Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 291 - The G Stands for Gundam

(+) Yeah! (+)

SockoressKnight posted...

With Jujutsu Kaisen finished, I needed a new off-season anime, and with some of the discourse surrounding Witch from Mercury, I figured I'd watch a "good" mecha and picked up Aldnoah.Zero. Firstly, I dislike just about every character in the show, particularly the two leads, Inaho and Slaine. They've got some parallels to Lelouch and Suzaku from Code Geass, respectively, except Inaho is an emotionless robot with negative charisma and Slaine is a dumbass. So often characters would just make dumb decisions, and by the end of S1, I just wanted to beat my head against the wall. I didn't make it much further into the series though, as I dropped it 2 scenes into S2 where some of the girls are on leave, lounging on the beach in bikinis. But hey, people (unnamed mooks, mostly) die, so the show has the stakes that people complaining about G-Witch wanted so badly.

Gonna pivot to a show I've already seen that I know I'll like, and watch Soul Eater NOT

No idea why I finished Aldnoah Zero. I had the same issues you did. The characters picked dumb infuriating choices for seemingly simple problems.

I mean

It looked pretty and had a great soundtrack!

Also those first 3 episodes that Urobochi actually wrote were good. That was the beginning of the fake Urobochi anime for clout era we are still experiencing today.

Episode 1 is the only really great Aldnoah episode. There are moments after that, but none of them match up.

Series peaked for me in episode 3. I legitimately liked Inaho's plan and how they executed it, and Slaine actually did something good. Every plan after that was progressively less impressive, until his plan in episode 11 "their anti-air guns won't shoot us down while we are in freefall, trust me"

I'm pretty sure I have Valvrave in my queue, but I haven't heard anything good about it, so I need a break before diving into it.

Valvrave is actively one of the worst anime ever made but it's pretty hilarious. The one thing it isn't is predictable!

If you want a mecha anime that starts with a V....Vandread! It is....probably cringer than I remember it being in high school, but hey, what isn't?

Valvrave was what people hoped would be Code Geass R3

It was not R3

JJK S2 - fun opening. Guess we're not moving forward yet still even more flashbacks

Kenshin - love this opening been sick in my head all weekend. Never watched much of the original series so this'll mostly be all new to me. Based on what people have been saying it seems like a much more faithful adaption.

Bleach TYBW part 2/4 - Disappointing opening although it's visually great I don't care for the song at all. I guess they all can't be winners. Also pretty sure this batch of episodes won't have any Aizen in it either, saving all the good stuff for later. Already earning that TV-MA rating though with the scenes featuring the female Sternritters XD

It was basically spot on faithful, but the animation and direction in new Kenshin was very weak to me. The original anime had incredible episodes when it was at its best. You should check them out if you get to those parts.

oh I forgot about Kenshin so checking out the anime topic for something other than constant waiting/hoping for Goblin Slayer season 2 start date paid off lol

I just watched it. Yeah a great first ep! I can see what pj meant though, we'll see how things fare as the series goes on.

only thing bugging me was Kenshin's speaking style which I don't recall being that way in the original series, though that was so long ago I might have forgotten, but I could see it getting real old real fast if it keeps up throughout... guess I'll learn to live with it.

His speaking style might be that way in the manga and they are being more faithful to it. The sub I watched really throws me off, but I'm guessing it's just very literal translation. Kinda like Yoda speak.

Can't speak for the animation, I think it's good. But this is LIDENFILMS, aren't they the infamous CGI Berserk studio? It's not great but good enough imo.

Yeah but that was 7 years ago, maybe they uh, got better, lol...

Yeah "Yoda speak" is a good way of putting it, you're right it's probably something more faithful and will just take getting used to.

Coincidentally Lidenfilms are also behind the Atelier (thighfu) anime this summer too, and Goblin Slayer II, damn no wonder there's no news on it. But looking at their repetoire on wikipedia nothing else really jumps out at me though I'm not as knowledgeable on what's been "big" or good outside more mainstream-ish stuff so Kenshin looks like their most high-profile series to me. Maybe some extra motivation to not botch it...

They did get better, yeah. Mostly they're pretty middle of the road, but they have Call of the Night and Hanebado, both of which look great.

I think Millepensee did a lot of the CG in Berserk.

MartinFF7 posted...

only thing bugging me was Kenshin's speaking style which I don't recall being that way in the original series, though that was so long ago I might have forgotten, but I could see it getting real old real fast if it keeps up throughout... guess I'll learn to live with it.

My recollection is that it was translated in a lot less verbose manner originally, but has always been like this.

I am on episode 2 of Mashle.

He threatened a magic spell to stop working and this worked.

This is stupid but I love it.

episode 3

"after the first body what's one more"

I am dead.

Episode 136 of My Hero Academia (Deku vs. Class A) and the Attack on Titan Final Chapters Special 1 are both nominated for "Best Streaming Animated Series or TV Movie" in the Hollywood's Critics Association TV Awards

Yeah sure

Yes, because nothing screaming anime like the only shows a random Hollywood organization would know of.

SirChris posted...

This is stupid but I love it.

Mashle is good clean stuff. Nothing spectacular but it doesn't last too long either. Maybe sometimes it gets a little too into the battle shonen cliches later on. Mash always rocks though.

I tried 2 or 3 chapters and just couldn't get into it.

The gags just didn't land for me.

Just saw Minato Manga spoilers.

As a Minato stan.

I am eating good this week

New Miyazaki movie is out in Japan tomorrow, and it's absolutely fascinating to me. No promotion at all. No screenshots, trailers, or even a description of the film. Just a completely blind release on his name alone.

Maniac64 posted...

I tried 2 or 3 chapters and just couldn't get into it.

The gags just didn't land for me.

I would not recommend reading any more! It is basically the same gag over and over, just with rising stakes.

pjbasis posted...

I would not recommend reading any more! It is basically the same gag over and over, just with rising stakes.

That's what I figured would be the case.

I like the gag XD

I just wish the actual fights were better

I think they get better overall, though mostly in the Mash department. Side character fights remain a weakness.

Despite regular long absences from the topic, I'm still watching anime.

I finished both seasons of Let's Make a Mug Too. Unfortunately I didn't really like it. It wasnt bad, though Kukuri was a little annoying. It just turned out that I wasn't interested in learning about pottery, and there was very little going on besides that. My favorite thing about these "cute girls do X" shows is seeing all the familiar cute girl tropes but with whatever the X is providing a new angle to make things feel fresh. This mug anime was so focused on teaching pottery that the characters rarely did anything else. It felt like most of the show was the main girl agonizing over what to make and worrying that her dad was disappointed in her efforts even though he was the nicest, most supportive dad ever.

Finished Birdie Wing. Man all the drama in the second half really brought down the show for me.

Best part was the doubles tourney.

Hell's Paradise beaten.

I enjoyed it, probably around a 8/10.

Likely to read the manga at some point since the story is finished.

Undead Murder Farce is looking promising, the dialogue is snappy and the gothic horror stuff is appealing. My only objection is that I get the feeling we're also drawing on some Holmes lore which I think is a bit overplayed. The premise seems to suggest there's an overarching plot to deal with but I'm happy enough with the case by case detective fiction angle. Either way am interested in seeing what happens.

SirChris posted...

Hell's Paradise beaten.

I enjoyed it, probably around a 8/10.

Likely to read the manga at some point since the story is finished.

Another season's been confirmed if you want to wait for that.

I don't think the fights are very good in the manga, personally.

MacArrowny posted...

Another season's been confirmed if you want to wait for that.

I don't think the fights are very good in the manga, personally.

hm, I might then.

I have my attention span back so I am running through old anime before watching anything this season ASAP.

I've got enough of a backlog of games and anime for awhile, want to binge jobless reincarnation for example.

Oh God I recognized Rem's voice actress in another anime, I am truly beginning to earn my weebness back lol

https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2023/7/15/sword-art-online-alternative-gun-gale-online-season-2-plans-revealed

https://twitter.com/INKBLOTo/status/1680177262686076928?t=CmbkRO3WUwn7k3IhWw3UzQ&s=19

Genny and I watched Psycho-Pass Providence today in theaters. Made me miss when I used to watch the show a bit.

Episode 1069

Kaido establishing Gear Fourth Luffy's ability to change the trajectory of his attacks shouldn't be possible with a rubber devil fruit

WHAT COULD IT MEANNNNNN

more episode 1069

Ended with the CP0 guy interfering and "killing" Luffy. Looks like we're on break next week then The Drums of Liberation will begin to beat by the end of then next episode, Then August 6th for episode 1071 will be the full Gear 5th reveal. I've seen a few people mention that 1071 will also be a new opening, but haven't seen that really confirmed anywhere

And now it's time to decide how mean I want to be to my wife on choosing what episode to catch up on lol.

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

Episode 1069

Kaido establishing Gear Fourth Luffy's ability to change the trajectory of his attacks shouldn't be possible with a rubber devil fruit

WHAT COULD IT MEANNNNNN

Making him the, I think, third villain to point out that Luffy shouldn't be able to do some of the things he does with his fruit.

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/naruto-the-whorl-within-the-spiral-chapter-1/chapter/39797?action=read

It. Is. TIME.

Maniac64 posted...

Making him the, I think, third villain to point out that Luffy shouldn't be able to do some of the things he does with his fruit.

Who were other two? I am skeptical Oda planned it too far in advance.

pjbasis posted...

Who were other two? I am skeptical Oda planned it too far in advance.

You shouldn't be, it was planned since the start.

Re-reading skypeia makes this very clear

I know Lucci pointed out that the gears make no sense/shouldnt work that way.

I feel like there was another but i dont remeber the specifics. I want to say either Enel or Croc did but I'm not sure.
Could have been Doffy as well.

SirChris posted...

You shouldn't be, it was planned since the start.

Re-reading skypeia makes this very clear

The real fascinating thing for me is listening to a reactor called Boom-senpai. He noticed early on how they do a lot of sun imagery with Luffy. He really liked it when it happend in East Blue so he noticed when it kept repeating. Multiple arcs where Luffy winning coincides with the sun coming out or shining down. Lots of imagery of him 'bringing light' to places. I had never noticed until he pointed it out. He is unspoiled btw, he just thinks it's a consistent imagery/metaphor choice by Oda.

SirChris posted...

Re-reading skypeia makes this very clear

Unless Ods confirms it I'll remain skeptical. There's a lot of ways to interpret those past events without implying that his devil fruit is not what it seems to be.

Maniac64 posted...

he just thinks it's a consistent imagery/metaphor choice by Oda.

Yes this absolutely. I'm just saying even the idea of joyboy could have been an evolution of something a little bit more vague, although since it's tied to the lost history I think it's more likely it was a central idea.

I mean Luffy's fruit has never really followed the rules of a Paramecia. It was long called a "special paramecia" by fans for that reason. I've spent more than a decade thinking it would be revealed to be a logia since it worked more like them, with not needing to be activated and just straight up changing what his body is made of.

pjbasis posted...

Unless Ods confirms it I'll remain skeptical. There's a lot of ways to interpret those past events without implying that his devil fruit is not what it seems to be.

He did already.

He talked when it happened in an interview/SBS how this was what he had been looking forward to drawing from the beginning. Imagination made manifest.

That still isn't quite what I'm getting at. I definitely believe the concept of Gear 5 was an important preplanned milestone, but the logic of it being tied to his devil fruit NOT being the gomu gomu is what feels strange, or like a retcon. Because enemies interjecting that Luffy is doing something that seems beyond what a simple rubber fruit can do is like, what do they know? It's a rule of cool or power-up moment of Luffy stretching the limits of the fruit. Crocodile can make his sand turn into swords, it's kind of unclear what a devil fruit is "supposed" to be able to do. Moria didn't know he could put shadows into himself or living beings! I actually even think most of his Gear 5 feats feel natural to what a awakened Gum Gum fruit would be, tailored to Luffy's personality.

All that being said, I can definitely see plot points that make it come together and seem preplanned. The things Vegapunk has said on Egghead seem like all devil fruits might have souls or wills in them. So it wouldn't be just a weird gomu gomu exception.

Maniac64 posted...

I mean Luffy's fruit has never really followed the rules of a Paramecia. It was long called a "special paramecia" by fans for that reason. I've spent more than a decade thinking it would be revealed to be a logia since it worked more like them, with not needing to be activated and just straight up changing what his body is made of.

Isn't special paramecia what Katakuri's fruit is?

You know if I recall correctly Kaku and Kalifa were given unidentified devil fruits and "learned" the name upon eating it. Did the fruit lie to Luffy?

pjbasis posted...

You know if I recall correctly Kaku and Kalifa were given unidentified devil fruits and "learned" the name upon eating it. Did the fruit lie to Luffy?

We have never really been made clear how much knowledge you get upon eating a fruit. I always assumed Kaku and Kalifa ate their fruits, saw what the basic power was, then looked up what else the fruit could do (I'm guessing the powers had been seen before but what the fruits looked like is less likely to be known). We know books on devil fruit abilities exist and surely CP9 would have access to one.

Chopper didn't seem to know he could transform at first. Pretty sure Luffy is told by Shanks what fruit he ate.