The Anime Alley

I ended up giving up on most shows from the previous season because I didn't have much time. I'm still (slowly) watching Aku No Hana. I love the disturbing atmosphere, but it just drags soooo bad. I think I'll continue to stick with the show because I like the cold/uncomfortable feeling I get from each episode and for anime hipster cred.

This season looks like it has a few interesting series. Dangan Ronpa is the only one I've seen so far and I'm really enjoying it. The plot and characters are nothing spectacular, but they are a lot of fun. The show does ooze some seriously sick style and it has me hooked.

Finished Aku No Hana. It was amazing and also VERY annoying. The moments of absolute beauty were totally worth the experience though. The ending of episode 7 is what made me fall in love with the show.

Gatchaman Crowds is all style and no substance, but I'm seriously digging the animation and soundtrack. Sweet dance and electronic JPOP.

Uchoten Kazoku is just adorable and heartwarming.

Rozen Maiden 2013 is wonderful. I'm quite surprised because I hated the original. The soundtrack is amazing. Very ethereal and dark.

Kimi no Iru Machi just plain sucked. The gorgeous art is wasted on this lame drama.

since my gaming has been taking off i haven't been up to snuff since 2011 lol.

I just finished Fairy Tail, watched Battle of Gods and One Piece Z movies.

I tried to get into fairy tale last year, but I got so caught up in other things, but its over now right? is it worth it?

Lately I've been watching shorter series because I don't need to dedicate alot of time into them; the most recent being Seitokai no Ichizon 1&2

I've had a lot more time to watch anime since I gone out to South Dakota. In the last month, I've watched all of Rumbling Hearts and AnoHana and I've completed watching Earth Maiden Arjuna, Diamond Daydreams, and Angel Beats.

I've spent the last couple of days watching Mouretsu Pirates and I've watched a few episodes of some other shows. My goal is to work through my MAL anime watching list and complete those shows.

Been on an anime watching binge lately. Finished off the second season of Ultramaiden Valkyrie. That series was rather tedious to get through. First season was okay, but child Valkyrie got annoying mid way into the second season.

Watched High School of the Dead's English dub. Was the first time that I recall that I was put off by a dub. Why was there references to American things? Did he say go to Petsmart? Do they even have Petsmart in Japan? Then there was the profanity. Don't get me wrong I don't get offended by the use of expletives, but after a point it is like .

Haganai: I don't have many friends. What does haganai mean? Looked for an English translation, and I couldn't find one. Really liked this series. Animation and character art were nice. Development between the main characters kept me entertained.

Solty Rei was another enjoyable show. Was expecting much, but it is one of those shows were you want to see what happens in the next episode.

doug19992000 wrote:Watched High School of the Dead's English dub. Was the first time that I recall that I was put off by a dub. Why was there references to American things? Did he say go to Petsmart? Do they even have Petsmart in Japan?

Well, I don't know about the rest of the country, but I don't believe we have Petsmart here in Yamagata prefecture. We don't have Costco or IKEA here in Yamagata either.

Allison and Lillia - Not sure if it was an artistic choice, but for a show that was made not too long ago, it looks like it came out in the 90's. The story is nice though. Mixes action sequences and parts where there is mostly dialogue well.

NB: "Alison and Lillia" - I started watching that but got distracted from it after only watching 2 episodes. It's 26 episodes long and at the time I didn't have the energy or time to marathon it.

Decided to watch what was reportedly the worst anime ever rated on MAL. The title of the work is "Pupa". Each episode is only 4 minutes long so it was short work to watch the whole thing. I gave it a 4/10 (perhaps I was being a bit generous). To sum up the mess my single comment about the show, which is somewhat in bad taste given the subject matter, is that it "gives the term 'anime digest' a whole new meaning".

Something definitely more entertaining is "Hoozuki no Reitetsu". I find it amusing and especially enjoy some of the Japanese pop culture references. The cross references between the Anglo-Chinese names in the subtitles and the Japanese versions in the dialogue have me going out on a loop though. The OP song is the first one I've come across which succeeds in making hell sound like it could be a fun place to be.

Sidebar note: I've watched two episodes of "Onee-chan ga Kita" and have laughed once.

Selector Infected Wixoss - It's just trying way too hard to be edgy and cute. The main character and her family are very likable, but the other characters are pretty annoying. The random dark and scary stuff is interesting. The show has potential so I will stick with it for a bit. In the end the first episode left me feeling underwhelmed. I was really looking forward to the show too.

^ That one is on my "to watch" list...but its hold there has been become a bit more tenuous now that the second season of Mushishi is underway.

I had a few chuckles watching Miss Monochrome. Silly to the core but not so much that it's down right ridiculously stupid. Cute song and dance at the end too.

Ping Pong - The hipster in me can't help but love this series despite it being another ordinary shounen sports anime. The execution is perfect. Great/weird art, animation and music. Love it!

Just watched the first three episodes of Kamisama no Inai Nichiyobi. The story arc wasn't overly complex to the point that it lost its charm. In terms of atmosphere I find it to be a mash-up of several other shinigami themed anime I've seen in the past (sorry, can't name them).

I'm watching episodes of Initial D

Attack on Titan - I was finishing watching Attack on Titan but a certain someone spoiled some nice later series key points in another thread. Thanks again. I'm sure I'll finish it but my enthusiasm has been severely tempered. All in all I like the show a lot. I wouldn't say it's as great as many do and put it up on such a high pedestal. Eren can get annoying at times and is predictable. That being said I am enjoying the action and the plot is fresh enough for me frm what comes out season after season to get a few extra points. I think it'll wind up in the Good category for me at the end.

High School DxD - I wanted a T&A fanservice show for some comedy and relaxation. Well this show certainly has boobies galore. More mammary glands than you can shake a stick at. Nothing fancy by any stretch but if you want a T&A show it delivers. And has just enough plot to stay moderately interesting beyond the T&A.

Guilty Crown - The visuals I saw for the show are what got me interested at first. I just really liked the character designs and backgrounds from the previews I saw. Only a few episodes in so I can't really comment too much on the plot so far. Seems to be tossing the main character into things rather quickly from the start so I hope the pacing evens out as it goes.

Sword Art Online - This is another show like Titan that I waited on. I tend to do that with the big super popular shows. I wait for them to run their initial course and let the hype die down some. Then i watch them so I'm not bombarded with opinions on them as I watch them. I like to formulate my own opinions. It's another one like Titan that I'm 2/3 of the way through and would rate it as Good. Again, like Titan, I'd not rate it as high as the popularity would suggest. Still very enjoyable for me though. To me SAO is like a more polished and entertaining .hack.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous - This is one my gf watched and suggested to me so I'm watching it myself. It's a nice little slice of life drama show. No explosions or mechs or sword fighting which is nice for a change. I can tell already I think I'm not going to like Atsushi that much.

I think I might also re-watch my Patlabor OVA's after mentioning them in another thread. Kind of got me thinking about them and wanting to re-watch them again. Might even do the movies too.

Are you already done watching Natsuyuki Rendezvous? I thought it started off strong, but wow what a trainwreck it became.

Also, is there an introduction thread for new users here? Haven't seen it, I must be blind or something.

Just finishing up the last of cleaning out my VHS collection and found Magic Boy from a TCM showing in 2001 and Robot Carnival from the Sci Fi channel showing in 1998. Forgot I even had these until now. Both are really good movies, especially Magic Boy where you can see where it had influence on a LOT of todays stuff.

So yeah. Ping Pong was freaking gorgeous and it made me cry. What a wonderful series! The music, the animation, the characters. Everything came together so perfectly.

Blue Spring Ride - not bad. Cute and harmless show. The female lead is a bit too wishy washy though. May marathon it later on but for now there isn't much going on to keep me interested.

Sailor Moon Crystal - so yeah... Love it. Pure nostalgia bomb and it takes me back to being a kid. The one downside is sailor moon's voice actress is trying way too hard to replicate the voice she used to have. I know it's the same actress but her voice has aged.

Tokyo Ghoul - oh man this series is nonstop awesome. I love the gore, the emotion, the sensual aspects of it all. So nasty but fun.

Tokyo Esp - ugh that was stupid.

Terror in Resonance - love the mood and the soundtrack. There isn't enough explained just yet so I can't really say too much about the show, but it is well written.

I've watched a lil' bit of a few shows so far.

Blue Spring Ride – I kinda skimmed thru the first two episodes. Seems like this will be the one good shoujo series this season. It's cute and has a lot of potential.

Hanayamata – I wanted to watch this based on the promo art. I love gorgeous shows like this; almost a slice-of-life show but with a little drama in there, too, to give the characters a goal. Only saw the first episode.

Sailor Moon Crystal – I'm watching this alongside the original series on hulu. It's all right, but there's a lot of stupid, lazy things the animators are doing that doesn't measure up to the original. For example, the girls' faces are more "stiff" and less lively/animated than before. Also, Japan needs to stop using that awful half-3D garbage – it's really visually jarring!

I ~love~ the Hunter X Hunter revival, but Crystal isn't as impressive. But I'll keep up with it because it's short.

Terror in Resonance – Really liked the first episode. They didn't reveal too much about the leads, which leaves me longing to find out more! I'm also curious how the girl is going to come into play. I like shows that don't seem too try-hard dark and brooding. This one wants to have a little fun.

Other shows I haven't started yet include Tokyo Ghoul and Persona 4 The Golden Animation.