Anime Thigh Thread II

[CastletonSnob]

I FINALLY started Cowboy Bebop the other day, because I heard it was amazing, and the English dub is the best ever. And, I'm going to be honest, I don't think the dub is that good. I'm sure it was considered really good back when it first aired, but it's not that good by today's standards.

Don't get me wrong, I like the voice acting from the main cast of Cowboy Bebop just fine. It’s the voice acting from the minor characters I’m iffy on. Like, in the second episode where Abdul Hakim enters a bar, and the bartender has a VERY stereotypical Asian accent.

I think the dub for Baccano is the best dub I've ever seen (heard?). I've only watched two episodes so far, but EVERY single performance in the dub is spectacular. It's like watching an old gangster movie.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I heard it was amazing, and the English dub is the best ever. And, I'm going to be honest, I don't think the dub is that good. I'm sure it was considered really good back when it first aired, but it's not that good by today's standards.

It's 6/10 fine. There are a couple standout episodes (5 and the last one) but it was overall forgettable. Technically great art and animation.

[Pejo]

Yea, definitely one that was good for its time and now the dubs have improved a lot over the past, especially in the last five years. Funimation tends to have their own set of VA they reuse but over Covid, that seemed to expand a bit guessing from being able to do it remotely. There’s a few anime I prefer the dub over the sub:
- Steins Gate
- B-gata H-kei
- Haganai
- Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Panty and Stocking
- Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Sooo these last two I very much prefer the sub but the dubs do offer a great experience if you’d prefer that
- KonoSuba
- Kaguya-sama Love is War

[Gutler]

So the next arc of one piece is gonna be the finale pretty sure shit is gonna get wild.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

So the next arc of one piece is gonna be the finale pretty sure shit is gonna get wild.

The actual ending of the whole series? Or just the end of the 2nd saga?

[Skizzit]

So the next arc of one piece is gonna be the finale pretty sure shit is gonna get wild.

Next saga, not next arc. Saga's are the big stories made up of smaller arcs. Like the Water 7 Saga includes everything from the Davey Back arc throught the post Enis Lobby arc. So it would guess 2-5 more arcs although who knows with Oda.

When it returns for the current break, I am guessing we get a short post-Wano arc and then into the final saga.

[Gutler]

Next saga, not next arc. Saga's are the big stories made up of smaller arcs. Like the Water 7 Saga includes everything from the Davey Back arc throught the post Enis Lobby arc. So it would guess 2-5 more arcs although who knows with Oda.

When it returns for the current break, I am guessing we get a short post-Wano arc and then into the final saga.

Ahh thanks for the clarification still the final saga is gonna be wild.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Saga of Tanya the Evil

Tried this show again after dropping it years ago. I like the idea of a fantasy WW2 setting, especially when it's done very creatively like Valkyria Chronicles. Unfortunately, Tanya doesn't even bother putting it's own spin on thing. It's a shameless copy-paste of our real world but with flying wizards inserted into it, and that's it. The glowing rifles are cool, though, and the different flying mounts/equipment for the nations was interesting. Ugly modern anime aesthetics, though.

The show had an interesting premise of the protagonist trying to salvage alt-Germany's situation in WW2. Trying to employ better tactics, trying not to escalate the war so that everyone turns against alt-Germany, trying to prevent alt-USA's entrance into the war, etc. The movie killed my interested by opening up with a thirty year flash forward that pretty much depicts the IRL 1960s with the empire doctor explaining/confessing why the empire did what they did, pretty much spoiling that the empire is doomed and that everything our protagonist is doing is futile. I guess it could be interesting if the series goes the "rise and fall" route of Tanya becoming dictator and eventually being overthrown, but there is no way a modern anime production will get that far given how sluggish the pacing is, so we'll never see the end of the story onscreen.



I've resumed Dragonar (episode 29). RIP those agents who tried to infiltrate those death cycles.

[Yunru]

Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo Ep 4-Uncensored version
Oh boy......i dont think a anime before that did it for so long. You will know what i am taking abauth if you watch it.

[Yunru]

Ok that is some realy good fan-animation:


It could fool anyone thinking its from some studio.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Knights and Magic

A computer programmer who spends his money building gunpla gets hit by a truck and reincarnates in a fantasy world as Ernie. There are monster hordes and the monsters themselves are pretty huge, with the smallest being the size of a car. As such, fighting against them on foot is impossible so kingdoms built mecha to fight them (how humanity lasted long enough without the mecha, IDK).

Ernie joins his kingdom's mecha academy to learn how to build and pilot mechas. He begins redesigning and improving the mechas and gets a grant from the King to continue his research. Other kingdoms begin to take notice and try spying on his work. Show alternates between Ernie inventing something and a fight with monsters or other kingdoms.

The show started out as somewhat serious, but then about 2/3rds of the way through it went full camp, which is odd because the war kicked off and it was being treated as a joke with robot dragon battleships and their captains screaming at the top of their lungs like super sentai villains. Also, the monster hordes were completely absent during the war. You would think that with the merchant kingdom's army being overrun by the invasion that the monsters would start running rampant with no one to stop them. There also seemed to be a continuity screwup at the end where the previous king sits on the throne and has an audience with Ernie, rather than his son who he passed the throne to earlier in the show. Perhaps this is a Rose of Versailles situation where a different writer or director came in half way through the show?

The show had a few unique fantasy environments, like a forest with coral designs, or a desert that looks like Mars, a forest with crystals stuck in the trees, or the hidden valley:










The show was overall above average for a modern anime.

[BloodyAngel12]

[Pejo]

I’m quite late on this and I’m only watching Crunchyroll because I hate HiDive’s app but I’ll get to those later.

Devil is a Part Timer s2: I was super excited for this one but I’m not terribly interested in the story this season and the animation is a bit rough. I’ll keep going because it’s mostly mindless but disappointed.

Overlord S4: This is ok so far. Feels a bit slow even though it’s building up so I’m hoping for an explosive second half.

Rent a Girlfriend S2: just disappointing. The second half of episode 3 with Ruka was entertaining but everything else has been pretty boring. MC just sucks and is boring, and the girls aren’t even trying except for above. We got Sumi for a short bit but not enough.

Classroom of the Elite S2: also another boring sequel. I do have higher hopes for this one tho, we’ll see.

Lycoris Recoil: Absolutely loving this, my favorite of the season. Really like all the characters and the main two have a good dynamic.

My Stepmom’s Daughter is my Ex: it’s a mindless watch and of these trashy anime, it’s the more entertaining of the season. To me, they at least have chemistry.

Engage Kiss: this was a surprise to me. Liking the characters and I enjoy the action, actually curious where it’ll go.

RWBY: I really wanted to like this but I can’t separate the s1/s2 of the original from this. I miss the humor and charm of the characters. Really didn’t like the latest episode.

Black Summoner: dropped. Even too meh for me.

As you can tell, in a season of long awaited sequels, it’s the originals I’m liking the most.

[Pejo]

I agree, a ton of personality and I love that gif.

Started and caught up on Uncle from Another World. Really enjoying this one. I like Ms. Tsundere, as well as the rest of the cast.

Started and caught up on Dan Machi. I was pretty excited for this arc. It’s much more comedy than the early seasons but more enjoyable than Sword Oratoria which should have been an Abridged YouTube series.

[Pejo]

When will Ayumu Make his Move: started and caught up on this one. As someone who loves Takagi-San, this is fine at best. The characters don’t have the dynamic but I do appreciate they are pushing straight to “progress”. It’s fine while I have more time to watch anime but will probably be one I will drop if I get busier.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Watched the first Fullmetal Alchemist live action movie.

It was... well it started off okay. Then it was getting decent in the middle. Then the last hour of the movie was a literal snooze. fell asleep during the climax. It was that boring.

The costumes are okay. Ed's outfit sorta looks like a cosplay but the Amestris uniforms look believable enough. Alphonse is really convincing. The CGI for the visual effects for the alchemy, and for the rock dogs at the beginning, though, looked really fake.

Biggest problem I think is the pacing and the acting. Hughes was pretty good. Winry, Shou Tucker, and the general were okay. Everyone else though feels really dry. Not sure how much that is on the actors or the direction. Pacing wise, the movie stops taking moments to breathe about half way in, so the last hour is just lots of shot after shot of people standing around expositing with grim faces. It also feels like the movie relies on the viewer already knowing the FMA story, and importing their pre-established investment into the characters and projecting them onto the actors. Some crucial parts of the plot aren't explained. The movie throws around the term "The Ishvalan War" around a lot and it becomes critical to when Hughes figures out the big bad's plan, but the movie never actually explains this so I'd imagine a person who has never read the manga or seen either anime would be confused as to the significance of the war or how on earth Hughes could have possibly figured out the plan. Perhaps it would have been a good idea if the movie had adapted the first episode of the Brotherhood anime, the one about the Hiromu Arakawa created character Isaac McDougal. It is a way better intro to FMA than the fake priest arc that the original show and this movie opened up with, quickly establishing the main plot points (Ishvalan War, government conspiracy, the main characters, etc). Likewise, Mustang seemingly pulls the term "homunculi" out of thin air with the movie having laid zero ground work for him to be able to deduce the true nature of Envy and Lust. Also, the zombies were always one of the least interesting parts of FMA and shouldn't have been adapted at all. Too much shaky cam, and the movie looks rather brown.

I enjoyed the first half of the movie but I am obligated to give it a 4/10 bad, because if I fell asleep during your movie then there has been a fundamental failure somewhere. Will watch movie 2 tomorrow.

[Yunru]

That moment when you find out there are new jojo episodes on FRIDAY

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Fullmetal Alchemist 2 - The Revenge of Scar

More enjoyable than the first movie. The movie does a surprisingly good job of condensing like 20-30 episodes into a 90 minute movie. Looking forward to the third and final movie coming at the end of this month.





Evangelion reboot film quadrilogy

The first movie is a just remake of the first few episodes from the show, but the pacing is off. It never has time to breathe and let things sink in, and the atmosphere of the original show is gone. The movie also presumes that you have watched the original show as it doesn't explain a lot of stuff, such as why only kids can pilot the Evangelions, or why aliens are attacking, or why Gendoh's second in command is going along with all of this, etc.

The second movie is when the remakes begin to diverge in plot. The third and fourth film are completely different storylines. The strongest part of the remake series is during the 3rd film and the first half of 4, when the story actually slows down to stop and smell the roses. The second half of movie 4 is pretty weak, IMO, as it is very incoherent as to what is happening. Why does there need to be four ships? What are the white tiles the ship is breaking through? Eating Evangelions means you regenerate now? How did SEELE's plan diverge from Gendohs if they were both trying to merge everyone's souls into a single being? Why did the statues turn into people at the end? Did everyone who was turned into LCL fluid come back? Etc.

One marked improvement over the original show is that the characters are overall a lot more likeable. I found most of the OG cast to be insufferable except for the three bridge bunnies, but here I like almost everyone. Except Asuka. She's still insufferable.

[Yunru]

Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life 2/10 ... isekai part kinda doesnt matter at all in story. The whole anime is just a D&D sidequest with 1 punch man.

[Yunru]

Made in Abyss S3 EP 11 -- holy shit