Anime and Manga Thread: 2nd Season

[speedlolita]

Crazy freeleach bringing me more 80/90s mech action than I could shake a small tactical nuke at.
Looking forward to getting stuck into Overman King Gainer and Daitern 3 to name but two. Now if only the PS4 media player worked on any of the anime I had...

Grabbed all of Macross yesterday. A cool 110GB or so... haha

[Tobal]

Grabbed all of Macross yesterday. A cool 110GB or so... haha

i've seen the latest PV for the Macross D, we've gone from singers to magic girls fighting on the front line, i was almost convinced i could have been watching a sequel AKB0048.

[kryss]

think he's on about the codec container, i.e. mkv files, can the ps4 play them?

I have a bigger issue with the PS4 not playing most of the avi files I have. I could forgive mkv issues otherwise.

Grabbed all of Macross yesterday. A cool 110GB or so... haha

Yeah...I wish I could have stopped at 110GB. I almost grabbed Legend of Galactic Heroes at 74GB alone.

[Tobal]

Winter Season has just got going, and im amazed by the amount of shows i'm interested in watching, especially compared to fall. I'll keep the new stuff rather than known quantities from continuation of Fall and sequels season to stuff from last year (like Assassination Classroom). Long read ahead!

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - thought it was going to be some sort modern day SoL for 29yo loner... ended up being wrong with a interesting plot device in that he any time something bad happens around him he's sent back in time a couple of minutes to try and fix it, and the ending to ep1 really changed the outlook of the show going forward, definitely one to watch and as its by A1 it'll have decent art/animation through out.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - second favourite of the new stuff, Teens get sent to the fantasy world of Grimgar, don't know where they came from and its not explained why they're here other than they'll have to survive by getting a classic fantasy jobs (thief, warrior etc,etc) and earning some coin or die getting it (or starving). Not sure where they'll take the story, but it'll definitely centre of SoL aspects of surviving in a foreign land(like cooking, repairs) however will it go all grimdark and have the teens die one by one or keep it a simple story of gradually improving their skills. Either way they take the story will make a for interesting show.

Musaigen no Phantom World - Kyoani's show for the season, accident gives all humans the sight to see Ghosts/Demons, and newly born humans special powers which leads to us to High School Harem battle/romance/comedy. As expected top class art and animation and the characters seems alot more interesting than KA's last action'y show Kyoukai no Kanata (which is very similar to this). As its KA will be watching it all.

Nijiiro Days - I was little worried when i learned the title was Rainbow Days and the opening credits did little quell fears it was a shoujo prince show. However... despite that it turned out to be about 4 high school friends love lives in trying to date various girls and it got quite few loud laughs from me, mainly from the attempts and piss taking the mates do of each other, art isn't great either but despite that i'm looking forward to the next episode.

Dimension W - from the title i was expecting some other card battle show... luckily its anything but, gives of heavy vibes of Cowboy Bebop like future world, with a bum of a MC (with good h2h skills) not liking how the world with unlimited energy is going. Expect all manner cyborgs, mecha and robots, and with the MC girl it feels similar to a show of years ago call Solty Rei where Human Debt collector/Bounty Hunter does stuff with a Robot Girl. Nice Art and animation to.

Bubuki Buranki - Based on the start i thought i was in for a Eureka7 like sci-fi Mecha Show, but soon gives way to Teens with special powers controlling super weapons fighting the powers that be. Real nice art design going on with the Full 3D CGI characters being mixed in with some lovely 2D and 3D vista's. It'll look turn back into mecha show at some point if the start is anything to go by, the story setup and mystery of the world have me looking forward to next ep.

Dagashi Kashi - Teen Comedy (probably go high school at some point once summer ends), similar vibe to other food shows with some ecchi in it like Shokugeki no Soma but on a (so far) smaller scale of japanese sweets. Love the art design (and VA's) for 2 main girls , as the show looks like it'll hang on them rather than the damp squid of MC boy, will likely watch the full season.

Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu - loner girl makes guy with no dreams for his future join he rin making a Shoujo visual novel, kind of like the reverse of last years Saekano. Decent show, will keep with it.

Prince of Stride - FREE but with freestyle running instead of swimming, the idea of tagging team mate for the relay race seems mightily stupid but its really well animated and the characters likeable enough to want to watch more.

Schwarzesmarken - another MuvLove universe story(this time in East German), so expect hardcore sci-fi mecha and plenty of main character deaths and the hands of the Beta (and this time probably humans in the UN/West Germany, as they're bunch of commies with no friends left with Russia/China getting beta'd)

Phantasy Star Online 2 - Wasn't sure if this was in-universe story or SAO like trapped in the game, turned out to neither. Clubless expert at being average in everything is hired by his school council to investigate and report on the kids playing PSO2, its basically one big advertisement more than i ever thought it could possibly be, moves between 2D real world and 3D for the game bits. It was Actually all right enough to at least give it the 3ep treatment.

Ojisan to Marshmallow - 5min show, very amusing love/comedy based around a fat middle age man and 30(?) something office lady antics in and out of the office.

Ooyasan wa Shishunki - another 5mis show(more like 2mins) Comedy other college student moving into a house owned by a middle school landlady. nice little show.

Oshiete! Galko-chan - 6/7min show - high shool ecchi comedy, based more on what's said than shown similar to Seitokai Yakuindomo, so i really liked it and it's well animated to.

Koukaku no Pandora - Near future sci-fi, in some sort of mashup of Mahoromatic(if you remember that one) and concepts in Ghost in a Shell. No idea on the direction the show will take, like fighting bad guy of week or some fun and games of a cyborg girl and maid unit, the power sharing (which they do a couple of times in the ep1) is certainly a WTF moment. Will give it a couple of eps to get going.

Haruchika - high school music band show, not on the same level art/animation wise as KA's Hibike which immediately takes some of the gloss of it. Setup is genki girl is looking to make herself appear cuter by having a cute hobby like Flute, ends up in a love triangle with childhood friend and Music teacher.... was not expecting they way the triangle works at all, quite the surprise, the MC girl is decent enough character, i do like her failing to maintain composure from Lady like to Tomboy, so will stick with it for now.

Norn9 - Edo japan era? possibly but i'm not sure, as it all about few dozen boys and girls on a floating future space ship in the sky... they all have special powers.. So far it all SoL and learning how they live on the ship.. but only thing that kept it interesting was the emo character saying despite this rosey lifestyle and camaraderie in end it could all be sad good byes and fight each other once they leave the ship (hopefully to the death)

Luck & Logic - Battle Hareem show, units of 2, fight demon invaders with various Religious themed powers. Will likely degenerate in to I.S. style lusting over the MC guy as he proves himself in battle. About the only interesting bit of plot is "losing of ones self" from using more and more of a gods power.

Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut - speaking of I.S. this is just that but with dragon themed mecha suits. Awful, can't stand the I.S. style power suits, they just look so ****, story is about some prince allowed to live on after a coup and fighting his way up the power hierarchy while surround by girls as the only male mecha user.

Active Raid - near future Special Police force using Super Sentai suits to fight other criminals in similar suits, very similar to Tiger and Bunny with the 2D giving way to 3D for the action. Most interesting thing about it is the politics behind the action see's various police forces and Political parties having to be bartered with for the likely destruction of public and private property. Will keep with it for now, the lead girl having ulterior motives for joining the unit and the banter between regular crew are just interesting enough.

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm - near future high school sports with a bit of SoL, the sport this time being based anti gravity boots in some sort of tag game. Art design isn't great for the characters and the usual cliche personalties for a high school show are all present. Will give it a chance to see if it can build tension from the underdog school battling the better schools.

Divine Gate - Near future where other Teens have special powers to do with elementals and work with or fight criminal Humans, Demons and Angels, Art is just decent enough but i don't like the design... just looks cheap, but it still animated well for the fights. Story centres around emo kid working together with 2 genki's, ep1 goes deep into is background which is so comically evil i wasn't sure if should be laughing how cliched it is. I'm unlikely to go past ep3, don't expect much from it.

[chojin]

Your hard work is appreciated, i've hand picked a few of the new season shows to start this weekend

[importaku]

OMG gear 4th finally appears in onepiece, it's finally animated.

[edit] Finally saw the full ep, MY GOD the power level of Luffy's attacks is insane. Was on the edge of my seat

[Tobal]

Your hard work is appreciated, i've hand picked a few of the new season shows to start this weekend

what has taken your interest?

OMG gear 4th finally appears in onepiece, it's finally animated.

[edit] Finally saw the full ep, MY GOD the power level of Luffy's attacks is insane. Was on the edge of my seat

sounds like i need to catch up again, was going to wait till i heard the Mingo fight was over.. i think i stopped around ep715.

----

As for ep2 of all the new stuff, main highlights

Boku dake ga Inai Machi ep2 - continues on mystery and character development, keeping me hooked. Judging by the OP i assume at some point he'll "fix" something and

->Open Spoiler<-

get thrown back to the future see what happens, and maybe need to keep going back in time till the results pan out. Also love the internal monologue he's having over being an adult back in his kids body, appreciating stuff he would have took for granted as a kid.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar ep2 - Man that goblin fight was really, really brutal... i almost felt sorry for it. I'm thinking based on that it will definitely swing to being a grimdark fantasy and start punishing the group for being sloppy with losing limbs or death, till they better learn their fantasy jobs. Only problem so far, i'm not that invested in the characters (so far just Thief, Hunter and Black mage) as without a background or a clear endgame goal i can't get as attached to them should something bad happen, and the silent montage of them casually spending their reward didn't offer much insight into who they are, hopefully we'll get some more SoL episodes before it gets "real". This is kind of like Dungeons and Dragon cartoon given the bear grylls survival treatment.

Bubuki Buranki ep2 - I do like they don't give a flying muck about how any of this buranki power stuff works, it just does, and its fun to watch. But i do think they could have come up with classic power ranger'esk zoid seating plan for the mecha instead of awkwardly gluing their feet to parts of the mecha... looks so stupid, still i like the design and animation gone in to the CGI work, and the villains are just so comically bad make for a entertaining show

->Open Spoiler<-

(also pretty dam clear the boss lady is the sister)

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo ep1 - new show i missed, NEET dies and gets given chance to be reborn in a fantasy RPG world. Seems to be an adventure comedy, and it did get a few laughs from me, mainly of the NEET getting one over the goddess, his insight in to RPG's and the stuff the combo get up to. enjoyable.

also for now keeping with Dimension W, Dagashi Kashi, Phantom World, Nijiiro Days, Muvluv, Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu, and a couple of 5 minute show mentioned before of Oshiete! Galko-chan(fantastic) and Ojisan to Marshmallow.

[chojin]

what has taken your interest?

Dimension W
Bubuki Buranki
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
Musaigen no Phantom World

In that order so far, the others are a bit out of my comfort zone, but i'm gonna give them a whirl and see if i take to any.

Dimension W was the stand out show for me, I can definitely see the Cowboy Bebop inspiration.

[Tobal]

Have a go at Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo, just done watching the 3rd ep which had me laughing, the gags are simple but work really well with the JRPG tropes they use, and i love it any time the crazy mage gets a chance to show off or talk about her explosion magic, the insanity behind the smile makes me laugh every time. As for the learning new skills from the thief, i saw exactly what was to come but it still made me laugh, the perfect opposite of something as dark and tense as Grimgar can get (ep3 made me tense

->Open Spoiler<-

thinking one of them was about to die when they entered the old city)

[chojin]

Thanks, I'll bang that in my queue.

[Tobal]

Got around to catching up with e One Piece, as fun and as well animated that 4th Gear fight was, its still not patch on the animation effort they use to put in, probably at it highest quality for Water7 during the important story bits and fights. Doffy Arc animation and art quality is the worst its ever been and for such a beloved and high earning show its shocking bad.

[importaku]

Started on Dagashi kashi, the story is a bit weak but it's growing on me especially as i have a love of dagashi so it's fun to learn the history behind them all. The fact that they are using real world dagashi does make it seem like a animated advert for them but i'll let that slide as it's a world that i love exploring as they are all new to me as i am not some Japanese kid who grew up with them, i arrived at them 39 years later lol. So far they have covered most i have eaten but there's some new ones i want to try now, lol it seems their tactic is working. I predict dagashi sales increasing in Japan because of this show.

Have a huge box of fue ramune i'm still munching through

[kryss]

Hitting some old school Super Robot today, starting with Combattler V.

[Tobal]

Grimgar ep4 -

->Open Spoiler<-

Their beginners luck runs out and Manato pays the price for being an attacking Healer, pretty damn stupid party setup but then have no context for how RPG's work with background wipe, so i can forgive the stupidity. Still his death would have been much better without telegraphing death flag of a party speech of during the lunch break, however the escape fight was well done and tense with the strong goblins on them and Manato trying to cure himself while coughing up blood with the others looking on helpless, pretty damn cruel.

Guessing we'll either need a job change for someone or new party member for next few episodes, hopefully this harsh lesson will teach them to train harder or i can see more deaths for the front liners.

[Tobal]

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo ep4 - Another good episode, the explosion montage is fantastic and the ending to the episode in the face a bit of seriousness in plot, is typical of the show understanding what makes it great. Even though the art and animation can get really wonky, it does do some good reaction shots and uses returning background characters all the time in a nice show of continuity you rarely find outside of kyoani's classrooms. Gives me the vibes Slayers did (before it get super serious at the end of each season) with the fantasy comedy and light action.

Watamote manga - remember this was a thing and looked up where i had last left it, dec013... so plenty to catch up. Recall stopping at around 50 odd chapters as Kuriko hadn't developed as character at all, still repeating the same cringe worthy mistakes, never learning from them while still being asshole to everyone around her... which i guess is the point, but the few pages i saw of a recent chapter looked like she make some acquaintances (i wouldn't call them friends) causing me to catch up with it, and it does make a difference to see her interacting with other class mates being in new situations for her to messup in, rather than just causing herself embarrassment which largely goes unnoticed by those around her, quite a few laughs where had from the Library girl (so similar that can't help but hate each other) and the school trip stuff.