What are you watching/or completed? (Anime)

[EricDent]

Albagas was gonna be the 3rd Voltron IIRC, Gladiator Voltron.
They had toys of the 3 robots in the Voltron toy-line. I personally bought one at Walt Disney World way back in the '80s.

Anyhow I finished Tenchi in Tokyo, still say that Sakuya is possibly the cutest Tenchi girl.
Notice how they patterned the "daughter" in Dauhter of Darkness after her.

Watched disc 4 of Code Geass, they finally reveal that Suzaku is the pilot of the Lancelot to Lulu & Kallen.

Watched disc 1 of Moribito the set I got from the Holiday sale has 8 discs.
We meet the main characters, and see that Balsa is a badass.

[O.Supreme]

[EricDent]

So not anime, but still cool, I watched my parents house, and they have a Roku TV with Amazon Video & Netflix.
I decided to see if season 2 of the CGI Thunderbirds was on there, and it was.
Kayo (who was a remodel of Tintin) gets more screen time in this season.
They also show her vehicle's launch sequence (she gets Thunderbird S) and it finally reveals to her family that the dreaded Hood is her uncle (she's the daughter of Kirano in the original show).

Anyhow, now back to anime.

I looked around a couple Half Price Books in the area since they are doing a 20% off coupon that's good until Monday (you can use it once per visit, but there's no limit). Anyhow I found a copy of Photon The Idiot Adventures.
The only other place I have seen it locally was at Buybacks for like $75.
HPB had it at $19.99, so yeah it was a steal at about $18.

Watched it (only 6 episodes) you can tell easily that this is by the same people who did Tenchi.
Similar girl designs, the guy was a really short version of Tenchi, and of course it has action, comedy, outer space stuff, and nudity. Like most of the Tenchi shows it even has a decent dub.

Maybe different names involved, but Kayne Aqua sounds a lot like a much mellowed out Ryoko...

Also grabbed Lord Marksman & Vandalis at a different HPB for about $28.
It is the Combo Pack.
Looked like something I would like, and still need a few more fantasy anime in my collection.

[EricDent]

Ripped through Lord Marksman & Vanadis (spelled it wrong).

It was a decent fantasy show with harem elements, plus good action (some rather large battles), a bit of comedy (they had a Chibi theater thing), and of course a bunch of attractive ladies.
Even the small looking ladies had shapely breasts (the clothes hid them well).
Only problem is it's only 13 episodes long, and it seems to set up a longer story.

[O.Supreme]

Started watching Cyborg 009 on Netflix but didn't get very far. I am a huge fan of classic anime, so after watching only 2 episodes, I am wanting to see the older series from the 60's and late 70's etc.. before I delve into the new series. I've found some on Youtube, now its just a matter of finding time to watch them.

[EricDent]

Last pickup of the HPB sale was Dream Eater Merry for about $17.

Watched the rest of sCRYed finally, and it's still a great series.
Wasn't there some sort of follow up movie to that?

Still slowly watching Moribito & Code Geass.
Getting near the end of the first season of Geass.
Hope that Akito thing gets brought out soon.

[sentaison]

[EricDent]

Finished season 1 of Code Geass, now working through season 2.
Seriously I forgot just how darn good this show is.

[Rody]

It's been a while since I last posted in here. I've gone through a few shows - I finished Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari (delightfully eccentric if uncomfortably lewd sometimes), Konosuba (highly funny if slightly mean-spirited), Mob Psycho 100 (near perfection), and Kaiju Girls (kinda cute). I'm also working my way through season 2 of Assassination Classroom, which is good, but I just lack enthusiasm for it now (I mean, the manga's over...). I'm also still technically watching Lupin the IIIrd Part 2, but that's in no way consistent.
I dropped Twin Star Excorsists. It got mediocre again.

Most recently, with Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale approaching release in the States, I decided to finally take the plunge into the franchise, and finished the first season just last week. This show had good potential, but... I don't think it never achieved greatness. The series skips over what could have been more thorough character development, and spends nearly its whole latter half on a second, largely irrelevant arc. I wouldn't call this show bad, but I won't say it's that good, either.
I guess I'll see how season 2 is. Ordinal Scale sounds like it might be promising, at least.

I've also been watching the shoujo romance series Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You, on a friend's recommendation; and I must say, the first season is adorable. The show presents a highly endearing cast of characters that develop nicely and overcome a few trials without the drama getting too dire. It's a great comfort food show. Unfortunately, the second season (which I just finished this evening) feels like a few steps backward - with the lead duo practically regressing and beating around the bush for OVER HALF THE SEASON. It's aggravating to sit through (and, to be fair, I'm guessing this is just a result of adapting the material), but at least the last few episodes redeem things somewhat.

I'll be starting season 2 of SAO soon enough; in the meantime, I'm thinking of starting Kyousougiga and Gatchaman Crowds, as they look - and - like they'll be a blast.

[O.Supreme]

ok...so I finally got the Blu Ray set of Gundam Reconguista in G. I put the first disc in to watch, and got sidetracked, like 2 hours sidetracked by something I saw on Youtube...

Apparently there is a sequel series to Yamato 2199...the first film was just released in Japanese theaters last week (and on Blu Ray) it is called Yamato 220 indicating both the year, and that it is the 2nd series. It is exactly what I wanted, a masterful retelling of the original 2nd season of Space Battleship Yamato against Gatlantis (The Comet Empire). I REALLY need to see this ASAP, but could not find it on any sites I know of, hopefully someone will start selling the Blu rays on eBay soon, the first series had English subs, so I'm hopeful this one will as well. The clips I've seen are amazing. I's not very often I see something in my minds eye as amazing, and then the reality is even better! I am so excited for this.

As a result I didn't start on Gundam LOL!--I'll have to get to that later.

[EricDent]

Finished Code Geass, still a great show.
Hopefully that Akito the Exiled (IIRC) thing comes out in the US soon.
Also hope that whatever that new Code Geass thing they announced in Japan recently is some sort of continuation of the series.
Since there is a slight chance that Lulu lived...

Also finished watching Morebito which was still a good show, and in no way "boring".
Back when it aired on Adult Swim (which I watched but missed at least one episode) people online called it "Borebito".

[klen7]

Gantz:O - there were a lot of things i really admired in the manga Gantz - these things have been absent from the anime and the live action updates. So I figured I'd give this latest adaptation a shot since it is available on Netflix, and it seems like they really captured Gantz for the first time. It takes place way later in the storyline than the other adaptations, and it takes some liberties with the main characters, which all pays off. I would gladly watch another entry from the team that put this together.

[Dr Kain]

Finally got my Cowboy Bebop custom frame:

[EricDent]

After finishing Moribito I decided to watch Mai-Hime.
Which I got through pretty quickly.

After that I went with the follow-up show Mai-Otome, which I am at disc 5 already.

I guess I just got in the mood to watch a bunch of anime episodes instead of messing on my phone.

[Dr Kain]

[Rody]

I forgot to mention Humanity Has Declined in my last post, which is a quirky little post-apocalyptic fairy tail (scored by Kow Otani, no less), and Amagi Brilliant Park, a good-but-not-great fantasy story produced by Kyoto Animation.

---

Well, I honestly didn't expect to like Sword Art Online II much more than the first, but I think it was actually better. The first arcs of the respective seasons are about on par, but SAOII made much better use of its second half.
I'll be seeing Ordinal Scale tonight!

[EricDent]

Eventually either Funimation or Section 23 is gonna re-release the Mai-Hime/Mai-Otome stuff.
Including that prequel movie to Mai-Otome (something like sifr).

I finished Mai-Otome including Zwei (the OVA).
Still pretty fun and of course a ton of cute girls.

Then I grabbed some shows off the shelf and randomized them and picked one.

First up was the first disc of Ragnarok The Animation. Based on a popular MMORPG (think it's still going in Korea).
While some people didn't like it, I think it's a decent fantasy show with good character growth.
Decent action & fun characters, as well as a good dub.

Then I watched the first disc of the older singles of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Sure the "order" is a bit "weird", but who cares cause this show is fun.
I watched the episodes of the ASOS Brigade as well.
The dub is great, it has fun characters, and of course the ladies are all nice looking.

Finally I watched the first 3 episodes of Dream Eater Merry.
Then I went to work.
This show mixes dark & funny pretty well. Plus despite being tiny, Merry is rather cute.
Of course it helps that her dub voice is the always cute (and somewhat sexy) Hillary Haag.

Speaking of work, looks like after a rather long hiatus Fry's is bringing back their Buy One Get One 50% Off Sale.
This time it's just Section 23 stuff and it runs from March 12-24.
In the past they had Funimation stuff as well, but I guess they couldn't cut a deal this time.
It's been at least 2 years (if not longer) since the last sale of this sort.
Hopefully it becomes an annual thing again.

[EricDent]

Also if you are a member of the HPB email club, they are gonna do a 20%-50% off thing next week.
Sun-Mon 20, Tue-Wed 30, Fri-Sat 40, and next Sunday 50.
They will most likely let people sign up to get the coupons in store.

[Rody]

The Thursday night showing of Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale was one of the most fun theater experiences I've had. I'm not usually part of such a lively audience!
The movie itself was pretty good; I'd say it was standard fare for the franchise, in terms of story quality. I kind of wish the animation production values were higher, but it certainly sounded great (Yuki Kajiura FTW).

TCM ran Belladonna of Sadness the other day, so I recorded it and sat down to watch it yesterday. That was...
....
I don't quite know what that was; graphic and unsettling, certainly. I think the film had very deliberate intent, but I don't think I'm qualified to analyze it. If you want something completely different from any other anime out there, and don't mind psychedelic, explicit imagery, you might want to give it a try. It was... An experience, for sure.

[EricDent]

I finished disc 1 of Dream Eater Merry.

Then watched disc 3 of I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs.

Then I watched Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, and decided to stick with that.
Up to disc 6 (of 7).
It's a mix of dark, comedy, and has lots of Norse myth stuff.

[EricDent]

Finished Loki, apparently the manga (which was brought over to the US by ADV) is a sequel to the show.
Might have to see if I can find it legally to read online.

[EricDent]

Finished I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs.
It was fun & cute.

Also finished Dream Eater Merry.
It got kinda dark, but has a decent ending.

Watched Detatoko Princess.
It was short (3 episodes) but rather fun.
I found it at a local Half Price Books over the weekend.
They had a 50% off coupon so this was like $4 (marked at $9.99).

I also found Chaos Dragon marked at $7.99.
It said "as is", and the 2nd Blu-Ray looked scratched (but it was just dirty)...so yeah bandit time!
Now watching Chaos Dragon (up to episode 9).
It's a very interesting mix of western, eastern, and other cultures fantasy stuff.
Steam Punk, Magic, Dragons, Beasts, mixed breeds, and even undead.
So far it's pretty interesting, and not afraid to show blood.

[O.Supreme]

^Eric. I know you used to work at Frys (perhaps still do??). But man...no offense, but that place has really changed IMHO. Now I realize they have to keep up with the times, but I guess I'm in the minority. What used to be 8 aisles of DVD/Blu-Ray is now all crammed into one?? (at least at the location closest to me). I get that online shopping is more prevalent and people steering more towards digital media but...I still like to actually "see" what I'm getting before I choose to get it. I mean most of my physical media I get on Amazon now because I pretty much have no choice. Frys was my go-to place for a long time, I could at the very least often count on seeing something I didn't even know existed and come home with a little surprise...not so anymore.

Overall I guess the store is still ok, having competitive prices and good products on everything else they sell, but my main reason for going (DVD and Blu Ray) is sadly non existant. On the other hand...If I ever want a drone (which my son probably will before I ever do). I know where to go.

[Rody]

Kyousougiga might go down as one of my favorite anime TV shows of all - family reunion by way of multi-dimensional apocalypse! There's a lot it fits in to a mere 10-episode series, but it's an incredibly quirky and lively show with a heart of gold. I totally recommend it to anyone who wants something really unique.

Gatchaman Crowds was very good too. I can't compare or contrast it to the original show(s), but as its own thing, it was a solid sci-fi show with some meaningful (if slightly muddled?) social commentary. The color palette and soundtrack to this show are amazing; and it's nice to see a show tackling some potentially heavy themes while maintaining an aggressively positive attitude. I'd recommend this one too - just be sure to seek out the director's cut of the final episode to get the full finish.

Konosuba 2 has been even funnier than the first. Maybe it's because the main cast is already established, but the humor has really been firing on all cylinders this time around.

I also just watched a couple more episodes of Nichijou on Blu-ray. Ahhhh, I love this show.

[O.Supreme]

I understand Gatchaman Crowds & Crowds Insight really have nothing to do with the original series (which is one of my all tome favorite animes), but I couldn't make it past the 1st episode. I mean...Is it not even about a super-hero tam that fights alien invaders? all I remember was some teen angst drama. If it at least has some redeeming quality, I may give it another chance, but other than the name Gatchaman...it has to have some connection, or even vaguely similar theme? Shouldn't it?