Watching any anime?

[Sierra]

Eh, Soppy?

[Hunter Sopko]

SF Continuum was one of my accounts. There was a woman who worked there that was insufferable.

[superaielman]

Disk two: Done. Touga talked a good game but man did he fail it up when it came to actually duelling. Rather enjoyed the end of the season/disk, Utena's emo phase was just long enough to be annoying without making you hate anyone. And Wakaba did something useful besides random near pantyshots and lesbian fanservice, I'm amazed.

[Ultradude]

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, Code Geass R2 complete. Oh what a wonderful, horrible ride it's been. While remaining a Kallen fanboy throughout. Oh, and Orange-kun. And... other things. My high levels in "Suspension of Disbelief" are the key to my enjoyment of a series that could probably be the definition of Refuge in Audacity. If the series was a train wreck, the last few episodes were the horrifying finish where the chemical tank cars all explode in a skin melting cocktail of a gas cloud. And it was beautiful. Especially Lelouch Hat.

Of course, I could complain about a lot of things, such as Lelouch's apparent inability to just plain out and out lose in R2, Rolo making me hate him and then not, and the pointlessness of Shirley somehow not mattering to me... yargh. Spinzaku, Laughzaku, Runzaku, Roofzaku, Zerozaku... need to lurk on /m/ moar I think.

Feels like the weakest of the 3 big recent mech shows, but I still enjoyed the silliness a great deal, and liked the mech designs in general. Can't wait to see what SRW can do with the franchise. Maybe a GAR Suzaku? Guren also needs to be hax.

Speaking of mechs, I'm currently downloading ep. 8 of Gundam 00's new season on Messiah's sad, sad internet. Still very much in it for the mechs, Ali, and Feldt, though MISTAH BUSHIDO continues the Neo Roanoke tendency of making the Char into more of a mockery. Though probably far more intentional this time. Some weirdness with Soma, though, that I really can't see where they're going with it for the next almost 20 episodes, they really need to not mess that up. Needs moar Patrick as well.

Macross Frontier also completed via Lunar subs. It's great in the way that only Macross can be, full of drama, fairly well done characters and love triangles, moments of incredible badassery, and a final episode that basically hits you in the face with almost everything likable about the franchise. So much referencing of earlier entries in the franchise - Ozma blasting Fire Bomber while in combat was pretty great, and Bobby was an obvious parody of the classic 'bridge bunny' tradition. Sadly, it's hard to recommend to friends in general, since Macross isn't something I can see the majority of my friends (even the big anime fans) liking a lot. Movie should be a good thing though, given the potential for pitchfork-and-torch riots if it isn't good.

[AndrewRogue]

Now I feel the need to pop in.  One Piece is terrible.  The fact that characters never die just accentuates the suckage.  For example, in the last Chapter of the English manga, Usopp (a normal human being, no special powers whatsoever), is beaten repeatedly by a guy with a 4-ton baseball bat.  He lives.  And manages to defeat his opponent.  THAT is bad writing.

This is a problem with Shonen manga in general (do any of the Leaf Village Genin in Naruto ever die?  NO), not just One Piece.  But mentioning One Piece as a perfectly fine comic is just fail.

While I don't tend to like to debate quality too much since it tends to come down to opinion, I'm calling shenanigans here.

Usopp is not a normal human being by any stretch of the imagination. He is a ridiculously good marksman, and has exceptional durability, like pretty much anyone who is not a mook. This tracks back to his introductory arc, where he takes a stone hammer to the head, completely undefended, and survives without being rendered incapable.

The cast of One Piece is just plain durable. All of them are. Usopp is LESS extraordinary, but he is still fairly superhuman (and, it should be noted, the son of Yassop who is a member of Shank's crew).

So, if you're going to complain and call me for failure, pick a less stupid example. I'm fine with you disagreeing and will respect that. But pick a decent example or just say you don't like it. <3

[Sierra]

Huh. After making the Utena order, I received the following message in the confirmation email: "This email is to confirm the receipt of your order from Science Fiction Continuum. We will be out of our offices until September 2. Your order will be processed at that time."

Not encouraging, I must say.

[Shale]

That's....uh...yeah. They seemed fine in person!

[Hunter Sopko]

Been watching some of my DVD backlog with my comp out.

Finished Slayers Try. I can see where people are coming from now when they say it's not that great. The first half is pretty damn good, but then it suffers from a spell of baaaad filler, and the ending is just kinda meh. The first half though is great, even if Valgaav is just a loser. Jillas rocks throughout, and Filia is good in the first half. The interplay between Xellos and Filia needed to last the whole time.

Slayers Return- Meh movie installment. Started fine, needed to end about a half hour earlier.

Dirty Pair Original: Flight 005 Conspiracy- Good stuff. Classic Dirty Pair, but with a suprising bloody edge to it. Some of the better Dirty Pair plot I've seen too. Still, it shocked me to have so much direct violence and gore in it. Dirty Pair is usually pretty indirect with it. Moreso Flash than Original, but still.

[WanderingMind]

Just finished Wolf's Rain.  I don't know what to make of the ending, but I still really like this show.  It starts off excellent, stays that way for most part if you don't count the four recap episodes, and then almost falls apart near the end.  Wolf's Rain has an excellent soundtrack, though.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Wolf's Rain has an excellent soundtrack, though.

That was my favorite part.

Also, I liked the Flower Girl's nifty eye design. Stylish, and I don't know where it originated from, but I always attribute it to Wolf's Rain since it was the first place I saw the inverted-eye-coloration thing. Pretty sure it was copied from -somewhere-, but Wolf's Rain is the earliest example I know of.

-Djinn

[WanderingMind]

Wolf's Rain has an excellent soundtrack, though.

That was my favorite part.

Also, I liked the Flower Girl's nifty eye design. Stylish, and I don't know where it originated from, but I always attribute it to Wolf's Rain since it was the first place I saw the inverted-eye-coloration thing. Pretty sure it was copied from -somewhere-, but Wolf's Rain is the earliest example I know of.

-Djinn

I think Cheza (the Flower Girl) is the first character I've seen with the inverted-eye-coloration thing.

Next up:  Digimon Adventure (aka Digimon, Season 1)

Last time I watched Digimon was back when it used be on Fox Kids.  I was originally going to watch the dub, but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to watch the original Japanese version.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Ah, that's right, her name was Cheza!

Have fun with Digimon Adventure - I hear that the anime is cheesy, but standard, shounen fare - but dear GOD do not play the video games (that's a mistake I wish someone had warned me against).

-Djinn

[WanderingMind]

Same here.  I played the first Digimon World for the Playstation a long time ago.  The game was downright awful and plain unfair.  I always got the turd Digimon.  Ugh.  Thankfully, it was the last Digimon game I ever played.

[Twilkitri]

Great Teacher Onizuka is awesome. That is all.

[Hunter Sopko]

Yes. Yes it is. And the anime is the least awesome installment of GTO. Read the manga and see the live action.

[Ultradude]

Best thing I can hype for Wolf's Rain: WALRUS BATTLE.

Found that it is a very easy anime to make fun of when watched in a group, and the film major across the hall has a great deal of contempt for it, it seems.

Hopefully, my memories of Digimon Adventure aren't too colored by nostalgia, and it actually will be enjoyable for you to watch.

Watching either Black Lagoon or The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi during January anime club.

Also got first 13 episodes of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha from a friend soooo... yeah.

[WanderingMind]

I watched the first episode of Digimon Adventure and I still found it enjoyable.  Granted, I saw the original version.  Taichi's (Tai) voice took some time getting used to and the music is different from the American version.  I can't go back to "Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions..." after watching the original opening.

As for anime club, I'm on episode 12 of Soul Eater, Clannad, Code Geass, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and episode 13 of Haibane Renmei.  Kaiba will replace Haibane Renmei next semester.

[Sierra]

Nothing can replace Haibane Renmei~

Ultradude: Black Lagoon > Haruhi, though I may be the only one here who thinks that.

[Ultradude]

My anime club just voted last night; we've got Haruhi approved for j-term, and Gurren Lagann and Beck for the spring term, unless last minute votes can push Yakitate Japan or Nodame Cantabile over Beck.

Watched Paprika at club as well. Very Satoshi Kon, trippy, but still makes sense and has a definite point. Worth watching just for the colorful visuals if nothing else.

[DjinnAndTonic]

My anime club just voted last night; we've got Haruhi approved for j-term, and Gurren Lagann and Beck for the spring term, unless last minute votes can push Yakitate Japan or Nodame Cantabile over Beck.

Watched Paprika at club as well. Very Satoshi Kon, trippy, but still makes sense and has a definite point. Worth watching just for the colorful visuals if nothing else.

Yakitate Japan >>> BECK.

Haruhi and Black Lagoon are both pretty good, though arguably Haruhi is a kind of cultural phenomenon, especially for American anime culture. Love it or hate it, it's -really- permeated the intarwebs.

-Djinn

[Hunter Sopko]

I'm of the opposite mind.

Beck > Yakitate Japan. Beck simply rocks. One of my top 5 anime.

[Ultradude]

"Anime about bread" doesn't seem to have gotten much interest. One junior who's going to Germany for the spring voted for it just so that it wouldn't be an option when she was a senior, though admittedly the voting was close for second place - 3 votes each for Yakitate and Nodame Cantabile, 4 for Beck. Gurren Lagann had like... 8 or 9 after we showed an AMV with Be a Man from Mulan. May even show some Mazinger, Getter, Godannar, etc. clips before TTGL to give the club at large a little more background, since most of them aren't really versed in the super robot tradition.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Yakitate, but Beck interested me a little more. A friend of mine being a huge Beck fan probably helped as well, while I don't really know much about Yakitate.

Our club has already gone through Gunslinger Girl, Wolf's Rain, and Genshiken this year. Hoping to get Code Geass and, if it's all out by then, Gundam 00 for next year.

[AndrewRogue]

All Manga

One Piece: Continues to build to epicness.

Bleach: Continues to suck.

Naruto: Continues to be... Naruto, I guess.

Hunter x Hunter: Continues to be plain awesome and enrage me with upcoming break.

Ruroni Kenshin: Got bored and needed something to read. Saw the three book collections that Viz put out and decided to give it another look. Despite the rage which it will give the Sopkos... I'm actually enjoying it a lot more than I remember. Definitely beats the anime by a significant margin thus far. The art is pretty and the character interactions are enjoyable. Kinda curious why I never bothered with it earlier.

D. Gray Man: Debating how much I want to continue this. Enjoyable but not great, thus far?

[DjinnAndTonic]

All Manga
D. Gray Man: Debating how much I want to continue this. Enjoyable but not great, thus far?

After Shadow Hearts, I was thinking of starting D. Gray Man - it looks pretty, and I like the idea of an alternate history with exorcists.

Is the anime any good?


---
Yakitate Japan was hands-down the most useful manga I've ever read for understanding how people think about food in Japan. Yakitate Japan exaggerates things... but only a little.

It was also funny.

BECK is a dirty lie. No one in Japan knows anything about American music that isn't Beyonce or Justin Timberlake. Or the Beatles, but that's not American.

-Djinn

[AndrewRogue]

Djinn: No idea. This is just the closest place to where I can put down manga. >_>