[D'rek]

Colour me impressed. I did not expect them to build full-sized real sets for that when everything is green screen these days.

[D'rek]

Season is starting to wind down. Various thoughts:

Spy X Fam - It has been good, as expected. Nothing phenomenal, but it's a solid funny family-friendly sort of show. Doesn't have a particularly strong sense of direction in the story, but the animation and jokes are good.

Kongming - Still fun, still wholesome, still not much of an arc to it I'd say and the literary references are... a nice little gimmick but not much more. It's a fun time, and it's at least quite different from most shows - they easily could have made it yet another high school music club show but going with adults and real business is a very welcome setting. On the other hand, I wish they would do more with the actual performances - they've repeated songs quite a few times, and it's almost always "song playing over a montage" or just quick snippets of a song instead of making the performances themselves a big highlight.

Deaimon - Very boring, if you ask me. Stuff just sort of happens and there's a vaguely wholesome lesson most of the time, but it's not setup in an interesting way.

Danse Danse Danseur - Total opposite of Deaimon, I find the drama in this one totally compelling. Jumpei is a frustrating protagonist with how he jumps to conclusions or withholds information, but it's all very believable. I want all the characters to be happy and yet the circumstances make it seem like that is - realistically - not going to be possible. The performances have been excellent, too.

Heroines Run the Show - Not as great as Danseur but I'm still enjoying it a lot. Hiyori is a fun protagonist and while it is very high schooly, the drama still feels genuine - like there's a subplot about a guy who likes a girl and it doesn't drag on for 3 episodes or go into convoluted melodrama, he just asks her out at the end of the episode and she rejects him, done. The idol part of it doesn't do much for me, though, and the latest plotline is one of those ridiculous Japanese idol scandals so it's gotten a bit less fun.

Birdie Wing - Was phenomenally ridiculous for the first half or two thirds, but now it's kind of regressed into a less interesting high school-esque setting? It's still over-the-top, but not as wild as the VR mafia golf deathmatches so... I dunno, I guess we'll see how this mundane juniors tournament they're about to start next episode plays out, perhaps they'll inject the ridiculous back in.

Healer Girl - I think it dropped a bit after the first couple episodes. It started with dramatic medical events intertwined with musical performances and visuals, but then went into slice-of-life mode to explore the characters which IMO just wasn't as interesting. Still a very good show, especially for being an actual musical. But not as great as my hopes were for it.

[Maark Abbott]

On those ones:

- Agreed
- What Kongming does really, REALLY well is handle creative dread. Eiko and Kabe are wholly relatable, and the one in the idol unit whose name escapes me also fits in well there. And the OP is a certified banger so there's that.
- It's a comfy moeblob time, nothing more, nothing less.
- Didn't watch, the premise didn't interest me.
- Unfortunately those idol scandals are real and that's not an unexpected response. I could elaborate but then I'll be outed for being too far down a certain rabbit hole so moving on.
- Didn't watch, the premise didn't interest me.
- It was always just sort of ok to me - enjoyable but nothing astonishing. The singing is nice.


Will elaborate on my list a bit later when there's time.

[Maark Abbott]

Aharen-san: cute slice of life, but mostly time filler.
Black Rock Shooter: unexpectedly sweary. Actiony filler.
Cue!: Pretty nice overall, quite slice of life.
Skeleton Knight: largely braindead fun, but watching him smash slavers in the face brought warmth to my leftie heart.
Bookworm: Still fun, extremely depresso ending though.
Kaguya: Very good comedic timing still. Will they ever do it though.
Shikimori: I was hoping she'd turn out to be eldritch like happened in Tonikawa, but otherwise this is cutesy time filler.
Love after World Domination: Generally funny, kinda wholesome.
Komi-san: see Kaguya
Machikado Mazoku: OBEY THE SHAMICC
Kono Healer Mendokusai: time filler, generally fun enough
Dawn of the Witch: What the fuck did they do to Mercenary's feet? Enjoyable fantasy.
Otome Game: time filler.
Science Fell In Love: cute time filler.
Greatest demon lord: isekai trash time fille
Shield Hero: > basically im angy
Tomodachi Game: ehhhhhhhhh
Yatogame-chan: extremely short time filler
Yuusha Yamemasu: unexpectedly wholesome, actually sorta good.

[Maark Abbott]

Last episode of Kongming hit pretty hard. Shedding commercialism for creative fulfilment? Unfathomably based. One of my composer friends is in with someone who writes music as a commercial product and... you can always tell. There's something missing. I hope the show proved popular enough for a second cour sometime, it's been far and away my favourite show in this season.

[LinearPhilosopher]

Back from another anime convention.

Time to binge some anime to bury the post conventions depression.

[D'rek]

 LinearPhilosopher, on 20 June 2022 - 05:05 PM, said:

Back from another anime convention.

Time to binge some anime to bury the post conventions depression.

A vicious cycle. Binging anime just leads to attending more conventions.

[LinearPhilosopher]

 D, on 21 June 2022 - 02:43 PM, said:

 LinearPhilosopher, on 20 June 2022 - 05:05 PM, said:

Back from another anime convention.

Time to binge some anime to bury the post conventions depression.

A vicious cycle. Binging anime just leads to attending more conventions.

meh its gotten to the point i've been to enough of them I only attend specific ones.

Yeti con just recently cause its an amazing party con where its a non stop party with a smaller atmospher.
Otakuthon Ill go if they have a good band lineup.
Local smaller cons are fun as it's easier to meet ppl.

then theres the big international cons that are on a long to do list.

On that to do

Colassal cruise (assuming it comes back)
Dragoncon
Pax
Magfest

[Maark Abbott]

Back from my holiday and the new season has kicked off. Here's what I picked up so far:

(watch) Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer: thank
Engage Kiss: absolutely silly but kinda fun
Isekai Harem: Will probably be trash but we all know I'm a slut for trash isekai
Isekai Pharmacy: as above, plus premise is vaguely similar to Cheat Life Pharmacist which was fun
Jashin-chan season 3: DUROPOKIKKU
Kamikuzu Idol: Seems like a much weirder bent than last season's Heroines, has some comic potential.
Kinsou no Vermeil: silliness
Lycoris Recoil: all cuties are bastards, the animation
Made in AbWHAT IN THE FUCK IT'S BEEN TEN FUCKING SECOND JESUS H CHRIST WEPT IN THE FUCK
Luminous Witches: silliness but with added idol routines
Shadows House season 2: you know the rules and so do I
Isekai Life: see any other isekai I ever say I'm watching
Arsnotoria: cute girls doing cute things
Yofukashi no Uta: It's very obviously the author of Dagashi Kashi. First episode was weird but enjoyable enough.
Classroom of the Eliute s2: I'm not sure why this is rating 8.5/10 already, first episode was just OK. I watched the first season so we'll see if this remains worth my time.

[Maark Abbott]

This season is in a way kind of disappointing - there's so far nothing absolutely stellar standing head and shoulders above the rest. MIA is probably the closest but the first season impacted as it did because so much was unknown, now you're inured to the cute suffering so it doesn't hit the same.

It's a season of 'fine'.

[Briar King]

DOTA bk 3 tomorrow! I’m pumped.

[D'rek]

 Cancelled, on 10 August 2022 - 10:36 PM, said:

DOTA bk 3 tomorrow! I’m pumped.

That's not at all relevant since this is the anime thread???

[Briar King]

Lol it’s one of your dreaded Netflix Anime!

[D'rek]

So it would seem. Stupid Netflix marketing department and their lies.

[Briar King]

You like Dragons, magic, elves, knights, gods, empires and things right?

You should try it out!

[Briar King]

[Briar King]

I’ve also been rewatching Princess Monoke for the 1st time in almost 18ish(?) years and I think it’s even more epic then I remembered.

Does this one get the D stamp of approval?

Ed: oh hell that last unintentionally sounds way to BK haha.

This post has been edited by Cancelled: 11 August 2022 - 02:32 AM

[D'rek]

 Cancelled, on 11 August 2022 - 02:25 AM, said:

You like Dragons, magic, elves, knights, gods, empires and things right?

You should try it out!

I wouldn't say I like or dislike those things. They are just things that may or may not be in a good show? Rage of Bahamut:Genesis had magic and dragons and knights and gods and it was fantastic! But Spider-Isekai also had magic and dragons and knights and gods and empires and it was absolutely atrocious!

Speaking of spider-isekai, wow the 3DCG parts in that trailer look really, really ugly/bad?! Like, the dragons and the horses especially. Who thought that was a good idea?!

The story seems... kinda generic but kinda not? Honestly I have no idea. Probably not my cup of tea unless there's some particular selling point I missed.

[D'rek]

 Cancelled, on 11 August 2022 - 02:30 AM, said:

Does [Princess Monoke] one get the D stamp of approval?

Of course! It's a total classic!

Speaking of the D stamp of approval ( ) I recentaly watched the 90s anime movie Jin-roh (subtitled the Wolf Brigade) which was... fascinating! Hard to describe... it's kind of a espionage-thriller, and kind of a philosophical character study, and ultimately left me feeling really uneasy in an "I don't like this feeling but I appreciate how the movie made me feel it" kind of way I guess? The whole opening sequence of a riot being suppressed is breathtakingly intense and well animated, too. Reminds me a lot of the Patlabor movie - same sort of themes and that dark, realistic visual style.

[Briar King]

What services are these things you are shipping on exactly?