[QuickTidal]

I'm just over the ten episode mark on DEMON SLAYER, and yeah, this show is super excellent, and can we talk about the score? It's so well done, it enhances every scene.

Some big surprises so far, like

Spoiler

I assumed because of the garb and locales in the early episodes that this was a sort of feudal Japan, but the city episode threw me for a loop and I realize this would be (if it's aping any real timeframe in Japan) Early Meiji Restoration especially with the Street Cars.

Was also not expecting the villain to be hiding in plain sight amongst humans. Nor the Tamayo and Yushiro characters of "demons who got rid of the curse and therefore can be non-crazy-human-eaters".

Oh, and that episode where Susamaru was attacking with the Temari balls was SO GOOD.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 05 May 2021 - 06:27 PM

[D'rek]

Briar King, on 05 May 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

Did any of you sexy fuckers watch DOTA on Netflix?

I loved it!

Never heard of it. I guess it's another one of those American cartoons Netflix advertises as anime to try to bring in the views (and hence you hardly ever hear about them in anime circles, because most places exclude discussion of them)?

Anyways, you like it I take it? What's it about?

QuickTidal, on 05 May 2021 - 06:26 PM, said:

I'm just over the ten episode mark on DEMON SLAYER, and yeah, this show is super excellent, and can we talk about the score? It's so well done, it enhances every scene.

Yesssss the score is excellent. Very immersive with its unique mix of traditional sounds and modern orchestral bombasticness, and I like how consistent the orchestration is (instead of how a lot of anime hop around different genres and instrumentation willy-nilly, which can be great too like in, say, Food Wars, but the consistency works really well in Demon Slayer's case).

QuickTidal, on 05 May 2021 - 06:26 PM, said:

Spoiler

I assumed because of the garb and locales in the early episodes that this was a sort of feudal Japan, but the city episode threw me for a loop and I realize this would be (if it's aping any real timeframe in Japan) Early Meiji Restoration especially with the Street Cars.

Tanjiro's little post-credits gag where he gives away a "Taisho secret" never clued you in that this was set in the Taisho Period?

[QuickTidal]

D, on 05 May 2021 - 06:55 PM, said:

Briar King, on 05 May 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

Did any of you sexy fuckers watch DOTA on Netflix?

I loved it!

Never heard of it. I guess it's another one of those American cartoons Netflix advertises as anime to try to bring in the views (and hence you hardly ever hear about them in anime circles, because most places exclude discussion of them)?

I think it's a Korean/American joint that apes Anime. I watched the first episode. It felt like a more hardcore The Dragon Prince? It was not eventful enough to stick with it.

D, on 05 May 2021 - 06:55 PM, said:

Tanjiro's little post-credits gag where he gives away a "Taisho secret" never clued you in that this was set in the Taisho Period?

Oof, I've never stayed for after the credits! I'll have to check that out.

[D'rek]

Pretty much caught up on most of the seasonals I'm following now.

Still really loving the performances of Mashiro no Oto, but honestly the plot has been steadily declining since the first episode. Still gonna keep watching for the amazing performances no matter what happens, though.

Slime Witch has been fun, but also kinda meh. I think it's how they try to build a high-stakes setup each episode but you know it's going to be deflated and they kind of all end the same way.

Dragon House Hunting has better jokes than Slime Witch and the catchiest OP of the season. It's been getting better and better with each episode, I think.

Pretty Boys Detective Club is fun and pretty and weird in its insistence on being all art-house-y. It's like 99% dialogue though and somewhat dry in that sometimes, but overall I'm enjoying it.

86 continues to have all the same problems as we discussed earlier. Weird how much hype there was for this show.

Odd Taxi is amazing. Reminds me of a Guy Ritchie movie where there's all these different plotlines intersecting in complex ways and the littlest things from episode 1 can wind up being significant later. It's hard to say just what makes it so compelling, but it definitely is very, very compelling. It just feels so real in a way that anime, or even most television for that matter, never feels... and that despite the characters all being anthromorphic mammals.

The rest (Vivy, To Your Eternity, Dynazenon, Shadows House) I'm leaving for a binge at the end of the season.

[Maark Abbott]

Bias aside because I own the entire Slime Taoshite LN catalogue (including the spinoff with Beel) and therefore it is clearly my favourite show this season, it's very difficult to pick a 'best' show this season. 86 has the pinpoint criticism of systemic racism making Yankees uncomfortable. Shadows House has the creepy, paranoid vibe that Neverland S2 lacked. Higehiro has the wholesome aniki thing going on. Vivy has an amazing soundtrack and when something gets kicked it is weighty in the way The Moment from Demon Slayer e19 was. And then Mashiro has the ludicrous shamisen moments that make up for the fact the rest is a bit tedious.

Considering all the higher rated shows on my list, Vivy is probably the top overall package. The story mostly pops, the characters are nicely designed, the action sequences are pretty damn good.

The slightly trashier shows on offer (Full Dive, Romcom, Cestvs, etc) are just fun time fillers really.

[Mentalist]

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM

[D'rek]

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

[Mentalist]

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:29 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

There's like 6 or different Gundam continuities. I treat each one as its own thing, and I never actually watched the original- though I think SEED was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of that one.
Yeah, the uniform vibe feels kinda LoGH; But they had normal eyes, iirc, lol

[D'rek]

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:47 PM, said:

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:29 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

There's like 6 or different Gundam continuities. I treat each one as its own thing, and I never actually watched the original- though I think SEED was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of that one.
Yeah, the uniform vibe feels kinda LoGH; But they had normal eyes, iirc, lol

Oh darn, here I thought most of the Gundam shows actually fit into one continuous canon with just a handful of standalone spin-offs. That's surprising that it's so disjoint, isn't Gundam mostly all made by the same studio and had one guy spearheading most of its creation?

[Mentalist]

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:51 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:47 PM, said:

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:29 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

There's like 6 or different Gundam continuities. I treat each one as its own thing, and I never actually watched the original- though I think SEED was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of that one.
Yeah, the uniform vibe feels kinda LoGH; But they had normal eyes, iirc, lol

Oh darn, here I thought most of the Gundam shows actually fit into one continuous canon with just a handful of standalone spin-offs. That's surprising that it's so disjoint, isn't Gundam mostly all made by the same studio and had one guy spearheading most of its creation?

It all done by Sunrise, which is owned by Bandai. It's a series that's made to push model kits, so I'm not really surprised at the ongoing variety.

Given how widely the art style tends to change, I'm not sure if there's only one "core" team in charge of the franchise, though. I do know (from wiki) that the original universe gets some entries now and again still (mostly OVAs) ; but overall, they keep introducing new alternate continuities.
Not that I really mind. Gundam is for my inner 6 year old who saw Voltron and Transformers for the first time when Ukraine got independent TV channels that started airing all kinds of (mostly 80s) stuf from the West. It's just big robots fighting, and explosions.

[LinearPhilosopher]

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:51 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:47 PM, said:

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:29 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

There's like 6 or different Gundam continuities. I treat each one as its own thing, and I never actually watched the original- though I think SEED was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of that one.
Yeah, the uniform vibe feels kinda LoGH; But they had normal eyes, iirc, lol

Oh darn, here I thought most of the Gundam shows actually fit into one continuous canon with just a handful of standalone spin-offs. That's surprising that it's so disjoint, isn't Gundam mostly all made by the same studio and had one guy spearheading most of its creation?

Just to tack onto Mentalist's post

THe majority of Gundams occur in the UC or Universal Century universe.

However, theres Gundams here and there that are in their own universes. Things like
Gundam Wing
Gundam 00
Gundam IBO
Gundam Seed

Etc....

[D'rek]

LinearPhilosopher, on 07 May 2021 - 09:53 PM, said:

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:51 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:47 PM, said:

D, on 07 May 2021 - 04:29 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 07 May 2021 - 04:17 PM, said:

Turn-A-Gundam is weird.
It seems to be going for a more "Big Robot" a la Voltron vibe;

The idea is that there was some kind of disaster, so the Earth has regressed and is now in a late 19th/early 20th century tech level (there fighter biplanes and armored trucks, but no tanks); While there's an advanced society on the Moon, that is coming to settle on Earth again.
The protagonist was part of an advance recon party sent to establish that the Earth is habitable; after 2 years his obligations are discharged, and he can go live wherever as an Earthling; except he uncovers a Gundam, and ends up fighting his own people on the side of a technologically backward Earth.

The animation style is really wierd, with everyone having huge eyeballs and pinpoint pupils. It's unnerving.
Weird story premise, but I'm kinda intrigued.

Just from a quick image search, the character designs looks like they're trying to go for a Gundam-does-Legend-of-Galactic-Heroes vibe with the long blonde hair everywhere and the 19th century military/aristocrat clothing choices.

Interesting storyline though. I guess it's a spin-off and not part of the main gundam timeline?

There's like 6 or different Gundam continuities. I treat each one as its own thing, and I never actually watched the original- though I think SEED was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of that one.
Yeah, the uniform vibe feels kinda LoGH; But they had normal eyes, iirc, lol

Oh darn, here I thought most of the Gundam shows actually fit into one continuous canon with just a handful of standalone spin-offs. That's surprising that it's so disjoint, isn't Gundam mostly all made by the same studio and had one guy spearheading most of its creation?

Just to tack onto Mentalist's post

THe majority of Gundams occur in the UC or Universal Century universe.

However, theres Gundams here and there that are in their own universes. Things like
Gundam Wing
Gundam 00
Gundam IBO
Gundam Seed

Etc....

That's more what I was thinking it would be.

[D'rek]

In other news... oof I am really disappointed in Mashiro no Oto. Each week has been more and more annoyingly typical high school club mode (where the first episode made it seem like it was more like a post-college young adults vibe), but at least the performances were still stellar. Today's episode didn't even have a big performance, and they changed the OP to a new song that doesn't even have a shamisen in it. What are they even doing.

[Maark Abbott]

Mmm, wasn't great I'll give you that.

I'm not sure if my Slimeline is maybe a little out but I thought Rosalie came a little later in the story, not volume 3. It's been a while since I read the third, mind you. Considering her rather nasty backstory it was quite the warming episode.

Summer season is shaping up to be very busy for me. So much stuff I've had on my radar for a while or read LNs of. Just wondering now if anyone is gonna be ballsy enough to adapt Fremb Torturchen and take us back to the simpler times of AAAAAAAAMEN, yes mai masuta and small, round spectacles 'neath the largest of red hats.

[Maark Abbott]

To Your Eternity decided to kick me in the nuts last night. Oof.

[D'rek]

Odd Taxi has freeform improvised rapping now. I was... not expecting that.

Spoiler

And Odakawa is *definitely* just seeing everyone as animals because of brain damage.

[D'rek]

Briar King, on 24 May 2021 - 01:46 AM, said:

Was flipping through Netflix today and saw something that peeked my interest. A show called Demon Slayer. Has anyone watched this? Good or shit?

Aww I see it got coverage here. Will add to list to check out at some point.

If you hop on it now you and QT can react to it together since he just started on it

[Maark Abbott]

Demon Slayer is aight. Occasionally a little too tropey battle shonen, but makes up for it elsewhere, and also has one of the hypest moments of the year it released. D'rek knows exactly which bit I mean.

[D'rek]

Hell yes, Shirobako movie fiiiinally has a good release. I know what I'm doing first thing tonight!

[LinearPhilosopher]

D, on 25 May 2021 - 08:18 PM, said:

Hell yes, Shirobako movie fiiiinally has a good release. I know what I'm doing first thing tonight!

let us know how it goes.