Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[LadyCrimson]

^ I don't speak/understand Korean but I do know that in most series they are constantly using terms of cultural respect ... but in many English subs they translate that as using the character's name. Which if you listen, you know the chrs. are NOT speaking actual names.

So you may get "John! John! John!" or "Mr. Jones Mr Jones" constantly, which to us Eng. speakers may seem odd because honestly how often do you actually say someone's name out loud in a short conversation like that. On the other hand, I'm not sure how a more literal translation would help either .... "Sir" or "grandfather" (when the chr. is just an older male neighbor, for example) repeated a dozen times would have the same problem.

[Bartimaeus]

21 minutes ago, majestic said:

The always ongoing debate about localization vs. more literal translations. On the one hand, it makes for clunkier reading, on the other hand sometimes it's necessary to properly understand character dynamics, however... I'd say a quality localization gets the point across in a meaningful way, regardless. Take Tomoyo for instance, she can call her mother just "mother" in any translation and Sakura call her dad "dad" and that's that, point transported.

Dropkick on my Devil! has a moment that's a bit difficult to transport, and the subs almost managed, but not quite. When Medusa is angry at Jashin, she goes into "keigo" mode - i.e. she starts talking to Jashin in very formal and excessively polite Japanese. The subtitles just call that "passive agressive" mode which isn't half a bad idea, but not quite the same. Funny, I don't know a whole lot of Japanese words, but the language seems to have better patterns or easier grammar rules than German, so it's much easier to notice these things than it would be on a German or English show once you get the hang of it.

Even without understanding a word.

The only thing that's not going to work out all that well is personal pronouns, but those are a totally different case entirely. Plus sometimes it's really better to not know what the characters are talking about, I'd cringe a lot less when listening to Komi Can't Communicate's "Childhood Friend"* Bokukko** if I wouldn't know she's a Bokkuko (it's supposed to be a character of unspecified gender, I guess).

In animation and with sound, I'm a bigger fan of using expressions and tone to signal most of this stuff. In writing, it's admittedly a little more difficult, especially because writing "tone" can be pretty difficult to convey precisely and concisely. And I also think back to that moment between Sakura, Xiaolang, and Meiling when Xiaolang called Sakura just...Sakura instead of her last name, and though I picked up on it immediately even without the subtitles mentioning it, you can see how moments like that wouldn't have their significance noticed for many viewers. ...Actually, I wonder how that was handled in the English dub, now that I think about it. Regardless, I get very tired of seeing those honorifics in writing constantly - it's a weird repetition thing that peeves my pets. I obviously don't have as much of a problem with hearing them, given that I've heard Tomoyo say "Sakura-san" approximately two million times throughout Sakura.

33 minutes ago, majestic said:

**I forgot to mention that for anyone not too in the, uhm, lingo - girl who refers to herself as boku, Japanese "I" for (younger) boys and adolescents. A bokukko is essentially a girl talking like a boy. In Miyu, Yukari Kashima is one of those, for somewhat obvious reasons, and that worked well enough, but Childhood Friend is just cringey.

...A tomboy, then? I don't remember Yukari being particularly tomboy-ish...

20 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

So you may get "John! John! John!" or "Mr. Jones Mr Jones" constantly

Why wouldn't you just cut out one of the instances?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

For me, watching/playing new things is pretty exhausting, even if it's something that's great. If I start to re-watch episodes of e.g. Steven Universe, I can plow through a whole pile of episodes without really feeling it, but two episodes of Sakura or Champloo gets to me. There are times I have greater fortitude and am able to do more, but it's only every so often; that's why I will go through bouts of like watching a new film most every day for like an entire week or more, and then don't watch even a single one for the month after.

I wish it was that easily identifiable for me. Honestly I just can't articulate why I can't watch some shows fast. This is probably my version of aversion to post 90s anime or needing to watch every episode even if I hate it.

I've developed somewhat of a hesitancy towards watching features outside of a weekend. While I can, and often do, watch an equivalent amount of episodes almost on a nightly basis there's something about a 1.5+ hour runtime that seems intimidating. Again there's no logical basis for it but when I see the long runtime it's discouraging. I'm planning on watching The Beta Test this weekend, and maybe Dune. The former I've been looking forward to for a while and the later bored me with the 30 or so minutes I watched, but I want to see the big worms and see if it blows up my TV.

[LadyCrimson]

24 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Why wouldn't you just cut out one of the instances?

Lip movement sync/time maybe. Or because it's almost the only thing the chr says repeatedly.

(shaking their coat-arm) "Ahjussi/Ahjuma/Sunbae! .... come on, ahjussi ... ahjussi, please!"

I recall one series where a chr. referred to another chr. as songsenim (kinda like "teacher") but the subtitle was the teacher's name.  It wasn't repetitive but it was just so obvious of a difference of audible verbal syllables vs. subtitle that it was a little jarring. I think k-drama's and subs have become better about such in recent years but it was sometimes rather extreme in some older dramas.

Sometimes Eng. subbers don't even seem to know what to do with "oppa". But that's more of a translator skill then anything else lol.

Edited November 9, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[majestic]

15 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

Sometimes Eng. subbers don't even seem to know what to do with "oppa". But that's more of a translator skill then anything else lol.

Yeah, uhm... so...

That's all I got, lol.

43 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

In animation and with sound, I'm a bigger fan of using expressions and tone to signal most of this stuff.

Sure, that was noticable well enough in Dropkick on my Devil! too, but it's a bit more meaningful when you get the cultural background. Although that's true for an awful lot of entertainment, really. When I made that list of my favorite movies, there are two that would probably not work for anyone not familiar with local customs and habits. The road movie "Indien" is about two inspectors driving through the countryside visiting restorants for health, safety and trade regulation inspections.

They do play the part, are pedantic, quite frankly ****, one of them is even jaded enough to let violations slip as long as he gets some extra food and wine (much to the dismay of the younger and still not so jaded colleague he's travelling with). They start out hating each other's guts but become fast friends by the end. It's an absolutely brilliant film with fantastic performances all around, and probably either boring or at least not funny at all for non-natives (and maybe not even for all of those).

53 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

And I also think back to that moment between Sakura, Xiaolang, and Meiling when Xiaolang called Sakura just...Sakura instead of her last name, and though I picked up on it immediately even without the subtitles mentioning it, you can see how moments like that wouldn't have their significance noticed for many viewers. ...Actually, I wonder how that was handled in the English dub, now that I think about it.

Probably as well as with the subtitles that constantly inserted Sakura's and Tomoyo's names when Shaoran talked to them, while in reality all he ever said to them was "you" (omae) or Daidouji at best (after Tomoyo starts helping him with his, uhm, not very well working attempts to approach Sakura).

Assuming you start dubbing without knowing the entire show's run or without being told that this is going to be significant by the writer of the show, you'd probably need to come up with some other way or accept that it won't make nearly as much of an impact. I mean, hell, it might not have made for you if we hadn't talked about it earlier (what with Sakura calling Shaoran Li-kun all the time) based on the subtitles simply always stating Sakura instead of you.

That moment was the whole reason for me making an long-ass post about it a while back. It would probably still have worked based on Meiling's reaction and body language, but not as well. It's not that often a single uttered name and a look to accompany it hits you like a sledgehammer.

Once I'm done with my backlog I'll just rewatch Cardcaptor Sakura.

58 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...A tomboy, then? I don't remember Yukari being particularly tomboy-ish...

No, but she was fairly tall and more, say... nay, let's turn that around, much less meek than Japanese girls should be.

Spoiler

Pretty much what gets her killed, sadly.

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So I was wrong, first 12 episodes of JoJo Stone Ocean drop on December.

[Bartimaeus]

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Once I'm done with my backlog I'll just rewatch Cardcaptor Sakura.

I started reading Sailor V because I've been listening to Sailor Moon music over the last week or so and felt such a...nostalgic longing, I guess you could call it, that I needed *something* to ameliorate it. The breaking point, strangely, was a very silly song I had never heard before called Ai wa Energy (specifically some random choral piano version that's not even remotely in the style of the show!), the words of which I could not but did not need to understand, as it somehow made me a little emotional even without knowing. Don't ask me why that specifically, because I don't know - I don't usually like choral OR piano stuff. It's a special show that I watched all of for the first time just last year that I can feel that way about it.

4 hours ago, majestic said:

The road movie "Indien" is about two inspectors driving through the countryside visiting restorants for health, safety and trade regulation inspections.

They do play the part, are pedantic, quite frankly ****, one of them is even jaded enough to let violations slip as long as he gets some extra food and wine (much to the dismay of the younger and still not so jaded colleague he's travelling with). They start out hating each other's guts but become fast friends by the end. It's an absolutely brilliant film with fantastic performances all around, and probably either boring or at least not funny at all for non-natives (and maybe not even for all of those).

Sounds pretty good to me, but I do tend to enjoy non-movie movies - i.e. movies that just depict life in a simple and grounded manner.

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Probably as well as with the subtitles that constantly inserted Sakura's and Tomoyo's names when Shaoran talked to them, while in reality all he ever said to them was "you" (omae) or Daidouji at best (after Tomoyo starts helping him with his, uhm, not very well working attempts to approach Sakura).

Assuming you start dubbing without knowing the entire show's run or without being told that this is going to be significant by the writer of the show, you'd probably need to come up with some other way or accept that it won't make nearly as much of an impact. I mean, hell, it might not have made for you if we hadn't talked about it earlier (what with Sakura calling Shaoran Li-kun all the time) based on the subtitles simply always stating Sakura instead of you.

That moment was the whole reason for me making an long-ass post about it a while back. It would probably still have worked based on Meiling's reaction and body language, but not as well. It's not that often a single uttered name and a look to accompany it hits you like a sledgehammer.

Yeah, that's fair, I actually wondered if you bringing that up was was for that. May or may not have helped me take notice...but it surely couldn't have hurt. I'd noticed a few such things somewhat myself, e.g. when I asked why it seems like Sakura almost always calls her brother by the brother term (onee-chan?) instead of his name, or when I asked why it seemed like only Meiling was the only one to ever call Xiaolang by actual his name while Sakura would always say something I couldn't decipher (which you helpfully explained was Li-kun), so who knows, I might've noticed on my own, especially given how she reacted, .

Edited November 9, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I started reading Sailor V because I've been listening to Sailor Moon music over the last week or so and felt such a...nostalgic longing, I guess you could call it, that I needed *something* to ameliorate it. The breaking point, strangely, was a very silly song I had never heard before called Ai wa Energy (specifically some random choral piano version that's not even remotely in the style of the show!), the words of which I could not but did not need to understand, as it somehow made me a little emotional even without knowing. Don't ask me why that specifically, because I don't know - I don't usually like choral OR piano stuff.

That's the power of love! Or well, energy in this case, anyway, but I understand. Sometimes when I'm working from home I'll just set YouTube to randomly play music videos I accessed with my account, and sometimes it gives me a bunch of Sailor Moon songs, like the Sailor Star song, and I'm feeling all nostalgic, then it flicks to the Star Locket version of the original theme song or worse, so the sad violin version of Sailor Stars and I'm... pretty much hit by a deep longing to rewatch the series.

It's not that often that I rewatch something and find it even better than the first time around. Particularily Sailor Stars as a whole, I remember liking the season, sure, but not it being this good. Certainly not being better than R, which it actually is, in spite of how the art looks...

Reading the Sailor V manga seems like a good idea, but I'll just finish the Sailor Moon manga first to get that out of my mind. It's been open for quite a while now and it's starting to bug me a bit.

Gotta stop now before I turn  this into a yuuuuuge rambling post. 

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's a special show that I watched all of for the first time just last year that I can feel that way about it.

So how much do you like that terrible third Cardcaptor Sakura opening by now?

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, that's fair, I actually wondered if you bringing that up was was for that.

Yeah, because back when I started watching Cardcaptor Sakura all I got from listening to the Japanese original was a bit like Pinky's POV:

 

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

May or may not have helped me take notice...but it surely couldn't have hurt. I'd noticed a few such things somewhat myself, e.g. when I asked why it seems like Sakura almost always calls her brother by the brother term (onee-chan?) instead of his name, or when I asked why it seemed like only Meiling was the only one to ever call Xiaolang by actual his name while Sakura would always say something I couldn't decipher (which you helpfully explained was Li-kun), so who knows, I might've noticed on my own, especially given how she reacted, .

Yeah, truth be told, I think that would have been hard to miss. I did miss Sharoan not calling her by her name until the elevator episode and I went to check the Wiki because it was really strange hearing him yell Sakura, so I helpfully passed that observation and bit of information along. Just in case.

It sounds like oneechan for an English speaker, but it's actually oniichan. Oneechan is for older sisters. These terms plus Sakura using Shaoran's last name with -kun are some of the more intricate things to glean from Japanese honorifics and forms of address/politeness.

's funny what you pick up here and there over time. Speaking of that Sailor Star song, it's often thought of being called Makenai. Makenai means don't be defeated (literally) and in context of the song better translates to don't give up. By now I know that the shūshikei (an inflection category, this one is sort of like a base form) of makenai is makeru (to lose), and that it's a so called ichidandōshi, or one level verb (ichi is Japanese for one, and "dan" is level, which yes, is exactly that word from all the martial arts stuff, dōshi means verb). To build the polite way of saying makeru you turn into into makemasu and to negate that it's... yes, exactly makemasen. The meireikei (imperative) would be makero.

Works like that for all ichidandōshi, which end in -iru or -eru. Like taberu - to eat. Tabemasu, tabemasen, tabenai, tabero... except when it looks like an ichidandōshi but isn't one, like kaeru. Kaeru is a godandōshi (five level verb), and that has different rules. Kaerimasu and kaeranai.

Yeah. Bonus credit question, what's with the verb in the thread title then?

Spoiler

Polite form of hajimaru, to begin. Five level verb.

That's part of what I meant with Japanese being really formulaic, there are very regular patterns that become noticable even without speaking a lick of it. Sure, there are exceptions... suru and kuru. Suru is somewhat important because it means to do, and the polite form for it is shimasu, which you'll hear really often when people ask others to please do something (onegai shimasu) and serves as indicator for the past tense in the form of sh1ta. Desh1ta means something did not happen in the past (mean word filter ftl...). 

Kuru (come) has its own set of rules (kimasu, konai, etc.).

So for some reason I'm halfway through understanding the way Japanese verbs are conjugated, but I know a sum total of fifteen of them, maybe a bit more, but it's really interesting to realize when people are being polite, casual or give out commands.

Edited November 9, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

10 minutes ago, majestic said:

Gotta stop now before I turn  this into a yuuuuuge rambling post. 

Embrace the ramble.

 

[majestic]

That's region locked, but since the title says Kurisu laughs I can imagine what it is.

The movie has a sequence where...

Spoiler

Kurisu is pretending to be Okarin for about five minutes.

 

[Bartimaeus]

28 minutes ago, majestic said:

So how much do you like that terrible third Cardcaptor Sakura opening by now?

It's fine. The opening lines are O.K., the middle part of the song immediately after that sucks because it slows to a crawl and the way the lady sings it is weird and it all sounds just kind of uneven and bad, but then the song finally kicks off when the Sakuras merge, and that part's pretty decent. Plus, seeing Sakura in the broken mirror turn towards the camera is pretty cool animation-wise. Yes, the Sailor Stars song is better, but so is the Sakura animation, .

28 minutes ago, majestic said:

's funny what you pick up here and there over time. Speaking of that Sailor Star song, it's often thought of being called Makenai. Makenai means don't be defeated (literally) and in context of the song better translates to don't give up. By now I know that the shūshikei (an inflection category, this one is sort of like a base form) of makenai is makeru (to lose), and that it's a so called ichidandōshi, or one level verb (ichi is Japanese for one, and "dan" is level, which yes, is exactly that word from all the martial arts stuff, dōshi means verb). To build the polite way of saying makeru you turn into into makemasu and to negate that it's... yes, exactly makemasen. The meireikei (imperative) would be makero.

Works like that for all ichidandōshi, which end in -iru or -eru. Like taberu - to eat. Tabemasu, tabemasen, tabenai, tabero... except when it looks like an ichidandōshi but isn't one, like kaeru. Kaeru is a godandōshi (five level verb), and that has different rules. Kaerimasu and kaeranai.

Yeah. Bonus credit question, what's with the verb in the thread title then?

28 minutes ago, majestic said:

Reading the Sailor V manga seems like a good idea, but I'll just finish the Sailor Moon manga first to get that out of my mind. It's been open for quite a while now and it's starting to bug me a bit.

In other words, I don't have to worry about you finishing it before me, .

Edited November 9, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's fine. The opening lines are O.K., the middle part of the song immediately after that sucks because it slows to a crawl and the way the lady sings it is weird and it all sounds just kind of uneven and bad, but then the song finally kicks off when the Sakuras merge, and that part's pretty decent. Plus, seeing Sakura in the broken mirror turn towards the camera is pretty cool from animation-wise. Yes, the Sailor Stars song is better, but the Sakura animation is better, .

The opening itself is nice indeed. The song though, nope. Although, yeah, it's not nearly as bad as the second opening of K-On!. That's like the worst ever. I linked that before, but why not post a reminder...

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

In other words, I don't have to worry about you finishing it before me, .

I also have PGSM to watch once I get back to things Sailor Moon. You should be good even if you stop reading for a longer while.

3 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I find your lack of enthusiasm for Japanese grammar disturbing! *starts force choking random people*

That's what I get for not stopping myself typing up a storm. Took me a while to write that, even double checked for spelling mistakes.

[Bartimaeus]

17 minutes ago, majestic said:

The opening itself is nice indeed. The song though, nope. Although, yeah, it's not nearly as bad as the second opening of K-On!. That's like the worst ever. I linked that before, but why not post a reminder...

I closed my eyes so I wouldn't be biased by the video itself, since I famously despise all things music videos which can bias me against the song, and the first few seconds I was like "hmm, this doesn't SEEM familiar...". Then she started singing, and I was like "oh yeah, the chipmunk girl". It's not the worst ever by any means, but I certainly don't care for it. Maybe if I fall in love with the show...

Did you listen to the intro on every Sakura episode like I have? Maybe you need some more brainwashing...it seems to have worked on me, .

17 minutes ago, majestic said:

I find your lack of enthusiasm for Japanese grammar disturbing! *starts force choking random people*

That's what I get for not stopping myself typing up a storm. Took me a while to write that, even double checked for spelling mistakes.

I maintain that I can barely understand and practice English - Japanese is wholly out of the question except as it pertains to precisely one person: me.

17 minutes ago, majestic said:

I also have PGSM to watch once I get back to things Sailor Moon. You should be good even if you stop reading for a longer while.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

If this forum eats another post I will feed it a arsenic.

55 minutes ago, majestic said:

That's region locked, but since the title says Kurisu laughs I can imagine what it is.

The movie has a sequence where...

  Reveal hidden contents

Kurisu is pretending to be Okarin for about five minutes.

 

And here I thought I posted the one that wasn't.

Do you mean Hououin Kyouma or PTSD Okarin?

[majestic]

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I closed my eyes so I wouldn't be biased by the video itself, since I famously despise all things music videos which can bias me against the song, and the first few seconds I was like "hmm, this doesn't SEEM familiar...". Then she started singing, and I was like "oh yeah, the chipmunk girl". It's not the worst ever by any means, but I certainly don't care for it. Maybe if I fall in love with the show...

I really don't like it. The first and the third opening I actually always listened to. Those were nice.

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Maybe if I fall in love with the show...

I'd still say that's a bit of a bigger if than you seem to think. But we'll see eventually.

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I maintain that I can barely understand and practice English - Japanese is wholly out of the question except as it pertains to precisely one person: me.

I don't think it'll be going anywhere in my case. I mean picking up bits and pieces through listening is one thing, actually learning the language would be quite another, never mind reading or writing. I've toyed with the idea of picking up a third language, but that's a whole lot of effort for comparatively little gain, and pretty much none for Japanese. I'd be better off learning a Slavic language, that would at least have some practical use. Not counting getting weeb street cred as worthwhile reason. There isn't even a Japanese restaurant anywhere near me.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sounds pretty good to me, but I do tend to enjoy non-movie movies - i.e. movies that just depict life in a simple and grounded manner.

Forgot to reply to that part. I don't think there's an English subbed version of Indien, otherwise I'd be curious what you'd think about it.

  

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Did you listen to the intro on every Sakura episode like I have? Maybe you need some more brainwashing...it seems to have worked on me, .

Nope. Not going to do that, sorry Sakura opening #3.

 

9 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

And here I thought I posted the one that wasn't.

 

  Hide contents

Do you mean Hououin Kyouma or PTSD Okarin?

 

Spoiler

Hououin Kyouma. It's for a good reason, though.

Actually pretty bad spoiler:

Spoiler

Since Okarin disappears in a world line shift, she's trying to make Mayuri and Daru remember him.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Oh, I also watched another episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS.

The Space Cops have apparently taken a page out of the Terran Confederation's playbook and install ability limiters in their mages (and their techno-magical devices) that can be removed in cases of emergency. Nanoha explains that to the newbies as necessary to prevent rivalries between mages and to establish a clear hierarchy, but let's be real, that's just management speak for being able to stay in control in case a powerful unit goes rogue or attempts a coup.

Yeah, that's totally not going to become a major plot point later.

edit: I'm sort of appreciating the thought that went into expanding the show's universe there, and it makes sense from the command's point of view, they agreed to give the three strongest (presumably) mages in the entire Space Cop force their own spec ops team to do as they see fit, so some manner of a fallback option isn't a bad idea, even if Nanoha is like the nicest girl ever, both Hayate and Fate are former antagonists.

Alas, when they told the newbies that once they've gotten some combat experience they'll unlock the next power setting on their devices, one of the characters couldn't help themselves and told them they should think of this a levelling up togetherm killing immersion a bit.

Edited November 10, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

26 minutes ago, majestic said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Hououin Kyouma. It's for a good reason, though.

Actually pretty bad spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

Since Okarin disappears in a world line shift, she's trying to make Mayuri and Daru remember him.

 

That actually sounds good.

Has DIO shown the Crusaders THE WORLD yet?

[InsaneCommander]

Stardust Crusaders 2-4:

Spoiler

Joseph enjoys all the things he loves in Japan. JoJo makes Holly Seiko proud, but then she gets sick.

Stando-Bug comes with an “alien” inner mouth.

So Joseph has the same mannerisms as his wife? No wonder Holly acts like that.

 

@majesticI'll add Nanoha to the end of the queue, which also includes any Studio Ghibli movies I watch on the Weekends:

 

- Komi Can't Communicate

- Samurai Champloo

- LoGH pt 4

- Beastars

- Nanoha

 

Edit: better be more careful with spoilers now that more people here started watching JoJo.

Edit 2: I'll also watch the Steins;Gate movie and Rebuild of Evangelion soon. Well, eventually...

Edited November 10, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Stardust Crusaders 2-4:

Joseph enjoys all the things he loves in Japan. JoJo makes Holly Seiko proud, but then

  Reveal hidden contents

she gets sick.

Stando-Bug comes with an “alien” inner mouth.

So Joseph has the same mannerisms as his wife? No wonder Holly acts like that.

 

@majesticI'll add Nanoha to the end of the queue, which also includes any Studio Ghibli movies I watch on the Weekends:

 

- Komi Can't Communicate

- Samurai Champloo

- LoGH pt 4

- Beastars

- Nanoha

So last things first, I liked Beastars a lot. So much so I could overlook the CGI animation. You're in for a treat. If you can handle horny teenage anthropomorphic animals.

Now for the Stardust Crusaders spoilers.

Spoiler

I imagine growing up with Suzi Q and Joesph for parents probably ****ed up Holly more than DIO's curse is.

Tower of Gray really takes the weird tongue **** to the next level. M-A-S-S-A-C-R-E. And then Gray Fly's tongue splits open. Way to start a journey.

Oh, and this reminds me @Sarex

Spoiler

Did you get blindsided by the vampires and stone mask? I think both InsaneCommander and myself did.

 

[InsaneCommander]

6 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Now for the Stardust Crusaders spoilers.

  Reveal hidden contents

I imagine growing up with Suzi Q and Joesph for parents probably ****ed up Holly more than DIO's curse is.

Tower of Gray really takes the weird tongue **** to the next level. M-A-S-S-A-C-R-E. And then Gray Fly's tongue splits open. Way to start a journey.

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Sarex]

4 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Spoiler

Did you get blindsided by the vampires and stone mask? I think both InsaneCommander and myself did.

 

Spoiler

I for sure didn't expect it to turn people in to vampires. Did expect that Dio was goind to wear it.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Samurai Champloo 15

Ninjas, robbery, conspiracy, and a fat Fuu. At a bit more than halfway through the season the pattern of Mugen getting more attention than Jin continues. It's not that I mind Mugen episodes, the show is consistently great and could work with just Mugen and Fuu, but Jin is a great character that I'd love to see more of. There are 11 episodes left so maybe Jin will get more of those.

7 hours ago, Sarex said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I for sure didn't expect it to turn people in to vampires. Did expect that Dio was goind to wear it.

 

Spoiler

It feels a bit obvious in retrospect because the mask has fangs on it, but seeing one of the two drunks Dio tried to kill rise as a vampire was a real what the **** moment for me. Which in a show like JoJo, is really saying something.

 

[majestic]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 5:

Finally has the new and full transformation sequences, and my copy appears to be damaged, because every time one comes up, without fail, the video feed craps out and hangs, curiously enough until the transformation is finished. That's too consistent to be a coincidence. Sigh. Seriously, what's wrong there, now that they're all old enough for this to not be weird I'd like to properly watch my anime tiddies PLEASE!

Looks like a botched censorship attempt (while the frame freezes the background remains in motion). No, not a botched censorship attempt, that really is a censored version. It just pseudo-freeze-frames over the nudity parts, except in the opening credits where it's apprently okay because they're color coded like in Sailor Moon. Or who knows, really. It's too selective to be frame damages and it can't be a problem with the calculations either because much faster frames with a lot more changes play smoothely. 

It's the first real mission for the team. The action reminds me a bit of 80ies sci-fi anime, which isn't too bad. It's not CGI madness, doesn't do super stupidy shaky cam imitations and I continue to be surprised by the amount of detail that went into the dialogue at times. Nanoha and Fate fly off to intercept incoming enemy drones and call back to HQ to have them close the airspace before launching. That's totally not necessary, but it sure adds to the immersion.

Subaru is impressed with the performance of her new and improved techno-magic roller blades (that idea is so silly it deserves recognition just for that), and they respond that they were built to make her stronger and faster. Subaru is all nice and says they're a team and work together.

So far the first couple of episodes are better than the previous two seasons. Still cautiously optimistic.

edit: Nah, that really was a conincidence. The file seems to be corrupt somehow. The episode ends with Caro and Erio defeating a big enemy drone with a defense field with a maneuver they've trained before with Nanoha, and a first glance at the villain. A scientist with half his face in the dark, I wonder where they got that idea from. No mad laugh though.  

edit 2:

The newbie team has a very distinct RPG setup. Subaru is the tank, Tia ranged DPS, Erio melee DPS and Caro is a summoner with some buffs. I wonder when they get a level up.

Edited November 10, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

31 minutes ago, majestic said:

edit: Nah, that really was a conincidence. The file seems to be corrupt somehow.

I was looking for evil laughing gifs until I read this. Pfeh.

32 minutes ago, majestic said:

So far the first couple of episodes are better than the previous two seasons. Still cautiously optimistic.

I was promised a disaster, and instead I get this? Guess it'll just have to wait until the next season...

[majestic]

9 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I was looking for evil laughing gifs until I read this. Pfeh.

It really looked like transformation sequence censorship until Erio's buffed up attack started to hang the same way.

There's definitely something wrong with the files, VLC plays them, but other media players (including MPC-HC) don't bother doing even that much.

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I was promised a disaster, and instead I get this? Guess it'll just have to wait until the next season...

So far they've been using the extra time of the episodes for a whole lot of conversations. Sure there's some action, and sometimes it's the focus of an episode, but at least for now everything seems well balanced. Even had a shower scene that didn't just exist for fanservice (and arguably those five seconds of Subaru in the shower barely count for anything).

A's and StrikerS have a different director from the first season. First season was directed by the same guy who went on to direct Madoka. Uhm... ahem. *cough*

Sometimes it pays off to stick with something, I guess (if that sounds like trying to convince myself that it's okay to not be able to drop something, then that's because it is ). Can't say I didn't regret watching the series after the first five episodes (and afterwards I sort of felt filthy for liking it), but so far StrikerS makes up for a whole lot, and with the focus being the newbies and less the established characters, it probably could even serve as a standalone season. A little too early to really tell after 6 of 26 episodes of course.

I mean, they could still visit a hot spring back in Japan, but so far they're not even on Earth any more.