[Silencer]

Defiance, on 30 August 2014 - 09:07 AM, said:

Just started watching Death Note. Never really been able to get into anime aside from Studio Ghibli movies, but I'm really enjoying this so far. L is awesome.

And thus starts your slow, but inevitable and rapidly accelerating descent into watching more and more anime.

[Gust Hubb]

Defiance, on 30 August 2014 - 09:07 AM, said:

Just started watching Death Note. Never really been able to get into anime aside from Studio Ghibli movies, but I'm really enjoying this so far. L is awesome.

Read the Manga. Much better imho.

[Silencer]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Episode 9! *rolls on floor in edge-of-his-seat-anticipation of next episode* SOOO MUCH EXCITE.


Curse the week-long wait for the payoff....argh!!!!!!!!!

[D'rek]

I watched the Attack on Titan OVAs recently. There's 3, each about 1 episode long. On the site I was using they were all labelled as being part of a 3-part "Ilse's Journal" OVA, but actually that's just the first one and the other two are completely different. They just give little side stories that occurred during the events of season 1.

The first is veeeery interesting. The third has some great 3D maneuver scenes. The second is absolutely hilarious!

[LinearPhilosopher]

haven't been here in a while got caught up in my life again. Also went to fan expo and had an amazing time, Went with a few friends, ended up making more.

So silencer, i take you're a fan of the nasuverse?

I actually ended up skipping the 2nd Attack on Titan ova as im not always in the mood for comedy, #3 was good. So i glanced at the fall 2014 lineup.
http://anichart.net/fall
hitsugi no chaika s2
PSYCHOPASS S2!!!!!!
log horizon s2!

but heres something that looks really good
Kiseijuu:
They arrive in silence and darkness. They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites, alien creatures who must invade–and take control of–a human host to survive. And once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose: monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, creatures with blades for hands. But most have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. So no one knows their secret–except an ordinary high school student. Shin is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite, but can he find a way to warn humanity of the horrors to come?

@D to the Rek. Glad you finally broke your Guren Lagann cherry. Such an epic series. I personally love it from a Nietzschean stnadpoint. The man of the earth, rising up, overcoming himself to break tthrough the heavens and kill God, (twice). It's brilliant.

Silencer, wtf is up with @d to the rek becoming @blahblahblahblah

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 04 September 2014 - 02:55 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Watched the first half of Dennou Coil. It's not exactly what I was expecting - some parts have seemed a bit nonsensical -but I'm enjoying it regardless.

[LinearPhilosopher]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 05 September 2014 - 04:34 AM, said:

Watched the first half of Dennou Coil. It's not exactly what I was expecting - some parts have seemed a bit nonsensical -but I'm enjoying it regardless.

i recall hearing about that series, Arkada made a review on it eons ago.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

BalrogLord, on 06 September 2014 - 03:54 PM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 05 September 2014 - 04:34 AM, said:

Watched the first half of Dennou Coil. It's not exactly what I was expecting - some parts have seemed a bit nonsensical -but I'm enjoying it regardless.

i recall hearing about that series, Arkada made a review on it eons ago.

What is Arkada?

[Silencer]

Another week, another great episode of SAO. All hail GGO, breaker of Woobie characters! XD

[D'rek]

Silencer, on 07 September 2014 - 06:27 AM, said:

Another week, another great episode of SAO. All hail GGO, breaker of Woobie characters! XD

Would've really liked to see the Kirito-vs-Musketeer X battle though! Especially given how little action there was this episode even with the cliffhanger from last episode! Oh well, they needed to get the good-characters-breaking-down-and-revealing-their-motives-to-each-other done at some point

Given what you know of the LNs, Silencer, do you think the GGO plotline is going to go all the way to the end of this season (epi 26 or so), or do you think they'll switch into the next arc at some point?

- - -

In other news, I randomly started watching a show called Rail Wars. It's about some young adults who at the very start of the show start working for a public-service ministry of trains (in an alternate reality where Japan has a nationalized train industry). I can't necessarily recommend it... it's fairly good, I guess, but the target audience seems to be people with at least some interest in trains, though I don't really have any. But I'm kind of enjoying it so far people it's very earnest and also weirdly extreme in some parts compared to how you'd think an actual show mainly about trains would be - ie on the protagonists' first day they defuse a bomb. And even the train drivers and station helper people get firearm training apparently? It's almost like Duarara or Baccano where everyone is at least a little bit totally insane, but unlike those shows the characters and the rest of the world pretend they're totally normal.

[Silencer]

I'm assuming we'll be watching Mother Rosario within the next five episodes or so. It's possible that there is enough content to stretch this arc a few episodes more, but that would come at the expense of the next story, imo. Hopefully they learned that lesson from the first season as well they learned everything else. XD

[LinearPhilosopher]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 06 September 2014 - 04:12 PM, said:

BalrogLord, on 06 September 2014 - 03:54 PM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 05 September 2014 - 04:34 AM, said:

Watched the first half of Dennou Coil. It's not exactly what I was expecting - some parts have seemed a bit nonsensical -but I'm enjoying it regardless.

i recall hearing about that series, Arkada made a review on it eons ago.

What is Arkada?

https://www.youtube.com/user/GRArkada
He's a reviewer who i someitme agree with his stuff, sometime strongly disagree with.

I recently finished a show called rideback. It's a shojo-ish show about an ex ballerina who gets into ridebacks (a cross betwen a reobot and a motorcycle) and get caught up in a revolution agaisnt the current world goverment. It was decent, i gives it props for having a decent female cast. THe men are mostly on side.

Also, I am finally doing it. Im watching serial experiments lain.

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 10 September 2014 - 02:24 AM

[Silencer]

So I still need to watch the latest ZnT, but meanwhile:

SAO2 is gearing up for its arc finale. Cue much shipping of Sinon and Kirito. And yes, Sinon IS best girl. Just putting that out there. But otherwise mostly a setup episode.

Mahouka is nearly done for the season, and my god if Miyuki didn't just power up the one person in this series who did NOT EVER NEED MORE POWER. (That being said, this episode did have a line that almost made me do a spit-take:

Spoiler

When "Cardinal George" did the now-familiar "Holy crap was that *insert impressive-sounding magibabble technique here, for 30 seconds of bonus dialogue and making Tatsuya look more badass*" line, and Tatsuya's internal response was something like "A misunderstanding resulting from half-baked knowledge, huh? Well that's convenient for me..." I nearly ROFL'd. It's the first time the "super-impressive" technique we're being introduced to has been both wrong and implied to be LESS awesome than whatever it was Tatsuya just did. Poor not-the-main-character and your lack of magibabble knowledge. XD

So that was totally worth it.) This show has its issues, but it does still have its moments. I can't help but wonder what a similar concept that was better written would look like...should be a decent finale, anyway. Tatsuya is ridiculously overpowered. Like, he literally just noticed, and then disintegrated a truck that was through about five walls and outside the building. Casually. All I can think of is how depressing that must be for every other hopeful Magician in the series. Sure, he's implied to have gone through hell and back to become the emotionless superpowered monster that he is, but come on...the guy really didn't need MORE ability to kick ass, on top of what is probably already the ability to level Japan. XD

ETA: Zankyou no Terror was pretty good this week. Still not sure how I feel about it after the introduction of Five, though...

[Silencer]

OK, I'm getting pretty chronic with double-posting lately, but whatever. This one needed to be posted:


So, a couple of weeks ago, I was sort of out of things to watch (OK, things that I *wanted* to watch; I have a backlog longer than my screen can cope with...). I then proceeded to watch a certain AMV, found some interesting shows, TVTropes'd them, and picked a couple to try out.
One was Toradora. This was reasonable, still in the process of watching, it hasn't really hooked me.



The other was Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo ("The Pet Girl of Sakurasou"). I have just finished watching this.




I am going to proceed to make some pretty bold claims about this particular show. But let me first start with a disclaimer: when this show came out, I dismissed it almost out of hand. I did so because the title was odd, and the premise as it was described at the time sounded terribly cliche and likely to play up to a LOT of fanservice situations for slapstick comedy and cringe-inducing panty shots.

Rarely, if ever, have I been more wrong about a show in my life. Do NOT judge this particular 'book' by its cover. (I kid you not - it does with the title/premise a similar thing to what Madoka does with the false sense of security up to episode 3...)


If you have your interest piqued...if you think you might want to watch this show...in order not to overhype it for you, I STRONGLY recommend you just go and watch it now - there are no spoilers below, but I'd rather not blow anyone's expectations unnecessarily out of proportion. If you're still not interested...read below:

Spoiler

So, now that's out of the way, here come the bold claims:

This is the single best slice of life/high school romantic comedy that has ever come out of Japan. It has a cast which not only does NOT rely upon nor orbit unnecessarily its theoretical male protagonist, but who are ALL well developed, explored, and fully realized characters in their own right. That cast is also not small. The main cast is six strong, and the secondary characters are almost all given more than enough detail relative to their screen time. To juggle this many characters, and their respective personalities and storylines within 24 episodes speaks of near perfect pacing.

Fanservice is at an absolute minimum; the first episode is pretty much the end of it, by and large. Anything else is turned on its head and used for dramatical effect, and done very well.

It deals with legitimate, serious issues in a package that manages to be both consistently funny and engaging, while respecting the source material. I don't think I've ever seen a better depiction of a year of someone's not-quite-ordinary life. Highs and lows abound, and it is handled beautifully.

Even the internet has acknowledged that the titular "Pet Girl" (which is a particularly harsh phrase in Japan, and non-indicative to a large extent) shows clear signs that the author has done pretty decent research on what autism can be like - and it's apparently scarily accurate at times (for a given point on the spectrum). And there is a horrifying beauty to the way the impact is portrayed on both the rest of the cast and the character in question.

While it may rarely slip into realms of implausibility, I don't think it ever detracts from the story its telling - the worst it gets is going a bit overboard on some comedy in a breather episode or two, but even that is pretty acceptable overall, considering the way it works the drama in between, and characters are ridiculously consistent in their behaviour/reactions.

The finale is a particularly rough set of four-or-five episodes of pure emotion - again, highs and lows - and while it may not quite land with the weight of something like Clannad or Angel Beats (granted, I did have an unintended break between episode 21 and the rest ) which are ridiculously intensely personal stories, it still managed to pull my strings enough for me to put it up in a close second rank of performance. I'm pretty sure if I'd managed to watch it all straight through, I would have cried.


I can do nothing but highly recommend this show. It is a "must-watch" for anyone who doesn't absolutely abhor the high-school setting (though it's actually pretty well done in that regard, too) or anime without violence. Not that I want to detract from anyone's enjoyment by setting the bar too high, but...this is easily first-in-class for what I consider to be straight-up "slice of life" anime. It has the barest of unlikely scenarios to get it going (no supernatural powers, or the like) and it runs from there, with almost scary precision along a rollercoaster of life.

I really, REALLY, honestly hope there is a season two, and that it is handled just as well. I could never expect it to live up to the first season, but if it did...oh, man, I'd be so excited. XD

[D'rek]

Silencer, on 14 September 2014 - 01:46 PM, said:

The other was Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo ("The Pet Girl of Sakurasou"). I have just finished watching this.



I am going to proceed to make some pretty bold claims about this particular show. But let me first start with a disclaimer: when this show came out, I dismissed it almost out of hand. I did so because the title was odd, and the premise as it was described at the time sounded terribly cliche and likely to play up to a LOT of fanservice situations for slapstick comedy and cringe-inducing panty shots.

Rarely, if ever, have I been more wrong about a show in my life. Do NOT judge this particular 'book' by its cover. (I kid you not - it does with the title/premise a similar thing to what Madoka does with the false sense of security up to episode 3...)


If you have your interest piqued...if you think you might want to watch this show...in order not to overhype it for you, I STRONGLY recommend you just go and watch it now - there are no spoilers below, but I'd rather not blow anyone's expectations unnecessarily out of proportion. If you're still not interested...read below:

Spoiler

So, now that's out of the way, here come the bold claims:

This is the single best slice of life/high school romantic comedy that has ever come out of Japan. It has a cast which not only does NOT rely upon nor orbit unnecessarily its theoretical male protagonist, but who are ALL well developed, explored, and fully realized characters in their own right. That cast is also not small. The main cast is six strong, and the secondary characters are almost all given more than enough detail relative to their screen time. To juggle this many characters, and their respective personalities and storylines within 24 episodes speaks of near perfect pacing.

Fanservice is at an absolute minimum; the first episode is pretty much the end of it, by and large. Anything else is turned on its head and used for dramatical effect, and done very well.

It deals with legitimate, serious issues in a package that manages to be both consistently funny and engaging, while respecting the source material. I don't think I've ever seen a better depiction of a year of someone's not-quite-ordinary life. Highs and lows abound, and it is handled beautifully.

Even the internet has acknowledged that the titular "Pet Girl" (which is a particularly harsh phrase in Japan, and non-indicative to a large extent) shows clear signs that the author has done pretty decent research on what autism can be like - and it's apparently scarily accurate at times (for a given point on the spectrum). And there is a horrifying beauty to the way the impact is portrayed on both the rest of the cast and the character in question.

While it may rarely slip into realms of implausibility, I don't think it ever detracts from the story its telling - the worst it gets is going a bit overboard on some comedy in a breather episode or two, but even that is pretty acceptable overall, considering the way it works the drama in between, and characters are ridiculously consistent in their behaviour/reactions.

The finale is a particularly rough set of four-or-five episodes of pure emotion - again, highs and lows - and while it may not quite land with the weight of something like Clannad or Angel Beats (granted, I did have an unintended break between episode 21 and the rest ) which are ridiculously intensely personal stories, it still managed to pull my strings enough for me to put it up in a close second rank of performance. I'm pretty sure if I'd managed to watch it all straight through, I would have cried.


I can do nothing but highly recommend this show. It is a "must-watch" for anyone who doesn't absolutely abhor the high-school setting (though it's actually pretty well done in that regard, too) or anime without violence. Not that I want to detract from anyone's enjoyment by setting the bar too high, but...this is easily first-in-class for what I consider to be straight-up "slice of life" anime. It has the barest of unlikely scenarios to get it going (no supernatural powers, or the like) and it runs from there, with almost scary precision along a rollercoaster of life.

I really, REALLY, honestly hope there is a season two, and that it is handled just as well. I could never expect it to live up to the first season, but if it did...oh, man, I'd be so excited. XD

How many episodes of it does it take for it to really show though? If I watch 2 episodes and don't find it very interesting is there a certain point I should give it a try until? (Not that I have watched any of it. I will give it a try but I couldn't get into that kids-at-psychic-school one everyone was raving about 2/3 seasons ago...)

[QuickTidal]

A little outside the box, but at TIFF this afternoon I saw the Documentary THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS, which is about Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli during the years in which he was in the process of making THE WIND RISES, and while his sometimes rival/sometimes friend Isao Takahata was making PRINCESS KAGUYA. Though it's less about Takahata than it is about Miyazaki's daily routine, his musings on life and film, and his relationship with his lifelong producer friend Suzuki.

It's wonderful, and doesn't fall into the trap that a lot of documentaries do which fall back on showing footage of the creative person's vision to propel the doc forward. This is SO focused on Miyazaki himself that it comes across at times as quite slow and introspective. The director (and narrator, though she only speaks a few times throughout, allowing her footage to speak most of the time) intercuts the studio's daily life with outdoor nature shots that would be right at home within a Studio Ghibli film. It's quite an organic film, and you really are allowed to get right inside Miyazaki's head. He works at two seperate desks, one at which he appears to only use for storyboards, and the other for his full on animation cell drawings...and neither of those desks is anything special, the main one is even just small and over in a corner by a set of metal shelves filled with paper. You get the sense that though he loves drawing, he's not at all driven to do what he does for "fun". He even calls filmaking a suffering job, but something he is driven to do instead. Something alights in him and he must see it finished. Goro, his son and felllow director, makes it VERY clear that he is only doing what he does because Studio Ghibli exists, and that he doesn't even really care for directing. He shows up in one scene and comes off like a bit of a petulant child...kid of "I dind't want to do thiis, but my dad does it so I got into it." which runs antithesis to his father. Unasuming in regualr pants and shirt and a simply white apron, Miyazaki putters around making sure everything is as on track as it could be. You even get into how they decided upon asking fellow filmaker Hideaki Anno to voice the main character, Jiro, in THE WIND RISES (because he has a weird, yet distinctive voice). Watching two giants of the anime industry joke and chat on screen was amazing.

Its also very navel-gazy with Miyazaki waxing philosophical on life and work and the nature of what they've chosen to do with theirs. And honestly, he's almost melancholic about it, before his realism reasserts itself and he says things liike he knows that when he really does retire, Studio Ghibli will fall apart. He says he's not afraid of that. It's inevitable. And he doesn't see it as anything but another step in his life. And to be honest, knowing that Goro obviously has zero interest in contiuing in any lead role, you can understand why he feels that way. That said, the film ends with Miyazaki holding a piece of paper announcing his retirement...which bears the first line "I hope to do this ten more years"...so take from that what you will. Sounds like he's announcing his retirement...in ten years time.

At the very first screening of THE WIND RISES with his staff, he gets up at the end amongst the applause and stands in front of them to ask their forgiveness as he's never cried at one of his films before. It's touching.

It's also amazing to see how a business that is so workaday and seemingly small-print-shop-esq produces such whimsy, talent, and moves which not only win award but stand the test of time.

WELL worth seeing.

EDIT: Oh, and he smokes like an absolute unstoppable chimney. Like honestly, how he's made it to 73 years old and be such a heavy smoker is beyond me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 14 September 2014 - 08:27 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

QuickTidal, on 14 September 2014 - 08:15 PM, said:

A little outside the box, but at TIFF this afternoon I saw the Documentary THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS, which is about Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli during the years in which he was in the process of making THE WIND RISES, and while his sometimes rival/sometimes friend Isao Takahata was making PRINCESS KAGUYA. Though it's less about Takahata than it is about Miyazaki's daily routine, his musings on life and film, and his relationship with his lifelong producer friend Suzuki.

It's wonderful, and doesn't fall into the trap that a lot of documentaries do which fall back on showing footage of the creative person's vision to propel the doc forward. This is SO focused on Miyazaki himself that it comes across at times as quite slow and introspective. The director (and narrator, though she only speaks a few times throughout, allowing her footage to speak most of the time) intercuts the studio's daily life with outdoor nature shots that would be right at home within a Studio Ghibli film. It's quite an organic film, and you really are allowed to get right inside Miyazaki's head. He works at two seperate desks, one at which he appears to only use for storyboards, and the other for his full on animation cell drawings...and neither of those desks is anything special, the main one is even just small and over in a corner by a set of metal shelves filled with paper. You get the sense that though he loves drawing, he's not at all driven to do what he does for "fun". He even calls filmaking a suffering job, but something he is driven to do instead. Something alights in him and he must see it finished. Goro, his son and felllow director, makes it VERY clear that he is only doing what he does because Studio Ghibli exists, and that he doesn't even really care for directing. He shows up in one scene and comes off like a bit of a petulant child...kid of "I dind't want to do thiis, but my dad does it so I got into it." which runs antithesis to his father. Unasuming in regualr pants and shirt and a simply white apron, Miyazaki putters around making sure everything is as on track as it could be. You even get into how they decided upon asking fellow filmaker Hideaki Anno to voice the main character, Jiro, in THE WIND RISES (because he has a weird, yet distinctive voice). Watching two giants of the anime industry joke and chat on screen was amazing.

Its also very navel-gazy with Miyazaki waxing philosophical on life and work and the nature of what they've chosen to do with theirs. And honestly, he's almost melancholic about it, before his realism reasserts itself and he says things liike he knows that when he really does retire, Studio Ghibli will fall apart. He says he's not afraid of that. It's inevitable. And he doesn't see it as anything but another step in his life. And to be honest, knowing that Goro obviously has zero interest in contiuing in any lead role, you can understand why he feels that way. That said, the film ends with Miyazaki holding a piece of paper announcing his retirement...which bears the first line "I hope to do this ten more years"...so take from that what you will. Sounds like he's announcing his retirement...in ten years time.

At the very first screening of THE WIND RISES with his staff, he gets up at the end amongst the applause and stands in front of them to ask their forgiveness as he's never cried at one of his films before. It's touching.

It's also amazing to see how a business that is so workaday and seemingly small-print-shop-esq produces such whimsy, talent, and moves which not only win award but stand the test of time.

WELL worth seeing.

EDIT: Oh, and he smokes like an absolute unstoppable chimney. Like honestly, how he's made it to 73 years old and be such a heavy smoker is beyond me.

Is there any way to watch this if you're not lucky enough to be able to attend a film festival?

[QuickTidal]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 14 September 2014 - 11:06 PM, said:

Is there any way to watch this if you're not lucky enough to be able to attend a film festival?

Apparently it's been picked up to be distributed. I'd expect it to show up on iTunes or Netflix at some point indeed.

[Silencer]

D, on 14 September 2014 - 04:17 PM, said:

Silencer, on 14 September 2014 - 01:46 PM, said:

The other was Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo ("The Pet Girl of Sakurasou"). I have just finished watching this.



I am going to proceed to make some pretty bold claims about this particular show. But let me first start with a disclaimer: when this show came out, I dismissed it almost out of hand. I did so because the title was odd, and the premise as it was described at the time sounded terribly cliche and likely to play up to a LOT of fanservice situations for slapstick comedy and cringe-inducing panty shots.

Rarely, if ever, have I been more wrong about a show in my life. Do NOT judge this particular 'book' by its cover. (I kid you not - it does with the title/premise a similar thing to what Madoka does with the false sense of security up to episode 3...)


If you have your interest piqued...if you think you might want to watch this show...in order not to overhype it for you, I STRONGLY recommend you just go and watch it now - there are no spoilers below, but I'd rather not blow anyone's expectations unnecessarily out of proportion. If you're still not interested...read below:

Spoiler

So, now that's out of the way, here come the bold claims:

This is the single best slice of life/high school romantic comedy that has ever come out of Japan. It has a cast which not only does NOT rely upon nor orbit unnecessarily its theoretical male protagonist, but who are ALL well developed, explored, and fully realized characters in their own right. That cast is also not small. The main cast is six strong, and the secondary characters are almost all given more than enough detail relative to their screen time. To juggle this many characters, and their respective personalities and storylines within 24 episodes speaks of near perfect pacing.

Fanservice is at an absolute minimum; the first episode is pretty much the end of it, by and large. Anything else is turned on its head and used for dramatical effect, and done very well.

It deals with legitimate, serious issues in a package that manages to be both consistently funny and engaging, while respecting the source material. I don't think I've ever seen a better depiction of a year of someone's not-quite-ordinary life. Highs and lows abound, and it is handled beautifully.

Even the internet has acknowledged that the titular "Pet Girl" (which is a particularly harsh phrase in Japan, and non-indicative to a large extent) shows clear signs that the author has done pretty decent research on what autism can be like - and it's apparently scarily accurate at times (for a given point on the spectrum). And there is a horrifying beauty to the way the impact is portrayed on both the rest of the cast and the character in question.

While it may rarely slip into realms of implausibility, I don't think it ever detracts from the story its telling - the worst it gets is going a bit overboard on some comedy in a breather episode or two, but even that is pretty acceptable overall, considering the way it works the drama in between, and characters are ridiculously consistent in their behaviour/reactions.

The finale is a particularly rough set of four-or-five episodes of pure emotion - again, highs and lows - and while it may not quite land with the weight of something like Clannad or Angel Beats (granted, I did have an unintended break between episode 21 and the rest ) which are ridiculously intensely personal stories, it still managed to pull my strings enough for me to put it up in a close second rank of performance. I'm pretty sure if I'd managed to watch it all straight through, I would have cried.


I can do nothing but highly recommend this show. It is a "must-watch" for anyone who doesn't absolutely abhor the high-school setting (though it's actually pretty well done in that regard, too) or anime without violence. Not that I want to detract from anyone's enjoyment by setting the bar too high, but...this is easily first-in-class for what I consider to be straight-up "slice of life" anime. It has the barest of unlikely scenarios to get it going (no supernatural powers, or the like) and it runs from there, with almost scary precision along a rollercoaster of life.

I really, REALLY, honestly hope there is a season two, and that it is handled just as well. I could never expect it to live up to the first season, but if it did...oh, man, I'd be so excited. XD

How many episodes of it does it take for it to really show though? If I watch 2 episodes and don't find it very interesting is there a certain point I should give it a try until? (Not that I have watched any of it. I will give it a try but I couldn't get into that kids-at-psychic-school one everyone was raving about 2/3 seasons ago...)

I'm probably not a good judge of that, as I was pretty happy to watch it through from about the second ep. But if you get to episode five and feel like it's not we've worth spending another hour on, I guess that's a reasonable place to call it a day. But you'll be missing out. XD

I think because it's so slice-of-life, it doesn't necessarily have a specific hook. It's subtle about it - you just sort of find yourself watching for the humor, or to see what happens next, and it just ramps up from there.

[Silencer]

Wait, you didn't like Shin Sekai Yori? O.o what is wrong with you, you monster?! XD

But don't worry, Sakurasou is completely different. I wouldn't classify SSY as slice of life, or consider it to have much comedy. XD different tone completely.