What are you Watching?

[greg]

Just finished up Fate/Stay Night. While I have some mixed feelings about the show, I'm glad I finally watched it. Much like Fate/Zero there were a number of intriguing characters, like Saber, which made the series more interesting.

So, okay SPOILERS...


So Saber in F/SN is the embodiment of the concept of the Arthurian legend. What is she in Fate/Zero? In the PSP Fate/Extra game, Saber is the embodiment of Ceasar Nero, and thus her personality is very different: arrogant, narcissistic, proud, and stubborn.

So I recently scored three LaserDiscs of Yamato 2520: Episode 0, and Episodes 1 and 2. I scored the three of them on YAJ. I figured someone would outbid me, but that didn't happen. I just need to find Episode 3 on LD. Man, this show really had promise, and the epic space battles are exquisitely cell-animated. It's too bad they got a C&D order from Leiji Matsumoto, but at least they finally now are able to make shows like Yamato 2199 without Matsumoto involved.

So on Saturday night, I watched Episode 0, which is just like an hour-long "making of" LD. It showed the American composer scoring the soundtrack in NY, interviewed Syd Mead a bit, showed his concept designs, and showcased some of the awesome space battle animation. I've only seen the fan-subbed version of the first episode once on some website, but I forget where that was. That was back in September, IIRC. I want to watch my LD of episode 1 and get back into that show and watch all three episodes.

Gosh, I really haven't seriously watched anime for several months.

[Char Aznable]

What is she in Fate/Zero?

Wow, didn't know Fate/Extra changed things that drastically with Saber. As for Fate/Zero, Saber has the same backstory as F/SN. Fate/Zero is just a prequel to the events of F/SN, and takes place ten years prior, during the previous Holy Grail War. Nearly all of the events mentioned in F/SN concerning the previous war are shown in Fate/Zero. Well worth checking out if you're a fan of the series.

[greg]

Wow, didn't know Fate/Extra changed things that drastically with Saber

She has a different voice actress, too. She's played by Sakura Tange, who is most famous for Cardcaptor Sakura (she also the voice of Kasumi in the first two Dead or Alive games). I think the only reason why I remember her name is because she has the same name as the character she played in CCS.

[llj]

Toradora! *sigh* Another much hyped rom-com anime from the past few years that's seriously disappointing me. None of the characters here seem to behave with any semblance of a real human being. Especially the female characters. That would be forgivable if they were actually funny, but they're not. I'd rather be watching School Rumble. At least even the stereotypical characters there are actually funny. I'll stick with Toradora for a few more episodes but I won't waste my time waiting if the show "doesn't get good until episode 13" (which is a popular claim for anime fans defending a slow starting show.) If a show doesn't get "good" until about halfway through a show, is it actually a good show overall? COME ON PEOPLE!

Katanagatari--Well, I pretty much hated my previous experiences with the other Monogatari shows, but this is the one "gatari" show I actually like (although, to my knowledge, it shares really no connection to the other "gatari" shows other than being material from the same writer). Being set in a fictional historical time period allows the characters to be less flippant and snarky than the monogatari shows with "modern" characters, and the dialogue heavy sequences this time are actually about things that I find interesting. It's also not animated by Shaft, which is an automatic plus in my books.

[usamimi]

Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches: I've been watching this one because, to be honest, some friends got me into the Live Action drama a while back, so of course I'm gonna watch the anime. So far it's ok--it's got some great funny moments that kinda remind me of 90s comedy anime. The premise is that in the high school the main character (Yamada) goes to, there are 7 people who are secretly "witches" (not really, but they're people who each have a magic charm they can use), and he & some of his classmates decide to seek them out. The twist is that each witches' magic charm can only be activated by a kiss, so this leads to lots of kissing by the main characters (and not just between males and females). One character has the power to swap-bodies with a kiss, so that leads to a lot of silliness, of course. The show is fun and cute, something silly to just kinda veg out and watch (at least so far).

My Love Story!!: I got hooked on the manga when I won a copy of vol 1 on a blog giveaway, so of course I've been watching the anime. It's shoujo but a lot of my male friends have been watching it to because the main character is actually a dude...a big, huge, hulk of a dude named Takeo who everyone thinks is scary and/or dumb, but he's really just a naive big ol' softy. After years of girls being scared of him, or only wanting to be nice to him to get closer to his super good-looking best friend, he finally gets a girlfriend who loves him for him. I LOVE this series because it combines ridiculous over-the-top shounen elements with a heartwarming shoujo story. It's both hilarious and gives you the warm fuzzies at the same time. It's great. XD

[ParaParaJMo]

Up to episode 100 of Prince of Tennis. Rokkaku wasn't as interesting as Hyotei. I already read the manga about Rikkaidai but I understand they changed the match ups. In the manga, Ryoma didn't face the captain of Rokkaku and it was Kaido instead. I heard that Ryoma faces another member in the anime version of the Rikkaidai match as well.

76 of Saint Seiya Omega. Ikki is back and is still as bad ass as ever but his new voice does not do it for me.

Up to episode 6 of Kyokai no Rinne. I haven't read the manga yet but I feel like I should now if there will be fillers in the next year or two. I think it's alright so far but Maison Ikkoku will always by my favorite from Takahashi.

Episode 34 of Jojo Stardust Crusaders. If you really love dogs and against cruelty towards dogs, DO NOT WATCH THIS EPISODE!!! Plus, I don't get how this is ok and compared to the stupid ass censorships with the smoking for an anime that's aired at 1:30 am

[usamimi]

Episode 34 of Jojo Stardust Crusaders. If you really love dogs and against cruelty towards dogs, DO NOT WATCH THIS EPISODE!!! Plus, I don't get how this is ok and compared to the stupid ass censorships with the smoking for an anime that's aired at 1:30 am

That really surprised me, too. I'm not used to TV shows being that graphic with animal cruelty, usually they have it to were the worst of it is "off camera"....to be honest, that shook me up far worse than any of the stuff they've "censored" in the show so far. Violence towards animals always gets me.

[ParaParaJMo]

Well, the smoking is because Jotaro is forgettably 17 even with the Nagaran. But here is the thing. Jojo is aired at 1:30am in Japan and minors can still fucking buy the manga in broad day light. Censoring it is fucking pointless.

[usamimi]

Well, the smoking is because Jotaro is forgettably 17 even with the Nagaran. But here is the thing. Jojo is aired at 1:30am in Japan and minors can still fucking buy the manga in broad day light. Censoring it is fucking pointless.

Japan's censorship laws have always seemed a bit whacky to me.

[Char Aznable]

I've been checking out a few anime titles on Netflix's streaming service after learning a valuable lesson last week... if there's a show I'm interested in checking out on streaming, watch it before Netflix pulls it. Not anime, but I lost my chance to finish Batman: Brave and the Bold before Netflix took the series down recently.

Most of the anime I've watched on streaming lately have been hit or miss. I'm taking another look at Samurai Champloo, since I missed a handful of episodes when they aired on Toonami way back when. Unfortunately, the show isn't pulling me in, but some episodes are fun. I also watched a few episodes of Ikki Tousen, as I recall reading some of the manga a number of years ago when TokyoPop published it as "Battle Vixens". Another show I'm not quite digging, but I'll give it a few more episodes.

I just picked up a bunch of Go Nagai anime titles on DVD/VHS. They were sold as a bundle online for a price that I couldn't pass on. The "lot" came with New Cutie Honey (all 8 episodes on DVD), two Devilman OVAs from the late '80s/early '90s (on VHS), the Kekko Kamen OVA (DVD), and the MazinKaizer OVA series (DVD). Also, the Cutie Honey live-action film was included. I'm looking forward to checking it all out, since I'm only familiar with the the original Devilman and Cutie Honey shows. I'm particularly excited to check out New Cutie Honey, especially since the DVDs look like they're loaded with some neat special features.