Anime/Manga Journal

[Bytor]

Little Lady started watching Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji) and I kinda got drawn in...I swear that might have been one of the most pleasant surprises ever! What a funny, deep, emotional roller coaster of a first season!

[Annubis]

Since Dice informed me in this thread that UQ Holder is Ken Akamatsu's new work, I decided to check that out today.
It's not very good =/

I'm not even sure that I like him bringing Eva in this publications. Her character feels waaaaaay off also.
Maybe it'll mature into something good, but for now, it's not really worth the read.

[Aeolus]

Finished Princess Tutu. Why can't more anime be as well put together as this was? Questionable VAing aside, the only issue I had with the show was how characters kept suddenly appearing all of a sudden (and they even give a sensible hand wave to that). That said, the part I ended up liking best was how fights utilized ballet choreography instead of the usual anime powerlevels bullshit where it always comes down to who has the bigger beam/sword/beamsword/whatever.

Anyways, since I finished that, I've now moved on to Black Lagoon Martian Successor Nadesico (damn you Hulu). Up to episode 4.

Code:

I knew it was going to happen early on, but not end of episode 3 early. I guess that's why they have three episode tests. Either way I'm all in on this one.

Also, it's weird as hell hearing Shinji Ikari as something other than a spineless coward.

Kill la Kill episode 17. And I knew this was coming too (the new opening spoiled the hell out of it; also spoilers). Too bad that's obviously not going to stick. Also...so...many...phallic...symbols.

Log Horizon: Still MMMOEconomics.

SAO S2: Finished. Final episode went from hot garbage to bad hentai. Overall, first season wasn't too bad but certain amounts of bullshit got pulled that dragged down the ending. Second season though is trash through and through and pisses away any good will left over from the first season (and then some).

Space Dandy. Last week's episode could've totally been a lost Cowboy Bebop episode. This week's had a bunch of Star Wars and Star Trek references (props for parodying the "Luke gets jumped by sand people" scene twice).

[Ikusagami]

I tried watching Aria, because I've been in a crappy mood and heard it's the kind of thing that can cheer you up. . .but it bored the hell out of me.
It is wonderfully relaxing, but watching cute girls do cute things to soothing music with nothing resembling a plot is a good way to make me space out completely.

So I started watching Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. Which is like a cross between Aria and Higurashi. Seriously, the show is endearingly warped.
...and also lacks a contiguous plot.
Seriously, is putting something resembling a story into a show really that difficult these days?

[Ranadiel]

So this was a good week in Shonen Jump. One Piece was excellent, World Trigger was amazing, All You Need is Kill was good, and One-Punch Man was great well.

[Dice]

Aeo: Is Space Dandy worth watching?  It's probably the title that grabbed my curiosity the most this season

Garden of Words - MAKOTO SHINKAI!! 
I popped into IMDB because I almost forgot about this title and saw a reader review: "Beautiful and well-crafted, but short-lived".  And that's 100% what the film is.  The ending definitely makes you want just a liiittle more.  But anyways...

I really enjoyed the plot, and the interactions between the two main leads felt realistic enough and they were quite well developed.  Even though the movie's running time is only 45 minutes, we get a wonderful story with what I found was a powerful message about walking on your own two feet (and what the meant respectively to both characters).  There is some ambiguity at the end (Shinkai seems to like leaving things up to the viewer on some level), but I definitely enjoyed this film.

So, being a Shinkai film, you can also expect some of the most wonderful visuals you'll ever see, and you see it again in this film as well.  The film demonstrates a mastery of animating rain and nature, and never neglects to fill scene with light and colour.  Characters are usually shown with "two light sources" (than just the usual light shading and dark shading).  This is hard to explain, but as an animation enthusiast, I was blown away (see the screenshot).  The film is also happy just to SHOW OFF their talents -- and frankly the experience is all the more enjoyable because of it.

Short and sweet.  I recommend it.







http://giphy.com/gifs/qCMJaKr5Yyjss

[Monsoon]

Oh Makoto Shinkai.  That bastard has done a pretty good job of filling the hole in my heart that was created when Satoshi Kon died.  I should watch 5 cm/s again....

[Aeolus]

Dude's kinda hit or miss with me. Children Who Can Hear Voices of the Earth (or whatever the hell it was called) felt like a poor man's Miyazaki in every sense of the name/legacy (also you can see how hard it was for the guy to write a female character instead of a female love interest).

As for Space Dandy, imagine Cowboy Bebop if almost every episode was like Mushroom Samba and is unabashedly laden with sexual imagery and the occasional innuendo (case and point would be Dandy's principal dive is Space Hooters, or as its called in the show, Boobies, which is a space station that looks like the number 8 but the top and bottom quarters are capped with fleshy pink domes with red air-vehicle lights at the very top and bottom point). Still it has it's cool episodes like number 4 where everyone becomes a zombie and the universe becomes a better place for it.

[Dice]

Dude's kinda hit or miss with me. Children Who Can Hear Voices of the Earth (or whatever the hell it was called) felt like a poor man's Miyazaki in every sense of the name/legacy (also you can see how hard it was for the guy to write a female character instead of a female love interest).

As for Space Dandy, imagine Cowboy Bebop if almost every episode was like Mushroom Samba and is unabashedly laden with sexual imagery and the occasional innuendo (case and point would be Dandy's principal dive is Space Hooters, or as its called in the show, Boobies, which is a space station that looks like the number 8 but the top and bottom quarters are capped with fleshy pink domes with red air-vehicle lights at the very top and bottom point). Still it has it's cool episodes like number 4 where everyone becomes a zombie and the universe becomes a better place for it.

I really didn't like "Children Who Hear[...]" that much either.  Mostly for the reasons you stated, but also because it just crams way too much in and the end result didn't feel worth the effort.  The main girl was awful to look at for that whole hour-forty too... :S 
Definitely a poor man's Miyazaki.  And while it does have great ideas and some scenes were definitely a good watch and the characters worked, it introduces more and more "stuff" for some reason without fleshing out what they already had.

And I agree he's hit-or-miss, but I really do enjoy the guy's style.  The visuals are almost worth the price of admission alone (he and his team show that their animation is a true labor of love), the music is nice, and for the most part, the stories are refreshing and different.  5cm Per Second was pretty good, but bummed me out too much to really want to see it again. :(

Given my ambivalent feelings for Shinkai, I thought Garden of Words was pretty damn good.

[Kevadu]

Dude's kinda hit or miss with me. Children Who Can Hear Voices of the Earth (or whatever the hell it was called) felt like a poor man's Miyazaki in every sense of the name/legacy (also you can see how hard it was for the guy to write a female character instead of a female love interest).

As for Space Dandy, imagine Cowboy Bebop if almost every episode was like Mushroom Samba and is unabashedly laden with sexual imagery and the occasional innuendo (case and point would be Dandy's principal dive is Space Hooters, or as its called in the show, Boobies, which is a space station that looks like the number 8 but the top and bottom quarters are capped with fleshy pink domes with red air-vehicle lights at the very top and bottom point). Still it has it's cool episodes like number 4 where everyone becomes a zombie and the universe becomes a better place for it.

I really didn't like "Children Who Hear[...]" that much either.  Mostly for the reasons you stated, but also because it just crams way too much in and the end result didn't feel worth the effort.  The main girl was awful to look at for that whole hour-forty too... :S 
Definitely a poor man's Miyazaki.  And while it does have great ideas and some scenes were definitely a good watch and the characters worked, it introduces more and more "stuff" for some reason without fleshing out what they already had.

And I agree he's hit-or-miss, but I really do enjoy the guy's style.  The visuals are almost worth the price of admission alone (he and his team show that their animation is a true labor of love), the music is nice, and for the most part, the stories are refreshing and different.  5cm Per Second was pretty good, but bummed me out too much to really want to see it again. :(

Given my ambivalent feelings for Shinkai, I thought Garden of Words was pretty damn good.

I completely agree about Children... but come on.  That's the only Shinkai film I don't like.  If that's "hit or miss" then what kind of batting average are you expecting?

[Aeolus]

Dude's kinda hit or miss with me. Children Who Can Hear Voices of the Earth (or whatever the hell it was called) felt like a poor man's Miyazaki in every sense of the name/legacy (also you can see how hard it was for the guy to write a female character instead of a female love interest).

As for Space Dandy, imagine Cowboy Bebop if almost every episode was like Mushroom Samba and is unabashedly laden with sexual imagery and the occasional innuendo (case and point would be Dandy's principal dive is Space Hooters, or as its called in the show, Boobies, which is a space station that looks like the number 8 but the top and bottom quarters are capped with fleshy pink domes with red air-vehicle lights at the very top and bottom point). Still it has it's cool episodes like number 4 where everyone becomes a zombie and the universe becomes a better place for it.

I really didn't like "Children Who Hear[...]" that much either.  Mostly for the reasons you stated, but also because it just crams way too much in and the end result didn't feel worth the effort.  The main girl was awful to look at for that whole hour-forty too... :S 
Definitely a poor man's Miyazaki.  And while it does have great ideas and some scenes were definitely a good watch and the characters worked, it introduces more and more "stuff" for some reason without fleshing out what they already had.

And I agree he's hit-or-miss, but I really do enjoy the guy's style.  The visuals are almost worth the price of admission alone (he and his team show that their animation is a true labor of love), the music is nice, and for the most part, the stories are refreshing and different.  5cm Per Second was pretty good, but bummed me out too much to really want to see it again. :(

Given my ambivalent feelings for Shinkai, I thought Garden of Words was pretty damn good.

I completely agree about Children... but come on.  That's the only Shinkai film I don't like.  If that's "hit or miss" then what kind of batting average are you expecting?

To be fair, that's 50% of the movies that I've seen from the guy (the other 50% being The Place Promised in Our Early Days).

[Ikusagami]

Shinkai's a good director in the technical sense, but his preoccupation with dissolving relationships works against most of his works. It just doesn't feel bittersweet if you start with the dissolution without bothering to establish a foundation first.
I think Kotonoha no Niwa was the only one I truly liked, because it spent the time laying enough groundwork that I genuinely cared how the relationship developed.
A thousand times more poignant than watching people I have no reason to care about drift away from each other.  (literally in the case of Hoshi no Koe)

[Dice]

Shinkai's a good director in the technical sense, but his preoccupation with dissolving relationships works against most of his works. It just doesn't feel bittersweet if you start with the dissolution without bothering to establish a foundation first.
I think Kotonoha no Niwa was the only one I truly liked, because it spent the time laying enough groundwork that I genuinely cared how the relationship developed.
A thousand times more poignant than watching people I have no reason to care about drift away from each other.  (literally in the case of Hoshi no Koe)

That's probably why I liked Garden of Words so much, it was still open-ended, but it didn't feel like things were necessarily "over".  5cm per Second is a title that really takes a heart-breaking issue and shows a couple that really tries to bring things together, but the efforts never pay off...and that just makes me blue.  I hate saying it, but I definitely *enjoy* a happy ending more than anything.

Again though, I mostly like Shinkai for the amazing visual presence he brings to each work and the usually unique stories.

[Ikusagami]

Geheh. I like Shakespeare and Kurosawa. Masochistic endings leave more of an impact :D (though a happy ending pulled out of a hopeless situation is always good *gooses Radiant Historia*)
Garden of Words was just the first Shinkai that COULD have left an impact.
Incidentally, I have a friend on MAL who loves all Shinkai but didn't care for Garden. He thinks it's setting a bad precedent.

Anyway, watching Shinsekai Yori. Deliciously dark and original. I was worried I was just watching another episodic SoL, but dark, but it seems those early episodes were just warming the pot so the plot could boil.

[Dice]

Anyway, watching Shinsekai Yori. Deliciously dark and original. I was worried I was just watching another episodic SoL, but dark, but it seems those early episodes were just warming the pot so the plot could boil.

With respect to bitter-sweet plots, that one does a good job of making the best of "bitter".  Definitely a great and very original show.  I was almost turned off, however, by a really weird "before half-time slump" though where the plot became almost as erratic as the animation.  After that though it really goes for gold.

Also, kudos to a series that actually shows the characters get older.