Anime Nation

[Ahhzz]

Indeed, this looks interesting.

/agreed I'm going to keep an eye out for this one...

 

[Chomiq]

Yeah Ed is Ed, I never wondered about the gender thing:
View attachment 226576
I'd rather rewatch the OG series, I don't need this Netflix crap.

Btw.

 

[kurosagi01]

So who is excited for the part 2 of the final season for AOT? I've just finished episode 1 of part 2 and sh*t gone crazy already lol.
The animation of the titans look pretty cool.

 

[djisas]

Also, who thinks we're in for a shitty season?

 

[dragontamer5788]

Also, who thinks we're in for a shitty season?

If we are, good. It means I can actually catchup, lol.

----------

The new Isekai for fall 2021. Unlike most recent Isekai, this one was 100% "in-world" with no out-of-character moments or 4th wall breaking.

The "Isekai" element barely exists. The main character remembers he's a loser from Earth. Given a chance to live a new life on this new world, he decides that its a chance to "live correctly". Things go awry as soon as his baby-eyes open up to see his new "parents".

His "Mother" is the mummy in the middle named Mary. His "Father" is the Skeleton on the left named "Blood".

"Gus", on the right, is reluctant to adopt the human boy, but recognizes that it was Mary + Blood's hopes / dreams to have a kid together, and this boy is their best chance for it. As such, Gus reluctantly calls himself the grandfather and helps out raising the boy.

Mary + Blood name their (clearly adopted) child "Will", and train the boy with all of the skills they know. Mary is some kind of cleric, so she teaches the boy piety towards the gods / pantheon, as well as mundane skills like cooking or cleaning. Blood is an expert swordsman, who teaches the boy hunting, battle, combat, dueling, and workout regiments. Gus teaches the boy magic, and the importance of money.

Will is largely happy that he has kind and loving parents. However, whenever he asks them how this situation came to be, they always respond with "we'll tell you when you're older". Clearly something dark and dramatic has happened, and the reveal was pretty good, so I'd rather not spoil it.

But when the appropriate, and dramatic reveals take place... the revelation of facts causes Will to receive divine protection from a goddess, and allows Will to adventure off as the "Faraway Paladin".

-------

The pacing is quite slow. The day-to-day life and interactions between Will and his foster-parents is the bulk of the story. There's not a lot of fight scenes either. This story plays somewhere between adventure and iyashikei / healing genre, with a huge focus on the relationships between the characters. There's just enough fighting that its probably disqualified from the iyashikei genre, but its slower pace and focus on relationship drama really reminds me of other iyashikei shows.

 

[Mussels]

If we are, good. It means I can actually catchup, lol.

----------

View attachment 232066

The new Isekai for fall 2021. Unlike most recent Isekai, this one was 100% "in-world" with no out-of-character moments or 4th wall breaking.

The "Isekai" element barely exists. The main character remembers he's a loser from Earth. Given a chance to live a new life on this new world, he decides that its a chance to "live correctly". Things go awry as soon as his baby-eyes open up to see his new "parents".



The pacing is quite slow. The day-to-day life and interactions between Will and his foster-parents is the bulk of the story. There's not a lot of fight scenes either. This story plays somewhere between adventure and iyashikei / healing genre, with a huge focus on the relationships between the characters.

Theres a few fights, and they're high quality

 

[dragontamer5788]

Theres a few fights, and they're high quality

While that's true... don't watch this anime if you want fights, lol.

Like, there was a fight scene or two in "Spice and Wolf", but its clearly not what the show was about! (That being said, you're right that the few fights in "The Faraway Paladin" were appropriate and good quality)

-----

EDIT: Most other Isekai, like "So I'm a Spider, So What?", "Reincarnated as a Slime", Re:Zero, Konosuba, Sword Art Online, Overlord, had 2x or 3x as many fight scenes as "The Faraway Paladin" in the same timeframe. The Faraway Paladin focuses more on a decompressed storytelling style in comparison to its peers. This isn't a bad thing at all, its a really good thing. It means that "The Faraway Paladin" really stands out compared to its peers. Even if you've seen a lot of Isekai, you probably haven't seen an Isekai like this one.

EDIT2: And I'd argue that the first major fight scene was as much of an argument / philosophical debate as it was a fight.

Spoiler

The God of undeath / undead has clearly made a pact with Blood, Mary, and Gus, and is calling in the favor. Now that Will is well trained, Will is also given the option to join the legion of undeath. Will nominally defeats the God's echo, but this is more representative of Will accepting life and choosing the will of the reincarnation goddess instead. Living forever in a state of undeath to pursue worldly desires is not the life Will wants to live anymore.

Will shall live the life he has, accept his death when it is appropriate and move on, as per the will of the goddess of reincarnation. Its basically what his parents have taught him, while paradoxically being a hypocrite the entire time since these undead-parents can only interact with Will through the acceptance of the God of undead.

Each parent has a paradox as well. Blood's #1 virtue is muscles and exercise, except he literally has a form with no muscles anymore. Mary's #1 virtue is piety, but she's betrayed her gods by accepting undeath. Gus's #1 virtue is money and investments, but being trapped in this area means his money is no longer "working" and is wastefully sitting around useless.

Its actually a beautiful story of the paradoxes of parenting.

 

[kurosagi01]

Only anime i'm excited for this year at the moment:
AOT finale
Ultraman season 2
Jojo Part 6(I know it came out in December last year) complete
Demon slayer
Dragon ball super movie
Gundam series?

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I see Netflix are trailing a 2nd season of Ultraman.

 

[dragontamer5788]

Only anime i'm excited for this year at the moment:
AOT finale
Ultraman season 2
Jojo Part 6(I know it came out in December last year) complete
Demon slayer
Dragon ball super movie
Gundam series?

My list: Spy x Family, Overlord Season 4, Dragon Ball Super: Heroes, Devil Is a Part Timer (S2).

But I've also pretty flexible, and will try to check out the B-tier anime with less hype each season. I'm usually pleasantly surprised by many B-tier anime (Mayou, Sleepy Princess, Dragon goes House Hunting, Rokka and the 6 braves, etc. etc.). You never really know what you're gonna find. B-tier in terms of popularity, not necessarily in production value. (Sleepy Princess / Dragon goes House Hunting had better animation quality than expected).

 

[Chomiq]

I see Netflix are trailing a 2nd season of Ultraman.

Is it me or does it look like they render this in Unreal Engine?

 

[Mussels]

Is it me or does it look like they render this in Unreal Engine?

I mean, a lot of modern disney stuff is rendered in unreal engine too...
check out the crazy shit they did with mandalorian (real-time projecting of rendered backgrounds so the actors could see CGI things)

Film & Television | Unreal Engine - Unreal Engine

 

[dragontamer5788]

"In the Land of Leadale" is the new Isekai for this season (Winter 2022). With only 2 episodes, its tough for me to review it yet.

If I were only given one sentence to describe it... its "Overlord, except moe". The main character has been Isekai'd / trapped in a video game as a max-level 100 avatar of a high-elf sorceress for... plot reasons. She has also been transported 200-years into the future (much like how in Overlord, Ains has been transported an unspecified number of years into the future). Instead of being a disgusting monster (like in Overlord), she's moe / cute archetype. She's traveling around the world, trying to figure out the changes in the 200-years of lore that has passed since she's last played the game.

The overall presentation is closer to "I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level", and I think from ~2 episodes I can say that Leadale is doing a better job at it already. But its not quite as good as Overlord (or any of the other top-tier Isekais that have come out).

Especially since I've just watched "The Faraway Paladin" (which was spectacular and far superior to this one), its hard to not compare the better Isekai against Leadale.

I'd give Leadale maybe 7/10? Its not terrible so far, and its not 100% derivative of the genre. It might scratch your itch if you're a moe / slice of life fan.

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

I'd expect that Bofuri will remain the best "moe + Isekai" show however, and would have to give Bofuri a recommend over Leadale if you're looking at things with this particular combination of genres. But Leadale would be the 2nd best show in this combo that I've seen (and there's been a _LOT_ of moe+Isekai shows recently...)

If you're more into the overall "Trapped in a video game at max level", I'd have to give Overlord the #1 pick, maybe Log Horizon as the #2 pick. Leadale might scratch #3 in this very specific category.

For Isekai in general, "Faraway Paladin" is fresh, recent, and just better.

 

[Ahhzz]

"In the Land of Leadale" is the new Isekai for this season (Winter 2022). With only 2 episodes, its tough for me to review it yet.

If I were only given one sentence to describe it... its "Overlord, except moe". The main character has been Isekai'd / trapped in a video game as a max-level 100 avatar of a high-elf sorceress for... plot reasons. She has also been transported 200-years into the future (much like how in Overlord, Ains has been transported an unspecified number of years into the future). Instead of being a disgusting monster (like in Overlord), she's moe / cute archetype. She's traveling around the world, trying to figure out the changes in the 200-years of lore that has passed since she's last played the game.

The overall presentation is closer to "I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level", and I think from ~2 episodes I can say that Leadale is doing a better job at it already. But its not quite as good as Overlord (or any of the other top-tier Isekais that have come out).

Especially since I've just watched "The Faraway Paladin" (which was spectacular and far superior to this one), its hard to not compare the better Isekai against Leadale.

I'd give Leadale maybe 7/10? Its not terrible so far, and its not 100% derivative of the genre. It might scratch your itch if you're a moe / slice of life fan.

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

I'd expect that Bofuri will remain the best "moe + Isekai" show however, and would have to give Bofuri a recommend over Leadale if you're looking at things with this particular combination of genres. But Leadale would be the 2nd best show in this combo that I've seen (and there's been a _LOT_ of moe+Isekai shows recently...)

If you're more into the overall "Trapped in a video game at max level", I'd have to give Overlord the #1 pick, maybe Log Horizon as the #2 pick. Leadale might scratch #3 in this very specific category.

For Isekai in general, "Faraway Paladin" is fresh, recent, and just better.

thanks for the detailed reviews!! I have some new shows to check out I did enjoy the first SAO, but the followups kind of fell short for me...

 

[dragontamer5788]

thanks for the detailed reviews!! I have some new shows to check out I did enjoy the first SAO, but the followups kind of fell short for me...

I think a big benefit of the "Moe" genre is that its largely kid-friendly. Most Moe shows I'm comfortable recommending to my 10-year old niece (and she enjoys them as well). SAO, Konosuba, and other shows like that have a "sex slant" that make it difficult to recommend to children. "Moe" has this focus on "cuteness" and less on "sexy", making it a kid-friendly genre (Bofuri, and Little Witch Academia both are "Moe" shows I've enjoyed and recommended to my niece).

That being said, there's always exceptions. I'd describe Kobayashi's Dragon Maid as largely Moe, but definitely heavy on the sex-jokes. I'd also try to watch the whole series before making a decision like that, it only takes one or two uncomfortable jokes to suddenly make a whole show unfriendly towards kids. EDIT: Perhaps a better example is Sora no Woto / Sound in the Sky, where the show was moe-classic and 90% kid friendly. Then suddenly one episode where all the girl characters get drunk in their undergarments that might be uncomfortable for some (or maybe not. But I can see it being a borderline case for sure).

That being said, sometimes some adult humor / sex jokes are great. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, SAO, Konosuba all have some good moments and jokes... I just wouldn't show them to kids ya know?

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

I've been watching the dubbed of "the duke of death and his maid". I like it.
I'm in dubbed mode right now.

 

[dragontamer5788]

I've been watching the dubbed of "the duke of death and his maid". I like it.
I'm in dubbed mode right now.

I think I was expecting more comedy, rather than drama, when I watched the first two episodes.

I might have to revisit the anime when I'm in a better mood for drama.

 

[Mussels]

How are people liking the attack on titan episodes?

i havent watched yet, worried they'll be shite - and doing a rewatch of black trigger (my god so much recap every episode, but at least the premise/story was somewhat unique)

 

[Rahnak]

How are people liking the attack on titan episodes?

If you liked the first half of the final season, so far so good, imo.

 

[Chomiq]

Watching Lupin part 6 now, sadly the voice actor for Jigen - Kiyoshi Kobayashi - has retired at the age of 89 (all the respect goes to him for doing amazing work for all these years) and only voiced him in episode 0. For the next 4 episodes I was like "something is wrong about this voice", guess now I know what.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

I think I was expecting more comedy, rather than drama, when I watched the first two episodes.

I might have to revisit the anime when I'm in a better mood for drama.

Me too but I'm a sucker for a good drama/romance with some comedy.
since I've been on A dubb kick, also was taken culinary classes this restaurant from another world hit right up my interest right now.

 

[kurosagi01]

I am so far enjoying the episodes for AOT, I'm practically up to date with Shaman King now too.
I need to catch up with Demon Slayers though.
Damn I sound like a proper "normie" right now with these anime lol.

 

[dragontamer5788]

"In the Land of Leadale" is the new Isekai for this season (Winter 2022). With only 2 episodes, its tough for me to review it yet.

5 episodes in now. Cayna is growing on me as a character. Instead of your typical moe-blob, she's a flawed and immature character who has been suddenly thrust into a position of great power. This is a good thing and works very well with the comedy of the show (in contrast, someone like "Maple" from "Bofuri" might be a little bit of a Mary Sue). I'd say Maple from Bofuri was closer to what I was expecting of this show, but Cayna does seem to have more personality and a slight streak of "evil" in her. "Sally" from Bofuri is closer to how Cayna acts, though Cayna is more of a funny/comedic jerk / asshole kinda character.

So this really is somewhere in between Overlord and (of all things), Bofuri. I think I like this overall, and will most likely finish the season and keep watching Leadale each week.

This isn't quite comedy gold, but each episode has a good joke that puts a smile on my face. I'll bump up the rating to 7.5/10 or so, it certainly feels like an above average anime, though certainly not the best of its genre.

 

[Space Lynx]

5 episodes in now. Cayna is growing on me as a character. Instead of your typical moe-blob, she's a flawed and immature character who has been suddenly thrust into a position of great power. This is a good thing and works very well with the comedy of the show (in contrast, someone like "Maple" from "Bofuri" might be a little bit of a Mary Sue). I'd say Maple from Bofuri was closer to what I was expecting of this show, but Cayna does seem to have more personality and a slight streak of "evil" in her. "Sally" from Bofuri is closer to how Cayna acts, though Cayna is more of a funny/comedic jerk / asshole kinda character.

So this really is somewhere in between Overlord and (of all things), Bofuri. I think I like this overall, and will most likely finish the season and keep watching Leadale each week.

This isn't quite comedy gold, but each episode has a good joke that puts a smile on my face. I'll bump up the rating to 7.5/10 or so, it certainly feels like an above average anime, though certainly not the best of its genre.

How do you know which animes to try and which not to try? There are literally thousands to pick from, I find it overwhelming and end up giving up on all of it.

Code Geass and ReZero are my favorites though before I gave up searching lol

 

[dragontamer5788]

How do you know which animes to try and which not to try? There are literally thousands to pick from, I find it overwhelming and end up giving up on all of it.

I don't. Lol. That's part of the fun.

I watch the first episode. If its average, or even a little bit below average, I give it another episode or two. There's plenty of good anime out there with absolutely terrible openings / first episodes. In fact, one of my favorite animes (When they Cry) is pretty damn slow in the 1st episode.

By the end of episode 3, I'm dropping bad anime and moving onto the next one. By episode 5, I've seen enough (like Leadale) to decide if its good enough to finish.

------

In the case of Leadale, Cerberwoof basically won me over.

Cayna's "Cerberus" has three heads, like most Cerberus. But this one has a derpy/drooling face, one sleepy-face, and one serious / worker face. Its basically three doggies in one.

Sometimes... its the little things that please me.