The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

[BrawlMan]

I think you're going too far in seeing as condoning the thing that is being tolerated when someone chooses to not actively oppose it,

No.

It's less that you become strong through bullying, and more that there is a type of strength that is exhibited by enduring something instead of fighting it.

Still not the best life lesson to learn. That's just ignoring the issue and a combination of "getting over it". Only done the "nice" way.

Bakugo is painstakingly aware that it is his own weakness that causes him to act this way

Bakugo may be aware, but he should admit out loud (in front of everyone) and actually fucking apologize Izuku. Then he'll have a small portion of my respect. If someone like Satsuki, Pacifica, Zuko, or even Ren Fucking Tao can do it, then so can his sorry ass.

Deku definitely suffers from an inferiority complex, but I don't think the cause of it is actually Bakugo. It is him himself feeling that way due to growing up quirkless when all he ever wished was to be like All Might, that's what hurt him. Bakugo just kinda fed into the fire that was already there as opposed to lighting it.

Basically Deku suffers from imposter complex, not from bullying.

It's a combination of both. You're ignoring what's obviously there. Bakugo treated Deku like shit, even before the latter even found out he was born Quirkless. Then Bakugo doubled down on is assholery and looked down on those weaker than him, or those without a Quirk. Which is is stated and implied he did multiple times to Izuku. That is cause and effect, and it shows. Both stated and shown in the anime and manga. There is proper deconstruction or twisting of the trope. Besides, Bakugo is more of an insecure shit than Izuku is. All you're doing is helping me prove my point. I'm done here, and don't even bother responding or ending your sentence with a "lol", or blow off my arguement for "over thinking and being too serious". I'll hear none of it, and that is final.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Had a five day long weekend, so of course I spent it all watching anime. The things easy access to Netflix and the ability to speed videos up will do you...

Restaurant in Another World (seasons 1 and 2) - Yet another isekai. I don't really have much to say. Definitely something to watch at 1.5x just to pass the time. Unlike most other isekais, it's not horny nor wish fulfillment-y, which are pluses in my book.

Assassin guy in another world (season 1) - I started this show because I had heard it wasn't a generic isekai, but nope it's as generic as they come. Overpowered protagonist, harems, underage love interests, incest, etc, etc. Another 1.5x watch, wish it could have been faster. The tone is all over the place with this one, one episode had sex trafficking and rape, literally the next episode someone was rapping. Yes, rapping, the music kind.

Deca-Dence - Attack on Titan but sci-fi. I'm not really sure what to think of this one yet. Looks good, and is voice acted well. The twist is entertaining but visually is quite annoying (since it entails a new art style). Will reserve the remaining episodes to watch while I exercise.

Hell's Paradise - Another gorgeous looking anime from Mappa. They really are working their animators to the bone. What struck me was how this could have easily been Ghost of Tsushima the anime. I swear to God they're using the same sound effects and ambient music. Just one episode so far, something to keep an eye on.

Asobi Asobase - There's a joke in the first episode where I had to pause because my girlfriend and I couldn't stop laughing. While they couldn't quite reach that peak again in the episodes I've watched since, it still consistently gets laughs outta me. Would reccomend.

 

[Asita]

I'll probably watch the animated movie soon. Not sure about the Stampede reboot - better value, but a style that looks a bit too smooth for me. I always prefer hand-drawn animation to computer-generated 3D or 2D.

For what it's worth, general scuttlebutt I've seen is that Stampede actually does the CGI well. Plus...there's that upgrade they gave Wolfwood's Punisher...

 

[09philj]

For what it's worth, general scuttlebutt I've seen is that Stampede actually does the CGI well. Plus...there's that upgrade they gave Wolfwood's Punisher...

Studio Orange are the present benchmark for quality 3D anime. They also animated Beastars and Land of the Lustrous.

 

[BrawlMan]

I saw the Super Mario Bros Movie (2023). It's excellent. There is really not much for me to say. Illumination outdone themselves and is arguably their best movie. The run time is air tight, and I am thankful for the 92 minute run time. Everyone actually put in the effort, voice actors, the animators and writers, the subtle shout-outs and in-jokes to the games, and the humor never gets obnoxious or pop-culture heavy. I will say while I never cared for the licensed songs used, they at least don't outstay their welcome and are only used with small snippets. The movie does heavily use the Mario soundtrack, it's remixed variations, and even some DK to greater and more efficient degree. I noticed a lot of the songs used are from the 80s or late 80s, so it makes some sense, but not really necessary. Still better than how Sonic 1 or Sonic 2 handled most of its music. The Sonic movies barely used the game music, used 90s hip-hop music, or was using "modern" pop songs way out of date.

Speaking of which, SMBM I do find better than Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. Better in terms of overall pacing and not wasting time on characters no one cares about. Sonic 2 is still great, don't get me wrong, but I really hope the team learns something from Mario Bros. In terms of TV or movie of games adaption pantheon, SMBM is an A. This movie is up their with Castlevania, Mortal Kombat (1995,) Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and Warcraft.

 

[meiam]

Asobi Asobase - There's a joke in the first episode where I had to pause because my girlfriend and I couldn't stop laughing. While they couldn't quite reach that peak again in the episodes I've watched since, it still consistently gets laughs outta me. Would reccomend.

If you've never watched them, you can try Nichijou and daily life of high school boys for somewhat similar comedy style.

 

[Dalisclock]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 2

I was waiting for the season to end before posting a review and then I realize just now that the season finale was like a week ago so I'm already caught up.

Overall pretty solid. It still suffers from the usual SW issue of being unfocused, where a good 30% to 50% of the episodes are the bad batch going on jobs for Sid to pay off their debt which never seems to get paid off(and it feels like that's by design). There's also a episode where they have to win a race because Sid makes a bet and loses so they have to save her by winning the race and What is this even doing here? Why did we need a racing episode? We didn't but apparently that's what came up the "Random Filler plot" generator for that week. At least the Bad Batch eventually decide to chuck Sid, meaning they finally get to go off and do stuff for themselves and not just be the A-Team.

That being said, there are some really good episodes, notably near the end. The incredibly shitty treatment of the clone troopers by the empire comes into stark focus on a number of episodes and it is fucking heartbreaking, especially since it feels very on the nose on how military vets are often treated once wars are over(that is, basically abandoned). Crosshair learns this so well it eventually convinces him that Good Soldiers do not follow orders. The last couple episodes of the season has a really nice setup and payoff to end the season on, along with a couple good easter eggs.

It's interesting watching this side by side with the Mandalorian because the focus on the empire having appropriated Kaminos cloning technology(after wiping Kamino off the map, so they can't object) and using the clones for....something. Whereas the Mandalorian has Gideon talking about cloning tech and "Project Necromancy" which makes me wonder if a lot of this is trying to retroactively explain how Palpatine somehow returned in Rise of the Skywalker.

Which I guess is something to try to fix your mistakes in post but it would be nice if you didn't need to do that in the first place.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is back in full form for season 2, starting off with a very well choreographed and hilarious series of dueling sequences. That's right! The kids are back in school for very distressing reasons they aren't allowed to talk about. But hey, the series's second School Shenanigan is winding up and Earth House gains two new members! And nobody dies!

Seriously though, the month long, daily posting of cute Suletta and Miorine dates the twitter graced us with did a good job of lulling people into a false sense of security. The show is running the full gamut of Action, Conspiracy, and Media Manipulation to a fantastic degree. Like, it feels like there's another Gundam show happening just off screen and the power of the Corpos means our point of view characters just can't see it.

In other Gundam news, the High Grade Gundam Aerial is the best selling HG model kit based on a TV series in franchise history, quashing the industry attitude of "female leads can't sell models". And I can personally confirm that it goes out of stock almost as quickly as it gets restocked, leading to a lot of online retailers doing pre-orders for back-orders. The best way to get an Aerial currently is to either pay the $10 Premium Bandai tax and pre-order the Permit Score 6 blue version or pre-order the significantly pricier and bigger Full Mechanics version. (Or develop a love of secondary characters and grunt suits, but those are thin on the ground too)



EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention season 2's really good opening and top 5 anime ending

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I just finished the two seasons of Kimi No Todoke. Another 1.5x watch on Netflix. I thought I enjoyed it enough, but tried reading the manga (since it was never fully adapted). Since I can't exactly read at 1.5x speed, my brain had all the time in world to register just how stupid this all is. Misunderstandings are like the bread and butter of romance anime, but good lord they really stretched this shit out to multiple issues or multiple episodes. At a normal pace, it's just exhausting. I think the voice actors and animation did most of the heavy lifting.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Witch from Mercury S02E02.

Well, that was dark. Recently I've been annoyed at just how childish and naïve Suletta is, but well... I'm kind of seeing her as a mentally damaged person now. Which again, dark.

Was frustrating though that Netflix's streaming quality keeps dropping. I thought I had installed a plug in that would force to be in 1080p, but it keeps dropping to what looks like 480p.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Yeah, cognitive dissonance is eating up like, 70% of Suletta's brainpower at any given moment. Shit's gonna be hell when that breaks down.

Episode was great though: Sophie continues to be a menace (affectionate), Elan 5 is incredibly entertaining as an asshole (I loved him training the bad guys onto Chuchu, hilarious), Tentative Model #5 got revealed as a grunt suit going forward, so expect to see a lot more of those in the future, and the fight choreography was great.

I feel like G Witch is the most subtle Gundam show they've had so far, politically. Like, Earth's fucked, but very little's been shown at the camera so far, just glimpses and anecdotes. It doesn't even have a conventional enemy to rally around yet, just a bunch of self-serving assholes being assholes (Sophie and Norea have done nothing wrong in their lives ever)

 

[Drathnoxis]

If you've never watched them, you can try Nichijou and daily life of high school boys for somewhat similar comedy style.

I also recommend Nichijou. I thought it was fantastic.

 

[Piscian]

I did a two for one gut punch this week watching "Your name" and "The Boy and the Beast"

Your name
I have to assume someone is optioning the rights a live action Your Name Adaptation(They are). It's so well written and lacking any anime trope it's really unrecognizable as anime, just a animated drama really. I'd avoided this one forever, because I was simply "off anime" and the more popular one is the more likely it is that I will be disappointed (Darling in the Franxx was fucking trash). Being a fresh egg I was blown away. What a tearjerker. Just a really great story with a really rewarding ending.

The Boy and The Beast
This one did not quite reach the heights of Your name, but I did find it really compelling and original. I'm sure anecdotally speaking it's a riff on some folktale or is shockingly similar to some movie. That said, the story revolves an angry 9 year old homeless kid who's forcibly taken on as an apprentice by a samurai beast living in a world adjacent to the human world. To make matters more complicated his master is in the final running to be ruler of the realm and at the same time is greatly disliked for being mean, reckless, uncouth and unskilled. The movie revolved around the kid and Beast learning to mature together. It's quite endearing.

Where TBATB sorta falters a bit is that the finale mostly resolves around the other competitive samurai also having a human kid apprentice and that kid losing his mind with jealously for the relationship of the Protagonist has with his own Master. There no real build up to this. The first three quarters of the film heavily focus on the protagonists life with his master and the fourth act is just kinda like "Ok remember other kid we showed in the beginning of the film, whelp time to battle!". I would say it's not foreshadowed, but it's not building the conflict in parallel so the ending is a tad less rewarding. It's good, but if Your name is a 10/10, TBATB is like an 8/10. Tears were shed, but no sobbing on this one.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Your name
I have to assume someone is optioning the rights a live action Your Name Adaptation(They are). It's so well written and lacking any anime trope it's really unrecognizable as anime

Is it?

I mean, we get a guy who squeezes his own boobs as soon as he body swaps to a girl, multiple times. And for some reason he gets typically masculine when he's in her body, and she gets typically femine when she's in his, just so we as the audience understand he is now her and she is now him, eventhough the guy especially isn't assertive at all.

Maybe this is more typical body swap movie tropes than anime tropes, but it was pretty damn typical nonetheless.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Is it?

I mean, we get a guy who squeezes his own boobs as soon as he body swaps to a girl, multiple times.

I too think anime in general is hormone-crazed but that's also like the first thing I'd do if I body swapped with a lady.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I too think anime in general is hormone-crazed but that's also like the first thing I'd do if I body swapped with a lady.

Body swap stories write themselves.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Body swap stories write themselves.

 

[Piscian]

I too think anime in general is hormone-crazed but that's also like the first thing I'd do if I body swapped with a lady.

I'm confident a gay guy would immediately play with his new boobs.

For what it's worth, in the film it almost comes off as innocent. Curious apes are curious. I've seen freaking friday films before, but it was so endearing the way they'd fight because she immediately tries to hook him up with that waitress and spend all his money on food, while he starts beating up people at her school. Idk, I found the whole thing pretty empathetic. I'd say no on the anime trope, because while yes he was being a gross teenage boy, in any other "anime" we'd get an obnoxious level of fan service, but they really avoided all that and made a movie that would fit right in on the Disney channel. They treated the fact that these are children very respectfully.

 

[09philj]

I did a two for one gut punch this week watching "Your name" and "The Boy and the Beast"

Your name
I have to assume someone is optioning the rights a live action Your Name Adaptation(They are). It's so well written and lacking any anime trope it's really unrecognizable as anime, just a animated drama really. I'd avoided this one forever, because I was simply "off anime" and the more popular one is the more likely it is that I will be disappointed (Darling in the Franxx was fucking trash). Being a fresh egg I was blown away. What a tearjerker. Just a really great story with a really rewarding ending.

Nah it's very anime, in yer grand tradition of somewhat more restrained magical realist romance stuff. I like Your Name very much but I also think that Makoto Shinkai only knows how to make this one film and never made it as successfully before and never will again. For more like this try Shinkai's next couple of films Weathering With You and Suzume (Because they're the same FUCKING FILM SHINKAI YOU HACK) and the 2018 anime series Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (A terrible title, but a great story).

The Boy and The Beast
This one did not quite reach the heights of Your name, but I did find it really compelling and original. I'm sure anecdotally speaking it's a riff on some folktale or is shockingly similar to some movie. That said, the story revolves an angry 9 year old homeless kid who's forcibly taken on as an apprentice by a samurai beast living in a world adjacent to the human world. To make matters more complicated his master is in the final running to be ruler of the realm and at the same time is greatly disliked for being mean, reckless, uncouth and unskilled. The movie revolved around the kid and Beast learning to mature together. It's quite endearing.

Where TBATB sorta falters a bit is that the finale mostly resolves around the other competitive samurai also having a human kid apprentice and that kid losing his mind with jealously for the relationship of the Protagonist has with his own Master. There no real build up to this. The first three quarters of the film heavily focus on the protagonists life with his master and the fourth act is just kinda like "Ok remember other kid we showed in the beginning of the film, whelp time to battle!". I would say it's not foreshadowed, but it's not building the conflict in parallel so the ending is a tad less rewarding. It's good, but if Your name is a 10/10, TBATB is like an 8/10. Tears were shed, but no sobbing on this one.

I like this one fine but it's definitely not Mamoru Hosoda's best work, that title goes to either Mirai or Summer Wars. Hosoda also has his preferred subjects, particularly familial relationships and the power of the masses working together, but he revisits them in different enough forms that I don't mind it.

 

[meiam]

Nah it's very anime, in yer grand tradition of somewhat more restrained magical realist romance stuff. I like Your Name very much but I also think that Makoto Shinkai only knows how to make this one film and never made it as successfully before and never will again. For more like this try Shinkai's next couple of films Weathering With You and Suzume (Because they're the same FUCKING FILM SHINKAI YOU HACK) and the 2018 anime series Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (A terrible title, but a great story).

Garden of the world is a different story (imo his best one too).