Well Back Arrow has no source material/manga/novel to go by according to wiki page so the only way to judge it is by the anime itself which the premise is pretty generic but it could be a good watch still. Decent VA cast, the main character is voiced by the japanese VA of Eren Jaeger from AOT.
I remember 90s and early 2000 was dominated by Megumi Hayashibara and her VA is still pretty big too, can't wait to watch the Shaman King reboot and also Rebuild Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is set for its japanese theatrical release this month so we should see it later this year digital hopefully.
She is definitely in the top 10 for me too, along with the guy who voiced Ryu hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden/Dead or Alive, Dio Brando and Setsuna F Seiei voice actor.
Well Back Arrow has no source material/manga/novel to go by according to wiki page so the only way to judge it is by the anime itself which the premise is pretty generic but it could be a good watch still. Decent VA cast, the main character is voiced by the japanese VA of Eren Jaeger from AOT.
I remember 90s and early 2000 was dominated by Megumi Hayashibara and her VA is still pretty big too, can't wait to watch the Shaman King reboot and also Rebuild Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is set for its japanese theatrical release this month so we should see it later this year digital hopefully.
Its clear that adaptations of Manga / Light Novels / Visual Novels will generally lead to deeper and more fulfilling storylines. DBZ, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto, When they Cry... iterating upon an already told story is just easier than making a new story from scratch.
"No Source Material" anime still have a place in my heart though. Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagaan... even B-class anime like Black Fox, have a chaotic feel that really can't be replicated by the shows that try to cater to an already-existing fanbase. In that regards: a "no source" and/or "anime first" shows like Kabaneri of Iron Fortress, Back Arrow, Aldnoah Zero should be judged against other anime without source material.
Its clear that adaptations of Manga / Light Novels / Visual Novels will generally lead to deeper and more fulfilling storylines. DBZ, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto, When they Cry... iterating upon an already told story is just easier than making a new story from scratch.
"No Source Material" anime still have a place in my heart though. Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagaan... even B-class anime like Black Fox, have a chaotic feel that really can't be replicated by the shows that try to cater to an already-existing fanbase. In that regards: a "no source" and/or "anime first" shows like Kabaneri of Iron Fortress, Back Arrow, Aldnoah Zero should be judged against other anime without source material.
Tenchi Muyo had no source material which was quite successful aswell for its time, it was also an anime that was dubbed in English first before released in Japanese.
By far its up there with being one of the better English dub Anime.
Is HunterxHunter worth a binge watch? It's winter and I got nothing else to do. So far animes I have finished: Death Note original series 10/10, Re:Zero 8/10, and One Punch Man 8/10.
I want something where I can unplug from everything and just binge watch one long anime for a week. HunterxHunter is one I think I might enjoy, I still need to watch Fullmetal Alchemist though, but I never know if I should watch Brotherhood or the older one... everyone seems divided which one they like best, and I am not watching both, so eh...
Is HunterxHunter worth a binge watch? It's winter and I got nothing else to do. So far animes I have finished: Death Note original series 10/10, Re:Zero 8/10, and One Punch Man 8/10.
I want something where I can unplug from everything and just binge watch one long anime for a week. HunterxHunter is one I think I might enjoy, I still need to watch Fullmetal Alchemist though, but I never know if I should watch Brotherhood or the older one... everyone seems divided which one they like best, and I am not watching both, so eh...
If you’re going to watch one you have to watch brotherhood, it’s the only one with an actual ending. The older one was done before the manga concluded and doesn’t end like it was supposed to.
I haven’t personally watched HxH, but only heard good things.
I'll tag in here with the HxH series. Enjoyed it, altho I will warn you that they left some of the character development to the side, severely disappointing me.
I'm just guessing, maybe the ending was rushed or didn't really have a good "ending" which is what happened to Evangelion.
Gainax ran out of budget or something so the original final episode was a bit "disappointing", but by miracle Gainax got money and managed to conclude it but lead to more "confusion" to the lore with End of Evangelion.
Now here we are with Rebuild Evangelion which itself has its own timeline/universe that is completely different to the original anime.
Don't forget the Evangelion games..they have their own timeline/universe too.
The manga isn't finished yet. And likely will never be because the author keeps going on hiatus and only works on it when he feels inspired.. which hasn't happened often in recent years.
The manga isn't finished yet. And likely will never be because the author keeps going on hiatus and only works on it when he feels inspired.. which hasn't happened often in recent years.
Personally, disregarding the source material which i never read, I enjoyed the first FMA more.
It's the one I watched first too...
In particular the music and cast...
It is probably darker too...
Personally, disregarding the source material which i never read, I enjoyed the first FMA more.
It's the one I watched first too...
In particular the music and cast...
It is probably darker too...
Is HunterxHunter worth a binge watch? It's winter and I got nothing else to do. So far animes I have finished: Death Note original series 10/10, Re:Zero 8/10, and One Punch Man 8/10.
I want something where I can unplug from everything and just binge watch one long anime for a week. HunterxHunter is one I think I might enjoy, I still need to watch Fullmetal Alchemist though, but I never know if I should watch Brotherhood or the older one... everyone seems divided which one they like best, and I am not watching both, so eh...
My "binge watch" shows are ~13 episodes or 26 episodes. Something like Brotherhood (~60 episodes) is too long for me to binge.
* Madoka Magica -- "Dark & Depressing" Magical Girl show
* The Promised Neverland (Season 1) -- Similar to Death Note in many ways: a lot of 'they think I'm thinking that they're thinking".
* Steins;Gate -- Time Travel that glorifies obscure nerd / internet culture. (IBM 5100, Akihabara, "Large Haldron Supercollider will create black holes and destroy the world").
* Kill La Kill -- WTF did I just watch? Clothes are evil, take them off.
* Baccano! (Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere online) -- Pulp Fiction in anime form. A 1920s moonshine gang war anime, except one of the moonshiners hid the fountain of youth / secret of immortality in their booze. Told from the perspective of two reporters looking at all the information at a table, wondering how to write the story.
Probably a bunch of others. But just a few from off the top of my head. The thing about anime-taste is that its hard to know what others like, so sometimes the "shotgun" approach works better: just try a bunch of different shows.
The dude writing HxH takes a break every few years.
Its basically the "A Song of Ice and Fire" of anime/manga. There are just years and year where the fanbase sits around, waiting for the next arc.
My "binge watch" shows are ~13 episodes or 26 episodes. Something like Brotherhood (~60 episodes) is too long for me to binge.
* Madoka Magica -- "Dark & Depressing" Magical Girl show
* The Promised Neverland (Season 1) -- Similar to Death Note in many ways: a lot of 'they think I'm thinking that they're thinking".
* Steins;Gate -- Time Travel that glorifies obscure nerd / internet culture. (IBM 5100, Akihabara, "Large Haldron Supercollider will create black holes and destroy the world").
* Kill La Kill -- WTF did I just watch? Clothes are evil, take them off.
* Baccano! (Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere online) -- Pulp Fiction in anime form. A 1920s moonshine gang war anime, except one of the moonshiners hid the fountain of youth / secret of immortality in their booze. Told from the perspective of two reporters looking at all the information at a table, wondering how to write the story.
Probably a bunch of others. But just a few from off the top of my head. The thing about anime-taste is that its hard to know what others like, so sometimes the "shotgun" approach works better: just try a bunch of different shows.
Seems like "The Hidden Dungeon only I can enter" and "Suppose a kid from the last dungeon boonies moved to a starter town" are "just fantasy" and I've made a mistake on those two. But I haven't seen those shows and those titles are very isekai-like. So I hope you can forgive me on those two.
Given that I misinterpreted "Suppose a kid from the last dungeon boonies moved to a starter town" earlier, I decided to give it 3 episodes (the 3 episodes that are available so far).
Its... not bad, but not great.
Lloyd Belladona is the weakest kid from his village... but his village is a very, very special place. As explained in episode 1: the epic heroes of the world have moved out of society and towards the edge of humanity. Every villager is an epic hero of sorts, and while Lloyd is the weakest of the bunch, he's still pretty much "One Punch Man" compared to a normal human. What makes this unique compared to other "overpowered shows", is that Lloyd truly believes himself to be a weak and pathetic character, given his position as weakest in the village.
The village chief sends Lloyd out to the big city, so that he can get his confidence back up. But... well... the story happens. And the story doesn't seem to want to give Lloyd any confidence, in a tragicomedy sort of way. Even in episode 1, I think the show managed to surprise me in its setup, but this starts to get into spoiler territory.
Lloyd tries to join the military academy. The village chief, the chief of the military, the local witch... everyone expects him to pass with flying colors. Unfortunately, Lloyd fails the test. In episode 2, it is revealed that Lloyd's writing is ancient magic runes, of which most of the test proctors couldn't read. Thinking Lloyd to be illiterate, they fail him on the spot... but the reality is that Lloyd is extremely fluent in the most difficult of magic runes: to the point of just using the runes in everyday writing.
The chief of the military starts looking for a way to cheat Lloyd into the military despite Lloyd's failing score.
The non-spoiler way of saying things: they clearly plan on keeping Lloyd's self confidence issues as a cornerstone to the drama of this anime. Whether or not its good will depend on where this arc is going, and I don't think 3 episodes is quite far enough to judge the anime on that plot point.
Beyond that: there's definitely a lot of anime tropes here. Lloyd's harem grows to the size of four by the 3rd episode for example, along with some light fanservice that you can expect from a show pushing harem tropes. A harem-plot (even a light-weight one) depends entirely on the likability of the various heroines: and there's only been enough time to really learn one of the characters so far. So its too early for me to call this good or bad yet.
The main issue with this show is that its got terrible timing. There's so many good anime airing in Winter 2021, and I don't think this show holds a candle to the big hitters (When they Cry, Attack on Titan, Slime, Log Horizon, etc. etc.). If this show came out like Summer 2020, it probably would have been worth a watch. But for now, there's too many better shows airing.
So far, the show manages to be a comedy to laugh at Lloyd's situation, without actually feeling "mean" and laughing at Lloyd himself. It seems difficult to thread the needle: making a comedy without feeling mean to Lloyd, so I respect the writers for attempting to tackle this kind of plot. From that perspective, the show plays it somewhat safe with some anime tropes, but from another perspective: I can respect the difficulty with the story's fundamental setup.
It feels like the animation quality has improved slightly: Ranga is far "fluffier", the action scenes also seem to have a lot of impact. I never thought Slime looked bad, but it feels like they got a lot more money this time around.
So far, the episodes are more world-building. We're learning the personalities of the Beast-kingdom, and more about the Dwarf Kingdom as well.
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Log Horizon Season 3 is very dense. It starts right off with a major debate between the Round Table Conference. I highly suggest reading up on Season1/2 material to remember the politics: Corwin's Family / Eastial, Westlande, Honesty, DDD, West Wind Brigade, Marine Organization, Shopping District 8, Crescent Moon Alliance, Log Horizon, Radio Market... and those are just the organizations!! There's Shiroe, Raynessia, Akatsuki. Of course there's the venerable Tea Party (not a guild) whose members have dispersed throughout the land.
And of course: the plot. Trapped in a video game, looking for an escape, following leads and rumors as they come up. Log Horizon is focusing on the intrigue and its THICK. You might need to rewind / rewatch some parts to understand everything going on.
I have a feeling that this is exactly what we Log Horizon viewers wanted. The play-by-play and thought process of so many characters, guilds, noblemen... the author does a good job thinking out everyone's philosophy and making them consistent. But the character depth makes these political setups a big hassle to understand all the moving parts.
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After getting relaxed with Rimruru's "anime-logic politics" (I fight you. I win, will you join me? Repat for the Goblins, the Wolves, the Lizardmen, the Orcs and damn near everyone else Rimruru faces...)... its kind of fun to be watching the other extreme in Log Horizon, which arguably goes too deep into the details / weeds for everyone's thinking. But I guess that's what makes watching both shows so interesting.
Slime is somehow managing to give a general idea of the world (and basic politics) without actually getting dragged down into the weeds. Log Horizon is all about the "devil in the details", always has been.
Ah, why are they bothering. I don't even remember eaxctly how it ended, I just remember that it was spectacularly bad. I hope they don't follow the manga too closely. Or at all, if possible.
