cuteness was more of this show's strength and when it decided to be miserable for too long, it kind of lost me. But it's already over so it doesn't matter.

I'm still with Bureaucrat to Villainess and Apothecary Diaries season 2. Bureaucrat's still cute but it does feel like it's meandering now. It's almost done and makes for a nice cozy watch while I eat dinner or whatever. Apothecary meanwhile is ramping up to the good shit. (This week's frog week. If you know, you know.) The Red Ranger one I kinda got bored of but I saw some funny scenes of it online so I'm just collecting that one and I'll have a marathon with it. That one doesn't work for week to week watching.

The Guild-girl Receptionist Overtime one I stuck with for a bit because I kinda like the character of Jade. He seems nice. But none of the other characters ever pulled me in so I dropped the show around episode 7. The main girl is not only annoying but in several shots she has a weird toddler head. Like a five-head or six-head situation proportionally depending on the angle of the shot. It was too distracting. Also, the healer girl in Jade's party makes me want to kick her into a tree.

You mentioned several posts back you were watching Akagi and Kaiji. Were you able to get through those? What did you think of them?

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3350 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 10:15:33 PM »

Ah. I think I've told you before that I watch stuff sped up. There are very few things I'll actually view at 1.0x. Most of the time it's 1.5x. Kaiji and Akagi I did at 2.0x. Definitely preferred Kaiji, as all the various gambling in that is more of a general knowledge kind of thing. Akagi is all mahjong all the time, and it goes hard on that shit. I always just had to take their word for it that the draws they were making and the hands they were playing were a big deal, because I don't fucking know.

I think I mostly watched for the character art/facial expressions. There's really not a lot like it.

And then recently I found out that a villain from Kaiji got his own spin-off series, so I'll be checking that out sometime soon.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3351 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 10:19:02 PM »

Frieren was normal speed, because every time the credits kicked in on that one I was like, "ALREADY?! NNNOOOOOO!!!"

I probably could have watched Frieren slowed down if it didn't make everyone sound inebriated.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #3352 on:** Mar 23, 2025, 10:27:53 PM »

I'm really looking forward to the next season of Frieren despite having read the manga up through volume 12. The pacing on this whole thing is nigh perfect.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3353 on:** Mar 24, 2025, 03:12:02 PM »

Sorry if there are repeats of stuff that's already been discussed in this thread, I'm just doing this to remind myself of which shows might interest me.

This is seemingly being positioned as some kind of spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop. I think it's an absolute oversight to invite that comparison, because they're only setting themselves up for miserable failure.

I really don't care for My Hero Academia outside of the basic premise, and I know next to nothing about this spin-off, so I figured I'd at least give it a shot.

Really enjoyed the first season of this.

Been reading the manga of this since it debuted. It's a little hit or miss, but when it hits it can be hilarious.

First season of this was such a mess, but my morbid curiosity is dragging me back to it.

This one, I just really like the setting / character art. That's it.

Gundam with cutesy character designs. I'll bite.

LOOOOOOVED the first season of this. So, so pretty.

This one you brought to my attention.

Another one with a bonkers premise. I typically like anime when it leans bizarre.

A new Anne of Green Gables anime in 2025? Sign me up.

This one caught me off guard. Never knew the Detective Conan author had a samurai series. I like how we're starting to see more stuff that's very clearly milking nostalgia for anime from the late '80s / early '90s.

I honestly think this looks fucking awful, but I'm marginally interested in the Guilty Gear universe, so I'll try to suffer through it as much as possible.

This one, the relationship between the male and female leads intrigued me.

I don't even know. Just something about it.

Alien cat. Good enough.

Not sure why I added this one.

That's a lot. I'm hoping most of it sloughs off after an episode or two.

B E C K · « **Reply #3354 on:** Mar 24, 2025, 04:44:27 PM »

Man, everyone likes Kaiji more than Akagi except me.

I got Merla to watch Frieren since it's on Netsux and she went through the whole thing. Waiting until 2026 for more is kinda sad though. Production didn't get the jump start Apothecary Diaries S2 did.

I need to go through some of those trailers. Not sure on new Anne of Green Gables. I hope it's good and cozy.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #3355 on:** Mar 24, 2025, 06:30:57 PM »

I added some context.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #3356 on:** Mar 30, 2025, 09:32:24 PM »

Now that the winter season is all but done, I guess it's time to play catchup before the new tide of spring stuff rolls out. I have a HUGE backlog that I don't see myself getting to for quite some time.

B E C K · « **Reply #3357 on:** Apr 03, 2025, 09:32:14 PM »

I tried a few and they didn't really excite me so far.

The one with the cute witch who g'un die looked Ghibli-esque but it's more like someone took visual cues from Ghibli and meshed it with Little Witch Academia. It's not terrible or anything. It's a decent show. Meg Raspberry is wacky but good-hearted. But the beginning of the episode was jarring. The episode gives you about a minute before it jumps into "yo, you gonna die." I kinda wanted to spend more time with Meg and see her normal life a bit. Like I said, it seems okay. I just don't find myself caring that much.

The Too-Perfect Saint or whatever, on the other hand, wastes your damn time. This one and Meg's show needed to split the difference. Where Meg's show is too fast, this one draaaaags the opening. I swear, we spend, like, five minutes in one scene letting the villains twirl their non-existent mustaches. The villains in this type of show are the weakest part. Let them cackle for two minutes and move the fuck on with the story. First ep was kinda meh. I like the manga for this one so so I want to stick with it. But, man. I hope the entire show isn't like this.

Then I saw the rock girl one. The one with those weird sweating girls. The anime kinda added more to the first ep than you get with the manga. Made it feel a bit fresh. I still don't know about this one.

Also, the Apothecary Diaries came to American Netflix. I'm only kinda mad because I've been trying to get Merla to watch it with me. I finally got her to say yes this past Saturday and then my mp4s wouldn't work at all on my BluRay player. They work just fine on my bedroom TV but whatever TV and BluRay player we have in my living room hates the files. I spent hours trouble-shooting and then needing to remove an audio codec--might be the wrong word/term, I don't fucking know

--from each and every file I have of the dub with Handbrake just so it'll play. Got them all sorted out and trouble-shooted and everything so she could watch it with me this upcoming weekend. Just needed to load them on a USB stick and pop it in my BluRay player. So I did all of that shit over last weekend and then American Netflix added it April 1st. Fuck you. I took that personally.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #3358 on:** Apr 05, 2025, 03:29:48 PM »

Quote from: B E C K on Apr 03, 2025, 09:32:14 PM

Also, the Apothecary Diaries came to American Netflix. I'm only kinda mad because I've been trying to get Merla to watch it with me. I finally got her to say yes this past Saturday and then my mp4s wouldn't work at all on my BluRay player. They work just fine on my bedroom TV but whatever TV and BluRay player we have in my living room hates the files. I spent hours trouble-shooting and then needing to remove an audio codec--might be the wrong word/term, I don't fucking know --from each and every file I have of the dub with Handbrake just so it'll play. Got them all sorted out and trouble-shooted and everything so she could watch it with me this upcoming weekend. Just needed to load them on a USB stick and pop it in my BluRay player. So I did all of that shit over last weekend and then American Netflix added it April 1st. Fuck you. I took that personally.

With the anime I watch all being downloaded I throw them on a Plex server. If you have an older computer lying around you don't use that was made in the last 5-6 years it's super quick and easy to install Plex Media Server on it and install Plex clients on your TV/streambox/phone/tablet/fridge to watch them. If you use a decent enough processor it will handle all the A/V recoding for you.

B E C K · « **Reply #3359 on:** Apr 06, 2025, 11:05:37 AM »

I kinda looked into that but I'm not sure if it would be worth it for me. At least at this time.

Merla and I were able to watch Apothecary Diaries Season 1 together yesterday. She even told me that she only said she didn't want to watch it before because she thought I meant Ascendence of a Bookworm. She didn't know the name of Ascendence of a Bookworm so she had to describe it until I figured out what she was talking about. Lol, no, I dumped that show. (Although I did wonder if it ever got any other seasons and it's getting another season in 2026.)

She didn't dislike AD but it doesn't seem to be the show for her. She kept asking questions.

"Who's that guy?"
"We meet him later."

"And who's that?"
"You'll find out later in the episode."

"What happened to Maomao's mom?"
"It's explained later."

"He's not a real eunuch, right?"
"No." [I just answered that one.]

Like, woman, watch it. This wasn't written by JJ Abrams, the show gives you a bunch of the answers to the questions you're asking. To her credit though, I think episodes 2 and 3 are actually very sloppy. I don't think it explains the interconnecting events that well. Even the remainder of the plot as presented in the anime leave a lot of questions. Like why did Fengming not think the taster would just drop dead before the soup even reaches Lishu? The better death plot would be Fengming sticking a shitload of crushed fish into the soup and then Lishu swallows the chunks and dies from her allergen. I dunno, maybe that's also stupid but I'm trying to think of a scenario where the "poison" passes the taster. Because then the taster dies and you don't touch the soup, right?

What about the ceremonial instruments? How was Suirei allowed the get those made and bring them back? I'm sure it's probably explained in the light novel. But were Kounen and the seaweed bro really the only two guys in charge of that shit?

On another note, I forgot Netflix does dubtitles. Disgusting. Also, they make the text huge and float it all over the screen. Title of the next episode in the lower right corner? Let's put it in the middle over someone's face! Jinshi speaking on the left? Put his text in the lower left. Now Jinshi and Maomao are both in the center of the screen? Slightly off-center Jinshi's text to the left and then slightly off-center Maomao's text to the right. Isn't this shit more work? Center everything on the bottom, you goons. Do people really like to read this way?

--------------

Anyway, as far as new anime is concerned, I watched old man adventurer anime. What are they calling this shit? "From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman." People familiar with the source material insist this isn't harem, but the old guy's specifically being told by his dad (that's his dad, right?) to go find a wife. And then the first chick is all blushing and crushing on him.

I don't know what the plot of this thing is. I like the voice actor's voice. He's Sanji's VA from One Piece. The character himself is kind of ass. A Reddit thread compared him to Belgrieve from "My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer". This character is no Bel. Bel was injured, faced a powerful demon, had PTSD, has oneitis, his party dissolved, and he retired before he even had the chance to prove his rank or get his name around. He then adopted his daughter and devoted his life to being a dad and protecting the actual backwater village he settled down in. He's a humble man. He's not comparable to this chump.

This chump:
-Still has Mommy and Daddy around to give him a sword school.
-Has self-esteem issues. Waah waah.
-Has seemingly done fuck-all except training people.
-Is able-bodied and has no injuries so why did he never do other things?
-Has no friends, I guess?
-Is not in a backwater but has a city readily nearby to the extent he could leave and then return in the evening. The fuck's your excuse for never visiting it?
-Has students that revere him so much they never come back to visit him even through he's never changed locations and lives near a major city.

Am I supposed to really believe that Dad and Mom (but especially Dad) are so desperate for grandchildren and wouldn't be bombarding this dude with women to marry? That people who sent their kids to this school and those kids grew up into success (thanks to the school) wouldn't be coming back to the village and trying to hook up their daughters or whatever with this guy? That this school wouldn't have earned some level of greater prestige by now that would have people orbiting this guy?

Nah, man, I can't with this. This is so bad.

I kind of like the hot, muscly red-head but then they do that weird thing where the shows will give her both super-defined abs but also bubble tits. So what's weirder? That her workout didn't shrink her boobs or that she's in charge of adventurer lodgings in the next town over but never checked on this man in twenty fucking years?

Whatever. Nothing in this show's world makes sense. I did kind of like how the arrogant dude who got defeated by the old man then wanted to eagerly learn from him but, damn, that character went from 0 to cocksucker way too fast. Ruined. And this show features girls but where are this guy's male students? I wish shows like this would have at least a few male students featured.

I don't know what to grade this. Maybe I'll give it another episode or something.

Also, I watched episode one of Anne Shirley. It's not bad but I really like Akage no Anne. The pacing was so much better, too. But that show had 50 episodes. What will this one get? Eleven or twelve? Little wonder it's blazing through everything.