What anime are you watching?

[Fish and Chips]

Birdy the Mighty DECODE: 02 episode 1
Durarara!! episodes 18-22

How they keep shoehorning a twist into every - single - episode I'll never know, but man if I don't enjoy it.

[Wyntre Rose]

Just finished the first half of Ergo Proxy. I'm nearly 100% sure I'm missing things. This seems like a series that would benefit from multiple viewings. I'm enjoying the ride, though.

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Watched Naruto Shippuden episode 166 a little while ago and you know, I'm really upset about it because

[spoiler]Hinata gets killed. She is/was one of my favorite female characters. Why did she have to be killed? :([/spoiler]
[/color]

[blkmage]

And thus begins the end of the spring season, starting with Angel Beats!.

Angel Beats started out as a mess and ended as a mess. The problem with Angel Beats is that it seems like there's no continuous plot thread. It's really just a bunch of discrete events. Normally, in a good story, these events would be ordered in a way that makes sense and have some glue in between to make everything continuous. Angel Beats is like some sort of random permutation of these events with almost nothing in between to tie them together.

Everything is like that in this show. Character development? Out of nowhere. Sadface moment? Follow it up with crazy hijinks! New villain? He joins us the next episode! Everything's alright? Suddenly, smoke monsters! Guns? Concert!

It's like Maeda Jun made a list of all the great moments of stories he's written, took out all the stuff in between those moments, shuffled them, and filled in the gaps. He also seems to have not accounted for the fact that it's only 13 episodes because the show's pacing is incredibly bad. Whoops!

About two-thirds of the way through the show, I began wondering if KyoAni didn't do Angel Beats because they didn't want this thing on their hands.

[That Dude]

I just watched ep 62 of FMA Brotherhood and now am watching more eps of Eden Of The East.

[Wyntre Rose]

Finished Ergo Proxy. Not exactly light entertainment. lol. I'm definitely going to have to watch it again someday. I know there was a lot I missed - and not being a student of philosophy, I'm sure there are a lot of references I wouldn't even recognize. Don't know that I could really say I liked it...not to say I didn't like it, either, though. It was a fascinating experience.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Watched 4 episodes of NGE

[blkmage]

I've been participating in a Ghibli watchathon. I figured it's the perfect excuse to finally watch some of this stuff. There'll be more over the next few months, but for now...

Princess Mononoke was really good. The first part definitely drilled home the fact that these guys are good at animation. The rest of the movie was really good too. I found it a bit heavy handed on the themes (BILLOWING TOWERS OF BLACK SMOKE from the Ironworks). I enjoyed it.

Pom Poko was weird, likely because I am not a Japanese person and do not get the weird stuff that goes on in that movie. Also, I didn't like any of the tanuki and if you thought Princess Mononoke's pushing was heavy handed, it seems like that's the entire basis of this movie (HUMANS SUCK).

Grave of the Fireflies is constantly heralded as that movie that will make you kill yourself in despair. And well, yeah, the stuff that happens to the kids sucks. I think a combination of expectation and detachment failed to make this the tears will flow anime for me. I understand why it affects so many people and it was good, but it seems I wasn't on the same wavelength as the movie. That's not to say it isn't sad, because it is, but it didn't affect me emotionally with a depth comparable to Clannad After Story or 5 Centimetres per Second.

[Atria35]

Pom Poko was weird, likely because I am not a Japanese person and do not get the weird stuff that goes on in that movie. Also, I didn't like any of the tanuki and if you thought Princess Mononoke's pushing was heavy handed, it seems like that's the entire basis of this movie (HUMANS SUCK).

It's probably not because you're not Japanese- Pom Poko is considered the weakest and worst of the Ghibli movies. By everyone. It's bad.

[blkmage]

It's probably not because you're not Japanese- Pom Poko is considered the weakest and worst of the Ghibli movies. By everyone. It's bad.

Ah, I was giving it the benefit of the doubt because of the weird tanuki shenanigans and legends and the balls.

It's good to know that things don't get worse than this though.

[Atria35]

Ah, I was giving it the benefit of the doubt because of the weird tanuki shenanigans and legends and the balls.

It's good to know that things don't get worse than this though.

lolz, the balls thing has to do with tanuki legends. I guess you do have to be Japanese to automatically know that. But no, things do not get worse!

[Hohenheim]

Just recently finished watching episodes 21 - 23 of Durarara!! More info in the Durarara thread, but I gotta say that the finale to all of this is something I eagerly await.

[Blitzkrieg1701]

Just watched Twin Signal. Back in the day, that was the first subbed anime I ever saw, so it was fun to revisit it.

[blkmage]

Working!! started out really, really poorly. Most of that has to do with Inami being immensely irritating. Since her gag kind of dominated the front end of the series, I was pretty ready to drop it. Fortunately, her tendencies died down (relatively) and the rest of the cast were much more enjoyable, especially Shizuo and Izaya. I'd say it's pretty decent for a 4-koma adaptation and it definitely improved during the course of its run.

[MightiMidget]

Just finished Gankutsuou and...

[spoiler]oh. YAY. so the Count dies in his seething hatred and desperately aches to kill Albert with his dying breath. Big, redemptive, whoop. Now I have not read the novel, but I always got a distinctive "the Count is redeemed and manages to forgive through acts of kindness shown to him" or something rough to that. And yes, you cynics I KNOW that's not always how it works, but I am not a fan of hopeless black pits of anger and hatred. Unless they're exceedingly intriguing. Which Gankutsuou was...on a level. It dragged a smidgen for me, but just a smidgen. My biggest protest (aside from black pit) is...

What the heck was with the robots?! Er, um, excuse me, gigantic, ridiculous suits of armor?![/spoiler]

[blkmage]

Bakemonogatari. It's been almost a year since it started and now, after countless delays (lololol SHAFT), it's finally done.

Bakemonogatari has everything I want in an anime. Visually stunning? Check. Relatively sharp and competent main character? Check. Even sharper and more dangerous love interest? Check. Excellent writing and wit? Check. Enjoyable supporting characters? Check. Clever writing and witty dialogue? Check and check. A smattering of action? Interesting mysteries and satisfying conclusions? Development of a romantic relationship long before the end of the show? Check, check, check, check. Awesome cast and awesome collection of OP singles and best ED song ever? A check for each awesome thing.

Koyomi and Hitagi are some of my favourite characters and their relationship is definitely one of the most enjoyable to watch. The first episode is still one of the most impressive I've seen (the next few are Gundam UC and DRRR!!). The humour and style is right up my alley. Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari is one of my favourite songs.

Bakemonogatari feels like a show made just for me, and welp, it is one of my favourite shows.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Soul Eater is anime popcorn.

Just finished Gankutsuou and...

[spoiler]oh. YAY. so the Count dies in his seething hatred and desperately aches to kill Albert with his dying breath. Big, redemptive, whoop. Now I have not read the novel, but I always got a distinctive "the Count is redeemed and manages to forgive through acts of kindness shown to him" or something rough to that. And yes, you cynics I KNOW that's not always how it works, but I am not a fan of hopeless black pits of anger and hatred. Unless they're exceedingly intriguing. Which Gankutsuou was...on a level. It dragged a smidgen for me, but just a smidgen. My biggest protest (aside from black pit) is...

What the heck was with the robots?! Er, um, excuse me, gigantic, ridiculous suits of armor?![/spoiler]

[spoiler](1)I kind of thought the Count's redemption/damnation was unclear. I mean, he was struggling against the Gankutsuou until his last moments. As he lay dying, he became Dantes again and asked to be remembered as such, not as the Count. I think this is kind of significant insofar as Dantes, unclouded by the Gankutsuou, is embracing a certain part of his life, namely the pre-Count part. But, then again, your point is also true, so...Yeah, I think Maeda made it unclear on purpose. Incidentally, if you are not a fan of black pits, do not read the Gankutsuou manga. (2)Why robots? WHY ROBOTS? Because giant robots are awesome and Japanese people love them. Come on, you know you liked it =).[/spoiler]

[MightiMidget]

Soul Eater is anime popcorn.
[spoiler](1)I kind of thought the Count's redemption/damnation was unclear. I mean, he was struggling against the Gankutsuou until his last moments. As he lay dying, he became Dantes again and asked to be remembered as such, not as the Count. I think this is kind of significant insofar as Dantes, unclouded by the Gankutsuou, is embracing a certain part of his life, namely the pre-Count part. But, then again, your point is also true, so...Yeah, I think Maeda made it unclear on purpose. Incidentally, if you are not a fan of black pits, do not read the Gankutsuou manga. (2)Why robots? WHY ROBOTS? Because giant robots are awesome and Japanese people love them. Come on, you know you liked it =).[/spoiler]

Soul Eater is a blast. The art is so cool!!

And.

[spoiler]I know he was struggling, and there was that line...and he did request to be remembered as Edmond Dantes. I guess my issue is that with the classic, redemption is such a huge theme. And I am, at times, totally for hopeless black pits depending on the story. Count of Monte Cristo? No. And.... FINE. The robots were kind of cool for being giant robots. Kind of. O:) [/spoiler]

Just watched the Tsubasa RESERVoir Chronicle Birdcage movie. It was so silly, and sweet, with such cliche dialogue and I really liked it. It made me happy, though I have a feeling a large part of that if because I miss Tsubasa and having 35 minutes of new material (to me) just felt awesomely sweet. =)

Also started Le Chevalier D'Eon (ep. 1-5), and that I am enjoying immensely. It is so fun! Gorier than I was expecting for some reason, but I am enjoying the plot! The sword fights! The drama! It's fun.

[ST. Attidude]

Episodes 1-7 of Clannad; This show overall is leagues beyond my expectations and the lighting is simply gorgeous.

[Wyntre Rose]

So, my standards for what I will allow myself to watch have been changing pretty drastically over the last oh, probably half year or so, as far as objectionable content goes, and I decided to watch Welcome to the NHK last week. And while it certainly deserves the MA rating, I also found myself very much intrigued by the story. And also found that I could relate quite a bit to all three main characters more than I would have expected. I've even had people try to get me involved in a pyramid scheme before!

Just watched the first 5 episodes of Toradora tonight. I'd seen a few eps before, but something else came up, and I hadn't finished, but I am really enjoying it so far.

Also watched the first episode of Gurren Lagann last night, just to see what all the hype was about. And I think I'm missing something by watching it dubbed (that's all Hulu has) so I'm going to hold off until I can Netflix the DVDs. Not that I'm anti-dub by a LONG shot, it's just that the general opinion I've read seems to favor the original Japanese. Especially Kamina.

[Cadence]

I recently finished three series I enjoyed immensely, and one I didn’t enjoy at all.

Angel Beats! was a disaster. I’m agreeing with pretty much everything blkmage said in his earlier post about it, and adding: There’s definitely something wrong when the intended humor in a show doesn’t pull even a tiny smile out of me, yet the dramatic moments make me laugh so hard I fall off of my chair. I’m torn as how to score this one on MAL--if I go by my feelings alone it gets 2/10, but if I evaluate it with less bias, it is more like a 4 or 5/10. =)

An older series I watched recently was NieA_7. I went in expecting absolutely nothing, and came out with a rather charming slice of life, mixed with aliens and other weirdness. It was by no means a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it a lot. It made me wish that they would make similar shows these days. 8/10

I was fortunate enough to pick up the Planetes DVDs thanks to the awesome power of libraries, and I really, really, loved this series. While everything about the series was top notch, I thought the characters were especially well done--characters I disliked initially grew on me throughout the series; they all felt like real people you could bump into on the street, and I cared about them thoroughly by the end. 9/10 from me.

Ookiku Furikabutte Season 2. Yeah, I love it. I’m an unabashed fangirl. I enjoyed this more than I have any anime in quite a while. They brought character development a lot farther in this season than in the first, while maintaining the quality of everything else that made Oofuri good. I had a couple issues with the pacing, though. Since this season only got 13 episodes, as opposed to the first season’s 25, I thought it all felt slightly rushed. I was among those who absolutely loved the almost ridiculous length of the first season’s baseball games (11 episodes spent on one game? Awesome!), so I was a little disappointed by the shorter length of the matches in this season. 9/10, though I would give 10/10 for enjoyment. But one question remains--what am I going to do now that it is over?!

[Atria35]

...I decided to watch Welcome to the NHK last week. And while it certainly deserves the MA rating, I also found myself very much intrigued by the story. And also found that I could relate quite a bit to all three main characters more than I would have expected. I've even had people try to get me involved in a pyramid scheme before!

I started reading a manga, and I have to say, Wow! It's just an amazing character study. Kinda literally

[quote="Cadence (post: 1405652)"]I was fortunate enough to pick up the Planetes DVDs thanks to the awesome power of libraries, and I really, really, loved this series. While everything about the series was top notch, I thought the characters were especially well done--characters I disliked initially grew on me throughout the series]Great anime! I'm so glad you liked it!

For me, Shigofumi 9-11- Well, I have to say, while 9 seemed like an odd break and could have easily been put in earlier, 10 picked up the story right where it should have been. Excelent, indeed.

[blkmage]

Two more.

Arakawa Under the Bridge is weird. I probably wouldn't expect anything less from a combination of Akiyuki Shinbo and the author of Saint Young Men. It's a pretty good comedy, but only if your type of humour is in line with weird things. Definitely not for everyone.

Ookiku Furikabutte's second season is more of the same, I guess. This is one of those shows that simply feels solid. I felt like the choice to end the season with 13 episodes was a good decision, since it's a natural place to end with some closure. Its popularity guarantees that there'll be another season, although when and how probably has to do with how far along the manga is.

[Atria35]

Just finished with Shigofumi- while there's some values dissonance with the publishers (and I think they're horrible people, anyway), overall, this had a very interesting, fairly uplifting end.

Fantastic Children 2- Getting a bit deeper and darker into the story. Hoping it keeps it up!

Paranoia Agent 1- Woah. That OP is creepy. Who knew that people laughing and looking happy could be so disconcerting? But fascinating intro to the story...

[blkmage]

NEW SEASON NEW SHOWS

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi has characters ripped straight out of the encyclopedia of romantic comedy light novel archetypes. That said, the episode did end up being mildly entertaining, especially near the end. I'll probably give it another shot to see what they do with an episode now that they don't have to infodump the entire cast in the first half. Also, has the worst narrator.

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Just watched Naruto Shippuden episode 167 a little while ago. I really like this episode. I'm so glad that [spoiler] Hinata didn't die :) and Naruto finally meets his father Minato Namikaze (the Fourth Hokage).[/spoiler][/color]

[Atria35]

Marathoned Paranoia Agent 2-6- This... show... is... incredible. I mean, the psychologcial aspects, the mystery behind it, the connections made! Now, it's definately not for everyone, but if you can handle mature content, the mix of Satoshi Kon's art and direction style mixed with this story makes for a fantastical, mysterious, fascinating story. And I am hooked.

[Nate]

Watched Heartcatch Precure 15 today. Itsuki is a cool character. She stood up against Kumojacky! So awesome.

[QuirkyIceHeart]

I'm watching Naruto, and just started Code Geass 8D

Also, I'm watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ^_^

[MightiMidget]

Rewatched ending of Saiyuki Reload (rofl).

Le Chevalier D'Eon 8-9 -- lovely. =) I am very much so enjoying the characters, and the story. It does, however, border on my "occult comfort" level.

D.Gray-Man 35 -- so, I like some of the side stories in D.Gray-Man, but if they don't have Allen and/or Lavi and/or Komui I'm a bit more "meh whatever." But it doesn't help that Gozu really irks me, even if he is voiced by Jerry Jewell...

Going to finish House of Five Leaves tonight. =)