Anime and Manga - I won’t allow your bones to stay on this planet. I will banish your evil soul.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss

Didn't watch it for five whole minutes before I decided I ain't watching this ****.

[LadyCrimson]

Kotaro Lives Alone (Netflix version)
---one of those shows where I was initially not all that into it - and it requires a certain level of simply accepting that a 4-5 year old could actually live "alone" and be that self sufficient, maybe it's possible, what do I know about kids - but there are elements that I was curious about so I kept watching. Mostly comedy, slice of life, sometimes more than one mini-story within each short episode (often connected eventually) with some poignant moments here and there. Overall I'd say I ended up liking it.

[InsaneCommander]

Spy x Family 14

Anya runs against time to help her father. But there is one huge problem: "how many minutes is thirty minutes???"
 

Spoiler

Anya disarming the bomb:

 

[majestic]

First two episodes of 骸なる星 珠たる子.

If you put that title into your favorite translater of choice, it'll come out as corpse star; pearl child, or something vaguely similar. Wikipedia states a rough translation as Corpse of a Star; A Precious Child. It is not all too far off,  骸なる means to become a corpse, 星 is star, 珠たる means 'pearl grade' (equals precious, more or less) and 子 is child. 骸なる is missing a grammatical marker, but titles and lyrics often don't do grammatically fully correct, that's not too surprising.

It follows Shiina, a 12 year old girl, who finds Patrick at the bottom of the sea after swimming out a little too far and almost* (footnote in the spoiler) drowning. She bonds with the little bugger while using it as a flying surfing board and sees a dragon rising from the sea. Does that make sense? Yeah, thought so.

The animation in this series is somewhat limited, mostly static backgrounds with only a few movements of the characters involved. It adds to the atmosphere of the anime, which is drawn rather colorfully and looks fun, yet is absolutely unnerving, eerie and oppressive. Something is just wrong, and the way the show handles sound and music just adds to this. Sound effects are terribly loud in the mix, as is the music, and I'm fairly certain it is intentional.

Shiina keeps Patrick, and names it Hoshimaru, a combination of star and circle, because stars are round. Things it does inclue, when it is not a flying surfboard, consuming insects by absorbing them with its skin, biting a chunk out of Shiina's breakfast while nobody was paying attention, and its primary function, creepily staring into the void:

Leedlee leedlee leedlee lee. Well, not exactly, the design is older than Sponge Bob. The anime adaptation is newer though.

The shot above also shows that there isn't much in any decent quality source to be found, or at least, not very readily, if there are any.

Look, I'm sure there's nothing absolutely wrong with this thing, right?

Anyway, the writer of the anime adaptation is Chiaki J. Konaka, who is an active contributer to the Cthulhu Mythos and worked on great series like Princess Tutu, Futari Ecchi and Magic User's Club.

Interested yet? Well, he also wrote and worked on Devil Lady, Hellsing, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze and an episode of Vampire Princess Miyu, which now that I looked it up makes perfect sense in explaining why the series, so far, is the way it is.

Spoiler

*Or potentially really drowing. Someone has to be the corpse, or has to become the corpse, anyway, right? Why else would this have the title it does. I'm calling red herring on Shiina surviving her swimming accident and Patrick being the corpse star. Besides, the title does not really state that the star is a corpse, just that a star becomes a corpse. That does imply dying, but primarily it is a change.

 

[InsaneCommander]

36 minutes ago, majestic said:

Look, I'm sure there's nothing absolutely wrong with this thing, right?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

38 minutes ago, majestic said:

First two episodes of 骸なる星 珠たる子.

If you put that title into your favorite translater of choice, it'll come out as corpse star; pearl child, or something vaguely similar. Wikipedia states a rough translation as Corpse of a Star; A Precious Child. It is not all too far off,  骸なる means to become a corpse, 星 is star, 珠たる means 'pearl grade' (equals precious, more or less) and 子 is child. 骸なる is missing a grammatical marker, but titles and lyrics often don't do grammatically fully correct, that's not too surprising.

It follows Shiina, a 12 year old girl, who finds Patrick at the bottom of the sea after swimming out a little too far and almost* (footnote in the spoiler) drowning. She bonds with the little bugger while using it as a flying surfing board and sees a dragon rising from the sea. Does that make sense? Yeah, thought so.

The animation in this series is somewhat limited, mostly static backgrounds with only a few movements of the characters involved. It adds to the atmosphere of the anime, which is drawn rather colorfully and looks fun, yet is absolutely unnerving, eerie and oppressive. Something is just wrong, and the way the show handles sound and music just adds to this. Sound effects are terribly loud in the mix, as is the music, and I'm fairly certain it is intentional.

Shiina keeps Patrick, and names it Hoshimaru, a combination of star and circle, because stars are round. Things it does inclue, when it is not a flying surfboard, consuming insects by absorbing them with its skin, biting a chunk out of Shiina's breakfast while nobody was paying attention, and its primary function, creepily staring into the void:

Leedlee leedlee leedlee lee. Well, not exactly, the design is older than Sponge Bob. The anime adaptation is newer though.

The shot above also shows that there isn't much in any decent quality source to be found, or at least, not very readily, if there are any.

Look, I'm sure there's nothing absolutely wrong with this thing, right?

Anyway, the writer of the anime adaptation is Chiaki J. Konaka, who is an active contributer to the Cthulhu Mythos and worked on great series like Princess Tutu, Futari Ecchi and Magic User's Club.

Interested yet? Well, he also wrote and worked on Devil Lady, Hellsing, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze and an episode of Vampire Princess Miyu, which now that I looked it up makes perfect sense in explaining why the series, so far, is the way it is.

  Reveal hidden contents

*Or potentially really drowing. Someone has to be the corpse, or has to become the corpse, anyway, right? Why else would this have the title it does. I'm calling red herring on Shiina surviving her swimming accident and Patrick being the corpse star. Besides, the title does not really state that the star is a corpse, just that a star becomes a corpse. That does imply dying, but primarily it is a change.

 

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Anyway, the writer of the anime adaptation is Chiaki J. Konaka, who is an active contributer to the Cthulhu Mythos and worked on great series like Princess Tutu, Futari Ecchi and Magic User's Club.

Interested yet? Well, he also wrote and worked on Devil Lady, Hellsing, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze and an episode of Vampire Princess Miyu, which now that I looked it up makes perfect sense in explaining why the series, so far, is the way it is.

You have my attention. Though I guess I should ask: is it terrible?

11 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Spy x Family 14

I don't think I can even start to think about watching the show until all of it is out. That at least means I'll forget whatever spoilers I read by then, at least.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

You have my attention. Though I guess I should ask: is it terrible?

The VA for Shiina has a rather annoying tendency to yell in an ear-piercing manner (might be a slight exaggeration, though) and the second episode features one of your favorite character archetypes, s-s-shy, slightly st-t-t-uttering Akira who talks somewhat silently and who...

Spoiler

...is revealed to also have a Patrick, although one with a different color scheme.

Aside from that, the main impression I have from the first three episodes is like watching a slowly unfolding eldritch horror show set in a rather colorful and otherwise fairly normal school setting. Shiina goes to school, there's a Kendo class where she meets Akira, she cooks, goes to a restaurant and talks to her Patrick, who does very little else than just creepily stare at her. Everything just feels wrong, in the same way authors describe their eldritch horrors. Unknowable, reality bending.

Spoiler

Of course, there are also the scenes where Akira just runs off and wants to cut her veins the moment she sees that there's more than one of the creepy things, namely hers, and as she tells Shiina, after bonding with the thing her senses expanded and life upended in such an unnerving manner that she'd rather be dead than fall under the influene of yet another of these creepy abominations, which Shiina happily takes as THAT SOUNDS AWESOME, why is my Patrick different?

Although the soft piano music underlying some scenes is an inversion of the trope just as well. It is slow piano music all right, but it's not soft. Generally, this series is hell on the ears.

Is it terrible? Yes, most definitely. Just probably not in the way you asked. I have no idea where it is going with whathever it is, but it's probably going to continue being first team all American creepy, like D1ck Cheney:

Heh.

Here's the opening:

It's cute and fuzzy until Shiina and Patrick turn into Godzilla like monstrosities and attack each other in the city.

Uhm, yeah. Magic eight ball says: Unclear. I have no idea what is going on yet, no idea where it will go and no idea if I like it - let alone anyone else.

Edited October 9, 2022 by majestic
Man, really, I'm all for censoring D1ck Cheney, but really word filter, get a grip.

[InsaneCommander]

10 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I don't think I can even start to think about watching the show until all of it is out. That at least means I'll forget whatever spoilers I read by then, at least.

I'll be more careful with the spoilers. What I mentioned was vague or what was already mentioned in episode 12, but the gifs might be a different story.

[Bartimaeus]

3 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

I'll be more careful with the spoilers. What I mentioned was vague or what was already mentioned in episode 12, but the gifs might be a different story.

Nah, it's perfectly fine, especially if you use spoiler tags; I looked at them earlier today and I already don't remember what was in them, . I'm pretty good at preventing stuff from being committed to memory if I don't want it to be.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

43 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Nah, it's perfectly fine, especially if you use spoiler tags; I looked at them earlier today and I already don't remember what was in them, . I'm pretty good at preventing stuff from being committed to memory if I don't want it to be.

I don't even remember anything I did a week ago, so you can rest assured that unless the spoilers are insane, like Anya using a Behelit to sacrifice the dog and turn into a demon wearing a batman costume, I won't remember them.

The the insanity of the 2020s have destroyed my sense of time.

[InsaneCommander]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury – episode 2

More focus on the corporations, less on the school. A better direction imo, since it is more likely to lead to mobile suit battles (duels among students don't count).

Spoiler

Forget what I said before, everyone freaks out about the Gundam. Suletta is detained, questioned and expelled. And so is Miorine, who tries to run away again. The corporate guys receive a representative* from Mercury who fails to convince them the Gundam is not a Gundam. Miorine invades the meeting and challenges her father to a duel.

Miorine should make up her mind about marrying Suletta. This is a Gundam anime and romances don't usually end well. Don't flirt with danger.

*Apparently Suletta's mother in a very ineffective disguise (for the audience).

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[uuuhhii]

couldn't watch any season of gundam for more than 2 episode.would recommend broken blade instead

[Sarex]

New chapter of Berserk.

Spoiler

We may finally find out what the core of the sword is.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, Sarex said:

New chapter of Berserk.

  Reveal hidden contents

We may finally find out what the core of the sword is.

 

I knew it was gonna be sad, but I wasn't emotionally prepared for that.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, KP From Another World said:

I knew it was gonna be sad, but I wasn't emotionally prepared for that.

Being Guts is suffering.

[Bartimaeus]

"I'm a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms."

Gunsmith Cats (1995), featuring Rally (left) and May (right) are two gunsmiths who maintain and sell guns in the city. But actually, they're bounty hunters who have a propensity for bending the law a little too much themselves and end up, against their best interests, getting roped into helping the feds.

For some reason, these two also live together and like to bicker about everything. The first episode (of a 3-part OVA) was genuinely quite fun. I've had this on my to-watch for a couple of years now, but my history in trying out old action-oriented shows/movies has been largely disappointing on the whole, so I'd grown skeptical of it over time. Hopefully the next two will be good as well.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Spy X Family 14

Anya can't read a clock.

[InsaneCommander]

Spy x Family 15

Anya goes to the park.
 

Spoiler

The dog joins the family. Anya tries to mention this to approach Damian but it doesn't work.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Spy x Family 15

Anya faces made me laugh too much with this one.

[InsaneCommander]

13 hours ago, KP From Another World said:

Spy x Family 15

Anya faces made me laugh too much with this one.

This episode was probably the best in terms of her reactions.

Spoiler

On 10/15/2022 at 11:00 AM, KP From Another World said:

Spy X Family 14

Anya can't read a clock.

[InsaneCommander]

Gundam: the Witch from Mercury 3

 

Well, this turned into a harem anime fast. Suletta defeats Guel again and he proposes to her. She is still engage to Miorine. And there are at least two other guys interested in her.

[Gorth]

I'm trying to find some time to watch some anime again. Between work and Pathfinder WoTR I'm struggling with the 24 hours a day limit

I'll probably pick up season 2 of Tensura Nikki (That Time I got Incarnated as a Slime) because I really enjoyed the first season and the side stories taking place in parallel with the main show.

[InsaneCommander]

17 hours ago, Gorth said:

I'm trying to find some time to watch some anime again. Between work and Pathfinder WoTR I'm struggling with the 24 hours a day limit

I'll probably pick up season 2 of Tensura Nikki (That Time I got Incarnated as a Slime) because I really enjoyed the first season and the side stories taking place in parallel with the main show.

You won't be disappointed. This is one of the animes that don't change much in the second season.

[Bartimaeus]

Probably only of interest to majestic, but on the NTSC DVD for the 4 episode Vampire Miyu OVA, I found a sliver of a video (literally 0 seconds long) that played about 15 distinct frames back-to-back. I'm unsure what the point of this video sliver was, but it is useful as a point of comparison. Here is one such frame:

I remembered seeing this in the show, in the final episode. Interestingly, this tiny video sliver is encoded progressively so the frames are not butchered by interlacing and telecining like everything NTSC always is...but here is the same shot from the actual full episode on the same NTSC DVD:

How something is supposed to look versus how it actually looks, huh? Reality sure can be harsh.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Bartimaeus