The Old School Otaku Lounge

ah, I love Chihayafuru! It's wonderful. Glad you're enjoying it! I still need to catch up on the new season.

Yes! I'm getting around to the 3rd season now. Just a really surprisingly well done show.

Thought I'd give Flame of Recca a go -- I think the cheese might be too much.

I remember liking Recca alright when it first came out...I haven't revisited it since it was considered "new-ish" though! I'm sure it probably hasn't aged as well as the things it was heavily inspired by...I do still think the opening is catchy tho.

Blah, tags.

usamimi wrote: I remember liking Recca alright when it first came out...I haven't revisited it since it was considered "new-ish" though! I'm sure it probably hasn't aged as well as the things it was heavily inspired by...I do still think the opening is catchy tho.

Same. I remember picking up Recca after I finished Rurouni Kenshin, which I was absolutely in love with, and hoping that it'd kinda scratch the same itch. It didn't quite do that for me but it wasn't bad. I bought a couple of Viz's DVD singles to watch further than the fansubs I had, and eventually the Diskotek re-release box set so I can finish it. I've not put any real time into it but it's nice to see it pop up streaming, too. Recca's not revolutionary but there's a lot of mid to late 90s stuff that is a LOT worse.

Finally finished Little Princess Sara. As far as WMT shows go, it's one of the best from the 80s...but still a significant step down from their 70s shows. Though much of the fault lies with the source material, which has displays some of the problems with Victorian literature in that they often rely on broad characterizations and 2 dimensional caricatures. The "villains" in this story never progress beyond their roles, and Sara herself is portrayed as a Christ-like figure. Episode after episode of showing her nobly suffering indignities from the bad girls gets rather old after a while.

Having said that, it's still a well directed show, with a great sense of place and solid character animations at a time when the WMT budgets were scaling back.

Restarted the Netflix drip to see the new GITS TV among other things. Twelve episodes are available, rendered in a "budget" version of the CG animation that Shinji Aramaki has been working in since the Appleseed movies. I don't know why some fans think that the cel animation of 25 years ago is coming back, even for popular properties. The visual designs are pretty close to Shirow's manga style, unlike the ARISE work from a few years ago. I think the voice actors (for Section 9) are the same from SAC?

OT: Dedicated a corner of my "old school gallery" to Shirow projects; cyberpunk never grows old it just gets a new incept date

Giving Tower of God a shot; I feel kinda bad for the makers, though. Episode continuity is a mess, so it feels sort of like watching an anime while sleep-deprived. Character designs are great, though. I feel like the director was a fan of chibi-angry scenes in anime, but doesn't quite get how to do it right, so it ends up making the comedy distracting rather than funny. However, re-watching some of those 90s chibi-angry scenes maybe I am just too old to appreciate the gags now. (^_^;) The plot (main character is a good-hearted guy follows his true love who turns out to be a jerk who hates him for no reason but he'll win her back) bugs me, although I recognize that that is an established type of anime escapism for people coping with the aftermath of bad relationships.

If I had to recommend a newer anime like Tower of God but not, I'd say Made in Abyss is better done.

Recently finished Gundam ZZ for the first time. It definitely improved as the show went on. I know I'm in the vast minority here, but I enjoyed it more than Zeta. I found Judau to be more likable than Kamille -- or at least less prone to random mood swings.

Also watched 8 Man After, which is now available on Amazon Prime streaming. I heard mixed reviews about this one, but ended up really enjoying it. Makes me regret not buying a copy when FYE had it on sale for $9.99 years ago.

Next time Rightstuf has a Discotek sale, it'd probably be around that price, so just keep an eye out! https://shrsl.com/2bq7j