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What have you been watching/reading this week?
Day and a half late edition.
Anyway, what have you been watching/reading this week?
Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its Anilist, MAL, or any other anime/manga database you use!
I've actually been binge-watching Overlord after putting it off for indefinite time (read: forever). It's super weird, I'm not even that thoroughly engrossed by it. A lot of time is spent on sub-plots which barely feature the supposed main cast, and when said main cast appears you are continuously reminded of how they are all supposed to be horrible, awful creatures.
And yet I'm hooked on the whole social/empire building aspect of it, I suppose for the same reason I stuck through Maouyuu.
That show is so awesome...
Is it though? Like some of the world-building is interesting but the whole "it's an MMO but not really" part gets kind of hackneyed after a while, and I just don't care for some the characters it's clearly trying to push like Albedo. Especially when it feels this need to just have a fanservice scene with her at the start of each season and then completely forget about it until maybe five or six episodes in.
I watched this a long time ago, so I cannot answer satisfactorily. But I remember that I enjoyed both seasons till the end.
Fair enough for the comment on the main cast but I disagree with your comment about Albedo. Or actually it's more like I can't really buy into it. The fact that Ains/Momonga altered her programming is significant in the story itself but the scenes in question that punctuate the start of each season do not drive the significance of that home, they simply reiterate the same basic point: Albedo wants to have sex with Ains and tries to seduce him.
In fact the subplot is carried way better by a couple of other scenes in the other episodes, which are both way shorter and with far less of a pervy, gaze-y camera going over it. So then why are the other scenes there? I say this also because a lot of people why try Overlord and who are decidedly not into fan service-heavy anime trip over those scenes, they are not subtle. And I keep having to tell them that the rest of the anime isn't like that at all.
I won't proclaim my opinion to be the overarching truth on the matter, but I do feel like a large part of Albedo's character is Overlord trying to have it's cake and eat it too, or injecting some fanservice in there so they can start moving some more of those figurines and special edition blu-rays and stuff. And the fact that, according to the fandom wiki at least, she didn't exist in the original story kind of reinforces that feeling to me.
I am currently watching Serial Experiments Lain, 3 episode in and I am really enjoying. Don't know why but I love electric wire sound.
I watched 3 episodes of Grand Blue and dropped it from my watch list. First episode was good but then it became too unfunny.
BTW I am getting into Slice of Life anime, any recommendation (short one's preferred).
Are you looking for more comedic SoL anime or more mellow ones? Which ones have you watched already?
Any
Yuru Camp.
Nichijou is considered one of the all-time classics for good reason. If you want something more in the vein of Yuru Camp then you should check out K-ON!
Thanks for suggestions.
I think I will start with Nichijou
I previously wrote this comment in a thread specifically about shorter anime, but in particular I'd recommend adding AIURA to your list for a pretty decent SoL.
Thanks for suggestion.
Added to my watch list.
Started the week with Mysterious Girlfriend x. Was a pretty decent romance, though I wish things went a bit farther. The show ended before the romance really went anywhere, which really makes me sad.
Then watched Yuyushiki. This show didn't really do anything for me. Felt like it didn't do anything better or different from any of the other dozens of SoL shows I've watched. But was a decent SoL if that is all your looking for.
Finished the week with Another. Really didn't like the show, started off good but hated the middle and the end. Seemed like they didn't know what to do with it halfway through and kinda just gave up.
Another's ending was really lame. Same thing happened with Darling in the Franxx.
I’m watching a lot of Penn and Teller’s Fool Us. So many great and interesting magicians with beautiful stories!
This is actually the ~anime tildes so they were actually asking about that. It makes me think that it is sometimes hard to tell what tildes group that a post belongs to. It kind of feels like one stream of generic posts.
Yeah... I even answered another person in this topic regarding the anime Overlord. My bad :/
I also assumed this was /tv
I'm in the middle of reading Re:Monster, it's about a guy who gets reborn as a goblin and has the ability to gain the power of whatever he eats. i would recommend it, i'm really enjoying it right now. as for what i'm watching i'm currently watching restaurant to another world, it's an episodic show about a restaurant to fantasy world and it's different customers, it's alright definitely nothing special.
Restaurant's premise almost reminds me off Bartender from the page alone, but seemingly with a degree of pastiche of the Isekai genre in it. I think I might check it out now. Thanks for sharing ^^
Another one with a similar premise to Isekai Shokudou is Isekai Izakaya: Koto Aitheria no Izakaya Nobu. There are several differences between the two, but I would say if you like one, you might like the other.
Wow those are very similar. Did you watch both? Are there actual substantial differences?
I haven't finished watching Isekai Izakaya yet so I can't speak as though I know everything.
That being said, Isekai Shokudou has more fantasy elements with magic, non-human races, and dragons. The setting in Isekai Izakaya is more like a real medieval country, possibly somewhere in the Roman Empire. The type of food served in Shokudou is Western-style Japanese food while in Izakaya it is more Japanese bar food or just more traditional Japanese food I think. There are other differences, so it feels to me like they are two different anime that just have similar premises.
Finished Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Next Season which was pleasant but not as impactful as the original TV series.
Watched ep1 of DARLING in the FRANXX which I had put off for a while, maybe because it was overhyped. Based on ep1, it has potential to be good. Feels like a cross between Eureka Seven and Evangelion.
Watched through ep3 or so of A Place Further than the Universe which is sweet and funny, I like it.
I’m finally getting around to Kemono Friends. I’ve watched a few episodes, and to be honest it doesn’t seem great, but it was really popular, so I’m assuming there’s something more, people have said that it starts a bit slow.
I kind of felt similarly with Kemono Friends. I'd say you need to open yourself up to the humor and also try to think of it as an educational show.
So I just finished Kemono Friends, and wow... I never would’ve expected a show with a first episode so bad (or at least bad animation) to get so good by the end.
Apparently it was animated by 5 people, so I guess I can excuse that, and while there were some bad moments, the show really wrapped itself up well in the end.
The voice acting was great, and the series became pretty fun a few episodes in.The educational bits were well-timed and just the right length.
I really liked the whole mysterious aspect of the park, and all the unanswered questions that hint at a darker background behind what the park is, why it exists, etc.
I also love the commentary on human nature and what separates us from animals. While intelligence is definitely one of the big reasons they use, I thought another interesting reason was how Kaban unified the park by helping Friends. I think it might be an aspect that can get overlooked: our ability to collaborate with others on a large scale.
I really liked it overall, such a heartwarming ending :)
I liked the ending too. The mystery parts caught me off guard though, so I didn't pay enough attention, probably need to schedule a rewatch of those particular episodes. Glad you stuck with it and ended up enjoying it!
The mystery parts were definitely something easy to miss, and I’m not sure they were even really intended. It was usually just some quick comment about the park that the characters quickly move on from, but as a viewer, being a lot of questions about the deeper meaning and backstory of the park.
But yeah, loved the ending :)
I'm finally getting around to reading the sequel to poison City, clockwork City. Its about magic and witchcraft and whatever. The first one was really good
I haven't heard of either of those? Care to give a pitch?
Sure. Basically it's about a police officer of the magic world who is searching for his kidnapped kid. He has a sidekick sarcastic demonic dog, who's hardly ever sober. The books are really good reads and I can't put them down.
Binged Ozark season 1 and 2 over weekend. Had never heard of it, and it was pretty great.
Then yesterday I saw the new Venture Brothers episodes, that’s one of my favorite shows and it is still pretty darn great.