The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

[Piscian]

I've been watching "A Couple of Cuckoos". I don't normally go for these sort of mundane school dramedy animes, but I'd heard good things. It's about two kids swapped at birth. The protagonist grew up poor in a loving restaurant family and the other swappee grew up ultra wealthy, living life as a spoiled influencer. Normally this is not my thing as theres usually a lot of miscommunication tropes, tsundre crap and meandering nonsense. Instead this one is pretty endearing. The rich kid almost immediately changes her tune, revealing that her life has been pretty depressing and lonely despite being rich and so shes not mean or anything. Almost empathic in the first few episodes. By the 4th episode theres a lot of twists being revealed that may complicate things and makes the story more interesting. I'd recommend it, but theres only a few episodes out so maybe wait until the first season is done.

 

[meiam]

Watched most of kotaro is always alone on netflix. Show about some kid who live alone in an apartment and all his weird neighbor. Very sweet but it nicely balance the sweetness by also flashing much darker moment which helps keep things somewhat grounded.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'm almost to the fire nation invasion, so the first half or so of the 3rd season. Katara is pretty insufferable.

Maybe you'll like her better in the movie.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Fringe season 3-4... to be fair to the writers, that storyline was over. They really had kind of wrung all of the "dual worlds" story out that they could have, it wasn't going anywhere else. I really don't enjoy the final 2 seasons as much, but it didn't have anything to do with where the story went when it changed. It was more the writing along the way. They really ramped up the tension, but it sucked the joy out of the show. There had been a lot of comedic moments, usually courtesy of John Noble, early in the series. Not so much later on.

I think season 3 was where I stopped watching. I don't really remember why very well other than I thought the writing was going downhill. It was a long time ago. I really loved the show to begin with, though.

 

[Kyrian007]

I think season 3 was where I stopped watching. I don't really remember why very well other than I thought the writing was going downhill. It was a long time ago. I really loved the show to begin with, though.

You were right, it was going downhill. It was like X-Files in fast forward. Great when it was more anthology/monster of the week style episodes, much less good when it involved long story arcs and connected storylines. So when the show completely abandoned the anthology style somewhere around season 3, it just lost most of its actual quality. Actually though you really can't compare it to anything else, I have NEVER seen a show change directions as completely as Fringe did. They pulled it off once when they transitioned from "investigating strange phenomena" to

Spoiler

"fighting mirror universe."

That actually kind of worked, so they thought "why not do it again" and transitioned again to a badly written Terminator ripoff. So 1 series in 5 seasons went from X-Files-like to Star Trek trope and landed on Terminator. I knew people who stopped at the first transition, you didn't make it through to the second, and frankly it took me until a couple of years after it aired that I even first watched the final season. I really liked it early on too. But you quit at about the exact right time.

 

[Chimpzy]

Super Crooks

It's kind of like Ocean's Eleven, but with supervillains. Except the supervillains are d-list losers. Apparently takes place in the same continuity that Jupiter's Legacy does. It's the better show tho. Not the best ever anime by any means, but it makes good use of the cards its given, and some creative use of underwhelming superpowers makes for some fun heists. And sometimes that's enough. Also, it has a sweet op.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Shikkakumon no Saikoy Kenja, kind of regret it, it was eminently forgettable (an isekai/reincarnation variant, protagonist remembers everything about their past life, w/e). Just as well I was playing games while watching most of it, it couldn't hold my attention at all, with more OP MC tropes than you could shake a fist at.

As per the rest of the weeb-net, the dragon was the best thing about it.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Love Death and Robots Season 3

Wasn't a dumpster fire like Season 2, but also, not nearly as good as 1. The Netflix curse strikes again.

Very little love this time around. Robots as well. It was mostly death, aka just a whole lotta gore and gross squishy bits. As an animation showcase, wasn't very interesting either. Minus points for no 2D stuff.

 

[Ezekiel]

Finished Daria.

The ending was pretty good. A nice little introspection into who she is. It apparently wasn't cancelled; the show runner ended it on his own terms. I'm sure I'll miss having it as part of my routine the last couple of months. Still have the second movie left, though.

 

[meiam]

Finished Daria.

The ending was pretty good. A nice little introspection into who she is. It apparently wasn't cancelled; the show runner ended it on his own terms. I'm sure I'll miss having it as part of my routine the last couple of months. Still have the second movie left, though.

I just rewatched it not too long ago too. I quite liked a lot of it, but Daria herself kinda got weird at the end. It felt like every episode she was blowing up at her boyfriend for no reason and she never really had to come to term with that, he'd always just go "Oh okay", she'd apologies, and next episode she'd blow up at him again. I kinda wish the show moved away from her and became more of an ensemble cast since it felt like they did everything they wanted with her at that point.

 

[Dalisclock]

1. Fringe is such a strange show explicitly because theres a clear line where season 3 ends the original story and everything is revealed and the last 2 seasons are an entirely different storytelling format and plot. It wouldn't surprise me if the original team largely left and somebody came in after season 3.

Fringe is one of those shows I go back and watch every few years and it doesn't get old for me. Yes, the last two seasons are a step down but I do appreciated the observer storyline gets some kind of conclusion instead of just being this wierd loose end, even if it could have been much better executed. As others have stated, the main two universe plot more or less is complete by the end of season 3 and they basically needed to go somewhere with it to keep the show going.

I do kinda love how it's both super dark and really fucking cheesy at the same time and probably the closest to an actual SCP show we're going to get.(The Librarians don't count, because the Librarians is just fucking stupid 90% of the time and the lack of budget shows everywhere, particularly in the script). Like how every episode has some kind of wierd awful death, at least in the first few seasons, but you've also got Walter keeping it wierd and silly with his mentally ill/childlike thing despite knowing how everything worked because pretty much all of it was his fault in some way. Also they have a cow because why not.

 

[Ezekiel]

I kinda wish the show moved away from her and became more of an ensemble cast since it felt like they did everything they wanted with her at that point.

The DVD has a PDF of a pilot script for a Mystic Spiral spinoff. I have not read it yet, but that would have been one option.

Mystik Spiral pilot episode - DariaWiki

dariawiki.org

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I just rewatched it not too long ago too. I quite liked a lot of it, but Daria herself kinda got weird at the end. It felt like every episode she was blowing up at her boyfriend for no reason and she never really had to come to term with that, he'd always just go "Oh okay", she'd apologies, and next episode she'd blow up at him again. I kinda wish the show moved away from her and became more of an ensemble cast since it felt like they did everything they wanted with her at that point.

Ah, so she became a typical anime tsundere.

 

[Ezekiel]

With their kid and no safety net. Robin's parents deserved to die, to be honest.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Super Crooks

It's kind of like Ocean's Eleven, but with supervillains. Except the supervillains are d-list losers. Apparently takes place in the same continuity that Jupiter's Legacy does. It's the better show tho. Not the best ever anime by any means, but it makes good use of the cards its given, and some creative use of underwhelming superpowers makes for some fun heists. And sometimes that's enough. Also, it has a sweet op.

Yup, watched it a few months ago and really liked it.

Also, the dub is very good. I prefer it actually, which is extremely rare for me.

 

[Kyrian007]

Like how every episode has some kind of weird awful death, at least in the first few seasons, but you've also got Walter keeping it wierd and silly with his mentally ill/childlike thing despite knowing how everything worked because pretty much all of it was his fault in some way. Also they have a cow because why not.

Absolutely one of the best things about Fringe, especially in the first couple of seasons. My friends and I referred to it as the "This is going to be gross moment." There was almost always some kind of foreshadowing... seconds before one of those shocking scenes. We got good at spotting them and it even became kind of a game with us.

 

[Kyrian007]

Getting back to anime, I just generally don't enjoy things that skew too "shonen-ey." Although for the most part it is generally anime's predilection toward centering shows on schools and teenagers that bugs me. And for that reason, I'd never watched HunterXHunter. Until a friend convinced me it is shonen I'd actually really like.

Not sure why, but he was right. I'm really liking it. Good team dynamic going. The pace is slow so far, but it seems like it is helping to introduce us to the characters instead of shonen's generally accepted reason for slow pacing... pad out the run time. I've only got as far as day 3 of the hunter test, but I'm really hooked.

 

[meiam]

Getting back to anime, I just generally don't enjoy things that skew too "shonen-ey." Although for the most part it is generally anime's predilection toward centering shows on schools and teenagers that bugs me. And for that reason, I'd never watched HunterXHunter. Until a friend convinced me it is shonen I'd actually really like.

Not sure why, but he was right. I'm really liking it. Good team dynamic going. The pace is slow so far, but it seems like it is helping to introduce us to the characters instead of shonen's generally accepted reason for slow pacing... pad out the run time. I'm only got as far as day 3 of the hunter test, but I'm really hooked.

The hunter test and auction house arc are great and deviate from regular formula somewhat, but you might not be crazy about the chimera arc later that's very shonen-ey. There's also a tournament arc in between there. Also FYI there's 2 version of the anime, I assume your watching the most recent one, but otherwise it'll suddenly stop.

 

[thebobmaster]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 4: Yes, I've watched the earlier seasons as well, just deciding to pipe up about it now. HOLY SHIT, this show is so good. Started a bit rocky, and I didn't really understand the hype until I got partway through Season 2...I think (watching in chronological order instead of episode order makes the first half of the show hard to keep track of). By this point, I think it's the strongest Star Wars material I've seen. Surprisingly dark for a family-oriented show, with quite a bit of grey vs grey morality, where the good guys are not bad, but they aren't completely squeaky clean, either.

 

[Worgen]

Rewatched Madoka Magika. Its still really good, but the ending is still kinda both good and annoying.

Spoiler

Like, how Madoka ended up being god from her wish to be able to stop witches from existing seems like kind of a reach.