Winter Animu 2023: bringan it back

[LegalLoliLover]

Not sure about Dog Reincarnation, but apparently Onimai has an uncensored version. Smart that I waited.

[Mashina]

Eupyllia-chan is cute cute CUTE!

And Al can go eat a bag of dicks

[RoydGolden]

Checked out the first ep of Bungou Stray Dogs' fourth season. Glad to immerse myself back in this series' sense of style again. As is tradition at this point they're opening the season with a flashback arc adapting one of the LNs, this time of Fukuzawa and Ranpo's first meeting. Ranpo is a fun character and works well to contrast Fukuzawa's seriousness. I liked the moment where Fukuzawa realizes Ranpo's seemingly tactless bluntness is actually because he just thinks the things he deduces are perfectly obvious and others are dancing around them for no clear reason (though the kid can definitely be cheeky on purpose too, the scene where he called Fukuzawa as a "client" right after stepping out of view being a good example). Setting the scenes from Ranpo's perspective in black and white was an interesting visual touch (possibly implying something about how he sees things in "shades of grey").

[R.Lock]

Not my fault Gundam decided to take a cour off.

MagiRevo, tho.

[Mashina]

Goddamn right

Feasting well on cuteness this season

[TomPen94]

Nier: It flowed better than I was expecting, for an anime that stuck to recreating the shots from the game 1-to-1. My only real complaint is when they use CG for the YorHa while piloting the mechs, it looks too rigid for them, and it clashes heavily with their normal 2D look. The rest of the CG looks fine tho. Wonder how much of the story will be covered, and how much it'll change towards the end, cuz I don't doubt for one second Taro thought up some new weird ass scenario for this. Cool OP by aimer, nice stylistic choice.

[Mattias]

So I sat down, got hammered and watched a bunch of Episode 1's and here's my drunken stream of consciousnesses:

Last Summoner: This show feels off. The bacgrounds are all incredibly detailed but the characters are the most bare bones basics. They just feel separate from each other. Funky OST though. It feels like it's based on a webtoon, and I don't what I mean by that. It's just some shots, like the sakura trees, or people silhouetted by the moon give off a vibe I feel every time I see a screencap from Solo Leveling or something. It's not bad, it just gave me nothing to care about.

Ningen Fushin: Idols?! Was that Fie Causell at the end of the OP? It's like every fantasy revenge story got together in a bar and decided to collab. You know it's a fantasy story because the priest didn't molest the child. That said, I don't hate it, and saving the world to pay for idols/whoring/gambling is an intresting idea. Plus, dragon wife.

Iceblade Sorcerer: Why is the poor kid the only one who has to stand up at the front and introduce himself at a school where everyone just started? Is my math off? Talking about all the Grands they mention Fire, Idol and Main Character, then say the otehr two are still hidden from the public. But that's only five? Wow, not-Cu really hates the poor. Followed by sudden shirtlessness? This is like the most 5/10 magic highschool show. Give me something, Anos Voldigoad, horny sucubus in a virgin killer, Bakarina, anything.

Onimai: Oh, it's just loli fetish.

Revenger: I like how someone pulling a gun on a samurai is actually treated like an unwinnable situation. Damn that's some hyper violence. And now guns are meaningless again. Still I wonder what they're going to do from here. Monster of the week format? Seems a bit of a waste to get Urobuchi and do that kind of plot. Definanitly a watch.

Spyroom: "What are we, some kind of...Suicide Squad?" Oh, it's this kind of show. Still think that one of them is going to die the first mission, but looks like it'll be a seesaw between goofy spy stuff and tragic backstory, rpobably one per episode getting to know the cast.

Tomo-chan: Fun romcom. Mom is 10/10. I like how the two friends just can't stop fucking with each other. Damn, that bullying scene.

A Dog's Life: Oh, it's just a bestiality fetish.

Ice Couple: I don't think Kuudere x Kuudere really works. Cat bed looking like the top of a TV is A+ though.

Reincarnated Princess: I'm really digging this one. Fun MC, nice twist on the standard "New fiancee" trope. Don't know why they needed an isekai plot in there though. Can't she just want to fly?

Liesolotte: Goddamn, that X-box is 90% the size of the TV. This show's cute, but what happens when the 'gods' start to save scum? It's a dating sim, you've got to make a new save every branch if you want to get the content. Wait, how are they going to play the game at her house? Everythings saved directly to hard drives nowadays, and like I said earlier, that console is almost the size of the TV, no way are they moving that around willy nilly.

Beasts of Ars: This is the most memorable OP tonight and it's only a solid B. That's sad. Something really Ghibli about a prison escape being delayed by the MC grabbing a bunch of food on the way out. Also all those guards never using their guns during said prison break. The same kind of vibes that came off Fena: Pirate Princess. Pretty good, even if they don't really give you any idea what the show is from the episode.

[AmADo VII]

Nier: I feel some ppl does not appreciate the music much.

[TomPen94]

Nier: I feel some ppl does not appreciate the music much.

There isn't much to say about the music here that hasn't already been said about it in the game. So far not only has the anime stuck very close to the game on its visuals, so it has with the ost, playing the same tracks on the same moments with no noticeable difference in the tracks themselves.

This isn't a dig so much as it is an observation. Whether this uber-adherence to the game's depiction is a good or a bad thing only time will tell.

[Skull]

Digimon Ghost Game episode 58: And so the Year of the Rabbit starts off with a rabbit's Mega Evolution, which strikes me as not a coincidence. AncientSphinxmon! It's always cool to see the Ancient Digimon that didn't get the screentime they deserved in Frontier. Interesting that they went with the Riddle of the Sphinx, but kinda weird that it took up so much time yet no one gave the correct answer in the end. Given he had swords, I was not expecting the magic acts from Diarbbitmon - he is very much a red mage and it was cool to see him fight. Reading his Profile, I see he takes influence from Diarmuid given his sword names which hopefully won't end in a tragedy. I'd say the weakest part of the episode would be the build up to the Mega Evolution. The episodic nature I feel has undermined the character development of the human characters as Ruli wanting to find the perfect hobby felt like it came out of nowhere and didn't add to what should have been the climax of her relationship with Angoramon. Overall a good episode and certainly better than Siriusmon's, but I'm holding out hope that Jellymon's Mega will be the greatness that I am looking for in a Mega debut.

Side note, Mummymon running around in a lab coat randomly was something I didn't know I needed.

[Rafflesiac]

but what happens when the 'gods' start to save scum?

They can't, it autosaves because of whatever mysterious phenomenon lets them talk to the game characters.

[Aozaki-desu]

There isn't much to say about the music here that hasn't already been said about it in the game. So far not only has the anime stuck very close to the game on its visuals, so it has with the ost, playing the same tracks on the same moments with no noticeable difference in the tracks themselves.

This isn't a dig so much as it is an observation. Whether this uber-adherence to the game's depiction is a good or a bad thing only time will tell.

Music does not flow nearly as well as it does in the game though. People ar eprobably shitflinging a lot more than warranted, but its not entirely baseless.

I liked first ep of Nier 1.1, i think its well done so far. Some CGI in the beginning is somewhat bad looking, with very obvious 3d model of the ship from the game, but its a lot smoother in the second part of the episode, it blends in better with the gray and brown factory background. The OP is beautiful - in terms of visuals, i'm not sure how i feel about generic Aimer song. Its nothing special. To be honest maybe it could be better.

The main issue with the anime is its TV format, with awkward ad-cuts, and a lot shorter scenes, which leads to a shorter editions of ingame soundtrack, which does not work for the anime. In-game prologue is about 30 minutes, Alien Manifestation is 7+ minute track, and its used to amazing effect to set up the tone of the game, but you can't do that in the anime because you don't have 7 minute one-cut ongoing scene, you can't really have that in 20-minute episode, and as a result cut versions of the soundtrack obviously don't work well - because they are short, and werent intended to be used this way.

[TomPen94]

Music does not flow nearly as well as it does in the game though. People ar eprobably shitflinging a lot more than warranted, but its not entirely baseless.

I liked first ep of Nier 1.1, i think its well done so far. Some CGI in the beginning is somewhat bad looking, with very obvious 3d model of the ship from the game, but its a lot smoother in the second part of the episode, it blends in better with the gray and brown factory background. The OP is beautiful - in terms of visuals, i'm not sure how i feel about generic Aimer song. Its nothing special. To be honest maybe it could be better.

The main issue with the anime is its TV format, with awkward ad-cuts, and a lot shorter scenes, which leads to a shorter editions of ingame soundtrack, which does not work for the anime. In-game prologue is about 30 minutes, Alien Manifestation is 7+ minute track, and its used to amazing effect to set up the tone of the game, but you can't do that in the anime because you don't have 7 minute one-cut ongoing scene, you can't really have that in 20-minute episode, and as a result cut versions of the soundtrack obviously don't work well - because they are short, and werent intended to be used this way.

I'm not quite sure why you spoke to me on that, don't think I said anything counter to that.
Naturally, I agree with your points about the OST. Those are all reasons the soundtrack might be "falling under the radar".

[Mattias]

Buddy Daddies: It's missing Tom Selleck's moustache.

Cold Steel: Da dadada da, da dada JAEGER. Animation isn't great, but that OP alone gave me enough nostalgia to stick this one out. The foreknowledge of how this all turns out makes it really tragic. Sure Rogan, Erebonia is looking at you're frozen hellscape and not one of the actual threats it has. If they wanted you, they would have taken it back with those other colonies when Osbourne was fucking with Jurai.

Nier: Wow, those flight units and Engles. Yet Pod works out. is it because the Pod is a flat texture and everything else has detail? The ending skit was amazing though. I want more Nier Puppet Pals.

Strongest Summoner: So he's just Abe no Seimei. I'll give it one more episode to see how they handle the magic school bit, but that ED/OP did not give confidence.

Fired from the Demon Lords Army: This is like the third of these shows this season. Why are there so many shows about people ruining your life and then getting a new career? Wow the camera really loves that teenagers tits. Nothing else really here.

Angel next Door: I only got five minutes in before I started skippping ahead. Just super boring. Kind of like the yuki ona one putting two demure characters together just saps any energy from it.

Ippon: Everyone is so wide. Got to admit I laughed at the happy music while the everyone but the winning girl laughs and it just cuts to her frowning. Not the worst club show I've seen. Better than Pride of Orange at the least.

Handiman Isekai: I was prepared to brush this off, but it was really fun. Handimen being basically a rouge. Puppy tank. Mage rolling with the zombie hoard. Measurements. Was that the Blast Sword?!

I Can't Believe It's Not Magus Bride: "I'm not running a charity" says the guy who's entire job is to run a charity. Now maybe he's a con man. Squatting in a church. And he also runs a slave ring. Which is known to other church operatives, or at least easy to find out, and keeps running. If Silver Hair's are siblings, why did they look the same age in the flashback, and now look like they're 10 years apart? One is pedobait, and the other is experienced enough to basically lead a demon hunt.

[Rafflesiac]

Ningen Fushin: Low-budget, but a couple of neat flourishes. Will stick with.
Lieselotte: Low-budget, but a couple of neat flourishes. Will stick with.
Spy Classroom: Never really comes together. Funny though, and Lily is cute. Will stick with.
Danmachi: Amphisbaena reminds me of that one Phantom Hourglass boss in the Ice temple. Very slick action scene with Aisha's Hell Kaios. This is gonna be awesome and I'm here for it.
Hero Academia: DEPRESSION TIME

[R.Lock]

So, weekly progress.

MagiRevo - an impressive first episode, but all depends on whether direction and script can keep up the quality.
OniMai - it's so unfair that it looks so good.
Spy Classroom - boring, boring, boring, Klaus sucks, boring, Lily's got some crazy honkers, boring. Maybe I should just wait until v3 gets adapted.
Otonari Tenshi - solid. Want some Chitose, tho.
Tomo-chan - Misuzu's voice not scarousing enough. Drop.
Ningen Fushin - low-quality Konosuba for older audience, hm. Hmmmmm. Needs more aidoru.
Maou Gakuin - new Anos is boring AF. Literally tanks the entire episode considering the anime lives and dies by the Anos' performance.

A bunch of first episodes still on hold, but I'm finished with Wednesday, so will check out later.

[AmADo VII]

OniMai: from doujin to one of the best animated work in the season, this is new Type-Moon.

[R.Lock]

Lieselotte is just no. Why. Why couldn't such a nice book receive a proper, nice-looking adaptation? Why is it doomed to have such a boring look, and sloppy design work? I hate it. Yikes.

[LegalLoliLover]

Will there be an ATX version of Ayakashi Triangle?

[bassgs435]

The AT-X page says nothing. So, my bet is "you want uncensored? Get those BDs" is the strategy here. Not like it'd be the first time. HxHeroes had slilghtly less censorship in AT-X but was ultimately still censored before BDs