Anime and Manga - ゴゴゴゴ

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

A magical girl show...that is "surprisingly enjoyable"...that isn't binge-worthy...for majestic? Does not compute, .

Quick reply before a longer one (at least depending on my mood and motivation):

Yes, that might seem like a contradiction, but there are elements in this I don't really enjoy. I don't hate them, so they're generally not a problem, unlike say the way Magic User's Club makes me feel when they ruin a legitimately great episode with a stupid gay joke, but when an episode ends on one of the elements then it kind of doesn't make me want to press "play next" regardless of how enjoyable the other two thirds of the episode were.

My motivation to continue wasn't there after the moralizing "be a good productive member of society" episode I complained about. The next episode was pretty fantastic in some parts, but felt derivative* as a whole. Honoka, Nagisa and Nagisa's little brother visit an aquarium and then the bad guy appears. Most of the episode is about Nagisa and her relationship with her younger brother, which is very much a "constant teasing but still real love" - kinda like Rei and Usagi if they were actually sisters.

It feels like I'm watching a weird hybrid between Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, with none of the elements as fantastic as in either of the two. That leaves me with episodes I enjoy watching, find occasionally great, that also manage to make me laugh (so, bonus points even), but there's one thing they do not yet do: Give me that magical feeling of really, really, really wanting to see more episodes even though I should go to bed already or do something else, like it happened with Steven Universe's later seasons, Sailor Moon from after Jadeite to the end of S or the first arc of Cardcaptor Sakura. 

 

*With like 873 episodes or something, I expect the series will eventually become derivative not only of its forebears, but also of itself at some point. It would be really surprising if it didn't.

[uuuhhii]

that make up season of precure are pure horror show

avoid at all cost

[majestic]

9 minutes ago, uuuhhii said:

that make up season of precure are pure horror show

avoid at all cost

Thanks for the warning, unheeded as it will end up being. Guess every longer running show has its SuperS, huh?

[majestic]

Double post, but this needs an emphasis of a sort:

Episode 12 was absolutely fantastic.

Spoiler

Man, what wasn't great. The new villain is smarter than Shounenpads with Mullet and, well, actual rocks are smarter than Dumb-as-Rocks was. She appears as streetfood vendor selling chocolates and gives Nagisa free samples to casually steal her transformation device (and Mepple with it) without her noticing, then proceeds to put Honoka under an illusion that almost makes her give up her device (and Mipple with it). Nagisa notices that her device was stolen by the chocolate lady.

Nagisa was trying to find Honoka and told her grandmother that if Honoka comes home she should watch out for a dangerous chocolate lady. The old woman isn't confused at all, just says it sounds serious. Honoka originally found Mipple and the transformation device in the storage shed of her grandmother's house in the first episode, meaning that her grandmother potentially knows what it is and what is inside (there've been other bits and pieces so far that hinted at her grandmother knowing more than she lets on). Her grandmother shows up and talks her Honoka of the illusion, then confirms that suspicion by being able to utilize Mipple's power in some limited fashion. Villain lady turns all the bystanders into possesed zombie-like creatures.

The new villain lady then attacks the grandmother who afterwards "falls asleep" but interestingly enough tells Honoka exactly what she needs to hear in her sleep (uh-huh). Mepple escapes, the two transform, say their post-transformation catchphrase ("Return to the darkness from which you came!") and find out that the villain lady did an Eudial and is just gone, because why bother fighting.

Nobody said superhero catchphrases actually need to be cool, right? Especially not if your main attack is called PRETTY CURE MARBLE SCREW.

 

Cure Black and Cure White perform PRETTY CURE RAINBOW THERAPY to clear the posession of the innocent bystanders, then sit at the park bench and wonder how long it'll take until they're found out by everyone else. Nagisa and Honoka suspect that her grandmother knows, at least, but Honoka hopes that she really slept and believes everything was a dream.

They watch the setting sun, and Honoka wishes that things will stay the same for a while yet.

Meanwhile, back at home, Honoka's grandmother is seen entering her house, telling the family dog that she'll make him dinner too, then stops for a bit, and does this:

Woof, what's the old lady point to? Woof, woof.

I sure hope this isn't the dinner you just promised me!

I guess she likes that catchphrase more than I do, but that's fine. I wonder where this is going, if anywhere at all. Now it'll be disappointing if they never follow up on it.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Orbital Children 1: Netflix got me to watch it and it's actually good?

So far it has explained a little through exposition conversation. Not the worst way to go about it, but I'm increasingly favorable to stuff that doesn't try to explain everything. People use something in their hands (not sure if it's an implant or a thin glove) that acts like a smartphone and there is a very unsubtle google analog, there's stuff like that which will feel familiar. In terms of animation and color it's bright without being like Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop and sort of whimsical in parts. @Bartimaeus may still want to gouge his eyes out, but it's not particularly offensive to me.

I don't want to talk about plot much because I don't really know what it is yet, and given what @Sarex said and the fact someone involved with Evangelion is involved, I can tell this is going to get very weird.

So a soft recommendation from me based on the start. Let's hope it's a fun ride.

[majestic]

20 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

I don't want to talk about plot much because I don't really know what it is yet, and given what @Sarex said and the fact someone involved with Evangelion is involved, I can tell this is going to get very weird.

"Someone" is putting it mildly considering it is Mitsuo Iso, key animator of little projects like Magnetic Rose, End of Evangelion, Perfect Blue and Only Yesterday.

Sigh. *click*

[Bartimaeus]

I watched the first episode a while back and it was okay, but it didn't really grab me, probably because I didn't like the characters. Very angry shonen protagonist boy, twitch.tv stream-my-entire-life girl and her little twerp of a brother, a weak Ayanami-esque girl, and ambitious secret agent boy...all in some EPIC/DRAMATIC SPACE STORY. Eh, didn't really feel it.

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

The first five minutes sure were an all-out assault on my senses for some reason. The combination of Iso's trademark jerky animation and the weird depth this sometimes has makes my head spin. I hope this is going to be turned down a notch or two soon because otherwise that's going to be problematic moving forward. PAs speaking over characters with double lines of subtitles on screen just add to the overly convoluted feel of everything.

I think I'll watch that one on the TV, the computer screen is definitely too close for comfort for this. Back to an episode or two of Futari wa Pretty Cure.

Edited February 5, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

40 minutes ago, majestic said:

"Someone" is putting it mildly considering it is Mitsuo Iso, key animator of little projects like Magnetic Rose, End of Evangelion, Perfect Blue and Only Yesterday.

Sigh. *click*

I watched it 16 hours ago and didn't bother to look before I posted. I am once again POLNAREFF tier dumb.

40 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I watched the first episode a while back and it was okay, but it didn't really grab me, probably because I didn't like the characters. Very angry shonen protagonist boy, twitch.tv stream-my-entire-life girl and her little twerp of a brother, a weak Ayanami-esque girl, and ambitious secret agent boy...all in some EPIC/DRAMATIC SPACE STORY. Eh, didn't really feel it.

 

If it didn't want to make you do some self-mutilation, then that's a good sign.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

I think I'll watch that one on the TV, the computer screen is definitely too close for comfort for this. Back to an episode or two of Futari wa Pretty Cure.

It's getting harder to not make per episode posts to be honest, but not for the reasons I usually do. I'm beginning to really enjoy this since the dumber villains are gone. I mean I liked it before, but now it's slowly getting really good. Not quite good enough to understand how this could have spawned 900 episodes, but maybe we'll get there by the end.

Spoiler

Episode 13 has a mysterious transfer student who is magically better at everything than the other jocks. He likes talking with Nagisa and was a little weirded out when Honoka didn't fawn over him like all the other girls. He's the younger brother of the Evil Chocolate Lady(tm) from last episode. He's interested in getting to know the two girls that keep beating up his fellow villains. Not going for any Clark Kent style disguises for the Cures was a good idea, and it sets Futari wa Pretty Cure a little apart, which is a fresh breath of air that's pretty much needed.

Because at the end of the day, when you take Usagi and Sakura and send them through The Fly's teleporter you get Nagisa (just with playing lacrosse instead of being a cheerleader), and do that to Tomoyo and Amy and you'll end up with Honoka, except Honoka doesn't obsessively stalk Nagisa and film her all the time, nor study as much... and it still feels like a Sailor Moon setup with the recurring side character parts and some main character traits from Cardcaptor Sakura.

The two magical girl pet thingies were also noticably less... annoying in the last two episodes. They still -mipo and -mepo every sentence, but at least they stopped hugging each other and going LOVU LOVU LOVU and BRING ME TO MIPPLE! all the time. Counting my blessings here. Heh.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Well, you may not be following the terms and conditions of watching Pretty Cure, but I will...halfway, that is. For every Pretty Cure post you make, I may only respond with exactly one tangent of thought - it is simply the right thing to do for a show that has 900+ episodes and 30 movies that you will presumably write approximately 5,000+ paragraphs over the next year or two for, .

Is Tomoyo...like, an anime character archetype? Her, Honoka, and Mugi all look very similar - not strictly in terms of physical appearance, mind you, but rather their expressions and mannerisms. I made one quick search for Honoka and it was immediately clear that she was the Tomoyo-like character just from a few screenshots.

[majestic]

29 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Well, you may not be following the terms and conditions of watching Pretty Cure, but I will...halfway, that is. For every Pretty Cure post you make, I may only respond with exactly one tangent of thought - it is simply the right thing to do for a show that has 900+ episodes and 30 movies that you will presumably write approximately 5,000+ paragraphs over the next year or two for, .

I got through 13 episodes with only three or so posts, that should be all right in the end, but be my guest.

29 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Is Tomoyo...like, an anime character archetype? Her, Honoka, and Mugi all look very similar - not strictly in terms of physical appearance, mind you, but rather their expressions and mannerisms. I made one quick search for Honoka and it was immediately clear that she was the Tomoyo-like character just from a few screenshots.

If so then I don't know any names for it, at least, but yes, there are definitely similarities between the three. Considering that Honoka's VA is Meiling from CCS, I expect that she was told to try and sound like Tomoyo, because... for a moment I thought that was actually really Junko Iwao. But nah, it's "just" Meiling.

Spoiler

All three also seem to be interested in girls at least in some fashion. Tomoyo most certainly is, well, duh, Mugi states as much (well more or less), although I'm not sure when exactly and if that already happened in the first season, but - slight spoiler - in the second season she tells Ritsu that she'd be a great boyfriend, which she doesn't take too kindly to and Honoka... yeah, dunno, but considering that she gets loveletters from boys she doesn't care about and spends no time thinking of any of them while Nagisa's head is in the clouds about Honoka's childhood friend that might indicate something. Or it might not, because I sense a possible romance/redemption arc with Evil Chocolate Lady's brother coming up. He was so clearly annoyed that Honoka ignored him, more or less, so that's one bit of Seiya and Usagi coming up... maybe.

Except Honoka has no prior, ah, engagement, in the fiancee sense.

 

[Bartimaeus]

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

I got through 13 episodes with only three or so posts, that should be all right in the end, but be my guest.

Eh, if there's anything I *need* to respond to, I'll just do it anyway.

16 minutes ago, majestic said:

although I'm not sure when exactly and if that already happened in the first season

It did, but in a kind of stupid and dissatisfying way - IIRC, it only manifested when two or more of the girls were fighting. Since Mugi was my favorite character, I was completely prepared to ignore how dumb of a way of showing it that was, though. I have a feeling that Sawako was responsible for writing that part of the script.

[Gorth]

Speaking of 13 episodes... finished the first episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The protagonists are now  JoJo the original JoJo's grandson and a character that was a sidekick in the first 10 episodes. We finally got a bit info about the stone mask that turned people (including Dio) into vampires. It's shortly before WWII and the German army is scouring the world for occult and mystic artifacts (Indiana Jones says hello). Turns out the mask was not unique. Somewhere in Mexico, an underground chamber had a LOT of them. All hanging around a pillar with a human like being embedded in it. With true German engineering skills, they move the man in the pillar to a test chamber and start experimenting. Long story short, JoJo (the new one, a bit of his sires power and none of his stiff upper lip) ends up at the same location when the the experiments (unexpectedly) backfires and the supreme being gets awakened from a 2000 year slumber. Being a clever boy, JoJo managed to eventually get him into sunlight, which most Dracula stories seems to agree on is bad for vampires. After the guy is completely stones, JoJo learns he was just one of several and he should go to Rome to talk to someone about the location of the next one.

 

Once I'm done with this season, I think I'm going to watch some nice, calm comedy series for a bit

 

[majestic]

49 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Eh, if there's anything I *need* to respond to, I'll just do it anyway.

What else?

50 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It did, but in a kind of stupid and dissatisfying way - IIRC, it only manifested when two or more of the girls were fighting. Since Mugi was my favorite character, I was completely prepared to ignore how dumb of a way of showing it that was, though. I have a feeling that Sawako was responsible for writing that part of the script.

More like the guy who wrote Love Live! later (and, uhm, Steins;Gate), but yeah, blaming things on Sawako is NEVER wrong.

32 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Once I'm done with this season, I think I'm going to watch some nice, calm comedy series for a bit

[Bartimaeus]

12 minutes ago, majestic said:

More like the guy who wrote Love Live! later (and, uhm, Steins;Gate), but yeah, blaming things on Sawako is NEVER wrong.

Sawako is his stupid brain-dead avatar in the show, I'm pretty sure, so it's basically one and the same.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Gorth said:

Once I'm done with this season, I think I'm going to watch some nice, calm comedy series for a bit

 

 

[Sarex]

Wut? **** you Microsoft...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

Wut? **** you Microsoft...

Damn you Bill Gates!

It's a JoJo reference from Part 2, if you search for "Stroheim Laughing" it will probably be one of the first results

[majestic]

  

On 2/5/2022 at 11:31 AM, Bartimaeus said:

How can you take everything about the original show that was good/enjoyable/different compared to the endless waves of trash that were your contemporaries...and immediately turn around and make it just like them? Is it deliberate - do you want to just make a quick buck off of an existing property...or is it just because you're a talentless hack that doesn't know how to make anything but generic trash? Directors, writers, and producers all changed between the OVA and the TV show, so I guess it could very well be either one.

I didn't look it up, how much time passed in between? Maybe they all just thought that's what the fans wanted. I mean... sounds like Ranma 1/2 all over again. Guess it would be worse if they made generic trash on purpose.

On 2/5/2022 at 11:31 AM, Bartimaeus said:

The show is pretty low-stakes in terms of action, so nothing like that ever really comes up. We're talking some minor traffic violations, getting a pregnant cat to a veterinarian during a typhoon*, and one actually semi-serious car-chase with some psychopath that tried to drive our ladies off the road for no good reason (which actually legitimately made me mad because of how insane that dude was being - that was probably the most outrageous thing that happened during the entire show). Otherwise, most of the show's serious moments were reserved for some nice dialogue between our characters.

*Whoever made this show must've liked cats, because at least one cat appeared in every episode, and the episode about the pregnant cat having birthing issues was probably the most serious episode out of them all - they were decidedly very intent on getting that cat to the vet.

How long is that follow up TV show? If it's not too many episodes then maybe watching the OVA is still worth it, because that really sounds like a nice watch.

On 2/5/2022 at 11:31 AM, Bartimaeus said:

Sounds like a pretty decent show. It's funny how *not* trying to impose that your morally ambiguous character be the "cool antihero" that somehow magically always does the correct/perfect thing with it always inexplicably working out...is actually the key part in what makes them a properly interesting and grounded antihero. An antihero doesn't need to always be perfectly justified in what they do (though their actions/behavior should at least make a sort of sense empathizable sense), and they certainly shouldn't always be supported by framing and/or the other characters.

Heh, well, when your main character looks like this:

There's no real way you'll be able to turn him into a "cool" anti-hero like, dunno, Deadpool or something, and so there wasn't even an attempt. Sure there's the occassional contrivance like when he accidentially stumbles into a bank robbery, but overall it's pretty damned good. The first episode was supposed to be a pilot to be picked up by a different TV station for a shared German/Austrian crime serial project of much lesser quality, and thankfully wasn't picked up and reworked into a standalone serial.

The reason was the thick dialect/accents. The German TV station felt like they'd need to make subtitles for the episodes. I mean, in a way, I get it, I guess.Still, turned out pretty well that way, can't complain. 

The episodes are actually on YouTube. It's mostly dialogue and character interactions, and not understanding them makes linking anything a tad, say, pointless.

Fun fact, that was actually a crime serial spinoff of a slice of life comdey TV series that had a seven year run. Which was also pretty great. And also pretty pointless, and because it's the sort of comedy that's only funny with a certain amount of cultural appreciation, it would probably fall flat even with subs. Ah, pity.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sawako is his stupid brain-dead avatar in the show, I'm pretty sure, so it's basically one and the same.

Oh, I don't disagree. I just felt the need to reiterate that I've unintentionally watched more of his, uhm, work, and it all comes with similar problems. Only, like, way worse than they were in K-On!...

[Gorth]

5 hours ago, Sarex said:

Wut? **** you Microsoft...

Maybe it's age restricted?

 

I usually get the black screens on youtube videos because the uploaders don't want Australia to have access to it (i.e. this content is not made available in for your country)

 

Edit: Then I switch from my work pc to my personal pc and use vpn. Being from Colombia or Lithuania sometimes make it easier to watch videos.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I didn't look it up, how much time passed in between? Maybe they all just thought that's what the fans wanted. I mean... sounds like Ranma 1/2 all over again. Guess it would be worse if they made generic trash on purpose.

1994 vs 1996. The OVA ended with a colored sketch drawing of the two characters with "THE END" under them, so I don't think it was really intended to go any farther.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

How long is that follow up TV show? If it's not too many episodes then maybe watching the OVA is still worth it, because that really sounds like a nice watch.

47 freaking episodes, which is also how I figured it was terrible, because that's just too long for an inexplicable sequel two years after the original 4-episode show ended. So I highly doubt you'll be watching this one, .

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Heh, well, when your main character looks like this:

Yeah, tough to be your typical every day hero man when you look like that, .

8 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Maybe it's age restricted?

 

I usually get the black screens on youtube videos because the uploaders don't want Australia to have access to it (i.e. this content is not made available in for your country)

 

No, I think it's specifically an Obsidian forums thing, because I did a quick Google search and the Obsidian forums are literally the only place that someone's written about that error (marelooke and Azdeus back in 2021).

[majestic]

Nah the forum software blocks embedded links unless you accept them when you’re in the EU.

Sarex isn’t so that’s a bit weird though.
 

Accept them means allow them in the cookie settings for the forums.

Edited February 6, 2022 by majestic

[Sarex]

8 hours ago, Gorth said:

Maybe it's age restricted?

 

I usually get the black screens on youtube videos because the uploaders don't want Australia to have access to it (i.e. this content is not made available in for your country)

 

Edit: Then I switch from my work pc to my personal pc and use vpn. Being from Colombia or Lithuania sometimes make it easier to watch videos.

I need to accept analytics, social media and advertising cookies, or one of the 3.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

I need to accept analytics, social media and advertising cookies, or one of the 3.

Social Media would be my guess, and welcome to the EU Serbia, lol.