What anime do you watch?

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iwansquall
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Revenge best served cold.
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Old series, kinda heard about it, but I thought it was a another series that might not interested me.

The story is long drawn revenge story. As our protagonist family got murdered by mafia group, he safely run to the forest. Feeling lost of everything and wanted to seek revenge, he went to join mafia group that he seek to destroyed. Thus, the beginning of tale between gaining trust, doing dirty work, laying a long plan and finally execute it. Along he will meet up with various characters that while can be interesting, but mostly doesnt have time to develop. The story focus on 2 main characters, where we can see from each perspective.

The series is kinda tricky. The reason is because Im was not a fan of the studio who made it. At least the previous entry format (Baccano & Durarara) where it tried to deliver complex story from different characters perspective. While I think the story & direction is beautiful, there are simply too many time it felt too slow & boring. While the plot twist & action scene interesting, it always cut too short and mostly are toward the end of the series.

Again, my suggestion is too give the series few episodes a try first (it slow start afterall). Because mature / gritty story, just take precautious if you are not fan of those.




Simplify my post now as putting link for alternative & colour coding take too much time.
I also watched Battle Blood Blockade last time, but didnt bother doing review that it was meh as I was watching it while grinding. Didnt hook me at all.
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iwansquall
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Highschool teen + Mecha, what could go wrong?

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Oh boy, i have to give you guys a long history specifically for this one. The anime production studio for this specific is called P.A Works. I dont have much details on their history, but one thing for sure, they are unique studio that focused mostly on anime original (meaning no source material), so they sometimes experiment with wacky ideas. So for their 15th anniversary, they deliver a story that involved school, sci fi story with alien & mech, a historical figure (think a samurai from the past).

Except, the series failed on capitalize on all of the concept. I think I enjoyed the beginning of the anime, where there are tons of mystery / unknown questions about the reality of the world. The moment it revealed, i felt like a letdown. Mainly because the series focus on freaking SLICE OF LIFE in between battle. I dont mind if it was abit more balanced (SOL part should be used to develop characters), but the jarring shifting between serious part of the story & weird comical part, felt like the series is confused.

I guess the worse part is definitely the terrible 3D CGI. Considered this is a sci fi mech story, there are tons of mech battles that used weird low frame per seconds anime. There isnt any moment during battle that I felt hyped. Aside from the focus issue, i think most of the anime is pretty good. I enjoy the relaxation of SoL part of anime, it just sad that the most important drama part felt so weak. Characters are typical damsel in distress, samurai main character, a caring mother / research leader, and several other supporting casts.

Ok anime, but I felt sad / bored about the last half. because it have huge potential. 26 episodes didnt help either, especially the main plot isnt the focus until last several episodes which it felt too draggy.
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iwansquall
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Is the hype is real?
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Only initial information that you guys need to know is that the studio have changed hand from Studio Wit to Studio Mappa. While I understand that will be some quality differences, but nothing prepare me for what i got from this season.

Since this is pretty heavy season, I will try not to spoilt major plots. The story have some time skip since ending of 3rd season part 2. You dont have to know any details, but lets just say now that the story now start from the opposite side. It is not a bad things since we finally able to know what is the world on other places as well as the reason / motivation on why whole story began. It introduced several new characters that would be the main focus for majority of the story.

Oh boy, I want to tell that despite how low i set my expectation for this season (because of overhyped), I was so disappointed in many parts. Sure, the story is engaging that made you want to watch the series until the end. But the major flaws from this season bring the scores down. First, there extra / new characters are while complex, it felt annoying. The direction of story is jarring too because there are too many cuts in story that only explained few episodes later, especially anything that related to telling a story of present & past.

Definitely important season, but it wasnt as good / rewarding as last season. Way too many exposition / info dump that, yet there are too many holes in the storytelling that i think it will be resolved in part 2. My suggestion ? Wait until next year (early 2022) for whole story conclusion. (manga ending is out though).
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Long long time ago... in earth far far away in the future....
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I believe I mentioned about that winter 2021 is packed with a lot of sequel of top / good-ish anime? Since I dont much free time to watch average or meh anime, i decided that I wish just focus on series that i wanted some more story on. This is 2nd anime of this run.

Nothing much to say about this series, if you enjoyed first season (it was fun, but get repetitive sometimes). This time was finally the part where I was waiting for, the reunion between friends in 2 different warring side. Since in the first season, we are mostly focused on the good side, this time around we will be introduced with several more characters from opponent side. While most of them seem interesting, at the end they felt like useless aside from maybe one or two character.

For overall of season, it pretty much just 1 simple big arc about the war. Both side trying to get information from their opponent while trying to plan their next move. There is nothing more i can say unless i go to spoiler territory. Lets just i was hoping for whole story, but the resolution feel like abit meh. Well kinda expected since this isnt a battle anime afterall, but I feel like 1st season have more intense battle in middle of the arc. Thankfully, it the clash of idelogies / ideas is still main part of this season.

My recommend is only watch if you can enjoy the 1st season. Shounen will be always shounen, as much as I love crafting in video games, but dishing them out rapidly is just boring to me.
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Slime the underlord... ish.
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The 3rd sequel anime of the season marathon, as usual i didnt expect much except for continuation of series. It really depend either this season have hype moment or not. I binged in just 24 hours for some reason.

The hype is real. Despite some issue with the pacing (i really dont like the slice of life part this time tbh), the season finished with a blast. This season feel more weight as there are threat to the monster nation. At certain time, it is focus more on slice of life or comedy part, but there is more emphasize on how to work together to run a nation.

I dont remember much on 1st season anime production, but definitely I can enjoy the spell used in this season. From the beautiful effect barrier magic, to a powerful blast that fly through screen, the best part about the spell animation is definitely the sound effect accompanied with it. Especially the several big fights in this season.

If you want to give this anime series a try, I suggest to watch the first 13 episodes (I forgot which one, but until the end of big battle). The 2nd half of 1st season was boring. Thankfully this season redeem itself (albeit, the typical shounen OP MC pattern).




Writing review for sequel is pretty tricky, especially i need to sell you if it worth the time to start watching everything from start. Repetitive shounen pattern is also something to be blame (typically they used to have long anime season with hundreds of episodes & filler, but nowadays they seem to adapt 12 or 24 episodes at a time, hence more reviews.).
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What in the world is this ..... long waited sequel, made me triggered?
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Oh boy, i totally forgot about this anime. It is an anime that I wish that ended in higher note (proper anime adaptation, no cliffhanger). By design, this is considered sophisticated shounen because how complex their weapon design & how strategic their combat.

I have hard to time to review this, mainly because I already forgot most of the plot & concept from 1st season. I remember fondly that I know this anime is such a underrated hidden gem that need some attention to details in order to enjoy it. I also aware of issue with its source material where the original manga is on hiatus (like hunter x hunter). 1st season of this anime was back in 2016 (I dont remember when did i watched it, i cant find in review of my previous post).

This season started started immediately with their base under attack by invader from other world. For first 6 episodes, the focus of the story are solely on other side characters that reveal several key information about them. Once it all over, then finally we get back to our protagonist team. The series is in the middle of tournament, thus the strategic / tactical combat between 2 teams. We are able to see to our protagonist growth (he was weak MC type) when tackling the combat.

Ok, this is really hard season to recommend. You will need to watch 1st season follow immediately by this, or do it like me which is watching some recap video on youtube to refresh your mind about (since too many year gap). Im happy to see this anime finally got a sequel, just dont expect it as a grand masterpiece shounen though, it is more like to "clever" shounen.
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The promised land that never come.
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Ok, there was several stuff I noticed when I wanted to start to watch this anime. First is the low score, 2nd are the high amount of videos that reviews the problem with this season and 3rd are the anime going for "anime original" plot that that is supervised by original writer.

Oh boy, I will be honest that I can see what is the issue with currently season. The 1st season was a masterpiece, with intriguing plots, mind games as well as a simple goal of escaping the farm. Im kinda aware since beginning that the survival of the group will be very slim in the wild, but I cant imagine how many plot convenient that happened in several of early episodes. When I read some reviews, apparently despite they doing different plots from manga, they cut way too many contents.

Pacing & time skip is my build issue with this anime. The way how it flow in 1st season, you expecting that at least this anime can go for another 24 episodes easily, but somehow they squished all importants plots until the conclusion to merely 11 episodes. The moments revelation & tragic was supposed to have some hints or build, but everything was too short. It made everything have no impact at all. Am I supposed to take all this exposition dump about the world & history between human / demons as "story"?

I suggest you just skip this season. Despite I now know all the story about the world & story resolution, there just too disappointing considered how strong the 1st season. You might as well just watch a synopsis or review about manga.
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So dark & edgy, just like beast in the middle of night.
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Nothing much to say about this series aside from clever usage of andromorphic animal as a method of storytelling. If you liked first season, you will like this.

Anime production wise, since I already mesmerized by how different the 1st season, this season felt the samey and nothing new. Personally i felt 1st season have more "interesting moments" especially related to the title Beastars. This season covered much more darker theme with underground organization, black market situation as well as tackling the hidden killer from 1st season. There are still several light theme side story but majority are involved with big plots said above.

However back in my mind felt something off that I couldnt explained. Perhaps because 1st season was something new and this merely just continuation. As for why I felt direction is felt less interesting is probably have to do with the story. The first season are focused on more characters building, with several light / funny comedy moments added in between serious story. Since characters already developed, the focus are more on story. Side characters didnt get much focus though.

If you arent turned off by 3d style furry anime, then I highly recommend to watch both season back to back. It really tackle big subjects this time around albeit lower impact than 1st season.
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Im running out of funny stuff to say.
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Another marathoning of shounen sequel 2021. This time around is Log Horizon which s2 was back in 2015. Log Horizon was a special isekai where it focused more on tactical / strategic rather than raw combat power, but can it stand of the current time?

The answer is depend. If you seen the review on MAL for example, there are alot of this anime fan. It said to be deep, a thought provoking and study on human psychology. But to me, everything was boring. 90% of this season are mostly about talking or info dump. Even there is a fight scene, apparently it just a merely retelling of story of another character thus, it doesnt have anything like motive or reasoning for fight aside from showing raw power of that characters.

Another strength part of this anime which is strategic & slice of life also feel very boring. This mainly if you cant remember all the characters name / roles, you will forgot every nuisance for the coversation (6 years gap afterall). All the stuff i love about Log Horizon is no longer here. Not even the exploitation of video games mechanic are the core of this season. Back in my mind was wondering, why was this sequel was made now? What is the reason?

Personally I dont recommend this season. It was too boring for me. Perhaps my taste have changes, but there isnt any part what I considered tactical / strategic. I dont like politic in anime either.
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This probably the last shounen of this season. There isnt much to introduce about this series aside from it being entertaining simple story about how cells works in our body.

This season is a bit special because the another spin off is also aired at same season (Code Black) which supposed to have more darker tones as it take from perspective not healthy person. Ok back to this series, we pretty much focus the story on the usual red & white cells. The only extra stuff in this season are pretty much the several new characters that can be part funny and another part annoying. To be frank, it felt like this season focus much on side character than main characters itself.

As usual, our body always come in contact with harmful stuff such as as bruise, bump or virus. We learnt several key important parts of our body functions such as how vaccine works, how certain cells evolved when the time call for it and how good bacteria works. In beginning the series is kinda cute & following the repetitive pattern. The story became much darker near the final 2 episodes & perhaps the best part of whole series.

If you liked 1st season, then this season is pretty much continuation. I would say the comedy and educational part is abit weaker this time around although maybe it because of short 8 episodes.




This mark the 1000th posts in the long anime thread. I dunno how long I have been posting here since the beginning, but I can say it was such a long journey improving my writing and way to deliver information in concise format.