The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

[Piscian]

I don't think isekai or any other subgenre is the problem. Its really just the writing. Ive tried like 5 or 6 of those shows and its not the context that bothers me, its that its just like watching paint dry.

I watched almost an episode of the new one where the guy reincarnated as a vending machine and I thought "oh how novel", but it wasn't. It was just another bland jrpg tutorial except hes basically just the shop owner from dragon warrior 3 from the fucking 1980s. No humor, no drama, just



I would be fuckin ashamed of myself if I wrote things like this. Manga doesn't even pay well, what a way to pursue a thankless passion.

 

[meiam]

I don't think isekai or any other subgenre is the problem. Its really just the writing. Ive tried like 5 or 6 of those shows and its not the context that bothers me, its that its just like watching paint dry.

I watched almost an episode of the new one where the guy reincarnated as a vending machine and I thought "oh how novel", but it wasn't. It was just another bland jrpg tutorial except hes basically just the shop owner from dragon warrior 3 from the fucking 1980s. No humor, no drama, just

View attachment 9489

I would be fuckin ashamed of myself if I wrote things like this. Manga doesn't even pay well, what a way to pursue a thankless passion.

If they'd at least have to come up with an half way original concept then once in awhile they'd randomly come up with something interesting trough sheer luck, even if the writing quality stays bottom of the barrel there could at least be some interest in thinking of how the concept could be done better. Plus the repetition makes it hard to find out which show are actually well written since they all blend together.

 

[BrawlMan]

I don't think isekai or any other subgenre is the problem. Its really just the writing. Ive tried like 5 or 6 of those shows and its not the context that bothers me, its that its just like watching paint dry.

I watched almost an episode of the new one where the guy reincarnated as a vending machine and I thought "oh how novel", but it wasn't. It was just another bland jrpg tutorial except hes basically just the shop owner from dragon warrior 3 from the fucking 1980s. No humor, no drama, just

View attachment 9489

I would be fuckin ashamed of myself if I wrote things like this. Manga doesn't even pay well, what a way to pursue a thankless passion.

The genre in itself isn't the problem. The problem is that people aren't doing enough with it and just copying a medieval fantasy or jrpg fantasy a majority of the time. Or it's the reverse where somebody from a fantasy world goes into our real world or Japan. Those aren't done much better, and I don't need a thousand shows copying the live action He-Man movie from the 1980s. Forget the hole going into a different world and just have a fantasy setting without anybody coming for the real world. I care more about the fantasy setting, even if it's generic, there's some average Joe schmuck going there or dying to get there for whatever reason, that I do not care about. You more or less proved my point with the example you just gave out.

If they'd at least have to come up with an half way original concept then once in awhile they'd randomly come up with something interesting trough sheer luck, even if the writing quality stays bottom of the barrel there could at least be some interest in thinking of how the concept could be done better. Plus the repetition makes it hard to find out which show are actually well written since they all blend together.

Thank you.

 

[Piscian]

I finished Tokyo Revengers. It's a cliffhanger deal, which is mildly frustrating to sit through 24 episodes of that and not at least get a resolution. Such a shame, it could have been pretty great if it didn't feel like it was written by a 12yo. It's funny, there's a scene in which a supporting character literally commits seppuku order to further plot and his logic for doing it is somehow both murky and ridiculous. I was googling the plot to make sure I'm clear on what happened and this is literally the first thing that pops up on google

What makes Tokyo Revengers bad?

Nothing about its plot or characters can stand up to other shows in the same genre which outdo it in every way, because there are better anime with delinquents, time travel, or somewhat retro designs. The character designs are not only hideous, but they just don't make any sense.

It's like I want to know what happens, but I also hate the show. Somebody posted a meme about Parasyte on reddit today and I think I put anime on impossibly high standards comparing everything to Parasyte where people talk like normal human beings and not caricatures.

I can say with some confidence I will not follow up on Tokyo Revengers. I'll read a summary of the ending whenever I have absolutely nothing better to do.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished Tokyo Revengers. It's a cliffhanger deal, which is mildly frustrating to sit through 24 episodes of that and not at least get a resolution. Such a shame, it could have been pretty great if it didn't feel like it was written by a 12yo. It's funny, there's a scene in which a supporting character literally commits seppuku order to further plot and his logic for doing it is somehow both murky and ridiculous. I was googling the plot to make sure I'm clear on what happened and this is literally the first thing that pops up on google

It's like I want to know what happens, but I also hate the show. Somebody posted a meme about Parasyte on reddit today and I think

Not defending TR, but there is anime far worse than it from the 2010s and now. Never look up Akame Ga Kill. It's even more nonsensical and makes even less sense. Not in a good way either.

It's like I want to know what happens, but I also hate the show. Somebody posted a meme about Parasyte on reddit today and I think I put anime on impossibly high standards comparing everything to Parasyte where people talk like normal human beings and not caricatures.

I've been there somewhat with different high quality anime, but I don't recommend doing that too much. It will only leave you with disappointment after disappointment, and despair. I love Parasayte, I am not going to hold every anime to its standard.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The genre in itself isn't the problem. The problem is that people aren't doing enough with it and just copying a medieval fantasy or jrpg fantasy a majority of the time. Or it's the reverse where somebody from a fantasy world goes into our real world or Japan. Those aren't done much better, and I don't need a thousand shows copying the live action He-Man movie from the 1980s. Forget the hole going into a different world and just have a fantasy setting without anybody coming for the real world. I care more about the fantasy setting, even if it's generic, there's some average Joe schmuck going there or dying to get there for whatever reason, that I do not care about. You more or less proved my point with the example you just gave out.


Thank you.

Speaking of not doing anything interesting with the genre, a friend of mine got me to start watching Mushoku Tensei by telling me that it's actually well written and unique.

It's not well written or unique, and it has some really creepy overt pedophilia going on. A 34 year old shut in dies and is reincarnated as a child in a fantasy world where he proceeds to be the most specialest mage and pervs on 10 year old girls, but it's supposed to not be creepy because he's also 10, except he's mentally 44 so it's real fucking creepy.

You can't have it both ways weebs! If you claim is not pedophilia when the loli is actually a 1000 year old dragon masquerading as a child because they have a mature brain, then it's definitely pedophilia when the guy with a mature adult brain is trying to bang children, regardless of whether he's in a child's body.

Also, I am now concerned that my friend thought this show was good.

 

[BrawlMan]

Speaking of not doing anything interesting with the genre, a friend of mine got me to start watching Mushoku Tensei by telling me that it's actually well written and unique.

It's not well written or unique, and it has some really creepy overt pedophilia going on. A 34 year old shut in dies and is reincarnated as a child in a fantasy world where he proceeds to be the most specialest mage and pervs on 10 year old girls, but it's supposed to not be creepy because he's also 10, except he's mentally 44 so it's real fucking creepy.

I heard about this. It got some hype on the YouTube space, but it was mainly for the adaptions animation. So not interested and thanks for saving me the time.

You can't have it both ways weebs! If you claim is not pedophilia when the loli is actually a 1000 year old dragon masquerading as a child because they have a mature brain, the it's definitely pedophilia when the guy with a mature adult brain is trying to bang children, regardless of whether he's in a child's body.

Also, I am now concerned that my friend thought this show was good.

Yeah, you should talk to him. He's allowed to like whatever he watches, but that is not a good sign. I highly doubt it he likes the anime "ironically". So let's hope it's just for the animation. Best of luck.

Another thing:

• "Seinfeld" Is Unfunny: The series was one of the biggest hits of Shōsetsuka ni Narō, a novel publishing website, and one that brought attention to what's typically thought of as a Reincarnate in Another World story (not the same premise as Trapped in Another World). That said, looking back on it now will make some readers think it's terribly cliched when Mushoku Tensei was part of the group of stories that helped make those clichés in the first place. Among other things, it's responsible for the Dead Unicorn Trope of "reincarnation via being run over by a truck".
• Slow-Paced Beginning: After Mushoku Tensei popularized the Reincarnate in Another World genre of isekai, most of its imitators skipped past the hero's childhood and culture shock of being reborn into a strange world with Past-Life Memories, usually leaping into the Harem or Power Fantasy. When the anime adaptation aired in 2021, the slow burn which focused on character development and worldbuilding became one of its major draws and distinguished it from the many, many isekai that saturated the market.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation

Even for it's uniqueness (it once had), nothing seems special. Somebody notify me when the next season of Spriggan comes out.

 

[Piscian]

Speaking of not doing anything interesting with the genre, a friend of mine got me to start watching Mushoku Tensei by telling me that it's actually well written and unique.

It's not well written or unique, and it has some really creepy overt pedophilia going on. A 34 year old shut in dies and is reincarnated as a child in a fantasy world where he proceeds to be the most specialest mage and pervs on 10 year old girls, but it's supposed to not be creepy because he's also 10, except he's mentally 44 so it's real fucking creepy.

You can't have it both ways weebs! If you claim is not pedophilia when the loli is actually a 1000 year old dragon masquerading as a child because they have a mature brain, the it's definitely pedophilia when the guy with a mature adult brain is trying to bang children, regardless of whether he's in a child's body.

Also, I am now concerned that my friend thought this show was good.

I do not, for the life of me, understand the praise for Mushoku Tensei. Putting aside the perv stuff it's not funny, and its so fuckin dull. It's like this weird self insert fantasy of being in dragon warrior, but in that fashion all the characters literally talk like NPCs from 30 years ago. It's so flat and lifeless. I suppose it's another one where you're supposed to be invested in the story, but if the protagonist is awful and the dialog puts me into a coma I don't know what I'm supposed to latch on to. The perv stuff never pay off. You're inundated with his constant stream of letcherous thoughts which are not funny and then the show also wants you to think "oh but hes a good guy" fuck off incel.

Not defending TR, but there is anime far worse than it from the 2010s and now. Never look up Akame Ga Kill. It's even more nonsensical and makes even less sense. Not in a good way either.

You know I remember at least watching a few episodes of Akame Ga Kill. I recall think it was kind of a neat idea, if I recall correctly the bad guys are actually rebels and the lords in power are monsters or evil or something? I think it wasn't finished when I watched it. Idk, I'd be curious to watch it if its actually done.

 

[BrawlMan]

You know I remember at least watching a few episodes of Akame Ga Kill. I recall think it was kind of a neat idea, if I recall correctly the bad guys are actually rebels and the lords in power are monsters or evil or something? I think it wasn't finished when I watched it. Idk, I'd be curious to watch it if its actually done.

Both the manga and anime adaption finished, but both have shitty endings for different reasons, with the anime being even shittier. People say the manga is "better", but not by much. Also, the manga especially thinks it's being edgy, when it's nothing more than glorified shock value that would make 90s Dark Age comics cringe. There's a scene in the manga where where widow and her daughter are raped by Empire soldiers on top of her husband's grave! Keep in mind, her husband worked for and was loyal to the empire, but cowardly bottom feeders decided to rape the man's wife and daughter, because he died and was no longer around to protect them. Those rapists never get punished, and it doesn't cut away much. At least the anime doesn't have that, but it does make watching the show itself pointless. Big spoilers: Nearly everyone, but the boss of the rebels and Akame die. THE END. I saved you over 30 episodes of nothing!

 

[Drathnoxis]

Recently I've been reading the Re: Zero light novels. I just finished volume 6 and I'm still kind of torn on the series. The main problem is that Suburu is kind of a frustrating character. He's an idiot, and he's supposed to be an idiot, but it's still annoying. Like, his one ability is that he goes back in time when he dies, but he barely capitalizes on this at all. He's constantly agonizing over how events happened or that his friends are dying and he has an easy reset button always at his fingertips. Like, I spent all of book 4 wishing that he would just kill himself because he spent the whole book screwing up so badly, but by the time he finally did die it was too late and his reset point had moved past most of his screw ups. I get he doesn't like dying, but this is his one advantage and he isn't making use of it. Also, surely dying is easier than all the horrible injury and mental trauma he's always subjecting himself to, especially when you've already died 6 times and are almost certain you will respawn. Also doesn't help that he has a mental breakdown every other loop. Seriously, out of 10 deaths so far, he's spent at least 3 of those loops either wallowing in depression over not being able to change events after trying like twice or being in a catatonic state of shock over deaths that have already been undone due to his reset ability. It's really tedious just how how much of the page count goes to him breaking down in some way, or flipping wildly between determination and depression. Probably not helped by the fact that the translation is not the most well written, and the prose tends towards being a little clunky.

I keep reading, though, despite the fact that I almost quit the series halfway through the second novel because there's something about it that keeps me interested. There's enough mystery about events and the world to keep me turning the pages, and the resolutions have been good enough so far that once the ball starts rolling and Suburu is making progress down his winning loop it's difficult to put it down.

One last thing I have to say is that Suburu had better end up with Rem by the end. He has this great girl that loves him far more than he deserves, and will support him no matter what he does or how embarrassingly pathetic he acts. If he throws that away to continue chasing after Emilia who doesn't love him, or even really want him around, I'll never forgive him.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

To pitch in to the Mushoku Tensei talk, the last episode was so blatantly awful that I didn't bother finishing it. I've started on other anime now, so I think I can finally jump ship.

Speaking of not doing anything interesting with the genre, a friend of mine got me to start watching Mushoku Tensei by telling me that it's actually well written and unique.

I will say that there is so much setup here to for the show to actually be good. Useless incel gets a second chance at life, and tries to better himself, but in an expansive fantasy world? I mean, there's a reason why the isekai concept became popular in the first place.

But the show absolutely does not capitalize on that. Or rather, it tries to, but can't keep it in its pants and whatever genuine character development the MC experiences is completely undone by the insane sexual perversion he indulges in. I think a lot of the audience that praises this show believes that the main character is currently in is "fuck around" phase, and will eventually get to his "find out" phase where he learns to not be a disgusting pedo. But from what I've seen of season 2 and heard about later arcs, he never stops being a freak. I saw this comment when season 2 first started, and it left me speechless.

Spoiler: Prepare to be amazed

Also, at the very least, the production value of the show was always pretty high. At least, for season 1. Season 2 feels a lot cheaper.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I started on My Happy Marriage on Netflix, as recommended by a friend. Honestly, don't see what they saw in it. The most interesting thing in the show is that it's set during the Meiji Restoration, so there's a fun clash of Western and Eastern aesthetics.

 

[Satinavian]

I don't like a majority of isekai. The genre is over saturated, and gets less interesting with each new ip or iteration. I go for unique looking anime, anime with a unique premise, or for anime that goes more old-school and is good. Even before the bigger spike in isekai anime, I was never that big into the genre. The most I enjoyed was Digimon Adventure (the first 4 Digimon shows in general, but I do not love 02 as much as I did as a kid or teen) El Hazard and Now and Then, Here and There. El Hazard almost seems generic nowadays, but both of the OVAs hold up ok enough. They're both AUs of each other, but do not watch the TV series. It's another AU, but feels like a shitty Tenchi clone.

The vast majority of isekai i fondly remember are old. Older than the Isegai spike. Vision of Escaflowne, Inuyasha, Twelve kingdoms, Log Horizon... Those were also more different from each other, where nowadays we have reached some generic formula full with generic tropes and most entries only change one or two of those things.

I kinda do like isekai. But i don't like the reborn ex-neet with sudden superpowers in a generic fantasy world with adventurer guid hunting monsters droping magic stones who then saves the world an collect a harem on the way and getting rich selling very superficial modern knowledge. And i won't stark liking that formula with only one or two elements flipped/subverted.


The only somewhat recent one that i think is really good is Bookworm. I tried Realist hero as that had on a first glance a similar premise but it is so so bad : The author doesn't understand feudal politics or Machiavelli or economics or science but puts them center stage. And does the harem and other stupid tropes as well.


Currently watching... honestly not much this season. But upcoming Tearmoon might be good.

 

[BrawlMan]

To pitch in to the Mushoku Tensei talk, the last episode was so blatantly awful that I didn't bother finishing it. I've started on other anime now, so I think I can finally jump ship.


I will say that there is so much setup here to for the show to actually be good. Useless incel gets a second chance at life, and tries to better himself, but in an expansive fantasy world? I mean, there's a reason why the isekai concept became popular in the first place.

But the show absolutely does not capitalize on that. Or rather, it tries to, but can't keep it in its pants and whatever genuine character development the MC experiences is completely undone by the insane sexual perversion he indulges in. I think a lot of the audience that praises this show believes that the main character is currently in is "fuck around" phase, and will eventually get to his "find out" phase where he learns to not be a disgusting pedo. But from what I've seen of season 2 and heard about later arcs, he never stops being a freak. I saw this comment when season 2 first started, and it left me speechless.

Spoiler: Prepare to be amazed

View attachment 9507

Also, at the very least, the production value of the show was always pretty high. At least, for season 1. Season 2 feels a lot cheaper.

I saw that screenshot. What a load of shit. Even Travis Touchdown would have to call fans like that a moron.

The vast majority of isekai i fondly remember are old. Older than the Isegai spike. Vision of Escaflowne, Inuyasha, Twelve kingdoms... Those were also more different from each other,

Escaflowne you have point, and I can't speak for Twelve Kingdoms (though I am going to assume it is different enough from the modern glut we have now), but Inuyasha is barely unique anymore. It's still got some stuff that set it apart the standard shit, but I honestly dislike the property and think it is bad. The anime/manga dragged on for way too long. With the anime dragging even longer, and fans having to wait about nearly 3 years for "Final Act" to release, and with a sequel most people have forgotten about or don't care. Also, fuck Kagome and Kikyo. Fuck them both.

But i don't like the reborn ex-neet with sudden superpowers in a generic fantasy world with adventurer guid hunting monsters droping magic stones who then saves the world an collect a harem on the way and getting rich selling very superficial modern knowledge. And i won't stark liking that formula with only one or two elements flipped/subverted.

The problem with those type of isekai, is that they're just copies of each other, and nothing more than glorified self-insert fanfiction made to please young male oktaku in the shallowest way possible. Which is why I am glad grow up on anime with variety during the wild west era, and that I can choose not to deal with this shit. Things weren't perfect back then there either, and there are plenty of bad anime from that era, but at least there was more creative input, and not a homogenized check list just to please the otakus and only the otakus. Now there is modern anime that does avoid this, or doesn't fall in that trap, but more can and should be done. Thankfully, we're seeing that from different places.

 

[bluegate]

I was bored last weekend and decided to watch some anime for old time's sake.

I landed on Jujutsu Kaisen, a typical tropey shounen anime. Not much meat on its bones in terms of story, but the premise? setting? is interesting enough and the fights are entertaining enough to just watch like one watches empty summer blockbusters.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The vast majority of isekai i fondly remember are old. Older than the Isegai spike. Vision of Escaflowne, Inuyasha, Twelve kingdoms, Log Horizon... Those were also more different from each other, where nowadays we have reached some generic formula full with generic tropes and most entries only change one or two of those things.

I kinda do like isekai. But i don't like the reborn ex-neet with sudden superpowers in a generic fantasy world with adventurer guid hunting monsters droping magic stones who then saves the world an collect a harem on the way and getting rich selling very superficial modern knowledge. And i won't stark liking that formula with only one or two elements flipped/subverted.


The only somewhat recent one that i think is really good is Bookworm. I tried Realist hero as that had on a first glance a similar premise but it is so so bad : The author doesn't understand feudal politics or Machiavelli or economics or science but puts them center stage. And does the harem and other stupid tropes as well.


Currently watching... honestly not much this season. But upcoming Tearmoon might be good.

Counter point: Log Horizon is fucking terrible.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I've started to dip my toes into anime, after how much I enjoyed Arcane and Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

I just caught up with Attack on Titan. I know, this is like saying "hey what's up with video games lemme try this Mario thing" or something but anime is just not something I ever dug before. So for now I'm only interested in stuff that has very cool visuals, epic conflicts, is considered classic, and has a relatively short span of episodes (so One Piece for example is out of the question).

Attack on Titan is so freaking intense, I loved it. It did a great job of hooking me with the premise and visuals, and then slowly shifting the focus of conflict to between human factions in which titans are "just" a tool. Certainly it started getting crazy in season 3 or so when there were like double and triple betrayals but so it goes.

Next I'm gonna check out the beloved Neon Genesis Evangelion which is conveniently on Netflix.

 

[meiam]

Recently I've been reading the Re: Zero light novels. I just finished volume 6 and I'm still kind of torn on the series. The main problem is that Suburu is kind of a frustrating character. He's an idiot, and he's supposed to be an idiot, but it's still annoying. Like, his one ability is that he goes back in time when he dies, but he barely capitalizes on this at all. He's constantly agonizing over how events happened or that his friends are dying and he has an easy reset button always at his fingertips. Like, I spent all of book 4 wishing that he would just kill himself because he spent the whole book screwing up so badly, but by the time he finally did die it was too late and his reset point had moved past most of his screw ups. I get he doesn't like dying, but this is his one advantage and he isn't making use of it. Also, surely dying is easier than all the horrible injury and mental trauma he's always subjecting himself to, especially when you've already died 6 times and are almost certain you will respawn. Also doesn't help that he has a mental breakdown every other loop. Seriously, out of 10 deaths so far, he's spent at least 3 of those loops either wallowing in depression over not being able to change events after trying like twice or being in a catatonic state of shock over deaths that have already been undone due to his reset ability. It's really tedious just how how much of the page count goes to him breaking down in some way, or flipping wildly between determination and depression. Probably not helped by the fact that the translation is not the most well written, and the prose tends towards being a little clunky.

I keep reading, though, despite the fact that I almost quit the series halfway through the second novel because there's something about it that keeps me interested. There's enough mystery about events and the world to keep me turning the pages, and the resolutions have been good enough so far that once the ball starts rolling and Suburu is making progress down his winning loop it's difficult to put it down.

One last thing I have to say is that Suburu had better end up with Rem by the end. He has this great girl that loves him far more than he deserves, and will support him no matter what he does or how embarrassingly pathetic he acts. If he throws that away to continue chasing after Emilia who doesn't love him, or even really want him around, I'll never forgive him.

My big problem with the setting is that the respawn ability seems like the worst curse possible, if I was in his situation I'd be absolutly horrified of getting caught in a time loop forever (say getting captured, thrown in jail, die after a few days just to respawn still in jail for eternity) and would absolutely have no problem with killing myself because not respawning would be a major plus in my book. So I have the same problem of just constantly getting annoyed that he doesn't just kill himself more, its a win-win situation.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Counter point: Log Horizon is fucking terrible.

Oh no, is it? That's a show I've had on my watch list for a while (either that or I was going to read the light novel.)

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Oh no, is it? That's a show I've had on my watch list for a while (either that or I was going to read the light novel.)

The first season is ok though largely unremarkable. I dropped the second season hard. I don't actually remember why, I just remember having an overwhelming feeling that my time was being wasted by the show. I think it mostly comes down to the fact that it's a "trapped in an MMO" Isekai, meaning that it's supposed to actually work on MMO rules, but the writer clearly has no idea how MMOs work, or is actually just terrible at them. I mean, it's better than Sword Art Online, but only marginally.