Official Anime/Manga Thread

[SuperLink]

I'm gonna just throw this out there and say that I definitely think Sword Art Online is pretty awful. Really nice setting, great concept and first few episodes, and some cool character designs (especially in ALO), but pretty much BAD in every single development aspect. And the tropes, oh the shameless tropes. I think it went bad even before SAO arc ended because the pacing was so all over the place and Kirito/Asuna's relationship felt so forced and fake and generally more cringeworthy than cute. I dunno, she started out cool but in the end Asuna isn't even a character, she's a pretty face with the words "motivation" and "fanservice" written on it. My two cents.

 

Also, I ran out of likes to give on the Sonic 2013 thread but I like Soniman's post and Sean's post and Kula's post! They were good posts.

Edited February 5, 2013 by SuperLink

[PSI Wind]

Guess I'm not missing much for skipping it.

[Soniman]

Guess I'm not missing much for skipping it.

Id recommend just watching the first SAO part.

[PSI Wind]

http://twitpic.com/c0yxx3/full

From Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited

Edited February 5, 2013 by PSI Freeze

[redhellc]

Oh good, I thought I was the only one who didn't actually like it as a whole. Since I heard so many people talking good about it I thought I was missing something.  

And yes that ending tries too much, and uses some pretty bullshit moves. 

 

For me in short its a great idea but the creators failed to deliver it. 

[Sami]

Oh good, I thought I was the only one who didn't actually like it as a whole. Since I heard so many people talking good about it I thought I was missing something.  

And yes that ending tries too much, and uses some pretty bullshit moves. 

 

For me in short its a great idea but the creators failed to deliver it. 

It's typical popular shounen, really. Lots of people tend to be into that sort of thing; not that there's anything wrong with that. Just not my thing, nor yours, evidently.

[redhellc]

It's typical popular shounen, really. Lots of people tend to be into that sort of thing; not that there's anything wrong with that. Just not my thing, nor yours, evidently.

Maybe, I mean I did like the visuals and battle scenes. The story was my problem, not the concept but the execution.

I mean when I heard about it maybe I was thinking more of an obscure type, and the beginning looks like it was taking a more dark tone, and then it went 360 and it just felt wrong to me. 

Edited February 5, 2013 by redhellc

[Sean]

Everyone here should read Molester Man and I'm going to talk about why it's so great.

 

It is based on a series of posts on 2ch, using pseudonyms such as Mr. Molester and Miss Understanding to mask their identities, and it's similar to Train Man in many aspects, which is about a recluse otaku who protects a girl from being harassed on a train. Except instead of the main character saving the girl from a molester, he's the one mistaken as such by her.  After a run-in with the police, he and Miss Understanding come to an agreement, and through a series of ordinary events, they befriend each other and meet up frequently. Mr. Molester develops an obvious and shallow crush on her, and it's hilarious to see just how hard he tries to be her knight in shining armor, only to fail miserably.

 

Right off the bat you'll notice that the entire manga appears to be drawn with pencil on paper. There's no digital clean-up or smooth lines anywhere to be found. Another thing is that it is told entirely through Mr. Molester's perspective. A majority of panels are taken up by his narration and inner thoughts, and just about everything that occurs in the story is a documentation of his conversations with other characters, either in person or on the phone. Occasionally he'll make some posts on 2ch talking about his situation and asking for advice. Molester Man is extremely down to earth for a romance manga; it does nothing more than let the audience get to know these characters. Despite the typical anime facial exaggerations, they feel like very real people, and the better they get to know each other, the more they seem like very close friends. The manga does a great job at making the story feel very personal without making it sentimental at all. It's just very well written.

 

But my personal favorite reason why this is a wonderfully crafted manga is that while it's told entirely through the perspective of a guy who is mistaken to be a stalker in the beginning, he's not automatically sympathetic right off the bat. In fact, the more you get to know him in the early chapters, the more you find that he's a bit of a jerk. Mr. Molester rants in his mind about how he thinks certain characters are dicks just because of his first impressions of them. He assumes Glasses is being nice in a really fake way just to get into Miss Understanding's pants, while he views Kansai as a pompous slut who thinks she's better than others. But the thing is, these characters don't actually act this way. The manga doesn't exaggerate these characters just because the main character perceives them in a certain light. It doesn't demonize them just because he does. And it shows. Mr. Molester eventually realizes that he is the one being a dick, and I don't mean via some extraordinary event that changes his opinion of them. I mean that he gets to know them simply by having normal conversations with them. As ordinary and mundane as this sounds, this is not something that fiction does a whole lot, I find. The manga allows the audience to judge the characters for themselves even while Mr. Molester is judging them his own way. We're not obligated to agree with him, and he actually acknowledges his flaws that the audience clearly sees from the get-go. And then do you finally start to root for him.

 

Molester Man is great because of how down to earth it is. It may be driven by romance, but it's more about this guy coming out of his shell and bonding with other people. You come to genuinely like him. You find yourself cheering for him in ways you wouldn't expect, and I don't mean hooking up with Miss Understanding. It may allegedly be based on a true story, but that isn't relevant to the many things this manga does right. This is a beautiful, very relatable way of writing characters in fiction.

 

Molester Man is fucking awesome. It's one of my favorite manga now. Read it.

[Remy]

I agree entirely, Molester Man is an incredible piece of work and it's kind of baffling that it's so good and it's just a doujin. I haven't read a mainstream romance manga even near this level in my entirely life, and the fact it's basically been written based on 2ch dating threads makes it even better.

The romance angle isn't even all it has going for it, it's fucking hillarious regularly, whether because of Molester's exaggerated yet totally believable and related reactions to the situations he's in, or the random shout outs to other manga (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, frequently, alongside the yaranaika guy and Aizen) are the icing on the cake.

There is not a single misstep in the entire story. And the ending was totally beautiful. Such a great manga.

My favourite character is either Glasses or Sachiko >.>

[Sami]

Fuck you guys, I'm fighting the urge to stay up all night reading this. >:U

Edited February 5, 2013 by Discoid

[Kuzu]

That name alone makes me want to read it. Also, I saw a review of SAO.....yeah, I kinda see where all of the shit is coming from.

[Sean]

> Molester Man's ending

 

 

How can such a good thing exist !! !! !!

 

It's SOOOO GOOOOOOD

[\gunther]

SAO is an example of a good premise handled horribly. Even the "good" part was flawed. It gets me so angry that it's so praised.

 

On an unrelated note, I got in a mood to rewatch Gundam Wing, and...

 

 

This doesn't look like something that would be on a hospital scanner.

 

also time to add Molester Man to my shit to read list.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Junko Enoshima

[Salamander]

Id recommend just watching the first SAO part.

 

My thoughts exactly on Sword Art Online.  Even before it ended, I was thinking that they'd have been way better off cutting the second arc and just doing the first one as a fourteen-episode series.  And I didn't even like the first half that much.

 

It's kind of sad.  While I was watching the first half I kept on thinking that it'd be way better to have a real-life element to the plotline, to look at the impact of events on people and society outside the game and investigate more of the shenanigans responsible for this mess, and to have pacing that didn't do a poor job of stretching a thin story across two years.  The ALO arc did all of this and it was awful beyond anything I could have anticipated.  Every thing they got right they made up for with sexual exploitation and lazy plotting.  I'm unsure how much of this was the fault of the anime adaptation and how much was the original author's fault, but the result was one of the few animes I've ever watched where I wish I could go back in time and ignore the whole thing (granted I'm pretty selective in my viewing; if I was less discriminating in what I tried, this would surely happen more often).  I only watched because I was hoping the ending would at least give me a satisfying payoff.  Instead the life-affirming and uplifting ending we were provided with was assurance that, yes, VRMMOs will continue to exist!  Whew, I'm sure glad they cleared that up, that's certainly what I was most concerned about through this whole thing!

 

The irony is that when I complained about the first half, people told me to keep on watching as it got better later.  NOPE.

[Silencer226]

SAO... Oh yeah that show I dropped because it started to get boring.

[Yoko/葉子]

I am considering getting back into One Piece, didn't get too far before I got bored.

 

Currently reading Mythical Detective Loki once again and looking for rom-com suggestions besides shows with moe eyes.

[\gunther]

Toradora's romantical and cute and is rather mid-tier on the uguu eyes level.

 

Welcome to the N.H.K. is apparently rly good but I have yet to watch it despite getting the dvd's for a cheap price.

[\gunther]

http://twitpic.com/c0yxx3/full

From Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited

I assume that you meant this?

 

anime AVGN and Nostalgia critic, everybody

Edited February 5, 2013 by SuperHighSchoolLevelAsshat

[Yoko/葉子]

Saw bits of NHK since Yui Makino (whom I have met) plays Misaki, wasn't my cup of tea.

 

I heard a new season of Rozen Maiden is in the works,  how doll-ightful.

[PSI Wind]

I assume that you meant this?

 

anime AVGN and Nostalgia critic, everybody

I was on my Steam browser when I posted it :B

[Sami]

SAO is an example of a good premise handled horribly. Even the "good" part was flawed. It gets me so angry that it's so praised.

It's obviously much better than that Chuunibyou moe shit from the same season durr hurr.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Discoid

[Kuzu]

Welp, finally found three new series to give a shit about:

 

 

The Monetegari seiries, because mindfuck ahoy. I only watched the first episode and I'm confused.

 

 

SAO, because I heard it was hype and hyped things turn out to be completely different. Watch episode 1, I do love how it establishes the premise. Why do I get the feeling Klein is gonna die, he just screams "SACRIFICIAL LION"

 

 

And Molester Man.....it's like watching me in my natural habitat when talking to a girl...I love it.

[Remy]

It's obviously much better than that Chuunibyou moe shit from the same season durr hurr.

Neither Chuu2 nor SAO are masterpieces but Chuu is probably the better of the two.

[\gunther]

Pre. sure he was being a bit sarcastic with how the Gaia crew luvs their SAO, aha. 

 

If Chuunibyou had a better ending, I'd love it so much more. I didn't expect them to go the route they did and it felt like any actual progress was lost. As it stands, it's just mildly recommended in my book.

[Sami]

Neither Chuu2 nor SAO are masterpieces but Chuu is probably the better of the two.

Chuunibyou wasn't the best thing ever, but the last few episodes were undeniably stellar. I definitely thoroughly enjoyed it.