Anime What was the last anime you watched before posting in this thread?

[Emmy]

Watched "The Faraway Paladin". Pretty good, though I felt the first half was a lot stronger than the second half since the latter felt rushed to squeeze into the remaining time (especially having an infernal recap episode take up one of just 12 episodes).

Definitely would have liked if they toned down the amount of internal narration. It might not have annoyed me so much if Will's voice wasn't so grating. Something else that occurred to me was how little tangible effect the Isekai nature of the show actually had on the plot. It was something that also struck me about the Grimgar anime, I don't know if the later LNs go into it but as an anime-only it feels like both series just threw in the Isekai backstory to an otherwise normal fantasy story because it was trending at the time.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Finished Code:Breaker earlier. Started off pretty strong, then it just became okay; didn't like that Sakura fell off hard very quick early on, kind of wanted to see more badass moments of her. Otherwise, I liked the character interaction very much, but it felt like they had all these cool characters introduced all at once just to keep people watching (which honestly was my main reason to still watch it). The manga might be better, so I'll probably check that out at some point (kinda want a reboot of this show, as a lot of potential was lost in it tbh).

Also catching up on finishing two other series. Currently those two are Re: Zero and Initial D; for the former I finally got around to finishing off part 2 of the second season, and the latter I wanted to finish up partly for the cooler race battles in the Fifth and Final Stage's and partly so I can be ready to watch the anime adaptation of MF Ghost.

Also decided to finally watch the anime adaptation of Kantai Collection. Meant to get around to this a few years ago but at the time I sort of had reservations on it, mainly cause I like the game a while back but thought the show would be bad or boring. But after watching the first two episodes it's actually really cute, now I just want to see more of my favorite ship girl Shimakaze (she had very minor roles for now). Glad I enjoy the adaptation so far, now I remember why this series replaced Touhou for me in terms of characters and fandom (now if the latter actually gets a non-fanmade anime that might bring me back).

 

[Mochii ✎꒦꒷✩‧₊˚]

I watched Pokemon XYZ before seeing the thread

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Pokemon Journeys

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Ghost Game Ep 19: This one was real good. Legitimately chilling. The ending almost explicitly confirming that GulusGammamon is not only a perfectly natural state for our boy, but most likely his original state. But then something happened to turn him into our beloved baby boy. Very excited for the time we finally get to explore this more.

 

[Fatima Shadow Frost Witch]

Bofuri Eps 1 to 7

 

[Tactician Karina]

I completed Reinhard's side story in the original LotGH series, as well as the Golden Wings movie. Then sometime soon I'll watch Yang Wen-li's side story, after that I can then get around to the Die Neue These movies. So glad I got back around to finally finish off the current stories until the release of the newest movie. I've always loved this series since the original OVA, so it's great to see characters I love again.

Aside from that, I'm also watching the 1996 The Legend of Zorro anime. Currently up to episode 8, and so far it's pretty fun, though the English dub is very cheesy. I honestly never knew that there was an Japanese-Italian anime of this series, until my father recently told me about it after asking him which older anime series I should watch; even my mother has watched it, though she likes the 1940 movie way more (and so far I do hold all current Zorro movies above this one for now).

Also watching a Chinese anime series called The Daily Life of the Immortal King (or Xian Wang De Richang Shenghuo). It's okay, the animation is great and beautiful, but the characters are kind of flat and boring so far. I kind of get a The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. vibe from it, but without actual good characters and the fun isn't all there. But it might impress me later, so we'll see.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Kotaro Lives Alone, which was.... actually surprisingly good! I didn't expect much of it since it's a Netflix-original anime and I didn't think it looked very good from the posters and pre-release material, but I decided to check it out anyway since I heard good things about it.

So after watching all 10 episodes... it actually has a lot of heart to it and the characters are all very fleshed out, funny and interesting. Definitely a case of not judging a book by its cover, for me at least.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Digimon Ghost Game Ep 21: This one wasn't bad, like, the premise was pretty interesting, but the way it's developed the story was kind of obnoxious. GulusGammamon appears for the second time, but I think I understand less about him than last time he showed up. Which is pretty annoying. The mystery is no closer to being solved than the last time we got hints about him. He just shows up, kills something again, and mumbles something about not being time yet and willingly turns back of his own accord, a completely different scenario to the last time he appeared. And then, as if the current mysteries weren't enough, now we've seen a BlackGargomon hanging around watching events. Which is just another question that's been raised in the series. You can't just keep adding mysteries, we need actual answers at some point. And like, it's annoying because I was psyched for the next appearance of Gulus so we could actually get some kind of real answers about him or at least develop him as a character a bit. I mean, fuck, the last little tidbit about his nature didn't even really have anything to do with him, it was just Piccolomon popping back in time and then coming back looking like he'd lost a fight with an oven to imply things about him without giving actual direct answers. I am willing to give this story some time to develop itself, but I'm really hoping it speeds itself up a bit to deliver at least some kind of answer soonish. Like, we're approaching what is probably around the halfway point of the series, we could really use some kind of resolution and real development to at least part of the story that's been building up. What is Hokuto actually doing? What the fuck is GulusGammamon's deal? What's with BlackTailmon? Just actually answer something.

 

[Jamborenium]

I've been catching up on Pokémon Journeys

 

[Tactician Karina]

Still watching The Legend of Zorro, up to episode 25 currently. The dub has started to grow on me, though there are still awkward line deliveries here and there, and some voices for background and side characters in some episodes can be too goofy at times.

Recently picked up Supernatural The Animation. So I didn't know this show had an anime adaptation, found it while browsing for other anime to watch and it honestly caught me off guard. The original show is okay, not my top favorite but some episodes are good, but I think I like this version more. I know it's apparently a condensed version of the later seasons, but this one feels really accessible and fun to get into, too bad it's only one season though. (now maybe someday Wolf Lake can come back and actually get a proper first season, and maybe get a anime adaptation as well; though I know that'll be impossible, but I can dream)

Also watching another Chinese anime after finishing the first two seasons of Xian Wang De Richang Shenghuo (it grew on me; now I'm waiting for season 3 to air). This time I'm watching Aishen Qiaokeli-ing (or Cupid's Chocolates), it's definitely a hit or miss show depending on if you like harem or not. It's okay, a fun time sink that I'll certainly watch season 2 after I finish it, though I just really like how bright and colorful the character designs are.

Aside from those series, still keeping up with The Case Study of Vanitas part 2, Salaryman's Club, and World's End Harem. Not sure what other new seasonal series I'll watch next; though I'm leaning towards Tensai Ouji, Fantasy Bishoujo, and Shikkakumon next, they'll be finished airing by then but it gives me a chance to binge a few episodes from each one, at least.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I've been catching up on Pokémon Journeys

It's the only recent anime I really watch, I usually just re-watch old stuff from years ago.

 

[Fatima Shadow Frost Witch]

Lapis ReLights

This one feels a little too much like Love Live with Magical Girls replacing the Singing parts

 

[Jamborenium]

the most recent episode of Ranking of Kings

 

[Emmy]

Shenmue Episodes 6 & 7: These two episodes might as well be called "bring on the waifus".

We start off by skipping Shenmue 1.5 and diving straight into Disc 1 of Shenmue 2 and meet both Joy and Wong as Ryo lands in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Interesting that they went with a compromise of the audience hearing Japanese coming out of everyone's mouths but Ryo constantly has his little book of Cantonese phrases out whenever he's speaking to indicate otherwise. The interactions between Ryo and Jianmin Tao were quite amusing as he attempted to teach the lad the true meaning of kung-fu, eventually culminating in Ryo learning the Iron Palm technique.

Eventually we reach Man Mo Temple and Ryo has the stunning realisation that the "Master" is in fact a woman. I love that they kept the "blur" effect that Xiuying has when she "fights" Ryo to really emphasise that he is out of his league in comparison to her since Ryo hasn't lost a fight in a couple episodes now. I also really liked that a frustrated Ryo tried to use the Swallow Dive kick to just get one hit on Xiuying since it maintains the continuity and validity of screentime spent on Ryo learning the video game moves from other characters. I was certainly surprised at how much time was spent on Zongquan to the point that I think they fleshed him out even moreso than the original game did - not that I'm complaining, he was certainly one of the more interesting side characters. Anyways, the fact that they also gave Fangmei extra scenes has me hoping they'll cover her birthday event in the show as that was cute.

Fun fact, Fangmei was originally voiced by Pikachu in the original JPN dub of Shenmue 2.

 

[zoroarctic]

Episodes 22-23 of 86. The last 5 minutes of episode 23 were just...I don't think I've gotten that emotional watching an anime since the ending of Chrno Crusade.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Usagi Drop episode 3.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Getting back into the Tenchi Muyou series this time. Decided to start off with the first OVA Ryououki Dai 1-ki, then I might watch the other six OVA's connected to it, though I want to get back to the TV series proper; I'll probably watch the OVA's alongside the rest of the series, but we'll see. My history with this series is interesting, as I only caught a few episodes of the 90's show on early Toonami/Adult Swim (one of the two, all I know is it was late at night), then a few episodes of GXP a few years later, and I remember catching a bit of Shin Tenchi Muyou (though that one was on YouTube, not TV; I don't know if that one ever aired on AS). I also remember watching a bit of the Pretty Sammy and Sasami Magical Girls Club spin-off's as well, those were fun so it'll be exciting to watch the earlier episodes again and finally completing them (surprised I never did honestly, Sasami was always my top favorite character in the franchise).

Completed Supernatural The Animation and World's End Harem. The former was good fun to watch imo, though I can see why hardcore fans of the original show probably wouldn't like it as much (but Gackt had a supporting role in it, so it automatically raises it's score for me lol); the latter was okay, shoddy animation to almost still "motion" cards in the last episode, and the manga isn't much better as the "story" is really meh. I'm more interested in the spin-off manga's as I hear they're a bit better.

And finally got tickets to watch the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie in theatres yesterday. Not gonna spoil anything, so I'll say it's a good prequel to the series. I've already read the prequel manga for it a while ago so I knew I would enjoy it, plus it's always nice seeing more Gojo. The soundtrack for the movie was pretty good too, though nothing that really wow'd me personally. The only thing that I was never too fond of in the prequel in general was Yuta, mainly cause he kind of reminded me of Shinji from Evangelion (though I at least somewhat liked the latter) and he's just too generic, otherwise the movie was satisfactory.

 

[Neo Blaze]

The Non Non Biyori Nonstop OVA. I love this series so much. It's too bad it ended with Season 3 but it was great to return to these characters and this setting for one more episode.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Tribe Nine and what a fun show it is.