Giving thanks for our bountiful [Fall 2011] anime

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Postby goldenspines » Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:09 pm

Was I the only person who fell in love with UN-GO the first episode? Call me crazy, but I love any mystery, amazing or not. Though, the first episode seemed like an "easy mystery" simply because they wanted to introduce a majority of the characters in one go. What better way than at a dinner party with a murder!

Though, after all this, I'm really hoping they don't disappoint. :< I'm liking the premise of the series so far.
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:51 am

As much as I didn't want to like it.

As much as I fought it.

As much as the first scene screamed Sky Girls/Strike Witches.

I liked the first episode of Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing (streaming on Funico [funi and nico nico] on Mondays).

The first episode is low on exposition/explanation because it's a day-in-the-life episode. There's a lot of great action. It's really pretty. There are a TON of callbacks to the original series,[spoiler]DIO[/spoiler] which is good if you're someone who doesn't hate the original series (like me). And, though I was lead to believe otherwise, it looks like a sequel, though not about the mains from the original. They seem to be adding breadth to the already-interesting setting. I kinda like the plucky main character.

I dunno: There's reason to be optimistic after this episode.
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Postby blkmage » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:24 pm

TheSubtleDoctor (post: 1511200) wrote:As much as the first scene screamed Sky Girls/Strike Witches.

Combining their two best selling shows into one, eh?

Guys, guys, you should watch Chihayafuru, it's really good. Between this and March Comes in Like a Lion, I don't know what it is about josei manga using ancient Japanese games as glue for dramas and romances, but I like it.
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:35 pm

blkmage (post: 1511263) wrote:Combining their two best selling shows into one, eh?
It didn't really go there, but I thought...just for a second...
Guys, guys, you should watch Chihayafuru, it's really good. Between this and March Comes in Like a Lion, I don't know what it is about josei manga using ancient Japanese games as glue for dramas and romances, but I like it.
Holy crap, how did I miss this? I had no idea a true blue "game anime" was coming out this season. Thank you, magey. I will check this out presently.
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Postby MightiMidget » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:00 pm

I was really annoyed by the second episode of Mirai Nikki, and I'm still not entirely sure why. But not sure if I'll stick with it for very long. The depth i'm getting out of it extends as far as "he's annoying and she's creepy."
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Postby blkmage » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:36 am

Haven't watched the episode yet because I am doing Important Things, but oh mannnnn that Guilty Crown OP, November 23 can't come fast enough.

Also, the OP made me learn that supercell has TWO new vocalists, one who's doing the OP and the other songs on that single and the other doing Inori's songs and the ED (which comes out a week later on the 30th).
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:14 pm

blkmage (post: 1511263) wrote:Chihayafuru
AAAAND this show is great.
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Postby blkmage » Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:41 pm

Even when the gods
Held sway in the ancient days,
I have never heard
That water gleamed with autumn red
As it does in Tatta's stream
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:39 pm

blkmage (post: 1511519) wrote:Even when the gods
Held sway in the ancient d--
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Next.
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Postby Wolf-man » Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:18 pm

I totally agree with you guys about Guilty Crown. Who knows maybe it will surprise us and get super epic later on.
So what about this Chihayafuru show. Its really good?
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Postby blkmage » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:39 pm

Chihayafuru is a josei romance that uses an ancient Japanese card game as its 'thing' and is surprisingly good.

Not really feeling the characters at all in Guilty Crown because they seem really, well, anime, for lack of a better word, and they've even injected their own bit of silly goosery into it. It's certainly watchable, but I don't think there'll be much being blown away here except on the production front (which I was amgamgamg I want all the songs amg).

Someone made the observation that UN-GO had more interesting things to say about society than Guilty Crown and I'm inclined to agree what with episode 2. I finally put two and two together and figured out the whole postwar angle of the show. I'm interested in seeing how they continue to future-up some of these stories.
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Postby MightiMidget » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:58 pm

goldenspines (post: 1510909) wrote:Was I the only person who fell in love with UN-GO the first episode? Call me crazy, but I love any mystery, amazing or not. Though, the first episode seemed like an "easy mystery" simply because they wanted to introduce a majority of the characters in one go. What better way than at a dinner party with a murder!

Though, after all this, I'm really hoping they don't disappoint. :< I'm liking the premise of the series so far.


No, you weren't. I just watched the first episode and also fell in love with it. So far, my favorite of the season.
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Postby Mr. Hat'n'Clogs » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:23 pm

Yeah, Guilty Crown episode 2 was substantially more watchable than the first, but still needs some more work to be an actually good show. At least I am not questioning if I want to keep with it or not.

UN-GO, on the other hand, was fairly impressive to me and I really like the art and animation too. Anyone who has seen episode two, can you say if it is going to have more of an ongoing story or is it more episodic mysteries?
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Postby MasterDias » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:52 pm

Well, I think so far, Guilty Crown is basically the equivalent of a "summer blockbuster." Flashy, action-focused, heroes and villains are obvious, etc. I don't think this is a bad style they are doing, although it's obviously not going to be the next EotE/GitS with this method. Only real problem I had is that they need to give the male lead a bit more personality. If they keep up roughly the same quality as the first two episodes, it should be a pretty solid show.


Someone made the observation that UN-GO had more interesting things to say about society than Guilty Crown and I'm inclined to agree what with episode 2. I finally put two and two together and figured out the whole postwar angle of the show. I'm interested in seeing how they continue to future-up some of these stories.


Well, that's the thing. I haven't seen episode 2, but I'm not sure episode 1's motive really worked when you use it in a different-than-intended setting. I'm sure it probably worked fine in Ango's original post-WW2 novels but...
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Postby Vii » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:07 pm

goldenspines (post: 1510909) wrote:Was I the only person who fell in love with UN-GO the first episode? Call me crazy, but I love any mystery, amazing or not. Though, the first episode seemed like an "easy mystery" simply because they wanted to introduce a majority of the characters in one go. What better way than at a dinner party with a murder!

Though, after all this, I'm really hoping they don't disappoint. :< I'm liking the premise of the series so far.


I really liked it. I'm not the biggest fan of the mystery genre (It's not like I hate it either.), but UN-GO intrigued me.
The reason I watched it was mainly because it was Studio BONES animating it (Bonus points for the director being the same as FMA's)
I really want to know who or what Inga is...Is she a girl or a boy?

I also get the feeling I might create her panda hood sometime in the future...
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Postby blkmage » Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:35 pm

MasterDias (post: 1511627) wrote:Well, I think so far, Guilty Crown is basically the equivalent of a "summer blockbuster." Flashy, action-focused, heroes and villains are obvious, etc. I don't think this is a bad style they are doing, although it's obviously not going to be the next EotE/GitS with this method. Only real problem I had is that they need to give the male lead a bit more personality. If they keep up roughly the same quality as the first two episodes, it should be a pretty solid show.

Yeah, I agree. At this point, it's mostly everyone being disappointed with their expectations. Personally, I'm kind of surprised that the character designs have held up pretty well in the concept art to anime transition. And I think it can still pull off what it was going for, since I definitely recall raising an eyebrow at some of the shenanigans in Eden of the East.
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:16 pm

Yeah, I really dug the craziness and high tempo of the second episode of GC. If the rest are like that, then I'm totally in.
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Postby ShiroiHikari » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:35 pm

Watching Guilty Crown. It's not bad so far. The characters seem pretty much like walking archetypes, but whatever. It's only episode 2 so maybe the characters will get more interesting, given enough time. Who knows.

Personally, I think the animation in this show is pretty fricking fantastic for TV animation. It's probably the best-looking show I'm watching right now (Gundam AGE being a close second). Also, I LOL'd at pulling a sword from a young girl's chest. How "Utena" is that? Oh and "Kill 'Em All" Daryl, that made me laugh too. Also, dat Koyasu Takehito.

Also watching Horizon in the blah blah blah, because my husband's mission in life is to watch all mecha shows. I decided to come along for the ride. I am regretting it very much. Just...WHY. Why does this exist. And why am I watching it. If you ever want to succinctly explain What's Wrong With Anime to someone, this is the show you should use. It's just...*hork*

P.S. I love how when people say they don't understand what's going on in the show, other people say things like "maybe the subs you're watching aren't good". I don't think good subs could make this show any more comprehensible.
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Postby blkmage » Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:26 pm

My favourite thing about Horizon is that the Japanese don't even know what's going on in the series.

Like, when I was writing up the season preview, I had a hard time trying to condense that premise from the original three paragraphs that it took up. And then, when I was watching the episode, I was like, okay, maybe it's just starting off with all of these characters just to be exciting! Except I hear that within like a volume or two of the light novels, there's over a hundred named characters running around. And those characters are just, what. Like, the slime or the Indian or the breasts or. AND THEN once I got to the end of the episode they infodumped over the ending credits and I burst out laughing.

Usually, you can explain why things like this exist, with things like, oh it's otaku pandering or whatever. But Horizon is just baffling. It makes no sense. No one understands it. Yeah, subs don't help. Apparently, knowing the Japanese language doesn't help either.

For best-looking show, I think it's a toss-up between Guilty Crown and Fate/Zero.
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Postby Mr. Hat'n'Clogs » Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:36 pm

I think Guilty Crown has the advantage in that it has had some fight scenes and much more action than Fate/Zero, so I imagine that episode four of F/Z will be super hawt.
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Postby MasterDias » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:16 pm

Keep in mind Horizon is based off of a massive series of light novels. The first three volumes are something like 5800 pages long altogether. I'm sure such a complicated back story made perfect sense in the book. It might be somewhat unusual for a light novel, but it's not like western fantasy/scifi lack complicated stories and loads and loads of characters.
Also, for what it's worth, the Horizon novels are supposed to be pretty good. At least, I haven't heard anything bad about this particular author and he has quite a few fans.

I really don't think the anime deserves the hate it's getting from certain forums though. I've been able to follow it mostly fine after I read through this spoiler-free repository of character profiles, episode glossaries, maps, and translated information.


Anyway, I've actually been following Amazon.co.jp preorders more than I really have in past seasons. The top five new shows so far on here appear to be Persona 4, Guilty Crown, Working'!!, Haganai, and Horizon. Fate/Zero would have probably been on here, but it is unusually being released in boxsets. I'm interested in seeing how Last Exile 2 does, but I don't think it's quite available for preorder yet.
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Postby goldenspines » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:55 pm

Mr. Hat'n'Clogs (post: 1511618) wrote: UN-GO, on the other hand, was fairly impressive to me and I really like the art and animation too. Anyone who has seen episode two, can you say if it is going to have more of an ongoing story or is it more episodic mysteries?
From the second episode, it looks like it's going to be episodic mysteries, all the while we kinda learn more about the main characters. (episodic with a subplot, basically)
The second episode wasn't a strong one, sadly. Maybe that was just the random girl breaking out into song in a conversation that was irking me.
The next episode looks promising, though. Creepy people wearing masks in creepy mansions.

I love the OP so much, though.

EDIT: Guilty Crown just got real.
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Postby blkmage » Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:25 pm

MasterDias (post: 1511719) wrote:Keep in mind Horizon is based off of a massive series of light novels. The first three volumes are something like 5800 pages long altogether. I'm sure such a complicated back story made perfect sense in the book. It might be somewhat unusual for a light novel, but it's not like western fantasy/scifi lack complicated stories and loads and loads of characters.
Also, for what it's worth, the Horizon novels are supposed to be pretty good. At least, I haven't heard anything bad about this particular author and he has quite a few fans.

I really don't think the anime deserves the hate it's getting from certain forums though. I've been able to follow it mostly fine after I read through this spoiler-free repository of character profiles, episode glossaries, maps, and translated information.


Anyway, I've actually been following Amazon.co.jp preorders more than I really have in past seasons. The top five new shows so far on here appear to be Persona 4, Guilty Crown, Working'!!, Haganai, and Horizon. Fate/Zero would have probably been on here, but it is unusually being released in boxsets. I'm interested in seeing how Last Exile 2 does, but I don't think it's quite available for preorder yet.

I've heard the opposite, that it's a just a gigantic mess that no one really understands. Obviously, that's hearsay on my part and there's obviously someone out there who gets it. I just don't know whether that means it's any good or not.

Oh man the Bakemonogatari BD box, I want it so badly but it doesn't have English subs :<
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Postby MasterDias » Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:13 pm

blkmage (post: 1511756) wrote:I've heard the opposite, that it's a just a gigantic mess that no one really understands. Obviously, that's hearsay on my part and there's obviously someone out there who gets it. I just don't know whether that means it's any good or not.

Well, it's worth noting that the author's previous series, Owari no Chronicle (which I believe is something of a distant prologue to Horizon), was put on the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! light novel rankings for two years in a row alongside such well-regarded titles as Spice and Wolf, Kino's Journey, and Bungaku Shoujo.

I mean I haven't read his books so it's mostly just hearsey on my part too...but I have seen several people at least who really like his novels and were hyping them up. I think it's somewhat unwise to judge the quality of an original work based on it's adaptation though, for better or for worse.
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Postby ShiroiHikari » Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:17 pm

MasterDias (post: 1511719) wrote:
I really don't think the anime deserves the hate it's getting from certain forums though. I've been able to follow it mostly fine after I read through this spoiler-free repository of character profiles, episode glossaries, maps, and translated information.


In my opinion, if I have to look crap up in order to understand what's going on in a show, the show failed in a big way. But that's just me.
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Postby ShiroiHikari » Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:49 am

So Horizon still doesn't make a lick of sense.
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Postby blkmage » Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:55 am

You should be watching Gundam AGE instead anyway, which I am quite onboard with now.
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Postby ShiroiHikari » Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:15 pm

Dude I am totally watching Gundam AGE, along with Guilty Crown and P4. That's four currently airing shows I'm keeping up with, which is a new record for me (previous record being 0).
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:12 pm

Who is watching that kiddie show Gundam Age? That show is about little infants in their Stroller Gundams and is made for babies! Boo!
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Postby TheSubtleDoctor » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:16 am

So, who said that Fam the Silver Wing wasn't a sequel? I know that info is everywhere, but I'm just wondering if the original source was from Gonzo or someone else who is actually working on the project. After seeing a third character from the original (and hearing a fourth referenced), I pretty much don't believe that anymore.

Also, in case it wasn't abundantly clear, the previous post is all sarcasm meant to troll the haters who decried Age based on character design. I have dug the show since episode one.
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