Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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ManOfRust
 Posts: 1935 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I got a BluRay player last Christmas and it can also stream content from a handful of places. One of these is Crackle, and I just recently noticed that Crackle has some anime series available.
I have been wanting to see Nodame Cantabile ever since I got a chance to watch some of the live drama on the old AZN TV network several years ago. That show was broadcast untranslated, so my very limited Japanese ability was a big barrier to understanding a lot of what was being said, but even with that limitation it was still entertaining to watch. In addition to that experience, there was a lot of positive buzz here in the forums about the anime when it was first available as a fansub, so it's been on my radar ever since. I have watched episodes 1 - 6. So far, while entertaining enough to keep me watching, it hasn't really been anything special. I was a little surprised at the low animation quality, which seems fairly basic compared to many other shows. I'm also struggling a little bit with the dub (it's only available on Crackle dubbed) which is, in my opinion, not very good. I'm hoping it grows on me as I continue the series. It's also unfortunate that none of the Japanese writing that appears on screen is translated in this version, and they use on screen side comments often to help show character emotions or make observations about what is happening. On the plus side of things, Nodame is a fun character and her interactions with the curmudgeonly Chiaki are so far what is keeping me interested. I am hoping that these early episodes are just setting up the bigger story, introducing us to the main characters and giving us some idea of what motivates them and that things will start to pick up later on. Up until this point the episodes have all been more or less one-off stories, although that seems to be changing now. I'll have to check out some of the other series they have on Crackle now that I have discovered it. The rest of the lineup doesn't hold a lot of interest for me though. They do have Ramen Fighter Miki and Rurouni Kenshin, which are great shows, but I own them on DVD so I don't need to watch streaming. They also have Blood+ which I think I may want to rewatch at some point. The rest of their anime lineup is either older stuff that I have so far passed by or things that I haven't even heard of yet. Oh well, in any event it's nice to have found another legal source for anime that doesn't require me to watch on my computer. |
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2015 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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So, I'm on Mid-Winter break right now, I'm planning on marathoning through most of the series I intended to watch, first up will be Aoi Bungaku.
It's an adaption of 6 Japanese novels (No Longer Human, Run Melos!, The Spider's Thread, Kokoro, Hell Screen, and Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom). So far, I'm finishing the No Longer Human arc, and the series is very dark (both literally and metaphorically.) It's... very psychological and disturbing in some sense. It's affecting my mood and makes me want to write some depressive stories. I'll probably get lazy and never watch Nodame Cantabile, Honey & Clover, and other series. Not only that, schoolwork is holding me back. |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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I finally got to rent Basilisk. Awesomeness.
It reminds me a lot of Ninja Scroll, in terms of action, fantastic action scenes and the fact that so many characters are really not pleasing for the eyes. I finished episode 4, and Im really curious about the other ninja that still have not made an appereance. I wanted to compare the sub with dub, but unfortunately LoveFilm only has the edition with subs only. The original cast is fantastic, but I think I'd like to hear what the dub is like. I think I joying this one l will be enjoying this one lots and lots, although I can see where it is going. But definitely, I missed something Kawajiri-style, it's been ages since his last (and quite bad) movie came out, so Basilisk is almost as good as the real thing. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Just wait till you watch episode nine. The "battle" (if you can even call it that) is the big reason that I nominated Gennosuke for the badarse tournament. It makes sense that the leader would have the coolest and strongest ability, right? |
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Thorn of Camorr
 Posts: 36 Location: Texas |
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Right now my fiancee and I are watching Gundam Wing and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex seasons 1 and 2.
I own both sets of Gundam Wing, but it has been so long since I've seen either one, and when I bought the second half I never went to watch it so now my girl and I are going through some of the anime I own but haven't watched (and in this case, reliving a portion of our child hoods), plus Zechs Merquise is the man! As for why we're watching Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. , we just both really like this show and she's never seen all of it. We just finished up to the boxing episode with Batou tonight and we'll continue on to finish it tomorrow. I also love pretty much everyone in Section 9, they are all awesome in different ways. |
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Unicorn_Blade
Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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Totally, Im just surprised you say he unleashes it in episode 9, which seems quite early in the series. But then again, Im on episode four and 5 out of 20 ninjas are already dead, so the pace is obviously quite fast in this series. |
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kilaria
 Posts: 135 Location: Dallas, TX |
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I managed quite a bit of anime watching this weekend.
 I finished up Witch Hunter Robin. I thought this was an excellent show. Great plot, loved all the diverse characters and the character design was great. The ending was also very good. I was satisfied with how it concluded, but still would love to see a continuation of the story. I've never heard any whispers about a season 2, but I would be excited if they created one.
The second anime I watched was The Sacred Blacksmith. I honestly didn't know much about this series. I bought it because I liked the character designs and knew it was fantasy themed. The Sacred Blacksmith is only 12 episodes long so it moves along rather quickly which is great when you want to sit down, be amused, and be able to watch an entire show in the same day (which exactly what I did). I was pleasantly surprised by this anime. It was fun to watch, not overly serious, and never slow. The Sacred Blacksmith was not a masterpeice by any means, but it was still good. I gave it a 'very good' rating. |
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ninjapet
 Posts: 1517 |
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Ended up watching the first Hen Zemi OVD
I was told to go watch it by a friend of mine. It was well, interesting. The idea of a show being based off a class about well sex is quite. Well to each their own really, I understood most of the jokes, and found it funny but if you're not in to perverted based stuff stay away from this. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Last night I watched Millennium Actress for a second time.
Aside from that which I noticed during my first viewing, my attention was drawn to the fact that the biographical parts of the film fell within two chapters, demarcated quite neatly by the War spoiler[and the elderly Chiyoko's first collapse]. The first of which depicts — in its inimitable style — Chiyoko's passionate urge to recover that which she lost, whereas the second shows the world shifting around her in an attempt to dampen her spirits. This is not to say that her character's ideals are shown to grow more passive or sensible. She herself perhaps does, but her goals do not. As such, and in spite of some writings to the contrary, I consider myself right to place this story within a specific class of romances: the class which focus upon yearning and the effects this has on a character, as opposed to those in which a state of closure is reached between a couple. I do not disapprove of this. Had Chiyoko not become moulded by her desire, spoiler[or if this desire had been sated], we would find ourselves reacting to a very dissimilar character by the film's end. Instead we come to appreciate the consistency of her attitude, through which the entirety of her life can be wholly represented during any given instant of it. |
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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I finished up Toradora today, pushing through the final 4 episodes with a raging headache (probably not one of my smart moves). Overall, it was a surprisingly good series. After reading the summary in the Encyclopedia, I thought there was no way I would like it, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying all of the characters, interactions, etc. A few points felt like they got glossed over and I would have liked more from, but everything has its faults. I'm really quite glad to have watched it. Now to decide what shall take its place in my watch list.
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle
 Posts: 1288 Location: Mastic Beach, NY |
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It's been a while since my last post so I need to catch up on what I've been watching.
I finished Lost Universe; in spite of a lot of bad animation, lapses in logic, plot holes one could drive a starship through and some badly misplaced humor I found it somewhat entertaining. I rate it as Decent because I doubt I'll be watching it again. I then decided to watch Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Why? Because it's been sitting in my collection for nearly 3 years and after the mediocrity of LU I wanted to watch something good (I had seen the first 6-8 episodes on [as] years ago). Although I did feel the show dragged a bit around episodes 12-16 it was still a very good show. A mix of standalone episodes and episodes following the "Laughing Man" storyline, the latter were the best but some of the standalone episodes were very interesting as well. I think I'll be checking out the second season soon. I rate this series as Very Good. I also did a "rewatch" of Doomed Megalopolis. I used quotes because when I originally purchased this OVA in 2004 I got the dub-only edition. In January 2008 there was a big "25 items for $100" ADV sale at TRSI so I got the "Special Edition" for $4 which has both Japanese and English so I watched it subbed this time. It's a bit slow at times but my rewatch confirmed my opinion that this is a fine horror anime. With demon rape, incest and a few ecchi "tits'n'tentacle" moments this is not for the kiddies, but it never reaches the level of misogyny seen in some horror anime (such as Wicked City). Strangely, although it's based very strongly on Japanese history and themes it's execution has a bit of a Western feel to me. Firstly, the art reminds me of the old classic EC comics ("Tales from the Crypt" etc). Secondly, the music reminds me of the music done by Claudio Simonetti and Goblin for many of Dario Argento's horror films (which I like a lot). |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6532 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I've been working through "My anime" with the aim of including a comment for every anime I've seen, especially those featured in my "Director Pantheon". As part of the process I've been re-watching many of the anime in my collection.
Samurai X: Reflection. It's actually not a bad anime. It suffers badly in comparison with its marvellous predecessor but judged on its own it has merit. The main problems is that Kenshin is old and feeble and all the action of the OAV is via flashbacks and thus lacks tension. I also missed badly the wonderful (and unusual for anime) oriental eyes in Trust and Betrayal. Rating: decent. Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2: The Movie. Although I always find the plotting wanting in Mamoru Oshii movies and his allegorical musings can be hit and miss, I'm completely seduced by his visual style. I also really, really, really appreciate anime with adult characters. If only there were more. Rating for both: good (I prefer the 2nd movie but, it doesn't warrant a very good ranking.) She and Her Cat. Sweet but insignificant anime that is mainly notable because its an early effort from Makoto Shinkai. Rating: So-so. Voices of a Distant Star. I kinda see Shinkai as a one idea (separation) director who has a great eye for scenery and inanimate objects. Because of its brevity I enjoyed re-watching this film and I've upped its rating in "My anime" to be level with The Place Promised in Our Early Days and 5 Centimetres Per Second mainly because it says everything the others do but isn't as yawn inducing as those others. I can see myself coming to prefer it. Rating: Good. Aquatic Language: Another early effort from a young director, this time Yasuhiro Yoshiura, who is clearly working through ideas that are later used in Time of Eve. Aquatic Language is just a bit too cryptic to appreciate and once the clues are thought through the pay-off isn't high enough. Fantastic visual style though. Rating: Decent. Pale Cocoon: Cryptic? Makes Yoshiura's earlier work, Aquatic Language, look like a first grade reader. This time, however, the pay-off is brilliant. When the story is finally and properly understood the moment when Ura sees a blue planet earth beyond the pale cocoon of his lunar home is simply awesome. Takes a bit of thinking (and lots of cheating on the web) to unravel what's going on. Rating: Good In addition I've now watched six out of ten episodes of REC. It's not bad but it hasn't really engaged me. To me, a good romantic story needs an interesting wrinkle to get my interest and there's nothing notable here. Also, the two characters are average fare for anime. I've just watched the first episode of Squid Girl. It got me thinking about how to properly milk Ika Musume of her ink. I mean, the process should be properly industrialised: put her in a pen, strap on some sort of milking device to her face and only let her out to be fed. Just a bit of fridge horror there.  Speaking of fridge horror - she had all her tentacles cut off and it hardly bothered her. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the rest.
And, by the way, why is it in the encyclopedia as Shinryaku! Ika Musume. That's impenetrability to match Yasuhiro Yoshiura. This is an English language site and we are required to use English in the forums. I mean the show is marketed with an English name. |
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naninanino
 Posts: 680 |
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I watched Heartcatch Precure recently. I have to say that I haven't seen this good battle animation in ages. I think Gurren Lagann was the last one that had something similar. Okay, there are the transformations and mostly formulaic build, but I'll remember these girls going totally badass melee for a long time. How I wish that main stream battle shounen had even half of it's glory.
I also finished Yuu Yuu Hakusho and I can say that while I wasn't impressed by it, I still value its sense of completeness and lack of fillers. Right now I'm still working on Patlabor, the movies more precisely, which I hear are supposed to be the best part. I'll see about that shortly. I've also been watching Ranma 1/2 and I'm enjoying it. I see the author has quite a few high profile comedies and I just might watch those some day as well. |
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Thorn of Camorr
Posts: 36 Location: Texas |
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At this moment I'm enjoying some Howl's Moving Castle before bed, previously last week my movie of choice had been Porco Rosso. I just tend to watch these when I get ready for bed so I can unwind from whatever I happened to be working on, or my lady is asleep. I love Miyazaki's films so they seemed like a natural choice for something light and fun this late at night.
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RebelsRogue
Posts: 7 |
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I'm on a "Rewatching" spree. I had some issues finding a new series, so I'm rewatching all the ones I loved from before <3
Durarara - So addicting! I absolutely love Izaya and Shizuo, and Celty is just one more amazing anime girl who's far from useless! Hakuouki - Japanese history at its finest! I've laughed, I've cried, and I've learned at the same time lol. It has that touch of fantasy that just sucks you in....With a ton of hawt Shinsengumi men of course =D |
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