Forum - View topicNow that the season's half over ...
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PBCurious
 Posts: 7 |
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I'm curious to know what shows everyone feels strongly about either good or bad ... and why. Since I'm asking, I'll start off.
The Best Without any question, Astarotte's Toy is the one I most eagerly await. If I had to use one sentence to describe A. T., it would be a show about learning the meaning of family, growing up and love. It's sweet, light hearted and doesn't take it's lolicon setting as nothing more than the plot device it is. It's the personal discoveries of the meaning of true friendship which carry this one forward. The wicked humor, parody puns and sly digs are all spicy icing on what would otherwise be too sweet a cake. The Good Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko was a nice surprise to me as probably being the best of the "Life is Tough and I Will Overcome" shows. It flows nicely and the characters have some actual substance. This is a show that's all about healing. Every character is emotionally damaged in some way. While the main female protagonist, Eori is overtly damaged {lost memories wrapped like a 'pig in a blanket' is a pretty surefire sign of 'crazy'}, all the characters carry deep emotional scars, some more overtly than others. Makoto, the male lead, has been 'abandoned' by his parents while Meme, Makoto's aunt was abandoned by her husband after their child was born. Meme's difficulties have led her to hide the very existence of Eori from the entire rest of their extended family. Meme's own abandonment and self imposed remoteness from her extended family has made her excessively .. let's use the word 'clingy' and leave it at that. Yes. Lots of unresolved issues full of jangling emotions in the air. The Mediocre Of the remaining "Life is Tough but I Will Overcome" series, I enjoy both Ano Hana and Hanasaku Iroha. Unfortunatelly, while each is nicely done, there is no meat here for later contemplation. i.e. Nice and worthwhile to watch but nothing left over to share with colleagues around the water cooler the next day. Also in the Mediocre category are virtually all the action series. In fact, none of the action series have made me wait with eagerness for their next installments. For such promise, I consider this to be a real disappointment. This includes Deadman Wonderland, Bue Exorcist, Tiger and Bunny, Steins:Gate and C - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. Of these, C - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control shows the most promise. Storyline moves well. Slick and modern production values. Character development is awkward. We'll see if the second half of the season moves this from Medocre to Good. Steins:Gate still hasn't jelled enough for me to decide whether or not to continue watching. I think the real problem here is that the format is too short. My feeling is the producers need at least 60 minutes per episode to properly cover the material, character development and storyline they're trying to cram into 20 minutes {after subtracting opening and closing credits etc}. Usually, shows seem to have a problem filling their timeslots and hence dragging. Steins:Gate, for a show who's central thematic plot centers around time, tries too hard to cram in too much into too little time. Still can't tell if this one will crash or fly. For halfway through the season, that's not really a good sign. Deadman Wonderman and Blue Exorcist are just too formulaic and trite. A bit of positive mind candy and then they're gone leaving nary a trace. The Bad Battle Girls has a few humorous moments .. if you don't mind stupid situational humor and if you have the patience to wait for their extended setup and execution. Dialog? Meh. Emotional involvement on the part of the viewer? Nil. Mental engagement of the viewer? Nil. Desire to continue watching? Nil. Dog Days takes superficial bland to new depths of inane, moronic, cotton candy mindlessness. Seriously. If you want to commit mental suicide and turn your brain completely off, this is the show for you. The only thing that would save this show would be for some fansub group to completely abandon the translation and create completely new dialog instead. I've watched 5 episodes of this to see if it develops anything. A real storyline. Real thematic tension. A real meaningful personal interaction. A real dramatic moment. A real laugh. But nada. Excuse me. Just remembering this show has reminded me to go worship the Porcelain God again. Last but but definitely not least: The Most Surprising Fireball. -- 120 second short. Delightful. Tack sharp. 'Nuff said. edit Some of the replies here got me to thinking about a number of things including what 'Mediocre' means to me. So .. I started a second thread explaining why I dumped Tiger and Bunny {and some others} into 'Mediocre'. You may, or may not, find it of interest. Last edited by PBCurious on Sun May 15, 2011 7:21 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Eri94
 Posts: 220 |
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After reading your best category and then reading you put Tiger and Bunny as mediocre, I just stopped. That's just...I don't even know where to begin.
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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You'd think Astarotte's Toy is the last thing you'd like to share with your colleagues around the water cooler the next day. "Hey last night I was watching that show about a 10 year old succubus that needs semen to survive and I really enjoyed the family value and father to daughter relationship." Of course, the lolicon doesn't only stay in the plot device. The most recent episode for one had a nice and clear pantsu shot (yes, while she was wearing it) of the main hero's daughter. By the way, is your whole post sarcasm or something? Almost everything you said about other shows apply to your favorite. |
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PBCurious
Posts: 7 |
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Actually .. no. What you see is exactly what I meant. I'm already planning on some different posts including starting a discussion on my personal definition of 'Mediocre'. I think you'll find that enlightening in the context of what I wrote here. I'll cross link them as well for {hopefully} better clarity. BTW - I accept I have a different life outlook than most so it doesn't surprise me to sometimes be misunderstood {despite my best efforts to be clear}. If anything I say confuses you, just note it and ask. |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Since C didn't catch my attention the only thing left to me is praying for patience of Hyouge mono 's and Showa Monogatari's subbers. Goddess, why can't I once enjoy mainstream anime with regular subs?
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Divineking
 Posts: 1297 |
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Well for me
The Epic Tiger and Bunny I'll be honest. The show wasn;t even on my radar until Viz announced they were simulcasting it. I figured if Viz decided to pick it up then it had some serious mainstream potential and would probably be a fun little series. As it turns out I've ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. The characters are pretty fun, the writing is solid, and it;s now starting to head into it;s own darker storyline and that's working out pretty well so far and I'm looking forward to more. Also, count me in as one of those people who would be absolutely dumbfounded if this show didn;t somehow make it's way onto mainstream American TV. Deadman Wonderland Having read the manga for a couple of years now, this was honestly my most anticipated show of the season and it hasn;t dissapointed me. It;s a very solid adaptation of the manga's storyline, making it darker in some instances, and I REALLY like the soundtrack for the series(especially the opening theme). Of course there have been parts of the manga cut out, and with only 12 episodes confirmed at the moment, I;m not sure as to whether or not they'll go for an anime original ending, but the anime adaption has been enjoyable so far, so hopefully the quality won't take a nosedive if the anime crew goes for their own ending. Blue Exorcist Well I had gotten into the manga around the time the anime was announced so I;ve been able to notice how faithful to the source material the anime is. Of course it is a very faitful adaption so far and the anime crew has done a great job at bringing the characters in the manga to life. I;m looking forward to seeing more of my favorite characters showing up and seeing more of the manga's storyline The Solid Sket Dance I've been reading the manga to this for years so I was happy to see it finally get an anime adaption. Of course since the beginning parts of the manga are a bit slower than the rest of the series, the anime has followed suit. It;s been pretty enjoyable so far though, and I've gotten a lot of laughs out of the series so far, and hopefully the anime crew will try to get to the character backstories ASAP since those are where the series really shines in terms of storytelling. Toriko I spent a lot of time skating aroudn the idea of reading the manga since it didn;t leave me much of an impression when I read the first couple of chapters a while back, but I got back into it recently, and now the anime is here. So far it seems as though Toei has done a pretty solid job of bringing the characters to life, and of course making all of the food look excellent. Unfortunently the fact that the anime has been pretty toned down from the manga has been sort of off putting for me, and the pacing for the series worries me a bit at the moment, since Toei is going through the material pretty quick. I do think they;ll slow down soon enough though, and hopefully I;ll get used enough to the edits where it doesn;t hurt my experience much C: The Money of Soul and Possibly Control I was sort of the fence about watching this but I;ve liked it so far. Money is enough of a universal theme to get into for me, and I do like the action elements to it so far. It has yet to do anything really mindblowing for me yet, but I don;t have any complaints so far The World God Only Knows Season II Well I really enjoyed the first season so this one was sort of a no brainer. I;m glad to see that this season is covering some of the better parts of the manga and that the writing quality has improved a bit, Of course I;m a bit sad that they probably won;t get to a certain girl in the anime adaption, but so it goes...guess I;d better hope a season 3 is feasable. The Meh Aria the Scarlet Ammo Well it;s not a bad show per se. The action in the series is pretty solid and I do like the main character's power...it's just that I find Aria to be pretty irritating. I get that loli tsundere's are usually supposed to be irritating out of principle but she just takes it to a whole other level in my opinion. I mean, the main character sort of has a spine so it;s sort of odd to see him being so passive over her suddenly barging into his apartment demanding to live there and her attacking him after using HIS shower. I do need my one guilty pleasure show of the season so it's doing the job, and it probably will get better...I just pray that Aria either gets toned down a bit or gets less screentime in the future |
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jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
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Tiger and Bunny just average? I'm not really a big fan of this show but even I see the potential of this being the biggest hit of the year easily.
Also Torioko is just full of awesome! I have not read the manga so I guess I'm not spoiled by it and that seems to be that case with anyone else i know that hasn't read the manga but loves the show. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I share your pain, as those are two of my favorite shows this season. I watched Moshidora while it lasted and find Azazel-san funnier with each passing episode. But I've started to worry about the future of Hyouge Mono subs. It's tough when you're committed to a show that attracts only one subbing group. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2648 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Please, start complaining when you're committed to a show that barely gets any raws released, if you're lucky, and the subs are still one season behind, like I am with Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai-hen. Get to that point and then we can start talking. Anyway, what I've seen this season has all been really good, which definitely pleases me a lot. I'm not even sure how many shows I'll be able to keep up with. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6222 Location: Houston, TX |
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Sorry but after you put Astarotte's Toy as best, the rest of that list disappeard off my radar.
anyway... Best Tiger & Bunny: So far i'm really enjoying the writing of this anime. Kudos for finding a unique way to shoehorn product placement into the show. Deadman Wonderland: I was worried about Manglobe handling this series, but so far they have done quite an admirable job. I don't like that they removed stuff, but I can forgive that. Good X Men: So far this is surprisingly good for a Marvel title. We'll see how the rest goes. Mediocre Blue Excorcist: I'd like to say it's good based on the production values, but I just can't get past how generic everything is. |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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I only dropped four shows this season: Astarotte's Toy (the failure to deliver the semen drinking loli.. tsk tsk, false advertisement), Hen Zemi (solid premise of wacky sexual relations college course, but mediocre execution), Sofuteni (Meh ecchi series, and I usually love girls in tennis outfits) and X-Men (like all Marvel anime, it's pretty much trash and no doubt will be the worst rated show of the season like the ones before it)
Shows I enjoy the most AnoHana Great premise, with nice drama, characters, and can be very emotional at parts. SKET Dance Hilarious show with great characters and even some drama Seikon no Qwaser II Nice action, creative, and wonderful ecchi, not as good as the first season, but still a solid series Deadman WonderLand Another interesting show with a nice story I'm enjoying Nichijou Crazy and hilarious and makes me say WTF often Steins Gate Love the main character being a 'mad scientist' and the plot is interesting, though sometimes a bit odd Stuff I find merely okay: Moshidora (find it fairly interesting, but it can be pretty slow) and Blue Exorcist (decent shounen series), Tiger & Bunny (also decent show, though maybe a bit too in the 'trying too hard to be unique' category. Haven't watched Toriko yet, but it just doesn't seem that appealing, and it feels like everyone's trying way too hard to hype it up as the next big thing (like Toei pairing it with One Peice and stuff) |
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Scormio
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The two show's I'm following this season (new, as in not including continuing ones from winter), A Channel and Aria: The Scarlet Ammo aren't even on your list
I'll just say that I enjoy both them, which is why I'm continuing to watch them. I watched at least one episode of most of the show's, though they didn't grab my interest. Except for Tiger and Bunny, I dropped that like halfway through ep.1, the premise just...bored me, I guess. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Wolverine was garbage, there's no escaping that, but I thought Iron Man was enjoyable despite its writing flaws. And although X-Men started out a little clunky it has really impressed me for the past two or three episodes. The characters are good, the plot is thickening and getting interesting, and the fight scenes are better done than in either Iron Man or Wolverine. I'm really glad I stuck with it. |
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Mister V
 Posts: 1000 |
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That was my first reaction. Troll and sarcasm detectors went off simultaneously. Astarotte being the favourite, and Steins; Gate cramming too much into 20 minutes? Come on. I don't believe this. If you're not a troll OP, no offence, the Internet makes me wary. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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Note: I'm only going off Crunchyroll's listings because I'm a subscriber there and I don't watch anime with ads.
That being said: Gosick remains my favorite, as of this writing. I was intrigued from the first episode and I'm looking forward to the next email letting me know the latest episode is waiting for me. Lotte's Toy follows this, but hanging on dear life. If I see another blatant ass shot episode 6 insulted me with, I'm out. I consider myself pretty tolerant, but this was rude and it makes me wonder how many people were instantly alienated by it regardless how good the story episodes 5 and 6 delivered us. Steins Gate still captures my interest despite the boring delivery of episodes. I don't have my hopes the ending is going to be good, but then again, what anime does have a "good" ending anymore. I expect a "Dues ex machina" ending. A Bridge to the Starry Skies - Kneed dough. Apply cookie cutter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Yep, that kind of a series, so it's ranked here... for now. It may be upended by... My Ordinary Life was temporarily shelved because I'm piqued to the point I need to pay attention when watching it, something I couldn't give it in two episodes. As a slice-of-life entry, I'm excited for it. Everything else is on the queue for viewing, so no opinion yet. Not interested includes the following: Bleach, Fairy Tale, Naruto - Not seen a single episode, so not on the radar. Given the number of episodes, the chances are slim. Cardfight Vanguard - TCGs are dead to me and the last thing I'll ever want to see is another one. Tono to Issho - A series has 2 seconds to make first impression on me and this failed to do so because the art's not appealing in the least. Even if it's got the greatest story ever told (doubtful), if I don't like the art, it's out. |
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