Anime Thigh Thread II

[Yunru]

Re-zero: Cat spirit is a witch?

[Epuration]

My sides .

I'm just glad no one forgot about best girl.

[Millhi]

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-new...0-minute-recap
lol

I'm just going to echo the sentiment of...

... lol.

yup

...lol.

[Mehrunes]

Subaru should just die. Rem is dead, nothing matters anymore.

"I believe I was born for this very moment"


Anyway, good episode. Subaru is finally getting more tolerable even in his outbursts (except for the part where he shittalked Emilia, it's not like he's seen people dying because of her "bad choices" specifically in his past two lives). And great cliffhanger at the end.

[Artorius]

Was testing how the Re:Zero BDs look on YouTube earlier.

Compression is shit as usual but looks decent enough, I reckon.

>How BDs look on YouTube
>BDs on YouTube
>Testing how it looks...

Unified my friend, your testing is beyound pointless. The actual BD will look an entire universe better than this YT video.

[Zatheyll]

After falling behind Re:Zero by four episodes, waiting on someone, I've finally given up and am going to catch up right now.

I'm not sure if I'm ready. I've dodged essentially every spoiler, other than knowing bad shit happens.

[Artorius]

Re:Zero - So... When will you die Subaru? Just fucking die.

Qualidea Code - This one is actually pretty good. It was entertaining to watch like the other episodes, I really didn't expect much but I'm getting surprised.

Orange - Suwa > Kakeru.

Zestiria - New girl is cute.

[Zatheyll]

ReZero 15 was uh... something.

Yeah.


Something.

[bals]

ReZero 15 was uh... something.
Yeah.
Something.

ep 15 spoiler

Spoiler: 

[Schirmy]

ep 15 spoiler

Spoiler: 

That's a nice meme.

[Sesto]

ReZero 17 - I hope Subaru accomplishes something soon because this is getting repetitive as fuck.

[Neichus]

ReZero 17 - I hope Subaru accomplishes something soon because this is getting repetitive as fuck.

That's kind of how I feel. We're down to six episodes left for the anime and remarkably little has happened for some time. That is, things happen and then he dies and resets it. And now whenever something bad happens I just think, "Okay, when is Subaru going to die and 'fix' it this time?" It makes things feel very stagnant when your expectations are that what happened the last three episodes don't matter. Considering Rem and Emilia are dead I doubt he's going to stay alive this time because that would actually kill main/favorite girls, but that would be quite the shocker if this became the real timeline as it were.

[bals]

oh and about the accel world movie

[Sesto]

Tales of Zestiria the X 03 - The girls in this show are so cute.

[Epuration]

Tales of Zestiria the X 03 - The girls in this show are so cute.

The sword chick is cute AF

[Neichus]

Spice & Wolf Rewatch: 11-13

These last three episodes are some of my favorites in the first season.

As I remarked before, what I dislike about the last set of episodes is that Holo's temperament doesn't improve. They just got through a tight spot together and they are obviously meant to become closer, but suddenly Holo reverts back to her initial level of teasing without any balance of visible affection. While this may be accurate writing (more on this below) it still irks me and I find myself feeling quite annoyed with how she is portrayed. In the final episodes the series this is amended and, at least for me, feels more natural.

The primary scene that illustrates this is in the inn at the beginning of episode 11. I like it because Holo is earnest, while not completely losing what makes her unique. She acknowledges from the beginning that having her hand brushed away before was minor, and knows that the damage she may have done to Lawrence's life is irreparable. Yet he has the gall to apologize for his minor transgression, and that shames her terribly. It's really the first moment where I think she realizes maybe she isn't superior to Lawrence in all ways. Holo has great personal pride, and while she acknowledges to herself that she is fond of him** she also has a fundamental attitude that he's the lucky one to be with her. In this scene I think she first realizes that maybe, just maybe, she's also lucky to be with him.

Being Holo she is far too proud to say this out loud, but what she does next is telling: she basically demands he confess to her. She suddenly wants to hear, to really know, that she does have his affection. Her domineering manner in which she has him retry it until he 'gets it right' is pretty typical of her powerful personality, but despite that she still earnestly wags her tail at the end - a sure sign of her true feelings. Between this and other scenes (such as when she kneeled and begged for Lawrence's sake with the wolves)I feel like this series finishes itself well in the portrayal of their relationship, striking a good balance between teasing and underlying emotional bonds.

And speaking of the give and take, the final couple of scenes are also some of my favorite. Finally, Lawrence gets Holo back. The look on her face when he tells her that he probably called her name because it was shorter is priceless. And when she tries her heavy-handed approach like she did back in the inn, trying to put herself back in control of the situation, he completely turns it around by calling during the bells. And all this only works because we now know how much Holo wants Lawrence to like her, again emphasizing how I feel this arc better sculpts their relationship

Other than this, I like Nora. She isn't an award-winning character by any stretch. She is too young and we don't know her for long enough to get more than the basic story behind her motivations. But despite being a slight, innocent, frail-looking girl she shows that she can look after herself. Her scenes involving the wolves are really serious. Just imagine what it would be like: middle of the night, in a dark and unfamiliar wood, you wake to the sound of wolves surrounding your camp. That is a primal human nightmare, but Nora has the ability to stand there ready. Even when they are fleeing she doesn't panic, but instead acts intelligently to disrupt the wolves' behavior. It's really as Holo says: don't confuse this girl for a sheep just because she looks tame. I don't really see it as a "girl power!" kind of thing as much as yet another case where the series seeks to purposefully disrupt the usual stereotypes.

Finally, I have to admit that the last few episodes do highlight how poorly non-humans are drawn in this series. The scene where Holo attacks the thugs from Lemerio Trading is particularly atrocious. The action doesn't flow and many of her movements look profoundly unnatural. I think it's just as well that the scenes with Holo's wolf form are few and far between. Enek also looks really strange in many of the scenes he features.


Spice & Wolf II Rewatch: Episode 0

This is the first episode that I have not seen in years, so this was enjoyable to not remember as many scenes. That said, I have a very mixed feeling toward this episode: it is half fantastic and half terrible fan service.

The good of the episode comes from Holo's internal monologues and dreams. They give excellent insight into how Holo thinks. As she muses on how the days, months, and years just slipped by when she was alone she cannot help but feel delight in the daily variety she now experiences. They also demonstrate how self-aware she is of her actions: she knows that at times she loses some control, and is bothered by how much more vulnerable she has become since her long solitude. But at the same time she doesn't apologize for herself, she merely reflects on it.

Easily the most powerful segment is Holo's dream where she finds herself standing on a snow field. On one side are her kin, the wolves waiting for her to come home. On the other is Lawrence with arms outstretched. In this moment she makes a clear choice: as long as he is there, she would like to be with him. But when she reaches him, the reality sinks in that he won't always be there. She will live to see him die, and that is a most terrible thing. Unable to explain this to him it eats away at her. In terms of quality character development, these are top notch.

However, it seems that they decided to also pair this with some profoundly mediocre elements. When I called it "fan service" above I don't mean the sexual variety, but simply that the interactions between Lawrence, Holo, and Nora are for the most part designed to entertain the audience. At the table Holo's forced jealousy, Lawrence's exasperated goodness, and Nora's cute innocence are all excessively highlighted. And later on the scenes involving the flirty interactions at the "sick" bed are just bones thrown to the audience, even stooping to Holo becoming so excited she hits her head (haha?).

Finishing the episode I felt a mixture of feelings. On one hand it's like they had an excellent series of ideas they needed to get across, and they did so amazingly well. I have a soft spot for the grandness of time and our own impermanence, and they nailed that firmly. On the other hand, it seems they feared the episode would be too abstract or depressing, and so were forced to throw in antics to ensure the attention of the audience.

**Addendum on Holo's Personality
I think sometimes people confuse Holo as a tsundere because she keeps herself distant at many times and has occasional violent outbursts. However, I really do not think that is accurate.

Tsunderes are motivated by the repression of strong feelings. Unable to handle their own emotions they are overwhelmed and try to cover them up, often even to themselves. This creates a very unstable personality because they want something so badly yet go about getting it in all the wrong ways. In particular they frequently turn to violence in their confusion, seeking to give the impression that they are not besotted as well as perpetuating a self-image of being in control (which they are clearly not). Over time they warm up if the male is patient enough to put up with their antics, soothing their fears of rejection.

Holo does not have these kinds of internal conflicts. She has a great deal of self-confidence and knows what she wants and how to get it. She readily acknowledges to herself that she has feelings for Lawrence as well. Her distance from him is not due to confusion. It is because of two things: pride and fear. Her pride as Holo the Wise Wolf means that she simply has a hard time weakening herself in front of others, especially inferior humans. Expressing affection always makes people vulnerable, and so she cannot bring herself to openly show her affection on a regular basis.

The fear is something I already touched on above. In the inevitability of time, she knows that she will outlive Lawrence. As she already has said herself: she is tired of being alone. She knows deep within herself that these times can't last and that she can have no illusions that their love is 'eternal.' In this regard she finds herself drawn in with the moment, but also struck suddenly by a deep melancholy that has no answer.

[Zatheyll]

I didn't sign up for this. Watching the past four episodes of Re:Zero all at once probably wasn't the best idea. I don't think I've ever seen something with this much suffering/brutality in an anime before. At this point, I'm surprised Subaru has held it together as much as he has. He should be fully mind broken by now.

[bals]

Planetarian - I like this show. something a little different.
ep 3 curious what's going to happen since she can't recharge anymore. and she's going into yandere mode

[Radio]

I didn't sign up for this. Watching the past four episodes of Re:Zero all at once probably wasn't the best idea. I don't think I've ever seen something with this much suffering/brutality in an anime before. At this point, I'm surprised Subaru has held it together as much as he has. He should be fully mind broken by now.

I'd argue that he already is mind-broken, and his cute girls are the only tethers that keep him functioning.

[Zatheyll]

Here are the first volume sales for the anime that aired in Spring.

Spoiler: 

*1.　*9,193　Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (2016/6/24)
*2.　*9,138　JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Diamond wa Kudakenai (2016/6/22)
*3.　*8,504　High School Fleet (2016/6/22)
*4.　*8,289　Bungou Stray Dogs (2016/6/24)
*5.　*7,778　Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (2016/6/22)
*6.　*5,616　Boku no Hero Academia (2016/6/29)
*7.　*3,728　Super Lovers (2016/6/17)
*8.　*3,647　Flying Witch (2016/6/22)
*9.　*3,089　Sansha Sanyou (2016/6/29)
10.　*2,826　Bakuon!! (2016/6/21)
11.　*2,640　Netgame no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? (2016/6/23)
12.　*2,112　Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge (2016/6/24)
13.　*2,079　Kuma Miko (2016/6/24) *
14.　*1,843　Hundred (2016/6/24)
15.　*1,697　Hakuouki: Otogisoushi [Blu-ray BOX/DVD BOX] (2016/7/13)
16.　*1,508　Kiznaiver (2016/6/8)
17.　*1,446　Anne Happy♪ (2016/6/22) *
18.　**,691　Shounen Maid (2016/6/22) *
19.　**,505　Sakamoto desu ga? (2016/6/22) *
20.　**,422　Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou – The Last Song [Blu-ray] (2016/6/24)
21.　**,407　Terra Formars Revenge [Blu-ray] (2016/6/22)
* - partial sales

No Data
**.　**,***　Endride (2016/6/22)
**.　**,***　Mayoiga (2016/7/6)
**.　**,***　Sousei no Onmyouji (2016/6/24)

Not Released Yet
Macross Δ (2016/7/24)
Joker Game [Blu-ray BOX/DVD] (2016/7/27)
Big Order [Blu-ray BOX/DVD] (2016/7/29)
Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu", Igi Ari! [Blu-ray BOX/DVD BOX] (2016/8/24)
Magi: Sinbad no Bouken [Blu-ray BOX/DVD BOX] (2016/8/24)
Onigiri [Blu-ray BOX] (2016/8/26)
Pan de Peace! [Blu-ray] (2016/9/2)
Uchuu Patrol Luluco [Blu-ray BOX/DVD BOX] (2016/9/14)
Kuromukuro [Blu-ray] (2016/10/19)

Not that surprising of numbers, other than Academia being lower than I had thought it would be, along with Tanaka being too low.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd argue that he already is mind-broken, and his cute girls are the only tethers that keep him functioning.

At that point I'd just want to die and not come back. Resetting is the true pain.