General Anime Thread

[Joe]

Anybody here catch Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kekkai Sensen) ? It's one of the new animes that dropped this year and I love it. Action-packed but very easy to watch.

Rather frustrated that the finale episode has been delayed due to TV stuff but I'm holding out.

 

[trash panda]

^ Where do you watch that? Netflix/Amazon/Hulu...?


I just started watching this on Netflix:

And by "just started watching" I mean I watched three episodes and may never find time to continue.

 

[Joe]

I've been watching it on one of those totally legal sites.

I do believe it's available on Hulu but I don't have access to that.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

One-Punch Man starts in October!!! Episode One is floating around online, and I've got all the trailers and whatnot in the comic/manga thread.




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[Hisako]

Finished off Psycho-Pass 2 (closer to the end than I thought I was). Pretty good, but nowhere near as great as the first series. Will probably check out the movie at some point

Also going to try and get through Magi. The whole sociopolitical stuff is getting in the way of swashbuckling adventure but boy is that adventure the purest shonen fun I've seen in ages!

 

[Joe]

Currently half-way through Fate/Zero. It's the remaining piece of Fate/ media I've yet to sink my teeth into, having watched all the other series' produced so far. While I do have my favourites, I've gotta say it's enjoyable having a bunch of different stories to experience that all relate to the same cast and general premise. Can't wait for the upcoming Heaven's Feel movie.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Parasyte starts on Toonami soon, and I'm quite excited to finally check that out.




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[Clement Rage]

I just read the end of the Light Novels for Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, and it's a very rare work where my repressed inner shipper emerges to be upset about how the pairings ended up.

Spoiler

Minami/Aki didn't happen. It was never likely to, to be fair, but I'm still a little upset, and I never care about pairings. IMO, they really could have clicked, they had more in common. Ah well.

The whole show parodies all the standard tropes by exaggerating them beyond belief, (scarily devoted girl regularly tazes her crush unconscious, bad cook uses industrial chemicals, the school built a separate bathroom for the ambigious gender guy), but it also managed to be more sincere than most of them.

The idiot hero actually is an idiot, prioritising video games over food, but that's why it works. He's the one character that credibly doesn't notice the harem of admirers, because he really is that stupid, but also actually is such a nice person that he can credibly have one. For once, the stock tropes work, because of how they're presented, while taking a swipe at the rest of the genre.

 

[tangerine]

So, I've basically avoided any new anime, movie or show, for the duration of 2015 so far. I think that it's about time to see what I've been missing. I'm looking for some suggestions. What's been good this year? Have there been any must-sees?

 

[Joe]

This year I'd recommend Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront). The art style and animation is beautiful, the plot is simple yet addictive and the characters are unique and exciting. The art is very reminiscent of late-90s anime so it hits you with nostalgia despite it being new.

The general premise is that a portal unleashed creatures, demons and everything else from the underworld into New York City. However, they assimilate quickly and mostly peacefully into our culture. The plot follows a kid that gets dragged into the wackiness.

 

[tangerine]

Thanks for the suggestion, Joe. It seems promising. :] Other suggestions are welcome!

 

[Hisako]

In other news, the studio behind Samurai Champloo, Michiko & Hatchin, Deadman Wonderland and the recently-ongoing series Gangsta has filed for bankruptcy, proving once again that there is no place for beautiful things in this world.

 

[Hisako]

Welp so on a whim I breezed through the anime adaptation of Prison School and I've never been more ashamed to have enjoyed dumb anime bullshit

 

[X-SOLDIER]

One-Punch Man is happening now, and it's only 2 episodes in -- I couldn't be more pleased.




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[X-SOLDIER]

Also, in case you haven't also seen the opening with the Lyrics translation, you're missing out:

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[Lex]

I'm halfway through The Twelve Kingdoms and really liking it. Unsure if it's been discussed in this thread or not, but this is me officially rec'ing it.

 

[Mayo Master]

How come I see this thread only now? Let's see, for what I've checked recently:
- Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, which I found awesome - just contained in 13 episodes
- Gate: the Self Defense Force fought, which I found awesome so far (half a season of 12 episodes completed so far, next 12 coming up this January)
- Rokka: Braves of Six Blossoms, which I found really disappointing and wouldn't recommend
- Aldnoah Zero, watched only 6 episodes so far but I'm enjoying it a lot.
Then I realized that apparently, Gargantia, Aldoah Zero, Psycho Pass are from the same guy. So I looked up more from the same author, which prompted me to:
- Fate Stay/Night, watched 7 episodes so far, I'm enjoying it.

 

[Joe]

- Fate Stay/Night, watched 7 episodes so far, I'm enjoying it.

If you find that enjoyable then two more recommendations:

~ Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - The series only finished this summer and is an alternate 'route' of the Fate/Stay Night story. Same characters but different events and outcomes. It also has insane production value because it looks incredible.

~ Fate/Zero - A prequel to the F/SN story and 5th Grail War. Takes place ten years before the other two and tells the tale of the 4th war. Great pacing and the story is pretty one of a kind. Some returning characters.

 

[Mayo Master]

^ Thanks for the tip, I already had Fate/Zero on the radar actually
To be sincere, even though I'm enjoying Fate Stay/night, I've enjoyed the more recent works from Gen Urobuchi more. I recommend you check them if you haven't yet.

 

[Joe]

Aye I've got Aldnoah as an upcoming watch. Loved Psycho Pass and it goes without saying that Madoka Magica is amazing. Love me some Urobutcher

The main reason I made those recommendations is because the original Fate/Stay Night anime is the most unsatisfying of the lot, by popular opinion. That's not to say it's bad but fans of the series have a lot of criticism for it compared to the newer Fate animes which are quite popular.

 

[Mayo Master]

Aye I've got Aldnoah as an upcoming watch. Loved Psycho Pass and it goes without saying that Madoka Magica is amazing. Love me some Urobutcher

The main reason I made those recommendations is because the original Fate/Stay Night anime is the most unsatisfying of the lot, by popular opinion. That's not to say it's bad but fans of the series have a lot of criticism for it compared to the newer Fate animes which are quite popular.

Thanks, that's good to know. Oddly enough, I only realized recently that I was an Urobutcher: it was more like "I like this anime, and this one, and this one and this one. Wait, they've been all written by the same guy!"
I had a similar story regarding Hiromu Arakawa: I actually watched first Silver Spoon (it's a slice of life/fish out of water anime set in an agricultural high school, in theory absolutely not my style, and I loved it - I highly recommend this one, especially if you're a foodie), and later I realized "wait, her previous work was Full Metal Alchemist!"

 

[Max Caulfield]

I'm about 10 to 15 years too late but I finally watched Yu-Gi-Oh. My ex-girlfriend was really into it and I kept meaning to watch it even after we broke up, so I FINALLY got around to it in the last couple weeks. It's surprisingly good. I'm such a slut for stories that are all about friendship and shit.

 

[Flare]

Finally started watching Attack on Titan, got it from my library like 2 weeks ago and I have to watch it before it goes overdue.
3 episodes in, and already hooked. Definitely a no-holds-barred when it comes to things happening in the story, and like you mentioned before Joe, it has a really nice animation. Also... those Titans are creepy as all hell. Actually gave me shivers imagining all that happening. Slightly depressing intro, but it's engaging, so I want to see what happens.

 

[Hisako]

Araki is great for helming adaptations. When he's got a story to follow he's pretty concise and shows restraint, which punctuates story beats really well. Even giant blobs of schlock like High School of the Dead got great treatments, .

Guilty Crown (original series) was a fucking mess, though. I love it a lot and there's some emotional stuff to go around but to say that shit was all over the place would be an understatement

 

[Flare]

Watched all 13 episodes of Attack on Titan yesterday. I seriously could not stop watching it. Already got the next part on hold from my library. I'm pretty impressed with this story. O_O