What are you watching/or completed? (Anime)

[EricDent]

Gave up on Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.

Finished Bubblegum Crisis, it was a decent action show, but had a very odd ending.

Now watching KK, first two episodes seem interesting.

Bought Aria The Animation, Aria the Natural, and Aria The Origination/Arrietta on DVD via Amazon's marketplace (used shawnek which is Right Stuf in disguise).

[EricDent]

So looks like I will be posting a bit more often.

I can't be the only person watching stuff...

Don't care if it's streaming, go ahead and discuss it.
If it's good, I'm sure somebody will grab it for a DVD/Blu-Ray release in the U.S.
Hopefully not Aniplex or Pony Can cause they are expensive.

I finished K Project (or just K). It was good, but has a rather open ending.
Would guess there's a second season or the manga goes on after this.

Up next, depends on the Library.
If they don't have anything interesting, then I will probably watch The Wold God Only Knows OVAs.
Since I bought those recently for about $18.

[jellydonut25]

I mean, I just watched Attack on Titan...but I posted in that thread. I'm not watching any other anime at the moment.

[EricDent]

OK that seems fair.

I watched The World God Only Knows OVAs.

4 short stories that set up the 3rd season.
The only odd thing is that Sentai released this AFTER season 3 had already came out.

Magical Girl Kanon was probably the best of the 4, cause it was cute.

[sentaison]

Well, I've recently watch Lupin the 3rd Red vs Green which was fun but sometimes confusing. Also Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan which was also fun. And I'm watching the first Lupin tv series (aka the Greenjacket files) on Hulu.

Yeah I've been on something of a Lupin binge lately.

[EricDent]

Man I kinda wish somebody would re-release the Pioneer Lupin the 3rd show.
The one that had Tony Oliver as Lupin & was shown on Cartoon Network.

Borrowing Infinite Stratos from the library.
It's the Blu-Ray version.
Watched the first disc, and it's pretty good.

Take one part mecha competition show, and add in a bunch of harem hi-jinks (plenty of cute girls) and you get this.
As with several shows of this type, there's a beach episode with the girls in bathing suits.

Sometimes I wonder about what I would do in these sorts of situations, since the guys never seem interested in doing anything with girls who are obviously interested in them.

[klen7]

Started season 2 of Knights of Sidonia. I miss the opening song from season 1.

[EricDent]

Finished season 1 of Infinite Stratos.

It was a pretty fun action/comedy with harem stuff.
I don't seem to remember that many girls that looked that good when they were 15...
Some are seriously developed...

Hopefully the library will have season 2 sometime soon.

[EricDent]

Grabbed Kobato & DNAngel from the library.

Kobato is from Clamp, and is pretty cute & fun with a hint of sadness.
Some other Clamp characters/locations show up.
Such as twin daughters of a certain apartment manager look a LOT like Chi from Chobits.

Only small issue was disc 2 was messed up (or my parents DVD player sucks).
So after episode 8 I couldn't watch it anymore.

Same thing happens with DNAngel after just the first episode.
That wasn't even scratched that badly....
That show also might be a Clamp show as well (main characters look like the ones from X The Movie) and a creature that looks a lot like a creature from Magical Knight Reyearth is involved.
Also a certain up hill railway is also involved (was expecting Code Geass characters to show up).

Man I wish people who borrow that stuff & then return it in that condition had to buy them a new copy...

[O.Supreme]

I've been watching Reideen , the 2007 anime loosely based on the Super Robot Anime Brave Reideen from 1975. Truthfully, other than the name of the Robot, and some of the weapons/attacks, there is no similarity at all. However I find myself enjoying it so far. I'm glad Section 23 films released this 26 episode series in 2 volumes earlier this year. I had been trying to watch it for a long time, but could never find even a fansub version in English (for some reason I could only ever find Italian subs ???). I'm only about 8 episodes it, but it is starting to get good. Glad they finally got the hero some clothes, always thought it was weird (and this isn't the only series), where the hero piloting a robot becomes nude for some reason, though thankfully his "parts" were obscured by the various piloting apparatus. Also I am intrigued to find out the true identity of the of the attacking aliens. Very different from the adversaries in the Original series, though that's to be expected, since pretty much nothing else, so far, has been the same.

[EricDent]

Well it's possible that Discotek might bring out the original Reideen.
They announced that they are doing Gaiking.

I would assume it's the whole show and not just that 3-4 episode thing they made into a movie.

Guess DNAngel isn't from Clamp, but the person who did Candidate for Goddess (AKA Pilot Candidate).

I gave up on Kobato, cause it just kept skipping like crazy, even after I used my Disc Doctor on it.

I missed about 2-3 minutes of one episode of DNAngel due to this, but the rest worked fine.

So far it's a pretty decent show.
As usual I don't rember that many girls in middle school that were as cute as the main girls on this...

[EricDent]

Finished DNAngel, it was pretty decent.

Had to give up on Kobato due to the disc issues.

Then I picked 5 random shows and mixed them up, then I randomly selected one.

First up was disc 1 of Chobits.
As usual I went with the fun dub featuring Crispin Freeman.
This show is rather funny at the start.
Still kinda wonder just how close we are to actually having something like the Persocoms in the show.

Then I watched the first Blu-Ray of Cat Planet Cuties.
Last time I watched it was on a small TV, so I might have missed the rather detailed chest areas of the ladies...
Three words made this show rather fun: Naked Gun Fight!

[EricDent]

Finished Cat Planet Cuties, man there's a bunch of nudity in this (not complaining).
It's still fun, and despite the kinda open-ended ending it was a solid show.

Watched 2 discs of K-On.
Basically cute girls doing cute things and eating snacks.
Though in the 2nd disc they actually do play some music, and on the last episode of that disc the rather cute Azu-Nyan shows up.

Also watched disc 1 of Kamichu, a show that really needs another chance at re-release.
Especially with the very Ghibli-like art (even Totoro makes a cameo if you look).
Fun dub, cute characters, and a nice setting.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Just started GATE (which is streaming on Crunchyroll). I'm 2 episodes in...pretty neat so far. There is even a reference to King Ghidorah complete with a Godzilla-sounding theme in the background...

The story revolves around a mysterious gate that shows up in Japan and links two worlds together, at which point they begin to fight. The first two episodes have been lots of fun - check it out.

[Rody]

I finished the 2006 adaptation of Kanon last week, by Kyoto Animation. This was the second of KyoAni's collaborations with Key Visual Arts (Air being the first), and although there are some flaws in the storytelling, overall Kanon is a much more solid effort. There's a LOT of melodrama, but it's generally handled very well, and most of the characters are very likeable and believable - especially main hero Yuuichi, who sort of feels like a prototype for Kyon in Haruhi Suzumiya (and shares the voice of Tokomazu Sugita, no less). Yuuichi's interactions with each of the main girls in the story have a sweet, friendly/brotherly atmoshpere in how he'll tease & joke, but genuinely cares for them like they're his oldest & best friends in the world.
...
The magical elements of the plot aren't that well introduced, unfortunately, so even if one goes in knowing what to expect, it comes upon you a bit suddenly. The ultimate resolution of the story is a little sloppy and convenient, too, so I wouldn't consider this to be one of Kyoto Animation's strongest shows. It's a major step up, though, and worth watching if you like the feels.

[EricDent]

Man I bawled my eyes out during the parts with that fox girl in Kanon...

Air was also pretty bad with the girl trying to walk...

Of course Clannad had me bawling one minute (especially with the Wedding stuff) and busting a gut the next.

As for Angel Beats, since that was shorter, I really didn't have any feelings for those people.

Anyhow, I finished K-On season 1, still a really fun show.
Had me feeling pretty good near the end, kinda wish I felt like that all the time.

Up to disc 3 of Kamichu.
Got a little sad on the episode where she goes to a different school for a bit (to attend a god convention).
Still say the Martian Girl episode is easily the best.
I still wish somebody would rescue this, cause it would be pretty popular (IMO) due to the cute stuff.

[O.Supreme]

Trying to get back into the few Gundam series I haven't seen. I've made 3 attempts to watch Gundam Age in the past, and always a few episodes in, real life gets me sidetracked. This time thankfully, I have stuck with it. I am 39 episodes in, only 10 left to go. I enjoy the unique multi-generational aspect to the series. Also I appreciate that the main characters (Asuno family) are usually not over whiney, even in the face of tragic loss. Though the first arc of the series was a little lighter, I have enjoyed how the 2nd and 3rd arc have become more mature in nature, despite the main character constantly (seemingly) getting younger. With just 10 episodes left, I am very eager to see how it all wraps up. Hopefully after this I can finally finish Victory, then finally get into Turn A -amazingly I've had Turn A on DVD for about 2 years, but now that Sunrise has officially released the series on 2 DVD sets for the United States, I want to get those in order to watch it.

[O.Supreme]

Well, as promised in the “what anime's are you looking forward to.” Thread, here now is my review of the Anime Film: Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark.
Of course, as some of you may know, I have been a fan of : Space Battleship Yamato, ever since watching Star Blazers on American TV in the early 80’s, so it’s been with me almost my whole life( 35 of 39 years), and is at the core of my Anime enthusiasm. After such a long absence of new Yamato Anime, the past few years have been exciting to say the least. 2 New Anime films, a 26 episode TV series, and a live action film adaptation. Surprisingly however this new film Odyssey of the Celestial Ark, is the best to date.

Being set in the alternate 2199 time line (as opposed to the original timeline that the film “Resurrection” was set in a few years back) this new film delivers familiar characters from the original series in very much a fresh new way, and several new concepts as well. Normally I am not a big fan of Anime films that are addendums or side-stories to an already complete anime series, as they usually don’t serve a purpose beyond an additional pointless conflict, however this film is very much needed as it sets up what should be the 2nd 2199 series (should the powers that be choose to produce a 2nd series).
I really appreciate the set up because in both the original Yamato, and in 2199, most of the series is spent on “getting” to the destination (planet Iscandar), and very little time is spent on the return trip home, which would have taken just as long. Though admittedly 2199 does it better, with the advantage of having 30+ years of hindsight to develop a more detailed story than the original, there is still a lot of “in-between” time where you may have wondered what was going on before they finally returned to Earth.

The premise of the story is that during the trip home, the Yamato comes across a mysterious new enemy, Gatlantis (known to American fans as The Comet Empire). In an earlier episode of the 2199 series, fans were teased with a quick battle between The Gamilons, and Gatlantis (who the Gamilons assume to be barbarians). In fact however BOTH are space fairing empires seeking conquest, and it appears that The Gamilons have provoked Gatlantis into making war in a sector of the universe, that now threatens both them, and Earth. I was surprised at the appearance, new Redesign of the Gatlantis themselves. The ships, of all various sizes and classes, pretty much look identical to the ones in the original series, however “modernized” and look beautiful. However the appearance of the people themselves has changed quite a bit. The Original Gatlantians were merely a pale/olive skinned race. Their objective was often compared to the Nazi’s in WWII, with their seemingly indestructible machines of war. The Gatlantians for this new film appear to have motives very much the same as the Klingons from Star Trek, even their appearance, with protrusions on their heads appear Klingon-like. They talk of War, Honor etc… which caused me to chuckle a little, but it was still a pretty interesting concept.

The Yamato is nearly destroyed in their first encounter with the Gatlantis fleet; a narrow escape by making an uncalculated space warp mysteriously causes them to enter another dimension. The Yamato ends up in a dimension filled with clouds, and no stars to navigate. They find a mysterious planet and decide to land in order to make repairs and assess their situation, Unknown to the Yamato crew however, a group of Gamilons have been marooned on the mysterious planet as well. An exploration party consisting of captain Kodai, and several other crew members decides to explore the planet. They find that it has a breathable atmosphere, but a person’s memories can manipulate the environment. One female crew member seems to be more influential than the others, as they end up in an Amazon rain forest, and come upon the wreck of the original WWII battleship Yamato, of course this causes all sorts of confusion as to why this would be on a planet in another dimension. As they enter the hull of the old ship, it mysteriously turns into a hotel, with the only way out being a locked elevator which goes up to the 11th floor. In this hotel, they find the rogue Gamilons, who mistake the Yamato crew as slaves from one of their conquered planets having come to rescue them. The Yamato crew decide to go along with the facade, not revealing who they are. At this point, the film gets a little slow, as the relationship between the Gamilons and their “slaves” begins to grow as they both work on finding a way out of the mysterious hotel. They keep running across clues, and references to a race called the Jirel, space witches who were used by the Gamilons to psychically attack their enemies in space, until they were all supposedly killed. Eventually however the secret of the elevator is unlocked by one crew member, and it is revealed that the planet they are on is in fact the Jirel homeworld. Once back on the surface, the illusions break, and the Yamato crew are revealed to the Gamilons. However their time spent together has softened their hatred for one another. A representative of the Jirel states that unwelcome guests have arrived, that being the Gatlantis Fleet. The Gatlantis admiral has been tasked by Lady Sabera (The mistress if Emperor Zordar who is mentioned, but not seen) with finding Aquarius (a water planet that would come into play much later in the 5th film of the original series). The Admiral however mistakenly believes the Jirel homeworld to be Aquarius, and decids to destroy it, along with getting revenge on the Yamato for escaping him earlier.

The climax that follows is simply an amazing space battle. The Gamilon Fleet and Yamato join forces to attack the Gatlantis Fleet. In the end, Yamato and a fragment of the Gamilon fleet survive. As they leave the Jirel home world, they return to normal space, as it is revealed that the planet was actually a gigantic vessel containing the entire Jirel Civilization. The vessel then warps into deep space presumably to never be seen again. The Gamilons and Yamato crew part on good terms, as the film ends we get a different perspective of the day the Yamato returned to earth.

All I can say is that I hope they will produce a 2nd television season of Yamato 2199. This film was the perfect set up as in the original, the Gatlantis (Comet Empire), were the main antagonists of the 2nd series, and this film makes them look more powerful than ever. I give this film my highest recommendation to any fan of Yamato/Star Blazers. If you are simply a fan of Space Drama however, I would recommend it after watching the TV series Yamato 2199, as it will make much more sense.

[Rody]

You know, I posted this over in the recently watched movies thread, but it's probably more appropriate here:

I decided it was high time for me to see the beloved Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, so I watched it the other night.
...Did I miss something? I didn't really like it.

Despite being over an hour & a half long, I could barely keep pace with the many developments in the story. Char is leading a new Zeon government and decided to punish all earthlings by sending an asteroid to, essentially, reboot Earth. Bright Noa and Amuro Ray are leading the Federation forces in Earth's defense. A politician and his eccentric daughter travel to space on peace talk businesses. Noa's son Hathaway also travels to space. Numerous other characters are also introduced, and the film drops us right in the middle of these developing events, with only some expository dialogue to help bring us up to speed. There are so many characters that it's a hassle to follow what everyone's doing - and then the REAL headache sets in when the relationships start.
If there's one thing I disliked about the original Mobile Suit Gundam, it's how the show handled its romantic relationships. This only got worse in Zeta Gundam, and it doesn't seem to have gotten any better in Char's Counterattack. We barely have a chance to get to know these characters, and all of a sudden they're attracted to each other and getting involved in all sorts of drama amidst the war. Amuro and Char each seem to have a new girl, but then in comes Quess, the young newtype girl, who sets her sights on Amuro and then Char, while flirting with Hathaway and Zeon Cyber-newtype Guinley, respectively; which spurs moments of jealousy from multiple involved parties. That isn't even mentioning how both Amuro and Char are still haunted by their own relationship(s) with the late Lalah Sune. What makes all this especially frustrating to me is how integral this stuff is to the story. Yes, the big plot is that a new war has broken out, but the personal drama surrounding Amuro and Char may be the true driving force here. Quess gets the most attention in the story besides the two warriors, yet ultimately I felt she was no more than a side issue for the deeper conflicts present.
Frankly, any time the story starts focusing on the newtypes, not only in Char's Counterattack but in the preceeding two shows, I feel the story gets too abstract for its own good. I suppose the writers were trying to make stronger statements about the state of humanity, but frankly it gets lost on me. The movie ends more abruptly than it starts, with Amuro fighting Char and doing everything he can to stop the asteroid - and then ... I'm sorry, what just happened there?
I will say this in support of the film: it is in no way lacking an epic scale. The art design is stunning, presenting all of space and the war as grandly as possible. Animation is pretty smooth, and the battles are thoroughly intense. In my limited experience with the franchise, Gundam shines its brightest when presenting the thick of battle, and Char's Counterattack is no exception.

Unfortunately, to tweak a quote by Yoda, wars do not make a movie great, and when the film is doing anything other than fighting, I feel pretty much lost and confused. I hope I can improve my opinion of this movie in the future, because as it stands now, I feel pretty disappointed.

[EricDent]

Finished Kamichu, it was a cute & fun show.
Still say it seriously needs a rescue so more people can watch it.

Now watching Slayers for at least the 4th time.
It's still pretty fun and has decent action, comedy, and a hint of romance.
I'm up to the point in the dub where the dub gets really good.
Since the people who did Zelgadis & Amelia left the show (or something like that) and we get the much better Crispin Freeman & Veronica Taylor.
Up to disc 4 already since it's easy to blast through this show.

As for Space Battleship Yamato, that also has a kinda special place in my anime heart.
Possibly the first anime I ever watched & the first one I ever owned.
Of course I don't own it currently, mostly cause it's so darn expensive & it only has the dub option.
Unless I want the movies or the more recent series that is.
Again with those, they are expensive for what you get.
4 episode singles? What is this the early 2000s?
About $50 a disc? What are you suddenly Aniplex of America?

[O.Supreme]

I am extremely frustrated with Voyager Ent when it comes to their licensing/stranglehold over Yamato/ StarBlazers media. I had the original VHS' from Kidmark, and literally wore them out of existence. Voyager Ent. released their DVD's between 2001-2004, in the early days of DVD, well over a decade ago. The DVD's themselves were of pretty sub-par quality back then, It saddens me that they have never been re-released, and that they are going for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. As they are distributing 2199, I don't understand their strategy. They are not dubbing the series, but incorporating basically an inaccurate subtitled version using all the names, places etc... from the original Star Blazers dub. And yes, while $40-50 may be the norm for a Blu Ray in Japan, that doesn't translate well in the United States. Voyager Ent. is even worse with Star Blazers than Harmony Gold is with Robotech, and THAT is saying something.

I found the most economic option was to obtain the 2199 series, and most recent film via legitimate licensed Singapore DVD's from eBay. As for Star Blazers, thankfully Amazon has all 3 seasons on instant video for a decent price. The downside is that they are serialized (each video is 4 or 5 episodes edited together without opening/closing sequences), but it is better than the alternative.

[The Shadow]

Just finished watching most of Shirobako, which is an anime about making anime. Shirobako shows the various aspects of making and all the behind the scenes stuff sometimes needed to make an anime happen, and to some extent what happens when things go pear shaped when making an anime. I liked the show, it's interesting seeing an anime company's take on the joys and trials of making anime.

[EricDent]

Blasted through Slayers pretty quickly, it's still a fun adventure show with comedy, action, and a hint of romance.
Maybe they improved on the sizes of the characters in Slayers Next cause it looked like Amellia was even smaller than Lina.

Started on Trigun (already up to volume 4 of the singles).
Lots of action, comedy, and cool characters.
Despite it being his first anime dub, I think Johnny Yong Bosch nailed Vash.
A fun game to play while watching this show is "spot the cat".
A cat shows up in pretty much every episode.

So I sold off some singles and consolidated some shows into smaller sized collections.
Austin must be not that into anime, cause I only got $13 for 20 DVDs.
All of them were out of print singles of Tenchi Universe, Tenchi In Tokyo (a very underrated show IMO), and Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat.

I found a copy of the litebox version of Tenchi in Tokyo (Geneon version) at a local used store for $6.
I also bought Tenchi Universe (Funimation version at work for $25).
Will buy the litebox version of Panyo Panyo at work (it's $9.99, despite going for about $30 on Amazon).

The only Yamato thing that I own is the live action movie from a few years back.
Despite its changing some stuff, I think it captured the feel of the show quite well.
Seeing the wave motion gun go off was AWESOME.

I still see a few DVDs of Star Blazers floating around various used stores in the area.

[klen7]

In Knights of Sidonia S2E8 there is a moment when they are watching a show within the show...and its "Blame!" and i just about lost it. So freakin cool. Would love to see that.

[O.Supreme]

Finally finished Gundam Age. It was pretty cool. The only thing I really didn't care for was in the last episode. Instead of having Zeheart be the last enemy, they chose to have the young clone of Lord Ezelcant come out with an Uber Mobile Suit. A villain we have no time vested in doesn't amount to much, especially when he is destroyed so quickly despite supposedly being the "most powerful" enemy. Other than that, it was pretty good. Typical Gundam-like ending, everyone (good and evil) comes together in the final moment to same humanity as a whole.

Now my next challenge - go back and finish Victory, or start on Turn A ...???