Current watches

[thepanda]

It's weird, but I almost think I'd enjoy it more (and it is enjoyable) if I hadn't watched its opening or ending ever. 

You know, my computer slows down whenever the op or end play so I've just been skipping them the whole time. o_O

[Arakawa]

You know, my computer slows down whenever the op or end play so I've just been skipping them the whole time. o_O

Maybe your media player is getting a nosebleed from having to contemplate the contents of the OP/ED in intimate detail?

* Arakawa ducks in case the above remark merited a mallet to the head, labeled "Your Joke is Pointless".

[Dracos]

It's weird, but I almost think I'd enjoy it more (and it is enjoyable) if I hadn't watched its opening or ending ever. 

You know, my computer slows down whenever the op or end play so I've just been skipping them the whole time. o_O

Fortunate! =P

[Kt3]

Maybe your media player is getting a nosebleed from having to contemplate the contents of the OP/ED in intimate detail?

* Arakawa ducks in case the above remark merited a mallet to the head, labeled "Your Joke is Pointless".

Do processors dream of electric censorship?

[Arakawa]

And so did I begin to watch "Captain Tylor: The Most Irresponsible Man In Space", prompted by the recent roleplaying thing.

And it was pretty cool.

Oddly enough, I liked how the main character was voiced in the English dub much better. Properly laid-back, for a guy whose primary motivation to enlist in the army was to laze around all day on the bridge of a starship. Maybe a bit patronizing to the extent that you begin to question the fact that the uptight, hardworking army officers don't deck him in the face on a daily basis. Eh, whatever. The guy in the Japanese dub sounds to my ears too much like an earnest, motivated shonen hero.

Meh, I guess it's a pretty campy show, and a campy dub just works better with it. (Honourable mention: warmongering Ralgon advisor with English-dub voice that drips "look at me I am evil muahahahahaha".)

(Notably, in spite of this logic I liked both dubs of Ranma 1/2. Somehow, unlike Captain Tylor, the martial artists in the Japanese version of Ranma sounding all serious-like about Ridiculous Thingamabob of the Day just adds to the humour.)

[thepanda]

Did you skip the OAVs? You should skip the OAVs.

[Arakawa]

There's OAVs? What OAVs?

[Brian]

Now watch Planetes, for more irresponsible people in space. :)

[Dracos]

There's OAVs? What OAVs?

There are no OAVs.  Anyone who tells you differently is really trying to hurt you.

(The OAVs remove the 'camp' from Tylor, changing the rules and having everyone but tylor instantly adjust to it.  So it's sort of the flip.  Instead of tylor being a lazy wild peace-loving guy who really understands people in a way, he's now completely out of touch with the setup, and everyone is calling him on it.  I believe the first OAV ends with him being thrown into jail by the Raalgon princess.)

[thepanda]

You know, I got almost the exact opposite out of watching them. I thought it had Tylor as a misunderstood genius hiding behind the slacker persona to hide his angst (where he goes off on the princess in the bath when she asks him about it?) Anyway, much like Nadesico, the TV series ended perfectly and you should ignore anything that came after it.

As for me, I finished both seasons of Gundam 00. A pretty series with good english dubbing that is perfectly watchable so long as you don't allow yourself to think about the plot AT ALL. This may be impossible if you've watched Gundam Wing before. It's the type of show that gets worse the more you think about it. I don't recommend it.

[Uldihaa]

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon:

A complete mess for the first four episodes; so much so I resorted to looking background info up on the internet. But after those four episodes, things finally 'click' and start to make sense. They really, really needed some kind of initial info dump for the first episodes. Something along the lines of, "In the far distant future, humans have explored the universe and discovered it's secrets; then it promptly broke at least one of them, Causality. Now it's stuck back home trying to literally rebuild it's own past. But that doesn't really matter right now. Right now, the Earth has been conquered  by one faction of the 'returning' humans, and tensions continue to build toward another conflict." Or at least that's what I understand is going on.

I do like the techno-magic system, and that the important characters are as uniquely designed as most main characters. It's also the only series that's truly surprised me at times, in a "I didn't see that coming" way.

While I've come to like it, it's really a YMMV series. If you don't mind doing a little research, I think it's well worth watching.

Carnival Phantasm:

It's the Nasu-verse on crack. OAV series with episodes no longer than 15 minutes or so. A pure gag series at it's best. This show had me laughing so hard I started honking like a goose. Nothing is sacred, all is made fun of.

From turning the Fifth Grail War into a game show to Berserker being sent on a shopping errand, to watching Arcuied try to make okonomiyaki, this show had me howling. They even manage to turn Caster into a love-sick Christmas Cake Woobie with a Saber fixation. Though more Fate/stay night, Tsukihime-Melty Blood gets some screen time. Even Sacchin!

They even reveal the Secret of the Ahoge. And a truly terrible secret it is.

You know, I just wrote all that when I could have just linked to the OP which will show what it's like. I do have to give a warning though: If you're not familiar with Type Moon's stories, particularly Fate/stay night and Tsukihime-Melty Blood, this series isn't for you. It's packed with in-jokes; as in 95% of the humor is based on knowing the characters and their pasts.
 

[Kt3]

I dropped Horizon pretty quick.  Any spoiler-free reason why episode 4 is about where it gels together?  I may pick it up again, but I don't know.

Carnival Phantasm.  I must watch it.  Saw the OP for it a while ago, looked fun as hell.

[Uldihaa]

Episode 4 is when they finally get going on the plot and move beyond showing the same span of time from multiple characters. I was seriously considering dropping the series at episode 3, but decided to give it one more shot; I tend to give a series 4 episodes before I drop them anyway, since the first DVD volume of a series has 4 episodes.

This is also the episode that reveals that this series really does deserve it's World of Badass trope. You also realize that knowing all the character names isn't all that important right now. In other words, the series finally moves beyond random seeming vignettes of a bunch of characters to showing why they've been showing all these scenes and characters.


As for Carnival Phantasm... WATCH IT! You will not be disappointed.

[Kt3]

Just finished watching all of UN-GO.  Holy balls did I enjoy that show.  It's a shame it doesn't seem to get more discussion.

[Uldihaa]

I liked UN-GO, though it was a little rough at first. Inga and Kazamori made the series for me though. Those two together came across as perfect siblings, working together but still not hesitating to get one up on each other. Kazamori in particular really had a great "tone" to the character, both cute and creepy (and even squiky) in a way that made sense. Inga was just pure fun, in both forms.


Rinne no Lagrange

A new Winter anime. Scifi/Mecha with female protagonists. I like what I've seen so far, though many will undoubtedly be screaming Canon Sue*. I like Madoka's instantly accepting personality and eagerness to help others; her being kind of crazy prepared is a nice touch  too. I love that the ally alien has an understanding and appreciation for Earthing humor; and a willingness to play along. I'm going to continue following this.

I'll note that all the things she does well are completely physical.


*Off-toipic rant/tl;dr thoughts on Mary Sue.

A term I've come to despise, not because of what it is but due solely to the way it's been distorted and corrupted. It's become so distorted that people use it to describe the Main Character in his/her own story. I'm sorry, but that's simply impossible if you go back to the core definition: A character that usurps  the Main Characters in their own story; everything else was additional frills and refinements on how the Sue did the usurping. So that just begs the question: How the hell does the Main Character usurp him/herself in their own story? Answer: They can't. They can, however, be Boring Perfect Heroes which shares most (if not all) of the refinements of the Sue but isn't an actual Sue.

In fact, the whole concept of Sue has come to mean "Character that can do two (or more) things well (or better than me) and that I('m jealous of) dislike". At this point, every time I see the term "Sue" used, I roll my eyes and think, "Envy is a terrible thing."

Also, too many "Sue" sub-types. I'm just waiting for the "Highschool-Student-Who-Works-In-A-Maid-Cafe Sue" to appear... [rant: Done]