[Maark Abbott]

So I picked up Sakura Quest as the art style looked pretty neat. Glad I did, it's nice to have a relatively slow slice-of-life to balance out Guts and that goddamn sword of his.

[D'rek]

Yeah, because Sakura Quest is awesome and everyone should watch it! (I am going to keep saying this)

---

Anyone else caught up on Attack on Titan? I just watched the latest 3 episodes. Wow, that was very exciting and a fun "battle" of sorts. But I was also super surprised about those plot revelations happening in such a low-key way. Not that I mind. Actually I kind of like how they did it in such an unexpected fashion, and this'll probably lead into more unexpected exposition in the next episode... but damn I'll bet some people are PISSED that that is how it happened!

[Yirenar]

Anyone watched/watching Arslan Senki here? If you're a fan of RPG and have played Suikoden series in the past then I highly recommend this to you. (If anyone has already brought this up, I'm sorry but skipped a few pages of the thread)

Anyway, this show focuses on war tactics which is a thing to behold. It has some magic in it but it's very subtle. They have the same art style as Full Metal Alchemist because of having the same creators (I think). It has gore, it has cleavage, it has comedy, adventure and most of all, it is EPIC and I mean the whole show revolves around that theme: EPIC.

[LinearPhilosopher]

Yirenar, on 04 June 2017 - 06:06 AM, said:

Anyone watched/watching Arslan Senki here? If you're a fan of RPG and have played Suikoden series in the past then I highly recommend this to you. (If anyone has already brought this up, I'm sorry but skipped a few pages of the thread)

Anyway, this show focuses on war tactics which is a thing to behold. It has some magic in it but it's very subtle. They have the same art style as Full Metal Alchemist because of having the same creators (I think). It has gore, it has cleavage, it has comedy, adventure and most of all, it is EPIC and I mean the whole show revolves around that theme: EPIC.

D'rek and I enjoyed Arslan Senki, was a pretty good show, unsure when it will continue though.

The whole tactics and Strategy you get from Narsus keep you entertained and Arslan has some legit character growth that feels natural.

RE:Creators: This show keeps on getting better! The interplay between these various characters is amazing. Also top not dialogue in this latest episode with our latest character who is a sophist.

AOT:Watching this weeks episode atm, one thing i do not get from last week. Why is

Spoiler

YMIR siding with the two titans. If they cant guarantee her Safety how is they can guarantee christas? makes no sense

Also love how we are slowly finding out about the titans. THe slow tease is nice

This post has been edited by LinearPhilosopher: 04 June 2017 - 02:15 PM

[Yirenar]

LinearPhilosopher, on 04 June 2017 - 01:27 PM, said:

Yirenar, on 04 June 2017 - 06:06 AM, said:

Anyone watched/watching Arslan Senki here? If you're a fan of RPG and have played Suikoden series in the past then I highly recommend this to you. (If anyone has already brought this up, I'm sorry but skipped a few pages of the thread)

Anyway, this show focuses on war tactics which is a thing to behold. It has some magic in it but it's very subtle. They have the same art style as Full Metal Alchemist because of having the same creators (I think). It has gore, it has cleavage, it has comedy, adventure and most of all, it is EPIC and I mean the whole show revolves around that theme: EPIC.

D'rek and I enjoyed Arslan Senki, was a pretty good show, unsure when it will continue though.

The whole tactics and Strategy you get from Narsus keep you entertained and Arslan has some legit character growth that feels natural.

RE:Creators: This show keeps on getting better! The interplay between these various characters is amazing. Also top not dialogue in this latest episode with our latest character who is a sophist.

AOT:Watching this weeks episode atm, one thing i do not get from last week. Why is

Spoiler

YMIR siding with the two titans. If they cant guarantee her Safety how is they can guarantee christas? makes no sense

Also love how we are slowly finding out about the titans. THe slow tease is nice

Arslan Senki: Season 2(?) is already done but with only 8 episodes. There's a leak that Season 3 will be out this July 2017.

AOT: Ohh... Attack on Titan, I thought people are talking a different one since I got used to Shingeki no Kyoujin. lol. Btw, I caved and read the manga after episode 4 of season 2. Heck! I don't want to wait anymore to see what's happening.

How about Tokyo Ghoul? (Again sorry if this was already mentioned).

[D'rek]

Yup, Arslan Senki was a lot of fun! Definitely some low-budget art sequences in places, and frankly the character interactions are often a bit too simple/campy, but the warfare strategy segments are awesome and the narrative was full of surprises!

Yirenar, on 04 June 2017 - 02:45 PM, said:

There's a leak that Season 3 will be out this July 2017.

Oh really? I hadn't heard anything, you sure it's a real leak?

Quote

AOT:Watching this weeks episode atm, one thing i do not get from last week. Why is

Spoiler

YMIR siding with the two titans. If they cant guarantee her Safety how is they can guarantee christas? makes no sense

Spoiler

I don't think she is really siding with them. I think she is just biding her time (whereas Eren can't keep his emotions in check and the other two will therefore never let their guard down around him). We'll see how Ymir acts when the Survey Corps catches up, I guess.

[LinearPhilosopher]

Yirenar, on 04 June 2017 - 02:45 PM, said:

LinearPhilosopher, on 04 June 2017 - 01:27 PM, said:

Yirenar, on 04 June 2017 - 06:06 AM, said:

Anyone watched/watching Arslan Senki here? If you're a fan of RPG and have played Suikoden series in the past then I highly recommend this to you. (If anyone has already brought this up, I'm sorry but skipped a few pages of the thread)

Anyway, this show focuses on war tactics which is a thing to behold. It has some magic in it but it's very subtle. They have the same art style as Full Metal Alchemist because of having the same creators (I think). It has gore, it has cleavage, it has comedy, adventure and most of all, it is EPIC and I mean the whole show revolves around that theme: EPIC.

D'rek and I enjoyed Arslan Senki, was a pretty good show, unsure when it will continue though.

The whole tactics and Strategy you get from Narsus keep you entertained and Arslan has some legit character growth that feels natural.

RE:Creators: This show keeps on getting better! The interplay between these various characters is amazing. Also top not dialogue in this latest episode with our latest character who is a sophist.

AOT:Watching this weeks episode atm, one thing i do not get from last week. Why is

Spoiler

YMIR siding with the two titans. If they cant guarantee her Safety how is they can guarantee christas? makes no sense

Also love how we are slowly finding out about the titans. THe slow tease is nice

Arslan Senki: Season 2(?) is already done but with only 8 episodes. There's a leak that Season 3 will be out this July 2017.

AOT: Ohh... Attack on Titan, I thought people are talking a different one since I got used to Shingeki no Kyoujin. lol. Btw, I caved and read the manga after episode 4 of season 2. Heck! I don't want to wait anymore to see what's happening.

How about Tokyo Ghoul? (Again sorry if this was already mentioned).

from what I can gather, tokyo ghoul did not translate well into the anime. Season 1 was ok, season 2 was just a clusterfuck. Given the hype around the show I imagine there was something good about the series

This post has been edited by LinearPhilosopher: 07 June 2017 - 12:59 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Woah I can finally access ME at work again!

To catch up on my current series, I'll just give a short version as I'm on lunch now.

Warau Salesman
Akashic Records
Sakura Quest
Clockwork Planet
Attack on Titan
Granblue Fantasy
Durarara!!!

[LinearPhilosopher]

Maark Abbott, on 10 June 2017 - 12:42 PM, said:

Woah I can finally access ME at work again!

To catch up on my current series, I'll just give a short version as I'm on lunch now.

Warau Salesman
Akashic Records
Sakura Quest
Clockwork Planet
Attack on Titan
Granblue Fantasy
Durarara!!!

Kado the right answer needs to be on that list

[D'rek]

Briar King, on 16 June 2017 - 03:13 AM, said:

Just watched the Close Combat episode of AoT. Damn this one and the week before have been great. Fuck those guys.

Briar King, on 18 June 2017 - 04:49 PM, said:

Ugghhhhh the epi The Hunters last night SUCKED! To much talking and past. Get on with it already. This show could be truly high lvl epic if they axed out most of these long boring dialogue drones....

Close Combat was great. Nice to see them go all out without much constraints. Yeah, Hunters was pretty boring. I get what they're going for, and I think the long dialogue sections *could* still be engaging - they're adding a bunch of worldbuilding and characterization, after all. But the dialogue to me just feels so awkwardly written, plus any conversation that Eren is a part of becomes unbearable since he's devoid of any nuance and will just start yelling at everything.


In other shows, it's been a bad/cynical week.

Quanzhi Gaoshou seems to just be spinning in circles? Seems like the last 3 episodes have all been exactly the same - Ye Xiu and co. getting swarmed by guilds + pro player uncovers it is Ye and duels him + vague hints that Ye is building a new team for his post-retirement return. And I think the season is done now, ending on that same note until a next season?


Dragon Ball Super was actually pretty good this week!

Spoiler

I was pretty wary about the whole Freeza thing, feels like beating a dead horse... but I like how the tone shifted with him actually killing the bad guys and whatnot - it's a good change of pace from how campy and sedate the series has been recently.

I wish he had actually gotten recruited to the other universe, though. Then Goku could fight Jiren, leaving Vegeta - who has kinda been ignored for the last little while - to fight Freeza.

Hero Academia - Other than some moments of great animation, this tournament has been a total snooze fest. Cliche after cliche. Also:

Spoiler

The Hero Killer corners Ingenium in a dark alley slices him up with a sword numerous times and leaves him pooling in his own blood... and Ingenium survives? What the hell! You had ONE JOB Hero Killer, it's in your name! Laaaaaaaaaaaaaame

Bahamut - Rita was awesome (and finally seems back to her old self) this week, but the rest of the cast and plot seem to be treading water. We're 11 episodes in and Kaiser is still just as confused and indecisive as at the start, while Nina's naivety has gone way too far, IMO. Seems the gang is finally all assembled, so maybe things can launch into a more cohesive group quest now and get the plot really rolling.


Yeah, I'm being cynical But Sakura Quest and Little Witch Academia are still being good.

[Silencer]

Meanwhile, in Silencerland - Watched Himouto! Umaru-chan this weekend. Actually another pretty decent comedy. Feels like it had a lot of overlap, thematically, with Gabriel Drop-Out, but it was different enough to hold my attention. Still not sure how Umaru is actually able to alter her size/age-appearance like that (and it is definitely an actual thing that happens, considering she able to convince at least one person that she is actually Komaru, not Umaru, while in this state?!?), but suspension of disbelief somehow prevails. Ironically, I think the creators were aware that there was a limit to how much the base premise could hold our attention, so the show kept changing things up with episode focusing on different people, or throwing in some event or other. It worked remarkably well given the side characters were honestly probably more interesting than Umaru by quite a margin. So props there.

Of course, the reason for watching this was that I needed something a bit lighter, because I also finally got around to watching Charlotte. Yes, that show I was going to watch "once its complete" back in, like, 2015 or something. >.>
So. Thoughts. It wasn't a bad show. A bit of a let-down given it was written by Key, and more specifically, Jun Maeda, God of Feels. Partially this may have been because I did get certain events spoiled for me quite some time ago, so there impact was lessened considerably, but I also think in general the show just didn't have as much emotional depth for the various characters that he normally provides.
I didn't really see the whole

Spoiler

time travel reset thing

coming, though, that's for sure. This may have also contributed to undermining the events of the previous couple of episodes. XD It also annoyed me that the final arc was kind of out of left field. It wasn't bad, it just felt like it was primarily designed to make the main character more important/heroic/self sacrificing or something.
Plus, the trick to removing the aforementioned spoiler was decent...until the character gained a power which would have rendered it moot and allowed it to be used again, thus removing the point of the whole final arc, except he keeps going for some reason? I get that it had more or less been shown that repeatedly using said ability really wasn't getting them anywhere, but still.

Overall, it had a decent amount of feels in it. And it was a good enough story. But I definitely have higher expectations of Key Visual Arts stories, that's for sure. Animation was all around good. The various side characters were interesting enough. In fact, I'll give it credit for actually have a sizeable cast of people who are not *just* walking character tics, even if they aren't in like the core four people. Granted, I think it's basically more like there are two different core fours that make this a thing, but still. Honestly, I do wonder if

Spoiler

Shunsuke and Co's story would have been more interesting. Living through that stuff over and over again, trying to set up a more favourable outcome, etc. I kinda doubt it, a lot of its appeal comes from not having too many details, but it's bugging me that this could actually have made for a better show. Aside from Mr Arbitrary Angry/Untrusting Pants. He was a dick. With no provided reason.

But, that strikes another one off my list. Leaving only about two dozen to go. >.>

[D'rek]

Eugh, Charlotte. Yeah, the initial few episodes are engaging in their cute character interdynamics, and it has a handful of powerful scenes. Helps that the visuals are the usual great quality from PA Works. But what a bizarre set of plot twists/shifts and overall mess of a storyline.

What's next on your list Silencer?

[Silencer]

Hmm, looking like something from the following:


Tsuki ga Kirei
Psycho-Pass 2 (which I started but did not finish for some reason)
Yahari Ore Seishun No Machigatteiru (and I typed that from memory, so it may be spelled wrong)
Amagi Brilliant Park
Non Non Biyori
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Shirobako
Sora no Woto
Nerawareta Gakuen
And a bunch of Monogatari series stuff that has spiraled out of control since I last checked. XD



I think there are a few other ones in there that I can't remember because my actual 'list' so to speak is spread out over two computers, lol. And my MAL has not been updated in a couple of years, so that doesn't help. XD There's a bunch that "on the list" but not 'on the list', too, if you know what I mean. Just shows that I want to check out but may not watch to completion.

[Silencer]

D, on 20 June 2017 - 06:02 PM, said:

Eugh, Charlotte. Yeah, the initial few episodes are engaging in their cute character interdynamics, and it has a handful of powerful scenes. Helps that the visuals are the usual great quality from PA Works. But what a bizarre set of plot twists/shifts and overall mess of a storyline.

What's next on your list Silencer?

Oh, and on the subject of Charlotte - I'm pretty sure this could have been reworked into a great story, with relative ease. I'm not sure why it ended up all over the place, but it's got to be at most two solid revisions away from being good-to-great, story wise. :S

[D'rek]

Silencer, on 21 June 2017 - 06:20 AM, said:

Hmm, looking like something from the following:


Tsuki ga Kirei
Psycho-Pass 2 (which I started but did not finish for some reason)
Yahari Ore Seishun No Machigatteiru (and I typed that from memory, so it may be spelled wrong)
Amagi Brilliant Park
Non Non Biyori
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Shirobako
Sora no Woto
Nerawareta Gakuen
And a bunch of Monogatari series stuff that has spiraled out of control since I last checked. XD



I think there are a few other ones in there that I can't remember because my actual 'list' so to speak is spread out over two computers, lol. And my MAL has not been updated in a couple of years, so that doesn't help. XD There's a bunch that "on the list" but not 'on the list', too, if you know what I mean. Just shows that I want to check out but may not watch to completion.

Well, Shirobako is by far the best series on that list (not that I've seen everything on that list, but I'm declaring it anyways)... if you're not too comedy/drama'd out. It's an adult dramedy so I think it should be different enough to the last two.

Silencer, on 21 June 2017 - 06:23 AM, said:

D, on 20 June 2017 - 06:02 PM, said:

Eugh, Charlotte. Yeah, the initial few episodes are engaging in their cute character interdynamics, and it has a handful of powerful scenes. Helps that the visuals are the usual great quality from PA Works. But what a bizarre set of plot twists/shifts and overall mess of a storyline.

Oh, and on the subject of Charlotte - I'm pretty sure this could have been reworked into a great story, with relative ease. I'm not sure why it ended up all over the place, but it's got to be at most two solid revisions away from being good-to-great, story wise. :S

Ehhhh, I'm not so sure about that. I don't really think there's any way they could successfully mash the SoL-ish first part, the big mystery unveiling, and the last act into a cohesive single story - especially not within the constraints of only a dozen episode. I think they'd have to completely revamp or remove at least one of those elements.

Spoiler

Like, for example, they could drop the brother/time-travel stuff and simply have the kidnapping evil dudes be gradually unveiled, and through that transition from a find-person-each-week format into a big world-spanning adventure (with all the characters going) to take down the evil lab + stop the contagion.

OR they could drop the world-spanning adventure and keep things routed on the emotional struggles of the two main characters, with the brother reveal, so the climax sticks to that instead of devolving into the bizarre world quest that forgets half of the emotional plot points from the first half.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Yeah that last bit in Charlotte was complete left field. I largely agree with your spoilers Drek. Id have liked the show going in a completely different direction after the little sisters "event".

Charlotte had a good foundation, could have been spectacular.

[Silencer]

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of change I was thinking about. I'd have been totally OK with either direction really, though I think I would have preferred the second because it's what Key does well. But I suppose if they don't try new things you never find out, right? XD


And I am thinking I might go Shirobako as well. It's been on the list for a long time, and if I'm recalling correctly I put it on there after browsing the TV Tropes page, which is normally an indication that it definitely appeals to me. XD It's either that or Monogatari and I don't know if I'm ready to mainline a bunch of that particular drug. XD

[D'rek]

Alright, finished Attack on Titan S2! That ending was actually really good, I liked how it all came together. The setup from episodes 10 and 11 were kinda wonky, so I was worried it wouldn't be a satisfying climax, but nope they really brought it all together quite well. Even more unanswered questions, but I think we can imagine a few different plausible theories to tie it all together now. And season 3 is confirmed for 2018, so it won't be so much of a wait to continue!

I'm catching up on Kado now. Really enjoying it so far, but (a) I do feel like the humans simply aren't asking enough questions relative to the amount of time passing, and (b) the budding romance/antics between Tsukai and Shindo feel really abrupt and kinda forced-in... feels like a whole other show being merged into this one, in some ways. Not sure I'm liking that part much just yet.

[Silencer]

You know, I've been thinking about changing the shortcut for this emote: for quite some time, but it never seems to get old to me when other people use it by accident. XD (When I do it, ofc, I'm annoyed, but still)

[D'rek]

And it makes you feel special when you go back and circumvent it