Anime

[red snow]

GITS looks very unfinished in terms of character designs - reminds me of PS1/2 cutscenes.

Is Levius a different name for an existing anime or is mech boxing a popular genre at the moment?

[Toth]

Hey wow, Psycho-Pass season 3 has started running! Unfortunately shortly before I got to watch it I found out that Gen Urobuchi has no involvement in it... which of course made me fear another disaster like season 2. So far however the show looks okay, the visuals are amazing and the setting up of the story in this 40 minute episode was creating a lot of curiosity. However I must say that I'm a bit irritated about one of the new protagonists. One of the two new inspectors is a Russian ex-military who basically does all the jobs that his enforcers are supposed to do, much to their confusion. The other one is a childlike "mentalist" who claims that he is using logic and data to put himself into the place of other people, but the creepy visuals and that he gets effectively possessed by them and figures out ridiculously specific things without having any clues whatsoever really seems like a supernatural element that feels highly out of place in this world. aside that... I noticed that the Russian dude has the same voice actor as Nozaki from Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, which I find hilarious given they are both of the ridiculously serious type.

In regards to specific plot points:

Spoiler

There is a three year timeskip and for some reason almost the entire cast has disappeared except Mika, Shion and the nerd enforcer from season 2. Makes you wonder what happened to Gino and Yayoi. There is mention of an incident that ended with some deaths and Akane being discharged and imprisoned (though the goverment refused to publicize her Crime Coefficient, making it painfully obvious that she's locked up for a political reason). This all is treated somewhat nebulous and the characters have their own motivation for joining the police and are very interested in figuring out what happened to Akane. And Akane also knows them, given that she is shown looking at their files and thinking that they have to carry the torch for her. I still hope only for now... or that this is a sign that the fight against Sybil will become more direct, given that Kogami is also announced to return. Hopefully to bust Akane out so they can go full Tom Cruise on the system!

I find it also interesting that the story dares to bring up refugee immigration and the resulting tension up, now that Japan in this story has lifted its isolationist policies. I guess that's the best one can make out of that stupid "the rest of the world has devolved into warzones" nonsense that the movie confirmed to be true and not just Sybil propaganda. Though I also found it interesting that they pointed out the ocean water is highly poisonous. Just... what the hell happened to this world?

[Toth]

Can I just use this moment to gush about how great Psycho-Pass 3 really is? Because it is! It really is! I was skeptical at first, but the first three episodes so far have been an endless string of mysteries, revelations, amazingly choreographed battle scenes where every punch feels like it has some real weight put behind it and interesting character dynamics. I dare to say that at this point it feels even better than the first season, at least it feels like it has better pacing and touches so many topics aside the Sybil system and its effects on society. I feel like they are taking massive leaps in regards to world-building here, showing the society react to a refugee crisis, having an investigation into corrupt bankers creating a housing bubble and now showing an election and highlight once again the relationship between Sybil and the vestiges of Japanese democracy which was only very briefly hinted at before. I also can't help but think that the prime contenders being a former wrestler and an idol singer are supposed to be a jab at the uselessness of celebrity politicians. But all these topics never feel forced in, but naturally evolve out of the setting and set up the background of the cases Unit 1 is dealing with.

Also I'm stunned how they reversed the status quo in between seasons. They made some truly gamechanging changes and yet because they set their coming to be up as the great myth arc, I'm so far not worried that they won't be able to come up with an explanation. Case in point:

Spoiler

So now Kogami is already back! And he's... not a wanted criminal anymore? Apparently he got a pardon and is now working directly for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a badass spec-ops lady. Together with Gino! And Akane in her oddly comfy cell is hinting at some big stunt to reveal Sybil's true nature to the public. I knew that with our protagonist being behind bars, something game-ending is about to happen, so her musings give me a lot of hope.

Please keep going like this, Psycho-Pass! This is clearly the best Anime of the year!

[A True Kaniggit]

Finally got around to starting Steins Gate last night. Made it to episode 6. 

I have a feeling things are about to get a lot worse for the characters fairly soon. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Anyone else watching Dr. Stone ?

It is entertaining the hell out of me.

Scheelite. Learned something new today.

[Toth]

On 11/12/2019 at 9:56 PM, A True Kaniggit said:

Finally got around to starting Steins Gate last night. Made it to episode 6. 

I have a feeling things are about to get a lot worse for the characters fairly soon. 

Ah, I completely forgot to ask: What has your impression of Steins;Gate been? Given that it's my go to "Anime to recommend to people who have never seen Anime" due to being just a relatively down-to-earth sci-fi thriller, I'm kinda curious what others make of it.

[Proudfeet]

Started Re: Zero. Its not too great so far but I know the plot roughly from spoilers so it should pay off in the long run although I can't work up the motivation to continue as the start is really slow. I'm aiming to finish it before the next season starts but its going to be tough.

[The Grey Wolf]

Caught up on Seven Deadly Sins and Dragon Prince. Also watched Seis Manos. Dk what I'm going to watch next in terms of anime. Rn I'm watching some non-anime western stuff.

[Toth]

I'm a bit stumped at the realization that the next Psycho-Pass 3 episode is the last one of the season. I'm used to shows raising the stakes at this point, but the last one ended quite anticlimactically by resolving the current case. I'm a bit afraid that next week we see them pulling the rug under us for a cliffhanger...

[Toth]

Jep, nearly exactly as I thought the season would end. Probably not quite a climax of everything spiralling out of control that thought would be the set-up, but it is a cliffhanger all right and I can't say that it didn't pull the rug beneath us. Though it works more to set up the next movie instead of aiming at any kind of resolution here. Damn... if is as hard to get as the Sinners of the System series, then I will have to wait quite a lot for this story arc to see an ending...

Also what's up with Arata and Karina getting shipped so hard? I will be mad as hell if they let her die in the movie!

[Proudfeet]

Watching more of Re: Zero. Its not great watching. The protagonist is extremely conceited and its rather painful to watch as he repeatedly sticks his foot in his mouth and smashes head first into walls.

The story itself is fine. The protagonist looks bad from a third person perspective, but his actions are reasonable from the pressure and confusion he is under. Doesn't change the fact that he is kind of obnoxious though.

Voice acting is really well done. Worth watching just for this alone.

[Toth]

Okay. So today the first episode of the Magia Record Anime aired. Directly competing with the second half of the Fate/Grand Order Anime. This is going to be amusing to watch!

So right out of the window: I can't make too many predictions because this first episode or rather this prologue episode was in its execution basically one long gorgeous trailer. Wide creepy scenery shots, barely any dialogue. An epitome of Shaft just bragging with their impressive visuals. The witches are also weird as ever and we have seen two in just this episode. The train centipede witch from the trailer as well as Zenobia from the game. And...

Spoiler

... we see Zenobia destroying this new witch in a pretty cool "summon bigger fish" situation, highlighting just how ridiculously strong witches in Kamihama are. Though I'm a bit confused about the technicalities of Iroha being able to see through the witch barrier how it moved through the real world (and how it transported her to another city). But well... I admit it is not beyond the scope of what we have witnessed witches to do so far. Except for that crash landing. I find it a bit iffy that witches could affect the real world this openly by having their barrier crash through a roof. I always considered them far too intangible for that.

In any case, despite the few lines of dialogue and the (already expected) idea to start the story before the first chapter of the game, I already saw several rather striking examples of it diverging from the source material. And given my rather lukewarm judgement upon the game, I can say that these small changes are already to be appreciated as they slash rather mercilessly a few of the most tiresome storythreads of the game that were just use as a filler to stretch the chapters. Namely:

Spoiler

- Iroha now already knows her wish and maybe even her connection with Ui. That took her ages in the game to realize, so that's a big plus

- Iroha having already been able to touch the little Kyubey and getting flashbacks from her hidden memories gives her the motivation she severely lacked in the games for why she considers little Kyubey to be able to help her get to the truth. Such a simple and yet already extremely positive change that adds more logic to her behavior!

- Yachiyo doesn't seem to be as inexplicably hostile towards little Kyubey as in the game. Good, given that this was always a rather jarring moment that would have only made sense if she had been (understably) hostile towards Kyubey in general (which she inexplicably never was shown to be, mostly because the game inexplicably pretends like Kyubey doesn't exist).

Iroha's parents have already moved abroad and brought up Iroha's planned move to a boarding house. Adding this so early is a neat way to not let this feel awfully convenient like in the game when this happened just as Iroha wanted to move to Kamihama.

So basically the changes so far really seem like they are only there to speed up the story or skip rather stupid parts of the game. The next addition I wish for is obviously the one I have expected ever since Kuro(e) has been added into Iroha's story instead of Homura's like in the game: For Iroha to learn very soon the entire truth about the Magical Girl system to make the conflict with the Magius less cartoonish (and avoid getting the whole thing dumped on the group in a stupid info-dump that reeked of trap from the get-go). And after that... well, other major divergences to raise the stakes. Have the cast stripped of their ludicrous plot armor for crying out loud!

I'm looking forward to the next episode. So far this show at least looked gorgeous. And I'm curious when we will see the Madoka Magica main cast to join given that with this they also skipped the game's prologue from Homura's perspective (that was obviously just there to get the attention of first time players). At least they show up extremely briefly in the opening. With Mami front and center...

[Rippounet]

Does The Dragon Prince count as anime?

I found the two seasons good, but couldn't quite shake the feeling that I was watching a discount version of Avatar - the last airbender.
With season 3, The Dragon Prince is finally starting to find its own "voice," with more world-building, new characters, and some sweet fighting scenes.
The visuals can be stunning, and I'd say this third season has much better pacing than the previous two. A good, quick, watch (3 hours).

The trailer does give away too much though (I watched it after the season, and I'm so glad I did):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGV93cEyfM

[Toth]

Okay, now that's weird. The second episode of the Madoka Magica spin-off show aired and some of my (admittedly more pessimistic) predictions proved wrong. So this very drawn-out prologue last episode was actually supposed to replace the first chapter as the current episode jumped straight into chapter two and the "Rumor of the Ending Friendships Staircase" story. Which, admittedly, skips over a large part of character introductions. Yes, Iroha met Yachiyo very briefly, but we didn't get Yachiyo being (uncharacteristically) hostile towards her like in the game and emphasizing the need to get your magic beefed up by Mitama to survive.

In fact, despite now being introduced to Momoko's gang we still haven't seen Mitama and in game terms Iroha is probably still at lvl1 or lvl2, making the oncoming engagement with the Rumor all the more dangerous. Speaking of the Rumor: HOLY HELL IS THAT THING TERRIFYING! The imagery reminded me quite a lot of when Sayaka's state of mind was deteriorating in the main Anime. This went very dark and twisted very fast.

Unfortunately "fast" is the thing I would say was the word of the episode. This one episode rushed through three quarters of the chapter at a break-neck pace. But then again, the game DOES have a glacial pace and I appreciate some streamlining. Though it did have the diminishing effect of skipping the part of the game where Rena avoids Kaede because she is deathly afraid of the Rumor getting Kaede if she does. Also their argument being far more serious might make it less silly, but on the other hand also makes Rena seem significantly more unlikeable given how personal and hurtful she was towards Kaede. Given how this is literally our first impression of the team (and we don't get the scene from the game where Iroha and Kaede are fighting together on their own), it makes the unsuspecing viewer wonder how the hell those people are even friends in the first place.

Speaking of friendship: Ever since it was pointed out to me that Momoko is basically a blonde Mion Sonozaki I can't unsee it. They even sound somewhat similar! XD

Ah... one last thing: I really like the ending theme and it's portrayal of Yachiyo's descent into depression as an elevator ride:

 

[Proudfeet]

Finished RE: Zero just in time for the new season, but it actually airs next season in April. Oops. Should have checked instead of assuming. 

Ah well, guess it's Darwin's Game for me then. 

[Toth]

Madoka Magica Side Story Magia Record: Episode 3 seen and review incoming.

Now that was... well, an episode. I don't really know what to make of it. I try to view it from the perspective of someone who hasn't played the game, but I still can't figure out how exactly those wouldn't have an other impression than confusion. Because the break-neck pace kept going, skipping chapters and character introductions, having characters team up that at this point really shouldn't yet and... it's all just a bit much. And then the mood. The previous two episodes were suffocatingly dark and ominous, significantly moreso than the game ever was at any given point. Something that made me curious whether they raise the stakes in the adaptation and manage to avoid conflicts to either fizzle out immediately or get needlessly stretched out forever, which the game honestly is very prone to do. And yet somehow they managed to both set the first Rumor up as much more alien and interesting, only to then have the penultimate fight scene in a comedic tone where Rena's and Kaede's bickering completely voided all danger inspite of the impressive visuals.

Case in point, while the previous changes in the story always had a clear purpose for me to grasp, the ones in this episode often left me confused:

Spoiler

So they have the time to include another dream flashback for Iroha and show Mayu getting her soul gem enhanced by Mitama and then SKIP Iroha getting her soul gem enhanced which triggered the flashback in the game... so... basically double the screentime for the same payoff? What?

Then instead of Rena immediately volunteering to be the bait for the rumor (after all, all this IS her fault and the Anime doubled down on it by her having actively triggered the Rumor by writing her and Kaede's name on a cursed staircase for a really flimsy reason) we've got Yachiyo and Momoko teaming up to trigger it. Which is super awkward because at this point in the game the two have still a really strained relationship and not working together under any circumstances, which the Anime actually acknowleges somewhat through their teeth-clenched exchanges, which makes me wonder why they bothered to have them in this position in the first place.

Also, once again, Rena comes off as far more grating and shitty than she ever did in the game. Sure, her game counterpart is a walking cliché to a degree that makes you wonder whether they were trying to parody the tsundere archetype, but at least you always have the feeling that she's just too proud and stubborn to show her true feelings, not that she is this relentlessly dickish towards everyone around her.

Then of course instead of having Kaede brainwashed and under the thrall of the Rumor attacking the group, she just "couldn't find the way out" of the labyrinth and was just kinda chilling there and starting to bicker with Rena the moment they entered the Rumor, killing all of the ominous set-up instantly. What the hell were they thinking?

At least one addition I preferred: Kyubey appearing to trigger Mami's distrust towards the Kamihama magical girls as a means of setting up her future appearance. That makes actually sense for the little shit to do.

[Varysblackfyre321]

Well I just watched all three seasons of Attack on Titan.

I’ve honestly never seen anything less overtly pro-facist in my life.

[Toth]

So the Anime season ended, especially with three surprise episodes for Psycho Pass season 3, titled "First Inspector". Since I watched three shows, I better summarize my thoughts on these...

Fate Grand Order: Babylonia - Oh dear. I must admit, yes, I stuck with it till the very end. And... I must also admit that in hindsight it actually wasn't too bad. I thought the weird crotch and underboob shots decreased in number and jarringness towards the end and while I must admit that spaced out during many scenes in which Ishtar and Ereshkigal got needlessly degraded (has this rotten franchise some kind of vendetta against Rin?), it was fine for what it was. And what it was is a mindless adventure story with a faceless milktoast protagonist that everybody loves for some inexplicable reason, as well as one massive 'Draco in leather pants' moment for Gilgamesh being a good guy here. Though the absolutely horrific PS2 graphics CGI monster at the end was ludicrous. Where did all the gacha money go all of a sudden?

Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record - Oh dear. I feel like the developers were really talented, but crippled themselves by adhering to the game too much. They were trying to shake things up, but they abandoned the visual cues from Madoka Magica of the early episodes quite soon and many of their changes were just to streamline stuff and they snapped back on track to a word-by-word adaptation soon enough. Heck, they even dropped their own character Kuroe entirely after the first episode. It feels like there must have been a lot of executive meddling behind the scenes with some people thinking like me that Magia Record as a story can't stand on its own and needs improvement, while others wanted to play safe and stick to the source material. In the end it feels like a giant waste of an opportunity. It is far too rushed in execution and picks up and abandons so many ideas that it is outright confusing for new viewers while those who played the game will often end up moaning about the weird decisions on the cutting board that sometimes undercut the characterization that the story in other points heavily relies upon.

The last episode is an interesting case study for that. They change quite a lot of things at the very last moment making it look like the second season will differ wildly from the game, but even those changes could possibly be resolved just as quickly with game scenes. At the same time they wasted a stupenduous amount of time on a fight scene for Mami that looked both extremely cheap (you can't attempt to copy Rebellion with a TV budget obviously) and had me wonder at several points how the fuck they survived this. They should have ended the fight at the halfway point when Sayaka had her big moment.

Psycho Pass 3 - Oh... that was unexpected! No really. The second season was a horrenduous filler with a despicable main character, a villain that felt like a knockoff of the villain of the first season, an idiot plot that could have been resolved in episode 3 since they already got the fucking perp and let him go without any investigation whatsoever despite all the evidence against him and the absolutely mindboggling body count that felt very jarring in contrast to the first season's very deliberate use of violence (and also I thought that the CC levels went to lethal height way too fast just to make this carnage happen). The movie was really amazing and thematically on-point, even if the English was comically bad. So imagine how I went into season 3 with very low expectations...

... and I must say as a final verdict that these writers have some fucking balls! In this day and age where the stories of moving pictures are decided upon by comittee, where everyone is only concerned with maximizing profit by betting on 'safe' choices like well-known names, downtrodden tropes and whatever is currently popular, it takes some fucking balls to sideline well-loved protagonists of old, build up your own new cast, build a story entirely around them and have them affect the setting's history and future in a very meaningful way while the old cast members get only glorified cameos. Akane and Kogame only got two 30 second scenes with eacher! I counted!

And damn, they pulled it off! I loved almost every bit of it. The last three episodes now were a tightly packed action sequence in which the police station got under siege. Once again every characters gets moments to shine (including our beloved desk rats like Shion, though I must admit her 'modded' pill bot gave me some rather jarring Matrix 3 flashbacks), the fight choreographies were not quite as inspired as before, but still pretty good and the ending made me feel all kinds of emotions. And mostly positive ones! Which I must admit is pretty strange. It feels like Psycho Pass is heading towards its final resolution with broad steps, especially with its positioning of Akane now...

[Toth]

Oh for fuck's sake:

So the ominously announced new Higurashi Anime is indeed just a bloody reboot. And I must say, I find the art style super off-putting.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Have not read the manga but this looks damn trippy and super violent! Came out today on Netflix.