What anime are you watching?

[Maokun]

Stumbled upon the second half of Bamboo Blade in the library and grabbed it in a completionist impulse. I've watched eps 14-17 and what can I say? It's still bland, poorly paced, yawn-inducingly animated and utterly forgettable. That being said, it still manages to be funny from time to time and now that the stakes have (finally!) been raised, it's a bit more compelling.

With such cartoonishly archetypal characters this series should have cranked the comedy dial until it broke to mask its many writing and pacing problems (and non-existent production values.) It worked for School Rumble.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

Watching episode 12 of Nichijou. Man this show is so funny. I think the brown haired girl has quickly become my fave character XD

[ABlipinTime]

Watched the first two episodes of Serial Experiments Lain. I'm still weirded out by it, but they finally introduced some mystery to catch my attention. However...
[spoiler]I don't know how much of this amoral culture I can take. And what's up with the spiked metal drug thing?[/spoiler]

DO IT. Travel through time with us.

Now I need to find a link.

I'm still skeptical of these anime even though I am or am considering watching them. It's about keeping an eye on tolerance levels.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

^ re:ABlip

Both of these series are good (tohugh tonally WAY different), so I'd recommend sticking with them/starting them.

Consider the amoral culture of Lain as more of a prophetic warning than an active prescription of what the creators want society to be like. The theme of the loss of personhood/dignity and traditional mores going hand in hand with the advent of new technological frontiers is a classic one in science fiction.

[softsubs]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, episodes 1-3
[snip]
...like nothing I've ever seen before and HOLY COW WHAT WAS THAT

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT

Well, I didn't see that coming. Dang.

I think that if we could, every single person that has watched Madoka would love to sit next to a first-time watcher for the three first episodes to savor these reactions.

Am I the only one who wasn't surprised by that?

Watching episode 12 of Nichijou. Man this show is so funny. I think the brown haired girl has quickly become my fave character XD

[spoiler]"B-barf! Just kidding!" XD[/spoiler]

[AngelicTotoro]

Watched Sakamichi no Apollon 5, Eureka Seven Ao 5 and Watching Moble Suit Gundam Seed, which is actually quite good. I'm loving the ost and the re-mastered version has great artwork. I do wish that it would focus more on Athrun, since he's the best character imo. Kira is pretty okay though, he does sound like sponge bob when he cries. Which is weird. xD

Also, out of the females, I love Cagalli. She's so fired up and free spirted! I also really like her voice, it's tough, yet soft.
I like most of the crew, the captain and the commander are awesome. (And they should date. <3) Most of Kira's friends are nice, I really like Miri and Sai the best though.
I hate Flay, I have only un-kind things to say about her. (I mean, yeah, she was the one who got everyone to stop being wussy and fight... But... she's so evil. 0_0)

The robot fights aren't always the greatest, but there have been some cool ones. Still, I can't help compairing it to the original Macross... and it's never cool enough. (Since SDF was insanely, wicked, awesome-sauce.)
The plot is also very weak, not that great. But since I genuinely care about most of the cast, I don't care.
I give it a 7 out of 10 so far.

Chao~

(Btw, I'm at GSeed episode 32 for those wondering.)

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I hate Flay, I have only un-kind things to say about her.

[spoiler]So do I.[/spoiler]

[AngelicTotoro]

[spoiler]And why does everyone in the show care about her so much? She's so bratty, manipulative, bigoted, and gross. When ever she was seducing Kira, I was like, 'HOW? How are you attracted to that spider?' D8[/spoiler]

[Cianter]

Well, I'm glad to no longer feel like an outcast:D I was wondering about if any other people actually watched and maybe even liked this, but I guess so, so here it is:D I LOVE GUNDAM SEED!!!!!!:D And now I am watching Gundam SEED Destiny which I equally love (please don't crucify me:?:) Granted it is pretty much a rehash of SEED except they focus more on Athrun and hardly at all on Kira and that they introduce a new Kira esc character who is just more stupid and not at all loveable like him:P But I still am loving it! I just love seeing all the characters back in action and them reflecting on the past while fighting for the future, LOVE IT:D I guess I am just not very good at judging anime since I love SEED which is pretty widely hated and then Destiny that is practically shunned lol, well, it is what it is I guess, but I still love:D

And Angelictotoro, I know it is indeed easy to hate Flay, but the reason Kira fell for her was because he had no one. He felt alone and he was in so much pain and she was the one person who could bring him a modicrum of comfort, and honestly, she was just a week person, so she dealt with her circumstances the best way she could, very sad though:(

[MangaRocks!]

Tsuritama, ep. 5.

(As usual, thoughts on it in the dedicated thread. )

[the_wolfs_howl]

Finished watching the dub of FMA: Brotherhood! That's one awesome dub right there. Everyone just shot their performances completely out of the ballpark.

I also did a random-episode-watch of The Tower of Druaga (in Japanese, covering up the subtitles so I have no idea what they were saying), and it looks interesting. If anyone's seen it, is there any content I should be aware of? It didn't look like it was the sort of show that would get too bad, but you never know.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

Finished Nichijou. Very good ending.

[Maokun]

I got started with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and I'm up to episode 8. I have mixed feelings about it. I watched up to episode 7 of the original series a couple years ago, but the library never got around securing the rest of the series (now they have got the whole Brotherhood) and I loved it and have to say that those 7 episodes compare greatly against Brotherhood's rendition -which covers more or less the same amount of story in 4 episodes.

It occurs to me that Brotherhood is too painfully aware of being a retelling of a popular -and rather recently told- story. At some places, it skims through events almost like saying "yeah, yeah, you know all that stuff already, remember? Let's get a move on," while at the same time trying way too hard to go in different ways through what little story they had to retread. I'm usually fond of in media res and non-linear narrative but that clumsy attempt of the first three episodes was as unnecessary as it was poorly planned, robbing us from the slow and sure character bonding we should have established in the beginning and leaving lots of things untold. (I hated it too when they did the same in One Piece's anime.) Also, they now seem to be adding more liberally comedy relief even in parts that I'd say that needed it very little, awkwardly breaking dramatic or exciting scenes.

Also, I hate, hate, hate that little near-death vision Ed had of the "universe/reality/god" as a sentient, humanoid being (was it shown later in the original anime, or is it at all in the manga?) Not only it makes of Ed's atheism but a childish, begrudging denial but it also works as a reverse Deus Ex Machina, revealing itself as the source of both Ed's alchemical ingenuity and the inspiration to exchange his right arm for Al's soul.That little scene made much, much cheaper the whole story.

Finally, I find extremely distracting that Ed's seiyuu is using exactly the same voice she uses for Naruto AND that the animators -either consciously or not- have given him several of Naruto's facial expressions and body language. The character design of the whole series took a slight hit, I think, though production values are generally a bit better.

All that being said, it's still a great series, mostly -I believe, because FMA is a great story and now that I'm already way beyond what I saw in the first series, I've been literally on the edge of my seat. But from time to time, the doubt assaults me... was this better told in the first series?

I understand that the first series had an original (and awful) ending. But, are we trading here better storytelling for a canonical ending? I seriously expect the answer is "no", and that my concerns are fruit of just a clumsy blunder they made in the first episodes while attempting to bring in cynical original-series-viewers.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Basically the first cour or so is really fast paced so they can power through the stuff the first anime covered before getting to the manga-only territory, which is when it returns to normal pacing and you can see why it is 1000000x better than the first anime.

This is why I usually suggest reading the manga first before watching Brotherhood, because you know the brilliant writing that is coming up.

[AngelicTotoro]

Finished Gundam Seed.

Wow, what a ride... and the plot only got a tiny bit better in the end, peaking at the final five episodes.
So, since I don't care about the plot, I won't talk about it. Instead I'll gush about romance and the characters since that's the biggest plus for me.
[spoiler]First off, Noooo! Mu!!! ;__; He's like my favorite character, after Athrun. Why did he have to go and blow up? (I was spoiler-fied in the comments for the video I was watching, so I know he lives. Which, while doesn't make much sense considering how he 'died', I have no problems with.) Still sad that I had to go through it though, I'm not ashamed to admit I cried when they 'killled' Commander La Flaga, I was also worried they were gonna kill Athrun, but they didn't. Happy dance~

My favorite couple is Mu x Murrue, So when they became an item I was thrilled that I wasn't imagining all the 'romantic' [SIZE="1"](that's what I'm calling it. >>)[/SIZE] tension between them. I was rooting for them the whole time, more so then anyone else. (Even Athrun and Cagalli, which is super cute! My 2nd couple.) I really love the idea of Dearka and Mirillia going together. =3 No offence to Miri-chan, but I hated Tolle, he was a 'tool' (Play on words, yes? xD) Dearka is way bettah. He's also my 4th favorite character, after Captain Murrue. (And I used to hate the guy!)

Also love Cagalli, still like Sai and... WOOOOT WOOOT! Flay died! YAYness! Hated her, didn't feel sorry for her. She got what she had comin'. (Gotta say, I have a feeling that if she didn't die, she would have caused problems for Lacus and Kira's relationship. Which would have sucked.) So, I'm major happy Flay is gone forever.

Also, I liked Lt Natarle in the start of the series, but she kept being such a jerk and dissing Murrue's orders. I started to dislike her, but then her death was so bad@sss; She definitely redeemed herself as a character. (She still failed to stop that nutty guy from 'bluewhatever'. )

Anyhoo, since I want to see Commander La Flaga and Captain Murrue reunite somehow... I'm thinking of watching GSD, and just skip anything I don't like/anything that doesn't have to do with Athrun, Cagalli, Mu, Murrue and Dearka. Should I try it???[/spoiler]

Good show, could have been way better if they had tried harder with the plot.
Liked the music, loved some of the characters; and of course I'm a sucker for romance.

7/10.

[acgifford]

Just finished Trigun and am attempting to finish Fullmetal Alchemist.

[GeneD]

I got started with Fullmetal Panic Brotherhood and I'm up to episode 8. I have mixed feelings about it.

Well I haven't seen Fullmetal Panic Brotherhood But as for your questions, the short answers are:

"universe/reality/god" as a sentient, humanoid being (was it shown later in the original anime, or is it at all in the manga?)

It's not in the original anime at all, but is in the manga.

But from time to time, the doubt assaults me... was this better told in the first series?

Nope.

I understand that the first series had an original (and awful) ending. But, are we trading here better storytelling for a canonical ending?

Definitely nope.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

re: FMA/Brohood

The content of the first 13-14 episodes of Brotherhood is better told in the first series, simply because Brotherhood has to essentially compress two cours worth of story into one. But, as Hat said, once you get to the fork in the road at which the plots of Brotherhood and the original diverge, Brotherhood's pacing slows down and the show goes from strength to strength all the way to the (awesome) end.

[Maokun]

Well I haven't seen Fullmetal Panic Brotherhood

Wow, what a gaffe! Anyhow, I'm up to ep 13 and it's been great. That funeral scene in ep 10 was a bit too much for me.

But as for your questions, the short answers are: It's not in the original anime at all, but is in the manga.

This is somewhat disappointing but I guess it will eventually make more sense and be fully relevant to the story

re: FMA/Brohood

The content of the first 13-14 episodes of Brotherhood is better told in the first series, simply because Brotherhood has to essentially compress two cours worth of story into one. But, as Hat said, once you get to the fork in the road at which the plots of Brotherhood and the original diverge, Brotherhood's pacing slows down and the show goes from strength to strength all the way to the (awesome) end.

This bothers me a little because they shouldn't presuppose that everyone had watched the first series. I guess it was necessary to quickly reach the fork you mention before viewers got bored thinking it will be just a remake of the first series.

By the way, you two, could you please vote in the 2004 contest?

[blkmage]

Just got around to watching the Heartcatch Precure movie (I know, it's been a while) and my goodness, after watching another Precure, it's a really stark contrast. I'm enjoying Smile Precure, but watching the Heartcatch movie and watching the characters again showed me how much Heartcatch outclasses it (and the other Precures, I'd imagine). I said something about the bar being set high for other Precures that I'd watch when I finished Heartcatch, but I didn't know by how much at the time. It's a lot.

[Davidizer13]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - up to ep. 10.

Welp.

I wasn't really feeling this show up until now, to be honest. I mean, it was good and stuff, but it wasn't really making any impact on me. But that episode, man. THAT EPISODE. Saying any more would spoil the experience; you'll know it when you see it. Trust me.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

This bothers me a little because they shouldn't presuppose that everyone had watched the first series. I guess it was necessary to quickly reach the fork you mention before viewers got bored thinking it will be just a remake of the first series.

It makes a lot more sense when you consider the fact that the first anime had Madoka-level disc sales and the manga did over a million for each book.

[blkmage]

I think the main problem with comparing the two anime is that the first anime makes early events way more important than they actually are and I think a lot of people who've read the manga forget this too, because it's been so long. So it seems like Brotherhood rushes through early events and there is a bit of that, true, but ultimately, if you compare the corresponding chapters, those early events simply didn't take up that much time. In the long run, they're not as important as they were to the first anime's story.

[Mouse2010]

I also did a random-episode-watch of The Tower of Druaga (in Japanese, covering up the subtitles so I have no idea what they were saying), and it looks interesting. If anyone's seen it, is there any content I should be aware of? It didn't look like it was the sort of show that would get too bad, but you never know.

This show is awesome. It has a serious fantasy plotline, but the real awesomeness comes from the goofy episodes, some of which were genuine comedic gold.

There is a little fanservice, including at least one bath scene that I remember, but there isn't (IIRC) any detailed nudity. There are a few sexual jokes, too, but again, not a lot of that. I'd say it is, at worst, a PG-13 series, and that would be mostly for the violence rather than sexuality. Watch the pilot: if the brief gag about the tentacle monster isn't too much for you, then you should be fine.

[Maokun]

It makes a lot more sense when you consider the fact that the first anime had Madoka-level disc sales and the manga did over a million for each book.

I think the main problem with comparing the two anime is that the first anime makes early events way more important than they actually are and I think a lot of people who've read the manga forget this too, because it's been so long. So it seems like Brotherhood rushes through early events and there is a bit of that, true, but ultimately, if you compare the corresponding chapters, those early events simply didn't take up that much time. In the long run, they're not as important as they were to the first anime's story.

Fair enough, that's comforting to know. I'm really enjoying the series now that every episode is new and fresh for me. Now, if only Ed could stop sounding and looking as Naruto, life would be perfect.

[eightluvver888]

Just finished Clannad After Story. Such a great anime, but so sad. ;.;

[Juliannesan]

Just finished Trigun and am attempting to finish Fullmetal Alchemist.

ACCC!!! it's been forever, girl! I hope you're doing well!

I'm watching Kids on a Slope, Hiiro No Kakera, Hyouka and Kimi to Boku 2.
Very wide range of a variety of shows. Like them all, but Hiiro is a little a-nerving with the obvious fan-servicey endings. Bleh. But beside that it is interesting. I'm into it because I watch all the Angelique series and Haruka series and liked them all. It's not for everyone, but I have enjoyed it.

I have to say though, Kids on a Slope, it doesn't get much better than that. Also Hyouka is proving to be veryvery likable. The main character sort of reminds me of my brother Joel when he was younger. Haha.

Kimi to Boku 2 is entertaining, but definitely not the best of this season. [spoiler] I do like that there are starting to be more romance blossoming in this season though. ^_^[/spoiler]

I'm almost finished with RomeoXJuliet, I've liked it for the most part, I'm just not as crazy about the animation style. I'm not really sure why. It's not terrible, but it's just not my favorite. But the storyline is very good.

I'm also watching Rozen Maiden, but I'm kind of having a hard time getting into it. I've watched the first 3. Let's see how far I can go.

[Vii]

Now, if only Ed could stop sounding and looking as Naruto, life would be perfect.

For sound, maybe watch the dub instead? Ed doesn't sound like Naruto at all in the dub.
As for looks...can't help ya there.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I'm also watching Rozen Maiden, but I'm kind of having a hard time getting into it. I've watched the first 3. Let's see how far I can go.

[font="Trebuchet MS"][SIZE="4"][color="RoyalBlue"]I say stick with it. It's decent and you're already 1/3 of the way through it. In for a penny, in for a pound I say. :-)

On my currently watching/watched list:

"Kids on the Slope": Episode 6 - I'm still trying to feel my way through this particular series. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like it, but I'm just trying to get a clue now as to what the story is trying to tell me][/SIZE][/font]

[Hugo Bernhardt]

I just tried out Spice and Wolf. I thought I;d really like it. Medieval setting ? check. Economics ? check.

But the first few episodes didn't really do it for me. Does it pick up ?