Anime

[Dekafox]

While it's borderline on whether it's anime or not, puppet wuxia continues to deliver. I just have to share this speech from the latest episode of Thunderbolt Fantasy(we're halfway through the new season now) because it's just *chef's kiss*

Also doesn't really spoil anything, plot-wise, if you're concerned about that, but definitely adds some great context to Azibelpher's previous actions in season 3 and this season.

Even when I was young and weak, my body has not a single scar left behind from being attacked by demonic beasts.
Being here in these cruel and brutal lands of the demon realm and yet somehow managing to survive without sustaining even a scratch. Do you think that’s even possible?
That’s right, it’s impossible.
As impossible as finally attaining the secret technique, only to ignore and not try it out even once.
That’s exactly why when I completed this technique to combat causality that this miraculous first half of my life all made sense to me.
Turns out changing the past has the impact of also affecting the memories of the conjurer.
That means…
I’m afraid my real origin was nothing more than some mediocre schmuck filled with much sorrow and humiliation.
I relied on the secret technique I comprehended to completely alter that aspect of my past.
And because I’ve removed the root of my lamentation in the early half of my life, I’ve since then lost the motivation to change the past.
All that which reside within my body right now are merely the memories of basking in the path of my victories.
Before I become that version of someone I could accept...
What did the past ‘me’ yearn for?
What did that ‘me’ attain along the way?
I remember absolutely nothing!
Thus, this life of mine is akin to a story written by a stranger.

So you’re saying, no matter what sort of setbacks the future may hold for you…

It matters not to me.
Be it comedy or tragedy, it would not be an outcome that disagrees with me.
Because the ‘me’ existing in another time have already gotten rid of all those disagreements.
Even if what awaits me is the destruction of this body of mine, that’s nothing more than what the other ‘me’ has considered a good result for myself.

Something like that… that’s just…

I have to say, Keigai, because of this Scrying Mirror invention of yours...
You too, are now standing on the starting point of the secret technique behind the transversing of time.
While I do praise you for your development, I also have to tell you this: it’s best not to continue pursuing it
It’s because I’ve attained the power to alter the past and shape the future that I’ve lost all joys and pride from my accomplishments.
This is the curse behind trying to manipulate causality.
This is the trap that awaits your very future.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Toei's put up the One Piece Fan Letter Special up on Youtube officially for free for a limited time. I recommend you give it a watch, even if you're not really a fan of One Piece. It's actually a really well done one-off story.

 

[Confuzor]

Also there's the animated Begins Night coming:

I think you mean

 

[Confuzor]

Kazuki Yao, voice of Franky in One Piece and many other roles, is retiring.

Kazuki Yao to Step Down From One Piece Franky Role

Jump Festa event on December 22 to hold "graduation ceremony," announce successor

www.animenewsnetwork.com

This isnt too surprising, unfortunately. Hes been sounding ROUGH recently and for some time he's been looking sickly in photos, prompting fans to be worried about his health.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Aw, that's kind of a shame. It's not surprising, and I'm glad he's doing it for his health, but it's still a shame.

Honestly, though? I hate to say it, but the same might be happening for a few more of the cast of One Piece. This anime has been going on for almost 30 years. These voice actors aren't getting any younger.

 

[Superomegaprime]

I hope he as a SSSSSUPER retirement!

Whoever takes over the role as Franky, has big shoes or rather, arms to fill!

 

[Teufel]

I'd hoped since they'd kept him on the show despite having a lot of trouble talking that it meant it was a temporary issue and something less severe like dental problems. Sad to see him go, he was a lot of fun and had a very unique voice. Whoever they get next might do a good job, but they'll never be able to replace him.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Like a angel with steady, constant hunger pains...Go forth, young boy, and you will find your Happy Meal!

McDonald’s Japan Unveils Evangelion Figures

<p>Following a couple of posts that teased an Evangelion collaboration, McDonald’s Japan has revealed three upcoming Evangelion figures. These figures are Unit-00, Unit-01, and Unit-02, but not entirely as you know them. Aside from being a little stumpy, these Evangelions are transformable and...

www.anitrendz.com

Transformable Neon Genesis Evangelion toys are coming to McDonalds in Japan!

I tend to doubt they'll come to the West. But, you might be able to find a way to import them. I just think they're neat!

Then again, I said the same thing about those Yu-Gi-Oh/Hello Kitty toys, and that happened, so who knows?

 

[Daith]

Just finished GGO season 2 and I gotta say who was writing this?! The first 3/4 is just a rehash of Squad Jam with some new Fortnite storm rules and a heel turn. And the last quarter has it turn into a squad assault against a group of “NPC” prototypes and the ending making it super uncomfortable when the obvious reveal at the end comes. I was hyped to see the Pink Munchkin of death rain down some destruction, but this felt kinda underwhelming and kinda uncomfortable at the end.

 

[Superomegaprime]

SAO GGO S2 was ok, it pretty much inline with what one expects from it, it was more intersting that the last SAO season, that just dragged on as it focused upon a lot of pointless side characters who barely drove the narative forwards, in my view, SAO best seasons was season 1, first half and season 2, first half, the whole Alicezaion arc, that was drawn out far to much, thou SAO biggest problem is that they have some good secondary characters, who barely get any attention as it focuses on making its lead more and more OP or worthless characters

 

[Daith]

See I loved Alicization. I actually would call it my favorite arc of the series for all the secondary characters. It suffers the "Kirito is the best evah" curse like every other part of the series, but there was a plethora of characters to set focus on after the first half in War of the Underworld that it was refreshing that Kirito sat out most of it. I appreciated the world they were fleshing out more.

 

[NovaSaber]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1872047167419920837

 

[Dekafox]

Couldn't remember the airdates of the new stuff I was interested in, so looked them up. For anyone interested:

Aquarion MOE: Jan 9th
Mashin Hero Wataru: Jan 12th
Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer: Jan 12th

Combined with Super Hero Time, at least Japan still appears to keep the tradition alive of Saturday Sunday Morning Cartoons

 

[Caldwin]

The other day I started a subscription to Crunchy Roll. Believe me, the last thing I wanted was a subscription to yet another streaming service. But it seemed to be the only way to watch Nier Automata. So, yes, I subscribed for that one series. That said, I'd like to find more to watch than just a single series if I'm going to keep this subscription. So, suggestions would be appreciated.

Right now on my watchlist:
Nier Automata Ver 1.1
Attack on Titan
Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai
Rosario + Vampire
Dirty Pair
Gantz
Street Fighter II The Animated Series
Ninja Scroll: The Series

Right now I own Physically:
Elfin Lied
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Perfect Blue
Pokemon Indigo League and several movies
Trigun
Trigun Badlands
Escaflowne (series and movie)
Appleseed
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell The New Movie
Ghost in the Shell Arise
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Nausica
Howl's Moving Castle
Ninja Scroll the movie
Akira
Alita Battle Angel
Street Fighter II V plus the Alpha movies plus the original animated movie


Based on these titles, can anyone think of suggstions for my Crunchy Roll watchlist?

 

[Daith]

Going by your current line up

Trigun Stampede
Fatal Fury OVAs
Fatal Fury the Motion Picture
Suzume
Your Name.
Record of Lodoss War

That said, there's plenty of things to watch. I just wish everything made the transfer from Funimation.

 

[Caldwin]

Thanks. I'm kinda wary of Trigun Stampede. When you absolutely love the original, reboots/remakes can be done really well or really badly. I may give it a shot, but with trepidation.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

I think I'd need to know what kind of tropes in anime you don't mind, and which ones you hate in order to suggest anything.

Like you have stuff like Ninja Scroll and Perfect Blue on your list, but why exactly? The mature themes? The psychological themes for Perfect Blue?

Rosario + Vampire is one of my favorite animes, but is it on your list because you like monster girls, or the premise seems creative?

Like looking at the list, I want to suggest this:

But I have no way of knowing if it actually looks interesting to you.

 

[Caldwin]

Well, Ghost in the Shell as well as Nier Automata, Apple Seed, Matrix, Cyberpunk 2077, Alita...all have the same energy of high-tech, man/machine interface. I tend to limit my love for Ghost in the Shell in particular to the first and second movies just because I find all the detail of how the tech works and all of the in depth politics hard to follow. But lots of cyborgs and lots of guns is fun.

Ninja Scroll is kind of the same reason why I like TMNT, Usagi Yojimbo, 7 Samurai, 47 Ronin. It's the whole ninja, feudal japan, well choreographed sword fights. Over the top blood is optional and honestly could stand to be reigned in a bit.

Rosario Vampire...I like the first season for its light pervy fun. But the second season crossed the line from light pervy to...too much. So there's that.

Trigun and Escaflowne are kind of a weird 'I don't know what why I like them, I just do' kind of thing. Trigun my college girlfriend got me into. I thought it was too silly at first but grew to love the silliness. Escaflowne was a series I just kinda choose because I heard the name several times on another board. Can't say why I like it, I just do.

Elfin Lied and Gantz are really not a good guide for what I'd like now. I started them at a time where I was like "blood, guts and nudity...yay!" But I've kinda grown past that to be honest.

Akira is another one I can't quite explain. It doesn't have the cyborgs of my preferred cyberpunk. I really watched it because "if you like Anime then you have to watch Akira." I like it but I don't know if I can say why. Maybe it's the whole punk aesthetic. Cool ass motorcycles certainly didn't hurt.

Studio Ghibli is just Studio Ghibli.

Edit:
Oh right! Evangelion. Eh, I liked the early series mostly because of mechs and the boozey "just one of the guys" lady room mate and the tsundere red head. But it got a bit too nihilistic by the end. I've thought about trying Gundam, but I have no idea where to start and the sheer amount of stuff there is for viewing is rather intimidating.

 

[Dekafox]

On the mecha side, I enjoyed Knights & Magic, which is basically a fantasy mecha series. It's technically isekai, but the main character's previous life doesn't really factor into it other than being really good at magitech because it's like programming, and he was a really good programmer in his previous life. No harem shenanigans either - the power fantasy is all about rapid mecha tech advancement and building your ultimate personal mech.

Thunderbolt Fantasy is something I've mentioned here before, and the first three seasons and two movies are on Crunchyroll. It's more Chinese leaning than Japanese leading but still that kind of Eastern over-the-top swordfight fantasy. I dismissed it at first myself when the first season originally aired because of the puppets, but I saw a couple clips that people were relating to some Pathfinder classes, and got used to it pretty quick. Only thing to be aware of is the CR subs use the CHinese spelling of the names so it may not match what you're hearing,

 

[Cybersnark]

Not sure what's on Crunchyroll these days, but

I've thought about trying Gundam, but I have no idea where to start and the sheer amount of stuff there is for viewing is rather intimidating.

Best places to start with Gundam (IMHO) are the "side-universes" (i.e., the things not directly connected to the original continuity/timeline).

Gundam 00 is about a band of terrorists/revolutionaries with advanced technology trying to bring about a new world order (which backfires and then has to be fixed in S2)

Iron-Blooded Orphans is about a group of child soldiers who go into business for themselves and get caught up in machiavellian politics.

The Witch From Mercury is about an attempted revolution seen through the eyes of students at an elite technical school. It's also the latest series, and the first to feature a female protagonist.

For cyberpunk, try:
Pluto (a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's Mighty Atom [known here as Astro Boy] as a gritty murder mystery.)

For sword-wielding action, try:
Demon Slayer (the massively popular shonen series about, well, demon slayers.)

Yasuke (a sci-fantasy story based on the historical black samurai.)

Revenger (a band of feudal Japanese viglante-mercenaries involving a suicidal ronin.)

Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master (set in a world based on Imperial China, where four concubines are competing for the Emperor's hand while the Emperor himself works to unravel a conspiracy that threatens the entire nation.)

Ooku: The Inner Chambers (another courtly drama, this one set in an alternate world where the genders are reversed.)