What Are You Watching?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Izuku's struggle might be endearing, but that doesn't mean Horikoshi can't also poke a little fun at him, too. The comedic moments are pretty good.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just checked out the premiere of Joker Game. While it hasn't necessarily grabbed me yet, I did genuinely like what I saw, and am intrigued enough to continue following the show.

[gunswordfist]

Izuku's struggle might be endearing, but that doesn't mean Horikoshi can't also poke a little fun at him, too. The comedic moments are pretty good.

Oh, I agree. That's the beauty of it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Twin Star Exorcists was a surprisingly good adaption of the first chapter. They even added scenes which added to the story and cut down on the boring parts of the first chapter, which I thought was very clever of them. They also nailed the art style and put in some great music.

Though it's not anything great right now, I'm eager to see where this goes. It's also a plus that Pierrot hasn't botched it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I checked out two more premieres:

Twin Star Exorcists- Meh. This feels way too generic for my taste. To be fair, quite a lot of good Shonen start out mediocre and develop into better stories over time. But this premiere really lacked any sense of charm or likable characters. I'll still give it a chance for a few more episodes out of principal, but I'm not expecting much.

Bungo Stray Dogs- This one did have some charm to it, mainly in the buddy/team-based nature of the series which has the potential to capture some of the entertainment value of good shows/manga like Blood Blockade Battlefront or the first 2/3rds of GetBackers. That said, it was truthfully also very generic and didn't really grab me. Still, I'll give this one a few more episodes as well, with slightly better expectations than what I have for TSE, though still relatively low.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Twin Star Exorcists- Meh. This feels way too generic for my taste. To be fair, quite a lot of good Shonen start out mediocre and develop into better stories over time. But this premiere really lacked any sense of charm or likable characters. I'll still give it a chance for a few more episodes out of principal, but I'm not expecting much.

That's the universal criticism until volume 3. Judging by how fast this episode went, I'm hoping they get there quicker. The first volume is pretty standard stuff.

[LumRanmaYasha]

TSE is very standard stuff at the start, but I'd say it really picks up after the introduction of Seigen and a certain twist. I have a few problems with things that happen in it after the time skip (though I do think the series has started picking up again recently), but I thought the arc that encompasses volumes 3 through 5 was really well-done and featured one of the most emotionally intense and desperate battles I've read in a shonen series in quite some time, which really impressed me. Definitely looking forward to seeing that animated now since Pierrot actually seems to be putting effort into this production.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just saw Bungo Stray Dogs. Yes, it's basically a mix of GetBackers and Blood Blockade Battlefront at this point, but it's an enjoyable start. I'll definitely watch more.

[Lord Dalek]

I found Twin Star Exorcists to be dull and uninspired.

[Rynnec]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Do I even need to say it?
Bakuon!! - awesome
My Hero Academia - great
Seisen Cerberus - decent, but generic.
Hundred - Can we please stop the magical highschool light novel adaptations and adapt more Urobuchi LN's instead?

[gunswordfist]

Just finished Steal the File M123. I pretty much knew what episode it was just from the fountain shown at the beginning. One of my favorites. I completely forgot about the Zenigata disguises scene. That was so hilarious.  I definitely remember the end, which is why I liked the ending so much. Boy are you ugly.

[Avaitor]

I'm at the point in the Maison Ikkoku dub where Brad Swaile takes over for Godai. I liked his previous voice, but I can't complain at all, tbh.

[LumRanmaYasha]

You're watching MI? Cool! How are you enjoying it so far?

Swaile gets into the role pretty fast and is probably my favorite actor for the character between the original and the dub. The dubbing for the first few episodes after the hiatus are pretty rough, though. Ellen Kennedy in particular takes a good while before she gets back into the swing of Kyoko again; I remember her performance in episode 37 being particularly grating at parts.

[Avaitor]

You're watching MI? Cool! How are you enjoying it so far?

Swaile gets into the role pretty fast and is probably my favorite actor for the character between the original and the dub. The dubbing for the first few episodes after the hiatus are pretty rough, though. Ellen Kennedy in particular takes a good while before she gets back into the swing of Kyoko again; I remember her performance in episode 37 being particularly grating at parts.

Yeah, she was a little rough there. The rest of the cast isn't really there yet, but Swaile is great as Godai.

But I am really enjoying MI. Sometimes it falls a little too much into hetero romantic tropes, but it helps the characters are well-written and it remains entertaining throughout. Good stuff.

I do want to get into UY as well, but that looks like such a big investment. I'll try to get to it in chunks. Ranma, too.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Glad you're enjoying it! I agree that while MI does employ some common romantic comedy tropes at times, the characters are unique and charismatic enough to still make it entertaining. I think the show gets even better as it goes along and is at it's best during it's last quarter, so I'll be interested in seeing your reactions as you go along.

And yeah, UY is definitely a big time investment, but since it's so episodic I'd say it's best enjoyed in chunks over a long period of time, rather than marathoning it. Just be warned that the first 20 or so episodes are in a different format and aren't as well-made as the remainder of the series is, so a lot of people recommend skipping to when the show permanently adopts a full half-hour format instead of being divided up into two 11-minute episodes, which is around episode 22. Personally, I enjoy most of the early episodes and rewatch them pretty regularly, but then again I also read the manga first, and it did take me about 50 or so chapters when I was first reading it (around the point when Ten and Ran show up) until I was really sold on the series. So, I think UY is generally a series that grows on people and rewards them on repeated viewings more than is something most love right out of the gate.