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It's funnier (or outright horrifying in the novels) when you start to see the results of his off-hand remarks to his servants. In the first season he mused how this new world was like a box of jewels ripe for the taking, or something along those lines. Cue one of his servants picking up on it and sharing it with the others, which will no doubt come to bite someone in the arse somewhere down the road.

If the upcoming season will be the full lizardman arc, we're in for some fun sure enough.

 BrookM wrote:

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho
Yuru Camp

I have high hopes for Yuru Camp, which looks to be a nice slice of life thing paired with insight on how to camp.

Yeah, those two look like fun, I've only seen the first episodes but they already had some funny expressions and the themes look rather mellow and maybe somewhat informative (about the Antarctic and camping).

I did not make it thru the first episode of pop team Eric. It just, wasn’t funny.

Finally starting My Hero Academia.

First off, what's with all the "Academia" animes? Is that just a common mistranslation of "school"?

But on the show... I'm liking how the kid's not the classic Determinator- he's stubborn, but he's got, like, zero self-confidence, which makes sense for his social situation growing up. I'm curious to see if he gets more of a spine after his All-Might encounter or not.

Overlord S2 kicked off yesterday with a massive information dump. At least they're doing some world building again, even if it's mostly a recap.

 AduroT wrote:
I did not make it thru the first episode of pop team Eric. It just, wasn’t funny.

For me it was very much hit and miss. Some bits were funny, but a lot wasn't, as I said before, I'm curious to see if they can keep it fresh enough for a full season.

Anvildude wrote:
First off, what's with all the "Academia" animes? Is that just a common mistranslation of "school"?

They do have a massive fixation on stuff taking place at schools.

Definitely excited about Overlord S2! Kokkuko had a very interesting first episode and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

First episode of Citrus was really good; much better than NTR last year (season?).

I am digging Kokkoku.

Alright, Bocu Academia is fantastic.

I figured All Might was just gonna be a sort of Powers MacGuffin, but he's a fascinating "Superman" style character in his own right- and the stakes are high without being out-of-place or unrealistic.

I wish Izuku was just a liiiitle more confident, though. Like, dude, you might not have complete control of your powers yet, but you're still in crazy good physical shape for a, what, 15 year old? And it's not like there's not other Heroes without physical combat quirks. Use what you got.

Anvildude wrote:
Alright, Bocu Academia is fantastic.

Season 1 is nice and season 2 is even better (animation, story, …), have fun. By the way: How many episodes have you seen?

I figured All Might was just gonna be a sort of Powers MacGuffin, but he's a fascinating "Superman" style character in his own right- and the stakes are high without being out-of-place or unrealistic.

Yeah the series also handles the whole "superheroes are real" thing quite well (extrapolating consequences of such a society).

I wish Izuku was just a liiiitle more confident, though. Like, dude, you might not have complete control of your powers yet, but you're still in crazy good physical shape for a, what, 15 year old? And it's not like there's not other Heroes without physical combat quirks. Use what you got.

He deifies heroes and while he does get powers he can't just turn of that adoration (and muttering and taking note).

He does grow more confident as it goes on, but starting out as he does it very in character for a kid who’s been bullied for so long.

Anvildude wrote:
Finally starting My Hero Academia.

First off, what's with all the "Academia" animes? Is that just a common mistranslation of "school"?

But on the show... I'm liking how the kid's not the classic Determinator- he's stubborn, but he's got, like, zero self-confidence, which makes sense for his social situation growing up. I'm curious to see if he gets more of a spine after his All-Might encounter or not.

Academia was likely chosen for the title because, well one it sounds cooler I guess, and two because "Academia" as a term refers to the community/environment of learning which doesn't strictly mean school. It's a bit broader and focused less on place and more on people you interact with and learn from (as was the style of education in the ancient world before formalized schooling came to be). It's actually a really fitting title given the style of the story and where it's focus is XD A strong display of understanding Latin on part of the author. It fits really well with a common motif in the Shonen genre (camaraderie, forged friendships, and learning through experience) which is probably why it's such a fad.

The more you know!

And yes. It's a great anime/manga. I think it's set to take over some of the void that the culture has had these past few years since the end of Bleach and Naruto (Baruto ain't up to the same speed).

I hope so. I could see it becoming a Big 3 anime. It's got the Shonen, it's got the depth, it's got all sorts of places it can go. No idea about how/where the manga has gotten, tho.

I'm binging through it- up to the Fun'n'Games bit of the tournament.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In the midst of the Hero Killer arc- I keep getting Zuko flashbacks now that Shoto is using his fire. Like, seriously.

Not that it's a BAD archetype, but still. Scarred face, fire powers, daddy issues (and a dad with an awesome beard and BETTER fire powers!) Sorta-kinda missing mom...

Going to add another one to my watch list for this season: Violet Evergarden. I've seen a trailer for it a year or so ago and visually it looked good. Quite surprised to see the Netflix label attached to it as well. I think this one is going to be a feels train all the way.

Anvildude wrote:
I'm binging through it- up to the Fun'n'Games bit of the tournament.

Spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the first half of season 2 (the tournament):

I love the tournament arc, it was over comparably quickly, didn't waste too much time, and was just so well done. It had a lot of good development and I really love Uraraka’s fight against Bakugo (with a nice Obito feint) and her phone call after the fight even though Todoroki was kinda the small main focus for the character development in this arc. Episode 23 even ends with the title Shoto Todoroki: Origin (after the fight) instead of showing it before to drive the point home that Midoriya "provoking" him was needed for him to realise that he's not just somebody his dad made but his own person (and he remember the good times with his mother and how much of a fan of All Might he was/is before getting there). It's okay to become who you want to be… even if you want to be an ambulatory supernova.

A lot of Todoroki's "ice moments" were just fun to watch and Yutaka Nakamura's animation (more) in the Midoriya vs Todoroki fight was great too (it has fancy smear, is stuffed with impact frames in all the right places, and the fight even ends with his trademark yutapon cubes).

In the midst of the Hero Killer arc- I keep getting Zuko flashbacks now that Shoto is using his fire. Like, seriously.

Not that it's a BAD archetype, but still. Scarred face, fire powers, daddy issues (and a dad with an awesome beard and BETTER fire powers!) Sorta-kinda missing mom..

I think Shoto might have been rather heavily inspired by Zuko. Of course with his own quirks to make him more unique and not just a bland copy. After the tournament he does reconnect with his mother in the hospital (even though his sister's still scared of their father) and Endeavor's is technically correct in that Shoto is in "a rebellious phase" but it was his abuse that caused it. Him being happy and proud that Shoto finally uses the fire is on the one hand justified and it makes him right (in a twisted way) but on the other hand it was literary his behaviour that created those problems in the first place.

Finished MHA. I feel empty, now.

Whelp, time to look for fanfiction!

Mario wrote:
(with a nice Obito feint)

They had so many good fights towards the end of Naruto and I always appreciated that they upped the budget a little to make them look good on screen XD Compare some of the stuff they were doing towards the end of Shippuden to earlier fights in the series and the quality really went up.

Enjoyed the first episode in the 2nd half of The Ancient Magus Bride,

still a gorgeous show, but the new opening song is nowhere near as good as the original one

(I don't like the opening visuals as much either, but having read the manga know why they've changed so they get a pass on that)

 LordofHats wrote:
They had so many good fights towards the end of Naruto and I always appreciated that they upped the budget a little to make them look good on screen XD Compare some of the stuff they were doing towards the end of Shippuden to earlier fights in the series and the quality really went up.

Yeah I love quite a few of the fights but I do dislike the use of too many spirit/daemon mecha ex machina solutions in the later fights. I rather like the early fights like this one, quite a few of the tournament fights (Shikamaru's fun, Gaara vs Rock Lee just piles layers on top of each other), and the second half of the first finale. The second show has some cool fights, Sasuke vs Bee, Sasuke vs. Itachi, Jiraiya vs Pain, Naruto vs Pain (especially the later part of that one when the animation goes completely off-model to synchronise with Naruto's mental state), and of course Madara's dance can't be topped easily. The final fight is also really good (but more interesting if one knows the history of the characters) and then there's this master piece too. Kakashi has some really smart fights (with Team Asuma vs Hidan and Kakuzu), vs Obtio, and that smoke dude in the one flashback. Of course the movies too (more money to spend), and Sakura also gets a nice
fight once in a while, Orochimaru too.

When they have time and money (and don't need to rely on world ending magic mecha) they can animate and choreograph some really nice fights.

Yeah the ending definitely started throwing out random bits as it went one, with the giant space flea of *spoilers* being the most glaring. Like seriously, an overarching series villain who up until that point had never once been mentioned? Madara kind of came from left field imo as a big villain but at least he was mentioned here and there before taking center stage. Whatsherface literally showed up out of nowhere. EDIT: And yes. It was awesome to see Sakura finally do something other than heal Naruto for a change. I don't think she had a single good fight in all of Shippuden save for her fight against Sasori. Helps that her fight with Shin was the first good fight in Boruto.

I feel like a lot of that end stuff suffered from Cultural Baggage issues.

Like, us watching a Medieval royal fantasy epic, and then at the end there's a bit where the main character throws their sword into a lake, but later gets it back when they most need it.

Taken in a vacuum, that's completely out of left field. But to someone who's grown up with Arthurian legend- yeah, throwing swords in water, and getting them back- it makes perfect literary sense. You actually get something like that in the ending of Harry Potter, with the Sword of Gryphindor in the forest, even.

Japanese mythology has a TON of stuff about moon spirits, and moon demons, and moon-faced rabbits and all that, so I expect that, for someone raised in that culture, all the MOON'S EYE stuff was a sort of, 'yeah, makes sense' sort of thing.

LordofHats wrote:Yeah the ending definitely started throwing out random bits as it went one, with the giant space flea of *spoilers* being the most glaring. Like seriously, an overarching series villain who up until that point had never once been mentioned? Madara kind of came from left field imo as a big villain but at least he was mentioned here and there before taking center stage. Whatsherface literally showed up out of nowhere. EDIT: And yes. It was awesome to see Sakura finally do something other than heal Naruto for a change. I don't think she had a single good fight in all of Shippuden save for her fight against Sasori. Helps that her fight with Shin was the first good fight in Boruto.

Spoiler: I think the first time Madara gets mentioned (indirectly?) was quite early, even in the first series, when Sasuke senses Kurama inside Naruto and Kurama at first think it's Madara's Sharingan that messing with him (he feels some evil chakra) again, and then later with the Tobi switcheroo. That's about when they should have started dropping hints for the final boss lady and not after she removes Madara (and yeah, he also felt a little bit crowbarred into the villain role).

Sakura did accidentally poison Naruto which was funny and they didn't just ignore the poison but used something that was initially serious (her assassination attempt with poison) for comedic effect. But otherwise: All three were trained by Sennin and she initially even had the best chakra control but she just wasn't allowed to become in any way comparable to the main pair. The Sarada arc in Boruto with less SOL stuff was better than the start of the show (which felt a bit too slow). I hope they get some interesting fights and I would really love to see how she would react to a more detailed version of her clan's "history". Konohamaru does well as team leader and has shown potential (and that he's much smarter and less impulsive than he was as a kid), but Kakashi is hard to top.

I also really like Hashirama and the other Hokage and how they were re-introduced. His first thoughts of Tsunade were great (who would have though she got her gambling addiction from him) and I love that he was a bit of a crybaby and very emotional while also being so strong. Boruto's grandpa was handled really well and I like his personality and how he gave new techniques odd names (his team was also really fun).

Anvildude wrote:I feel like a lot of that end stuff suffered from Cultural Baggage issues.

Like, us watching a Medieval royal fantasy epic, and then at the end there's a bit where the main character throws their sword into a lake, but later gets it back when they most need it.

Taken in a vacuum, that's completely out of left field. But to someone who's grown up with Arthurian legend- yeah, throwing swords in water, and getting them back- it makes perfect literary sense. You actually get something like that in the ending of Harry Potter, with the Sword of Gryphindor in the forest, even.

Japanese mythology has a TON of stuff about moon spirits, and moon demons, and moon-faced rabbits and all that, so I expect that, for someone raised in that culture, all the MOON'S EYE stuff was a sort of, 'yeah, makes sense' sort of thing.

The Harry Potter sword thing is a bit odd (I've only seen the movies) and even if you use tropes and archetypes you need some way of introducing it or it'll just look like a non sequitur or a deus ex machina (depending on how it's handled). The final boss lady doesn't even get a good introduction, it's all about the Black Zetsu having retroactively manipulated everybody and rewritten the stone tablet because (my guess) they had no way of removing Madara who was curbstomping everybody with the half a dozen upgrades that he got.

Buuuuut back on topic:

All three of these: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, and Yuru Camp△ are comfy and fun shows and Nadeshiko from Yuru Camp△ looks like a young Yoshino from Sakura Quest. Then there're Darling in the FranXX (Trigger) and Violet Evergarden (KyoAni) but I also still need to watch Houseki no Kuni and Made in Abyss from last season. Both series apparently got a lot of hype and I didn't even have the time to start them.

FML, Killing Bites has been chosen as our anime chicken show of the season. This is going to be hard to sit through.

Just watched the 2nd ep of Darling in the FranXX. Those mecha certainly have an interesting duel pilot setup

Interesting animation style, but giant robots with titties, firm behinds and those faces.. not sure if I can sit through that for a whole season.

Does Darling in the FranXX even count as a metaphor anymore?

I like the characters, their design, and the series looks interesting but I do laugh a few times each episode because either somebody spend a lot of time on the symbolism and whatever foreshadowing they have worked into this (and it'll only make sense later on) or they didn't care at all about that and are just trying to see how far they can push it. Anything in between would feel a bit disappointing.

KISSINGU MAYU DARLINGU.

It reminds me of another sci-fi mecha show from years ago, Vandread, which also had an "interesting" cockpit setup, but nowhere near as weird as this one.

Also, revising my statement on Killing Bites. The main character has her genes spliced with that of a Honey Badger. Meaning.. she don't give a feth.

I decided to read the manga to see how far off the deep end it goes, but this isn't as horrible as I had feared, so sitting through this may not be as much of a chore as I originally dreaded it to be.

Trigger gave us Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann, So I expect the interesting cockpit controls are entirely intentional and will make for an interesting deconstruction of tropes in a similar over the top fashion. Their track record at least means it’s quite high on my priority list to watch.

Killing Bites on the other hand is fairly low. That first episode already gave me flashbacks to the annoying naration style of Terraformers, but the initial premise isn’t nearly as intriguing.

Killing Bites is bottom of the barrel and why it was chosen for our chicken thing this season, I'm just glad it's not as off the rails as I had initially feared.

I didn't even bother with killing bites. To me it looked like another one of those visual novel adaptation edge-fests, like that taboo tatoo crap.
I glanced at the manga, and my suspicion was pretty much confirmed when I saw

Based on the first episode, the tournament isn’t so much an arc as the entire premise of the show.