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Atatata said:
I was thinking about watching Plunderer, especially since I heard a bit more about it. Guess I should check it out, then.
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The only thing I know about Plunderer is a manga panel that was apparently not animated:
ouVDdwN.jpg

Thought I was joking?
I'm more familiar with the author's other work, Dokunie Cooking.
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In that particular story, an elf is offered to a tentacle monster so it can stop wrecking a village inhabited by acorn people (she is completely onboard with being a sacrifice because she can pay off the interest on her debt). However, the monster keeps spitting her out because she has bad foot odor, so now the elf harasses it every day and begs to be eaten, practicing various cooking techniques to make herself more palatable.

And then shit gets weird.
 
Pinot Pierrot said:
The only thing I know about Plunderer is a manga panel that was apparently not animated:
View attachment 1234265
Thought I was joking?
Click to expand...
I don't think they wanted to have the implication that the kid died after the helicopter got shot down. And also that the story in the later parts NEVER ADDRESSES THIS
 

Voice Actor Keiji Fujiwara Dies at 55

Prolific voice actor Keiji Fujiwara, best known as Hunter x Hunter's Leorio Paladiknight and Fullmetal Alchemist's Maes Hughes, died on Sunday due to cancer. He was 55 years old.

According to a post on his talent management company Air Agency's official website, Fujiwara had been fighting cancer for some time. The wake ceremony and funeral were held by his relatives only.

Born in Tokyo in 1964, Fujiwara spent most of his childhood in the Iwate Prefecture. He graduated from Senshu Daigaku Kitakami High School and went back to Tokyo to attend Bungakuza Theater Research Institute. He performed in many theatre troupes, notably Kiyama Office, during the 1980s.

Fujiwara debuted as a voice actor with RPG Densetsu Hepoi at talent agency Ken Production in the early 90s and first appeared as a regular in Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He landed his breakthrough role, Shinnosuke's father Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, in 1992. Fujiwara left Ken Production in 2006 and founded Air Agency. He also began lecturing at Japan Newart College in 2008.

In August 2016, he took a break from his work to receive medical treatment for an unspecified illness, but resumed voice acting the following June while taking his health into consideration. During his hiatus, Toshiyuki Morikawa took over his role as Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan.

rip.
1587036358785.png
 
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Pinot Pierrot said:
The only thing I know about Plunderer is a manga panel that was apparently not animated:
View attachment 1234265
Thought I was joking?
I'm more familiar with the author's other work, Dokunie Cooking.
View attachment 1234270
In that particular story, an elf is offered to a tentacle monster so it can stop wrecking a village inhabited by acorn people (she is completely onboard with being a sacrifice because she can pay off the interest on her debt). However, the monster keeps spitting her out because she has bad foot odor, so now the elf harasses it every day and begs to be eaten, practicing various cooking techniques to make herself more palatable.

And then shit gets weird.
Click to expand...

There is a major issue with the mangaka that he can't decide what mood the story should have. Plunderer (both manga & anime) & some of his other works also suffer from this.

On one hand, it (Plunderer) starts light & becomes suddenly dark, which isn't bad. What's bad is that on the other hand, it becomes very fan-servicey & pervy. Which I also don't mind, but the sudden shifts (which are there since the beginning btw) in tone becomes pretty jarring, specifically due to the world & story being good.

There are some pointers which are not necessary, but good to know before hand:

1: The anime has some 1-2 fillers due to the manga not having many chapters eventhough it's 5 years old & it could've been worse cause this anime was planned since 2018. They aren't bad & don't really ruin the flow of the story.

2: IIRC, the manga scanlations had some hiatuses. Specifically since the anime's release

3: The best, most chad-like character is Ironjail, a guy who looks like Vergil from DMC & Ignis from FFXV had a love child. Even his father is awesome.

TL;DR: The anime isn't the worse (apart from that one cut Loli Helicopter scene) but don't expect it to be too much hype.
 
I finally got around to watching season 2 of Aggretsuko. I have to say, I didn’t expect it to be as based as it was. It’s to the point that I think only Japan could have gotten away with it.
Retsuko is basically a career woman who realizes that she really wants to be a housewife who’s taken care of, but is not getting any younger. So she starts looking for a traditional marriage. When she’s doing the speed-dating one of the biggest things she looks for is the mans income, and that’s a pretty big ‘red pill’ talking point these days. And when she does find a rich man who loves her but doesn’t want marriage, she decides she wants to be traditional and wait for a guy who does want to get married and have a family.
And it’s not even trying to sell you on those ideas, that’s just how it is for the characters in the show. It’s very fascinating to see because an American cartoon wouldn’t really do that.
 
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Atatata said:
I was thinking about watching Plunderer, especially since I heard a bit more about it. Guess I should check it out, then.

ID:Invaded was the shit. I wonder if they might decide to make a season 2.
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Plunderer honestly has a very 1980s, spaghetti Western type feel, and this goes with the music as well. Its a really interesting mix. Especially when it goes where you don't think it does.

Also ID: Invaded has the best fucking end theme ever:


I never skip it and when it has cliffhanger moments and it ends with this, its fucking amazing. I heartily recommend ID: Invaded. As others have said, since its an original anime its well-paced, well thought out and planned. The characters have depth and the concept is a mix between Inception, The Cell and Minority Report.

Its a great investigative drama. Excellent sci-fi detective story. To me, its equivalent to Psycho Pass in quality (and everyone should watch Psycho Pass).

King Dead said:
Well, aside from Dorohedoro which I still have yet to finish catching up on, I got through the rest of the series I was watching last season. So why the fuck not, quick reviews in no particular order (and probably some plot spoilers, be warned):
Darwin's Game: Started out feeling a lot like Mirai Nikki (survival game with magic powers, main character has a particularly strong one but is inexperienced, psycho love interest), but I really enjoyed where it went over the season. Kaname came into his own as the main character, and the turning point at the end of the penultimate episode when he finally let loose and didn't hold back from killing anymore was a sight to see. Apparently the manga is in its final arc, so fingers crossed they continue the anime adaptation soon.

In/Spectre: A really fun series, though I imagine some people might get turned off from the final few episodes when Iwanaga is destroying Steel Lady Nanase through forum posts. The dynamics between the characters really help it shine, and there's lots of great comedic moments, with just enough stakes to keep you thoroughly invested. I don't know how much of the manga was adapted, but the ending leaves room for more, though the arc's plot points are resolved by the end. Also, dem Nanase tiddies.

Somali and the Forest Spirit: Ho man, this one made me cry so many bitch tears. I haven't gotten so emotional over an anime in a long time, but this one tugged at all the heartstrings. Jotaro's VA was perfectly cast as the Golem, but all the voice actors were great, especially Somali's. Beautiful artwork, absolutely gorgeous to watch. It's an emotional rollercoaster, from cheerful to heartbreaking throughout the series. Obviously didn't adapt the whole manga since it's still ongoing, but it ended at a good spot, again with room for more in the future. I might need to pick up the manga since I enjoyed it so much.

ID:Invaded: I'm still debating which is my favorite anime of the season, either Somali or this. I might just call it a tie, because both are really damn good. I loved how the plot was mysteries within mysteries (who killed Kaeru in each well, the identity of the serial killers, the identity of John Walker, everything surrounding Kiki Asukai), and it was fun to try and work out the answers ahead of time. Since it was anime-original, it was well-paced, the mystery unfolding steadily over the season. Great and imaginative visuals, great cast, and a satisfying conclusion, not to mention an awesome soundtrack. Well worth checking out if you haven't.

Plunderer: It's still ongoing so I can't give a full review, but man, it's not what I expected it would be at all. I went into it expecting a goofy ecchi fantasy show with lots of fanservice, and at first that's what I got (and admittedly there's still lots of fanservice). But when the "demon" coming out of the Abyss at the end of episode 8(?) turned out to be a fucking attack helicopter, I was legitimately floored. The story took an immediate hard left turn and it's gotten crazier since then, with continued revelations about where the Aces came from, what the Althing is, and hints of how Alcian society came to be. It's also fucking hilarious throughout, which only adds to my enjoyment. Can't wait to see more.
Non-spoiler tl;dr: Darwin's Game, In/Spectre, Somali, and ID:Invaded were all great, I made some good picks last season. Plunderer is still going and still great.
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Same for me with Plunderer I thought it was just going to be some weirdo demon but then it was a fucking Apache and I was like 'Oh shit'. It was the best when Licht goes up to destroy it and he is completely shocked when he looks inside the windows and obviously sees people.

I have to watch Somali and the Forest Spirit, I've been meaning to do so.
 
Xenomorphs Are Cute said:
There is a major issue with the mangaka that he can't decide what mood the story should have. Plunderer (both manga & anime) & some of his other works also suffer from this.

On one hand, it (Plunderer) starts light & becomes suddenly dark, which isn't bad. What's bad is that on the other hand, it becomes very fan-servicey & pervy. Which I also don't mind, but the sudden shifts (which are there since the beginning btw) in tone becomes pretty jarring, specifically due to the world & story being good.
Click to expand...

I have mixed feelings about Plunderer. I really enjoy the potential the story and characters have, but there's just so much inconsistency in a lot of things, including the tone as you said. I have the biggest issues with Hina, or at least how they decided to write her to be able to tell the story/push the characters together/push the... plot.. at least in the first couple episodes.

spoilered just in case
Hina has been travelling the country for 5 years.... but knows nothing about how the world works? I understand that the first episode had Nana vomit exposition so that the audience would understand, but it makes no sense that Hina is that naive. She has a ballot, given to her by her mother, to give to the Ace. But the moment the Ace (be it the fake or real one) actually want to take it/do take it, she's all tears and is devastated because they took it... despite that being the whole reason she has it. And then it's never mentioned again.
Sonohara, in her powered state, says she want's licht to kill her, that's her wish. Why then is she so scared when it actually becomes a possibility?

In saying that.... I am completely sucked into it. I really, really like Eric Vale's voicing work for Licht, and the casting choices for Nana, Lyne and Pele fit really well IMO too.
Wanted to buy the Manga, but good golly gosh it's 50 fricken dollarydoos per volume, and isn't available on Google Play in my country. Rood.
 
Kill all whales said:

Voice Actor Keiji Fujiwara Dies at 55

Prolific voice actor Keiji Fujiwara, best known as Hunter x Hunter's Leorio Paladiknight and Fullmetal Alchemist's Maes Hughes, died on Sunday due to cancer. He was 55 years old.

According to a post on his talent management company Air Agency's official website, Fujiwara had been fighting cancer for some time. The wake ceremony and funeral were held by his relatives only.

Born in Tokyo in 1964, Fujiwara spent most of his childhood in the Iwate Prefecture. He graduated from Senshu Daigaku Kitakami High School and went back to Tokyo to attend Bungakuza Theater Research Institute. He performed in many theatre troupes, notably Kiyama Office, during the 1980s.

Fujiwara debuted as a voice actor with RPG Densetsu Hepoi at talent agency Ken Production in the early 90s and first appeared as a regular in Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He landed his breakthrough role, Shinnosuke's father Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, in 1992. Fujiwara left Ken Production in 2006 and founded Air Agency. He also began lecturing at Japan Newart College in 2008.

In August 2016, he took a break from his work to receive medical treatment for an unspecified illness, but resumed voice acting the following June while taking his health into consideration. During his hiatus, Toshiyuki Morikawa took over his role as Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan.

rip.
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What the fuck. This is seriously upsetting. (:_(
 
Secret Asshole said:
Plunderer honestly has a very 1980s, spaghetti Western type feel, and this goes with the music as well. Its a really interesting mix. Especially when it goes where you don't think it does.
Same for me with Plunderer I thought it was just going to be some weirdo demon but then it was a fucking Apache and I was like 'Oh shit'. It was the best when Licht goes up to destroy it and he is completely shocked when he looks inside the windows and obviously sees people.
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If you like the old feel of Plunderer, I’d recommend Minazuki’s old work Watashi no Messiah-sama
 
CivilianOfTheFandomWars said:
I finally got around to watching season 2 of Aggretsuko. I have to say, I didn’t expect it to be as based as it was. It’s to the point that I think only Japan could have gotten away with it.
Retsuko is basically a career woman who realizes that she really wants to be a housewife who’s taken care of, but is not getting any younger. So she starts looking for a traditional marriage. When she’s doing the speed-dating one of the biggest things she looks for is the mans income, and that’s a pretty big ‘red pill’ talking point these days. And when she does find a rich man who loves her but doesn’t want marriage, she decides she wants to be traditional and wait for a guy who does want to get married and have a family.
And it’s not even trying to sell you on those ideas, that’s just how it is for the characters in the show. It’s very fascinating to see because an American cartoon wouldn’t really do that.
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Haven't gotten around to S2 yet. But I just wanted to say people in the west have forgotten how important a well made household is and how to appreciate it. Ain't nothing closer to heaven than being at home with your sweetheart when a day's work has kept you apart.
 
Kill all whales said:

Voice Actor Keiji Fujiwara Dies at 55

Prolific voice actor Keiji Fujiwara, best known as Hunter x Hunter's Leorio Paladiknight and Fullmetal Alchemist's Maes Hughes, died on Sunday due to cancer. He was 55 years old.

According to a post on his talent management company Air Agency's official website, Fujiwara had been fighting cancer for some time. The wake ceremony and funeral were held by his relatives only.

Born in Tokyo in 1964, Fujiwara spent most of his childhood in the Iwate Prefecture. He graduated from Senshu Daigaku Kitakami High School and went back to Tokyo to attend Bungakuza Theater Research Institute. He performed in many theatre troupes, notably Kiyama Office, during the 1980s.

Fujiwara debuted as a voice actor with RPG Densetsu Hepoi at talent agency Ken Production in the early 90s and first appeared as a regular in Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He landed his breakthrough role, Shinnosuke's father Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, in 1992. Fujiwara left Ken Production in 2006 and founded Air Agency. He also began lecturing at Japan Newart College in 2008.

In August 2016, he took a break from his work to receive medical treatment for an unspecified illness, but resumed voice acting the following June while taking his health into consideration. During his hiatus, Toshiyuki Morikawa took over his role as Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan.

rip.
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I’d like to make it through at least a few years without having to get upset over a new version of the death of Hughes, and yet the world continues to gut punch me with it.
 
Maurice Caine said:
is the TV series any good? I saw the Tenchi OVA many moons ago and it was alright.
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I'll only give an opinion about the first Tenchi Muyo! TV series, known as Tenchi Universe in the west.

The animation quality takes a big hit when compared to the OVAs and the TV series Kagato (who doesn't show up until near the end of the series) isn't anywhere near as memorable a villain as the OVA version but, on the other hand, I love Galaxy Police Detective First Class Kiyone Makibi as a character and she's not in the OVA series other than the Mihoshi Special (where her partner Mihoshi Kuramitsu is an unreliable narrator) and it dispenses with some of the weirder plot elements of the OVA, like the question of whether Sasami is really still Sasami or whether she's now more Tsunami than Sasami although if you like the ambiguous plot elements especially those brought up in the 2nd OVA series, maybe your milage will vary.

Another reason to watch the 1st TV series is that it shares the same continuity with the first movie, Tenchi Muyo in Love and third movie, Tenchi Forever. Tenchi Muyo in Love can still be pretty much understood with only OVA knowledge but Achika was only Tenchi's mother in this continuity.

The TV series is also 26 episodes, more episodes than the 2 main continuity OVA series that preceded it combined, so that means a lot more filler, but I enjoy standalone episodes so that's a plus as far as I'm concerned.
 
Maurice Caine said:
is the TV series any good? I saw the Tenchi OVA many moons ago and it was alright.
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Well, it's decent enough, not by any means perfect. It suffers what a bunch of anime TV series did in the 90s to early 00s, like filler, some of the animation is not that great compared to the OVA, but there some balance of humor and characterizations in them. Kagato's look is different, but the other TV series, the Tokyo one is kinda off because the animation is also not that great it makes Universe look better and it screws up the continuity. By the way, there is something I wish the TV series and OVAs did, show this version of Ayeka:

 
Tenchi Universe was fun. Had its moments where it felt like nothing was going on, but I honestly enjoyed the slice-of-life aspects of it, and it was still fun since I was watching it with a friend. The best part about the series is it has one of my all-time favorite anime openings (of the '90s, at the least).
 
For anyone looking for a great sci-fi series I can't recommend irresponsible captain tylor enough, one of my all time favorite series. Gives me the same sense of enjoyment as Dirty Pair.
It's a lot of fun to watch Tylor clear all obstacles by being either the luckiest idiot or transcended genius and the rest of the cast really grows on you. Nozomi has the full series subbed and dubbed up on their youtube, personally I'm a big fan of the dub. They're also planning on releasing a blu-ray special edition at some point but it's going slow, I trust it'll be a great release since it's one of the favorite series of the guy running nozomi.

Small clip that gives a good introduction to Tylor's character.

Also, for anyone looking for a fun series focused on delinquents Saizen finished up the Be-Bop High school OVAs last year. I haven't gotten around to looking at any of the currently airing anime or finish up what I was watching last season because I've been more interested in watching older shows. Only series I know I'm keeping up with at the moment is Fruits Basket s2 but that's because I'm a big fan of the manga and the first season was so good.
 
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