Anime' - Whatcha Watchin? (Is it good?)

[Angie Gallant]

Poor Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone really have very situational powers, and neither one of them seems to be very good at thinking out how to get into those situations. Everyone else has pretty good offensive power.

I love Sky High because I saw "blonde american hero in anime? I bet he's going to be a dick," and was totally delighted to be wrong. And he has a golden retriever. His spotlight episode was definitely a tear jerker. He's so lonely.

I hope we get to see Tiger teaching at the Next Academy or something if his storyline plays out the way it seems likely to play out. He fathers everyone he meets anyway, he'd be good at guiding people who have just discovered their superpowers.

[MatthewF]

I thought the same thing about Sky High when I saw the last episode. Poor guy. He just wants companionship. The last pan-out of him sitting alone on the bench with the flowers was just too much.

I actually don't want to see Kotetsu at The Academy. He definitely seemed to inspire people in a way Barnaby couldn't, but it just isn't him. I have a feeling his powers will increase to exceed Bunny's by far, but I don't know what he'll be when they dwindle and die. I'd like to see him with his daughter, being the father he can't be right now, and living out his life with her. His final moments as a hero will probably win him a season, and then he'll simply disappear.

I hope for an episode after Kotetsu loses his ability and finally tells his daughter that he was Wild Tiger. She thinks he's a chump. Time to lose that stupid secret identity.

[Angie Gallant]

With his luck, when Kotetsu tells Kaede that he is Wild Tiger, she'll freak out because she's been writing HeroTV fanfiction about him and Barnaby.

[MatthewF]

Haha, that's probably true. Poor Kotetsu. Oh, and let's not forget that it's possible Kaede may have an ability that hasn't manifested yet. We still don't know where these powers come from, and they don't reveal themselves at the same time as every other. I'd laugh if Kaede became a "new" hero at the end.

[Thrawn]

Skipping on the last few posts of Tiger & Bunny as I would hate for the character specific episodes to be spoiled (Or anything), but love those episodes. Totally glad I got back into it. Once I'm all caught up, might jump into the fray.

Only watching four for this season; Double J (Cromartie FTW), Baka to Test Nii, Usagi Drop and the one with the boobs; Just feel the need to watch something lackluster with the good stuff, even more so with harassment to a bar of light. Outside, C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control with a bit of Maison Ikkoku.

[Murbella]

Finally got around to watching blood-c. From what i can tell from the first two episodes, it doesn't have any relation to either the blood the first vampire movie or the blood+ anime series. The only thing that is the same is the main character is named Saya, but from what we've seen in the first two episodes, she is nothing alike either versions of saya in the previous entries.

I'm not sure why they choose to give it the blood name, but it is an enjoyable anime in its own right. It is no blood+, but not as bad as blood the last vampire either. Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable.

Nothing much has happened in the first two episodes and it is a 12 episode series which makes me kind of worried, but we shall see.

oh and speaking of "the one with the boobs:"
NSFW picture that i couldn't resist sharing:









hahahaha sorry i couldn't help it.

[MatthewF]

Hahaha. Also, I was unaware that Blood-C was only going to run for 12 eps. Given how slow the first 2 were (although enjoyable), how are they going to squeeze any of the Blood lore into that short of a time? Hell, Saya isn't even a vamp yet.

[Thrawn]

oh and speaking of "the one with the boobs:"
NSFW picture that i couldn't resist sharing:









hahahaha sorry i couldn't help it.

The true power of censorship, where it covers nearly the entire screen.

[Murbella]

Is that really blood lore though? Blood-C sure seems like more Ga-Rei than blood. An exorcist family with a dark secret trained to hunt demons.

minor to decent spoilers to both blood the last vampire and blood+




In blood the last vampire, i am pretty sure saya was born a vampire, one of the last old/pure blood or something to that effect if i remember right.

In blood+ saya was never a normal girl and was in fact never human. Her reason for fighting the enemy was deeply rooted in this which to me to gave it some extra weight beyond "i'm a member of a secret organization protecting humanity."

In both of these the saya in question hunts "vampires" in some form or another. Blood TLV is more traditional vampires, but blood+ vampires are quite different from count dracula.

In blood-C saya is hunting... i don't even know what she is hunting but they don't see anything like vampires. Rock monsters?

So far the feeling is completely different as well. Blood+ certainly had funny school comedy moments in the very beginning but it and the movie are both overall very dark. Blood-c seems have a much higher degree of school comedy moments, so far.


I also stand by my earlier predictions that the saya in blood-c is more cutesy and fan service oriented than either previous version. A clumsy, glasses wearing, priestess, twin tail who always wears a school uniform (i guess demon blood doesn't stain?).

Random picture comparison since posting pictures is fun:

[MatthewF]

You missed one thing, though: there is day-Saya, and there is night-Saya. I snapped this from the intro as well:



Not so different as you think.

[Murbella]

She looks exactly the same except her eyes go vampire mode (the only aspect they took from blood) and she frowns (kara no kyoukai style split personality maybe?).

I don't think it is really night saya. She seems to just go vampire mode randomly/when in danger. Hopefully they explain that a bit as currently it is a bit silly. Her sword's ability to cut the enemy seems to be entirely dependent on the color of her eyes. She doesn't seem to gain any noticeable superhuman powers when in vampire mode, her sword just cuts more effectively (blacksmith mode?).



so that makes her superhuman powers katana sharpening and hair levitation.

[MatthewF]

She hasn't gone vamp yet, though. She takes damage like a normal human, and uses her superior swordfighting skills to defeat the Elders. For now, she's human. That's where the difference comes. Also, day-Saya may be a clumsy idiot, but night-Saya is not. It's probably a split-personality, or maybe she simply sheds her day life to kill the Elders and stay alive. There have been a couple times when night-Saya shows aspects of day-Saya, especially during the second ep.

Note that even in your image, her eyes are still black. Fight-or-flight, she fought and won because it's her duty -- even badly injured. There are no references to her being a vamp, just that she wields the Sacred Sword, which only those of her clan can supposedly do. She's not super-human. She has merely been trained to use the sword.

[Mordrak]

Thanks QT3 for making me aware of Tiger & Bunny. I haven't really watched any anime series since Claymore and I'm really enjoying this.

Is it just me, or does Sky High look like a blonde Tom Cruise?




Plus, given the name, it reminds of Top Gun. I'm assuming it's intentional.

[Murbella]

She hasn't gone vamp yet, though. She takes damage like a normal human, and uses her superior swordfighting skills to defeat the Elders. For now, she's human. That's where the difference comes. Also, day-Saya may be a clumsy idiot, but night-Saya is not. It's probably a split-personality, or maybe she simply sheds her day life to kill the Elders and stay alive. There have been a couple times when night-Saya shows aspects of day-Saya, especially during the second ep.

Note that even in your image, her eyes are still black. Fight-or-flight, she fought and won because it's her duty -- even badly injured. There are no references to her being a vamp, just that she wields the Sacred Sword, which only those of her clan can supposedly do. She's not super-human. She has merely been trained to use the sword.

Her eyes turn red when she is in bad situations in a battle. At that point sword blows that were previously ineffectively, cut through the enemy like butter. This eye effect is also the same one used in blood+ & blood TLV (the anime series/movie that this anime is supposedly a reboot of) in order to denote saya using her vampire'ish powers.

Also, it is hard to see in that image, but she does indeed have the "vampire eyes" in the scene that image is from.

I don't know if she is vampire or not because the anime seems to have no connection to previous works, but the red eye thing does seem to indicate something supernatural, even if you believe she just started getting lucky with her attacks after her eyes turned red in the previous two battles.

The whole sword thing is pretty silly though. The anime has done nothing at all to make it appear like anything other than a normal sword. Nor has it shown any reason why it has to be saya doing what she does. I suppose there is still time though.

I wouldn't count on Saya being a vampire (or equivalent) in this one because they seem to be shying away from them (seriously what were they thinking... elder brain? Stone monsters? tentacle plants?), but she is clearly not just a normal human. Possibly similar to the anime this is actually a reboot of, ga-rei, where the demon hunter family locks demon powers inside of their body in order to be able to combat demons more effectively.

Now i am just waiting for that one school boy to be pull out a cello (Haji)...

[MatthewF]

Maybe I just haven't noticed the eye change? She doesn't do it against the tentacle plant thing, at least I think so. As an aside, the Ga-rei remake was pretty fucking depressing. Nothing turns out well for anyone.

[Quitch]

I haven't kept up with the thread because it moved into spoilers for Tiger & Bunny, but at episode 11 I'm worried the shark has been jumped.

EPISODE 10 SPOILERS!





If they can blow up bridges and employ a massive army of teddy controlled mechs, wouldn't it be simpler to just, say, blow open the walls of the prison and free this guy, rather than this James Bond villain plan? It's such a terrible plan and makes absolutely no sense within the constraints of the universe.

Also, I really hope that guy turns out to be a forced memory and not the real killer, otherwise what a total waste of that memory sequence this will turn out to be. One episode a face in flames (that was such a great visual, especially with the music) then, whoops, there we go remember it clear as day now.

They're even wasting the mystery they had behind the name. Was it a group? A man? A call sign? Oh wait, it's a ridiculous teddy/mech wielding organisation which has gone to great lengths to remain secret only to suddenly announce itself just to free some guy, despite announcing itself being completely unimportant in a plan where you just want to free some guy. Wow, way to make full use of your carefully cultivated secrecy!

Episode 10 really had the kind of story telling awfulness I tend to think of when I think of anime and Tiger & Bunny had thus far seemed to be better than that. GOD DAMN YOU ANIME!

[Brad Grenz]

Anyone else seen any of Appleseed XIII yet? Just watched the first episode and I'm pretty disappointed by the CG animation after all. It's weird because the background are still hand drawn 2D, with 3D vehicles and it would be easy to mistake for GitS:SAC, at least until a character enters the frame. Then it starts to look like a PS3 cutscene. The CGI is cel-shaded and has some sketchy elements to mimic Shirow's art from the manga, and it would probably be just passable if the animation wasn't all so stiff and wooden. Frankly, it looks far more natural when a 2D character doesn't move at all then when one of these 3D "humans" moves their head in a mathmatically perfect arc. I'll check out some more episodes, but mostly because I just really want a new, cool, hard sci-fi action series to watch.

[Angie Gallant]

I haven't kept up with the thread because it moved into spoilers for Tiger & Bunny, but at episode 11 I'm worried the shark has been jumped.

EPISODE 10 SPOILERS!





If they can blow up bridges and employ a massive army of teddy controlled mechs, wouldn't it be simpler to just, say, blow open the walls of the prison and free this guy, rather than this James Bond villain plan? It's such a terrible plan and makes absolutely no sense within the constraints of the universe.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I think you should keep watching. I would classify Kriem and Jake as Statement Villains rather than masterminds. It is in their character to want to do this thing in a big, over the top manner.

[TurinTur]

Anyone else seen any of Appleseed XIII yet?

The trailer was enough to make me run in the opposite direction of watching this series.

And i love Appleseed and in general, Shirow's works. Mmm maybe that's why i disliked it so much, i have expectations of quality for Appleseed, i prefer to have good memories of the comic than risking tarnishing them with a mediocre anime with awful cg animation.

[TurinTur]

I haven't kept up with the thread because it moved into spoilers for Tiger & Bunny, but at episode 11 I'm worried the shark has been jumped.

EPISODE 10 SPOILERS!



If they can blow up bridges and employ a massive army of teddy controlled mechs, wouldn't it be simpler to just, say...

I am not going to lie to you: Tiger & Bunny is not a series that is going to be praised for its realism or sense of believability or a plot sound and logic, etc.

[Otagan]

There is something to be said for targeting seven undefended weak points in the structural foundation of a city and holding the entire population hostage to secure the release of a prisoner instead of launching a direct assault on a presumably heavily defended prison complex built for the sole purpose of housing high-level NEXTs.

[Angie Gallant]

Also, yes, a lot of people have noticed that Keith looks like Tom Cruise.

[Murbella]

It seems unlikely that blood-c will ever deviate from its formula of:

18 minutes of daily life, school comedy
6 minutes of random fight totally unrelated to anything

Even though the second episode made it sound like the third episode would explain something, it was just the standard formula and nothing happened.

On a side note, some of the narration in blood-c about what makes a person who they are sounds like it came straight out of hellboy.

[MatthewF]

I've lost hope after the 3rd episode of Blood-C. It's so... typical. I think they spent a whole 10 minutes of the episode focusing on that fucking cafe alone.

And there's no doubt about it that Keith was modeled after Top Gun Tom Cruise. They're even wearing almost identical flight jackets, right down to the arm patch.

So, Penguin Drum: I have no fucking idea what's going on in this show, but I love it. Himari's Survival Strategy transformation sequence alone makes it worth it. It's just so fabulous.

[MatthewF]

Tiger & Bunny: that was a really great episode. Big reveal, too.

[MatthewF]

Triple post!

Caught up on Steins;Gate just now. Incredible series. The last few episodes have been particularly awesome, and I'm itching for more.

[MatthewF]

Oh wow, [gg] released a hilarious sub of Sacred Seven #4. The first quarter is translated competently, but the last part of the ep must be have been run through google or something. Tandoji's name is bizarrely translated as "Uji military ballistic", and I really got a kick out of this mis-translation:



The funny part was, I've watched so much damn anime I actually understood what they were really saying.

[Murbella]

Did you download the troll gfg subs perhaps?

[MatthewF]

Did you download the troll gfg subs perhaps?

Ha! I didn't notice the 'f' in there. Yeah, I guess I did. Pretty good troll, too, since the first ~6 minutes are a pretty good translation. Then it immediately switched gears into wtf territory.

[Thrawn]

Ping Pong Club, despite full knowing what I was getting myself into.
But in it's defense, the knife can't cut deeper than it can with shitting out ping pong balls.

To counteract it, the heart-exploding cuteness and just sheer brilliance of Usagi Drop and Baka to Test. Even so, my soul will never be clean.