[Talbain]

So the Berserk movie was announced today...
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[cavefish]

[idle]

The first episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica dropped today. It's a mahou shoujo anime produced by Shaft and Aniplex.

It's got a strangely subdued, relaxing feel to it, and the architecture reminds me a lot of Adolescence of Utena. You can tell Shinbo directed it; there are plenty of interesting "camera" angles and the scene introducing the bad guys is like the characters got sucked into the opening of the SZS OVAs.

I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Takashi]

[idle]

Yeah, the character designs are pretty typical, but I think it's too early to call on the character development. It is only the first episode.

I also get the feeling that this show plans on going somewhere with them, whereas in anime like K-On there really isn't any drive to develop the characters at all, because there's no real plot. They're just there to be moe.

It could go either way, I suppose. Shaft hasn't let me down yet, though (well, aside from PPD).

[costel]

I recently finished watching all of Darker Than Black Season 1, and after a near four year hiatus in the world of Anime, I was fairly impressed. The series had it's finer moments, mostly revolving around the conception of a "payment" for all contractors who utilize their powers. This payment of course taking form in many OCD like functions and bizarre behaviors, although sadly I noted that it tended to fall out of prominence within the second arc of the season. Yoko Kanno's slamming soundtrack still pulsates and thrills when needed, and the openness of the series allowed for some classy world development that felt logical and cohesive. The finest episode definitely revolved around Yin's history, and really remained a watershed for the rest of the series. Also, it's probably one of the first animated series I have seen in a while that actually made me laugh without feeling forced or partly condescending. Most of the series's ribs are on Anime fans themselves, and most of the time I noticed that this humor falls short either because of cultural barriers or mistranslations or what have you, but Darker Than Black nailed it.

Shigurui: Death Frenzy, is completely and utterly gorgeous. It is easily one of the most tense, exhilarating Chambara pieces I've ever seen. It's compelling, visceral style, minimalist soundtrack and attention to graphic detail creates something utterly magical. I'm half way through and hoping that this amazing consistency and poignancy stays the series through.

So with all of that said, is Claymore worth watching?
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[Takashi]

The writing in Darker than Black is ace and pretty much one of the two shows of the last year I'd recommend as a whole (two series and a couple of OAV's that link both events). The other show is the Birdy the Mighty series(with a side serving of the original 90's OAV).

Claymore could be interesting but then veers into something I did not care to follow.
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[Takashi]

Quick notes:

Yumekui Merry is not bad, albeit the background art feels incredibly strange. Nothing new here, it's pretty obvious by now that a 15-ish year old guy can't put a foot outside a school without a fiesty young girl from another dimension falling on top of him. The music is adorable! Might become a cute fighting anime. I bet it's also based off a light novel, because the main character also wants to write a novel and the dialog tends to make no sense at all.

Gosick is the new Bones show. It has a gorgeous Art Noveau opening, and it could be immensely boring, except it somehow managed to catch my imagination. Gothic Lolita Sherlock and her Passpartout-ish male friend get my first episode seal of approval.
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[Tulpa]

I've often heard that the second season of Darker than Black was pretty bad. I loved the sparsely defined setting and the great animation of the first season. It seemed to overcome many of the flaws of BONES's shows.
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[BotageL]

Darker than BLACK falls flat pretty often, but the second series is just really straight-up bad all the way through. It doesn't have any redeeming value like the first series did. Well, the soundtrack's neat -- it's by the Hellsing TV guy, not Kanno, which is nice -- but that's about it. If you liked the first series, do yourself a favor and forget there's a second one.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[Takashi]

Well, I'm split about that. The second series of Darker than Black is prone to magical thinking and russian-twin-loli-contractor-snipergun-Utena didn't help a bit. In fact, why was this used as series fooder when the OAV's have a much more interesting storyline that would make sense to cover on a sequel series is beyond me. I kinda sympathize with the betrayal theme in the second series, I guess? Like Birdy: Decode, you sometimes take useless baggage because there's a unfinished piece of a puzzle there.
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[Talbain]

So glad they decided to keep running Kimi no Todoke. Reminds me of Aria. Warm and fuzzy. Love the pastel art style too.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka was a big "eh." Everything else so far has been a big "eh" too (IS and Yumekui - still haven't watched Beelzebub, but I'm guessing it's something I'll be skipping after the first episode).
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[Loki Laufeyson]

i can't find the english dub of final fantasy: legend of the crystals (the 90s ff cartoon based on ff5) anywhere D:
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http://lunaticobscurity.blogspot.com/ - newest post: Snezhaja Koroleva (Arcade)
http://lunargarbagehell.blogspot.com/ - newest post: Batman: Digital Justice

[Takashi]

[DonMarco]

This weekend I'm going to watch To Love-ru and then Angel Beats back-to-back.

Then I plan to watch PSG again. Just to see if Gainax really deserves all the hate it gets.
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Still alive.

[idle]

[chevluh]

[starblood]

[Talbain]

Gosick was awful, but the OP is absolutely gorgeous.


Freezing might have been interesting if it wasn't just another awful harem anime.
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[Renfrew]

[GrimmSweeper]

[Talbain]

Hourou Musuko is the most compelling anime I've seen out of Japan in years.
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[idle]

I'm kind of scared to try watching it, as I've heard it skips four whole volumes of the manga.

The manga is great, by the way. I've been following it as it's been slowly released over the years, alongside one of the mangaka's other works, Aoi Hana.

[Talbain]

Given that I haven't followed the manga, I can't really comment on that. Nevertheless I feel the pacing fits quite well. I might try the manga if the anime spirals downward, but if the second episode is as interesting as the first, I'll probably have to come back to the manga later.
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[Mikey]

[Levi]

[Takashi]

Gosick is pretty well directed. It doesn't do anything spectacular, but everything sorta glues together. I'd blame the source novels for the horrible everything else, however (the dumb-as-bricks mysteries and the characterization).

[Talbain]

[Loki Laufeyson]

watched the first few episodes of fist of the north star: legend of the dark kings. it doesn't have the super dramatic class that the main series (or the recent movies) have, but it is pretty entertaining.
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[Levi]

So Hourou Musuko is shockingly, crushingly not bad. I especially have to note how fantastic the color and its stylization is. The show looks more like a vibrant story book than the dull computer colored anime schlock I was fully expecting to encounter. Starting in the middle of the plot is a puzzling decision though; could't they have, I don't know, just made the characters a little older to avoid what I'd assume the problem with starting at the beginning would be?

[Gouki]

So anyone want to hook me up with Hourou Musuko in the non-streaming way? It sounds interesting, and I would like to see at least one new anime this year.
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... Maybe later.

[Levi]

The torrents are pretty popular for the moment.

[costel]

I cannot fathom why I completely adore Blood: The Last Vampire, but utterly loathe Blood+. I chalk a lot of it up to that the fulcrum of Blood: The Last Vampire rested on it's superb animation, which reveled in fluidity and invasive Hollywood cinematography. It was, a beautiful experiment if nothing else, similar to the BLAME! animation that was released a while back, disregarding of course BLAME!'s narrative, which was technically more cohesive or layered then Blood, which really does seem quite odd upon multiple viewings.

Blood+ just, I don't know. It's terrible. Twenty odd episodes in, and I cannot motivate myself to care.

Claymore dropped the ball. I thought it was going to be some hardened reversal of female tropes in Anime, in which the supposed fragility of females is reversed in a "Berserk" like form, and I don't know where I got that from, but that's what I had expected from the way several of my co-workers talked about it.

I have learned to never trust anyone at work about Anime ever again. Claymore gazes upon every single wrong move it could make as a series and fastidiously follows through on it.

The Skullman is so far, pretty great. It has the spirit of Kikaider's reinvention and the merciless pacing of Cyborg 009. It's hard in a certain sense to say anything bad about it.

Speed Grapher is a real, uh, pain. Man I can't believe how seriously that show takes itself, it's unreal. Great concept though! I don't think I'll be watching anymore episodes though. It was certainly a blast to feel like I was a kid again during the Manga Corps days, when it was all BLOOD AND TITS AND VIOLENCE AND SEX, HOLY FUCK A DUCK LOOK AT THIS SHIT! Speed Grapher tries to capture that spirit, but man does it fail.

Can anyone recommend to me series, or films, or manga even similar to the tone and style of Boogiepop Phantom or Texhnolyze? I've seen Lain already. Same goes for all of Satoshi Kon's work.
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[Talbain]

There's really nothing like Lain that's been made lately that I can recall. I like (and would recommend) Ergo Proxy, but opinions on its merits were really mixed. Sort of a love/hate dichotomy. I thought it was simply too smart for most of its audience. You really gotta be up on your shit to follow everything that's going on, as it draws from just about every major religious text out there (there was a sub group that explained all the stuff in detail, and boy is it pretty detailed--it's also pretty relevant in relation to fully understanding everything that's going on).
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[Tulpa]

I found Ergo Proxy to be intolerable to even watch the second episode.

It's not really like Boogiepop Phantom or Texhnolyze except in the bleak and cynical tone but you might be into Casshern Sins. (it has gorgeous animation and linework and the backgrounds are unbelievable)
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[Dracko]

Oh man, Ergo Proxy is such a piece of shit, it's not even funny. The suggestion that it was "too smart" for its audience is utterly laughable. It's as pedestrian as this shit gets.

Sad that nothing will ever be like what Ghost in the Shell was to cyberpunk.
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[Takashi]

I'm guessing Time of Eve/Eve no Jikan might be closer to what you're looking for. Also try Summer Wars.

Whenever people talk of Ergo Proxy, I think they're talking about Pale Cocoon. It makes me feel better inside.
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[Talbain]

Considering I pretty much expected the backlash towards Ergo Proxy, I would consider it all the more reason to at least give the series a chance. It is a love/hate dichotomy. That aside, I'd recommend Time of Eve too.
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[Dracko]

Yeah, if you have any form of taste, you'll rightfully dismiss it for the garbage it is.
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[Talbain]

We'll never have to worry about knowing what good taste is as long as we have you Dracko.
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[Dracko]

Says the Wes apologist.

No, really, how does dropping religious quotes with no relevance whatsoever to the plot make for a smart series?