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The Grey Wolf

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I don't watch any anime, but I read manga. I'm not sure if there is a manga thread, so this is probably as close as I'll get to one.

I just started One Piece the other day. I'm 77 chapters in and finally getting into it now.

I have to compare it to Naruto, in the sense that they are both extremely long mangas. At 77 chapters into Naruto, we were already in the midst of the Chunnin exams, so the story was really starting to flow as one. What I like less about One Piece is so far it's just been story after story, rather than everything happening feeling like part of one big story, as Naruto already felt like by 70-odd chapters in.

That's why I only feel like I am really getting into One Piece now, as it's finally come to a story that makes it feel like it really means something. The part I am at it is where they go to Arlong Park and we find out that Nami has been working alongside pirates all along. It feels like it's reached a point in One Piece where things are really going to take off in terms of an overall plot.

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On 2/16/2018 at 9:10 AM, Leo of House Cartel said:

Anyone catch Godzilla: Planet of The Monsters?

Enjoyed the art style and thought the plot was a fresh take on the big guy's story.

I watched it. The characters were flat but the King of Monsters himself was a delight.

Also finished Fate/Apocrypha and Devilman Crybaby (which I highly recommend).

Rn I'm watching The Ancient Magus's Bride while waiting for the next season of Wakfu and March Comes In Like A Lion.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was watching the first episode of "Steins;Gate 0" lately, after anxiously waiting for Steins;Gate's sequel to finally appear.

And so far... I am not entirely convinced of it. Something just seems... off. I remember Steins;Gate as being the Anime I recommend to people who can't stand Anime, because despite its setting in Akihabara, its Otaku cast and its curiously odd premise, it mostly kept itself free of intrusive fanservice and approached its time-travel thriller storyline with an unexpected seriousness (despite time being presented as somewhat... wibbly, wobbly...).

I know that the original Steins;Gate's first episode was oddly paced, but that's not the problem this time. It actually is very well paced, the characters are great, I like the serious Okabe who has shed that mad scientist playacting, I like the matured Mayuri who is now the responsible adult dragging him to therapy and the interactions between Hotaru and Suzuka after all the revelations and character development are a treat.

And yet... I can't help but think that they are going a fanservice path that wasn't there before. I couldn't help but notice that in this winter setting Mayuri and Suzuka are wearing jackets that are cut oddly in a way to emphasize their breasts, reinforced by a whole lot of low-angle cuts that seem less there to reinforce the tension of the dialogue and more to show off their figures. With the exception of some more infamous shots of Moeka, I am not recalling them treating any of their female characters this way before, especially not Mayuri...

Also... what's up with Daru's ludicrously hot future girlfriend suddenly being a fleshed-out character that hangs out at the lab as if she was always there?!? I honestly did a double-take on that one.

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On 2/16/2018 at 10:42 AM, JordanJH1993 said:

I don't watch any anime, but I read manga. I'm not sure if there is a manga thread, so this is probably as close as I'll get to one.

I just started One Piece the other day. I'm 77 chapters in and finally getting into it now.

I have to compare it to Naruto, in the sense that they are both extremely long mangas. At 77 chapters into Naruto, we were already in the midst of the Chunnin exams, so the story was really starting to flow as one. What I like less about One Piece is so far it's just been story after story, rather than everything happening feeling like part of one big story, as Naruto already felt like by 70-odd chapters in.

That's why I only feel like I am really getting into One Piece now, as it's finally come to a story that makes it feel like it really means something. The part I am at it is where they go to Arlong Park and we find out that Nami has been working alongside pirates all along. It feels like it's reached a point in One Piece where things are really going to take off in terms of an overall plot.

Last year I wanted to start its anime due to having some friends that have been watching the anime for years, but the huge number of episodes just prevented me from start watching it. Although, I've watched some random epis and clips with them, and if I want to give a present to them, I already know that a One Piece manga is always a safe bet, and I must admit that I read a little bit of the one I bought for the last birthday of my friend :o

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

So, after a long time without watching any anime (except from some of Detective Conan which is always something entertaining to watch and it never ends.....possibly my favourite anime ever), I decided I'd start Sakura Clear Card, basically the sequel of Card Captor Sakura (CCS), that I used to watch as a kid. And the news of the new release could not get me more excited, although mainly because of the nostalgia of those Summer holiday afternoons when I would watch that anime while eating some pastries and drinking cold chocolate :P. (just like Sakura did in the song endings) 

I watched the OVA that in theory is the new version of the ending of CCS (basically now a carbon copy of the last manga) and later I proceeded to watch the first two epis of the new show (that apparently follow the ending of the first anime). I didn't watch anymore because I'm not used to wait a week for each episode and it has only been released in Japan as far as I know. So, I'm planning to continue watching in a near future, several ones per day. Looks like the visuals are now better after all these years, and Sakura is now "more blonde" (there's more lightening now in the anime following new trends) but at least the characters look the same in drawing style, and well, Sakura just decided she would style her hair without hair adorns, which is something nice to see.

Then, I recently started another anime, which is called "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", that in theory is a deconstruction of the sugar-coated animes of Magical Girls, like Sakura. I must admit that at first I was unsure of watching it, despite having great curiosity in discovering how would they really "deconstruct" it. And well, let's say that I was also strongly encouraged to watch it, and yeah, he ended up being right, it's indeed really interesting (and surprisingly entertaining) to watch.

From my perspective, the one of someone who has watched till episode 8  out of 12, I have to say that the sugar-coated opening could not be more misleading to the story we are going to be told. It's not that it's only "dark", although it is, at least it has been sometimes, but it also makes a lot of sense and nothing seems gratuitous. Not only this, but the way the story is divided in their different episodes, in which we get to see the different parts of the big puzzle, as well as the backstories of the protagonists that help us to get the full picture of the different characterisations are both really well-thought :o

Then, let's not forget the "witches" they fight off!!!!!! We get to see a few of them in the first three episodes IIRC, and there is one in particular that was really, really scary.  I put her name in spoiler tags because......of important reasons.

Spoiler

Charlotte

The drawing style of the "witch battles" is very symbolic and curious as well.

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the show, although I'm also kind of scared due to the fact that a certain night is coming... .

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1 hour ago, Meera of Tarth said:

Then, I recently started another anime, which is called "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"

From my perspective, the one of someone who has watched till episode 8  out of 12, I have to say that the sugar-coated opening could not be more misleading to the story we are going to be told.

Yeah, that's a great show! I like the way the closing theme is replaced once it becomes clear that it isn't going to be a typical magical girl show.

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On 18.4.2018 at 10:21 PM, Toth said:

I was watching the first episode of "Steins;Gate 0" lately, after anxiously waiting for Steins;Gate's sequel to finally appear.

And now I have watched the second episode... and am indeed growing genuinely fond of it. It really has an interesting premise and I love how everyone in the institute knows how fucked up the whole Amadeus thing is. The atmosphere is so thick you could slice it with a knife. Also the American scientists are both fairly cool characters. Then of course, the way Okabe eyed the new girl's lab coat at the dinner party. They really are shipping those two, aren't they?

Spoiler

Is it just me, or does Kurisu sound and act differently than before? It's odd that she seems far warmer and outgoing now that she's a computer than she ever was in flesh and blood. But then again, this time Okabe doesn't irritate her with his Mad Scientist persona...

Of course, Okabe getting all the attention for instinctively jumping to Kurisu's academical defense was really awesome and heartwarming. Of course he knows that her memory-transfer thingy works, it's the reason they were able to upgrade their microwave for real timetravel after all!

I'm really looking forward where this is going. Nothing good in the long run, if the warzone opening is any indication. But I also severely doubt that we are going to get a time-skip that far into the future.

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On 4/19/2018 at 4:16 AM, felice said:

Yeah, that's a great show! I like the way the closing theme is replaced once it becomes clear that it isn't going to be a typical magical girl show.

It is!!!

Oh, just watched until episode 10, and it keeps getting better and better and surprising me!

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On 4/18/2018 at 7:46 PM, Meera of Tarth said:

Then, I recently started another anime, which is called "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", that in theory is a deconstruction of the sugar-coated animes of Magical Girls, like Sakura. I must admit that at first I was unsure of watching it, despite having great curiosity in discovering how would they really "deconstruct" it. And well, let's say that I was also strongly encouraged to watch it, and yeah, he ended up being right, it's indeed really interesting (and surprisingly entertaining) to watch.

From my perspective, the one of someone who has watched till episode 8  out of 12, I have to say that the sugar-coated opening could not be more misleading to the story we are going to be told. It's not that it's only "dark", although it is, at least it has been sometimes, but it also makes a lot of sense and nothing seems gratuitous. Not only this, but the way the story is divided in their different episodes, in which we get to see the different parts of the big puzzle, as well as the backstories of the protagonists that help us to get the full picture of the different characterisations are both really well-thought :o

 

On 4/18/2018 at 7:57 PM, Darth Richard II said:

Ha, man, Puella Magi Madoka Magica  is fucked up, no doubt.

 

On 4/18/2018 at 9:16 PM, felice said:

Yeah, that's a great show! I like the way the closing theme is replaced once it becomes clear that it isn't going to be a typical magical girl show.

Holy Shit. I just finished episode 3.

Now  I first tried watching this some months ago, and I never even finish the opening sequence of the first episode.

But then ya'll said it gets dark, so I decided to give it another shot. You guys were not joking around.

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5 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Holy Shit. I just finished episode 3.

Now  I first tried watching this some months ago, and I never even finish the opening sequence of the first episode.

But then ya'll said it gets dark, so I decided to give it another shot. You guys were not joking around.

Given that in the previous pages of the thread you mostly mentioned generic mainstream shonen anime, I suppose Madoka Magica feels like in a different league of its own! XD Have fun! It's a really good story, even if a bit too dependant on withholding information about the setting for my liking. A story set up like this can't really surprise you twice. But it is still a pretty interesting setting with good, well fleshed-out characters.

Also don't forget the Rebellion movie! It may be quite divisive, but I personally find it a very good continuation to the story, despite its nailbiting sequel hook for new episodes that are only at concept stage as of yet.

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What would you recommend for someone who hasn’t watched too much anime, but really liked Evangelion, Blood+, the last airbender and ghost in the shell (series)?

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14 minutes ago, ants said:

What would you recommend for someone who hasn’t watched too much anime, but really liked Evangelion, Blood+, the last airbender and ghost in the shell (series)?

Can't guarantee you'll like any of the following but these are all anime I highly recommend:

1. Samurai Champloon

2. Cowboy Bebop

3. Fate/Zero

4. Devilman Crybaby

5. Barakamon

6. The Ancient Magus Bride

7. Violet Evergarden

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2 hours ago, ants said:

What would you recommend for someone who hasn’t watched too much anime, but really liked Evangelion, Blood+, the last airbender and ghost in the shell (series)?

Of those you mentioned I only know and like Evangelion. So when you like series that are character-driven and very psychological, I'm the right person to ask.^^ My go-to-recommendations:

1. Steins;Gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub5iP0GQ5QA

My go-to recommendation to everybody who doesn't like Anime. It's a scif-fi thriller about a bunch of quirky college students who accidentally turn their microwave into a time machine and now they have to save the future by sending text mails into the past. Despite the odd premise and a full dive into Japanese nerd culture, it's surprisingly serious in the way it portrays how painful it is to re-roll events and undo the things you experienced with your friends.

2. Fate/Zero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFJ1gIprH8w

 

Screw the Fate-series in general: It's an overhyped sell-out franchise that only lives off crappy fanservice and cliché characters. With one exception: Fate/Zero. The prequel written by Gen Urobuchi. It takes the basic premise of 7 ghosts of the historical heroes being summoned into the present to fight in a magical death-match... and weaves a brilliant Shakespearean tragedy out of it where every character is brought down by their fatal flaws.

3. Higurashi no naku koro ni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=686ND-tF-xU

You see, I absolutely adore Ryukishi07, the author of the When they Cry series of which Higurashi is its first installment. Its successor Umineko is a pure masterpiece, but sadly its Anime adaptation is crap. Higurashi doesn't fare the same fate... the first season might look like it's made on the budget of 10 bucks and a box of crayons, but it's still very cool and very surreal horror story. It's about an after-school club of children who live and play in a tiny remote village. But of course the village has a dark secret: Every year at the day of the local Cotton Drift Festival, one person is murdered and another disappears. While the police suspects that the village elders are singling out 'enemies' of the community, the people in the town itself whisper about the wrath of their local god Oyashiro. To make matters worse, each of the games club's children is somehow connected to the strange murders... leading to at least one of them to get suspicious and start to investigate. Running against a wall of silence and hostility, things spiral out of contral into a Shakespearean tragedy of paranoia and fatal misunderstandings until the entire cast is wiped out... only for things to snap right back into the starting position. Because the town is trapped in a Groundhog Day loop. A loop that won't be broken until a happy ending is reached. But unfortunately the tragedy comes in countless variations. The murderer of one loop could end up the victim of the next one, while the helpless victims of one story may reveal a more sinister side in later ones.

... and I should better stop gushing about it.^^

4. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

If you watched Evangelion for being a genre deconstruction, Madoka Magica might also be something for you. It's basically your average Magical Girl Anime... written by a fan of Lovecraftian horror stories full of eldritch horrors and twists that plunge your protagonists into despair. At least until things get somewhat better...

5. Psycho Pass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_phSgZZOQJASince you mentioned Ghost in the Shell, another cyberpunk story could be something for you. It's essentially Minority Report, an isolationist future Japan is controlled by computer system that judges everybody's likelihood to commit a crime and sends out police officers to deal with them before that happened. Accompany the young police officer Akane as she joins a cast of miserable cynics as the tyrannic system gets put under stress by the anarchic psychopath Makishima.

Three out of five of these stories are written by Gen Urobuchi... huh... I guess you could say I like his style.^^

 

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11 minutes ago, felice said:

Does it work as a followup to the TV series, or do you have to watch the first two movies?

Well, since the first two movies are just the episodes of the TV series glued together, there isn't much of a difference. Either one works. ;)

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On 4/26/2018 at 5:02 PM, The Grey Wolf said:

Can't guarantee you'll like any of the following but these are all anime I highly recommend:

1. Samurai Champloon

2. Cowboy Bebop

3. Fate/Zero

4. Devilman Crybaby

5. Barakamon

6. The Ancient Magus Bride

7. Violet Evergarden

I used to watch Cowboy Bebop or random episodes of it. But I just remember it was entertaining, although I never finished it or really followed it.

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