Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 292 - The G Stands for Gear

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm going to make a dedicated effort to keep up with things this season, and I started by watching quite a few first episodes. I'll talk about them in the order I liked them from best to worst.

The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch: a young-looking witch who is actually 200 years old finds and raises an abandoned human baby who grows up to look like a sexy lady by age 16. So, a loli mother and MILF daughter. The first episode of this show was incredibly stupid... and I loved it. I'm a big fan of stupid humor. When a summoned phoenix started competing with a literal houseplant for the title of "best familiar", it was perfection. I like the dynamic between the mother and the daughter too. They're both really devoted to each other (usually in a sweet way, sometimes in a kinda obsessive way, but it was always funny so it's fine)

Stardust Telepath: an incredibly shy girl who wants to meet an alien meets a classmate who is an alien. Looks like this will be the cute girls comedy of the season, and I am here for it. Shy girl is shy, alien girl is energetically weird, and both of them are cute. What's not to love?

Tearmoon Empire: a bloody revolution led a princess to the guillotine, but then she was sent back in time to her younger self for a second chance. I always like this kind of "change the bad future" story. And, if the OP is anything to go by, this show won't take itself too seriously despite the downer beginning. Can the princess resist her bratty nature and save the empire (and her head)??? I'm excited to find out.

Shy: a Japanese superhero whose power is... crippling shyness. Well, at least you're not the stereotypically drunk Russian superhero. The main girl's shyness was keeping her from saving people, but she kind of got over that already so I don't know where the story goes from here. Still, the first episode did a good job setting her up as a character.

I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I'm glad this show is about being, like, the bad kind of naughty and not the sexy kind of naughty (at least not yet). A demon wizard rescued a girl who'd been accused of a crime she didn't commit. She's actually a perfect saint, so the demon wizard wants to corrupt her by doing such naughty things as... gasp, eating cake for dinner! This show definitely won't be amazing or deep, but it's kind of cute so far.

The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess: This was easily the show I liked the least. A powerless vampire is forced to pretend to be a powerful general, otherwise her subordinates will kill her and take over. It's an okay premise I guess, I just don't think it'll be enough to carry the show for a whole season. I'm also not a huge fan of the creepy maid. Still, I didn't hate it. Maybe this show will surprise me.

The other shows I plan to watch will be I'm in Love with the Villainess, The Apothecary Diaries, and Frieren. I was going to watch Undead Unluck too but I don't think it's available in Canada yet. Not sure yet what I'll pick for my tenth show us UU isn't an option.

https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/announcements/2023/10/11/crunchyroll-launches-24-7-anime-channel-in-the-us

UshiromiyaEva posted...

https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/announcements/2023/10/11/crunchyroll-launches-24-7-anime-channel-in-the-us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAkvM-rttM

TV channel? What are those? Is that the same thing as those compact discs we used to have?

Seriously, I have the subscription already. I'm not paying cable prices to get my anime fix.

Also Tubi already has multiple anime channels on its 24/7 streaming service. Including dedicated One Piece, Naruto, and Pokemon channels.

I don't think this is a cable TV channel. They're listing things like Freevee and Roku TV as places to watch it on. I don't know what Freevee is but it has free in the name!

Freevee is the new name for the IMDB TV app

Strife2 posted...

TV channel? What are those? Is that the same thing as those compact discs we used to have?

Seriously, I have the subscription already. I'm not paying cable prices to get my anime fix.

Dude, it's still a streaming service not something through cable TV.

Get ready for around-the-clock anime, because Crunchyroll announced the launch of a new 24/7 channel. Anime is on the menu all the time on the Crunchyroll channel, which will be available first via Amazon Freevee, LG Channels (available on LG Smart TVs), The Roku Channel and VIZIO WatchFree+.

Heh, okay, I'll stick with 16Bit Sensation as well. Was skeptical about the change in premise but this is also entertaining.

Really good season so far, enjoying everything I planned to watch and some things I didn't.

Watching:
Frieren
Vexations of the Vampire Princess
Stardust Telepath
SHY
Ancient Magus Bride S2P2
Dead Mount Death Play P2
16Bit Sensation
(continuing) Hirogaru Sky Precure

Tentative:
100 Girlfriends

Once they air:
Apothecary Diaries
Pluto

Reserving judgement because I haven't seen the original:
Adult Precure

Really solid list.

I finally finished Undead Murder Farce. I praised the first eleven episodes in an earlier post as a good supernatural mystery show, but, honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it. Watching the last two episodes only deepened that feeling. The first arc with the vampire castle was great, but the next two sucked. Both the second and third arcs set up an interesting mystery, carefully examined the clues... and then it just turned into an action show. The action was decent with all the different monsters and people with weird powers. In a different kind of show, I would've liked it a lot more. In a show like this, though, I wanted them to focus on the mystery. I hated the evil bad guy group. And I really hated the second, different bad guy group. Every time either one of them showed up, the show switched gears instantly from a mystery into an action show with a lot of pointless death and destruction. Then by the end they'd solve the mystery and I'd just look over at the fresh pile of corpses and wonder why the original mystery even mattered in comparison. The end of the third arc was also absolute garbage. Sure, you killed a bunch of innocent people including children and an artist who wasn't even in the village when you were wronged, but lol we're letting you go anyway. Ugh, what a crappy anime.

Finished The Faraway Paladin S1, and it is really a case of the positives outweighing the negatives. The fight scenes and animation were unimpressive, but I enjoyed the concepts of magic, blessings, and spirits. I don't think there is a single character that I liked individually, but their bonds and interactions resonated with me emotionally. I love that the first character Will meets after leaving his home isn't some waifu that falls in love with him or serves as an object for him to lust after (though I do ship Will x Meneldor). Since I have HiDive for the Fall season, I figured my next off-season show will be from there, so I picked After the Rain

On-season, I'm really enjoying it so far. Quite a few shows I'm actually looking forward to each week.

Too Early Seasonal Rankings:
Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess
Hoshikuzu Telepath
Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions
Overtake
Shy
Jujutsu Kaisen S2
I'm in Love with the Villainess
Firefighter Daigo
Shangri-La Frontier
Under Ninja
Faraway Paladin S2
Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch(es)
Kingdom of Ruin

Drops:
Migi and Dali
Frieren
My Daughter Left the Nest and Became an S-Rank Adventurer
Tearmoon Empire
Girl and Her Guard Dog
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (fucking hell this title)
Our Dating Story
My New Boss is Goofy

Still some other shows I want to try, but my plate is already pretty full. Only show I want to mention for now is Kingdom of Ruin. It's one of my lowest rated shows of the season - even below shows that I've dropped. It is over-the-top "edge for the sake of edge", and I don't think it is good...but I do want to see episode 2.

SockoressKnight posted...

It is over-the-top "edge for the sake of edge", and I don't think it is good...but I do want to see episode 2.

Isn't this the way of it lol.

I fucking hate it but I really want to see what's in the next episode.

Dragon Ball Daima

STEP INTO THE GRAND TOUR GRAND TOUR GRAND TOUR

dragonball gt

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/8/AAeolZAAE7R8.jpg

We Want Moro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYcrmsdZuyw

Chibi

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/1/AAGQrIAAE7S7.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/9/AAGQrIAAE7S5.jpg

"Cute Battles"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/0/AAeolZAAE7UA.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/1/AAeolZAAE7UB.jpg

New reaction image just dropped.

that needs to be animated

I've got no doubt Choujin X will get a lavish production eventually.

Hopefully the adaptation goes better than Tokyo Ghoul's did.

I started watching Dark Gathering, a show that started last season but is still ongoing. I'm only four episodes in, but, man, this anime is great so far. It's about a guy who attracts dangerous spirits, which always terrifies him. Then he teams up with his friend's cousin, a little girl who excels at fighting evil spirits. I'm always a fan of supernatural shows like this. What really puts Dark Gathering over the top is how well it balances the spookiness with jokes while still telling a compelling story. It isn't especially scary, but it uses horror elements to build a stellar atmosphere. There's a lot of humor in how over-the-top the main guy's terror is, which is especially funny when contrasted with the excited glee of his friend and the little girl who love hunting evil spirits. It's genuinely impressive how many jokes this show has while still managing to remain tense, and the way it's building up the characters has been great so far.

I also started watching I'm in Love with the Villainess. I'm enjoying this one quite a bit too. It definitely isn't the deepest story (I laughed at how nonchalant the main girl was about being isekai'd), and the romance is kind of shallow too, at least so far. Still, I really like the dynamic between the main girl and the villainess. I'd be happy with an entire anime about an ineffectual bully getting progressively more creeped out at how much her target is enjoying it. It looks like this is building an actual relationship, though, and I'm excited to see how that plays out.

SEASON RANKING SO FAR (I'm caught up in everything except Dark Gathering, still have to start Frieren and obviously Apothecary Diaries hasn't started yet)
Dark Gathering
The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch
Tearmoon Empire
Stardust Telepath
I'm in Love with the Villainess
Shy
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess

Watched episode 2 of Kingdom of Ruin, and man, what a waste time. Easily the worst show I've seen so far. I want my money back.

Man, Undead Unluck is just tons of fun.

And the OP slaps.

https://youtu.be/V9baXCr--yw?si=5bFdesgHRmUNmnTg

I don't usually read episode descriptions on streaming websites, but I'm glad I ended up seeing this one for Dark Gathering episode six. I really hope this anime keeps up the quality because it has been 10/10 so far. This description is legit spooky. It's the kind of thing I'd expect to find in an SCP article where the text is being taken over by the ghost.

"Camping was to be a reprieve, but the bridge is calling, the bridge is calling, the bridge is calling, the bridge is calLING, THE BRIDGE IS CALLING, THEBRIDGEISCALL-"

caught up on the last....*counts*.....9 months of Ippo

oh baby

Man how the fuck did that episode of Frieren look that good?

I'm not even talking about the butter smooth dragon fight, they animated like 1 million frames of Fern sitting her ass down in a chair.

Not to downplay the dragon fight if course.

https://twitter.com/dotdotKam/status/1712964034981482819?s=19

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

caught up on the last....*counts*.....9 months of Ippo

oh baby

Yeah there has been some cool stuff. Just ready for the retirement to end.

Well, everyones horny for Nanami now

Someone had to fill in for Gojo

Do we know how many episodes Faraway Paladin S2 is supposed to be? The banner picture implies this season is going to include the current arc the manga is on (which is GREAT), but I never thought it would get that far.

I never actually watched the S1 even though I love manga. Seeing the current arc get animated might make me hype enough to watch it though.

SockoressKnight posted...

I love that the first character Will meets after leaving his home isn't some waifu that falls in love with him or serves as an object for him to lust after

or was it

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Man how the fuck did that episode of Frieren look that good?

I'm not even talking about the butter smooth dragon fight, they animated like 1 million frames of Fern sitting her ass down in a chair.

Not to downplay the dragon fight if course.

https://twitter.com/dotdotKam/status/1712964034981482819?s=19

Frieren anime exceeding my lofty expectations as a huge fan of the manga

Might be a top 10 all time anime for me

CoolCly posted...

Do we know how many episodes Faraway Paladin S2 is supposed to be? The banner picture implies this season is going to include the current arc the manga is on (which is GREAT), but I never thought it would get that far.

I never actually watched the S1 even though I love manga. Seeing the current arc get animated might make me hype enough to watch it though.

S1 adapted the first two books, and books 3 and 4 have the same arc name that the anime does, so I assume it'll cover those two. Don't think there's any reason they couldn't be covered in the same number of episodes as S1. Plus, it's a pretty action-packed arc, and action is usually faster on screen than on page.

Hmm, I suppose so. I have a hard time anticipating how much content translates for monthly series. It just feels like it's been SOOOOO long since the manga covered the events that S1 ends on that a mere 13 episode season couldn't possibly cover all that ground, but I suppose it isn't actually that many chapters....

Trying out Last Exile. The visuals and music are pretty damn good, and the old school military guns and planes give it a unique feel for an anime. The kid characters are a touch annoying (mostly Lavie), but something tells me these two are going to get their shit kicked in and the show is probably going to be pretty grim and serious. I'm liking it a lot so far.

oh ya Ryokugyu has arrived

same voice actor as Grimmjaw from Bleach

I finally started watching Frieren. It is indeed very good. I like this kind of story. Calling it slice-of-life doesn't quite fit, but it definitely has a similar vibe in terms of appreciating the little things. So far, it has also managed to pack a lot of emotion into those little things. Frieren is an interesting character. I'm enjoying watching her journey and how it relates to her nostalgic memories.

Dark Gathering is still my favorite airing show, though. I've watched up to episode twelve, and now I'll probably wait for a few more episodes to come out so I can binge them all at once. Unless this anime really drops the ball in the second half, this will easily be a new top 10 show for me, maybe even top 5. It does such a great job at setting up a genuinely spooky atmosphere, but it also knows when to have fun or insert a joke to balance things out. I always love it when stories can so deftly mix two contrasting genres. The overall plot it's setting up has been really compelling too. Who knew a little girl catching evil spirits like they're Pokemon could be so wonderful. Yayoi and Eiko are both amazing characters... especially Eiko. Without spoilers, I'll just say she's a refreshing take on a certain character archetype that I've always had a soft spot for. With spoilers, for anyone who doesn't care, Eiko is the best yandere ever.

I won't talk about Dark Gathering again until it's over because I know endless praise can get annoying. I've just been really loving it so far, and I hope at least a few people here will check it out! It's on HiDive, so I'm afraid it'll go under most people's radar. I wasn't very active in the topic when last season was starting, but, checking the archive website, I'm literally the only person on B8 who has mentioned it! DG deserves better than that.

There are 5 girls in the 100 Girlfriends OP and ED, so I highly look forward to watching all 20 cours of this show.

For some reason I have the sudden, inexplicable urge to watch Rokka no Yuusha again.

Most of the fucking way through Castlevania fucking Nocturne.

It's been pretty fucking decent so far, though I'm not too fucking sure about the fucking dialogue, though I can't put my fucking finger on what my fucking problem is just fucking yet.

fuck

Glad to see Frieren doing well. I was worried that it wouldn't vibe with the general anime audience.

Olrox should be the best character in this show, but the voice acting from this regular actor I've never heard of that they've got here is so terrible that I just can't take it seriously.

What? His voice is great! One of the better ones in Nocturne for sure.

Also he started out as a voice actor before doing live action roles haha.

Naw I'm not about it at all. I love the character, but it just sounds like someone who isn't taking the role seriously at all.

Although the dialog isn't helping. "Just read the fucking book". This script feels like that ProZD skit where he's comparing official subs to fansubs.

I binged Frieren today. It's very good! I love the low-stakes pace of it.

Is the season done?

nah, only 6 episodes done of 28

Ok. I might wait for it to end to binge

I would say there's, like, a 99% chance the anime stops after chapter 58 as it stands.