Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

Planet With

A solid enough mecha/alien invasion series, but ultimately, I was a little disappointed in it. The first half was strong and the relative moral complexity seemed to give the show a distinct identity, as it felt like none of the different groups involved in the conflict were actually evil - everyone believed they had a moral justification for what they were doing. The plot had mostly resolved itself by the ninth episode, however, and, as the story reverted more to type, I wasn't sufficiently invested in the characters to feel excited for the eventual conclusion.

While I appreciated the series brevity, part of me wonders if I'd have liked it more as a two-cour show with more time given over to fleshing out the side characters. It felt like there was mileage to be had there, but many of them never really rose above the level of broad archetypes.

Still, it has Norio Wakamoto playing an alien general who is also a big white labrador, and I am okay with that.
 
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Episodes 1-12 8/10
Pretty fun series that has likeable characters and good visuals.
Golden Time Re-watch Episodes 1-12 9/10.
One of the better romances I seen in a long while
Love Hina First Half Episodes 1-12 3/10.
How to not make a rom-com series.
 
Robotic;Notes (Rewatch)
I really didn't like it, when it aired; the one character that singlehandedly destroyed it for me was Akiho. She kind of made me want to punch her a lot. She was just so obnoxious to the me back then. Made me rate it with just a 5/10. Nevertheless everything else was really interesting, so it stuck in my mind forever to give it another chance. I even bought the Funi release for that, but it just stayed shrinkwrapped for years there. Fast forward to 2018 and there was Steins;Gate 0 and 0kabe was on a whole diffrent level of deverving punches. When I (re)watched Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 it was just about the time the trailers of Robotic;Notes DaSH emerged. And I totally forgot who that white haired guy was, so just about the right High time to put the long planned rewatch into action. Akiho isn't half as obnoxious anymore and the show as a whole certainly aged well even after 7 years. Now, let's see when it'll be that I work myself through those japanese R;N Dash let's play videos...

Former 5/10 uprated to 7/10.

Afro Samurai + Resurrection
Was a 10 of some MAL person participating in the High Score challenge I reenetered after a long while. The challenge is there for watching stuff you otherwise probably wouldn't have, and that was definitely the case for this one. But that sure wasn't a hidden gem at all. It didn't have much more substance beyond trying to enforce rule of cool, which it completely failed me...

4/10

Tsuki ga Kirei
I had watched the reacap episode back when it was airing and I remember kind of almost falling asleep. For whatever reason I still bought the Funi release of it. And first thing to see was this absolutely ugly CGI pedestriancs moping around. I really don't get the choice for doing that - This show is so slow and focused on the introspective, a few cuts of stills images would have done the job just as well and not plaster so many alien elements in there. The show is also still as slow as I remembered, but the script definitely feels quite real and organic, even if really slow. (It realistic enough for two shy introverts, but I still had to accelerate playback.) Also one of the few shows out there which are about romance after coming together and not about the coming together.
It just wasn't really my pace.

6/10

Occultic;Nine
See that Chaos;Child? See that? You can still rush over way too much exposition and dialogue content, but without testing people's attention span by presenting them just still images with flapping mouth and some cheap shaky cam effects at best.

O;N certainly has some pretty good direction. I heard about the OP/ED being a thing for Shinsekai Yori lovers, but I kind of didn't expect the show to be as much visually engaging. (I watched the trailer back then and it not leaving any impression except Ryokas ample bosom being... too ample.) At first it felt a bit all over the place (as if somebody took Bakemonogatari, Durarara and Shinsekai Yori and dumped them together with the gruesome graphic murders of Chaos;Head/Child, which was such a weird mix), and many shots felt like it was more showcasing the ability to create visual distractions than to really blend them in with the content of the scene. (Still wondering about the shot of two bottles, one kicked over when Ririka and Morisaki are talking and they are talking on pretty equal grounds.) Some things are also downright misleading. (I was sooo thinking those drinks in the Café must have had some meaning in the gradn scheme given the amount of imagery exposure.) Another handful of early shots also felt quite unorganic, as they completely stood out in tone and were pretty clear spoilers, because nothing else seemed to warrant their existence otherwise. (The executive villain did not live up to all that lampshading though.) But many shots completely nailed the scene and did an excellent job of show don't/before you tell. The one that left the most impression is probably the bird eyes view on the heads of all the characters in the last episode. They just stayed in one spot of perhaps one cubic meter and dialogue-wise it was a pretty long an otherwise dry exposition dump, which just seem to try to jump to the conclusion as fast as possible. (Like really, nobody even stopped to question the veracity of Moritsuka's information.) The scene was neither all that full of drawn details nor was it highly animated, but it did wonders in showcasing how the characters were fretting around while getting around this topic that's way above their heads.
It's probably good, that I am three years late to it. After seeing how every girl in Steins;Gate 0 must have had some plastic surgery, Ryoka's bosom wasn't able to draw as many eyebrows anymore. (Halfway across I really hoped the'd add a scene explaining she was just padding it out to please Yuuta and the one biggest absurdity of the series would have disappeared...)

Kind of wished Chaos:Child and Occultic;Nine could have trade episode numbers. O;N was definitely a lot more engaging and could also have done well with a bit more space for wrapping up some content. (I still wonder who Moritsuka was phoning in the first few episodes.)
 
Punch Line

and the rather random biggest plot question: Why did the panties of yours truly not end the world?
I mean,
Yuuta turns out to be a guy in the body of a girl and it's even shown that he wears panties himself. Ok, the world end only happens when the ghost sees the panties, because seeing them then would kill the main body which leads to the end of the world, but he still ubernizes inside of the body and ubernizing too much is established as something that's going to kill you. How did he and the world survive year long changes of clothing?)

I remember putting this onto my ptw back in the day because of being an early MAPPA and and original Anime show. But then almost nobody was really watching it, which implies "out of the norm", which is either hit or miss. Not sure what, probably heard about the panties and judged it more on the miss side. It kind of lingered though, because Pied Piper was promoting the artist's patreon who did the ED at the Skip Beat Kickstarter. Nevertheless stayed very much in the back of my mind though that stray bargain in April last year brought to attention that there actually was a UK release of it. (Missed that very bargain though before it jumped higher by 3GBP.) Well, Luna buying stuff doesn't say anything about the watching date with these insane pile amounts a have by now, but late last year, when that ; started and came upon the videos of the Steins;Gate Phenogram VN. Its Kyouma route has been written by the same guy who wrote Punch Line. The Kyouma route is easily the one with the most creative idea in Phenogram and handily I had also just watched Occultic;Nine (which in the span of less a week got another hike from that 7/10 to 8.5/10 if not 9/10) and was looking for more stuff of it's kind. Well, its entry in the MAL recommendations has one for Punch Line, so why not. (Trivia, both included (kinda) TimeTravel, which came by unexpected. After Fireworks, where I hadn't expected it either, that's 3 within a month. Actually 4, if I were to include the spoiler video for a certain theater troupe show which I almost would have just started instead.)

What followed was an unexpected perhaps-murder case. Either my Punch Line Disc 1 was a Zombie from the beginning or my drive killed it or it killed my drive. Either way, episode 1 refused to play properly and then I noticed a big fat huge scratch on the disc. Episode 2 and 9 also turned out be quite the struggle. By now I'm not sure it it killed a chunk of my enjoyment of it or not, but it certainly made for some memorable not quite so wanted event (and heavens if it had it happen, it was good it happend on the easy to replace Punch Line and not O;N, I would have been royally upset if it had hit my AoA O;N part 1 set) and I'll very likely be rechecking the series somewhen in the future to find out.
At any rate, it didn't quite prove to hold the candle up to O;N in any category and reading the Kyouma route before also prevented the show from having any big aha moments, as they are structurally following an almost identical pattern, but by the end it did grew onto me enough that I intend to revisit it sometime in a scratch-untarnished way.
But before a repeat, I may go also though the VN playthoughs, seems like it has an alternate ending. (Or is that even a proper sequel?)

Well, and the next curious thing that occured just yesterday was this:

Figured with the scratch I'd need the show anyway and the UK being sub-only I could also look into the German one which is a 4 volume release (4 of the 6 japanese release covers) with an Artbox (that has the two cover illustrations of the UK set) and then I read in some ebay listing "The tissues are still unused."

Tissues.
Paper tissues.
As a merch extra to an Anime.
That on top of all doesn't even have anything to do with that.
 
Continued from the viewing thread, the things we actually finished. Not to be confused with my dissertation, despite the length of this post.

Elf 17 (1987)

Had this sitting around unwatched for quite a while, as I’d expected fan service nonsense, but it’s really rather wholesome: on a far-flung alien world, a cute, but tremendously strong elf girl barges her way into a martial arts tournament, hell bent on claiming the prize of a trip across the galaxy, only to find it wasn’t quite what she expected. It’s a nice looking OVA that sets up an appealing, jolly adventure, but like so many productions of the time, it feels like the first episode of an unrealised tv series, or a 30 minute advert for the manga. It remains a pleasant diversion, nonetheless - worth it for the cheeky appearance of the Star Wars AT-AT walkers as the villains’ mode of transport.

Assemble Insert (1989)

A light-hearted action comedy in the vein of live-action super-Sentai shows, this sees an unloved special branch of the police recruit Maron, their very own super-powered idol, to help fight the (comically non-threatening) mecha-riding baddies, and boost their image while she does it. There's not a lot to it really, but it's consistently entertaining and even a little satirical, as Maron becomes an unexpected sensation for her clumsy on-stage antics, while the coppers become more interested in managing her career than trying to fight crime. Good fun all round.

Burn Up! (1991)

My only previous experience with the Burn Up! franchise was a few episodes of the later Excess series, so I was quite surprised at how different this first version actually is. Excess was a knockabout comedy with ecchi overtones, whereas the original is a bit more... intense? It does become more lightweight as it goes on, but there's little pause for thought after heroine Maki bloodily shoots a kidnapper in the head during the opening minutes, and the villains' business in abducting young women to be slaves has decidedly dark overtones, even if it never goes into explicit detail. Given the time it was released, I'd hazard a guess that they were going for something akin to the black comedy of Robocop, but didn't quite pull it off.

Saying that, I did enjoy this one quite a lot - there was clearly a great deal of money spent on realising its very Bubblegum Crisis-esque aesthetic, and the heroes' visit to a weird futuristic nightclub is a particular visual highlight. It's just a shame, that once again, it feels like the creators signed off in expectation of a second episode that would never arrive (the sequel series is a kind of soft reboot), leaving more than a few unresolved plot points up in the air. An interesting curio anyway.

Lupin III: Alcatraz Connection (2001)

Another barmy outing for the Lupin gang, that sees them competing with the mob for a secret something hidden in the depths of San Fransisco Bay, this isn't quite up there with the best Lupin adventures, but it is very entertaining. The story makes good use of the US setting, manages the familiar cast well and has a few interesting quirks in its animation (look out for Hiroyuki Imaishi's hand at work on key animation during the opening chase), but the film's meagre tv-level budget is clearly stretched to breaking point.

It seems very much as if the producers were struggling to hit their requisite 90-minute runtime, with scenes often noticeably going on that little bit longer than necessary in order to pad things out, despite the story becoming quite convoluted in its third act, as they hurriedly try to wrap things up. It's also quite apparent that this was an early digipaint production, with that familiarly flat, overly bright look about the colours.

Look past that though and it's still a solid entry into the series; very much possessing of the ambition and heart that was so lacking during the later 2000s.
 
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

With the obsessively slow pacing of shows like Ergo Proxy or Texhnolyze it instead of sci fi world building we have a slice of life drama about teenagers forming a band. In principle this is t necessarily a bad thing but the show decides to focus on easily the worst character in it. Honestly the half of the series could be a bit of a chore at times mad bearable by the supporting cast who were all much more likeable than the cowardly, indecisive protagonist. Also the music can be great. Theres one song with a Nu metal/Rage Against the Machine vibe which was a real highlight.

Episodes 17-24 we're a real joy however as everything finally fell into place and the pacing picked up.

Overall 6/10 (glad I stuck with it but doubt I'll ever revisit it)
 
Well that's been quite a day. Started it this morning and just finished so my heads feeling a little full! A lot to digest. Anyways:

Made in Abyss

Oh my that was good. The cutesy animation style does not prepare you for what's in store! The show builds nicely, wasting no time getting started but constantly gives you a sense of world building as the story progresses. The characters head out on a journey of discovery and the last 4 episodes are an emotional rollercoaster!

The animation looks great and the MVM collectors edition is really nice too (MVM have really upped their game on these recently imo)

Hyperbole I know as I'm still processing but 10/10 ill definitely rewatch it in future.
 
WMD said:
Well that's been quite a day. Started it this morning and just finished so my heads feeling a little full! A lot to digest. Anyways:

Made in Abyss

Oh my that was good. The cutesy animation style does not prepare you for what's in store! The show builds nicely, wasting no time getting started but constantly gives you a sense of world building as the story progresses. The characters head out on a journey of discovery and the last 4 episodes are an emotional rollercoaster!

The animation looks great and the MVM collectors edition is really nice too (MVM have really upped their game on these recently imo)

Hyperbole I know as I'm still processing but 10/10 ill definitely rewatch it in future.
Click to expand...
Hopefully not said through a mouthful if Ben&Jerry's. That dang rabbit...
 
Shomin Sample

Fun, mostly light-hearted comedy about a boy trapped at an upper class girls high school. Lots of nonsense and fan service ensues (mostly harmless but it gets creepy for one character who looks a lot younger than she is)

The humour was generally good and the 4 girls who form the core harem were all very distinct with well defined, if ludicrous personalities.

7.5/10
 
Shin Tetsujin 28
1980 - 1981 remake of the 1960's TV series. Modernised and in line with other giant robot anime of the time, a lot of the core elements seem really dated and out of place, especially the remote control aspect of Tetsujin and Chief Ootsuka's character design. Most of the episodes are self contained with a variety of villains. Only two villains, Branch and Space Demon King, have any sort of continuous story line. It's pretty much a bog standard kids show of that era and feels like a quite mediocre one at that. Yasuhiro Imagawa's 2004 adaptation of the same material is far superior. Best I can give this series is 6 out of 10.

Mazinger Z: Infinity
Set about a decade after Great Mazinger, this film manages to explain what happened to the characters afterwards as well as telling a brand new story really well. Some of the pseudoscience in the climax was really daft (and even one of the characters says so themselves), but the action sequences where really well choreographed and used the CG models to their full potential. And despite the large cast, the staff have managed to ensure every character was there for a purpose. In other words it didn't feel forced or like characters were just making cameos for fan service purposes. With the characters much older then what they were in the original series and also having children, it did feel like they were pitching this film to an older audience which I thought was interesting. 8.5 out of 10.
 
Yona of the Dawn

Princess with crimson hair is on the run after her father is dethroned. She sets off into the kingdom to see the world for herself and try to survive.
This show is essentially a mix of Heroic Legend of Arslan and Snow White with the Red Hair.

The character work on this show is really amazing. The first 6 or so episodes are all about the princess and her bodyguard as they flee the capital and as each member joins the group they'll get an episode showing us their backstory which makes them all very empathetic.

The story is essentially one long prologue with the princess chasing macguffins. If a second season is ever made the stage is set for a much better story to be told.

9/10 on characters, 5/10 story
 
Baldios (TV Series + Movie)
One of the latter super robot series, this show has elements similar to those which came before it and I thought some of the plot elements were similar to Godmars which was broadcast a year or so afterwards. Kaneto Shiozawa plays the lead, Marin Reigan. His voice is pretty distinctive and every time he spoke I kept thinking of Rei from Fist of the North Star. While the animation in the TV series is rather mediocre, the plot is kinda decent for a show of this era. Where it possibly falls over is the twist at the end of the series. I think there were trying to force fit it into the story. Might have to watch the early episodes again to make sure everything fits, but I suspect there are some plot holes there. The series was cancelled and there’s no definitive ending. The movie tries to conclude the story (it is simultaneously a recap and a new story, 70% new animation), but I think it creates more plot holes and changes some of the motivations and fates of some the secondary and main characters, which isn’t an improvement. On balance I’d give this show 6.5 out 10.
 
Land of the Lustrous

Humanoid inorganic minerals fight against lunar invaders who want to harvest their bodies.
Ok so the premise is a little weird but the world building is very well executed in this show. Just enough to give you a feel for the place without overburdening the story.

The show is mostly driven through the changes that occur to the main character. Most other characters have a fairly static personality mirroring the fact they are ageless minerals.

It's a pretty unique show and the animation is really stunning at times. The real value in this show is watching the main characters journey. The show knows this and never loses sight of that.

I felt the last episode was a bit of a let down compared to the rest of the show. It's mostly getting things in order for a potential second series.

8/10
 
The Garden of Words

The animation is lovely and it looks so pretty. I found the story very boring though. It didn't hold my attention...it felt way longer than 46 minutes.

It looks excellent though and I can see why people would like the story...it just wasn't for me.

3/10
 
Girls Last Tour

Girls Und Panzer this is not. (I've enjoyed both shows btw but they are very different even if the art on the box may suggest otherwise.)

Two girls travel the ruins of civilization scavenging the food and fuel to survive.

In terms of plot there is very little. Instead this show is all about how the characters interact with each other and the world they travel through. Themes of what it means to live, die, be alive, have purpose, be hopeless are explored throughout.

The bouncy theme songs and buoyant attitudes juxtapose the realities the characters are facing which makes for an interesting albeit odd mix.

I really enjoyed this show. I found it really gripping, I think mostly because I really got into the world building and constant sense of something new round the corner. Also the two leads were engaging and distinct.

8/10
 
Hi-Score Girl

While I don't feel the underlying story does anything particularly revelatory, this is a very sweet little series that weaves the history of 1990s arcade games into its plot with remarkable success. While I initially thought it would be little more than a romcom with a gimmick, it somehow manages to convey an awful lot about its characters through the way they play one another at the various fighting coin-ops, and it even charts the passage of time through the development of various Street Fighter II iterations. Not quite sure how I feel about the prospect of the recently announced second season though - even if it didn't really tie everything up, it seemed to end well enough where it did.

A Place Further Than The Universe

Much like its season-mate, Laid Back Camp, I didn't pay much attention to this one as it was airing, as it didn't seem like my kind of thing, but also much like Laid Back Camp, I actually ended up really enjoying it. While Madhouse are on good form with the production, it's the strength of the writing that really shines through here. Despite the slightly unlikely premise - high school girls wrangle their way onto an Antarctic expedition - I was completely sold on it from the word go. It's an incredibly lean, focused series where virtually every scene seems to somehow inform our understanding of the characters and their story. Don't think that I like it more than Devilman Crybaby, but I can certainly understand why so many folk named this as their top show of 2018.
 
Vatican Miracle Examiner

Mystery thriller with a religious skin makes for an engrossing tense experience.

The protagonists are 2 priests charged to conform or refute the claims of miracles thatvthebvatican recieves. Much like Hercule Poirot where ever these 2 go things quickly get out of hand. This makes for some well crafted tense episodes which keep you guessing.

The main pair make for a competent duo. One is all about history and mythology and the other all about the scientific method which both adds natural tension between the pair and also making it believable that the Vatican would charge them with such important tasks.

To say much more would be to head into spoilers but if you enjoy tense mystery thrillers it's worth watching. The multi episode arcs that most cases get allow the mysteries, locations and changing roster of characters time to breathe which does the show a lot of good.

8/10
 
I finished Aggretsuko.

I actually started watching it months ago, but I wasn't feeling it after the first couple of episodes. I decided to give it another try recently and I quite enjoyed it. It's not amazing (especially the animation), but it's a pleasant series and I think it got better as it went along.

The death metal/karaoke stuff wasn't as big a part of the story as I expected it to be (it seemed shoehorned into some episodes) - I didn't enjoy like those parts and I think I would have liked the series more without them.

Overall, it works well as a gentle workplace slice of life series with animals, slightly spoiled by the whole karaoke bit.

6/10
 
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