Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

[Ponderous Pillock]

I've been watching Yona recently, and it's much more promising than most of the recent fansericey crap. It seems like it MIGHT become a reverse-harem, but at least there seems to be a plotline and some intrigue. In at ep 4 thus far.

Shockingly it doesn't. It also ends in a weird as fuck place with zero closure whatsoever, you (once again) have to go grab the manga to continue the story and it gets way more interesting as a result. It's still ongoing but very much worth it.

EDIT: Should also point out to the nerds having their whine about Brock and Misty... them travelling with Ash was the aberration as, in the games they never leave their respective gyms. This whole thing smells of "reboot to the original story of the first games" to me.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I just finished watching the Armitage III OVA. I have the Poly-Matrix film (the one with Keifer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkeley LOL), but seeing the series fully after three years was really nice, awkward Pioneer dub be damned. I can better appreciate it if only because I like Chiaki Konaka as a writer, and the series is just gorgeously animated and designed. Shame it had to scramble as a story by the last episode, but that's a much better ending than Poly-Matrix'.

I did take a quick look on its TV Tropes page for the hell of it, and it's quite possible one of the editors wasn't happy with the series when they realized what its message/intent(?) was despite it making perfect sense in-universe (someone needs to repeat to themselves "it's just an anime, I should really just relax").

Spoiler: Armitage III spoilers

Is the sequel movie worth a watch, just out of curiosity?

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Shockingly it doesn't. It also ends in a weird as fuck place with zero closure whatsoever, you (once again) have to go grab the manga to continue the story and it gets way more interesting as a result. It's still ongoing but very much worth it.

EDIT: Should also point out to the nerds having their whine about Brock and Misty... them travelling with Ash was the aberration as, in the games they never leave their respective gyms. This whole thing smells of "reboot to the original story of the first games" to me.

So pretty much Origins, but in movie form and with closer ties to the anime then. Is that correct?

 

[Sailor_Jupiter]

I just finished watching the Armitage III OVA. I have the Poly-Matrix film (the one with Keifer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkeley LOL), but seeing the series fully after three years was really nice, awkward Pioneer dub be damned. I can better appreciate it if only because I like Chiaki Konaka as a writer, and the series is just gorgeously animated and designed. Shame it had to scramble as a story by the last episode, but that's a much better ending than Poly-Matrix'.

I did take a quick look on its TV Tropes page for the hell of it, and it's quite possible one of the editors wasn't happy with the series when they realized what its message/intent(?) was despite it making perfect sense in-universe (someone needs to repeat to themselves "it's just an anime, I should really just relax").

Spoiler: Armitage III spoilers

View attachment 205907

Is the sequel movie worth a watch, just out of curiosity?

So much reeeeeing. Sounds like I'll have to watch Armitage!

I don't get why she's upset with dudes outsourcing the maternity- feminists DON'T LIKE THAT, remember? Maybe it's not about equal rights, but just about control... Weird. Someone explain?

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

So hey, a Pokémon full on died in the newest Pokémon episode.

 

[Trilby]

So hey, a Pokémon full on died in the newest Pokémon episode.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-2loQlJ8D7E

Well it's something I guess.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

So hey, a Pokémon full on died in the newest Pokémon episode.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-2loQlJ8D7E

The last time they killed off a Pokémon (and kept it dead) was Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. I think this is the first time they actually did it in the main anime series, like full-out bringing in death and not just implying it (there's still talk that Hunter J from D/P may have not died when her ship exploded and sunk, but there was that dead hat shot, so...).

Biggest question, though, is how the dub will treat it. I mean, far as I know, the TPCi dub is slightly better at it than what 4KIDS did (outside of the script being terrible from what I've read--but fans will complain about anything), but they still treat it like a kids' show. Sure, apparently even in the Japanese version they didn't outright say "Yeah, Stoutland's dying", but it was still obvious. So I dunno.

Still, it's nothing groundbreaking for Pokémon. If they killed off a main human character or one of the main character's Pokémon, then that'd be more newsworthy.

 

[Halberd Sonichu]

Welp just finished the Zelda OoT manga the other day and it was pretty neat. I biggest beef with it is that is comm paces stuff way too much. like the water temple starts and ends in two pages and any and all Spirit temple shenanigans are barely thing like the sage awakens out of nowhere. But when when they are allow to breath is qutie the enjoyable read. it makes me wish that the duo behind it are allow more chapters and time. I would love it they were to do a adaption of breath of wild. but under the condition they are allow to talk the story at they own pace. or better yet they allow to make completely original adventure with the universe. I will be checking out they other zelda manga down the road. Thanks Viz for the bundle rerelease

 

[Florence]

View attachment 204208

Fucking filler arcs, man.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

My birthday present came a day early:

and I'm gonna binge it. Maybe. Got places to go tomorrow anyway.

I've thought about this a bit, and I sometimes feel like I'm the only one who actually really likes WataMote despite the cringe. Like I relate to Tomoko oh-so much, yet since I can laugh at myself, I had a fun time every episode. It was probably my favorite of the summer 2013 line-up (liked it a little more than Love Lab--which was great--and Free!), though I wasn't in a big hurry to get the DVD when it was released unlike how it was with Space Dandy lol.

I've heard somewhat mixed feelings about Monica Rial as Tomoko even though I have a lot of faith in her as a voice actress. She's done more great performances than bad, at least off the top of my head, and the one episode I did watch dubbed about a year ago I actually did like how they did it.

 

[Hui]

So, back end of the Spring Season, new shows are out.

I'm watching Sakura Quest and Clockwork Planet.

Quest was very enjoyable and a bit silly and twee if a tad formulaic but I think it's one I will stick with.

Clockwork Planet meanwhile, was a bit... odd? I feel like I know this world from somewhere but I'm not 100% sure.

Clockwork Planet like most of the anime this season got a terrible adaptation. The LN is ok compared to the manga. Danmachi is ironically the best thing out of this season followed by "furry ppl are totally gonna kill the lolis aka black bullet 2". Christ. Eromanga is at least funny I guess and LWA is getting better and better.

<---Oreimo vibes

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

Clockwork Planet like most of the anime this season got a terrible adaptation. The LN is ok compared to the manga. Danmachi is ironically the best thing out of this season followed by "furry ppl are totally gonna kill the lolis aka black bullet 2". Christ. Eromanga is at least funny I guess and LWA is getting better and better.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fDjhQ5m2MbM <---Oreimo vibes

Yeah, admittedly it's confusing as fuck but has gorgeous CGI and just enough intrigue in which is sort of keeping me watching for now.

I've found Love Tyrant funny as heck though just because of Akane:

 

[Hui]

Love Tyrant is ok before the whole drama srs arc. Low budget AF but it wasn't too bad I guess. Guri's autism was well done 2.

 

[Overcast]

My birthday present came a day early:

and I'm gonna binge it. Maybe. Got places to go tomorrow anyway.

I've thought about this a bit, and I sometimes feel like I'm the only one who actually really likes WataMote despite the cringe. Like I relate to Tomoko oh-so much, yet since I can laugh at myself, I had a fun time every episode. It was probably my favorite of the summer 2013 line-up (liked it a little more than Love Lab--which was great--and Free!), though I wasn't in a big hurry to get the DVD when it was released unlike how it was with Space Dandy lol.

I've heard somewhat mixed feelings about Monica Rial as Tomoko even though I have a lot of faith in her as a voice actress. She's done more great performances than bad, at least off the top of my head, and the one episode I did watch dubbed about a year ago I actually did like how they did it.

I thought Monica was fine. The show (and the manga) is kinda weird. I laughed a few times but I felt bad at other times. This is definitely "Cringe: the Show" but that works in its favor I feel.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Got sick today, so I finished the first season of Silver Spoon and started watching Sailor Moon--the DiC dub since that's the only dub available for some reason (though I'll be watching the sub here and there). I didn't grow up on Sailor Moon, so my only true exposure was willing myself to watch Sailor Moon Crystal when it aired since I wanted to see it through non-nostalgic lenses. I didn't like either of the seasons, so I've held off on checking out the original series until now.

And you know what, it's been fun so far. It's just been the six episodes (I gotta go watch three episodes subbed since I found out they didn't dub all of the episodes), but I wasn't bored nor felt a single second of the twenty-minute run-time. It could be the dub script is actually pretty fun for what it is, but I have no complaints thus far.

 

[The Fair Lady]

Got sick today, so I finished the first season of Silver Spoon and started watching Sailor Moon--the DiC dub since that's the only dub available for some reason (though I'll be watching the sub here and there). I didn't grow up on Sailor Moon, so my only true exposure was willing myself to watch Sailor Moon Crystal when it aired since I wanted to see it through non-nostalgic lenses. I didn't like either of the seasons, so I've held off on checking out the original series until now.

And you know what, it's been fun so far. It's just been the six episodes (I gotta go watch three episodes subbed since I found out they didn't dub all of the episodes), but I wasn't bored nor felt a single second of the twenty-minute run-time. It could be the dub script is actually pretty fun for what it is, but I have no complaints thus far.

Censorship and "MUH GAYS" controversy aside the DiC dub really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's full of cheesy and laughable dialogue, but lots of things were cheesy as fuck back in the 90's so it's part of the dub's charm IMO. Also Terri Hawkes is easily the best Sailor Moon.

The first two seasons of Crystal are shit, three is significantly better but it's no big loss if you skip out on it. They've changed the art style yet again for the upcoming fourth arc and it's definitely the best Crystal!Usagi has looked so far.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Censorship and "MUH GAYS" controversy aside the DiC dub really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's full of cheesy and laughable dialogue, but lots of things were cheesy as fuck back in the 90's so it's part of the dub's charm IMO.

See, that's one reason why I will go out of my way to defend a dub if it doesn't deserve the backlash from the purists. The Ocean dub for Cardcaptors? I don't think there's anything wrong with it--it's actually listenable compared to the Animax dub. The Digimon dubs? They're a whole lot of fun, and I felt the humor helped add personality. 4KIDS dubs? They honestly do vary across the board (general consensus is One Piece and Mew Mew Power were their worst dubs and I can agree there), but the company wasn't the fucking devil (though I will forever love this moment).

'Course the problem also is the fact these are fans attacking dubs for children's shows--or at least the fact they were being marketed to children, and American standards for what's appropriate for children are different from Japanese standards. This was the fate of anime in the 90s and early 2000s that were to be aired on non-cable television, there was honestly nothing anyone could really do about it. Now that the Internet is ubiquitous and all of those shows have the original Japanese available online, there really shouldn't be any reason for complaints about old dubs at this point especially since dubs have gotten better in quality.

But fucking purists, man...

The first two seasons of Crystal are shit, three is significantly better but not amazing so it's no big loss if you skip out on it. They've changed the art style yet again for the fourth arc and I gotta say, it's the best Crystal!Usagi has looked so far.

I wasn't that impressed with the Death Busters arc. Honestly, Crystal just makes me think the manga hasn't aged very well despite what people say. Toei just sucks in general, so to judge an entire franchise based on what they did with a recent incarnation is unfair, but I think it does say quite a bit about the management over there.

Lol Toei constantly changing up art styles. Not going to lie, I actually had no issues with the CGI transformation sequences, which is why Chibi Usa's in the second season was so jarring and laughable. At the very least, I had faith they were consistent with the models unlike with a few wonky angles they went with for Usagi's transformation in Death Busters.

 

[Halberd Sonichu]

Just finished reading Junji Ito's Uzumaki and it was a great read. The ideas this guy comes up with are really out there like making a pattern a thing of horror and making it work. I was very unsettled by the art at times and the atmosphere Ito brings chills a times. But I will admit that not every chapter in was home run, i wasn't scared the whole time and I feel that a few story beats happen and nothing much was done with them. It sorta like an horror anthology for the first half, after the chapters stop being one off stories and have a plot to them its gets good. I was gripped pretty hard towards the end. I will be definitely be checking out Ito's other work. Going to give the first volume of Drifters(Didn't watch the Anime) a read next.

OK I going to regret this a little but anyone of you weeboos got manga recommendations? I looking for less well know stuff and I am pretty much open to most things.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Uzumaki was great, though I feel he missed out on a great opportunity for toilet humor with flushing toilets and the like.

Lesser known manga? I'm bad at this lol. Ummmmmm...

For shoujo (I don't know how well-known these are), try Beauty Pop or Kitchen Princess. If you want some fairytale smut, try this mangaka's Ero♥Märchen works. If you want a good shounen, Ushio and Tora. (Yeah, not "lesser known", but more people need to read it.)

 

[Trilby]

See, that's one reason why I will go out of my way to defend a dub if it doesn't deserve the backlash from the purists. The Ocean dub for Cardcaptors? I don't think there's anything wrong with it--it's actually listenable compared to the Animax dub. The Digimon dubs? They're a whole lot of fun, and I felt the humor helped add personality. 4KIDS dubs? They honestly do vary across the board (general consensus is One Piece and Mew Mew Power were their worst dubs and I can agree there), but the company wasn't the fucking devil (though I will forever love this moment).

Oooh, I guess I missed that!

'Course the problem also is the fact these are fans attacking dubs for children's shows--or at least the fact they were being marketed to children, and American standards for what's appropriate for children are different from Japanese standards. This was the fate of anime in the 90s and early 2000s that were to be aired on non-cable television, there was honestly nothing anyone could really do about it.

That's all there is to it. You really can't argue with that, being what it is.

Now that the Internet is ubiquitous and all of those shows have the original Japanese available online, there really shouldn't be any reason for complaints about old dubs at this point especially since dubs have gotten better in quality.

Aha.

But fucking purists, man...

They'll always be there!