Steins;Gate 0 (episode 17)
Really liked this episode, but for whatever reason the PS4 Crunchyroll app decided to not only play silly buggers with the video but actually crash and restart with 17 seconds left in it
Restart fixed the issue but very annoying in a really tense moment.
Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World (episode 1) (dropped)
This is a very similar premise as Restaurant to Another World (which was really good) except I can't actually enjoy this because of all the stupid and unnecessary text on screen. It feels like when American programs have people waving in the corner advertising the next program. Screenie below, but all the onscreen text you don't really need to know and don't benefit from is there for the entirety of the episode.
Flavors of Youth (Shikioriori) (dub)
I was being lazy so went with the English dub, it's a weird one though as it set in China and there is a Mandarin dub, but it's made in Japan so the original dub is Japanese.
The first segment is seemingly just about food, but as the narrator remembers his life the same dish that was great as a kid gets progressively blander, I guess like his life.
The second segment is about 2 sisters and is a take on the fashion world.
The third is romance not just between a girl and a boy, but between the writer and nostalgia of 90s Shanghai just before the redevelopment really took off. There's a little bit of a nod to 5cm/s as well.
The art and animation is great, I guess a lot of the same people from behind the scenes on Your Name. worked on it. The stories are varied and very good. The VA is pretty good apart from the male lead in the third story that sounded too old to play the guy in the present let alone when they used the same VA when he was in high school! 8/10 (another one that I would give 7.5 if I could on MAL)
Starlight Promises
A first year high schooler gets invited to a mysterious festival in the middle of nowhere by a friend he hasn't seen for over 3 years, there he meets a girl also wanting to see someone from her past, but before they can see them they are told to help prepare for the festival by the person running the show.
The festival is a Tanabata festival, but there's a twist in that
it seems to be very authentic like a festival from the past would, but everyone has to wear "Spirit Suits" that gives their bodies the muscle memory of a master craftsman to help build the stage, etc. and visors that act like augmented reality. So everything is run by a computer and the person running the festival turns out to be an AI. After the ceremony of the festival takes place the people who helped out get to meet a recreation of their loved one from data collected by an app, which leads to a bittersweet moment for our MCs. There's also a brief antagonist part where the program that helps this happen brings back to life angry "spirits" of people who used to live in the area, but it disrupted the story a little bit, they could have made up a different reason to disrupt the preparation without turning into an action show for a few minutes. It must have cost a bomb to do all this and it isn't revealed who is behind it all.
I liked the idea and the story runs quite smoothly for the most part. The art is fairly standard, but the animation is good, even the CG bit is OK, but you can see that it is different from the rest of the film so stands out a little. Overall I liked it quite a lot. 8/10
I guess it would be more authentic to the setting, but it depends on the acting.
It's only 1:14 long so fairly easily re-watchable, so you could rewatch it with different dub(s). I think I will at some point.
It's not anime, but... Ping Pong (live-action film)
I thought this beat the anime adaptation hands down.
For starters, I actually liked the characters in this! Peco came off as cheerful and quirky as well as cocky — but this time (almost annoyingly!) endearingly so. Sakuma was particularly engaging as a character. I recognised his voice early on; he's played by Kouji Ohkura, who also voiced nori-browed Amarao in FLCL.
Director Fumihiko Sori took the bold choice of having his cast play cartoon characters in a live-action film. It's a gutsy move that pays off in spades: I found myself watching gripped by a kind of giddy excitement pretty much from the very start, and it never let up until the very end. Sori's stylistic direction with the actual ping-pong scenes is another genius move for me: he elected to shoot his actors without the presence of an actual ball — those were added later on using CG (and for the most part you really wouldn't know). That allowed the actors to leap and run around and deliver theatrical, high-octane performances, which are interspersed with some dramatic slow-motion cuts too. Also, the final match, in Sori's hands, with the musical selection and editing, turns into something very moving indeed.
As a footnote, I also felt that this film handled the timeskips infinitely better, despite having less running time to play with.
I don't often rewatch live-action films like I do with animation, but this one I definitely will be revisiting. I would highly, highly recommend it.
I'm sure Masaaki Yuasa's anime version is no doubt the more faithful adaptation of Taiyou Matsumoto's original manga, but this live-action alternative is the one I enjoy most. A surprise hit.
Back Street Girls episode 6 An unfortunately pretty lacklustre episode.
Banana Fish episode 6 More of Ash' backstory, which is just as tragic as you'd expect at this point.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 68 This storyline is reminiscent of the bad filler we got in Naruto and Shippuden, feels so pointless and doesn't really build the characters or world that much.
Log Horizon episodes 14-25 (Complete. Out of all the isekai anime I've seen this is probably one of my favourites. It has a simple but pleasant focus on developing the characters whilst also having a solid and often politically driven narrative. LH manages to shake off its initially familiar tropes and instead develops into something more, especially thanks to Shiroe, who is a great main protagonist.
Will be interesting to see where the second season goes when I eventually watch it.) 4/5
Manga Force Collection: Black Jack: The Movie (dub)
An interesting story about a genius surgeon who is persuaded by a scientist researching a mysterious disease to help her find a cure.
The aesthetic is very similar to OVAs of the time apart from one annoying character that looks very much like an Osamu Tezuka character (the original creator) and her behaviour doesn't really fit the tone so she sticks out like a sore thumb. The motivation of the antagonist is quite complex as is their backstory, but I didn't particularly find them that sympathetic dispite them trying, at least they didn’t end up sleeping together which I've seen in a lot of these older anime in the Manga Force Collection. 7/10
Guide to the whether it's a 1st time watch or re-watch: (r) = Re-watch; (x) = First time; (w) = Watched in the last year; (?) = Honestly can't remember!; (na) = Not anime.
Afro Samurai Directors Cut (r)
Afro Samurai Resurrection (?) Akira (w) Don't own the MFC version Appleseed (r) Armageddon (x)
Astroboy: Greatest Astro Adventures (x)
Baldr Force Exe (x) Blood: The Last Vampire (r)
Black Blood Brothers (x) Black Jack (x) Bubblegum Crash (x)
Casshan: Robot Hunter (x) Danté's Inferno (na) Dead Leaves (x) Dead Space: Downfall (na) Ghost in the Shell (w) GitS: Innocence (w)
GitS SAC: Laughing Man (x)
GitS SAC: Individual Eleven (x)
GitS SAC: Solid State Society (r) Golgo 13: The Professional (r)
Heat Guy J (r) Hellsing Ultimate Vols 1-4 (x) Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (r) Ichi (na)
Jyu-Oh-Sei (x) Kai Doh Maru (r)
Karas: The Prophecy/Revelation (x) Lupin the III: The Secret of Mamo (x)
Macross Plus (r) Macross Plus the Movie (x) Millennium Actress (r)
Naruto the Movie: 1 & 2 (x) Negima!? Spring & Summer OVAs (x) Neon Genesis Evangelion Death & Rebirth (r) NGE End of Evangelion (r) Ninja Scroll (r) Noein: To Your Other Self (x)
Orguss 2 (x) Origin: Spirits of the Past (r) Otogi Zoshi (r) Perfect Blue (w) Psychic Wars (x) Read or Die (r)
She: The Ultimate Weapon (r) Shigurui: Death Frenzy (x) Space Adventure Cobra (x) Strait Jacket (x)
Street Fighter: Alpha (x)
Street Fighter: Alpha Generations (x)
Street Fighter: II (x) Submarine 707 Revolution (x) Sword for Truth (x)
Tactics (x) Tokko (r)
Tokyo Underground (r)
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend (r)
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Demon Womb (r) Vampire Wars (x)
Virus: Virus Buster Serge (x) X (x)
Angels of Death episode 6 Another cathartic ending to a loathsome foe, and a newfound proper companionship between Zack and Rachel begins.
Chio's School Road episode 6 An excessive amount of buttock molestation in the first half and a funny second half with Chio failing to reenact a scenario from a video game.
Grand Blue Dreaming episode 5 Further bizarre shenanigans ensue as a mixer gets messy.
Harukana Receive episode 6 Haruka and Kanata improve but still have a ways to go yet.
Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigations episode 2 Not as engaging as last week but still solidly engaging.
My Sweet Tyrant episode 19 Once again this anime goes into some creepy territory with Akkun's obsession but had a nice enough ending.
Love Live! The School Idol Movie (Film) A solid sendoff to the OG LL idol group, with a fun plot and decent songs. The CGI throughout was kind of off-putting throughout but other than that this was a fun movie. 3.5/5
Love Live! Sunshine!! episodes 1-13 (Complete. LL S treads the familiar territory that the initial series did with its plot and ideas but manages to give the characters more personality depth in places, especially how they try to achieve their dream in a post Muse world. Each of the nine members were nicely developed and the story had a neat coming-of-age tinge to it to accompany the idol antics.
Aquors as a group also have to face utter defeat at an event in Tokyo facing all zeros which the members of Muse never had to deal with and have to come to terms and grow because of it. Details like this are what makes Sunshine more than just a rehash, and I preferred this season to the first one of LL SIP.
This season wasn't perfect though as the earlier episodes and the last one were a bit meh for me. Nevertheless for the most part it held up and I look forward to watching the second season in the future.) 3.5/5
I've been trying to watch this for years, but my bias against mecha has stopped me from enjoying it many times. Another reason I've taken so long to watch is the lack of a afford decent release with picture quality that doesn't look worse than a VHS tape. I was in JP, and decided to buy the 2003 DVD box set, which looks fantastic.
The show was good, and once I hit episode 16 it got even better with the darker elements starting to come out in full force. The last 2 episodes did leave me puzzled, but I remember being told to watch End of Evangelion to get a better understanding of the ending. Overally I did love the designs of the angels, and the craziness of the show 8.5/10
End of Evangelion
A very entertaining film, which is essential 2 45 minute episodes put together. I loved how it turned out, but I was still confused at the end.
Banana Fish ep 6
Some more backstory for Ash as they visit his hometown. His dad is a massive d***, when his son is raped by a paedo he tells to make sure the bloke "pays for it", I guess he meant in the sense that Ash took, ie kill the bastard, but I wouldn't be letting my 7 year old take care of it, I'd either do it myself or get the police on it.
Happy Sugar Life ep 5
That was an interesting way to deal with a stalker!
Grand Blue Dreaming ep 5
Chisa is having fun with the trick she pulled on Iori. The mixer was quite funny as well.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
