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What are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)


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An1fr3ak



Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 235
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:56 pm Reply with quote
I haven't really watched that much anime between Christmas and New Year's, so I'll just give a small progress report.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Watched another two/three episodes and I'm just past half way through now and it's consistent and I give props for that.

Kamisama Dolls - Finally got round to it, and my-oh-my was it awesome. I really wanted to see Kuga Kyouhei spoiler[in action with a Doll but it wasn't meant to be.] I was looking at the discussion about a second season, and I'm hoping like hell it will be made but the odds are against us. Does the manga continue the story?? I might have to resort to it just to know how it all pans out.

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian - I just watched the first episode and I'm getting a really good feeling about it. It seems to me like it will be quite unique and very, very interesting.

Red Garden was another anime that I started watching during the Christmas/ New Year period. two or three episodes in and so far, so good. Wasn't exactly what I was expecting though because the description said murder, so I was thinking murder mystery, but it isn't quite that Rolling Eyes

No progress on Tiger and Bunny and the Story of Saiunkoku, which I'm kicking myself over (especially Tiger and Bunny), because they deserve more attention. That is all. Quite sad really...

[NB] - Red Garden was the edit from the original post. Not sure how I forgot to mention, only that when I got home from work, I saw it laying on the couch and slapped my forehead Laughing


Last edited by An1fr3ak on Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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EricDent



Joined: 28 May 2008
Posts: 997
Location: Georgetown, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:08 pm Reply with quote
The reason I am watching the following is cause I have either never seen them, or it has been a while since I watched them.

Got them for Christmas (from myself).

Madlax: Up to disc 4 of 5, the girls got together, and the 3 books have been brought together. Hopefully it's something interesting.

Shadow Skill TV: Up to disc 4 of 6, Gau Ban is about to fight the 58th Savalle.

Seven of Seven: Up to disc 2 of 6, Nana is still trying to get into the same high school as the boy she likes. Plus there are still 7 of her around.
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supercreep



Joined: 11 Dec 2011
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The Mystic Archives of Dantalian - I just watched the first episode and I'm getting a really good feeling about it. It seems to me like it will be quite unique and very, very interesting.


I'm seven episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.
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Que_Tal



Joined: 17 Jul 2010
Posts: 80
PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:28 pm Reply with quote
finished seeing WOLF'S RAIN
-werewolves.
-genocidal war
-mix of mystics & advanced science
-involving main characters
-good animation and OT and ET.
-operatic in tone, not in style but in character development.
spoiler[rebirth]

lastly,

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
*thats me howling at the moon. derp.*

i typed the word were-wolves but the site transforms that word into spam for some reason.
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An1fr3ak



Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 235
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:28 pm Reply with quote
EricDent wrote:
The reason I am watching the following is cause I have either never seen them, or it has been a while since I watched them.

Got them for Christmas (from myself).

Madlax: Up to disc 4 of 5, the girls got together, and the 3 books have been brought together. Hopefully it's something interesting.

Shadow Skill TV: Up to disc 4 of 6, Gau Ban is about to fight the 58th Savalle.

Seven of Seven: Up to disc 2 of 6, Nana is still trying to get into the same high school as the boy she likes. Plus there are still 7 of her around.



I haven't watched any of these yet, but I own two of the three on dvd, and I'm sure all three of your statements on said anime can qualify as spoilers... SO PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS!!
P.S. - I'm glad you spoiled yourself, just don't spoil it for others Razz



supercreep wrote:
Quote:
The Mystic Archives of Dantalian - I just watched the first episode and I'm getting a really good feeling about it. It seems to me like it will be quite unique and very, very interesting.


I'm seven episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.


Sounds good to me. It was looking in the ANN database ratings for this anime and it is quite high. I guess it's worth all the hype Smile
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Defguru7777



Joined: 04 Jan 2012
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:50 am Reply with quote
Well, I'm not currently watching because my Internet is too terrible to watch anything. So I guess I'm technically on hiatus. Sad

But I was watching Star Driver, Future Diary, and Fate/Zero.

Star Driver, because it's just a fun watch. Despite how repetitive it can be, it's music and fun attitude are enough reason to keep watching.

Future Diary because it's very unique and clever so far. Reminds me of Death Note.

Fate/Zero is one I'm watching on a whim. I think I like it, but I'm only a few episodes in. Seen a lot of good things about it, so I'll likely stick with it (the great animation helps, too).

Guess it's also worth noting I watch whatever's on Adult Swim on Saturdays.
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:58 am Reply with quote
Thanks to TRSI, who marked down the entire Dragonball series to $100, I bought them all and started watching them over the weekend. I've always wanted to see this series completely because I never got a chance to while it was on CN. Shush up kid, I was working.

I had forgotten this series was more risque than was on CN (which edited the hell out of it), so imagine my surprise as I'm watching Bulma flash herself for a dragon ball. Funny stuff. I've always enjoyed this method of fanservice, which adds a true comedic level to it. When she discovers her panties weren't on... AHAHAHA. Thank goodness Goku's bullet proof.

I'm going to enjoy this series, filler and all. Once I'm done with it, I'll be selling it. I don't anticipate I'll be wanting to watch 150 episodes of it again anytime soon. I'm just too pampered with a 12/13 series so I can watch more of them.
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kilaria



Joined: 04 Mar 2009
Posts: 135
Location: Dallas, TX
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:03 am Reply with quote
Last week I finally finished up Monster. Wow, what an emotional ride that was. When I first started watching it and was a few episodes in, I wondered how in the heck they'd be able to drag on the storyline for 74 episodes but they did it, and did it well. And despite the fact the plot was very serious and sometimes a bit slow paced, they managed to keep me interested from episode to episode. What I was really impressed with is how they managed to have such amazing character development and towards the end,spoiler[ you start to truly feel pity for Johan even though he is a monster and you WANT Tenma to save him in the end. ]

For christmas I got the first 4 parts of FMA Brotherhood on blu ray and have been burning through those. In fact, I went ahead and ordered part 5 day before yesterday because my husband and I spent the entire 3 day weekend watching it. Once we realized we were nearing the end of part 3 we decided to slow down because we didn't want to have to wait to watch the conclusion. Luckily, part 5 should be arriving today or tomorrow (yay for 2 day shipping) and we can marathon the rest. I have to say, I fell in love with the original FMA, but this one is definitely an improvement. The plot is solid and the animation looks bright and crisp on blu ray. I can't wait to keep watching and see what happens next. Smile

I also got Spice & Wolf 2 for christmas, and may watch it this weekend while the hubby is at work. I thought the first season was ok, not awesome but decent enough for me to want to give Season 2 a try.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:33 pm Reply with quote
Just finished Rose of Versailles. It was pretty good, I can see why people are frustrated about it not being better known. I think I'm going to put it on one of my new 16Gb memory sticks and start loaning it out to friends and acquaintances, because I definitely think more people should watch it.
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Tris8



Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 2114
Location: Where the rain is.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:46 pm Reply with quote
Recently finished Tenchi in Tokyo. It was an ok series, and it was different than its preceding series like I'd heard it was. It felt to me like it took 1 step forward, then 2 steps back. I like how they really tried to develop the characters, and how they threw in a wildcard so the option of Tenchi choosing someone outside of his initial harem appeared. They also tried to be more serious which I think is the first of their bad moves. Tenchi Muyo is supposed to be a funny and crazy series, so they should stick to what they do best. It also moved way too slowly. That could have worked if it was funny enough in the meantime to hold our attention but it wasn't as entertaining as previous Tenchi shows. Overall not a bad watch, but the weakest of the Tenchi franchise I've seen so far (haven't seen GXP)

Also, in keeping with my resolution to watch recent anime, I've started Astarotte's Toy. I've seen the first two eps and so far It's pretty good. I'm not a loli fan, but it's funny, cute and has quite a bit of potential. Not to mention the animation quality is a step above what Im used to seeing, and the colors are bright and vibrant.
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504NOSON2
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Joined: 28 Jul 2008
Posts: 647
Location: Body:Santa Barbara, CA ~ Heart:New Orleans, LA
PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:55 am Reply with quote
Okay, so I just finished Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou; what an absolutely beautiful piece of art that was.
The atmosphere has this serene yet almost surreal feeling to it. The soft, docile background music perfectly acquainted the beautiful scenery--with its watery colors--of this anime's setting. It's about a young woman who receives a package from the owner of the coffee shop she now tends, that left to go travel without giving any date as to when he'll back. The philosophy I extracted from it was spoiler[to enjoy life, because it is limited. So have the most everlasting experiences which make memories that transcend human's relatively short lifespan while you can.

I believe they used a robot (something which has not to worry about human longevity) to deliver that message. I think that the reason she was content with only being able to capture one picture, that being her motor bike, in episode 1, is to represent the fact that it was her bike that allowed her to witness and enjoy the beautiful sites of the rural, post-apocalyptic town she lives in.

She, also, slightly alluded to that herself, when she commented about her memory being particularly vivid that day, therefore, not regretting only snapping a shot of her bike.]


All in all, it was truly a sweet and inspiring masterpiece. Thank you, abunai(wherever you are) and dormcat for your thoughtful exchanges about this piece of art, which influenced my viewing of it. Can't wait to see its sequel OAV.

I'm also finishing up Bokurano. This is a very deep series. Although, after the first few, uhhh, "incidents", I became slightly desensitized. But these last few episodes have turned that completely around to the levels of emotion and torment I felt in the beginning of the series. I can't wait to see the ending.

I've heard it compared to SaiKano before. I haven't seen that one (yet). Did anyone feel more depressed during/after one than the other?

I'm watching others, but I've gone on long enough Laughing
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Errinundra
Moderator


Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:08 am Reply with quote
504NOSON2 wrote:
Okay, so I just finished Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou; what an absolutely beautiful piece of art that was...


How about that? I've just watched them as well, though it had nothing to do with ANN moderators. Don't laugh, but I had nothing in "My Anime" starting with "Y". Wink Anyway, I agree with you that it's pretty good. That and its follow-up OAV, Quiet Country Cafe, are gems, though I want to watch them again before I make any more comments.
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504NOSON2
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Joined: 28 Jul 2008
Posts: 647
Location: Body:Santa Barbara, CA ~ Heart:New Orleans, LA
PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 4:01 pm Reply with quote
errinundra wrote:
How about that?.


That certainly is one coincidence, due to the age and sheer obscurity of them outside of Japan. I'm intrigued by things like that.

I'm not going to lie, I threw my head back in laughter when I read why you watched them, but since you enjoyed them, it shows you have good taste.

There's a plethora of anime I have yet to save to "My Anime", as well. However, mine won't be as detailed as your's. Laughing
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:04 am Reply with quote
As mentioned above I’ve watched some anime in the last week in order to fill important gaps in “My Anime”. Until now I hadn’t seen any titles beginning with “Q” or “Y”. Easily fixed.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe

These OAVs had been on the back of my mind to watch for some time. I’m so glad I finally got around to it. They follow the daily life of a gynoid called Alpha who runs a poorly patronised cafe by the sea in a sparsely populated future Japan where sea levels have risen significantly. Yet they aren’t desperate times: robots and people live and work together harmoniously and everybody helps each other out. As Alpha travels about with her camera, life goes along at a gentle pace. So gentle that these two OAVs make the Aria franchise seem like it’s on steroids.

Indeed, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou has much in common with Aria. So much so that Hitoshi Ashinano’s original manga, which began in 1994 may have been a template for Kozue Amano’s Aria manga, which followed on four years later. I’m sure that Junichi Sato had Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou in mind when he made his anime series – there are a couple of connections that I’ll come to shortly.

Both Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Aria follow the day to day lives of pretty girls in a world defined by the encroaching sea and by the seasons. Both are imbued with a sense of wonder, a similar goofy humour and sentimental idealism. Where Aria likes to linger on the bodies of the girls, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou places them more in the landscape. Where Akari and her friends in Aria actively pursue their goals, Alpha is a passive observer of events; never quite having the courage to photograph the beauty she is witnessing, as if doing so might spoil the experience. (First connection: Alpha = first. In Aria most places and people have names beginning with “A”.) In both, though, the landscape is as much a character as the protagonists. All the while the ebb and flow of the tides and the vagaries of the weather determine the course of protagonists’ daily lives. Nevertheless, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou has a pervasive sense of decay that, while present, isn’t as marked in Aria. This doesn’t affect the tone of the OAV. It remains thoroughly optimistic. You could imagine that the inundated world of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is the flooded Manhome that the residents of Aqua have abandoned.

Music plays an important role in setting the mood. The folky, acoustic fare enhances the simplicity of the artwork, the storytelling and the everyday lives of the characters. Simple doesn’t mean ordinary. Somehow the gentle flow of the story creates a powerful emotional response. Gontiti provides the incidental music in the fist OAV but it’s the more cosmopolitan sound of the second, Quiet County Cafe, that had me looking up ANN to confirm my suspicions. Yes! It’s Choro Club, the same Choro Club that provided the background music for, you guessed it, the entire Aria franchise. Aria and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou are the only times that these musicians have been associated with anime. It’s as if Junichi Sato set out to recreate the mood and sound of the earlier anime.

I prefer the first OAV. It has an older style where, other than the characters, there are few drawn outlines. Edges are defined by changes in colour, rather than by lines, giving a sense of everything co-existing naturally and a sense of the various elements of the landscape flowing together. There is also an exquisite play with light. Sometimes a scene is completely static except the lighting changes: a cloud passes overhead; or the sky turns from azure to lavender to navy blue at sunset; or, even in indoor scenes, exterior activity creates a change in light through a window.

The best example is the magnificent conclusion to the first OAV. Alpha and an older woman are watching the sunset from a lookout above an abandoned city, which is half flooded, half reclaimed by forest. As the sun goes down, miraculously the lights of the city switch on, whether under water or amongst the trees. I think it is one of most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen animated. As Alpha puts it:

Quote:
The street lights come to life where there are only trees and the ocean. The lights that used to shine brightly with a purpose now just shine for the purpose of shining.


To me the sense of melancholy and beauty is irresistibly moving.


(Note: I've cropped the bottom of the picture. The OAV has a 4:3 aspect ratio.)

The second OAV is more recent in style with most things outlined and with a brighter palette of colours. The effect is to make the characters seem less a part of the landscape and diminishes the sense of time suspended.

It seems to me that the influence of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou goes beyond its impact on Aria. As I’ve note elsewhere Time of Eve has several nods towards it. This includes the almost identical coffee pots used in each cafe; the earrings worn by Alpha and Nagi; and the similarity of the layout of Nagi’s earlier cafe by sea as seen in the end credits of the movie and Alpha’s own cafe. Of course, both cover similar themes involving humans and androids living together. The title of the newer anime may even be a reference to Alpha’s voice-over during the end credits of the first OAV.

Quote:
The festival-like world had settled to a leisurely pace. To think that an era came to its twilight so pleasantly. The dangerous times have since been called the Time of Evening Calm.


Ratings: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou very good (perhaps excellent if it has good re-watch value); Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe good. Recommended to anyone who enjoyed Aria.

***

Queen Emeraldas

Having enjoyed Galaxy Express 999 so much I happily chose this to fill my “Q” gap. I’ve already written acres in this post so I’ll keep this short. While Emeraldas enlivens every scene in which she appears, this is a by-the-numbers production. A young boy wants to prove himself a man out there in the endless sea of stars; an assortment of villains wants to rule the universe or inflict sundry horrors upon everyone else; a tiresome comic relief character follows the young boy wherever he goes; and the plucky good guys come through despite the odds and with just a little help from the titular heroine. Emeraldas and her sister Maetel (who appears here momentarily) are such great creations that they can rise above any amount of mediocrity. Sadly, though, no Leijiverse anime I’ve yet seen comes together so magically as Galaxy Express 999.

Rating: decent.

***

I’ve finally finished all the segments of Genius Party Beyond. I’d previously watched and thoroughly enjoyed Dimension Bomb (rating: excellent) and Gala (rating: good). They were a vast improvement over the dismal first movie (with the exception of its Baby Blue segment, which stood head and shoulders above the rest).

Moondrive

This really pissed me off. Director Kazuto Nakazawa is responsible for what I consider to be the best short anime I’ve seen, Comedy. Like that masterpiece Moondrive has irresistible narrative momentum. It also has eccentric background artwork and character designs (whose voices belie their appearances). The violence is wacky and entertaining. All that’s fine. The problem comes down to one element – what repeatedly happens to one of the women. Her four friends use her body as an item of exchange so they can achieve their goal of finding a treasure map. A revolting plot device completely ruins an otherwise interesting short film.

Rating: not really good

Toujin Kit

In a grimy, decaying, metallic dystopia a young woman keeps wondrously effervescent alien creatures hidden in toys. Apparently harbouring such creatures is unlawful (this film may be a satire on our contemporary paranoia about illegal aliens) and the woman must keep one step ahead of the law, here represented by a coldly sinister agent and his pair of chilling beaker-headed offsiders. It’s all quite unsettling. Even the way the woman treats (or, rather, mistreats) the creatures is highly ambiguous. I suppose she is the equivalent of what we, in Australia, call people smugglers. The pervasive tone of nastiness is very effective.

Rating: good

Wanwa the Puppy

I kind of like the way the foreground characters and the background art are so unstable that everything flows into everything else. It’s all very kinetic and vaguely entertaining… at first. Apart from a couple of jokey moments it’s all style and no substance. Sort of reminds me of the incredibly overrated and terminally soporific Redline. At least Wanwa was only 15 minutes long.

Rating: not really good

***

I'm part way through a re-watch of Dennou Coil. I'll write about it at length when I've finished. (Is that a threat, or what?)


Last edited by Errinundra on Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:15 pm Reply with quote
Hmm, so what's some stuff I've been watching? I've actually been attacking that backlog DVD pile pretty well, there's still a ways to go, but a lot of progress has been made in the past 3 weeks or so! I'll try to not repeat any series I've written about, but since I might write these on more than one forum, I might duplicate. So oops.

Ok, so earliest once I finished was Armored Trooper VOTOMs, which fulfilled my demand for 80s mecha awesome quite well! It's told in four distinct arcs, each more epic than the last. There's kinda an evil organization that wants to take over the galaxy sort of thing using perfect soldiers in there, but it mostly follows Chirico Cuvie, a freakishly good mecha pilot who, in the first ep, accidentally opens a capsule that contains a naked woman in glowing blue stuff. She opens her eyes and looks at him kinda creepily. But that act pretty much made him the target of both sides of the war and the secret organization. We follow Chirico as he learns more about these perfect soldiers and acts like a badass mecha pilot at all times using the same standard mecha that everyone else has access to.
It definitely feels like an 80s show, but I kinda like that, so anyone else looking for an 80s mecha that focuses more on one character than an entire side or something should check it out. I really liked it, I'd rate it very good

Then I watched Wings of Honneamise (hmm, I might've watched that inbetween VOTOMs arcs, after all, VOTOMs was 52 eps). Hmm, I'm a bit torn on this, I feel a bit underwhelmed because I heard it was godly, but it was good but not godly. I think it's the sort of thing that would make more sense on a second viewing. I loved the setting and the world, and the little booklet that came with the combo pack (which was HD DVD btw because I don't have a blu-ray player, but I still got the chipboard box and booklet! So ha!) said that they spent a lot of time coming up with alternate versions of every day things like money and soda bottles, and it shows as they did an excellent job. But for the main (I felt like half the names were damn near unpronouncable, I was like "wtf?" when I saw half of the names on sub), I felt like he kinda adopted some of the girl's religious stuff just like that and I didn't really get the motive behind a lot of his early decisions to stop being so damn lazy. That kinda annoyed me the whole time, hopefully a rewatch would change that? Anyway, not sure what I'd rate, I was just unwhelmed by it from what I had heard about it.

After Votoms, I had to do something....girlier. So yeah, went with Magic User's Club! There were two parts to this, a 6 ep OVA and a 13 ep series. I much preferred the 6 ep OVA (which you absolutely need to see before the TV series if you ask me). I felt like it knew what to do with its time and story better, it knew exactly what it set out to do and it did it really well. The TV series on the other hand seemed to have difficulty using a full 13 episodes. So it seemed weaker from a story aspect. Of course, I liked how like every face closeup made me go "it's Princess Tutu!", as the character designs slightly changed for TV to be a bit more simplistic. But the OVA knew exactly where it didn't need to tell us any info, like about the characters families, I think Sae is the only one that we see any family member for in the OVA because it really wasn't necessary. It knew that it should just focus on the characters and what they're trying to accomplish and it did it wonderfully. The TV comes and suddenly everyone has a family and the one girl is suddenly a model. I suppose it didn't detract from anything, but it didn't seem necessary either. But my main complaint with the TV series was exaggerating certain character traits from the OVA. Like making the gay guy more flaming when we already got the idea without being beaten over the head in the OVA. That was the sort of thing that annoyed me. But then when the TV had the magical door ep, I just loved that ep, so while it did have some trouble balancing episodic with story, some of the episodic stuff was really good.
It's no Princess Tutu, but I'd rate the OVA very good and the TV good

I finished Pretear too! Because of this Junichi Sato binge sort of thing I had going on (actually it was pure luck, I wrote down a list of all my backlog DVDs, assigned them a number, and let a random number generator pick out a show). Well obviously nothing is going to beat Princess Tutu, let's get that out of the way right now. Just not happening. Still, I found the character interactions to be overall enjoyable and the series to be an easy watch. Unlike Tutu where you don't have to like magical girl at all, you kinda have to not hate it to enjoy Pretear. Still, I paid all of $5 for it, and it was a $5 well spent. I'd rate it very good, and even though I gave the same rating to Magic User's Club OVA, I think I preferred MUC more. While the MUC TV had some problems suddenly having to go from OVA to TV, Pretear didn't and used its time well without feeling like it was making bs up.

Then the rng gave me Macross II, which was nice because I sure as hell needed a break from girlier stuff. I really enjoyed this, it fit the 6 ep OVA format perfectly and kept the action up the entire time. It also somehow reminded me more of original Macross than Macross Plus. Macross II, for reasons I don't quite understand, follows on from the Do You Remember Love? movie rather than the series. The DYRL? movie was...decent, I mean, that song at the end makes it entirely worth watching (and it actually being animated really well compared to the series' often QUALITY animation), but the TV series was way better. But to be fair, the only way you can tell Macross II follows from the movie is the use of the term "meltrandi" which are female zentradi (in the TV show, they were called the same thing because they frickin' are), you might as well say it continues from the TV show at that point.
Being an OVA, the animation was quite nice for its time, I was clearly expecting less based on the lame looking DVD cover and well...Macross didn't have super animation, only DYRL? did. I quite enjoyed the story progression and three main characters overall, I find most news reporter types to annoy me, but Kanzaki was the opposite of what I expected. Usually it's the young gun trying to get the real news and screw the ratings, Kanzaki clearly started off as a tabloid reporter more focused on ratings who slowly changed to getting the real truth. I'm sure some will find him too brash, but I think he evened it out by planning for at least a nanosecond before rushing in blindly like other characters like him do that makes me hate them. But I feel like the movie teased me that the song Minmei sings at the end of the DYRL? movie would once again show up....only to totally not (and that song wasn't in original Macross either, it was only in DYRL).
So yeah, overall glad I watched this as it sparked yet more Macross love in me! I did prefer it over Plus because it got more Macross love out of me, lol, I'd rate it very good, not sure why it seems to get such a bad rap....

So way back when, like just before it went massive OOP, I traded to get a Legends set of Scrapped Princess. I saw the first ep when I first traded for the set, and was rather annoyed by it, but it did come up in the RNG far sooner than expected (actually I cheated and picked another, it went with Macross II which was short, I cheated because I wanted an alt to finishing the first set of Gundam 0079 and because I didn't like the first ep for SP the first time, I didn't want another bad series). But Macross II went well, so I decided I would backtrack and not cheat using the RNG like I promised I would, lol.
Anyway, it's incredibly easy to marathon, it starts off with a lot of energy, and stays that way pretty much the entire series, which I find to be rare. Now, there are some elements that I quite liked, like the gradual mixing in of sci-fi, that I'm sure would annoy some other people, but for a story that seemed like it would be pretty clear cut had it not added in anything else and took a risk, I think they unfolded everything really well so I've no complaints. I will admit that a few info-dumps happened around the middle of the series (actually lampshaded for once), and I think they were certainly necessary to the audience, even if they told you in one info dump all of a sudden. The irony was that the mains went "....wait, what did you say? What does that even mean?" like your parents do when you explain how to fix their computers over the phone, but as the audience, I had no problem following, which was nice. Some parts seemed predictable, but when the sci-fi got added in, it made it less predictable and more exciting to watch. I like sci-fi even in my fantasy, lol, I just love the sci-fi genre!
Yeah, I'd say a few parts here and there got phoned in, but I was overall quite pleased with the experience, even if the first episode was kinda pretty bad (not average like Princess Tutu's, but actually kinda bad if you ask me). See, they showed the most annoying personality aspect of our main Pacifica in the first ep instead of showing the audience sides that she has that are actually enjoyable. Once they finally do show said sides, I warmed up to her too. I was a bit more forgiving to the first ep this time since I knew it'd be kinda a bad impression though.
But if I had one major complaint, it would be the eye catches. It's the stupid little tune that plays during them that I hated (I liked how they put a different character in each eye catch though). I mean, it didn't fit in with the rest of the soundtrack and it didn't even fit in with the mood of the show. It was just offensive to the ears, it was a textbook case of how not to do the music with the eyecatches. Normally, they're supposed to help you maintain the same sorts of feelings you were already having, not make you think someone switched up the soundtrack to a jolly pirate anime. Every time the eye catch came, it totally broke my immersion with the series. Good job guys.
Anyway, I'd say if you can get this for cheap that you should jump on it, it went OOP even before the recent announcement, just glad I traded for that set on a whim when I did! I'd rate it excellent, glad I gave it another shot!
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