Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

He deserved better tbh.

I thought so too. Seems like such a wasted opportunity. Ah, well... was definitely amongst the weirdest things I've watched (if not the weirdest), and that's saying something after Battle Tendency.

edit: I would agree on DIO being a fun villain, but there could have been more of him throughout the episodes.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers, episode 12:

Spoiler

Was mostly action, the almost halfway point of the season saw most antagonists gather and have it out with Riot Force 6, ending in a pretty hefty strategical defeat for... well, surprisingly, for the antagonists. Not only did they lose both relics, they also lost the girl who supposedly is the "Vessel of the Holy King", whatever that means, and barely escaped capture. Nanoha seems to have taken a liking to her, and she looks a bit like a very young Fate (which she could be).

I'm guessing that's the girl they're going to adopt.

The antagonist group consists of at least two factions, the Doctor's cybernetically enhanced (potentially artifical) mages and a group that is looking for relics too - or rather one relic in particular. They're helping the Doctor whenever it is in their own interest.

Meanwhile the fight in the city has drawn the attention of High Commander Whatshisface who wanted additional funding, who wasn't at all happy to see that the Navy part of the Space Cops created a special mage force, much less one with ties to the Heiliger Kaiser Church (yeah, lol, holy German, oh boy). He's also not too fond of the Curch. Yeah, so this is a fascist coup in the making, I'm fairly sure now. On the other hand, last season I was pretty sure about Chrono's father being alive and he wasn't. 

Guess at this point the initial setup is done, the parts are all in play now, and there's some movement. I'm calling it now, High Commander Whatshisface is definitely involved with Scaglietti's experiments. According to his assistant, he keeps denying the Space Cops the funds to develop countermeasures for anti magic fields (creatively named AMFs), and Scaglietti includes AMFs in every autonomous attack drone thingy he constructs.

There are entirely too many characters now and they're really hard to keep track of at the moment. At one point the action had me at the edge of my seat, which is a first for Nanoha.

Parts of Prof. Scaglietti's group are numbered in Italian. Uno, Due, Tre, Quattro and Cinque (that's one through five, just in case it's not obvious ).

This is Quattro:

Helpfully numbered.

Makes things invisible, as a weird laugh and stays out of combat. Am I the only one seeing a little bit of Mimette here?

edit: I'm a bit concerned that this could lose itself in a kudzu conspiracy plot of epic proportions. The way the earlier episodes make it look like the writers thought about what they were doing before the started making scripts eases that worry a bit, but doesn't allay it entirely.

Edited November 13, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

That particular picture you posted of her reminds me more of Mari instead, for some reason. Same face, different hair. She wishes she could compare to Mimette.

I still have no idea what's going on in the story of Nanoha. Just have to nod my head and say yes at this point...

1 hour ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

deserved better tbh

I remember thinking that was pretty weird, too.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, majestic said:

Ah, well... was definitely amongst the weirdest things I've watched (if not the weirdest), and that's saying something after Battle Tendency.

Diamond is Unbreakable is weirder, and it feels like a Sailor Moon filler arc in some ways to boot. So have fun.

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

I thought so too. Seems like such a wasted opportunity.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, both Iggy and Kakyoin got their tragic death sequences and Avdol....just gets eaten by Vanilla Ice's Cream. Even Joseph got more and he didn't actually die.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I remember thinking that was pretty weird, too.

In the anime Vanilla Ice eats him with Cream. The eats his forearms in front of PORANEREFFU and Iggy. I think DIO kills him and shoves him in the coffin in the OVA right?

Oh and Mimetto-kun was great.

[majestic]

21 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

That particular picture you posted of her reminds me more of Mari instead, for some reason. Same face, different hair. She wishes she could compare to Mimette.

Well, great, now I can't unsee that. At least Nanoha doesn't look as bad as Rebuild (yet, those newer animes, ugh). She's also not nearly as much fun, but there was something about the animation, the voice acting and the mannerisms that reminded me of Mimette.

21 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I still have no idea what's going on in the story of Nanoha. Just have to nod my head and say yes at this point...

To be honest, I don't either. The story's been moving somewhat slowly, which isn't bad, but the pacing doesn't always work, like this latest episode I watched stumbled a bit by piling up antagonists that didn't appear before. Well, actually I think that was the first time the Doctor's actual group appeared, because the other group they've been dealing with are only hired help at best.

Edited November 14, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Every time they're visiting the Heiliger Kaiser Church (the name cracks me up, and the translation is Holy King Church, which is wrong... Kaiser means emperor, not king, and that word comes from the  classical latin pronunciation of Caesar, but never mind) in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS it's playing a 90ies JRPG jingle that's so painfully generic that I have to laugh. There's an absolute derth of material on YouTube, so no easily linking, but that theme sounds an awful lot like entering random village #3 in Secret of Mana.

Spoiler

Subaru worries about a report on the new enemies they're met last episode, and Tia tells her that no matter what, it'll be all right. Well, more or less, the dialogue is a bit different, but that's the gist of it. +1 for Subaru being cybernetically or genetically enhanced. Maybe both. If that's the case, Tia knows about it. It's pretty well hidden in the dialogue, assuming the translation is all right. Pretty interesting, because Tia just told her not to worry in general. There's this unspoken implication that there's more to it than that.

edit:

The episode also explains why General Whatshisface (his actual name is Regius Gaiz, but that's way too annoying to type, so he'll stay General Whathisface) has it in for the Church. Its current leader has a limited prophetic ability and can use it to create Nostradamus like predictions of the future. This is the one that lead to the creation of Riot Force 6:

In the land where ancient crystals and infinite greed gather and intertwine,
The wings shall revive from the holy land beneath the dead king.
The dead shall dance, and the tower of law in the central lands shall burn to the ground,
And thence the ship of law that guards the many seas shall be torn apart.

No idea what the second line is supposed to mean, but the last two are about the Space Cop headquarters and the Space Cops as a whole.

The little girl they found has a green and a red eye which looks somewhat creepy and her name is Vivio. Nanoha has already turned into her surrogate mother. She also called Fate her closest friend, which is sort of weird. Nanoha also blushed an awful lot when talking to Yuuno some episodes back, maybe this adoption business and living with Fate isn't as cut and dry as it appeared to be.

Bet the shippers went nuts over this season.

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Samurai Champloo 20 and 21: The gang picks up a blind singer. I can't say too much without spoiling it, but I loved it. @Bartimaeus will hate the singing though.

18 hours ago, majestic said:

I would agree on DIO being a fun villain, but there could have been more of him throughout the episodes.

I missed this yesterday.

I think that DIO is the opposite of the Professor in some ways. The Professor's early appearances were funny as hell but his reveal as a monster was lame. DIO on the other hand was kind of a general faceless menace (except for the time he blew up a TV) until his reveal, after which he's probably on the top tier of villains for me just because of all that. There could have been more of Shadow DIO or attempts to make him more involved than just chilling in his mansion and seducing gym gods, but overall I'm happy with the general flow of the story.

I also wouldn't complain if more of the Crusaders survived. It feels more brutal than the Zeppeli deaths.

[Bartimaeus]

18 hours ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

I think

I don't know if it was a shove, because I think it happens off-screen, but yeah, I think that's more or less right.

1 minute ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

@Bartimaeus will hate the singing though.

Do not presume to know that which will or won't offend me, mere mortal. My tastes are inscrutable, incomprehensible, improbable, implausible, impossible!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3huxtbotzfvxzy9/pUiLOshVK9.mp4

But yes, almost definitely.

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Bet the shippers went nuts over this season.

Thank god we'll never know. One benefit of watching a show long after it's over is never having to interact with the fandom.

[majestic]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Do not presume to know that which will or won't offend me, mere mortal. My tastes are inscrutable, incomprehensible, improbable, implausible, impossible!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3huxtbotzfvxzy9/pUiLOshVK9.mp4

But yes, almost definitely.

Suddenly had to think of this while reading your comment. Surprise me and like this :

This is most likely the best thing to come from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle...

Spoiler

Classically influenced lead vocals backed by a perfectly synchronized four piece staccato choir.

Extremely impressive coordination by the background singers though. Extremely well synchronized and singing on four separate scales to give it an hefty amount of harmonic depth for just four of them.

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Thank god we'll never know. One benefit of watching a show long after it's over is never having to interact with the fandom.

True, but it's even worse for (semi-)canon lesbian pairings, because the posts always go like: "They're lesbians and sleeping with each other!"

Sure guys, that's what people in a healthy relationship do, usually. The fact that you need to point that out just reveals your masturbatory fantasies. Now please go away and never come back.

Edited November 14, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

12 minutes ago, majestic said:

Suddenly had to think of this while reading your comment. Surprise me and like this

Actually, it's not too shabby. Kind of a...not bad, but definitely lacking recording, though - poor dynamics gave it such a muted kind of sound, .

32 minutes ago, majestic said:

Now please go away and never come back.

They never do, though...

[Sarex]

Carole and Tuesday ep2. It's either getting better or I was in a better mood watching it. On a side note, I think I made a mistake watching this with a JP dub, seems like the show would work much better in English... Whatever, I'll stick with the JP dub...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

57 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Do not presume to know that which will or won't offend me, mere mortal. My tastes are inscrutable, incomprehensible, improbable, implausible, impossible!

You asked for this.

4 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Carole and Tuesday ep2. It's either getting better or I was in a better mood watching it. On a side note, I think I made a mistake watching this with a JP dub, seems like the show would work much better in English... Whatever, I'll stick with the JP dub...

I think it is better. If that's the one with the young Carole kick that sold me on the show and made me laugh very hard.

I watched the sub and it works, but it feels a lot like the vocalists are native English (and French) speakers so it can be jarring sometimes.

[Bartimaeus]

1 minute ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

You asked for this.

Sorry, can't listen to it - it's almost always better to hear stuff in its proper context i.e. in the actual show. If I heard Evangelion's If I Can't Be Yours outside of the show with zero context, I would've probably hated it - hearing it in between the two parts of The End of Evangelion right after Asuka's fight with the MREs, on the other hand, is a totally different experience and I love the song as a result. I gotta at least give it a proper chance.

[Sarex]

Can't really get any better than this, context or no.

 

[InsaneCommander]

Stardust Crusaders 6-10: boat trips and toilet adventures.

 

 

Spoiler

JoJo keeps his habit of mistreating women, this time with a minor. But he saves her from this world’s version of Pedosus, a pervert orangutang that had a Playboy and sneaked in while she took a shower.

Avdol: why don’t you tell all about the stando users before your friends fall for their traps?

 

@KP Cross Split Attack, I see what you meant by the tongue thing.

 

Spoiler

Why is the little girl following them? Is she “the empress”? Did they even name her yet?

“You are worth about as much as a sewer ****roach’s ****.” Who even thinks about things like this?

Tongues. Again! And it is getting worse!

Sunbathing with a school uniform on. Kakyoin is crazy.

 

In India, Polnareff has an unforgetable toilet experience and Avdol meets his fate.

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[majestic]

58 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Actually, it's not too shabby. Kind of a...not bad, but definitely lacking recording, though - poor dynamics gave it such a muted kind of sound, .

Well, I did ask for it.

Video and audio quality on YouTube is... often pretty bad, but in this case it's really, really bad. Needless to say I like most of Yuki Kajiura's work.

45 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sorry, can't listen to it - it's almost always better to hear stuff in its proper context i.e. in the actual show.

It's strange how that sometimes works, and it's not just soundtracks for me, but artists in general - but not always. I posted about this a while ago. When Theatre of Tragedy made songs after a genre shift from gothic metal to electro/synth pop, I really hated the new sound. I still do. Ugh. When Weird Al makes a rap parody like White and Nerdy, I find myself not just laughing at the lyrics or the music video, but also really liking the sound... and to top it off, I hated everything of Chamillionaire I was subjected to.

When Trent Reznor makes music like this:

There's no reason why, but I like this cacophony of... whatever it is.

Makes me a hypocrite too when I give Nine Inch Nails the benefit of the doubt over any other artist when they make similar music, and at the same time complain that "White on White" has no intrinsic artistic value just because it's from a well known painter. Guess I have to live with that.

Spoiler

I can live with that! /Sisko

 

[Bartimaeus]

58 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Can't really get any better than this, context or no.

 

Yeah, I've watched the entire thing. A lot of great music...but I wasn't so fond of all the theatrics. Also, the lady they got for one of my favorite Ghibli songs, Spirited Away's The Name of Life (Itsumo Nando Demo), was terrible in comparison to the original lady that sung it for the movie.

1 minute ago, majestic said:

Video and audio quality on YouTube is... often pretty bad, but in this case it's really, really bad. Needless to say I like most of Yuki Kajiura's work.

Don't think it's YouTube's fault, but I could be wrong - the dynamics of the recording just sound really poor, like it's not a great recording to start with. I've definitely heard much, much better full-length concerts/performances on YouTube.

23 minutes ago, majestic said:

It's strange how that sometimes works, and it's not just soundtracks for me, but artists in general - but not always. I posted about this a while ago. When Theatre of Tragedy made songs after a genre shift from gothic metal to electro/synth pop, I really hated the new sound. I still do. Ugh. When Weird Al makes a rap parody like White and Nerdy, I find myself not just laughing at the lyrics or the music video, but also really liking the sound... and to top it off, I hated everything of Chamillionaire I was subjected to.

Yeah, it is very weird. Different artists are able to pull off things differently, for better or for worse. And placing them in their proper time and context can also completely change your perspective on it...

[uuuhhii]

rewatched gamers

looking back it was one of the anime that age better than most

reading the if route in light novel was pretty interesting

though the main story are too long to follow

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

Stardust Crusaders 6-10: boat trips and toilet adventures.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

JoJo keeps his habit of mistreating women, this time with a minor. But he saves her from this world’s version of Pedosus, a pervert orangutang that had a Playboy and sneaked in while she took a shower.

Avdol: why don’t you tell all about the stando users before your friends fall for their traps?

 

@KP Cross Split Attack, I see what you meant by the tongue thing.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Why is the little girl following them? Is she “the empress”? Did they even name her yet?

“You are worth about as much as a sewer ****roach’s ****.” Who even thinks about things like this?

Tongues. Again! And it is getting worse!

Sunbathing with a school uniform on. Kakyoin is crazy.

 

In India, Polnareff has an unforgetable toilet experience and Avdol meets his fate.

 

 

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Don't think it's YouTube's fault, but I could be wrong - the dynamics of the recording just sound really poor, like it's not a great recording to start with. I've definitely heard much, much better full-length concerts/performances on YouTube.

I was pretty sure I blamed it on the uploaded video in my post at some point, but then rewrote the sentence - you're right, there are decent recordings on YouTube, this one isn't. Not sure, but the video quality of the video suggests that a lot of dynamic was probably lost in the encoding (or ripping) from whatever source this is.

[majestic]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Man, epsiode 14 is great.

Spoiler

It opens with Nanoha, Vivio and Fate sleeping in their bed, Nanoha getting up early, carrying Vivio over to Fate, she then goes to train the newbies and has breakfast with Fate and Vivio. Then they split up, Hayate and Tia are off to see Chrono, Fate is taking Erio and Caro someplace and Nanoha stays with Subaru.

Fate gives a Midchilda history exposition dump to the two children who are not from Midchilda in the form of a history quiz. I don't dislike exposition dumps as much as others, but it's really nice to see one having an in-universe reason to be there. This is for both the benefit of the audience as well as the benefit of the children.

Fate has a small internal monologue about how she wished that her wards could go down a more peaceful route that segues into a flashback where Fate, Hayate, Nanoha, Carim and Chrono discuss the creation of Riot Force 6 as a covert means to fight the prophesied attack on Midchilda under the guise of being a main office attached force on the ground. Officially they're there for incidents with Relic grade precursor technology, inofficially they're there to support against attacks because a certain Lt. General Whatshisface has no interest in taking the threats to the Space Cops seriously.

Ah, well, they can't know that he IS the threat. I mean, I think he is.

Meanwhile Subaru and Nanoha go to eat lunch back at Nanoha's room to visit Vivio, who calls Nanoha mama after Subaru suggests to use the word to explain what Nanoha means with her taking temporary custodianship of Vivio until they find her real mother, or whoever she means when she talks about her mother. Anyway, that's not going to stay temporary. Nope. Heh.

Apparently Subaru and Ginga lost their mother in an incident with cyborgs a while back. Mechanic girl that is attached to Subaru's father will accompany him to Hayate for some data exchange, and I'm guessing some secret Subaru maintenance.

Both Lt. General Whatshisface and the two regular helpers of Doctor Scaglietti are looking down on the city. One from his office, the other two from a roof.

 

[InsaneCommander]

Stardust Crusaders 11-15:

 

“Why does it even matter what I have been licking?” lmao

 

Spoiler

Why isn’t Polnareff using no multiple chariots??? Why isn’t Joseph fighting? Is his stand useless in battle??

 

 

Stando-bug, stando-boat, stando-gun, stando-car… What is next?

Polnareff toilet adventures continue! And he cleans them!

 

 

Anne was sent home by herself. What could possibly go wrong?

Cutting off ****, biting balls… the villains are getting creative.

 

[Amentep]

Supēsu Kobura aka Space Cobra aka Space Adventure Cobra, episode 2 "Kikai! Jigoba" aka "The Mysterious Zygoba!"

This episode is all about giving depth to...

Spoiler

...The Psychogun.

Cobra is trying to leave Earth when he runs into a woman, Vivi, with a problem.  Naturally he can't resist helping her as...

Spoiler

...she's attractive and half naked, but in the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar, "It's a Trap!" and soon Cobra and Lady find themselves having to stop an alien sex-slave trader who believe he can build his own Psychogun army from stolen x-rays of Cobra's Psychogun taken by Vivi to try and free her sister and herself from being sold into sex-slavery.  The alien, Zygoba, has the ability to turn immaterial, which makes a rusty Cobra have a hard time with him, exhausting himself trying to stop him and free wearing himself out.  But Zygoba underestimates Cobra's heart, which is key to the Psychogun (he isn't going to give up) and Cobra focuses his senses to get one fatal shot on him.  With the bevvy of beautiful women now freed from Zygoba's plans, Cobra is overjoyed in his success.

Animation was still solid period TV animation.  Less bright neon lights, so less trippy than the first episode, but still plenty of that 70s style to go around.

Also, is it me or does Zygoba's motivation stem from...

Spoiler

...the fact that he's as anatomically correct as a Ken doll?  Dude was trying to overcompensate with his sex-slavery ring and Psychogun army, methinks.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Stardust Crusaders 13: ZZ's Wheel of Fortune. What a ride.

15 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

What is next?

 

Spoiler

Some very weird **** and DIO.

 

[Lexx]

19 hours ago, majestic said:

Well, I did ask for it.

Video and audio quality on YouTube is... often pretty bad, but in this case it's really, really bad. Needless to say I like most of Yuki Kajiura's work.

It's strange how that sometimes works, and it's not just soundtracks for me, but artists in general - but not always. I posted about this a while ago. When Theatre of Tragedy made songs after a genre shift from gothic metal to electro/synth pop, I really hated the new sound. I still do. Ugh. When Weird Al makes a rap parody like White and Nerdy, I find myself not just laughing at the lyrics or the music video, but also really liking the sound... and to top it off, I hated everything of Chamillionaire I was subjected to.

When Trent Reznor makes music like this:

There's no reason why, but I like this cacophony of... whatever it is.

Makes me a hypocrite too when I give Nine Inch Nails the benefit of the doubt over any other artist when they make similar music, and at the same time complain that "White on White" has no intrinsic artistic value just because it's from a well known painter. Guess I have to live with that.

  Reveal hidden contents

I can live with that! /Sisko

 

I mean, this version of Heresy is also more a throwback to the early days of Pretty Hate Machine, which were very different than the later stuff.

Now I really wish he'd be going back to some of that, because the last few releases didn't really wow me anymore.. and I was a huge NIN fan who bought pretty much every release, even the weird Japan stuff.