What are you reading/watching? AKA Anime/Manga General

[RoydGolden]

Finished Symphogear XV. What a great ending. Definitely the best season IMO. A fitting conclusion to both the themes of human connection and Hibiki x Miku relationship. "Who says my feelings can't stand up to 4000 years worth of curses?!" is a line that's going to live rent-free in my memory for a long time.

Spoilered for more in-depth thoughts

After multiple seasons of Americans being the bad guys it was nice to see a rabid Japanese nationalist in the form of Fudo being the (first-act) villain for once. Makes it clear Symphogear is really more against nationalism in general than any specific country. And Shem-Ha herself is definitely the series' most terrifying villain in raw concept. Becoming a virus parasitizing language itself is some straight Lovecraftian shit, and wonderfully perverts the theme of human connection so entrenched in this show's DNA.

For criticisms, echoing the first season, Noble Red seem a bit too evil at first for their sympathetic characterizations. And it's more glaring than Fine because they're intended to be sympathetic villains all along rather than given a last-minute tragic twist. It makes sense they'd not care for anyone outside their tight-knit bond after a lifetime being alternatively tortured and hunted down by humanity, but killing 7000 people at a concert is just way too much. It'd be one thing if it was a necessary evil to serve their goals, but there was no indication it helped them at all. There's some implication Fudo ordered the attack since traumatized Tsubasa reverted to her pre-character development "I am a sword" persona and gave a convenient way to control her with Milaarc's evil eye, but it was never clearly stated that he gave them instructions at all aside from helping steal and unlock Shem-Ha's bracelet. The concert scene was actually very well-done in conveying Tsubasa's raw anguish, but it jibes awkwardly with their sympathetic portrait.

Relatedly, the resolution of Tsubasa's dad storyline felt massively rushed at the end. Her emotional arc in ep 9 alone (being brainwashed, breaking down over how she'd succumbed, recovering and defeating the embodiment of her abusive upbringing) could've been drawn over several episodes rather than crammed into one with a million other things going on. Heck, Tsubasa barely has time to linger on the feelings of her father-figure dying in front of her and being unable to take revenge on the one responsible lest she sink to their level before an explosion goes off and we sprint right into the Shem-Ha storyline. Fudo being the disc-1 final boss made sense with this being the final season but it did leave his plotpoints feeling awkwardly underdeveloped.

Once Shem-Ha arrives properly the rest of the season was pretty much flawless however. I do feel like Maria's Airgetlam being actually Enki's arm didn't come to much despite being such an apparently major twist. I expected it to play a pivotal role in vanquishing Shem-Ha but instead it really only serves to set up some exposition scenes. But that's a quibble overall when the finale was so good.

[Deathhappens]

Noble Red were so badly written they actually made the show worse every time they appeared. Fine was powerful and sneaky, DMG+Maria were compellingly conflicted while contrasting with Dr Ver's batshit persona , Carol was a tragic figure while her Autoscorers were flashy and loveably evil, and even the Alchemists managed to at least have some chemistry between them and a believable sense of being powerful but still being cautious of the Relic Wielder crew. Noble Red did nothing but fight uneven battles and/or run away while still somehow completing their objectives every time. Their whole "us against the world" schtick went to the birds as they gleefully abused anyone that fell into their clutches, and they didn't even have the decency of dying a properly villainous death, serving as mere roadblocks for the next big bad. Shem-Ha was ten times the better villain (utterly cliche as she was) with a tenth of the screentime.
XV in general suffered primarily thanks to them, but at least it managed to hit some better peaks than the preceding AXZ with a couple nostalgia-mining scenes that absolutely fucking worked (I screamed externally when Bakken! Dainsleif started playing and the Autoscorers made their reappearance, and the live chat reaction had to be seen to be believed). In general I still hold that the show peaked at GX, with AXZ being a click below and XV not quite delivering on the hype an ending to a show loke Symphogear should have, but it was definitely an enjoyable ride to say the least. Still holding out hope for a movie.

[RoydGolden]

Noble Red were so badly written they actually made the show worse every time they appeared. Fine was powerful and sneaky, DMG+Maria were compellingly conflicted while contrasting with Dr Ver's batshit persona , Carol was a tragic figure while her Autoscorers were flashy and loveably evil, and even the Alchemists managed to at least have some chemistry between them and a believable sense of being powerful but still being cautious of the Relic Wielder crew. Noble Red did nothing but fight uneven battles and/or run away while still somehow completing their objectives every time. Their whole "us against the world" schtick went to the birds as they gleefully abused anyone that fell into their clutches, and they didn't even have the decency of dying a properly villainous death, serving as mere roadblocks for the next big bad. Shem-Ha was ten times the better villain (utterly cliche as she was) with a tenth of the screentime.
XV in general suffered primarily thanks to them, but at least it managed to hit some better peaks than the preceding AXZ with a couple nostalgia-mining scenes that absolutely fucking worked (I screamed externally when Bakken! Dainsleif started playing and the Autoscorers made their reappearance, and the live chat reaction had to be seen to be believed). In general I still hold that the show peaked at GX, with AXZ being a click below and XV not quite delivering on the hype an ending to a show loke Symphogear should have, but it was definitely an enjoyable ride to say the least. Still holding out hope for a movie.

I actually thought their writing was mostly fine, just needed to dial it back a few times. I'm fine with them attacking civilians or using them as hostages to escape or get the Gear crew to let their guard down, that's ruthless but consistent with a "we have to do whatever to survive" characterization. But the concert massacre felt totally pointless for accomplishing their goals so it came off more as Milaarc just being sadistic.

My personal score (ahem) for the series would be XV, GX, AKZ, Symphogear and G. G was the weakest season for me since despite an increase in animation budget (honestly I didn't notice the animation in S1 being so lacking criticisms notwithstanding) it suffered from the villains' goals being almost entirely incomprehensible for most of the run, and Miku being overall shafted compared to how large a role she got in the end.

[Deathhappens]

For me it'd be something like GX, G (objectively better written than GX but less batshit crazy), Symphogear, XV, AXZ. Not that AXZ was that bad, it was just bland for most of its run. Formulaic, by the book. Only Adam shook things up a bit and then not by much.

[RoydGolden]

For me it'd be something like GX, G (objectively better written than GX but less batshit crazy), Symphogear, XV, AXZ. Not that AXZ was that bad, it was just bland for most of its run. Formulaic, by the book. Only Adam shook things up a bit and then not by much.

AKZ did have one of the sweetest HibiMiku moments in the latter reminiscing on how Hibiki snapped her out of her overcompetitive mentality in the track team. "That's when I realized I didn't want to run ahead of someone, but walk side by side with them forever," is another line that'll stick with me.

- - - Updated - - -

AKZ's main draw at first was exploring Chris' past and the novelty of having a Symphogear season set in a South-American warzone. But it quickly dropped that to go back to Japan for a more typical plotline. Makes me wonder how the season would've worked if they'd spent more time in Val Verde, contrasting the grittiness of a wartorn country with the heroines' natural idealism. But to work that'd probably need to have taken place earlier in the series, since by the level Hibiki's crew were at it'd take way more than some Noise wielded by third-world dictators to seriously challenge them.

[bassgs435]

My rating for the seasons'd go XV>G>S1>AXZ>GX. I heavily dislike the Hibiki dad stuff in GX and Hibiki's characterization in the early episodes

[TomPen94]

Watched Tenki no Ko.
I had mostly a good time but I don't rly know how to take that ending. I kinda feel like nothing got solved. And why are ppl still even trying to live in Tokyo?
The Kimi no Na wa parallels are also in full force and they walk the line between tasteful fanservice and just... outright copying scenes (the RADWIMPS montages in particular were rather egregious)
Backgrounds are beautiful, as always, and the rain effects were stunning.
My favorite scene was the one in the hotel room. Very emotional and well done.

Ngl tho I'm kinda disappointed. I liked Kimi no Na wa a lot and I heard really good things about Suzume, so I expected this to hit me similarly hard but it turned out to be kind of a dud in comparison.
Still looking forward to Suzume, whenever that becomes avilable for me. Its theatrical run in Portugal was very limited so I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters. Gotta wait for that home release.

[pinetree]

Tenki no Ko is pretty forgettable but I'll add onto the Suzume praise you've heard. Great movie.

[Mattias]

Visually I loved Suzume, but I felt that the story was kind of muddled at points. Mostly involving the mascot character.

[bassgs435]

Uchuu no Stellvia
Pretty good sci-fi show. I liked the scalation of the story , the characters and their development and the drama was done well. The setting's also very interesting. Good stuff

[Nikiri]

Scrapped Princess was quite interesting and fun to watch.

MC is running away with 2 siblings because she is supposed to destroy the world at age of 16 foretold by prophecy.
The theme of travelling to different places, meeting people, dealing with stuff is one which I really like and for the first half it's about that.
It changes afterwards because the plot has to reveal what's scrapped princess really is and go slowly towards the finale.

Very nice.

[Deathhappens]

Restarted and finally finished Urami, Koi, Uramikoi. It didn't quite deliver the promise of the early chapters, but it was still a lovely source of moefaces. Pretty bittersweet feeling to finally finish something I started reading years and years ago. Maybe I ough to dig up more of my old reading list.

[TomPen94]

Watched Tomo-chan with a couple friends.
Had a fucking blast. The show is hilarious and the punchlines were fukkin genius.
Laughed the whole way through.

Plus the MV for the full OP song just added so much:

[Laserman]

Bleach Episode 360:
After Chad and Orihime arrived to help Tsukishima, when he and Ichigo were alone, he told Ichigo about the true power of his Fullbring, Book of the End. It allows him to insert himself into the past of the victim, like a bookmark sliding into the pages of a book.

While that was happening, Ginjo was dealing with the other Fullbringers, which included Shishigawara and his Fullbring, Jackpot Knuckle. Anytime he hits something with his Fullbring, he can hit the jackpot and have something unfortunate happen to said thing. Just from hitting a chandelier with a nail using his Fullbring made it fall down, and when he hit Ginjo's sword, a piece of the guard fell off.

When Ichigo was caught off guard by a sneak attack from Tsukishima, Ginjo stepped in and took the hit for him instead.

Before he could fall down from the height they were at, Ichigo saved him and Ginjo told him that Tsukishima's Fullbring still hasn't affected him yet though, so they have to defeat him before it does together.

That's when Uryu shows up and tells Ichigo to come over to him with his bow drawn.
At this point, Ichigo doesn't know who to trust and since he was cut by Tsukishima's Book of the End, he thinks that Uryu has been affected by it as well.
It isn't until Uryu shouts that the one who attacked him was Ginjo, that the truth is revealed.
Ginjo had Tsukishima cut him with Book of the End so he would think of Tsukishima as an enemy. So when he cut Ginjo again, he went back to normal.
Showing his true colors, he attacked Ichigo from behind and Tsukishima attacks Uryu.

I had totally forgotten about Ginjo being the one who attacked Uryu in the first place, so I was surprised by that.
The next episode is going to be so cool.

[Mattias]

Not quite anime, but close enough: I binged the new Live Action One Piece this week. 8 40-ish minute episodes to get to the end of Arlong. It's really strange that of all the attempts to make Hollywood anime with big names and bigger budgets, the one that succeeds best is the one that went for small time actors. It really manages to ride the line One Piece loves between goofy as hell and depressingly dark. I really hope they keep making this because at this pace, the next season will be Alabasta which means Robin and Chopper. Though I do wonder if they've though ahead enough to shoot scenes with Young Luffy while they can, because by the time they get around to Sabo or Ace flashbacks the kid will be way older.

Not anime at all, but I also watched a bunch of Star Trek: Lower Decks. It started off kind of rough, in the way a bunch of older skewing cartoons do. Trying to be Rick and Morty-ish, with lots of pointless violence and projectile vomit (why is it always vomit?). But a few episodes in the show really hits it's stride as both a parody of Star Trek and a homage at the same time. It's really refreshing to see an adult oriented cartoon that's not soaked in nihlism or depression.

[Nikiri]

probably said this somewhere already, but my adventure with anime technically started with love hina, which I watched because of love hina dating sim thing

well, there was also another dating sim, dna²...


So I finished watching DNA², surprisingly it was much better than I anticipated (maybe keeping expectations low helped a lot). The ending didn't completely satisfy me, otoh I have no idea what other ending would be fitting. Maybe I wanted epilogue or something.


what can i say, don't judge anime by fanmade flash games

and gosh, the l'arc en ciel opening song is so goood, i think i will add all animes that has l'arc en ciel op/ed to my backlog

[Nikiri]

Yesteday binged Anohana and today I watched the Anohana movie, I don't think I ever watched a whole series in one day and now I'm honestly slightly regretting it, it kinda deserves to be savoured slowly (which I almost always do).

A nice 'feels' anime. Movie was a nice addition, a mix of epilogue and recap.

[Laserman]

Bleach Episode 361: As it turned out, Tsukishima used Book of the End on Ginjo right after they attacked Uryu, they didn't even bother leaving the scene!
Ginjo only cut Uryu differently to give Ichigo a little chance to notice something was wrong, like it was a game. All of their actions were meant to get Ichigo to seek out Xcution's help, so they could steal the Fullbring he would eventually develop trying to regain them.

The scene with Ichigo crying out in the rain with his powers taken from him again, to see him like that...




But the best part was easily this, him getting his Soul Reaper powers back the same way he first got them.
What's ever left of his Fullbring fused with them, giving him the new appearance and made him even stronger than before, which was ironically what Ginjo said would happen with his Fullbring.

A simple swing of his sword was enough to make Ginjo think he used Getsuga Tensho, but the actual thing was powerful enough to destroy the dumb mansion.
I remembered the roof being blown off I think, but he practically erased it in the anime lol.

[TomPen94]

Watched Suzume.

This was a marked improvement over Tenki no Ko. It pulled from Shinkai's previous work in all the right ways, and didn't fall lean much into it to the point of replaying scenes.
My favorite scene is the one between Suzume and Tamaki by the car. I tend to be a sucker for when stories tackle foster relationships and especially when they don't hide the ugliest side of them even with an earned positive outcome. I do have questions about why Sadaijin would make Tamaki say shit that vile when its intent was to help Suzume, but up until that point the confrontation was entirely on the two of them venting their frustrations regarding their personal circumstances and how those were putting a strain on their relationship. It felt very real.
I also actually jumped in my seat when they were almost run over by that truck. You could see it coming in the background and that sense of anxiety you get when you see an accident coming irl but don't have enough time to do anything about it was perfectly invoked here.
Also how the fuck did Shinkai stuff so much movie into two hours?


Thoroughly enjoyed it. Rly wish I could've seen it in theaters. I think I would've loved the experience.

[Nanaya]

I found myself saying "Fuck this cat" upgraded to "Fuck these cats" almost as much as when Neco Arc was summoning.