How about a new? (Anime thread)

[Big Jack McBastard]

Jesus yous guise, pull it together, I'm the last person who should be starting these threads cos I'm not gonna fill it with insightful shit about mental shows that are due, or on already, or do all manner of table tomfoolery with my infinite supply of anime reaction pics.

I'm gonna go blomp: http://yootaku.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/neregate.com-Summer-2014-Anime-Chart-v2.jpg

and then go: "Is there owt that's any cop then?"

News? Rumblings? Opinions? Whatever the fuck?

Go!

[madhair60]

I haven't watched much in a long, long time; I've been watching a lot of obscure Western cartoons instead.

Honestly, nothing has ever been as funny as Milky Holmes.  The last things I really liked were Teekyu, Chitose Get You and Chuu2.  I haven't even seen the second season of the latter, yet...

[DJ Solid Snail]

I've been out of it a while. Last anime I really got into was Persona 4: The Animation which I thought was incredibly successful in cherry-picking the most memorable moments of what is essentially a 150-hour+ video game (OK, loads of that's grinding, but still) and developing the silent protagonist into a fantastic comic character. The comedic tone was spot-on and there's a ton of genuinely hilarious moments, easily it's one of the best adaptations I've seen. Shame they missed the chance to not sell out Kanji's character yet again, though.

Thinking I might give Steins;Gate another go since there's a game out now that's getting very good reviews. Only managed a few episodes last time around as I wasn't totally sold on the characters, or the plot was a bit slow off the ground, some reason like that. Any fans here?

[Big Jack McBastard]

That's reminded me what happened with Milky Holmes now... I'm regretting this already.

I mean I know Japan is supposed to be a bit mad with their decisions and all that but I thought I had some kind of handle on it until the moment they went and did that.

[Blumf]

I've been watching World Fool News. It's okay, gentle enough to watch before bed.

[madhair60]

That's reminded me what happened with Milky Holmes now... I'm regretting this already.

I mean I know Japan is supposed to be a bit mad with their decisions and all that but I thought I had some kind of handle on it until the moment they went and did that.

"Alternative" was only alternative to being any fucking good.  The original two series were masterpieces.  The only slightly bland one is the very first episode of setup, then it just went crazy town banana pants for the rest of the run.  It was magnificent.

[Van Dammage]

Initial D just ended recently :(
I watched GTO again lately, never gets old.
Serial Experiments lain is mind boggling and amazing.
I have a lot i need to get through on my watchlist. Next up is Paranoia Agent.

[Consignia]

Hello, I'm Simon Mayo. Welcome to the Consignia and Mayo Anime Pithy Review show. This post, we will be looking the 2014 Summer Anime Season, giving the usual quick thoughts and reviews. I won't adding anything of value, but I will interrupt with readers letters, and generally be an annoyance. What's coming up the show today Consignia?

Thanks, Simon. As you say it's a packed season, we'll be going over new series and sequels, and when I've caught up on the rest, we'll being doing those as podcast extra post.

Excellent. Before we do any pithy reviews, let's dive through the reader's post bag. Stephen Managan, an ex-Pat from Greendale writes, "I'm currently training for a triple Ironman, your podcasts are helping me get over those long days when I have to run half the length of India. I love the show, but I'm determined to make this letter about me and my mighty achivements. Please say hello to Issac Jasons for me." Well, Stephen, we'll see what we can do, anyway, let's get starting on with the reviews.

OK, so new series first.

AGREVOLLEN - A drab military show, with lots of procedural militia gubbins and mecha thrown into the mix. It's not really going anywhere exciting, and it'll have to do a lot more to keep people's attentions.
Locoldol - One of the current flavours of the month, idol shows. This one focuses on idols used to promote local commerce. Could be funnier. Should be funnier.
Akame ga Kill - A strange fantasy action series. The tone is all over the place, but it actually works in it's favour. I can't remember the last time I've been so wrong footed. Has the potential to go to some interesting places.
Glasslip - A P.A. Works original series about glassware, so you know what you are getting. And what you getting here is a fun but calm slice of life show, as usual. Not revolutionary, but something to look at.
Aldnoah Zero - Another mecha type show from the now iconic Ura-butcher. It delivers on grim situations as you'd expect, but not interesting enough yet. Worth keeping an eye on though.
DRAMAtical Murder - A real sausage party, as you'd expect of a BL series. There's nothing intersting here. If you can get through the exposition, you are probably only there for the pretty boys anyway. Avoid.
Sabagebu! - The other flavour of the month, Surival Gaming. This one is from the unlikely source of a shoujo manga, but it's gag filled and 4th wall breaking, and doesn't take it self seriously. Check it out.
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - Comedy series about an unlikely shoujo manga authour. It's got some nice gags in it so far, and attempts to lampoon clichés that currently acceptable. Another good 'un.
HaNaYaMaTa - Sedate series about girls trying to get into traditional dancing. Bit dry so far.
Momo Kyun Sword - Horrendous ecchi series. Can't even deliver gags which is the saving grace of most ecchi. No, just no.

Ok a bit of travel news now: A lorry has jack-knifed on the M6 South-bound. It's causing three week delays in both directions. Elsewhere on the roads, the M25 has disappeared up it's own arse causing queues in and out of London. Simon Mayo, Five-a-live travel.

Alright, sequel series now.

Sword Art Online II - A dreadful series, I don't know why I keep coming back to it. This series should hopefully feature less incest and grim NTR shit, so it's wish-fullment Mary Sue non-sense. This time, the amazing main characters plays an MMO with guns.
Free! Eternal Summer - The famous series about boys swimming. It's acutally quite good, despite needing to have bit more humour, and perhaps a little more time focusing on actual swimming. Still, not the fujoshi only series it can be painted as.
Persona4 the Golden ANIMATION - A pointless retelling of the game. The old content is rushed and dull. The new content is actually quite good, focusing on the new Golden stuff like Mari. A mixed bag that will probably not satisfy anyone, but not bad in it's own right.
Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei! - Magical girl spin-off of the Fate series, which is interesting enough. Could do with loads more humour as is required in these sorts of shows, but it's functional.
Ai Mai Mi Mousou Catastrophe - Lovely return to this brilliant gag series. It's indescribable. Funny things happen.
Yama no Susume - Extended version of the series that promotes mountain hiking. It's cute and OK, but nothing more.
Shin Strange+ - The first series was ok, and this gag series has been performing above par so far this series.

OK, that's about all we've got time for this week. Series of the season?

Akame ga Kill

And populist shit for normal people?

Err... Sword Art Online II

Thanks, this has been a Somewhat Rubbish production for the CAB. Check out the podcast post for extras which will coming soon. A mighty drive is coming up next.

[Van Dammage]

Oh I forgot about Cromartie High School. That is just quality.

And Golden Boy is also hilarious.

[Consignia]

Hello, I'm the sub-standard Edith Bowman standing in for Simon Mayo for podcast extra post. I'm so shit, I make even him look good. I have no idea what any of this stuff is, and I haven't watched any of them anyway. So I'll just sit hear like the Radio wallpaper that I am. Over to Consignia...

Ok, just a few shows that I either missed or got wanged my way after I did my original round-up.

Sailor moon - After years of vapourware, the remake of the famous series finally surfaces. This is the first time I've really seen it, and it's ok. It does show the age of the source material, and the kids of today are more likely to be into Precure, which is pretty much the same show. I can't stop thinking of Excel whenever Usagi speaks, though.
Himegoto - Another gag series that's main draw is most of the characters are actually dudes cross-dressing. It's quite amusing, but the only way you know they are cross dressers is bulging crotch shots, Mount-Your-Friends style.
Seirei Tsukai no Bladedance - A cheap knock off of Zero no Tsukaima. It's alright, but it's really much of nothing.
Black Butler - Book of Circus - This is like the third attempt at a Black Butler adaptation, and this one totally disregards either of it's predecessors. Which is good, because neither were any great shakes, and this feels far more interesting, and also funnier.
Majimoji Rurumo - Shockingly bad art style ruins this otherwise quite fun show about a rubbish witch in training.
Rokujyoma no Shinryakusha!? - Throws the kitchen sink of character archetypes into a typical harem blender, and ends up being no good anyway. Some amusing parts, but it's quite thin on the ground.

On some of the shows I mentioned in the main round up; Akame ga Kill is still good, but slightly too episodic to maintain my top spot. Battling it out for that is Sabagebu and Nozaki-kun, both top notch comedies in their own right. Persona 4 Golden might as well be renamed Mari Sue the Animation, as the show doesn't even bother with context, and is just Mari's bits from the game with added emphasis on how great she is.

That's it for this season, any words from the presenter?

I have nothing of value to say.

Thanks, Edith.

[Spiteface]

Garo: The Carved Seal of Flames finally given a release date

I'll be very interested to see if this gets picked up by anyone for outside of Japan, really. As a huge fan of the live-action series (See a few of my avatar choices like the current one of KIBA, one of the main bad guys from season 1), I've had to rely on fansubbers to get translations of the show to watch, but even they aren't confirming if they're doing this. This seems mostly unrelated to any of the four seasons & spin-offs of the live-action series so far, which might help it's chances of getting picked up.

I do wish Keita Amemiya was more involved with this, though. Yasuko Kobayashi's done some good stuff in the franchise (an excellent episode of Garo: Makai Senki, and the Zero spin-off), but The One Who Shines in the Darkness only had him credited as "creator", and it showed that he wasn't hugely involved.

[Consignia]

Garo: The Carved Seal of Flames finally given a release date

I'll be very interested to see if this gets picked up by anyone for outside of Japan, really.

I've had a look at the production companies involved to see if there's any likely English language release. Going by the limited data I've seen, I'm fairly confident it will get a English language simulcast release, most likely Crunchyroll, although whether it'll be UK viewable is another thing. There's a possibility it might get DVD/Blu-ray release in the US (Sentai being the one I'd think most likely if any), but this might get tied down with pre-existing property rights (they can get fairly hard to resolve, I've heard), and numbers of streaming views. It'll be easier to tell at the beginning of October when all the streaming rights get announced.

[Spiteface]

I've had a look at the production companies involved to see if there's any likely English language release. Going by the limited data I've seen, I'm fairly confident it will get a English language simulcast release, most likely Crunchyroll, although whether it'll be UK viewable is another thing. There's a possibility it might get DVD/Blu-ray release in the US (Sentai being the one I'd think most likely if any)

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was announced for US DVD release a few weeks ago. That's an easy sell though, with the nostalgia for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers that exists. Anything else on that front would be a tougher sell. Anything before then, also unlikely apart from the people who remember a comedy dub of Dynaman from the 80's. Or liked Gatchaman so much they'd give Jetman a spin.

Someone asked Over-Time, a fansubbing group who are subbing the current Garo series Makai No Hana, if they would be doing the anime, and they said that in the past they've tried to do anime, and in most cases it gets licensed, so they have to take it down. Given they've got a bunch of other stuff on the go as well, I can see them being reluctant to take it on if that work has to go in the bin anyway.

The Garo anime could be sold on a "From the writer of Attack on Titan" kinda thing as well, I guess. Being a new story out of main continuity makes it an easier sell too.

[Consignia]

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was announced for US DVD release a few weeks ago. That's an easy sell though, with the nostalgia for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers that exists. Anything else on that front would be a tougher sell. Anything before then, also unlikely apart from the people who remember a comedy dub of Dynaman from the 80's. Or liked Gatchaman so much they'd give Jetman a spin.

I wouldn't go for what's currently on the market as to what will get licensed. For a start, the legitmate streaming sites want pretty much anything to boost their profile, they'll get things that would otherwise be aired, and archived into a dusty Tokyo office. Whether something gets streamed or not is never really down to perceived quality. It's the home video rights which are the harder sell, and indeed the harder things legally.

Again, it all depends on who holds what parts of the pie in the production committee. If TV Tokyo have any part of it (which they might, given they are airing, but I haven't looked too far), it likely will get streamed on Crunchyroll, as I believe they own part of Crunchyroll themselves.

It might even end up in a package deal of licenses that a foreign company has to release if they really wanted something else. So there's a possibility even it bombs everywhere it'll get released under obligation.

Like I said, it's likely it'll get streamed, but while I do personally doubt it'll be the easiest physical release, I wouldn't count it out just yet.

[Spiteface]

I guess I shall wait and see. It's not set to air until October 3rd anyway (the week after Makai No Hana wraps up).

New trailer

Looks like a highly stylised take on some aspects of the show. The Garo armor seems more fluid than it did in live-action. The mouth never usually opens aside from one episode in season 1 where Kouga went over the 99.9s time limit and went apeshit. I think I saw a silver knight in there too, wielding 2 swords. If that guy is Zero, I will be giddy with excitement.

[Spiteface]

Garo rights acquired by Funimation

New trailer

I was checking my usual sources for subs over the weekend, and both Over-Time & TV-Nihon reported this news to confirm they're not subbing it, which is fair enough.TV-Nihon eventually pulled their Zyuranger subs after the news of a DVD release for it.

No word on when Funimation's putting it out, but I might give it a look raw, which I rarely do, but this may be an exception. What I have seen, it looks very dark, very Garo. Some comments online have been mixed, but given Keita Amemiya pretty much gave the team doing this freedom to do their own thing without really being bound by canon, so it's probably not a vital piece of the story.

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

Has anyone watched Barakamon? It's a really nice, warm, funny slice-of-life series about a young calligrapher who moves to a rural island community after getting furious and punching a critic in the face. I haven't watched any anime in ages until recently (apart from Teekyu), but it's really good and I'd much recommend.

[Consignia]

Due to various reasons my pithy round up is late this season. But hold on to your hats everyone, this means that I've got more than the first episode or so to go on. I've dropped several of these already, more than usual due to a holiday which left me behind and too much to catch up on.

Anyway, here it is:

Inou Battle with Everyday Life : The flipside to the Chuunibyou series[nb]which itself was the flipside to Haruhi Suzumiya, but this definitely not the same as Haruhi[/nb], where everyone in a normal setting has psychic abilities. It's kind of slow, but it's got a charm to it.
Orenchi no Furo Jijo : Gag series about someone who gets a Merman in his bathroom. I dropped it after a couple of episodes, as it felt too much of a chore.
Akatsuki no Yona : Fantasy medieval reverse-harem series. Failed to be original and failed to stop me from dropping it immediately.
Trinity Seven : Another fairly typical harem super power series. It's not great, but there's bits of it that have enough amusement to keep it going.
Parasyte : Brilliant series adapted from the classic manga. Lot's of misshapen body weirdness as alien parasytes takeover the world.
Chaika 2 : Fairly decent follow-on from the first half of the fantasy action series.
Seha Girls : CG animation about anthropomorphised Sega consoles learning about Sega's history. It's from the same stable as gdgd Faires, but sadly has none of silly improvisation of that. Just lot's of Sega nostalgia.
Denki-gai no Honya-san : Fairly amusing comedy series set in an iconic Akihabara doujin shop. It actually seems to get a bit better as you go along, as you'd expect from a cahracter comedy.
Shirobako : I was a little worried about this series when it started, another typical high school girl club series. But no, that's just the intro, it's actually a really good comedy-drama about the ups and downs of working in the anime production industry. You'd be naive to think this wasn't idealised, but it's really enjoyable none the less.
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso : A younger version of Nodame Cantabile. It was alright, but I completely lost track of it, and it wasn't good enough to catch up on, so I dropped it.
Psycho Pass 2 : Another follow on, and continues the same trend as the first series. Again I lost the thread over my holiday and dropped it.
Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken : A sweet gag series about a newly wed couple. Enjoyable if not loads to shout about.
Ore Twintail ni narimasu : A fairly guilty pleasure of mine, a series about a guy who turns into a young twintailed girl and fights fetish monsters. Cheesy as hell, but absolutely revels in it's over the top style.
Terraformers : Intresting ultra violent show that got dropped almost immediately due to the overly zealous censorship.
Log Horizon 2 : Yet another follow-on, and it's still better than Sword Art Online, but it feels like it lacks something.
Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works : A much better adaptation of the iconic visual novel than any of the previous attempts. It looks lovely, and flows like a charm. It's not quite as good as Fate/Zero, and it still has the problem of having way too much boring exposition for it's own good, but otherwise rollicking good fun.
Sora no Method : Slice of life series about a young girl meeting upon with her forgotten friends. Nothing ground breaking, but also enjoyable for what is.
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji : Enjoyable shoujo romance series about a girl who has to get into a fake relationship. It does have the nagging problem of core relationship being very abusive psychologically, that can leave a bitter taste afterwards.
Girlfriend (Beta) : About as good as you'd expect a series that is only in existence to promote a rubbish social game about collecting cards with high school girls on them. Surprisingly, I've yet to drop this. It must be laced with cocaine or something.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san : Another fairly nice gag comedy series about a fox spirit who haunts a doll-like girl. It has it's peaks and it's troughs, but overall manages a good few laughs each episode.

[Spiteface]

Aside from the oddness of the last two episodes, I can recommend GARO: The Animation, as Funimation have pointlessly retitled it [nb]"Seal of Flames" was a perfectly good title, but this is also the same company that has decided to refer to the Makai Priests as Makai Alchemists[/nb]. Which is good as today at what appears to be a now-annual live event, in addition to announcing Gold Storm (the forthcoming movie, and 5th live action TV season, which the movie is a prequel to) and some other spin-offs, a second season of the anime was confirmed, in addition to a movie based on that pocket of the continuity.

http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2014/11/23/tohoku-announces-six-new-garo-related-projects/

I've noticed that it's been getting a bit of buzz from people previously unfamiliar with Garo, which makes me rather happy.

[Consignia]

Last year, I said I wouldn't do another one of these. But hey, I love doing them, and I like looking back at them. Also, I've done it so this year, it's only 20 pictures, all from new series that aired this year, so no hunting through old DVDs or Blu-rays looking for a clever reference to something that made better sense my head. Easier by an order of magnitude this year as well, no trick shots and nothing obscure.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.


11.


12.


13.


14.


15.


16.


17.


18.


19.


20.


Standalone page also available here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2962862/2014Quiz/quiz.html

[Consignia]

And here are the answers:

1. Onee-chan ga Kita*2. Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sou*3. Hanayamata*4. Sakura Trick*5. Rail Wars*6. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei*7. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure*8. Trinity Seven*9. Seirei Tsukai no Bladedance*10. Sora no Method*11. Momo Kyun Sword*12. Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen*13. Free : Eternal Summer*14. Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jo-Gakuin Koutou-ka C3*15. Mangaka-san to Assitant-san to*16. Choujigen Game Neptune*17. HappinessCharge PreCure*18. Terraformers*19. Glasslip*20. Sword Art Online II


Very well done to those at home, who got any of them.

[Pedro_Bear]

Cc c could it be...?



Mm mm maybeee...?

It's the same bullshit nofun director, b bb but....



GO AWAY PIGGU NOFUN LOLIS bbb but www wait.... they're... they're ...



>*kokorochan iuna*

IT FUCKING IS!!! IT's HAPPENING!!!



SOMEONE WAKE MILKYSUBS UP IT'S GONE DAMEDAMEDAMEDAMEDAMEDAME AGAIN!!!



For whatever bullshit corporate reasons, there are two versions of Milky Holmes. One is (possibly accidentally) one of the best TV comedy shows ever made, running riot for two series in a way that is almost impossible to categorize let alone pull apart to see how they made it so cleverly, stupidly funny. The other Milky Holmes has the warning prefix "Futari wa" (Nippon for "don't watch" or "we HATE you") in front of the title, and is nofun half-arsed, barely animated, phoned-in, fuccckkk yooouuu torture.

The latter insult made a multimedia concerted attempt to take over the franchise and turn it all into a bland, humourless advert for the interactive novel series. The former CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED.



THE NOFUN LOLIS HAVE GONE DAMEDAME We are fucking BACK on track.

[Consignia]

Oh dear, fucked those answers up good and proper, didn't I? And since I can't edit my original response, here's them done proper.

1. Onee-chan ga Kita
2. Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sou
3. Hanayamata
4. Sakura Trick
5. Rail Wars
6. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
7. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
8. Trinity Seven
9. Seirei Tsukai no Bladedance
10. Sora no Method
11. Momo Kyun Sword
12. Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen
13. Free : Eternal Summer
14. Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jo-Gakuin Koutou-ka C3
15. Mangaka-san to Assitant-san to
16. Choujigen Game Neptune
17. HappinessCharge PreCure
18. Terraformers
19. Glasslip
20. Sword Art Online II


What a total fuck-up, I wouldn't have this with Ben Miller

[madhair60]

wait i'm at work the images aren't loading are they doing new good milky holmes

answer me at once

[Consignia]

are they doing new good milky holmes

answer me at once

I assume you are referring to the fact that Futanari wa Milky Holmes was unmitigated shite? Well, the new series looks to be in the old mould, of actually being off the wall funny. It still features the accursed Feathers, part of the downfall of the afforementioned series, but the PV looks like it's going to be good.

Check the PV (mostly after about a minute), and judge for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGQ9nWVu8Us

[madhair60]

Fuck yes, bring it on.

First anime I'll watch in ages.

[madhair60]

I'M SO HAPPY ANIMECAB

[Big Jack McBastard]

<joins madhair for a little dance>

It best not be rubbish, just sayin.

[Consignia]

I watched the first episode and I'm a little conflicted. On the one hand, it's already surpassed Futanari in laughs[nb]sticking the feathers in jail is admission of how turd Futanari was[/nb], and there's some good satire in there on idols, quite cutting for a franchise that's actively pushing a set of idols.

On the other, it's got some hangovers from the games and Futanari. I dislike the idea that any of Milky Holmes actually do any detective work, let alone be even mildly competent at it. They should be off doing wacky things like vegetable farming or facing off the king of lard. I feel it's just a bit lacking compared to earlier stuff.

In conclusion, we'll see how it goes. I am kind of hoping for a μ's cameo, though.

[madhair60]

I watched the first episode and I'm a little conflicted. On the one hand, it's already surpassed Futanari in laughs[nb]sticking the feathers in jail is admission of how turd Futanari was[/nb], and there's some good satire in there on idols, quite cutting for a franchise that's actively pushing a set of idols.

On the other, it's got some hangovers from the games and Futanari. I dislike the idea that any of Milky Holmes actually do any detective work, let alone be even mildly competent at it. They should be off doing wacky things like vegetable farming or facing off the king of lard. I feel it's just a bit lacking compared to earlier stuff.

In conclusion, we'll see how it goes. I am kind of hoping for a μ's cameo, though.

Yeah, I'm not crazy about it yet, but the first episode of Milky 1 wasn't great shakes either - all setup.  I hope the entire structure and story will collapse in on itself as the series progresses.