Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

It's full of surprises.
 

  Hide contents

"Ok, Dio is not a nice guy."

"What? Why did you hit the dog?!"

"The dog!"

"Wait... vampires?"

Spoiler

 

[InsaneCommander]

Spoiler

 

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Lady Asuka

Ye gods, this show sounds like death. Why is this even labeled as a shoujo?

2 hours ago, majestic said:

The episode begins with a girl in a wheelchair, soft piano music (which made me think of @Bartimaeus and had me randomly burst out in laughter, and hearing a voice at the back of my head: Roy from IT Crowd going "I'm disabled!")

At least you know the entire show is unlikely to be pure DRAMA ZONE, unlike so much other crap that starts out like that...

3 hours ago, majestic said:

especially in light of making that terrible decision to follow suit and be a good anime thread lemming by watching Rebuild

Courtesy of me listening to Mr. "I'm Always Right"...what a dirty rotten stinking deal that was, .

3 hours ago, majestic said:

They're also all female, but that's only because who creates male characters like that (honest question, I can't come up with a decent answer)?

I got nothing.

3 hours ago, majestic said:

The only thing that did not work for me was my own expectations regarding the ending of the original show. I don't know what I expected, but I thought I would find something that makes no sense. Instead it was an narrative unending and a well written thematic closure that people to this day mistakenly (in my opinion) praise for its avant-garde art sequences. That wasn't planned, they were just simply unfinished because the time ran out and Anno made the best of it - just like the entire ending. It still worked, which is the really impressive part.

Yeah, I like it better as a companion to TEoE a lot more now, which I didn't really expect. They offer some similar ideas and elements, but also a lot different ones as well. I wonder if someone would take the NGE ending better if they watched TEoE first instead of the other way around.

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Having that said, it feels really weird to retroactively reduce a rating, right? Not that I really do ratings all too often, but that happened with Love Live!. No, that would never have gotten a good rating, really, but what little there was enjoyable in this show ended up being a copy from K-On!, which just means that watching K-On! made Love Live! worse. Strange how that works.

I try not to re-adjust my ratings too much over time, but it does happen - the "newness" of watching something can sometimes make you react more strongly to it (both positively OR negatively) than considering something you watched weeks or even months ago. I usually like to re-consider stuff like a month after I finish watching it in order to really complete and set in stone how I feel about it. Some stuff benefits from that (e.g. Miyu, which still occupies some of my brainspace even now), some stuff can suffer...sometimes severely. NGE really made me reflect upon Nadia and how frustrating that show was even without the horrid filler, and I realized that for a show that did not really have any themes, characters, or ideas that deeply appealed to me, it just had no business being as high as I initially thought of it. It's a show that I will remember...not entirely, but more for the bad times instead of the good, unfortunately.

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Ye gods, this show sounds like death. Why is this even labeled as a shoujo?

Marie Antoinette does "girly" things. She spends a fortune on dresses, is all lovey-dovey with Hans Axel von Fersen and doesn't seem to have a care for the world, and is really not into the whole governing France thing. Much to the dismay of her mother, who hears reports of her daugther's shenanigans withe the appropriate grief.

The whole duel was the most shounen thing ever, the Duke de Guéméné (well that's a mouthhandful) insults Asuka in passing and she immediately responds in the most predictable way possible, and he challenges her to a duel, which she readily accepts, and she's absolutely stupid about it too. The show has been going out of its way to show that Asuka is an expert fencer, yet she choses pistols, because the Duke won some shooting competitions. She wants to beat him at his own game.

I'm still holding out a little hope for the directorial switch in episode 18, but I doubt that will make the premise salvagable, or change Asuka all that much, but perhaps everything else will be a little less boring.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

At least you know the entire show is unlikely to be pure DRAMA ZONE, unlike so much other crap that starts out like that...

No, it's going to be action and then some, by the looks of the first episode, but I don't mind the drama zone in the first place. It just... you know, the setup, girl in a wheelchair, piano music, and all I did was burst out into laughter. That seems like the wrong reaction, but that was a pretty funny meta-situation after Komi Can't Communicate. Heh.

Although, admittedly, it was pretty unexpected to see Hayate being the antagonist. Or at least, the leader of the group attacking Nanoha. If that follows the template of the first season they'll kiss and make up eventually.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I like it better as a companion to TEoE a lot more now, which I didn't really expect. They offer some similar ideas and elements, but also a lot different ones as well. I wonder if someone would take the NGE ending better if they watched TEoE first instead of the other way around.

Probably. TEoE would provide narrative closure, and the original ending expand on what happened during Instrumentality, although I bet, given the choice, most people would just go with The End of Evangelion, if you would cut that up into a four parter and replace the ending with it that would just be fine, except for a certain and sudden super-focus on Shinji being all weird and creepy. If you'd rewrite both a bit and combine then, you could probably come up with four or five episodes that would make a wholly satisfying conclusion to NGE, instead of dealing it out like that. Alas, if you'd let Anno do that in this day and age what you get is Rebuild, so... but one can dream.  

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I try not to re-adjust my ratings too much over time, but it does happen - the "newness" of watching something can sometimes make you react more strongly to it (both positively OR negatively) than considering something you watched weeks or even months ago. I usually like to re-consider stuff like a month after I finish watching it in order to really complete and set in stone how I feel about it. Some stuff benefits from that (e.g. Miyu, which still occupies some of my brainspace even now), some stuff can suffer...sometimes severely. NGE really made me reflect upon Nadia and how frustrating that show was even without the horrid filler, and I realized that for a show that did not really have any themes, characters, or ideas that deeply appealed to me, it just had no business being as high as I initially thought of it. It's a show that I will remember...not entirely, but more for the bad times instead of the good, unfortunately.

Novelty is something that is hard to factor into enjoyment in a meaningful way that leaves the rating to stand the test of time, but it's also not the only wildely subjective thing that can affect enjoyment. There's also the time when you're watching it. I mean, compared to the mess that Blood-C was, the cringeworty animation and stolen characterization of Love Live! and the utter failure the Love Live! movie ended up being, I feel like I'm giving Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha too much credit, for instance - if we leave out the ecchi fiasco, it was an okay attempt at something different - a serious magical girl anime.

Funny, it was a novel idea while utterly derivative at the same time. You don't see that every day.

[majestic]

8 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Just wait until he finds out about STANDO POWAH.

Oh, right, there's something:

Feels like Stardust Crusaders had a little blunder there with D'Arby the Younger.

Spoiler

When he pulls the two JoJos and Kakyoin into his little trap, Old!Jojo tells Avdol to burn the house down if they don't come back in time, but really... with DIO being a vampire, currently at home and the middle of the day, would that not be the go-to approach? Just demolish the building and the light will take care of DIO's head. Right?

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Oh, right, there's something:

Feels like Stardust Crusaders had a little blunder there with D'Arby the Younger.

  Reveal hidden contents

When he pulls the two JoJos and Kakyoin into his little trap, Old!Jojo tells Avdol to burn the house down if they don't come back in time, but really... with DIO being a vampire, currently at home and the middle of the day, would that not be the go-to approach? Just demolish the building and the light will take care of DIO's head. Right?

 

For the most part yeah.

If they were worried about traps or Stand Users, it'd make more sense to flush them out first instead of going in. DIO being a vampire kinda makes using the sun a no-brainer. The one thing that makes it seem justified is if they figured DIO had escape routes or a way to hide in the rubble or sunlight, which to be fair the latter is definitely true and is how he survived the Joestar mansion.

Have you met Vanilla Ice yet?

[majestic]

And now for something completely different.

Like I said a while back, I watch Lady Asuka durning cardio, or I used to, until episode 10 killed my motivation to sweat and be bored at the same time and I moved on to watch Steins;Gate, which turned out to be less than ideal either, so I spent the last two weeks or so moving along my Deep Space Nine rewatch - until yesterday where it was two Lady Asuka episodes, and today where I watched another one.

Thankfully that wasn't full of ludicrous behaviour by Asuka, and it wasn't too boring either. Asuka, after being grounded by the queen following her duel with the Duke de I'mnotgoingtorepeatthat, defies her majesty's wishes, takes André and rides off to her family's rural estate somewhere in Bumf*ck, France, where she gets a hefty reality check when the common rabble cannot afford doctors for their sick children, are basically extorted by both the tax collectors and the church and are exceedingly unhappy that the king and queen aren't doing anything at all to remedy the situation.

The innkeeper of the tavern they eat at even tells them flat out that a handful of aristocrats live off the back of the hard working peasants. At this point I had enough, because I kept hearing Bruno talk about white priviledge, Skoop about boostraps and the currently active again second rate Stjepan giving out financial advice. Yeah, sure, but no thanks. Back to the queue you go, Lady Asuka, I'll finish you later.

Then I decided on a radical new course and changed my approach. So far I've tried following the creative teams that made something I enjoyed around to various other efforts that were mostly middling, and sometimes even terrible. It needs to be said that Magic User's Club is from the animator and director of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Moon R filler arc. Following the director and parts of the writing team for the remaining seasons in turn ended with most of us watching Revolutionary Girl Utena.

I also picked a random seinen show to watch on Prime Video, which turned out to be kemurikusa., something that... I also still have to finish, because ugh. So instead of doing research, or going completely random, I decided to...

...take some minutes to browse through Amazon Prime Video's "New Anime Series" list, which in Amazon-speak means series recently added to Amazon Prime, not new anime series. Instead of trying to gauge if I would like something based on the title, the blurb and some images from the show, or anything, really, I decided to go with the the animes on the list that looked absolutely terrible, then spun a mental Wheel of the Worst (tm) and landed on:

Dropkick on my Devil! (no, really, that's the actual title of the show)

Well, if you're looking for something that looks terrible, that does seem like a really good choice, right?

A 2018 manga adaptation starring a group of girls of various origins in Greek, Christian and Japanese myth and their... yeah, god knows what exactly. Whacky adventures? Nonsense? I'm not even sure I should assume that the series is going to go anywhere with how that first episode went.

The first episode more or less introduces the concept of the series in very direct exposition: When a sorcerer summons a demon from hell, it will stay bound to that sorcerer and can only go back to hell once it is sent back through sorcery, or the sorcerer dies.

The episode then introduces the five main characters (there are seven on the poster, but hey, the two smaller ones in the background - upper left corner and directly underneath the sawblade - seem to be more prominent side characters coming later): Yurine, the girl with the eyepatch, who summoned the Lamia Jashin (the blonde half snake demon) to Earth, and her friends Medusa (purple haired girl), Minos (blue haired girl with the horns) and the angel Pekola who lost her halo and can't go back to heaven (the wingless blonde with the confused expression next to the angel who still has wings).

It begins with all of them sitting at their table, making a hot pot. Jashin first melts beef tallow, then roasts their vegetables and Wagyu beef, then adds stock and lets everything simmer, and they begin eating. Then the first obvious joke comes up, they all agree the beef is great and that Minos should get more meat from her relatives. Minos doesn't think anything about eating beef, but just says that eating her relatives would be cannibalism. Jashin tries to make fun of Pekola asking if she's even allowed to eat a meal prepared by the denizens of hell. Yurine is a little miffed, it was Jashin who invited Pekola after all, and demands that Jashin just gives her food, which she does - just without any meat in it.

Pekola wants some beef, but Jashin is adamant that she won't be getting seconds until she finished her bowl, that would be rude. Pekola eats all her vegetables, but Jashin doesn't want to give her meat, so Yurine just gives her some. Jashin reacts incredibly annoyed and wolfs down all of the remaining beef, even the beef of the other girls. Yarine wants to punish Jashin, and at this point the anime quite frankly... becomes absolutely amazing in a "what the hell am I watching here?" sort of way.

Jashin attacks Yurine by leaping into the air, starting her "dropkick" attack (what a literal title drop) and breaks the fourth wall by saying that this isn't just going to be the opening episode of the show, but also the last one, and the rest will be specials because she's just going to kill Yurine and go home. Yurine just dodges her drop kick, breaks out a jagged sword and starts chopping up Jashin's snake bits.

The then end up eating snake meat with their hot pot, which Pekola thinks is really tasty, while Jashin sulks and regenerates.

That amounts to the first, like, less than half of the episode. I don't really want to spoil the rest, but it keeps up the fourth wall breaking when for instance Jashin tries to kill Yurine again, but she stops her. Jashin asks how she knew she would attack, and Yarine states that she talked about her attack out loud. Jashin turns around and starts complaining to the sound engineers that this was supposed to be an internal monologue, then demands a cut and a reshoot.

Yurine then breaks Jashin's spine with a crowbar and dismembers her off-screen with a chainsaw. It's... baffling. It doesn't look half bad, or at least, modern anime looks don't stand out so much in a more cartoonish setting, and it's completely insane. The episode closes off by introducing what might become a running joke.

Spoiler

Another failed attack by Jashin ends with her being tasered crispy, and they're having a hot pot with grilled snake meat while Jashin's charred human half is bound to a chair watching them.

If he hasn't seen it yet, going from simply how the first episode went, a definite recommendation for @KP the meanie zucchini.

Plus it was actually funny. It's also only 12 episodes long. There's a spin off series licenced by Crunchyroll too.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

If he hasn't seen it yet, going from simply how the first episode went, a definite recommendation for @KP the meanie zucchini.

I'll check it out, if it sucks I'll spam Okabe laughs.

[Sarex]

Castle in the Sky. I have a vague memory of watching this as a kid...more like a familiar feeling...the robots are the clearest memory of having seen this before...

I have to say it was a pleasure, aside from it being a Ghibli production, it felt nice "rediscovering" it so to say.

A couple of more to go.

Been thinking maybe instead of watching the Grave of Fireflies, I give JoJo a go after this...

[Bartimaeus]

4 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Castle in the Sky. I have a vague memory of watching this as a kid...more like a familiar feeling...the robots are the clearest memory of having seen this before...

I have to say it was a pleasure, aside from it being a Ghibli production, it felt nice "rediscovering" it so to say.

A couple of more to go.

Been thinking maybe instead of watching the Grave of Fireflies, I give JoJo a go after this...

I need to re-watch Castle in the Sky in Japanese at some point, because it's one of the weakest English dubs for Ghibli, and I remember it kind of impacting the film, particularly the main character.

@majestic Can't help but notice that you didn't recommend it to me. How incredibly odd.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I give JoJo a go after this...

If you're looking to dodge the sad then 

That's probably not a good idea.

[InsaneCommander]

27 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Castle in the Sky. I have a vague memory of watching this as a kid...more like a familiar feeling...the robots are the clearest memory of having seen this before...

I remember loving this one. But at the same time I don't remember much about it. It was one of the first animes I watched.

I almost included it in my list of all time favorite movies in the other thread, but maybe I don't remember it well so I left it out.

It's on my list to rewatch in the near future. After Samurai Champloo and Komi Can't Communicate. But I think I'll watch it sooner.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic Can't help but notice that you didn't recommend it to me. How incredibly odd.

Indeed, how odd. Truly inexplicable. Must have slipped my mind there. Please, by all means, don't feel left out!

Here, I'll link you the opening for good measure:

 

There was one kind of clever joke in the first episode (I mean, a clever joke, not some inexplicable hijinks that's hilarious through sheer absurdity):

Spoiler

When Medusa goes shopping, she does so with a paper bag over her head. I wonder how many people did not laugh seeing that.

Having something like that in there made me laugh and appreciate the thought that went into creating it, but that's not a whole lot to go by, huh?

 

I also watched the second episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. 25 minutes of action with no breaks. The bad guys are calling themselves Wolkenritter (Cloud Knights) and pretty handily beat up the team of heroes, and stole something from Nanoha called a Linker Core which powered up the Book of Darkness and seems to be a hitherto unmentioned McGuffin. I have no idea yet what a Linker Core is, but it's probably something important for mages and hasn't been mentioned before because nobody thought of it until they needed to make a second season.

English speaking devices also showed some grammer problems, but the German ones are astounding. There must not be a single German native speaker working in the anime industry as a writer.

Edited October 26, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Dropkick on my Devil! Episode 2:

Spoiler

It's summer, and annoyingly hot. Jashin ceaselessly complains about the heat, sitting in front a fan, then complains that Yurine doesn't have air conditioning. Yurine retorts that this is simply beacuse they're published by Flex Comics, and a larger publisher would take better care of their talent. Jashin goes outside, collapses and says: This is hell.

Back home, she complains some more, then Yurine says she'll make her cold, hangs her over the bathtub and bleeds her out. Jashin says: "I feel so cold" or something similar, anyway, in best Imoen tradition.

One fourth wall and one meta joke in two minutes, then a switch to complete lunatic psychopathy.

Yeah, I... not sure what that says about me as a person, but this is great.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yeah, I... not sure what that says about me as a person, but this is great.

It says that you

Have either really good or very strange taste.

We're you expecting Mari or Hououin Kyouma?

[Bartimaeus]

Sakura, episode 59, The Swimming Monastery. That's not actually the title of the episode, but there's an end-game series of areas in an old not very good JRPG called Quest 64 that I played as a kid called that where the layout of doors is a nonsensical maze connecting in ways that don't make any sense (and can change), and that's basically this episode.

Spoiler

Sakura would be MVP in the NBA, between being able to fly, dash, jump...turn into a giant...and stop time. ...Being able to disable the other players would help a lot, too, I guess.

"Sakura is rather clueless about such things, so she won't know unless you tell her." Listen to the expert here, Xiaolang...

You know, I wonder...Kero has been acting weirder and more childish in this last arc - is it because he's suffering from the same ailment Yue is, and this is just his way of expressing it?

"Bestie"? "BESTIE"?! ...Well, seems like Tomoyo was O.K. with it.

"Don't cry! Nothing will come of crying!" Ah, there's the shonen version of Xiaolang again - it's about time!

I don't really understand the mechanism of this episode, since they ended up just running straight to the classroom in question - did turning on the lights dispel the magic?

 

25 minutes ago, majestic said:

There was one kind of clever joke in the first episode (I mean, a clever joke, not some inexplicable hijinks that's hilarious through sheer absurdity):

That intro was cancer, but the idea of this did make me laugh.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

JoJo 6-8:
 

Spoiler

No more

animal cruelty.

But children and babies beware!

Also: Dio gets a Castlevania-like castle and Speedwagon, the unofficial narrator (what else can he do?) inherits Zeppeli's hat.

 

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sakura, episode 59, The Swimming Monastery. That's not actually the title of the episode, but there's an end-game series of areas in an old not very good JRPG called Quest 64 that I played as a kid called that where the layout of doors is a nonsensical maze connecting in ways that don't make any sense (and can change), and that's basically this episode.

  Reveal hidden contents

Sakura would be MVP in the NBA, between being able to fly, dash, jump...turn into a giant...and stop time. ...Being able to disable the other players would help a lot, too, I guess.

"Sakura is rather clueless about such things, so she won't know unless you tell her." Listen to the expert here, Xiaolang...

You know, I wonder...Kero has been acting weirder and more childish in this last arc - is it because he's suffering from the same ailment Yue is, and this is just his way of expressing it?

"Bestie"? "BESTIE"?! ...Well, seems like Tomoyo was O.K. with it.

"Don't cry! Nothing will come of crying!" Ah, there's the shonen version of Xiaolang again - it's about time!

I don't really understand the mechanism of this episode, since they ended up just running straight to the classroom in question - did turning on the lights dispel the magic?

 

I always wanted to play Quest 64, but never found a cartridge. There are also a bunch of GameCube games I'd like to replay or even finish.

Sakura talk:

Spoiler

No, Kero is just inexplicably worse in this season/arc. I don't know why. The Sakura Card arc has very high highs but also a lower floor than the Clow Card arc. You'll see soon, or maybe that's just because I'm a total sap and the next episode is really... one for the saps. Well you can already guess what will happen, now that Shaoran told Tomoyo what he needs to do first. 

Not many episodes left now. Speaking of the mechanics, I think Sakura used Shadow to trace a path to Tomoyo. Let Shadow find her, then follow. It can extend from one place, after all.

Kero's absolute low point was running into Spinel Sun and not getting it. He won't get any worse than that, at least as far as I remember.

 

27 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

That intro was cancer, but the idea of this did make me laugh.

It was even told in such a non-chalant manner. She just came back to Jashin's place wearing that.

Spoiler

Too bad that the second episode shows what happens when a random guy pulls off her bag. Ah well... can't have that unexplained for too long. Although, I kind of get it. Greek mythology is a staple in our education here, but dunno about Japan.

I'm finding the show supremely entertaining at the moment, but I do wonder if that's enough to make 12 episodes work (never mind a spinoff). Seems a bit tenuous.

[Bartimaeus]

7 hours ago, majestic said:

I always wanted to play Quest 64, but never found a cartridge. There are also a bunch of GameCube games I'd like to replay or even finish.

That doesn't seem like a wise idea - wanting to play Quest 64, that is. I mean, I went back and played through it again some years back and enjoyed it enough, but I played it as a child and therefore I am extremely biased and my enjoyment was mainly as a result of some twisted sense of nostalgia. The N64 is not exactly known for its good JRPGs...

Samurai Champloo, episodes 3 and 4 (not really spoiler-y):

Suddenly, everyone goes their separate ways because the boys can't handle any more of Fuu's nagging, especially given that there's no reason for them to be bound to her anyways...but things don't exactly go according to plan, even with the complete lack thereof. I don't know, the more I watch this, the more it just seems like a good show on pretty much all fronts. Some humor, some tension, I think I like all the main characters (though they're all VERY different from each other, and one of them is kind of a piece of crap but in a way that feels like it works and isn't annoying), the writing is good, it's not overly action-y, framing and direction and style all seems good to me (even with some of the darker ideas on display here)...and I'm even starting to vibe with the music a little. It's all just kind of working together pretty well, really - unless the show goes really off the rails in a large and bad way at some point, there's no reason I can see that I wouldn't finish this.

Sakura, episode 60, THE PRODIGAL MEILING RETURNS!!! It feels like I've been waiting my entire life for this - I don't know when exactly Meiling became my favorite character, but it is a thing that happened at some point before her disappearance.

Spoiler

Holy crap, she came out of absolute nowhere in the middle of a scene and created a complete tone shift - love it. Lmao, Xiaolang's face when her and Sakura are hanging out in the classroom: absolute defeat. Those other bastard girls wouldn't cancel their PIANO and SWIMMING lessons for MEILING? Throw all of them into the garbage. I mean, I know it has to be that way for narrative reasons because this show is the way it is, but still. Meiling's so much more chipper and calm than she used to be, I feel like I'm hearing tones of her voice that I haven't ever before, it's a little weird! Gosh, I missed Meiling, I hope she sticks around for more than just this episode, I've missed the whole gang.

Stop telling all your plans to Eriol constantly, you silly girl! Oh, it's no use, he cursed the playground again. Bloody hell. Meiling breaking her hands on the playground birds was great, too. Although...I think they ruined the playground this time, like, for real. Oh, I see Meiling noticed Xiaolang calling Sakura just "Sakura"...that actually hurts me right in my heart, and I'm sure I haven't seen the worst of it yet. Oh my gosh, Tomoyo is trying to melt my heart, too. Yep...that's a heart-breaker. Why is there still so much left in this episode? Oh my gosh, expressions...the body language, and...now the wailing. Okay, good, they made up a little, so it didn't end in absolute misery. I want to say that was a top 3 episode, but upon reflection, I think I'd have to really go back and seriously consider each and every episode to make that determination...but it's definitely up there. Ten episodes left...and none of them will be as good as this one because Meiling won't be in them, but that's the way it goes!

Between this, Samurai Champloo, and the short Adventure Time movie, it was a good day for television. It was nice after being in a funk the past couple weeks.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood 4-9.

I watched this over a few days, but waited to post until @InsaneCommander got through (most of) it.

Non-spoiler, it holds up even if it is the least part of JoJo. All together it's like if someone wrote a shonen bordering on seinen film(s) on acid and cut out the dumber stuff. It's funny, sad, and I love the random color palate swaps that happen for no reason.

Spoiler time of thoughts about this part of Phantom Blood, don't read unless you want it to kill your fun like a Vavika Vanguard in WotR.

So Dio survives the mansion, eats Jack the Ripper, and then goes to a random town to lay low for a week or so. It makes as much sense as anything in JoJo's BA, but at least he got a Castlevania castle out of the deal.

Speedwagon is like the second narrator when he's not warming up arms on his chest. I guess he wish he would have brought his razor hat to help out JOESTAR-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN and the Baron.

The Knights are a mixed bag, Bruford has an interesting design and arc while Tarkus is just a brute. The rest of the zombies have some pretty cool designs, like Doobie with snakes.

The Baron's death was Obi-Wan tier, I think @majestic predicted that before he saw him get ripped in half by HEAVEN HELL SNAKE KILL, but really I thought most of his appearances were funny. Hopping along the water with hamon, gut punching JoJo and Speedwagon with his pinky, shooting zombie Jack the Ripper with wine, and yelling "Hey Baby" at Dio is just ****ing funny. Other than Dire's THUNDER CROSS SPLIT ATTACK, none of the backup he calls in gets anywhere close to being as fun or interesting as he was.

Vampire Dio is a magnificent bastard. The guy is pure evil,, but between the VA and dialogue he's very fun to see on screen. I don't think he's a complicated character like Griffith or Gendo or even Kyubey, but he manages to edge them out for me simply for being awesome. MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA.

And for episode 9....no peek if you haven't seen

It does a great heel turn with Dio mortally wounding Johnathan with SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES. I did not see it coming the first time I saw this show and it really sold me on JoJo. The flashback/recap with Dio's head in the center is for some reason ****ing hilarious to me. JoJo dying holding Dio's head while his waifu escapes with a baby was very well done. Of course....well yall will know soon enough.

[HoonDing]

[InsaneCommander]

1 hour ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood 4-9.

I watched this over a few days, but waited to post until @InsaneCommander got through (most of) it.

Non-spoiler, it holds up even if it is the least part of JoJo. All together it's like if someone wrote a shonen bordering on seinen film(s) on acid and cut out the dumber stuff. It's funny, sad, and I love the random color palate swaps that happen for no reason.

Spoiler time of thoughts about this part of Phantom Blood, don't read unless you want it to kill your fun like a Vavika Vanguard in WotR.

 

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So Dio survives the mansion, eats Jack the Ripper, and then goes to a random town to lay low for a week or so. It makes as much sense as anything in JoJo's BA, but at least he got a Castlevania castle out of the deal.

Speedwagon is like the second narrator when he's not warming up arms on his chest. I guess he wish he would have brought his razor hat to help out JOESTAR-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN and the Baron.

The Knights are a mixed bag, Bruford has an interesting design and arc while Tarkus is just a brute. The rest of the zombies have some pretty cool designs, like Doobie with snakes.

The Baron's death was Obi-Wan tier, I think @majestic predicted that before he saw him get ripped in half by HEAVEN HELL SNAKE KILL, but really I thought most of his appearances were funny. Hopping along the water with hamon, gut punching JoJo and Speedwagon with his pinky, shooting zombie Jack the Ripper with wine, and yelling "Hey Baby" at Dio is just ****ing funny. Other than Dire's THUNDER CROSS SPLIT ATTACK, none of the backup he calls in gets anywhere close to being as fun or interesting as he was.

Vampire Dio is a magnificent bastard. The guy is pure evil,, but between the VA and dialogue he's very fun to see on screen. I don't think he's a complicated character like Griffith or Gendo or even Kyubey, but he manages to edge them out for me simply for being awesome. MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA.

And for episode 9....no peek if you haven't seen

 

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It does a great heel turn with Dio mortally wounding Johnathan with SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES. I did not see it coming the first time I saw this show and it really sold me on JoJo. The flashback/recap with Dio's head in the center is for some reason ****ing hilarious to me. JoJo dying holding Dio's head while his waifu escapes with a baby was very well done. Of course....well yall will know soon enough.

 

 

Spoiler

Impossible not to see the Castlevania castle.

And Speedwagon as a narrator. lol

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, InsaneCommander said:

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Impossible not to see the Castlevania castle.

And Speedwagon as a narrator. lol

 

I think JoJo debuted right after the first Castlevania was released, so that's probably intentional.

[Sarex]

Ponyo. The story of the fearless mother...scratch that, the woman was born with no fear. This one was a little trippy, in a good way though.

[majestic]

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

That doesn't seem like a wise idea - wanting to play Quest 64, that is. I mean, I went back and played through it again some years back and enjoyed it enough, but I played it as a child and therefore I am extremely biased and my enjoyment was mainly as a result of some twisted sense of nostalgia. The N64 is not exactly known for its good JRPGs...

I know, it's... one of these things I'm sure will end up being a disappointment. Like Young Merlin on the SNES. When I first read about the game it was titled a new Zelda, it came from Westwood which was back then a studio you could just buy games from without waiting for reviews and then... I never got a cartridge, just, like, never showed up in stores here. I tried the game much later on my SNES Mini and boy oh boy, was that ever NOT a new Zelda.

Or an old one, nowadays. In fact, it was nothing. Except boring.

I'm perfectly certain Quest 64 will end up being the same. I also plan on going back to Lost Kingdoms on the GameCube and finish that at some point, although all I can remember from the game is that it was a drag, and something with cards. 2002 wasn't really a good time for me, I was doing my stint in the army. Ugh.

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Samurai Champloo

Sounds more and more like something I should watch...

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sakura, episode 60, THE PRODIGAL MEILING RETURNS!!! It feels like I've been waiting my entire life for this - I don't know when exactly Meiling became my favorite character, but it is a thing that happened at some point before her disappearance.

Now you've made Tomoyo sad, and she turned into her caricature from Clear Card. Tsk. Aren't you ashamed good sir? Well?

You know, my first reaction when Meiling showed up in the episode was: "Oh no, this isn't going to end well..." and hey, guess that one was coming for a long time. Hum.

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

 

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Holy crap, she came out of absolute nowhere in the middle of a scene and created a complete tone shift - love it. Lmao, Xiaolang's face when her and Sakura are hanging out in the classroom: absolute defeat. Those other bastard girls wouldn't cancel their PIANO and SWIMMING lessons for MEILING? Throw all of them into the garbage. I mean, I know it has to be that way for narrative reasons because this show is the way it is, but still. Meiling's so much more chipper and calm than she used to be, I feel like I'm hearing tones of her voice that I haven't ever before, it's a little weird! Gosh, I missed Meiling, I hope she sticks around for more than just this episode, I've missed the whole gang.

Stop telling all your plans to Eriol constantly, you silly girl! Oh, it's no use, he cursed the playground again. Bloody hell. Meiling breaking her hands on the playground birds was great, too. Although...I think they ruined the playground this time, like, for real. Oh, I see Meiling noticed Xiaolang calling Sakura just "Sakura"...that actually hurts me right in my heart, and I'm sure I haven't seen the worst of it yet. Oh my gosh, Tomoyo is trying to melt my heart, too. Yep...that's a heart-breaker. Why is there still so much left in this episode? Oh my gosh, expressions...the body language, and...now the wailing. Okay, good, they made up a little, so it didn't end in absolute misery. I want to say that was a top 3 episode, but upon reflection, I think I'd have to really go back and seriously consider each and every episode to make that determination...but it's definitely up there. Ten episodes left...and none of them will be as good as this one because Meiling won't be in them, but that's the way it goes!

 

Spoiler

That moment when she heard Shaoran call Sakura by her name was instant heartbreak.

"I'm going to cry until my eyes melt away today. I'll cry myself to death so that I will never want to cry about Shaoran ever again."

There's just something ungodly unjust and sad about Tomoyo having to console Meiling over the loss of Shaoran. What a pain that was, not going to lie, that... hit me hard, and it stuck for a bit.

Meiling's voice actress doesn't can't just scream in a way that instantly freezes all denizens of hell dead in their tracks, she also does a really, really good job crying. To be honest, so did I when I  watched that. The worst part about it was, this was... 20 episodes in the coming, after Dream showed Meiling and Shaoran their dreams and a glimpse into their future. Meiling getting married, but a black silhouette, Shaoran hugging Sakura there.

Two expectation spoilers coming up:

Spoiler

She'll be back for the second movie. Can't have a movie without Meiling, can we?

 

Spoiler

One more major heartbreak left for some of the characters involved, can you guess what that'll be?

 

No need to reflect further, this is definite top 3 material all right, if not the best episode in the series. Higher highs and lower lows, right?

Edited October 27, 2021 by majestic