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

[Safir]

His films look good and do a great job in making the audience feel specific emotions, but never really held much of a deep ideas or messages.

"There's no return train [from the land of the dead]."
"imma just walk along the tracks lol"

I mean, I love every cel of Arcadia of My Youth, but Miyazaki got the same message through in two lines.

 

[Deftones]

It's probably the contrarian in me but I really dislike Miyazaki both as a person and as a creator. His films look good and do a great job in making the audience feel specific emotions, but never really held much of a deep ideas or messages. Plus idiotic anime fans basically ignore any other important manga creator just to suck up his dick.

The movies I've seen from him (Mononoke, Cagliostro, Grave of the Fireflies) were alright enough, but yeah it's disappointing that other important creators aren't as well-known in the West as Miyazaki.

 

[he who has thus come/gone]

Yeah I enjoyed the demon slayer anime and some of the peak moments were the great animation scenes like the end of the spider lady fight and the hinokami kagura scene, but in other ways it doesn't exactly break new ground in action shounen especially with how, for example, one of the characters is the same old cowardly pervert character I already got tired of in hero academia. Also I've been wanting to read the manga but some friends who'd been reading it said some stuff that kinda made me hesitant, the implication that at one point the story just rushes through plot points too fast and kills off characters for shock value too much.

The best part of the manga is the fact that it has an actual ending. For a super popular shounen, not going on and on for over a decade is a pretty great thing. But the plot does accelerate quickly towards the ending and there are a lot of character deaths.

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

It's probably the contrarian in me but I really dislike Miyazaki both as a person and as a creator. His films look good and do a great job in making the audience feel specific emotions, but never really held much of a deep ideas or messages. Plus idiotic anime fans basically ignore any other important manga creator just to suck up his dick.

I find with Miyazaki films they're really good popcorn flicks to put on when you just want to tune out for a bit, typically not very lasting, but in the moment you're watching them they're a real treat. They're also great family flicks since you can put them on with almost anyone and you'll probably all have a good time, helps that the dubs are all pretty decent besides a glaring few (Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so terrible in The Wind Rises holy shit, his wife is literally dying yet his voice is so monotone).

If I was to say my contrarian position, I do not get the hype around Makoto Shinkai and find most of his films just not good. Sure they're pretty, but the stories are typically pretty bleh and samey. I watched Your Name after seeing it super hyped up and didn't care for it, like it was okay but I didn't get all the hype. All the relationships have a sameness to them where each film just seems to tread the same path yet never go farther in the relationship. Reminds me of Tomino's comments* on Makoto Shinkai films:

He then went on to describe Shinkai's works as "stories about a boy and a girl who are always stretching out their hands towards each other," and said, "And yet the boy's hand never reaches the girl's crotch."

*side note: Literally every time Tomino gives his opinion on something it always pisses off western anime fans and I love it, they hate any time he criticizes modern works when he gets asked about them.

At least with Mamoru Hosoda he does change things up with each film, even if his larger focus is on family, it's him exploring a different aspect of it given his own experience starting a family and watching it grow.

 

[Thomas Talus]

The best part of the manga is the fact that it has an actual ending. For a super popular shounen, not going on and on for over a decade is a pretty great thing. But the plot does accelerate quickly towards the ending and there are a lot of character deaths.

Wasn't it a case of editors telling the mangaka to wrap it up, then suddenly the popularity exploded?

 

[he who has thus come/gone]

Wasn't it a case of editors telling the mangaka to wrap it up, then suddenly the popularity exploded?

I am not weeb enough to know industry details like this, but I could see it. Now if only Kentaro Miura had editors willing to tell him to hurry the fuck up...

 

[Panama]

It's probably the contrarian in me but I really dislike Miyazaki both as a person and as a creator. His films look good and do a great job in making the audience feel specific emotions, but never really held much of a deep ideas or messages. Plus idiotic anime fans basically ignore any other important manga creator just to suck up his dick.

The more I've heard about Miyazaki, the more I dislike him. An absent father who then poisoned his son's attempt to follow in his footsteps, his disdain for the medium that he made a career out of, and has expressed contempt of both fans and his peers. He comes across as a bitter, unpleasant person.

Satoshi Kon was better in his short career. Fight me.

 

[Thomas Talus]

I am not weeb enough to know industry details like this, but I could see it. Now if only Kentaro Miura had editors willing to tell him to hurry the fuck up...

The editors probably are, but he answers only to 765 Productions.

 

[Namekian George Floyd]

Tbf, while I liked the first half of Vinland Saga the latter half starts to kind of suck, at least imo, when the author suddenly wanted to write some preachy shit for his kids. Farmland Saga was alright, bit I personally dropped it after a while.

You mean the first half of the anime or like the next arc? I don't remember part 1 being preachy at all and Part 2 just gave a realistic view on slavery without the "look how evil white people were to black people" narrative for fucking once so people could see why slavery was bad on a fundamental level even if your owner isn't an evil person. I get how people have a problem with Thorfinn slowly turning into a libtard though, now there's a trans character running around or something.

 

[Atatata]

You mean the first half of the anime or like the next arc? I don't remember part 1 being preachy at all and Part 2 just gave a realistic view on slavery without the "look how evil white people were to black people" narrative for fucking once so people could see why slavery was bad on a fundamental level even if your owner isn't an evil person. I get how people have a problem with Thorfinn slowly turning into a libtard though, now there's a trans character running around or something.

Should've been more clear, talking about the manga, and I had no problem with the Farmland arc, actually I liked it, but it was slowly getting more and more preachier. In all honesty I just dropped it because they skipped shit I was looking foward to and added a baby. (So iirc an arc or two after farmland) I didn't make it to the tranny.

I think the anime would've been more talked about either before or after the manga went sideways, but it coming out at the same time might have soured people from recommending it, though I do think the first half stands enough on its own. Farmland would feel a bit tacked on if you consider it that way.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Watadamashi-hen is taking a weird turn for sure, looks like we've completely left the similarities of Watanagashi-hen behind after this episode. Turns out the statue of Oyashiro was already broken, but everything's still intact, hand included, when I thought in all worlds, Satoko broke the statue? But it looks kinda... poorly-made, though? I don't think it's supposed to look that hollow. So: what if it's fake? Shion just touching it shouldn't have made the head fall off. Also, she said nothing about hearing banging in the storehouse.

But seriously, what is the deal with the glowy eyes?

Unless this is actually not the Rika we know and she's been an impostor this whole time (although making this season consist entirely of the origin of Bernkastel would be nice tbh since we never got to see what made her snap), the glowing eyes are fucking stupid. It's seriously not helped that the show already gave away the glowing eyes back in the very end of the first episode, which was still stupid. Maybe Passione should've saved it for this moment if they wanted it to have a bigger impact, but nah, they played their hand way too early.

And the shaky-cam effect is stupid, too. DEEN only did that to try and hide their shitty animation but also timed them out in the right tense moments. Doing it when Keiichi's yelling at Shion over the phone about how he didn't want to go into the storehouse to begin with until she hangs up is poor timing since there's little animation to begin with. DEEN didn't even do the shaky cam for that part of the episode, they had a dolly zoom and slow pans. Passione just had static shots and an overlay filter. So tense, yo.

Episode eight better do something bonkers. Maybe episode nine, the pacing makes me think they'll keep this arc going another episode.

 

[Slimy Time]

Got into Sport Climbing Girls. Idk why I like this because I generally don't like sports manga/anime. It's about a team of girls of rock climbers, sounds like the most boring concept for a sports manga, yet it's both interesting and fun to watch. MC is a former ballerina prima and pro puzzle gamer who decides to try her hand at rock climbing, apparently being good at puzzle games means she's fucking good at figuring out what holds, crimps and body positions to use to climb a wall. Recent episode has her in a competition doing multiple sends in one try because of "le video game skills", which in turn absolutely fucks with the opposition as they attempt to climb the course after her (each possessing their own skills/physical attributes, but not the analytical skill). All of them so far except for the one who's unique ability is that she is a go getter who is clumsy/sucks and keeps getting up and going again without any loss of enthusiasm.

IDK why, but for a show that you would think would be about seeing anime waifus in tight clothing, it's enjoyable for reasons beyond that.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Remember that AnimeLog YouTube channel?

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

Watadamashi-hen is taking a weird turn for sure, looks like we've completely left the similarities of Watanagashi-hen behind after this episode. Turns out the statue of Oyashiro was already broken, but everything's still intact, hand included, when I thought in all worlds, Satoko broke the statue? But it looks kinda... poorly-made, though? I don't think it's supposed to look that hollow. So: what if it's fake? Shion just touching it shouldn't have made the head fall off. Also, she said nothing about hearing banging in the storehouse.

But seriously, what is the deal with the glowy eyes?
View attachment 1725471
Unless this is actually not the Rika we know and she's been an impostor this whole time (although making this season consist entirely of the origin of Bernkastel would be nice tbh since we never got to see what made her snap), the glowing eyes are fucking stupid. It's seriously not helped that the show already gave away the glowing eyes back in the very end of the first episode, which was still stupid. Maybe Passione should've saved it for this moment if they wanted it to have a bigger impact, but nah, they played their hand way too early.

And the shaky-cam effect is stupid, too. DEEN only did that to try and hide their shitty animation but also timed them out in the right tense moments. Doing it when Keiichi's yelling at Shion over the phone about how he didn't want to go into the storehouse to begin with until she hangs up is poor timing since there's little animation to begin with. DEEN didn't even do the shaky cam for that part of the episode, they had a dolly zoom and slow pans. Passione just had static shots and an overlay filter. So tense, yo.

Episode eight better do something bonkers. Maybe episode nine, the pacing makes me think they'll keep this arc going another episode.

God I am stoked, because if you watch the OG anime you wonder where shit's gonna turn. I walked into this expecting a pat on the head and "the kitties should admit their mistake" NOT THIS FUCKING DEMONIC SHIT. I do wonder if Rika's been taken over by some other... something, but why would it be Bernkastel? I watched Kai though, and I'm confused how this fits in the timeline because I figured maybe after that one Rei episode she died again and finally fucking snapped to believe everything's pointless. (especially since every loop she gets drugged and cut open). BUT there's apparently some other visual novel called Higurashi Hou (Hou, Gou, get it) with some world ending psychos in it.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I watched Kai though, and I'm confused how this fits in the timeline because I figured maybe after that one Rei episode she died again and finally fucking snapped to believe everything's pointless. (especially since every loop she gets drugged and cut open).

Maybe we'll get an answer to where this fits on the timeline, but I'm suspecting we're not going to--maybe not in this season. I kinda feel like we'll get another Higurashi season to act as the answer arc of the series.

BUT there's apparently some other visual novel called Higurashi Hou (Hou, Gou, get it) with some world ending psychos in it.

Hou is like supposed to be a complete collection fan disc of all the Higurashi sound novels from what I can gather. MangaGamer is supposed to be releasing all the titles on Steam over time, and "Festival Accompanying" was released just this May with "Dice-Killing" (which was apparently a fan disc that 07th Expansion decided to deem canon EDIT: oops, remembered wrong, being a bonus disc doesn't make it a doujin. I could've sworn a Higurashi doujin got Ryukishi07's blessing, though) being the next arc on the timeline. The last chapter on it is "Boisterous Gods" which I think is what you're talking about and I'm only just recently looking into it. It looks... painfully dumb, not going to lie.

Rika in episode two looked like a teenager, so I think the events of Gou should canonically be after everything from Hou. The more I look, though, the more I'm convinced the anime is supposed to coincide with Higurashi Mei, the gacha game, even the character designer was involved with it. And remember that the anime was originally supposed to come out in August.

Also, the meaning for "gou", 業, is "karma", or "result of one's karma; fate". So yeah, watch this be a Bernkastel origin story, then.

 

[HexFag]

Maybe we'll get an answer to where this fits on the timeline, but I'm suspecting we're not going to--maybe not in this season. I kinda feel like we'll get another Higurashi season to act as the answer arc of the series.


Hou is like supposed to be a complete collection fan disc of all the Higurashi sound novels from what I can gather. MangaGamer is supposed to be releasing all the titles on Steam over time, and "Festival Accompanying" was released just this May with "Dice-Killing" (which was apparently a fan disc that 07th Expansion decided to deem canon) being the next arc on the timeline. The last chapter on it is "Boisterous Gods" which I think is what you're talking about and I'm only just recently looking into it. It looks... painfully dumb, not going to lie.

Rika in episode two looked like a teenager, so I think the events of Gou should canonically be after everything from Hou. The more I look, though, the more I'm convinced the anime is supposed to coincide with Higurashi Mei, the gacha game, even the character designer was involved with it. And remember that the anime was originally supposed to come out in August.

Also, the meaning for "gou", 業, is "karma", or "result of one's karma; fate". So yeah, watch this be a Bernkastel origin story, then.

I think I made the right choice reading Umineko if this ends up being a Bernkastel origin story. I like the overall direction Watadamashi-hen is going in, I'm just curious how it's going to end. One thing I'm curious of is what Satoko was doing during Rika's performance. I may not remember correctly, but isn't Satoko always present for Rika's performances?

 

[Kari Kamiya]

One thing I'm curious of is what Satoko was doing during Rika's performance. I may not remember correctly, but isn't Satoko always present for Rika's performances?

Satoko got separated from the others in the sound novel, too.

Watadamashi-hen, aside from some changes throughout, has up 'til now been the closest adaptation of Higurashi to date.

 

[Wingnut]

There's also a ton of series that currently lack a Blu-Ray release or are stuck in legal hell(i.e. Cromartie)

Konosuba S2 and the movie are two of the bigger one's stuck in licensing hell for me. S1 just recently got a blu-ray release something like 5 years after it aired.
I still have my torrents but I prefer to have a physical copy as well, I always like to have the physical media.

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

I think I made the right choice reading Umineko if this ends up being a Bernkastel origin story. I like the overall direction Watadamashi-hen is going in, I'm just curious how it's going to end. One thing I'm curious of is what Satoko was doing during Rika's performance. I may not remember correctly, but isn't Satoko always present for Rika's performances?

If the many iterations of Higurashi are anything to go by, she's already dead

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

Finally got around to finishing up ID:INVADED and man was it great, I was really worried it wouldn't managed to stick the landing since it's a pretty common problem with anime originals (especially mystery shows) but I'm glad my worries were unfounded. Glad I decided to give it a chance. I really enjoyed the ending theme though every time I was watching it I couldn't help not thinking of Un-Go's (Which more people should watch) ending, they give off similar vibes and if you slap the latter onto the formers visuals it fits pretty well.

I also tried checking out the original Arlsan OVA series after enjoying the newer TV series, but it just made me want to go back and watch the series instead, couldn't even finish the first OVA. I'll admit that the OVA is really pretty and has a nice ost but my problem is that it felt really rushed and the "world" was really underdeveloped visually. The character designs were also just okay, some were way worse than others while others were fine, think my biggest problem was with OVA Arslan/Daryun/Narsus. The latter two just look pretty generic in the OVA while Arslan's design doesn't really fit my idea of his rather naive/timid nature, it would have made more sense as a design for him later in the series once he's grown as a person. I'll say I'm biased due to being a big fan of Arakawa and her character designs, but I just like the TV designs a lot more. It didn't help that the OVA basically started at the inciting incident while the first episode of the TV series took place 3 years before to introduce the main cast and world, which I found really helped the audience understand what kind of character Arslan is.