[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

http://www.dorkly.co...-fcking-bonkers

This will be brilliant.

Reminds me of the second Attack on Titan OVA (which if you haven't seen it, this should be enough of a wtf referral to make you do so).

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

also i just realised something, Assasination classroom had to the potential to be a 5 episode anime. Recall the episode with the shy girl and the poison. What if she had melted a knife and put it into the solution the dude drank?

Koro sensei probably rushed to the science lab, ran some tests on a sample of the poison and came back to class faster than the eye can see.

[LinearPhilosopher]

D, on 25 February 2015 - 05:48 PM, said:

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

http://www.dorkly.co...-fcking-bonkers

This will be brilliant.

Reminds me of the second Attack on Titan OVA (which if you haven't seen it, this should be enough of a wtf referral to make you do so).

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

also i just realised something, Assasination classroom had to the potential to be a 5 episode anime. Recall the episode with the shy girl and the poison. What if she had melted a knife and put it into the solution the dude drank?

Koro sensei probably rushed to the science lab, ran some tests on a sample of the poison and came back to class faster than the eye can see.

nah cause when moving he creates sonics booms, very audible ones.

[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 07:51 PM, said:

D, on 25 February 2015 - 05:48 PM, said:

BalrogLord, on 25 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

also i just realised something, Assasination classroom had to the potential to be a 5 episode anime. Recall the episode with the shy girl and the poison. What if she had melted a knife and put it into the solution the dude drank?

Koro sensei probably rushed to the science lab, ran some tests on a sample of the poison and came back to class faster than the eye can see.

nah cause when moving he creates sonics booms, very audible ones.

Good point.

Can you really melt rubber (the knives and BBs seem to be something close to rubber) and distill it into a low-viscosity solution such that it wouldn't be obvious though?

[Imperial Historian]

I can't contribute to the anime discussion but I know a lot about rubber!

Most rubbers are highly hydrophobic so though the viscosity of the hot melted rubber isn't that high in comparison to most plastics, to be able to be able to ingest it surrepticiously you would need to dilute it. It wouldn't do that in most drinks as they are water based but you could do it on olive oil or possibly create an emulsion in a soup.

Of course if we are talking about a highly effective toxin absorbed in a rubber like material the toxin itself would most likely be highly water soluble so you would dip it in the water and it would transfer into the water (as presumably it would into someones blood stream of you stab them).

In other news my anime watching time is much curtailed of late but I'm thinking of starting another series. From a brief scan of the thread attack on titan seems to be the most popular anime of recent times, any other anime out there from the last few years which displaced that as a much watch it I only have time to watch one series?

[LinearPhilosopher]

Imperial Historian, on 25 February 2015 - 09:44 PM, said:

I can't contribute to the anime discussion but I know a lot about rubber!

Most rubbers are highly hydrophobic so though the viscosity of the hot melted rubber isn't that high in comparison to most plastics, to be able to be able to ingest it surrepticiously you would need to dilute it. It wouldn't do that in most drinks as they are water based but you could do it on olive oil or possibly create an emulsion in a soup.

Of course if we are talking about a highly effective toxin absorbed in a rubber like material the toxin itself would most likely be highly water soluble so you would dip it in the water and it would transfer into the water (as presumably it would into someones blood stream of you stab them).

In other news my anime watching time is much curtailed of late but I'm thinking of starting another series. From a brief scan of the thread attack on titan seems to be the most popular anime of recent times, any other anime out there from the last few years which displaced that as a much watch it I only have time to watch one series?

you sir are awesome. Ill explain the situation. The premise of the anime is as following, an alien being with a speed of mach 20, who destroyed half the moon, who threatens to destroy the world UNLESS, his high school class manages to assasinate him. He provides them with rubber knives and bb pellets that will kill him, (as coventional weapon have no effect on him (regenration etc).

So in this specific episode, he was given 3 poisons. sodium hydroxide, thallium acetate, and a third posion. Now these pellets/knives are made of rubber or some kind of plastic. So the question is the following. Would it be physically possible to melt or dissolves rubber/plastic into these compounds.

The show, is not serious in the slightest.

Also, if you can only watch 1 series, Attack on titan is a solid recomendation, unless you care to be more specific with your tastes or preferences in media.

[Imperial Historian]

BalrogLord, on 26 February 2015 - 03:43 AM, said:

Imperial Historian, on 25 February 2015 - 09:44 PM, said:

I can't contribute to the anime discussion but I know a lot about rubber!

Most rubbers are highly hydrophobic so though the viscosity of the hot melted rubber isn't that high in comparison to most plastics, to be able to be able to ingest it surrepticiously you would need to dilute it. It wouldn't do that in most drinks as they are water based but you could do it on olive oil or possibly create an emulsion in a soup.

Of course if we are talking about a highly effective toxin absorbed in a rubber like material the toxin itself would most likely be highly water soluble so you would dip it in the water and it would transfer into the water (as presumably it would into someones blood stream of you stab them).

In other news my anime watching time is much curtailed of late but I'm thinking of starting another series. From a brief scan of the thread attack on titan seems to be the most popular anime of recent times, any other anime out there from the last few years which displaced that as a much watch it I only have time to watch one series?

you sir are awesome. Ill explain the situation. The premise of the anime is as following, an alien being with a speed of mach 20, who destroyed half the moon, who threatens to destroy the world UNLESS, his high school class manages to assasinate him. He provides them with rubber knives and bb pellets that will kill him, (as coventional weapon have no effect on him (regenration etc).

So in this specific episode, he was given 3 poisons. sodium hydroxide, thallium acetate, and a third posion. Now these pellets/knives are made of rubber or some kind of plastic. So the question is the following. Would it be physically possible to melt or dissolves rubber/plastic into these compounds.

The show, is not serious in the slightest.

Also, if you can only watch 1 series, Attack on titan is a solid recomendation, unless you care to be more specific with your tastes or preferences in media.

Definitely not into sodium hydroxide (rubbers are the preferred protective material for sodium hydroxide), thalium acetate I would not expect to dissolve rubber. The most toxic thing I can think of off the top of my head which dissolved rubber is toluene (which is about 15 times less toxic than thallium acetate, or about 150 times less toxic than a traditional poison like cyanide)

I'll check out aot then and maybe this assassination classroom as it sounds fun.

[EmperorMagus]

I finished watching Terror In Resonance.
I'm so sad now.

[D'rek]

I've been watching and just finished an old (1997) show awkwardly titled "Those Who Hunt Elves". It's a comedic show, mostly episodic with an overall plot that is introduced in the first and second episodes and [not-so-]resolved at the end of each of the two 12-episode seasons, similar in structure to lots of older shows like that.

The overall plot is that 3 Japanese people (a karate kid, a gun-enthusiast high school girl and a famous actress) and a military tank get transported into a fantasy world that is mostly populated by humans and some elves. The only way for them to get back is through a spell cast by the pseudo-elf-princess/Elder Celcia, but Junpei (the karate kid) distracts Celcia with vulgar commentary during the spell, she loses concentration and the spell fails. The spell breaks into 5 pieces which go flying across the country and implant themselves on the skin of 5 random elves, so the 3 Japanese people and Celcia (who shortly thereafter turns herself into a dog and gets stuck like that) go travelling across the country stripping any elf they find naked to find and collect the spell fragments. That's the overall plot, and the show does a really good job tying each episode into that overall plan so there is a sense of progression and continuity (unlike, say, Samurai Champloo where the episodes don't really connect to each other or the overall plot), but most episodes are really just about the random challenge and silliness of that particular episode, such as when they run out of toilet paper and realize it is not a common product in the fantasy world. The whole "stripping elves" thing turned out to be surprisingly non-vulgar - most of the time you don't even see anything except some clothes flying up in the air - ie it is a plot device because it is silly, not because the show is trying to be eroge/ecchi.

I thought the characters and situations were a good balance of random-but-not-too-random and still having some serious qualities that the whole execution was pretty good. However, I watched it in the English dub, and it is apparent that the dubbers and voice actors did not have good translators and decided to just make up their own jokes. This turned out surprisingly well - there's a lot of good jokes that I'm sure were not part of the original Japanese script. It also ends up with a lot more Americana jokes than you'd get in most anime (and of course they are '90s Americana jokes!). From what I've read on another site, even the official sub is a poor translation that misses tons of jokes, and the English dub is actually much funnier than the sub because they added so many jokes.

So, it was good, I'm glad I watched it. It's not doing anything really innovative, even for its time, and there's certainly other funnier anime out there, but it was enjoyable. Worth checking out if you're in the mood for a silly English-dubbed very-90s anime.

[D'rek]

Good stuff all around this weekend.

Death Parade - the end reveal was pretty expected, but that's fine, it's a 2-parter episode anyways.


I will note for those watching Durarara!! x2 Shou, the version I watched made a fairly substantial mis-translation in the subtitling:

 Killed by a hit man named Shizuo.png (537.08K)
Number of downloads: 0

^^This should read something more like "I was told that my father and grandfather would be killed by a hitman named Shizuo". BIG difference!

[D'rek]

*Ahem*
This is a one-woman play I like to call "Oh noes Code Geass!" Without further ado...

---

D'rek: Time to start a new anime!
Code Geass: Hi D'rek! You've heard so much about me! Watch me!
D'rek: I've heard so much about Code Geass! Let's watch it!
Code Geass: Here's my first episode!

*chess*
*explosions*
*poison gas*
*robots*
*WTFpower*

D: Coooooooooooooool!
CG: More?
D: MOAR!!!
CG: Here's my second episode!

*more robots*
*more explosions*
*MASTERMIND*
*propaganda*
*NINJA ROBOTS*

D: Ahhhh! I'm so hooked! This is awesome!
CG: Do you want... even more?
D: YEEEESSSS!!!! MOAR!!!
CG: Excellent! You've fallen right into my trap. Here comes... my third episode!

*high school drama*
*teenage girls spontaneously and awkwardly comparing their breast sizes*
*protagonist spraying champagne on teen girl totally not a euphemism*
*teenage girl naked in shower*
*contrived method for protagonist to walk in on girl in show*
*increasingly contrived method for shower curtain to be moved out of the way*

D: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo you tricked me! It was an ecchi all along!!!
CG: MwahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*close curtains*

[LinearPhilosopher]

D, on 04 March 2015 - 03:08 PM, said:

*Ahem*
This is a one-woman play I like to call "Oh noes Code Geass!" Without further ado...

---

D'rek: Time to start a new anime!
Code Geass: Hi D'rek! You've heard so much about me! Watch me!
D'rek: I've heard so much about Code Geass! Let's watch it!
Code Geass: Here's my first episode!

*chess*
*explosions*
*poison gas*
*robots*
*WTFpower*

D: Coooooooooooooool!
CG: More?
D: MOAR!!!
CG: Here's my second episode!

*more robots*
*more explosions*
*MASTERMIND*
*propaganda*
*NINJA ROBOTS*

D: Ahhhh! I'm so hooked! This is awesome!
CG: Do you want... even more?
D: YEEEESSSS!!!! MOAR!!!
CG: Excellent! You've fallen right into my trap. Here comes... my third episode!

*high school drama*
*teenage girls spontaneously and awkwardly comparing their breast sizes*
*protagonist spraying champagne on teen girl totally not a euphemism*
*teenage girl naked in shower*
*contrived method for protagonist to walk in on girl in show*
*increasingly contrived method for shower curtain to be moved out of the way*

D: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo you tricked me! It was an ecchi all along!!!
CG: MwahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*close curtains*

If you think CG is bi-polar, you obviously haven't seen full metal panic. The upside to the latter though is that the 2nd seasons (the second raid, fumoffu!) basically cured it of it's bi polarism. Also if you think that's bad you obviously haven't seen some of the ass shots that come in later.

Shit like code geass is why i stopped caring about fanservice. It's gona be there, just ignore it and move on.

Death parade is awesome. I was theorising that both of our latest victims were involved in each other's past. Turns out they weren't but that doesn't change the similarities and contrasts between them.

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 04 March 2015 - 05:06 PM

[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Shit like code geass is why i stopped caring about fanservice. It's gona be there, just ignore it and move on.

Usually I know what I'm getting into and can look past it if it's a show I want to watch anyways. This one took me completely by surprise.

Seems pretty pointless, too. Based on the first couple episodes I thought this was going to be a show that keeps moving forward so quickly it wouldn't need or have time for this.

All the more reason to like up-and-comer studio Wit. Attack on Titan didn't need any of that shit!

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Death parade is awesome. I was theorising that both of our latest victims were involved in each other's past. Turns out they weren't but that doesn't change the similarities and contrasts between them.

Or were they?! ooooooooooooooooo

[LinearPhilosopher]

D, on 04 March 2015 - 05:26 PM, said:

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Shit like code geass is why i stopped caring about fanservice. It's gona be there, just ignore it and move on.

Usually I know what I'm getting into and can look past it if it's a show I want to watch anyways. This one took me completely by surprise.

Seems pretty pointless, too. Based on the first couple episodes I thought this was going to be a show that keeps moving forward so quickly it wouldn't need or have time for this.

All the more reason to like up-and-comer studio Wit. Attack on Titan didn't need any of that shit!

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Death parade is awesome. I was theorising that both of our latest victims were involved in each other's past. Turns out they weren't but that doesn't change the similarities and contrasts between them.

Or were they?! ooooooooooooooooo

the plot is thickening faster than that time i added flour to my soup

[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 06:49 PM, said:

D, on 04 March 2015 - 05:26 PM, said:

BalrogLord, on 04 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Death parade is awesome. I was theorising that both of our latest victims were involved in each other's past. Turns out they weren't but that doesn't change the similarities and contrasts between them.

Or were they?! ooooooooooooooooo

the plot is thickening faster than that time i added flour to my soup

Yup.

I guess Decim doesn't usually get "those" types of people because he is still new, but I wonder if there is more to it than simply usually wanting more experienced arbiters to judge such cases. I don't mean Nona's special reason, I mean I wonder if there is a greater reason than just experience why longer-serving arbiters would usually be the ones to make such judgements. Maybe there are more possible outcomes.

I wish Nona would stop avoiding Oculus. I feel like he is probably the key to understanding it all - figure out who/what he really is and you figure out everything. Have to wonder if he is really just a retired manager of the place or something else. He doesn't have the eyes, after all.

By most accounts, only four more episodes to go, too - most sites/people are saying it'll be 12 episodes, not 13.

[D'rek]

Death Parade - well that came together nicely! More reinforcement of the show's idea that

Spoiler

...judging people based on incomplete information and forcibly generating reactions from them might just not work, at all, whatsoever, and the system is totally broken...

which seems to be a pretty big theme here for the show as a whole, and especially Onna's character.


Log Horizon - Wow! Such plot! This episode progressed things so much compared to the last 7 or so / the whole season so far. Really good. BUT... there's only 2 or 3 more episodes left after this one, and apparently there is only a tiny bit of light novel/web novel content past this point. So sounds like things are going to end with a ton of interesting things revealed at the end of the season, but very little actual resolution... and then a 2+ year wait until another season (if any)...?


Durarara!! - Kazemoto still looks really weird. I guess there's no description of him in the books anyways, but they really just made him look like a lizard or something. Oh well, that doesn't matter. Loved the misunderstanding between Toramaru and Awakusu. It's kind of weird having the background people be greyed out but still obviously staring at Celty or the Awakusu or whatnot... kind of a jarring effect. I wonder if they'd have been better off getting rid of the greyed out effect after the whole Namie/Mikado incident used it? Whatever, still an awesome episode!


Assassination Classroom - No major plot this week, but funny! And big setup for next episode!


Code Geass episode 9 - the student council president just quoted the Oath in the Peach Garden (from Three Kingdoms)! Sold!

[LinearPhilosopher]

Looking forward to today's death parade episode

[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 20 March 2015 - 12:59 PM, said:

Looking forward to today's death parade episode

Finally, someone else posts so I can avoid quadruple-posting! This was starting to turn into the D'rek's crazy rants that no one listens to thread!


Anyways...

Last weekend, in short:

Assassination Classroom - How in the fuck did they make me laugh my butt off and tear up over a big computer with guns?! This show is awesome. Can't wait to see the other new student this coming weekend!

Durarara!! - Still good! Everyone is on the move... things are coming to a head! Did you notice the place Izaya was investigating had the name Ruri on the front sign?

Death Parade - Wow, it was the wife of the old man from Death Billiards! How bittersweet. Oculus... is kind of scary. Nice to know the weirdness of his character design has some meaning though.

Log Horizon - You're in a city full of adventurers that are sad because they have no way home! You need money? STOP KEEPING EVERYTHING TO YOURSELF!!! Tell them you may have a way home but it'll cost that amount - maybe they'll be encouraged to go farm mobs in order to collect that much money!

[D'rek]

I'm also finished with Code Geass. Definitely a very entertaining show and going high up on my ratings. There are a lot of things this show does very, very well.

The action is good. The intellectual thinking parts are good and the protagonist is well-portrayed as being very smart but not perfectly so, and not in such a way that it makes all the other characters look stupid. The large cast of characters beyond the protagonist is really well done, with tons of secondary and tertiary characters having a surprising amount of depth to them, even if only short pieces of it are shown. The world-building is also well done - even though you often only get little bits at a time it is clear the creators had the whole world built from the start and there are lots of hints and references to non-related events that make the whole thing feel fully realized.

Definitely one of the biggest strengths of the show is that the balancing of the protagonist and the main secondary character between good/bad or hero/anti-hero/villain is extremely well executed. There are times when you feel like Lelouch is a real hero and you want to see him win above all. Then there are times when you are sure he is a narcissistic ass who doesn't care about any of his allies and you want to see him crushed. Likewise, Suzaku sometimes comes off as a naive idealist who needs to get a grip on reality, while other times it is his beliefs and purpose which resonate more strongly. The back-and-forth evolution of these two characters' - as well as CC's - morality, beliefs and ultimate goals is what keeps the show fresh and interesting all the way through to the end. It's not merely a morally ambiguous show, it's a show that presents many sides of its characters and absolutely invites you to cast judgement on them, then revise that judgement when events take you deeper into those same characters. And the ending itself is a near-perfect climax and culmination of that moral back-and-forth.

Not that there aren't some cons to the show, as well.

The biggest flaw is perhaps that the show is trying to do too many things, that it cannot focus and expand on any one theme, plot or group of characters as much as it might like. There's big explosive battles, a slowly unveiling revenge mystery, occult philosophisizing on the nature of happiness, a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque romantic tragedy, high school shenanigans, political maneuvering and more. In some ways, the "Jack of all trades, master of none" idiom applies, but might be a bit harsh - despite trying to juggle so many different balls Code Geass pulls it off surprisingly well. Even though it is sometimes pretty obvious that the show is fabricating a reason for events to happen at the school, the plotlines and characters nevertheless combine fairly naturally. Still, with so much going on they can only show so much of any particular element of the show, and while I wouldn't say there is anything that isn't well resolved by the end, it's hard not to feel several plots, characters or themes deserved more time to develop further.

Mostly, the way Code Geass keeps all those balls up in the air is by charging ahead at a blistering pace and hardly ever slowing down. The main plot escalates very quickly and hardly any time is spent giving lengthy introductions to new characters when it is not necessary. Sometimes this is a bit disconcerting, with new characters showing up out of nowhere if you miss a casual mention or two, but generally you'll learn more about someone or something by seeing it/them in action later on anyways. The overall effect works pretty well in a "just hang on and enjoy the ride, all your questions get answered eventually" manner and has the Erikson-like effect of making the world feel a lot bigger than the small piece you are seeing, but on the flip side sometimes it is utterly frustrating when answers to questions you feel are really important are shrugged aside with a mysterious character or two refusing to answer the protagonist's questions and the protagonist accepting that way too easily.

Lastly in the flaws, of course, the show sporadically feels the need to throw in a bunch of gratuitous fan service every now and then. It is almost like they made the entire show, realized they were contractually obligated to have 30 seconds of fan service every 7 episodes, went back and re-animated a couple scenes to take place in showers instead of regular rooms. That's how little it ever has to do with the plot or even the romances of the show. It's easy enough to ignore, then, though the sparseness of it actually makes it stand out all the more since it only occurs in one of every handful or two of episodes. Regardless, the fact that they felt the need to insert it into this show, which for the most part is otherwise much more thematically complex then I would expect to see marketed to the younger demographics perhaps shows that the creators weren't really all that sure who they were expecting to be watching this, either.


Other miscellaneous notes:

Only the first OP song is any good - the rest of the OPs and EDs are mediocre or in a couple cases awful. But the OST is very good - mostly big orchestral works.

Watcher beware - the show is highly addictive through the use of Jim Butcher-esque episode endings that reveal a sudden twist or revelation, making you just *have* watch that next episode right now!


All in all, Code Geass was not an absolute masterpiece, but it was definitely very high up on my list of shows in terms of pure entertainment factor, and I cannot think of very many shows that have ever combined so many disparate elements so effectively, either. Definitely recommended! Furthermore, for those who have watched it, I'd be really curious to hear your spoiler-boxed impressions after seeing the ending.

[LinearPhilosopher]

just finished watching latest death parade episode. Ima need some time to digest it...

Definetly the best show of the season by far!

@d'rek did you watch s2?. Also there's some OVA's in the middle of production, the animation is top nothc, deals with the britanian's war against the european union.

Also d'rek the first CG OP i actually hated the most, the others i liked (cept season 2, op 1, the song has no pacing, it feels like the guy adapting the song was schizophrenic). Idk it was fine by most j-pop standards and Colours by flow really got you pumped for the song.

In regards to the EDs, they are done by Ali Project. I don't like ali project myself but im told they are an acquired taste (still hate them, but i can appreaciate having a different vocal style)

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 20 March 2015 - 10:23 PM

[D'rek]

BalrogLord, on 20 March 2015 - 10:18 PM, said:

@d'rek did you watch s2?.

Yup!

I definitely feel bad for anyone who watched the first season as it was coming out and had to wait 2 years for the end-of-season-1 cliffhanger to be resolved!

BalrogLord, on 20 March 2015 - 10:18 PM, said:

Also d'rek the first CG OP i actually hated the most, the others i liked (cept season 2, op 1, the song has no pacing, it feels like the guy adapting the song was schizophrenic). Idk it was fine by most j-pop standards and Colours by flow really got you pumped for the song.

In regards to the EDs, they are done by Ali Project. I don't like ali project myself but im told they are an acquired taste (still hate them, but i can appreaciate having a different vocal style)

The first OP is definitely a bit frantic, yes (especially the background brass) but it still keeps to a rhythm and has some interesting musical ideas mixed in with a catchy melody. And the brassy sound fits with the british and military aspects of the plot/world.

The second one is just harsh singing (not necessarily bad, but at the least deliberately having a grating tune to it) over a pretty generic electric guitar and drums beat... doesn't fit at all with the anime and is pretty generic to boot. Couldn't stand it, had to skip over it every time.

The two OPs of season 2 were not as bad, but pretty generic anime OP - chorus singing over basic electric guitar and drums, and not really doing anything beyond that nor having much of a catchy melody. The second one especially was pretty alright, just not quite good enough to want to listen to it 13 times in a row. But I didn't feel the need to skip them every time.


Oddly, looking on youtube seems there are some OPs that I didn't have in my version, and the 3rd one in my version isn't in the main sequence someone posted online. Weird.


And yeah, the EDs are weird. Sometimes painfully off-rhythm (on purpose, I must assume, but I don't know why).