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So I watched Aggretsuko S3
It's pretty shit

I'm NGL, it feels like they suddenly rushed the fuck out of it, Hell, I can't tell if it was the 10 episode format limiting them, or they just want to milk the cow dry for next season. Like, some of these stories went perfectly until Inui found the Retsy's handkerchief.

The character developments felt pointless, cause in the end, it was back to 0 anyway (except for Tadano) . Like with Retsy, they literally just redid the same issues as usual (indecision, questioning self-worth, hiding problems from others), but this time she actually did overcome these with the idol group storyline (to a certain extent), until writers just threw the whole plot away in the end. Also, Retsy was the reason OTM became a hit anyway, they're gonna fucking flop this way.

Haida has it even worse, he looks like a desperate creep in the end. With all the stalking, undecisiveness with Inui, & borderline simpery towards Retsy.

In fact, he seems even creepy & obsessive in the end. Like, everything Fenneko, Gorimi, & Washimi said was right! Give her space & time to heal. Everyone heals at different rates. If anything she should’ve gone to the karaoke alone, not being dragged by him. Also, Haida calling her chicken was just made him Sasuke levels bad, like. "What? You just had some PTSD from almost being murdered, Stop being a bitch about it"

It could've even worked if it was simply her dealing with purely online hate, or a concert that failed or something, but not with literal PTSD from being stalked, attacked, which could've led to a near-death situation. If it were even then, could've only worked perfectly if it was bringing her there as a therapy, instead as a weird vent.

Inui is also feels like a victim of biased writing. I'm a guy who wanted RetsuHaida to happen since last 2 seasons (not this pathetically tho), but I gotta admit that the dating app match thing feels like the writers just needed an excuse to push these 2 together; Not to include, no one can tell that they were actually soul mates or Tadano did some trickery here. All this because the writers pushed themselves in a hole with making Inui best girl by making her a perfect match for Haida & a great person in general. Plus, literally the whole universe told Haida that Inui is best for him, his friends, Retsy's friends & while vaguely, even to a certain extent, Retsy herself & the whole universe (he did multiple versions of "X loves me, X loves me not" trick & it always favoured Inui) told the guy she's best for him. It's like they tried to pull what last seasons pulled with Retsuko, but didn't realize that Retsuko's last 2 partners were shitty beings (Tadano did become good this season tho), not one of the best fucking characters of the series till date.

Like, we had this mature, understanding, kind & loveable character, who became perfect for Haida & could've been a better story for him to learn to let go of his one-sided crush, & actually persue a relationship with a actually good person. But it felt like the writers needed a whole-ass assault on Retsy to make us feel something, which they completely fail at, cause as per Netflix subtitles, (the dub is very dodgy here btw), Haida literally tells Inui at the at the time Inui calls the Ambulance that "if he would've thought about it, he would've chosen you" writers had to throw the poor girl away to pull themselves out of the hole they created, just to jump in the sewer manhole later. This doesn't even pay off in the end either, cause Retsy just friendzoned him the whole season & she still probably won't pursue a romantic relationship laterwards.

Somehow, Tadano & Bossman got the best development in all this.

For me, this season made S2 go from 6/10 to 7/10 & S3 go from what could've been an 8/10 to 6/10.

I also saw Love, Death + Robots today. Pretty great show.
 
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I thought it was hilarious.
I didn't know the third series had started yet so I haven't seen it, but the descriptions of him being eaten by killer bunnies sounds like that one scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 
I enjoyed Gosick, from what I remember of it. It wasn't anything really exceptional but I don't remember ever being bored with it or wanting to drop it.
 
He gets eaten by adorable bunnies. Its funny. I don't get how people think its anything darker than that :V
Yeah that wasn't as bad as I thought. I expected a bloodier rabbit equivalent of the scarabs in the Mummy movies where you see them move around under the skin. It's just two frame shaking and animations like when they stare at each other in dbz. You can tell the animators wouldn't do any more than simple two frame stuff because "jesus christ why am I drawing isekai torture porn for five cents an hour". The build up to finding the rabbits is good though. I don't know the context for this scene, but I always like the "explore an eerily deserted town then suddenly find out what emptied it" bit.
 
I watched Eureka 7 few years ago and I think I was too old to enjoy it. It just felt childish with how the series tried to portray the coral (I think that's how it was called) as something the humans need to adapt to when it's 100% villainous, took over the earth and makes absolutely zero effort to allow humans to adapt to its existence.

In general a lot of anime try to make the villains into dindus because they "think differently" from humans, without really acknowledging sane humans will not forgive the atrocities they commit.
 
Yeah that wasn't as bad as I thought. I expected a bloodier rabbit equivalent of the scarabs in the Mummy movies where you see them move around under the skin. It's just two frame shaking and animations like when they stare at each other in dbz. You can tell the animators wouldn't do any more than simple two frame stuff because "jesus christ why am I drawing isekai torture porn for five cents an hour". The build up to finding the rabbits is good though. I don't know the context for this scene, but I always like the "explore an eerily deserted town then suddenly find out what emptied it" bit.

The clip I found cuts out a couple of times, the full thing is a little bit longer It mostly just kept the bloody parts. I tried to find a better one without the watermark but the episode has only been out for a day. For example when his hand gets bitten off he was reaching out to touch the first rabbit, there is a beat where he realizes that he's surrounded and helpless before they mob him.

Also: CRAWLING IN MY SKIN!
 
Its probably a miracle he isn't completely mentally broken at this point (though that does happen in the first season).

Tbf it was a miracle a la Echidna's bodily fluids.
Those rabbits under his skin made me feel uncomfortable, bloody hell.

Fun fact, in the web novel it specifically mentions that they went in from both ends.

Btw people should really watch Deca-dance. Its pretty damn good so far.
 

The Top 20 Romance Anime According to Otaku USA Readers
by Otaku USA Staff August 22, 2020

Clannad: After Story


Last week we asked our readers to vote on what they felt was the best romance anime series and films. We’ve compiled a ranked list of the top 20 choices out of the 60+ candidates which were in the running. The results were as follows:

20) 5 Centimeters Per Second (11 votes)
19) Skip Beat! (12 votes)
18) Nana (13 votes)
17) Yona of the Dawn (16 votes)
16) Say “I Love You” (17 votes)
15) Junjou Romantica (18 votes)
14) Maison Ikkoku (19 votes)
13) Ah My Goddess (21 votes)
12) Maid Sama! (23 votes)
11) Clannad: After Story (24 votes)
My Love Story
10) My Love Story (25 votes)
kamisama-kiss-anime.jpg
9) Kamisama Kiss (26 votes)
Your Lie in April
8) Your Lie in April (27 votes)
Spice & Wolf
7) Spice & Wolf (28 votes)
A Silent Voice
6) A Silent Voice (32 votes)
The Ancient Magus' Bride
5) The Ancient Magus’ Bride (33 votes)
Toradora!
4) Toradora! (45 votes)
Fruits Basket
3) Fruits Basket (49 votes
Snow White with the Red Hair
2) Snow White with the Red Hair (55)
your name.
1) Your Name. (65 votes)
Snow White With The Red Hair is seemingly the biggest surprise, as in the past it did not seem to be driving hype on par with Makoto Shinkai theatrical releases. It’s impressive that oldies like Maison Ikkoku and Ah My Goddessare still hanging in there beside more modern favorites like Maid Sama!after all these years.

Was there a title which didn’t rise as high as you expected in the rankings? Do you feel any of the top picks didn’t really deserve the votes? Let us know in the comments!
 
Also wanted to point out, three days ago was Satoshi Kon’s birthday.
I’ve seen almost all of his creations: Paprika, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Millenium Actress

I still have yet to watch Paranoia Agent, but I’ll be sure to watch it on the weekend while I write reviews for the movies listed above on MyAnimeList.

Anyway, special little interview he did talking about Paranoia Agent below:

 

The Top 20 Romance Anime According to Otaku USA Readers
by Otaku USA Staff August 22, 2020

Clannad: After Story


Last week we asked our readers to vote on what they felt was the best romance anime series and films. We’ve compiled a ranked list of the top 20 choices out of the 60+ candidates which were in the running. The results were as follows:

20) 5 Centimeters Per Second (11 votes)
19) Skip Beat! (12 votes)
18) Nana (13 votes)
17) Yona of the Dawn (16 votes)
16) Say “I Love You” (17 votes)
15) Junjou Romantica (18 votes)
14) Maison Ikkoku (19 votes)
13) Ah My Goddess (21 votes)
12) Maid Sama! (23 votes)
11) Clannad: After Story (24 votes)
My Love Story
10) My Love Story (25 votes)
kamisama-kiss-anime.jpg
9) Kamisama Kiss (26 votes)
Your Lie in April
8) Your Lie in April (27 votes)
Spice & Wolf
7) Spice & Wolf (28 votes)
A Silent Voice
6) A Silent Voice (32 votes)
The Ancient Magus' Bride' Bride
5) The Ancient Magus’ Bride (33 votes)
Toradora!
4) Toradora! (45 votes)
Fruits Basket
3) Fruits Basket (49 votes
Snow White with the Red Hair
2) Snow White with the Red Hair (55)
your name.
1) Your Name. (65 votes)
Snow White With The Red Hair is seemingly the biggest surprise, as in the past it did not seem to be driving hype on par with Makoto Shinkai theatrical releases. It’s impressive that oldies like Maison Ikkoku and Ah My Goddessare still hanging in there beside more modern favorites like Maid Sama!after all these years.

Was there a title which didn’t rise as high as you expected in the rankings? Do you feel any of the top picks didn’t really deserve the votes? Let us know in the comments!
As much as I love Spice and Wolf there wasn't really much romance in it, there was a bit of romantic tension at times but that wasn't really explored, at least in the anime. I know there's a bunch of light novels that carry on the story, but the title states "Top 20 Romance Anime".

A Silent Voice was great and all, but if it you think too much about it the main character seems selfish for trying to force himself into the deaf girl's life again just so he can apologise and make himself feel better.

Nana shouldn't even be on the list because the mangaka fell off the face of the earth before finishing it, also Nana was a fucking retard who constantly made the worst choice possible.

The only other animes I recognise on that list are Toradora, Clannad, and Your Name, and I'd rate them lowest-highest in that order.
 
Fun fact, in the web novel it specifically mentions that they went in from both ends.
lmao

Btw people should really watch Deca-dance. Its pretty damn good so far.
My friend convinced me to dl a few episodes just the other day, Apparently episode 2's animation sells it. I trust his judgement on this sort of thing. Really, all I needed to know it was that it had same director as Mob Psycho 100 and a similar budget. It can't NOT be good.
 
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Also wanted to point out, three days ago was Satoshi Kon’s birthday.
I’ve seen almost all of his creations: Paprika, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Millenium Actress

I still have yet to watch Paranoia Agent, but I’ll be sure to watch it on the weekend while I write reviews for the movies listed above on MyAnimeList.

Anyway, special little interview he did talking about Paranoia Agent below:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1GsfWyhMip8

I once saw Satoshi Kon in person doing a sketch of Mima from Perfect Blue for a fan with a sketchpad leaning on the wall of Montreal's Imperial Theatre after the world premiere of Millennium Actress at the FantAsia Festival in July 2001.

He was also smoking. I'd like to believe that if he hadn't been doing the latter, we'd still have him around today.
 

I don't understand, is a very sad anime about distance between people and lost connections and missed opertunities because of myopic focus on we can't have instead of what's right in front of us, but romance?

Bones series I find are a really mixed bag, they've done some truly amazing series, enjoyable yet flawed series, and then a bunch of wasted potential too. From those that I've seen, most have fallen into the first two categories with some I'd need to rewatch to figure out which of the two they more fall into.

  • FMA/FMA:B - Put together because FMA:B has a far weaker start and really only pulls ahead for me after it gets into manga content not covered in the first. First series is also not bad but the anime original last third is kind of wonky.
  • Eureka Seven - Slow to start, I've read off /m/ it had a fairly troubled production regarding story direction so it's impressive it had such a solid ending.
  • Soul Eater - People complain about the ending but I never really minded it. Incredible cast of characters, fights, and it oozes style.
  • Ouran - Classic, ending wasn't too bad given what they had to work with though I'd kill for a remake ala Brotherhood. Really enjoyed the anime original episodes like Haruhi in Wonderland.
  • Concrete Revolutio - I've already gushed about this show a little ways back.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair series - Actually better than the manga given its current state of Second Lead Syndrome + contrived Drama + no end in sight. Season 2 has a good ending as far as I can remember so I just consider the series anime original and pretend that's the end.
  • Mob Psycho I/II - Clear labor of love from Bones + the obvious thirst that Bones felt for Reigen is hilarious.
  • Un-Go - Incredibly underrated mystery/detective series
  • Sword of the Stranger - Amazing fight scenes and good story with a memorable ending. That OST.
For their decent but flawed I'd say: Scrapped Princess, Blast of Tempest, Chaika (s1), and FMA: CoS. For their wasted potential it's Xam'd, Captain Earth (Dropped it) and Jyu-Oh-Sei (actually pisses me off) with having heard from a friend that Dragon Pilot also fell into this tier for them. I've yet to see: Rahxephon, Wolf's Rain (the ending got spoiled to me and I've been putting it off since), Heroman, Star Driver, Gosick, Space Dandy, Kekkai Sensen, and Show by Rock but I plan to at some point. There one of the studios I'll typically keep tabs on to see what they're putting out but nothing since MP II has caught my interest since I don't care about MHA and dropped Bungo part way into season 2 because it suffers from "interesting side characters with really meh MC that I don't care about." Best part of that series was the start of s2 with the flashback episodes and I lost interest once it ended.

RahXephon is sometimes compared with Evangelion, which isn't an entirely awful comparison, it's a more coherent series and no where near as far up it's own ass. It's a good show, I'd recommend it. Star Driver wants to be Utena/Mawaru Panguindrum with mecha really, really badly, it has it's moments, but it's not great. Space Dandy is worth a watch, but since every episode has a different director it can be very hit or miss. I really wanted Xam'd to be better than it was.
 

The Top 20 Romance Anime According to Otaku USA Readers
by Otaku USA Staff August 22, 2020

Clannad: After Story


Last week we asked our readers to vote on what they felt was the best romance anime series and films. We’ve compiled a ranked list of the top 20 choices out of the 60+ candidates which were in the running. The results were as follows:

20) 5 Centimeters Per Second (11 votes)
19) Skip Beat! (12 votes)
18) Nana (13 votes)
17) Yona of the Dawn (16 votes)
16) Say “I Love You” (17 votes)
15) Junjou Romantica (18 votes)
14) Maison Ikkoku (19 votes)
13) Ah My Goddess (21 votes)
12) Maid Sama! (23 votes)
11) Clannad: After Story (24 votes)
My Love Story
10) My Love Story (25 votes)
kamisama-kiss-anime.jpg
9) Kamisama Kiss (26 votes)
Your Lie in April
8) Your Lie in April (27 votes)
Spice & Wolf
7) Spice & Wolf (28 votes)
A Silent Voice
6) A Silent Voice (32 votes)
The Ancient Magus' Bride' Bride
5) The Ancient Magus’ Bride (33 votes)
Toradora!
4) Toradora! (45 votes)
Fruits Basket
3) Fruits Basket (49 votes
Snow White with the Red Hair
2) Snow White with the Red Hair (55)
your name.
1) Your Name. (65 votes)
Snow White With The Red Hair is seemingly the biggest surprise, as in the past it did not seem to be driving hype on par with Makoto Shinkai theatrical releases. It’s impressive that oldies like Maison Ikkoku and Ah My Goddessare still hanging in there beside more modern favorites like Maid Sama!after all these years.

Was there a title which didn’t rise as high as you expected in the rankings? Do you feel any of the top picks didn’t really deserve the votes? Let us know in the comments!
That list is...something alright, has a lot of stuff I personally wouldn't consider romance anime (To me, romance anime is where the romance is either the major focus or a core plot element) listed and some recency bias. Going over what I know of each series:
  1. 5 Centimeters Per Second - I guess it's a romance, but it mostly focuses on lost love and regret.
  2. Skip Beat! - Romance wasn't really the focus for the series (more the comedy and kyoko's personal growth) so I wouldn't count this and it's only just pushing the romance in the latest chapters (Massive amount of fan freak out over Kyoko and Ren kissing after how many years)
  3. Nana - Haven't seen so no comment
  4. Yona of the Dawn - Similar to Skip Beat, there is some stuff with Yona and Hak but it's no where near the focus and again it only started to come into focus recently in the manga (Though I dropped it a while ago).
  5. Say “I Love You” - it counts but I would never put it in a best romance list.
  6. Junjou Romantica - It "counts" but is an awful series that features everything wrong with the Yaoi genre and I have no idea why it remains so popular with better series around.
  7. Maison Ikkoku - Haven't seen.
  8. Ah My Goddess - Haven't seen and all I know about it is the controversy about what happened to MC.
  9. Maid Sama! - I guess yeah, enjoyed it but I wouldn't put it into my personally top romance series.
  10. Clannad: After Story - I didn't have the stomach to watch it, but just going off what I remember from the first season it's probably right to include this.
  11. My Love Story - Actually romance anime, was cute from what I watched (never finished) and is a fine inclusion.
  12. Kamisama Kiss - Only read some of the manga but it counts, didn't personally wow me though.
  13. Your Lie in April - Haven't Seen
  14. Spice & Wolf - Wouldn't really count the anime as romance.
  15. A Silent Voice - This one's fine.
  16. The Ancient Magus’ Bride - Would not count this as romance if it's referring to Chise and Elias, their relationship isn't that simple, and it's especially weird to see it there as a manga reader.
  17. Toradora - I didn't personally enjoy this series because I couldn't stand Taiga, but it is a highly popular romance series so it counts.
  18. Fruits Basket - A great romance series, glad to see it.
  19. Snow White with the Red Hair - Really cute romance between Shirayuki and Zen + side cast. Anime doesn't suffer too much from the author dragging out Obi for Second Lead drama.
  20. Your Name - Yeah I guess, personally just found it okay after hearing all the hype but it is a romance.
Feels like some great titles were ignored for some questionable ones. I would have personally thrown in:
  • For better Yaoi -Doukyuusei
  • Obligatory Yuri rep - Bloom into You
  • Recency Bias - Tsuki ga Kirei, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou, and Kimi ni Todoke (I just realized these all aren't as recent as I thought, time flies far too fast).
  • Classics - Escaflowne, Utena, KareKano
  • Underrated - Kobato, Romeo X Juliet, Princess Tutu (also fits into Classics)
  • Movies - Whispers of the Heart and Hotarubi no Mori e (Seriously underrated, by the Natsume author who is really good at bringing on the tears)
RahXephon is sometimes compared with Evangelion, which isn't an entirely awful comparison, it's a more coherent series and no where near as far up it's own ass. It's a good show, I'd recommend it. Star Driver wants to be Utena/Mawaru Panguindrum with mecha really, really badly, it has it's moments, but it's not great. Space Dandy is worth a watch, but since every episode has a different director it can be very hit or miss. I really wanted Xam'd to be better than it was.
Just finished up downloading Rahxephon so I'll probably get to watching it after I catch up in Fruits Basket. I started getting interested in watching it after hearing some of the soundtrack that I had to go digging around for a good torrent of and finding a impressive early amv for it that is at least 12 years old.
 
Ah My Goddess - Haven't seen and all I know about it is the controversy about what happened to MC.

Ah My Goddess in anime form is pretty great, mainly because Belldandy is voiced by Kikuko Inoue, who's like the platonic ideal of MILF voices in anime. You may eventually feel bad for Bell though, since she's happy being the MC's waifu, but she'd really like to get laid eventually.

Your Lie in April - Haven't Seen

Lots of drama, not bad though, and the piano playing scenes are worth watching just for the animation. They accurately animate the piano and it's fantastic.

Just finished up downloading Rahxephon so I'll probably get to watching it after I catch up in Fruits Basket. I started getting interested in watching it after hearing some of the soundtrack that I had to go digging around for a good torrent of and finding a impressive early amv for it that is at least 12 years old.

I have a BD rip of it, but it's a couple years old, so don't know if it's top of the line, but it looks pretty good for an early aughts anime.


This AMV by any chance? There are some slight spoilers in there, but I don't know if you'd catch them without having seen the show.
 
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