Anime and Manga - < To Be Continued I \ I /

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

GioGio’s Bizarre Adventure, Golden Wind 33-39: Rekuiemu

 

Everyone finally meet, mystery identities are revealed and the fate of many is decided.

 

This one's end was better in my opinion.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

More bizarre and with much more at stake than Diamond's "filler arc".

 

As usual, this season was ingenious with Standos and how they were used. Still, some powers could have been shown more, especially

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Torisho's Supaisu Garu and Fugo's Papuru Heizu. Fugo used his powers only once and completely disappeared after Venice. Also, GioGio should frequently create angry animals and solve most of the problems in half the time, although that explains why it was not like that...

So, it was simple luck that prevented Dio, Enya, Kira and any other Stando user from simply hitting a Stando with the arrow? What about Black Sabbath, what if he hit Golden Wind in the beginning of the season?

Porunareffo's unconscious mind is quite messed up based on his Stando's Requiem powers. Exchanging souls and mutating everyone into bizarre life forms.

Once again, the villain's punishment is very satisfying. And it seems to be eternal. GioGio is now extremely powerful and in command of the mafia. Good luck to anyone who opposes him.

Now onto Stone Ocean and Jolyne's adventures in Gurin Dorufin Sutorito Prison.

I'm glad you liked it but...

5 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Venice

IT'S VENEZIA! VENEZIA! IT TAKES PLACE IN ITALY SO CALL IT BY THE ITALIAN NAME! **** **** **** **** ****!

[InsaneCommander]

[Bartimaeus]

@majestic I wrote a reply to your first post about Ran earlier, but then forum ate it and I just said I'd come back later and re-do it because I didn't save a copy. Now I'm back and wrote out replies for both of your posts, and it ate my post again...and I forgot to save my post again, and there is no draft once again. I'm throwing in the towel, so just some quick thoughts here:

Title: That translation makes more sense, but the official English title is the official English title...I wasn't really sure if those titles were official, but there apparently exists an English dub, so they probably are.

Myao/Usagi: They're not reaaally that alike...but there are some key similarities that make it so there are some moments where it functionally feels similar, .

Tamako Market: Tamako was Sarevok's desperate and depressed (and decidedly unbubbly) girlfriend in BG1 that guarded the Temple of Bhaal where you fight him. You can convince her to not fight you if you promise to try not to kill him. Whoops. ...This has no relevancy to the show, but I can't help but think of her when you talk about this show...and seemingly that it could use some of her sadness to help balance out the bubbliness, .

(e): This time I saved it, and this time it posted - of course.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

 

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Tamako was Sarevok's desperate and depressed (and decidedly unbubbly) girlfriend in BG1 that guarded the Temple of Bhaal where you fight him. You can convince her to not fight you if you promise to try not to kill him.

Sarevok is never convinced and I think she is dead no matter what by BG2, so that whole interaction is a bit underwhelming. Oh well, on the slim chance I ever play BG again I'll think of the market show @majestic is watching.

[Bartimaeus]

56 minutes ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

Sarevok is never convinced and I think she is dead no matter what by BG2, so that whole interaction is a bit underwhelming. Oh well, on the slim chance I ever play BG again I'll think of the market show @majestic is watching.

Canonically, I think she is considered to be dead because the ToB Pocket Plane conjures her up as your alternative universe girlfriend or something like that during one of the trials. Don't remember if Sarevok ever says anything about her in Throne of Bhaal - ToB is the least familiar part of the BG series to me, mainly because it kind of stinks...and it's at the very end of the series. BG2 doesn't have basically any room to interpret events in BG1 due to the fact that transferring a game from BG1 to BG2 was determined off of importing a character file, which...didn't contain any of your game variables, just your character and their inventory. If you happen to have Drizzt's items in your inventory at the time of importing your character to BG2, he'll remember that you killed him. If you don't...then he won't. Pretty shoddy system. I guess, if BioWare had really wanted, they could've implemented something based on whether or not you had her unique Plate of the Dark or not, but...you could've easily put in on one of your 5 other characters and thus it would not have been knowable whether you did or didn't kill her, so why bother? Still, head canon tells me she made it because why else would I give up on the Full Plate Mail +1 she's carrying?

Edited January 5, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic I wrote a reply to your first post about Ran earlier, but then forum ate it and I just said I'd come back later and re-do it because I didn't save a copy. Now I'm back and wrote out replies for both of your posts, and it ate my post again...and I forgot to save my post again, and there is no draft once again. I'm throwing in the towel, so just some quick thoughts here:

Title: That translation makes more sense, but the official English title is the official English title...I wasn't really sure if those titles were official, but there apparently exists an English dub, so they probably are.

Yeah, sure, not saying that should be changed or anything, it's just odd, who translated that if all it takes is a wee bit of learning to realize that's wrong?  

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Myao/Usagi: They're not reaaally that alike...but there are some key similarities that make it so there are some moments where it functionally feels similar, .

The entire set of interactions between Myao, Ran and the baby could just as well have been Usagi, Rei and a baby. It's even the same pee joke.  

But yeah, of course, outside of a few moments they're not entirely interchangeable, and Usagi is probably not that... challenged, but yeah. I can also begin to see why you liked the show after that episode. Not entirely sure what made you watch past the first or second one though. Heh.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Tamako Market: Tamako was Sarevok's desperate and depressed (and decidedly unbubbly) girlfriend in BG1 that guarded the Temple of Bhaal where you fight him. You can convince her to not fight you if you promise to try not to kill him. Whoops. ...This has no relevancy to the show, but I can't help but think of her when you talk about this show...and seemingly that it could use some of her sadness to help balance out the bubbliness, .

It's realy hard to describe what the hell Tamako Market is, or isn't. It's like K-On! with shop owners instead of band members, and it isn't. It looks like K-On! at time, but doesn't. It's... about a talking bird looking for a princess and Tamako's sort-of-maybe romance with her neighbor. In between they go to school or do silly things, and there's the talking bird. It's... a talking bird eating so much rice cake he can't fly properly no more. 

I'm honestly unsure what to think about it, or how to describe it. It's certainly something. 

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Canonically, I think she is considered to be dead

6 hours ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

Sarevok is never convinced and I think she is dead no matter what by BG2

There's something about Tamoko's story in one of the item descriptions, and Sarevok buries her in Kara-Tur at the end of the game. She's Yoshimo's sister, according to some never fully implemented game files, and there's some dialogue for Yoshimo in Hell at the end of Baldur's Gate 2, so it's not unreasonable to deduce that BioWare at least planned to make it possible for Yoshimo to survive or be resurrected and for his quest to go somewhere.

Why that was abandoned is something else. Either BioWare realized they can't properly import the state of Tamoko from BG1 or they ran out of time. Anyways... it's Tamoko, not Tamako. Sorry to burst that bubble. Heh. Get it? Because bubbly... never mind, I'll show myself out.  

[Amentep]

Supēsu Kobura aka Space Cobra aka Space Adventure Cobra 

• Episode V: "Nazo Kyōteki Sunaipā wa?" or "Mystery! Who is the Fearsome Sniper?"
• Episode VI: "Majutsushi no Shōtai!!" or "The Magician's Identity!"
• Episode VII: "Jiēn no Ada!" or "Jane's Revenge!"

When last we left our Space Adventurer, Cobra had just freed the second daughter of Captain Nelson, Catherine, from her imprisonment.  However, they are immediately set upon by a sniper who Cobra cannot get a bead on with the Psychogun, so proceeds to have to bravely run away.

Who could it possible be?

 

unsurprisingly, its the only other blonde we've been introduced to so far, Jane aka Catherine's own sister, who was last seen drawing off pursuers so Cobra could get into the prison. Turns out Bowie has hired a plant who likes to implant his space seed into women (oo-arr) to trap Cobra.  Well he doesn't like to do it specifically to trap Cobra, it just seems to be his thing and he's playing to his strengths to catch Cobra.

Not what you want to find behind you in a dark alley

Spoiler

The plot becomes a double chase, as Cobra tries to save Jane from the possession seed while Tarvage tries to redeem his failure to kill Cobra with an army of seeded women so that Bowie doesn't kill him.  Cobra finally gets a plan to defeat Tarvage, but not before accidently killing his informer pal Duck.  Catherine and Jane become one to save Jane, who promptly gets herself killed by Crystal Bowie in an ill-advised confrontation.

The plot is zipping along on the path to Nelson's treasure, and why Bowie is going to be a pain for Cobra is shown.  Lady gets a nice fight sequence, even if she doesn't end up being presented as badass as she was in her intro.

Big question:

Spoiler

Why is dead-soul-Jane a brunette when her and her sister's soul goes to reunite with their third sister?

 

[Bartimaeus]

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Yeah, sure, not saying that should be changed or anything, it's just odd, who translated that if all it takes is a wee bit of learning to realize that's wrong?

In a lot of cases, translators go for something more creative that sounds more like something a native English speaker would actually write rather than a difficult literal translation...but in this particular case, I don't think you can really make that excuse, .

4 hours ago, majestic said:

I can also begin to see why you liked the show after that episode. Not entirely sure what made you watch past the first or second one though. Heh.

It helps when nothing in particular is bothering you right off the bat - it's not like a number of other more modern shows I've tried where I immediately disliked the art style, character direction, voice direction, tone, et cetera. If there's nothing to immediately hate, that helps make watching additional episodes a lot easier, .

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Tamoko Market

Your premise doesn't sound too bad of a starting point...and it's pretty short at 12 episodes. Guess you'll see how it goes.

2 hours ago, Amentep said:

Not what you want to find behind you in a dark alley

That's pretty racist. ...I kept imagining some sort of monstrous David Bowie as the villain courtesy of that villain's name, but sadly, the truth is pretty far away from that, .

[Amentep]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

That's pretty racist. ...I kept imagining some sort of monstrous David Bowie as the villain courtesy of that villain's name, but sadly, the truth is pretty far away from that, .

Hmm, well, I still wouldn't want Tarvage, the plant creature that likes to put his seed in your brain so he can control you (oh and you die after it destroys your nervous system) to show up behind me in a dark alley. Or anywhere else. I like my brain un-seeded.  I think Cobra does too.

And yeah, Crystal Bowie's name led to all sorts of speculation that didn't pan out.  Mind you JoJo gets a bit of that too with all the characters with band/singer names.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

monstrous David Bowie as the villain

We've already got that with Kira in JoJo.

[majestic]

51 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

In a lot of cases, translators go for something more creative that sounds more like something a native English speaker would actually write rather than a difficult literal translation...but in this particular case, I don't think you can really make that excuse, .

Yeah, no, that's just wrong. It's not hard to see why (sort of, still requires a bit of knowledge) but... yeah.  

51 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Your premise doesn't sound too bad of a starting point...and it's pretty short at 12 episodes. Guess you'll see how it goes.

It's not bad at all. There's nothing that offended me except that nosebleed*, and that was really short. Other than that it really looks a bit like K-On! after applying a LSD-induced color filter. It shows that it was made by the same team, the first two episodes didn't truly grab me. The thing is, K-On! for some reason did, even though the first few episodes were clearly worse than the first few episodes of Tamako Market, and that's... something I can't describe**.

I'll know more pretty soon. Not many episodes. It really depends on how much of a drag the Romeo and Juliet subplot is. Sakura and Shaoran earned their silly 26 episode plus a movie romance. I'm not sure this anime can pull that off. If it only takes up a bit of screentime that's fine, if it's like the focus of half of the episodes, then thanks, but no thanks.

51 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It helps when nothing in particular is bothering you right off the bat - it's not like a number of other more modern shows I've tried where I immediately disliked the art style, character direction, voice direction, tone, et cetera. If there's nothing to immediately hate, that helps make watching additional episodes a lot easier, .

That's true, but also the reason I "parked" Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles for the time being. It wasn't offensive, but it also didn't really make me interested in watching more. To be honest, that first episode of Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran did pretty much the same thing (it looks a bit better than Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles).  

Obviously that's not much of an issue once I begin, but yeah, others don't have that particular problem.  

*Of course there's the art. I mean, we can sit and talk about this for the next ten years, the problem is this was made post 2004 and looks appropriately modern, and no matter how much I complain about it, nothing's going to change. It also has the 16 year old girls looking semi-chibified, just like in K-On!, but the animation quality is fine, and the shot compositions aren't bad. That's pretty much all one can hope for in this day and age.

**It's probably the character archetypes. I think I have a thing for Sailor Moonish characters, I mean... Yui is like the worst Usagi, after all. Tamako Market's main character isn't that interesting for me right now. Maybe that'll change.

Edited January 5, 2022 by majestic

[majestic]

たまこまーけっと, episode 3.

Spoiler

I've installed the Microsoft IME for Japanese a wile back because typing on the phone sucks. Anyway, when you start typing it gives you short lists to auto-fill, and that's also the way to write kanji, type in the word and select the correct kanji from the list. Type in tori, get bird (鳥) for instance. I figure I'll just type out the name of the anime, and what do you know, just going "tamako" makes "Tamako Market" appear as the first auto-complete entry.

That's weird for plenty of reasons, but mostly because the spelling of market in hiragana is very specific to this show. マーケット is the regular (katakana, māketto in romaji ) spelling, and the actual Japanese term is ichiba - 市場 (marketplace, composite 市 market or area where people gather and 場, location or place).

Long story short, for some reason the top hit on the default settings of Microsoft's Japanese IME after entering Tamako is Tamako Market the anime show. Heh.

Anyway, the talking bird (who is called Dera but everyone just calls him bird) tries to fly off in his quest for the princess and manages to fall from the air, and a girl from the badminton club is barely able to catch him. Midori gets transferred to a different class in the second year, and the girl in the badminton club is ignoring Tamako and her friends. Dera falls head over heels in love with the badminton girl.

The bird is trying to fly after badminton girl but she also ignores him, and he can't keep up. Sometimes this anime is brilliantly funny, and sometimes it's just... whatever it is. Badminton girl ignoring everyone is whatever it is, the bird trying to talk to her and not being able to keep up was absolutely hilarious. Anyway the bird gets lost, tries to fly off, falls down again, is again caught by Shiori who is now carrying him back to Tamako.

All the shopkeepers think she's a friend of Tamako's an give her things they'd normally give Tamako, like flowers and fried food. Oh, right, the voice actor for the bird is absolutely brilliant. For some reason he's nailing the fat royal messenger bird. Shiori drops the bird off and wants to leave immediately, but Tamako won't have any of that... and ends up inviting her for dinner even though Shiori look as if she'd rather die than stay there.

Shiori ends up cooking dinner. Not sure how that happened. Her father sends her a text telling her that their warm water is broken and they all go to the bathhouse, in a scene that proves you can have three girls bathing without making it creepy. Gee, who would have thought. Dera tries to fly over to the girl's bath and gets a face full of bucket.

Next day Shiori is back to ignoring everyone at school. Whatever your problem is girl, it had better be real good, because that's ridiculous. She's praticing saying thank you to Tamako in front of the restroom's mirror. Heh. Guess that makes it official, if @Bartimaeus ever would try Tamako Market he'd get until here and no further (at best).

Dera "accidentially" runs into Shiori again and she's carrying him back home again while the teacher is lost too (the teacher is going to visit his students at home, and it's Tamako's turn), and now it's the teacher, Shiori and the bird walking through the market once again getting gifts from all the shop owners. I'll admit this is a great moment. It's a repeating moment that's funny, establishes Tamako as a centerpoint of the community that everyone seems to love and it very casually forces Shiori back to visiting Tamako again.

Tamako and Shiori are off the have a coffee and Tamako apologizes to Shiori for being too forward and friendly. Shiori wants to say that she had fun, but can't. Yeah. @Bartimaeus would really want to peel her head off. Even I do, right now, and I'm usually not bothered by shrinking violets with glasses.

The guy who owns the coffee shop also sells records, and he's also an enlightened sage always able to put on the perfect music, so Shiori FINALLY manages to spit out that she thought yesterday was fun. Phew. Good job girl. They both sip their coffee and complain about it being bitter. I have no idea why Tamako keeps getting coffee if she doesn't like it, but hey, whatever works for you.

Dera tries to court Shiori by giving her a feather, and she's like: "Bird, I don't play badminton for the feathers. Bye!"

I thought Shiori was over the top, but otherwise this episode was good. Like, really good. I might end up liking this after all, but sadly I think it terminated itself as a recommendation for anyone else for the time being.

[InsaneCommander]

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 1-5

 

JoJo is sent to Gurin Dorufin Sutorito Jail, where she makes some friends, practices cosplaying and learns about Stando powers.

 

Spoiler

If that episode didn’t end with Jolyne ORA ORAing Gwess I’d riot.

 

 

Damn it, they got Jotaru pretty easily, if you consider all he has been through in the previous seasons.

After villains that can stop, rewind and delete time, what is it gonna be now? Maybe add or double time? The Stando Disc doesn’t seem to be related to time though.

My guess is that the Warden is the villain. That guy is too weird to be just a minor character.

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

36 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 1-5

 

JoJo is sent to Gurin Dorufin Sutorito Jail, where she makes some friends, practices cosplaying and learns about Stando powers.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

If that episode didn’t end with Jolyne ORA ORAing Gwess I’d riot.

 

 

Damn it, they got Jotaru pretty easily, if you consider all he has been through in the previous seasons.

After villains that can stop, rewind and delete time, what is it gonna be now? Maybe add or double time? The Stando Disc doesn’t seem to be related to time though.

My guess is that the Warden is the villain. That guy is too weird to be just a minor character.

 

I would never trust a lawyer who looked like that.

Some spoilers 

The warden is a minor character.

The main villain is voiced by the guy who voiced Daru. Big spoilers

He uses DIO's journal and bone to go to Heaven and his new stand gets the ability to speed up time and reset reality. It also looks like a guy riding a horse.

[InsaneCommander]

I'm gonna stay away from those spoilers. I thought I could google some gifs for the first time without risk, since I've finally watched all episodes made so far, but guess what, I found one "fan made" that could have been a spoiler, even if a small one.

Edit: I did see the first part of the spoilers though. That is gonna be strange.

Edited January 7, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

That is gonna be strange.

It wouldn't be JoJo otherwise. No microwaved bananas though. 

[majestic]

Komi Can't Communicate, episode 12.

Spoiler

At some point in the past two or there episode this anime devolved into a full out assault on my senses. It's stressful to watch, everyone is yelling all the time, the animation is both over the top and minimalist at the same time (no, don't ask me how that's possible, I have no idea). Tadano has been wearing a maid outfit for almost an entire episode now.

This is Tadano in a maid outfit, making the same face I am making right now.

Komi, Tadano and Najimi go to a haunted house. Komi does what makes watching this semi-tolerable for me.

Read me please.

Insane Stalker girl yells a confession of love for Komi from the rooftop of the school. Najimi makes Komi go to the rooftop too, then gets dragged off and beaten with sticks in a meditative manner. I honestly have no idea what's going on, and it's probably better that way.

Komi says (well, writes) that she has a feeling that people are staring at her more than usual.

Being able to decipher that sentence felt pretty nice. It has a topic that isn't the subject and a comparison and I was still able to get it. Not bad. At least, not bad compared to the one image above where I know what it is supposed to mean, but can't figure out why. I also could not write that sentence if I wanted to, but that's fine.

Now they bring the Insane High Girl from last episode back. Yay.

The episode suddenly goes quiet and only follows Komi, Tadano, Tadano's friend of whom Komi was jealous for a bit and Insane High Girl around. Yes, this is definitely better with only the music playing and nobody talking. I really should mute this. Let's try. *mute*

No, that doesn't work either. Now everyone's fighting over a chance to dance with Komi. Now wonder she's not talking. Seriously. Tadano actally asks her, but as neither of them have any idea how to start, Najimi shows up and insert herself again. After the festival, everyone is off to an after-party. At this point in time I'd probably commit 腹切 to escape the hell that is coming. When it ends up being Komi's turn, everyone thinks she's singing, but she's just her usual, mute self.

She also picked the opening song. Great job Komi. Actually, that song is probably the best thing about this show. It ends with Komi, Najimi and Tadano singing the song together, and then there's a bonus scene reading "to be continued" and... that's it for the first season, folks.

Second season coming in April, apparently. Phew. That's one very necessary break.

Edited January 7, 2022 by majestic

[majestic]

Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, episode four.

Uhm. What the hell is going on? Meow Myao steals from a temple, gets completely sh*tfaced, has two weirdo bandits who are about as retarded as her strip for her and ends up having to work off the bill. I mean, yeah, that's kinda funny to be honest, but... what... the hell is going on?

Edited January 7, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Carried by the Wing: Tsukikage Ran, episode four.

Uhm. What the hell is going on? Meow Myao steals from a temple, gets completely sh*tfaced, has two weirdo bandits who are about as retarded as her strip for her and ends up having to work off the bill. I mean, yeah, that's kinda funny to be honest, but... what... the hell is going on?

 

On 12/10/2021 at 11:52 AM, Bartimaeus said:

Episode 4: Myao ("meow"?), the retarded martial artist, is on the road and starving to death, comes across a traditional Shinto shrine, appears to pray to the Christian god for sustenance and gives the offering box her last coin, then realizes her error in stupidly giving up her last coin when she could've at least bought SOMETHING to eat with it, kicks open the offering box in a rage and then steals its contents...just so that she can find a map that was stuffed into the box by a man that had being chased and subsequently killed by bandits a little bit earlier precisely for said map. Yeah, it's that kind of show: trash!

(e): Okay, actually, I posted too soon: this was surprisingly averted in a not trashy way - in fact, the entire episode was actually pretty good.

I thought that episode was actually very good - it started out like it was taking its trashiness to a whole new level...and then just turned around and went the complete opposite direction instead, . It was a little bit of a stretch for Ran's character to go along with everything (although I'd say it could be justified by this being a sign of her becoming better friends with Myao, and also the fact that she ate and drank at Myao's expense...), but that's probably the worst I could say about it.

16 hours ago, majestic said:

Second season coming in April, apparently. Phew. That's one very necessary break.

If Komi and Discovery are any indication, it looks like there is a mercy rule in television after all, .

@Tamoko Market: Oh wow, I'm super excited to watch this one next!

Spoiler

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I thought that episode was actually very good - it started out like it was taking its trashiness to a whole new level...and then just turned around and went the complete opposite direction instead, . It was a little bit of a stretch for Ran's character to go along with everything (although I'd say it could be justified by this being a sign of her becoming better friends with Myao, and also the fact that she ate and drank at Myao's expense...), but that's probably the worst I could say about it.

There's also the whole honor deal, ronin or not. She might not get involved in anyhting willingly, but she does see things through. Can't very well stuff yourself without being able to pay for it just because your retarded martial artist friend stole from a shrine. That was shown to be something so low that not even hardened criminals would consider doing so for a reason.

The episode was good, in the end, I just thought I accidentially started the wrong anime when the two guys were dancing naked for Myao, but that's the show being a parody. Can't really call that fanservice with the two retarded wannabe bandits.

I mostly avoided your posts about Carried by the Wind (great how I have a typo in the name, I... edited it, but it's in your quote there, forever mocking me) by far and large because I decided early on that I want to watch too.

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

If Komi and Discovery are any indication, it looks like there is a mercy rule in television after all, .

I never thought it would be possible, but the past few episodes clearly made Komi worse than Discovery ever was. Discovery is a hodgepodge of bad writing, terrible direction, bad characters and annoying acting, but it doesn't make me want to stab the characters, myself, my eyes or my ears all the time. I can see that being something like Sailor Moon - the manga being much less problematic than Sailor Moon Crystal. The anime is just an all-out assault on my senses.

That reminds me, are you done reading Sailor V?

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

@Tamoko Market: Oh wow, I'm super excited to watch this one next!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I'll see soon how much of a regular Shiori becomes, but regardless, even without Shiori in it I'm not sure I could recommend it.

I was watching the episode, and the realization that the writing in in this anime is good struck me a bit out of the blue because that's not something I thought about in between the way the scene composition and animation wrecks my brain* (not in a bad way though, but it's very distracting). I still don't entirely like the setup, I don't really care for Tamako or any of the other characters that much (which is the anime's biggest issue, because since this is apparently about nothing in the same way K-On! is about, well, nothing, the characters are the most important part), but I had to appreciate the simple elegance of the scene that neatly and without saying a word conveyed so much exposition and a joke by repetition.

It also followed from some setup in the first two episodes where Tamako followed her after school routine.

*The closing credits of each episode are a really nice example:

Not really sure what to make of the song, but that animation is really... uncanny at times. I start spacing out hard watching it for some reason. It kinda gets in the way of watching with subtitles. Hmm. edit: Actually, even that still preview image is uncanny and making my head spin. Baffling.

Edited January 7, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

The episode was good, in the end, I just thought I accidentially started the wrong anime when the two guys were dancing naked for Myao, but that's the show being a parody. Can't really call that fanservice with the two retarded wannabe bandits.

Lmao, I forgot about that - I laughed so hard about that, I thought that was perfect for a semi-parody like this. That episode was instrumental in making me realize I did actually genuinely like the show even if it wasn't necessarily the highest of art, .

1 hour ago, majestic said:

That reminds me, are you done reading Sailor V?

Negative, I've read issues 1-4 (of 16). I'll get back to it, haven't really felt in the mood for anything at all lately.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

great how I have a typo in the name, I... edited it, but it's in your quote there, forever mocking me

I keep "correcting" Tamako to Tamoko in your quotes as well, so you can just pretend I did that one too, .

If you had tried to describe what that outro song sounds like to me, I probably would've said "that sounds terrible", but somehow I actually like it. The animation, on the other hand, I was getting a little motion sick from watching the running bit. So there's that, .

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Lmao, I forgot about that - I laughed so hard about that, I thought that was perfect for a semi-parody like this. That episode was instrumental in making me realize I did actually genuinely like the show even if it wasn't necessarily the highest of art, .

I certainly didn't expect them to be almost completely naked, on the other hand, I keep expecting Myao to be the victim of some fan service, what with her clothing and all, but she never is. Speaking of fanservice, there's that Nanoha movie to finish. And one more for the road. Ugh.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Negative, I've read issues 1-4 (of 16). I'll get back to it, haven't really felt in the mood for anything at all lately.

I see, thought I'd ask because you seemed to plow through it at record speed. I should probably finish Sailor Moon at some point too. And watch that live action adaptation. That one is at least entertainingly terrible. Well, I don't know if it's terrible yet, but the production values and the actors sure are, and Mamoru has a mullet, so it's starting from a point of zero expectations. On the other hand it's going to have Dark!Mercury which sounds totally awesome (in a derpy way) and both manga fans and fans of the original anime agree that it's nice to watch, so that probably means... something.

I'll probably end up hating it, but it means something.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I keep "correcting" Tamako to Tamoko in your quotes as well, so you can just pretend I did that one too, .

Yeah, I'll just switch to spelling Tamako in Hiragana (たまこ) so you won't be able to do that... as easily.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

If you had tried to describe what that outro song sounds like to me, I probably would've said "that sounds terrible", but somehow I actually like it. The animation, on the other hand, I was getting a little motion sick from watching the running bit. So there's that, .

The outro song is a bit like the entire anime. I think I like it more than I should, but I'm not sure I really like it.

The intro song on the other hand is pretty much outside of my comfort zone and that won't change at all.

Curious because the song isn't so much different from K-On!'s, at least structure wise. I don't really like the vocals or the brass instruments though.

 

Anyway, speaking of animes that I like more than I should, for some reason Dera never fails to amuse me.

[Bartimaeus]

3 minutes ago, majestic said:

Tamoko in Hiragana (たもこ)

Sure, .

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

I see, thought I'd ask because you seemed to plow through it at record speed.

Left to my own devices, I do tend to do that at the beginning of stuff...and then go and try other stuff for some reason, even if I love it. I need something or someone pushing me forward to consistently stick with something in particular.

7 minutes ago, majestic said:

I should probably finish Sailor Moon at some point too. And watch that live action adaptation. That one is at least entertainingly terrible. Well, I don't know if it's terrible yet, but the production values and the actors sure are, and Mamoru has a mullet, so it's starting from a point of zero expectations. On the other hand it's going to have Dark!Mercury which sounds totally awesome (in a derpy way) and both manga fans and fans of the original anime agree that it's nice to watch, so that probably means... something.

I'll probably end up hating it, but it means something.

One oddity for me about Sailor Moon vs. Sailor V is that the way characters look in the Sailor Moon manga actually kind of creep me out at times. I wasn't ever going to read the Sailor Moon manga most likely anyways, but I thought it would also be a problem with Sailor V and it isn't. Sailor V is more messy and a little more simple, but for some reason, it just looks better to me. Good luck with both of those, .

13 minutes ago, majestic said:

on the other hand, I keep expecting Myao to be the victim of some fan service, what with her clothing and all, but she never is

If I recall correctly, there is maybe one or two slightly questionable instances throughout the show - feel free to keep a counter. Can't really even "compete" with Sailor Moon in that area (which isn't bad by way of framing...but nevertheless has many instances that are between slightly and moderately questionable).

21 minutes ago, majestic said:

Curious because the song isn't so much different from K-On!'s, at least structure wise. I don't really like the vocals or the brass instruments though.

Yeah, I like the outro much better - this one has no energy or personality.

[majestic]

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

57 minutes ago, majestic said:

Tamoko in Hiragana (たもこ)

Sure, .

Figures.

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Left to my own devices, I do tend to do that at the beginning of stuff...and then go and try other stuff for some reason, even if I love it. I need something or someone pushing me forward to consistently stick with something in particular.

Mhm. Don't I know what you mean, except not exactly with entertainment that I like. It's everything else that's a bother at times. Deadlines make things so much easier to achieve. Leave me something to do and tell me I can do it whenever I feel like, that's probably going to be never.

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

One oddity for me about Sailor Moon vs. Sailor V is that the way characters look in the Sailor Moon manga actually kind of creep me out at times. I wasn't ever going to read the Sailor Moon manga most likely anyways, but I thought it would also be a problem with Sailor V and it isn't. Sailor V is more messy and a little more simple, but for some reason, it just looks better to me. Good luck with both of those, .

Are you saying that you don't like the beautiful giraffe look?

Spoiler

I don't either.

Spoiler

But the Unicorn does!

Spoiler

This is what I think Unicorn of War looks like.

The biggest problem is, I think, going to be able to get through the Black Moon arc. That was the worst in Crystal. At least until... uhm. No, that's wrong. There is no worst in Crystal, every season including the movies are all equally the worst, as impossible as that is.

Might just get the live action thing out of the way first. It's also taking up the most space on my hard disk, and my disk space is slowly running out. I really need an upgrade here. Meh.

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

If I recall correctly, there is maybe one or two slightly questionable instances throughout the show - feel free to keep a counter. Can't really even "compete" with Sailor Moon in that area (which isn't bad by way of framing...but nevertheless has many instances that are between slightly and moderately questionable).

I haven't noticed anything yet, but we'll see. So far there was a whole bunch of guy underwear to be seen though.

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I like the outro much better - this one has no energy or personality.

I've seen worse intros though. The chipmunk song from the second season of K-On! probably takes the cake.

Finished watching Tamako Market, episode four. Tamako's sister Anko hides in a closet when a certain boy from her class hears her yell to sell special holiday mochi they made. Unlike with Shiori (who appears in this episode but acts normally) Anko is nine, so that's somewhat excusable. There's a running gag in the entire episode that Tamako is about as dense about her and other's feelings as Sakura in CCS is.

I really wish that I would like these characters more than I do. Then I'd actually enjoy watching this, instead of just noting that it's not bad but just not clicking with me. Dera keeps being funny, but I doubt that'll work for 8 more episodes and a movie.

Edited January 8, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

36 minutes ago, majestic said:

This is what I think Unicorn of War looks like.

Looks like he's trying to do the Pillar Man workout, this doesn't bode well for your eventual battle to the death.