General Anime Discussion

Gonna check out Im@s after this season is done.

The Opening and Ending are amazing in that show. I didn’t like how they ended it, but it was an interesting anime.

My recommended anime of 2014. It has a really bad slump between episodes 5 and 9, but if you manage to not drop it, it gets better.
To quote my blog:

ZnT (not to be confused with the many other ZnTs) was an intelligent, compelling, exciting show… for a good few episodes. Starting from episode five (Five huh?) the show became so boring that I was seriously considering dropping it. Episode nine (Nine huh?) grabbed my attention again, but still…
So what made those episodes different from the ones before them? The attention shifted to the character Five. An antagonist of sorts with no satisfyingly explained motive. Episode Nine onwards shifts it slightly away from Five and back to… Nine. (Think they planned this? The names and the episodes are way too fitting.)
So yeah, Five’s introduction and whole characterization essentially ruined the whole show… Puurrretty bad

In my top 5~ The manga is a must too.

1 is in my top 10. 2 was a mess. 3 also gets into my top 10~

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I love that anime so much man. The osts are great, the openings/endings are great. The design of characters are just pure beauty imo. I love everything about that show, and especially the MC (main character). I was considering buying their uniform and cosplaying Tatsuya :p. Really I cant wait for the 2nd season.
A lot of people say the show is pretty bad, but I dont mind, I loved it and thats what matters right ;P?

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Now that you mentioned it… It does get sloppy when Near, I mean, Five comes. (`ε ´ )
But overall, it was still a good anime that is worth to watch. The ending leaves a strong impression to me.

Ohohoho the manga is very nice~

Though it was kinda boring when they enter the goddess arc. I’d prefer to see him capturing more girls. But that’s just me.
The flashback arc was also… too forced? Supposed to end the series after Mercury arc (and end it with Ayumi ending lol)

OP ED songs are too great. Especially the 2nd ending song, Mirror by Yasuda Rei, and the first Opening song, Rising Hope by LiSA.

Their desiiiign yes!! You can easily see the uniqueness of the characters. Take the two beauties, Miyuki and Mayumi for example. At least for me, Mayumi doesn’t give me the same impression as Miyuki does. Miyuki is perfect beauty; Mayumi is hot and alluring. Those are two different things. In my opinion, not so many anime can apply this to their character, which is amazing.
Hahaha I also think Tatsuya is cool, but Masaki is the hunk. #nohomo
The uniforms are cool. I’m more to red color though. :stuck_out_tongue:

The downside of the anime is that… as an anime about magic, the fights do not give many flashy effects. On top of that, in those very quick animation, the complicated descriptions of the castings’ (or spells) process are too subtle. For example, Miyuki’s cocytus. They made it as if it was just a simple ice magic, which is not at all. That’s why many people (LN readers) are not really amused with the adaptation. I do enjoy them, though!

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Anime only person here. Miyuki’s cocytus didn’t physically freeze them, but mentally, right? Like a more extreme version of what she was doing to Tatsuya?

Pretty much so…
Hmm… did they explain it in the anime? @.@

I moved 5 posts to an existing topic: Currently Airing Anime

I think they didnt explain it properly or literally in a way takafumi describes it. But I think it should be like that. I havent read the LN so I dont really know about all of the mahouka stuff. Some questions are hanging there even when you are done watching it the anime, so Im just waiting for 2nd season and hope that they will describe all of the stuff + include some of the backstories of some characters :3 (woould totally love that).

What are you watching at the moment?

  • I’m currently making my way through Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (You Lie in April). Liking the characters and themes, but I can’t help but critique certain elements of referenced classical music & the piano.
    What are some of your favourite Anime?
    In no particular order.
  • Monster -> Probably the closest anime to perfect, if I were to rate it from a reviewer’s point of view.
  • Code Geass -> Watching political strategy unfold with sci-fi & one of the best OSTs I’ve heard.
  • Laputa Castle in the Sky -> Mostly nostalgia.
  • Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo -> Not much of an art person, but coming from a field filled with child prodigies, this anime helped me managed myself a lot. Perhaps I was just lucky to come across it with good timing.
  • GTO -> Infinite re-watchablity.
  • Clannad & Afterstory -> Still unsure of why I like this anime so much. If I had to pick something it would probably be Tomoya’s nihilism being put to the test.
    What Anime are you looking forward to?
    -Nisekoi -> Not really fond of it, but I watched the first season and I will never be satisfied until I provide myself with an ending.
    -Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru -> More of Hachiman’s soliloquies & more of Yukino.
    -Haganai -> I’ve been following the light novels, seems like the ending was season 2 was a good way to segue into an more serious tone for the show.
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Hmm~ maybe I underestimate non-LN readers a bit, lol. Well, because some of them, in another forum, seemed to skip that slight explanation. They then went bananas on Mahouka, saying how lack of effect the animation is and thus, questioning how can highschoolers calmly fight those terrorists single-handedly. Maybe because they don’t know that a magician’s minds are different from non-magicians.

I do think the chances of second season are quite high. There are signs in the last episode, and in the android game, the staffs already voiced the characters who hadn’t appeared in the anime yet. Since they already have the seiyuus, I think 2nd season is not impossible.

You WILL love the backstory of the Shibas. There, you’ll understand why Tatsuya and Miyuki act like that towards each other.
Actually the first (or second?) opening song slightly foresaw their past.

HA. Of course its not impossible. BUT:

Now, would I want a second season… maybe? I would certainly watch one, and would probably enjoy it too, but the whole show just gave me the feeling that the LNs were probably much better.

So, somebody mentioned “Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?” in a discussion somewhere on this forum, so I just went ahead and watched it. It was quite refreshing, I must say. I liked it ^^

That… might have been me?
It’s one of my friends’ favorite anime, and a couple others have praised it. I couldn’t get very far into it though. An anime about a powerplay protagonist, but instead of actually sticking to the powerplay, they focus on some boring undeveloped minor characters.

From the episodes I watched, it just appeared to be an action anime without the action.

I liked it too. It was short, and LN adaptation endings almost always suck because the source material’s usually not finished, but it was entertaining. I’ve read some of the LN, but I haven’t gotten past where the anime ended yet.

Obviously its shares a ton of similarities with NGNL, but I’d say it takes a very different approach on the concept. There’s even a part in NGNL where it seemed to me like they were making fun of Mondaiji-tachi: (Light NGNL/Mondaiji-tachi basic plot spoilers) Sora says it would be boring and stupid for his goal to be to “save humanity” or whatever, which is exactly what the point of Mondaiji-tachi had seemed to do with the concept before.

I personally really like OP, powerhungry, arrogant protags, so I enjoy pretty much anything has one.

Coming a from a LN reader this stays pretty true to form. You do get Izayoi’s back story and it does focus on him a bit in upcoming arcs but the focus mostly stays on Asuna and You. Which isn’t always a bad thing both of their powers get more fleshed out later and you get to understand their characters a bit more.

I’m the same way to a point. The character has to have something going for him other than “I’m OP look at me” I’m looking at you Tatsuya. Luckily Izaya has a fun personality to go with his power, and its also an interesting take to me in that even he doesn’t understand what his power is. (Later Volume LN spoiler) It’s also interesting its revealed later on that even the people in his community are scared of him because of how unpredictable he is.

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Entertaining that I only just read this as I felt obliged to mention I downloaded all four CDs. Yeah, music was excellent. Maybe not one of the best I’ve heard nowadays, as it probably wouldn’t be in my top 5, but still excellent.

Someone here recommended me “Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate”. I finally got through it. Seriously though, watching it felt more like a chore. What I assume to be the ‘common route’ parts were kinda boring and the comedy kinda underwhelming. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t find elections to be particularly interesting or exciting. And then ther’s the hardcore brutal and dramatic stuff going on in the background, behind the main cast’s back. Here’s the thing: that particular drama, while pretty hardcore, felt totally disconnected from the rest of the story. Not plot-wise, but mood-wise. It didn’t feel like those two were happening in the same world. It just didn’t fit together and it didn’t seem believable to me. The setting was supposed to be a rich kids elite school, but it actually gave off similar vibes as the school in Tenjou Tenge, seeing how those kids behave when no one’s looking.

I won’t bother mentioning anything related to Key here, since that’d be obvious, I think.

  • Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu – Including the shorts and the movie. I’ve read all the books, and I’ve never skipped an episode of Endless Eight in any of my (numerous) watch throughs. I even use the English dub as an audio only file to listen to while working.
  • Serial Experiments Lain – This is the best show I’ve ever seen. That will vary widely from person to person, like with Evangelion. This came out around the same time as it and seems to have been overshadowed.
  • Kokoro Connect – When I looked at the reviews I noticed a lot of people disliked this. Personally, the concepts and philosophy presented were very refreshing. Sure, the animation could have been marginally better, but overall it was wonderful. I have not read through the original material yet, nor do I own any of the manga… (again, yet).
  • Humanoid Kikaider: The Animation – This was my first exposure to anime. Rather, it was the first thing that really hooked me to it. Because of this, I picked up the guitar and developed a fondness for melancholic stories. Watching it again, I discovered it’s not as great as I remembered – and wow was it childish in some ways – but it’s still nostalgic.
  • Gosick – After watching this and very nearly crying, I looked for alternatives to it. That’s when I found Clannad, which had also been recommended numerous times before. (Some fast forwarding later, and I’ve played and seen most of Key’s works and fell in love with Jun Maeda’s and Shinji Orito’s music.)
  • Detective Conan – After having watched all the OVAs, episodes, and movies that were available at the time I looked for alternatives and found Gosick and Dantalian no Shoka. The former would later lead me into Key’s works.
  • Hyouka – This deserves its own mention. (If you can’t tell, I’m fascinated by mystery-like stories. This one wasn’t super mystery oriented, but I wouldn’t say it falls outside the genre either…)
  • Kamisama no Memochou – I can rewatch this over and over again.

Okay, there are too many to give detailed descriptions about, so here’s a bunch that I really liked: Anohana, Attack on Titan, Chiinibyou, Da Capo (I and II), Dantalian no Shoka, Death Note, Detective Academy Q, ef: A Tale of (Memories / Melodies), FLCL, Hataraku Maou-sama, Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl – only saw the first season), K-On!, Kotoura-san, Lucky Star, Madoka Magica, Mondaiji-tachi (Problem Children), Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nijuu Mensou no Musume (The Daughter of Twenty Faces), OniAi (although I prefer the light novels), OreImo, Rurouni Kenshin (This made me want to learn Japanese when I was younger, and influenced my interest in swords and somewhat older Japanese culture), Shuffle! (I’ve only seen the first season), Spiral, Steins;Gate, Sunday Without God, Toradora, Un-Go.

[quote=“Nocturne, post:92, topic:27”]
Monster -> Probably the closest anime to perfect, if I were to rate it from a reviewer’s point of view.
[/quote]I like Monster very much. Johann is my favorite villain, and I found the setting to be a great change of pace.

[quote=“Nocturne, post:92, topic:27”]
-Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru -> More of Hachiman’s soliloquies & more of Yukino.
-Haganai -> I’ve been following the light novels, seems like the ending was season 2 was a good way to segue into an more serious tone for the show.
[/quote]These as well.

I’m currently, slowly, making my way through Cowboy Bebop. I have trouble maintaining interest, but I don’t dislike it. I also occasionally watch an episode of Lupin III (any of the first three seasons) but not often enough…

I’ve been planning to watch: Suzuka, Baccano, Durararara (because everybody says to), Time of Eve, Code Geass, Full Metal Alchemist, Tari Tari, Your Lie in April, Shirobako, Celestial Method, and the new Grisaia anime. Also, Assassination Classroom and Absolute Duo. (I know nothing about Absolute Duo but its characters looked like they were similar to Rewrite’s, so I impulsively added it to the list.)

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, and Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete are also on my list, with the last one having been recommended with “watch if you like Angel Beats.” To be honest, I don’t remember anything about the ones I haven’t watched yet, with the exception of a few of them.

Someone mentioned Shokugana no Shoka. I read the first two light novels of that and found it somewhat enjoyable, so I might add that to my list of anime…

You got an anime tracking account? If so you should post it here, and if not, you should definitely join Hummingbird.

@Kanon’s gonna hate you for this. Which is sad because he was probably gonna get along with you for loving Kanon. Oh well, you should just ignore him like the rest of us do.

[quote=“NotKyon, post:101, topic:27”]
Celestial Method
[/quote]I think all of us here can agree that you can skip this one :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Up for any recommendations? Because I didn’t see Fate/Zero (my personal favorite), Psycho-Pass, or Zankyou no Terror on your list :wink:

And if your watching any currently airing shows and wanna talk about em, we have a whole other topic for those here.

Made by the guy who did the best episode of Digimon Adventure 02 and most of Digimon Tamers! I want him to come back for the new Digimon, but it’s probably not happening T_T

W…what? Kokoro Connect was popular. Some had it as their aots. The only competitors were Tari Tari and SAO.
There’s a giant group of people who vote for Inaban in every single “best something” content on reddit.

I’ll get around to this one day. I’ve been planning to watch it since people started talking positively about it, but I kept holding it off, and eventually just settled for Dantalian no Shoka which wasn’t good… Should’ve just put in the effort and started Gosick.

I remember liking this but not being satisfied. IIRC not much actually happened outside of the episodics. I still listen to the OP and ED though.

There never was a sequel. The sequel VNs didn’t do amazingly enough.

It was my aots, but I’d never recommend it to someone positively. I guess I can see the comparison to Angel Beats? Both were messily made.

Or any other anime tracking website. I’d recommend the two with actual popularity so that you can compare with others. MAL or Anime-Planet. MAL has a wider userbase so it’s the go to for mainstream stuff. Anime-Planet has a smaller userbase, but it’s reviews and scores are generally better than MALs from a critic’s standpoint.
MAL also has discussion threads, but just… stay away from them. It’s the worst thing you’ll ever see.

Oh no. Not just Hyouka. There’s a lot. I mean… Da Capo was just mentioned positively. That’s the anti-Kanon.

Agreed.

[quote=“Takafumi, post:103, topic:27”]
Oh no. Not just Hyouka. There’s a lot. I mean… Da Capo was just mentioned positively. That’s the anti-Kanon.
[/quote]There is a lot of anti-Kanon you just have to take the good with the bad.

[quote=“Takafumi, post:103, topic:27”]
I’ll get around to this one day. I’ve been planning to watch it since people started talking positively about it, but I kept holding it off, and eventually just settled for Dantalian no Shoka which wasn’t good… Should’ve just put in the effort and started Gosick.
[/quote]Dropped Dantalian for Gosick back when it was airing never regretted it.

[quote=“NotKyon, post:101, topic:27”]
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
[/quote]This a hundred times this. I love this anime more than I ever thought I would so much gratuitous piano porn…just for the love of all that is good and kind don’t Google it because the manga ended not long ago.

[quote=“NotKyon, post:101, topic:27”]
Suzuka
[/quote]I really enjoyed Suzuka despite Seo. If you end up watching this and enjoying it there is a “not direct” sequel manga that is running right now called Fuuka.

[quote=“NotKyon, post:101, topic:27”]
Kamisama no Memochou – I can rewatch this over and over again.
[/quote]I need me some more Alice like you don’t even know. This show was amazing but it ended before anything much could happen and I hate that. I swear one day I will read the light novels.