What Are You Watching?

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · January 08, 2018, 11:08:08 PM

The only work of Nisioisin that I've read anything of is Medaka Box, and I absolutely couldn't stand it. It tries to be a "smart" commentary on the trappings of the battle shonen genre, but more often than not it comes off as obnoxious drivel that wouldn't even be suited for an essay format (even though each speech bubble basically reads like a mini-essay). Also, we have writers like Yoshihiro Togashi and ONE (among others) who can actually write good commentary on the genre while also making their stories good pieces of entertainment within that genre as well, so this has even less of an excuse to suck as much as it does.

Maybe his dialogue comes off as more clever if you understand Japanese (I seriously doubt it, but I'm sure his English-speaking fans will defend it that way), but in general I dislike works that prioritize trying to look smart as opposed to actually being a compelling piece of fiction in its own right, first and foremost.

VLordGTZ · January 12, 2018, 03:20:23 PM

I just watched the first ep of the new Hoshin Engi anime, and I feel pretty conflicted. On its own, I actually feel that the episode was a decent streamlined version of the material despite adapting an entire volume and having a few questionable adaption choices, but if this is the pacing that the rest of the series will continue with, then I'm concerned. The manga doesn't have much padding to begin with, so if they're going to have to keep cutting lots material, it could lead to a complete train-wreck. On the bright side, the production values are pretty great, so hopefully the anime can at least keep that up for its entire run. I'll probably continue to keep up with the anime, but I'm going to keep my expectations pretty low.

Dr. Insomniac · January 18, 2018, 11:48:21 AM

Watched the first two episodes of Citrus, and the main character has been molested or nearly sexually assaulted four times so far. Kaiserneko says it better than I could.

Lord Dalek · January 20, 2018, 05:14:52 PM

DARLING in the FRANXX really suxx.

Dr. Insomniac · January 21, 2018, 10:31:27 AM

Quote from: Lord Dalek on January 20, 2018, 05:14:52 PM
DARLING in the FRANXX really suxx.

Avaitor · January 22, 2018, 04:54:27 PM

After finishing Part IV, my opinion remains more or less the same- I liked it, didn't love it. It worked best with its more comedic episodes, give or take some experiments, primarily most of the stuff with Rebecca. But I really didn't care for the Leonardo da Vinci stuff, and the storyline attempt was awkward. I'd put it above Part III, but I still prefer the first 2 series and Fujiko Mine.

I'll come into Part V with open arms, though. Maybe they'll knock it out with this one.

Dr. Insomniac · February 07, 2018, 11:52:42 AM

Lord Dalek · February 07, 2018, 02:20:18 PM

Mustang · February 09, 2018, 08:23:30 PM

I was one of those rare ones that liked the Skypea arc in One Piece at one point, but I just finished watching the arc in it's entirety and good lord, I forgot how terribly draggy it was. The fight between Luffy and Enel, actually, take it a little further back when it was Zoro vs Wiper vs what's his name. I like that fight but I nearly stopped watching due to Luffy and that damn snake (my tolerance levels are pretty low for anime these days). I know this is Oda's motto, but how are arcs since the time skip in terms of pacing? Are they just as long? I only ask because Skypiea nearly got me to drop One Piece immediately (until I remembered the awesome Water 7 arc) and I don't want to waste my time if some of these later arcs feels as bad Skypiea.

Because of Dragon Ball Fighterz I also decided to get back into Dragon Ball Z (I don't think I'll ever be a fan of it like I was back in my kid days), but I'm at a loss because I'm not sure if I want Kai or the original. I'm interested in Kai because I read on Amazon that the voice acting and script got better, but I got the original coming because of the epicness of Bruce Faulconer's music. I may double dip for Kai if convinced.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken · February 09, 2018, 09:00:23 PM

Personally I'd recommend the manga over any other version of Dragonball, both for art and pacing reasons, but if you're going to go with any anime version of DBZ, I'd say that Kai is the preferred version if you're planning to stick with the dub. Some of its cuts and censorship are baffling, and it doesn't have the Faulconer score (which I hate, anyways, so it's personally a plus for me), though if you find the version with the Kenji Yamamoto score, I think you'd be pretty satisfied there. Unfortunately, there's no longer a legal way to obtain that version due to Toei officially pulling it from the market after the whole plagiarism scandal, but it can easily be found online. If you're buying the DVDs/Blu-Rays, though, then you'll get the Kikuchi score (except for Kai Buu, which has a new score in place), but I still think the superior quality of the dub makes it worth it over the original if that's the audio that you want to listen to. Regardless of whether you like Faulconer's score or not, the dubbing-quality of the original DBZ is just awful, and it's pretty hard to go back to these days, IMO.

Mustang · February 09, 2018, 09:58:02 PM

Yeah, I still recall a bit of the dub in the original, particularly when Vegito fights Buuhan. A lot of the conversation made no sense at all, but it's all good. If anything, I'm in it for more like a trip down memory lane.

I'm pretty much just buying blu-ray/dvds.

Rynnec · February 10, 2018, 08:37:11 AM

Just FYI; there is a fan project for Kai that edits in Faulconer soundtrack. It's a bit of a hassle since you'll need to upload the blu-ray episodes on your computer and follow the tutorial, but the payoff should be worth it, especially with the Yamamoto version of Kai being hard to find and the Kikuchi version being so poorly edited to the point that a lot of moments lose their touch, imo.

Lord Dalek · February 11, 2018, 09:21:34 AM

So apparently Darling in the FRANXX is now a cautionary fable about how piloting a giant robot will give you super herpes.

...I wish I was making this up.

Dr. Insomniac · February 13, 2018, 05:11:27 AM

I don't like Death March.

Lord Dalek · February 13, 2018, 12:03:18 PM

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