Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

A copy of Beez's box set of Yukikaze once turned up in my local CEX a few years ago. The price was rather too robust for me, but maybe if it were to turn up again...

Another series I remember being included in the Beez DVD catalogue where I first learned about Yukikaze was Crest of the Stars. I still keep an eye out for that one as well.
 
Geriatric hedgehog said:
I registered for a free account with funimation but can't play any of the videos as everything I try needs a subscription (including back arrow)...
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How... odd. 🤨

I'm afraid I have no idea how to explain that, buddy; I was watching another episode only yesterday.

For full disclosure, I'm watching on my Android phone, either through the Funimation app or through the website running on Microsoft's Edge browser.

(Funnily enough, when I was watching yesterday, the video passed all the ad trigger points without playing any ads.)
 
Dai said:
Yukikaze
It's been years since I last watched this, but it still holds up. Mankind wages a seemingly unwinnable war against an unknowable enemy that is alien in both form and intent. With no alternative, they must rely on conventional weapons and tactics, but will that be enough? With outstanding direction and some of the best air combat scenes ever animated, it's enthralling throughout. Don't go into it expecting Top Gun though. Even in the midst of a dogfight, the series maintains a curiously languid and detached pace, perhaps reflecting that these battles ultimately won't decide the outcome of the war, since mankind has fundamentally misunderstood what its enemy is. This is a slow, atmospheric, and contemplative piece that asks if we can ever truly understand the Other, whether that be other species, intelligent machines, or simply the person standing next to us.

If it has one flaw, this novel adaptation seems a poor fit for episodic story-telling. I haven't read the novel, so I don't know if anything was left out, but the overall stucture of the series feels like we're getting extracts from the middle, and then it rushes to its climax in the final episode. It's possible that this is just a consequence of each episode shaping its content to feel like a somewhat self-contained chapter. This is ultimately no reason not to recommend what is one of the most remarkable SF works out there.

9/10

The US DVDs are long out of print, so if you want Yukikaze new your only option is the JP blu-ray, which is apparently region-free and includes English subtitles, but carries the kind of heftly price tag you'd expect for a Japanese OAV series. Since it's just a 1080i upscale and the DVDs look good, I'm sticking with those for now. Relevant to my recent discussion about old DVDs dying is that Bandai's US release included two copies of each volume; one with Dolby audio the other with DTS, a handy bonus caused by the limited storage space on DVDs. Volume 1 also included this nice stitched patch, which I'd forgotten about. I'm tempted to stitch it onto something now.
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Nice review, and wow, a great rating for the anime, sounds like it will be an excellent watch! I have the US 3-disc Bandai Visual box set in my collection, but have not watched it yet - it should be another good one to show to the military neighbor couple (He's actually in the Air Force Reserves), as they really enjoyed Area 88. I even just recently found a plastic box protector size that fits the set just perfectly...

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I hope you all don't mind the photos here in the ratings thread, I just like to add some imagery when I can to brighten things up - I've taken so many photos of my anime sets as I receive them, I like to use them in the forums as often as I can when appropriate. If you wish me to stop, just tell me so... 😶
 
Neil.T said:
How... odd. 🤨

I'm afraid I have no idea how to explain that, buddy; I was watching another episode only yesterday.

For full disclosure, I'm watching on my Android phone, either through the Funimation app or through the website running on Microsoft's Edge browser.

(Funnily enough, when I was watching yesterday, the video passed all the ad trigger points without playing any ads.)
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Ah nevermind, thanks regardless for the heads up. I've been trying on my android phone as well with no joy. Had a very enticing watchlist all populated as well. Hey ho, probably a blessing in disguise as I can focus on trying to clear the watchlists on the other services I'm subscribed to, before finally giving in and paying funimation for one as well. Maybe by then they'll have a unified service with crunchyroll, or that's my hope anyway.
 
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (aka. Star Blazers 2199)
This was my second time watching it, but it loses none of its power to enthrall on a rewatch. This remake of the beloved classic is proof that old-school space opera is evergreen if it's handled this well. I enjoyed the live-action Yamato movie, but that played it safe by following the gritty and (relatively) realistic route popularised by the Battlestar Galactica remake. The anime makes almost no accommodations for modern trends, instead relying on the strength of the original work.

What impresses me most is how tightly structured it is. If you compare it to Gundam, for example, the best of Tomino's shows are arguably more ambitious, but tend to become structurally messy over their run. Characters or entire sub-plots can get lost in the mix sometimes, and new challenges can often just be in the shape of a new robot. In Yamato 2199, everything has its place and knits together. While it's true that they solve a few too many problems by firing the Wave-Motion Gun, the problems they face tend to be varied and engaging, and the Wave-Motion Gun is usually just the final checkmate move after having to figure out some more interesting gambit along the way. I can't overstate how well this show works, both on a per episode basis and as a whole. All of this is pulled together with excellent animation and direction for the battle scenes.

And butts. So many close-ups of butts. The fan service is probably the only concession made to modern viewers, and if you don't want a screen full of booty in a tight uniform at least once every episode, you can probably knock one point off the score below.

10/10
 
Dai said:
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (aka. Star Blazers 2199)

And butts. So many close-ups of butts. The fan service is probably the only concession made to modern viewers, and if you don't want a screen full of booty in a tight uniform at least once every episode, you can probably knock one point off the score below.

10/10
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Niimi! My SBY 2199 waifu! Also 10/10! 🥰 🥰 🥰

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Berserk (1997) rewatch - 10/10

I realised I’d hadn’t actually ever rewatched this show in full since I originally watched it. Bar the first 4 eps with a non anime friend I’ve not seen it for over 15 years which stunned me when I realised. I think it’s because I was afraid I wouldn’t like it as much as I originally did. Anyway...

During the early episodes there were a couple of slower ones (somewhere between 5-7) and I thought maybe I’m not gonna enjoy it as much (even though the others were great) but my god does the show not look back after those. Friendship, betrayal, character development, story, action.. it’s got everything. By episode 10 I was like yeah I remember why I loved this so much. Happy to say it’s still my fave series. I’ve just not seen anything like this in anime form, it’s one of those shows that doesn’t make me feel like I’m watching anime… I’m just watching Berserk and what I want now is more Berserk (fortunately I’m reading the Manga now 😁)... I’ve already mentioned the 2016/17 series over the last couple of weeks... moving on. The only way I can describe this is like when I watch Lord of the Rings.. it doesn’t make me wanna watch another movie.. it just makes me want more Middle Earth (so I watch the Hobbit films and hopefully soon the Amazon TV series)

It’s a series I do think is helped by the lack of budget (and probably time constraints). Having to use still images is jarring but other shots the camera pans and basically there is little movement from the character, flowing hair and mouth movements but it all helps to make it more picturesque and it’s wonderfully directed… and the music well…. I’m always saying for me it’s the most important ingredient after story… it decides the way you feel during a scene and it’s brilliant here.

My wife enjoyed it too (first time for her) but the end had her very upset…. not the abrupt ending to it but what happens to Casca and even more so Guts…. she said it was awful... gotta admit feeling it a bit myself this morning (wrote this last night). Got the Guts theme going round in my head... so sad. Need to watch something happy tonight... movies can wait till next week 😁
 
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Song of the valkyries: Symphogear G
I thought this was my second fav season and it is still only XV beats it. It improves on the first with the new cast Maria being the best and having the best voice of the probably the whole cast. It also feels like it is setting up a lot of what is it come yet still feels complete unlike AXZ and in some ways GX. I just hope if discotek are allowed to release anymore they can release them all because I would say this is the last good stopping point until XV. I would say I would want a UK release but I think 65 eps sub only, small fanbase (it’s very low on MAL viewers wise as it’s 8 years old now) killed it chance however I am so glad it got a release and it is by discotek who knock it out of the park the fact they subtitle each cast members song in their respective colour so Bronze for Hibiki’s, Blue for Tsubasa etc just make this my fav Disc wise BD from them. I will hope for the rest but with CRs sale my hopes aren’t high.
9/10
 
Berserk Abridged (aka Berserk: The Egg of the King) - 7/10 (Rewatch)

Decided to watch this more to see what differs from the series.

I did think the 2d animation looked really good in this (it is Studio 4oC). Wasn't too keen on the colours, they don't pop like the 97 series (I think that's a different discussion with modern anime colouring though). The 3d is a mixed bag however, some of it doesn’t look as bad as I remembered, probably due to the 2016/17 series, but some bits are still horrendous and janky. The Incredible Hulk Zodd looked so bad when the scene changed from 2D to 3D it’s just so jarring and this happens throughout the film. Although some scenes I can see why others had me scratching my head.

One the things that bugged me the most was that large chunks were cut out or merged losing the a lot of character development and relationships the characters had with each other. Just seems so rushed and as a result scenes just lost their charm. It should have been around 2 hrs 30mins (2 hours minimum) rather than the 1hr 27 we got.

They also portray Griffiths right from the off as a bad guy, leaving shots hanging on his staring eyes… why?

The music was serviceable .. except for 2 songs, one I’m not sure of the name but the other was Blood & Guts which is an awesome song and I didn’t remember it was from the movie 😂 I’d been listening to it on the 2016/17 soundtrack. Man I miss the Guts theme 😂

Overall I don’t think it's bad and had a left a gap after the series I think I'd have enjoyed it more (I originally gave it an 8) and if you just wanted a reminder of what happened rather than sitting through the 25 eps of the 97 series then maybe this is an option but for me it will always be a little disappointing, despite it doing some things really well (see below). I do remember thinking the films got better however.

There were some good things
Some really nice 2D animation
The big battle scenes were quite nice at times
Fight scenes were good
One scene I like better in the movies to the TV series
Is when Guts kills Prince.. he doesn’t know it’s him till he’s already smashed his sword straight through him, in the TV series he see's its the kid (will find out what happens in the Manga when I get there)

Might be watching all 3 today so sorry for all the Berserk posts but you've been warned :p. I can move onto another series then though 😂
 
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Berserk: Battle for Doldrey - 8/10 (Rewatch)

The actual Battle for Doldrey is very well done, the action is immense and the 3D really well done for the most part and sometimes I wasn’t sure if it was 2D or 3D. For me these are the places I think it should be used in another series, the battle scenes. The rest should be 2D.

The battles of Caska vs Adon and Guts vs Boscone are a brilliant. As well as Griffiths duel vs Guts

I thought the music was better in this one too.

There are some shoddy bits to the 3D mostly in the beginning, Adon looked particularly poor for me but I think they are much less bits than the first. I didn’t really get the need for the big dance either when your cutting bits of the story out but it is what it is.

Overall an improvement on the first film and found I really enjoyed this one... onto the 3rd Film 😂
 
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Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
It's been far too long since I last watched this, at least a decade. I'd forgotten how good it is. This was the second adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo that I'd seen, the first being the 2002 movie starring Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce. It's fascinating how different they are, and I don't just mean the SF spin that the anime puts on it. Between the 2002 movie and the clips of the 1934 version that I've seen care of V for Vendetta, Hollywood tends to paint Edmond as a heroic, righteous avenger, and the story is shown from his perspective. The anime instead follows the children of the men who betrayed Edmond, and we see how their lives are ground up in the gears of his vengeance against their parents. In this version he comes across as being every bit as vile and ruthless as his enemies, though it's initially unclear how much this is related to one of the SF elements it introduces, ie. the titular Gankutsuou. The message of the anime is clear though: hate is a disease that eats you from the inside.

By turns mysterious, thrilling and heart-wrenching, the anime does well for the most part, only faltering a bit in the last few episodes, when some characters start flip-flopping too much regarding whether they want to kill or save certain other characters, making things a bit messy. The episode-long denouement is also oddly structured, jumping back and forth in time too much. On the other hand, it's perhaps fitting for a story of this type that it skips over an implied happy reunion and instead ends on a lonelier note.

The anime couldn't end more differently from the Hollywood movies. Where those give Edmond a Happily Ever After (TM) ending with Mercedes (which always struck me as odd right after he murders her husband), the anime sees Edmond die still gnashing his teeth over his incomplete vengeance. I haven't read the book, so I don't know which is more accurate to the source.

8/10
 
Berserk: The Advent - 8/10 (Rewatch)

And my Berserk anime journey comes to an end.

Fair to say this is the best of the lot but still not worth a 9 IMO. I think my points from above stand for this one aswell. Some strange choices to switch from 2D to 3D and every 2D scene looked so much better. Makes me wonder why they then thought it was a good idea to do the next series fully 3D 🤷‍♂️

Mostly I’m glad we got what the 97 series didnt give us.. an end. I can’t understand why they couldn’t have included the Skull King rescuing Caska & Guts in the 97 series. Would have been way more satisfying but still left you wanting to know what happens next. I heard they ran out of money but watched an interview that said they decided to end it there so who knows.

I also watched an interview with Eiko Tanaka from Studio 4oC and it was interesting to hear she said they had 5-6 hours of story boards and had to cut out things that would have certainly improved the movies Guts been picked up as an orphan, the water fight with Guts and Griffiths, plus more showing Guts enjoying his time with the Band of the Hawk. She also mentioned Wyald but I hear a lot of people saying they are happy he’s cut out of stuff 😂

You‘ll all be glad to know I’ll be moving onto something else now 😂
 
@Dai:

Your opinions on Gankutsuou are very similar to mine, then. I similarly regret that director Mahiro Maeda couldn't resist the temptation to veer into the kind of repeatedly contradicting emotional bombast that has derailed many an anime climax for me. 😒

I also have the same issue as you with how the series wraps up: it's actually genuinely hard to work out the chronology of Albert's return until you think about it and puzzle it out. Also, I find the episode's reluctance to show us his and Eugenie's reunion to be terribly frustrating.

I do actually have one last beef with the series, and it's something that I take issue with in anime annoyingly often. It's when characters behave far beyond their supposed age.

I honestly spent most of Gankutsuou believing Albert, Franz and co. to be near the end of their teens; 18, maybe 19. And then we learn that they're actually 15. Whaaat? 😑

It's something I've just never been able to get around; I know that anime is pitched at a certain age range and wants to have its characters be that same age, but... it just doesn't really add up, does it?

I still rate the series very highly in spite of those gripes, though. It has an outstanding voice cast in Japanese, and the art style is something else even if it's not necessarily very immediate.
 
Neil.T said:
I do actually have one last beef with the series, and it's something that I take issue with in anime annoyingly often. It's when characters behave far beyond their supposed age.

I honestly spent most of Gankutsuou believing Albert, Franz and co. to be near the end of their teens; 18, maybe 19. And then we learn that they're actually 15. Whaaat? 😑
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I found it less jarring in this show than I normally would, probably because it's based on a story set in the early 19th Century. As I understand it, adolescence was mainly a Victorian invention. Before then, a person was either a child or an adult, and was expected to take on the responsibilities and attitude of an adult far earlier than they would today, regardless of their frothing hormones. That said, they did look older than 15.
 
Neil.T said:
I do actually have one last beef with the series, and it's something that I take issue with in anime annoyingly often. It's when characters behave far beyond their supposed age.
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Heh yeah I wondered about this from my time with jrpgs. The first I played probably being FFVIII, through which I kept thinking this is great and I'm loving this school setting but it's the kids who are the main protagonists saving the world? Really?? Ho hum, it's all good man! I still find it a bit ridiculous but have learnt to accept it due the usual reasons of target audience, nostalgia for the relatively responsibility-free school setting, and also the Japanese impression of life ends after school and a slave to work indentured service begins to death do you part..
 
Geriatric hedgehog said:
Heh yeah I wondered about this from my time with jrpgs. The first I played probably being FFVIII, through which I kept thinking this is great and I'm loving this school setting but it's the kids who are the main protagonists saving the world? Really?? Ho hum, it's all good man! I still find it a bit ridiculous but have learnt to accept it due the usual reasons of target audience, nostalgia for the relatively responsibility-free school setting, and also the Japanese impression of life ends after school and a slave to work indentured service begins to death do you part..
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Again, that one wasn't jarring to me. The characters in FFVIII are 17. In the UK, you can join the army at 16. Wars have always been fought by children. Not that they remain children for long, of course.
 
Dai said:
Again, that one wasn't jarring to me. The characters in FFVIII are 17. In the UK, you can join the army at 16. Wars have always been fought by children. Not that they remain children for long, of course.
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Yeah I thought along those lines also and as the story unfolded it made sense regarding the exact purpose of the Seeds. My first and therefore my favourite FF/jrpg. But otherwise generally the 16/17 year old recruits to armed forces, etc I take more for cannon fodder than saviours of the world but that would make for a very short game...
 
Blood-C
"I promised that I would protect everyone."
"I promised that I would protect everyone."
"I promised that I would protect everyone."
"I promised that I would protect everyone."
"I promised that I would protect everyone."

How do you feel about that line of dialogue? If you're planning to watch this show, I hope you really like it, because you'll be hearing it a lot. And I mean a lot. Here's the thing though, Saya, if you're going to say that several times per episode, it would help if you tried actually protecting people, instead of just standing there glaring at the monster-of-the-week while it merrily chows down on the first few bystanders. You see, Saya royally sucks at protecting people.

The show starts well enough. The monster designs are probably the highlight; they're a weird and diverse bunch, and Saya dispatches them in a series of well animated fight scenes. Problems set in within a few episodes though, primarily one that CLAMP is frequently guilty of, namely repetition--endless, nauseating repetition of the same plot point, over and over until you can't take it anymore. Blood-C has about six episodes' worth of plot, stretched to 12 episodes. It wouldn't be so bad if the Shocking Twists (TM) and Shocking Betrayals (TM) weren't so heavily telegraphed so often, but rest assured that you will figure out almost exactly what is going on long, long before poor Saya does. These problems crippled X and they do the same here, though Blood-C at least has the benefit of some characters who are initially likeable.

Then there's the gore. For a 21st Century anime, and a TV one at that, it sure gets messy. I'm baffled at how this got a 15 from the BBFC. The first few episodes are just blood, but soon there are limbs and organs flying all over the place. By the final episode it reaches such ridiculous proportions that it just becomes laughable. I honestly can't tell if that dumb final episode is meant to be taken seriously or not. And after all that, the ending is disappointing. It at least resolves most of the major plots points that were set up, but does so in an unsatisfying way that left me wondering what was the point of it all.

Blood-C is the kind of show I find the most frustrating. It had just enough good things going for it to keep me watching all the way through, but only just, and at the end I was left feeling that it wasn't worth the time. It started as a 7 and slowly fell down the curve to end at a 4, so I'll split the difference and give it:

5/10

Lesson learnt: I need to stop watching things made by CLAMP; their writing just makes me angry.
 
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