Simulwatch schedule and suggestions list

N

Neil.T

Idolm@ster

Welcome to the AUKN Simulwatch schedule and suggestions list!​


This thread is your hub for simulwatch suggestions and lists. It begins with a quick explanation of simulwatching, before moving on to an ongoing account of our current simulwatch state of play, comprising a schedule of upcoming and ongoing simulwatches, complete with links to their respective threads. This is followed by an A–Z list of all suggestions currently on the table for possible future simulwatches. You'll also find a chronological list of all past AUKN simulwatches, again containing links, preserved here for historical interest.

What is a simulwatch?​


A simulwatch is a simultaneous group viewing of a series or a film.

When a group of us agree on something that we all want to watch, we can set a schedule for when we'll watch and discuss each episode of our series, or our film. A dedicated thread will be set up especially to host the discussion, and at that point you'll find a link to it in the list of upcoming or ongoing simulwatches below.

There's no set time of day to watch, and the typical pace of an AUKN simulwatch for a series is an easy one episode per day to allow everyone involved to have some spare time to post their thoughts and opinions in the related thread as well.

Past AUKN simulwatches​

9 July:
"Is the Ocean Burning?" Simulwatch II: Real Drive.

3 November:
Last Exile "Simulwatch"
18 February:
Proposed Simulwatch - Mai-HiME

15 June:
Kino's Journey - Simulwatch!
18 March:
Simulwatch - serial experiments lain
23 January:
Haibane Renmei Simulwatch
20 July:
Simulwatch - Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
7 September:
Simulwatch VIII - Ping Pong the Animation
21 June:
Get in the Simulwatch - Neon Genesis Evangelion

1 August:
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water simulwatch

9 September:
Aim for the Simulwatch! It's Gunbuster

27 September:
Tanks for the Simulwatch: Dominion Tank Police!

22 December:
Simulwatch - Gunsmith Cats/Riding Bean/Bubblegum Crisis/Crash/AD Police/Parasite Dolls
28 February:
Simulwatch - Akira - February 28th

4 April:
Simulwatch - Swearing for Great Justice: Angel Cop!

17 April:
Simulwatch: Murder Princess

25 April:
Get in the Other Simulwatch - RahXephon!

1 June:
FLCL simulwatch

3 July:
Mindbender marathon: Lain/Kon/Ōtomo simulwatch

28 July:
Paranoia memories: Kon/Ōtomo simulwatch II

1 August:
Simulwatch - The Horrors of World War II: The Pacific Theatre
5 March:
Don't go to pieces! Land of the Lustrous simulwatch

20 March:
Satoshi Kon in 4 days (ad-hoc simulwatch optional)

26 March:
ROW, ROW, FIGHT THE POWAH!!! Gurren Lagann complete simulwatch

12 May:
In Space No One Can Hear You Clean - Planetes Simulwatch

27 August:
Anthem of the Heart simulwatch

1 September:
Barakamon Simulwatch and Calligraphy learning

15 September:
Shiki simulwatch

9 October:
Garden of Sinners Simulwatch

25 October:
Ticket to ride: Train to Busan trilogy simulwatch

31 October:
SAYAnara Halloween! - Blood: The Last Vampire Simulwatch

3 November:
Ping Pong simulwatch

21 November:
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas simulwatch

29 November:
Cogito Ergo Proxy — simulwatch

28 December:
Penguin Highway simulwatch
11 January:
Mamoru Hosoda Movie Marathon

14 February:
Stay on track - Baccano! simulwatch
23 December:
An Angel Passing By: Haibane Renmei Simulwatch

1 February:
Magical girl retrospective
 
Last edited:
Oh damn, the Ping Pong simulwatch only has 2 pages 😢 top 10 anime for me, if I had a top 10.

I'm keen to participate on the Anohana, Barakamon and FranXX simulwatches. Eyeing FranXX and Anohana lately, just a matter of time 'till I buy them.

Then I'd love to try Vinland Saga, but I'd rather wait for an European blu ray edition of some sort...
 
@João Gomes:

Thanks for looking, man. 🙂

I'm keen on Anohana, Barakamon and FranXX as well, and it's only the latter one of those that I've seen. Also, I just got my copy of After the Rain recently, so I'd definitely be in for that as well.

Regarding Ping Pong, I've seen it the once and didn't really get on with it. As a fan of Masaaki Yuasa, though, I absolutely want to watch it again, and a simulwatch with you would be a great way to do it, João, so maybe we can work something out there. (And hopefully break the two-page barrier this time!)

It'd be fun to add the Japanese live-action Ping Pong movie as well, but I doubt many viewers would have access to that. I'm a big fan of it, though, and enjoyed it more than the animated series.
 
Neil.T said:
@João Gomes:

Thanks for looking, man. 🙂

I'm keen on Anohana, Barakamon and FranXX as well, and it's only the latter one of those that I've seen. Also, I just got my copy of After the Rain recently, so I'd definitely be in for that as well.

Regarding Ping Pong, I've seen it the once and didn't really get on with it. As a fan of Masaaki Yuasa, though, I absolutely want to watch it again, and a simulwatch with you would be a great way to do it, João, so maybe we can work something out there. (And hopefully break the two-page barrier this time!)

It'd be fun to add the Japanese live-action Ping Pong movie as well, but I doubt many viewers would have access to that. I'm a big fan of it, though, and enjoyed it more than the animated series.
Click to expand...

Hey, since not a lot of people are posting, let's allow ourselves a bit of an off-topic (but not completely, since I want to discuss series on the list): how is the ending to FranXX? I've been reading non-spoiler impressions and everyone is more or less positive on the first 15-19 episodes and then the ending seems almost universally disliked.

If I adjust expectations accordingly, I think I will enjoy it a lot more. Actually, how is the series in general? Are mechas a big part of it? Watched a fight clip on YT and liked it a lot, the animation looks great. I've read romance is a big part of it, but I love that, so even better.

About Ping Pong, I would love to know why you couldn't get into it! It's definitely one of the best animes ever made as far as I'm concerned, but the source material is probably very strong as is.

I would love to re-watch it with you and see what you think about individual elements of the series! Me, well, it's just gonna be non-stop, embarrassing gushing, so probably not very interesting lol But I'm game for whenever, it's a series I re-watch regularly anyway, it's never not a pleasure. We'll go beyond 2 pages at least!

I'd be up for trying the movie, I watched a clip or two and they certainly seemed to get Peco down perfectly!
 
My Franxxes (Franxxi? Franxxx?) are on their way from Zavvi now, so I’ll be down for that whenever. Might be good to take a break from the mecha action with something a bit different (and perhaps a bit shorter than a full 26 episode series, not everybody has that kind of time or stamina) first though.

Edit: Which thread should this go in now? THIS IS CONFUSING
 
ayase said:
My Franxxes (Franxxi? Franxxx?) are on their way from Zavvi now, so I’ll be down for that whenever. Might be good to take a break from the mecha action with something a bit different (and perhaps a bit shorter than a full 26 episode series, not everybody has that kind of time or stamina) first though.

Edit: Which thread should this go in now? THIS IS CONFUSING
Click to expand...

DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE TO TALK ABOUT OUR LORD AND SAVIOR PING PONG THE ANIMATION?
 
João Gomes said:
Hey, since not a lot of people are posting, let's allow ourselves a bit of an off-topic (but not completely, since I want to discuss series on the list): how is the ending to FranXX? I've been reading non-spoiler impressions and everyone is more or less positive on the first 15-19 episodes and then the ending seems almost universally disliked.
Click to expand...

From memory, I think Neil and I have quite opposing views on this, but I would have probably had a much more positive impression of Franxx on the whole if I'd stopped at episode 6. The first half-dozen episodes get the world set up pretty well and have a good amount of mecha action, then the story hits a kind of natural break point. I know people liked a lot of the character development that came afterwards, but ultimately, it was not for me.
 
João Gomes said:
how is the ending to FranXX? I've been reading non-spoiler impressions and everyone is more or less positive on the first 15-19 episodes and then the ending seems almost universally disliked.

If I adjust expectations accordingly, I think I will enjoy it a lot more. Actually, how is the series in general? Are mechas a big part of it?
Click to expand...
I'll have a go at tackling those questions one by one, João, beginning with the closing few episodes and the ending. There will be no spoilers.

Darling in the FranXX is very clearly an anime made by people who love giant robot shows in general, and Evangelion and Gurren Lagann in particular. It unashamedly borrows ideas, and occasionally actual set pieces, from Eva, including Rebuild. But FranXX was made at a time when 3.0 was the most recent Rebuild film, leaving things hanging. So when FranXX looked for inspiration on how to conclude its story, it looked instead to Gurren Lagann.

On first viewing, when it was simulcasting on Crunchyroll, this was a big issue for me, and it felt at the time like a disastrous downturn in the series: after all, you're never going to out-Gurren Lagann Gurren Lagann, if you know what I mean. The actual ending as well I originally felt was a colossal blunder, but I won't talk about that here.

That was on the first viewing. Having then had time to digest things and come to terms with the direction the story ultimately moved in, my stance began to shift. Even by the time I watched the series a second time, on Blu-ray from Manga Entertainment, I honestly enjoyed all of it. I actually watched the series again only earlier this year, and now I don't even know why I ever had a problem with its story choices in the first place. I think that, at the end of the day, I simply wasn't ready at the time for the ambitions that the show had. Now I admire it for them.

You might also hear that the manga incarnation of the series removes the contentious segment of the story. I used to believe that this would surely improve things, but as much as I'd still love to hopefully read the manga someday, I can't agree with that idea now. To remove the last elements of the story would be to do some of the characters a huge disservice and, to me, would also destroy a large part of what the whole story is trying to say. I know that this is all pretty cryptic without knowledge of the specifics, but I just want to try to put across how much my opinion shifted and how much I now value that the show had those ambitions and went its own way, even if that might mean it ultimately upset some of its fanbase. I mean, look at the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion! That was contentious in its day (and still is now), but I like to think that it's become accepted as an integral part of what that show is.

I hope the same can happen for FranXX some day.

As for the series in general, it's a very high-quality production. The combat sequences are probably just as good as you hope they are and possibly even more, with the ability to surprise and delight. Gurren Lagann director Hiroyuki Imaishi was in charge of the action component of the show, so that probably already tells you all you need to know there. You're already familiar with Shigeto Koyama's robot designs from Star Driver (and Captain Earth), so you know how good those are going to be as well.

The mecha themselves are integral to the story but aren't the be-all-and-end-all: the character drama is another gripping element of the series for me, and I'm sure you'll have your own personal favourites (and non-favourites) as the story develops, and these will likely change over and again as it does.

All of this is probably a much longer answer than you were expecting (and certainly a longer answer than I was expecting to type!), but I hope it brings across that Darling in the FranXX is a show with real depth, a lot to get your teeth into, and true rewatch value. In fact, it demands rewatching, as I myself discovered.

This post has become more than long enough, so I'll address Ping Pong and @Professor Irony's contrasting standpoint tomorrow. It's gotten late. Night-night. 👋😋
 
@Professor Irony I appreciate your insight, thank you!

@Neil.T that is exactly the kind of impressions I wanted, so thank you! We may even end up with different opinions on the show, but I enjoyed reading your post, thanks for taking the time to write it.

It's important to know that I may see things differently upon an eventual re-watch. Getting hyped about it, with Imaishi being the action director and it lifting fights from Eva. You can do a lot worse than Eva if you want to steal fight scenes.
 
João Gomes said:
@Neil.T that is exactly the kind of impressions I wanted, so thank you! We may even end up with different opinions on the show, but I enjoyed reading your post, thanks for taking the time to write it.
...
It's important to know that I may see things differently upon an eventual re-watch.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much, João. You're really very welcome.

The things I underlined in your quote there are the very things that I hoped would come across, so I'm really pleased. ✌️

Now the rest...

Professor Irony said:
I would have probably had a much more positive impression of Franxx on the whole if I'd stopped at episode 6. The first half-dozen episodes get the world set up pretty well and have a good amount of mecha action, then the story hits a kind of natural break point.
Click to expand...
Naturally, João, there's not much of the Prof's opinion there that I personally agree with. FranXX is very much geared towards the full 24-episode run, so I hope you can rest assured that it's certainly not the case that it uses its best ideas in the first six episodes and then spends the remainder filling time. In terms of filler episodes, I can think of only one (which is arguably three fewer than Gurren Lagann), and even that is trying to make a kind of point about the pilots' relationships with each other. The series was also planned as 24 episodes rather than the typical 26 as well. This helps keep the quality levels up.

The break that the Prof mentions after episode 6 is literally that: the pilots are given a short break to allow them to recover from everything they've gone through so far. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this one would be the filler episode, but not at all: there are key plot developments to be found here too.

Moving on from FranXX...

João Gomes said:
About Ping Pong, I would love to know why you couldn't get into it!
Click to expand...
I've written quite a lot ("quite a lot"?! 😅) already, so I dug out an old post of mine from 2018 that I wrote in Viewing Journal after finishing watching. Please put me right on what I missed, João!

Neil.T said:
Ping Pong: The Animation eps 1–11 (complete)
This... was quite different to what I was expecting.

I'd consider myself a pretty big Masaaki Yuasa fan, but I could just never get on the wavelength of this. In every episode, I could never seem to follow the flow of events well enough to ever second-guess where things might go next. The characters' motivations, insecurities and hang-ups also remained a puzzle to me, and I felt like I was supposed to somehow already know these things about them even though they hadn't been covered in the story. I really didn't feel like I knew the characters any better come series' end than I did before even watching. :confused:

A sports anime where it's difficult to find anyone to root for is a difficult prospect, and this is to all intents and purpose a sports anime. I... think. 😅
Click to expand...

ayase said:
Might be good to take a break from the mecha action with something a bit different (and perhaps a bit shorter than a full 26 episode series
Click to expand...
I agree. And yet... as you can see from the tentative schedule above, the next simulwatch is set to be Planetes, which is another two-cour series. 😅👍
 
Last edited:
Neil.T said:
trying to make a kind of point about the pilots' relationships with each other.
Click to expand...
Not sure whether I'm thinking of the same episode. The one where we find out that Zero 2 and Hiro have met before? That's the one I remember really liking. There's also the beach episode (which isn't a full beach episode, much like the GL beach episode IIRC).

Without looking up my mini review I seem to remember that after ep14 there was a bit of a lull in the action and was a bit weird and then it picked up, but so much it went ludicrously OTT and with a lot of WTFery! Would be up for a rewatch though, it's been 3 years already!

EDIT: Oh and I didn't like what they did to Zero 2's character towards the end. She just became a meek waifu and lost the attitude that made her great at the start. It's the same thing that happened to Rem in Re:ZERO!
 
@Neil.T Of course, there's nothing to put you right on! It's totally fine to watch something, understand it, and not enjoy it on a level others do. I'm sure there's people who'll go to the depths of hell to prove how much their favorite s.hit anime is the best thing ever made... And we know there's a lot of s.hit anime ahah

Not that I think I have blind, unjustified adoration for Ping Pong, however. But I see that one of the things I loved the most about it, the characters, is one of the points where we disagree on. I think throughout the series we learn all we need to appreciate these characters' way of life and struggles.

For instance: Smile picking up his best friend and hero's pastime sport and enjoying and being good at it. The dynamic created out of Smile never giving his all againt Peco out of respect for the hero who always helped him in his time of need as a young kid because he knows he could beat him and that would make Peco sadder than it would make Smile happy. Koizumi picking up on Smile's abilities and dragging him out of his shell, complete with the "robot breaking free of its mechanical limitations" visual analogy is extremely satisfying and memorable and I think Koizumi and Smile's relationship is utterly beautiful. The Valentine's day scene between them is hilarious.

Peco coming out of his rut and finally committing to discipline and ascending to new heights only he could reach, thanks in part to Smile and Smile enjoying seeing the return of his hero is heartwarming. I don't know, I'm just spouting descriptions but all of this is self-evident in how good it is.

Of course, not all characters get the same amount of time but they get the necessary amount to make you root for them and that's the thing with this series: I love that they're all great characters who you end up rooting for. Not rooting for victory necessarily (I always rooted for Smile to win), but rooting for them to be free from the things that make them suffer. I rooted for Akuma to be freed of his self imposed need to prove his worth through Ping Pong despite his lack of inherent talent, I rooted for Kong to be reunited with his mother, go back to his home country and, if possible, find some measure of success that could satisfy him, for Kazama's cousin to be free of her unrequited love which could never become something other than that with Kazama in his state at the time, for Kazama himself to be freed from the crushing pressure of excellence...

I wanted them all to be happy, because there's no malice in any of these characters, just unfortunate circumstances that has given that has shaped who they are, for better or worse.

Visually, there's nothing like it, sonically, it's a work of art where music establishes tone and feeling without fail and it has zero fat while constantly moving forward and making the characters learn and grow.

It's very close to perfect. And it's the series that turned me onto Yuasa and his style.

It's curious that you like the movie, I have to wonder what's so different between the way characters are presented in both!
 
Last edited:
@João Gomes:

You write about Ping Pong with real passion, João. I like that.

I definitely want to rewatch it, so a simulwatch would be a really good way to do it, even if no-one else joined in for it and it was just us ourselves. Shall I add it to the suggestions list, then?

How about the live-action film? I've got the UK DVD, but it's probably not the easiest thing to get hold of by now. Here's what it looks like:


In other simulwatch-related news, my copy of Planetes has apparently dispatched from Anime Limited.
 
Sure dude, it'd be my pleasure to watch it and discuss what connects with you and what doesn't more specifically! If it doesn't bother you that it could be just us, then we're good to go, eventually. Actually, just discussing it is making me itch to re-watch lol.

Getting the movie seems easily doable looking at your link (thank you), I'll be sure to get it and we can either do that too, or I watch it on my end, no problem.
 
João Gomes said:
how is the ending to FranXX? I've been reading non-spoiler impressions and everyone is more or less positive on the first 15-19 episodes and then the ending seems almost universally disliked.
Click to expand...
Not universally disliked as I quite liked it heh. But maybe lowered expectations after reading all the negative opinions on it beforehand helped. So yes tempering expectations should help you too hopefully.
ayase said:
My Franxxes (Franxxi? Franxxx?) are on their way from Zavvi now, so I’ll be down for that whenever. Might be good to take a break from the mecha action with something a bit different (and perhaps a bit shorter than a full 26 episode series, not everybody has that kind of time or stamina) first though.

Edit: Which thread should this go in now? THIS IS CONFUSING
Click to expand...
No, no, no I feel very strongly that it should be Franxx, like fish heh. Actually how do they refer to the plural in the show, I forget now. Maybe simulwatching 20+ episode series would be easier if done with 2 episodes daily with the odd break but the 12 episode ones with heavy themes are okay for one a day? And yes I'm muddled about which thread to put this post in too heh.
Neil.T said:
So when FranXX looked for inspiration on how to conclude its story, it looked instead to Gurren Lagann.
Click to expand...
I think I may have watched Franxx before Gurren Lagann but the current simulcast definitely made me think of the two shows. I feel exactly the same way you do about the ending as I felt compelled to re-watch it straight after the first go and grew to really like the ending. Nice summary!
D1tchd1gger said:
Oh and I didn't like what they did to Zero 2's character towards the end. She just became a meek waifu and lost the attitude that made her great at the start.
Click to expand...
I agree here, amongst some criticisms I would have would be that Hiro was a bit bland and I was disappointed that Zero 2 lost her badass edge near the end, but maybe that's their depiction of what luuurrrvv is supposed to do to you...

Lots of Ping Pong talk here I'm trying to avoid as I haven't watched it yet, but definitely up for a simulwatch of that being a Yuasa fan.
 
Geriatric hedgehog said:
No, no, no I feel very strongly that it should be Franxx, like fish heh. Actually how do they refer to the plural in the show, I forget now.
Click to expand...
In the show, both the singular and the plural are "FranXX", so you get your wish, buddy! 😁👍

Japanese plurals are quite different from ours in English. They're sometimes formed by doubling the word. For example, "person" is hito, and "people" is hitobito. There's a phonetic change there on what should be the second h; that's a typical quirk of linking words together in Japanese.
 
Back
Top