Official Anime/Manga Thread

[ElectricAngel]

Expelled from Paradise is getting dubbed for July by Aniplex.

Hype

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhcfGtJSBBo

I didn't bother looking at that trailer until now but.. woah. That looks like a very interesting series. And it's all CGI? Huh. The animation isn't the smoothest, but I still like the style. I'm intrigued. Also, is that Wendee Lee I hear as the blonde haired girl? I haven't heard any performance of hers since the English dub of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It's kinda nostalgic hearing her do voice work for anime again...

[#AR]

Watched the first two episodes of Blood Blockade Battlefront today and so far it shows promise. The setting and background look pretty interesting and I'm hoping for some cool shit to go down later with all the Alterworld stuff. The cast seems pretty cool, and the main group work off each other pretty well, causing for some enjoyable chemistry. This was one of the anime I was looking forward to watching the most and I'm not disappointed so far. Hope the quality remains consistent. Also, going off the setting (basically Post-Apocalyptic New York City), I reaaally hope Funimation broadcast dubs this one.

 

On another note, the ending song is awesome.

[PSI Wind]

Last night I watched the first episode of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan. And, as a fan of the original series this spin-off is based on, I was a tad iffy about watching it. In fact, I had to force myself to watch it. But! I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought. The first thing that stuck out were the character designs. I was put off by them at first but as the episode went on, I found myself liking them more than the original ones. Seriously, I went back to watch an episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and was like "Woah... those eyes are humongous. Kinda.. gross even." I even liked how they had "chibi" moments in the show. It really made it a lot more fun to watch!

 

 

The plot so far is rather.. non-existent. I mean, it's playing out as a normal slice of life show. Though since this is still a Haruhi Suzumiya series, I hope there will be some sort of action or mystery going on. Heck, Haruhi is in the show. She just made a one second appearance but I can assume she'll become a part of the crew sooner or later.

 

 

Character interactions were also really well done and every character was still like their normal counterparts aside from Yuki (obviously because this is a "what if.." about her). And really, the writing style actually surprised me because it felt like something Nagaru Tanigawa wrote. And if I'm not mistaken, this spin-off was originally written by someone completely different (part of the reason I didn't want to read it in the first place). Kyon is still the best character in my eyes. All his reactions and thoughts are exactly what you'd expect of Kyon. He's just the average Joe that doesn't want to cause trouble or get into nasty shenanigans. And the new art style really emphasizes on that with his reactions.

 

 

With that said, this is yet another anime I will be following this season. I expect some great stuff to be delivered by this show and I hope it doesn't disappoint. If anyone is a fan of the original Haruhi Suzumiya series and is on the fence, I'd say give the first episode a go. As I had previously mentioned, I was iffy about it when I saw the promotional art and heard the concept but I'm now rather enjoying it. So yeah, don't knock it 'till you've tried it.

It sounds great, but I'm honestly just going to wait until we get the dub. To me, Crispin Freeman IS Kyon. All the characters in English sound amazing actually, but Crispin...oh man, he just steals the show.

[Yoko/葉子]

I saw the first episode of Rahxephon a few months ago and I must say..., a super robot show with a musical theme? Sounds artistic to say the least! Oh, and it has Maaya Sakamoto as the mysterious female protagonist, Reika.

 

Has anyone read the manga called Sickness Unto Death?

[Candescence]

Well, the second half of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is off to a good start, the latest episode is a surprising expansion on the original material, elaborating on events that obviously were inferred in the visual novel but never elaborated on.

 

(Note: For some reason, the spoiler tags are being a bitch, so I had to clump everything into a single paragraph.)

 

Holy crap, Caster's original master was an asshole and an idiot. Note that the original VN didn't even bother to describe him in any notable fashion. Surprisingly, he is actually tech-savvy for a mage. Note that Nasuverse mages, in general, are stubbornly technology-illiterate, Rin included. Kirei even complained about the lack of a fax machine in Tokiomi's mansion in Fate/Zero. And Shinji getting tossed out of the sky and then confronted by Sella and Leysritt was fucking hilarious. Less so was Gilgamesh in action. Sella and Leysritt's deaths were just brutal, but I suppose it would've made sense for them to have fought Gil first and died trying. Now, for Gilgamesh Vs. Berserker...! Of course, if you're remotely aware of who Gil is, you know this won't end well.

[Solkia]

I don't know why I had hopes for the Quincy Blood War arc.

 

What bullshit. I'm glad Bleach is finally ending.

[Kuzu]

I don't know why I had hopes for the Quincy Blood War arc.

 

What bullshit. I'm glad Bleach is finally ending.

[goku262002]

I don't know why I had hopes for the Quincy Blood War arc.

 

What bullshit. I'm glad Bleach is finally ending.

[Solkia]

Care to explain?

 

Spoilers

 

-Uryu's betrayal motive is  flat out laughable, his entire character development throughout the entire series was learning to trust Shinigami like his grandfather wanted. Either Ywach has a leash on him which is not readily apparent and will have a drawn out exposition-type explanation in future chapters or Kubo is drunk.

 

-I think the "Right arm of the soul king" shit speaks for itself. That is more offensive than any asspull the Aizen arc had to offer.

 

-More "THIS ISN'T EVEN THE EXTENT OF MY POWER" writing

 

-I really hope there's an actual good reason for letting the most dangerous criminal they have in captivity free to join the battle that we spent about 200 chapters trying to defeat beyond shock value.

 

-Ichigo kills the soul king because he has Ywach's blood? Is this the fucking Wandenreich or the Black Arms?

 

This arc is a mess. I can't believe the kind of shitty writing I'm seeing.

[Eitarou]

But wait! There's more!

 

Chad and Orihime continue to be useless. Remember when they were main characters? I don't! Kubo doesn't, either. Remember how the Fullbringer arc explained retconned their powers (a third time!) and it went ABSOLUTELY nowhere?

 

The Court Squads continue to hog all the action while simultaneously doing nothing of importance. Just get to the goddamn palace already.

 

Why has Grimmjow done nothing? Why does Nel continue to exist but have no reason TO exist? Where are the Fullbringers? Ganju was with them, and they haven't shown up. Speaking of Ganju: why. Why bring him back after all this time and he's done nothing of importance since.

 

The Sternritter are boring and poorly designed. Bazz-B is literally just Ikkaku with a mohawk. Gremmy is godawful. I'm pretty goddamn sure Giselle's entire character is transphobic, so good on ya, Noriaki Kubo. Good on ya. Askin Nakk Le Vaar is the stupidest thing ever. Only beaten by Nianzol.

 

The few interesting ones are dead. RIP Mask de Masculine.

 

Aizen coming back is actually a saving grace. Hopefully his trolling tactics can bring some stupid fun to the pile of just stupi-and nope. Couldn't even do that, eh, Kubo?

 

I only read Bleach to watch it fizzle into obscurity. Even Naruto had entertaining fights before Kaguya came and ruined everything.

[Kuzu]

Spoilers

 

-Uryu's betrayal motive is  flat out laughable, his entire character development throughout the entire series was learning to trust Shinigami like his grandfather wanted. Either Ywach has a leash on him which is not readily apparent and will have a drawn out exposition-type explanation in future chapters or Kubo is drunk.

 

 

[Chaos Warp]

Right, I've been busy for a while so I feel like posting about what I've been watching. I've been watching Unlimited Budget Works, Jojo Stardust Crusaders, (both of which are really good) and Seraph of The End, which is pretty much a by the books shonen/AoT ripoff but it at least looks nice and sounds really nice (thanks Hiroyuki Sawano) and executes it's by the books story well enough for me to gain some enjoyment from the show. I'm also watching Arslan Senki which is pretty good so far, if utterly low budget, and Ninja Slayer From Animation, which I don't know what to think of yet (out of all the things I was expecting Inferno Cop 2 was not it...). Toonami's got me watching Shit Taste Online 2, which hasn't dropped to the low of Part 2 of Season 1 yet so I guess that's something, but the 2 shows I really wanted to highlight were Blood Blockade Battlefront and Ghost In The Shell, Stand Alone Complex.

 

 

Blood Blockade Battlefront is a currently airing show in which the source manga was written by the guy who wrote Trigun, is being animated by Bones, and is directed by Rie Matsumoto, the person who directed what several consider a hidden gem, Kyousougiga. So there's a lot of good talent behind this and so far it really shows. The show kind of feels like the lovechild of Baccano, Kill la Kill, and Deadman Wonderland, and that's not at all a bad combo, it's really fun, cool, and stylized. The plot is compelling so far and the world is really cool, and there's been some really good action at times too. Add on some really cool jazz OST pieces, a good opening and without question the best ending theme of the season (http://sirknightart.tumblr.com/post/116188626394/kekkai-sensen-episode-2-ending), and IMO we have a contender for AOTS and possibly a Death Parade competitor in terms of just being that good (provided they use enough of the potential the show has) I don't wanna spoil much so I just say go watch it yourself, you won't regret it.

 

 

I'm sure a lot of people here know about Stand Alone Complex and the Ghost In The Shell franchise in general, but I only finished this show yesterday and I have to say it was really good. They really expect you to pay attention to every line of dialogue and detail in this show, and for you to generally watch with your thinking brain turned on, or else you won't get what's happening. This can make it a taxing show to watch, but on the flip side of the coin very rewarding once things click in your head. It's a very intelligent series. It has a really good soundtrack (as expected from the composer Yoko Kanno). The way the plot came together in the Complex episodes (the episodes centered around the overarching plot of the show, basically) was really cool, but overall I think I enjoyed the Stand Alone episodes (title is self explanatory: they're stand alone stories) a bit more because they were generally easier for me to digest (because potentially confusing things are resolved within one episode rather then over a bunch), and for the most part they contain really strong stand alone stories, my favorites being Episode 2, Episode 10, Episode 15, Episode 7, Episode 13, and Episode 16, but they're all really good for the most part. I guess my only complaint would be that the show's art style is inconsistent. You can tell different episodes had different animation directors and let's just say not all the styles made the characters look their best. I also wish the Major wore pants more often, but that's a really minor thing (her outfit is no Yoko tier stripper uniform and she's a badass, smart leader for Section 9 to counter it). Other then that, I loved it. Can't wait to start 2nd Gig soon, and I'm now interested in other entries of the franchise such as the original movie, it's sequel, and GITS: Arise. 

 

Also, Batou is the best character.

 

 

How can you not love that smile? 

[Sami]

I need to get around to watching Paranoia Agent at some point. Satoshi Kon was a genius. LOVED Paprika.

 

[Mania Pipe]

I need to get around to watching Paranoia Agent at some point. Satoshi Kon was a genius. LOVED Paprika.

 

 

Paranoia Agent was such a fucking weird show when I first saw it back in 2006, but it was still an absolutely amazing anime. I alslo love Susumu Hirasawa's musical works.

 

I've taken some time to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V:

It's currently running right now, but so far it's actually a really great show. I've been really enjoying the characters, story and battles for this show. I am seriously looking forward to the Synchro Dimension arc.

[goku262002]

How many years into the future is this one now since Zexal?

Its gotten pretty redicious at this point, then again anything after GX has been rediculious.

[Tori Himemiya]

I've taken some time to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V:

It's currently running right now, but so far it's actually a really great show. I've been really enjoying the characters, story and battles for this show. I am seriously looking forward to the Synchro Dimension arc.

Dood your a bro! Synchro Dimension Bros that is! I'm loving Arc V, especially with current events.

 

How many years into the future is this one now since Zexal?

Its gotten pretty redicious at this point, then again anything after GX has been rediculious.

Well its implied that everything happened in alternated universes.

Yuto and Shun has mentioned Heartland has been wrecked by the Fusion Dimension which are implied to be in the GX universe. Oh and we know next to nothing about the Synchro Dimension outside Yugo being from it and Jack Atlas is returning who looks slightly different from when 5Ds ended.

Yeah its complicated I know.

[goku262002]

GX is the same universe as original still right? or did they retcon that?

[Tori Himemiya]

It /should/ be but I don't get what they mean by "Standard Dimension" though.

[Solkia]

I'm fairly certain GX takes place in the same universe as Duelists

 

The school they all go to was made by the Kaiba Corporation and Yami makes some appearances. (at least in the shitty dub, don't know about the japanese version)

[Eitarou]

I'm pretty sure it's some alternate version where the previous four series are in alternate univeraes.

We know

Jack Atlas

is showing up soon, and wasn't Fusion used once in that series? I hear it was.

And no, that was regular Yugi. Atem's dead at that point. Jaden even duels Yugi in the last few episodes. Kaiba and Pegasus show up, too. Pegasus is just lucky he didn't die like in the manga.

Sora is best Arc-V character. Fusion was always my favorite summoning method. Down with XYZ scum.

[Gabz Girl]

 

New trailer with English subs for Bakemono no Ko aka The Boy and the Beast. Looks like it's going to be another solid Mamoru Hosoda film!

 

Also, a pig and a monkey? Journey to the West reference there?

[goku262002]

I'm fairly certain GX takes place in the same universe as Duelists

 

The school they all go to was made by the Kaiba Corporation and Yami makes some appearances. (at least in the shitty dub, don't know about the japanese version)

[Solkia]

Duelists? is that what the original universe is called?

I figured but then again I wasn't sure with all this alt. universe stuff going on, I thought that originally these series's were 100 years apart of eachother save for GX.

[Eitarou]

Sasuke is an asshole deadbeat dad? Wh-what?! That's totally surprising, with him betraying his village, treating his friends like garbage, and outright stating he didn't love Sakura only to later impregnate her for some reason.

 

I really hope that if/when Sarada confronts Sasuke about his shitty parenting, this is his response.

 

[Yoko/葉子]

Considering that I stopped watching Naruto before Shippuden, just how much of a jerk does Sasuke become? Does he ever lighten up or does he remain a killjoy?