Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[majestic]

20 hours ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

Like the other episodes this is just a very light show with low stakes. I'm not terribly invested in it so that helps with not getting annoyed by some stuff, but the pattern of not caring about most of the supporting characters holds up.

To be honest at the moment I'm kind of happy that the episodes aren't as offensive as the ones where the insane stalker and dog girl got introduced. That's not much to go by, but Komi Can't Communicate's copious amount of text on screen (plus the ever present and very helpful furigana) makes for a fun reading excercise, at least, so it's not a total loss.

The episode itself was... fine, I guess. Can't have a water park episode without fanservice. The best parts remain the moments between Komi and Tadano when they're alone and "talking" to each other.

[Bartimaeus]

Sakura's Sealed Hairdo, The Movie. @majestic's been long asking for this, so don't blame me for the length! I was only able to get the English version of this, so that's what I'm watching. I'm sure I'll like it just as much as if I were watching in the Japanese that I watched the entire rest of the show in. Also, screw the spoiler tag, because it's clear nobody else is going to watch this show at this point.

Fire dragon, titanium oliphaunt, rockzilla...oh my gosh, lmao, I should've guessed, I really should've. Gosh dang it, Tomoyo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/lysw9dtbhwuc6qa/0j1WoWIJdK.mp4 No, wait, I take it back, Tomoyo is my favorite character after all!

Spoiler

Also, it's really weird that they used the same exact VAs for the English dub...and also still talk in Japanese. Very strange creative decision.

"OH-HAH-YO-OOH!" I'm just waiting for the "kaiju"...and there it is, literally the next line. Now, does this look like the face of a monster?

Yeah, yeah, it kind of does.

Some fancy dutch angle scene panning when Sakura sensed something strange about the amusement park. ...Oh yeah, it's all coming together - and Meiling is staying the entire week, which should presumably cover the length of this movie. Lmao, she's just destroying Sakura with a million guilt trips...and the arranged dinner date. This is all Tomoyo's fault, of course. Oh look, it actually was, big frickin' surprise. Well, after Xiaolang spilled the sugar and Sakura started stuttering, I paused the show and said to myself "Kero is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT GUARANTEED going to pop out of thin air to yell about something to interrupt this", and literally two seconds after I unpaused it, he did exactly that and I burst out laughing. It's all so horribly (wonderfully) predictable. Heh, Xiaolang just looked at Kero with literally the same flat-eyed expression Touya has before...and gets completely bodied by Kero for it. The show really only had Kero transform when the story required it and never really more, so that's a bit of a moment. Although given that he only ever plays freaking video games all day every day, he basically shouldn't even be able to transform at this point...magical being benefits, I guess.

Alright, here we go again. If someone else was going to suddenly butt in right now...where's Toya and her father? I think they're supposed to be home soon...and, yep, there it is. This is just going to keep happening, isn't it? Half-expecting Ruby to appear out of nowhere just for old time's sake at this point...

Sakura should really keep her cards on her...that'd be like Usagi not keeping her transformation brooch on her. I guess a deck of cards is a little more unwieldy...actually, now that I think about it, there are many times throughout the show where she kinda just conjures cards outta nowhere. Hmm, maybe it's just a power she has - the cards have been shown to basically teleport before, after all.

I must confess - for but a moment, I interpreted this very wrongly. For only a moment, though. In my defense, look at those eyes...and also, it seems like Meiling too had to question exactly what she meant by that. Meiling, of course, was still embarrassed by the answer, as anyone would rightfully be. And then there were even more guilt trips...

The face of a monster that knows all too well what she's doing...

Seriously, does Kero do anything but play video games and gorge himself at this point? And yet, he looks like this...

Chiharu has some serious "Homer Simpson strangles Bart" issues to work out with Takashi, . Alright, who's it going to be this time? First it was Kero...then it was Toya...we're in the middle of the street right now, so I guess I can't think of anything obvious this time. Hm...maybe an actual THREAT? I guess I'll be surprised! Oh. Uh. A giant rabbit.

No, I actually was not expecting Toya for a second time, but somehow, that seems predictable as well. That really *is* like old times...like, season one level of old times. ..."I'm sure it was nothing." *immediate cutaway to desolation and ruin* Yep, I'm sure it was nothing too, Sakura. "Could it be under construction?" Yes, Meiling, because when bridges are being repaired, you utterly demolish them beyond repair before you do the repair, . Oh hey, Kero actually had the same idea I had - Sakura should keep the cards on her at all times! Nice going, Kero.

How come Sakura is running late to everything all of a sudden? Did she catch a case of Usagi brain over the summer? Or maybe it was Covid-19... Oh, now *she's* the one that's turning around instead of Xiaolang... This is just "Matchmaking: The Movie" at this point - literally half of the movie more or less completely dedicated to this...and hey, that's great, because it was the most important thing left-over from the show, . Nevertheless, Meiling and Tomoyo should really give Whisper of the Heart a watch and realize that it's O.K. to take your time and not know what you're doing...y'all are still kids. But when you're a kid, you don't feel like a kid, I suppose... Also, I'm pretty sure Xiaolang is having a seizure while on this rollercoaster? That or he just passed out and broke his neck, because that boy don't look right.

Oh...bringing out the big guns, are we? The ferris wheel...okay, if there were ever a time to be randomly attacked, this would be it, methinks. Hey...pretty close! Not quite exactly an attack, but pretty close. Just mugged of her cards by her own card, although uh...that card wasn't looking too good to my eyes, so I'm assuming something's up with her. A card that makes everything "return to nothing"? An Ashes to Ashes card - we gettin' Midnight Mass up in here? Uh...Kaho is still living with Eriol? That's...weird. Is she actually human or another one of his creations? That would probably make a lot more sense in all honesty if she was, .

Bigly mood. Oh hey, it's Maki(?), the toy store lady. Didn't talk, but she's still around. And Dust to Dust just created a black hole in the middle of the school courtyard, neat. And so prince and princess become princess and prince... I knew there was no way that Takashi was a good fit for that in the first place, so that only made sense. And one last Meiling cackle for the road...

Hey, Sonomi recorded Tomoyo's song! She doesn't hate her daughter confirmed! Her goons surrounding the place all have guns, of course...err, I mean cameras, . I love that her dad still readied his even after seeing that ludicrous display. Although I don't love that he left the bloody flash on during a performance...that troglodyte, . Sonomi must be pretty handy with cameras like her daughter, because her look of disgust could have started a war. Yikes, literally the entire town just got sucked into a black hole. Well, it was a good run as Cardcaptor, Sakura.

Yikes at Tomoyo's veiled threat to Xiaolang that he would not come back if he didn't wear it. She sure is pushy! And she just turned to dust, so I guess she should've probably made one for herself too if that particular theory of hers had any truth to it - whoops! Okay, was it just me that burst out laughing seeing her ride the ferris wheel? Something about the way that looked, our big bad villain just casually chilling in a ferris wheel as it goes up, was absolutely hilarious to me. Also, I'm pretty sure Sakura would've been severely injured falling like she did - she completely ate it but was totally fine somehow.

What a great cornball ending - and it was set up by what happened at the end of the show itself, so bonus points for that. I am, however, a little confused as to why there is an Evangelion(?) song at the end of this movie.

Sakura's: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/yy70qrltbhyl3fh/Melody for Tomorrow.flac ...vs. the other: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/fa1ldtqyq7q37hy/This Kind of Love.flac

It turns out it's because Shiro Sagisu, the composer of Evangelion, also composed this, and I guess created this alternative version of it. Well, alright, I suppose that does make sense. Great-sounding song, so I can't exactly complain about getting a pretty different version of it.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Stardust Crusaders 28-29: Anubis

POLANAREFFU being the big dumb yet again. I think it's required for stand users to look bizarre, so of course when Chaka transforms into one he is suddenly wearing lipstick and starts doing poses. Overall it's an interesting stand that gets defeated in a way that's absolutely hilarious, which I guess tracks for most of JoJo.

Up next is Mariah and Alessi so those episodes will be fun.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Fire dragon, titanium oliphaunt, rockzilla...oh my gosh, lmao, I should've guessed, I really should've. Gosh dang it, Tomoyo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/lysw9dtbhwuc6qa/0j1WoWIJdK.mp4 No, wait, I take it back, Tomoyo is my favorite character after all!

Like I said, I had to pause to laugh that one off. I went from "Did I accidentially get a really good looking fan film? Why is this suddenly a stupid action film?" and then it's all Tomoyo forcing Sakura to use Create to make her Sakura fan film.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

An Ashes to Ashes card - we gettin' Midnight Mass up in here?

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

What a great cornball ending - and it was set up by what happened at the end of the show itself, so bonus points for that.

Part of what made this film better for me than the first one - they just didn't even try to make this something else than a finale for the series. There's no way this film works for anyone who didn't watch the show. Eh, and yes, what a corny ending, but a deserved one. Do that in one self-contained 90 hour movie and I'm very likely to hate it. Here, yeah... I might have grinned like an idiot for a while.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's all so horribly (wonderfully) predictable.

Next to the basis of the plot being a so far never mentioned card that's the one thing I... might... want to criticize. Or maybe not, because it really just worked. The movie takes elements that were already present in the show and combines them into something that's hilarious, heartwarming, fun and (almost?) suspenseful for 80 minutes. There's a play (although all of the play episodes were great, so that was probably an easy choice), Tomoyo is joined by Meiling playing the matchmaker, there's the Ferris Wheel and a price to pay in lost emotion at the very end.

It's all so well put together that I didn't really care, but if someone would raise it as a downside, I'd have a hard time arguing against it.

Did you watch the Kero special? Poor Takashi can't catch a break, can he?

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Also, screw the spoiler tag, because it's clear nobody else is going to watch this show at this point.

No one else even tried. I mean, except for IC who said he watched it earlier than I did and didn't like it, which is fair.

Also...

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sakura's Sealed Hairdo, The Movie. @majestic's been long asking for this, so don't blame me for the length!

*dances happily into the night*

[Bartimaeus]

7 minutes ago, majestic said:

Did you watch the Kero special? Poor Takashi can't catch a break, can he?

I didn't, I'm saving it for later, .

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

Part of what made this film better for me than the first one - they just didn't even try to make this something else than a finale for the series. There's no way this film works for anyone who didn't watch the show. Eh, and yes, what a corny ending, but a deserved one. Do that in one self-contained 90 hour movie and I'm very likely to hate it. Here, yeah... I might have grinned like an idiot for a while.

I'm torn on which one I liked more. I guess, if I think about it, this was a great and fitting ending for the show, which is more difficult to pull off than a mid-show "let's go have a random adventure somewhere else" movie like the first one was. I'm still not a hundred percent clear on why the first movie was so disappointing for you, but I'm glad at least the second and more important one was great, .

22 minutes ago, majestic said:

Next to the basis of the plot being a so far never mentioned card that's the one thing I... might... want to criticize. Or maybe not, because it really just worked. The movie takes elements that were already present in the show and combines them into something that's hilarious, heartwarming, fun and (almost?) suspenseful for 80 minutes. There's a play (although all of the play episodes were great, so that was probably an easy choice), Tomoyo is joined by Meiling playing the matchmaker, there's the Ferris Wheel and a price to pay in lost emotion at the very end.

It's all so well put together that I didn't really care, but if someone would raise it as a downside, I'd have a hard time arguing against it.

Yeah, I didn't think I would dislike that, and...I didn't, per se, what I actually didn't love was the card herself. I liked Madoushi as a villain *way* more than Ashes. Ashes was...pretty simple and flat, and didn't feel much like a character at all. Still, not too big of an issue.

[majestic]

50 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm torn on which one I liked more. I guess, if I think about it, this was a great and fitting ending for the show, which is more difficult to pull off than a mid-show "let's go have a random adventure somewhere else" movie like the first one was. I'm still not a hundred percent clear on why the first movie was so disappointing for you, but I'm glad at least the second and more important one was great, .

I honestly don't know, and I can't for sure say it's because of the film alone, which objectively is a little unfair, but for my enjoyment that doesn't truly play a part. There are two things, mostly, the first it being a movie spinoff of the usual kind, almost all of which were disappointments or needed sequels to make a decent film. Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for instance, most - all, when not counting guilty pleasures, and I mean First Contact by that - of the Next Generation movies, all of the new ones. Of all the films the only ones I like are II, IV and VI, and of them only The Undiscovered Country can be counted as an actual Star Trek tale.

There's a certain irony to be found in that movie series - the films that are the most like Star Trek episodes are all not that great, or even bad.

Not that the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie is a bad film by any means. It isn't. But it's also just that, and the entire time I watched it I felt as if something was missing that made the anime special, and in its place we had an actual villain and a classical three acts story setup. A perfectly crafted film, but not... not quite what I wanted, maybe? In the same way Princess Tutu was great to watch, but not at all what I was looking for at the time.

The other part is that timing. I watched all of Cardcaptor Sakura before the first movie, and even some parts of Clear Card before the second*. Going back to series as it was in between the three months time skip between the first and the second season (within the first arc!) also did not feel right. I think I might have enjoyed the film more had I watched it when I was supposed to. I've finished watching the Sakura Card arc at a frightening pace back then, I think I went from watching the finale of the Clow Card arc to finishing the entire series in the span of four or five days. Your aproach seems like the more sensible one.

Also, uhm, if I take the movie as what it is - the finale to the series - then it's probably somewhere near my #1 spot of best series finales I've seen.

Good to know that you didn't like it less (or a lot less?), at least, that would have been... strange to process. Never could shake the feeling that it you'd think the difference between them a lot less than I did after you enjoyed the first one so much though.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I didn't think I would dislike that, and...I didn't, per se, what I actually didn't love was the card herself. I liked Madoushi as a villain *way* more than Ashes. Ashes was...pretty simple and flat, and didn't feel much like a character at all. Still, not too big of an issue.

Maybe that's part of the reason. Madoushi was an actual character and a villain (well, villain, was she really one? She just accidentially ended up being an antagonist to Sakura, and that without intent), Nothing was just a force of nature set loose, much like most of the other cards. In a way, Nothing is really like the Angel in Midnight Mass, a way to set the plot in motion, but nothing else.

I mean... here I was, telling the forum how much I enjoy CCS because it's Sakura and Tomoyo "fighting" a tree and cleaning house, and in that way Nothing was... closer to that than Madoushi. At the end of the day, this is one of these "me" things I sometimes mention. There's nothing wrong with the first film, I'm pretty sure that's just me.

Gonna take some time before trying Clear Card or will you attempt to get that over with?

*If you think I overrated the second film, perhaps that there is the reason why. It was so much better next to the terrible sequel?

[InsaneCommander]

Diamond is Unbreakable 1-7

 

Me at the beginning: this doesn’t look like a JoJo episode.

Not even a minute later: ok, nevermind…

 

Spoiler

I knew the premise of this one: a guy protecting his town from Stando users. It didn't seem that interesting to me, but it's pretty good so far. Not to mention it explains the origin of (some?) Standos. Anubis showed these are not a new thing, but it was strange that most of them were in Egypt or part of the same family. The yellow sky, green streets and other unusual colors are a bit annoying though.

 

Jotaru is no longer the girls’ idol. He beats a teenager and threaten the girls. lol

Why would Joseph cheat on Suzy when he was 61 years old? Did he do it other times?

Tomoko dealing with the man harassing her. Lmao

Of course they will abuse a dog in one of the first episodes.

Stando toys!

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

Diamond is Unbreakable 1-7

 

Me at the beginning: this doesn’t look like a JoJo episode.

Not even a minute later: ok, nevermind…

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I knew the premise of this one: a guy protecting his town from Stando users. It didn't seem that interesting to me, but it's pretty good so far. Not to mention it explains the origin of (some?) Standos. Anubis showed these are not a new thing, but it was strange that most of them were in Egypt or part of the same family. The yellow sky, green streets and other unusual colors are a bit annoying though.

 

Jotaru is no longer the girls’ idol. He beats a teenager and threaten the girls. lol

Why would Joseph cheat on Suzy when he was 61 years old? Did he do it other times?

Tomoko dealing with the man harassing her. Lmao

Of course they will abuse a dog in one of the first episodes.

Stando toys!

 

Good Morning Morioh Cho!

[Bartimaeus]

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Maybe that's part of the reason. Madoushi was an actual character and a villain (well, villain, was she really one? She just accidentially ended up being an antagonist to Sakura, and that without intent), Nothing was just a force of nature set loose, much like most of the other cards. In a way, Nothing is really like the Angel in Midnight Mass, a way to set the plot in motion, but nothing else.

Yeah, antagonist is more correct. I think also knowing that it's a card doesn't help it - Madoushi is sort of like Spinel in SU in that she's a total unknown and you have no idea what her motivations are or exactly what she's trying to accomplish with what she's doing. That's...more intriguing than a card whose true nature you already know, and whose nature requires that...well, that Sakura capture it. How she was going to deal with Madoushi, an actual distinct person that seemed to want to maim and kill her (which never happened in the show before!), was an entirely different matter. The smart bet, of course, was on Steven-ing it up, but I could've seen her being forced to just seal her away or something like that too. End result was that I was more interested in and entertained by the "main action"-y parts of the first movie than I was of the second...but on the other hand, the non-action bits of the second movie were

14 hours ago, majestic said:

The other part is that timing. I watched all of Cardcaptor Sakura before the first movie, and even some parts of Clear Card before the second*. Going back to series as it was in between the three months time skip between the first and the second season (within the first arc!) also did not feel right. I think I might have enjoyed the film more had I watched it when I was supposed to. I've finished watching the Sakura Card arc at a frightening pace back then, I think I went from watching the finale of the Clow Card arc to finishing the entire series in the span of four or five days. Your aproach seems like the more sensible one.

I learned my lesson from Evangelion, thanks, . Not that Sakura is nearly so difficult to comprehend as Evangelion, but still, slow and steady wins the race...

[majestic]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, antagonist is more correct. I think also knowing that it's a card doesn't help it - Madoushi is sort of like Spinel in SU in that she's a total unknown and you have no idea what her motivations are or exactly what she's trying to accomplish with what she's doing. That's...more intriguing than a card whose true nature you already know, and whose nature requires that...well, that Sakura capture it. How she was going to deal with Madoushi, an actual distinct person that seemed to want to maim and kill her (which never happened in the show before!), was an entirely different matter. The smart bet, of course, was on Steven-ing it up, but I could've seen her being forced to just seal her away or something like that too. End result was that I was more interested in and entertained by the "main action"-y parts of the first movie than I was of the second...but on the other hand, the non-action bits of the second movie were

Can't argue with that. Madoushi is more interesting than Nothing. I'd say nothing about Nothing is really interesting, not even the concept of an anti-card to balance things out, that's just an asspull to get the film going. Am I wrong in thinking that the amount of action in the second movie is less than in the first? Because the first film felt like it was half action, and I didn't find it to be that engaging. Particularily not the part after Sakura's friends and family were whisked away by her.

The non-action parts of the first movie also weren't as strong as the ones in the second film, but that might really also be the timing. Seing Shaoran and Meiling like that after Meiling was written out of the show just fell flat, but that's not the film's fault, but mine. I just binged over the winter break.

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Colleague keeps watching Sailor Stars, I'm so close to caving and simply watching along, or rewatching Sailor Moon as a whole. This isn't helping.

Edited December 5, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

Am I wrong in thinking that the amount of action in the second movie is less than in the first? Because the first film felt like it was half action, and I didn't find it to be that engaging. Particularily not the part after Sakura's friends and family were whisked away by her.

I would think so, but the balance here is weird as well, because all of the second movie's action is basically clumped together right in the last third or so, whereas it's more spread throughout the entire thing in the first, IIRC. The second movie's structure almost feels exactly like a normal episode, except lengthened out to 3-4x the runtime, while the first movie is more like a traditional television movie (though it THANKFULLY does not make the mistake of doing the stupid "end of the world"-type thing, which I said as much when I watched it - nope, just a silly lovers' quarrel that Sakura actually could've walked away from at any time except after Madoushi had captured her friends and family because...well, if she hadn't investigated, Madoushi couldn't really have done anything).

14 minutes ago, majestic said:

The non-action parts of the first movie also weren't as strong as the ones in the second film, but that might really also be the timing. Seing Shaoran and Meiling like that after Meiling was written out of the show just fell flat, but that's not the film's fault, but mine. I just binged over the winter break.

Yeah, I loved it when I watched it. I imagine it would've felt pretty different watching it at the end of the show instead of in the middle.

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

Colleague keeps watching Sailor Stars, I'm so close to caving and simply watching along, or rewatching Sailor Moon as a whole. This isn't helping.

This might help:

Spoiler

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Stardust Crusaders 30-31 Mariah's Bastet.

[Bartimaeus]

The way you post about JoJo's sometimes, I almost feel like it's not even a real show.

Cardcaptor Sakura, episode You're Wonderful, Sakura-Chan! Tomoyo's Cardcaptor Sakura's Action Video Diary 2! Yes, that's really the name.

Some interesting perspective here... Sakura looks a bit like an axe-murderer with this hairstyle. Why did Kero just make a turkey gobbling sound? I guess he is a turkey. Also, I guess this is where the baking end credits of season 3 come from.

Cardcaptor Sakura, episode You're Wonderful, Sakura-Chan! Tomoyo's Cardcaptor Sakura's Action Video Diary Special!

"Everyone, did you know?"
"Are you lying again?"
"I didn't say anything yet."

The first two of these were good, the third one...felt more like what this show would be like if the show had been approached with a more typical "this cartoon is for kids" outlook. Tone, style, and characters were kind of all unnecessarily wacky instead of normal Sakura-grounded feeling. No biggie, it was like a 5 minute short and still decent enough.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

27 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The way you post about JoJo's sometimes, I almost feel like it's not even a real show.

If I tried to describe it straightforwardly most people would believe I was making it up.

For instance 

This episode features a stand that takes the form of an electric outlet that turns people who touch it into magnets. Joesph touches it after he runs away from an outdoor bathroom (and for some reason Iggy was there) and has a bunch of small objects stick to him. He then realizes what happened after getting attacked by a chair, and stumbles into some women whose skirts raise around him (two young girls yell at him and an old lady thinks he's flirting, que OH MY GOD!) before almost getting killed by Mariah and an escalator. Avdol saves him but also touches the button, they run to the women's bathroom to find Mariah but piss off some women and further encounters the old lady, who blows a kiss to Joesph (HOLY ****!). They jump out the window and chase after Mariah, before getting stuck together. Some kids watch them as they try to get separated in a way that looks like they're having sex, which of course summons the old lady who beats Joesph with an umbrella while he screams OH MU GOD! They separate and fall down a hill to encounter Mariah. IT'S a trap! Abdol and Joesph get stuck on railroad tracks as a train barrels toward them. Mariah gloats, only to realize Avdol used Magician's Red to melt a hole in the ground. Mariah makes the face I posted and Joesph tries to choke her with Hermit Purple. Suddenly one of her breasts enlarge. Joesph freaks out as the other one pops. Mariah laughs and says her boobs haven't gotten bigger as her shirt stretches towards Avdol and Joesph. Suddenly nuts and bolts burst out of her bra and pelt Joesph. They understandably freak out and Mariah gets away. They chase her down and plan a pincer attack, all while more **** sticks to them. When it looks like they have her pincered she laughs and throws some knifes at power lines, which are attracted to Joesph and Avdol. It looks rough, so Mariah does a pose and taunts them while Joesph begs her to stop. When she doesn't, Joesph and Avdol reveal their plan and let go of what they were holding on to, which causes them to charge towards each other and crush Mariah between the debris that had been collecting on then. Joesph and Avdol brush themselves off and walk away.

If I told someone who had no idea what JoJo was this summary of two episodes they would think I was making it up.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I think I saw that episode of SpongeBob a few years back too. Pretty wild stuff.

...My curiosity piqued me:

Spoiler

Curiosity killed the Bartimaeus.

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Curiosity killed the Bartimaeus.

What... what... what?

What.

?

何?!

[majestic]

Wrapping up stuff I started: Mahoutsukai Tai! OVA, episode three.

The preview of the next epsiode of the OVA told me the fourth episode is going to be a beach episode. This one featured Akane in nothing but a towel for the second half while she's abudcted by a cable-tentacle wielding alien android. It can't get any worse at the beach, can it?

Worst thing is, without the stupid and embarrassing parts, this would be a fun, if a bit silly, little anime.

The outro music is really nice though.

edit:

Of course it can get worse, and of course it did. I don't know what else I expected. Projectile nosebleed from seeing Akane in a bikini is definitely worse. Sigh.

Wow, this episode goes stick in the butt all out. I mean, balls to the wall? What. Sae rides her broom deep into Takeo's behind:

Help me, please. Please, I beg you.

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

30 minutes ago, majestic said:

Help me, please. Please, I beg you.

I believe Tim the Enchanter put it for me best:

Quote

I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little ecchi, isn't it? Well, it's always the same, I always tell them, but do they listen to me, oh no...

Outro song's not half bad, though I generally prefer catchier and higher energy outro music. Projectile nose-bleeding is an instant cancellation for any show or movie in my books.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Yeah, yeah. I know what you said, and I ignored it.

14 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Outro song's not half bad, though I generally prefer catchier and higher energy outro music.

The song does for me what it is supposed to, I guess - it's a lullaby, there are subtitles in the anime for it. I really like it. Masami Okui also sang the intro song for Utena. Hm.

26 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Projectile nose-bleeding is an instant cancellation for any show or movie in my books.

It was pretty funny in Kill la Kill, but there it was a parody...

[Bartimaeus]

I thought the intro song for Utena was hot yarbage, and it's one of the few shows where I actually regularly skipped it, even early on into the show (and definitely more consistently later on). The outro song was where it was at. But uh, I guess that tracks with what I said, .

11 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yeah, yeah. I know what you said, and I ignored it.

[majestic]

Classic blunder, like land war in Asia?

The absolute worst thing about this OVA is that every now and then - and it's really just every now and then - it stops being stupid and becomes absolutely wonderful in a way that makes everything just worse. I tried it because it was directed and written by Junichi Sato. Halfway through the beach episode it stops being terrible ecchi and all of a sudden comes up with nice character moments that remind me of a certain other show of Mr. Sato's.

I kind of wish this was all bad, really. As it is, I hate this so much. God dammit.

  

9 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I thought the intro song for Utena was hot yarbage, and it's one of the few shows where I actually regularly skipped it, even early on into the show (and definitely more consistently later on). The outro song was where it was at. But uh, I guess that tracks with what I said, .

Outro was also her, I think.

Edited December 5, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

14 minutes ago, majestic said:

Classic blunder, like land war in Asia?

The absolute worst thing about this OVA is that every now and then - and it's really just every now and then - it stops being stupid and becomes absolutely wonderful in a way that makes everything just worse. I tried it because it was directed and written by Junichi Sato. Halfway through the beach episode it stops being terrible ecchi and all of a sudden comes up with nice character moments that remind me of a certain other show of Mr. Sato's.

I kind of wish this was all bad, really. As it is, I hate this so much. God dammit.

Should've tried Ojami Doremi by him for me instead...though it's a bit longer, nary an ecchi tag in sight. The worst thing about ecchi isn't even what it necessarily shows - it's how utterly disruptive to the entire tone and style of a show it almost always ends up being (and never mind its poor characters, who are the worst victims of it). There are ways of including mild to moderate sexual content that don't just ruin your show, but ecchi goes the complete opposite route in being as in-your-face, pointless, and mind-breakingly stupid and insulting as possible. So maddening. I'm sure there must be some examples of it not doing so out there (possibly in the 80s before it really became a big thing?), but I certainly won't be looking for them.

Utena: You are correct.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus
I wrote "utterly" way too many times in that post, that was bad writing on my part, fixed.

[InsaneCommander]

Diamond is unbreakable 8-15

 

Koichi is asked out by a girl and the result is

 

Spoiler

Misery, the anime version. He managed to get out of trouble by himself, but she is still obsessed with him...

 

The episode with Standofood was interesting. It makes sense some Stando users are neither heroes nor villains. The new Stando baby is another example. I imagine her parents are gone, with all those severed hands we’ve seem so far.

 

The Stando manga user doesn’t seem to be exactly a villain either. I imagine he will kind of join the team, just like Yukako and the other two (Stando lock and Stando puppet), as the new opening implies.

 

 

So Joseph went to Tokyo to have an affair and didn’t visit his grandson? He said he didn’t know Jotaru in 1987.

 

Could Joseph be pretending to be frail? He shouldn’t be that bad only 11 years after Stardust Crusaders. Although he did age faster than his mother, apparently, or at least faster than some Hamon users.

 

[majestic]

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Should've tried Ojami Doremi by him for me instead...though it's a bit longer, nary an ecchi tag in sight.

Yeah, I don't know. That doesn't look very appealing, and I really mean the art. I might eventually try it out of pure desperation.

7 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The worst thing about ecchi isn't even what it necessarily shows - it's how utterly disruptive to the entire tone and style of a show it almost always ends up being (and never mind its poor characters, who are the worst victims of it).

Part of the issue with it in Magic User's Club is that there is a lot, and I mean a lot of it, and it's almost always trying to be funny, and I already have problems finding any slapstick fun, much less slapstick that's about Akane practicing broom riding and flying boobs-forward into Takeo's face (making him spurt more blood) or Sae accidentially driving her broom up his behind.

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

There are ways of including mild to moderate sexual content that don't utterly ruin your shows, but ecchi goes the complete opposite route in being as in-your-face, pointless, and utterly stupid and insulting as possible. So maddening. I'm sure there must be some examples of it not doing so out there (possibly in the 80s before it really became a big thing?), but I certainly won't be looking for them.

Sure there are, just as long as there's a reason for it to be there beyond it being fanservice. I've said that time and again, I don't have any problem with sexual content per se, just as long as it's tastefully done and has a point. There are some scenes with Misato in NGE for instance, but not so much all the closeups of her behind, they're 100% pointless and only there because Anno likes to stare at animated butts (and giant animated boobs, if that instrumentality scene from End of Evangelion is any indication).

[Bartimaeus]

3 minutes ago, majestic said:

There are some scenes with Misato in NGE for instance, but not so much all the closeups of her behind, they're 100% pointless and only there because Anno likes to stare at animated butts

At least it wasn't as bad as Miranda from Mass Effect? I don't remember them doing it during any important character moments, at least, but I guess I could've just not noticed. ...And at least it's not literally Miranda from Mass Effect, whose design is shockingly revolting for a character that is supposed to be genetically perfect in-universe? How BioWare managed to get a locomotive to run over the face of the poor model they used for that character directly before doing their hatchet modeling job, I really don't know.

10 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yeah, I don't know. That doesn't look very appealing, and I really mean the art. I might eventually try it out of pure desperation.

Yeah, I wasn't ever quite sure what to make of the art style, but I certainly like it many times better than...say, Nanoha, .

A soft and more restrained, almost kind of children's cartoon-y aesthetic instead of a super sharp and ultra-anime early 2000s-looking aesthetic...yes, I will gladly take it over many alternatives, .