terabient | Entries tagged with anime

Hello there, DW friends! For once I have a lot to talk about! First, some real life stuff:

( My weekend, cut for TMI regarding bodily functions )

so anyway i had to take monday and tuesday off to recover.

In less, uh, vomit-y news, I had my yearly performance evaluation this morning and it went as well as it possibly could. I got a dollar raise (which was way more than I was expecting) and my supervisor said clients specifically request me to come in, which is really nice to hear; I spend a lot of time worrying that the opposite happens. Also, I guess my supervisor applied the pay raise last week (?) so I should see it in my paycheck this week....woo!

With that out of the way, here's some of the anime/gaming stuff I've been up to in the past few months:

★ I watched the first season of Love Live (I really enjoy the phone game, go figure) and...tbh I wasn't expecting much, given that the phone game's 'story' is something below basic, but it was pretty well-written, especially given the somewhat silly premise. The first 3 episodes, in particular, follow convention closely enough that ( spoiler ) I find the school director's actions kind of hard to understand, and the music doesn't particularly grab me (and I'm usually pretty open to songs by bubbly j-pop girl groups) but those are my only issues.

My faves are the 2nd years (esp. Kotori) and Nozomi because in an anime with relatively stock character types she's this...off-beat lesbian pagan type haha. I don't really dislike anyone, though...I guess I'm not big on the first-years, but they don't get a lot of screen-time after their introductory episode in season 1 so that may change if they get more attention in season 2.

★ Since it is Halloween Month I have been playing a lot of Deathsmiles and Trouble Witches Neo, and I've been thinking of streaming one or both of them at some point...? Especially Trouble Witches Neo; it's a solid game that was inexplicably localized with an atrocious dub--I mean, spectacularly bad; the dubbing's actually a little worse than the lazy stuff that came out in the early 90s. But I don't really know if any one would be interested in watching something like that. Also setting up a stream will probably take more effort than I want to expend, so...

★ Persona 4: Dancing All Night still has a firm grip on my soul. I admit I double-dipped just for the dub, because JYB as Yu gives me that many feels. Also, not hearing Laura Bailey as Rise...upset me more than I thought it would. Like, I know it's not her fault or Atlus USA's fault, and her replacement does a fine job, it's just...Laura Bailey fit Rise so well, and is honestly one of the reasons I was so drawn to Rise in the first place. I guess disappointment was inevitable. :(

★ Speaking of Laura Bailey, I somehow did not realize she was voicing Fiona in Tales from the Borderlands until someone else mentioned it to me, haha. ANYWAYS TFTBL is incredible and hilarious and far more entertaining than Borderlands TPS, and it's good enough that I would recommend it to people who haven't played any Borderlands game but enjoy...uh...I guess Mad Max/space western science fiction??? IDK if anyone on my flist is also playing TFTBL, but if you are please let me know because I need someone else to squee with.

FWIW, my favorite scenes as of Episode 4:

-The eyeball thing (Sasha's tentatively enthusiastic "Just...stick it in his face!" and Fiona's "Why did you have to say it like that?" is some of my favorite voice acting in recent memory. The ending twist to the whole thing was staged really well, too. A+++++ all around.)
-Face Pizza Party (seriously, I laugh just thinking about that phrase. Then throw up, because the whole scene is even more disgusting than the eyeball one. That everyone's delivery of 'face pizza party' changes constantly is also hilarious.)
-Accountant finger-gun fire fight
-All of the robots (Loaderbot, Gortys, and Dumpy) are excellent, but honestly I will never get tired of watching Dumpy wobble onscreen, scream in bursts of static, than clumsily shock someone. <3

Phew, I think that's all for now.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: ND Lee - Lover

i don't know why i'm writing this late. well, i do, it's because i'm in that limbo of being really tired but also not being able to fall asleep. woe is me.

so have a jumble of shallow thoughts on animus.

( pokeani squee )

( Sailor Moon Crystal siiiiiiiiiiiigh )

I still haven't watched any Dramatical Murder. WHOOPS.

In video games: I started the FFX HD remaster. I'm only at Besaid, so I don't have much in the way impressions beyond wow this is stunningly pretty and wow i forgot how much i disliked Tidus in the beginning.

Also I enjoy the remastered soundtrack, for the most part. I haven't come across a rearrangement that I've disliked yet--I know the one for Besaid had, um, a mixed reception, but I liked it a lot. The violin sounds beautiful.

Current Mood: stupified
Current Music: Jafrosax - Heads in Space

( Pokemon Y update )

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A few animu thoughts:

★ Pokeani XY continues to be mostly boring for the human characters but pretty great for the pokemon. Like, I ~~hated~~ disliked Hawlucha in the game, but in the anime it is hilarious and adorable--his gag is that he's really powerful, but his signature move Flying Press never hits anything because he takes too much time making the move stylish and cool looking. Also, I'm liking the trend of having the pokemon choose to travel with Ash rather then being caught--Froakie picked Ash as his trainer, and Hawlucha did the same--and it's kind of implied that, once Hawlucha has learned enough from Ash then he will go back to his forest. I just like seeing pokemon portrayed as equal to humans in intelligence/sentience, or close to it.

★ I'm actually more excited for Viz's re-release/re-dub of the original Sailor Moon anime after seeing some new dub clips. Christina Vee as Rei/Sailor Mars! Luna as, well, not an old lady! Scripts/translations that make sense! Original anime music! I'M SO HAPPY~

★ I kinda sorta want to watch DRAMAtical Murder even though I haven't played the VN and the general consensus of the anime is that it's not particularly good. I don't really have the patience to work through visual novels, and uh, I have somewhat low standards when it comes to anime, so I thought, 'hmmm, maybe I'll be someone who can enjoy the adaptation.' I guess I'll check out the first two episodes and see how I feel about it from there. (I admit the major reason I want to watch it is because I like the character designs. The premise sounds kind of confusing...)

★ Persona 4 Golden Animation is pretty inessential viewing, and I'm starting to lean towards the 'Marie is an obnoxious character' camp, but in the end, I don't care. Characters I like are being cute and in cute situations, which is all I need to be satisfied. I understand why people are unimpressed or annoyed at its existence, and I can't objectively recommend it as something to watch, but on a personal level...high-school boys re-enacting the Birth of Venus, in animated form, is A++++ material.

Also I like that little character quirks, like Chie being rather fashionable and good at styling, are getting some attention. c:

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: Kitchen Nightmares

...but restores my will to bitch over the internet, I guess. I figure reading about Pokemon breeding is as exciting as actually breeding, i.e. not at all, so ( under the cut it goes! )

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In other news, I watched the first Sailor Moon Crystal episode and my reaction is, apparently, quite common: lots of fangirlish/nostalgia driven glee paired with some disappointment that the animation quality is, er, somewhat soulless. Honestly, while I'm not actively following many shows right now, Crystal's animation is some of the laziest I've seen in the past three years. (I would say it's the laziest, but I did watch Blazblue Alter Memory, so...) I can't think of another current show that is so static. Did all of the animation budget go to...hair? cuz most of the time, that's the only thing moving.

I hear the second episode is better animation-wise, though, so fingers crossed that this is just a pilot episode problem.

I've been hoping that Jadeite might get more development than he did in the original series but I wouldn't be surprised if that were not the case, given the shorter run schedule--Rei's supposed to come in ep. 3, which means Jadeite is not long for this world--and also, approximately no one cares about Jadeite. :c

Current Mood: bored
Current Music: Transistor - The Spine

So someone made this derpy Noel icon from Blazblue Alter Memory and I've been laughing at it all day

hello, new default icon!

(yes, this needed its own entry.)

Current Music: Pharrell - Happy

that's a clumsy title, isn't it?

So! Here is a list of all the stockings at

fandom_stocking that include anime, manga, kdrama/jdrama and/or video game fandoms. I hope this list will help people discover stockings that they might have passed over. :]

Please let me know if:

-Your stocking has an anime/manga/k-or-jdrama/video game fandom, and isn't listed here
-Your stocking is listed but is missing an anime/manga/k-or-jdrama/game fandom
-Anything that needs fixing (broken links, spelling, etc.)

Also, as many of these fandoms are tiny, feel free to recommend/promote/squee about your fandoms in the comments! (Because really, I haven't seen or played a lot of these titles but they sound fascinating.)

( The list! )

I watched the BRS anime yesterday. I'd only planned on seeing the first two episodes, but I ended up marathoning all eight episodes because CLIFFHANGERS EVERY TIME. Also the animation was pretty excellent and the story was alright. Non-spoilery thoughts regarding the show:

★ The first four episodes were really strong. I especially liked that the show didn't explain in dialog how the two worlds related to each other, since the structure made it pretty obvious. The second half felt like a big departure from the first--the shift in focus from Mato and Yumi to other character relationships seemed a little odd, and sort of diminished the strength and importance of Mato and Yumi's conflict. Also, I felt like the plot got a bit muddled during the later episodes--the ending was solid, but I think the sheer amount of new developments in episodes 5-7 made things complicated in an unnecessary way.

★ KAGARI IS PRETTY AWFUL, HUH. That said, I kind of enjoyed her horrific selfishness? The whole macaroon and doll scene with Mato and Yumi was just, omg. It was really over the top, but emotionally resonant; even if the actions are exaggerated the scene itself was something most people could see happening to themselves, in a way. (Maybe not having to eat ugly macaroons, but being friendly to someone who clearly despises you and has no problems letting you know that fact.) In the later episodes, I enjoyed the honesty and simplicity of her emotions, and that even though she was improving she was still inherently self-centered.

★ The action scenes are amazing. I wouldn't have thought a muted color palette with splashes of glowy neon colors could be so haunting or evocative, but it is. The design does contrasts well--the small slender characters wielding gigantic, absurd weaponry, the harsh landscape and the sprinkling of frivolity in the character designs like lace and free-flowing, perfect hair...it's one of the few shows that I can think of that fuses a bunch of disparate, but popular design elements successfully.

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I ended up signing up for

fandom_stocking. Here's my stocking, if anyone is interested in stuffing it, and if you have a stocking up let me know so I can try to make something for you~ I can't promise anything, though, because I have been utterly incapable of finishing anything fandom related this year. x_x

Also, I was thinking of going through all the posts and compiling a list of people who are interested in ani-manga and video game fandoms, since they tend to be tinier and easier to overlook when browsing through posts. Would anyone be interested in something like that? (I will probably make one regardless, for personal use, but if others would find it useful then I'll make it public. ^^ )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Mori Hideharu - The Blue Flame

The 30 days music meme got me thinking about Serial Experiments Lain again. I was reading through the Wikipedia article to brush up on the plot and while it wasn't especially helpful in that regard, (I still have no idea what the purpose of the K.I.D.S./Cyberia...stuff...was?) it did make me think about some other things.

First, the whole idea the creator had wrt American vs. Japanese audience interpretations...look, I admire his desire to create something with 'distinctly Japanese values' and reject American concepts that were imposed upon Japanese people after WWII. But...the philosophical concepts and technology theories presented in Lain are almost entirely Western in origin, and they aren't presented in a way that challenges their assertions on any level. When you invoke Western ideas without re-interpreting or challenging them, it seems rather naive to assume that an American audience will draw different conclusions from a Japanese audience.

I think Ghost in the Shell (the movies, in particular) is a series that generates different audience reactions more successfully than Lain, and that wasn't even a concern of the creators. (At least, I don't think it was a concern?) American audiences don't interpret the ending of the GiTS movie differently, per se, but the majority of the reviews and analysis miss the very obvious Buddhist underpinnings--I've only read one review that mentions how one of the last scenes with the Puppeteer and Motoko is supposed to be read as a Buddhist wedding/a symbol of Buddhist ideals of transcendence, for example. And I suspect the critical response to Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, which was fairly negative, was partially due to people being unfamiliar with Buddhist/Zen concepts and thus found the movie's philosophical musings as confusing. (Or worse, nonsensical--I do think Innocence was heavy-handed and clumsy in plotting and dialog, but the ideas it was trying to convey aren't nonsense, and I think it's really patronizing that some American critics have called it that.)

...wow, that was some tangent.

Secondly, even though I don't remember much about Lain's plot, I always enjoyed the initial hook, that Lain is just going through her lonely life until a dead person contacts her through the ~~internet~~ Wired. The idea of people dying in the material world and manifesting in the internet is one I really enjoy, and I wish I knew of more books/shows/movies that explore the concept. I've seen Kairo and Pulse (Kairo was pretty good, Pulse was not) a little bit of the .hack series, and pretty much everything connected to Ghost in the Shell--is there any other stuff that people have seen, in any media, that's concerned with people living in the internet, or sentient creations trying to contact/become people in the material world? I'd be interested in seeing it.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Cyberia Mix - INFANiTy World

★ One of the local hobby/comic shops is selling Madoka blind box figures! They're a bit pricey, but I am a weak-willed fangirl and bought two of them despite my better judgement. So now I have an itty-bitty Madoka and Homura attached to my keys. ♥ Hoping I can score a Kyubey and/or Mami the next time I stop in.

★ Blazblue Chronophantasma is in arcades now, and there's been a steady stream of gameplay and arcade storyline videos since its release. Some non-spoilery stuff worth sharing:

Bullet's Theme; Azrael's Theme; Amane Nishiki's Theme (I like all of them, but Bullet's is my favorite)

Makoto vs Amane; Bullet vs Arakune; Noel vs Azrael (I like this one because there is some CRAZY comeback action)

Relius' Astral on new characters, Bullet and Azrael's Astrals, Amane's Astral on all characters

★ Question: has anyone watched the Black Rock Shooter OAV/anime? The only Black Rock Shooter stuff I've seen is the Supercell video, and I wasn't enormously interested in the character, but the premise of the OAV and anime series sounds intriguing--like, it's about normal high-school girls who have alternate versions fighting in another world or something? I'm just curious if anyone has an opinion on whether or not to see it.

★ On that note, I've also had Mawaru Penguindrum and the Fate/stay night series on my 'to watch' list as well. Penguindrum because it's by the creator of Utena and it looks equally gorgeous and mind-trippy; Fate/stay night because...well, it's a little complicated. I want to see Fate/zero because Urobuchi wrote it, and I want to see how Fate/Zero compares to Madoka Magica and Saya no Uta. I figured I should watch Fate/stay night before Fate/Zero to get a sense of what the series is like, but I've gotten a lot of mixed information. The prevailing attitude seems to be that Fate/stay night, the anime, isn't particularly good or worth watching, and Fate/Zero can be watched and understood without having seen anything else in the canon. I've also heard the exact opposite said. :p So I dunno. Any suggestions?

Speaking of Fate/stay night, it seems to be universally accepted that the visual novel is better than the anime, and that I should just read that instead of watching the anime. I'm considering it, but truthfully, I've avoided the Type-Moon works because they seem so dense and complex and IDK, not very easy to get into quickly. I'm not sure I have the brainspace left to plough through another material-rich canon right now. :S

★ End note: A kind DW'er is holding a Depression Is A Lying Bastard Fest. From the post: It has come to my attention that it is That Time of Year again for most people with SAD in the Northern Hemisphere, and that for many other folks Bad Things and/or Anniversaries seem to be piling up. At times like this, it is hard to remember that Depression is a Lying Bastard and that it *does* get better again.

If you're feeling down for any reason at all, you can comment at the fest and hopefully find some encouragement and support to make things a little easier. ♥

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Joelle - Starting Over -Aggressive Mix-

I spent most of today in bed with a cold.

I ended up watching the first four episodes of Magical Angel Creamy Mami--I've had the fansub on my 'to watch' list for awhile now, and I was in the mood for some cute 80s jpop. Plus, Creamy Mami is one of the early magical girl shows that had a big impact on the genre, and was the first anime used to promote a then-unknown pop star--so I also wanted to see it for ~historical appreciation~ purposes. :P

( First impressions )

Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: Takako Ota - LOVE Sarigenaku

★ I watched the first season of Hidamari Sketch and I am painfully in love with it. It's somewhat reminiscent of Azumanga Daioh, in the sense that they're both comedic slice-of-life shows featuring all female casts. The gags and jokes in Azumanga are far more frequent and generally stronger than in Hidamari (Azumanga makes me giggle hysterically every time I watch it, Hidamari mostly gives me warm fuzzy feelings and amused smiles) but the visuals in Hidamari are a lot better imo. There are definitely stylistic similarities especially in the reaction images but Hidamari is more refined and memorable. I guess the point I'm trying to make is: if you like Azumanga Daioh you'll probably like Hidamari Sketch so maybe you should watch it?

ALSO: Hidamari Sketch has a much stronger shoujo-ai vibe than Azumanga. Aside from Kaori's unrequited love for Sakaki Azumanga didn't have much deliberate shoujo-ai, but Hidamari has a number of scenes and friendships that get pretty shippy. SOOOOO if you like your slice-of-life with some subtext Hidamari delivers.

★ Speaking of girl-centric slice-of-life anime, this genre is clearly my poison. Like, Hidamari Sketch is super cute and has lots of Les Yay and is subtly amusing, but ultimately nothing of consequence happens; it's mostly fluff. (DELICIOUS, COTTON CANDY FLUFF) And I like a lot of other shows that are mostly forgettable beyond being pleasant with nice character designs, like NieA 7 (and a bunch of other yoshitoshi aBE stuff) or Aoi Hana or Aria or...90% of shoujo-ai/yuri series that are produced. I'm not sure why 'pleasant girl meandering through her day in her sometimes stressful but mostly wonderful world' is so compelling for me to watch, but it is. HMMMMM.

I feel weird about reccing these shows though, because I never know how to sell them properly. Like if someone were to ask for a description for them I'd be all "Uh...it's about a girl doing normal things with other girls and sometimes they fall in love and everything's really gorgeous?" IIIIIIII am really bad at explaining why I like the things I do to other people.

★ Aaand for another rec: Kuragehime/Princess Jellyfish is hilarious and adorable and also worth watching! I first saw it at Anime Boston waaaaay back in April and wanted to mention it, but just...forgot? ANYWAY. It's about a super awkward college girl who is obsessed with jellyfish and her equally awkward nerd galpals at her apartment, and then she becomes friends with a gorgeous crossdressing boy because reasons and they both learn ~life lessons~ like how to be more confident or how to appreciate nerdery and, and, and it's just really sweet and fun. And only 11 episodes long. Which are available subbed (and I think dubbed as well) on youtube.

★ MOAR SQUEE: The Puella Magi Madoka Magi film is being released worldwide in early October! I'm not sure how many theatres in the US will show it (probably two at most) so I probably won't be able to see it regardless, BUT if it somehow makes its way to Boston or NYC i MIIIIIGHT try anyway.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Mebae Drive - marble

okay I want to talk about teh animus now

For those who have expressed interest in watching an anime series together, (you know who you are) this is a follow-up post, to find out which show we should start with and how we should go about actually...you know...watching it. With some semblance of togetherness.

From what others have said, ~~anything is fine~~ Durarara!! sounds like a good starting point, because it sounds awesome and nobody who I've talked to has seen it. It's not available for purchase domestically from what I've been able to find, but it's on Crunchyroll subbed, and there's always the ~magic of torrents~ for those w/o CR access.

Other shows that may work:

Baccano!
Basilisk
Kannazuki no Miko
Strawberry Panic!

and uh anything else you want to add. I'll be honest: I'm sort of picky as to what kinds of series I'll watch - I don't have the patience for anything over two seasons (or 50+ episodes) long, and I cannot watch straight-up shonen action series anymore. But anything else I'm up for - if there's a series you've really wanted to watch but haven't had the motivation to pick it up, just mention it and I'll...put it here, I guess. (Maybe I shall invoke the awesome powers of the Paid Account and make a POLL, even! The possibilities are endless.)

Also, nothing and no one can convince me to watch fucking Hetalia. This is not up for discussion.

As for the actual watching experience - there are a few options; I'd like to use voice chat, and I know some of us (

snapcakes,

kuragecircus,

nekocrouton) can use XBL's Party Chat, but for those who don't have Xbox - maybe we could try Skype? I've never used it, but obviously that'd be more flexible for people outside the zombie-slaying group. :] If people are interested in text chatting, we could use Twitter. I'm not the biggest fan of IM services, but that is probably the easiest route to take - I'd prefer Google Talk, but I can use AIM as well. I'd very much like to avoid MSN/WindowsLive if at all possible.

In addition, I was thinking of setting up a journal community for like, episode reviews and longer discussions and such. I haven't put too much thought into the idea yet, but maybe we could have one person write up an episode summary/review after each viewing party and we could have longer discussions about the show in the comment section. Also, it might be a good way to involve people who'd like to watch a show, but don't have a very flexible schedule, or can't/don't want to use voice chat or IM or other real-time chat services.

So! If you're interested in watching anime together with a bunch of TOTALLY FABULOUS NERDS comment here with the shows you're most interested in seeing, what chat services you'd most like to use, the times that work best for you, how many episodes you want to watch at a time, etc. so we can GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

And before I forget!: I'm on the East Coast and late night into early mornings (11pm - 3am) work best for me, though I can easily go earlier and start at 8pm since 11 is pretty inconvenient for most people :p Ideally, I'd like to watch just one or two episodes at a time.

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Albert Hammond - It Never Rains in Southern Californ