Anime You've Recently Completed?

[Arisien]

2 hours ago, Green Dragoon said:

I'm thinking about re-watching the series for the first time around 15 years. A couple songs from the rock performance scene was fire. Remembered glimpsing at it for the first time discovering Haruhi Suzumiya, when I catch my bro watching it on Youtube. Can't wait to get nostalgic l-o-lz..  I never watched the next season after this, here goes my chance. After I'm currently dealing with K-On season 2. 

 

Just as a heads up, they changed the Haruhi Suzumiya episode order from the original way it was broadcast to a chronological one since season 2 came out. It's prevalent on most sites and regarded as the 'preferred' way to watch if you watch both seasons + film.

 

I also need to catch up on K-On! at some point ^^

[Arisien]

F/SN Heaven's Feel.

The route introduction was done masterfully. Shirou has also gone a long way from "people die if they are killed"... Overall pretty good.

[Arisien]

Zom 100, a seasonal comedy series I just got around to finishing. Nothing too remarkable, but enjoyable. Ironically, the absurdist humor approach breaks SoD less than more earnest attempts at this setting (*cough* HSOTD *cough*)

[Wander]

On 5/17/2024 at 9:54 PM, Arisien said:

F/SN Heaven's Feel.

The route introduction was done masterfully. Shirou has also gone a long way from "people die if they are killed"... Overall pretty good.

Yeah it's definitely the best route by a long shot in the VN. I haven't actually watched the movies yet, but sounds like ufotable did a good job -- just as expected.

 

To try and drive off the moderate depression after Frieren finished, I re-watched Carnival Phantasm. Everything was going well, but then I followed that with a rewatch of Nichijou... so I'm moderately depressed again.

 

I'm currently watching Dungeon Meshi. All of the main characters bring me joy and I'll be glad to check out the manga after, I think.

[Arisien]

39 minutes ago, Wander said:

Yeah it's definitely the best route by a long shot in the VN. I haven't actually watched the movies yet, but sounds like ufotable did a good job -- just as expected.

 

To try and drive off the moderate depression after Frieren finished, I re-watched Carnival Phantasm. Everything was going well, but then I followed that with a rewatch of Nichijou... so I'm moderately depressed again.

 

I'm currently watching Dungeon Meshi. All of the main characters bring me joy and I'll be glad to check out the manga after, I think.

 

Hi!

 

As far as the ufotable adaptation goes, I was especially impressed by the first in the trilogy. The soundtrack, animation, direction...

 

Can't say I've had Dungeon Meshi on my radar at all but it seems pretty well received and non-generic from the trailer so I could give it a shot. I only really consider 1-2 series a season if any after some skimming, mostly focusing on my ever growing backlog.

[Wander]

1 hour ago, Arisien said:

 

Hi!

 

Can't say I've had Dungeon Meshi on my radar at all but it seems pretty well received and non-generic from the trailer so I could give it a shot. I only really consider 1-2 series a season if any after some skimming, mostly focusing on my ever growing backlog.

 

Hello!

 

Honestly, Dungeon Meshi is quite different. It's a story that deftly plays on its dichotomies. It's very lighthearted, a comedy at its core, but it's not shy either and plenty of gruesome things occur. And yet, despite there being some grisly business going down, it's extremely wholesome and you'll fall in love with the main characters.

 

Yet despite being a comedy, there is a real story being told. our characters are growing, and there is a sense of direction and purpose. There are plenty of moments that aren't funny, but it's never grimdark or trying to be edgy. It simply is very much its own thing, quite effortlessly, while drawing upon plenty of influences from RPGs and fantasy stories.

 

It is by definition a monster-of-the-week show, and yet there's a long overarching story that is kept in perspective.

You'll watch the first episode with an eyebrow raised, eyes narrowed, waiting for the part you don't like... and then you'll queue up the next episode with a continued healthy scepticism... and then you'll look at the clock and it's 4am and you're halfway into the series, praying for the safety and success of our main characters.

 

In terms of the vibe, I guess it could be said that it's like Nichijou or Gintama but set in a dark fantasy world with a focus on cooking. However there is more structure and purpose than Nichijou, and the pace is a little slower and more focused than Gintama. I think it quite expertly toys with your expectations at times, but as soon as you understand the author's plan, the show becomes quite predictable -- but not in a bad way, you just quite quickly get a sense for where an episode is going, a feeling that is at times lampshaded by the all-too-genre-aware cast as well.

 

tl; dr I recommend it. It's not going shoot straight to the top your list or anything, but if you are like me, it will creep up over time. Of course, it's not over yet, could all go to hell but judging from how the series has progressed so far and judging from the warm reception from those who already hit the manga beforehand, I have high hopes for it.

 

And of course it's Trigger, so naturally it's beautiful to look at.

 

 

Quote

As far as the ufotable adaptation goes, I was especially impressed by the first in the trilogy. The soundtrack, animation, direction...

 

can't really go wrong with ufotable. Their adaptations of F/Z and UBW were excellent. Didn't care for some of the CGI at times but it's a modern reality and easy to see past for the sake of appreciating everything else.

Edited May 23, 2024 by Wander

[Koby]

In the last couple weeks I finished Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Ninja Kamui, Shangri-La Frontier, Solo Leveling, The Apothecary Diaries, The Witch and the Beast, and The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

 

Overall enjoyed JJK S2 more than the first season, but it certainly felt like it dragged a bit at times and the whole MAPPA imploding mid-season and some episodes broadcasting in an unfinished state was certainly something.

 

Ninja Kamui started off strong but dived head-first off a cliff and never recovered. Ended up absolutely terrible.

 

Shangri-la Frontier started off strong and then lingered too long in meh territory and never recovered.

 

Solo Leveling was enjoyable even if it largely just felt like the introduction/prologue to the real story of whats to come.

 

The Apothecary Diaries started of meh but vastly improved in the second half when it finally caught it's stride and was an enjoyable show overall.

 

The Witch and the Beast was enjoyable for the most part but never wandered out of the average/meh camp and then abruptly ended.

 

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic was a surprise pick-up I didn't intend to watch but a friend got me to do so and it ended up better than originally expected. That's not saying much though as it's still very average/mediocre isekai following the tried and true formula to a T.

[Arisien]

10 hours ago, Wander said:

 

Hello!

 

Honestly, Dungeon Meshi is quite different. It's a story that deftly plays on its dichotomies. It's very lighthearted, a comedy at its core, but it's not shy either and plenty of gruesome things occur. And yet, despite there being some grisly business going down, it's extremely wholesome and you'll fall in love with the main characters.

 

Yet despite being a comedy, there is a real story being told. our characters are growing, and there is a sense of direction and purpose. There are plenty of moments that aren't funny, but it's never grimdark or trying to be edgy. It simply is very much its own thing, quite effortlessly, while drawing upon plenty of influences from RPGs and fantasy stories.

 

It is by definition a monster-of-the-week show, and yet there's a long overarching story that is kept in perspective.

You'll watch the first episode with an eyebrow raised, eyes narrowed, waiting for the part you don't like... and then you'll queue up the next episode with a continued healthy scepticism... and then you'll look at the clock and it's 4am and you're halfway into the series, praying for the safety and success of our main characters.

 

In terms of the vibe, I guess it could be said that it's like Nichijou or Gintama but set in a dark fantasy world with a focus on cooking. However there is more structure and purpose than Nichijou, and the pace is a little slower and more focused than Gintama. I think it quite expertly toys with your expectations at times, but as soon as you understand the author's plan, the show becomes quite predictable -- but not in a bad way, you just quite quickly get a sense for where an episode is going, a feeling that is at times lampshaded by the all-too-genre-aware cast as well.

 

tl; dr I recommend it. It's not going shoot straight to the top your list or anything, but if you are like me, it will creep up over time. Of course, it's not over yet, could all go to hell but judging from how the series has progressed so far and judging from the warm reception from those who already hit the manga beforehand, I have high hopes for it.

 

And of course it's Trigger, so naturally it's beautiful to look at.

 

 

 

can't really go wrong with ufotable. Their adaptations of F/Z and UBW were excellent. Didn't care for some of the CGI at times but it's a modern reality and easy to see past for the sake of appreciating everything else.

 

Thanks for the rec! I'll give the first few episodes a watch to see if it's for me.

 

8 hours ago, Koby said:

In the last couple weeks I finished Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Ninja Kamui, Shangri-La Frontier, Solo Leveling, The Apothecary Diaries, The Witch and the Beast, and The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

 

Overall enjoyed JJK S2 more than the first season, but it certainly felt like it dragged a bit at times and the whole MAPPA imploding mid-season and some episodes broadcasting in an unfinished state was certainly something.

 

Ninja Kamui started off strong but dived head-first off a cliff and never recovered. Ended up absolutely terrible.

 

Shangri-la Frontier started off strong and then lingered too long in meh territory and never recovered.

 

Solo Leveling was enjoyable even if it largely just felt like the introduction/prologue to the real story of whats to come.

 

The Apothecary Diaries started of meh but vastly improved in the second half when it finally caught it's stride and was an enjoyable show overall.

 

The Witch and the Beast was enjoyable for the most part but never wandered out of the average/meh camp and then abruptly ended.

 

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic was a surprise pick-up I didn't intend to watch but a friend got me to do so and it ended up better than originally expected. That's not saying much though as it's still very average/mediocre isekai following the tried and true formula to a T.

 

I heard MAPPA polished those unfinished scenes in blu ray release? Still surprised they didn't just delay the season release or have a break. As you said, certainly something...

 

Apothecary Diaries sounds interesting, but it's unfortunate to hear Witch and the Beast was meh. Looked promising to me but I never got the chance to start it.

[Koby]

3 hours ago, Arisien said:

I heard MAPPA polished those unfinished scenes in blu ray release? Still surprised they didn't just delay the season release or have a break. As you said, certainly something...

Haven't seen the Blu-rays to compare but I'm pretty sure they would have done more work to it once they got staff back into the office after all the walkouts and stuff.

[warriorpirate]

12 hours ago, Koby said:

Haven't seen the Blu-rays to compare but I'm pretty sure they would have done more work to it once they got staff back into the office after all the walkouts and stuff.

I actually did not know about MAPPA issues and just assumed that the bad animation was by design! 

[Koby]

1 minute ago, warriorpirate said:

I actually did not know about MAPPA issues and just assumed that the bad animation was by design! 

https://screenrant.com/jujutsu-kaisen-animator-meltdown-mappa-big-problem/

 

They apparently weren't treating the animators right and making them work overtime and overloaded and a bunch of them walked out mid-season and rather than delay the show and give them a week to catch up they just released unfinished versions of the episodes.

 

https://www.sportskeeda.com/anime/news-jujutsu-kaisen-animator-deletes-tweet-claiming-mappa-released-unfinished-episode

[Arisien]

Shinsekai yori (From the New World)

 

When I picked this series up from my backlog I got this strong feeling of deja vu from the first episode until realized I'd already seen it. Not sure why I didn't continue watching it way back then or how I completely forgot about it... heh

 

The world building is highly developed and the series poses some interesting conundrums about human behavior. Certainly worth a watch if you like mystery/psych.

[Wander]

Finally watched the Fate/Stay Night ~ Heaven's Feel movies from ufotable.

 

Ultimately, I wish they'd have just made the movies longer or simply made more than 3 movies, for the sake of a stronger adaptation. Kirei and Illya are so important and yet they're conspicuously disregarded by the adaptation.

 

Overall the movies are gorgeous visually and you can fill in the blanks if you're familiar with the route from having played the VN, but having to "have played the VN first" is far from a compliment to something as an adaptation.

 

Their UBW adaptation wasn't perfect either don't get me wrong, but I doubt if a perfect adaptation is a feasible goal, and I at least don't feel the need to tell anyone to play the VN before watching it.

 

That being said,

Spoiler

that Rider/Shirou vs Saber Alter fight was exceptional. ufotable get praised a lot for fights but this was something else. The music, the storyboarding, the animation, the sound design... It's definitely up there with Asuka vs Mass Production Evas in End of Evangelion.

 

After that I watched Today's Menu for the Emiya Family. All I can say about that is, if you enjoyed Carnival Phantasm and wish there was more, watch it. It is pure slice-of-life / cooking happiness, but there are some very funny moments as well.

 

* * *

 

This concludes my Fate anime travels for now, having marathon rewatched F/Z, UBW, Apocrypha, Carnival Phantasm, and then watched those described above. I'm aware there's more like Last Encore and the F/GO stuff ... I feel like I'd rather discover the F/GO stuff by playing F/GO at some point, and I heard Last Encore is a hot mess and I'm not sure I want the sour taste in my mouth.

 

So, time for Apothecary Diaries I think.

Edited June 5, 2024 by Wander

[Zemekis]

Very nearly done with InuYasha & its spinoffs/movies...

But I did recently (Friday, 6/14/24) watch through Kite and Kite Liberator. Surprisingly, I slightly preferred Liberator despite it being a sequel from nearly a decade after the original 'classic'. I fear the the original Kite would be preferred by most due to its 90's aesthetics instead of its actual content. It's hard to argue against something simply looking better to the average person. It just felt to me at times that the original Kite was being dark & edgy for the sake it it rather than for any particular reason. Liberator had more light-hearted scenes throughout & a main character who wasn't an emotionless husk. I very much enjoyed both!

[Koby]

Finally finished KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, the Megumin spin-off. Oh boy this was not an enjoyable show. Seems the comedy and everything about the setup only really works when you've got Kazuma and the whole crew together. Focusing solely on Megumin in the lead was just boring... and it didn't help that the highlights of the show we practically already knew or could guess about fairly accurately based on the backstory we were already aware of from the mainline series. I just don't see why this spin-off needed to exist and I was glad when the credits rolled on the final episode so I could start Season 3 proper.

[Zemekis]

4 hours ago, Koby said:

Oh boy this was not an enjoyable show.

Thanks for the heads up. The friends I watch anime with each week really like KonoSuba but I wasn't a huge fan of even the proper seasons we've watched. I'll see if I can dodge this. Cheers.

[Arisien]

Patema Inverted

Thoroughly enjoyed this one, Studio Rikka does it again! Once again was not disappointment by the sci-fi setting. Kind of wish there was more focus on the antagonists because there are a lot of questions in relation to them left behind by the end. But I guess that's standard, they seem to like leaving a lot up to the viewers interpretation while focusing on the concept.

 

 

 

---

On 6/5/2024 at 1:35 PM, Wander said:

Ultimately, I wish they'd have just made the movies longer or simply made more than 3 movies, for the sake of a stronger adaptation. Kirei and Illya are so important and yet they're conspicuously disregarded by the adaptation.

 

Overall the movies are gorgeous visually and you can fill in the blanks if you're familiar with the route from having played the VN, but having to "have played the VN first" is far from a compliment to something as an adaptation.

Spoiler

Agreed, but I like the way they handled the non route specific day 3 content through the opening sequence. Great OST and flashing through the moments we've already seen to remind us. Saves time for the route itself, yet there's still so much unexplored content though.

---

On 6/17/2024 at 9:06 AM, Zemekis said:

But I did recently (Friday, 6/14/24) watch through Kite and Kite Liberator.

That's interesting, I didn't even know it had a sequel. With Kite, I feel like exposition and analyzing character motivations were overshadowed by the time spent on h scenes. I would say they deliberately made it "over the top" as a whole for comedic and artistic effect, was it really that edgy though?

Spoiler

The whole falling sequence is the most memorable part to me. It's like the show is repeatedly saying "You thought it was over didn't you?"

[Zemekis]

7 hours ago, Arisien said:

That's interesting, I didn't even know it had a sequel.

  Hide contents

The whole falling sequence is the most memorable part to me. It's like the show is repeatedly saying "You thought it was over didn't you?"

I suspect that a lot of people don't know about the sequel. You can -barely- call it a sequel, for how little it connects to the original. It features the same weapon & a brief mention of the original's protagonist, that's all. Despite being disconnected from the 1998 release, it's more of a re-imagining...quite similar. You should check it out if you liked the original. Liberator is less dark & brooding, no H scenes, and I felt the characters were more endearing. There was also more plot than just a series of edgy assassinations. The plot was dumb, but at least it was there. I watched them both with @Dave55811, and he was surprised that I preferred Liberator. I think I'm in the minority on that opinion. I unfortunately find myself in situations like this a lot as an FF VIII & Majora's Mask sperg.

Edited June 18, 2024 by Zemekis
Shortening quoted section to just the relevant portion

[Arisien]

Alice in Borderland (Imawa no Kuni no Arisu)
Wasn't expecting much from this 3 episode ova, but was pleasantly surprised by a fast-paced coherent story arc leaving me with a bit of a desire to uncover all the posited mysteries in the source manga. I'd say the pacing complements this type of story but at the expense of a slightly less impactful ending. Kind of works like a teaser.

 

 

 

---

On 6/19/2024 at 1:16 AM, Zemekis said:

I suspect that a lot of people don't know about the sequel. You can -barely- call it a sequel, for how little it connects to the original. It features the same weapon & a brief mention of the original's protagonist, that's all. Despite being disconnected from the 1998 release, it's more of a re-imagining...quite similar. You should check it out if you liked the original. Liberator is less dark & brooding, no H scenes, and I felt the characters were more endearing. There was also more plot than just a series of edgy assassinations. The plot was dumb, but at least it was there. I watched them both with @Dave55811, and he was surprised that I preferred Liberator. I think I'm in the minority on that opinion. I unfortunately find myself in situations like this a lot as an FF VIII & Majora's Mask sperg.

Well I watched Liberator and yeah it really isn't a sequel, but I see what you meant. I think that the intentions behind Kite and Liberator are completely different though, and there are interesting elements of both.
 

Spoiler

I didn't see Kite as JUST a series of empty assassinations. It comes off as a parody of the "assassin girl meets boy" story setup like Phantom to me. Watching the first few minutes you get the feeling that you know exactly how its gonna play out as you've already seen: "i just *wonder* who the revealed killer of her parents will be", "they're *totally* not gonna betray the organization they've been coerced into working for". And it does play out like that, just not in any way you are expecting. Subversion of viewer expectations can be seen throughout the entire ova.

 

This starts of with that assassination sequence which you expect to be a clean execution by a cool and calculating female lead assassin but turns into a lengthy struggle out of nowhere and culminates into that ridiculous falling sequence that keeps on making you question when its going to end. You think its finally over, then a piece of a building randomly falls out of nowhere and blows everything up lol.

 

Then you finally get to the "reveal" of her parent's true killer and wonder how it's gonna play out without being the most cliched thing ever. The answer, two deadpan delivered lines and the issue is never addressed again: "I know". This exchange got a pretty big chuckle out of me. One might wonder how on earth this random guy or even Sawa herself know about the true fate of her parents, but if an actual explanation is what your looking for this isn't that type of series. There are some other downright silly subversions but I won't get into them here. The unserious attitude with addressing plot points coupled with the unhinged one-liners and gags that are spread throughout, make the whole thing come off as far more funny then I remembered it.

 

As for Liberator it feels like a far more earnest story to me with a few artistic choices inherited from Kite. They decided to move away from the explosive bullet gore which I think highlights the different direction they went in. I enjoyed watching it overall, but the story feels a bit unpolished with so many ideas and no time to explore the setting and characters. I honestly have no idea how some '90s and '00s movies of were able to fully explore the stories they setup whilst feeling complete in their short runtime, when a lot of these only slightly shorter OVAs can feel lacking. Of course, modern movies have gotten incredibly long nowadays, that magic seems lost to time. Not sure what they were trying with the space subplot when it would have worked the same without it, though I suppose it was a concept they had somewhere they wanted to try out. I'm actually partial to the '00s aesthetic since I grew up watching it and yeah I got a little bit of nostalgia goggles in some parts.

Haven't written a longer comment like this in a while, hope I didn't ramble for too long...

[Zemekis]

9 hours ago, Arisien said:

 

  Hide contents

I didn't see Kite as JUST a series of empty assassinations. It comes off as a parody of the "assassin girl meets boy" story setup like Phantom to me. Watching the first few minutes you get the feeling that you know exactly how its gonna play out as you've already seen: "i just *wonder* who the revealed killer of her parents will be", "they're *totally* not gonna betray the organization they've been coerced into working for". And it does play out like that, just not in any way you are expecting. Subversion of viewer expectations can be seen throughout the entire ova.

 

This starts of with that assassination sequence which you expect to be a clean execution by a cool and calculating female lead assassin but turns into a lengthy struggle out of nowhere and culminates into that ridiculous falling sequence that keeps on making you question when its going to end. You think its finally over, then a piece of a building randomly falls out of nowhere and blows everything up lol.

 

Then you finally get to the "reveal" of her parent's true killer and wonder how it's gonna play out without being the most cliched thing ever. The answer, two deadpan delivered lines and the issue is never addressed again: "I know". This exchange got a pretty big chuckle out of me. One might wonder how on earth this random guy or even Sawa herself know about the true fate of her parents, but if an actual explanation is what your looking for this isn't that type of series. There are some other downright silly subversions but I won't get into them here. The unserious attitude with addressing plot points coupled with the unhinged one-liners and gags that are spread throughout, make the whole thing come off as far more funny then I remembered it.

 

As for Liberator it feels like a far more earnest story to me with a few artistic choices inherited from Kite. They decided to move away from the explosive bullet gore which I think highlights the different direction they went in. I enjoyed watching it overall, but the story feels a bit unpolished with so many ideas and no time to explore the setting and characters. I honestly have no idea how some '90s and '00s movies of were able to fully explore the stories they setup whilst feeling complete in their short runtime, when a lot of these only slightly shorter OVAs can feel lacking. Of course, modern movies have gotten incredibly long nowadays, that magic seems lost to time. Not sure what they were trying with the space subplot when it would have worked the same without it, though I suppose it was a concept they had somewhere they wanted to try out. I'm actually partial to the '00s aesthetic since I grew up watching it and yeah I got a little bit of nostalgia goggles in some parts.

Haven't written a longer comment like this in a while, hope I didn't ramble for too long...

No problem, I think your description was really spot-on. I shouldn't have said "just edgy assassinations", you're right. There was more to it, and a lot of that was subtext & undertones. Heavier emotional stuff I struggle to pick up on sometimes. I think it came across as slightly too broodying for me, but I should specify that I still really really liked Kite. I just liked Liberator a tiny bit more. If Kite was an 8 - 8.5/10 for me, then Liberator was an 8.5 - 9. In the original Kite, a lot more of the story is implied or left to the imagination, whereas in Liberator things are more chronological and explained. I like that. I will give Liberator credit for its hyper-abrupt ending, however. I had to look online to find out if there was an error with my copy because of how jarring the ending was. I won't spoil it here, but Liberator cuts to credits in the middle of a scene and that's all you get.

To follow up Kite Liberator (and keeping with the Yasuomi Umetsu theme), I watched Mezzo Forte last week. The OVA, not the series. I like it! It was funnier than Kite or Kite Liberator, but still very much in line with them. There is even a Kite easter egg for eagle-eyed viewers! I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it. It's even goofier than Kite Liberator. It's like a dark-comedy version of Kite. Yet another assassin OVA with a female protagonist + H-scenes with her coworkers. Let me know if you've seen it @Arisien

I'm rambling now too, so I'll stop here.