Anime Thigh Thread II

[crimson]

Finished binging ep 1 -4 of cross game just now, and I'm pleasantly surprised. The first episode was pretty hard on the feels towards the end, but the flashback in episode 2 was really solid. The character designs are fairly 'simple', but imo they match the serene/nostalgic vive the show keeps giving off.

Also, Senda a shit.

[Swisted]

Finished binging ep 1 -4 of cross game just now, and I'm pleasantly surprised. The first episode was pretty hard on the feels towards the end, but the flashback in episode 2 was really solid. The character designs are fairly 'simple', but imo they match the serene/nostalgic vive the show keeps giving off.

Also, Senda a shit.

Yup Yup! Its a great watch all the way through. Imo it never loses its quality and keeps it steady or increases whenever it needs to, not talking about just art animation either.

Also binging 4episodes? Pfft get on my level, i watched all 50 in 2 days muahahahaha

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Watching Kazoku now on episode 3 atm. Mama Tanuki is so cute in tanuki form. Also Benten is a really interesting and mysterious character, maybe thats why i like her quite a bit already. Also has great OST and BGM

[Neichus]

I didn't actually realize Re:Zero was ending this week. Despite my lukewarm feelings for the series it was still part of my weekly pattern for around half a year and it shocked me a little to realize it was over.

For the positives of the series, I can't point to any one thing the series did well as much as certain parts of it I found best executed. These were generally when the anime best united its signature plot element of Return while bringing out Subaru's state of mind as a result.

The first time this happened was when he reached the Mansion and was killed repeatedly trying to figure out the mabeasts. There was good suspense because knowing what happened didn't actually explain what happened, and Subaru's fear and trepidation at having to face the same horrifying scenarios repeatedly was palpable. This experience is revisited later when he attempts to return to the mansion and discovers the Witch's Cult is closing their noose around them. However, this second time had a reduced impact for me, mostly because of how the intervening portions of the show had begun to sour.

What hurt the series the most was, for me, Subaru himself. There was no concrete basis for his love of Emilia; they are introduced to each other and shortly thereafter he has a life-defining devotion to her. This crucial failing plagued his character the entire series: my lack of faith in his motives undermined my ability to identify with him, and left the romantic aspect entirely hollow. This effect was intensified with Rem. She develops a devotion to Subaru at a supernatural pace as well, only to have it thrown aside for his artificial sentiment for Emilia. That Rem accepted this with as little resentment as she does completed the total psychological disconnect the series has in the romantic department.

Beyond my criticisms of Subaru's construction that he was just really...really...really obnoxious. Sometimes it is good that a series is painful to watch because it is eliciting pathos, but others it just means that your character is an ungrateful, immature, self-deluded teenager who is irritating as hell. We've been over it time and time again in this thread, but I still don't believe that it was necessary to have it be as unpleasant as it was. Having a character be unpleasant and having the experience be unpleasant are two separate things.

Finally, I still have a more personal complaint that I simply disliked much of the focus of the series. I was most fascinated by the royal selection, the backgrounds of Emilia and Roswaal, and the connection the Witch had to the past and present. In 25 episodes our knowledge of these aspects hardly grew. Aside from a single tantalizing comment from Roswaal that he was interested in destroying the Dragon, and the implied centrality of Emilia winning the election to achieve this goal, our knowledge was not advanced. When the series devoted much of its time and effort to the white whale, Wilhelm and new characters, etc. I lost interest at the crucial climax, leaving me to simply finish the series by way of habit.

In the end I'd rate it a fair 6/10 which has a few arcs that are quite engrossing but otherwise is hurt too much by unsubstantiated and irritating characters and pacing/focus.

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And DDoSing against Blizzard continues. So much for relaxing in WoW this evening.

[Epuration]

And DDoSing against Blizzard continues. So much for relaxing in WoW this evening.

Yeah it's been pretty bad lately, but the servers are back up now.

[Jester Joe]

I didn't actually realize Re:Zero was ending this week. Despite my lukewarm feelings for the series it was still part of my weekly pattern for around half a year and it shocked me a little to realize it was over.

For the positives of the series, I can't point to any one thing the series did well as much as certain parts of it I found best executed. These were generally when the anime best united its signature plot element of Return while bringing out Subaru's state of mind as a result.

The music. I think they nailed it there personally.

What hurt the series the most was, for me, Subaru himself. There was no concrete basis for his love of Emilia; they are introduced to each other and shortly thereafter he has a life-defining devotion to her. This crucial failing plagued his character the entire series: my lack of faith in his motives undermined my ability to identify with him, and left the romantic aspect entirely hollow. This effect was intensified with Rem. She develops a devotion to Subaru at a supernatural pace as well, only to have it thrown aside for his artificial sentiment for Emilia. That Rem accepted this with as little resentment as she does completed the total psychological disconnect the series has in the romantic department.

Honestly I considered it just a coping method at first. He was just thrown alone into a fantasy world that was completely different than his world, and he was completely and utterly alone. She did save him at first in a way, and then from there his coping just became genuine. Just my two cents on it.

Beyond my criticisms of Subaru's construction that he was just really...really...really obnoxious. Sometimes it is good that a series is painful to watch because it is eliciting pathos, but others it just means that your character is an ungrateful, immature, self-deluded teenager who is irritating as hell. We've been over it time and time again in this thread, but I still don't believe that it was necessary to have it be as unpleasant as it was. Having a character be unpleasant and having the experience be unpleasant are two separate things.

I think it was necessary honestly. You wouldn't acknowledge his growth as much unless you saw how truly bad he was, so they had to bring him to his lowest point(after the duel with Julius)before displaying that. It set the story in an even better way since you actually get to see Subaru put aside his immature hatred for Julius in his own way and actually work with him.

Finally, I still have a more personal complaint that I simply disliked much of the focus of the series. I was most fascinated by the royal selection, the backgrounds of Emilia and Roswaal, and the connection the Witch had to the past and present. In 25 episodes our knowledge of these aspects hardly grew. Aside from a single tantalizing comment from Roswaal that he was interested in destroying the Dragon, and the implied centrality of Emilia winning the election to achieve this goal, our knowledge was not advanced. When the series devoted much of its time and effort to the white whale, Wilhelm and new characters, etc. I lost interest at the crucial climax, leaving me to simply finish the series by way of habit.

I feel like this is only an issue because its in process, or at least the whole story wasn't told yet.

If we had the whole series laid out, it wouldn't be an actual issue with it since then it's just foreshadowing. Now, it's loose ends until then, leaving you feeling unsatisfied. I don't think it's really fair to criticize an untold story as unfinished basically, granted I do understand how it can be frustrating to have loose ends until SEASON 2 WHEN IS IT GONNA BE ANNOUNCED OR OUT

In the end I'd rate it a fair 6/10 which has a few arcs that are quite engrossing but otherwise is hurt too much by unsubstantiated and irritating characters and pacing/focus.

ಠ_ಠ

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Gundam Unicorn TV series episode 1

Damn, that opening was absolutely brutal. Heating up a station's water supply so that the pressure sheers the entire colony apart? Holy crap. Brutal!

[Neichus]

I think it was necessary honestly. You wouldn't acknowledge his growth as much unless you saw how truly bad he was, so they had to bring him to his lowest point(after the duel with Julius)before displaying that. It set the story in an even better way since you actually get to see Subaru put aside his immature hatred for Julius in his own way and actually work with him.

Again, I want to be clear. I'm not attacking his behavior. I'm attacking how it was presented. I found those episodes to be unpleasant to watch. I had to pause them out of sheer vicarious embarrassment, and at several times debated just dropping the anime entirely because I was not enjoying the experience (and wasn't getting anything out of it to counterbalance).

The first thing that comes to mind is simply screen time. What they took an entire episode to do could be condensed to half under many circumstances, but it is dragged out by prolonged shots and scenes focusing on his behavior. That alone could help counterbalance it.

I feel like this is only an issue because its in process, or at least the whole story wasn't told yet.

I've gotten into this discussion before. It boils down to the fact that I'm judging the anime as it stands before me, not as how the manga continues. I tried to carefully begin that section by pointing out it was more of a personal gripe than flaw of the series, since as you pointed out the story is in fact not done. The series simply suffered from the structure of the manga and where it ended; but that still is an issue with the series, even if it is concluded elsewhere.

ಠ_ಠ

My scores are significantly lower than most people's. I view a "5" really as average, either because it was simply generic or because it had significant drawbacks that counterbalanced its strengths. A "6" indicates that it was overall average in many departments but did at least a few things well enough that I'd consider it slightly memorable. For me to feel like a "7" was warranted it would either have to have a spark of depth (Trigun) or execute a basic premise very well (One Punch Man). Re:Zero didn't really rise to that for me, so a "6" it is.

[Jester Joe]

Again, I want to be clear. I'm not attacking his behavior. I'm attacking how it was presented. I found those episodes to be unpleasant to watch. I had to pause them out of sheer vicarious embarrassment, and at several times debated just dropping the anime entirely because I was not enjoying the experience (and wasn't getting anything out of it to counterbalance).

The first thing that comes to mind is simply screen time. What they took an entire episode to do could be condensed to half under many circumstances, but it is dragged out by prolonged shots and scenes focusing on his behavior. That alone could help counterbalance it.

To each their own I suppose, I would of considered it rushed in that case. It got me to legitimately feel frustrated and annoyed with Subaru, which means it was successful at what it was intended to do.

I've gotten into this discussion before. It boils down to the fact that I'm judging the anime as it stands before me, not as how the manga continues. I tried to carefully begin that section by pointing out it was more of a personal gripe than flaw of the series, since as you pointed out the story is in fact not done. The series simply suffered from the structure of the manga and where it ended; but that still is an issue with the series, even if it is concluded elsewhere.

Which like I said, it's an understandable frustration, I just felt the need to defend m'lad- I mean my anime taste.

My scores are significantly lower people's. I view a "5" really as average, either because it was simply generic or because it had significant drawbacks that counterbalanced its strengths. A "6" indicates that it was overall average in many departments but did at least a few things well enough that I'd consider it slightly memorable. For me to feel like a "7" was warranted it would either have to have a spark of depth (Trigun) or execute a basic premise very well (One Punch Man). Re:Zero didn't really rise to that for me, so a "6" it is.

I dropped Trigun and One Punch Man though.

Also sorry in advance, but I tend to stick to short one-line replies in case it wasn't noticed already. If I try to go deeper, I end up losing my point I feel like most the time.

[Tennis]

Is the rest of this anime as um ...intriguing as this scene?

[Epuration]

Is the rest of this anime as um ...intriguing as this scene?

[video=youtube;OCUMeeYmd0Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCUMeeYmd0Q[video]

Pretty mild part if I remember correctly.

[Sj]

In the end I'd rate it a fair 6/10 which has a few arcs that are quite engrossing but otherwise is hurt too much by unsubstantiated and irritating characters and pacing/focus..

I ended up going back and catching up on it with a friend. Whale stuff was pretty decent and the start of the series was pretty strong, and Roswaal and Emilia were really interesting characters. Subaru sucked. Probably the worst MC I've ever watched. I get "hey he sucks, watch him get better" was the plan, but it was more "hey he sucks, watch him suck a little less." The romantic parts felt awkward and forced for the most part.

It took an overdone premise and added something interesting to it, just to kinda fall flat on the execution. Neichus summed it up better than I could, though I'd have to agree with Jester in that the music was pretty good.

Ended up giving it a 6/10

[Jester Joe]

Neichus summed it up better than I could, though I'd have to agree with Jester in that the music was pretty good.

Ended up giving it a 6/10

I might be crazy in this, but I keep going back to episode 23 every few days just to hear how perfect the music from 21:30 onward.

Goosebumppsss

That being said, I'm rewatching it with my girlfriend, and like I said to her, what really interests me in the story is the Witch's Cult, and specifically Betelgeuse. I'm a sucker for the whole madness as a villain type of thing (like it was the best part of Soul Eater to me), and possession/mind control battle type of things, so he's just top notch to me.

Ending to Re:Zero spoiler though here- Now with Betelgeuse apparently "dead", I'm not too sure on going forward. Although the other villains might end up just as crazy I suppose

[crimson]

Tfw you're trying to print documents for a job's selection procedure and both printers decide to stop working.

[Artorius]

Tfw you're trying to print documents for a job's selection procedure and both printers decide to stop working.

Expected from printers.

[crimson]

I might or might not have watched 16 episodes of cross game since last night.

Do the 50 episodes adapt the whole manga, or will I need to read the manga at some point?

[Enjeh]

I might or might not have watched 16 episodes of cross game since last night.

Do the 50 episodes adapt the whole manga, or will I need to read the manga at some point?

It adapts the entire manga.

[crimson]

It adapts the entire manga.

That's nice.

[Swisted]

I might or might not have watched 16 episodes of cross game since last night.

Do the 50 episodes adapt the whole manga, or will I need to read the manga at some point?

I'm proud of you.

[Yunru]

Damn 1 episode left on mob 100. Also quality:

[Jester Joe]

From what I've read, they are.

WN/LN spoilers - The end of the anime should have introduced 2 of the other archbishops. Betelgeuse was just the start of the madness lol Arc 4 also has Betelgeuse' "wife" who is just as bat shit crazy, if not more. You also learn so much more about characters like Roswaal and Emilia and you also get introduced to the witches, in a way. The witches, and one in particular, are what make the 4th arc my fave of the 6 so far.

Roll on S2!

So there is good news!

The ending just left a bit of a bad taste for me.(Re:Zero again) Like, I understand it was a happy ending and wrapped up the Witch's Cult attack, but I would of rather it ended on a cliffhanger than just the way it did. I need something to hold onto to look forward to, and the only way I would now is if I read ahead of the story which I don't want to