Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

Rosario+Vampire 8/10

it impressed me, and it had alot more romantic development than other shonen rom-coms, but the ecchi stuff i didn't like that much and the episodes were fairly formulatic

Rosario+Vampire Capu2 8/10

it was funnier than the first season, but like the first season it still had a fair amount of ecchi in it, and i feel the romance side of it suffered a bit
 
Orgun said:
I've been meaning post reviews for a few weeks now, so in order that I watched or completed them:

Patlabor: The Movie 2 (Bandai Version) – 7/10

My least favourite of the Patlabor movie trilogy, a great film with awesome atmosphere and tension but the pacing is too slow and it is way too talky. Oshii got it absolutely spot on with the first movie but he over indulged himself with the philosophy here. The Bandai version is a massive improvement in terms of picture and sound quality over the Manga version.

Round Vernian Vifam – 8/10

Classic 80’s mecha from one of my favourite directors. A brilliant character driven show that puts character development before the mecha action. The animation is a bit wonky but with a such consistently decent and absorbing plot you quickly look past it.

Porco Rosso – 8/10

I thought this was a bit different from other Miyazaki films and all the better for it, I really enjoyed it, a great story and it was beautiful to look at.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Vol. 1 – 9/10

An interesting continuation and development of the Universal Century rhetoric. Good characters and story and some great mecha action plus the mecha/combat animation is stunning. A solid start and I can’t wait to see how it continues.

Prism Ark – 6/10

I’m not usually into this sort of magical girl anime, but I am a huge fan of Masami Obari, so I had to see it really. It was getting really good but the plot went a bit awry in the last few episodes. It was a typical Obari anime and had all his usual hallmarks, he just made all the knights look like mecha. It was very funny and I really liked the artwork so it was a shame that he cocked it up at the end.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 – 8/10

GitS is still a magnificent film and continues to stand the test of time, it is worthy of 9/10 and the original version earns this rating but I’ve docked the 2.0 version a mark for being visually spoilt by, IMO, some poorly realised and unnecessary CGI re-working of certain scenes (especially the opening scene) and ruins the look of the film. I watched the original version straight after (its on the disc) and this is a far more effective version.

On the quality of the disc, the transfer to HD is lacklustre and nowhere near Bandai’s efforts with older films such as Akira and Royal Space Force which both look truly stunning, this looks more like a decent DVD re-master. The DTS-HD MA sound track was really good though.
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I still think it was kind of mad to call the remastered first film 2.0 (not seen it yet btw). I understand the logic, but since it's more common for sequels to be named x.0 (e.g. Die Hard 4.0) it's a bit confusing
 
Evangelion 1.11 - 9/10

Certainly a lot prettier than it was the first time around, especially on Blu-ray. The colour is so rich and vibrant and the new CG is excellent. It's more or less a frame-by-frame remake of the first five or six TV episodes, though unless my memory is playing tricks there are some new scenes and some that have been excised.

I'd forgotten how brilliant Evangelion was; the film's last battle in particular was so incredibly tense even though I knew what was going to happen. Anno's direction is brilliant and the scene composition is pure visual poetry, man. Can't wait for the next film, the story of which looks to deviate from the original quite considerably.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Evangelion 1.11 - 9/10

Certainly a lot prettier than it was the first time around, especially on Blu-ray. The colour is so rich and vibrant and the new CG is excellent.
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Watched it last night and was blown away. I'd seen it before on DVD but the Eva 1.11 BD is a testament to just how good HD anime can look. It's so good I almost don't want it to deviate from the original story, as I'd love to see all the old scenes remade in such spectacular fashion.
 
ayase said:
fabricatedlunatic said:
Evangelion 1.11 - 9/10

Certainly a lot prettier than it was the first time around, especially on Blu-ray. The colour is so rich and vibrant and the new CG is excellent.
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Watched it last night and was blown away. I'd seen it before on DVD but the Eva 1.11 BD is a testament to just how good HD anime can look. It's so good I almost don't want it to deviate from the original story, as I'd love to see all the old scenes remade in such spectacular fashion.
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Unfortunate, that's not the case, despite 1.11.
But yes, it looks amazing.
 
ayase said:
Eva 1.11 [on BD is] so good I almost don't want it to deviate from the original story, as I'd love to see all the old scenes remade in such spectacular fashion.
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Don't worry, the second movie only gets better anyway.
 
Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor (2nd series)

Throughout this series I was having mixed feelings. I recall that the first season took a beating thanks to BONES fuelled hype and failed expectations. In spite of all its faults though I really enjoyed it and was definitely excited about the prospect of a continuation.

I’m not going to pretend I completely understood the story for Gemini of the Meteor, but I suppose the plot wasn’t what I had an issue with, rather it was the characters and their development that bothered me. Instead of focusing on Hei as with the previous instalment, it’s Suou – a young newly activated contractor – who takes centre stage. This wasn’t an unwelcome change at first as Suou manages to add some much needed feeling and humanity to the otherwise cold and calculated world of the contractors. To begin with I felt Gemini would easily exceed the first season for this reason alone.

As things progress though there are clumsy and inexplicable dramatic missteps. After several failed emotional appeals I became more sceptical and as the ending rushed to tie up all the convoluted plot and loose ends I was disappointed. Things like Hei losing his powers and the reveal of Suou’s faked past held massive potential for compelling character development but never amounted to what they could have.

A shame since there’s so much that’s good about the series too: It’s got a thumping techo soundtrack, solid to impressive production values and some genuinely cool ideas for the superpowered contractors and the world they live in. Still it could and should have been so much more.

6/10
 
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Wow that's a shame, if you liked DTB1 and gave 2 a 6/10 then it's probably not worth my time. I liked the concept and characters of DTB but I felt totally underwhelmed by it. I guess that's one less anime to watch.
 
The OVA (set between the two) seems much better.
DTB 2 did the thing the first season was good for totaly avoiding, i.e. having a (pink haired) highschooler as a lead.
 
Sparrowsabre7 said:
Wow that's a shame, if you liked DTB1 and gave 2 a 6/10 then it's probably not worth my time. I liked the concept and characters of DTB but I felt totally underwhelmed by it. I guess that's one less anime to watch.
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I can only guess, but the chances are if you didn't rate DTB you would likely hate GOTM. It has it's moments certainly but is largely inferior to the first series IMO.

Reaper gI said:
The OVA (set between the two) seems much better.
DTB 2 did the thing the first season was good for totaly avoiding, i.e. having a (pink haired) highschooler as a lead.
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Having a protagonist who isn't a 14 year old boy or school girl was a refreshing change from the norm, so yeah, the shift from Hei over to Suou for the 2nd season was a little irritating. Will definitely have to check out that OVA though.
 
Wildcard said:
Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor (2nd series)As things progress though there are clumsy and inexplicable dramatic missteps. After several failed emotional appeals I became more sceptical and as the ending rushed to tie up all the convoluted plot and loose ends I was disappointed.
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Convoluted plot and rushed ending? So, essentially, the new show exacerbates all the weaknesses from before without compensating with Hei awesomeness. I didn't expect the sequel to be better than the original (in all honesty, I didn't believe the original left enough good material for any substantial sequels), but your post ensures I won't bother.
 
It was Nov 11 who was awesome, FYI. Hei started out pretty cool, what with the whole acting/deceiving women about him being cold aspect, but he was really just a pussy cat. He provided less entertainment as the series progressed, and the 'WTF?' ending involving his jailbait girlfriend - which involved him punching some weakling in a suit and buggering off - left me pretty much completely uninterested in S2.

I haven't read the above 6/10ing, but I did read a very harsh review on MAL by some fella called 'Rampant'. I was already planning on staying away after discovering Kanno's musical excellence had been replaced with some trance rubbish, but reading that S2 wasn't even a proper sequel and focused on the characters looking emotionless/empty put me off it completely.

Most Bones titles are devoid of substance/feature a bizarre ending, so a sequel was always doomed to end in failure. As cool as DB was, without Nov 11, it wouldn't have been quite cool enough. Removing the iceman from the picture did little good.
 
Why, whenever there is a terrible second season of an average show, do people ask for a third to clear things up? Instead, would it not be better to deprive the creators of any further fandom/money, thus guaranteeing they learn their lesson?

Meanwhile, I'm still awaiting a second series for Seirei no Moribito, Kaiji, Berserk, Black Lagoon, Claymore, Nana, Fruits Basket, Ouran...
 
Just finished watching Bleach. really jolly. can't get 10/10, no spaceships. can't get 9/10, no planets blowing up.
So a solid 8/10 from me. :D
 
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