majestic

Well, that was probably for the best. The upcoming episode about strawberries isn't the best anyway. Better to watch that one fresh (fruit pun? Oh noes).

You're on to something there. Make a Telegram account, post a bit and you'll have a couple hundred thousand followers in no time.

We used to grow snow peas a long while ago while I was little, we usually just ate them straight from the plant. Good old times when my (maternal) grandmother was still alive.

Woke up last night from something new, a major cramp in my right teardrop muscle. Just like everyone else, I every now and then get a cramp in my calves, but those hurt a bit and go away after a bit of walking and some massage. Holy crap, that one lasted a while and caused immense pain. Still feels sore after almost a full day.

Your eyesight is replaced by a really neat T-800 style tracking user interface. You may or may not develop a slight German accent in the process, can't tell, obviously. Uhm, assuming you'll be getting Moderna there, can't vouch for the others. Not sure if they have the same microchips. Anyway, you definitely can't unlock your phone with it, I tried. From what I gathered, you can open your garage remotely. I woudln't know, I don't have a garage. *shrug*

Oh, I forgot to mention. You're not supposed to watch Sailor Moon Crystal where they go to the moon, but the real one from the 90ies.

Turns out I was wrong, about a few things. It's split in two parts, with the first and much of the second being setup for a moment that, for me, being the sap that I am, clicked perfectly. It was glorious. For a while I wondered how all the good reviews came to be, but after watching it all, I just realized I did not follow my own advice and be patient. This time, Violet gets an assignment that goes above and beyond her regular duties. She's supposed to tutor a young noblewoman in how to behave properly. That seems like a strange fit until you realize that strict military protocol and aristocratic behavior aren't that dissimilar from each other. Violet also gets to show off how much she's grown as a person since the first episode. It's more heartwarming than sad, even though there's a bittersweet moment at the end, or maybe one that spans the second half of Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll. One that's obviously not drawn any attention to by the animation itself, because it relies on experience and knowledge of our own world to see what is happening. Spoilers for that: Also... Looking at this, maybe not all hope is lost for modern animation, right? Can't see it from a shot, but the blades of grass are swaying in the wind here. On the other hand, some things remain uncanny... Ugh, dunno guys, this looks as fake as it probably is. I guess it's the lights. Here the character models look much better than the background, for some reason. Something's off with the windows, right? It's not just me. And then there are scenes like this. Hmmm. Some of the scenes were also directed by Michael Bay. I mean, some scenes have CGI'ed lens flare effects. It's... yeah, well, it doesn't look totally terrible, but it's weird. Overall this was an enjoyable film, even though it's more like two 45 minute episodes than one feature length animation, but the two pieces are connected, if three years apart. If there's one thing I did not like is that it doesn't as seemlessly integrate into the show timeline as the first special does. Probably because it's meant to stand alone at the end of the show, although there's no real indication either way when the first part was supposed to be. And, finally: Dear god, to the Isabella/Violet shippers, please: Go die in a fire.

I was kind of surprised it took them this long (probably because it wasn't Viz Media holding the rights to the audio in the clips), some copyright holders have been hard at work cracking down on anything Sailor Moon related - many of the clips with the Viz dub audio are constantly reuploaded, or are just gone. And it's a tragedy, consdering we have several new happy Sailor Moon fans in this thread alone that only watched because of these clips on YouTube. I mean, it all did start with you trying it because of the funny bad DiC dub. We'd not be discussing anything anime related in this thread at all withou that, actually. I most likely would never have rewatched Sailor Moon, never followed it up with Cardcaptor Sakura for instance. Huh. What a cascade there. Imagine never having seen Cardcaptor Sakura becaues that channel died earlier. Stupid copyright holders, now you've made Tomoyo sad! You know... 200 episodes of Sailor Moon, some, ahm, repetition isn't an issue, is it? By the way, are you watching Sailor Moon yet? Looking forward to your thoughts! (just kidding, but only half kidding) Ergo Proxy looks pretty interesting though. Maybe at a later date. Too much open right now. Oh, and by the way, @LadyCrimson: There've been moments watching Violet Evergarden where I had to pause an wait for a while to be able to see my TV again, and Violet is definitely human. Superhumanly strong in the war flashbacks, but human nonetheless.

Watched the first five or so minutes of Violet Evergarden – Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll, which is a feature film length OVA that sets the final movie up - a movie that's been released in Japan but delayed almost everywhere else, due to, well, theatres not being open. Anyway, I obviously can't comment on the OVA yet. The first few scenes were visually impressive, and it has has a somewhat sad meta component to it. This was what Kyoto Animation was working on during the arson that killed 36 people, many of which were involved in this project, they apparently get a dedication in the credits too. This is going to be depressing even without the film potentially being depressing. Which... is what most of the original anime was, so why would this be any different. Anyway, I'm expecting great things, this sits at a 100% user score on rotten tomatoes. Quite a feat with 70 ratings (no critical scores, anyway). @ShadySands would you like to watch Sailor Moon? Obligatory question for showing up in this thread. edit: Curious, I haven't mentioned yet that former Lt. Col. Claudia Hodgins is voiced by none other than DIO. Looks a lot less like a gym god however, and more like Ryoji from NGE.

What the hell. xD

The animation is really... actually it's really good, the few instances where elements look CGI'ed (and probably were) aside, the water in the show being the biggest "offender" there. There's an episode where an astronomy reserach institute hires 80 auto memory dolls to copy rapidly deteriorating books and scrolls that were just recovered. In the shot where you can see them, they're really different character models with different outfits. Meanwhile any of the war flashbacks has the soldiers all look the same, a deliberate contrast (both as a war metaphor, i.e. dehumanization, and a demonstration of Violet's point of view - people going from not mattering to her at all to being separate entities with hopes, dreams and feelings). While it looks really good, it's easily my least favorite episode (so much is made prior to this about how auto memory dolls aren't just typist, and now they're there copying books - important work, to be sure, but not what they're usually hired for). Like modern animation or not... ...but that took some effort. Pretty backgrounds. However... It does have a super important blink and you'll miss it moment for Violet. What you really need to know about it going in I already posted, I think. Violet is damaged, emotionally and physically, and that's what the anime is about. It is more of a series of short stories with a connecting cast of recurring characters. Violet is obviously in each one. The source material is like this too. The short story nature means that Violet's character arc, and what the show is about, is more observed then directly experienced, except for a few scenes where she is alone. It also means that the more short story type episodes spend a lot of time developing characters you'll never see again. It also means there's - out of necessity and for the plot device, ghostwriting, to work - a lot of dialogue that contains expositional stuff. Not like in Madoka where the storyline is told through (indeed) too many exposition dumps. It's there, and it is justified - how else would Violet know what to write for her clients, if they wouldn't tell her why and what they need. Violet's behaviour and mannerisms are exaggerated, but not unrealistic, and for me, in some instances, that was hard to watch, e.g.: Well that wraps up this particular post.

Watched Violet Evergarden: Surely, Someday You Will Understand "Love" @InsaneCommander this is the first special, in the timeline between episode 4 and 5. It's a slightly longer episode, clocking in at 35 minutes. It was written by the one writer that consistently made the episodes of the original run that I enjoyed the least (except for the great episode three), which doesn't mean that the episodes were bad, because the average episode quality is nothing short of... amazing. Anyway, Violet gets a tough job in this one, and there's a certain irony in her helping someone move on from the loss of a loved one who did not come back from war. This episode, if you want to call it one, has some really memorable scenes in it, and some very nice interactions, but it doesn't fit together as well as it maybe could. It's a case where the parts of the sum are curiously greater than the whole, not the usual other way around. edit: I think it's worth wedging in between 4 and 5 even on a first watch. Mostly because it bridges a little time gap between eposodes 4 and 5 that makes the transition easier to understand. It's not required or necessary to enjoy the original run, but it does leave you wondering if an episode like that was actually planned and just not realized. edit 2: To post a spoiler free picture of the special, if nothing else, someone really knows how to compose shots. Sometimes pictures really do replace a thousand words of exposition, don't they?

Not sure whe he complained about that. 30000 Yen should not be an issue for JoJo. Unless he got disowned by everyone.

Watched the first episode, yes. Then Violet Evergarden happened. Tomorrow I'll be visiting my mother in Parkinson's rehab, so probably no more JoJo's until Monday or Tuesday.

The storytelling device employed I found fairly interesting, regardless of every other (modern) anime trapping this has. I'm not sure I can come up with many other series or even books where you learn about the main character's development mostly through second person viewpoints. Outside of the flashbacks, and even there at times, the point of view is from someone else. The girl she goes to Auto Memory Doll school and has to pair up with, the writer who hired her to get out of his writer's block, writing correspondence for an arranged political marriage, and so on, and so forth. There are a few recurring, secondary characters, but unless they're the focus of an episode, like Iris (one of Violet's colleagues), they also only remotely observe her change(s). Not affect or cause it. I can't speak to the veracity of the depicted process of combat veterans readjusting to civilian life (or actively having one for a change, as is the case with Violet), but reviews and opinions by actual veterans seem to agree that it's exaggerated but otherwise accurate. To give an example, there's the brother of the girl she goes to school with in episode three, who is a also combat veteran. His sister is unable to talk or reconnect to him, but Violet manages to transport the feelings of her in a way he understands. Hamlet called that the purpose of playing, i.e. the purpose of art, I guess: For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. I can, however, make a fairly accurate assessment about some parts of it, and indeed, this did speak to me in a way that other shows did not. Hence the thumbs up. I'd thumbs of Sailor Moon or Steven Universe in heartbeat if I could. Well, I did. For season 4. Which still is the only season on Netflix, however that makes sense. I find myself agreeing with you thinking that it's probably not for you. On a technical side in terms of presentation and storytelling, the nature of it has others explaining their life and wishes to her a lot. Even if you wouldn't hate (or at best not care about) Violet, you'd probably intensely dislike that. It makes sense in the context of her line of work, but it is what it is. The show very much relies on turning an otherwise - let's be honest here - unlikeable and unrelateble (for regular viewers, that is) character into someone relatable by having her react to the life stories of others. I meant what I wrote above, the observational viewpoint is really different for this. However, and herein lies the crux, given your reaction to all of the characters in Madoka (and some other things), I'd probably put that into the no pile. Plus, given that fiasco, I'd rather err on the side of caution. Damning with faint praise, ey? Oh, by the way, @KP the meanie zucchini specific spoiler:

I just hope you read the part about this being slow paced and with very little action. The war is just the backdrop. It's mostly her writing and interacting with clients and experiencing the vagaries of life. Joy, sadness and loss.

Nah, that was Gandalf on his own in the book. The film has Frodo figuring it out.

Curious, everyone else who I know watched Attack on Titan pretty much raved about it. I guess that puts it in a bit of a backburner now. Not that I wouldn't have enough else to watch. Speaking of watching something else. On a whim I started Violet Evergarden, and ended up binging the 13 episodes. There's a special and one of two movies on Netflix too, which I plan on watching soon. Netflix recommended that when it came out, I just kind of avoided it. For... reasons (for those who have followed this thread for a while, that should become clear when I talk about it, for everyone else... well, sucks to be you ). I'd link the trailer, but it is terrible. It's on Netflix anyway for everyone who wants to watch it. The English dub also seems to be a bit on the bad side, but that might just be my first impression. Say hello to the titular character, Violet: I'm a shot from the closing credits, which were never - not ever, not ONCE - skipped by this viewer. This is a first, he does add. Well... Violet is a low functioning autist incapable of expressing, dealing with or understanding any sort of emotion. One of these things is a joke that obviously refers to @Bartimaeus' reaction to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the others are pretty much what the show is about. The anime is set in a world with the technological development level of our late 19th to early 20th century, with the primary exception being Violet's anachronistic mechanical replacement limbs*, having lost both her arms in the final battle of a conflict similar to WW1. They're a metaphor more than a plot point, or rather, when they do become a plot point they're directly related to Violet's development as a character and human. As such, it's okay to accept that she has fully working replacement limbs for some reason while others limp about or need crutches to deal with their injuries. Found as an almost feral orphan, with a penchant for violence, Violet was raised and trained as a child solider by the army and assigned to Major Gilbert Bougainvillea, the first person to treat her as human, not a weapon to be unleashed on the enemy. Years later, both being severely wounded in the battle that ended the war, Major Bougainvillea tells her to live and be free, that she's more than a tool for him, and that he loves her. Words that are completely meaningless for Violet, who not only doesn't understand what love is, but also has known nothing but following the orders of others. Violet wakes up in a hospital. The war is over, and Major Bougainvillea reported as missing in action. Lt. Colonel Hodgins arrives and offers her a job at his newly founded postal company in an effort to help with his friend's final wish for Violet. He does not tell her about the Major being missing in action. Being both physically and emotionally marred by years of war, she now struggles with being integrated into society. Honest to the point of being hurtfully blunt, incapable of reading or expressing emotions and lacking any subtlety, she eventually takes up a job as Auto Memory Doll (which in the Japanese original is called Automatic Note Doll, which sounds slightly less ridiculous, the German translation is AKORA, which translates as autonomous correspondence assistant, which is the best of the bunch, in my opinion), a sort of ghost- or copywriter people most often, but not exclusively, commission to write letters, either because they are illiterate or lack the eloquence to truly express what they feel. Little by little, Violet, through having to express emotions of and for others in letters, learns to reconnect with her lost humanity and come to terms with the horrors of war and the scars they have left. For the most part, even though Violet is the main character, what makes this unique is that her story is told mostly through the lens of her clients, their reactions to her, their observations and interactions and the way she's trying to fulfill their wishes. More often than not, people truly liken her to the doll in her job description. In her most hapless of moments, Violet sometimes pulls on her cheecks to simulate a smile that she otherwise can't do. It ends up being what this thread was called for the longest of whiles, an emotional roller coster. Her first commission is a disaster where she completely misunderstands what her client wants from her (a client who wants a loveletter written in which she's playing hard to get, and Violent ends up writing "I have no true feelings for you, and you're not sincere enough in your efforts." to him - a very literal interpretation of what the client told Violet to write). The absolute highlight of the anime is an episode where Violet visits a family where she's been booked for a week to write several letters for... Her mechanical arms mirror her character growth. They're cumbersome and need ajustment at first. They're a visual metaphor for the wounds she sustained, and eventually culminate in being used to well and truly put the war behind her (and, by extension, the nations involved). The soundtrack is fantastic, especially the song of the closing credits. I guess the copyright holders are going hard after clips from the show, because the closing credits aren't available on YouTube to show them. This is the song: The animation is really good for the most part. There are some parts that look a bit, well, uncanny, especially when the camera pans over landscapes, and some of the movements feel wrong. There's a bit of what I mean in the opening credits: Still, for anime made in 2018, this is positively gorgeous. What else can I say? It very quickly earned the distinction of getting a thumbs up on Netflix too. Well done (for the record, Madoka did not get one - really)! Also, don't expect much action or fast pacing. There is some action, of course, particularily in the flashbacks to the war and the show's finale, but most of the time the pacing is on the slower side. It gives itself and the watcher enough time to breathe in and process what's happening. *Contrary to what you might think from the trailer, or other people might think, Violet is not a robot. She's a human with mechanical limbs, even if her character arc is really similar to robots or androids learning what emotions are.

That was 100% my reaction to the first episode too.

'S pretty slim as far as reasons go. If you want to unwedge that you'd need to make some space below your post in an edit, type something in there and then use these weird quote and spoiler box handles to drag & drop them around. I always take great pains to avoid wedging them together, for that you need to put at least one empty line between the old block and the text you want to turn into a block, then highlight everything and delete the additional break the software only creates if it doesn't find a quote or spoiler block to latch on to. It's driving me nuts. Absolutely can't stand that. It looks bad and makes people skim over the block. Or not notice it at all. One Piece has like as many episodes as The Bold and the Beautiful. That would be a major project, is that worth getting into? Pirates being all nice instead of, uhm, actual pirates aside.

Watched a mixed bunch of stuff today, but it was mostly work. As was yesterday. Right, also had a really weird dream about an old apartment a friend of mine rented years ago. It was converted into a small inn and the guests kept walking over the place where I was usually sleeping when I stayed over night. Kept complaining about it too. It was also my workplace, and all the computers had small 14" CRT screens and weird glyphs on their keyboards. It was also a bit of a workshop, and there was a lot of complaining by people. I complained a lot too. Even yelled at everyone for messing things up. I have dreams like that every now and then. People I know go and change things in weird ways, and I'll just yell at them for it, but they don't budge, so I keep yelling until it becomes frustrating enough to finally wake up. Once dreamed my brother gave my appartment to four friends of his, because he has a spare key and could. It's been pretty crickety-chirping in here, you guys all busy with basketball? There's one thing that still works in Clear Card the way it did in the old anime: Tomoyo's singing. Still doesn't feel right, and it can't all be the looks. Maybe after 70 episodes and 2 movies, perhaps the setup of the show has finally worn out? It's strange. Hoe?

I had an Atari 2600 clone that came with like 200 pre-installed, most likely pirated games. I was three or four at that point, so it was "the game with the cactus" and "the game with the jungle" and "that game with the shooting cars" that I liked to play. In other words, Outlaw, Pitfall and the tank duel of Combat. No idea where the thing has gotten to. The joysticks died regularily, and it was eventually replaced by a Sega Master System. My parents probably threw it out.

Because... that's what I'm sort of watching right now. Shiny mutants and weird giraffe people. Some more observations about Clear Card: Yamazaki is still hilarious, but Chiharu just called his lies lazy. She's not impressed. There's a new, mysterious transfer student. Again (that's one for every arc now, two in the first, if you count Meilin). Hoooooooooooooooe! The subtitles for this are too literal. Sakura is put out by Toya saying that she slept with her belly uncovered. If you don't know that Christopher Lambert* supposedly steals your belly button at night when you do that or turns you into a frog, well, you're definitely not getting that. Hoooooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Hoooooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Sakura sees trees moving outside the classroom. Tomoyo gets her out of class by pretending she's sick, then whips out a new costume and her camcorder, and says: "I thought this might happen, so I brought everything!" This isn't so bad this time, except for the looks. I... yeah. It looks the way it does, I'll stop complaining. Maybe I'll get used to it. Also, @Bartimaeus yes, there are only 22 episodes, but apparently it's not even complete. I guess I'll see when I get to it. I hope it's as "incomplete" as the Sakura card arc was, because that still worked out well enough even if the storyline wasn't entirely finished (one very obvious thing remained, and was partially solved by the second movie), and not "incomplete" in the "ends at a cliffhanger with no continuation in sight" way. *MOOOOOORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAT! Joke explanation spoiler:

Because it was awesome? I mean, where else do you get computer virus asylums, dark code and wifi-less internet? edit: I liked the original and OCD, is actually the real answer.

Is that... is that a picture of the Sourcerer? Because in that case, nobody stands a chance. He's hacking the planet with Dark Code and has this: The NOVA X3 is a computer that can connect to the internet without wifi! (yes, actual dialogue and names from the show...)