Spring 2012 Anime -- What'cha watching?

[Antisocial]

Irrelevant trivia I'm dropping on you guys because I'm bored.

(lul Auto Correct recognizes animus)

Animus means a strong dislike; an animosity. It can also refer to the masculine aspect present in women, according to Carl Jung.

[Rainbow Dash]

It's also an asscreed thing

[Ace Mercury]

Nazo no Kanojo X - First Impressions

Just watched the first episode of Mysterious Girl X. The theme of awkward teenage love is front and centre right from the first scene: an erotically-charged scene of a butterfly pollinating a flower, dripping with a viscous liquid. Subtle?



So, Mystery Girl. She looks like this most of the time. It's established early on that she's a weirdo; the transfer student no one knows anything about. She rarely says anything and sleeps all of time time. She drools when she sleeps, which becomes an important plot point.

The other half is the lame male protagonist. He has this sort of cluelessness about everything that makes you cringe. So far not a very fleshed out character, though in the background of his room, you can see that he's into sci-fi.

[spoiler]The first episode ends with the two in a committed relationship. The preview for the next episode shows off Mytery Girl's scissor skills, which looks pretty damn awesome.[/spoiler]

[ Edit: wanted to mention that I'm watching subs by SubDESU. Average quality, I guess? The first few lines in the beginning seemed a bit off, but the rest of the episode read quite fine. There's a spot in the middle where they used "she" instead of a gender neutral word which kinda spoiled a surprise, but whatever. ]

[Ace Mercury]

Upotte! - First Impressions

I think this screenshot sums up Upotte very well:


Middle school/high school girls anime. Lots of fan-service in this one; for example, the FNC shown here fantasizes about the teacher "pulling her trigger". It's also chock full of assault rifles; each of the characters is an anthropomorphic gun (like the L85A1, there's also an M16A4, etc.). They also use the same model of gun for shooting at stuff, so they're guns who shoot guns... I try not to think about that too much.

Anyways, it's the intro episode where they go over each of the characters with stupid rifle puns and what not. Favourite scene: the new teacher walking through the hallway riddled with bullet holes, with signs like "No shooting in the hallway!", "Keep chamber empty in the classroom", and "Keep your safety on at all times!".

Looks like they're going to be more action/shooting battles in the next episode, so I'm going to stick to this show a bit and see what magical places it takes me.

[ Edit: watching the subs by HorribleSubs, which I think is a CR rip. Translation seems good, but maybe it a bit too literal and could use more localization. ]

[Antisocial]

Is nothing sacred?

Man, Japan sure loves turning inanimate objects into cute animu girls.

[Ace Mercury]

Thomas the Tank Engine doesn't count.

Is there one where everyone is a train? I'd think that would be killer with the trainspotters.

Seriously. Trains don't interest me personally, but there are people who are crazy into that.

[Apollo the Just]

so what you are really trying to say is

"NONSTOP ORIGINALITY, QUALITY, AND DEPTH. MUST WATCH"

[X-3]

Man, Japan sure loves turning inanimate objects into cute animu girls.

Funny you should say that. A show about a moe version of Nyarlathotep that fights aliens that traffic humans is airing this season. It's entertaining if only because of how strange the premise is and how, with every second I wonder, "what would Lovecraft think of this?"

[Kil'jaeden]

The only current anime I care much about is Fate/Zero. But, some interesting things I have picked up are Uchuu Kyoudai, the second part of Kore wa Zombie Desuka, Sankarea, and an episode of Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (not sure what it is even about). I have also been watching Mirai Nikki since the beginning, and that will end in a few days. I also have a massive pile of things I have on DVD and otherwise I still need to watch.

Other things I got through recently (that have come out this year)..... Another (a horror anime based on a book, it was decent), Nisemonogatari (you should know this one if you watched Bakemonogatari), Hotarubi no Mori e (a 45 minute one shot). Of those, I still have Ano Natsu, Rinne no Lagrange, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, Ben to, and Chihayafuru that I want to finish.

Ace Mercury, judging by what I have seen from you over a long period of time, I think you would like Hotarubi no Mori e, assuming you have not already seen it.

[Apollo the Just]

^ Speaking of Fate/Zero, have you read (played?) the visual novel associated with it? Evidently, one spoils the other, but they also both complete each other... or something. Like knowing what happens in one reveals what will happen to some characters in the other.

I haven't seen either, but I just had to ask. I really like the way they allegedly play on one another.

[X-3]

F/Z is the prequel to Fate/stay night made years later and watching it basically spoils most of FSN's twists. It's more 'worth' it to read FSN first.

Speaking of F/Z, Kiritsugu shames everyone else with his competence. This is what everyone does in episode 14 of Fate/zero: (kinda big spoilers here)

[spoiler]Saber and Rider: can't kill giant tentacle monster
Lancer: watches them fight giant tentacle monster
Gilgamesh and Berseker: best dogfight ever
Tokiomi and Kariya: great example of miscommunication
Kotomine: watching miscommunication
Kiritsugu: assassinates Ryuunosuke, thereby cutting off Caster's prana supply
Kayneth: still crippled[/spoiler]

[Apollo the Just]

^ thank'd for recommended order of viewing

--

back to animu, I'm still not really keen on starting any new ones I see this season. Nothing really jumps out to me as a keeper. Besides, my sister has been bugging me to watch Beast Player Erin, so I guess I need to do that

[Kil'jaeden]

^ Speaking of Fate/Zero, have you read (played?) the visual novel associated with it? Evidently, one spoils the other, but they also both complete each other... or something. Like knowing what happens in one reveals what will happen to some characters in the other.

I haven't seen either, but I just had to ask. I really like the way they allegedly play on one another.

I have read Fate/Stay Night. It actually has 3 routes that are mutually exclusive. I would recommend reading it before Fate/Zero (or at least watching the anime version), but not becaue of spoilers. Most of the background for why things are happening in Fate/Zero is given in Fate/Stay Night (and yet the reason why things happen in Fate/Stay Night is given in in Zero). Why are they having this grail war, what is this all about etc. Sure, it will tell you how Fate/Zero must end, but the whole point of the prequel is to see how it got to point A. But, it is a good story in its own right, I like it more than Fate/Stay Night. I guess, in general, if you do watch Zero first, try to be well versed in Type Moon terminology, or you will not get much of what is going on.

^^ Kiritsugu is the most competent protagonist of anything. He has the ruthlessness to exploit anything and everything needed to win,and if you have read the novel, you would know what I might be referring to. The only person that is a match for him is Kotomine.

[Ace Mercury]

Natsuiro Kiseki - First Impressions

Ace Mercury, judging by what I have seen from you over a long period of time, I think you would like Hotarubi no Mori e, assuming you have not already seen it.

It's a movie, right? Judging by the description I just read on Wikipedia, it sounds cool. I'll put that on the "big pile of things to watch".

---

Just watched the first episode of Summer-coloured Miracle.



This is the big miracle rock that's the at the centre of the plot. If four close friends wish for the same thing, their wish gets granted. Two of the four friends in this case are having a big fight, and one is moving towns, right at the beginning of summer vacation.

Seems kinda boring so far. I'd probably get a lot more out of it if I knew the idol group the voice actors are in. As it's just the first episode, I don't really have much invested in the characters. ¯\(º o)/¯

[Kil'jaeden]

There is now a show about necromancy and zombie fetishes (with some other stuff too probably). Of all fetishes, zombies are definitely niche, so I guess it needed to be done.

[Ace Mercury]

There's actually at least two of them now:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?sh ... e&aid=8642
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?sh ... e&aid=7674

Don't know much about them aside from the zombie thing.

[X-3]

Korean Zombie Deskcar is decent when it doesn't try to be serious.

F/Z 16: Wow, that was a harsh episode.
[spoiler]Diarmuid was probably my favorite servant. He was a chill guy. Mad wizard attacking your forest-mansion? He'll help you out. Need to go to town on a tentacle monster? He'll break his noble phantasm. Just make sure to have an honorable duel with him sometime.[/spoiler]

[1-up Salesman]

I've started watching The Big O.

[Kil'jaeden]

There's actually at least two of them now:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?sh ... e&aid=8642
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?sh ... e&aid=7674

Don't know much about them aside from the zombie thing.

Only Sankarea is about a zombie fetish though. Kore wa Zombie desuka (Is this a Zombie?) is more along the lines of magical girls (that insist they are not magical girls) fighting various supernatural creatures, and the main character is undead. It doesn't really try to make much sense.

Since we have people talking about Fate/Zero, has anyone read the novels? They have fan translations. I read the novels months before the anime was announced, and I was excited when I heard it was going to be adapted. Still, it is not as fun now knowing everything that is going to happen. So far, the anime has followed them closely. It's actually better, because the translations are understandable, but sometimes awkwardly wordy.

For that matter, any Type Moon fans around here?