Anime/Manga Journal

[Aeolus]

I saw Howl's Moving Castle 2 or 3 times, and still don't have a freakin' clue what was going on in that movie.

There's a witch, there's a war, there's a girl who gets turned into an old maid, there's a loaf of a wizard and his Mobile Castle Gundam, there's a scarecrow, who's really the missing prince that the war is being fought over, there are some loving sweet airship designs, and there's a grudge match between two elderly women in an epic stair climbing duel (best part of the movie; full stop).

Beyond that it's about accepting change within your life (especially hair color), and being as old as you feel (Howl has nothing to do with breaking the witch's curse beyond being motivation for the girl to get off her ass and break the curse on her own; the witch meanwhile falls apart when she realizes she can no longer hide her age behind her witchcraft).

[Dice]

I like that you put a moral behind it -- it will probably really change my next viewing of it (it did when I understood what "Life Aquatic" was about as well).

I loved Howl, but I still thought a few parts were really sloppy about it; the entire part of the war was wedged in too hard, and the wonderful and convenient but unimportant reveal about the Scarecrow Prince was just easy to wonder "um ok?".

[Bytor]

I saw Howl's Moving Castle 2 or 3 times, and still don't have a freakin' clue what was going on in that movie.

There's a witch, there's a war, there's a girl who gets turned into an old maid, there's a loaf of a wizard and his Mobile Castle Gundam, there's a scarecrow, who's really the missing prince that the war is being fought over, there are some loving sweet airship designs, and there's a grudge match between two elderly women in an epic stair climbing duel (best part of the movie; full stop).

Beyond that it's about accepting change within your life (especially hair color), and being as old as you feel (Howl has nothing to do with breaking the witch's curse beyond being motivation for the girl to get off her ass and break the curse on her own; the witch meanwhile falls apart when she realizes she can no longer hide her age behind her witchcraft).

OMG! This is a  FANTASTIC synopsis!!!!, HAHAHAHA

[Yggdrasil]

Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero -- Lengerie Fitting (NSFW)

I...

*sigh*

[Annubis]

I actually watched Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero.

Why? Some people said the show was descent.

Actually... it's pretty descent. There's an average story with some interesting character development. The hero isn't lame like 99% of the harem anime (which is a nice change)
The biggest problem of the serie though is that the hero is a male Mary Sue... and of course the giant amount of gratuitous fanservice.
Fanservice isn't evil per se, but like everything, it needs to be used with moderation. This anime keeps shoving it in your face, and worst is, it would have been OK even if it only had half as much of it.

Oh yeah, this will be getting a second season. I guarantee it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, girls peeing also. That was pretty creepy.

[Hathen]

Stuff

I actually enjoyed Gen 2 the most as well, though it does have its share of problems. I think it's because Gen 1 is all basically really boring and drawn-out setup that goes way longer than it should (that story could've fit 3-4 episodes, really). For me, it was because Asem actually had a struggle. Kio was irritating because he was so obviously set up to have him succeed even though he never really worked for it...I can't believe they actually managed to make a protagonist more naive and grating than Kira was. Kira was grating because he only succeeded because he had infinite powers through the magic of narrative, Kio just kept saying things and then was ineffectual at putting it in action...which wouldn't be a problem if you want to think that the show is intentionally trying to subvert/make fun of the whole Gundam pacifism message...but there really isn't any indication of that anywhere.

I actually think the whole Flit/Kio dynamic started out really interesting because of how macabre it was...Flit has basically raised a child to be totally okay with murdering people on a huge scale on purpose, basically making him into a weapon, and this is never addressed. We get some stuff about how Flit actually cares about his grandson...what? If he loved his grandson he wouldn't train him to become the ultimate X-rounder killing machine and pull strings to get him into the military. The very concept of the show has zero thought put into it.

I don't think Zeheart was nonsensical like a lot of people like to criticize him as. He was basically a guy who ended up so deep into it that he thought if he didn't keep going his life would've been for nothing, and he couldn't accept that, which is why he had that total meltdown in the second to last episode (I actually really like how incredibly laughable the final fight between Asem and Zeheart was, because that's kind of the point...at this point he just WANTS to die). Could've been a good story if they developed that more, but as it is its so rushed that I understand why people were confused by his character.

That stuff was Flit really was total bullshit though. You don't get to have him say something as extreme as executing POWs and then have him have a go "oh, well I actually know things suck for them too". What?

[Ranadiel]

Well to some extent Flit is shown to love Kio. He just is a very messed up person. His idea of showing love to his grandson was preparing him for the inevitable battle. He didn't view it as turning him into a weapon, but rather preparing him for something that would eventually happen so that what happened to Asemu wouldn't repeat. And really Kio would have ended up being the ultimate X-Rounder killing machine with or without Flit. Kio is supposed to be the most powerful X-Rounder in the series(except for maybe the clone guy in the last episode) and we saw how quickly Flit picked up fighting when he was a boy with no experience. Speaking of that I had some serious issues with Kio being such a powerful X-Rounder. I liked how during the second gen Asemu went through an arc realizing that it was possible for normal people to combat X-Rounders, and there was a discussion that X-Rounders were actually a "devloution of humanity." I was expecting them to come up something else that would be the next step of human evolution, but no they just made Kio into the most overpowered X-Rounder in existence.

As for Zeheart, I dunno. I disliked the change. It felt too sudden. I could see it working had they shown him having some kind of slow decline in how much he devoted himself to his subordinates and how much he was dedicated to the plan. Where he seemed to be just prior to becoming the sucessor seemed like he should of rejected the plan outright rather than joining in. *shrug*

[TiamatNM]

I actually watched Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero.

Why? Some people said the show was descent.

Actually... it's pretty descent. There's an average story with some interesting character development. The hero isn't lame like 99% of the harem anime (which is a nice change)
The biggest problem of the serie though is that the hero is a male Mary Sue... and of course the giant amount of gratuitous fanservice.
Fanservice isn't evil per se, but like everything, it needs to be used with moderation. This anime keeps shoving it in your face, and worst is, it would have been OK even if it only had half as much of it.

Oh yeah, this will be getting a second season. I guarantee it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, girls peeing also. That was pretty creepy.

I liked it at first (mainly cause the main guy had a sack and uh...it has girls?) but I liked it less the more I watched it.  The characters have no depth at all and don't make up for it with good comedy either.  I was expecting the class rep and the lesbian chick to get more screentime or something but they are just side characters, only the main guy and boobie demon princess seem to get any attention.  The story is also awful.  The premise is fine but the way it is carried out is blah.  I dropped at 10/12 eps. 

[Dice]

Shinsekai Yori.

Dice is finally impressed with a new anime; only took about two years, maybe more.
Apparently it features a time skip some point in, the show starts with the characters at 12, finishes with them at 21 -- I love time skips like that, they can make for an interesting literary device.

But anyways.
EP01: Bizarre, lots of cuts that I don't think were supposed to make complete sense.  Clearly the school is for... demi-gods to learn their powers ...or something??  But its got a few skeletons in the closet that I'm sure will blossom into beautiful spoilers by the show's end.

I'm NOT fond of the art style, the eyes are big, even by anime standards. 

However, on an interesting note, and something that really can't be said of many anime, the editing and directing was actually quite brilliant -- a particular moment at the end really stuck out.

I recommend it, at the very least to hear what you all think.

[Mickeymac92]

^I was really excited for From The New World until I saw the trailers. I might still go at it if I hear more good things, but those trailers made it look like it was a little too heavy on the shock treatment.

As for me, someone convinced me to give Binbogami-ga a try. I normally avoid ecchi shows, but this one is supposed to be better than average in the right ways. I only watched the first episode so far, but it's off to a very impressive start. It was funny, thrilling, and even a bit sad, all in one episode, and it was a lot less ecchi than I expected (most of it was in the ending animation). If it keeps this up, we might have a real winner here. I'll try to not get my expectations too high, though. Even if it never rises above decent, it'll still be better than most of the ecchi shows I've seen. =P

[Annubis]

Binbogami-ga is my MVP for the past season.
Also, just to clarify... it's a full blown comedy show (with some minor ecchi) and not the other way around.
There are really clever use of trope VS anti-trope also in the show.

[Mickeymac92]

Also, just to clarify... it's a full blown comedy show (with some minor ecchi) and not the other way around.

That's kinda what I thought after I watched it, but everyone else kept billing it as an ecchi show.

[Akanbe-]

Binbogami-ga is my MVP for the past season.
Also, just to clarify... it's a full blown comedy show (with some minor ecchi) and not the other way around.
There are really clever use of trope VS anti-trope also in the show.

Agreed.  There isn't too much fanservice and ecchi is kept to a minimum.  It's a pretty good show.  The dog is certainly an interesting character =P

[Yggdrasil]

Finally got around to be in the mood to watch Evangelion 2.22.

That was excellent. After being pretty disappointed with the last movie (even if it was a well-produced film). Man, I haven't feel this exciment and mix of emotions watching Evangelion in years.

Hope the next movie is just as good.

[Dice]

Finally got around to be in the mood to watch Evangelion 2.22.

That was excellent. After being pretty disappointed with the last movie (even if it was a well-produced film). Man, I haven't feel this exciment and mix of emotions watching Evangelion in years.

Hope the next movie is just as good.

I loved it too -- amazing how goddamn good it was.  Mari was a great new character, and I thought her positivity and complete inability to get down and gloomy played off perfectly against Shinji.  Curious with the next title -- they've changed a few things.

And c'mon... how awesome is Eva Unit 01 with the glow-in-the-dark strips?

Watched the first episode of "Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!"
This is an *excellent* idea; but I hated the execution.
Basically deals with "Grade 8 Syndrome", that over-active imagination that, when after watching Power Rangers, we'd go outside and play "Power Rangers".  Or when you're at a Green light, you try to "magically" wish it to change.  This deals with a girl who has that, but because this is animé, she takes it to an 11 and makes it the daily purpose of her life and to bring others into it with her (the first episode has our main guy, instead of flirting with the object of his affection, has to take the main girl to the nurse's office, walk her home, then unpack her belongings because she lives just upstairs from him).  I call her annoying, not moe.

It's got the usual 5-star KyoAni quality -- but I find the character designs just as irksome.  The main girl caters to the fucking weird thing Japanese have for the eyepatches, and one of the other main girls has an oversized hair clip on her bangs, over her face.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought girls wear hair clips to keep hair OFF their face or in place somewhere else.