Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[Bartimaeus]

Sakura, episode 64. Looks like we got ourselves a skiing episode, folks.

Spoiler

Takashi just gliding across the screen behind Eriol while Eriol was already talking was quite the scene. Oh, yeah, lmao, that was foretelling their ganging up together in confusing Sakura, . ...Interrupted by Xiaolang practically plummeting to his death! Oh boy, we had a real shonen moment between Xiaolang and Eriol there as a result.

Man, Naoko does seem to actually have a personality, she just barely ever gets a chance to show it. Lmao, Sakura is making the sign of the cross over and over at the thought of scary stories... The character expressions in this episode are really something else - it's a great episode just for that, .

"Who?" Lmao, I can't believe she interrupted HERSELF. I thought for sure Eriol was gonna summon some kind of snow spirit to do it instead, but no.

"The reason he tripped just now is completely unrelated to his athleticism." Nice save for him, Tomoyo.

Does converting all the cards magically convert and save Yukito himself somehow? About the only thing I can figure why Eriol is creating all these situations to convert these cards. And was this Sakura's first real failure over the course of the show? Figures it would come about because of that silly Time card...

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

15 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sakura, episode 64. Looks like we got ourselves a skiing episode, folks.

  Reveal hidden contents

Takashi just gliding across the screen behind Eriol while Eriol was already talking was quite the scene. Oh, yeah, lmao, that was foretelling their ganging up together in confusing Sakura, . ...Interrupted by Xiaolang practically plummeting to his death! Oh boy, we had a real shonen moment between Xiaolang and Eriol there as a result.

Man, Naoko does seem to actually have a personality, she just barely ever gets a chance to show it. Lmao, Sakura is making the sign of the cross over and over at the thought of scary stories... The character expressions in this episode are really something else - it's a great episode just for that, .

"Who?" Lmao, I can't believe she interrupted HERSELF. I thought for sure Eriol was gonna summon some kind of snow spirit to do it instead, but no.

"The reason he tripped just now is completely unrelated to his athleticism." Nice save for him, Tomoyo.

Does converting all the cards magically convert and save Yukito himself somehow? About the only thing I can figure why Eriol is creating all these situations to convert these cards. And was this Sakura's first real failure over the course of the show? Figures it would come about because of that silly Time card...

 

That second image scares me. 

[majestic]

Hoe?

Spoiler

3 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Does converting all the cards magically convert and save Yukito himself somehow?

That's actually in the next episode, and at the very... oh, oh, expectations raised! Yay.  

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

And was this Sakura's first real failure over the course of the show?

That depends a bit on how you want to define a failure. Theoretically the original maze episode was a failure until Kaho saved them, which is relatively similar to Eriol just stopping the avalanche himself. Kaho using Clow Reed's bells to save her at Yue's trial could also be seen like that, but the bells were created by Clow Reed for exactly that purpose.

Not a whole lot of epsiodes left there, plus the film.

[majestic]

7 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

That second image scares me. 

Naoko loves telling scary stories because Sakura flips out immediately.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

31 minutes ago, majestic said:

Naoko loves telling scary stories because Sakura flips out immediately.

Her fingers have no nails and her mouth looks ready to rip out my soul. She is the scary story.

[Bartimaeus]

Speaking of the next episode...Samurai Champloo, episode 11. It's a Jin episode, but, like...the real Jin, not the not-Jin I was calling Jin before.

Spoiler

Opens up with him telling a random lady contemplating the rain while standing out on a bridge how to more efficiently kill herself. A slow, dark, sad, and cute episode - a nice respite from the not-Jin insanity.

Lmao, and of course not-Jin was getting worried that Jin might not be into women. That's so on brand for him.

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Speaking of the next episode...Samurai Champloo, episode 11. It's a Jin episode, but, like...the real Jin, not the not-Jin I was calling Jin before.

  Reveal hidden contents

Opens up with him telling a random lady contemplating the rain while standing out on a bridge how to more efficiently kill herself. A slow, dark, sad, and cute episode - a nice respite from the not-Jin insanity.

Lmao, and of course not-Jin was getting worried that Jin might not be into women. That's so on brand for him.

 

11 was one of my favorites. Probably the reason I want more real Jin.

Minor spoiler, nothing major so feel free to click

FAT FUU HAS COME FOR YOU!

[HoonDing]

 

[Bartimaeus]

"There's bound to be some secrets about that sunflower dude written somewhere in there..."

I'm not a hundred percent sure she ever said the sunflower samurai was a dude? But I'm not sure, maybe she did in like the first episode. Anyways, episode 12 was a clip show, but it was a pretty good clip show, since it was told through Fuu's diary and gave her thoughts and reflections on the events that have happened so far, as well as her frustrations with her companions.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm not a hundred percent sure she ever said the sunflower samurai was a dude?

I don't think wimmin were allowed to be samurai.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I don't think wimmin were allowed to be samurai.

I wouldn't necessarily count on Samurai Champloo to play entirely by historical rules.

[majestic]

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I wouldn't necessarily count on Samurai Champloo to play entirely by historical rules.

I suppose it's liable to not do that, what with the setting. I also imagine real samurai weren't always smelling like sunflowers.

 

It's really heartwarming to see StrikerS continuing A's excessive use of weird German. One of the characters working for the villain of this season just summoned an "Insektzug" which the subtitles helpfully translated as insect platoon.

Technically it is not exactly wrong to just combine insect and plattoon, but since a platoon is more than one insect it should be Insektenzug and even that is... odd, to say the least. Zug is a common military term that's barely ever used outside of the military to talk about a group of soldiers and the word Zug has a whole lot of meanings depending on the context, just as long as something moves or  pulls (to pull / ziehen, Zug is essentially the substantive of ziehen, literally also the pull) something it can probably be a Zug - e.g. trains, a chess move would be a Schachzug (Schach = Chess), a draft is a Luftzug, the rifling in a, uhm, rifle, is also a Zug, and so on. Migratory birds are Zugvögel. Moving from one place to the other is an Umzug. Weird use of words is weird, I mean, and that's not even touching the other potential uses for Zug - a mountain range is a Gebirgszug for instance, and a character trait is a Charakterzug. 

Picking Kompanie (company) isn't the same because a Kompanie is at least two Züge, however... really, like, easier to understand the intention behind it. Insektzug sounds like a bad way to say Ameisenstraße (ant trail), really.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS episode 7

Spoiler

So far the ranged dps laser gun girl Tia has always been talking about getting better and stronger, being uselessly aggressive sometimes and pretending to be burdened by Subaru who clearly is her best friend. In other words, she's been... a bit of a shounen dolt. Now she gets a sort-of focus episode (they're not as focused as Sailor Moon's focus episodes are though). Turns out she's a regular Asuka and just deeply insecure about her place in the squad and feeling inadequate compared to the others who she thinks are all better or more talented than she is. There've been hints in the past episodes, so this development feels natural and makes her character traits more relatable.

She ends up overdoing it and almost hits Subaru and gets chewed out for it. Subaru tries to stick up for her and gets an earful too for enabling Tia's recklessness. The episode predictably ends with Tia hiding in a corner, crying after Subaru unsuccessfully tries to console her. Who knows, next episode might have her try to resign, that's how these things go usually, and if there's one thing that's still a part of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, then that it's still a little five by five, to borrow some military parlance. It's all very loud and clear, so to speak. But who knows, maybe something will come up that makes everything feel a little less like "just" a decent (perhaps even good) combination of things that came before.

However, that might just be being overly critical. That would need double checking by someone else, really.

So far it looks like there'll be actual character development. I thought the extra runtime would be dedicated to stupid action and fanservice, but that's only part of it. I thought the first two seasons were okay to likeable, by far and large (except when the first one wasn't). This is currenlty on its way to being actually good. I just hope they don't mess it up.

[majestic]

By the way, I'll just shamelessly post the promotional poster hosted on TV Tropes for the third season to make a point about how much this anime looks like a JRPG:

Hayate (top center, white hat, largest character on the poster) in particular is a poster boy girl white mage. Robes, white hat, giant staff with a cross on it... ticks off tropes like there's no tomorrow in general. Giant hammer, giant sword, spears, a summoned mini-dragon.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

By the way, I'll just shamelessly post the promotional poster hosted on TV Tropes for the third season to make a point about how much this anime looks like a JRPG:

Hayate (top center, white hat, largest character on the poster) in particular is a poster boy girl white mage. Robes, white hat, giant staff with a cross on it... ticks off tropes like there's no tomorrow in general. Giant hammer, giant sword, spears, a summoned mini-dragon.

Don't know what a "white mage" is, so I guess I'm not really in on the latest JRPG tropes (latest true JRPG I've played for at least ten minutes is...ah, yes, MOTHER 3 on the Game Boy Advance), but pretty much everything about it the poster as a whole sure looks terrible very bad ungood I don't like it. If this is what is what modern JRPGs sell themselves as...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Don't know what a "white mage" is, so I guess I'm not really in on the latest JRPG tropes (latest true JRPG I've played for at least ten minutes is...ah, yes, MOTHER 3 on the Game Boy Advance), but pretty much everything about it the poster as a whole sure looks terrible very bad ungood I don't like it. If this is what is what modern JRPGs sell themselves as...

White Mages have been around since Final Fantasy my dude. Basically it's a cleric.

[majestic]

8 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Don't know what a "white mage" is, so I guess I'm not really in on the latest JRPG tropes (latest true JRPG I've played for at least ten minutes is...ah, yes, MOTHER 3 on the Game Boy Advance), but pretty much everything about it the poster as a whole sure looks terrible very bad ungood I don't like it. If this is what is what modern JRPGs sell themselves as...

White Mage is a character class/job originally from Final Fantasy, I think. A healer and support type spellcaster that's pretty much in every JRPG ever. Classical turn based JRPGs, that is. In something like Secret of Mana you just have the girl character with her support and healing magic, and nothing of the sort in Terranigma or Illusion of Gaia.

This is a White Mage from Bravely Default 2, a swordmaster and an, uhm, what was that guy again, some divine caster (Spiritmaster).

4 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

White Mages have been around since Final Fantasy my dude. Basically it's a cleric.

More like a priest from World of Warcraft, just without a damage skill tree. Western styled RPG clerics are usually not complete wet noodles in combat and don't just wear decorative night gowns in battle.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

More like a priest from World of Warcraft, just without a damage skill tree. Western styled RPG clerics are usually not complete wet noodles in combat and don't just wear decorative night gowns in battle.

Eh, it depends on the game. Unless they're buffing for it I find clerics are usually better suited for the white mage support and debuff role. Some games are worse than others, I imagine WotR with 70+ AC mooks and other ridiculous stat inflation probably goes from lol no to merged angel crusader being unstoppable.

[majestic]

26 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Eh, it depends on the game. Unless they're buffing for it I find clerics are usually better suited for the white mage support and debuff role. Some games are worse than others, I imagine WotR with 70+ AC mooks and other ridiculous stat inflation probably goes from lol no to merged angel crusader being unstoppable.

They're nigh-useless in most AD&D 2nd edition cRPGs unless multi or dual classed too, but they're usually in heavy armor and at least in theory field a weapon that can hurt enemies in melee combat. White Mages in JRPG on the other hand can heal undead to... erm, their second death, but other than that, nope. They really are just mages with buffs and healing spells.

WotR you either make a Crusader or an Oracle with the Angel mythic path and go "lol, did I just step on a demon lord?" and make enemies go KERPOW with Arbitrament and your funky Angel spells that are all not subject to saves or spell resistance. Making your main character a cleric even takes care of hauling one along. Which means being able to leave Lann at home. Overall probably the best main character to play, unless you want to do something silly like a Sorcerer/Monk/Dragon Disciple/Eldritch Knight/Lore Master 80+ AC 2-handed Fauchard crit machine with a merged Lich spellbook.

In IWD2 clerics arguably make the better frontliners than pure fighters, but that's 3E for you. Fighter(4)/Cleric of Helm(X), have fun.

Anyway, my point being that the cleric class conjures up an image that's not really a mage with healing spells.

What was the topic of this thread again? Oh, right, anime... anyone seen the new Komi episode yet?

Edited November 11, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

White Mages have been around since Final Fantasy my dude. Basically it's a cleric.

I have not played any Final Fantasy games, . And it's not as though I am bigly into JRPGs - I've played a handful of S/NES-era ones, but that's about it.

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

dual classed

I've definitely never abused Ranger -> Cleric dual-classes before, no sir.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

59 minutes ago, majestic said:

Anyway, my point being that the cleric class conjures up an image that's not really a mage with healing spells.

I disagree with this somewhat, while the cleric does get (relatively) better martial capability, their spell lists are similar to the white mage in the larger focus on healing and support when compared to the other spellcaster. It's not a 1 to 1 comparison for many reasons, but I'd argue that clerics are more defined by spellcasting than their middling martial prowess so alignment with the white mage is logical.

Now given how much more complex D&D (like) games are than FF, there are obviously much more roles a cleric can take on than a white mage. You can somewhat reliably blast as a cleric, you can debuff things in ways the white mage just can't, and you can buff yourself out the wazoo and be a better martial than the fighter for 10 minutes or so, and you can be evil and unlessh undead or plagues. So the white mage can't really compare to and undead lord cleric who overruns everyone with hordes of skeletons or the warpriest types. So I suppose to be accurate, the white mage is pretty much a healing cleric with worse armor. Basically Tristan in Kingmaker, though I don't think Bartimaeus has played that.

59 minutes ago, majestic said:

Overall probably the best main character to play, unless you want to do something silly like a Sorcerer/Monk/Dragon Disciple/Eldritch Knight/Lore Master 80+ AC 2-handed Fauchard crit machine with a merged Lich spellbook.

No Paladin for Cha to AC or Vivisectionist for Mutagen or Sword Saint for more AC???????? I guess someone is playing on easy, where I assume enemies merely have a DC 65 swift action at will irresistible stun because Owlcat decided to balance the game around the most broken combos in Kingmaker and not the actual companions they made.

59 minutes ago, majestic said:

What was the topic of this thread again? Oh, right, anime... anyone seen the new Komi episode yet?

No, but I did see episode 9 of Stardust Crusaders: Rubber Soul's Yellow Temperance.

DO YOU UNDERSTANNNNNNNNNNNNDU?

41 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I have not played any Final Fantasy games, . And it's not as though I am bigly into JRPGs - I've played a handful of S/NES-era ones, but that's about it.

Oh no! You've missed out on a few good, many mediocre, and a few bad games.

[bugarup]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

 Which means being able to leave Lann at home. Overall probably the best main character to play, unless you want to do something silly like a Sorcerer/Monk/Dragon Disciple/Eldritch Knight/Lore Master 80+ AC 2-handed Fauchard crit machine with a merged Lich spellbook.

What was the topic of this thread again? Oh, right, anime... anyone seen the new Komi episode yet?

Why are you leaving Lann at home when Wrathfinder's clerics are Sosiel and Daeran?  Also, you forgot vivisectionist dip. 

 

...anime. Right. So, I played two JRPGs and hated everything but combat and some of worldbuilding. I might play s'more in future though, because it was more "My hate must go on" kind of hate, not "I wish I never experienced this" hate. 

[majestic]

32 minutes ago, bugarup said:

Why are you leaving Lann at home when Wrathfinder's clerics are Sosiel and Daeran?  Also, you forgot vivisectionist dip. 

Lann is a Crusader archetype cleric, he just doesn't know it yet when he starts the game. Sure beats Sosiel and his 10 DEX with Medium Armor feat, and giving him a mount adds a nice early game tank and some extra party carry weight. Sure you can do all that with Sosiel too, but Lann actually can hit things from the backline, and eat the ocassional attack that comes his way.

Daeran isn't a cleric, because cleric get domain powers. Especially Nobility and Community... worth taking mythic feats for. Well, in my opinion. Daeron makes a decent divine blaster if you give him Bones as extra Mystery, but I'd still rather bring Ember for hexes and some burning hellfire.

54 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

No Paladin for Cha to AC or Vivisectionist for Mutagen or Sword Saint for more AC???????? I guess someone is playing on easy, where I assume enemies merely have a DC 65 swift action at will irresistible stun because Owlcat decided to balance the game around the most broken combos in Kingmaker and not the actual companions they made.

There's only so many classes you can take before the bonuses start cutting into your character progression, and I haven't checked yet what happens when you take Paladin and become a Lich, with the new patch that apparently locks your alignment to neutral evil. Not an issue for an existing monk level, but I think an issue for... well, Paladins, although with the homecooked mechanics of this game, I don't really know.

There's also only so much you really need. With Archmage Armor, the Scaled Fist CHA to AC, the bonuses from being undead, the extra Lich spells, the bonus stats from Dragon Disciple and an almost endless supply of Mirror Image, Blur and Greater Invisibility casts, yeah well, sorry, what do I need a mutagen for?

Not that playing Vivisectionist in general is a bad thing, the game doesn't really track how many sneak dice you can actually have, so you can load that... end up with something like 15d6 sneak attack. Add a monk level for some fun scaling (and easy crane style access) and some Arcane Slayer for mage armor and you should be good. Motherless Tiefling for that natural attack, feral mutagen... pairs somewhat well with Trickster since you can skill mule a bit anyway. *shrug*

Then there's the extra added cheese if you make mercenaries. Ever tried a Brown-Fur Transmuter casting an empowered Frightful Aspect on someone else? Or even early on, +6 DEX Cat's Grace is not to be sneered at. *shrug*

So, anime!

I, uhm... haven't talked about last week's Komi Can't Communicate episode, which I should do before watching this week's. Like @KP Cross Split Attack (lol name change) alread said, it was nothing remarkable.

However, I thik Komi's "Help I can't speak" face is up there with the best emoting of anime characters ever. Certainly one of my favorites, together with Sakura's faceplanting and Usagi's hilarious faces in Sailor Moon.

And that's taken pretty much from the manga, so it's hard to credit the anime with the look...

 

[Bartimaeus]

I think I remarked that was the only thing I even kind of liked from what I saw of the show, since it reminded me of 80s animation and less of modern-day anime like the rest of the show. A couple of the face close-ups I saw in that show in the ten or so minutes I watched of it were legitimately revolting to me, so the "can't speak" face was a hugely welcome contrast to that.

Codename: Sailor V, episode 2:

Spoiler

Really, you could've sworn the Sailor Moon show was more based on the Sailor V manga tonally than the Sailor Moon...

...I'm having a little bit of a crisis of conscience here. Here's the next page directly after the previous one...for Kodansha:

Spoiler

Now here's the same page by...Miss Dream:

Spoiler

...Miss Dream, oh no, baby what is you doing? I mean...I appreciate the attempt at a pun here, but really...

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Komi Can't Communicate 4: Komi Gets a Stalker. And here I thought the weird tongue stuff would stay in JoJo.

26 minutes ago, majestic said:

There's also only so much you really need.

I'm sure the coming patches will fix it so you need all the +AC dips just not to get hit on a 1.

[majestic]

31 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

...Miss Dream, oh no, baby what is you doing? I mean...I appreciate the attempt at a pun here, but really...

 

This is a '91 Japanese comic, so chances are it originally read as something like new-half or worse, but yeah, modern translations should be a bit, uhm, different.

56 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I think I remarked that was the only thing I even kind of liked from what I saw of the show, since it reminded me of 80s animation and less of modern-day anime like the rest of the show. A couple of the face close-ups I saw in that show in the ten or so minutes I watched of it were legitimately revolting to me, so the "can't speak" face was a hugely welcome contrast to that.

Yes you did, and I find myself agreeing...