[D'rek]

Maark Abbott, on 27 January 2021 - 08:55 AM, said:

D, on 27 January 2021 - 06:38 AM, said:

Latest AoT:

Spoiler

This was everything I wanted. Enough talk, enough maneuvering, just throw them all at each other. Glorious.

I can't wait for the next episode. It's gonna get meaty as hell, I just know it.

Naaaaaah, I think

Spoiler

now that Reiner is up it'll be a lot more Eren-Reiner grunty-grunt/talky-talk in-between the punches.

[Maark Abbott]

D, on 27 January 2021 - 05:59 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 27 January 2021 - 08:55 AM, said:

D, on 27 January 2021 - 06:38 AM, said:

Latest AoT:

Spoiler

This was everything I wanted. Enough talk, enough maneuvering, just throw them all at each other. Glorious.

I can't wait for the next episode. It's gonna get meaty as hell, I just know it.

Naaaaaah, I think

Spoiler

now that Reiner is up it'll be a lot more Eren-Reiner grunty-grunt/talky-talk in-between the punches.

Next episode covers what I've read up to in the manga - but of course it's subject to change, the scene at the end of last episode was markedly different in the manga in terms of how they got to the concluding point.

Wonder Egg Priority continues to be incredibly weird. I feel like that's gonna be the hidden gem of the season, kind of like ID Invaded was last year.

[Maark Abbott]

AOT

Spoiler

Potatoes are gone

[LinearPhilosopher]

Maark Abbott, on 01 February 2021 - 08:49 AM, said:

AOT

Spoiler

Potatoes are gone

I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

Im so used to the formula of it gets worse before it gets better that i was waiting on Reiner to somehow destroy the blimp. That didn't happen... instead reiner got one shot by eren, but thats likely due to reiner only wanting to save porco.

But when i saw they shot sasha..... why did she have to be the one to die?Im looking forward to finding out more about this new solider, apparently her name is yelena.I looked it up as it was driving me nuts as i thought it was someone the reader was supposed to recognise.

On another note, theres tons of AoT clips on youtube that are like 80% of an episode... its really something else to rewatch any scene with annie, bertoldt or reiner... its shocking the amount of hints that were dropped in hindsight but as far as foresight considered... it came slightly out of left field that those two were who they said they were.

Things such as... trost arc when they hear about someone who can shift into a titan they run off to the wall to see who it is. In the tower defense scene... them seeing ymir being able to read... or when the turret was falling berthold was getting ready to bite his hand, to when during the scout arc reiner saving Armin from annie was just a ruse as the minute that happens annie changes course... like the sheer quantity of hints are staggering in hindsight.

This post has been edited by LinearPhilosopher: 02 February 2021 - 12:14 AM

[Maark Abbott]

LinearPhilosopher, on 02 February 2021 - 12:12 AM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 01 February 2021 - 08:49 AM, said:

AOT

Spoiler

Potatoes are gone

I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

Im so used to the formula of it gets worse before it gets better that i was waiting on Reiner to somehow destroy the blimp. That didn't happen... instead reiner got one shot by eren, but thats likely due to reiner only wanting to save porco.

But when i saw they shot sasha..... why did she have to be the one to die?Im looking forward to finding out more about this new solider, apparently her name is yelena.I looked it up as it was driving me nuts as i thought it was someone the reader was supposed to recognise.

On another note, theres tons of AoT clips on youtube that are like 80% of an episode... its really something else to rewatch any scene with annie, bertoldt or reiner... its shocking the amount of hints that were dropped in hindsight but as far as foresight considered... it came slightly out of left field that those two were who they said they were.

Things such as... trost arc when they hear about someone who can shift into a titan they run off to the wall to see who it is. In the tower defense scene... them seeing ymir being able to read... or when the turret was falling berthold was getting ready to bite his hand, to when during the scout arc reiner saving Armin from annie was just a ruse as the minute that happens annie changes course... like the sheer quantity of hints are staggering in hindsight.

Spoiler

It's another reminder that ultimately no one is safe. They nailed the scene as it happens in the manga.

Beyond here I don't know what happens but it almost seems like Eren and Zeke are in cahoots...

[D'rek]

Spoiler

Interesting how this wasn't a group plan, but rather Eren and Zeke's plot that they dragged the scouts into doing via the letters.

Not too surprised by Zeke going turncoat, I suppose. He's always been a bit weird and pensive about his interactions with the Paradisians, and I remember finding it odd that the Marleyans kept referring to controlling generic titans as a Beast Titan power when it's not - guess Zeke never told the Marleyans he had Royal blood.

Sasha dying... sad, yeah, but her and Connie and to some extent Jean have gone through their developments and don't have much left to do per se, so figures one of them would get killed off. Maybe more to come.

[D'rek]

Finally had some time this past weekend to check out a bunch of other shows, too:

Wonder Egg Priority - amaaaazing, everything I hoped for so far. It's absolutely gorgeous, some scenes are ludicrously well drawn (that rain-going-down-the-window shot? Wow) and I love these sorts of upbeat action mysteries layered over depressing subtext stuff.

Otherside Picnic - Has a really good weirdness aesthetic in the "otherside", but ultimately not my cup of tea. Not sure why, but it just didn't hook me.

Slime S2 - Ehh, its just more slime buildy. Pretty boring so far, TBH. Manga readers were teasing some epic event would kick-off at the start of the season, but I guess that's being moved to the season climax instead.

Log Horizon S3 - Yaaaay goofball gamer fantasy politics!

More SKinfinite - Over-the-top bad guy has been intro'd. Classic stupid "Ima fight you to make you apologize -> fail" plot introduced (why can't anime characters just say "That was an asshole thing to say! You're an asshole! No I'm not dueling you to make you apologize, you should just not be an asshole, asshole!"). That said, I'm still really enjoying it.

More Horimiya - Still cutesy and light romance with good chemistry between the leads, but they are reeeaaallly stretching the idea that these two leads can't just confess and get together already when they both clearly are head over heels for each other.

[Maark Abbott]

Have you seen the most recent Wonder Egg, D? Fuck that got HEAVY. Not that it wasn't heavy before but jesus.

Slime event seems to have kicked off, greedy nasty religious humans are bad etc etc. Nothing the real world hasn't taught us many times over.

Spider feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. The most recent episode was 20 minutes of the MC loudly narrating her every action in a fight scene. I'm all for trash isekai but this one wore thin a little.

On that note however Aoi Yuuki is confirmed as the voice actress for Azusa in Killing Slimes which I am very hype for... Let's hope it comes out good eh!

[D'rek]

Maark Abbott, on 03 February 2021 - 08:44 AM, said:

Have you seen the most recent Wonder Egg, D? Fuck that got HEAVY. Not that it wasn't heavy before but jesus.

Oh yes, big time. "I got molested" in the first 5 seconds. Then she's like "but I screamed and everyone beat him up" and you're like yay that's not bleak at all! But then "turns out the guy was my dad's boss so my dad got fired and my mom took it out on me so bad that I killed myself" ooof.

Also fuck those doll guys I don't care if they're statistically correct (I have no idea) or not that phrasing of it was bullshit.

Interesting how the girls' dream instances reflect their own traumas. Ai's are in schools and seem to deal with teacher or classmate bullying/abuse, Rika's take place in that lighthouse/cliffside place so guessing her fan jumped off the cliffs or some such, Momo's are always in trains/train stations so her friend probably jumped in front of a train and her girls seem to all fall for her the way her friend did. Betcha when we see Neiru's dreams the girls will all see her as a sisterly figure.

Maark Abbott, on 03 February 2021 - 08:44 AM, said:

Slime event seems to have kicked off, greedy nasty religious humans are bad etc etc. Nothing the real world hasn't taught us many times over.

Yeah, saw the new episode last night. Maaaan them bad guy motivations/setup are lazy, just "we are assholes and therefore we will invade" and nothing more. Kinda sad/funny for a show that tries to make it's monster-people so "human".

And they're trying to hype up these villain pawns that are other isekai'd people... but isn't Rimuru just going to spit out some manga at them, show them hot springs, and win them over instantly? I'm not expecting much from this.

Maark Abbott, on 03 February 2021 - 08:44 AM, said:

Spider feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. The most recent episode was 20 minutes of the MC loudly narrating her every action in a fight scene. I'm all for trash isekai but this one wore thin a little.

Yeah, spider isekai is not good. Despite the special premise, it doesn't have any new ideas. The main character being a spider doesn't make going through 4 episodes of really generic isekai vide game experience grinding. "Oh no, a big lizard! I'll just barely defeat it before my HP bar runs out!" what a novel plot. And when it switches to the human kids it's even worse, the most generic fantasy high school plot imaginable.

Maark Abbott, on 03 February 2021 - 08:44 AM, said:

On that note however Aoi Yuuki is confirmed as the voice actress for Azusa in Killing Slimes which I am very hype for... Let's hope it comes out good eh!

Well, we always hope a show comes out good. But we'll see. It'll need a lot more than a good voice actress to do so.

[Maark Abbott]

RE: Slime - the thing is, it accurately depicts mediaeval Europe what with the influence of religion and those in power generally being assholes so I can't say that it's inaccurate.

Spider - the LN is apparently much better. It's a sad day when not even Aoi Yuuki can save it from being a bit shit though.

Killing Smiles - the premise is real good, the LN is chill. It's isekai Non Non Biyori but with additional shenanigans. The entire premise is 'I accidentally became OP but want to just live a quiet life!'. Issue 1 had some video game stuff as the MC adapted to the new world they're in but that element dropped off quite quickly .

WEP - the doll guys are and always have been a bit off. I assume that's where that came from, but... yeah. I'm very interested to see where this one goes.

[D'rek]

Maark Abbott, on 04 February 2021 - 08:58 AM, said:

RE: Slime - the thing is, it accurately depicts mediaeval Europe what with the influence of religion and those in power generally being assholes so I can't say that it's inaccurate.

That's a pretty big simplification, but regardless the other kingdoms next door to Slimeworld are diverse realms of numerous species with benevolent mercantile leaders and everyone more or less gets along, so it's not even following that world's own rules to have kingdom #4 just be completely dominated entirely by cartoonishly evil-for-its-own-sake villainy.

Maark Abbott, on 04 February 2021 - 08:58 AM, said:

Spider - the LN is apparently much better.

That's what they say about everything.

Maark Abbott, on 04 February 2021 - 08:58 AM, said:

Killing Smiles - the premise is real good, the LN is chill. It's isekai Non Non Biyori but with additional shenanigans. The entire premise is 'I accidentally became OP but want to just live a quiet life!'. Issue 1 had some video game stuff as the MC adapted to the new world they're in but that element dropped off quite quickly .

Killing smiles for 300 years sound better than slimes, TBH

There's a lot of these "OP but want to live a quiet life" characters/premises. Often-times I find those shows/books/etc hard to get absorbed into because they don't deliver a compelling reason that the OP MC can't just say ignore whatever is trying to interfere with them, say "Nah", and go back home. We shall see.

[LinearPhilosopher]

So in regards to AoT i stumbled upon a fan theory in regards to the Reiss family curse. The curse of non violence has less to do with being brainwashed by ideology, and more to the do with the founding titans ability to control others and wipe their memories. The flashbacks with Kenny Ackerman, in some of the scenes its not uri reiss but the original king who lives through his descendants.

Its an interesting hypothesis, curious if the manga will confirm it... time will tell.

Looking forward to tomorrows episode.

In regards to slime... well see where it goes... i personally like the wholesome aspect of the anime and how its not all about fighting and whatnot but i could see why the kingdom of falmuth seems like cartoon villains.

[Maark Abbott]

D, on 04 February 2021 - 02:01 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 04 February 2021 - 08:58 AM, said:

Killing Smiles - the premise is real good, the LN is chill. It's isekai Non Non Biyori but with additional shenanigans. The entire premise is 'I accidentally became OP but want to just live a quiet life!'. Issue 1 had some video game stuff as the MC adapted to the new world they're in but that element dropped off quite quickly .

Killing smiles for 300 years sound better than slimes, TBH

There's a lot of these "OP but want to live a quiet life" characters/premises. Often-times I find those shows/books/etc hard to get absorbed into because they don't deliver a compelling reason that the OP MC can't just say ignore whatever is trying to interfere with them, say "Nah", and go back home. We shall see.

The general formula for killing slimes is that whatever interferes often ends up liking the MC and becoming family or friends. It's very laid back though and the few moments of outright action never disrupted for me. The PV suggests they're covering up to book 4 or so, and Flatorte is listed as a supporting character where towards the end of the fourth book she's integrated into the main cast outright.

[Maark Abbott]

TIL that the studio who did ID Invaded have past credits including Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo

...what

[D'rek]

Maark Abbott, on 09 February 2021 - 08:45 AM, said:

TIL that the studio who did ID Invaded have past credits including Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo

...what

And Angolmois and Hamatora and DRAMAtical Murder. Isn't that pretty ordinary?

[D'rek]

Jesus fuck Wonder Egg Priority is so good.

[Maark Abbott]

D, on 09 February 2021 - 02:25 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 09 February 2021 - 08:45 AM, said:

TIL that the studio who did ID Invaded have past credits including Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo

...what

And Angolmois and Hamatora and DRAMAtical Murder. Isn't that pretty ordinary?

It's not that ordinary for a studio to go from an abysmal what the fuck to the top pick of a year, no. Most studios level out consistently at a particular level and then stay there, whereas NAZ are... wildly, wildly inconsistent in what they put out.

WEP: The priest (I assume) at the start was fucking dark. The show overall feels like it's shown us some joy so I expect to suffer soon.

Slime: I worked out how Falmuth makes sense. Falmuth is America, and Tempest is a land of socialists. The logic cannot be denied.

[LinearPhilosopher]

Maark Abbott, on 10 February 2021 - 08:51 AM, said:

D, on 09 February 2021 - 02:25 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 09 February 2021 - 08:45 AM, said:

TIL that the studio who did ID Invaded have past credits including Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo

...what

And Angolmois and Hamatora and DRAMAtical Murder. Isn't that pretty ordinary?

It's not that ordinary for a studio to go from an abysmal what the fuck to the top pick of a year, no. Most studios level out consistently at a particular level and then stay there, whereas NAZ are... wildly, wildly inconsistent in what they put out.

WEP: The priest (I assume) at the start was fucking dark. The show overall feels like it's shown us some joy so I expect to suffer soon.

Slime: I worked out how Falmuth makes sense. Falmuth is America, and Tempest is a land of socialists. The logic cannot be denied.

Now im being reminded of the gate anime

This post has been edited by LinearPhilosopher: 11 February 2021 - 02:57 PM

[D'rek]

Maark Abbott, on 10 February 2021 - 08:51 AM, said:

D, on 09 February 2021 - 02:25 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 09 February 2021 - 08:45 AM, said:

TIL that the studio who did ID Invaded have past credits including Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo

...what

And Angolmois and Hamatora and DRAMAtical Murder. Isn't that pretty ordinary?

It's not that ordinary for a studio to go from an abysmal what the fuck to the top pick of a year, no. Most studios level out consistently at a particular level and then stay there, whereas NAZ are... wildly, wildly inconsistent in what they put out.

Disagree.

Zexcs did The Great Passage, but also OniSuki.
Diomedia did Squid Girl, but also Sky Wizards Academy.
Kinema Citrus did Starlight Revue, but they also did KumaMiko.
Orange did Land of the Lustrous, but they also did Active Raid.
Lerche did Gakkougurashi, but also Hamatora S2 and Monster Musume.
Passione did Interspecies Reviewers, but they also did Rail Wars and High School DxD oh wait this makes a lot of sense now.
Cloverworks is doing Wonder Egg Priority, but they also did Ace Attorney S2 and the last season of Fairy Tale.

Studios take what jobs they can get, they can't be picky about only accepting contracts for projects that are surefire hits unless they're named Ghibli or CoMix or KyoAni. And "the studio" doesn't write the screenplay and especially not the source material. Hajimete no Gal and ImoImo were animated just fine, right? So NAZ wasn't abysmal at all, they did their job for the stupid source material they were hired to animate.

[Maark Abbott]

Fair cop. I was mostly just surprised that a studio went from an utter trainwreck to a full banger. I don't really keep up with the studios overmuch and I guess it shows huh.

But tbh ImoImo was a specific case - the studio delayed one episode by a week after one of the animators slipped a "help us" note into the end credits of I think ep5, it was full of animation errors, the list goes on. It was a particularly egregious case and quite widely panned through no fault of the source material.

Also Interspecies Reviewers was some of the funniest garbage I saw last year.