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Komi Can’t Communicate ep3

Lupin III: Part VI ep5

The departure into a 1930s setting is quite fun (I particularly like the little steampunk television) and this one starts promisingly enough, but unless knowledge of the original story that this episode is alluding to adds a great deal, I feel we’re back to the same problem that haunts so many of the tv specials; nice idea, badly padded and slackly handled.
 
Well, after a small hiatus to earn some money, I'm back on the binge.
Blood: The Last Vampire: classic violent short film (41m) which seems more like the middle episode of a series. Not sure that final reveal (showing a picture of the lead character with the word vampire is such as shock, as it's in the title of the film!)
Kanon episodes 1-12: Quiet start, but it developed quite nicely and I shall enjoy watching the rest of the series later. Very much a precursor to Clannad, which was the studio's next project.
Ghost In The Shell: classic film which I hadn't seen for over a decade. Still good action and visuals.
Urusei Yatsura - Only You: OK, I hadn't seen the series so this was a little disconcerting at first, as they characters are not introduced or explained. Lots of good visual shots, especially of space, including a couple I remember from 60-70s science fiction artwork. One question: If the main "villain" is only around 17, how did she find the time to accumulate 100,000 boyfriends? All while still being engaged to our hero? Still very funny and fun, and I am looking forward to the other five movies in my pile.
 
The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made episode 7 A donkey’s determination.

The Vampire dies in No Time episode 7 Don’t dance.

Monogatari Second Season: Hanamonogatari & Monogatari Series Second Season episodes 12-20
 
Today's viewing
Roger Waters' The Wall, live in Berlin 1990: overpowering emotions with an all-star cast. Wish I'd been there.
Ghost In The Shell 2: Not as good as the first one, due to the lack of a clear enemy (just some nameless consortium on an island with an incomprehensible plan, from what I could tell) but still worth watching. Is everything we experience real?
Urusei Yatsura 2 - Beautiful Dreamer: More questions about what is reality and what is a dream (but funnier than the previous movie). Strangely, the options on the DVD were English or Japanese. NO subtitles.
Vampire Hunter D: strange story of the far future, bloody and a few breast shots thrown in for no discernible reason. What was the deal with his hand, anyway? And is that the first heroine named Doris?
Urusei Yatsure 3 - Remember My Love: Hmm, back to only Japanese with burned on English subtitles. Scary opening, before the usual wackiness, this time in an amusement park. I still don't understand why Lum floats OR what she sees in that ungrateful loser.

(I still have over 40 DVDs from the big box I bought, and the Christmas sales are coming up, so I have a lot to clear out before I can consider buying more!)
 
RonJB said:
Today's viewing
Roger Waters' The Wall, live in Berlin 1990: overpowering emotions with an all-star cast. Wish I'd been there.
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That is an awesome concert video, I have that same DVD release. I was lucky enough to at least see Roger and his Wall Concert live back in 2010 when he was touring, what a stage show! I found this Youtube video where the first 3 1/2 minutes of footage was taken at the exact concert I was at in Philadelphia:


I've been showing a lot of anime to my 78 year old mother again recently; she does enjoy her anime! She watches a lot of subtitled Korean dramas on Netflix, so she watches all of her anime subtitled as well, just like I do. She has been on a roll over the past two weeks - We've watched:

Josee: the Tiger and the Fish
Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Memory Doll
Violet Evergarden: The Movie
Holmes of Kyoto
The World's Finest Assassin eps 1-6
Psychic Princess eps 1-12
 
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Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (Japanese audio) - Film

And that's the 00 Gundam franchise sorted (there's the recap OVAs but I'll be passing on those due to time constraints). I was quite surprised by how much I had enjoyed this Gundam show, as there's a lot of really interesting elements to it. The main cast is pretty solid with plenty of character growth/development, and the general goals made sense.

The only issue I would have is that the animation at times was not consistent and there are some characters not properly developed or lack a proper role in the story for various aspects. In fact the series as a whole has a ton of characters but it's done well enough to avoid the same hole that Gundam Reconguista in G had where you can tell which faction is which and what their role is within this series.

As for Wakening of the Trailblazer, it was very enjoyable and feels like a horror film at times due to the portrayal of the antagonists, however it's story isn't always there due to the 'last minute explanation' trope and a post-credit scene that gave me vibes of Valvrave and Gargantia mashed together so I'm not a big fan of that.

Overall the main series gets a strong 8/10 while the film is a decent 7/10. I can now understand why Nozomi gave the series the deluxe treatment in the US.

The remaining Gundams left in my Blu-ray backlog currently are Gundam F91, Turn-A Gundam, Gundam SEED and Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Would be nice if Anime Ltd can speed up the Gundam releases next year so that I have enough extensive knowledge to go into the games more.

For my anime backlog watch, I hope to watch 8-12 more titles before I start delving into the Autumn 2021 simulcasts. Probably will focus more on single cour shows since I have a lot of them, but if I'm in the right mindset I may watch another 2-cour series.
 
takt op.Destiny episode 7 An ideal world?

Monogatari Series Second Season episodes 21-26 (Complete. An engaging set of arcs which made for an enjoyable watch.) 4/5

Monogatari Final Season: Tsukimonogatari episodes 1-4 & Monogatari Final Season: Owarimonogatari episodes 1-6
 
Yawara ep13

City Hunter ep23-24 (rewatch)

A neat touch that completely passed me by previously is how much the opening part of 23 riffs on Castle of Cagliostro, with a woman in a bridal dress commandeering Ryo’s car while she’s being chased by armed goons.
 
Shadow Skill: Yeah, not my type of anime. Full of arena battles, very little character development, animation mainly consisting of still shots with the camera moving across. Watched the movie but decided not to continue with the 50 minute "epilogue". Interested to see that the English audio was done in Cardiff! Which sort of explains the terrible American accents.

Dark Myth: started well with a very heavy history lesson about the early Japanese gods but descended into a bloodbath, with lots of body parts strewn across the landscape and some sub-2001 galactic finale. Oh well.

Urusei Yatsura 4 - Lum The Forever: finally something to laugh about. Still have no idea what's going on, but I think that's par for the course in this series. Hard to tell where the dreams end and reality returns. Ends with a huge tank/fighter battle across the town. No idea why. We also get a preview of the next movie, which I shall watch tomorrow.

If anyone is interested, I have put most of the DVDs I have watched so far on eBay (or given to a charity shop, depending on rarity).
 
Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside episode 7 Protect yourself.

The Heike Story episode 10 Another story to tell.

The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat episode 7 Moisturiser.

Monogatari Final Season: Owarimonogatari episodes 7-12 & Monogatari Final Season: Koyomimogatari episodes 1-12
 
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (English Dub) Episode 5

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S (English Dub) Episode 11

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 2nd Season Part 2 (English Dub) Episode 48 (Complete)

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside Episode 7

The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made Episode 7

The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat Episode 7
 
Seitokai Yakuindomo season 1
Absolutely hilarious. For a show that's 90% innuendo it works far to well.

Goblin Slayer rewatch
Brilliant and brutal series!

Goblin Slayer Goblins Crown
Real shame that the first 25mins of this 85min film is just a series recap. Once things get going it's a wild ride. Some of the action was pretty stunning.
 
SAKUGAN episode 7 Delirium.

The Aquatope on White Sand episode 20 Planning.

Monogatari Final Season: Owarimonogatari Second Season episodes 13-15 & Monogatari Final Season: Zoku Owarimonogatari episodes 1-6 (Complete. That was quite the ride working my way through this expansive franchise and I generally found it entertaining and enjoyable.) 4/5
 
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