Anime Nation

[dragontamer5788]

Frieren

Of the anime I've previewed (1-episode) this season, Frieren seems the most promising.

I haven't continued the heavy hitters yet though: Spy x Family or Faraway Paladin. I have very high expectations for these two.

Shy makes me want to watch Bocchi the Rock instead, where the shyness of the main character made a lot more sense. It just doesn't... make as much sense to me on a superhero character. (Meanwhile, Bocchi is a shy performer, arguably an overdone trope but... its overdone for a reason. Its more relatable. And Bocchi's animation / fun / wacky stuff more than makes up for it). My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer has some promise but is really slow (and Frieren is doing the "slow anime" much better than this one is this season).

----------

I gave "No Gun's Life" a shot. The first episode was much better than I thought it'd be. I know that Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners is the hot new cyberpunk (evil corporations, secret cyborg mods, etc. etc.). But I missed No Gun's Life a few years ago so I wanted to start with that.

No Gun's Life is an older style of anime where they sit around and give you info-dumps. Its probably not what kids these days would enjoy, they're definitely trying for a 90s or 00s style anime. It likely does NOT hold up to the classics... but its nice to see a modern anime trying to feel like the older ones. This company or that augmentation has these powers, and kinda-sorta incomplete exposition (enough to give the gist, but clearly they're saving the details for later episodes to explain). Its an old style but I do miss it. Hopefully the anime does good as I give it a few more episodes, but I don't think its quite fair to judge on 1st episode alone.

 

[Kyan]

Shy makes me want to watch Bocchi the Rock instead, where the shyness of the main character made a lot more sense. It just doesn't... make as much sense to me on a superhero character. (Meanwhile, Bocchi is a shy performer, arguably an overdone trope but... its overdone for a reason. Its more relatable. And Bocchi's animation / fun / wacky stuff more than makes up for it). My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer has some promise but is really slow (and Frieren is doing the "slow anime" much better than this one is this season).

If you liked Bocchi the rock, I recommend "Hitoribocchi no ○○ Seikatsu". It's also about social anxiety with a character who's less scared, but "dumber" in his approach to people. I don't really know how to explain the series, but I had a good laugh with it.

 

[Assimilator]

I haven't continued the heavy hitters yet though: Spy x Family or Faraway Paladin. I have very high expectations for these two.

I got bored of Spy x Family for the same reason I get bored of most anime romcoms: the will they/won't they tension is the fundamental basis of the series, so it never gets resolved because that would kill the series, so invariably it just gets real old real quick.

Shy makes me want to watch Bocchi the Rock instead

Cute girls doing cute things anime series are worse than generic trash isekai series. At least the latter occasionally come up with interesting new ideas.

I gave "No Gun's Life" a shot.

Still need to watch that, apparently it's actually pretty good.

 

[Kyan]

Cute girls doing cute things anime series are worse than generic trash isekai series. At least the latter occasionally come up with interesting new ideas.

What about cute girls doing cute things that come up with intersting idea in term of visual ?
It's a really great and fun show, I understand that it can't appeal to every body but just admit that you don't like the genre instead of trashing it. I don't like any form of rap but i'm not saying that it's the worst thing that happen to the music industry.

 

[Chomiq]

Bought a ticket to "Akira" screening in December. It will be fun to see it on big screen.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Cute girls doing cute things anime series are worse than generic trash isekai series. At least the latter occasionally come up with interesting new ideas.

Moe is for people who like Moe for sure. But I can appreciate the good Moe. Bocchi's animation style for representing her social anxiety is hilariously animated. So it leans heavily into comedy as opposed to being dramatic.

Its of course, still a Moe show at its heart, so if you don't like Moe don't watch it. But I guess "classic musician Moe" is... well... a classic for a reason. The tropes work out well for a musician discovering her voice kind of story.

Shy? Its just weird. You've got Moe tropes on a superheroine. Maybe it works out later but there's a lot of friction to this concept in my brain. And I'm not getting the epicly animated social anxiety scenes like I got from Bocchi. Like... what exactly is Shy supposed to discover as she deals with her social anxiety? She's already a superheroine who can save people / fly / super strength (maybe ~20 ton class but super-strength nonetheless). If this is a typical Shonen progression where Shy's going to be learning her powers / training arcs to get stronger, I'm not sure how her shyness comes into play. MHA already did the training arc thing (and I got bored of it as it felt too much like Naruto / Bleach to me), so I don't have much hope on the superhero/shonen/fighting side of the story.

I guess throwing Moe tropes into the superhero genre is enough to make a new story. But... I'm not seeing the benefits of these two genres being crossed. (Not like Spy thriller x RomCom x School Drama like Spy x Family where all three genres mesh into the same overarching story). Cross-genre shows are supposed to be better than the sum of their parts and not feel like random moe scenes/tropes thrown into random superhero scenes/tropes.

Shy seems more like a character who'd be an interesting side-character to a greater show. Not so much the main character on her own. But maybe something good comes a bit later, but I'll wait for the reviews rather than watching on my own.

I got bored of Spy x Family for the same reason I get bored of most anime romcoms: the will they/won't they tension is the fundamental basis of the series, so it never gets resolved because that would kill the series, so invariably it just gets real old real quick.

Honestly, I think Spy x Family's pacing is quite slow. So I'm not surprised if people got bored on it just from the slow pacing.

I'm fine with the RomCom bits being just a butt of all jokes and hammering the same joke for the near future. The show makes mild amounts of progression, but we're looking at One Piece style pacing here, rather than a tighter show. I don't expect any of these plotpoints to be resolved in any haste. Not Loid's mission, not the Loid x Yor romance, not much progression with Anya's school. Its setting things up for a longform story. That's fine but just keep expectations tapered with regards to plot speed.

Spy x Family isn't very intense, and the show definitely dwaddles on comedy-fillers rather than progressing. So the question is if you like watching the characters interact with each other (and not making much progress). Focus on the journey rather than the end sort of thing.

 

[Assimilator]

What about cute girls doing cute things that come up with intersting idea in term of visual ?

Like what? Making something inherently cute even cuter, like K-on did? That's not interesting.

It's a really great and fun show, I understand that it can't appeal to every body but just admit that you don't like the genre instead of trashing it. I don't like any form of rap but i'm not saying that it's the worst thing that happen to the music industry.

I literally said that CGDCT is worse than isekai, if that doesn't count as hating the entire sub-genre I don't know what does.

 

[Kyan]

haven't watched any anime in a while and drawn in a while, Frieren seems interesting
View attachment 318900

It's on my planned now, and you gain a new follower on pixiv

 

[ViperXTR]

It's on my planned now, and you gain a new follower on pixiv

thanks, though i haven't been really been active. More like im just trying if i can get back o my feet again.

 

[dragontamer5788]

thanks, though i haven't been really been active. More like im just trying if i can get back o my feet again.

Its pretty good line art.

Frieren is probably one of the best anime this season in any case. Very strong set of ~4 episodes to start. I'd consider it the Iyashikei genre, aka "Healing". Very low-stakes, and overall just about good vibes.

 

[ViperXTR]

latest episode of Frieren had some nice fight scenes, also made some drawings again

 

[kurosagi01]

Well AOT is done now, the ending left me semi-confused but also

Spoiler

Not a happy ending and the whole effort from our favourite group was a big waste. Maybe they should have just let Eren destroy humanity and let the rest of Eldians live however they want and let them have their own civil war amongst the Eren elitist and Historia.

Also finished S1 of Castlevania Nocturne, overall a very slow world building but episode 6-8 picks up the pace which leaves me excited for S2.

 

[ViperXTR]

New Frieren episode in a few hrs, judging by the pace so far maybe they would end it by the first class exam
also more draws from this series, it's the only one ive been watching this season

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Anime "adjacent" - The trailer for Netflix's live-action reboot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is looking really good!

 

[Assimilator]

New Frieren episode in a few hrs, judging by the pace so far maybe they would end it by the first class exam
also more draws from this series, it's the only one ive been watching this season

Is the first one a DBZ reference? Because if so, well done!

 

[dragontamer5788]

Is the first one a DBZ reference? Because if so, well done!

I'd argue that this whole "mana" thing is somewhat of a DBZ reference inside "Beyond Journey's End", in that its a crude approximation of a wizard's power. These authors are doing a good job at it though, and DBZ was over 20 years ago so its fair game, lol. There's no scouters or various characters constantly saying "power level" or "mana" all the time, but the mana/aura is a quicker visual indication of who to care about in a fight.

The size of the aura around a mage is an indirect measurement of the number of years they spent training. Frieren's age remains a mystery, but its clear that as a long-lived elf she's spent at least centuries (maybe longer?) training. So Frieren's aura is huge.

Aura is more of a raw-power thing though. They're suggesting that one character can make up for their relative low mana by simply slinging spells faster than any opponent.

Spoiler

And Frieren's styling on her mana-control was pretty good that last episode. Much like how Goku specifically started to change his power-level (ex: dropping it whenever he noticed someone was scanning him with a scouter so that they got cocky), Frieren has some mana-control games.

 

[ViperXTR]

Is the first one a DBZ reference? Because if so, well done!

Yes, she's saying, sen ijoda (forgot to add "wa" in the end as she speaks like ojousama), (it's over 1000)

 

[Chomiq]

Watched Akira yesterday in the cinema. Packed theater, it was a blast (other than the sound issues at start, freaking amateur hour by the cinema staff).

 

[djisas]

I went the watch the boy and the heron the other day, pretty good movie...
And for xmas im offering myself Evangelion 3.0 + 1.11

 

[Chomiq]

I went the watch the boy and the heron the other day, pretty good movie...
And for xmas im offering myself Evangelion 3.0 + 1.11

Sadly this one opens on January 18 in Poland, bastards.

 

[dragontamer5788]

So new season of anime up.

Metallic Rogue was the one I had the highest hopes for, but the first episode was somewhat of a techno-babbly mess. Its written in the 90s/00s style where they just throw you into the middle of the setting and the writers expect you to pick up on what's going on. But... maybe not quite as good as any of the greats of the 90s / 00s, but its still reasonably a nostalgic writing style for me but with modern visual flair. Think .Hack//Sign, Ghost in a Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Stay Night (2006) but not as good.

I can see that this is about some kind of AI / Android fight or battle going on, around "Nectar", some kind of drug-analogy that the androids need to survive. There's allegedly Asimov rules for at least some Androids at play, as well as many androids who do not seem to follow those rules. There's some kind of transformation into "armored form", leading to a small-scale mecha feel (or maybe closer to Kamen Rider suits of techno-armor), though there hasn't been any explanation to what that's about yet either.

They do a great job with the aesthetics, the 3d + 2d mixed art style and a reasonably good fight scene and I dig the music. But the plot just doesn't have the same draw to it as the greats of the 90s/00s era despite the obvious inspiration from back then. Still, for those looking for a new anime aesthetics with an old-school storytelling style, it might scratch your itch. I rate the 1st episode 6/10. Watchable but niche, I don't expect too many people to like this. There remains a lot of potential if they can clean up the story and bring some clarity to what's going on here.

Aesthetics, Setting, and Music count for a lot and while technobabble feels almost nonsensical at times, I don't think I was insulted or outright disappointed by anything that happened.

Note: As an "Original Anime" without any backing manga or light-novel, I do think its important to keep an open mind here. This ain't your typical Isekai spam, its a group trying to do something new. I honestly respect originality a lot.

 

[djisas]

So new season of anime up.

Metallic Rogue was the one I had the highest hopes for, but the first episode was somewhat of a techno-babbly mess. Its written in the 90s/00s style where they just throw you into the middle of the setting and the writers expect you to pick up on what's going on. But... maybe not quite as good as any of the greats of the 90s / 00s, but its still reasonably a nostalgic writing style for me but with modern visual flair.

Think .Hack//Sign, Ghost in a Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Stay Night (2006) but not as good. I can see that this is about some kind of AI / Android fight or battle going on, around "Nectar", some kind of drug-analogy that the androids need to survive. There's allegedly Asimov rules for at least some Androids at play, as well as many androids who do not seem to follow those rules. There's some kind of transformation into "armored form", leading to a small-scale mecha feel (or maybe closer to Kamen Rider suits of techno-armor), though there hasn't been any explanation to what that's about yet either.

They do a great job with the aesthetics, the 3d + 2d mixed art style and a reasonably good fight scene and I dig the music. But the plot just doesn't have the same draw to it as the greats of the 90s/00s era despite the obvious inspiration from back then. Still, for those looking for a new anime with an old-school style, it might scratch your itch. I rate the 1st episode 6/10. Watchable but niche, I don't expect too many people to like this. There remains a lot of potential if they can clean up the story and bring some clarity to what's going on here in the following episodes (and as the plot inevitably will pickup later).

Aesthetics, Setting, and Music count for a lot and while technobabble feels almost nonsensical at times, I don't think I was insulted or outright disappointed by anything that happened.

Note: As an "Original Anime" without any backing manga or light-novel, I do think its important to keep an open mind here. This ain't your typical Isekai spam, its a group trying to do something new so I think I honestly respect that. So I remain optimistic.

I for some reason, wanted to watch this, but the trailer turned me off, didn't like the mechs design, never been a great fan of mech tbh...
But this is a great season for ecchi fans though...

 

[dragontamer5788]

I for some reason, wanted to watch this, but the trailer turned me off, didn't like the mechs design, never been a great fan of mech tbh...

I actually watched a few more anime and they're all more promising than Metallic Rogue this season. I really want more cyberpunk (too many Isekai Fantasy shows right now), but maybe I'll just have to wait for the next cyberpunk / tech / sci-fi show...

-------

* Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord -- Very similar to the Otome-game Isekai power-fantasy brought forth from "All Routes Lead to Doom", this is a new spin on that formula where the Isekai-protagonist (Yumiella Dolkness) is the optional post-endgame boss. In theory, if she keeps her head down, she can avoid the hero vs demon lord fight entirely, though it already goes very much wrong in the first episode. This anime gives a lot more focus to the "original protagonist" Alicia Ehnleit, who is the kingdom's last hope to defeat the demon lord. The fun of the show is of course the 4th wall breaks: Alicia Ehnleit's half of the 1st episode is extremely Otome-game cheesy style, while Yumiella Dolkness's half of the episode is Isekai style / 4th wall breaks, power-leveling and future-sight (since Yumiella has "beaten this game before", her actions revolve around trying to survive the post-endgame). 7.5/10, a promising anime reminiscent of All Routes Lead to Doom and a kind of dry / tongue-in-cheek humor that tickles my fancy.

The comedic style of Villainess Level 99 is perhaps closest to Girls und Panzer. For those who want a "straight" version of this concept, one of my favorites a few years ago was "I'm a Spider, So What". Shun is the "expected" Isekai protagonist (a hero of light), while the Spider Kumoko is clearly on a dark-pathway towards becoming the villain.

--------------

* 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess -- A one-joke anime with some promise. It seems like the Demon's idea of torture is late-night Ramen, delicious bread and video-games. The princess is exceptionally weak to this form of "Torture", and just has to join in on the fun. The 1st episode doesn't seem to stray very far from the one-joke (unlike Sleepy Princess, a similar one-joke anime where there was much more variety). But the high-quality food scenes make the 1st episode play out far closer to a food-anime rather than the fantasy you expect. A fun happy-go-lucky comedy, it probably will be nice to watch some episodes of this between more serious shows as a pallet cleanser. 7/10 on the 1st episode.

------------

* The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash -- Underdog Fantasy Isekai. "Ivy", the Isekai Protagonist, has been born with one skill (taming monsters) and zero-stars, the weakest rating ever. Her taming skill is so weak she's unable to even tame common birds or animals, let alone monsters. Her village see her as some kind of blasphemy and she's hunted down (literally trying to kill her), so she escapes her village. In the 1st episode, she finds a slime who is so weak that her book says the slime destined to die in just 1 day: even a harsh wind is enough to kill the slime. She decides to take care of it and protect it from the wind, and lo-and-behold its weak enough that her taming skill does work on it. So its ending up to be a cute start to a pretty depressing premise.

While I find this somewhat generic (underpowered and unappreciated skills are a mainstay in Isekais for the last 10 years), I'm blown away by the 2d + 3d integration and high-quality animation quality. I'm not going to rate this: this anime shows all the signs of high-quality investment behind the scenes. High quality animation, English-simuldub, serious tone and a focus on the story. It all depends on where this anime goes however and just 1 episode isn't enough for a fair evaluation.

The 1st episode is pretty slow though and I'm not quite sure how this kind of story can stick out in this overcrowded genre by playing it straight.

-----------

* Fluffy Paradise -- I couldn't last 5 minutes. Erm... someone else watch this one and tell me if its good, lol. Sometimes the cheese is just too much for me.

 

[djisas]

I actually watched a few more anime and they're all more promising than Metallic Rogue this season. I really want more cyberpunk (too many Isekai Fantasy shows right now), but maybe I'll just have to wait for the next cyberpunk / tech / sci-fi show...

-------

* Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord -- Very similar to the Otome-game Isekai power-fantasy brought forth from "All Routes Lead to Doom", this is a new spin on that formula where the Isekai-protagonist (Yumiella Dolkness) is the optional post-endgame boss. In theory, if she keeps her head down, she can avoid the hero vs demon lord fight entirely, though it already goes very much wrong in the first episode. This anime gives a lot more focus to the "original protagonist" Alicia Ehnleit, who is the kingdom's last hope to defeat the demon lord. The fun of the show is of course the 4th wall breaks: Alicia Ehnleit's half of the 1st episode is extremely Otome-game cheesy style, while Yumiella Dolkness's half of the episode is Isekai style / 4th wall breaks, power-leveling and future-sight (since Yumiella has "beaten this game before", her actions revolve around trying to survive the post-endgame). 7.5/10, a promising anime reminiscent of All Routes Lead to Doom and a kind of dry / tongue-in-cheek humor that tickles my fancy.

The comedic style of Villainess Level 99 is perhaps closest to Girls und Panzer. For those who want a "straight" version of this concept, one of my favorites a few years ago was "I'm a Spider, So What". Shun is the "expected" Isekai protagonist (a hero of light), while the Spider Kumoko is clearly on a dark-pathway towards becoming the villain.

--------------

* 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess -- A one-joke anime with some promise. It seems like the Demon's idea of torture is late-night Ramen, delicious bread and video-games. The princess is exceptionally weak to this form of "Torture", and just has to join in on the fun. The 1st episode doesn't seem to stray very far from the one-joke (unlike Sleepy Princess, a similar one-joke anime where there was much more variety). But the high-quality food scenes make the 1st episode play out far closer to a food-anime rather than the fantasy you expect. A fun happy-go-lucky comedy, it probably will be nice to watch some episodes of this between more serious shows as a pallet cleanser. 7/10 on the 1st episode.

------------

* The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash -- Underdog Fantasy Isekai. "Ivy", the Isekai Protagonist, has been born with one skill (taming monsters) and zero-stars, the weakest rating ever. Her taming skill is so weak she's unable to even tame common birds or animals, let alone monsters. Her village see her as some kind of blasphemy and she's hunted down (literally trying to kill her), so she escapes her village. In the 1st episode, she finds a slime who is so weak that her book says the slime destined to die in just 1 day: even a harsh wind is enough to kill the slime. She decides to take care of it and protect it from the wind, and lo-and-behold its weak enough that her taming skill does work on it. So its ending up to be a cute start to a pretty depressing premise.

While I find this somewhat generic (underpowered and unappreciated skills are a mainstay in Isekais for the last 10 years), I'm blown away by the 2d + 3d integration and high-quality animation quality. I'm not going to rate this: this anime shows all the signs of high-quality investment behind the scenes. High quality animation, English-simuldub, serious tone and a focus on the story. It all depends on where this anime goes however and just 1 episode isn't enough for a fair evaluation.

The 1st episode is pretty slow though and I'm not quite sure how this kind of story can stick out in this overcrowded genre by playing it straight.

-----------

* Fluffy Paradise -- I couldn't last 5 minutes. Erm... someone else watch this one and tell me if its good, lol. Sometimes the cheese is just too much for me.

The tamer looks promising...

 

[dragontamer5788]

The tamer looks promising...

Tamer picking up Trash was the most impressive visually to me so far this season.

They wouldn't just throw a bunch of animation-budget $$$$ at a crappy plot, would they? I mean, it happens sometimes, but usually good budget / good animation is a sign of overall quality. Animation Studios seem to work harder on the stories they enjoy.