Anime II: Back to Zero

[Ran]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

I don't like that trope either, but Blue Eyed Samurai might be one of the best examples of it working very well. I found it all very believable and didn't bat an eyelid once. 

She has become the demon they claim she is, is the easiest read for me.

[Heartofice]

13 minutes ago, Ran said:

She has become the demon they claim she is, is the easiest read for me.

Well yes, she is fuelled by her own hatred and desire for revenge and she puts that above all else, losing herself in the process. 

That's one of the reasons the show works so well. It's so far from some bullshit 'female empowerment' nonsense. Mizu is not the sort badass girl-boss mary-sue we end up getting in many other stories, she is a deeply flawed character who constantly fucks up, who isn't well liked, gets hurt all the time, and can be over powered. She is as skilled and dangerous as she is, because she works incredibly hard and has singularly focused on a goal. 

It's everything most female centric action stories should be.

[sifth]

59 minutes ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

If the male character had the right physical characteristics to go along with it , probably. As I said, other anime have also done the badass female like Kill la Kill but it works much better there because of the tone of the show. 

Please, there’s plenty of anime/manga with male characters of similar builds to Mizu, who are extremely popular. Kenshin being the obvious example. Most of the Jojo’s are just normal people one minute and fighting over the top bad guys by episode 3. Edward from FMA is the size of a bean and fighting immortals and FMA is considered one of the best.
 

Anime, manga and most fantasy stories as a whole are about suspending your disbelief. If you’re unable to do that, then you’ll be depriving yourself of many great stories. 

Edited January 25 by sifth

[baxus]

1 hour ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

If the male character had the right physical characteristics to go along with it , probably. 

Please, enlighten me. What are the physical characteristics that would go along with slashing your way past dozens of enemies at once?

[JGP]

I was only able to practice Kendo for about a year before scheduling sheesh impacted continuation, so take it for what that's worth, but with a typical slashing sword style: skill and speed are all that's required.

In a case where there are multiple opponents you'd likely [though not necessarily] be defeated, but situational awareness also comes into play. 

The initial gripe smells a bit misogynistic.

Edited January 25 by JGP

[baxus]

I started watching Yasuke, 6 episode mini-series about a samurai of African descent. So far, it seems just right up my alley - medieval setting with some supernatural properties and a bunch of flashbacks that give insight into main character's history and motives.

[Rippounet]

Finally finished what's out of Made in abyss (season 1 + movie + season 2).

I haven't watched a lot of things this hard to criticize tbh. This is really art, because it's high quality (the aesthetics and music are fantastic) and creates powerful emotions in the viewer. At the same time, it's so paradoxical as a work of fiction (in multiple ways) that it's hard to praise it – in fact, it's kinda controversial. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but because I also want to warn potential viewers, people who plan to watch it might want to stop here.

First is the contrast between the graphic style (« chibi ») and the themes of the show. One might think, at a glance, that this is a show for kids, but no, this is one of the most brutal animes I've watched in a while, often comparable to the worst moments of Full Metal Alchemist or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Then there's the way in which the main intrigue (what is the abyss?) only works as a background for the emotional journey of the characters, and yet that emotional journey seems oddly stunted in the main one (Rico). This should be a kind of initiation story, but it doesn't exactly work that way – for reasons I won't get into.

There's the philosophical dimension, that seems there, but is never properly treated, leaving the viewer to make their own conclusions (is this supposed to be some kind of stoicism?). The show remains extraordinarily cryptic, and I'm starting to wonder if you need to have knowledge of Japanese philosophy/spirituality to truly understand. Because some aspects of it are clear enough, while others seem utterly alien - for a Western mind (?). The links between "wish," "purpose," "value," "sacrifice," and "soul" for example resemble what can be found in other works (funnily enough, Bleach), but they're still far from clear at this point.

And finally, there's the unsettling elements. Viewers of anime will be familiar with the sexualisation of characters, but this is something different, because it constantly presents the body (and bodily functions) as a plot point, in a way that goes beyond what might expect from the premise of the show, often making it closer to the horror/gore genre. Unless, of course, there's a philosophical commentary here that isn't fully developed yet (incarnation means suffering?).
In the end, this is what worries me : that the author might be exploring something that's closer to the psychological (i.e. their own personal problems) rather than building a story.

It still has amazing potential, but whatever the author has in mind, they're taking their sweet time developing it.
It may be that only the conclusion of the characters' journey (that should be known in many years) will provide the keys to understand what you're watching. After all, Attack on Titan only makes complete sense once you reach the very end.
Or, in layman's terms : that's some crazy shit right there, so who knows if the craziness will serve a purpose. Sometimes with anime, you just can't tell.

[sifth]

Been watching High Card season 2. It's likeable enough, but lacks the sense of exploration the first series had.

[Ran]

Blue Eye Samurai took a bunch of Annie Awards, the big animation award show. It won all six categories it was nominated in within for TV/Media: Mature (e.g. adult-aimed animation), VFX, Production Design, Character Animation, Editorial, and Writing.

[Rippounet]

Have to say I was terribly wrong about Frieren, because the anime really magnifies the manga. The soundtrack turns even chapters that are rather unremarkable (for manga) into badass moments.
 

[TheLastWolf]

Berserk Manga Ch 376 dropped after 7 months since last chapter, entitled...

Sea's quivering surface and calamitous war's shadow