General Anime Discussion

[Ary]

So here you can discuss/talk about any and all anime or anime related topics such as but not limited to anime, manga, movies, upcoming releases, rumors, figures and/or other related merchandise.

You can post your list of anime( in a spoiler or link) and ask for recommendations or just ask for ones that fit certain tags your looking for. Post your favorite pics or share wallpapers however you cannot post just a picture as I will consider that spam. Discuss flaws, errors, plot holes or on the opposite side of the spectrum amazing art/visual effects, story or even certain quotes you came to love. Or if your just looking for someone else's opinion that's fine too but don't be butthurt if you don't like what they said.

As always no flaming, trolling, name calling and/or anything that violates or infringes on the site rules. Consider this everyone's verbal warning.

 

[GiaQuando]

Ok I will be the first post here with the amazing Anime Gintama xD
Click the spoiler for the plot :

Spoiler: Gintama Plod

The story is set in the late Edo Period. Humanity is attacked by aliens called "Amanto" (天人, "Sky People"). The samurai of Japan join the battle against the aliens, but when the Shogun realizes the power of aliens, he betrays the samurai and surrenders to the aliens. The Shogun writes an unequal contract with aliens which allows the aliens to enter the country and places a ban on carrying swords in public. The swords of samurai are taken away so they can no longer resist the aliens. After that the Shogunate becomes a puppet government.

The plot is focused on an eccentric samurai, Gintoki Sakata (aka Odd Jobs Gin) who helps a teenager named Shinpachi Shinmura save his sister Tae from a group of aliens who want to make her part of a brothel. Impressed with Gintoki, Shinpachi becomes his apprentice and works with him as a freelance odd-jobs man in order to pay the monthly rent on Gintoki's combination home and office, as well as to know more about him.

The two of them rescue a teenage alien girl named Kagura from a group of Yakuza who wanted to use her superhuman strength to kill people. Kagura joins Shinpachi and Gintoki to work as freelancers and the three become known as "Yorozuya" (万事屋, "We do everything" or literally "The Anything Store").

While doing their job, they encounter the police force Shinsengumi several times, who normally ally with Odd Jobs Gin in their work since the jobs commonly involve dangerous criminals. They eventually meet some of Gintoki's former comrades from the fight against the Amanto's invasion, including the revolutionary Kotaro Katsura who maintains a friendly relationship with them despite his terrorist activities against the bakufu. On the other hand, Shinsuke Takasugi acts as a major antagonist throughout the series, as he wants to destroy the bakufu and sees his former comrades as enemies.

Although the series' story is commonly episodic, there are also a few story arcs which are developed through several chapters.Across several story arcs Takasugi starts gaining allies including Kagura's brother, Kamui, and the elite unit Mimawarigumi to prepare for his large scale coup d'état.

My rating : 8/8 it's great even though the beginning is not that good just keep watched till you can't laugh anymore

 

[Ary]

Ok I will be the first post here with the amazing Anime Gintama xD
Click the spoiler for the plot :

Spoiler: Gintama Plod

The story is set in the late Edo Period. Humanity is attacked by aliens called "Amanto" (天人, "Sky People"). The samurai of Japan join the battle against the aliens, but when the Shogun realizes the power of aliens, he betrays the samurai and surrenders to the aliens. The Shogun writes an unequal contract with aliens which allows the aliens to enter the country and places a ban on carrying swords in public. The swords of samurai are taken away so they can no longer resist the aliens. After that the Shogunate becomes a puppet government.

The plot is focused on an eccentric samurai, Gintoki Sakata (aka Odd Jobs Gin) who helps a teenager named Shinpachi Shinmura save his sister Tae from a group of aliens who want to make her part of a brothel. Impressed with Gintoki, Shinpachi becomes his apprentice and works with him as a freelance odd-jobs man in order to pay the monthly rent on Gintoki's combination home and office, as well as to know more about him.

The two of them rescue a teenage alien girl named Kagura from a group of Yakuza who wanted to use her superhuman strength to kill people. Kagura joins Shinpachi and Gintoki to work as freelancers and the three become known as "Yorozuya" (万事屋, "We do everything" or literally "The Anything Store").

While doing their job, they encounter the police force Shinsengumi several times, who normally ally with Odd Jobs Gin in their work since the jobs commonly involve dangerous criminals. They eventually meet some of Gintoki's former comrades from the fight against the Amanto's invasion, including the revolutionary Kotaro Katsura who maintains a friendly relationship with them despite his terrorist activities against the bakufu. On the other hand, Shinsuke Takasugi acts as a major antagonist throughout the series, as he wants to destroy the bakufu and sees his former comrades as enemies.

Although the series' story is commonly episodic, there are also a few story arcs which are developed through several chapters.Across several story arcs Takasugi starts gaining allies including Kagura's brother, Kamui, and the elite unit Mimawarigumi to prepare for his large scale coup d'état.

My rating : 8/8 it's great even though the beginning is not that good just keep watched till you can't laugh anymore

notice the silence that follows after you bring up this anime xD

Whatcha think about the new anime season assuming you've started watching it.

Personally I found the opening episode to GATE2 surprising b/c it actually followed the manga so much so it showed the inappropriate scene :s I was really surprised

 

[Martin]

C/Ping my thoughts on the season as well as the review I wrote of Garokawa: Restore the World from the Anime thread on Smogon. Its long (between 90 and 120 minutes spent writing each) so be prepared.

Spoiler: My post about the season:

Dagashi Kashi: I'm personally finding dagashi kashi rather funny. Sure, its not good that good an anime, but honestly with shows like this it really doesn't matter whether the anime itself is that good because it is more there for the sake of making you laugh. It is very absurd, which is part of why I am enjoying it, and I reckon I cracked up at least three or four times within the first ten minutes. The characters are likeable in the same way that the Haruhi Suzumiya characters are likeable (i.e. most of them are likable cause they're reasonably normal but Hotaru is just so whacky that it is hard to dislike her) and it feels like its taken a page from Yamada-kun, Toradora! and (to a lesser extent) Non Non Biyori when it comes to the types of character interractiosn (comparable to the former two) and activities of each episode (somewhat comparable to Non Non Biyori in that it is taking normally banal activities, such as being/working in a sweet shop or playing with those viral kids toys, and making them feel kinda interesting). It just feels like a really good time waster and really appeals to me due to it being very out there kinda like Shokugeki no Souma except not ecchi and with characters which are more comparable to Haruhi Suzumiya than they are to Shokugeki. I am expecting good things from it personally

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!: I stopped watching ep. 1 of this after around ten minutes because it felt like it was moving into the realms of ecchi/harem where the only purpose of females is for sex appeal, but I might give it another shot and try to force my way through an episode or two to see if it gets any better. Honestly it might just be because I started watching it immediately after watching episode two of ERASED and episode 1 of Grimgar, but I'm not going to get my hopes up about this too much.

Sekkou Boys: I'm in the minority here in that I'm not completely sold on like Sekkou Boys yet. I'll keep watching because every now and again I chuckle a bit, but honestly I find the busts to just be plain annoying more often than not. Their attitude kinda pisses me off and I've never been keen on idol shorts all that much, but the concept is original enough for me to respect it enough to not group it with other idol shows. It is not the kind of short I can watch if I'm in a bad mood, which is not a point in its favor considering that one of the reasons that I watch shorts is as a way of improving my mood with some comic relief.

Mahou Shoujo Nante Moujiidesukara: I didn't know whether I should call this cute or if I should call it pandering when I started watching it. However, the types of interraction and banter between the main characters is definitely entertaining and leads me to believe that it is meant to just be cute, and the combination of it feeling like a short aimed at kids and the PG13 rating means that I don't think it is trying to pander. They do try to explain why the magical girl outfit is a swimsuit of all things by making her power be the ability to summon and manipulate water at her will, so I'm gonna assume that it is innocent until I see a more blatant case of pandering. Its moderately entertaining (Yuzuki's blatant rejection of Miton is enjoyable to watch) but overall its not that spectacuar. Not much like full length magical girl shows so far as it has put more of a focus on everyday life than it has on the actual activities of the magical girls. It feels a lot like Hakone-chan in terms of the type of humour, so I will keep watching it for now.

Active Raid: I'm going to watch episode three of this either immediately after I finish typing this post or after I watch episode three of Musaigen no Phantom World, but personally I'm not all that impressed by what I've seen so far. The action isn't particularly interesting to watch imo, the characters are really hard to like, it has lacked much of anything even resembling a linked plot between the first two episodes (its making it easy to forget the main character's purpose of being assigned to that unit at times) and the soundtrack is flat out forgettable. The equipping scene that they use doesn't have the same flare that it does in most mecha shows, and the studio seems to be indecisive on whether they want the mechas in this to be OP, average or underwhelming even within fight scenes. Its not bad, its just not really meeting the expectations that I had of it.

Musaigen no Phantom World: Honestly this is very entertaining. It is a good time waster from what I can tell of the first two episodes and definitely needs to be taken with a pinch of salt to be enjoyed to its fullest. Mind you, Ruru is still extremely annoying and the show would probably be better without her, because the character fails to achieve its goal of comic relief due to not actually being funny and all of her gags make me feel like I've wasted five to ten seconds of my life after watching them. The rest of it is entertaining though. It is definitely very fanservicey, with scenes of note in this regard including the infamous limbo scene from episode 1 and the peeping phantom scene from episode two, and the story is mostly superficial, but honestly when I'm watching I don't notice that much because it succeeds in staying entertaining at most points of each episode.

Bubuki Buranki: This is extremely confusing, but regardless I am entertained. It is a rare example of good looking CGI in anime and it matches the quality of the 3DS Fire Emblem CGI in its quality - which is a feat to say the least. The opening few scenes were genuinely beautiful, and honestly I think that a spin off series just focusing on the two main characters as little kids would have a lot of potential in its own right. It is nice to see an original anime that is succeeding in being good, just so long as it tries to remove the confusion that I have atm in its next episode. Its worth watching.

Dimension W: This has an interesting plot and has a lot of potential as a series. The action is interesting, the characters will most likely become multi-layered and it is just entertaining as a whole. Enjoyable at all points so far and definitely one of the better shows this season. It makes me want to know more about the back-stories of the various characters too, which is a good thing with these kinds of shows. Looks like it will be kinda dark, which is good in my book. Watch this.

Ajin: The plot of this is good, but something that really bothers me is just how ugly the CGI of this is. This is a shame, because the characters had the potential to look really good with a non-CGI art style, but instead the movements, emotions and overall look of all of the characters is just... yuck. If I look past this though, it is definitely good. The plot feels original, it looks like it will be very dark and it makes me want to find out what will hppen next and about pasts of the main character, his friend and his sister. Watch if you don't mind the visals looking weird.

Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue: Something I noticed with this was that the first episode was kinda entertaining if you didn't think too much into it, but then the second episode just left me feeling kinda pissed off and unhappy with what it had turned into. They took what had left me feeling a bit of promise for the series and chucked it out of the window. The girl who is constantly immitating a cat is freaking annoying, the episode left me bored out of my skull and, while the first episode had left me kinda liking the quidditch-like game, the second episode just made it seem much more boring than the first episode did. The clichés which were kinda fitting in the first episode suddenly felt really displaced for some reason that I can't quite work out, and the characters didn't really feel as likable as they did in the first ep (once again, I can't work out why - aside from that cat girl). I'll watch ep 3 but honestly if it doesn't redeem itself by the end of that episode I'm dropping it for good.

Schwarzenmarken: This has been good so far and I expect it will stay like that throughout the series. The tone is dark and the execution is good. It keeps leaving me on the edge of my seat wanting to find out what is going to happen next and with more and more questions about its universe. Definitely one of the top shows of the season.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar: This thing is near perfect. The characters are likeable and complex, the visuals are beautiful, the soundtrack is great, the concept is good. Honestly the only problem with it is that it is airing alongside something as good as ERASED. Definitely an amazing show and if you are not watching it you are missing out big time.

ERASED: This is honestly better than the entirity of last year's shows and head and shoulders above Grimgar. If Grimgar is near perfect, then this being better than it is really testamony to just how amazing it is. I like literally everything about this show, from the setting to the plot to the characters to the visuals and soundtrack to any other criteria that I have missed, it hits a solid 10/10 in every single area. If you are not watching this you are severely missing out on a genuine example of amazing television.

My review of Garokawa: Restore the World:
If I were to c/p this (or even write three sentences more in this post), the post would exceed the 10000 character limit (by over 5000 characters for if i c/p'd the review). Therefore, I'm just gonna hyperlink it for you to read if you're interested.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...-join-us-at-weeb.3486562/page-56#post-6631690

 

[Ary]

C/Ping my thoughts on the season as well as the review I wrote of Garokawa: Restore the World from the Anime thread on Smogon. Its long (between 90 and 120 minutes spent writing each) so be prepared.

Dagashi Kashi: defo a time waster...only watched ep1 and it was kinda funny but if I found something more interesting id swap in a heartbeat

Active Raid was interesting in the first episode but up to to where it is now it just seems like a non progressing story if you can even claim there is a story with this lack of background information

Phantom World I personally found interesting itd be almost comparable to sao in concept but it needs more depth....there was a scene with a creature on this chick shoulder and they've yet to continue off of it quite disappointing

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!: This isn't a very good anime tbh the manga wasn't even that good its just "plot" revolved....if they did it differently and focused more on the actual world and adventures I think itd be a tad bit better

Divine gate ...pretty sure that's the name xd I kinda like it for the storyline but its animation is spotty at some points its quite good but than other times its rough and childlike comparable to early 2000 animes

~any I didn't comment on I either didn't watch or the impression I got from them was so bad I blocked it from my memory~
~side note- if anyone hits reply on to his post delete like 90% of the quote b/c it puts u over the limit~

 

[Martin]

~any I didn't comment on I either didn't watch or the impression I got from them was so bad I blocked it from my memory~

Gonna assume that ur ommitting them cause u've not watched them, cause to say they were bad would be a travasty XD. Make sure you watch Erased and Grimgar rn you are severely missing out as they are both better than basically everything from last year.

 

[Martin]

I think its been long enough to warrant a double post, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it.
So, is anyone else planning on watching Selector Destructed WIXOSS when it comes out on the 13th? I've been looking forward to it for the past two months as I personally really liked Selector Infected WIXOSS and Selector Spread WIXOSS, and I've got my fingers crossed that it'll be good.『Love Your Enemies」(the opening) is spectacular, with it being potentially the best anime opening of all time to date, and goes on sale in three days, although I found it online (which I have posted below). Wakeshima Kanon has been ultra consistent with the openings for the WIXOSS anime (and in general she's a really good artist - listen to some of her records if you haven't already, and make a special point of listening to all of the WIXOSS openings as I personally think that they're all among the ten best anime openings to date) and I hope that her career as an artist stays on its upward trajectory as its all really good music.

Speaking of Japanese popular music, artists/groups I've taken a liking to aside from Wakeshima Kanon include Kalafina, Asian Kung Fu Generation (yeah their name is really f*cking dumb, but their 2004 album Sol-Fa - which has Re:Re (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi's opening theme) on it - is really good), T-Pistonz+KMC, Berryz Koubou and Galileo Galilei - among others that I'm too lazy to recall. I like LiSA too, but honestly she isn't completely consistent with her records (for example,「Crossing Field」and「Ignite」were very solid records whereas「Rising Hope」is average at best).

I can't wait for (K)now Name (the group behind Hai to Gensao no Grimgar's soundtrack) to have their music's full versions released (although I'm specifically looking forward to「Knew Day」and「Seeds」) as Hai to Gensao no Grimgar has one of the best overall soundtracks I have heard in a long time, with「Knew Day」easily being the opening of the season, and I am sick of being stuck with short or extended versions to listen to.

「Naked Dive」(Musaigen no Phantom World's opening) recently had its full opening leaked on the same channel that Selector Destructed WIXOSS's opening was leaked onto. In fact, that channel has a large number of leaked current season records on it, with the entire list of new current season anime (i.e. no sequels, second seasons or autumn 2015 leftovers) being「White Forces」from Schwarzesmarken,「Checkmate!?」from Dagashi Kashi,「Beat Your Heart」from Bubuki Buranki,「Wastelanders」from Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu,「Fantastic Dreamer」from Konosuba,「Genesis」from Dimension W and「KNOW KNOW KNOW」from Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (assuming I didn't miss any other current season stuff that he has on there). If you wanna give them a listen the link to his channels' video list is here, and I also recommend that you listen to this while you're there.

edit: welp all vids on the channel barring「Beat your Heart」were made private

On another note, could anyone recommend a manga that is similar to Yamada-kun no 7-nin no Majo? Also would like to know if anyone has been able to get hold of any translated volumes of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi's manga yet, as none of the stores I've looked in have it and I really don't wanna cheapskate it online as apparently it is even better than the anime, meaning I'd prefer to spend money on it, so I want to know if I'm gonna have to wait for someone to do it or if there is anywhere at all that has got hold of an official publication.

Edit: I just took a look at a JPop chart list that I assume takes data for all time, cause I found a record called Sekai ni Hitotsudake no Hana by a group called SMAP that I enjoyed. Give it a listen when you get a chance.

 

[Ary]

D-Frag is probably one of the closest things ive found to Yamada-kun

 

[Martin]

Episode 6 of Hai to Gensou no Grimgar has managed to top (or at least tie with) episode 2 of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi in the position of episode of the season. It was completely stunning and the proof of why Grimgar is right on Boku Dake's coattails in the race for AoTS. This show is disgustingly underrated, so if you're not up to date with it make a point of getting up to date!

Also as an aside the OP animation changed and has real meaning when compared to the OP that was used in the first five episodes (completely intellectualising it for my MAL review lol). In addition, the full version of Knew Day has finally been unleashed upon the internet. It took ages but damn it was worth the wait!

Edit: this anime's soundtrack is in general really good. Check out Seeds, Harvest and Nutrient too.

 

[Martin]

kinda relevant from an industry standpoint. dw its all sfw its just someone talking.