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

[bassgs435]

Finished L-Gaim. Pretty good war real robot show. Plot is interesting. Characters are decent. Good animation and I love the mecha designs here.

[Skull]

A few days ago I was reminiscing about "Jojo: Phantom Blood" and thinking about how cool the rugby match at the start of that manga was when adapted into the anime and scoffed at the idea of there ever being a rugby anime...



So, I just got back from binge watching "All Out!!" over a couple of days. I don't typically watch that many sports anime as I find a lot of them a bit same-y but funnily enough, the anime that reminds me the most of this one would be "Hibike! Euphonium" with a high school freshman joining the large ensemble of characters in a club and the new coach who pushes them hard. I would say that the most contentious part of the show would be the main character himself Gion (although you can argue that he's really just the Ishmael to Sekizan's Ahab), he plays practically every shonen cliché straight to where he's Naruto but wants to be a great rugby player instead of being the Hokage - though I did like that the author subverted expectations somewhat by turning his unique skill into a crutch that gets him benched for about a dozen episodes because he thinks he can solve his problems by "just tackle harder!" The rest of the cast is great and although I would struggle to remember more than a handful of their names, their faces are burned in my mind due to their fun dynamics and several having interesting backstories. Madhouse did a really good job when it came to adapting as the matches look good and you really feel the weight of the characters slamming into one another.

All in all, one of the best anime I've seen in a long time. Definitely would recommend and it physically hurt me when I reached the last episode and saw there was no more. Madhouse really need to make a season 2 or I will riot. (Although I would recommend subbed as I'm not a huge fan of the dub.)

[Mattias]

I tried to watch All Out back when it aired, but it just couldn't hold my interest. Mostly because tall boy just felt so bland. What I actually remember most is humming the pillar man theme to myself every time the senpais were on screen.


Still beat out Try Knights by a mile though. I couldn't even get through the first episode of that one.

And the Hockey anime this season is pretty bad too. Guess I'm doomed to never find a sports anime I connect with that I actually play. But toss some ballroom dancing one out and I'm hooked.

[Skull]

I tried to watch All Out back when it aired, but it just couldn't hold my interest. Mostly because tall boy just felt so bland. What I actually remember most is humming the pillar man theme to myself every time the senpais were on screen.

It's funny that you should mention the Pillar Men actually as I couldn't help but think that Zanba was auditioning for a part in Jojo with all his random posing, only to walk into the wrong franchise.

Strike a pose

Although speaking of the soundtrack, it reminded me personally more of Naruto what with all the vocal grunting and guitar bits when something epic is happening.

[Rafflesiac]

Someone please save Aqua from himself, this ain't it ;_;

[Five_X]

Someone please save Aqua from himself, this ain't it ;_;

Director: "there's only one option... suffering."

Aqua: "wait that's it?"

Director: "that was just me being dramatic, $130/session can get you a good therapist who can work with your schedule"

[Rafflesiac]

Aqua: "god i'm such a shitty hack"
Also Aqua: flawlessly fools a licensed therapist

[Five_X]

Local man can't keep getting away with it

[Laserman]

I watched Digimon Tri: Coexistence last weekend.

Spoiler:

The movie starts right where it left off with Gennai threatening to kill Meiko if Meicoomon doesn't Digivolve. When gets what he wants he lets her go and watches as Meicrackmon opens several portals to the real world and has a lot of Digimon just go inside of them, with it following soon after it tried to attack Meiko.

It then shows the past with Meicoomon going off on her own and then it shows bird feathers flying. And then when after Meiko finds her and she goes to give Meicoomon a bath, her mother finds the shirt she wore when she found Meicoomon had prints with blood on them. Her father decides to run more tests on Meicoomon after but Meicoomon went berserk and wrecked the lab.

Hackmon shows up as a messenger to Homeostasis again to say to Mr.Nishijima and Meiko's father that Meicoomon has to be destroyed and the cause for her being the way she is Apocalymon's data being inside of her.
King Drasil wants to use Meicoomon to destroy the world, and that Meiko being around her was the only thing keeping her check. Now that they're separated, and Meicoomon's like that now, they don't have a choice. And now the whole government is involved and he didn't tell them because it wouldn't make a difference.

Her father even notes that Meicoomon only really turned violent when Meiko left her to go to school or something like that.


One of the very last enemies they faced in the show's remnants did this.

Trying to get away from the Digimon that were going towards the portals Meicrackmon opened, the Digital World just changed over and over and Kari said it was like the Digital World hated them now. It was after that The Digi-Destined are thrown out of the Digital World and when they come back they find themselves having to hide their Digimon since the police think they're dangerous after the attacks.


They couldn't go back home because news teams were at all their houses,so they decided to stay at the school since it's summer vacation. The faces the Digimon made when Meiko told her scary story were so funny.

The group then had to go out to fight Meicrackmon since she was spotted, despite the fact the Digimon could get infected again and had all the Digimon besides Gatomon Digivolve to their Mega forms, but that still couldn't stop her. Hackmon who digivolved into Jesmon showed up and came to destroy her himself, took Meicrackmon who Digivolved into Raguelmon away from them. But then the Digi-Destined followed and had WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon become Omnimon to fight them.King Drasil then sent Alphamon to stop all of them, so it's this big four way battle. During all that, Homeostasis possesses Kari again telling the Digital-Destined it's pointless to try to do anything now, they had their chance and failed.

Himekawa is in the place with the Dark Ocean somehow looking for Tapirmon too. She's pretty much lost it at this point.

Raguelmon was actually able to fight against Omnimon, it wasn't like the fight with Dioboromon.

Eventually Tai was starting to change his mind about not destroying Raguelmon, but he decided not to only to have Meiko try to run out to Raguelmon. But the fighting caused the ground to crack, and while that was happening Tai had Omnimon shield Meiko and Matt who went to help her. But not himself, and Nishijima who disappeared after the battle.

It was Matt who had to rally the group and put on Tai's goggles, like a symbol that he had to lead the group now.
Then after that happened, Nyaromon and Kari both reacted to something and Nyaromon digivolved to Ophanimon Falldown Mode, which is funny because Ophanimon is not Nyaromon's Mega form, it's Magnadramon and I hate that. They fused with Raguelmon to become Ordinemon and started to blanket the world with darkness after.

The last movie is called Our Future, or just Future. I liked the first and second movie, but the ones after it, not so much compared to them. I hope the last one is amazing to make up for it.

[Kamera]

Mairimashita Iruma-kun is a great anime and great manga. Probably one of the best "magic school" anime there is.

[Rafflesiac]

Spoiler:

them

[Five_X]

Akane is life

[Nanashi(kari)]

Just finished Gundam ZZ. While I wasn't feeling it for the first 10 or so episodes once they got out to space it got much better. I really liked the main cast, by the end of it I was fond of all them.
Ple was adorable, had I watched this when I was just getting into anime I may had became kinda obsessed with her. Sad that not even PleTwo got to live.

[pinetree]

You're stronger than me, I'm still stuck on episode 16.

[Mattias]

I love how stupid Judau is. His friend tells him to go kill himself in the next fight, and his response is "That's a great idea!". And it works because the Zeons are just as scared of it as Judau should be if he wasn't an idiot.

[Laserman]

I finished Spy X Famile Volume 5. That Nightfall lady is pretty funny. I wonder how the mission will go?

[Laserman]

I started my reread/reading of the D.Gray Man manga and finished volume 1. I must have forgotten or it didn't say in the anime that there 109 pieces of Innocence and that they have a total of 19 Exorcists at the Black Order at the time. I wonder how big the cube is then? This also makes me wonder if the number of Exorcists they have includes those in the other branches. I really, really hope not.

I thought there was a bigger number of Exorcists at the order and more Innocence than that because of the scene with the coffins and the number of people wearing the uniform in the anime. Maybe if I see it again, it won't be that many, but I thought it was a huge number. The only explanation would be that they weren't all Exorcists.

And I found out who inspired the Milliunuem Earl too, this guy, I must have forgotten about that. I wonder why she couldn't say his name though?

Anyway, it's just as amazing as the first time I read it.

[Laserman]

I watched Digimon Tri Movie 6: Our Future.

Spoiler:

It turns out the battle with Raquelmon was actually in the Digital World.


This one leaves straight off from the last one with the Digi-Destined trying to deal with the loss of Tai and Mr.Nishijima.


They manage to find a way back, but they find out that the real world is seeing things from the Digital World in the sky and there are major power outages everywhere. Oh, and Kari passes out from the stress of losing both Gatomon and Tai, leaving T.K. and Patamon to take care of her


It took Tai disappearing for Matt to admit that he might have had a point about the decisions they make and how much he wishes he was there.


It doesn't take long for Ordinemon to show up though, but even though they had their Digimon go to the Mega level, they still couldn't stop it.


Then Hackmon shows up to give them a message from Homeostasis talking about how they can't beat Ordinemon and another reboot is going to happen. This time though, the human world will be rebooted and every electronic device could stop working which devastate the world. But given the choice between no world and the survival of humanity, Homeostasis chose to have another reboot happen. Izzy rushes off to find another way to beat Ordinemon, while Hackmon says he doesn't want it to happen either. Then he comes up with the idea to lure Ordinemon to the sea with Meiko acting as bait.


The military tried to fight Ordinemon while this is happening, but the thing's too strong.


Tai wakes in a room that I thought was one of the ones like Gennai had before, but it turns that he and Mr.Nishijima who was hurt very badly by the attack stumbled upon the room where the other Digi-Destined have been the entire time. Then Gennai shows up to blow up the place and Mr.Nishijima has to trick Tai to send him and the others back to the real world leaving him there.


Their Digimon had to save those guys and fight off it's attacks and the attacks of the Digimon it created. With the reboot countdown starting, Izzy found the thing that would turn the tide. It turns out that the backup memory files of the memories of the Digimon that he wanted to were in Meicoomon and they happened to have the memories of all the Digimon in them. By unlocking the file, he released them back to the Digimon.

I had tears in my eyes when they got memories back. That horrible mistake was fixed, and I was moved by it.


Hackmon as Jesmon cuts out Gatomon while Ordinemon is trying to escape as a reaction to losing the files. The battle should have ended as the plan was to have it so Meicoomon would have her good memories of the past left and with Gatomon being separated, they would return to normal. But King Drasil just replaced the files.


And when Ordinemon was going to attack Meiko, Tai appeared just in time to save her, with the determination to stop Ordinemon. He and Matt had WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon become Omnimon one more time leading the attack against Ordinemon with the other Digimon in their Mega levels to help.



They were fighting it when all the Digimon suddenly fused together with Omnimon to become Omnimon Merciful Mode. Meiko pleaded for mercy and that just happened.

The entry for Omnimon Merciful Mode says:

It is an Omnimon with white wings, resembling an angel. Having realized that there are some people who can only be saved by fighting, and defeating them, Omnimon transformed into this form through sorrow and determination, and "Photon Spreads", lines of bluish-white light that resemble tears rolling down one's cheeks, have emerged across its whole body. The "Photon Spreads" run across its whole body, temporarily increasing its power drastically. It is a being who relieves Digimon that have become corrupt and are unable to revert back by imposing judgment upon them, and it is said that the targets it attacks are those who always had a "good heart" to begin with. Omnimon's Grey Sword has also been transformed into the katana-like Fearsome Blade.

.

The fact that Omnimon transformed into that form is proof that she was never evil. Meicoomon didn't ask to have Apocalymon's data in her, she herself was innocent. The Digi-Destined tried everything, but it was Tai who resolved himself and the whole group followed suit for the decision to destroy Ordinemon. Fighting really was the only way to stop her.


After the last strike, Meiko got to say goodbye to Meikomon before she finally faded away. And with that they finally won and saved both worlds again.
Gennai brought up Daemon and Diaboromon as Digimon he could use for their plans, like as some sequel hook near the end. Not that they could use them, one gone and the other got banished to the Dark Ocean.


King Drasil just happened to be stopped. But what about Gennai or Nishijima or Himekawa are they dead?


I liked that the group sent Meiko some things after the battle was over for Christmas, that and the phone call was very nice of them.


The things would I have changed. The first thing would be the reboot erasing the Digimon's memories that didn't need to happen.


Second would be actually involving the 02 group. There is someone going around using Ken's old identity as the Digimon Emperor to cause trouble, of course Ken would be obligated to stop him and the follow suit. That's something right there. Instead of putting them in pods and mentioning and alluding to them for 6 movies, have them do stuff.


Third would be Gennai's role in this. You can't just make the man who helped the Digi-Destined in the original series just turn evil. The guy licked Sora, that's disgusting. I don't know what they'll with him. Maybe it's best if he's never appears again. They ruined his character.

Who is King Drasil? We never see him, only Alphamon, who's status is also unknown but probably gone too now. Like they fight the main villain directly, that's just dumb.


Thinking about it, there was parts of some of the movies that felt like they went on for far too long without anything really happening.


I would probably cut down the amount of fights against Meicoomon in her different forms.


You could also argue the focus on Meiko was too much.

Some of the Mega Digivolutions weren't earned at all. Making up a prophecy only to have them Digivolve to the Mega level just because was bad too.

These are easy fixes in my eyes, I don't know why they made those decisions.


I just now found out King Drasil is mentioned in the one series I wasn't able to watch while it was on tv because we didn't have the channel...

I would rank the movies in this order, 1 2 6 5 3 4. With the first two being great, a big gap between the sixth that resolved almost everything while still leaving some questions, the fifth one had a big battle at the end that was pretty cool, and then you have a big gap again with the third because of how that ended and the forth being after that with more stuff I didn't like.


As a whole, the movies are okay I guess, but they could have been a lot better.

I totally understand why people dislike them, but I'm not going to say they burned my crops and killed my family like other's have said.

I'm excited to see Last Evolution Kizuna when I can.

[Mattias]

So I'm in a bit of a quandary. Normally for Christmas I attempt to rewatch the KnK movies, never getting past Paradox Spiral before falling asleep. But last year I actually managed to finish the whole 8.5 movies, so I don't know if this year I should again rewatch KnK as I have done for the last few years, or if I should move on to my next comfy-but-long anime rewatch with Monogatari, starting with the Kizu movies.

Thoughts?

[Rafflesiac]

If they're both rewatches, rewatch what you remember less.