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Orgun said:
Star Knight Tekkaman Blade - Episode 15

This is gettting very good at the moment.
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Wow, if thats what I think it is, that brings back memories. I remember finding and downloading that for an ex about...ooh, 6-7 years ago, way before I was actually into anime myself.
Looking back, she was a bit of a fan even if she wasn't into the fandom or a major fan, I remember she had a fair bit of Cardcaptor stuff around.
 
Joshawott said:
Rui said:
I disagree that Inga should be asking people if they did it directly; that's no fun and it's not whether they did it that is important IMO, it's why.

R
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We all know it would be more logical to do...shame tv shows have to try and be deep or whatever.
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If everyone in anime always did what was logical, most series would be one episode long ;)

There are already dozens of mystery series around which play it straight (and I like that kind of story too); however, the extra-complicated setup in this one really works for me. I like the whole feel of Un-Go so far, and that I can settle down and be wrapped up in its gentle weirdness.

R
 
Idolmaster ep 14

So after the excellent live ep we get an episode set a bit later about how everyones getting on. I like the new op, although I needed to replay it for it to grow on me a bit. More dlc I'll likely have to buy...Also was that some Project Fairy in the op, in the Kyun Vampire Girl costumes? Oh a live of that would be excellent.

The episode itself was great. The "disguises" by Hibiki and Makoto were brilliant, although Ami and Mami were bang on in their assessments the entire ep :D And Miki has changed to calling Producer Honey!

So as expected Jupiter are the antagonists huh...

Steins;Gate ep 23

Every episode just seems to keep ramping things up and this was yet another excellent episode. I'm a bit worried though as I've not been this excited for a final episode in a long time. Hopefully it doesn't fall short of expectations; although I have no idea how this is going to end up.
 
animefreak17 said:
What can you do, people? Have different tastes?
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Yes.

Yes, you can.

Rui said:
Un-Go 2

Finally \o/

I disagree that Inga should be asking people if they did it directly; that's no fun and it's not whether they did it that is important IMO, it's why. I enjoyed this episode and it was slightly less of an overload of new faces than the first.
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edit: huh, I must have skipped over the last line of Josh's post, haha. My comment here is no longer relevant, except that I agree it is not always going to be the best thing to ask them.
 
I have a few other episodes to comment on later (including the previous three eps in this series), but I felt the need to say that Mawaru Penguindrum has finally stepped up to the absolute top tier as of episode 15.
 
ilmaestro said:
Mawaru Penguindrum has finally stepped up to the absolute top tier
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I can't believe nobody streamed this. I really want to see it, but I know my other half wants to see it too, so I'm desperately hoping someone will pick it up for the US/UK. NISA feel like they should be my biggest hope given their weirdly high quality series choices and turnaround speeds.

---

Fate/Zero 4

Ahhhhh Rider, I love you~

It was a bit annoying that the fight took up the whole episode as it pushed most other characters further into the background (and Lancer's master really needs more screentime in particular) but I'm glad it was done well. This series is definitely keeping up its momentum, but I think we need some decisive victories soon to thin out the ranks. I assume the end of this first cour will deliver on that front.

FMA: Brotherhood 8-13

Still hurtling through the plot previously covered. I am starting to notice a few things missing now (whereas for a while it seemed to be covering everything somehow at twice the speed) so either it sped up even more or my memory of the later stories is more fresh. I'm assuming it is going to start diverging from the previous series more and more very soon now.

Baka & Test & Shoukanjuu 8-13

A solid little comedy show. A few of the gag routines started to feel a little overused, but that's really my own fault for marathoning it in such quick bursts. I enjoyed this series and will be up for part two if Funimation decide to put it out in future.

Time for a brand new disc from the pile now, hmm...

R
 
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Rui said:
FMA: Brotherhood 8-13

Still hurtling through the plot previously covered. I am starting to notice a few things missing now (whereas for a while it seemed to be covering everything somehow at twice the speed) so either it sped up even more or my memory of the later stories is more fresh. I'm assuming it is going to start diverging from the previous series more and more very soon now.

R
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Not worry about it. FMA Brotherhood will be better and better. Yeah FMA Brotherhood bit sloppy start but you will like end :)
 
Taka88 said:
Not worry about it. FMA Brotherhood will be better and better. Yeah FMA Brotherhood bit sloppy start but you will like end :)
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I'm taking it slowly because I still don't have volume 3 for some reason, but it's good to hear that it ends well!

Next up was:

Shinryaku Ikamusume/Squid Girl 1-3

I had reservations about this series since its entire concept sounds exactly like Keroro Gunsou. This turned out to be true, and nerdy frogs are definitely cuter than squid girls, but it was still an enjoyable little watch so I'll continue. The subtitle scriptwriter seemed to be having fun.

R
 
Rui said:
The subtitle scriptwriter seemed to be having fun.
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The puns! Some are quite amusing, while others made my eyes roll back so far I could see my brain. I watched the first couple of episodes myself last week, and I thought it was cute and sometimes funny but rarely hilarious. A pleasant diversion.
 
Escaflowne : The Movie

This film has a generally poor reception from anime fans and it took me some time to get the courage to watch it. I think it helped that I didn't go straight from watching the series straight to this, over wise I think I would have been really disappointed. Its been almost a year since I watched the tv series and I tried to think of it as a separate story when watching it.

The animation was lush and the music was as good as ever. The plot felt a bit squashed, but that’s nothing new for anime so I can let it slide. There are some very exciting action sequences ,especially the opening. I did wonder in the influence of NGE was to blame for some parts of the film, the story is much darker and more violent than the tv series, and the Escaflowne interior seems more organic than robotic.

There is one flaw in the film, but its a problem so massive that it ruins everything else. The character development is rubbish.

In the series you spend plenty of time exploring the characters and the world, and it feels like a serious threat when the fate of the world is threatened. You want the characters to overcome the challenges ahead because you get emotionally attached to them

The characters presented in this film a just flat and devoid of real emotions. It doesn’t give you a reason to care about the characters. Hitomi's depression is never really explored or given any really explanation, but her overcoming it is pivotal to the resolution of the film. She makes an instant connection to Van because both of them both feel a bit sad about something. The rest of the characters feel like walking cardboard cut outs, I didn’t care if they lived or died by the end because the film gives you no reason to.

It feels like some of the supporting cast have been shoehorned into the story to please the fans, but don’t really get much to do when they show up. Merle and Millerna get nothing to actually do, Allen is reduced from main character to 'just some guy that’s on the same side as them'. Lastly an Escaflowne with no love triangle is no escaflowne at all.

I would give it a 6/10
 
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Lawrence said:
Kyun Vampire Girl would be fantastic though, I agree. But we still haven't had a Takane-centric episode yet. Though I'll settle for more Yayoi.
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A Takane episode will be fantastic but I'm still waiting for a Makoto episode. Really hope ep 10 wasn't supposed to be considered hers.


Steins;Gate 24

And so it ends (kind of. A movie huh...Wonder what they're gonna cover.) I enjoyed the last episode but for me it felt a little flat compared to some of the others that have happend recently.

Persona 4 ep 2

Hmm. They seem to be rushing through to get the main 4 established. Plus Yu's stats went up! He might grow a backbone in this adaptation after all! And yay for putting in that bit with the creepy guy.

Second half = slice of life? :D
 
Watched a few more episodes in my plod through Planetes with my younger brother.

About half way through the show now, and it feels like more in the way of overplot might generally slowly be manuevering into place.

Also the expected, yet still sweet, subplot is slowly beginning to dig its heels in and get going at a steady pace. There's still over 10 episodes remaining though so I'm sure this won't come to a head just yet, that's for sure.

The two main characters, similarly to Eden of the East and Spice and Wolf have good screen chemistry and work well off each other, although the other series focus more heavily on this and do it perhaps slightly better, as Planetes feels like it has a slightly wider focus, and the director is focusing his lens on a wider perspective rather than tightening the focus on his two leads.

Good series so far. I'm being a bit slow to watch at the moment due to other things going on, but Planetes is certainly enjoyable.
 
Rui said:
ilmaestro said:
Mawaru Penguindrum has finally stepped up to the absolute top tier
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I can't believe nobody streamed this. I really want to see it, but I know my other half wants to see it too, so I'm desperately hoping someone will pick it up for the US/UK. NISA feel like they should be my biggest hope given their weirdly high quality series choices and turnaround speeds.
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With the Brains Base connections, I'm definitely hoping that Andrew might get to work on sorting out some UK related business.

Baka & Test & Shoukanjuu 8-13

A solid little comedy show. A few of the gag routines started to feel a little overused, but that's really my own fault for marathoning it in such quick bursts.
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Yes, I feel like things like this are perfectly paced for returning to every three months or so (ie. at LN release pace), definitely not a show that would benefit from being marathoned. I feel like it's being undersold as a "solid little comedy show" though, it's not some peppy underdog fighting its way out of obscurity. :p

Rui said:
nerdy frogs are definitely cuter than squid girls
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Outrageous claims.
 
Late to the party:

UnGo ep2

I think ilmaestro nailed it when he suggested they should move to multi-episode stories instead of self-contained half hours. The world is intriguing, as is the idea of a rival investigator pinning everything on a more convenient culprit, but the show feels like it's cramming far too much into the one suitcase.

As it is, there's too much time being spent on establishing quirky world detail (the vocaloid-like virtual singers were a nice touch) and not enough given over to the actual crimes or the people involved in them.

Nevertheless, I'm still oddly compelled to continue with the show. I blame adult Inga.

Armor Hunter Mellowlink ep2-3

Action scenes still nicely done; guerilla warrior Cpl Mellowlink still looking like he should star in a Zelda-knockoff. I think I could probably beat him up, were he a real person.
 
Maken-Ki! ep 3 - I vaguely remember what happened in this ep, outside of the fanservice. I guess finding out why the show is called Maken-Ki was useful. Maybe I need to drop this... but Himegami...

HaGaNai ep 3 - Some cute Sena-ness, but far more importantly lots of cute Kobato-ness.

Guilty Crown ep 2 - My socks are well and truly blown off, although I must have forgotten about the whole setup for the "current" time in the series, so the end was a bit surprising.

Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam ep 2 - If they manage to pack as much... stuff... into the rest of the show as they have the first two episodes, then this will be outstanding.

Mawaru Penguindrum eps 12, 13, 14 - If 12 was kind of disturbing, and 13 kind of intriguing, 14 was kind of confusing. 12 really set the show up with a crazy half-way cliffhanger to give it momentum for the second half, and 13 had me genuinely excited because I didn't know where the heck it was going to go from there. 14 worried me slightly, because I was starting to move towards thinking that the show itself didn't really know where it wanted to go...

Mawaru Penguindrum ep 15 - ... but boy, oh boy. ep 15 recovered all the ground potentially lost in 14, and set the show up to be so much more than it had suggested before. In fact, 14 and 15 now work together beautifully as a pair, you almost feel like they are the point at which Ikuhara could hold back no longer and had to go balls-to-the-wall with his own brand of mad genius.

There had been some exploration of darker themes up to this point, but the show really took it to a new level in episode 15. Also, Sanetoshi is one of the most surprisingly likable and interesting characters of the year.

痺れるだろう~
 
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