Lurker > Robazoid

Miyazono Kaori (Your Lie in April) [Aniplex]
Rinoa Heartilly (Final Fantasy VIII) [Bandai]

Art Glass Rooster
Gizmo (Gremlins)
Paragoomba

I'm glad you're still enjoying Dark Gathering. I originally asked you to stick with it to episode 6 because, in my view, that's where it gains a direction. The early episodes had lots of just them stumbling across spooky ghosts but now they have a goal. Now I just have to hope you enjoy it enough to stick with it since you're past the point where you can freely drop it!

kateee posted...

and whaaaaaaaaaaa confession at the end of E6?!

This is also secretly the reason why I wanted you to get to ep 6 too, lol

kateee posted...

is this the perfect woman?

Yes, Eiko is the perfect woman and yes, she has the best expressions.

Jess

Miyazono Kaori (Your Lie in April) [Aniplex]
Takeya Yuki (School-Live) [Di molto bene]
Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII) [Play Arts Kai]

Chester Cheetah
Timber

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Lisa

Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII) - https://myfigurecollection.net/item/2264765
Takeya Yuki (School-Live) - https://myfigurecollection.net/item/331679
Jess (Butareba) - https://myfigurecollection.net/item/2101050
Miyazono Kaori (Your Lie in April) - https://myfigurecollection.net/item/527496
Wabash (Calgary Cannons baseball mascot bobblehead) https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/hVwAAOSwO3lm1eVR/s-l1600.jpg

I had to use an Ebay picture for my Wabash joke nom for the mascot of a Canadian baseball team that no longer exists, but I'll take a real picture of all of those at some point

Chester Cheetah
Timber

kateee posted...

ok roba i can see the elements in play that would make it your 2nd fav show. curious about your previous comment that said it took until like ep 5 or 6 for it to hit for you (or something like that)

I just think episode 6 is where it really starts coming together, but I loved it from the start! It's a perfect mix of horror and comedy, like some parts are genuinely unsettling but then it finds ways to make you laugh too and the two moods never contradict. I love Yayoi and Eiko.

The main two are in college, not high school!

kateee posted...

dark gathering

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/30ee908a.jpg

Chester Cheetah
Timber

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Animegataris spoilers:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/51baf6f3.jpg

I beat the game I was playing so I'm back to watching anime. I'll do a full ranking of shows this season a bit further into it but I got caught up on three currently airing shows.

-Sanda is great. It's quirky and weird in the best way. It's set in a distant future where no one celebrates Christmas anymore, but the main dude is descended from Santa and he can turn into the jolly big guy under certain conditions. It's just such a bizarre idea but they lean into it with such zest and include a lot of strange characters and concepts. The animation style feels really unique too. I'm enjoying this one a lot after two episodes.

-The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess is also great. It's a low budget adaptation, but in a way that almost works for it because the gags hit harder with a rushed pace and cheap feel. The premise is that the main girl is isekai'd into a story she wrote in middle school, but instead of being the self-insert MC she's the villainess who everyone hates. And... man, this concept really appeals to me. I love how she keeps blaming her past self for writing stuff into the story. She also has to navigate all the overdone tropes that she used, plus all the weird fetishes she was working through at that young age. I wrote a book in middle school and, let me tell you, I would not want to be sucked into that story. The low budget works because this is just a terrible story she wrote in middle school and now she's stuck in it. The main girl has the same voice actress as Bocchi the Rock and, man, she's going all out in this role and really adding to the humor. I'm enjoying this a lot after two episodes.

-Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right, sadly, is an awful anime after one episode. It's about a vampire who has trouble sucking blood so the main dude let's her practice on him. And... like, that could be a good premise if it was done well. But it's not. Everything about this show annoys the hell out of me, starting with the main dude. He's such a boring cardboard cutout. He has boring background character eyes and he literally doesn't even have a mouth, which is distracting as hell. The main vampire lady is a generic moeblob, like literally she shrinks into a tiny version of herself when she sucks blood and it's just... creepy. The main dude gets off on thinking he's her mama as she does it. Following that metaphor, that means they're comparing this blood-sucking to breastfeeding and that just creeps me out. Easily one of the worst shows of the season but I'll give it a few more episodes because I hate myself.

Hell yes, I'm glad you stuck with Animegataris. It truly does become insane in the best way possible.

I have an amazing Animegataris screenshot but it's from near the end so I can't post it yet. Man, what a great series though. It was one of the first anime I ever watched so it was perfect for me, as an anime noob just like Minoa who was entering that wonderful world. Then I rewatched it years later and it was even better because I caught so many references that I missed the first time. That anime also goes some amazing places.

Bumping the topic, async this weekend

I've been playing and loving a game called Abiotic Factor. It's inspired by the original Half Life, right down to the graphics, but instead of playing as superhuman Gordon Freeman in the HEV suit, you're one of the nameless scientists fighting for your life in a research facility being invaded by portal aliens. It's a great mix of survival crafting open world, but with a really tightly designed location that you have to fight your way through while gathering materials and researching upgrades.

Violet Evergarden sucks. I'm also not a fan of Hyouka. I do like things from KyoAni but they make some real stinkers too.

Bumping topic once in case you want to continue

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Timber

These are the ones I've seen. I watched Haibane Renmei after I did my ranking but the others were all on there. I'm enjoying reading your reactions to the others too though. Your enjoyment of it made me more likely to check out WIXOSS

Hyouka - -1/22
86 Eighty-Six - 0/11
Odd Taxi - 0/13
Haibane Renmei - 1/13
Demon Girl Next Door - 0/12
Dark Gathering - 0/25
Animegataris - 0/12

I'm interested in your thoughts on seven of the anime, none of them have been rolled yet though lol

Watched another first episode:

-A Mangakas Weirdly Wonderful Workplace honestly kind of sucked. I went into this thinking there was no way it would be as bad as Comic Girls (another anime about a mangaka that I disliked) and it wound up having the exact same major problem. The main girl is so annoying. The entire first half of the episode was just her shrieking unfunny jokes and repeating herself over and over. I genuinely liked her background artist helper who was just unfazed by all the nonsense, but not even she could salvage these awful scenes. The editor lady is at least tolerable because she wasn't screaming the whole time, but her jokes were more or less a repeat of the mangaka's jokes and none of it was funny. I never thought I'd find another character who annoys me as much as Kaos from Comic Girls did, but the main girl in this one is close. I guess anime mangaka ladies are just stereotyped as annoying for some reason. The only reason I'll stick with this is because I want to see if the side characters hinted in the OP can save it.

Finished more first episodes:

-Mechanical Marie is a about a rich guy who has assassins after him. Since he doesn't trust people, he gets a robot maid named Marie... but Marie is actually a human only pretending to be a robot to placate him. Hilarity ensues. I enjoyed this one well enough. Marie being a stoic human who is just kind of going along with things led to some funny moments, and I like the contrast of how the main dude acts with people vs how he acts with (what he thinks is) a robot. The production quality wasn't great, but this season is shaping up to be surprisingly weak so this is one of the standouts so far.

-Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family is about two scientists who made a super strong robot little girl, and she views them as her mother and father. This means they have to go along with being a family even though the two scientists are awkward tsunderes who can't admit they like each other. I think whether a person likes this or not will come down to their tolerance for tsunderes, because man is that ever most of this show. Still, I enjoyed it. Alma is cute. She has lots of practical knowledge about the world but not much wisdom, so she applies it incorrectly or awkwardly at times. The two scientists had a fun dynamic.

-Dad is a Hero, Mom is a Spirit, I'm a Reincarnator is about... well, what the title says. A hero married a spirit and had a daughter who is (pointlessly) isekai'd. Her cheat skill is that she can alter matter to do anything, so if this ever has any drama it'll be about people. And I'm honestly worried this could go in a terrible direction. It hinted at court politics that I just know will bug me if that becomes the focus, and the end of episode one introduced a profoundly annoying character. Then again, the family dynamic between the main three was cute, and it could be good if it focuses on that. I can see this show either being surprisingly decent or absolutely awful.

Season Ranking So Far
-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days
-Kakuriyo S2
-This Monster Wants to Eat Me
-May I Ask For One Final Thing
-Mechanical Marie
-Pass the Monster Meat, Milady

-My Friend's Little Sister Has It in for Me
-Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family
-My Awkward Senpai
-Shabake
-Dad is a Hero, Mom is a Spirit, I'm a Reincarnator

-A Wild Last Boss Appeared
-Touring After the Apocalypse
-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
-Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota
-Let's Play

Hunnigan, nooooo

Chester Cheetah (Cheetos)
Smarf

Ingrid Hunnigan
Lisa Trevor

Hello Kitty
Timber

I'm slowly working through my backlog too.

I finished A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof. It was pretty good! It was impressive how it kept introducing unique, interesting characters only for them to die in like ten seconds for a gag. The chemistry between the main two was the main selling point, and it was great. It struck a nice balance between having them get closer and undercutting moments where they should have gotten closer for comedic effect. It had really interesting direction too, lots of odd cuts and angles in scenes that other shows would have framed in a typical way. Overall, a good anime to get back into the hobby with.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Crunchy switched to a new super shitty sub system, it really blows yeah.

It's just odd because, while all the subs on new shows are worse now, for some reason for this one episode they were gigantic.

Anyway, more first episodes watched:

-My Friend's Little Sister Has It in For Me has potential. It's about a boring guy who has to deal with teasing from his friend's little sister. I liked the sister, she's basically a gremlin who keeps hassling him in fun ways. I also like how they're preemptively avoiding certain avenues of drama that are played out. Like, the main dude's friend outright says he'd be cool if the main guy just dated his sister. That's oddly refreshing, I was expecting him to be all 'grr, stay away from my sister'. I'm not saying this will be an amazing show or anything but I enjoyed the first episode. It's setting up a neat dynamic between the characters too that has potential to fall apart in hilarious ways. Has lots of fanservice shots too.

-Touring After the Apocalypse feels like someone wanted to do their own Girls' Last Tour but they had no idea what made GLT work. This tried so hard to be poignant or exciting and, in my opinion, it failed on all counts. I mostly found it boring. In the first episode of GLT, they found some old chocolate rations. And it was a big deal. The two girls savored them and played around with each other with them. In this show's first episode, they found some old chocolate rations and it was just, like, 'yay, chocolate'. I dunno, it didn't work for me at all.

-Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota is the worst premier of the day. It's about a stoic girl and a guy who reacts really strongly to everything. The guy tries to tease her to get a reaction but the girl is so unresponsive she effortlessly counters him. That's fine as a premise. Kind of basic, but fine. There are lots of shows that boil down to the chemistry between the two leads with a tiny twist in the formula. My real problem with it is that the production felt lazy and uninspired. It opens with the main two playing Old Maid. Stoic girl reaches for expressive guy's cards. You'd think this would be the perfect moment to show his expressiveness. It's practically a cliche it's been done so many times, but they should have showed her hand moving from card to card and his expression obviously changing from glee to worry. Like, actually show him having no poker face. Instead, what this show did was just cut to him having lost. They didn't show the expressiveness! They just told me about it! That bugged me more than it probably should.

Season Ranking So Far
-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days
-Kakuriyo S2
-This Monster Wants to Eat Me
-May I Ask For One Final Thing
-My Awkward Senpai
-Pass the Monster Meat, Milady
-My Friend's Little Sister Has It in for Me
-Shabake
-A Wild Last Boss Appeared
-Touring After the Apocalypse
-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
-Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota
-Let's Play

Bubsy
Jonesy

Chester Cheetah
Smarf

Dark Gathering is horror (at least mostly). I haven't watched it but Housing Complex C is also horror. At a glance, I'm not seeing any other horror on this list.

Shiki is a great anime too and worth a watch.

Hello Kitty
Timber

kateee posted...

ok i say that but i remembered Kokkoku OP which was not that long ago! maybe two weeks or so since i finished that. (edit: it has actually been about 3 and a half weeks)

Hell yeah, the Kokkoku OP is super catchy

Watched three more first episodes:

-Pass The Monster Meat, Milady is about a noblewoman who creeps people out because she likes to eat monster meat, but then she meets another noble who likes hunting monsters and they naturally hit it off. I enjoyed this well enough. The main guy and girl are both dorks in their own way, and it was endearing seeing them open up to each other. I doubt this will be anything super special, but it looks like it'll be a fun watch with some decent fantasy action.

-Shabake is a show about a kid in the Edo period who can see spirits. I typically enjoy spirit supernatural shows, and this one has some good vibes right from the start. I like how the supernatural elements are woven into the worldbuilding. The little troll spirits are super cute too. Still, my one complaint is that this first episode was paced really slowly. I still have almost no idea what it's going to be about. It's tagged 'Mystery' but he didn't do much to solve anything this episode. I'll stick with it though.

-May I Ask For One Final Thing is about a noblewoman who likes punching things. This first episode had ups and downs. I didn't like how lots of it was dedicated to her getting bullied by her fiance, but then it made it a lot more satisfying when she went violently nuts. Hopefully the bullying portion is over and the rest of the show can be dedicated to her beating people up. I like the main girl overall, she has a fun personality. My only real complaint is that, for some reason, the subtitles on Crunchyroll were twice as big as they usually are. It was genuinely hard to watch. Shabake, which also aired today, had normal subs, so hopefully this was just a goof and not the start of a trend.

Season Ranking So Far
-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days
-Kakuriyo S2
-This Monster Wants to Eat Me
-May I Ask For One Final Thing
-My Awkward Senpai
-Pass the Monster Meat, Milady
-Shabake
-A Wild Last Boss Appeared
-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
-Let's Play

If possible, I want to use my money to instead buy some of your time. In your anime watching topic you said you'd watch at least three episodes. I recommended Dark Gathering. Assuming you don't absolutely hate it, I'd like to parlay the $10 into whatever that amount is worth to you to watch further. For me it really clicked in episode 6 but three episodes is like an hour and I doubt $10 buys an hour of your time lol. But whatever you think is fair.

Also if you absolutely hate it after three you can still drop it, this is just if you're on the fence.

pjbasis posted...

I am completely fine with how things are going.

1 person being upset at a result isn't an negative indication of the contest.

It will be when Rebecca eventually goes out and I am the one who is upset

I may as well try #drawing too

I was glad you listened to the other Luna songs

Alyssa Ashcroft

Yay, you're starting the song ranking. I'm at least glad to see Launch and Sting low even if they're still ahead of several decent X3 ones (Blast Hornet's song is great)

MegaWentEvil posted...

Do you guys plan on doing a Maverick/stage/theme ranking for X4-X6 too?

I can't speak for Para, but I definitely don't have any plans because I haven't played them, lol. I played X and X2 to death as a child but I only played X3 over the last year and I haven't gone beyond that.

Watched two more first episodes:

-My Awkward Senpai is about a lady who works in an office. She seems to have a terse personality but really she's just unsure of herself, and that awkwardness comes out a lot while she tries to train a new hire. It was fine. It was cute seeing the contrast between her internal thoughts freaking out while her outer self is being cold and grumpy. Not much else to say, should be a fine show.

-This Monster Wants to Eat Me has potential to be great. A girl who lost her family in an accident is depressed as she enters high school, including suicidal thoughts. Then she meets a monster who wants to eat her eventually. That's... honestly great. I sympathize with the main girl's depression and the monster angle is an interesting twist. This is shaping up to be really toxic yuri, which I normally dislike, but making one of the two girls a literal monster makes it more appealing somehow. There's always the chance this could go too far or fall apart, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic and would recommend it to yuri lovers.

Season Ranking So Far
-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days
-Kakuriyo S2
-This Monster Wants to Eat Me
-My Awkward Senpai
-A Wild Last Boss Appeared
-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
-Let's Play

Maniac64 posted...

Nope. My wife really liked it and i enjoyed it as well. We are excited for the new season.

I'm glad at least one other person here is hyped for more Kakuriyo!

You just made an enemy for life!

Watched a few more first episodes of new shows this season:

-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai is an extraordinarily generic isekai. Given the title, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Man, some isekai don't even bother trying to be creative anymore. It opens with main dude sitting on a couch in his apartment and then he's instantly transported into a god's domain for the generic conversation of "yeah you died lol I'm going to make you super overpowered and send you to a fantasy land". I don't know how he died and even he doesn't seem to care. He makes the fantasy equivalent of a million dollars in the first episode so I'm not expecting any stakes in this show. Still, I like the idea of a dude wandering around gathering stuff to sell. I always find that calming in RPGs. I'll stick with it. It's inoffensive at worst.

-Let's Play is about a girl who made a video game in her spare time, released it, and then her favorite streamer trashed it. Then the streamer moved in next door for, presumably, rom-com shenanigans. I say presumably because the first episode was mostly about her getting sexually harassed at work. They don't call it that, but I have no other words to describe what happened to her in this episode. Ugh. It had so much potential in the opening moments and had a creative OP, but then it introduced her creepy manager and fell apart. She has a cute dog, and the Crunchyroll description literally says "Come for the plot, stay for the doggo". The doggo had maybe sixty seconds of screentime and did nothing special. The main girl's father was amazing though. He was in two scenes and actually made me laugh both times. I dunno, maybe it'll get better when it focuses on the streamer guy more. The ED made him seem like less of a jerk than his stream implied.

-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days is the highlight of the season so far. It's about a guy who is accident-prone and keeps getting injured, which catches the attention of his reliable seatmate. The main girl is amazing. She had A+ facial expressions and reactions for pretty much the whole episode. This is shaping up to be an adorable romantic comedy. I also enjoy this clumsy kind of humor (reminds me of Anne-Happy, another anime I loved about being accident-prone). I just hope it builds the relationship between the characters and isn't just comedy set-pieces of main dude getting injured. Still, I have high hopes.

-Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits is getting a surprise second season seven years later. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person here who enjoyed the first season (Mac gave it a 2/10 on MAL lol, guessing I won't see you coming back for this one). It was just a nice show to watch. Nice fantastical vibes, a main girl who wasn't a pushover, relaxing cooking scenes while she solves problems for people. I liked it when it aired and I liked it even more when I rewatched a few years later. Kakuriyo was the perfect binge show, but I'm also excited to get a weekly dose of it now. The first episode of season two was more of the same. Aoi cooked food and chatted with people and it was great.

Season Ranking So Far
-Yano-kun's Ordinary Days
-Kakuriyo S2
-A Wild Last Boss Appeared
-A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
-Let's Play

It was funny for me to try and find something. You picked up most of the things I would have suggested already when you read my old anime ranking recently. But there were also a bunch that seemed like good kateee shows, but inevitably you'd already dropped them after one or two episodes, lol. Keijo seems like something you should enjoy, too, but even it got dropped after two episodes.

I guess I'll go with Dark Gathering for my nomination. I watched it after my ranking that you read, but it's my new #2 of all time.

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