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Miss Machiko / Maicching Machiko-sensei Episode 1.

I thought I should try this out because it seems like a reasonable idea to have older shows that may not be quite popular enough for a physical release available for streaming (where they could potentially gain the popularity needed for a physical release).

I'm now wondering if Discotek's actual plan was to see if people would watch pretty much anything in the hope that doing so might contribute to shows they're actually interested in becoming available. Maybe I'm just paranoid about companies with "Tec" in their name.

To be fair, Miss Machiko may not be terrible (and I have only watched one episode). It's basically about a teacher who is quite laid back and doesn't get upset by little things like sexual harassment, sexual assault and other "pranks" that the people around her seem intent on carrying out. It seems the other main character is the kid in her class who enjoys playing "pranks" but only if the victim is seriously upset by them, which makes Machiko something of a nemesis to him.

Despite the content, it has a kind of "old fashioned kids show" atmosphere that makes it a little more difficult to take things seriously and helps to make the show seem a bit more harmless. I probably wouldn't show it to any actual kids though. Apparently future episodes may try to include some kind of "message", I'm slightly curious to see how that might be handled but I'm not sure I'd want to watch any more of the show.

At the end of the day, Miss Machiko doesn't seem to be that different to the more standard Ecchi/Fanservice shows (which is maybe something of a sad thought). At least Machiko herself seems happy enough to go along with things rather than being forced to and she's willing to draw the line when the antics get in the way of things she sees as important (such as studying). There is something vaguely appealing about the way that she mostly ignores the silliness of others and seems quite comfortable with herself, though the show does undermine that aspect at times.

I don't know if I'll watch any more of the show but at least it was kind of an interesting experience.
 
Ep 0 of Tales of Zestiria X: Prologue
Ep 3 of Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV
Ep 1 of Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! LOVE!...I love this show, its so ridiculous its great and they're costumes are even more flamboyant/frillier.
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Ep 1 of The Highschool Life of a Fudanshi
Ep 1 of Days
 
Tokyo Ghoul Root A-Episodes 1-3

Episode 1: I really think this first episode of Season 2 should have been the last episode of Season 1. Would have made for a much cleaner break between series.

Episode 2: You know, I really hope they have a good reason for Kaneki jumping ship to Aogiri Tree. So far, we really haven't heard even a hint. Akira and Amon should be interesting to watch together.

Episode 3: Christ, that Ghoul that Kaneki rescued is ridiculously annoying.

Hidamari Sketch x 365-Episodes 11-13 (Complete)

Well, what do you know. The last episode ended on July 8th, the same day as I finished watching the show.

Berserk (2016)-Episode 2

A much more enjoyable episode than the first, I thought. The action scene in the first half was great and I really enjoyed the dialogue between Guts and Farnese. CGI seemed better than the first episode too.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable-Episode 15

Really happy they actually explained Josuke's anger when someone insults his hair. I definitely suspect some time related shenanigans there...
 
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Berserk [2016] (Japanese audio) - Episode 2

So in this episode we are now in the Tower of Conviction arc. This is a good starting point if you personally don't want to see the rushed first episode. Guts goes off into the sunset with Puck and Farnese on a Horse. The infamous Horse scene may end up getting adapted by the looks of it.

Also Hai Yo was playing during the latter half which was awesome. The music is still top notch despite remixing some of the songs from the Golden Age Trilogy OST. The animation is hit or miss but I've gotten used to it.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (Japanese audio) - Episode 15
 
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Started two shows from the Summer 2016 season.

91 Days (Japanese audio) - Episode 1
Alderamin on the Sky [Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin] (Japanese audio) - Episode 1

Both shows have slow pacing but also some promise from what I've seen. 91 Days is an original anime series done by the studio who worked on Durarara!!x2 (it's their second anime project) while Alderamin is a novel adapted by studio Madhouse. Both have their cool artstyles while the story is just getting started. No fanservice for either two if you're bothered by that. The difference between the two is the artstyle and setting; 91 Days is a crime drama with an artstyle similar to Baccano! and Durarara!! (imo) while Alderamin is like Fullmetal in terms of its timeline with the artstyle feeling very out of place compared to the cutesy look we see nowadays (it's quite hard to compare but I like the look of it). I say both shows are worth checking out but just be aware that so far it's quite hard to get invested in the two just yet.
 
Berserk 2016 ep 2
Momokuri ep 3/4
Kumamiko Girl Meets Bear ep 11 - 12
lPanetarian ep 1
Regalia The Three Sacred Stars ep 1
Expelled From Paradise
 
Diamond is Unbreakable ep15

Huh, op2 has hit. The animation is nice, but the actual track sounds very 'generic anime opening' compared to all the other Jojo openers. Not that this matters though, because Rohan.

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<3

Berserk (2016) ep2

Would concur that this was a much, much better episode than last week's. Genuinely curious to see what the anime original content is going to be next week.
 
DAYS Episode 1.

At this point, I'm not quite sure if DAYS is going to be a story about people playing football or if it'll be a story about people who play football (and those around them). The first episode has some football being played but it's more of a backdrop to the character development. There's almost no time spent on explaining rules, strategies or much of what's actually going on in the game, the show seems far more focussed on the thoughts and feelings of it's characters. Whether that continues to be the case in future episodes remains to be seen.

The first episode mostly focusses on apparent main characters Tsukushi and Jin. Both characters could probably be compared to standard archetypes but it feels like there's something more to them that helps them to stand out and feel a little more real. I'd say we see a little more of this with Jin, it'd be easy to assume he'd just be the standard cool and distant naturally talented character but he also reveals his caring side pretty quickly and a few other details make him seem like more of a fully rounded person. Tsukushi does also benefit by showing an awareness of how others might treat him and how they might interpret his lack of ability rather than just being ignorantly positive.

The episode does a good job of introducing the characters and it also hints at some potential for future storylines. Jin would seem to have had some difficulty making/keeping close friends in the past and Tsukushi's home situation is likely to be part of a story at some point. It should be interesting to see if/how the show handles potential relationships as well, there are several potential romances and friendship is already something of a major theme in the show.

It feels like this show could go in a few different directions at the moment, though it probably wouldn't be able to do everything and if it tried then there's a good chance it could end up a lesser show for it. I think I'd prefer if it stuck to developing it's characters and focussing on their personal stories rather than moved into being about sport and competition. I have to admit, I got a slightly "Space Brothers" like feel from the show (perhaps partly because it seems to use music in a similar way) and that's both a compliment to the show and a high standard for it to pursue. There's a very good chance that the sport aspect will be taking over at some point, so I'll try to control my expectations but I was quite impressed with the first episode and I'll at least keep watching for now.
 
Tokyo Ghoul Root A-Episodes 4-6

Episode 4: The reason for getting Akira and Amon into the prison was so flimsy and contrived it's actually laughable.

Episode 5: I think I can see where people's gripes with Root A come from.
It's not really the fact that Kaneki joined Aogiri for seemingly no reason that's the issue, it's that the writers just turned him into a completely different character. I like development, but this isn't development, this is just wiping the character of every trait he had before and replacing them all with new traits. At the end of this episode, he did come to his senses a little bit when he cried in front of Amon, but even if they do revert him back to his old self, that doesn't explain why he became a bloodthirsty killer for almost half the season.

Episode 6: That's something else I really don't like about Root A, Touka is essentially pushed to the side and given nothing to do whatsoever.

Love Live! Sunshine-Episode 2

Liked this episode a lot. Going by the initial episode, I liked Riko a fair bit, so I'm glad she got a great character episode early on. I'm also pretty happy because this is something quite different than S1. I know it was a bit of a concern that this would be a copy and paste job, so it is nice to see they are trying to make the characters different. Oh, and that bit with Ruby was adorable.
 
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Future Police Urashiman ep1

I've seen a little bit of Urashiman before, but I don't think I really appreciated it at the time. If you can get onboard with its goofy sense of humour, it's a neat little sci-fi show with high production values and some interesting flourishes in its animation. The art design has dated much more noticeably than the likes of Cobra or the Dirty Pair, but the effects work during the time slip sequence is admirably psychedelic and there's something rather quaint in seeing them use hand drawn animation to fake computer effects, rather than the other way around.

 
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Handa-kun ep 1
Time Travel Girl ep 1
Rewrite ep 2
This Art Club Has a Problem ep 1
91 Days ep 1
Food Wars Second Plate ep 2
Qualidea Code ep 1
hitorinoshita - The Outcast ep 1
 
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