Board 8 > Anime and Manga Topic 202: A Dream of Summer

(+) Yeah! (+)

Oh hey I can finally check out some new shows.

Mac Arrowny posted...

I'd say it being more fun than Utena is a negative, personally (Revue Starlight never really feels like there are any stakes to anything that happens).

If I liked Utena more I'd probably agree with this, but I'm not one of those who considers it a masterpiece or anything.

The good parts are great , but basically there are significant stretches of Utena where I feel the "no stakes" complaint applies to that show, and those segments are just really boring for me to watch. This is a failure mode I see Revue Starlight as avoiding, even if perhaps not avoiding it in the optimal fashion. (Because even if nothing matters it's still fun)
---

I'm going to watch that imouto show. Probably not going to end well but let's see how this goes

Nevermind, a few minutes in and I'm already done

Oh boy where do I start with the limited free stuff available right now.

Between the Sea and the Sky
DOUBLE DECKER
RErideD
Run with the Wind
Slime
Chinese Sword anime
Jingai-san no Yome

I think thats all there is for now

Double Decker and Slime.
---

handsomeboy2012 posted...

Nevermind, a few minutes in and I'm already done

Braver than me. It's going to take everything in me to watch the first episode of Conception.
---

Conception at least manages to earn my respect for having one of the most hilariously/spectacularly awful sounding synopses I can remember.
---

Conception might be good if he actually banged them
---

I know full well I'm getting into an incest anime, but the story and animation is really bad.

Slime ep1 - this was a very good debut imo! The concept is interesting and I was hooked before I knew it. Looks like the main wont always be a slime form based on the OP/ED and I dunno if thats unfortunate or not. I kinda like the idea of him staying a ball of slime since it keeps it more unique. Definitely gonna be following this one when it ends.

pyresword posted...

The good parts are great , but basically there are significant stretches of Utena where I feel the "no stakes" complaint applies to that show, and those segments are just really boring for me to watch. This is a failure mode I see Revue Starlight as avoiding, even if perhaps not avoiding it in the optimal fashion. (Because even if nothing matters it's still fun)

Oh yeah, that's totally fair. Utena has a lot of issues. I was more saying I prefer Utena's atmosphere I guess. I don't really like the "fun" parts of Starlight.
---

Jingai-san no Yome ep1 - uh this is literally 3mins and half of it is the ending song lmao. I knew it was short, but I thought gonna be like 12mins short or even 5mins. Cant even form an opinion on something this short!

You should actually have 2 eps of Doubke Decker, swordz.
---

Rascal episode 2 shitting all over Anohana's most annoying plot hole in the first 3 minutes, lol.
---

Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary ep1 - haha holy shit I dunno if anybody is gonna watch this, but one part 3mins in was pretty cool. Its worth watching at least that short scene imo. There sure was a lot going on in this and the animation wasnt too great in some spots. All the names are confusing to me too because I just dont know how theyre pronounced. Not sure if Ill ever come back to this, but it wasnt too bad.

OK I really, really like Rascal. Probably gonna have to go up a couple slots for the season.

Also, 1 minute ED. Studio getting their damn extra half a minute an episode.
---

NowItsAngeTime posted...

swordz9 posted...

Wow how in the hell could they not get Michelle Ruff? :(

Everyone is really confused, especially since unlike Troy baker she's actually around

Who knows what the budgeteers were thinking

I do feel like it was because Rukia's portrayal in the movie is pretty young, so maybe they wanted a younger sounding voice?

LapisLazuli posted...

Michelle Ruff hasn't done a single role this year in any medium, so I assume there must be some personal reasons.

She was never even approached about it.
https://twitter.com/MichelleRuffvo1/status/1048667107947208705

And I'm sure she'll voice Kawakami whenever the P5 anime gets dubbed.
---

Run with the Wind ep1 - has nice visuals and stuff, but wow was this pretty boring. It kinda felt like it wasnt organized well either. I dunno about this one

Finished the first week. Thoughts on stuff.

Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
-I know people wanted Tiger and Bunny S2, but I dont think that show is nearly as good as its fan base think it is and I dont mind having something different by the team. Like, as far as the actual episode goes, buddy cop has not really been a major player in anime for a long time (like 80s to early 90s) where shows like Dirty Pair were in the forefront and those had fan service to fall back on too. The thing is that since it looks like this will have no real fan service (at least probably not as much as the likes of Dirty Pair and especially Gunsmith Cats) so theyll have to rely on normal things like comedy, dialogue, and things that really made something like Dirty Pair good a sense of adventure. The problem is that the dialogue and jokes were not nearly funny enough to make me think this is going to be special.

RErideD: Tokigoe no Derrida
-Even though this was previewed with 4 episodes earlier I only saw the first episode recently and like who the fuck directed this mess? There is way too much going on and the amount of focus on like anything is virtually zero. Wait this guy did Steins;Gates? This is just not good.

The Girl in Twilight
-Everyone knows this by now but this was conceptualized by the guy who did Zero Escape. I dont know how much input he had on the actual anime though. I think in general this was pretty entertaining and I like base Asuka so far. If this is anything like the creators past works I expect twists the anime. I think a big point of contention is going to be the CG and come on the CG is not the best, but in terms of what anime usually does with it its fine. Really, every year CG normally gets a little better and people still complain about it. I also want to say the actual character designs seem a bit less anime if that makes sense. Like, they dont have the moeblob girl designs Im used to, nor the updated late 90s/early 00s vibe some shows have gone for.

Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary
-This is weird, its a show based on a Chinese (Taiwan okay) game but this is a Japanese production. So like everyone is in China talking Japanese but is it really Chinese? Even without knowing any of that its very clear this is heavily Chinese influenced. That being said a lot of this was fairly predictable and the only thing that might get me to watch a second episode is because of the bossy loli empress. The voice talent is also notable on this project.

Slime Life
-This was a lot better than the description makes me think it should be. Like its well animated, funny, and for an episode where not a lot actually happens it makes me feel like I discovered the new identity as a slime with the main character. This was very well done.

Run with the Wind
-Just by looking at the design you can tell this is a production IG show and its like when did Kageyama become a runner? The actual production is obviously really good. I do feel like the start of the show is paced pretty poorly. In any case the real challenge is for this to make running not boring. Like Prince of Stride, a show about running with trick could not make running not boring. Horse girl, a show about cute girls running could not make running not boring. I dont think this show can make running not boring.

Zombie Land Saga
-That start. After finishing this episode I have no clue what to expect. I think everyone has seen this (or at least know about it) but if you havent Im not going to really say anything. I was like wtf.
---

Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl
-I was pleasantly surprised with this show in both the tone and the actual direction. It seems to be a lot more thoughtful in what its presenting than I originally anticipated. I actually think this has potential to be the best show of the season. It already looks like the characters are dealing with significant problems and the creator is trying to link supernatural with things that people would struggle with in real life.

Between the Sky and Sea
-Wow, this moved pretty fast. The main girl is fucking awesome. This show seems pretty dumb, but it was also kinda entertaining.

Bloom into You
-In terms of shows I was waiting to see, this is probably the top of my list. I think this did a great job at really introducing the main character and directing it in a way where even though it happens at the end of one episode, we can see why student council girl has started to develop feelings for her so quickly simply by dropping a few hints of personality and information. From what I know of this work, this is pretty much a lock keep for me.

A Certain Magical Index S3
-ITS BACK. Do you know how long Ive waited for this series to be revived? My god, and now with Railgun and Accelerator green lit officially we are about to go into a To aru explosion. This is basically a lot of semi padding for getting back into the world so not a lot happens beyond setting up the first arc of the season. Also flip phones.

Gakuen Basara
-This is a show where they took legendary warlords and such from history and put them in a school and they are fighting over the use of a field or something. I mean that idea sounds pretty funny, but its just not executed well and the jokes are not funny. Do you know what show did this, only better? Ikkitousen as those were basically representation of warlords in a school and they fought only it had massive amounts of fan service too. And Ikkitousen is not like a great series or anything (but Id still say its good).

Hinomaru Sumo
-Every since Haikyuu has come out there has been a deluge of sports shounen with a similar start. An undersized practitioner of a sport with either talent or determination comes in and wants to prove himself or rise to the top. I mean, Im not saying that Haikyuu started this, but its become very noticeable since the success of it. Haikyuu though had a lot going for it after the first episode, it set up a story with the characters and how theyd have to struggle to work together. There has been no real nuances with the shows that followed it and this one doesnt look like itll be any different based on an episode. Episode 1 of Haikyuu already had be thinking it could be a special show. This episode 1 makes me think its just going to be another sports anime.

Ms. Vampire
-This was cute. The use of the body pillow joke in this was superb. I do think it was more cute than funny, but since there seems to be a lack of slice of life style moe shows this season this is probably going to have to cut it.

UzaMaid
-Besides the Maid probably needing to be reported to the FBI I thought this was hilarious. The timing along with the way the gags are presented in terms of the animation are great too.

JJBA S5? 6?
-Ill be honest, I am waiting for when Stands are not a thing any more. Anyway, this was a pretty good intro. Its good that they had both new and old characters to blend the old and new season in. I dont think JoJo has been great since Battle Tendency, so well see how this goes.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara
-This is the other anime I think might shape to be the best of the season. It just looks really good and the way its being present so far is really nice. It looks like its going to be a show about discovery and has the opportunity to be special.
---

DAKAICHI
-This is pure Yaoi. I dont have issues with yaoi, there are a few shounen ai/yaoi works I consider to be pretty good but this just lacks any form of subtlety, build up, or character outlining that I really think makes the payoff (even during an episode 1) really work. This seems much more like a fantasy fan fiction than anything else. Look at something like Love Stage, a show that has good comedy, fun characters, and manages to develop their feelings and personalities over the course of the season. Or even the shoujo ai of the season, Bloom into You, which rightfully laid enough groundwork to make an episode 1 confession seem natural.

Boarding School Juliet
-So not much to say about this except that I think this is an interesting concept overall. The first episode was pretty good and I generally have enjoyed the characters theyve presented.

Radiant
-This is the shouen style adventure anime of the mix. I mean Its probably not going to be bad, but the first episode hasnt shown me anything to make me think that this is really worth picking up unless youre really into the genre.

Goblin Slayer
-This is without a doubt the most talked about anime of the season. I do think its a little too edge overall. I dont really have a problem with the rape part, but overall gore and such is not something I really enjoy a lot in anime (which is weird considering the amount of slaughter horror Ive seen). But as for how they used everything. I was impressed with how the actual Goblin Slayer was presented and even though he was obviously written to feel like a badass, he seemed unusually human for someone without a face. I also liked how presented cleric girl and even though she saw all this horrible stuff, was still determined to be an adventurer because she knows deep down some day she can stop the same thing from happening if she grows.

Ulysses: Jeanne d'Arc to Renkin no Kishi
-This is another one of those pseudo history shows, this one being set during the 100 years war. Ill be honest this is like almost pretty good, its just missing that spark of excellence I think it needs for me to be like hey this is worth watching. but I do think it has some potential to be a decent plot show.

Release the Spyce
-My god this name. I dont think its a secret that I think the girls team up hero genre has not been very good recently. While I dont think this was great I was pretty entertained overall and am willing to continue it.

Anima Yell
-This is pretty cute, some of the jokes are lame but executed well and got a laugh out of me. I honestly dont think the ceiling for this anime is very high but I also expect it to be fairly decent all the way through.

Sword Art Online: Alicization
-So, I liked this first episode. I thought it laid out some good groundwork for the story world I think well be in for a lot of the season as well as have fan nods to other characters and so on. The problem is that in every season of SAO the first episode has always been the strongest and the problems manifest when Kirito actually has to do something of importance in the game world itself. I actually dont have many problems with SAO in terms of like the story overall, just how characters are treated for plot convenience in very similar ways across the board. So, yes I do think so far this is good enough to keep, but I also expect to be completely disappointed a few episodes down the line.

SSSS.Gridman
-Gridman seems to be like a callback to classic works overall (like Ultraman) but its Trigger so I dont know where this is going. I do think the whole amnesia thing is incredibly lazy, I mean its lazy a lot of the time, but here it seems even more so.
---

Golden Kamuy S2
-I dont really know whats going on here. I thought the first season was okay, like it had a lot more potential than I think the finished product offered. So while I am going to give this a go, it is on a shorter leash than other shows in this season.

Week 1 Rankings
Rascal does not Dream of Bunny Girl
Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara
Bloom into You
Slime Life
A Certain Magical Index S3
The Girl in Twilight
Goblin Slayer
JoJo
UzaMaid
Zombieland Saga
Ms. Vampire
Sword Art Online: Alicization
Boarding School Juliet
Between the Sky and Sea
Anima Yell!
Release the Spyce
Ulysses
Xuan Yuan Sword
Golden Kamuy S2
SSSS.Gridman
Run with the Wind

Drop Line
Hinomaruzumou
Radiant
Double Decker
Dakaretai
Gakuen Basara
Rerided
---

KokoroAkechi posted...

The Girl in Twilight
-Everyone knows this by now but this was conceptualized by the guy who did Zero Escape. I dont know how much input he had on the actual anime though. I think in general this was pretty entertaining and I like base Asuka so far. If this is anything like the creators past works I expect twists the anime. I think a big point of contention is going to be the CG and come on the CG is not the best, but in terms of what anime usually does with it its fine. Really, every year CG normally gets a little better and people still complain about it. I also want to say the actual character designs seem a bit less anime if that makes sense. Like, they dont have the moeblob girl designs Im used to, nor the updated late 90s/early 00s vibe some shows have gone for.

I don't have any issues with the CG in this show. I do think it almost feels like....the design and direction don't match eachother? I think both are fine in a vacuum, just seems like some wires got crossed somewhere. Like if PA Works did Attack on Titan.
---

KokoroAkechi posted...

-Ill be honest, I am waiting for when Stands are not a thing any more

Bad news.
---

haha uh yeah, that's what jojo is from part 3 on...
---

I look forward to when Pokemon drops the whole battling monsters thing.

JoJo 1 and 2 are like when YuGiOh was about other games before the cards show up.
---

Personally I can't wait for Boruto to drop the whole Ninja thing...

KokoroAkechi posted...

-This is weird, its a show based on a Chinese (Taiwan okay) game but this is a Japanese production.

We're getting another one with the Azur Lane anime.
---

Azure Lane is a real production I think, isn't it?
---

Yeah, Stands aren't going anywhere. But, Stands do slowly move back a little. In Part 7 and 8, Stands more so give abilities and buff the user, so it's more User vs User, and Less Punchghost.
---

Oh, yeah, I mean the actual idea of a dude that stands around you is heavily reduced from 7 on.
---

Rascal ep1 - was debating if I should even bother with this one at all since it sounded stupid. Its not bad and actually seems interesting though I dont like what Im assuming is the female lead so thats sort of a death sentence. Oh well.

My problem with stands is more. "OMG HIS STAND IS SO STRONG." and it's like ">.>"
---

WhiteLens posted...

KokoroAkechi posted...

-This is weird, its a show based on a Chinese (Taiwan okay) game but this is a Japanese production.

We're getting another one with the Azur Lane anime.

Can you tell Azur lane is chinese simply by looking at it?
---

Looks like Bibury is doing it. New, but not from China.
---

Double Decker ep1 - uhh pretty much everything about Kirills design is terrible. Like holy shit why. His clothes are so bad and he even has a girly haircut. Otherwise this is decent, but ugh he just looks so fucking dumb I dunno if I can get over that hurdle.

You realize he gets a sick police suit later.
---

LapisLazuli posted...

You realize he gets a sick police suit later.

I hope you dont mean this purple outfit by that because uhhhh

swordz9 posted...

Rascal ep1 - was debating if I should even bother with this one at all since it sounded stupid. Its not bad and actually seems interesting though I dont like what Im assuming is the female lead so thats sort of a death sentence. Oh well.

Guess you're hoping it follows Monogatari and doesnt have Mai on screen that often
---

Well if it follows Monogatari too much it would just be dropped still.

I showed some of my family Kirills great design and they asked if he was a girl and when I said no they asked if he was gay >_>

Sounds like prejudice.
---

Also Mai is great. Especially after episode 2.
---

I think its more like the general statements youd expect people who dont watch anime to make.

http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/double-decker-visual.jpg

I dunno, I think they all look pretty rad.
---

Hes literally like wearing girly platform shoes man >_>

Nothing wrong with that.
---

swordz9 posted...

Well if it follows Monogatari too much it would just be dropped still.

lol fair enough.

I'm hoping it is less animey than Monogatari WRT fanservice and shit but we'll see
---

Besides the namesake Bunnygirl outfit in episode one, the closest thing to fanservice so far has been handholding, the implication that a shower occurs, and a girl bending over so the dude could kick her in the butt for revenge.

Show seems to be trying to avoid fanservice, honestly.
---

The way his feet look in them makes it look like hes wearing high heels. For whatever its worth the image I showed them was the purple outfit one that was used for promoting the show