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Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World - Season 3 episode 51 Sickness and health.

The Prince of Tennis: U-17 World Cup Semifinal episode 1 Intel.

31 Days of Halloween 2024! Day II: eXistenZ (Film)

Urusei Yatsura
episodes 8-14
 
Negative Positive Angler, Episode 1. A story about someone with a serious illness getting into fishing. I'm not saying it sounds familiar, but I will say that if later in the series I see a dog searching for a briefcase, Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse might want to sue for copyright infringement. Some pretty good animation in this opening episode too.
 
Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Episodes 17-26 (Complete, I guess)

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WUT. Either I'm too stupid for this show or it's too stupid for me, I'm willing to entertain both possibilities. But I can't claim that was a particularly enjoyable experience. I knew going into Umineko that it seems very unfavourably compared to the VN it's based on, but then VN fans are like that with everything and said the same thing about Higurashi. Personally I got bored of the first episode of the Higurashi VN when for about the third time in the first few hours of play it was just describing a bloody game for a length of time that would feel tedious to an endless witch. I much preferred the anime breezing through such scenes in a couple of minutes rather than having to cookie clicker my way through reading about it for half an hour.

So perhaps that's why I never found Beatrice and Battler's "game" very compelling either. Certainly not by the end, at the point Battler was throwing out theories to which Beatrice was just responding "Ha, that's so stupid and wrong, I'm not going to tell you why or what really happened, but you can just have this round for free anyway, I'm that confident of victory. OH NO! I've lost! How could this happen!?" Way to turn a character who was shown to be competent, manipulative and highly dangerous into an absolute idiot at the last second. One thing I wasn't fully aware of is that this series only adapts the first half of the VN, which means I'm not actually getting any answers, ever. Unless I read a 150+ hour VN that will probably bore me to tears if it's full of this bloody "game".

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This last batch of episodes was so all over the place in terms of both storytelling and my attitude towards the show. I thought with the time-skip and the introduction of Ange (and some old friends) we were finally getting closer to answers following something more akin to a regular investigation. The focus on Maria also started to make things clearer. But no, then it all went so incredibly weird that I don't even understand the timeline any more. How can Maria become a witch and kill her mother before the events on the island, where she wants to become a witch and her mother is still alive? If as (sort of) previously established (except in the case of Ange, it seems, more confusion) Maria and witch!Maria are different entities like Eva and Beatrice 3, that still doesn't explain the out-of-sync matricide. How could Beatrice appear to Maria and teach her witchcraft prior to the events on the island, wasn't the whole point of the murder-sacrifices the show is literally based around to allow her to manifest herself in the world again because she couldn't do that? In the end Ange's arc created more questions than it answered. And don't even get me started on Sakutarō.

The basic idea behind Umineko, that of a murder house mystery with supernatural reasons behind it, the setting that has been created, the worldbuilding that's gone into it and the links to Higurashi all have so much potential. But the whole thing is dragged down by so much unnecessary convolution and little to no development time for the majority of its bloated cast of characters including Battler, the protagonist who even after 26 episodes I couldn't tell you much about apart from "likes boobies, is living proof denial is not just a river in Egypt". And the characters I did find compelling (Beatrice, Maria and... that's about it. Maybe Kinzo, even though we didn't see a whole lot of him at least what I did see was intriguing) seemed to have their established characters thrown out the window at the last second.

In Higurashi, mysteries were created by omission. It was what you didn't know or didn't see which, when gradually revealed, all eventually made sense in a pleasing manner. Umineko seems to want to create mystery by obfuscation, by showing you things that may or may not have happened without bothering to delineate between fact and theory, only doing so via the process of the "game" which, to my mind at least, is just a failure as a storytelling device. I started by comparing Umineko to And Then There Were None, but it's more like watching a production of that story that keeps cutting to a commentary box as though it's half time at a football game. The show didn't really do anything to make me care about Battler (or most of his family) so I didn't care if he lost. In fact since I liked Beatrice more (and Maria, particularly after she went full "Give me the power to f*ck sh*t up" I had a grin a mile wide, it's a real shame Sakutarō ex machina kept her from her rightful destiny) I actually found myself hoping that he would lose. And frankly, if you've managed to make me root for the villain against the protagonist something has gone very wrong somewhere with your writing. In a word, disappointing. Maybe Higurashi Kira will cheer me up.

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DAN DA DAN episode 1 Abduction.

Negative Postive Angler episode 1 Cast Away.

Rurouni Kenshin -Kyoto Disturbance- episode 25 Atonement.

Trillion Game episodes 1-2 Investing.

31 Days of Halloween 2024! Day III: Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky (Films)

Urusei Yatsura
episodes 15-18
 
Dan Da Dan ep1

I could quite happily not see another teenage girl in sexy peril for the sake of grabbing attention in your opener, but otherwise this seems fun; the quest-swapping dynamic between the two leads is entertaining. The animators have certainly been huffing magic markers again too, it looks great.

Bullbuster ep8-10

The CR app keeps reminding me that I never finished this low-key Patlabor wannabe from last year, and I kinda liked it, so here we are again. Unfortunately, it seems to have switched gears away from slice-of-life mode so it can wrap up the plot, and appears to be heading for the most obvious conclusion possible, spiriting away my enthusiasm in the process. I’m just about interested enough to finish it, but when you get this close to the end and think ‘how does this have four episodes left’, it ain’t a good sign.
 
365 Days to the Wedding ep1: A workplace romantic comedy about a pair of coworkers who have to fake being engaged to one another, in order to avoid being sent to a remote new location. Unfortunately, their colleagues are more excited about their impending nuptials than expected, which forces them to learn about one another to maintain the charade. The designs are nice but the animation cheaps out quite often, which is a shame. I found this harmless but unlikely to maintain my interest, so unless I hear of hilarious melodrama later on it's probably not going to stay on my list. I might end up passively watching it anyway though as my partner (who has more tolerance for 'nothing much actually happens' shows) is going to continue on to episode two.

DAN DA DAN ep1: This bouncy, energetic account of two very different teens meeting up and each getting personally embroiled in the other's special interest (she believes in ghosts, he believes in aliens) certainly wasn't boring! We're only one episode in but there's a lot going on, with action scenes, meaningful exchanges, horny chaos and ongoing character development; it feels as though these characters are fleshed out better already than most isekai casts are by the end of a season. Controversially, my opinion is that the material is great but the adaptation isn't doing it for me; there's a lot of ambition in the dynamic animation but it simultaneously feels a bit homemade, like a final year student project (which might well be part of the appeal for some viewers). I also find the use of music really distracting (the show spends most of its time BGM-free, which feels weird, then blasts short bursts of music which distracts me from the dialogue). I respect what it's doing and I'm really glad that we're getting stuff like this, but while this style worked for some other shows it's not clicking for me here so I might try the manga instead. Awesome to see DAN DA DAN simulcasting on multiple platforms, though; we need more of that.

R
 
One Piece episodes 31-44: I thought we'd be just picking up Nami and moving on to finding more crew members (they really need to find a doctor/healer soon). Instead, we get 14 episodes telling Nami's backstory and resolving all the trauma caused by those fishmen. Will all the characters have a tragic childhood? I'm now 3/4 of the way through the BBC iPlayer episodes and I've only met Luffy and four of his crew. I'm starting to see why there's over a thousand episodes.

Also watched the first half of season 3 of Bluey. And rewatched some of By The Grace Of The Gods for light relief. None of this is reducing my pending pile. I shall have to get serious this weekend.
 
Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement.
Episodes 1-3
Episode 1 wasn't great but once past that it got more enjoyable. Horrifyingly, A MAN SMOKES A CIGARETTE. How can this even be allowed these days.

Today is the start of my holidays. I am supposed to be pretending to be Charlie Sheen. Unfortunately, I had a tooth removed and am on penicillin so not to smoke or drink and no pubs.
I had a look at my local cinema.
The Vue had a showing of
Detective Conan: Million Dollar Pentagram.
Me and one other person. Had a good time. I did have to ignore that I didn't know some of the cast, having only seen the first 30 odd episodes.
Only disappointment is that they didn't use the early opening song I like. Stayed til the end and got rewarded with some real views of Hokkaido and some extra scenes.
 
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira: Episodes 1-4 (Complete)

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Yes, yes, yes! That OP was probably the best possible medicine to treat my post-Umineko depression. Higurashi might be shoving its way into 3rd place behind only Slayers and Bubblegum Crisis as the franchise with the most consistently great soundtrack at this rate. Kira was produced as a kind of celebration of 10 years of the franchise, as such it's fanservicey as all hell and is not to be taken seriously, at all. But it is also an OVA series which means considerably higher production values plus we're into the HD era now; rarely has something so dumb and ridiculous looked so beautiful. This extra budget even appears to have allowed the animators to (finally) figure out how boobs work.

The first two episodes are pure ridiculousness (of the ecchi and parody varieties respectively) and ymmv on how entertaining you find them depending on your tolerance for those genres. I enjoyed them, though occasionally through my fingers when I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. Certainly anyone disinclined towards what are some fairly suggestive scenes featuring characters who are supposed to be eleven years old is probably better off skipping Episode 1. Kira isn't getting a UK release any time soon I'd wager, but if it ever does pass the BBFC I think we can consider the arguments over what exactly the Coroners and Justice Bill 2009 covers settled in favour of the rights of 2D lolis to self-expression.

The third episode is much closer to the usual flavour of Higurashi hijinks and more resembles something you might expect from a regular episode. Its love-quadrangle schemes are still pretty silly, but in-universe believable levels of silliness rather than off the charts. But the fourth is actually just a lovely story, making real use of that OVA budget to show off the beauty of Hinamizawa in what's almost a slice of life episode with a sweet ending that would make such a good canon finale I'm almost afraid to watch Gō and Sotsu now. No wait, that's good. Fear is good, Higurashi should make me afraid.

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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku: Covid Outbreak

What an oddity this one is. An hour long (and much more serious in tone) OVA released a year after Kira, yet it's far less visually impressive and has only ever been released on DVD (no blu-ray, no digital HD version) in Japan. From the way the characters rehash plot points near the start it feels like this was intended to be accessible to viewers new to the franchise, which might have made sense if it was a cinematic release but as far as I can discern, it wasn't. Perhaps it was originally planned as such but the idea was scrapped part way through production and the budget was cut as a result. That would certainly make a lot of sense, I can't imagine anyone who wasn't already a fan of Higurashi buying this as an OVA and those fans wouldn't need previous plot elements summarising for them. It also has long scrolling end credits just like a film.

Outbreak is clearly meant to take place on a completely separate timeline and it is very different in feel. Not only has the humour been stripped away but the characters themselves seem like harsher people, Rika barely reacts to Satoko's distress and Rena of all people starts talking about survival of the fittest and natural selection as it pertains to people after her and Keiichi have butchered dozens of people seemingly without a care in the world. It was clearly intended as the start of an alternative story, but I can't say I'm surprised it never went any further given that almost everything recognisably Higurashi is absent. There's no mystery, everything that's happening is spelled out, the horror has been replaced with gung-ho action and besides their appearances and voices the characters hardly seem like the same people. "Higurashi does zombie apocolypse" was done before, and better.

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SAO Alternative: GGO II ep1

Oh no, this came back. Oh no, I’m watching it again. Oh no.

In all seriousness, I was curious to see how they’d continue this one, given that unless they plan to introduce a lot of new characters, they’ve already exhausted the schtick of revealing how everyone’s real-life persona contrasts with their in-game avatar, and, thus far, the answer might as well be ‘ah, eto, bleh’. We’ve skipped more or less straight to ‘let’s do another game, but put Pitohui and LLENN on the same side this time’, which is fair enough - I found the ‘real world’ parts pretty excruciating last time around, might as well get to the fighting. Unfortunately, this episode is purely preamble to the game, and frankly feels a bit pointless. Maybe hardened fans will appreciate seeing the characters reintroduced, but I’d recommend casual followers to wait for next week.
 
I really really am looking forward to your review of Godannar. 😇

I loved it, the plot and characters were great fun, my only real complaints are how much Gou argued with Anna early on and the lack of nipples on the tiddies. Honestly I think this is way better than Nadesico, and I wouldn't quite put it on a level with Irresponsible Captain Tylor, but I still had a lot of fun with it, and felt that the silliness and more serious aspects were well-balanced, I also enjoyed the various foreign agents with glorious international accents XD I watched it dubbed and I know you prefer subbed, but I did think the dub was very well done - I saw a trailer for this years back and did think it looked potentially quite a lot of fun, and I'd say it lived up to my expectations overall. Fave character probably Shinobu but I was endeared to the whole cast :)

I've now watched Episodes 1-8 of Mob Psycho 100 Season 3, and I'm watching My Dress Up Darling after nabbing it for £8 thanks to the Amazon deal link from other forumites here (thanks guys!) :)
 
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II episode 1 Huge splash.

31 Days of Halloween 2024! Day IV: Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky, Living With Chucky (Films)

Urusei Yatsura
episodes 19-21, TV Special I: UY All Star Out Attack!, TV Special II: School Excursion!, 22-29
 
I loved it, the plot and characters were great fun, my only real complaints are how much Gou argued with Anna early on and the lack of nipples on the tiddies. Honestly I think this is way better than Nadesico, and I wouldn't quite put it on a level with Irresponsible Captain Tylor, but I still had a lot of fun with it, and felt that the silliness and more serious aspects were well-balanced, I also enjoyed the various foreign agents with glorious international accents XD I watched it dubbed and I know you prefer subbed, but I did think the dub was very well done - I saw a trailer for this years back and did think it looked potentially quite a lot of fun, and I'd say it lived up to my expectations overall. Fave character probably Shinobu but I was endeared to the whole cast :)

I've now watched Episodes 1-8 of Mob Psycho 100 Season 3, and I'm watching My Dress Up Darling after nabbing it for £8 thanks to the Amazon deal link from other forumites here (thanks guys!) :)
Brilliant. Glad you enjoyed it.
Your quiz for today is who is my favourite character?

I loved My Dress Up Darling so I hope you do.
I do like an opposite slow burn romance occasionally.
 
Dan Da Dan 01
some great animation & colour work, but why did it have to be so rapey? have been told this is pretty much a one off, it better be.

Blue Box 01
looks very pretty. felt like an old fashioned romance anime, and I was groaning a bit at the tropey end of the episode but will watch a couple more.

Negative Positive Angler 01
this one is ok, nice atmosphere and odd cast of characters giving me Arakawa Under the Bridge vibes. I hate the old man design tho!

365 Days to the Wedding 01
a bit duller than I was hoping, and some of the animation looked cheap. I liked the bit about the girl being a map nerd, a cute unexpected quirk.
 
Brilliant. Glad you enjoyed it.
Your quiz for today is who is my favourite character?

I loved My Dress Up Darling so I hope you do.
I do like an opposite slow burn romance occasionally.

Anna's mum? 🤔

Yes I'm really enjoying it so far, I'll also say that while I admittedly haven't been closely watching every single second as I'm watching it English dubbed, it doesn't seem all that pervy compared with what I'd heard about it prior to viewing :)
 
Anna's mum? 🤔

Yes I'm really enjoying it so far, I'll also say that while I admittedly haven't been closely watching every single second as I'm watching it English dubbed, it doesn't seem all that pervy compared with what I'd heard about it prior to viewing :)
You are batting 100%.
Ekaterina second. It was close.


I agree re perviness.
I like to have a look at the BBFC site, to see what I'm to be outraged over.🥵
Too many close ups of boobs and bottoms. And jiggling.
They must count each to decide whether 12 or 15.
 
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