Kav Posted May 18, 2018 Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) On 18/05/2018 at 8:00 AM, drahkon said: Fuck man, The Promised Neverland just keeps on giving. Can't wait for the next chapter. @Kav are you still reading the manga? I am indeed. Loving it too, such a great recommendation! Another good chapter this week, you read it @drahkon? Edited May 21, 2018 by Kav 1
drahkon Posted May 24, 2018 Posted May 24, 2018 (edited) On 18.5.2018 at 9:38 AM, Kav said: Another good chapter this week, you read it @drahkon? Yup. Pretty awesome. Spoiler Lewis is a beast. Catching all those bullets... No idea how they could defeat him. Maybe Mr. No-Name will show off his sniping skills once more? Nigel has the rifle (whatever that is) but it's possible Mr. No-Name might use it instead. And what is Adam up to? Could he be on his way to join the fight? One Piece is in that horrible "snail pace mode" again...come on, I want to see Zorro again Edited May 24, 2018 by drahkon
Kav Posted May 24, 2018 Posted May 24, 2018 1 hour ago, drahkon said: Yup. Pretty awesome. The Promised Neverland Ch 87 (Reveal hidden contents) Lewis is a beast. Catching all those bullets... No idea how they could defeat him. Maybe Mr. No-Name will show off his sniping skills once more? Nigel has the rifle (whatever that is) but it's possible Mr. No-Name might use it instead. And what is Adam up to? Could he be on his way to join the fight? One Piece is in that horrible "snail pace mode" again...come on, I want to see Zorro again Yeah, no idea how they will in The Promised Neverland either... he’s insanely overpowered in comparison to them! I’m loving One Piece, I don’t mind all the world building etc.
Kav Posted June 1, 2018 Posted June 1, 2018 (edited) The end of One Piece 906... WHAT..?! Edited June 1, 2018 by Kav
Kav Posted June 4, 2018 Posted June 4, 2018 The Promised Neverland chapter 89... how the actual fook do they plan on killing Lewis?!
drahkon Posted June 4, 2018 Posted June 4, 2018 45 minutes ago, Kav said: The Promised Neverland chapter 89... how the actual fook do they plan on killing Lewis?! Spoiler Adam will do something to help. He seems like a tank-character from RPGs, maybe this'll come in handy He'll end up heavily inured, though. With his dying breath he will say Norman's number to Ray and Emma. Boom. 1
Kav Posted June 8, 2018 Posted June 8, 2018 The One Piece hype is real. Another outstanding chapter from Oda. Fook me I can’t wait to see what unfolds from all this!
Ike Posted June 10, 2018 Posted June 10, 2018 On 01/06/2018 at 9:17 AM, Kav said: The end of One Piece 906... WHAT..?! I think your theory is very plausible, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't turn out to be completely accurate. Spoiler The One Piece is blatantly either something abstract i.e. "complete freedom" or something that enables it. It's pretty much what being a pirate is (at least in the One Piece world), more than just plundering and burning down villages. 1
Kav Posted June 10, 2018 Posted June 10, 2018 1 hour ago, Ike said: I think your theory is very plausible, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't turn out to be completely accurate. The "One Piece"/Ending (Hide contents) The One Piece is blatantly either something abstract i.e. "complete freedom" or something that enables it. It's pretty much what being a pirate is (at least in the One Piece world), more than just plundering and burning down villages. Cheers dude, although you just know it won’t be anything like that! Haha After Reading 907 this train of thought was running through my mind:
Kav Posted June 15, 2018 Posted June 15, 2018 Oh my word, this world building by Oda is unreal! This Reverie arc is amazing!
drahkon Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 10 hours ago, Kav said: Oh yes! @drahkon The Promised Neverland!!! I knew it! This Manga is soooo good
drahkon Posted June 17, 2018 Posted June 17, 2018 15 hours ago, Kav said: Oh yes! @drahkon The Promised Neverland!!! Had to re-read the chapter just now because I was shitfaced. Don't even remember posting the above message. But, HOLY SHIT. I knew it 1
Julius Posted June 18, 2018 Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) I watched my first traditional anime series a few years back — Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Up to that point, my relatively limited exposure to anime came from shows that I had watched as a child (such as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Digimon), and a number of films by Studio Ghibli, which I had become obsessed with a few months prior. The heavily anime-influenced world of Avatar, with both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, were also major proponents in my wanting to delve into the anime medium — at the very least, just to find out what I might be missing out on. My worry with a serial anime series at that point was that it wouldn’t be able to hold my attention for a long enough run; that an ongoing series might not have the payoff one might hope for judging from the first few episodes; and that the vast majority of anime goes without a dub, which, as a newcomer to the medium, is my preference simply because I like to appreciate every frame that I can, which I might find difficult to do with subtitles. I plan to watch a short run, subtitled series to alleviate this in the near future, and I think that Mushishi will be my anime of choice for that. I dabbled with the opening few episodes of Cowboy Bebop shortly after finishing FMA:B, but I simply couldn’t focus on and appreciate it like I wanted to, as I was still processing the epic adventures depicted in the latter’s world. I’ve returned to and watched the entirety of FMA:B since my initial series viewing, and I found that it really does get a lot better the second time around, with a lot of minor references going over my head the first time around making the story feel much tighter and cohesive upon second viewing. Yesterday, with the density of my exam periods rapidly falling after a hectic, exam-filled week, I finally found that I was ready to watch my second anime. The anime that I chose was Death Note, and I’m ten episodes in so far. I have to say, I’m really enjoying it for the most part, with the mind games, manipulation and investigation being the highlights so far for me, and getting into the deductive mindsets of both L and Light has also been particularly engaging. I did find it somewhat jarring just how quickly Light seemingly surrenders himself to using the titular Death Note within the space of the first episode, but I suppose that direct jump to the main crux of the show is to be expected with pilot episodes. Edited June 20, 2018 by Julius Caesar 2
drahkon Posted June 24, 2018 Posted June 24, 2018 @Kav The Promised Neverland ... What the actual fuck? 1
Julius Posted June 28, 2018 Posted June 28, 2018 (edited) I watched a lot of anime last week From Sunday to Wednesday of last week, I watched my second anime series: Death Note. I’ve had some more time to think about it, and whilst I liked it for the most part, it felt somewhat paint-by-numbers at times, and I have a few problems with it. Light is an extremely one-dimensional character, and as the protagonist of the show, it makes it difficult to become emotionally invested in the character when he barely grows as a result of what goes on around him, and thus — seeing as we spend most of our time with him — I found it more and more difficult to become invested in the events unfurling around him. I’m all for getting to the point of a show early on, but having him start the show as an insane murdering psychopath and ending the show in much the same way makes it all feel a little flat to me. Sure, it’s a story about corruption, but...is it really, if we don’t see him acting as a good (or even just morally grey) person to begin with? And it’s not just Light — I found that many of the other characters, such as Misa, suffer from exactly the same problem of having flat arcs. In fact, the only characters that I became truly invested in were Light’s fellow investigators on the Japanese Task Force/National Police Agency, but they were given such little screen time that it became something of a moot point. L was an interesting character in that he actually struggled with the concept of Light being Kira, though I do think that that particular notion was dragged out for a little too long. The show spans six years in thirty seven episodes, so perhaps that’s another reason that I think it had pacing issues in abundance. All of that being said, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t the most interesting anime that I’ve watched, and it really did seem to lose itself at times, but I found it very difficult to put down...and I found the ending to be very satisfying. I watched one episode of Steins;Gate on Wednesday evening, and it seemed interesting at first glance. It was really difficult to get a grasp on the show beyond it being a comedic time travel series from the previews that I’d watched beforehand, but I found that I was instantly invested in Okabe, Mayuri (🎶tuturu🎶), and Daru. It was pretty late after I watched that first episode though, so I decided to go to sleep. I watched the remaining twenty three episodes, and the OVA, in a non-stop binge from the moment that I woke up last Thursday. BECAUSE HOLY SMOKES. This show has in abundance my reasons for starting to watch anime more in the first place: complex and driven characters whom are all extremely loveable, and simple but relevant character arcs; a lot of quirky and laugh-out-loud humour; an easy-to-digest art style, with some excellent uses of shadows in particular; and great character interactions. I found myself close to tears of laughter, joy and sadness throughout the entire show. I literally ended up loving every single character. Every single one of them — the showrunners played me like a damn fiddle, and it was the greatest feeling. And then that reveal around halfway through...I saw it coming from a mile away, but I just love how they don’t choose to rush it, and instead just give you winks if you’ve already caught on, and more nods to push you in the right direction if you haven’t. There were so many heart wrenching moments, and because we go through them with Okarin, it becomes so much easier to invest in him and the rest of the Future Gadget Lab members (and the ancillary characters, too). I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without mentioning them by name, but seriously: Kurisu, Ruka (I don’t think I’ve ever seen gender fluidity so well captured, and all of the awkwardness which would surely come with it), Suzuha and Faris are about as awesome a bunch of female characters that I’ve ever watched. And again, I’m going to mention Mayuri, because she’s adorable. And Moeka wasn’t as horrible and as throwaway as some of the earlier episodes might have suggested, but I don’t think I can put her on the same tier as the others, just because...well...if you’ve seen the show, you know why. Now, it’s only my third anime series, but I know that it was expertly paced compared to the others that I’ve watched to this point. Perhaps this came down to it being an anime about time travel, meaning that it could return to a number of points in the plot without feeling like it was beating you over the head, but...the lack of a filler “Let’s spend twenty minutes reminding the audience of what happened previously so that they don’t feel lost in the next episode where things go up a notch and they might get really lost” episode was so welcome. Both Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Death Note had an episode like that, and it was not the most fun I’ve had watching anime; I can see why they do it if you’re watching it weekly during the original showings, but it doesn’t make for great viewing after the fact, especially if you’re binging the show. So add that to the list of things that I think Steins;Gate does so right. I have a very, very minor problem with the show, and it’s not even in the original run — it’s in the OVA. And it’s so incredibly minor, but, for the sake of transparency... Spoiler WHAT THE ACTUAL FRICK. WHY DOESN’T DARU GET FARIS?! WHY IS SUZUHA’S MOTHER A SUZUHA LOOKALIKE. IN FACT, THAT’S JUST SUZUHA WITH A DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLE. SHE’S EVEN VOICED BY THE SAME ACTRESS! Look, I know Daru’s not complaining, because Yuki is a cosplayer and stuff, and even has Faris’ pink hair...but damnit, I was rooting for Daru here! Maybe it’s handled better in the visual novel, but in the OVA...it just seems to come out of nowhere. I have every intention to play through the visual novels of Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 at some point, though I probably won’t watch the anime adaptation of the latter until it’s been release on blu-ray (hopefully around Christmas?), which will, of course, have to be built up to with another viewing of the show. I also have my eye on Load Region of Deja Vu, because of course I do Look, I’ve said enough about Steins;Gate. Well, actually, I’m just going to stop myself there because I could go on for hours about how good I thought it was. I’m planning to watch it again...and soon. For one, I need to figure out if it’s my favourite anime series over Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but I also just want to see if there’s anything that I’ll appreciate more the second time around (probably the whole thing). Damn, what a good show. EL PSY KONGROO On Thursday evening last week, I watched my first film by the renowned Makoto Shinkai, The Garden of Words. It’s about a wannabe shoemaker and this relatively older woman he keeps running into at the park. I haven’t got too much to say about it, honestly, besides pointing out that it is obviously the most visually beautiful piece of anime (dare I just say animation?) that I’ve seen so far. I didn’t expect much of a certain theme going in...but was I surprised coming out of it that I’d found it? Not at all from what I know of Shinkai’s CV. Not the slightest bit well worth the short 45 minute watch. On Friday evening, I returned to A Silent Voice, after having started it over a month ago only to be called out to do something else. I watched it from the start so that I wasn’t out of the loop, and I thought that this was an extraordinary film — for the most part. A Silent Voice is about Shoya’s attempts to right his past wrongs, which he attempts to do by finding friendship with a (clinically) deaf girl, Shoko, whom he had previously bullied in grade school. That in and of itself sounds like it could be an interesting plot for a film, but throw in a great soundtrack; some smartly styled, almost goofy-in-appearance character design (at least in Shoya’s case); an excellent pastel colour palette; and the drama surrounding Shoya, Shoko and their friends, and you’ve got a highly engaging story which is very hard to turn away from. Beyond that, and what really connected with myself, was how suicide and suicidal thoughts played into things — I saw myself in some of these characters throughout the film, as some of my friends themselves have attempted to commit suicide/had thoughts about it. The way that the film handled such a difficult topic was very impressive, and the fact that I saw myself in some of these characters, I think, just shows how genuinely the film was made. Shoya, Shoko, and Shoko’s younger sibling, in particular, are all very easy to become emotionally invested in, and by comparison, I suppose some other characters fall by the wayside. However, one particular character which really disgruntled me... Spoiler ...Naoka, deserved a good slapping. She reminds me of someone that I know, too. Thanks Shoko’s mom for slapping her up. It means a lot as a hopeless audience member. My only real problem with the film is that it reaches its true climax a good twenty minutes or so before it ends (if you’ve seen the film, I’m sure you know the particular scene that I’m referring to here), and whilst the climax itself is truly exhilarating (I have never been so terrified for a character before, and it was anxiety-inducing) and an excellent was to bring the film to a crescendo, the following thirty minutes, by comparison, feel somewhat tame, and the film slowly cools off. After it became clear that things had been ramping up to the climax, this felt like a real shame. I’ve read that the last twenty minutes attempt to condense some 350 pages of manga down, though, so I guess the runtime and pacing would have been off if more of that was adapted? Regardless, I’m going to have to look around for the manga now, because this was one hell of a film, and I’m sure that its impression on me will be sticking around for a long time. This week, in stark contrast, I haven’t managed to watch much anime at all. After finishing Steins;Gate, much like after I finished Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I’ve tried to watch Cowboy Bebop, but it just isn’t gelling with me. I love the tone, and the soundtrack is awesome, but I’m finding it really hard to stick with at the moment. Maybe it’s because both times that I’ve tried to watch it, it has followed my viewings of very character-focused anime, so I think I’m going to put it back down for a while longer. I’ve got some other shows to watch still, like Mushishi (all of the shows and films above I watched the dub of, and they were all very good — especially Steins;Gate’s, of course ), which I want to be my first subtitled anime (its relatively short, so I think that’s a good idea), and on the dubbed side of things, I’ve got stuff Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion and Gurren Lagann lined up. I’m really loving my time with anime at the moment, I have to say. EDIT: Wait a second. How on earth did I forget to mention that Hacking to the Gate is an absolute masterpiece and is very easily my favourite anime opening?! Correction: the best anime opening of all times. I love the small changes for the last two episodes that they made, too okay, I think that’s everything. El Psy Kongroo. Edited June 28, 2018 by Julius Caesar
Jonnas Posted June 30, 2018 Posted June 30, 2018 On 29/06/2018 at 12:04 AM, Julius Caesar said: From Sunday to Wednesday of last week, I watched my second anime series: Death Note. I’ve had some more time to think about it, and whilst I liked it for the most part, it felt somewhat paint-by-numbers at times, and I have a few problems with it. Light is an extremely one-dimensional character, and as the protagonist of the show, it makes it difficult to become emotionally invested in the character when he barely grows as a result of what goes on around him, and thus — seeing as we spend most of our time with him — I found it more and more difficult to become invested in the events unfurling around him. I’m all for getting to the point of a show early on, but having him start the show as an insane murdering psychopath and ending the show in much the same way makes it all feel a little flat to me. Sure, it’s a story about corruption, but...is it really, if we don’t see him acting as a good (or even just morally grey) person to begin with? And it’s not just Light — I found that many of the other characters, such as Misa, suffer from exactly the same problem of having flat arcs. In fact, the only characters that I became truly invested in were Light’s fellow investigators on the Japanese Task Force/National Police Agency, but they were given such little screen time that it became something of a moot point. L was an interesting character in that he actually struggled with the concept of Light being Kira, though I do think that that particular notion was dragged out for a little too long. The show spans six years in thirty seven episodes, so perhaps that’s another reason that I think it had pacing issues in abundance. All of that being said, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t the most interesting anime that I’ve watched, and it really did seem to lose itself at times, but I found it very difficult to put down...and I found the ending to be very satisfying. Light goes "good" for a few episodes in the middle, which are the most fascinating episodes, from a character development perspective. Even as an honest investigator, you can see the same character flaws he displays as Kira. Like the way he treats Misa. He outright states he doesn't care much for her, but strings her along regardless. And when she wriggles a confession out of Higuchi, he snaps at her for disobeying him. So, even when they both stop being mass murderers, their relationship is still toxic in the same way. Another aspect is just how much Light is willing to sacrifice for the sake of the investigation. When he loses his memories, he immediately demands to be set free, and loses all rationality. "There's no way I could unconsciously be Kira!" "How so? The kills stopped the moment you were arrested." "Because I said so!". Later on, he quietly thinks to himself "So, I do have memory gaps, and I did, at one point, think the world would be better without criminals, and Kira did act a bit like me, and L's reasoning makes sense... But nah, there's no way I'd be a criminal!". He continually let his ego get in the way of the investigation. So, it's fascinating that minor stuff like that eventually translate into him becoming a monster when he's got actual power in his hands.
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Posted June 30, 2018 9 minutes ago, Jonnas said: Light goes "good" for a few episodes in the middle, which are the most fascinating episodes, from a character development perspective. Even as an honest investigator, you can see the same character flaws he displays as Kira. Like the way he treats Misa. He outright states he doesn't care much for her, but strings her along regardless. And when she wriggles a confession out of Higuchi, he snaps at her for disobeying him. So, even when they both stop being mass murderers, their relationship is still toxic in the same way. Another aspect is just how much Light is willing to sacrifice for the sake of the investigation. When he loses his memories, he immediately demands to be set free, and loses all rationality. "There's no way I could unconsciously be Kira!" "How so? The kills stopped the moment you were arrested." "Because I said so!". Later on, he quietly thinks to himself "So, I do have memory gaps, and I did, at one point, think the world would be better without criminals, and Kira did act a bit like me, and L's reasoning makes sense... But nah, there's no way I'd be a criminal!". He continually let his ego get in the way of the investigation. So, it's fascinating that minor stuff like that eventually translate into him becoming a monster when he's got actual power in his hands. For sure. I’ve got to agree with a lot of the points that you’ve made. Those few episodes in the middle where Light is “good” and the final few were probably the highlights for me, and these were actually the episodes where I found myself becoming really invested in the investigative team. I just don’t think that it blew me away as much because the middle and ending were built on what I saw as a shaky foundation, and some of the problems I had with the earlier part of the series just didn’t seem to go away. I’d definitely recommend it regardless of my problems with it, and I’m glad that I watched it 1
Happenstance Posted July 14, 2018 Posted July 14, 2018 Are any of the newer Gundam series over the past decade or so any good? I feel like I only ever hear about the early stuff when people talk about it but I was never a fan of that earlier art style so I'd like to watch something a bit more modern.
Kav Posted July 14, 2018 Posted July 14, 2018 6 minutes ago, Happenstance said: Are any of the newer Gundam series over the past decade or so any good? I feel like I only ever hear about the early stuff when people talk about it but I was never a fan of that earlier art style so I'd like to watch something a bit more modern. I thought Gundam 00, series 1, was brilliant... series 2 was alr Got but not as good as 1. 1
Emerald Emblem Posted July 15, 2018 Posted July 15, 2018 (edited) Did anyone go and see "Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms" a few weeks back? A lovely film and a real tear jerker. Edited July 15, 2018 by Emerald Emblem
Ike Posted July 20, 2018 Posted July 20, 2018 Disappointed they're reusing this character, but if they can flesh him out a bit more then it might turn out OK.
Hero-of-Time Posted July 22, 2018 Posted July 22, 2018 Man, the Crunchyroll app on the PS4 is absolute garbage. I've been trying on and off all weekend to catch up with Boruto but the thing keeps constantly crashing.
Happenstance Posted July 22, 2018 Posted July 22, 2018 2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: Man, the Crunchyroll app on the PS4 is absolute garbage. I've been trying on and off all weekend to catch up with Boruto but the thing keeps constantly crashing. Its trying to protect you
Recommended Posts