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IdiomaticLynx said:
Flip Flappers - Episode 11

While there are a bunch of things left unanswered, they are mainly details not specifically needed for bringing the story to closure. Unless I'm missing some obvious key questions?
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Well, the last flashback we saw, Mimi had ahold of baby Cocona and she just kind of vanished into some kind of light. How did Cocona get from being safe with her mother to living with her fake Grandma? How did Mimi die? Last we see her, she's not dead. Also in the flashback, we see Papika is a lot older than she appears in the present, so what's up with that? Is it the same Papika we saw in the flashback, only somehow younger? How did that happen?
 
Drifters-Episode 11

It kind of dawned on me this episode exactly where the series will end, and it will be exactly when things are getting interesting. If there's no second cour, this entire series will have been a waste.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable-Episode 38

I'm sorry, but unless they actually have a good reason for Okuyasu coming back from the dead next episode, that is total BS. There's suspension of disbelief, then there's returning from the dead because you saw your brother in heaven or whatever.

Durarara-Episodes 22-25 (Complete)

This last arc all about the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars has been pretty great, and it's done wonders for Masaomi's character, but I can't help but feel as if the whole thing is undermined by the fact that these gangs are fighting for literally no reason. There's no money to be made, they're not exactly doing much with what territory they have, yet they're willing to go into the street and just assault people with lead pipes and even shoot people and order hits, for absolutely zero real tangible benefit. If both sides just stopped, what would anyone be losing?
 
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Hanasaku Iroha ep 13 - 18
Seraph of the End Battle in Nagoya ep 10 - 12
Sound Euphonium ep 8 - 11
Sunday Without God ep 1 - 2
Drifters ep 11
Occultic Nine ep 8
The Great Passage ep 10
 
Bungo stray Dogs S2 complete - A much better series that the first, less humour and more focus on the story. The last episode did stray into generic battle shounen territory and has some terrible philosophical dialogue. That said the ending was satisfying making it one of the better shows this season. 8/10

Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works - This series was everything I hoped for. One of the main differences between this and Fate Zero is that its more focus on one/ two masters rather that the ensemble cast. This makes you care about the characters more. add in the wonderful animation I cant wait to Start the second series.

Drifters -ep 11- This will defiantly need a split Cour, if only they spend less time on the awful humour,

Keijo ep 11 - who knew you can shoot cards out of your ass?
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
Durarara-Episodes 22-25 (Complete)

This last arc all about the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars has been pretty great, and it's done wonders for Masaomi's character, but I can't help but feel as if the whole thing is undermined by the fact that these gangs are fighting for literally no reason. There's no money to be made, they're not exactly doing much with what territory they have, yet they're willing to go into the street and just assault people with lead pipes and even shoot people and order hits, for absolutely zero real tangible benefit. If both sides just stopped, what would anyone be losing?
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What I think you have to bear in mind is that you have access to all the information, most of the characters within the show don't, especially with regards to the nature of the Dollars and their abilities. I suppose this is a version of J.J. Abrams mystery box theory, the idea of which is that when you only have some of the information the possibilities of what it might be are always far more fantastical and exciting than the reality. Put simply: The mystery is always greater than the reveal. Nobody in the show has any idea what the Dollars are (arguably even Mikado), so the possibilities of what it might be are far more powerful, far more scary, far more violent, far more dangerous than the reality. And people fight over dangerous maybes all the time, the risk of being or becoming the ridiculous idea in their head is too big to take. They aren't really fighting over their reality, they're fighting over possibilities. (Which now that I think about it, might be the point.)


This isn't really relevant but I also think, especially with the second season, that Durarara!! shouldn't just be analysed on a narrative level, but also on how the audience reacts. Maybe I'm interpreting things weirdly, but to me Durarara!! is more about the way people and society (both inside and outside the show) react to the behaviour of the gangs, rather than the way the gangs behaved. I assume based on your tweets you intend to start DRR!!x2 soon? I'd be interested to know what, if anything, you (or anybody else) makes of it on a philosophical level.

I feel like I was maybe reading stuff into Durarara!! that wasn't there, but simultaneously Narita seems smart enough to maybe be aiming for something deeper than the surface level appeal of the series. Maybe I'll try and schedule a rewatch when AL finally finished home video for it. (Presumably early 2018.)
 
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Drifters ep 10.

Izetta: The Last Witch ep 11.

Love Live!: School Idol Project s1 ep 1-13 (complete). Umi best girl (sorry Maki, but I had to choose). Though as a series I think I prefer idolm@ster overall.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans s2 ep 8.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
Well, the last flashback we saw, Mimi had ahold of baby Cocona and she just kind of vanished into some kind of light. How did Cocona get from being safe with her mother to living with her fake Grandma? How did Mimi die? Last we see her, she's not dead. Also in the flashback, we see Papika is a lot older than she appears in the present, so what's up with that? Is it the same Papika we saw in the flashback, only somehow younger? How did that happen?
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I thought they just vanished into Pure Illusion, the light was probably part of some destructive force Mimi used. As such, I'm sure Mimi isn't really dead, just inside Pure Illusion.

As to how Cocona ended up outside of Pure Illusion, there are a couple of elements working in conjunction:
  • Cocona has an amorphous fragment inside her, which appears to allow people to enter and leave Pure Illusion.
  • The (mad) researchers were constantly trying to enter Pure Illusion/research it to complete the Armorphous and (re)gain control over Mimi.
  • Inside Pure Illusion, Mimi appears to have quite the split personality. Her real self seems to be locked down further, but can act, as can be seen with the whole tear in Salts hand turning into a fragment.
So I assume that the "real" Mimi only used Pure Illusion as an escape mechanism, but ultimately wanted something better for Cocona (instead of what the fake Mimi is doing by creating fake friends for her). She must have send Cocona out into the real world, but the easiest approach might have been through some weakpoint/portal/gateway created by the researches, hence her falling into the researchers hands. (Ohter possibility is that the researches detected something leaving Pure Illusion and picking up Cocona?). Salt simply left her be as he knew she would be safer in the researchers hands than if he tried to protect her.

I know a lot of assumptions, and it would indeed be nice to have some way of knowing how it actually went. As for Papika being a lot younger than in the flashbacks is something we will most likely see in the next episode. For some reason there appears to still be something more to her than we've seen.

These are indeed quite important questions, but possibly also questions they could keep unanswered apart from giving us some clues.
 
Buzz201 said:
What I think you have to bear in mind is that you have access to all the information, most of the characters within the show don't, especially with regards to the nature of the Dollars and their abilities. I suppose this is a version of J.J. Abrams mystery box theory, the idea of which is that when you only have some of the information the possibilities of what it might be are always far more fantastical and exciting than the reality. Put simply: The mystery is always greater than the reveal. Nobody in the show has any idea what the Dollars are (arguably even Mikado), so the possibilities of what it might be are far more powerful, far more scary, far more violent, far more dangerous than the reality. And people fight over dangerous maybes all the time, the risk of being or becoming the ridiculous idea in their head is too big to take. They aren't really fighting over their reality, they're fighting over possibilities. (Which now that I think about it, might be the point.)


This isn't really relevant but I also think, especially with the second season, that Durarara!! shouldn't just be analysed on a narrative level, but also on how the audience reacts. Maybe I'm interpreting things weirdly, but to me Durarara!! is more about the way people and society (both inside and outside the show) react to the behaviour of the gangs, rather than the way the gangs behaved. I assume based on your tweets you intend to start DRR!!x2 soon? I'd be interested to know what, if anything, you (or anybody else) makes of it on a philosophical level.

I feel like I was maybe reading stuff into Durarara!! that wasn't there, but simultaneously Narita seems smart enough to maybe be aiming for something deeper than the surface level appeal of the series. Maybe I'll try and schedule a rewatch when AL finally finished home video for it. (Presumably early 2018.)
Click to expand...

You make a good point, I suppose. I probably won't be watching X2 ASAP, although I have went ahead and bought a copy (Couldn't pass up £30, even if it is used). I like to give myself a break between seasons of shows to prevent burnout. Really hope AL picks up the pace on their X2 releases, I'd really like to think they can get the last two parts out in 2017, but it's doubtful, I'll admit.

IdiomaticLynx said:
I thought they just vanished into Pure Illusion, the light was probably part of some destructive force Mimi used. As such, I'm sure Mimi isn't really dead, just inside Pure Illusion.

As to how Cocona ended up outside of Pure Illusion, there are a couple of elements working in conjunction:
  • Cocona has an amorphous fragment inside her, which appears to allow people to enter and leave Pure Illusion.
  • The (mad) researchers were constantly trying to enter Pure Illusion/research it to complete the Armorphous and (re)gain control over Mimi.
  • Inside Pure Illusion, Mimi appears to have quite the split personality. Her real self seems to be locked down further, but can act, as can be seen with the whole tear in Salts hand turning into a fragment.
So I assume that the "real" Mimi only used Pure Illusion as an escape mechanism, but ultimately wanted something better for Cocona (instead of what the fake Mimi is doing by creating fake friends for her). She must have send Cocona out into the real world, but the easiest approach might have been through some weakpoint/portal/gateway created by the researches, hence her falling into the researchers hands. (Ohter possibility is that the researches detected something leaving Pure Illusion and picking up Cocona?). Salt simply left her be as he knew she would be safer in the researchers hands than if he tried to protect her.

I know a lot of assumptions, and it would indeed be nice to have some way of knowing how it actually went. As for Papika being a lot younger than in the flashbacks is something we will most likely see in the next episode. For some reason there appears to still be something more to her than we've seen.

These are indeed quite important questions, but possibly also questions they could keep unanswered apart from giving us some clues.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'd prefer concrete answers to these questions rather than making assumptions, but if they didn't give us direct answers, I wouldn't be too mad about it. As you say, you can connect the dots in your head.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
You make a good point, I suppose. I probably won't be watching X2 ASAP, although I have went ahead and bought a copy (Couldn't pass up £30, even if it is used). I like to give myself a break between seasons of shows to prevent burnout. Really hope AL picks up the pace on their X2 releases, I'd really like to think they can get the last two parts out in 2017, but it's doubtful, I'll admit.
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I would suggest you switch to Crunchyroll. I think x2 would really benefit from being watched closed together. If purely so you can actually remember what's going on. I'd read several of the novels it was adapting beforehand and even I was struggled at points. I'd also warn you that whilst the first series has an element of dark comedy, the second season keeps it closer to the tone of the novels which are lot darker and more serious (whilst also being aware of how ridiculous they are.)

I wonder if maybe reading some of the novels first and getting a greater feel for their tone will make the second season a little less jarring. Though thankfully some of the very darkest moments (an attempted rape sequence) were taken out of the anime.
 
Buzz201 said:
I would suggest you switch to Crunchyroll. I think x2 would really benefit from being watched closed together. If purely so you can actually remember what's going on. I'd read several of the novels it was adapting beforehand and even I was struggled at points. I'd also warn you that whilst the first series has an element of dark comedy, the second season keeps it closer to the tone of the novels which are lot darker and more serious (whilst also being aware of how ridiculous they are.)

I wonder if maybe reading some of the novels first and getting a greater feel for their tone will make the second season a little less jarring. Though thankfully some of the very darkest moments (an attempted rape sequence) were taken out of the anime.
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Well, as much as it may be a sin for me to say, I'm watching it dubbed. I actually thought the dub was really good, not everyone was, but I thought the majority was great, so I have no choice but to wait for the home release, unfortunately.
 
IncendiaryLemon said:
Well, as much as it may be a sin for me to say, I'm watching it dubbed. I actually thought the dub was really good, not everyone was, but I thought the majority was great, so I have no choice but to wait for the home release, unfortunately.
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I have a well known and perhaps controversial beef with the Durarara!! dub (I'm sorry but they woefully miscast both Mikado and Masomi and it drags the entire dub down with it).

That said, I think the dub is on Crunchyroll US, so if you have access to that, you may be able to watch it there.
 
I'm specifically waiting till I get all the AoA BDs before my rewatch (though I will start when I order 5 and 6) because when I watched it I watched X2 together for me at least when I reached Ketsu I watched 11 eps in a night as it was so good (and ep 12 wasn't out)
 
Fwiw, I enjoyed the first season of Drrr, but I never bothered to watch any of the follow-up material. It's a fun show with a great cast of characters, but it never felt to me like there was as much at stake in the story as there was in Baccano and I couldn't shake the comparison.

Also I like non-linear narratives. Fight me.

Drifters ep11

I think this is around the point where I ran out of manga to read, so I'd guess that this season covered around 3 years worth? The beginning of the series was so good I wanted to believe it wouldn't be a problem, but really, this should have been an OAV rather than a tv series. It's been an admirable attempt, but there just isn't enough source material.

Diamond is Unbreakable ep38

It's crazy to think we're nearly finished now. If I'm honest, I'd expected the final fight to be more elaborate, but it was okay. I wonder if we'll get a preview of Part 5 next week?
 
Buzz201 said:
I have a well known and perhaps controversial beef with the Durarara!! dub (I'm sorry but they woefully miscast both Mikado and Masomi and it drags the entire dub down with it).

That said, I think the dub is on Crunchyroll US, so if you have access to that, you may be able to watch it there.
Click to expand...

I can't comment on miscasts since I haven't seen the sub, but I did think Mikado was one of the weaker VAs. I did like Masaomi's a lot though, so what do I know? :p

Sakura Trick-Episodes 1-3 (Rewatch)

Pleasantly surprised, I don't remember this show being as funny as it is. Oh, and those kissing scenes. Man, those kissing scenes.

Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya-Episodes 1 and 2 (Rewatch)

I've started playing the Fate/Stay Night VN recently, and since I also picked up the second season on BD from the TRSI sale, I thought I'd refresh myself on S1 and see if I can catch any references I might have missed before by not playing the VN before watching. Turns out, there's actually a ton! Biggest one is probably Fuji-nee being Illya's teacher, which I just wrote off as a stock character made for the show, rather than a character from the VN, so that's pretty neat. I also didn't recognize Rider either, which I now know comes from the game. I assumed all the Servants, barring Saber, were original designs for Illya, which was wrong. One tiny thing I noticed as well, which I liked, is that Illya has a toy Lion in the bath, and it's revealed in the VN that Saber really likes Lions, and is given a stuffed Lion by Fuji-nee. A small but neat detail. Oh, probably worth noting that I'm watching the sub this time, rather than the dub.
 
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