What Are You Watching?

[goody2shoes]

Some of the really early episodes feel uncomfortably chauvinistic to me.

What, you're not a fan of men acting like real men? Yeah, you can definitely tell it's a product of its time.

As for the later series, I was thinking of just watching the best episodes based on various recommendations. Red seems a bit long while Pink seems very inconsistent. For Red, this seems like a decent guideline.

Would First Contact serve as a good in-between Green and Red, btw?

[Foggle]

First Contact is great! Perhaps my favorite TV special. It's one of the multiple instances where they retconned the way the Lupin gang met each other (which happens again in Fujiko Mine), so it might not feel like a good transitional piece between the green and red jacket seasons, but it's definitely worth watching all the same. Then again, Lupin III doesn't really have an actual canon, so it probably won't be too jarring.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The ending of the First Contact implies that Lupin was just making the whole story up (or at least parts of it), so it's actually supposed to be somewhat ambiguous as to whether it's how the gang actually met. It's still a very entertaining story all the way through, though, and easily among the best of the Lupin specials, so, like Foggle, I think it's definitely worth a watch.

[Foggle]

The ending of the First Contact implies that Lupin was just making the whole story up (or at least parts of it), so it's actually supposed to be somewhat ambiguous as to whether it's how the gang actually met.

That's true! You can actually think of it like this if you're so inclined:

Fujiko Mine = How Lupin met Jigen and Fujiko
Lupin III Part 1 = How Lupin met Goemon
First Contact = How the public believes the Lupin gang met

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, I just watched the latest Detective Conan movie, "Dimensional Sniper." Overall, I did enjoy the film...but I also felt completely ripped off by it. The reason being that all the trailers and posters for the movie teased that the plot was going to be about Shuichi Akai being targeted by a rogue sniper and Sera getting shot...and that's not what it was actually about, at all. I mean, yeah, Sera did get shot and whatever, but the plot wasn't about Akai at all...in fact, he didn't even appear in the movie! I mean, I guess technically he does, but he doesn't make a "live" appearance or have any bearing on the story in any way. So...all the trailers fucking lied about what this movie was about, and so that kinda confused and disappointed me a little. It was still a fun movie, though, especially because it heavily featured the FBI agents and Sera. The plot was also really interesting too, which helped me get over my disappointment, a little. The one thing that bugs me is how they put Okiya in the movie but he doesn't really get to do anything until the final act of the film. He should have been more consistently a part of the film, instead of just getting tacked on at the end like he was. But eh, whatever. Overall I wouldn't say this is one of the best Conan movies I've seen, but the story was interesting, and it had some awesome action scenes to boot which were pretty cool, so I had a lot of fun with it. It reminded me that I should get around to watching all the DC films I haven't seen yet, at some point, or at least the ones with Kaito Kid or the Black Organization in them.

[Avaitor]

Man, the "Judgement" two-parter of Stardust Crusaders is kind of like a best-of package for Jojo. It has basically everything that makes the franchise as fun as it is.

And now I only have 2 more episodes before I'm caught up, which makes me a little sad, but also happy that I'll be able to watch the show regularly like everyone else. And I can also go through my queue!

[Dr. Insomniac]

Dalek made me watch Seven Deadly Sins, and this happened.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I watched Parasyte episode 3 today. I like the development that some of the other hosts aren't just one-note villains. Shinichi's teacher, for example, isn't hell bent on eliminating him and Migi, or at least not right away, at any rate, which makes these enemies a bit more interesting rather than just being straight-up villains just for the sake of needing to be opposed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

My ranking for this week:

1. Rage of Bahamut: Genesis- This series continues to keep me hooked, and I like how the story and characters are developing with each new episode; I just never find a boring moment in this show.

2. Parasyte- A close second for me. The character development is great, and the different hosts that Shinichi and Migi run into always bring something new to the table and introduce some interesting concepts. I just love the blend of sci-fi, action, and horror that this shoe brings to the table.

3. Amagi Brilliant Park- This episode was surprisingly good, IMO. And the first one that I'd say was well above average. It took an interesting look at the two leads and contained some genuinely good drama. Surprisingly, this show is better when it's playing it serious as opposed to trying to be comedic, which I felt dragged down the first 3 episodes. It's strange because I always considered Gatoh to be better with comedy than straight-up drama, but this series seems to reverse that notion. Not to say that FMP didn't have good drama, but it was primarily awesome for it's bad-ass main character and it's comedy segments, while the drama was well done but surprisingy underplayed until much later into the story. At any rate, as for ABP, it's perked my interest up a notch, so that's definitely a good thing.

4. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works- Thus series is still great, but this was the obligatory exposition episode, and at that it was a complete rehash of that part from the Studio Deen anime, so I really learned nothing new. As such, it's just kind of last by default this week, but I'm fully confident that it'll be back to being awesome in practically no time at all.

[Avaitor]

So last night, I watched the first... 5 episodes of Psycho-Pass, and the first 11 episodes of Beck with a friend. They are day and night as anime series, but hey, I enjoyed both!

We're probably going to watch more later, although she only owns the first half of Psycho-Pass.

[Foggle]

I've been really loving Amagi Brilliant Park. This honestly might be my second favorite anime of the entire year after Space Dandy. It's really cute and fun and I almost never stop laughing or smiling while watching it. Also, a lot of the music sounds like it's ripped directly from the Full Metal Panic OST, which makes me even happier. Why the heck hasn't this been licensed yet!?

[Lord Dalek]

Because KyoAni's a bitch that does not want us to have nice things.

[Avaitor]

I should probably talk about the series we watched together a little more.

Psycho-Pass was pretty fascinating, containing a smart enough sensibility to it that made the show worth watching even if the earlier episodes were almost like futuristic procedurals, and the characters seem average thus far. We stopped after the Spooky Boogie two-parter, which definitely left me feeling like there's potential in the show to do more, so I'm excited to get a chance to see the rest later. And my friend was right, I did appreciate the literary references behind it.

Beck, meanwhile, is just a joy to watch. Not every episode was especially interesting, but I really do like the aesthetic it maintains, just as I appreciate the develop that's occurring for Koyuki. The "Moon on the Water" sequence near the end of the fifth episode easily has to be my favorite moment thus far. I should get around to seeing it in the original Japanese, although the English dub still won me over.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The english dub for Beck is much better than the original, imo, so unless you are dying to hear really crappy engrish (all the songs they sing are in english), I wouldn't bother. Do read the manga once you are done with the show, though, since it covers only a third of the overall story.

Glad to see you're enjoying both shows.

[goody2shoes]

Guess I should mention I enjoyed Garo a lot this week, and EP4 is probably the best one so far. The show appears to be going for a larger narrative interspersed with "monster of the week" side stories, and I don't mind those the way they did one this episode. The themes held a lot of relevance to one of the MC's while working well as a self contained story. This episode was also very atmospheric, and showcased the character design variation Garo's capable of.

I'm rooting for this show to turn into something great, because it has a lot of potential. By the way, I'm loving its OP more every time I watch it.
Garo OP

Parasyte and FSN also really stepped it up this week. Word is Bahamut will do the same next episode