What have you been watching in the past 7 days?

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Watching a romcom "Touch" while the animation still bothers me, the show is kinda a love triangle between a twins and their neighborhood. The third wheel died in an accident too soon.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Tekkaman Blade - Up to episode 39. The plot has taken a good change of pace in the defeat of it's first part and shift from action to adventure. Character writing and development has taken a step up, though there are still useless characters like Rebin and Milly, as well as Tekkaman Lance being as much of wasted potential as Dagger. Also, there's a lot of unnecessary filler material that bogs it down.

Ashita no Joe - Rewatching this masterpiece with a friend and up to episode 20. Art's not as consistent as the manga and the soundtrack is pretty minimalist, though that doesn't change how good the plot and characters are, plus it's few osts are brilliant. One thing I'd forgotten about the early episodes was how overpowered Joe felt until he met Rikiishi, though it's a pretty minor flaw overall.

Also watched an episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes with my cousin.

 

[Papasmurf]

Tekkaman Blade - Up to episode 39. The plot has taken a good change of pace in the defeat of it's first part and shift from action to adventure. Character writing and development has taken a step up, though there are still useless characters like Rebin and Milly, as well as Tekkaman Lance being as much of wasted potential as Dagger. Also, there's a lot of unnecessary filler material that bogs it down.

Skippable recaps aside, I think you have to agree the rivalry between Blade and Evil is one of the best rivalries in classic anime. :mikey :mikey

Also, Lance's role from the start was to be the Mecha Freeza for Blaster Mode Tekkaman

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Skippable recaps aside, I think you have to agree the rivalry between Blade and Evil is one of the best rivalries in classic anime. :mikey :mikey

It's good, though not sure about one of the best. I wouldn't say it's on par with the likes of Reinhard and Yang from Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Joe and Rikiishi from Ashita no Joe, Amuro and Char from Gundam or Kenshiro and Raoh from HnK, but it's at least better than any other rivalry in 20th Century anime I can think of off-hand. Will have to wait until I finish it to fully judge that aspect though.

Also, Lance's role from the start was to be the Mecha Freeza for Blaster Mode Tekkaman

Still means he was barely a character in his own right and just a walking plot device.

 

[Papasmurf]

I still rank it as among my favorites alongside Amuro and Char and Guts and Griffith (pre-Femto), Vash and Knives, Light and L, and such and such. It is expounded upon somewhat more in the post-series short Burning Clock, which is worth a watch if you finish the final episodes.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

Berserk (2016) - I dropped it after the first episode. I can't get past how UGLY the CG is in that series. It looks SOOOO stiff, that the guys in the animation factory on YouTube could do better. I'll watched the 90s series sometime later

Scum's Wish - Also dropped this after the first episode. I'm not into ecci anime/manga, so when I saw slob from kissing, ta-ta fondling, and puffy cake feeling....I was out...

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished watching the anime version of Ashita no Joe (more accurately, just the first 55 episodes since the rest is done better in AnJ 2) and it was equally as great as the manga beyond some pacing/animation issues and some useless scenes with the kids as comic relief.

Watching Ashita no Joe 2 and up to episode 12. Along with the art being even better than the manga, I'd consider the overall writing of the anime's version of the Carlos Arc to be even better than the manga due to the filler Christmas episode adding some extra depth to Carlos' character and helping build the friendship between he and Joe far more naturally than the manga. Their match was also a lot more tactical than the rule breaking brawl it was in the manga too.

Also watched the first 3 episodes of Haibane Renmei. Despite it's events thus far just being slice of nothing happens, it world building remains interesting and provides a good deal of mystery through it. I've heard most who've seen both this and the director's previous work, Serial Experiments Lain, tend to tout Haibane as the better of the two, so I have high expectations for it.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

GT

 

[Flame]

Hajime no Ippo. I regret not watching this sooner, but at the same time I'm glad there's something to watch. I'm getting really into this. Since I know nothing about the series it's really suspenseful and exciting. Lol, I've gotten really into these fights.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished watching Ashita no Joe 2. Easily the 2nd best anime I've ever seen.
Watched episode 5 of Haibane Renmei. Not much to add from my previous thoughts.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished Haibane Renmei. Easily one of the best anime I've ever seen, despite it's very slow start.
Watched the movies Perfect Blue and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Perfect Blue was a good psychological thriller and social critique, whilst Nausicaa was good up until the generic ending brought it down a few pegs.

Watched Macross with a friend, though they decided to stop halfway through the series. I can see why, as whilst it's transforming mobile suits were a cool idea that paved the way for series like Transformers, it's journey lacked the sense of urgency that Space Battleship Yamato did and it's sense of loss was nowhere near as well done as in Gundam, not to mention a lot of it's ideas are decent in premise and cheesy in execution.
Instead, I rewatched the first 15 episodes of Saint Seiya with them and gained more of an appreciation for the early episodes. The Galaxian Wars had a good reliance on tactics and analysing an opponent's weakness, as well as having a far greater sense of fatality than most Shonen tournaments with how it's cast often came close to death such as in Seiya and Shiryu's fight. I can see why it was interrupted, given the mangaka's previous work Ring Ni Kakero, as well as the other Shonen titans of the time Kinnikuman and Dragon Ball had already caused Shonen tournament arcs to be a saturated formula, though had it continued to the end it would easily have made one of the best Shonen tournament arcs (at least far better than the vastly overrated Dark Tournament in YYH).

 

[Kyo]

Saw Haibane Renmei bout 5 years back, been meaning to rewatch it.

Have you given Lain or Texhnolyze the time of day yet?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Have you given Lain or Texhnolyze the time of day yet?

Watched Lain a few months back. It was quite a good, layered series with some very prophetic ideas about the internet, though it probably spent too much of it's focus on theme exploration over character development to make it excellent like Haibane.
I've heard that Texhnolyze is good in terms of theme exploration, though I've also heard it doesn't have a great deal when it comes to plot and characters compared to either of Yasuyuki's other two major productions and focuses too much on being overly bleak to offer much variety up to a certain point.

 

[Kyo]

More or less agree on Lain. Texhnolyze's the one I've yet to see so no comment there. I should try it out soon.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Rewatched Saint Seiya up to episode 35, skipping a few of the filler segments.

Watched the first 3 episodes of Princess Tutu after hearing it does an excellent job subverting the magical girl formula (unlike the overrated edgy trainwreck that is Madoka Magica). It's initial episodes aren't the best, with it having a little too much of a cutesy art style and the focus on ballet not being that interesting, but I do like how it draws inspiration from the darker tone of most fairy tale's original stories and messes about with the typical Mahou Shoujo formula fairly well.

Watched the 1st episode of Zegapain after hearing it's basically The Matrix with Mecha. It seems alright and lives up to that comparison fairly well going by the 1st episode.

 

[Warmmedown]

AOT eps 8 to 15 last night. Also that iron fortess anime's first 2 eps but it seems pretty standard with it's half-half MC and annoying main girl character who yawns a lot.

 

[Warmmedown]

Also Saiki

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Up to episode 54 of the Saint Seiya rewatch. Revisiting the series' attested peak, the 12 Zodiac Palaces (episodes 41-74), I must say it probably stands as the best rescue arc in Shonen other than perhaps Marineford in OP (either that or the Asgard Arc which follows it in the anime....unless you count Part 6 of JoJo as a Rescue Arc), for better or worse. It did an excellent job at keeping tension high, makes all of the villains memorable in their design, personality and background rather than just being interchangeable goons, providing a good sense of each of the main cast meeting their own climactic trial and Cassios being perhaps the best utilisation of an initial fodder character in Shonen due to not being forgotten and having his own moment as a VIP though he did kind of go cuck for Shaina. Some of this is ruined by the lack of major deaths amongst the good guys, but considering a major theme of the arc was the Bronze Saints showing their potential as successors to the Gold Saints, it's excusable. I must also commend Toei for once as the filler involving Cassios beating up Shun and Shiryu plugs the hole that would form from the question of how did he arrive at the Leo Palace before them, something the manga didn't address.

Also watched the first episode of Gunbuster, though even taking into account it's purely rule of cool, the plot and it's structure are so cliche I find no reason to continue it.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished rewatching the Sanctuary Arc of Saint Seiya and reflecting on it, the arc is probably better as a whole than I remembered. It indeed has quite a few major plot conveniences, mainly with the Bronze Saints all surviving the battle (though Ikki does die temporarily in the manga), though as I said before, them proving themselves to the Gold Saints as worthy successors excuses this to some extent as they'd be no successors if dead. The arc probably does a better job at capturing the desperation and race against time that a good rescue arc should have better than any other Shonen arc, with the climax being decided by a split second movement and all the antagonists being presented as genuine threats. Whilst I'm not that keen on characters with split personalities, Gemini Saga is an exception as it's used to offer genuine internal conflict in a struggle for control rather than an excuse for contradictive character decisions.
As for comparing it to the manga, I'd say both have their advantages. Manga has faster pacing and Saga VS Ikki is far better in the manga, with the lack of Galaxian Explosion in the anime being a major letdown as the reveal of this technique in the manga was the moment in which the increase in power for the series reached a truly cosmic level, whilst anime-wise it wouldn't be seen until the Poseidon Arc in a far less glorious usage. However, the anime does a better job with the side characters such as showing what Marin and Shaina were doing as the main battle progressed, plus some of the filler segments in and between battles did help make the Gold Saints more intimidating or offer more of an adventure element to the series, so I'd overall say both mediums are equally good for this arc in their own right. If rating it, I'd give the arc a 6/10, maybe boost it to 6.5/10 if I'm feeling generous.
Onto the Asgard Arc now.

Also watched episode 2 of Zegapain. It seems like a very typical Mecha series right now and I really dislike the school setting, though from what I've heard it subverts expectations for the better halfway through the series, plus the school element still doesn't make the plot or tone anywhere near as jarring as Sunrise's other 2006 mecha series (Code Geass).

 

[Pyro]

I've been watching all three original JP movies over and over, including the special features. Gotta make people believe certain things.