Rate the Last Anime You Watched Out of 10

I'm not going to lie at this stage - but I haven't seen the old Cobra.
Assuming you meant this one. I've seen the other 3 though. Psychogun is listed as remake so I didn't bother.

I'll make a listing of the witches, since you asked. Give me 5 minutes. I need to find the image of each because I can't remember just by the name lol.

Sanya
Charlotte
Eila
Minna
Erica
Mio
Lynette
Barkhorn (always thought it was Blackhorn, oh well, my fault for not reading the subs)
Lynette
Perrine
Francesca
Yoshika

It's not like I hated the protagonist. It's more like she wasn't there. Yes, that's how bland I considered her.

Did I miss any?
 
Nope, there is exactly a soccer team's worth, but you added Lynne-chan twice. ^^;

And yeah, I didn't think you meant the older Cobra stuff, still good enough to see people watching the OVAs and TV series from the last year or two - they're right there on CR and still hardly anyone seems to have watched them. :-/
 
Kei-kun said:
I've seen the other 3 though. Psychogun is listed as remake so I didn't bother.
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I don't know where ANN are getting that from, the Psychogun OAV definitely doesn't cover the same story as the original series.

If you like the new version though, the old series is well worth checking out.
 
Yeah, it's a bit of history between Cobra and Lady, so it more feels like it was made for people who already know about them in some way, whereas Lady is kind of just "there" in the other new stuff, imo.
 
Black Lagoon season 1.

Wow, I'm kind of torn over this series after watching it for the first time. The last five or so episodes were exceptional in isolation, and had that represented the whole season I would be placing this somewhere near the top of any theoretical list of action shows.

I felt that the last five episodes were incongruent with the tone of the "backbone" of the show - the relationship between Rock and Revy. Their scenes together (particularly the key one in the submarine, and the scenes in episode 7 both right before they are arrested, and when they are sharing a, uh, cigarette) are laced with a sense of borderline melancholic gravitas, and add a truly human touch to Revy's spunk and aggression - two things which the series arguably plays on a little too much.

This is then compromised, if not actually totally undone, by first of all Revy's quite literally comically OTT fight with Roberta, and then the move to a couple of far more stereotypical scenes between Rock and Revy, in episode 11 when Rock walks into her bedroom to wake her up (there is something to be said here for the natural way this shows their relationship to have developed, but the fanservicey nature of the scene was so far removed from anything else in the show it was just weird), and in episode 12 after they are done rescuing Rock and Revy busts out an incredibly tsundere reaction to Rock's thanks. It's like the series lacks the confidence of its action scenes when it comes to following through on its more contemplative aspects.

Also, the thing with the Nazis dragged on for one episode too many, the side characters lacking completely when compared with the ones that show up in the subsequent arcs.

Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.

****

(I am now using a five-star scale, as I don't like 10 point scales)

edit: Nearly forgot, the episodes titles are awesome.
 
Code Geass volume 2
9/10
GREAT stuff. So many twists and surprirses. Kept me guessing through out the whole show. The ending was such a c**k tease though.

Code Geass (the show overall)
10/10
Im not all into mecha anime but because of Code Geass, Im open to them. this was a great show. Usually i like anime for action. The action was good but the story and plot twists were fantastic. For the first time ever, I cared more about the story rather than the action. The action was very good btw.

MUST. GET. CODE. GEASS. SEASON. 2!!!!!!!!!!
 
ilmaestro said:
Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.
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Personally I prefer the second season, mainly due to the very strong final six-episode arc. The first season felt a bit "piecemeal" to me, though it certainly had its moments.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
ilmaestro said:
Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.
Click to expand...
Personally I prefer the second season, mainly due to the very strong final six-episode arc. The first season felt a bit "piecemeal" to me, though it certainly had its moments.
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Piecemeal is an excellent word for it, I think. There are great building blocks there, but some of them are for a house and some of them are for a military bunker. Very much looking forward to season 2 now. :)
 
Hmm, I liked Black Lagoon as a whole, but that final arc rather dragged s2 down for me. I just felt it was a bit overly sentimental and went on far longer than it really needed to.

To be honest, only the second arc in s2 really stood out to me, purely because it was so tongue-in-cheek.
 
I think Black Lagoon's fantastic whichever way you come at it. The second season delivered a few BELTING moments. The vampire children, the Roanapur Freak Show - but the highlight for me is Revy telling Rock 'don't look at her - look at me!' - but of course, Rock keeps looking.

That sent shivvers up my spine!
 
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ilmaestro said:
fabricatedlunatic said:
ilmaestro said:
Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.
Click to expand...
Personally I prefer the second season, mainly due to the very strong final six-episode arc. The first season felt a bit "piecemeal" to me, though it certainly had its moments.
Click to expand...
Piecemeal is an excellent word for it, I think. There are great building blocks there, but some of them are for a house and some of them are for a military bunker. Very much looking forward to season 2 now. :)
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You enjoyed Black Lagoon whilst still being mindful of it's flaws? Welcome to the elite. ;)

I enjoyed Second Barrage more, but still felt frustrated by it. The Twins arc is harrowing but... still a bit silly. And that's my great problem with the series. If Hiroe could tone down the sillier aspects (maids, Nazis, children being able to fire heavy machine guns from the hip) and turn up the darkness, Black Lagoon could be brilliant whilst still retaining it's OTT combat scenes. I think that's why I ultimately came away from 2nd Barrage satisfied - the final arc in Japan is the closest to what I envisioned the series being from the start.
 
ayase said:
ilmaestro said:
fabricatedlunatic said:
ilmaestro said:
Definitely above average, but hamstrung by the lack of a cohesive vision behind it. I'm hoping the second season just continues to ramp it up, though.
Click to expand...
Personally I prefer the second season, mainly due to the very strong final six-episode arc. The first season felt a bit "piecemeal" to me, though it certainly had its moments.
Click to expand...
Piecemeal is an excellent word for it, I think. There are great building blocks there, but some of them are for a house and some of them are for a military bunker. Very much looking forward to season 2 now. :)
Click to expand...
You enjoyed Black Lagoon whilst still being mindful of it's flaws? Welcome to the elite. ;)
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High five! o/
 
ayase said:
I enjoyed Second Barrage more, but still felt frustrated by it. The Twins arc is harrowing but... still a bit silly. And that's my great problem with the series. If Hiroe could tone down the sillier aspects (maids, Nazis, children being able to fire heavy machine guns from the hip) and turn up the darkness, Black Lagoon could be brilliant whilst still retaining it's OTT combat scenes.
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Whereas I personally feel the show really needs those elements.

If Black Lagoon had ever been described to me as a 'dark' or 'gritty' show, I don't think I would ever have checked it out.

I think it's a mark of the show's quality that it handles something like the vampire twins arc with a certain degree of maturity. When I first saw that part of the show, I had pretty much made up my mind I would hate it - but the resolution of it, and the way the characters react to the absurdity and awfulness of the situation in the final act made me see it in a whole new light.

I think those aspects of the show you mention help it to keep its fun factor - and it's no mean feat to make a show with Black Lagoon's subject matter fun to watch.

I enjoyed the final stretch of the Second Barrage too - but had the whole show been like that, I doubt I would have been so enthralled with it.
 
I just love things which are as deliciously dark as they come, and don't particularly watch shows like Black Lagoon for the "fun" factor. I enjoy watching, of course, but it's with more of a perverse sense of gratification than anything else... I watch because I love being immersed in the darkness, violence and downright who-gives-a-f*ck insanity of characters like Revy and Balalaika. I watch it with an unerving grin on my face. Perhaps this is my fun, I don't know.
 
Hey - different things work for different people.

Speaking from my own perspective, I just tend not to enjoy anything that goes in one direction full tilt or tries for one specific out-and-out tone.
 
HdE said:
Speaking from my own perspective, I just tend not to enjoy anything that goes in one direction full tilt or tries for one specific out-and-out tone.
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That's actually one of my niggles with anime as a whole. There are a few genre-breaking ones, but as a whole, anime tends to stick to the confines to what it is. If its science-fiction, its only science-fiction; if its romance/comedy, it sticks to that. It doesn't matter that much since there's such a wide variety of stuff, but I wouldn't mind a bit more genre-jumping. (Haruhi is is all I can truly think off - :o ).
 
Whereas I love stuff that has a consistent vision, an "auteuristic" driving force behind it. Yes, you can add a little bit of light relief into your otherwise super serious detective drama, or a romantic sub-plot into your aliens-are-invading-the-Earth sci-fi (this happens all the time, btw, and is probably the most obvious example I can think of in terms of multi-genre anime), but if the show doesn't know what it wants to be (very much with the case with BL season 1), and isn't instilled with the confidence of people who know what they want to make, the quality can waver alongside the tone.
 
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