What anime are you watching?

[the_wolfs_howl]

What's 'Lovely Complex' about?

It's nothing like Trigun, I should warn you]detest[/i] shoujos, and most romances of any kind, come to think of it. But Lovely Complex...somehow, it's just so real and refreshing that I really like it.

The premise of the show is pretty simple; there's an unusually tall girl and an unusually short boy (they're both sensitive about it, hence a height "complex") in the same class; they start off bickering, become friends, and it...progresses from there. As well as having some sweet moments and being a great story about friendship, it's also one of the most hilarious animes I've ever seen. I don't think I've watched a single episode without laughing out loud.


Anyway, I watched Lovely Complex episode 15 recently.

And I watched Trigun episode 11-14, I think. I'd forgotten there was a recap episode in there.

[TWWK]

Watching Bokura Ga Ita - I'm up to episode 7. It's not at all what I thought it would be after watching the first episode. I'm not sure if I like it.

[Midori]

I just finished watching Toradora, in an overnight complete 25-episode marathon with my sister. I believe Toradora may be the best anime in its genre. Every time a major plot point comes up, it surprises me by doing something better than I could have imagined. On a 1-5 scale, I'd give it a 5; on a 1-10 I'd give it at least 9.5. And I rarely rate anything numerically; even rarer do I ever claim anything is near perfect.

Okay, screw this; if Ocarina of Time gets a 10/10 then Toradora gets 10/10.

[TWWK]

I just finished watching Toradora, in an overnight complete 25-episode marathon with my sister. I believe Toradora may be the best anime in its genre. Every time a major plot point comes up, it surprises me by doing something better than I could have imagined. On a 1-5 scale, I'd give it a 5]at least[/i] 9.5. And I rarely rate anything numerically; even rarer do I ever claim anything is near perfect.

Okay, screw this; if Ocarina of Time gets a 10/10 then Toradora gets 10/10.

Toradora is amazing. Like you said - it's full of surprises. The surprises aren't in plot twists so much as they are in genuine character development. Plus, the animation, direction, writing, and music are all excellent, and the voice acting is superb.

Minorin, by the way, is my favorite anime character of all time.

[Falx]

Toradora is amazing. Like you said - it's full of surprises. The surprises aren't in plot twists so much as they are in genuine character development. Plus, the animation, direction, writing, and music are all excellent, and the voice acting is superb.

Minorin, by the way, is my favorite anime character of all time.

It's not often that a rom-com has the best animated fight scene of the season.

[AnimeGirl]

So I'm almost finished showing my dad the Tsubasa OVAs. He just has like half of episode 2 of Spring Thunder to finish. I have no idea why some of the violent scenes in there made him cringe a bit. I mean, come on! He's watched Tokko and Claymore for crying out loud! To which the depictions of violence I can't stand! Well, I kind of understand that one scene in the second episode of Tokyo Revelations, but even then it's not that bad, you just see the aftermath and get the idea of what happened.

[ShiroiHikari]

Watched episode 3 of Mazinger Z. Kouji still can't pilot the thing; instead it does hilarious things like spin in place and run amok with arms flailing wildly. Sometimes he gets lucky and actually gets it to do stuff but generally he's pretty bad at it. Because of that, this old show seems so fresh compared to newer stuff. He didn't just jump in there and immediately know how to work it. He's having to actually learn how to pilot it and we get to see it happen.

There's no harness or seatbelt in the cockpit (at least not yet) so if Mazinger Z falls over or something, Kouji gets tossed around like a rag doll in there. He busted his head pretty hard while training so the scientists at the lab made him a pilot suit/helmet. Hopefully they install some kind of seatbelt too. XD

Anyway, this show is genuinely funny and entertaining and I hope I can watch the whole thing.

[Atria35]

So I'm almost finished showing my dad the Tsubasa OVAs. He just has like half of episode 2 of Spring Thunder to finish. I have no idea why some of the violent scenes in there made him cringe a bit. I mean, come on! He's watched Tokko and Claymore for crying out loud! To which the depictions of violence I can't stand! Well, I kind of understand that one scene in the second episode of Tokyo Revelations, but even then it's not that bad, you just see the aftermath and get the idea of what happened.

Some people have things that they just can't stand when it comes to violence. I can watch someone be cut in half, but the fingernail scene in Higurashi nearly made me cry. Technically the violence is less, but I have a thing about my fingernails.

[TWWK]

It's not often that a rom-com has the best animated fight scene of the season.

Right?! Toradora defies being categorized as anything but AWESOME.

TWWK <---- willing to turn any thread into a Toradora! one

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Watched Naruto Shippuden episode 195 just a little while ago.[/color]

[Agloval]

I'm afraid Toradora left me underwhelmed, and I gave up after fifteen episodes. But perhaps the problem's with me and not the show.

Lately I've been watching the first Pretty Cure series, which is a pretty straight-down-the-line magical girl action affair, with perhaps a dash of tokusatsu styling. I rather enjoy it.

I can also exclusively report from Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector that super robots are continuing to fight wars. I still think my idea for a show about Hans Blix travelling between mecha universes, ala Kamen Rider Decade, measuring levels of hotbloodedness and checking that giant robot swords are within internationally prescribed limits had serious legs, but oh well.

Oh and we got some more subtitles for SPT Layzner, which warmed the cockles of my heart.

[blkmage]

I will give you that Toradora is the best anime featuring a tsundere of small stature voiced by Kugimiya Rie.

[Cardiche007]

I watched the first episode of Xam'd: Lost Memories earlier today. I'm hoping the second episode will be worth the while too. So far so good.

[eternalprincess]

Just finished (as of last night and today so far):

Black Blood Brothers Eps.: 10, 11, 12 [Completed--woot!]
Clannad Eps.:21, 22, 23 [Second Completion! ]
Bartender Ep 4
Clannad: After Story Eps.:1, 2, 3

[rocklobster]

Having finally finished Claymore, I've decided to watch the heavily-recommended Princess Tutu!

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]Watched HeartCatch PreCure episode 47 just a little while ago.[/color]

[QuirkyIceHeart]

Tegami Bachi Reverse Ep 13-14: ...there went the happy fuzzlies.
Bleach Ep 7-16 Much luff
Gintama Ep 18-33 Still good, though of course it has its dumb moments. But still hilarious. For some reason, I really liked the [spoiler]memory loss arc.[/spoiler]

[Nate]

there's an unusually tall girl and an unusually short boy (they're both sensitive about it, hence a height "complex")

Quoting this because I want to mention something about it that people might not understand. I didn't get it myself when I first got into anime.

In Japan, height is kind of a big deal, especially when it comes to dating. It's considered embarrassing if a guy is dating a girl that is taller than him. Why? Not exactly sure, but that's the way it is. My first anime, Ah My Goddess had a scene where Belldandy asks Keiichi why he can't get a girlfriend. His response was to have both of them stand up and he says "As you can see, I'm short." My response was exactly the same as Belldandy's: "Why would that keep you from getting a girlfriend?"

It wasn't until later I found out about the stigma against guys dating girls taller than themselves. As an added bonus, Makoto in Sailor Moon, when I saw the original episodes subbed, also made a mention that the reason she was unable to get boyfriends was because of her height. In Love Hina (at least I THINK it's Love Hina) there's a scene where Keitaro is on a train with Mokoto and she's a bit taller than him, and everyone is staring at them because of it.

Anyway...

Been watching Mazinger Z along with Puella Magi and I picked up Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu. Also still going through Gundam: 08th MS Team. It seems competent (on episode 4). It doesn't seem super great like a lot of people claim, but it's good enough. Maybe it gets better later or something.

[Wolf-man]

In Japan, height is kind of a big deal, especially when it comes to dating. It's considered embarrassing if a guy is dating a girl that is taller than him. Why? Not exactly sure, but that's the way it is.

I'm pretty sure that is considered embarrassing in America too...

[MightiMidget]

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom ep. 12:

[spoiler]Okay, I'm already really NOT liking this turn of events. I need some redeeming quality to latch onto, no matter how small. I'm not seeing any. At all. There are no good guys. (and the whole "btw Zwei isn't dead" is the biggest cop-out via LACK of explanation I've ever seen) Everyone is bad, low, dirty, something. And really, I know there is a point here probably about depravity or some deep message but I really don't care if it stays like this. And Cal is already annoying. Can someone let me know if this is worth sticking with? I absolutely adored the first ten episodes, and I'm not far past them to just stay in my happy little "that was good!" mindset if the rest of Requiem is going to be sick, twisted, total lack of hope or redeeming qualities. It's like 1984! There is no hope, life sucks. Sigh.[/spoiler]

Meh. and content warning to people that there is a PG-13 level sex scene in there. The graphicness does not pass PG-13 levels? But it was still extra disturbing to me... /end content warning/

Going to watch Mushishi or Letter Bee before going to bed...

[GeneD]

I marathoned Baccano eps 1 to 12 yesterday (plus 3 episode commentaries) and watched 13 to 16 today (plus 1 commentary).

It was the first time hearing the dub, which is very well done but I just cannot get used to most of the accents. The only people I could listen to for more than a few seconds was Ladd, Eve, Czeslaw, Jacuzzi, Szilard, the demon and Graham (which seems like a lot but since this is Baccano, well). Although Isaac and Miria got better. There were a couple of times though, that I would switch to the dub just to hear how a scene or line was done. The Daily Days Director's English voice actor sounds like he could do movie trailers. XD

The commentaries were very entertaining as well and this is the first time I have really taken the time to view DVD commentaries.

I also recently read the vol 1 and 3 of the light novels and it is interesting to see what adaptations they made and that some of the dialogue is in fact pretty intact in the anime.

Lastly, this show is amazing and during this third viewing of the series I am still noticing new things that I haven't before. XD

[ShiroiHikari]

Finished Gundam SEED today.

8|

[Scarecrow]

Finished Romeo X Juliet yesterday... I really liked this series. It was actually a lot more interesting than the regular story of Romeo + Juliet. The characters were a lot more fleshed out and Romeo and Juliet weren't so selfish/babyish like they were in the play. The only thing I wasn't crazy for was the addition of the Escales tree or whatever. This isn't much of a spoiler since everyone knows their fate but if they wanted to kill Romeo and Juliet off, I wish would have kept the "tragedy" aspect of the play. There were plenty of ways they could have done this during the show. The giant tree and all that stuff seemed liked tacked on there just so they could still have Romeo and Juliet die at the end after tying up everything already. But still it was a very cool show IMO. I really liked it. Would have to be one of my favorites I think cause from beginning to end, the story is moving. Not many filler episodes. Plot just kept moving...

[QuirkyIceHeart]

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom ep. 12:

[spoiler]Okay, I'm already really NOT liking this turn of events. I need some redeeming quality to latch onto, no matter how small. I'm not seeing any. At all. There are no good guys. (and the whole "btw Zwei isn't dead" is the biggest cop-out via LACK of explanation I've ever seen) Everyone is bad, low, dirty, something. And really, I know there is a point here probably about depravity or some deep message but I really don't care if it stays like this. And Cal is already annoying. Can someone let me know if this is worth sticking with? I absolutely adored the first ten episodes, and I'm not far past them to just stay in my happy little "that was good!" mindset if the rest of Requiem is going to be sick, twisted, total lack of hope or redeeming qualities. It's like 1984! There is no hope, life sucks. Sigh.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Well... yeah, the series kind of glorifies depravity. It starts out being depressing and hopeless, and only gets worse... MUCH worse, by the end. If you don't like it now, there's a good chance you'll only like it less and less. And really? I liked Cal o.o Anyway, the end makes a whole lot of people pretty angry... like what you're saying about the series now, only on a grander, more pointless scale. In it's defense, though, you don't realize what it's really about until the end. There IS something accomplished by that point... But everything else pretty much falls before then. It actually LOOPS back to some of the beginning stuff. It's the type of ending where every promise is broken, every plan fails, and nothing ended up mattering- but you realize that there was one goal that started at the beginning that has now won out, even if it's a very small and subtle. A single shred of hope in a depraved world. If you've watched this much I would suggest you finish it, but... It's up to you, and few would blame you for stopping, with it's... pointless feeling. And if you wanted to message me, I could go ahead and just tell you how it ends, and spare you the pain of having to watch it yourself =P [/spoiler]

[ShiroiHikari]

Started SDF Macross today. I'm only on episode 2 though so I don't have a lot to say about it yet. However, I do find it kind of funny that even though Hikaru crashed into Minmay's house, she didn't really seem to mind so much. Also nobody really seems to mind that the city is being devastated by giant alien robots. But other than those two quirks, I'm enjoying it.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I just finished Natsume Yujincho episode 7.

That was a boy?

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I just finished Natsume Yujincho episode 7.

That was a boy?

Ohohohohoho.

[J.D3]

Started SDF Macross today. I'm only on episode 2 though so I don't have a lot to say about it yet. However, I do find it kind of funny that even though Hikaru crashed into Minmay's house, she didn't really seem to mind so much. Also nobody really seems to mind that the city is being devastated by giant alien robots. But other than those two quirks, I'm enjoying it.

That's a good point! Only in anime will you often find everyone's cool with giant robots blowing stuff up, but if somebody looks at someone sideways all chaos breaks loose!

(Also, I don't think there is any in the Macross saga, but in later series there unfortunately tends to be bit of fanservice here and there so just a head's up on that)

[Davidizer13]

Just finished FMA: Brotherhood.

Wow. That's how you end a series. My eyes moistened up like four or five times in the last few episodes. I may have said a few bad things about its first parts of the series, but pretty much everything past that first part more than makes up for it, proceeding brilliantly to its incredibly satisfying conclusion. I still prefer the manga, but this is a near-perfect replica.

Next up: Trigun! It's finally time to go see what the fuss is about.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

(Also, I don't think there is any in the Macross saga, but in later series there unfortunately tends to be bit of fanservice here and there so just a head's up on that)

Oh, there be fanservice in Macross. It's only a couple of isolated incidents (once pretty early on and once 2/3 of the way in), but Ishiguro and co trade frequency for severity. To be clear: Macross contains (undetailed?) nudity. There is a Minmay shower scene and Roy Fokcer has a topless pinup in his room. BTW, his ladyfriend seems OK with this.

I guess they were trying to endear Minmay to the fans before she became super-annoying...which happens pretty quickly. Probably my least favorite anime character ever, Minmay.