Anime Nation

[dragontamer5788]

Never could get into the Fate series since I despise temperamental goodie-two-shoe characters like Emiya Shiro, so I fear the whole Fate series would somehow revolve around him. Never got past the first volume of the manga. Type-Moon's other work; Tsukihime's Tohno Shiki & Arcueid Brunstein was a total 180 though. They were cool, calm & collected. My fav type of personality. And so I was thrilled when Shiki beat Shiro in battle during the crossover.

Emiya Shiro is the worst part of the Fate series. It stays interesting despite him, and Fate/Stay Night is his "most goodie two-shoes" you'll see him. The general arc follows the "Would you kill 1 person to save 10 people??" question across three acts (plus the excellent Fate/Zero prequel)

* Fate/Stay Night serves as the naive introduction. It introduces Shiro's simple philosophy: "Save as many people as possible" (aka: save all 11 people), even at great personal cost. However, Shiro never actually comes into a paradox situation. This is on purpose: this series serves as an introduction to Shiro. Shiro is the weakest by far in this arc. Fortunately, Saber picks up the slack.

* Fate / Unlimited Blade Works has Shiro come into direct confrontation with the question. I don't know how to say it without major spoilers, so I'll leave it vague. Furthermore, some level of death and sacrifice becomes necessary for Shiro to live through this arc. The overall challenge is greater, the paradox is revealed, character deaths happen, but Shiro ultimately is victorious.

Major spoilers:

Spoiler

Archer is Emiya Shiro from the future, and Archer is tired of being summoned as a Hero. The only time a hero is called is to kill people. Does Shiro still want to become a hero, despite the literal mountain of corpses that stand in his way? Even in death, Shiro will only be resummoned over, and over, and over to save the world from evildoers, being forced to spill blood to save the world.

Rin used her gem to replace Shiro's heart in the 1st episode (when Lancer skewered Shiro). But Rin uses the same gem as her summoning implement: because the gem constitutes a heroic artifact, it allows Rin to summon the heroic spirit Emiya Shiro (Archer class). There's a time paradox involved, but there's no doubt that Rin's gem is Shiro's heart, and therefore a highly attuned summoning artifact. (Akin to Shiro's Avalon gift from his father: connecting Shiro to Pendragon / Saber).

* Fate / Heaven's Feel is a tragic story where Shiro give up upon his ideals. Instead of saving as many people as possible, Shiro chooses one person above all else he wants to save. At first its through inaction, but I expect that the 3rd movie (haven't seen it yet) will have a fight which Shiro must get past: spilling the blood of one character he cares about to save another he cares more about.

--------

Fate/Zero explores Kiritsugu, who never considered himself a heroic figure. Kiritsugu constantly faces the "kill 1 person to save 10 people" choice, and commits larger, and larger atrocities in an effort to make the best moral choice. By all accounts, Kiritsugu is a full blown magical-terrorist whose collateral damage is horrifying. But given the alternative, I think the audience understands Kiritsugu's decisions.

 

[Rei]

@dragontamer5788 So the subject in question stated in the spoiler is the same person as the one in Fate/Stay Night, then meeting himself? Damn, he looks different... And different combat style too...

I guess I can relate to Kiritsugu delima, though since I dunno his circumstance, it depends if I'm gonna go through with it... Prolly not.

 

[dragontamer5788]

@dragontamer5788 So the subject in question stated in the spoiler is the same person as the one in Fate/Stay Night, then meeting himself? Damn, he looks different... And different combat style too...

I've added a bit more to the spoiler above by the way, explaining the mechanics of the magic ritual.

Also: its not a different combat style. But you probably need to see further into the show to realize that.

Spoiler

* Emiya is on the Archery team, and was the best archer on the team.

* Emiya's "reinforcement" magic applies only on other object at the beginning of the show. Shiro tunes the magic to himself: strengthening his muscles and eyes to heroic levels. Emiya / Archer never learns any other magic, Emiya just becomes absurdly good at this one spell. Even the "summoning of blades" is a transmutation / reinforcement based spell: understanding the molecular structure of an item and rebuilding it up atom-by-atom through magic.

* Emiya learns to recreate blades that only existed in Saber's dreams in F/SN.

* Archer never fires an "arrow". If you watch carefully, Archer summons a blade (the only item he can summon), THEN transmutes it into an arrow. Archer's entire fighting style is using the singular skill he has to the maximum extent possible. Every single shot that Archer fires in the entire show is canonically a sword or blade.

* The signature ying/yang blades are a time paradox. Shiro saw Archer use them, and Shiro then learns how to summon them afterwards. In all 3 stories: Shiro learns how to use the ying/yang blades from himself / the time paradox.

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

Dang, so who is going to pick up Attack on Titan S4 now ~_~

Ehhh... Most streaming sites usually use official sub these days anyway. Simulcast has really nailed the coffin on fansub scene.

Golden Kamuy S3, Danmachi S3. Damn! This season for me is packed.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Ehhh... Most streaming sites usually use official sub these days anyway. Simulcast has really nailed the coffin on fansub scene.

Golden Kamuy S3, Danmachi S3. Damn! This season for me is packed.

I'm excited for Golden Kamuy S3 and the When they Cry remake. I hope they live up to my expectations.

Yashahime is also on my radar, mostly for the nostalgia factor. (I never was into Inuyasha that much, but it was one of my "starter anime"). I might watch a few episode for kicks, but I have only middling expectations from this series. Sometimes nostalgia is enough to draw me in alone though.

 

[nguyen]

Ehhh... Most streaming sites usually use official sub these days anyway. Simulcast has really nailed the coffin on fansub scene.

Golden Kamuy S3, Danmachi S3. Damn! This season for me is packed.

Oh wow, I have never watched from those streaming websites. Might check them out when I have time.

I'm excited for Golden Kamuy S3 and the When they Cry remake. I hope they live up to my expectations.

Yashahime is also on my radar, mostly for the nostalgia factor. (I never was into Inuyasha that much, but it was one of my "starter anime"). I might watch a few episode for kicks, but I have only middling expectations from this series. Sometimes nostalgia is enough to draw me in alone though.

For me the starter anime was Ranma 1/2 , but I loved Inuyasha alot too. Seems like later works of Rumiko Takahashi are just not as good, I have been reading the manga called Mao and it's kinda meh.

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

I'm excited for Golden Kamuy S3 and the When they Cry remake. I hope they live up to my expectations.

Yashahime is also on my radar, mostly for the nostalgia factor. (I never was into Inuyasha that much, but it was one of my "starter anime"). I might watch a few episode for kicks, but I have only middling expectations from this series. Sometimes nostalgia is enough to draw me in alone though.

Oh wow, I have never watched from those streaming websites. Might check them out when I have time.

For me the starter anime was Ranma 1/2 , but I loved Inuyasha alot too. Seems like later works of Rumiko Takahashi are just not as good, I have been reading the manga called Mao and it's kinda meh.

Haha. My starter anime was Inuyasha too. Although after for some reason Animax pulled out of my country I forgot about it. Inuyasha, K-On and some more shows I cannot for the life of me care to remember.

I was talking about illegal streaming sites btw. Cause I live in a country with piss-poor "not available in your region" policy. Most subs are done by the official streaming partners (crunchyroll, funimation etc.). There's also Muse Asia in YT that picks up licensing for various animes (old and/or new) and it's completely free. I think a site called Retro Crush is streaming old 90s-esque animes.

 

[djisas]

IS T4 this season?
Might has well watch it...
Kamuy is a blast to watch, much better than 90% of the rest of the stuff...
Im watching the witch anime, since i read the manga before, and it's a good watch.
There's higurashi "remake" Anyone thinking about watching it, you're in for a surprise:

Spoiler

It is not what people expected, and it might be something entirely new...

 

[Chomiq]

Watched lupin the 3rd something something Babilon. Probably the worst lupin movie ever, it dragged so much.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

horriblesubs shut down, i might have to actually stream and use crunchyroll :/

edit: huh, free CR gets 1080p. not so bad after all.

one of the places I go to dropped it's manga listings :-/

I was just thinking about the lack of stuff on right now is double whammy.
on of the big anime producers had big fire a while back and the Covid-19 on top of it.
It may take a while for normal seasons to get the amount they use to have.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is my kind of "stupid" that I actually enjoy a lot. I can't imagine that most people would like it. But in case you match my sense of humor...

I'd describe it as a 4-koma style anime. The princess was stolen away by the Demon King, a hero was dispatched to save her. The anime then spends most of its time showing how the Princess is wasting time waiting for her rescue. The 4-koma anime are Azumanga, Nichijou, Lucky Star. Literally meaning "4-panel", its based off of the long-running comic-strip tradition of 4-steps to a joke. Non-anime fans who have read Charlie Brown or Calvin and Hobbes knows the 4-panels is the ideal size to tell a quick joke.

See? 4-panels. Just the right size. The first 4-koma "arc" (maybe ~5ish minutes) is the princess looking for a fluffy monster to make a pillow out of. The next arc is her looking for good sheets. Etc. etc. The humor is quite structured (and I know some people don't really like that), but... it seems to work for me. Nothing that makes me ROFL, but closer to a giggle or a smile throughout the show.

Its clear that they're setting up some decent level of running jokes:

Spoiler

* The monsters who take care of the princess are wimps. The "real" monsters are uncontrollable (ex: the Lightning Dragon in the 2nd episode). The Demon King is clearly trying to dispatch the monsters and organize his castle in preparation of the Hero.

* In particular, the "Ghost Sheets" that patrol the princess's area are very soft and silky. The princess has taken a habit to harvesting them for parts. I'd describe them as your typical "Halloween Ghost", with with a bedsheet with some eye-holes.

* If the princess ever comes across a "real monster" (ex: the Lightning Dragon), she pretty much instantly dies. Fortunately, the head-demon priest revives her immediately, scolds her for troubling him... etc. etc. If anything, the fact that she's been revived over-and-over seems to be making the princess more brave to explore the dangerous castle.

All in all, it plays pretty well from the perspective of "these Demons really aren't evil... they're just kinda acting evil". They stole the princess away but they really don't want to hurt her. So the fact that she keeps getting herself into dangerous situations is more of a hilarious hassle / comedic setup. Kind of a "Keystone Kops" sort of feel.

It may help that... I was suffing from some mild insomnia the past few months: sometimes unable to sleep until 3am. So I've put a LOT of thought and research into the pillows and my bed setup. Seeing the princess run down the same list due to her poor sleep in the demon-castle is kind of relatable. ("Is it the pillow? Let me try to get a better pillow. Hmm, maybe its the sheets, lemme try to find some better sheets. Etc. etc.). I think anyone who has suffered from a few months of bad sleep can connect with the Princess's "quests" to make her bed more comfortable.

Spoiler

For my own minor insomnia: it was a combination of events. The nearby bathroom had phantom flushes which was waking me up. I had to fix the toilet. The printer in my room was sometimes left on, so I more consistently turned that off. My bed was worn out: I bought a new mattress. I invested into a more expensive pillow. I stopped drinking caffeine after 3:00pm (giving time for caffeine to leave my system). I opened up a window to better see the sun in the morning (so that my eyes get a better blue-light schedule). Etc. etc.

There's a LOT of things to do when you're sleeping poorly. Just everything bothers you, and you need to work extremely hard to fix all the issues. Kinda like the princess in this show...

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

Lol yea same. I don't know if I'll finish it (I have a habit of dropping shows midway if my interest runs out) but enjoying it so far. The art style is gorgeous and that caught my eye at first.

 

[djisas]

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is my kind of "stupid" that I actually enjoy a lot. I can't imagine that most people would like it. But in case you match my sense of humor...

View attachment 171869

I'd describe it as a 4-koma style anime. The princess was stolen away by the Demon King, a hero was dispatched to save her. The anime then spends most of its time showing how the Princess is wasting time waiting for her rescue. The 4-koma anime are Azumanga, Nichijou, Lucky Star. Literally meaning "4-panel", its based off of the long-running comic-strip tradition of 4-steps to a joke. Non-anime fans who have read Charlie Brown or Calvin and Hobbes knows the 4-panels is the ideal size to tell a quick joke.

View attachment 171872

See? 4-panels. Just the right size. The first 4-koma "arc" (maybe ~5ish minutes) is the princess looking for a fluffy monster to make a pillow out of. The next arc is her looking for good sheets. Etc. etc. The humor is quite structured (and I know some people don't really like that), but... it seems to work for me. Nothing that makes me ROFL, but closer to a giggle or a smile throughout the show.

Its clear that they're setting up some decent level of running jokes:

Spoiler

* The monsters who take care of the princess are wimps. The "real" monsters are uncontrollable (ex: the Lightning Dragon in the 2nd episode). The Demon King is clearly trying to dispatch the monsters and organize his castle in preparation of the Hero.

* In particular, the "Ghost Sheets" that patrol the princess's area are very soft and silky. The princess has taken a habit to harvesting them for parts. I'd describe them as your typical "Halloween Ghost", with with a bedsheet with some eye-holes.

* If the princess ever comes across a "real monster" (ex: the Lightning Dragon), she pretty much instantly dies. Fortunately, the head-demon priest revives her immediately, scolds her for troubling him... etc. etc. If anything, the fact that she's been revived over-and-over seems to be making the princess more brave to explore the dangerous castle.

All in all, it plays pretty well from the perspective of "these Demons really aren't evil... they're just kinda acting evil". They stole the princess away but they really don't want to hurt her. So the fact that she keeps getting herself into dangerous situations is more of a hilarious hassle / comedic setup. Kind of a "Keystone Kops" sort of feel.

It may help that... I was suffing from some mild insomnia the past few months: sometimes unable to sleep until 3am. So I've put a LOT of thought and research into the pillows and my bed setup. Seeing the princess run down the same list due to her poor sleep in the demon-castle is kind of relatable. ("Is it the pillow? Let me try to get a better pillow. Hmm, maybe its the sheets, lemme try to find some better sheets. Etc. etc.). I think anyone who has suffered from a few months of bad sleep can connect with the Princess's "quests" to make her bed more comfortable.

Spoiler

For my own minor insomnia: it was a combination of events. The nearby bathroom had phantom flushes which was waking me up. I had to fix the toilet. The printer in my room was sometimes left on, so I more consistently turned that off. My bed was worn out: I bought a new mattress. I invested into a more expensive pillow. I stopped drinking caffeine after 3:00pm (giving time for caffeine to leave my system). I opened up a window to better see the sun in the morning (so that my eyes get a better blue-light schedule). Etc. etc.

There's a LOT of things to do when you're sleeping poorly. Just everything bothers you, and you need to work extremely hard to fix all the issues. Kinda like the princess in this show...

Not actually a 4 koma manga, been reading it for a while, actually binged 100+ ch a while back, good comedy, each chapter is a complete story...

 

[dragontamer5788]

There's higurashi "remake" Anyone thinking about watching it, you're in for a surprise:

Okay, I saw that 5 episodes were out. Knowing the "pacing" of the original, I figured it was time for me to get started.

I was not disappointed. 07th expansion has done it again, but this is a very.... complicated... story at this point. This "remake" is absolutely for people who already know the answers. I'm curious if people watching this for the first time can appreciate all the detail and work they put into this story.

Now if they could just tell me what the hell is going on... lol. But if they did that, then it wouldn't be a mystery, now would it? Hopefully this ends up good: all mysteries are more or less judged on how good the reveal is at the end. So far, its done a great job. The sound effects are far superior. The animation is smoother, but I'm not sure if I like the art style yet.

The main difference is the lack of narration. Kaiichi used to narrate his thoughts to the audience, but that no longer happens in this version. Its an interesting twist.

Spoiler

Besides, Kaiichi isn't the real main character anyway. I'm wondering if the actual main character will get a more central role as the story unravels...

 

[djisas]

Okay, I saw that 5 episodes were out. Knowing the "pacing" of the original, I figured it was time for me to get started.

I was not disappointed. 07th expansion has done it again, but this is a very.... complicated... story at this point. This "remake" is absolutely for people who already know the answers. I'm curious if people watching this for the first time can appreciate all the detail and work they put into this story.

Now if they could just tell me what the hell is going on... lol. But if they did that, then it wouldn't be a mystery, now would it? Hopefully this ends up good: all mysteries are more or less judged on how good the reveal is at the end. So far, its done a great job. The sound effects are far superior. The animation is smoother, but I'm not sure if I like the art style yet.

The main difference is the lack of narration. Kaiichi used to narrate his thoughts to the audience, but that no longer happens in this version. Its an interesting twist.

Spoiler

Besides, Kaiichi isn't the real main character anyway. I'm wondering if the actual main character will get a more central role as the story unravels...

Man that Mion\Shion on ep 5, fan service was top quality...
Btw, 10 years or something later, it's surprising how everyone sounds perfectly the same...

 

[dragontamer5788]

Btw, 10 years or something later, it's surprising how everyone sounds perfectly the same...

I remember Ooishi having a more exaggerated nasally voice before. I feel like Ooishi is less exaggerated this time around and works a bit better. Most everyone else is hitting their old voices very closely / identically.

Spoiler

What's intriguing is that Rika did exactly what she, and the "old audience" should have done. She told Kaiichi to trust Rena, but that's exactly what opened up Kaiichi to be vulnerable in this arc. Clearly, the "old rules" are no longer in play, something has changed.

"LambdaDelta" (her Pseudonym from Umineko), is probably to blame for the changes. But maybe not, it could be Hinamizawa syndrome (or maybe even the weakening of Hanyuu) that is causing things to happen. There's been enough changes that the old answers don't necessarily work anymore.

On Episode 5:

Spoiler

The doll was given to Mion, which was previously sufficient to prevent Shion from going crazy. However, as the new "Demon Deceiving" arc showed, the old rules don't necessarily apply. Or maybe there's some nuance to it: like Hanyuu's presence was needed to help prevent some crazies. The lack of Hanyuu this time around is VERY concerning to me...

The 3 arcs with the doll previously were:

* Watanagashi-hen -- "Arc 2" of the original anime. Rena gets the doll.

* Meakashi-hen -- "Arc 4" of the original anime. Rena gets the doll, Rika tries to stop Shion, but otherwise it serves as the answer arc to Watanagashi.

* Minagoroshi-hen -- "Massacre Chapter" of Kai. Mion gets the doll. Satoko gets abused by her uncle. Everyone dies together in the forest.

---------

So far, Episode 5 is following Watanagashi-hen / Meakashi-hen, with the sole exception that Mion got the doll.

 

[djisas]

I remember Ooishi having a more exaggerated nasally voice before. I feel like Ooishi is less exaggerated this time around and works a bit better. Most everyone else is hitting their old voices very closely / identically.

Spoiler

What's intriguing is that Rika did exactly what she, and the "old audience" should have done. She told Kaiichi to trust Rena, but that's exactly what opened up Kaiichi to be vulnerable in this arc. Clearly, the "old rules" are no longer in play, something has changed.

"LambdaDelta" (her Pseudonym from Umineko), is probably to blame for the changes. But maybe not, it could be Hinamizawa syndrome (or maybe even the weakening of Hanyuu) that is causing things to happen. There's been enough changes that the old answers don't necessarily work anymore.

On Episode 5:

Spoiler

The doll was given to Mion, which was previously sufficient to prevent Shion from going crazy. However, as the new "Demon Deceiving" arc showed, the old rules don't necessarily apply. Or maybe there's some nuance to it: like Hanyuu's presence was needed to help prevent some crazies. The lack of Hanyuu this time around is VERY concerning to me...

The 3 arcs with the doll previously were:

* Watanagashi-hen -- "Arc 2" of the original anime. Rena gets the doll.

* Meakashi-hen -- "Arc 4" of the original anime. Rena gets the doll, Rika tries to stop Shion, but otherwise it serves as the answer arc to Watanagashi.

* Minagoroshi-hen -- "Massacre Chapter" of Kai. Mion gets the doll. Satoko gets abused by her uncle. Everyone dies together in the forest.

---------

So far, Episode 5 is following Watanagashi-hen / Meakashi-hen, with the sole exception that Mion got the doll.

You know your stuff, I mostly forgot the details...

Spoiler

Even Rika isnt sure of what's going on...

 

[kurosagi01]

Bit behind on "trending" anime but I have made a start in watching Demon Slayer now lol.

 

[Chomiq]

Rewatched Prison School last weekend for the luls. I have to say that it's the first time I actually enjoyed English dub so much.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

Rewatched Prison School last weekend for the luls. I have to say that it's the first time I actually enjoyed English dub so much.

I might have to do this for Toriko, because the voice choices where pretty close to the Japanese.
I re-watched Dragon ball GT Dub. Goku is much meaner in GT than super. O.O!
I swear he said he killed Friza twice too. !

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is fucking cute. The drawing and animation are super. I don't usually watch cute anime but damn if its cuteness doesn't soothe your heart.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is fucking cute. The drawing and animation are super. I don't usually watch cute anime but damn if its cuteness doesn't soothe your heart.

There probably should be an essay on Princess Syalis (Sleepy Princess) vs Asuna (Sword Art Online).

Princess Syalis is a spoiled, klutzy princess who requires a hero to save her. Except not really, not at all. She started out klutzy, but these latest episodes have demonstrated that she's learned a lot from her time in the demon realm.

While Asuna is apparently an expert swordwoman, 2nd in command of the most powerful guild in the game, and ultimately sits on the sidelines for half a freaking season waiting for Kirito to save her (though I guess she explores her prison a bit to find the inevitable tentacle monsters for a bit...).

---------

Its one thing to subvert expectations and build a character out stronger than they look on paper. (Ex: Syalis is clearly becoming an expert adventurer as time goes on). But to subvert expectations and make a character weaker than they originally appeared is... disheartening. Severely disheartening. Legend of Korra also makes the same mistake (with Korra starting off headstrong, but then gradually losing powers as the 2nd and 3rd season progressed).

Legend of Korra at least makes that regression a central plot point of those seasons. It still wasn't a very fun watch, but it at least "made sense" within the context of the story.

-------

Anyway, a huge part of the positivity in the Sleepy Princess show is that Princess Syalis is incredibly fun to watch. Even aside from the overwhelmingly cute and cuddly atmosphere of the castle, Syalis is progressing as a character. Syalis's and her increasingly complicated bed setup is the physical proof of her adventures. Every piece of that damn bed has an adventure story associated with it. And Princess Syalis even has skilled learned from those stories.

Spoiler

But even as they took away Syalis's bed in this latest episode, her progression as a character never went backwards. She was able to easily harvest new materials from the new castle and build a new pillow and comforter.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Dont know if its been mentioned here yet but Gundam F91 has been officially uploaded on to YT for everyone to watch

Probably the most controversial 'series' when it came to production. VA's quitting half way through, drama between VAs, running out of money etc etc....

 

[kapone32]

For fans of Leiji Matsumoto. The Harlock series, Galaxy Express 999 and Cosmo Warrior Zero are available to watch on Tubi. There are even sweet OVAs like Alpha One and Golgo 13 with Ghost in the Shell but I don't see the seasons. No subscription 1 to 2 10 second ads every 20 minutes.

 

[djisas]

Dont know if its been mentioned here yet but Gundam F91 has been officially uploaded on to YT for everyone to watch

Probably the most controversial 'series' when it came to production. VA's quitting half way through, drama between VAs, running out of money etc etc....

I'm a Macross fanboy, not the least interested