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

[Maurice Caine]

Found out why IQDB was down, check it.

Recent Events...

This post will hopefully make the situation a bit clearer for everyone. Most of this info has been posted in one place or another already, b...

saucenao.blogspot.com

 

[vern]

The original author of Welcome to the NHK is apparently writing a sequel story.

Tatsuhiko Takimoto's Welcome to the NHK Novel Gets Sequel

Original 2001 novel about shut-in inspired manga, TV anime adaptations

www.animenewsnetwork.com

I'm tempted to pick up to original novel now. I've only seen the anime a few times and read a bit of the manga before, but I know the novel is a lot darker in some places so don't know how it'll compare.

 

[LightDragonman1]

Vivy - Fluorite Eye's Song - It's pretty bad. The anime feels like the writer played Nier Automata and reached the conclusion that what counts as deep is cute robot waifu suffering. A lot of the plot feels arbitrary, there is an anti-android terrorist group because, a character has a clone because. I thought it was the case of an anime adaption skipping over plot points, but no, it's just the writer being lazy. It's not even entertainingly bad like a lot of Sunrise anime. If you want a good (relatively) recent anime about people relation with android, watch Plastic Memories, it's underrated as hell.

I can't say I agree with you.

Personally, I am finding Vivy to be an extremely engaging show, and those plot elements that you feel are arbitrary, I instead see as making perfect sense given the setting and the individual storylines that each character is given. The latest episode especially I think is one of the most entertaining in recent anime.

Again, just me, but I strongly recommend this show to others.

 

[KingofNothing]

Anybody heard of Medabots?


View attachment 2135216

It was an anime geared towards kids. The premise is that children and adults use robots called Medabots and they fight each other in matches called robobattles. The winner was able to get one piece from their losers medabot. I remember liking it a lot as a kid and forgot about it until I found a YouTube channel called Medabots Episodes. The YouTube channel has nearly all the episodes from the earlier seasons. I'm really into building robot figurines so I thought it would be nice to share.

https://www.youtube.com/user/MedabotsEpisodes

Only ever saw the dub, so I don't know what the original was like, but I remember really enjoying the Season 1. Season 2, not so much.

The Principal didn't get a lot of scenes, but goofy stuff like this made him a favorite

I've actually just started skimming through the the 'human' parts of the 'So I'm a Spider, So What?' anime.

I don't blame you, the human side is very boring in the LN aside from like 2 or 3 characters and I hear it's even worse in the anime. Still important for the overall plot though, so don't zone out too much. Shun sucks and if I could trade him out for Julius as your standard hero MC I'd do it in a second.

 

[MoffAlbert]

Finally got around to finishing the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. I feel the strongest part of the anime is the last 10 or so episodes, the Zeon forces felt a lot more human rather than "bad guys doing bad things" around then. Being a filthy Spacenoid sympathizer, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually felt for some of the Feddies near the end.

Spoiler: Spoilers of a nearly 50 year old series

Lieutenant Sleggar, you will not be forgotten. TT_TT 7

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

Since we're almost halfway into the season I thought I'd give a little update, any shows I don't mention here that I mentioned before you can assume I dropped (besides zombieland which I'm just waiting for it to be fully out). Anyway:
Slime Taoshite - Not a bunch to say about this besides it's just a comfy sol, enjoyable enough that I'll continue watching but it's nothing amazing. If you like the genre you'll probably enjoy this one well enough.
Super Cub - Competition for AOTS for me as I'm really enjoying watching the main character grow as a person. Series has a nice melancholy feel to it and I love their use of color saturation to depict the MC's mental state (starts of very grey and muted, but colors slowly return). Sound design is also great, if I was to say the only slight negative is that the Honda shilling gets a bit ridiculous at times.
Dynazenon - Still not sure about this one as it's kind of boring if I'm being honest. Not much seems to be happening and I'm not really getting that hyped for the battles. Going to give it a couple more episodes and then I might drop it if it doesn't pick up.
Mashiro no Ota - Currently my favorite of the season and hasn't disappointed me yet. Every episode so far has had at least one great performance and I'm invested in seeing where the MC goes in the future. If it stays at it's current level (or even goes higher) it'll be an insta buy for me when it gets a physical release. Really recommend people check it out because I bet it's being slept on given its subject.
Fruits Basket - Loving it, but I'm getting worried they're going to cut some of my favorite parts for the sake of finishing it this season. If they do it'll really tank my overall enjoyment of the series so I'm hoping they don't.
Moriarty Part 2 - Highly entertaining each week in how ridiculous it gets some times (anyone who's watched this weeks episode knows the exact moment I'm talking about). Already enjoying it a lot more than the first season since it feels like it's gotten its grove, especially with the addition on some new characters. Interested to see where this goes.
Vivy - Also really enjoying this series, another of my favorites for the season. High level of production value and Vivy is a great protagonist to follow (even if the show seems to like making her suffer). Even with its episodic nature you can still really feel for the one-off characters. Fingers crossed it sticks the landing.

So my thought on the current season:
Vivy - Fluorite Eye's Song - It's pretty bad. The anime feels like the writer played Nier Automata and reached the conclusion that what counts as deep is cute robot waifu suffering. A lot of the plot feels arbitrary,

Going to have to also disagree on you assessment of the series.

there is an anti-android terrorist group because

This doesn't really need a deep explanation because it's something that would definitely happen in such a world, a faction that hates AI is almost guaranteed to appear. I'd find it weirder if the series didn't have an anti-AI faction because it wouldn't be realistic to me and having an extremist group isn't that much stretch of the imagination.

, a character has a clone because.

Are you talking about Estella and Elizabeth? They explain it pretty well that she's not a clone, but an exact copy of Estella solely made to test if you could create an exact AI replicate based on transferring one robots experiences/feelings/interactions to another kept in an entirely sterile environment. The experiment failed (which also tells the audience that "death" is possible for AI) and Elizabeth was disposed of. She's a "clone" in that they created her using the exact same parts and ID to remove any variables in their experiment.

I thought it was the case of an anime adaption skipping over plot points, but no, it's just the writer being lazy. It's not even entertainingly bad like a lot of Sunrise anime.

I don't consider the writing lazy really, so far they've explained things that needed to be explained at that moment pretty well while keeping its mysteries. The audience is largely kept in the dark like Vivy is unless Matsumoto thinks he needs to share something (and even then we can't trust he's speaking the truth). It'll really test the writer once it starts wrapping up for the ending and at that point we'll see the chops of the writer, but so far its been pretty solid.

 

[Vapewizard]

Highly entertaining each week in how ridiculous it gets some times (anyone who's watched this weeks episode knows the exact moment I'm talking about).

Yeah that was the second sucker punch I received after the thunderbolt fantasy moment. Good shit. Early on with Moriarty I got kinda tired of the corrupt noble of the week setup but when sherlock showed up it got a lot more interesting.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

The original author of Welcome to the NHK is apparently writing a sequel story.

Tatsuhiko Takimoto's Welcome to the NHK Novel Gets Sequel

Original 2001 novel about shut-in inspired manga, TV anime adaptations

www.animenewsnetwork.com

I'm tempted to pick up to original novel now. I've only seen the anime a few times and read a bit of the manga before, but I know the novel is a lot darker in some places so don't know how it'll compare.

The sequel should be interesting to the original story for NHK. I do wonder if it will explore Tatsuhiro finally getting rid of his hikikimori condition after getting a family, and realizing that his children might be suffering the same pitfalls that he had in his younger days. Since it has been more than 15+ years, it wouldn’t hurt to explore it through that angle.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

And now, a perfect out-of-context anime screencap:

 

[Overcast]

Watching Mysterious Girlfriend X for the first time.

Surprisingly wholesome, despite the strange subject matter. Surprised I never heard of this series until recently.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

 

[MooseGump]

View attachment 2144681

Then he says no

 

[Trombonista]

So my thought on the current season:
Fumetsu no Anata e - Really good setup, pacing and world building, also balances well the darker aspects with the lighter aspects.
Zombieland Saga S2 - Anime of the season, one of the cases the sequel knows exactly what was good in thelast season and capitalizes on it.
Kumo desu ga, Nani ka - Still nice, but it starts to get bogged down with extra characters and the human side of the plot.
SSSS.Dynazenon - Kinda meh, it's hard to get invested when it seems like no one in the cast really cares that much about what's happening, plus the battles are more boring compared to Gridman.
The World Ends With You - Nice for nostalgia sake, but the rapid pacing hurts the atmosphere, which was one of the best things about the game.
Blue Reflection Ray -Also meh, it's too slow paced and I'm really annoyed it doesn't have the same soundtrack style as the game.
Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 - Fun as always.
Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san - The funniest anime of the season. Quickly becomes very wholesome and it's extra funny when Nagatoro gets screwed by her own teasing.
Vivy - Fluorite Eye's Song - It's pretty bad. The anime feels like the writer played Nier Automata and reached the conclusion that what counts as deep is cute robot waifu suffering. A lot of the plot feels arbitrary, there is an anti-android terrorist group because, a character has a clone because. I thought it was the case of an anime adaption skipping over plot points, but no, it's just the writer being lazy. It's not even entertainingly bad like a lot of Sunrise anime. If you want a good (relatively) recent anime about people relation with android, watch Plastic Memories, it's underrated as hell.
Shadows House - I like it. The anime really balances the tone of grim implications with an overall optimistic outlook and the characters are very likable. Hope it continues like it and doesn't just go full dark to be edgy.
Sentouin, Hakenshimasu! - It's just painfully unfunny. The characters just don't mesh together at all and the plot doesn't do anything particularly funny.

You're not watching Fruits Basket? It's been great.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

This doesn't really need a deep explanation because it's something that would definitely happen in such a world, a faction that hates AI is almost guaranteed to appear. I'd find it weirder if the series didn't have an anti-AI faction because it wouldn't be realistic to me and having an extremist group isn't that much stretch of the imagination.

I disagree, unless the series presents some massive event that caused AI to hurt humans or a twist that the group was also made by time travelers, there is no real reason for anyone to establish a group, especially in a technologically advanced country. This is especially true in the start of the show when AIs were not advanced enough to be percieved by a threat, and the coneivable damage they could have inflicted was taking other people's job. Basically terrorist groups need a good reason to exist besides the retrospective knowledge that they are right.

Are you talking about Estella and Elizabeth? They explain it pretty well that she's not a clone, but an exact copy of Estella solely made to test if you could create an exact AI replicate based on transferring one robots experiences/feelings/interactions to another kept in an entirely sterile environment. The experiment failed (which also tells the audience that "death" is possible for AI) and Elizabeth was disposed of. She's a "clone" in that they created her using the exact same parts and ID to remove any variables in their experiment.

Yes and it felt very arbitrary, as it depends on a lot of coincidences piling up and just seemed like a lazy way to justify how the Androids dindu nothing. In general the idea of twins as an explanation is never done well.

I don't consider the writing lazy really, so far they've explained things that needed to be explained at that moment pretty well while keeping its mysteries. The audience is largely kept in the dark like Vivy is unless Matsumoto thinks he needs to share something (and even then we can't trust he's speaking the truth). It'll really test the writer once it starts wrapping up for the ending and at that point we'll see the chops of the writer, but so far its been pretty solid.

Barring some big twist about the time travel it doesn't seem to lead anyplace. And the events Vivy fixes seems to half the time be counter-productive to her goal of stopping AI developement. But I think the show's biggest failure is that it just doesn't linger on any event. 2 episodes per arc is barely enough time to expose the audience to what's happening and make the side characters more interesting.

 

[Thomas Talus]

the coneivable damage they could have inflicted was taking other people's job. Basically terrorist groups need a good reason to exist besides the retrospective knowledge that they are right.

What do you think the number one reason for the rise of groups like the Klan is?

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

What do you think the number one reason for the rise of groups like the Klan is?

People wanting some social interaction while spouting token phrases and not actually risking themselves? There wasn't a real terrorist organisation in western countries at least the last two decades, at best you'd have the odd lone wolf incel achieving a new low score.

Going with a cult would have been at least more likely.

 

[Atatata]

AIs were not advanced enough to be percieved by a threat, and the coneivable damage they could have inflicted was taking other people's job

There were anti-AI groups in Time of Eve, and the robots were basically at a slightly lower level. It doesn't seem unreasonable, heck even now if you check any boston dynamic video there'll be at least a couple of schizos that seriously think the walking dog is going to murder everybody.

the events Vivy fixes seems to half the time be counter-productive to her goal of stopping AI developement.

I think that's probably on purpose.

2 episodes per arc is barely enough time to expose the audience to what's happening

This is true, an unfortunate consequence of being a single cour side project. There'll probably be a ln released that will fill in stuff.

 

[Thomas Talus]

People wanting some social interaction while spouting token phrases and not actually risking themselves? There wasn't a real terrorist organisation in western countries at least the last two decades, at best you'd have the odd lone wolf incel achieving a new low score.

Going with a cult would have been at least more likely.

You don't think the effect of a sudden explosion of labor supply with a lower cost to employers might have just a teensy bit of an effect on things? You know, the same thing that happens literally every time when an impoverished group is introduced to a more established society, up to and including the Kurds getting pissed off at Iraqi refugees willing to work for pennies on the dinar?

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

I disagree, unless the series presents some massive event that caused AI to hurt humans or a twist that the group was also made by time travelers, there is no real reason for anyone to establish a group, especially in a technologically advanced country. This is especially true in the start of the show when AIs were not advanced enough to be percieved by a threat, and the coneivable damage they could have inflicted was taking other people's job. Basically terrorist groups need a good reason to exist besides the retrospective knowledge that they are right.

I don't think there needs to be a massive event for hatred, people can have very random or senseless reasons for it. Lazily written hatred in my mind is using some kind of big event to try and logically explain someone's hatred towards a group, rather than the more realistic highly varied/nuanced reasoning of different people. Even in our technologically advanced world you still have a bunch of retards that run around yelling about how 5g is causing cancer or any other number of stupid ideas about advancing tech, it's not weird that such upset would appear in an even more technologically advanced world as shown in the show. Hatred is often hard to explain as it comes from an irrational place or flawed reasoning that not even the person who has it can logically explain.

Like I can think of numerous reasons right now why people could hate AI around things like their overly logical way of rationalization being at odds with humanities often sentimental view. AI will give priority to what it sees as the "logical decision" based on its programming that might be the exact opposite of the decision a human would make. Just this alone is ripe for creating resentment as was mapped out in the movie I Robot over the main characters strong hatred of all AI based on the overly logical decision of one saving him over a kid. You could also have hatred over the idea of the advancement of AI going to far, as shown in the show with that proposed bill and its backlash, or at them becoming "too human" and the questions that brings up.

Yes and it felt very arbitrary, as it depends on a lot of coincidences piling up and just seemed like a lazy way to justify how the Androids dindu nothing. In general the idea of twins as an explanation is never done well.

I don't really get your argument here, but maybe that's because I don't see it as lazy coincidence writing because the backstory of the two seems logical enough to me with it being an experiment I could definitely see them doing. I'm also not that upset about them happening to have the exact copy of the captain because I found it an interesting twist and also something the doesn't break my sci-fi bullshit levels since they love doing stuff like that. It doesn't feel like they did it to somehow absolve Androids of anything as it doesn't wipe clean anything that Elizabeth did in her extreme devotion and personally makes more sense to me than if it just went like recorded history. The most I'd say is that the thing with pink head was a little dumb.

Call my standards for storytelling low, but nothing about the story so far deserves the level of scorn. Overall it's been a fairly solid sci-fi which is already putting it a large step above most seasonal anime original.

Barring some big twist about the time travel it doesn't seem to lead anyplace. And the events Vivy fixes seems to half the time be counter-productive to her goal of stopping AI developement. But I think the show's biggest failure is that it just doesn't linger on any event. 2 episodes per arc is barely enough time to expose the audience to what's happening and make the side characters more interesting.

I think this just comes from us having entirely different views on what the focus of the show is. To me it doesn't need to linger on events or really flesh out the side characters because the entire point of the series is seeing how these events or meetings change Vivy by making her think about her own self. What's important about the side cast is what Vivy takes away from her meetings with them as can be seen with her asking them what they believe "putting their heart into something" means to them. Vivy as a show leans into what I'd call thematic storytelling much like something like Doctor Who or Star Trek would where it's using events/characters/sets as vehicles to talk about issues of AI and therefore doesn't spend too much time on making side characters interesting as you put it. To me they serve their purpose fine giving the framing that they are there for the sake of developing Vivy as a character by exposing her to new things.

The show already made clear it was going fast since it's supposed to cover about a hundred years worth of history, if anything it's been going pretty slow given the terrorist dude is still alive and not just a random speck on the long journey.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Has anyone watched Drifting Dragons? Polygon Studios is behind the 3D animation and it's beautifully done. It's a fun, adventurous show with a motley ensemble cast. The premise is a steampunk type world where a draker crew of an airship hunts dragons, which are really more like air fish the way they are designed. Overall it's great escapism without many heavy moments and is worth a watch.