Anime Thread. [Prob not 56k safe]

[Maguspk]

Hm okay I'll check out 'Arakawa Under the Bridge', adding it to my reader now, any particular sub group that is best to follow?

Anyone able to comment on 'Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei'? Particular sub groups, relation to Bakemonogatari, etc.?

[Cjskater]

SZS is completely hilarious. I think I used a.f.k. and gg... I think...

Also it has fuckawesome OPs/soundtrack.

Edit: If you're planning to marathon SHAFT... don't forget Pani Poni Dash and Maria Holic.

[torasu]

also eclipse is dead

this is horrible news D:

[SamanosukeShiva]

who gonna sub FMA now ;(

[Caiyuo]

Tomodachi has that covered, unless you're opposed to them for some reason. I like their FMA subs just as well.

[Maguspk]

Downloading the gg batch now :D

[Zilong]

Pedophile!

I dunno anything that matches Bakemongatari's style, I'm sure Zilong could refer you to the author's previous works (which I doubt have been made into anime, but you never know). The style/animation is Shaft, so watching any of their previous shows is generally a good idea. Maybe Katanagatari? Dunno if it's the same author, but the name is similar enough, lol.

Maria+Holic, EF - A Tale of Memories, EF - A Tale of Melodies and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei are a few I can think of, I don't think anything Shaft did before EF was any good though. All the shows have the same feel as Bake, some make more out of the low budget style than others do.

I personally believe that Bakemonogatari's success lies more on the way SHAFT production decide to make the anime rather than the writing. And the only other work the author did that is made into anime I can think off the bat is Katanagatari, and no way in hell that's anything like Bakemonogatari.

So yeah, those SHAFT anime listed has pretty similar feel to Bakemonogatari. Hell SZS even have the same seiyuu for Itoshiki, but that is more on the comedy side without any actual plot connecting the story. Arakawa under the bridge is pretty hilarious too.

Hachikuji's seiyuu don't have much of similar role, though she does voice Hideyoshi in Baka Test, which feels pretty SHAFTy too. Senjougahara in the other hand, don't have any other Senjougahara-esque role I can remember. As for Hanekawa, Horie Yui has a fuckton role that's probably similar to Hanekawa, not so much Neko-Hanekawa, but she does voices Hanyuu in Kai.

[Kaylia]

I was tired of being left out of index/railgun conversations in this thread, so I decided to give it a shot. It was watchable, but that's where the compliment stop from me. I'm not exactly sure why both series get praised so much, because they were fairly standard compared to most animes. It wasn't terrible by any mean, but there wasn't a lot of original material either.

Index started of decently. I enjoyed Touma, Index and Misaka characters despite the silly setting. Sadly, the plot was pretty weak in overall, and the characters never really progressed after 48 episodes. You know they are trying to introduce new elements that will be reused later (evil religious organization, esper, crazy scientists, angels), but it doesn't flow well. I want more than a dot-to-dot picture, I want a complete puzzle that give me something unified. I understand the anime series barely scratched the surface of the novel, but the way everything is introduced wasn't satisfying. Durarara did a much better job at introducing a shitload of people in 1/4 of the time...I know it can be done.

Why are teacher in the swat? Why 14 years old girls constantly have to save the city undercover? Why is there so many coincidence (everything is working too well to be believable)? It's just a few of the multiples issue I had with the world.


The other issue I had with index and railgun is the characters. I found them extremely unefficient at communicating with other human (I could say that about 95% of the animes, but still). I know it's hard to understand, but when you try to kill someone before explaining him the situation, chance is you won't have a nice talk after. I found myself being frustrated at the character more often then not because they were stupid and wouldn't say something obvious to clear the misunderstanding. The red-haired magician being the best example of character that make no sense, but he wasn't the only one.

Railgun had some interesting moment, but there was also some very horrible fillers. A lot of it felt like an excuse at fanservice, but without the magical world, the story was almost better because it wasn't all over the place like Index.

[Sylvrdragon]

That's fairly similar to my own Index rant from a couple/few weeks ago (linked below).

Spoiler: show

Ok, so I just started watching Index. I'm 4 episodes in and... well... the amount of senseless, cliche', melodramatic dialog is absolutely migraine inducing. Out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, Touma starts screaming and ranting about justice and friendship and protecting this random girl that he just met the day before without knowing a goddamn thing about her situation.

Even after it's explained to him that (Wall of text rant incoming)

Spoiler: show

, not only are the magicians not her or his enemy but also, they are actually trying to save Index's life, he STILL insists on screaming a bunch of nonsensical bullshit about how they're wrong for what they're doing, etc etc etc.

The fault isn't all his though! No no no, cause here we have these 2 genius magicians who already know that Index doesn't remember them and, in fact, mistakenly perceives them as enemies. So what do they do? They chase after Index brandishing a fucking 5 foot long Katana and throwing fireballs, and just acting like all around douchebag idiots.

The way I see it, the whole fucking situation thus far could have, and SHOULD have, been resolved by the magicians approaching Index and/or Touma in a leisurely manner and discussing the situation over a fucking cup of coffee. Seriously, the entire conversation between Touma and that katana bitch could have been had in regular tones sitting in a booth at a cafe. She could have easily explained the circumstances and he could have shared his opinions in the form of constructive criticism with the intent of actually improving the situation... but no, instead it was shouted at the top of his lungs in the middle of the street with no forethought and ended up with him left in the middle of the road bleeding and unconscious.

The first episode showed so much promise. It introduced the main character and the world he lives in in an interesting and fun way. Unfotunately, before we're even brought up to speed on what's NORMAL for this new world, we're thrown into some shit-storm of events and introduced to concepts that are strange even for the residents of this already strange world. What's more, the main character apparently has some sort of social disorder in which he develops irrational bonds with people he just met and knows nothing about...

I'm gonna give it a few more episodes in hopes that whoever wrote these last couple episodes was tared, feathered, drawn, quartered, and set on fire in a pit of AIDS.

[avelle]

I hope the Eclipse thing is a bad joke. Seriously sad news.

[Zilong]

I was tired of being left out of index/railgun conversations in this thread, so I decided to give it a shot. It was watchable, but that's where the compliment stop from me. I'm not exactly sure why both series get praised so much, because they were fairly standard compared to most animes. It wasn't terrible by any mean, but there wasn't a lot of original material either.

Index started of decently. I enjoyed Touma, Index and Misaka characters despite the silly setting. Sadly, the plot was pretty weak in overall, and the characters never really progressed after 48 episodes. You know they are trying to introduce new elements that will be reused later (evil religious organization, esper, crazy scientists, angels), but it doesn't flow well. I want more than a dot-to-dot picture, I want a complete puzzle that give me something unified. I understand the anime series barely scratched the surface of the novel, but the way everything is introduced wasn't satisfying. Durarara did a much better job at introducing a shitload of people in 1/4 of the time...I know it can be done.

Why are teacher in the swat? Why 14 years old girls constantly have to save the city undercover? Why is there so many coincidence (everything is working too well to be believable)? It's just a few of the multiples issue I had with the world.


The other issue I had with index and railgun is the characters. I found them extremely unefficient at communicating with other human (I could say that about 95% of the animes, but still). I know it's hard to understand, but when you try to kill someone before explaining him the situation, chance is you won't have a nice talk after. I found myself being frustrated at the character more often then not because they were stupid and wouldn't say something obvious to clear the misunderstanding. The red-haired magician being the best example of character that make no sense, but he wasn't the only one.

Railgun had some interesting moment, but there was also some very horrible fillers. A lot of it felt like an excuse at fanservice, but without the magical world, the story was almost better because it wasn't all over the place like Index.

You pretty much have the same kind of beef I had with the series.

Weirdest part about the series is that, I found the protagonist from the series a lot more interesting when they show up as the cameo to the other series.

Of course, Accelerator was the most interesting character to be a pseudo-protagonist, but most of it has a lot to do with him being batshit insane.

[Eaglestrike]

Touma was ok and sometimes cool in Index. He was pretty pro in Railgun, lol.

I liked Misaka in both, probably more in Railgun, though.

[Zilong]

He yaps waaay too much in Index for me to really like him.

Yes, we get it, you know how his magic works, now mind beating the living shit out of him so we can end the arc in the next 10 minutes rather than the next 2 episode?

[Scythiroth]

Accelerator was definitely the high point of either series, Misaka being the second best. I still enjoyed them for what they were, but they are definitely not anywhere near my top 5 or 10 or whatever anime series in the action genre.

[Kaylia]

You pretty much have the same kind of beef I had with the series.

Weirdest part about the series is that, I found the protagonist from the series a lot more interesting when they show up as the cameo to the other series.

Of course, Accelerator was the most interesting character to be a pseudo-protagonist, but most of it has a lot to do with him being batshit insane.

Well, Touma is cliché, but I find his approach to be the most reasonable. Nearly every other characters in the show act according to their persona/archetype, while Touma does some thinking (as flawed as it might be). I like seeing the reasoning and motive behind a character's actions, and he is one of the few characters in this show who does it. I did enjoy seeing him as cameo, but I always like seeing main character from a different perspective (even in metal gears solid 2 and darker than black 2nd season >_>). Accelerator...I havent seen him enough to comment. The 2nd arc with him was nice, but the kid with god-complex from the first arc was overdone imo. It's one of the villain archetype I can't stand anymore.


The pacing was off with nearly every characters. I don't think the issue lies in Touma not using his power, but with stupid plot device. Both series could have been done in like 16 episodes with better writting.


Anyway, most of my rant could be simplified to me not being able to suspend my disbelief. In a show like One Piece, Negima, or Durarara, I have no trouble accepting the setting and everything it implies. However, in this one, everything feel so artificial. You can't talk about Schrodinger while telling me it's the most prestigeous school-city around the world, yet, show me an army of cliché thugs getting beaten by 14 years old students and teachers? Sometime, it wants us to take it seriously, while at time, it's too ridiculous to take it seriously.

[Zilong]

Really, if the series pace itself better, it'd be up there in my favorite series. It had good animation, action scenes, and likable characters at the very least.

But the way all of them interact and the overall slow pacing and scene that drags on way longer that it should just flat out ruin the series for me for index.

As for railgun, I just flat out couldn't stand Kuroko, and the way the series plays mostly as a fanservice series didn't exactly helped its cause.

Oh yeah, you really can't create a lore of the city as the gathering of the best and brightest and have everyone of the characters dumber than a fucking rock.

[Elcura]

Hachikuji is easily one of my favorite if only because of the mispronunciation and the way she talks. 'Sorry, I stuttered', haha. Neko-Hanekawa is my favorite well, for obvious reasons.

I have Katanagatari downloaded up to episode 4, probably going to watch those yeah. What's with the '-gatari' on their anime names anyway? Does 'Bakemono' mean something like Katana does?

I like Hachikuji, if only for Araragi's reactions to her and the way he acts like a total pedophile around her. The best part was when they were play fighting and he went super srs on her and knocked her out, then proceeded to brag about beating up a 10 year old girl.

I actually hated the Mayoi Snail arc until the end, when it all started to make sense. Also, how could you not like Kanbaru? She's awesome as well.

Indexgun

My sentiments exactly, though I don't think it's a secret I hate Index and Railgun, I just try to ignore everything about it instead of giving into the urge to quote every piece of Index/Railgun talk with, "shit sux".

Lately, the thought that invades my mind when I watch anime is "cool concept, horrible execution", which is sad because the opposite is still a lot of fun to watch in the long run.

I personally believe that Bakemonogatari's success lies more on the way SHAFT production decide to make the anime rather than the writing. And the only other work the author did that is made into anime I can think off the bat is Katanagatari, and no way in hell that's anything like Bakemonogatari.

I can kinda see that. Though, I would need to read the original novels to understand fully what Shaft did.

[Kaylia]

Really, if the series pace itself better, it'd be up there in my favorite series. It had good animation, action scenes, and likable characters at the very least.

But the way all of them interact and the overall slow pacing and scene that drags on way longer that it should just flat out ruin the series for me for index.

As for railgun, I just flat out couldn't stand Kuroko, and the way the series plays mostly as a fanservice series didn't exactly helped its cause.

Oh yeah, you really can't create a lore of the city as the gathering of the best and brightest and have everyone of the characters dumber than a fucking rock.

Even if the pacing was better, I think it would need a new plot entirely. I'm all for massive cast and world, but there is way too many factions introduced too fast. Russian church, english church, the other church that tried to assassinate touma, evil scientists, every lv 5, the angels....It's like the author made some brainstorming, but ended up adding everything that popped in his mind because he couldn't decide where to go with the story.

And yeah, Kuroko was god awful. She made me laugh a few times, and her fight scenes were nice, but I couldn't stand her. I also hated everything that could be interpreted as yuri (and there was a lot). Last thing people need is more excuse to write shitty fanfiction or doujinshi.


Aside the 5-6 episodes with plot, the other aspect of Railgun that I enjoyed was the lv0 character like Saten. I'm generally not a fan of deadweight character, but I thought she had some nice scene.

[Kaylia]

I like Hachikuji, if only for Araragi's reactions to her and the way he acts like a total pedophile around her. The best part was when they were play fighting and he went super srs on her and knocked her out, then proceeded to brag about beating up a 10 year old girl.

I actually hated the Mayoi Snail arc until the end, when it all started to make sense. Also, how could you not like Kanbaru? She's awesome as well.

I feel the same about mayoi snails. The terrible animation in that arc didn't help either (there was like 1 single background frame for 3 episodes.)

Kanbaru's arc was my 2nd favorite, after Senjogahara's episodes. I can't say I enjoyed the other characters as much sadly...I'm not sure if it's because the show was getting old by that time, or if it was characters I didn't like, but I didn't care as much.

My sentiments exactly, though I don't think it's a secret I hate Index and Railgun, I just try to ignore everything about it instead of giving into the urge to quote every piece of Index/Railgun talk with, "shit sux".

Lately, the thought that invades my mind when I watch anime is "cool concept, horrible execution", which is sad because the opposite is still a lot of fun to watch in the long run.

Did you watch it completely, or gave up early? Personally, most of my hate come from the visibility it's getting more than the quality of the show. I watched many animes worse than this one, and saying I hate it would implies too much.

To me, Index/railgun is more like an average concept with an average execution. It doesn't really shine anywhere, but it could have been a lot worse. In the end, I had better time watching it than I would have had grinding in FFXI or WoW (or studying for my finals >_>). Even if there is many things I hate about the show, I was still able to find enough reason to enjoy it. However, in the light of my recent marathon (index, tokyo magnitude 8.0, durarara), it come far behind the other in term of quality.




[edit]

and while I'm on index topic, is there any progress in the love department in the novel, or the sexual tension between touma/index/misaka will remain unsolved forever? I want to punch writers every time they open up a potential pairing, but never give them any sort of progress. This is annoying.

[Elcura]

I dropped both after 5 episodes (I think Index was 6 though). Index pissed me off for a lot of reasons, mostly the extreme shounen symptoms of explaining every little thing at great length during what should be a fast-paced action scene. The breaking point was when Index went crazy (you know) and Touma had to stop her. That scene lasted about 2 minutes when it should have taken 10 seconds.

I may give Index/Railgun another chance at some point. There might be some things I enjoy in both series at a later point, or I might just get supreme confidence in telling people to not watch it all.

Anyone else watch DRRR 15? I love the atmosphere when Saika enters the chatroom.