What Are You Watching?

[The Shadow Gentleman]

When you start trying to rationalize the logic in an anime about girls wrestling each other with their boobs and butts, you've already lost.

No, the boobs were in Occultic;Nine.

[Lord Dalek]

Man there are some really good shows this season...but the bad ones (ie: Keijo, Occultic;Nine, Heybot!, etc.)...shudder.

[Rynnec]

Keijo!!!!!!!! is the savior of anime.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Saving anime for those whose skulls are as thick as those asses are fat.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Saving anime for those whose skulls are as thick as those asses are fat.

What a biggotted, ignorant, outright crude and offensive statement. Quite frankly I'm appalled, Dr. Insomniac. How dare you discriminate against thick-skulled people.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Saving anime for those whose skulls are as thick as those asses are fat.

What a biggotted, ignorant, outright crude and offensive statement. Quite frankly I'm appalled, Dr. Insomniac. How dare you discriminate against thick-skulled people.

I hope the continent of Hawaii will forgive me for this hugh mungus error.

[Lord Dalek]

I AM IN LOVE.

[Spark Of Spirit]

This match in Haikyu is really exciting. I'm glad they decided to animate it now instead of waiting for more manga material for another full 25 episode season.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I should try watching that match in the anime when it's done. I tried to read it three times in the manga, but each time I left barely remembering anything except liking some of Tsukishima's character development, and I stopped reading the series after realizing just how univested I was in anything that happened despite it ostensibly being an important match in the series. I'm sure the anime would probably make it more memorable and entertaining for me by making moments stand out with great animation and music, even if I still might not invested in what's going on with the characters themselves.

....Man, I know that sounds cynical, but I've never tried harder to get into a series like I have with Haikyuu but still somehow end up feeling nothing about anything in it. I've never had a harder time enjoying something that I actively wanted to enjoy....

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually really enjoyed that match. The manga is OK, but I was invested in that part of it. But I understand the feeling of wanting to enjoy something but not getting what the big deal is. That's how I've always felt about stuff like FMA. There's nothing really wrong with it, but I could never find it in me to care about any of it, much as I tried, so I definitely understand where you're coming from.

It's not being cynical. Some things just don't click with you.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, that's true. I just find it strange, because there's nothing I dislike about Haikyuu, and I understand why a lot of people really enjoy it and can appreciate what it does well. But I can't seem to enjoy it myself or connect to it emotionally for whatever reason. It's the only series where I feel like this about, so I keep trying to figure out why exactly that is.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, it really bothers me when I'm not able to find the appeal in a series, movie, video game, book or other piece of media, despite not really being able to find anything wrong with it either. It's the lack of being able to explain my own tastes that frustrates me in those cases, though personally I can think of at least a few different examples besides just FMA.

As for Haikyuu, I love the anime for its great animation, direction, and music. Take that away and you have what I consider to be a pretty average sports manga. For me it's casually entertaining for the most part, and I can understand why some people really like it, but I just find that it doesn't do anything that other sports series which I've watched or read haven't done better. That said, there are a ton of sports series like that, so I just find Haikyuu to be on that level, in that it's decent for what it is, and not much else.

[Pharass]

I finished watching Mononoke or as I'd like to call it, Mushishi's deranged twin, recently. It was a very interesting watch and I'll probably revisit it in the future. Can't think of more to say about it at this moment, really.

I've also finally started watching Space Brothers, which is one of those shows that I've been meaning to get around to for quite some time now. Its way to early for me to have anything concrete to say about the show, but so far, its very promising and I do find Mutta to be a very believable and relatable character.

Oh, and there are a few anime from this season that I'm watching as well, such as Yuri!! On Ice, The Great Passage and Izetta the last Witch. Out of the three mentioned, I'd say that The Great Passage is my personal favorite and I now have a newfound respect for people who make dictionaries. Izetta has been OK so far, but the fan-service is doing its best to hamper my enjoyment. It just feels really unnecessary and intrusive. Of course, one could argue that that's true for most fan-service.

[Dr. Insomniac]

So for an interesting comparison here are the MAL charts for top 50 anime from 2006




and 2016.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Interesting how the scores for shows in the top 50 are more inflated than they were 10 years ago. But then again I suppose the online community is much bigger now. Also interesting to see which shows have remained in the top 50 these past 10 years, and which have dropped off. Haruhi Suzumiya was #2 10 years ago and had a score of 8.67, but it's #466 with a score of 8.06 now. And LOGH wasn't even in the top 50 10 years ago but now it's in the top 10 and widely considered the best anime ever among a wide circle of critics. The shows that have stood the test of time seem to be Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Mushi-shi, Hajime no Ippo, GTO, and Monster, which makes sense since those are all pretty highly regarded among critics or just really popular gateway series. But nowadays shows drop in and out of the top spots on MAL on a dime based on what's new and popular in the current season. Remember when ERASED was #5? Now it's #50 and probably will continue to drop further as more new anime come onto the list and get popular. The number shows that stick around on the top 50 10 years from now will be interesting to see.