What are you watching/reading?


Shinmaru

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 213
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Just got volume 1 of the Street Fighter 2 manga. Might do a review of it.

Is it as bad as I would assume considering the law.

Street Fighter law #348

Any attempt to turn Street Fighter or any of it's sequels or related properties into a movie, comic or any variant thereof will inevitably suck. The closest it may come to being enjoyable is an ironic humor derived from how bad it was (ie. "OF COURSE" from the live-action movie)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, I am watching so much stuff from the current season. I'll just give the rundown on the shows I am actually enjoying ...

Chaos;Head -- Solid on the horror and mystery front, and all the characters show potential to be quite awesome by the end of the series. The protagonist, Takumi, is really creepy; the random delusions he sees straddle the line between horrifying and hilariously perverted. This is my kind of series.

Clannad ~After Story~ -- Loved the first season of Clannad, and I definitely love this. First four eps have been excellent; the climactic scene in ep4 is one of the best in the series so far.

Hyakko -- Just mindless fun.

Kannagi -- Basically the same as Hyakko.

Kurozuka -- Best action series of the season. The fight scenes are beautifully animated (and bloody as hell). There are some similarities to Mnemosyne, which is a series I enjoyed quite a bit. Story takes a huge turn after ep2; I'm curious to see where it's going.

Mouryou no Hako -- Confusing as hell, but, man, oh man, does it ever have a wonderful atmosphere. It nails every emotion it goes for in every scene and does it so effortlessly that I can't help but love it. Seems like this is the type of series that will reveal its secrets slowly. I'm going to enjoy the ride.

Shugo Chara! Doki -- Um, yes. Love Shugo Chara! and am sure I will love this, even if the first two episodes have been mainly recaps (much to my annoyance).

Toradora! -- Definitely the romantic comedy to beat this season. The relationship between Taiga and Ryuji is pulled off so well, and the series is actually taking some chances with the way it's building the story, which is very refreshing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished Saikano, and it is one of the saddest series I have ever seen, if not the saddest. Ep9 is particularly heartbreaking, although there is a bit of plot manipulation on the part of the writers to get to that point. However, the emotional power of the ending is undeniably amazing. I rarely cry when watching anime (or anything, really), but that episode did it for me.

Only thing I don't like about the series is that it starts slow -- at least, for me it does. How quickly you get into it depends on how quickly you get into the relationship between Chise and Shuji, I think, because it carries the show. I didn't really get into it until around ep5, which, ironically, is when

they start having problems, which leads to them breaking up in the next episode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm pretty sure that the only anime that I've seen that's more depressing than Saikano is Grave of the Fireflies, if you've not seen it. Just be sure to keep anything that you can harm yourself with far far away.

'm watching Seirei no Moribito (translated as Guardian of the Sacred Spirit), about nine episodes in. It's got a pretty solid plot, intriguing characters and political machinations, and solid animation, as to be expected from Production IG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I felt that Howl's Moving Castle was a pretty decent retelling of the original novel by Diane Wynne Jones; it resembles the original, but it doesn't follow it closely that much.

And I kind of liked the amalgamation that they chose to do the outside of the castle as, personally.

Also, James, please let me know what you think of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time when you finish it; I've heard very good things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I reread Cyrano De Bergerac on duty last night. It's such a beautiful play, and as an Actor, Cyrano is among my dream roles. It's got such an incredible balance of humor and real, emotional drama. I can't honestly think of a more heart-breaking scene than the finale.

EDIT: And now I realize that this is in the Anime section of the boards. DAMN YOU, TODAY'S ACTIVE TOPICS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just watched the first episode of Le Chevalier D'Eon which my housemate just got. Its made by IG, the same people who did Ghost in the Shell: SAC so the animation is of course top notch. Its a supernatural 18th century mystery involving the French nobility, basically three musketeers investigating a cult.

So far so good. The lead D'Eon is the most androgynous Anime character I've ever seen (

He shares his body with his sister, and when she takes over it looks like her in his clothes. They have exactly the same hair as well.

). The sword fighting is superb though, and obviously since this is pre-revolution France all the settings are gorgeous. I've no idea where this is all going but I'm along for a few more episodes at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chevalier's a pretty solid series. There's varying levels of accuracy in historical portrayal, and it's built on several layers of mysteries that will unravel as the story goes along and has an incredible amount of detail. Just know that for the first half or so the pacing's really slow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chevalier's a pretty solid series. There's varying levels of accuracy in historical portrayal, and it's built on several layers of mysteries that will unravel as the story goes along and has an incredible amount of detail. Just know that for the first half or so the pacing's really slow.

Yeah, I'm about four eps in now and whilst I'm going to stick with it I do wish it would get a move on. Mind you I often said the same thing about Gantz, and the old Hellsing series was much worse than either of these shows. Also no-one in our house can remember the name of the show so we just call it Le Scrote de Nord or whatever french sounding thing we can come up with on the spot.

If they ever make a film of this Orlando Bloon should play D'Eon, that way they can save on special effects

when his sister shows up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just started rewatching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, namely because I just read the novel and I might be cosplaying Itsuki in the near future and I want to get down the Hare Hare Yukai dance. After that, I'm probably going to start looking for a new series to watch. Just debating on what I want to sink my money into.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Up to issue 295 of the Gantz Manga. These fights are insane, every time they think they've won the corpse of their foe mutates into something even more deadly and yet more carnage ensues. Its utterly frustrating and addicting just because you want to see them finally win so damn bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kinda into K-On, second episode was nowhere near as good as the first though.

Planning to re-watch NANA and Gundam SEED during the summer.

K-On! is a fun little show. Ep3 is the funniest of the series so far, I think, so you'll have something to look forward to. I'll be watching ep4 in a few minutes, myself, haha.

Some of the best shows of the current season, for anyone interested: FMA: Brotherhood (this is especially cool for me, since I never watched the original series, nor have I read the manga -- please be kind, haha), Eden of the East, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Sengoku Basara and Valkyria Chronicles.

Coincidentally, I am also starting Gundam SEED soon, although I will be seeing it for the first time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shinmaru, you're an anime vet, and assuming you're over 20 years old, you probably wont like it. I got into it as I was a 17-year old brimming with teen angst and just coming into my otaku phase. It has plenty of flaws.

That saod, hope you like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Currently watching both NANA and Gundam SEED at a pace of one episode per day.

Observations:

-I'm not 100% sure I liked what the NANA anime did when starting out. In the manga they spend the entire first volume detailing the backstories of the two NANA's then have them meet at the start of the second volume. In the anime the first episode is them meeting up, then the next 4 episodes cover the backstory, then episode 6 is literally episode 1 all over again. I understand it is to get the narrative going right away on NANA to hook you, but still.

-Both SEED and NANA take a long time to really establish the narrative before the ball gets rolling, the difference is while you start to see the characters in NANA develop early, in SEED it's flat. The show in its first five episodes is terrible.

-It's been over two years since the last time I've watched SEED. In that time it appears my taste in voice-acting has become more refined because some of the work in SEED is horrible.

-I honestly wonder if my love for SEED may begin to waver in the next couple of weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.