What Current Anime Series Are You Watching? v2.0

[wolfx]

I just watched Mahoromatic.

Not only at the end of each episode do you have to be reminded of how many days she's got left but...I guess my take on that ending is that he's dead they both end up spirits IE. the haunted school episode. Mainly because Matthew says he/she/it's leaving behind a memory.

Timeskip Misato was badass though...stabbed though the chest and thinking about picking up a prostitute.

I think the only strait up happy Gainax endings are Abenobashi and FLCL. Everything else is bittersweet at best.

Mahoromatic's ending is disappointing because it nulls part of the essence of the show, which is the "death clock". X remaining days before Mahoro becomes inactive....and then it turns out it didn't matter in the end anyway. Meh. And Minawa was kinda annoying and pointless.

As for take on ending was pretty simple since it was explained.

Matthew had to continue exploring into space and lead the aliens and decided that it didn't need its happy memories with Suguru for that. That memory of course was of its life being Mahoro. So Matthew made Suguru a Scitzophreniac and now everywhere Suguru goes, he'll see Mahoro.

[Rbstr]

As for take on ending was pretty simple since it was explained.

Matthew had to continue exploring into space and lead the aliens and decided that it didn't need its happy memories with Suguru for that. That memory of course was of its life being Mahoro. So Matthew made Suguru a Scitzophreniac and now everywhere Suguru goes, he'll see Mahoro.

I get what matthew was doing, didn't need the memory...or rather didn't want it holding him/her/it back. So mahoro's memories were removed from the collective memory somehow.

I see that as one of three things:

She's a corporeal being again

She's now a schizo/BSG style virtual person thing in his head.

She's a spirit ala red-haired school girl and misato died too so they meet again. (Both have the whole unfinished promise thing going on...plus this would also fit with the haunted school episode as foreshadowing)

Anyway there's a OVA coming out isn't there? What's the news on that?

[Wanzerfan]

Well, it wasn't the longest novel I've ever read (single novel, not a series); that would be Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," but yeah...2300 pages, give or take a few. I felt like I conquered Everest when I finished it.

Then I went on and read "The Water Margin" and "Journey to the West," and I'm currently eyeing "Dream of the Red Chamber."

I'm surprised there is no "Water Margin" anime (at least, none that I know of). It seems ripe for such treatment.

They have an old "Journey to the West" anime out, I know because This Houston network airs it along with Spider Riders and the Classic Wizard of Oz anime. Wheras both "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" were Toriyama's homage to the ancient Chinese Story, "Journey to the West" is a basic retelling of the old tale.

[Ghost Train]

I look forward to seeing the Valkyria Chronicles finale. It's been an interesting 2 weeks as I've been grinding away at the game as the last few episodes are aired. I really enjoyed some of the changes in the anime. On the one hand, both Welkin and Faldio are developed in greater detail in the anime. In the game, Welks is pretty uni-dimensional and has almost no reaction after

Isara dies

and Faldio is a generic plot advancement device.

On the other hand, the anime pretty much does zero justice to the secondary characters. If I didn't play the game I wouldn't have realized that Marina is a deadly sniper .

Also, anime version Hans > game Hans hands down.

Edited September 28, 2009 by Ghost Train

[Gubaba]

They have an old "Journey to the West" anime out, I know because This Houston network airs it along with Spider Riders and the Classic Wizard of Oz anime. Wheras both "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" were Toriyama's homage to the ancient Chinese Story, "Journey to the West" is a basic retelling of the old tale.

Yes, but I wasn't asking about "Journey to the West," was I? I was asking about "The Water Margin."

[Keith]

I say Mahoro had a new body, don't give Gainax any more whacky twists than they need.

[wolfx]

Anyway there's a OVA coming out isn't there? What's the news on that?

Yeah...its...coming. Forgot when. Not anytime soon.

I look forward to seeing the Valkyria Chronicles finale. It's been an interesting 2 weeks as I've been grinding away at the game as the last few episodes are aired. I really enjoyed some of the changes in the anime. On the one hand, both Welkin and Faldio are developed in greater detail in the anime. In the game, Welks is pretty uni-dimensional and has almost no reaction after

Isara dies

and Faldio is a generic plot advancement device.

On the other hand, the anime pretty much does zero justice to the secondary characters. If I didn't play the game I wouldn't have realized that Marina is a deadly sniper .

Also, anime version Hans > game Hans hands down.

Anime's been prettty slow. And the art seems to be going down the drain. The Alicia vs Selvaria fight which was just bloody awesome to watch in the game was just painful in the anime. *sigh*

[Bri]

Valkyria Chronicles has been a very mixed bag. Sometimes I could not escape the feeling that I watched an animated videogame. The characters lack decent development and the animation got worse over time. Still it sometimes it did manage to pull me in. Squad seven is really lovable and Alicia pretty much stole the show.

[Ghost Train]

Alicia vs Selvaria "The Rematch" was a bit more dramatic in the anime. I don't like how the battle in the fortress was handled in the game mainly because:

a) it was a frustrating mission as Selv has an incredible evade rate and that machine gun could tear any infantry unit to pieces easily... I ended up sacrificing 4 shock troopers with flamethrowers (kiiiiil iiit with fire!) and 1 lucky undodegable volley from Alicia to beat her.

b) we don't get to control Alicia in her Over-9000 mode .

I finally finished the game last night though, it will be interesting to see how the final rescue scene is played out as Leon is just not in the anime at all.

[The Shade]

Have watched 6 episode of Irresponsible Captain Tylor so far. Man, this series is hilarious.

A note, I'm watching the Right Stuff Remastered DVDs that were sourced from the remastered Japanese DVDs. While I love having a remastered product, and the video looks crisp & sharp, I think the Japanese firm that remastered this series also worked on Macross DYRL. The video is pretty grainy, even on my 31 inch old CRT screen.

Aside from that, I'm loving this series and am looking forward to the next episodes.

[Keith]

Have watched 6 episode of Irresponsible Captain Tylor so far. Man, this series is hilarious.

A note, I'm watching the Right Stuff Remastered DVDs that were sourced from the remastered Japanese DVDs. While I love having a remastered product, and the video looks crisp & sharp, I think the Japanese firm that remastered this series also worked on Macross DYRL. The video is pretty grainy, even on my 31 inch old CRT screen.

Aside from that, I'm loving this series and am looking forward to the next episodes.

Believe me, it's vastly superior to the old Rightstuf release, which was essentially composite VHS master thrown on DVD.

[The Shade]

Believe me, it's vastly superior to the old Rightstuf release, which was essentially composite VHS master thrown on DVD.

Really? Then I'm counting myself lucky that I never bought the old set.

Oh, and this series just keeps on being funny.

[troyness]

Does anyone know where I can buy the blackjack21 anime series with english sub?

Also is anyone watching the new cashern series,the anime looks great, very stylized .

[Bri]

Finished a couple of summer season anime:

Tears of Tiara: rather odd fantasy story with nice characters. The story line is completly out of this world and takes a rather weird twist on Gaelic/Christian mythology. Essentially it's a play on the Arthur myth, with Arthur and Lucifer joining forces and take on Heaven to prevent armagedon.

Tokyo 8.0:: Anime about the surviviors of an earth quake in Tokyo, who try to get home after the disaster. Refreshing in the sense that there is no fanservice what so ever and stays very close to reality. The supernatural addition feels forced and unneccesary. The show has rather poor character animation but the whole holds up quite well. Nice show that proves that you can make a different type of show.

Canaan:: Fairly run of the mill assassin bad girl story. Nothing spectacular except for the top quality animation. PA works is a small studio and is making a name for themselves with True tears and Canaan. As a result they will be doing the animated version of Key's project: Angel Beats.

Spice and Wolf II:: A character driven show set in the middleages with a Wolf god and a merchant act as venture capitalists on their travels. One of the very few anime that manages to create well rounded, spohisticated and believable characters. It is not without flaws, the animation is average and the second season doesn't add much to the total storyline, still easily one of the more interesting anime of the decade.

Valkyria Chronicles: This could have been more but the abysmal storytelling and lack of character development killed it. Started of with excellent animation, but it looked like A1 gave up during the season, show got progressively worse and worse.

Basquash : Quircky super robot show with nice blend of Japanese and French artstyles. Fresh aproach died after a few episodes when the standard save the world with basketball sponsored by Nike storyline got introduced. Forced focus on the idol trio of Sheryl, Ranka and Nanase wannabees sealed it's fate.

Haruhi S2/expanded S1: Haruhi is the most over rated anime since Evangelion, don't let the hype fool you. It's clever and down to earth sci-fi blessed/cursed with a rabid fanbase that makes Robotech fans look good. The second season shocked the fanbase by the monster called "Endless Eight". I loved it but your milage may vary. If you don't like Nekki Basara you may have issues with Haruhi

[Excillon]

Thinking about watching Area 88. I've only read the comics, how does it compare? I remember being disappointed seeing the Anime of Tank police after reading the comics.

[shiroikaze]

Tokyo 8.0:: Anime about the surviviors of an earth quake in Tokyo, who try to get home after the disaster. Refreshing in the sense that there is no fanservice what so ever and stays very close to reality. The supernatural addition feels forced and unneccesary. The show has rather poor character animation but the whole holds up quite well. Nice show that proves that you can make a different type of show.

Meh, shows like these doesn't need superb animation found elsewhere really, it's just unnecessary. I haven't finished it yet but I found it strange that you can have so many aftershocks lasting 11 episodes

Spice and Wolf II:: A character driven show set in the middleages with a Wolf god and a merchant act as venture capitalists on their travels. One of the very few anime that manages to create well rounded, spohisticated and believable characters. It is not without flaws, the animation is average and the second season doesn't add much to the total storyline, still easily one of the more interesting anime of the decade.

Speaking of which, here's the cover for the American release of the light novel.

Tasteless.

Haruhi S2/expanded S1: Haruhi is the most over rated anime since Evangelion, don't let the hype fool you. It's clever and down to earth sci-fi blessed/cursed with a rabid fanbase that makes Robotech fans look good. The second season shocked the fanbase by the monster called "Endless Eight". I loved it but your milage may vary. If you don't like Nekki Basara you may have issues with Haruhi

Edited October 19, 2009 by shiroikaze

[Ghost Train]

I am watching Kämpfer. Nope... no blue dual wielding shotgun mobile suits here..

Thin on Plot.

Heavy on Fanservice.

Heavy on Yuri.

But the humor is good , or perhaps my brain is so mush that it seems funny even though it's utterly retarded.

Also watching Railgun.

[Vifam7]

Thinking about watching Area 88. I've only read the comics, how does it compare? I remember being disappointed seeing the Anime of Tank police after reading the comics.

Depends on which Area 88 anime series you intend to watch. The 3-part OAV series from the 1980's or the 12 episode 2004 remake?

I recommend watching the 1980's OAV series. One of the best war-themed anime series ever. Obviously due to time constraints, not everything from comics is transferred over. However, I think everything important from the comics (esp. certain themes) are carried over well and personally I think the animators made it better than the comics. And I say this as manga reader who almost always prefers the manga version over the anime. Lots of great songs and music. Pretty darn good animation for its time too.

Skip the 2004 remake unless you really want to watch it. Lots of liberties taken in this series. Crappy CG airplanes and terrible music too. But it's not wholly bad. I mean, it's not unwatchable. Its just doesn't compare to the 80's version.

And btw, which "Tank Police" anime did you watch? The 4-part OAV series from 1988 "Dominion Tank Police"? Or the 6-part OAV series from 1993 "New Dominion Tank Police" (sometimes called Crusher Police Dominion) ?

Edited October 19, 2009 by Vifam7

[Wanzerfan]

Depends on which Area 88 anime series you intend to watch. The 3-part OAV series from the 1980's or the 12 episode 2004 remake?

I recommend watching the 1980's OAV series. One of the best war-themed anime series ever. Obviously due to time constraints, not everything from comics is transferred over. However, I think everything important from the comics (esp. certain themes) are carried over well and personally I think the animators made it better than the comics. And I say this as manga reader who almost always prefers the manga version over the anime. Lots of great songs and music. Pretty darn good animation for its time too.

Skip the 2004 remake unless you really want to watch it. Lots of liberties taken in this series. Crappy CG airplanes and terrible music too. But it's not wholly bad. I mean, it's not unwatchable. Its just doesn't compare to the 80's version.

And btw, which "Tank Police" anime did you watch? The 4-part OAV series from 1988 "Dominion Tank Police"? Or the 6-part OAV series from 1993 "New Dominion Tank Police" (sometimes called Crusher Police Dominion) ?

I saw an Area 88 arcade game way back in the late eighties/early nineties. it's basically a Gradius rip-off.

No matter what Dominion Tank Police you watch Masamune Shirow is the bomb (I saw the New version on VHS, pretty good stuff; I missed most of the original series, though).

[Gubaba]

Depends on which Area 88 anime series you intend to watch. The 3-part OAV series from the 1980's or the 12 episode 2004 remake?

I recommend watching the 1980's OAV series. One of the best war-themed anime series ever. Obviously due to time constraints, not everything from comics is transferred over. However, I think everything important from the comics (esp. certain themes) are carried over well and personally I think the animators made it better than the comics. And I say this as manga reader who almost always prefers the manga version over the anime. Lots of great songs and music. Pretty darn good animation for its time too.

Skip the 2004 remake unless you really want to watch it. Lots of liberties taken in this series. Crappy CG airplanes and terrible music too. But it's not wholly bad. I mean, it's not unwatchable. Its just doesn't compare to the 80's version.

Area 88 is one of my all-time favorites...so I liked the 2004 series a little better than you did. I agree, the '80s one is the best, but after reading the entire comic, I realized why they never made an Act IV...they cut out all the necessary build-up to the climax of the comic. If they were going to make a finale that was anything like the comic, A LOT of little pieces of story needed to click into place before Shin returns to Area 88, and they left all of that out.

[wolfx]

Tokyo 8.0:: Anime about the surviviors of an earth quake in Tokyo, who try to get home after the disaster. Refreshing in the sense that there is no fanservice what so ever and stays very close to reality. The supernatural addition feels forced and unneccesary. The show has rather poor character animation but the whole holds up quite well. Nice show that proves that you can make a different type of show.

I'm in the middle of this. As shiroikaze mentioned, the number of aftershocks was kinda err....and i thought this show was researched well or something.

Canaan:: Fairly run of the mill assassin bad girl story. Nothing spectacular except for the top quality animation. PA works is a small studio and is making a name for themselves with True tears and Canaan. As a result they will be doing the animated version of Key's project: Angel Beats.

Alphard's motivations are really...wtf. I dun get this show at all...but the action is pretty. Alphard sorta reminds me of Revy.

Valkyria Chronicles: This could have been more but the abysmal storytelling and lack of character development killed it. Started of with excellent animation, but it looked like A1 gave up during the season, show got progressively worse and worse.

So true. Disappointing cause it could've been so good.

Basquash : Quircky super robot show with nice blend of Japanese and French artstyles. Fresh aproach died after a few episodes when the standard save the world with basketball sponsored by Nike storyline got introduced. Forced focus on the idol trio of Sheryl, Ranka and Nanase wannabees sealed it's fate.

Loved it. Towards the end it kinda drags but still has that epic "GAR" feel to it. Really awesome budget for an anime series. If only the same funds were injected into Frontier.

Haruhi S2/expanded S1: Haruhi is the most over rated anime since Evangelion, don't let the hype fool you. It's clever and down to earth sci-fi blessed/cursed with a rabid fanbase that makes Robotech fans look good. The second season shocked the fanbase by the monster called "Endless Eight". I loved it but your milage may vary. If you don't like Nekki Basara you may have issues with Haruhi

I reached Endless 8 no. 3 and totally gave up on this season. Will I be missing much if i just skipped that whole Endless 8 thing?

[Bri]

I reached Endless 8 no. 3 and totally gave up on this season. Will I be missing much if i just skipped that whole Endless 8 thing?

Nope, you can just skip from Endless Eight episode 1 to Endless Eight episode 8 without issue. I would heavily recommend the Sighs arc which comes after EE, these episodes are just as good as the best of season 1.

Meh, shows like these doesn't need superb animation found elsewhere really, it's just unnecessary. I haven't finished it yet but I found it strange that you can have so many aftershocks lasting 11 episodes

Speaking of which, here's the cover for the American release of the light novel.

Tasteless.

Ah ok, I would never have noticed the aftershock thing, never experienced an earthquake.

Agreed on the novel cover, still can't fault Yenn press to much after reading their reasons for doing this.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Bri

[Vepariga]

I'm watching 'The Adventures of Mini Goddess'

[Greyryder]

I am watching Kämpfer. Nope... no blue dual wielding shotgun mobile suits here..

Thin on Plot.

Heavy on Fanservice.

Heavy on Yuri.

But the humor is good , or perhaps my brain is so mush that it seems funny even though it's utterly retarded.

Also watching Railgun.

I've been watching Kämpfer, too. Stupid, maybe. But, entertaining in its sillyness.

[shiroikaze]

Agreed on the novel cover, still can't fault Yenn press to much after reading their reasons for doing this.

Watch, it's gonna go straight into the manga section like every other translated light novels.

[Keith]

I'm watching 'The Adventures of Mini Goddess'

Speaking of which, where the hell is our U.S. release of Fighting Wings.

[wraith1701]

Just finished watching Bokurano. The show kind of caught me off guard; I expected to force myself through maybe 2 or 3 episodes, and found myself hooked almost immediately. The show did an amazing job of taking a huge cast of characters and making me care about all of them; something I haven't been able to say about an anime show in quite a while.

[Morpheus]

Watching Seiken no Blacksmith now, interesting fantasy anime series with a heroine who has a very distracting breast plate.

[Gui]

Finished Viper's Creed yesterday: it had a good start but failed to keep the pacing and then my interest; I finished it for the sake of it, it's just 12 eps long after all, but I wouldn't recommend it. Mecha designs are cool though...

[mospeadamacrosstech]

Just finished watching Bokurano. The show kind of caught me off guard; I expected to force myself through maybe 2 or 3 episodes, and found myself hooked almost immediately. The show did an amazing job of taking a huge cast of characters and making me care about all of them; something I haven't been able to say about an anime show in quite a while.

A rare talent indeed. Something many US TV shows direly lack. Wait. Do we still have TV shows? Or just the "reality tv" crap. You know it's real when they have 30 staff writers working on the show. I don't know about you, but I have 30 people working for me. They're all physics and write down what's going to happen to me before I even do it. I also have producers telling me who I am going to like and get into fights with. Cause, you know, that stuff is all real. Did I just get on the soapbox? Yes. I did.

[RavenHawk]

Finished Viper's Creed yesterday: it had a good start but failed to keep the pacing and then my interest; I finished it for the sake of it, it's just 12 eps long after all, but I wouldn't recommend it. Mecha designs are cool though...

For the most part I agree with you. Was my most looked-forward-to show last year. Disappointed me right away, though I still enjoyed it, just wasn't up to my expectations. Too formulaic, with character designs that felt like they were from the 90s, and storylines that were probably really solid in plot form, but just not executed very well.

On the other hand, I've found that since that series ended, I've actually wanted to see it again a few times, and have watched it 2 more times since, enjoying it a little more each time. I'm hoping for a sequel, with better overall storyline and less episodic feel.

I can't think of Viper's Creed without thinking of Rideback. Came out same time, same number of episodes. I wasn't really looking forward to it anywhere near as much, as it was fantastic right from the first episode, and just got better as it went, less episodic and more for the overall story. Only disappointment there was the final episode.

[mospeadamacrosstech]

Please don't lynch me. But what is Viper's Creed? I haven't heard of it.

[Gui]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encycloped...me.php?id=10351

[RavenHawk]

Please don't lynch me. But what is Viper's Creed? I haven't heard of it.

Shinji Aramaki (best known for designs for MOSPEADA and Bubblegum Crisis and Megazone 23, so it has transforming motorcycles, as well as the recent Appleseed movies) produced anime about a private police force in the not-too-distant future.

Fell far short of what it should have been, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

[mospeadamacrosstech]

Shinji Aramaki (best known for designs for MOSPEADA and Bubblegum Crisis and Megazone 23, so it has transforming motorcycles, as well as the recent Appleseed movies) produced anime about a private police force in the not-too-distant future.

Fell far short of what it should have been, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

Mospeada. Right up my alley. I'm going to check this out. Thanks guys!