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

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been in the mood to try random shows lately, so I watched Hanayamata, an anime about cute girls doing yosakoi dancing. I thought it was pretty good! The art style was beautiful, and I liked all of the main characters. Hana in particular was the best with her energetic attitude and endless positivity, but the shy main girl Naru was great too. This anime had a surprising number of dramatic character arcs, and it was all handled well even if I still preferred the comedic shenanigans over the more serious stuff. The characters all had a fun dynamic, and it was cute how often they made each other blush. I enjoyed watching them learn yosakoi dancing and grow closer.

Needed more yosakoi imo

Ive expanded my manga shelf

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/4/AAAelnAAE2Ui.jpg

MacArrowny posted...

Needed more yosakoi imo

This is a fair criticism, but at least they danced a lot in the OP! I'm sad I didn't learn about it in time for the OP/ED contest because I would've nominated it for sure (and I'm also sure it would've lost to some lame song in the first round, but still!)

https://animethemes.moe/anime/hanayamata/OP-NCBD1080

The random anime I picked today wound up being an airing anime that isn't finished yet and I didn't realize until I was most of the way through. Whoops. This is what happens when I get distracted by other stuff for a few months and don't keep up with the current season! I guess I'll talk about it more in a few weeks.

Still, Undead Murder Farce is pretty good so far! I'm a sucker for supernatural mysteries, and a disembodied immortal head being the one solving those mysteries is an amazing concept. The three main characters have a fun dynamic. It's scratching a similar itch as In/Spectre, another supernatural mystery anime, though I'm not sure yet which one I like better. UMF keeps getting distracted by flashy battles instead of focusing on the mystery, but I suppose there's still a chance the last few episodes can pull it all together again.

Yeah, planning on checking that one out soon. You watching MyGO? It finished recently and seems like your type of thing.

MacArrowny posted...

You watching MyGO? It finished recently and seems like your type of thing.

I intend to, but first I need to catch up on a bunch of events in the BanG Dream mobile game. I know WhiteLens said the anime takes place even further ahead than the game, and that it can be watched by people who are completely new to the franchise. Still, I want to catch up on the game's story first

I finished Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror. I'm one of the crazy people who thinks Love Live: Sunshine is the best in the franchise. Couple that with Yohane being my favorite LL character, and I was really excited for this anime! Having the Sunshine crew go on an adventure in an alternate fantasy world sounded magical. It was like something right out of one of Yohane's chuuni delusions. This anime went to a lot of fun and unexpected places. At one point, Dia used a magical motorbike to battle corrupted animals! If that isn't awesome, I don't know what is. My favorite part about this show was Lailaps, Yohane's gigantic talking dog who acted like a wise big sister.

Still, in the end, I felt a bit let down by this anime. Don't get me wrong, it was fun seeing the old Aqours crew (or at least an alternate version of them). Almost everyone still had their core character, and there were a lot of great interactions between them all. There were some nice idol performances too. My biggest complaints came down to two things: the central plot and Yohane herself. The central plot, an inexplicable corruption brewing on the outskirts of town, felt incredibly generic. A lot of episodes outright ignored it to focus on the girls getting to know each other or having fun, and those were the best parts of the show by far.

As for Yohane, I fell in love with her in Sunshine because she was a wacky chuuni girl, but she also had character depth beyond that. She used her fallen angel persona to feel special, and to hide her insecurities. Since this show was set in a literal fantasy world, she didn't have her fallen angel persona... which left her with nothing but her insecurities. Yohane still had some great moments of unearned ego, like early on when she declared that she was destined to be a superstar and everyone should ask for her autograph. Sadly (for me, at least), she spent most of the season moping or feeling inadequate. The main focus of the show was about her finding a path in life, so I get that she was aimless and had doubts early on. I just wasn't a huge fan of a few of the ways those doubts were explored. One plotline in particular just made me really sad why did Lailaps need to lose the ability to talk in order for Yohane to get her magic back, I didn't understand that at all. It also felt like they kept retreading the same plotline. No matter what she succeeded at, she started doubting herself again the instant she hit the next setback.

In conclusion, Yohane the Parhelion was still a fun anime. It was nice seeing all the Aqours girls again. I just didn't like how they took Yohane, the hilarious chuuni girl, and turned her into a mopey girl. Out of everyone, she felt the least like her original character. In the original Sunshine, she pretended to be an all-powerful fallen angel. I honestly would've preferred this anime if they went that direction instead and turned her into an ultra-overpowered protagonist, one who lived up to all her boasts and was flawless just like she always pretended to be. Instead they focused on the other half of her character, her insecurities, and it just wasn't as fun as it could've been.

Absolutely floored at the character who showed up in the new CSM chapter.

Robazoid posted...

I'm one of the crazy people who thinks Love Live: Sunshine is the best in the franchise.

Isn't this the majority opinion? Seems pretty clearly the best one to me and that's what I tend to see most people think.

I'd say the OG anime is still the most popular, at least it felt like the peak of the franchise popularity.

Robazoid posted...

My favorite part about this show was Lailaps, Yohane's gigantic talking dog who acted like a wise big sister.

One plotline in particular just made me really sad why did Lailaps need to lose the ability to talk in order for Yohane to get her magic back, I didn't understand that at all. It also felt like they kept retreading the same plotline. No matter what she succeeded at, she started doubting herself again the instant she hit the next setback.

There is a reason behind that. Essentially Yohane had to give up half her magic when she was little so Lailaps could talk (probably without realizing it). Then she needed that magic back to have enough vibe powers to save the town. Now why couldn't Yohane give it back after they saved their town, I have no idea.

My issue with the anime is that it didn't know whether it wanted to be a serious fantasy anime or a cushy slice-of-life anime so it does both in a halfhearted way.
Like they bring in a vague force with the calamity throughout the anime, only to shoehorn an explanation at the introduction of the final episode. Oh no, it's because everyone stopped singing and created bad vibes all around! We have to all get to together and sing to bring the good vibes back!

Honestly, this anime and the demo I played at PAX West with its awkward way of doing normal attacks kind of killed my hype on the game. Most of the game play was fine, it's just strange to summon your friends to do normal attacks since there can be a lot of delay in-between attacks, unless they make it cancel-able.

But that's fine, it comes out a day before the SMRPG Remake, so it's not like I'd be playing it right away anyways.

I took a look at the seasonal chart for next season.

Lots of sequels I couldn't care less about.

Will be watching Frieren and I'm in Love With the Villainess for sure.

Apothecary Diaries and the vampire hikikomori show seem neat, so I'll keep my eye on those at least.

this is a "100 girlfriends who really really really really really love you" shill post

adaptation may not live up to the manga, but its good

Its hard to believe a series like that could be good for a number of reasons. Id imagine a lot of the girls end up feeling the same and a lot of them being underdeveloped because writing for 100 waifus in a series like that is a lot

I imagine that it's more like jojo and each new waifu is like a monster of the week formula

WhiteLens posted...

There is a reason behind that.

Oh, I see. I caught most of that but I didn't realize one part of it. That making Lailaps talk decreased her overall magic. I thought the message was "you have other friends now so you don't need me anymore" which imo is a crappy message

Tearmoon Empire novels are 10/10. Not sure if adaptation will live up.

I really don't care about this new Kagurabachi series, but I kind do feel bad that this up and coming manga artist's series is getting the full Morbius treatment for seemingly no good reason.

I read the chapter. It was a pretty run of the mill first chapter for an edgy Shounen Jumps series. I do not understand why this mother fucker is literally 30% of my Twitter timeline.

Started Jobless Reincarnation season 2.

God this is going to be the best anime experience I have until re:zero season 3 next year isnt it

SirChris posted...

Started Jobless Reincarnation season 2.

God this is going to be the best anime experience I have until re:zero season 3 next year isnt it

There's going to be a couple of total flop episodes but for the most part it's 100% A+ material.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

There's going to be a couple of total flop episodes but for the most part it's 100% A+ material.

Yeah I come to expect that from the show so it's fine, I binge watch this one since weekly would kind of annoy me when its this good lol.

I haven't been liking it as much as season 1 but it's solid.

Started watching Fractale. The characters and writing are pretty good, and I found myself getting more sucked in as episode 1 kept going. I wanna see where this goes.

noooo Fractale is one of the worst anime of all time and it gets worse with every episode

I wish Fractale was one of the worst anime ever. At then it would have been worth watching as a trainwreck. As is, it's just painfully disappointing and mediocre.

Are we talking Anohana "dude wears a dress for some reason" worse, or, EVA, "We ran out of our budget, so we made up some shit to sound smart" worse, or, Anohana and Ice Queendom, "We had 4 episodes of material, but were forced to make 12 episodes" bad, or "Yeah, it just sucks because reasons" worse?

Cause getting worse could be many things.

...I literally started watching Fractale too just last week! What a coincidence. I'm only three episodes in, but I've been enjoying it too. I'm excited to see what it eventually does to earn all the low scores from my MAL friends.

6.9 or so isn't bad enough to shit on something. Anything sub 6 is my red flag warning.

It has finally arrived.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/7/AAeolZAAE27B.jpg

maid waifus front and centre, A+ marketing

I am glad it's just sheet of paper that comes off the box, was a little upset at first glance lol.

Hopefully there's not problems with these discs like the first season's initial release, though they did a good job dealing with it back then.

Also glad they released it all at once instead of having to wait like half a year for part 2 like last time.

BRING ON S3.

https://twitter.com/LL_Wikia/status/1704465306025148666

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459750/Yohane_the_Parhelion__NUMAZU_in_the_MIRAGE/

Can't say I would ever expected Love Live to have a deckbuilder game.

This month in Dragon Ball: The long, painful journey to Gohan Blanco continues
This month in Boruto Blue Vortex: RASENGAN UZUHIKO approaches

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/7/AAaCb0AAE28H.jpg

Jjk 236 was fucking wild.

Love this arc so much tbh

Re: jjk anime
Oh no. Now what

Now the party's just getting started

PeaceFrog posted...

Re: jjk anime
Oh no. Now what

Party getting started like pj said lol

I finished Fractale, and uh...I'm confused. Is this the anime equivalent of Rise of Skywalker, cause there's too much that went on, and yet not enough at the same time: the definition of overstuffed yet undercooked. What was good ended up...pretty bad. Nessa and Clain were great though.

The OP/EDs though: fucking hell they were great. Kept me going strong even when the show itself was falling down the stupid tree.

Yeah it's just a poorly constructed series all around.

Isn't Fractale from that guy who said he was going to save the anime industry with his revolutionary Idol anime that nobody ended up caring about?

I know literally nothing about Fractale other than for some reason remembering that connection.

https://twitter.com/rightstufanime/status/1705318771995328779

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-09-22/right-stuf-phases-out-migrates-all-products-to-crunchyroll-store-on-october-10/.202711

Welp, RightStuf has been my go-to shop for manga and light novels since their prices are cheaper than other places, and now everything is getting shoved to the Crunchyroll store which is not ideal.

Hopefully they'll still keep the pricing and sales or I'll probably move to Amazon.

This was announced months ago, surprised it took this long!

I really don't expect there to be any changes of note here at all.

Also if I'm Pre-ordering I usually go Amazon anyways, because the free shipping usually still undercuts Right Stuf's lower price+shipping. Not always though, was definitely much cheaper to get there YYH Box Set there.

Trying out My Home Hero. I'm not completely sold on it yet, but the main characters (especially the mother) have some weird quirks that grabbed me. The show isn't completely there though. It's very stiff, and I get the sense I'm not completely into thi. Might bse a 3-episode rule here.

Really did not like My Home Hero. Very ugly, and it's silliness (some of which unintentional) clashes with its seriousness. Already, you have the cafe scene where the father finds suspects correctly that his daughter is being beaten by her boyfriend, then he comically cries out for her when she leaves. He runs into a guy talking about beating women, only to then get stripped naked and dumped in the garbage.

PeaceFrog posted...

Re: jjk anime
Oh no. Now what

This is the episode Ive been waiting for. Even though Im anime-only, I knew Gojo gets sealed at some point. Im also happy that I called Geto being possessed by a cursed spirit, though the evidence was already all over pointing to that

Does anyone here regularly stream Crunchyroll to a 4K TV? After moving some furniture around, I have room near my computer for a TV. I would exclusively use it to watch anime, though. While most TVs seem to be 4K these days, anime very much isn't. I've been researching what the automatic upscaling might do to it and the reports range from "it'll look better than ever" to "it'll look like trash". I'm afraid I would just be wasting my money, so I'd appreciate it if anyone could share real-world experience.

I figured it would be as simple as plugging a TV into my computer as a second display and then I could have a bigger screen from a comfier chair. It's been two decades since I bought a TV, I had no idea it had become so complicated!

I dunno I use the crunchyroll app on my PS5 and it looks fine to me

Robazoid posted...

I figured it would be as simple as plugging a TV into my computer as a second display and then I could have a bigger screen from a comfier chair.

I think it is this simple. The size of your TV will matter more than the resolution. If you get a 65+ inch TV and watch it up close anime won't look that great. Otherwise you'll be fine. Anime looks the same on 4K and 1080 TVs to me. I've gone back and forth between 4K and 1080 TVs watching the same anime episode and not noticed any differences.

Robazoid posted...

I would exclusively use it to watch anime

Hopefully you would find more use for a TV than that.

Robazoid posted...

It's been two decades since I bought a TV, I had no idea it had become so complicated!

The last TV you bought was a CRT? Damn man, when was the last time you had a console?

And you should still be able to hook up a TV to your computer to use as a 2nd screen.

I've used Crunchyroll on a FireTV and it looked fine to me. The app itself was kinda crap because it kept crashing whenever you were done with an episode and wanted to go back to the home screen of the app.

WhiteLens posted...

The last TV you bought was a CRT? Damn man, when was the last time you had a console?

I had a 360 but I hooked it up to my computer monitor. Other than that, it's Gamecube and earlier not counting handhelds

Anyway, thanks for easing my minds, everyone (at least so far). I'll continue my research and see if I can find something that works

Finished part 1 of Mushoku Tensei season 2.

Already said this but I didn't like this as much as the first season. The first arc was generally good but felt somewhat rushed, and the arc at the university had some great moments but overall seemed set up to play to the series' weaknesses rather than its strengths.