Anime - Kono Dio Da!

[Amentep]

 

Old thread:

 

 

Last few posts:

 

On 9/15/2021 at 6:44 AM, Bartimaeus said:

In terms of at least character design/stylization, it's like halfway through that very late 90s, early 2000s mass re-stylization that was happening around that time that I generally think makes everything from around that period look like garbage, but it's like...just before the critical point where it would actually bother me, which makes sense because it's 1998 instead of...you know, 2002 or something. Probably helps a lot that it's in some pretty quality HD. Anyways, through one episode so far, and I'm pretty sure I can jive with it. Another one of those cases where I'm glad the show doesn't look quite like the posters, because I think the posters look stylistically much worse than the actual show does (a la Sakura).

Not, uh, not the kind of poster I'd ideally want to provide the first look at a show, personally, .

No kidding.

Keep it simple, stupids.

That must be why she pains me so right off the bat, . It'll never be as obnoxious and hateable as a more modern shonen show, of course, just because the entire style of the show may as well occur in a completely different medium compared to something modern, but still.

To me, it basically felt like the equivalent of...Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0, where it's super fast-paced and lacks the stuff that made the original show enjoyable in any way, it's SORT OF re-telling the same story but also adding some new things that mostly don't work and are just kind of annoying, and really, it just felt like an insult to my intelligence after having suffered through the original show. I would have preferred to not have seen it and that is about as bad of a way to cap off a series as you can get, .

 

16 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Steins;Gate 9-11:

 

I love how Hiyajo is smart enough to all but figure out what is going on.

  Reveal hidden contents

Although there are plenty of clues, nobody would simply believe in time travel without some pretty compelling evidence. If you find out a friend has a theory on time traveling, it doesn’t mean it works or even worse, that it has already been used. And the most compelling evidence, Okarin’s deep connection to Christina, would much more likely be because he lied and knew her before the time he claimed to have met her.

 

Damn it, can’t Okarin understand that it is already too late?

  Reveal hidden contents

Russia is already testing their machine, so it doesn’t really matter if they destroy the notebook. The only way to prevent Suzuha’s future is going back and saving Christina.

 

And… I’m stupid to not have noticed before what always happens after the mysterious people appear. Well, it’s the second time only.

  Reveal hidden contents

But Amane gets hurt at the exact same time. Insane if true, Amane doesn’t know her future husband and daughter have a time machine and she could even end up killing her own daughter.

Or is the operative the woman that annoys Hiyajo, who also seem to be hurt? She is actually much more suspicious.

 

 

12 hours ago, majestic said:

Eh, indeed, good thing the actual show doesn't look like the poster.

I'll keep it in mind, although I'm pretty swamped already. So maybe sometime next year?

No, why. I already... forgot. I... you know what's the worst bit of it, apart from Eternal, Season three is the best looking of Sailor Moon Crystal. During the first few episode of season three I was almost happy to see THAT. Almost. Until everyone became face splitting alien shapeshifters after the first episode.

Not even Setsuna could save that mess. Never thought I'd say that, the second season might be the weakest in terms of plot, more disjointed than the others, strange, wrong, terribly animated and downright disgusting at times, but Pluto was probably the best thing in all of Sailor Moon Crystal. Black Moon arc Pluto is the only thing in Crystal that's actually better than in the original 90ies anime.

And that's really mostly because Chibi-Usa is much more likable at the expense of Usagi and Pluto is her surrogate mother. I liked her enough that even her silly "secretly loves Endymion" plot point didn't bother me.

Episode four continues the epic struggle between the Countess du Barry and Marie Antoinette. The episode blurb and preview of the next one promises an end to that silly feud.

Anyway, a serving wench ends up being poisoned by the countess in order to pin the crime on Marie Antoinette or her handmaiden, Lady Asuka's mother. Asuka shows up and threatens bloody murder in case the countess attempts to involve her or her family in her petty struggles again. Sword drawn and pointed. My, my.

Not sure, but Emo McEdgelordface was a better protagonist.

Episode six will be set after a three year time lapse. Maybe that'll help. If not, then there's only the change of directors that'll happen in episode 18 to look forward to. The anime isn't bad by any means, it's just... not very enticing either.

Yes, sort of, but not quite a retelling. In a way the repetitive nature of the show and the film are meditative, and the episodes - as well as the film, I guess - are a bit like koans. I can't say that I'm into Eastern philosophy any more than I like Western one. For me, the question "What is the sound of one hand clapping?*" is essentially the same nonsense as "If a tree falls over in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" and completely irrelevant.

Insofar it also really doesn't matter what, say, Tokiko really is in terms of the setting. She comes and goes as she likes, and ages, unlike anyone else at the academy. There probably isn't a logical solution, she was just there to make you abandon your preconeived notions, and to find an answer in a spiritual way, as a sudden enlightenment, spontaneous and aside from logic and reason.

*Probably the most well known koan. There are "better" ones, but hey... *shrug*

 

12 hours ago, majestic said:

I'm sitting here and contemplating whether or not to watch the final K-On!! episode. It's not the last of the stuff there is to watch, just the last regular episode. Well, here goes nothing...

edit: Well... that's the end, specials, OVAs and a movie left. Kind of glad right now that Sailor Moon didn't end with their High School graduation. Would have been a tad weird after the world ending destruction wrought there, but anyway, the mixture of nostalgia and good byes feels a bit like a punch in the face.

Anyway, that was great.

edit 2:

Great, it's 02:45, and I've spent the last hour going over old files from my high school time that I still have lying around. Time to sleep. I wonder if I'll get one of these stupid dreams now. Stupid anime. Really. Why do you end like that.

 

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I assume that's code for X's protagonist?

You're the one that watched it and made the rest of us indirectly experience it with you. For your grave sins, you must face the music, .

You know, now that you mention it, being the commander of the guard tasked with protecting Marie Antoinette at age 14 doesn't seem quite right to me...

K-On: Sounds like a job well done by the show, methinks, .

Sakura stuff:

  Reveal hidden contents

Wow, uh, Xiaolang is being a little...sneaky. Don't tell me he's going to make Sakura a stuffed animal and name it himself. It was nice to see all of the girls together and just talking normally, feels like it's been a while since that really happened. Oh gosh, where is Chiharu, someone get a leash on Takashi... Ah, there she is, and there's her trademark "yeah, yeah" ("hi, hi").

"If something makes the person I like happier than being in love with me, I just want them to stay happy that way."

Oh my goodness, Sakura, you are as blind as a...blind person - I think that's as direct as Tomoyo has ever gotten. I kinda thought Tomoyo had been growing out of that at least a little, but clearly not. Guess we've just had too much of a focus on other things as of late for it to noticeably crop up.

Sakura should really be converting a card at the end of each night. Oh hey, Eriol is finally "revealed", along with his cronies...and these people definitely seem straight up evil. Hm, yeah, the first 2/3rds or so of this episode were a good reminder that lower stakes and normalcy are this show's strengths...not high stakes schemes and end of the world stuff like the last third, :p.

...

Wonder if this Kero teddy bear will have any purpose later. "I would really like to meet [Ms. Mizuki] someday." Nah, I think she's good, pal. "Sakura and the Big Teddy Bear." Yeah, I'm thinking the teddy bear is gonna end up mattering after all.

Oh man, this dirtbag kissed her. You done messed up, E-Eriol!

Poor Chiharu. I guess this is what you get for picking Takashi. I mean really, what did you expect?

Lmao, Xiaolang DID make Sakura a teddy bear. Dear lord, it's truly teddy bear gifting season. Oh whoa, didn't think Yukito and Xiaolang would ever get together and interact like this again, but here we are. Good job, show. Oh man, that pan they did of him when he saw her, that was...not something they ever do for this show. Lmao, and he just ran away like a little baby - never thought I'd see Xiaolang stoop so low, he's really in a tough spot. How...HORRIFICALLY UNTRUE TO MEILING YOU ARE!

Yep.

"But if you're giving a gift, isn't food better than a stuffed animal?" On one hand, he's got a point, especially because this is Yukito...on the other hand, she's tried that several times over the year already, so... These people really need to work out their unrequited love issues.

Can't get a much more perfect shot than that. Also, Eriol almost killed Sakura three times in like a minute here - we're quickly getting to the point where he and his crew can't really be conceivably redeemed without it not making sense or feeling wrong unless they have something properly setup here at some point, so...

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I tried watching Clannad, but I fell asleep two minutes in. I had a dream I was back in high school and being hunted by a bizarre creature made up of writhing tentacles. Maybe going to sleep with anime in the background is not a good idea.

Anyways given the new thread title...

 

[Bartimaeus]

@Amentep I think that's the second time in a row you've ended this thread right after one of my mega-posts... How is @majestic supposed to see and respond to all of my Sakura nonsense in a sensible manner when it's all in the previous thread?!

Having watched Devilman 1 (1987) and Devilman 2 (1990), I felt compelled to try out...not an episode of the original Deviman (because that's so old that I think it would be more of a...Speed Racer-esque meme watch PROBABLY), but instead an episode of Devil Lady (1998, 26 episodes). I got just about 10 minutes into an episode and I couldn't help but think "man, the atmosphere of this show almost seems...kind of a little familiar somehow - it's dark but not too dark and it feels kind of slow and restrained so far". Pause: who made this? Lead writer is one "Chiaki J. Konaka" who was apparently also the lead writer on Serial Experiments Lain, but not much else significant that I recognize. Okay, weird, whatever. So who's the director? Hirano Toshiki? Huh, for some reason, that name seems ever so slightly familiar. Let's see, he directed...Iczer One? Alright, nope, I'm out, Devil Lady is officially cancelled and DELETED. He also directed CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth, so I guess that's probably trash too - ah well. Hey, wait a second...

UNDELETE, UNDELETE! Well, the episode ended up doing a bit of a turn tonally and atmospherically right after I unpaused because Fem!Asuka (no, really, there's a blond-haired lady named "Lan Asuka" that is spurring events of the show on) trapped our protagonist, Jun, in a warehouse with another demon that forced her to (unconsciously) transform after being almost killed and it became a bit more action-y. Well...I gotta try a second episode to see where this goes, right?

Spoiler

Jun contemplating her new life as a devilman. She's not handling it that well, evidenced by the fact that she just took a piece of jagged glass and was about to swallow it before she got distracted by a phone call. She changes her mind and decides that she's going to try to balance her old life of being an actress/model and a terrifying devilman lady monster that makes the original Akira look like a wimp in comparison (she's quite...large and muscular in her transformed state). After finishing up work (in which she is clearly not quite herself during), she decides to go on a dinner date(?) with her young lady friend Kazumi that had also appeared for a little while in the first episode. I'm not quite sure what's going on there yet, whether this is actually going to be a thing between them or if they're just supposed to be best friends or what (if the latter, it doesn't seem...quite right so far, but maybe, there's very little to go off of so far). Asuka arrives while they're in the middle of their date, and had taken photos of Jun's transformed state and blackmails her into leaving with Asuka right then and there to go complete a job. Asuka brings her to the gore-strewn lair of a demon, and Jun is nearly killed again before transforming and quickly dispatching of it in a short fight sequence. The demon, in its dying breaths, asks her why she kills her own "evolved" kind, and states that she will die over and over - whatever either of those means. End episode.

...Dang it, I'm still going to have to try another episode to get a better grip on this show. Animation and character designs are alright, but for some reason don't appeal to me quite as much as Miyu did. Still, this is a little weird and interesting.

The biggest shame so far with this show is that its music is not done by Kenji Kawai, who did the music for not just Miyu but also Devilman 1 and 2 (these were all some of his earliest works!), and I think the show suffers for it (really, I'm imagining this show with Miyu's music and I can't help but think what an improvement it would be).

Edited September 16, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

man, the atmosphere of this show almost seems...kind of a little familiar somehow - it's dark but not too dark and it feels kind of slow and restrained so far

It must be very different from the manga then. Because that was pretty much brutal violence and rape every single chapter.

Edited September 16, 2021 by KP the meanie zucchini

[Bartimaeus]

Just now, KP the meanie zucchini said:

It must be very different from the manga then. Because that was pretty much brutal violence and rape every single chapter.

Lmao, uh, yeah, it hasn't been like that so far. There's been a little murder, but not much. I'll, uh, keep you guys updated. 

[Maedhros]

Binged Attack on Titan recently. I can understand the popularity, thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommended it to a couple of mates who detest anime (or think they do), and they're all hooked.

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

@Amentep I think that's the second time in a row you've ended this thread right after one of my mega-posts... How is @majestic supposed to see and respond to all of my Sakura nonsense in a sensible manner when it's all in the previous thread?!

It wasn't me...

IT WAS DIO!

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Something interesting,

DIO's last words in Stardust Crusaders are "Kono DIO Da". Which means he goes out with a JoJo meme.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I tried watching Clannad, but I fell asleep two minutes in. I had a dream I was back in high school and being hunted by a bizarre creature made up of writhing tentacles. Maybe going to sleep with anime in the background is not a good idea.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

35 minutes ago, Sarex said:

The whole family has antennas, does this mean they are aliens?

[majestic]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

How is @majestic supposed to see and respond to all of my Sakura nonsense in a sensible manner when it's all in the previous thread?!

Yeah, really.

Actually it's not that hard, this forum's copy and paste function is as neurotic as the posts are once you try to BB-Code your way through it. However, every now and then that really has an advantage, you just need to copy and paste Amenteps really helpful "last few post" things. So everything's fine, just as long as that is in there. I won't break up the post but rathre in one block though.

Sort of. This software was a travesty before the upgrade, and that only made it worse. I don't know, I guess Mozilla makes Obsidian's forums.

14 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I assume that's code for X's protagonist?

You're the one that watched it and made the rest of us indirectly experience it with you. For your grave sins, you must face the music, .

You know, now that you mention it, being the commander of the guard tasked with protecting Marie Antoinette at age 14 doesn't seem quite right to me...

K-On: Sounds like a job well done by the show, methinks, .

Sakura stuff:

  Hide contents

Wow, uh, Xiaolang is being a little...sneaky. Don't tell me he's going to make Sakura a stuffed animal and name it himself. It was nice to see all of the girls together and just talking normally, feels like it's been a while since that really happened. Oh gosh, where is Chiharu, someone get a leash on Takashi... Ah, there she is, and there's her trademark "yeah, yeah" ("hi, hi").

"If something makes the person I like happier than being in love with me, I just want them to stay happy that way."

Oh my goodness, Sakura, you are as blind as a...blind person - I think that's as direct as Tomoyo has ever gotten. I kinda thought Tomoyo had been growing out of that at least a little, but clearly not. Guess we've just had too much of a focus on other things as of late for it to noticeably crop up.

Sakura should really be converting a card at the end of each night. Oh hey, Eriol is finally "revealed", along with his cronies...and these people definitely seem straight up evil. Hm, yeah, the first 2/3rds or so of this episode were a good reminder that lower stakes and normalcy are this show's strengths...not high stakes schemes and end of the world stuff like the last third, :p.

...

Wonder if this Kero teddy bear will have any purpose later. "I would really like to meet [Ms. Mizuki] someday." Nah, I think she's good, pal. "Sakura and the Big Teddy Bear." Yeah, I'm thinking the teddy bear is gonna end up mattering after all.

Oh man, this dirtbag kissed her. You done messed up, E-Eriol!

Poor Chiharu. I guess this is what you get for picking Takashi. I mean really, what did you expect?

Lmao, Xiaolang DID make Sakura a teddy bear. Dear lord, it's truly teddy bear gifting season. Oh whoa, didn't think Yukito and Xiaolang would ever get together and interact like this again, but here we are. Good job, show. Oh man, that pan they did of him when he saw her, that was...not something they ever do for this show. Lmao, and he just ran away like a little baby - never thought I'd see Xiaolang stoop so low, he's really in a tough spot. How...HORRIFICALLY UNTRUE TO MEILING YOU ARE!

Yep.

"But if you're giving a gift, isn't food better than a stuffed animal?" On one hand, he's got a point, especially because this is Yukito...on the other hand, she's tried that several times over the year already, so... These people really need to work out their unrequited love issues.

Can't get a much more perfect shot than that. Also, Eriol almost killed Sakura three times in like a minute here - we're quickly getting to the point where he and his crew can't really be conceivably redeemed without it not making sense or feeling wrong unless they have something properly setup here at some point, so...

 

Yes, that's what I called Kamui the entire time.  I guess my posts about X were as memorable as the anime is for a regular viewer.

My posts about Crystal were more fun than that picture. Perhaps... except for the screenshots I posted because I couldn't believe what was going on. Yeah. I think... I posted Hotaru's plug crystal experience twice. I think you may have a point there.

Captain of the guard: Indeed, it's about as silly as the idea that she can fight off five grown men. I've accepted that, and luckily, as of episode five the court fight is over. Marie Antoinette talked to the countess and is really unhappy about that. I wonder how much difference there is between being sold to the prince of France and selling yourself to the king for favors, I mean, she's really unhappy about having to talk to a (former) prostitute.

K-On! - yes, job very well done, actually. I'm looking forward to the movie actually, I'm hoping they did something interesting with the movie budget. Maybe... in some parallel universe that might briefly overlap with this one you'll try it too. There's still the possibility that the first season will scare you off.

 

CCS talk:
 

Spoiler

Eriol will tune it down a notch soon, or at least the incidents he causes scale back a little. It won't be that deadly. I'm not sure what happened, maybe the writers noticed that they would need to tune it down a little, or the episodes start to have some filler in between that's a little more low key. The threats will remain caused by Eriol, which is... not as interesting or unique as them being caused by cards that just do what they were designed to do without being given direction.

I guess that means by now you've seen Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. If it was at all unclear what or who Eriol is, it's now perfectly obvious, right?

Keep what Tomoyo said in mind, it'll come back eventually, and indeed, Sakura has no idea what other think about her or when they have feelings for her. That's... just the way she is.

I can also assuage your fears a little without spoiling too much, there is a reason for what Eriol is doing, but... it is a little dumb, and could have been handled better. At the expense of not having a plot for the arc, so that's... well, you'll see soon if you keep up watching an episode or two a day.

Oh, and indeed, Chiharu just kills it. It's something really wondrous, I mean, all the two ever do is the same comedy routine, and not only is it funny every time, it also never gets old.

Giant Teddy Bear also means that Sakura just transformed Fly into a Sakura card, yes?

If yes, click spoiler:

Spoiler

What do you think of the wings?

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by majestic

[Sarex]

3 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

The whole family has antennas, does this mean they are aliens?

Could be, I guess you will need to watch to find out.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Sarex

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Clannad 3+4: Attack of the Student Council.

It's starting to drag for me and even the best friend getting his ass kicked every episode is getting boring. No aliens or monsters...yet.

[Sarex]

9 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Clannad 3+4: Attack of the Student Council.

It's starting to drag for me and even the best friend getting his ass kicked every episode is getting boring. No aliens or monsters...yet.

Trying to remember because I watched it a long while ago, but I think episode 9 (if you make it that far) is the end of the first "arc". I would say try to get to episode 9 and if you still don't like it, then drop it.

[Bartimaeus]

23 hours ago, majestic said:

Yes, that's what I called Kamui the entire time.  I guess my posts about X were as memorable as the anime is for a regular viewer.

I was just making sure that I didn't get him confused with any other undesirable, . I actually watched the first couple of episodes of X a week or two back, but I didn't have the heart to tell you it just wasn't for me and I don't think I could continue it. ...But since we're on the topic again, I guess I can now,

Wings: Looked and seemed fine to me. Why, should I have made more note of them?

23 hours ago, majestic said:

Oh, and indeed, Chiharu just kills it. It's something really wondrous, I mean, all the two ever do is the same comedy routine, and not only is it funny every time, it also never gets old.

They really took it to a new level in that episode. Poor Chiharu, .

23 hours ago, majestic said:

Keep what Tomoyo said in mind, it'll come back eventually, and indeed, Sakura has no idea what other think about her or when they have feelings for her. That's... just the way she is.

Somehow, in that sense, it almost feels like Sakura is a bit of a Usagi after all...even though Usagi was literally the exact opposite in this specific regard with HER MAMO. I'm not sure if that makes sense, .

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I was just making sure that I didn't get him confused with any other undesirable, . I actually watched the first couple of episodes of X a week or two back, but I didn't have the heart to tell you it just wasn't for me and I don't think I could continue it. ...But since we're on the topic again, I guess I can now,

Psh, really, did you try K-On! already as well and didn't like it?

Spoiler

Or worse, you're secretly watching and really like it, and I'm left talking to myself about it!

I would have been really baffling if you enjoyed X enough to finish it (let alone like it), it's way too messy, and it has Kamui. I'm surprised you tried, actually, but seriously, don't hold back on my account.

So what was worse, the early episodes Kamui McEdgelordface, Princes McExpositiontalk, or the pointless action scenes? Or just all of it?

21 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wings: Looked and seemed fine to me. Why, should I have made more note of them?

No, not at all. I was just surprised they'd stick wings on her like that. It... annoyed me a for half a minute, and then all was good again.

39 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

They really took it to a new level in that episode. Poor Chiharu, .

Part of the problem of the early Sakura Card episodes was that everything seemed so exaggerated. Tomoyo is really overdone, and Kero cranks it up to eleven. If I were to watch it again, I'd probably no longer be bothered by it, because Clear Card was so much worse.

44 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Somehow, in that sense, it almost feels like Sakura is a bit of a Usagi after all...even though Usagi was literally the exact opposite in this specific regard with HER MAMO. I'm not sure if that makes sense, .

Sure does. Oh, next episode will be different already, and it'll explain something that's been going on.

Minor spoiler:

Spoiler

Sakura won't be fighting giant teddy bears or killer pianos, just a herd of harmless stuffed... sheep.

I'm thinking about just rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura instead of going through Lady Asuka.

Speaking of which, the age up didn't help at all. This just keeps cementing it's place in the bleed through area. It's not loathably bad, but it really isn't very interesting either. Asuka and Marie Antoinette are 17 now, and they're visiting Paris, and it's... mostly boring. No wonder they changed the director in the middle of the anime.

[Bartimaeus]

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Psh, really, did you try K-On! already as well and didn't like it?

No, see, it's okay because X (the movie) has a [1996] next to it, which means it's fine to try the show that came out a few years later too. Whereas K-On has a big scary [2009] instead, and boy, what can you really do about it? 

I have to be honest, it didn't really leave enough of an impression (except that yes, Kamui is...not ideal) for me to say that much about it. If I was going to really talk about it, I should've done so immediately after watching it. I was mostly just...disengaged from all of it, which is, well, very bad.

14 hours ago, majestic said:

No, not at all. I was just surprised they'd stick wings on her like that. It... annoyed me a for half a minute, and then all was good again.

My immediate thought was "hey, they stole that from Sailor Moon!" and then the next one was "that's okay". End train of thought, .

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Part of the problem of the early Sakura Card episodes was that everything seemed so exaggerated. Tomoyo is really overdone, and Kero cranks it up to eleven. If I were to watch it again, I'd probably no longer be bothered by it, because Clear Card was so much worse.

To me, it feels more like the very early part of the first arc where that stuff *was* more extreme, before the cast got a little bigger (once again, RIP Meiling) and we had more story stuff to focus on that necessitated toning stuff down a little. I'm not bothered by it, but it does feel a little odd. The solution? Bring back Meiling, .

14 hours ago, majestic said:

I'm thinking about just rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura instead of going through Lady Asuka.

Speaking of which, the age up didn't help at all. This just keeps cementing it's place in the bleed through area. It's not loathably bad, but it really isn't very interesting either. Asuka and Marie Antoinette are 17 now, and they're visiting Paris, and it's... mostly boring. No wonder they changed the director in the middle of the anime.

Good idea @ CCS, . But maybe once the director changes in Lady Asuka, you'll get the Nadia effect instead...

...Speaking of Nadia, have made literally zero progress in it since I last talked about it. Been watching NGE instead, and I gotta tell ya, a lot more enjoyable than those Anno-less Nadia episodes. Will get back to it eventually, though...

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[HoonDing]

[Bartimaeus]

Episode 3 of Devil Lady...still feeling vaguely Miyu-ish. Big spoiler post that explains the episode incoming mainly for majestic's benefit, .

Devil Lady has weird...and bad intro music. The best way I can relate it is if you took the second version of the "we're gonna duel" music from Utena (the darker, heavier version of it) but made it generic and then stuck some random silly and ultra-generic j-pop song at the end of it for like 30 seconds. It doesn't make sense...or sound good at all.

Spoiler

Jun's lady friend Kazumi, who appears to be an important character after all.

Episode opens up with Kazumi (who is also apparently in the same line of work as a model like Jun and this is presumably how they know each other?) doing a photo shoot with a couple of other models. She happens to see Jun watching her from afar, and is about to approach her when Jun turns and walks away. The other two models are surprised to hear that that's "Jun", and more or less say that she's ugly and probably boring anyways - Kazumi does not share their feelings, and later calls Jun on the phone to ask what's going on with her, and that she's always looked up to and relied on her so please don't shut her out no matter whatever's going on. Jun tells her to forget about her more or less - presumably to protect her from the ongoing horrors of her new life.

So this gets a little odd, because a man we haven't met before approaches Jun (who looks kind of apprehensive and aimless and who's still out on the street) and expresses concern for her well-being before asking her out for a drink, and she...accepts? That's weird. Why do that when you're already concerned about bringing harm to people around her? It turns out to be a trap - Asuka is the one that brought her here, and intones more or less the exact idea I had: you're okay with possibly endangering some random dude, but you had to protect Kazumi? I think the sub-text here would imply...there's more than meets the eye between Jun and Kazumi. Asuka talks some more and basically tells Jun that she's a monster, and the only way that she'll remain a LIVING monster is if she works for her - otherwise Asuka and her goons will kill her.

Cut back to Kazumi coming home late at night, who lives with her parents and goes up to her room...and has just a pile of photos of women adorning the walls of her room, including a few of Jun. Uh, that's a little strange. She looks at one of Jun and her eyes get a little glossy... Yeah, I'm not crazy, there's definitely something going on between those two. Back to Jun - she's out in the streets again presumably on her way home after departing from Asuka and her threats, and as she's walking through an underpass, a little boy blocks her from walking by. She asks what is he doing, and he asks her why she kills her own "evolved" kind...and says that he will kill her "lover" as revenge, and just transforms into a dark butterfly right in front of her and just flies on out. Jun is confused because, well, she doesn't have a lover...and then realizes what he meant. She tries to phone Kazumi multiple times while trying to make her way to her home, but no answer. She gets caught in traffic...cut back to Kazumi, she's taking a bath, her mom's watching TV, her father notices the phone going off repeatedly and goes to pick it up...

I have to tell you at this juncture, that Kazumi's VA, uh, really knows how to scream. Bloodcurdling so, in fact. In an actually quite intense and horrifying sequence of scenes, Kazumi gets out of the bath and notices that something doesn't seem quite right in her house: cue her slowly meandering about as a result of her unease and eventually finding her dead father and the shadow of the devil in her own room, cue running and screaming down to the living room and finding her mother with her face being eaten by...centipedes? Ick, gross! It's here that Kazumi's mind pretty much breaks and she's paralyzed in terror before passing out entirely as Jun arrives to slay the devil. "Slay" isn't quite the right word, because it's more of an absolute merciless thrashing that literally causes Kazumi's entire house to collapse right on top of Kazumi. However...the end results is that Kazumi mercifully survives the ordeal, and that's pretty much where our episode ends with where we go from here being unclear.

Caught between Asuka threatening to kill her if she doesn't keep fighting devils and the devils threatening to do possibly even worse if she doesn't stop killing devils. Yikes.

Still not sure what I think of this show. I think I rather like the character stuff, but I'm not as big into some of the action (although the part here with specifically Kazumi was admittedly pretty good if a bit much - don't really ever want to hear anybody scream quite like she did anytime soon again). Hey @majestic, maybe this would be a good test for "is there a show Bartimaeus thinks is [good or at least half-decently enjoyable] but doesn't appeal to majestic", .

@HoonDing wat

Edited September 18, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

Steins;Gate 0 12-14:

 

I’m having a bad feeling about who is the main villain.

Spoiler

Kagari before getting amnesia.

 

Kagari actually made Mayushi blush.

Spoiler

If Kagari is one of the agents, then they could all be brainwashed. Anyone could be an agent, including the characters that were hurt at the same time of the attacks.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Clannad 5 the starfish return

I'm not really feeling it and going to try something else for a while.

[Sarex]

23 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Clannad 5 the starfish return

I'm not really feeling it and going to try something else for a while.

Probably for the best, no point in forcing yourself.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

Steins;Gate 0 12-14:

 

I’m having a bad feeling about who is the main villain.

  Reveal hidden contents

Kagari before getting amnesia.

 

Kagari actually made Mayushi blush.

  Hide contents

If Kagari is one of the agents, then they could all be brainwashed. Anyone could be an agent, including the characters that were hurt at the same time of the attacks.

 

You know, I was always under the impression that Steins;Gate was massively lengthy, but I just looked and there's the original 24 episodes season and then another 23 episode sequel (or was it prequel?) season as well as a movie. That's not that crazy. And then I looked at the "games", "books", and "music" section and then I go "ah, that's why I thought it was so humongous". Japan has a real problem with basically just making endless shovelware of every kind in every possible medium for flagship franchises.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

No, see, it's okay because X (the movie) has a [1996] next to it, which means it's fine to try the show that came out a few years later too. Whereas K-On has a big scary [2009] instead, and boy, what can you really do about it? 

Yeah, really, what could you possibly do?

Spoiler

How about avoiding Princess Tutu some more by making it the next watch project after Nadia.

 

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I have to be honest, it didn't really leave enough of an impression (except that yes, Kamui is...not ideal) for me to say that much about it. If I was going to really talk about it, I should've done so immediately after watching it. I was mostly just...disengaged from all of it, which is, well, very bad.

I get that. X really is the type of entertainment without a clear target audience that only I can properly enjoy because I'm... me.

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

My immediate thought was "hey, they stole that from Sailor Moon!" and then the next one was "that's okay". End train of thought, .

Train of thought:

1. Oh no, wings, like Sailor Moon, really?
2. Fly and strike the teddy bear, yay... action*, I guess.
3. This is fine.
4. I'll just trust in the writing staff.

The biggest issue is that by decoupling her ability to fly from her staff that now means she can fly and do magic at the same time, which is a prime recipe for disaster. Sailor Moon Crystal liberally did that by making the Guardians fight monsters on the ground while they could have just flown around all the time, neatly removing any tension from the action. Before the change, she could either fly or affect what's happening, not both at the same time.

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

To me, it feels more like the very early part of the first arc where that stuff *was* more extreme, before the cast got a little bigger (once again, RIP Meiling) and we had more story stuff to focus on that necessitated toning stuff down a little. I'm not bothered by it, but it does feel a little odd. The solution? Bring back Meiling, .

The first episodes, well, yeah. Some early installation weirdness is par for the course of most stuff. Even properly pre-planned shows can't escape it, when you look at the first few episodes of Babylon 5 for instance.

For episodes 46 to 51, I kind of expected something different, but that's... dunno. If I had to name a really weaker stretch in CCS, that would be it. The early episodes get some leeway.

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Good idea @ CCS, . But maybe once the director changes in Lady Asuka, you'll get the Nadia effect instead...

...Speaking of Nadia, have made literally zero progress in it since I last talked about it. Been watching NGE instead, and I gotta tell ya, a lot more enjoyable than those Anno-less Nadia episodes. Will get back to it eventually, though...

Look me in the eyes, you want to drop Nadia and focus fully on Cardcaptor Sakura...

 

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Episode 3 of Devil Lady...still feeling vaguely Miyu-ish. Big spoiler post that explains the episode incoming mainly for majestic's benefit, .

Devil Lady has weird...and bad intro music. The best way I can relate it is if you took the second version of the "we're gonna duel" music from Utena (the darker, heavier version of it) but made it generic and then stuck some random silly and ultra-generic j-pop song at the end of it for like 30 seconds. It doesn't make sense...or sound good at all.

  Reveal hidden contents

Jun's lady friend Kazumi, who appears to be an important character after all.

Episode opens up with Kazumi (who is also apparently in the same line of work as a model like Jun and this is presumably how they know each other?) doing a photo shoot with a couple of other models. She happens to see Jun watching her from afar, and is about to approach her when Jun turns and walks away. The other two models are surprised to hear that that's "Jun", and more or less say that she's ugly and probably boring anyways - Kazumi does not share their feelings, and later calls Jun on the phone to ask what's going on with her, and that she's always looked up to and relied on her so please don't shut her out no matter whatever's going on. Jun tells her to forget about her more or less - presumably to protect her from the ongoing horrors of her new life.

So this gets a little odd, because a man we haven't met before approaches Jun (who looks kind of apprehensive and aimless and who's still out on the street) and expresses concern for her well-being before asking her out for a drink, and she...accepts? That's weird. Why do that when you're already concerned about bringing harm to people around her? It turns out to be a trap - Asuka is the one that brought her here, and intones more or less the exact idea I had: you're okay with possibly endangering some random dude, but you had to protect Kazumi? I think the sub-text here would imply...there's more than meets the eye between Jun and Kazumi. Asuka talks some more and basically tells Jun that she's a monster, and the only way that she'll remain a LIVING monster is if she works for her - otherwise Asuka and her goons will kill her.

Cut back to Kazumi coming home late at night, who lives with her parents and goes up to her room...and has just a pile of photos of women adorning the walls of her room, including a few of Jun. Uh, that's a little strange. She looks at one of Jun and her eyes get a little glossy... Yeah, I'm not crazy, there's definitely something going on between those two. Back to Jun - she's out in the streets again presumably on her way home after departing from Asuka and her threats, and as she's walking through an underpass, a little boy blocks her from walking by. She asks what is he doing, and he asks her why she kills her own "evolved" kind...and says that he will kill her "lover" as revenge, and just transforms into a dark butterfly right in front of her and just flies on out. Jun is confused because, well, she doesn't have a lover...and then realizes what he meant. She tries to phone Kazumi multiple times while trying to make her way to her home, but no answer. She gets caught in traffic...cut back to Kazumi, she's taking a bath, her mom's watching TV, her father notices the phone going off repeatedly and goes to pick it up...

I have to tell you at this juncture, that Kazumi's VA, uh, really knows how to scream. Bloodcurdling so, in fact. In an actually quite intense and horrifying sequence of scenes, Kazumi gets out of the bath and notices that something doesn't seem quite right in her house: cue her slowly meandering about as a result of her unease and eventually finding her dead father and the shadow of the devil in her own room, cue running and screaming down to the living room and finding her mother with her face being eaten by...centipedes? Ick, gross! It's here that Kazumi's mind pretty much breaks and she's paralyzed in terror before passing out entirely as Jun arrives to slay the devil. "Slay" isn't quite the right word, because it's more of an absolute merciless thrashing that literally causes Kazumi's entire house to collapse right on top of Kazumi. However...the end results is that Kazumi mercifully survives the ordeal, and that's pretty much where our episode ends with where we go from here being unclear.

Caught between Asuka threatening to kill her if she doesn't keep fighting devils and the devils threatening to do possibly even worse if she doesn't stop killing devils. Yikes.

Still not sure what I think of this show. I think I rather like the character stuff, but I'm not as big into some of the action (although the part here with specifically Kazumi was admittedly pretty good if a bit much - don't really ever want to hear anybody scream quite like she did anytime soon again). Hey @majestic, maybe this would be a good test for "is there a show Bartimaeus thinks is [good or at least half-decently enjoyable] but doesn't appeal to majestic", .

I have read through that spoiler and have no idea what's going on. The bleedthrough was for "isn't hated by @Bartimaeus" and "anime that isn't terrible, but majestic doesn't like", which is probably confirmed by Lady Asuka already.

If there is ever any actual bleedthrough between "Bartimaeus likes this" and "majestic doesn't like this" then we'd have a problem like in Dogma where all of existence would suddenly stop because you just can't contradict cosmic law like that without repercussions.

All joking aside, I didn't hate the new Devilman Crybaby anime, just the ending, and that show doesn't sound half bad so far.

Speaking of Lady Asuka, Episode... 7.

Marie Antoinette meets Hans Axel von Fersen, and the two immediately fall in love with each other. How romantic, if it weren't for the conniving Countess du Barry who immediately moves in to gain political capital from her majesty's... so far somewhat innocent tryst. Lady Asuka once again proves that she's only one set of testicles away from a male shonen protagonist by threatening her directly... at this point it would have been more interesting to really make her a guy and give her a homosexual romance with André, instead of... a sort of hetero-bromance that's been going on there.

It's really a good thing that the king will die from smallpox soon. That way the countess will finally be gone. Seesh.

*Sometimes I think my posts come across as if I don't like action in TV or films, or any action in particular, or any shows or films that are light on character development and interactions. That's not really true, because I liked Dark Matter a lot and was really bummed out by it being cancelled. I also enjoy B-movie trash every now and then.

[majestic]

12 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

You know, I was always under the impression that Steins;Gate was massively lengthy, but I just looked and there's the original 24 episodes season and then another 23 episode sequel (or was it prequel?) season as well as a movie. That's not that crazy. And then I looked at the "games", "books", and "music" section and then I go "ah, that's why I thought it was so humongous". Japan has a real problem with basically just making endless shovelware of every kind in every possible medium for flagship franchises.

That works the other way around too. Look at what came from the Fate/Stay Night visual novel.