Anime and Manga - I respect the first human to have eaten a mushroom

[majestic]

I am unsure but I think I watched and absolutely loved an Isekai anime recently. What was it called? Hum. Right, The Vision of Escaflowne.

Just saying. You know. Like, just… saying.  

[BruceVC]

41 minutes ago, majestic said:

I am unsure but I think I watched and absolutely loved an Isekai anime recently. What was it called? Hum. Right, The Vision of Escaflowne.

Just saying. You know. Like, just… saying.  

Majestic I have excellent news for you guys who are active on this thread. I have never really watched these violent cartoons that you guys enjoy but one of my  brothers recommend Vinland Saga and I really enjoyed it

I then started watching Beserk and that was even better, Guts is my hero. I like the dark adult theme of Berserk 

The bad news is I dont have time to be active on this thread but I am going to be watching these violent cartoons going forward 

 

[majestic]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

I am unsure but I think I watched and absolutely loved an Isekai anime recently. What was it called? Hum. Right, The Vision of Escaflowne.

Just saying. You know. Like, just… saying.  

Anyway, to reiterate this point that I hastily made on my phone, The Vision of Escaflowne contains these elements: Isekai, a shounen dolt male lead, the western equivalent of a shounen dolt as supporting character (i.e. a chivalrous knight) and a cat girl. The cat girl got a tail and real cat ears and all, not a girl in a cat costume. In spite of all that and some pacing and storytelling issues, I'd put it into my top 10 anime list, if I had one.

Not that this wasn't clear from all the posts I made about it, but anyway. Just in case any one of you is looking for a new anime to watch. Coz, yeah. dunno, I got that impression for some reason.

Edited July 13, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984).

The titular character feels better integrated with her world and community within the first fifteen minutes of this film than Ashitaka ever does throughout the entirety of Princess Mononoke, giving her (and us) a reason to actually care about the ensuing events, and really, that's all that needs to be said...but I'll say more, both positive and negative. While she and Ashitaka may both be Mary Sues that basically never have incorrect impulses or decisions, she at least doesn't always perfectly succeed at what she intends to do, and nor are there ego-stroking sequences where she clearly goes beyond what is reasonable or possible (think Ashitaka disarming and knocking out both Lady Eboshi and San in the middle of their battle in the most "I am the shonen protagonist" way possible, followed by him getting shot in the chest and continuing to carry San to safety with barely a stumble, then with him lifting up a million pound gate with one hand even while losing gallons of blood, concluding with him finally collapsing only after he and San are safe so that she can take care of him...it's all so incredibly eye-rollingly male, it just about makes me want to puke). Nausicaa also doesn't say stuff or express herself in a way that makes me think she's an alien like Ashitaka frequently did...not to mention actually having somewhat of a personality, which he critically lacked (probably deliberately in order to make him a better viewer stand-in, but even if that's the case, I still did not like it).

Nausicaa is rougher around the edges: the animation is a little more inconsistent (and to me, not as appealing for the most part even if it's still great), the sound design is more crude by far, the silly tiger-lemur thing shouldn't have been in the film because it adds very little to it or Nausicaa herself (actually, it probably takes away from Nausicaa because she's already shown to have a knack for communicating with animals by that point, so adding on even more by having her instantly tame the little bugger was a bit too much, particularly when it kind of just stuck around pointlessly), the film feels just a little lackadaisical and/or off-kilter at times (it's made in the 80s...), and really, Princess Mononoke seems like the tighter and more focused film in general...but Nausicaa and how the movie directs itself around her isn't the rotten apple that spoils the entire thing, so let me once again make it very clear that I value characters above literally everything else by saying that Nausicaa handily wins the comparison against Princess Mononoke almost entirely because of that, . Now if for some reason that doesn't matter to you (or if you can accept and/or identify with Ashitaka for what he is, which presumably a large percentage of people are able to do considering that he was clearly designed to be a viewer stand-in even as unfortunately male-coded as he and the movie are...on top of lacking any kind of personal perspective to give him some kind of cause or motivation for anything), then I can understand liking Princess Mononoke more. It's a shame too, because I like the setting, a lot of the themes, and the ideas of characters in Princess Mononoke, but...I've watched Princess Mononoke three times now, and it just doesn't come together for me; Nausicaa may start off slow, but it does.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Bartimaeus
decensor

[Sarex]

For me it was pretty much the opposite. The beginning of the movie, where the world building was established was fairly interesting and had my attention, but the latter half completely lost me and dragged on.

 

Seems it's the 25th anniversary of Princes Mononoke.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220713-princess-mononoke-the-masterpiece-that-flummoxed-the-us

Edited July 14, 2022 by Sarex

[HoonDing]

[Bartimaeus]

10 hours ago, Sarex said:

For me it was pretty much the opposite. The beginning of the movie, where the world building was established was fairly interesting and had my attention, but the latter half completely lost me and dragged on.

Hm, I think it's probably my favorite concluding act to a Hayao Miyazaki movie - not that that's saying much, given that I tend to not care for the endings of his movies. I mean hell, for his movies, Princess Mononoke is probably my second favorite final act after Nausicaa. I like Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service all at least a bit more than Princess Mononoke, but all of them have pretty anticlimactic final acts that left me somewhere between slightly disappointed and quite cold (with Howl's Moving Castle being the worst, which is especially egregious given how much I adore the first 2/3rds of that film - it would probably be my second favorite Ghibli movie after Whisper of the Heart if not for how much the final act makes the movie implode). Well, our opinions almost never align (and in fact, much more often they're diametrically opposed than not), so I suppose it's only natural we can't agree here, .

On a side-note, I can't help but feel there's a pretty natural comparison of Nausicaa to Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan: Nausicaa feels like the more adult (or more precisely, treating the viewer more like an adult), more concise, and more satisfying version of their respective stories. If you like the longer form of a TV show combined with a more lighthearted tone and an ensemble of characters, I guess there's value to be had in Future Boy Conan...but I'll take one Nausicaa over the entirety of the cast of Future Boy Conan, thank you very much.

11 hours ago, Sarex said:

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220713-princess-mononoke-the-masterpiece-that-flummoxed-the-us

Thanks for the article - some interesting background for the film there, and also I did not realize that Ghibli films have a history of failing that badly in the States. I'm kinda surprised they keep trying if it keeps going so badly, .

[Sarex]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Thanks for the article - some interesting background for the film there, and also I did not realize that Ghibli films have a history of failing that badly in the States. I'm kinda surprised they keep trying if it keeps going so badly, .

I mean Mononoke failed spectacularly in Serbia too. People were bringing their children in to watch it and promptly exiting when arms and heads started flying. It was missadvertised as a children movie.

[Amentep]

14 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Thanks for the article - some interesting background for the film there, and also I did not realize that Ghibli films have a history of failing that badly in the States. I'm kinda surprised they keep trying if it keeps going so badly, .

Until Mononoke, most of Miyazaki's work didn't get released in the US.  Pre-Ghibli Castle of Cagliostro had a very small 1980 release but until it had a bigger 90s release was probably better known to US audiences due its use in the Cliff Hanger laserdisc game, and Nausicaä had a hugely edited release that cut 22 minutes out of it and was released as Warriors of the Wind in 1985 (and is the reason Miyazaki is adamant about no cuts)   Ghibli's Totoro was released in 1988 for airplane viewing on US-Japan trips and I think Grave of the Fireflies also got a very small festival release that year.  Both got a second distribution through VHS releases in 1993 (Troma distributed Totoro theatrically but I can't remember if Totoro played locally or not - I didn't see it if it did).

My understanding is that post-Mononoke, the direct-to-home releases of Kiki's Delivery Service (and to a lesser extent, Castle in the Sky) did really well for Disney and led to their continuing with translating the Ghibli back catalogue (but not for theatrical release).  Lassiter championing Spirited Away probably save the deal, ultimately, and the awards nominations didn't hurt as they could be used to promote the home releases which, AFAIK, did decent.

I'm not surprised to hear Weinstein scuttled Mononoke's release schedule, I had to hunt a showing down, traveling to an intown art theater* to see it on an exclusive week engagement.  That week and that theater was the only place locally it ever played.  Compare that to Akira which was released in the US in 1989 and was shown in some of the bigger chain theaters locally, albeit for an equally limited time frame (but I think Akira lasted more than a week).

*the original definition of "art theater" theater, and not a porn theater using the 'art theater' name, to be clear

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Amentep said:

the original definition of "art theater" theater, and not a porn theater using the 'art theater' name, to be clear

I have never heard of that tbh. I guess by the time I was.....interested in such things it had mostly moved online.

[Bartimaeus]

9 hours ago, Amentep said:

Nausicaä had a hugely edited release that cut 22 minutes out of it and was released as Warriors of the Wind in 1985 (and is the reason Miyazaki is adamant about no cuts)

"Sick" poster art, though:

[Amentep]

I wouldn't mind seeing someone making an animated film based on that poster.

[majestic]

Komi can't interest majestic, episode 24, which means end of the season.

Well, that is over for the time being. This apparently has a 7.8/10 on IMDB, which once gain makes me question the sanity of the world's population at large, or mine. It's entirely possible that I am the miscreant here. Anyway, the series has consistently been best when it has done away with the more egregious side characters, and I'm sad to say that unlike @KP wants Blue Velvet, I also incude Najimi in this. Najimi started out as a somewhat okay character, but they've been driving me nuts with the voice acting. But Najimi is still a long way better than Insane Stalker Girl, or Dog Girl, or Dragon Power Girl.

Maybe I should really watch this with the sound turned off. The new additions this season were okayish.

Anyway, the last couple of episodes were okay, which is somewaht high praise when looking at how bad the series can be. The one thing that consistently bothers me is how Komi regresses every time she manages to open up a little, I suppose for the sake of the story, because there's preciously little reason for Komi to not regularily talk to Tadano or even call him at this point in time. She already talked to him, and the barrier is broken.

I also think the 'Tadano and Komi 好き each other storyline' has very much run its course. Please, stop that, do something with the setup in case you continue this into the inevitable third set of episodes, considering how popular the show is and how little it has to cost to make (just look at it). Netflix isn't really in any position to be picky at the moment, anything that keeps subs will be thrown at customers.

Kinda feel like I want to chime in on the ongoing movie discussion, but it's late, and I'm kind of tired, and there's  another post to make. Ideally, I'll be able to spend some time on a film tomorrow, or maybe continue with Texhnolyze.

[Sarex]

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

I also think the 'Tadano and Komi 好き each other storyline' has very much run its course.

It does progress, but very slowly. The last chapter was particularity out there. Idk, I like the manga. The side characters are just that, side characters. Some are interesting and some not so much. I guess it's easier to go through it all in a manga, especially considering it's usually very short form. I quit the anime after a few episodes out of frustration, so there is that too.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Sarex

[majestic]

7 minutes ago, Sarex said:

It does progress, but very slowly. The last chapter was particularity out there. Idk, I like the manga. The side characters are just that, side characters. Some are interesting and some not so much. I guess it's easier to go through it all in a manga, especially considering it's usually very short form. I quit the anime after a few episodes out of frustration, so there is that too.

We (the general we in the thread, that is, not us two) talked about that briefly before, when it comes to Sailor Moon Crystal. It is, by far and large, faithful to the manga, and the series is just terrible. I would not call the manga good (far from it, it's by far and large bad, a mess and really iffy at times and I do not understand anyone who prefers it over the first anime adaptation), but even then it is still a lot better than Crystal. Just reading and looking at drawings is a whole lot less offensive than being assaulted by animation and sound too.

So yeah, it is entirely possible for the manga to be better than the anime. Also, uhm, stay way from Sailor Moon Crystal.

MOON TIARA ACTION! or something.

Maybe @Bartimaeus still has the image where Usagi looks like a praying mantis alien.
 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Komi can't interest majestic, episode 24, which means end of the season.

Well, that is over for the time being. This apparently has a 7.8/10 on IMDB, which once gain makes me question the sanity of the world's population at large, or mine. It's entirely possible that I am the miscreant here. Anyway, the series has consistently been best when it has done away with the more egregious side characters, and I'm sad to say that unlike @KP wants Blue Velvet, I also incude Najimi in this. Najimi started out as a somewhat okay character, but they've been driving me nuts with the voice acting. But Najimi is still a long way better than Insane Stalker Girl, or Dog Girl, or Dragon Power Girl.

Maybe I should really watch this with the sound turned off. The new additions this season were okayish.

Anyway, the last couple of episodes were okay, which is somewaht high praise when looking at how bad the series can be. The one thing that consistently bothers me is how Komi regresses every time she manages to open up a little, I suppose for the sake of the story, because there's preciously little reason for Komi to not regularily talk to Tadano or even call him at this point in time. She already talked to him, and the barrier is broken.

I also think the 'Tadano and Komi 好き each other storyline' has very much run its course. Please, stop that, do something with the setup in case you continue this into the inevitable third set of episodes, considering how popular the show is and how little it has to cost to make (just look at it). Netflix isn't really in any position to be picky at the moment, anything that keeps subs will be thrown at customers.

Kinda feel like I want to chime in on the ongoing movie discussion, but it's late, and I'm kind of tired, and there's  another post to make. Ideally, I'll be able to spend some time on a film tomorrow, or maybe continue with Texhnolyze.

Najimi is starting to wear a bit on me, but I find that they're the main driver of things in the anime. Without them, Komi and Tadano would sit around paralyzed while the Komi stans terrorize them.

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

It does progress, but very slowly. The last chapter was particularity out there. Idk, I like the manga. The side characters are just that, side characters. Some are interesting and some not so much. I guess it's easier to go through it all in a manga, especially considering it's usually very short form. I quit the anime after a few episodes out of frustration, so there is that too.

It probably is better in the manga.

46 minutes ago, majestic said:

We (the general we in the thread, that is, not us two) talked about that briefly before, when it comes to Sailor Moon Crystal. It is, by far and large, faithful to the manga, and the series is just terrible. I would not call the manga good (far from it, it's by far and large bad, a mess and really iffy at times and I do not understand anyone who prefers it over the first anime adaptation), but even then it is still a lot better than Crystal. Just reading and looking at drawings is a whole lot less offensive than being assaulted by animation and sound too.

So yeah, it is entirely possible for the manga to be better than the anime. Also, uhm, stay way from Sailor Moon Crystal.

MOON TIARA ACTION! or something.

Maybe @Bartimaeus still has the image where Usagi looks like a praying mantis alien.
 

On the other hand, JoJo is faithful to the manga and it's awesome.

 

[InsaneCommander]

Samurai Champloo 22-23

The first one here was kind of boring, they meet some guys that are digging a treasure. But episode 23 (the baseball match) was hilarious.

Three to go.

[Bartimaeus]

10 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Samurai Champloo 22-23

The first one here was kind of boring, they meet some guys that are digging a treasure. But episode 23 (the baseball match) was hilarious.

Three to go.

Every good anime has a baseball episode. See: this, Sailor Moon, and Steven Universe, .

11 hours ago, majestic said:

Najimi

This show has the weirdest art style - there are times where I actually quite like how the aesthetic and character designs look, and there are other times where it makes me want to get the flamethrower out. I hope Najimi is completely wacko and insane (but in a fun way), because their design certainly suggests they should be.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

and there are other times where it makes me want to get the flamethrower out.

Those time are usually the best moments in the manga.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Komi Can't Communicate: The End of Komi-san (until next year)

Stalker girl put Komi's leggings on her head like a mask and tried to run off. This is better than the normal because it's more apparent (to the other characters) just how insane the stalker is. The rest is a blur tbh, a lot of the gags are similar, even within an episode. I like the male-version of Komi, but like a delinquent instead of an idol. I can't remember most of the other characters beside their gag. Oh and I changed my mind, Tadano's sister is going to be the serial killer instead of Najimi.

[InsaneCommander]

Overlord 4.2

Albedo goes on a diplomatic mission and when she attends a ball, a stupid noble decides to court her. Make your bets on how long he has left to live.

 

I guess Overlord is actually a horror story, at least from the point of view of the people in the new world. In the beginning of the anime you could still see bad people getting punished, but as time passes it seems the casualties of innocents will increase.

 

Spoiler

Princess Renner visits an orphanage where all the children love her and… Jesus Christ, I don’t want to imagine what will happen there later.

 

Overlord 4.3

Wow. After two “boring” episodes just to set things up, this one had a lot going on.

Ainz wanna know what Demiurge is planning, but asking him would reveal that Ainz is not a genius supreme being, so he accepts to remain ignorant. What could possibly go wrong? Iirc Demiurge is taking care of some “happy farms” and considering how much respect he has for humans, it can’t be a good thing. Specially with nobody checking on him.

 

Spoiler

Albedo finally gets a kiss from Ainz (on her cheek) and can’t stop crying. Well, that is a side of her you don’t see often.

 

The Slane Theocracy’s leaders discuss the Sorcerer Kingdom. Hilarious to see them slowly realizing what they are dealing with. “Why did so many monsters appear in the Kingdom at the same time?” “Could they be working together?” And they have seen only a fraction of Nazarick’s npcs. “Could it be a 7^th tear spell?” Apparently they don’t know there are spells up to the 10^th. “Should we try to get Momon and the Sorcerer King to turn on each other first?” Good luck with that, since they are the same person.

 

Spoiler

Their astrologer witnessed the battle at the end of season 3 and is now literally cowering under her pillow, terrified of Ainz’ powers.

Meanwhile, in the Baharuth Empire the elite of the military is resigning after seeing the massacre. The emperor says they can’t sleep and shake in fear all night. Oh, and he is pulling his hair in despair.

The emperor meets “in secret” with two of the Slane’s cardinals to plot against the Sorcerer Kingdom, while watching a fight in the Colosseum. And then they announce the challenger of the day: Ainz Ooal Gown himself. He flies to acknowledge the emperor and notices the Slane people. The cardinals leave (and probably go change their underwear) and the priests who remain can’t be convinced that it wasn’t a set up.

Not clear if Ainz was there at that exact time by chance, but his remark about coincidences and the obvious panicked behavior of the emperor would be enough to hint something wrong was happening, in case it wasn’t already known.

The list of dead men walking grows fast.

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[Sarex]

Uncle from another world episode 1. First let me start this off by saying that I'm pretty sure this show will only appeal to massive weebs, as it plays off of all the standard tropes of manga/anime. As the title says it's mostly focused on the isekai genre, but there is plenty of room for other tropes. I made it through ep1 without any fast forwarding which is rare for me.

As for the story

Spoiler

A guy is hit by a truck when he was a teen and he ended up in a coma. He woke up 17 years later to meet his nephew. Straight off the bat he claims that for all those years he was living in another world, which he then confirms by using magic. This wins his nephew over who sees an opportunity to make money of him. How do they do that? By making youtube videos...

The uncle is a turbo nerd.

So far an interesting story and concept. This could go very bad very quickly, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Sarex

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Uncle from another world episode 1. First let me start this off by saying that I'm pretty sure this show will only appeal to massive weebs, as the show plays in to all the standard tropes of manga/anime. As the title says it's mostly focused on the isekai genre, but there is plenty of room for other tropes. I made it through ep1 without any fast forwarding which is rare for me.

As for the story

  Reveal hidden contents

A guy is hit by a truck when he was a teen and he ended up in a coma. He woke up 17 years later to meet his nephew. Straight off the bat he claims that for all those years he was living in another world, which he then confirms by using magic. This wins his nephew over who sees an opportunity to make money of him. How do they do that? By making youtube videos...

The uncle is a turbo nerd.

So far an interesting story and concept. This could go very bad very quickly, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

That looks so terrible, yikes.

On 7/18/2022 at 4:25 AM, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Stalker girl put Komi's leggings on her head like a mask and tried to run off.

Eh, she also gave Komi another chocolate, one shaped like her naked body and yelled "LICK YOUR FAVORITE PART OF ME!" at Komi for everyone to hear. If anyone doesn't know by now, they're willfully obtuse.

On 7/17/2022 at 12:23 PM, Bartimaeus said:

Every good anime has a baseball episode. See: this, Sailor Moon, and Steven Universe, .

Jasper's on Neptune!

Technically, Sailor Moon had a softball episode. Hey don't look at me, I don't know the difference. I'm sure there are some, but it both looks like someone's batting a thrown ball, a lot of people are just standing around and the games take ages and nothing much happens.

Spoiler

It's a softball game because Seiya throws an underhand ball, not an overhand one. It's the single most obvious difference between softball and baseball.

Now for a more serious reply, the Steven Universe episode had more character development as it advanced and closed off a certain chapter in Garnet's, well, life, while the Sailor Moon one is mostly pure hilarity. Well, Usagi does catch a ball in the end, but that's nowhere near the same.

My quality is pretty bad, but please, click me!

On 7/17/2022 at 12:23 PM, Bartimaeus said:

This show has the weirdest art style - there are times where I actually quite like how the aesthetic and character designs look, and there are other times where it makes me want to get the flamethrower out. I hope Najimi is completely wacko and insane (but in a fun way), because their design certainly suggests they should be.

Najimi is, like @KP wants Blue Velvet already said, pretty much there to serve as an impetus for Komi and Tadano to leave their comfort zone. The biggest problem is that the show never does anything worthwhile with that, as everything that feels like character and relationship development doesn't spring from their antics, but from Komi and Tadano being in der comfort zone and edging out of it. Just the two of them. Najimi is just there for the "plot" of Komi wanting to find one hundred friends. Tadano's sister, who is only in the show for like one and a half episodes, does more for that than Najimi, who is in pretty much everything.

Aside from that, yeah, Najimi is a bit of a Minako style character. Except not really good. Like everything else in Komi can't communicate.

Voice acting from hell rounds it off (particularily Najimi). Like nails on chalkboard style. Ugh.

[Gorth]

(Doing a happy dance)... the new episodes of Made in Abyss second season has started to be released (edit 3 episodes out so far afaik)

Old trailers for the new season...

 

 

[uuuhhii]

3 hours ago, Sarex said:

Uncle from another world episode 1. First let me start this off by saying that I'm pretty sure this show will only appeal to massive weebs, as it plays off of all the standard tropes of manga/anime. As the title says it's mostly focused on the isekai genre, but there is plenty of room for other tropes. I made it through ep1 without any fast forwarding which is rare for me.

As for the story

  Reveal hidden contents

A guy is hit by a truck when he was a teen and he ended up in a coma. He woke up 17 years later to meet his nephew. Straight off the bat he claims that for all those years he was living in another world, which he then confirms by using magic. This wins his nephew over who sees an opportunity to make money of him. How do they do that? By making youtube videos...

The uncle is a turbo nerd.

So far an interesting story and concept. This could go very bad very quickly, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

read some of the manga

all the trope was nothing new

isekai are so overdone even parody of parody are decade old trope now

but execution was decent