I know I'm probably way behind on this, but I started watching Knights of Sidonia on Netflix over the weekend and I'm absolutely loving it so far. I'm a big fan of Tsutomu Nihei and loved his Biomega manga, even if the story was a little shallow, and Knights of Sidonia is just so much better. The artwork, the animation, the world building, and story are all excellent. I haven't been this into an anime in years.
I might just have to buy the Knights of Sidonia manga as well since there are only two seasons on Netflix.
Nichijou is Azumanga after it had its morning coffee, espresso, and adrenaline shots. It's more mundane in pace and subject of comedy.
I've been trying to fill the void Yamishibai left behind, these are just some turnovers Kowabon is a short, rotoscoped ghost story of the week. It tries to focus on setting the atmosphere more than telling a narrative. Not bad for 3 minute episodes.
Kagerani can be best described as stories from the SCP wiki. Each episode has a monster of the week that the people need to learn its rules to survive.
Finished watching Parasyte the other week. Was pretty ok, but some annoyances in the plot, especially in the last episode. Some of the characters didn't seem to serve any purpose. But it has some very good human elements to it.
So, I am nearing the end of the Chimera Ant arc in Hunter x Hunter and, uh, wow.
The thing about this show in comparison to something shorter and more uniformly emotionally punishing like Now and Then, Here and There is that it takes full advantage of the slow boil. Initial assumptions about tone, character, plot structure, style, even bigger stuff like morality: All of these can be established and then gradually rather then suddenly subverted or transformed. You get glimpses of the darkness and entrenched weirdness under the surface of this world and within these characters from the outset, but it lets these things emerge by degrees, with the dramatic payoff happening much further down the line.
The payoff, in this case, is a series of scenes in which nearly every role thus far established is reversed in the most unsettling way possible, and it makes perfect sense.
On the subject of Nichijou: While the setting and basic scenarios are much more overtly absurd and fantastical than Azumanga Daioh (setting aside Osaka's fantasies and, uh, Chiyo-chichi), the tone, subject matter and mode of comedy are very similar. Both are very much about wordplay, awkward situations, personality clashes and everyday weirdness. It just so happens that Nichijou has, like, robots and goat-riders.
"Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block announced Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri (Knocking on the Walls of the Armored Fortress), a new anime that will premiere next year. The project reunites director Tetsuro Araki and Wit Studio, the team responsible for Attack on Titan. Code Geass creator Ichiro Okouchi is writing the scripts."
Fun fact: This man also made a manga about skiing. It's just as terrible as his other manga, except no supernatural nonsense; people just run around being terrible to each other for no reason.
I ended up torrenting a rip of the US DVD. You know, this one:
It's actually a complete rip of the entire DVD with the VIDEO_TS directory and VOB files and such. VLC can play it just fine, but the quality is really low. Even the audio quality is bad. At least it's the correct content and not one of those awful re/cut things.
If anyone sees any subtitled boo-ray rips, let me know.
A few scenes are different toward the end. Minor changes though.
Those discs included both directors cut and non-directors cuts on some of the final episodes. The differences are very slight. The director's cuts were actually the DVD/laserdisc releases in Japan and the regular versions were the ones broadcast on TV. The exact differences are detailed on the Internets.
A few scenes are different toward the end. Minor changes though.
Those discs included both directors cut and non-directors cuts on some of the final episodes. The differences are very slight. The director's cuts were actually the DVD/laserdisc releases in Japan and the regular versions were the ones broadcast on TV. The exact differences are detailed on the Internets.
They are more than slight differences. If I recall correctly the DC episodes are a full 30 minutes rather than the standard 24
Dimension W has done a decent job of scratching that Sci-Fi itch this season. It's got an interesting setup about a society with access to unlimited energy. With said energy being controlled by a global corporation. This corporation also has it's own police force that goes about tracking down and confiscating illegal devices that produce unlicensed energy. Then you got your ex-special forces protagonist working as a freelance Repo man/Bounty hunter. Who also happens to shun the new tech. And you got your robot that thinks and acts like a living girl. Oh and then there is the conspiracy involving the inventor of the unlimited energy. All of which is rounded off with cast full of colorful characters.
The first episode felt very much like they were setting the stage and naming the players. I like the animation style and the eclectic cast, just waiting to see what they do with it before passing judgement.
There was a four year gap between season one and two. Which cooled my enthusiasm on the series quite a bit. Also I wasn't as invested in the introduction of the additional cast in the second season. You shouldn't have those issues I'm guessing since you won't have to wait for the other seasons to come out.
Durarara!!!'s problem is that the first 12 or so episodes are the strongest the show gets. So although I've liked what I've watched of the rest of it, it's never been as good anymore. Still good and enjoyable, but feels lesser than it is.
Season one is a nice complete arc at least. Two is a very different tone.
One of my students is really into the show and explained the reason for the drastic change in tone to me. The four seasons each represent one part of the traditional Asian four-part narrative structure, Kishotenketsu. The second season is all slow and developy on purpose.
Comments
I might just have to buy the Knights of Sidonia manga as well since there are only two seasons on Netflix.
I've been trying to fill the void Yamishibai left behind, these are just some turnovers
Kowabon is a short, rotoscoped ghost story of the week. It tries to focus on setting the atmosphere more than telling a narrative. Not bad for 3 minute episodes.
Kagerani can be best described as stories from the SCP wiki. Each episode has a monster of the week that the people need to learn its rules to survive.
Also abit of a Death Note feel to it.
7.9/10
The thing about this show in comparison to something shorter and more uniformly emotionally punishing like Now and Then, Here and There is that it takes full advantage of the slow boil. Initial assumptions about tone, character, plot structure, style, even bigger stuff like morality: All of these can be established and then gradually rather then suddenly subverted or transformed. You get glimpses of the darkness and entrenched weirdness under the surface of this world and within these characters from the outset, but it lets these things emerge by degrees, with the dramatic payoff happening much further down the line.
The payoff, in this case, is a series of scenes in which nearly every role thus far established is reversed in the most unsettling way possible, and it makes perfect sense.
On the subject of Nichijou: While the setting and basic scenarios are much more overtly absurd and fantastical than Azumanga Daioh (setting aside Osaka's fantasies and, uh, Chiyo-chichi), the tone, subject matter and mode of comedy are very similar. Both are very much about wordplay, awkward situations, personality clashes and everyday weirdness. It just so happens that Nichijou has, like, robots and goat-riders.
"Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block announced Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri (Knocking on the Walls of the Armored Fortress), a new anime that will premiere next year. The project reunites director Tetsuro Araki and Wit Studio, the team responsible for Attack on Titan. Code Geass creator Ichiro Okouchi is writing the scripts."
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-11-27/attack-on-titan-team-code-geass-writer-make-kotetsujo-no-kabaneri-anime/.81502
Fun fact: This man also made a manga about skiing. It's just as terrible as his other manga, except no supernatural nonsense; people just run around being terrible to each other for no reason.
Too much Death/Rebirth/Renewal garbage.
It's actually a complete rip of the entire DVD with the VIDEO_TS directory and VOB files and such. VLC can play it just fine, but the quality is really low. Even the audio quality is bad. At least it's the correct content and not one of those awful re/cut things.
If anyone sees any subtitled boo-ray rips, let me know.
Edit: Yep. 1080p boo ray. Because of the way private trackers work, I'd have to download it, then find a way to get it to you.