Anime - Magical Girl Anime Thread, hajimarimasu!

[Bartimaeus]

Sakura

Spoiler

Probably like...a little less than 10 episodes ago, I believe Kero and him had a private conversation about Sakura no longer drawing her power from the moon but instead the stars; ergo, he is dying, since his nature is that of the moon. I don't really understand exactly why, because Kero is presumably of the Sun? and Sakura doesn't derive her power from that, so why isn't he dying as well? Feels like a stretch for it to be an issue for Yukito but not Kero. Regardless, he's not well, and Toya has clearly caught on to this fact and perhaps that he and Sakura are connected somehow as well.

 

[majestic]

28 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sakura

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Probably like...a little less than 10 episodes ago, I believe Kero and him had a private conversation about Sakura no longer drawing her power from the moon but instead the stars; ergo, he is dying, since his nature is that of the moon. I don't really understand exactly why, because Kero is presumably of the Sun? and Sakura doesn't derive her power from that, so why isn't he dying as well? Feels like a stretch for it to be an issue for Yukito but not Kero. Regardless, he's not well, and Toya has clearly caught on to this fact and perhaps that he and Sakura are connected somehow as well.

Sakura talk:

Spoiler

What Kero said, back then - at least in the Netflix subtitles was that since he of the sun, he can generate power to sustain himself on his own - the sun is the source of light, after all. Yue, being of the moon, reflects energy, and he cannot survive without power on his own. While Sakura is his master, he can, at the moment, not draw enough (magical) power from her so he can survive.

Which was to serve as a really decent hint at why Eriol is constantly prodding Sakura to become more powerful, and why none of them tell that to Sakura who would instantly go and blame herself something fierce and probably would do something problematic, like transforming ten cards at once when she learns that she needs to transform them so they can live on because the last of Clow Reed's original energy is fading out.

I'm kind of envious, to be honest. I wish I could watch the upcoming episodes for the first time too.

[InsaneCommander]

7 hours ago, majestic said:

Most of the time Okarin is an idiot in a way that makes it completely unrealistic than anyone wants to be his friend, even his dysfunctional group of friends should just leave and never come back, yet they do, all the time.

And how did he
 

Spoiler

convince the girls to work in the convention (with Kurisu even cosplaying) to pay for the expenses of their travel, because he was too paranoid to go to the paid hotel?

7 hours ago, majestic said:

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Like when Okarin decides to undo the damage his D-Mails and needs Feyris to remember what she wrote - then she suddenly does, and while he still is the only one who remembers crossing timelines, he suddenly isn't alone any more in remembering what happened between them, and every character needed to remember something suddenly does, because plot, and the way they are able to cheat to character fates at the very end is a joke.

Yes, this was bad. They should at least have made it consistent in some way, like giving a reason why it happens or making it permanent once a character does it.

7 hours ago, majestic said:

If I never have to hear Feyris go NYAAAAAAAAAAAAN again it'll be too soon. Nyan, nyan.

Will you risk clicking below?
 

Spoiler

Last chance.
 

Spoiler

Don't worry, it's just Hiyajo wondering if you will watch Steins;Gate 0.

 

 

[majestic]

I don't want to know how Okarin convinced Kurisu to do anything.

Spoiler

Least of all kiss him.

Ugh.

9 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Yes, this was bad. They should at least have made it consistent in some way, like giving a reason why it happens or making it permanent once a character does it.

It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't spend like 20 episodes making a point out of Okabe being the only one with that power, and giving it a ridiculous name like READING STEINER.

9 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Will you risk clicking below?

A new character? Demo... nande...? *shakes head*

Edited November 2, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

I don't want to know how Okarin convinced Kurisu to do anything.

He used his other power, Convincing Stroheim.

5 minutes ago, majestic said:

A new character? Demo... nande...? *shakes head*

You don't want to see the new character Daru refers to as "legal loli"? Sounds like you want to miss out.

Don't watch Steins;Gate 0. If you disliked the first part you'll probably hate it. Basically it's two-thirds of ptsd Okabe before he realizes he needs to be Hououin Kyouma to enable his past self to reach Steins;Gate. And enough fanservice for you to beg for smug Mari.

[InsaneCommander]

43 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

 

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And enough fanservice for you to beg for smug Mari.

I was searching for Steins;Gate gifs and found a page with that stuff. The gifs from one episode actually look like hentai if you haven't watched it...

@majestic, you don't wanna watch that episode, especially considering it happens in Faris' apartment...

Btw, here is the meme I was waiting to post. Not necessarily what happens in Steins;Gate, but it will look like a spoiler to someone who hasn't watched it, so just in case I'll hide it:

Spoiler

Edited November 2, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

15 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

you don't wanna watch that episode, especially considering it happens in Faris' apartment...

That's exactly the episode I was thinking of. It does look like it could be from a hentai so I won't post it.

[majestic]

41 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

You don't want to see the new character Daru refers to as "legal loli"? Sounds like you want to miss out.

 

  Hide contents

Don't watch Steins;Gate 0. If you disliked the first part you'll probably hate it. Basically it's two-thirds of ptsd Okabe before he realizes he needs to be Hououin Kyouma to enable his past self to reach Steins;Gate. And enough fanservice for you to beg for smug Mari.

Yeah... uhm...

I liked Steins;Gate more than Love Live!, but that's not saying much (I'll take a bad sci-fi plot over a nine piece shool idol band and their struggles to impersonate KISS any time). Whenever Okarin and Kurisu were alone and they both behaved like human beings instead of morons the character interactions were really good. Didn't care much for the art or music, and the colors were really weird.

Most of the time the characters spent in totally ridiculous overdrive anime mode, which was often the point and had commentary attached, but really, nah. That was just too much. I liked Mayuri the most, but even she went and forced Ruka into a super skimpy costume that he clearly didn't want to wear. *sigh*

edit:

The most frustrating part is that you can see decent things in both Love Live! and Steins;Gate, and it leaves the feeling that all it would have taken to reign it in was someone else at the helm. Wasted potential, really.

Edited November 2, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

6 minutes ago, majestic said:

I liked Mayuri the most, but even she went and forced Ruka into a super skimpy costume that he clearly didn't want to wear. *sigh*

Spoiler

That happens again in Steins;Gate 0. But this time Ruka even sits down and simply has to accept it.

 

[majestic]

Look at Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha answering the question why they don't siphon their own energy for the Book of Darkness. Hayate's little squadron of friends and fighters are actually magical constructs made by the book.

The book has 666 pages, by the way. Guess talking German and being called the Book of Darkness is not enough to drive home what a terrible evil power that is. To her credit, Hayate wants nothing of its power. The book is also the reason why she's in a wheelchair, it constantly saps her energy. Nanoha got really lucky there. They're also holding back because Hayate ordered them not to fight, but they can't just let her die.

Yeah, this will really end with the Specter Sisters opening a makeup shop. I hope. Or they all end up dying horrible deaths to fuel Hayate's healing, it's hard to tell with this one.  

I was going to say this episode is pretty good too, then suddenly two twin cat girls show up, grab Chrono and rub his face on their chest. Well, at least one of them does. Why? No idea, but what else would you do with twin cat girls with wagging tails. At least they don't go NYAAAAAAAAAAAN at the end of each sentence.

In a way this is more frustrating than Love Live! and Steins;Gate, because Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's shortcomings are more obvious in contrast with the rest of the show. The silly fanservice and the extended action sequences interrupt an otherwise usually quite good, of perhaps too serious at times, anime. Still feel like I'm liking it more than I should, but eh, I don't care. I might eat my words soon enough, especially since the next season expands the episode count to 26, so plenty more time for fanservice and ridiculous Final Fantasy combat.

Edited November 2, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, majestic said:

ridiculous Final Fantasy combat

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

12 hours ago, majestic said:

Most shōnen stuff starts out too much and gets worse.

Yeah...which is too bad because some of them are actually quite good/entertaining at first, including manga. Not that I've seen tons of anime-anything, but out of those I have seen/read.  Sometimes it's just a case of letting a series run too long I suppose, too. Where they really should just create a 1 season story arc and leave it there.

Superhero stuff (or zombies...) often has the same power-creep aspect where enemies have to get stronger every season/film sequel, so they have to keep coming up with more ridiculous solutions etc. Which for me is why superheroes become too dull/absurd after a while, too.

If I like some characters enough I don't mind putting up with power-creep, just depends, but when they pulled out "THE ZONE" as some kind of only the chosen-ones magical player ability (and I knew it would then be featured in every single game episode...) I laughed and ...

[Bartimaeus]

Samurai Champloo, episode 7. Champloo apparently means "stirred together", so the title of the show essentially means "samurai stew", as best as I can tell. Unfortunately, the real problem that our "samurai" constantly face is the fact that they DON'T have any stew, because they are seemingly just about starving every episode. ...I really liked her plenty well already, but Fuu pretty concretely solidifies herself as a genuinely great main character in this one - what a downer of an episode, though.

11 hours ago, majestic said:

talking German [is evil]

Lmao, must feel bad to get racially stereotyped by anime.

(e): Couldn't just watch one, so Samurai Champloo, episode 8: Look at that, another good episode, although one that was...a lot sillier, to say the least (but that's perfectly well and good after the last - this one felt like it wouldn't have been entirely out of place as a JoJo episode, what with the utterly ridiculous "samurai" and his beatboxing entourage). I listened to like 30 seconds of the English dub - way back when I watched the first episode, I think I only tried the English dub for literally about 3 or 4 seconds before I switched to the Japanese and was like "oh, they got perfect voice direction for this", and never had even the slightest inclination to try the English again. It's not a...bad dub, but the Japanese is not only much better, but feels way more thematically fitting for this setting and style. Also, Japanese!Fuu is a way stronger and better fit than English!Fuu, so that dooms the English as well.

Also, I'm glad @LadyCrimson brought Samurai Champloo up in the TV thread and I said that I'll take that as a recommendation after having already seen one episode and then immediately got a couple of other people to also recommend it, because@KP the meanie zucchini is not wrong: it is a great show that does just about everything right. Even the really strange choice of music style works for it - anytime you take a style of music that I hate and are able to make me at least appreciate it how it's used and enjoy it, you know that the show/movie/game is doing at least a good job overall.

@majestic Could you edit in a link to the previous thread in the first post? I sometimes use that to go back and locate posts of previous threads, and the unusual way the thread was split here doesn't allow for that, and I certainly don't want to try to use the general search for it possibly months down the line.

Edited November 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Samurai Champloo 11 and 12.

So 11 was just great, after the last few episodes I was wondering when Jin would be the focus again and here we are.

12 was a clip show. So not great, but 11/12 is not a bad track record.

Jojo Battle Tendency 20-24

This show makes no sense at all and it is great.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

it is a great show that does just about everything right.

Other than the clip show episode, nothing has really bothered me at all. That's pretty impressive.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

but that's perfectly well and good after the last - this one felt like it wouldn't have been entirely out of place as a JoJo episode, what with the utterly ridiculous "samurai" and his beatboxing entourage

Wait until you see episode 9.

The beatbox Samurai entourage would probably be normal in JoJo when compared to other **** though. That is a show where Jack the Ripper getting turned into a zombie who pops out of a horse or JoJo 2 dueling a 12000 year old gym god in a chariot duel with vampire horses are some of the least weird things to happen. I have not seen a show that tops JoJo in bizarre.

[majestic]

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic Could you edit in a link to the previous thread in the first post? I sometimes use that to go back and locate posts of previous threads, and the unusual way the thread was split here doesn't allow for that, and I certainly don't want to try to use the general search for it possibly months down the line.

Edited. Also (finally?) removed Pegasus from the thread title.

13 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Lmao, must feel bad to get racially stereotyped by anime.

Yeah, no. I know they mean our not at all fun, dour northern neighbors the actual Germans. They just happen to speak a similar language. Or, as we like to put it: Was Deutschland und Österreich trennt, ist die gemeinsame Sprache. Loosely translated: The difference between Germany and Austria is their common language (more literally: What separates Germany and Austria is their common language).

 

So guys, are you ready for existence to end, should I give Samurai Champloo a try? You know, if I don't enjoy it then we'll have the same situation as in Dogma and we'll all just disappear in an instant.

Edited November 3, 2021 by majestic

[ShadySands]

Aww! No more Pegasusu

[majestic]

8 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Aww! No more Pegasusu

Just for context: He's look at a naked nine year old here... no, not joking, wish I were.

[majestic]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, episode 7:

I think I know who Tuxedo Mask is, or, let's say, who this anime's Tuxedo Mask is. It's Chrono's father and Commodore Mercury's late husband who supposedly perished in the last incident with the Book of Darkness by going down with his ship. There's no real hint so far, but it seems like the logical course of action for a plot twist, would provide context for his showing up just now, explain his powers and make him a meaningful addition to the cast, rather than just a random stranger. Well, time will tell, I guess.

It's also a good thing these fights are all turn based, because Vita (one of the book's constructs) just hovered there in the air while Nanoha prepared a 20 second long range blast that she could have avoided by changing her altitude in the meantime. Good thing Tuxedo Mask shows up, because that blast would have otherwise pretty much knocked her out. Or worse.

Oh, and he steals Fate's Linker Core. There's a one-liner explanation by Vita that the book can only absorb one Linker Core per mage, "neatly" closing the final plothole in the basic setup in a concise but not entirely satisfying manner.

Edited November 3, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

18 minutes ago, ShadySands said:

Aww! No more Pegasusu

He's been taken to jail for peeping at little girls.

44 minutes ago, majestic said:

I know they mean our not at all fun, dour northern neighbors the actual Germans.

You funny  ! But surly there more like Von Stroheim ?

[majestic]

10 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

You funny  ! But surly there more like Von Stroheim ?

It's a good thing this doesn't work like summoning Bloody Mary, with all the mentions Bruno would otherwise really show up here and we'd have to start looking for a new thread.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

It's a good thing this doesn't work like summoning Bloody Mary, with all the mentions Bruno would otherwise really show up here and we'd have to start looking for a new thread.

Have you seen Naruto ? Their is a good anine

[majestic]

23 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Yeah...which is too bad because some of them are actually quite good/entertaining at first, including manga. Not that I've seen tons of anime-anything, but out of those I have seen/read.  Sometimes it's just a case of letting a series run too long I suppose, too. Where they really should just create a 1 season story arc and leave it there.

In all fairness, shoujo sport anime isn't free of power creep either, Attack No. 1 which is pretty much the ur-example of shoujo sports anime starts featuring super powers pretty early even. Well, early it's just moves with martial arts names like "Falling Leaf" (which is a serve that completely changes or loses momentum in mid air) but eventually reach funny things like hitting the volleyballs in a way that makes them invisible or do instant 90° directional changes.

Actually, I don't think I've watched any sports anime that didn't eventually turn completely ridiculous, although my experience is fairly limited. How much I enjoyed them is a function of what's going on outside of the sports part, and Attack No. 1 was pretty good, but that was a long, long time ago when I watched it, and it sure feels dated in this day and age. Funny to see the girls slapping each other at every turn, and all the coaches firmly believing in the school of hard knocks.

My rewatch is sort of hanging around episode 20 right now.

5 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Have you seen Naruto ? Their is a good anine

I'm going to hold you personally responsible if he shows up in my mirror...

Edited November 3, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 minutes ago, majestic said:

I'm going to hold you personally responsible if he shows up in my mirror...

That means he's imprisoned there and can't torment us, so that'll be a good thing.

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

So guys, are you ready for existence to end, should I give Samurai Champloo a try? You know, if I don't enjoy it then we'll have the same situation as in Dogma and we'll all just disappear in an instant.

I wasn't sure after the first episode because I was still figuring the show and characters out, but by the third, I was pretty certain it was a good show. I'm through 8 episodes now, and I have...I mean almost literally nothing to complain about, at all. Even the more mature/adult elements and themes are all handled very appropriately - the show has been infinitely more restrained and respectful than e.g. your Nanoha. It's a very funny show with good dramatic moments and well-written characters and dialogue, and I'm interested to see what will happen. The style of the show just feels good in general, and the animation/art are pretty solid. The thing that almost made me not try it out, which is the fact that it's highly upvoted with both the tags "martial arts" and "swordplay", has also been a complete non-issue thus far - there's action in the show, but it's all been well-driven and not routine or predictable in really any sense, and doesn't really occupy that much of the run-time relative to everything else. Like I said before, everything just feels like it works together so well. I don't know for certain if the show will inherently appeal to you, which can of course ruin any show for anybody, but that's something only you can determine.

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Linker Core

a wot

Edited November 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

a wot

The magical McGuffin the Book of Darkness absorbs from mages to power itself - well, to fill its 666 pages. Every mage has a linker core (presumably regular people don't), and Nanoha's took all but one episode to regenerate, and so I figured it would be easier to just capture one mage and absorb the core from them over and over, but no, the book only takes one core per mage. Not sure why it is picky like that, but uhm, like, whatever.

edit: The cat-girls from last episode are used extensively for fanservice. Since they're not doing anything else except some minor exposition that could have been handled in some other manner, I think that is all they're going to be good for. A pity, so many things you could do with cat-girls... who am I kidding. At least they're not fanservice minors.

Edited November 4, 2021 by majestic