Anime and Manga Thread: 2nd Season

[speedlolita]

Ah yes, I caught up with Food Wars recently - really entertaining show. Cooking as a competitive device works extremely well.

[hush]

am looking to watching it

[Tobal]

Watched Gunbuster yesterday, thought that it was bloody brilliant.

Also in the process of finally watching Cowboy Bebop and I polished off "My Mental Choices Are Completely Interfering With My School Romantic Comedy" yesterday too but that was a load of rubbish.

Gunbuster's one of my all time fav's, the build up, the horror of the space monsters, humanity helplessness in front of them, the sound they make! then that drum beat kicks in for the gunbuster march and its entrance on the battlefield, absolute classic.



Next up should be Gun Buster 2, abit of a different show compared to the original and takes the concept of the evolution of Buster Machines breaking the rules of science. It's not that well liked by the most of the fans of the original as it goes bit over the top (TTGL before TTGL), i think it links well into the original show in an interesting way and has it own **** hits the fan moment as well similar to John Smith, worth watching just for the ending fight and epilogue... manly tears.

[Tobal]

God Eater ep5 - wow, that is how you do a menacing monster,

->Open Spoiler<-

from the creepy as smile and wrinkle of it's brow to the nonchalant attitude dealing with the god eaters moveset, they where proper ****ed.

. Looking forward to next week.

Charlotte ep5 - falling down the episode!

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wasn't really impacted by the death of the sister, probably because it was mostly done off screen flashes... i can assume they wanted to go with "real life's" sudden impact when it comes to unexpected deaths but it lacked the drama without the good byes until Tomari made the intervention.. (stabbing thugs is fine but doing drugs is to far...).

where do they take the show next after all that.. they can't go light hearted comedy(a tinge of dark) again can they?

[wakka]

That Charlotte episode was so silly. Also that's one of the few times I've seen drugs in an anime.

[hush]

Just watched the latest episode of Rokka no Yuusha it was ok not the best but i still enjoyed it.

[Tobal]

Just watched the latest episode of Rokka no Yuusha it was ok not the best but i still enjoyed it.

I've also been keeping up with it to, certainly not what i was expecting... which was a bunch of heroes fighting some demon lord but it completely turned into this "who dunnit". As for my theory of odd one out

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I suspect our MC, Adel. As its abit strange he was the only one to survive his village and after Gunpowder Saint gives up her history this could all be another long pass game from the demon lord.

As for Charlotte, it is the only show in recent memory that at least that showed someone almost taking real world drugs, plenty out there with fantasy stuff but few to none with actual coke in it.

[eastyy]

Anyone know how many episode of dragon ball super there will be ? up to episode 8 and it feels very slow paced only covered about half to three quarters of what the battle of the gods film has shown

[Tobal]

Stopped watching it myself, not because the story is bad (which it is), but the animation and art is at such a poor level already i can't see Toei bothering to improve the show if it will sell on brand name alone(see everything they've touched in the last 10 years). As for the length i've read in many places its we're looking at 4 full seasons(so 100+eps)... so the quality going to be very similar to Saint Seiya Omega which got really, really ****ing awful at times with about 3 well animated episodes in it 100+ run.

With the rain filled bank holiday i caught up on a bunch of shows i've stored up.

Gatchaman Crowds Insight - keeps up the impressively smooth CGI, which as lost some of it edge compared to the work done on God Eater this season, and the soundtrack along with the OP and ED are really good which is surprisingly as Crowds was good to.

Interesting story building in that this Gatchaman series is more about actions of humanity rather than the super heroes themselves, and insight delves deep in to that with the setup that humans at least in he present can't be trusted with power(crowds), the responsibility is to great and there will always those who butt head with society which itself is happy for the most part to go with flow rather than stand out and take ownership. Then if you take that power away and try to rule in a equal and balanced way, remove hardship and force group think and censorship, humanity will stop progressing and regress mindless apes. By no means a masterpiece but i like having to think about what's going on with the themes every once and a while... i also really hope Hajime smashes Tsubasa's authoritarian attitude in the face by the end of the show.

Gakkou Gurashi - A strange show about zombie apocalypse that really is boring but i keep coming back for the plot exposition which is delivered around the boring and unfunny slice of life moments. I like the mental breakdowns and worry of the other more sane girls that in not dealing with the crazy ones "moments" its become a crutch for them to feel like they haven't lost touch of their previous life, however the recent plot advancement with the staff keys will hopefully make for some interesting moments to come.

Charlotte ep9 - what is going on! i feel like they're just making it up as they go along, making up characters every week with no other action than to advance the story on to the next beat which leads to me not giving a damn about any of the characters, just looking forward to what other **** they cram into this show.

[importaku]

Back on Doraemon, most of the shows i have been into are either ending shortly or in between seasons. Catching up with the bazillion episodes of Doraemon but they are never easy to get hold of.

There really isn't anything else quite like Doraemon, the amount of imagination in the gadgets Doraemon owns are like nothing else. Currently watching the birthday special. The power of the DX train set that can turn anything into a train, watching a house transform is really something. Already seen one gadget that turned Nobitas house into a flying one, sometimes i wonder if Nobita realises just how amazing his life is to have access to time travel and a million other amazing things thanks to Doraemon.

[Tobal]

Never really got on with Doraemon, probably down to it's VA being Luffy, just throws me

Lot of shows ending this week, not looked at what's up next yet, something i'll do soon along with the usual end season run down.

[Tobal]

Summer season wrap up time, with just the shows i enjoyed the most or had something about them worth talking about.

Prison School (12eps) - i found this ecchi-high school comedy a good laugh, built on a sturdy platform of likeable characters like Gakuto, Kiyoshi and Hana (with lewd sounding HanaKana as VA ) which develops as overall escape plan plot heats up throughout all the punishments, lewd behaviour and pandering to to as many fetishes as possible. After ep12 finished i went caught up the manga and wasn't disappointed at all, the future interactions between Hana and Kiyoshi, Gakuto/PBRsama and Mari own escape/revenge plot are fantastic and had me laughing and gasping(at the cringe worthy actions the boy's take most of time). Really hope this gets a 2nd season.

Rokka no Yuusha (12eps)- nice little who dunit thriller with a swords/magic/demons fantasy, enjoyed all the second guessing and Adlet's macgyver his way around all this super powered freaks while trying to figure out who the seventh is, and for my predictions previously well almost!

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i had it down as either a brainwashed Adlet(which could still be the case based on that ending) or the princess who it turned out to be, as she was my 2nd in line if Adlet didn't work out, mainly down to her swinging emotions, backstory of being on deathrow and the ending credits art making her look sinister.

The ending was how i expect it, which was them going off to beat the demon lord but with the seventh dead as it was all about that story rather than beating the demon lord, but it seems it won't be the case, i could have done without them continuing the seventh brave plot on again if we ever get a second season

Shokugeki no Soma (24eps) ecchi'ish cooking battle show, i really enjoyed it despite how predictable Souma solo battles are, as the setup of screw up and your kicked out meant there was no way he could lose any battle as it would end the show. Found more fun in secondary cast battling it out than anything Souma had up his sleeve. Hopefully get another season at some point rather than it be a one of advertisement for the manga.

Arslan Sekki (25eps) - Really enjoyable grand strategy war/politics show, loosely inspired by Persian wars within itself, its neighbours and Rome. Definitely a few leaps of logic needed with the convenient plot devices always around when Arlsan Army is outnumbered or needs to break a siege but i can forgive it for have armies 10's of thousands large clash. Also helps all the sound effects are super meaty and shake my room with bass. Also as running theme this season for finishing on a cliff hanger with little prospect for sequel.

Gatchaman Crowds Insight (12eps) - Mentioned before how much of a strange show this is for a Super Hero/Sentai genre, even going as far to have no main villain and produce such a creepy ass threat in Kuu-sama's to up the ante and drive home how the general public despite what power is given to them wants to do things with the least hassle, not have to think about the hard decisions and go with the flow and the mention of the japanese in WW2 and not in a good light is super rare to. The ending while telegraphed was pretty shocking,

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it pretty clear Hajime's a pretty broken person to begin with, she can think clearly and rationally about anything but displays zero emotions despite her "Genki" character trait, for her to display some emotions while doing the whole jesus route to make the public think about there rash actions, had me going ooooh **** when she got her arm lobbed off, body burnt and then cut in half.

Gangsta (12eps) - just as it sounds it about the underworld and its scuffles, with the hook between drug enhanced soldiers are now fighting turf wars over the city slums of some south american ****hole, if you liked the kind show Black Lagoon is and the mafia bit from gungrave you should like this.

Charlotte (13eps) - started a high school esper powers show which turns into total trainwreck right after the sister stuff happens, as after that it just felt the story was being made up each week, characters and plot coming and going with no real thought as to why they/it should be there, making me not give a single dam about who died or got maimed. I felt it would have been better just making a show about the events of the last episode as it far more interesting than the previous 12eps combined (minus the comedy of the downfall episode) as it managed to at least get a tinge of emotion out of me

->Open Spoiler<-

for the reunion with Nao

. One best avoid unless you love the stuff Meada does like Angel Beats and what something similar, and it has good art and animation through out.

GATE (12eps)- Guns vs swords and magic, and feels mostly like a love letter to modern military technology and JDF. Despite that i like the real-world politics over japan having sole access to the new world (full of new resources) for it to be a target by USA/China and having all the action happen between tanks and dragons happening on the other side. Finishes on a bit of a whimper though, maybe they know they have a 2nd season in the bag(not confirmed) and couldn't be arsed to make anything of the last episode.

Classroom Crisis (13eps) - interesting show about an rocket engineering school setup by a company based out of mars and its struggles to remain under budget and relevant in the future world where space travel is the norm. Throws in a few nice plot twists with the characters and business politics, although i could have done with out the stupid crap right at the end

->Open Spoiler<-

with 2 best friends fighting over the same man, which wasn't even a thing until that last episode.

. Art is so/so, not that it needed to be fantastic to tell the story.

Non Non Biyori repeat (12eps) - titles abit misleading, it is a repeat in the since they are going back over the same time period season 1 covered but its with different little stories the girls got up to which weren't told. Anyway its a soul soothing slice of life (with decent amount of subtle comedy) about a group of country hicks girls doing Japanesey countryside stuff. Great stuff.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX s3 ~(13eps) after a strong start, it started to flounder abit in the middle when the dolls forced their own exit and Hibike going edgelord over her dad for most of the season, and didn't really pick up again till last episode aside from a few moments from Vers and the suit upgrades. Not a patch on s1 or s2.

[Tobal]

New season in full swing,

One Punch Man - what would happen if you became so strong you could kill in one punch, for those that haven't read the manga its a weird mix of serious situations for everyone else with their lives on the line (and alot of civies ending up dead) and Saitama's deadpan comedy from being so strong no-one can hurt him and for all the good he does do he gets no recognition for it and doesn't really care. Alot of budget when into the 1st episode so i hope it remains as strong through when the fights happen, and the OP is pretty dam good to. Top stuff.

Gundam Iron&Blood - Definitely a darker sitting right of the bat this time with child soldiers getting their brains sniped out. Similar setup for a gundam show with a colonies acting out of line so earth stepping in to crush any little fires, simple story(so far) and no stupid decision making so far from the main characters already put its a league ahead of ReconG. Usual high standard for recent Gundam animation/art.

Comet Lucifer - another mecha show for the season, similar vibes to Eureka7 with a alien like girl being key to Mecha some army is looking for before the MC boy gets involved. Interested to known next episode if the Mecha is pilotable or commanded.. ep1 didn't make it clear. Uses some pretty nice looking CGi for the mecha which actually deforms when damaged.. yay for the technological improvement.

Concrete Revolutio - Superman Agency to look after and monitor superhamns be they witches, aliens, monsters etc,etc, retro like art style. Not really much of a story yet other than to set up what i thought was the MC as the antagonist.

Heavy Object - could probably be called a mecha show, massive weapons of destruction duke it out in GundamG like territory battles (these things are basically massive tanks with hundreds of cannons on them). Show seems to focus more on the support crew making sure these Heavy Objects can fight. Enjoyed the 1st episode, as seem a nice change from the usual nimble mecha shows.

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk - High school fighting tournament with weapons form from soul power, typical wimpy MC will likely head up with a harem of women around him while fighting other schools in the tournament. Seems alright.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry - another High school fighting tournament with weapons form from soul power, the crux of this one being the MC only good at physically strengthening his body and can't do the magic flinging crap everyone else can, and thus is called the Worst.

Utawarerumono Itsuwari no Kamen - no idea if this is a sequel or reboot, either way i enjoyed the original with the all the politics and war once it got past the friendship building bit and htis seems like it will follow a similar formula. Also liked the interaction between Haku and Kuon. Just hope it doesn't have the terrible ending the original got.

Young Black Jack - doctor anime, with some genius student doctor doing the impossible, didn't hold my interest as the situation for the accident was so damn stupid it ruined it for me, as there is so way that would happen in real life, let alone not a single adult helping the kid out... and then the show to not enough show the surgery has consigned the show for the bin for me.

[speedlolita]

[eastyy]

Oh my god Dragon ball super is so slow ...i guess it feels that due to having to wait for each episode but the fact it is retreading what the battle of the gods movie did ....13th episode and still not got passed it