What are you watching/or completed? (Anime)

[Rody]

Well, I guess it's been a while since I posted here. The spring season is wrapping up now, so here's my list:

-The Eccentric Family 2 was one of the highlights for me; I was honestly the most excited for show, and for the most part it lived up to my hopes. A sequel to the 2012 show about everyday life & drama between tanuki, tengu, and humans, this show is simply delightful to behold in its humor and gentle themes of the value in family. Both seasons are (back)up on Crunchyroll, if anyone wants to give them a try (you totally should).


-I wasn't necessarily going to get into season 2 of Attack on Titan, because following the manga was starting to fatigue me; but AoT delivered better than I had expected. The anime is still at a point where the mysteries and select revelations are as thrilling as they ought to be. I sympathize with viewers who wanted more answers from this season, but overall I thought it was solid. Hopefully season 3 does, in fact, get released by 2018.

-As much as everyone was anticipating AoT this season, though, in my opinion My Hero Academia totally stole its thunder as the action title must-see. The sports festival arc has been an absolute blast (Bakugo jokes not intended), and it's not finished yet! The next arc starts up in another week, and I'm definitely looking forward to the ride.

-On a friend's recommendation, I also started/caught up with WorldEnd: Stupid Long Title I'm Not Typing Out Here, which has been decent, but not as impactful as its ideas want to be. The question is now: how bittersweet is the last episode going to be?

[EricDent]

Rewatched Panty & Stocking (Blu-Ray) still crude, gross, and funny.
Especially the dub with Jamie Marchi & Monica Rial cursing like sailors.

I watched the Magi: Adventures of Sindbad series which must of added a dub since the last time I tried to watch it on Netflix.

Now watching the newly added dub version of Little Witch Acadamia.
Though Netflix only has 13 out of 25 episodes up so far.

If you have a Fry's nearby, July 2-29 they are having a 50% off sale on Sentai stuff (assuming it includes Maiden Japan, Switchblade Pictures, ADV, and Kraken Releasing as well).
Tempted to grab the Girls Und Panzer movie (which went down slightly to $44.99).
Plus maybe the Blu-Ray of Appleseed (with the new dub).

[Dr Kain]

So we watched the first 9 episodes to Outlaw Star. The first three were kind of slow, but things have really gotten enjoyable since. I only saw this show once when it aired on Toonami, but I gotta say that I barely remember any of what I watched. I remember characters and voices, but that is about it. Thus, I feel like I'm watching this show for the first time. The remastering job is outstanding and the animation looks wicked good in a lot of places. Although it does still have that 90s cheapness to backgrounds (like characters who will just stand still unblinking for a 15 second sequence). Nevertheless, I'm enjoying this show a lot. The ship's computer is hilarious too. "I'm beginning to wonder about my future outlook." The dub is pretty stellar too, which I was kind of worried about (which I guess i shouldn't have been since it is done by the same people who did Cowboy Bebop). Lastly, I did not realize that Kou Otani did the score to the show, which is pretty awesome too. Looking forward to watching the next disc tomorrow (unless we do more tonight).

[EricDent]

As mentioned earlier that Fry's sale is going on, and yes it includes all the various labels under the Section 23 company.
So I picked up the Girls Und Panzer movie combo pack & Le Portrait de Petit Cossette DVD.
Both under $25.

While technically it's not anime, I watched the first season of the new Castlevania animated show.
It's only 4 episodes, so hopefully the next season comes soon & has more episodes.
It's based on the 3rd Castlevania game called Dracula's Curse.

Features Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, and Graham McTavish as Dracula.
So Thorin vs Dwalin (from the live action Hobbit movies).

[Dr Kain]

As stated yesterday, we watched the second disc to Outlaw Star today and there were a lot of damn good episodes there. The space race was enjoyable, but it was the showdown with the assassin and the one with the water planet that I loved the most. Both of those were excellent. My least favorite episode though is easily the one that featured the wrestling match. It was great to see Aisha finally transform into her animal form, but the episode itself was just stupid (I'm going to guess that this episode was skipped when the show aired on Toonami).

The dub continues to be great and the animation for the most part is well done. There have been some off-model moments, but nothing too bad.

[Dr Kain]

We watched the final disc to Outlaw Star tonight, completing the show and overall it was fantastic. I do think the first episode on the disc, Law and Lawlessness is hands down the worst episode of the series. It's not a bad episode, but it was kind of boring. Nothing interesting happened in the slightest and the characters in it make no impact on the rest of the series. The infamous hot springs episode was weird. I understand why Toonami had to skip it now, but it is such an important episode from a plot perspective that is kind of sucks they did. Learning about the origin behind the Caster Shells and how Gene got the special ones he used in the finale are vital to the finale. My favorite episode of the disc was probably the prison break one.

Speaking of the finale, ugh, I forgot that they pulled the deus ex bullshit. That final battle was just awful all around as if the writers had no idea how to handle the Galactic Leyline. Thankfully the ending itself is conclusive and well done, but I wish the show had done more with the Anten Seven. Especially given the leader's motivations at in the last few episodes.

I did finally have a dub cringing moment though, which dealt with Melfina's attempt at singing. God does her English voice actress not know how to sing. On the other hand, I learned that Aisha's English voice actress is the girl who played Rogue in the 90s X-Men cartoon, so that was awesome, especially since she is my favorite of the main crew. My favorite character overall though is Harry McDougal. That dude is just down right insane, and yet, he was exactly a villain. Plus, the show managed to make you sympathize with him in the end. Impressive.

The animation was pretty top notch outside of occassional off-character model moments and the previously mentioned cheap backgrounds and static characters. It featured a lot of the normal troupes anime was fond of in the 90s, but the material handled them quite well to keep them from getting distracting. Otani's score kicked ass and the opening theme rocks. Not so much for the ending theme though. Yuck!

Overall, I highly enjoyed this show and finally getting to see it in its entirety and in a few days really made me appreciate it more than I did when I first saw it on Toonami all those years ago (I think it aired in what, 2002?). The convoluted final battle and a few minor nitpicks will keep it out of my top 10 list, but it is definitely a fun and engaging show all the way through. I just need to make sure it doesn't take me like another 15 years to rewatch it.

[Dr Kain]

We watched the first disc to Code Geass tonight. This was the first time I'm seeing the show dubbed, which is quite impressive. I prefer Lelouche's Japanese voice because he changes his tone when he acts as Zero compared to Bosch just being Bosch, but that nitpick aside, this dub is great. It has been some time since I watched this show (not as long as Outlaw Star was though) and it is even more enjoyable the second time around. THe episode with the runaway cat was hysterical and manages to show that this show can pull off comedy just as easily as it can do drama. Nice job there. Oh, and the soundtrack friggin rocks.

[Dr Kain]

And we just watched disc 2 of Code Geass. I honestly forgot that everything that went down in this bit happened so early. For some reason I thought the stuff with the Narita battle and then Shirley's dad was in Season 2. The hostage episode where Zero unveils his Black Knights is easily my favorite episode so far. That scene is just badass and I have to say that I really loved Bosch's performance in that scene. While I still wish he would deepen his Zero voice so that they sounded like two different people, he does have the mannerisms down. I still can't help but laugh at the parallels this show has with Gundam SEED though. Anyway, my god things are really getting intense.

[Dr Kain]

Four more episodes to Code Geass watched and this show continues to improve. It's amazing to think that the entire war Lelouche has is all becasue of his father.
He doesn't even know that Cornelia and Yuffie love him and think he is dead, which is why they are treating Japan the way they are. A lot of great battles in these episodes, the music continues to impress (although the new opening and ending themes are mediocre compared to the first ones), and I'm really getting pumped up to watch more. I forgot how badass this show was. Definitely going to finishe Season 1 tomorrow and then watch Akito the Exiled before Season 2.

[Dr Kain]

And so ends Season 1. I forgot what a cliffhanger the season left off on (more complaints on that when I start season 2 though). These batch of episodes were fantastic. I feel really bad for Yuffie because she was trying to do something good to set her apart from her family and Ledouche had to go and screw it all up. Still, the stuff that goes on is oustanding and the slaughtering scene is mind blowing. Probably the most shocking thing in the show thus far. I do love how they have no qualms about showing off racism in the world as it is pretty damn true. ****ing white people!!! :-p

Next up, Akito the Exiled.

[EricDent]

Watched the rest of season 1 of Little Witch Academia, apparently the 2nd half is coming in August.
I also watched the Girls Und Panzer Der Film, which was fun.
Too bad they couldn't put the real "Russian" music in there, but the theme they put in sounded a LOT like one of the ending themes from Sasami Magical Girls Club...

[EricDent]

Last day of the Half Price Books coupon sale, so your most expensive item is 50% off.
You could do it in more than one store.
I got My Neighbor Totoro (Blu-Ray/DVD) and Witch Hunter Robin (Anime Legends).
Totoro was about $10, and Robin was $12.50 (after coupon).

[Dr Kain]

We watched the first three episodes to Akito the Exiled and they've been a mixed bag. The first episode and the first half to the second episode were pretty boring. The characters were kind of lifeless and monotone. Thankfully, things took a massive turn in the enjoyment levels during the second episode with a down right kick ass battle sequence that puts most of the battles from the main series to shame. In fact, it was on the same level as that Gouf battle from Gundam 08th MS Team. The third episode finally fleshed out the characters, giving us some truly outstanding moments despite the whole scenario itself being awkwardly dumb. I guess I don't remember the second season as well as I thought I did to know why Lelouch is the way he is right now, but whatever. His few moments have rocked.

I love that we get to see what the EU is like and it was nice of Funimation to give the EU characters accents since Bandai never bothered to do that with the main series dub.

Lastly, the main villain's mech is hands down my favorite mech of the franchise. It has a centaur mode and a really weird, highly improbable, yet badass, sword.

[Dr Kain]

We watched the last two episodes of Akito the Exiled after dinner tonight (and before we watched GoT) and they were really good. The mech battles were oustanding as was the music. The character development seemed to slow down a lot as these last two were more action than plot, but they still had some top notch moments. Although, the whole Geass thing has now gotten a tad more convoluted than necessary, but I liked how this show explored what it would be like if you gave a child a Geass he wasn't really old enough to comprehend, while also using the Geass on a child not old enough to understand what he is supposed to do under its power. The villain was kind of a wuss in the end, but my favorite character was one named Ashley (who was a boy, not a girl). I actually got a lot of Dilandau vibes (from Escaflowne) from him, which was also helped as Joel McDonald did his voice. The ending was overall very satisfying and I would like to see these characters return in the unneeded third season of the show.

On to Season 2!

[Dr Kain]

This post is most likely predictable given what I have been watching over the last several days, but we did start the second season to Code Geass. The first three or four episodes are kind of meh. I have no idea why they felt they needed to do a time jump when starting right back where they left off would have sufficed. In fact, this is getting to be an annoying habit of Sunrise's. I don't need every 50 episode mech show that is split into two seasons to have some damn time jump. Just continue the second season as if no time has passed! It completely throws off the feel of the show for the first several episodes, if not longer!

With that said, the pacing is pretty awful in the first three episodes as they are pretty much having to repeat the process of getting Lelouch to being Zero and never truly explaining what happened in that year time span. Why the hell would Suzaku even bring him to his dad in the first place? That goes against everything Suzaku was in the first season. Also, when the hell did the Knights all get captured? And they never explained what happened with Nina pulling out that hydrogen bomb during the big battle. TOO MUCH TIME HAS PASSED WITH NO INFORMATION ON WHAT OCCURRED!!!! STOP IT!!! Oh, and that little piece of crap wannabe brother of his needs to go.

Fortunately, the last few episodes on the disc take off once Lelouch is finally back to being Zero and the Knights have been freed. Why it took them a year to try and execute them I do not know, but the scene when they were being freed was pretty awesome. Nanally being made a Viceroy is an interesting twist, but again, what lead to this?

C2 continues to be my favorite character though and I love that she went back to the school just to get her stuffed animals and to finally try that giant pizza that never gets made. The Knightmares that belong to the Knights of the Round are pretty awesome though, especially Gino's. The interesting thing here is that despite watching this show years ago, I don't remember much of this part of the season, so I feel like I'm experiencing it for the first time.

[Dr Kain]

Just finished disc 2 to Season 2 of Code Geass. Things are really amping up here. The scene where Lelouche manages to get a million people to peacefully leave Japan was pretty awesome. That kind of felt like a V for Vendetta moment there. The stuff in China was pretty cool, but the season really takes off here and now with the stuff dealing with Shirley and then the battle afterwards. Oh man, this season has finally gotten to the same level of quality as its predecessor. Also, the twist regarding Jeremiah was great.

[Dr Kain]

Oh boy, Disc 3 to Code Geass Season 2 was down right amazing. First, we have some great battles going on here, the Knights betraying Zero, the show down with Charles and Lelouch's mother (what wonderful parents they are), but the most badass moment of all is when Lelouch walks into the throne room and plops his ass down decreeing that he is now the emperor of Britannia. Oh my god that was so amazing and the defining moment of the entire series. Tonight, we dine on Disc 4.

[Dr Kain]

Dinner has been served and we have finished the last four episodes of Code Geass. Good god was this show awesome. The first bit from the second season keeps it from entering my top 10 anime series list, but it is still up there. A lot happened in these four episodes to give us one of the greatest endings in anime history. It is so satisfying and the final showdown is brilliantly done. I really need to rewatch this show again sooner rather than later, probably before the third season comes out next year. One of the most remarkable shows released in the last decade and one that everyone should definitely check out if they haven't already. Funimation's BD release is top notch.

BTW, I forgot to mention this when I watched Disc 2, but they forgot to wipe the Pizza Hut logos out in one episode. lol

[EricDent]

Picked up both seasons of Infinate Stratos (DVD) at work for under $40.
Thinking about getting the Monster Musume show as well.

Watched the short OVA Le Portrait De Petit Cossette it was pretty odd, kinda dark, and had plenty of blood.
For those of you who don't like seeing really young girls almost nude, stay away.

[Dr Kain]

Petite Cossette is such an amazing OVA. Probably my favorite OVA of all time. THe music is so creepy and fits so well (like everything Yuki Kajura does).

Just curious though, how is the dub (if you watched it dubbed)? I've only watched it in Japanese due to the Japanese track being in DTS.

[Rody]

I'm not quite sure how I felt about the ending to WorldEnd.

I'm not currently watching anything from this season; I tried a couple episodes of Aho Girl and A Centaur's life on recommendation, but I don't see myself continuing with either (though Centaur could get interesting with some of the world-building hinted). Made in Abyss looks like it could be really good, but since Amazon grabbed that one, I won't be getting to it yet.
My Hero Academia is still going strong; the battle with hero killer Stain was one of my favorite arcs in the manga, and the show is smack-dab in the middle of that now.

I'm still chugging away at Lupin the Third Part II; I'm into what would now be the "second cour" of the show, but with a total of 150+ episodes, I'm still just getting started. The average quality of the episodes is on the upswing, though, fortunately.

I ended up starting Sound: Euphonium recently. I'm over the halfway mark now, and just by the first episode I was finding myself enraptured by the show. KyoAni's staff are simply masters of character acting and comedic timing - not to mention setting a mood with stunning visuals. Under a different crew, this might have been a casual slice-of-life show, but instead it's a remarkably low-key, yet compelling character drama. Stuff like this is why I got into anime and stayed.
My only caveat with the show so far is how they're handling some romantic developments - I almost want to say they feel out of place - but I recognize how very integral the relationships between characters are to this show, so I guess I'll see how they play out.

...Oh! and I recently bought/watched Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise, the movie studio Gainax was founded to produce. It's one of the best I've seen in a while, and it deserves recognition as a classic alongside Akira and Ghost in the Shell, if you ask me.

[EricDent]

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[O.Supreme]

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