What anime are you watching?

[Neane]

Watched the Last Episode of Hellsing Ultimate. It was awesome and there was much BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD.

Hellsing Ultimate is the best junk food anime in existance. The plot is beyond silly, the characters are the very definition of over the top and the voice actors are all having fun chewing scenery. Listening to Norio Wakamoto chewing up the stage as Father Anderson is just pure joy to my ears. I always equate Ultimate with a huge greasy artery clogging hamburger. You know you shouldn't be enjoying it this much but screw all forms of logic and reasoning because it tastes like pure heaven baby.

[SierraLea]

I am still in the throes of Saiunkoku. I love the two bandit boys in Sa Province! They make excellent upbeat characters, and are so real and down to earth compared to the villain of the Sa arc. I still can't get over the fact that the voice of Nightcrawler in X-men Evolution is playing Ryukki!

[skreyola]

Fightinh sinus troubles. Watched Honey & Clopver x2, Cross Game x1, Cazador x1.
Good nigyht.

[teigeki_calesa]

I actually finished watching K.

To sum it up: while not a masterpiece, it's nowhere half as bad as people make it out to be. The end was a letdown though, but maybe it's to make way for the recently announced sequel.

[MightiMidget]

Looking forward to finishing Sword Art Online. So I can write a scathing review (which may or may not end up here, or just on my blog) about how epically it managed to botch sturdy, intriguing character development and solid-world building and even fascinating depth...in one story arc shift...in favor of all the things I hate about anime not even done interestingly. Yeah.

On the not much better side, Blue Exorcist continues to amuse me, though I'm over my initial charm. Another one I'm looking forward to finishing.

Decided last night to ditch Psycho-Pass though...it's pretty, but I just...cannot make myself care...and now that I have time constraints I am looking for shows I actually like. (This mission is more difficult than I would've thought possible.)

Blast of Tempest I continue to enjoy though. Even if they spent three solid episodes. TALKING. In the same spot. I'm still finding it fun.

and....K is a lot more fun than I was expecting. Even with the fanservice.

[SierraLea]

Did I mention that I heartily enjoy Saiukoku?! I love all the charracters, with the exception of that corrupt official in the court official arc. I just finished the first season and feel so bad for Ryuki! What Daddy Shoka said was absolutely true.

[Davidizer13]

Started Galactic Cyclone Bryger.

I've only seen the first episode, but it's looking like typical super robot stuff - some eccentric billionaire has a car that can transform into a spaceship that can transform into a giant robot, and hires a crew of malcontents to drive it around and fight stuff. You know, for funzies.

It's from the '70s, and boy, does it show. The soundtrack's all disco, the team's token lady looks like a Charlie's Angel, you got a tagalong brat who doesn't seem to do much, and there's rough stock footage and padding everywhere. But this one's a bit different...

So they're having their first fight in Bryger, the bad guys send in a bunch of planes. Bryger kicks their butts, and manages to catch one of them in its hand. The pilots ask for mercy, but our heroes want to talk it over.

"Hey Bowie, these guys want to go free. Should we?"
"Hmmmmm... Nah." *crunch*

Japanese kids' shows, everyone!

[skreyola]

Honey & Clover (22,23) and Cross Game (the 3 eps. covering the first scrimmage)

[impact777]

@skreyola: Where are you watching Cross Game?

[Neane]

I recently forced myself to finish Black Rock Shooter (2012).

When I started watching the series I honestly did not expect that I was about to watch the single worst television series I've ever finished (it was thankfully just 6 eps). I mean, the OVA had been pretty so-so all in all but I thought the premise held some promise and it had some really cool fight scenes regardless.

But dear god what the hell was this It soon became obvious why this title lives in such infame already despite being so new – it has the most catastrophically bad series composition I’ve ever seen.

Directing is through and through horrible with little sense of pacing as the jumps between two worlds early on come off as utterly random and everything is rushed and unsteady in terms of mood. Animation and art are passable but unusually cheap and the only parts with any aesthetic punch, visually impressive fight sequences, are done in CGI that doesn’t compare with OVA’s strong sakuga animation. The CG fight scenes are quite well choreographed on their own, mind you, and they’re directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi whose considerable talent is just wasted here but as part of the whole they tend to not work at all and no matter what they get really repetitive and boring filler after a while, especially since story halts most often during them.

But perhaps that – halting the story for a moment for sake of gratuitous eye candy - is a good thing because Okada’s script is pure awful, all over the place and speeds through important developments in terrifying fashion while still somehow leaving way too much room for stupid internal monologues or endless wallowing on that children book that early on seems like meaningful storytelling motif and by end of the series made me howl in rage whenever it was brought up.

I don’t think I’d see this day in modern anime industry but it’s like the story and characters were written with coherence and sense of pacing Tomino had when doing Garzey’s Wing (Garzey’s Wing's dub is either the best thing ever, or the worst thing ever...you decide). The character behavior and “development” are erratic and pants on head retarded enough to rival the worst instances of LOLTOMINO. A lot of dialogue is also inane and occasionally incomprehensible. Okada is really building herself a brand here. Perhaps soon enough LOLOKADA will be a legit term and dismissal of inconsistent writing in vein of the great bald man.

Worst TV series (Anime or otherwise) I’ve ever watched to end.

[skreyola]

@skreyola: Where are you watching Cross Game?

Sorry for not seeing your question earlier. Hulu has the trailer and the whole series. There's no dub, AFAIK, so I don't think you can get it on DVD in the US. Not sure about anywhere else for DVDs.
It's also available for streaming at vizanime.com.

[Zeldafan2]

Watching the complete series dvd of Clannad I got for Christmas, and after seeing the first three episodes, I can see why many consider this a masterpiece.

[skreyola]

Tonight, I watched 3 episodes of Cross Game and 1 of Honey & Clover (That was such a cute photo).

[kimsamsumg]

every morning, i watched doraemon, inuyasha, atasinchi, detective conan, one piece and knock out.

[impact777]

Thanks Skreyola! Unfortunately all these websites are only for American citizens.

[KnightOfFive]

Planning to rewatch Evangelion. Any suggestions as to where?

[skreyola]

impact777: I'm very sorry about that. I don't know if these streams are available anywhere else. Are you familiar with clicker.com? That's where I check to see if something is available online, and there may be a similar site for Germany.

Tonight, I watched two episodes of Cross Game. It makes me sad that not everyone can see this awesome show.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

I Watched more Gintama! I also skipped ahead to the newest season of Hayate no Gotoku and watched that.

[impact777]

skreyola: I think the only way is hulu. I could watch it via proxy, but I don't know if that's legal... :/

[Vii]

Started rewatching Chihayafuru because I just can't wait for the new season. ^w^

Also finished both Macross Frontier movies. They were wonderful.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Started rewatching Chihayafuru because I just can't wait for the new season. ^w^

I am intensely jelly. 8l

[skreyola]

impact777: *sadface* Shikatanai... Maybe you can visit someone in the States and do a Cross Game marathon during your visit. I really am sad that it's available for streaming only in the US. I wonder what percentage of the forum lives outside the US, and if that's why this series isn't more popular.

I've been sleeping most of the day and only watched one episode tonight.

[Atria35]

skreyola: I think the only way is hulu. I could watch it via proxy, but I don't know if that's legal... :/

Probably not. And it isn't licensed in Germany. You'd have to go to illegal sites. If you can find a German anime forum, you might be able to find out from the members if there are legal streaming sites in Germany.

[mysngoeshere56]

Episode 10 of Soul Eater.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Arakawa Under the Bridge is really, really good. It's got a lot of different things that all contribute to that. First, there's the manic craziness Shinbo brings to the table that everyone will probably recognize from Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. Again, like Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, there's this big cast where each character has their own particular quirk, in this ranging from Sister, a former soldier dressed as a nun, to P-ko, a girl who has probably read too much shoujo manga and is desperately in love with the Chief, a very serious man (voiced by Keiji Fujiwara!) who dressed as a kappa, insisting he is the real deal. However, what Arakawa Under the Bridge has that Zetsubo doesn't is occasional touching and wonderful moments where the comedy has some kind of purpose beyond weird jokes. The relationship between the two leads, Recruit and Nino, is really really great. Nino especially is hilarious and wonderful, and I could take her fantastic facial expressions and her poignant and refreshing honesty all day. I wonder how much of this is because the characters are adults, even if none of them act like it. It was also really great to see Rec slowly become part of this crazy homeless community to the point where he's really comfortable living under the bridge.

The series isn't perfect, unfortunately. One is that occasionally the reaction shots from Rec do get a little tiresome, though it depends on the joke. Additionally, the series sets up some really interesting ideas to explore that it doesn't really get around to. I know the manga is still on-going, but I do wish it could've dealt more with Nino's past than it actually ended up doing by the end. These problems are really no big deal though, because I haven't had laughs this hard since I saw Nichibros the first time. Definitely worth a look.

[SierraLea]

I finished The Story of Saiunkoku yesterday, and am really mad that they don't have a third season! I already know how it will turn out, but I would still have liked to see how Ryukki handled things like the nobles threat and getting Shurrei to do something for him. I don't know how to do spoiler tags, so I have to be careful.

[skreyola]

Mr. Hat'n'Clogs: Have you seen the second season? You're the first person I've seen who's been thrilled with this show.

Tonight, I watched, wow, two episodes of Honey & Clover, two of Cross Game, and one of Say "I Love You".

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Mr. Hat'n'Clogs: Have you seen the second season? You're the first person I've seen who's been thrilled with this show.

Yep! The stuff above is referring to both seasons, I'd say the first season is actually superior to the second for clearing most of its goals, but not by like a noticeably large amount or anything. And I'm not surprised, especially if CAA is your main/only anime community; other than Madoka there doesn't seem to be a lot of Shinbo fans around here.

[TopazRaven]

Currently I've been watching the first Full Metal Alchemist with a friend of mine. Though she's been busy with a new job and I may need to find a way to finish the series on my own if she doesn't have the time (we were watching it at her house on Netflix). I know a lot of people suggest skipping the 2003 anime and watching Brotherhood instead considering it follows the manga better, but we decided to watch the old one first anyway. Pretty good so far!

[skreyola]

MrHatnClogs: Yeah, CAA is my only anime community. Sorry you've seen everything, since you sounded hungry for more.
Tonight, I watched one Kamisama Kiss, one Honey & Clover (Mayama is good at being equal parts romantic and creepy), and two of Cross Game.

I've been thinking about watching FMA but haven't been able to decide which one to watch.