The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

[Bob_McMillan]

The other main villains don't know he even exists. The other two villains are blinded by revenge, grief, and hatred to give a damn.

Teddy pretty much started the false rumors of the kingdom of Persia having wmds. Something that ended up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if the robot Prince did find out, he wouldn't have cared. Even though Teddy sees robots superior to humans, he doesn't give a crap about the robot population and sees them as just sacrifices. He considered himself a God among ants.

That part I understood, but how exactly did the supercomputer influence Goji/Abdullah/Pluto to go on a spree of killing super robots? Or is the idea that the supercomputer started the war in the first place because it calculated that it would result in this exact scenario?

 

[BrawlMan]

That part I understood, but how exactly did the supercomputer influence Goji/Abdullah/Pluto to go on a spree of killing super robots? Or is the idea that the supercomputer started the war in the first place because it calculated that it would result in this exact scenario?

Teddy didn't convince them. Goji had the prince's memories of hatred, and hyper focused on that. Same goes for the other Android that has a split personality with Pluto. Though he is at least able to overcome it. All the supercomputer did was play behind the scenes. Teddy more or less calculated the scenarios. He didn't hold influence on those robots, other than controlling the child robot Ali to kill Gecshiet.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I dunno I thought the one where she used/assemble a different weapon was pretty freaking great. It helped that it was paired with powerful flashback that had themes in another show my wife and I were watching so like it all came together. But the action itself was pretty freaking sweet.

I did like that scene as well (although I think I liked the action sequence with the husband more), but the whole pleasure house situation did that thing where almost every single enemy is a CGI clone of each other, and for me it just really brought me out of it. And so the finale was basically that feeling times a thousand.

I don't think the action was bad by any means, the fight in the dojo was excellent. But I did feel like in general the action scenes didn't really aim as high as the rest of the show.

 

[Piscian]

Ok I'm sorry I understand we're enamored with Blue Eye Samurai, it's pretty, it's gruesome, it's compelling, but I can't let this slide. THATS NOT HOW HAIR WORKS. YOU CANT JUST FUCKIN MAKE SOMEONE PERMANENTLY BALD BY CUTTING OFF THEIR HAIR. I REFUSE REFUUUSE TO BELIEVE EVEN IN 1663 THEY DIDNT UNDERSTAND THE BASIC CONCEPT OF HAIR FOLLICLES.

 

[BrawlMan]

Blue Eye Samurai

I don't pop in this thread much 'cause I don't watch a lot of anime stuff but I do dabble if something interesting comes my way and the plot and art style of this new Netflix jam caught my interest. Sure enough I binged all 8 episodes in a couple of days, and these are long episodes for a cartoon.
Premise is in 17th century a mixed-race woman seeks revenge by tracking down and killing all 4 white men that would have been in Japan when she was born because one would be her father that also tried to kill her and her mother. So the show trades in all the lone samurai/ronin tropes but with a modern racial/social reckoning theme going. All of this depends on the art and animation and action of course and those hit real nice.
There are some plot threads that are less interesting than others (there is a princess character that is ok but sometimes tedious and ultimately less interesting than the titular character).
The show is sometimes slow paced with lots of character moments- it reminds me of Warrior, the live action Bruce Lee inspired martial arts western, that is both trying to take itself seriously and be exploitative thrill action. I like this combo even though at times it can be tedious. But when it works it works. It's a nice mix of standard tropes and a new story.

Highly recommend if you want a new samurai thing.

... Blue Eye Samurai.

As Old Hunter said, the art style is what got me interested in the show. And in the first few episodes, it definitely delivered. It's not quite the level of Arcane or Spider-verse, but it's pretty close. It made me really, really want to play Ghost of Tsushima again.

But yeah, just like the last two Netflix shows I watched, it petered out at the end. Not just the story this time, but the presentation as well. It felt like they finally bumped into the limitations of 3D animation, and it all felt significantly more generic.

Honestly, I was expecting a lot more from this. There are good fights, but no amazing ones. If anything, I'd say that the show sadly peaks at the first episode.

Still overall a good watch, but I was really hoping for more.

Ok I'm sorry I understand we're enamored with Blue Eye Samurai, it's pretty, it's gruesome, it's compelling, but I can't let this slide. THATS NOT HOW HAIR WORKS. YOU CANT JUST FUCKIN MAKE SOMEONE PERMANENTLY BALD BY CUTTING OFF THEIR HAIR. I REFUSE REFUUUSE TO BELIEVE EVEN IN 1663 THEY DIDNT UNDERSTAND THE BASIC CONCEPT OF HAIR FOLLICLES.

Blue Eye Samurai is fucking awesome and went in certain directions I did and did not expect. I know this a Western show, but it's an honorary anime in my books! Bring on Season 2 and book end it there! London, here we come!

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Now that Attack on Titan is finally over I'm giving the final season a watch. I had actually already seen Attack on Titan the Final Season back when it first started airing in 2020, and was then very annoyed that it turned out to just be part 1, and had literally zero interest in continuing watching until it finished.

I have to say, this whole thing has been the absolute worst way to air a series. I started Attack on Titan the Final Season Part 2, and was actually pretty lost about who a lot of the characters were and what they were talking about, because it didn't start with a recap of the previous events, and it had been 3 years since the last part, and 10 years since the start of the series. They're referencing characters who got killed back in Season 1 and I have literally no idea who most of them are.

It feels like the creators intended you to rewatch all of the previous episodes again before each part was released, but it's like a 100 episode series, so that's a ridiculous ask.

At least the animation is gorgeous, and the story line has still continued to draw me in despite forgetting large parts of seasons 2 and 3 in the years since they aired.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

At least the animation is gorgeous, and the story line has still continued to draw me in despite forgetting large parts of seasons 2 and 3 in the years since they aired.

I thought that whatever the fuck was before the final episode they put out was indeed gorgeous. The Rumbling was a sight to behold. But the final episode felt pretty generic, you can only do so much with CGI Titans fighting on a big CGI Titan. My girlfriend was especially not a fan of how for many scenes, they literally traced the manga and called it a day.

 

[BrawlMan]

Now that Attack on Titan is finally over I'm giving the final season a watch. I had actually already seen Attack on Titan the Final Season back when it first started airing in 2020, and was then very annoyed that it turned out to just be part 1, and had literally zero interest in continuing watching until it finished.

I have to say, this whole thing has been the absolute worst way to air a series. I started Attack on Titan the Final Season Part 2, and was actually pretty lost about who a lot of the characters were and what they were talking about, because it didn't start with a recap of the previous events, and it had been 3 years since the last part, and 10 years since the start of the series. They're referencing characters who got killed back in Season 1 and I have literally no idea who most of them are.

It feels like the creators intended you to rewatch all of the previous episodes again before each part was released, but it's like a 100 episode series, so that's a ridiculous ask.

At least the animation is gorgeous, and the story line has still continued to draw me in despite forgetting large parts of seasons 2 and 3 in the years since they aired.

I thought that whatever the fuck was before the final episode they put out was indeed gorgeous. The Rumbling was a sight to behold. But the final episode felt pretty generic, you can only do so much with CGI Titans fighting on a big CGI Titan. My girlfriend was especially not a fan of how for many scenes, they literally traced the manga and called it a day.

This is why I dropped out of AoT during it's first season. That is the curse of a long running series that go 10+ years. This is why I prefer shorter anime or manga runs.

I am glad you were both able to enjoy what was there.

 

[BrawlMan]

Episode 10 of HFIL

​

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Now that Attack on Titan is finally over I'm giving the final season a watch. I had actually already seen Attack on Titan the Final Season back when it first started airing in 2020, and was then very annoyed that it turned out to just be part 1, and had literally zero interest in continuing watching until it finished.

I have to say, this whole thing has been the absolute worst way to air a series. I started Attack on Titan the Final Season Part 2, and was actually pretty lost about who a lot of the characters were and what they were talking about, because it didn't start with a recap of the previous events, and it had been 3 years since the last part, and 10 years since the start of the series. They're referencing characters who got killed back in Season 1 and I have literally no idea who most of them are.

It feels like the creators intended you to rewatch all of the previous episodes again before each part was released, but it's like a 100 episode series, so that's a ridiculous ask.

At least the animation is gorgeous, and the story line has still continued to draw me in despite forgetting large parts of seasons 2 and 3 in the years since they aired.

For real. I was completely lost going into this last episode. I don't understand why they made one big last season take years instead of just splitting into seasons or something. So I just took in the visuals and enjoyed the ride. Instead of feeling like a finale, it felt like when Farscapre or Deadwood came back to finally for-realsies finish big cliffhangers which were better than nothing but ultimately anti-climactic.

I also prefer shorter run anime (and anything, really). Since the first episode of Titan hooked me I watched it all and I'm glad I did but no more anime anything more than 10 episodes for me, at least not any time soon.

 

[BrawlMan]

I also prefer shorter run anime (and anything, really). Since the first episode of Titan hooked me I watched it all and I'm glad I did but no more anime anything more than 10 episodes for me, at least not any time soon.

I usually prefer 12-26 episode anime. They're not always foolproof (mainly 12 episodes shows, unless it's a complete one-off), but they do usually work for a good reason. The only long anime I can recommend to you that is not overly long are Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (64 Episodes) and Monster (78 episodes). They are as long as they need to be, and don't overextend nor outstay their welcome.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Finished Attack on Titan. I have thoughts.

Spoiler

So Attack on Titan is basically a dumber version of Dune. Eren is Paul, he has the power of prescience, and The Rumbling is the Jihad. He sees it coming, he knows that billions of people will die, and they will die in his name and by his will, but he can't stop it. His ability to see the future prevents him from taking action to change the future because in his head the future has already happened.

This is dumb, because they decided to explain how the "Attack Titan's" future sight ability works when they brought it up for the first time earlier in the season when Eren and Zeke are going through Eren's father's memories. The Attack Titan doesn't see the future. The current user of the Attack Titan can see the memories of all future users of the Attack Titan. The show ends with the power of the titans being destroyed so Eren is the last user of the Attack Titan. This means that Eren shouldn't be able to see the future because there are no future Attack Titan users whose memories he can access.

This whole explanation is basically just there to make Eren the mastermind architect of the whole genocide against humanity. It turns out that it was always his plan, and that all previous Attack Titan users were following the plan laid out in Eren's memories. The problem is that this also creates a closed loop where Eren only has the power to influence events because events happened that allowed him to have the power to influence those events to happen. This is why time travel stories are dumb.

I feel like the whole "seeing the future" plot really doesn't need to be in the show, and just takes away from it really. They could easily have had Eren just be carrying out the genocide against humanity because he truly thinks it's the only way to save the island. After all, that is exactly what he thinks, and why his future self creates the genocide plan in the first place, and it's where the story was going anyway even without anyone seeing the future. It's perfectly fine for Eren to make the decision to start a genocide because of social and political factors outside of his control, and in fact I think it makes for a better story than "he did the genocide because he wanted."

Edit: Also the whole plot point of "the founder Ymir did the king's bidding for 2000 years because she was in love with him" is fucking stupid.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished Attack on Titan. I have thoughts.

Spoiler

So Attack on Titan is basically a dumber version of Dune. Eren is Paul, he has the power of prescience, and The Rumbling is the Jihad. He sees it coming, he knows knows that billions of people will die, and they will die in his name and by his will, but he can't stop it. His ability to see the future prevents him from taking action to change the future because in his head the future has already happened.

This is dumb, because they decided to explain how the "Attack Titan's" future sight ability works when they brought it up for the first time earlier in the season when Eren and Zeke are going through Eren's father's memories. The Attack Titan doesn't see the future. The current user of the Attack Titan can see the memories of all future users of the Attack Titan. The show ends with the power of the titans being destroyed so Eren is the last user of the Attack Titan. This means that Eren shouldn't be able to see the future because there are no future Attack Titan users whose memories he can access.

This whole explanation is basically just there to make Eren the mastermind architect of the whole genocide against humanity. It turns out that it was always his plan, and that all previous Attack Titan users were following the plan laid out in Eren's memories.

I feel like the whole "seeing the future" plot really doesn't need to be in the show, and just takes away from it really. They could easily have had Eren just be carrying out the genocide against humanity because he truly thinks it's the only way to save the island. After all, that is exactly what he thinks, and why his future self creates the genocide plan in the first place, and it's where the story was going anyway even without anyone seeing the future. It's perfectly fine for Eren to make the decision to start a genocide because of social and political factors outside of his control, and in fact I think it makes for a better story than "he did the genocide because he wanted."

I am so glad I stopped watching that show during its first season. Because I already hate everything you just described.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I am so glad I stopped watching that show during its first season. Because I already hate everything you just described.

There's an interesting dialogue that happens in the last episode where Armin talks to Eren and he goes

"So why did you do this?"
And Eren replies "Because I wanted to."
Armin asks "Why did you want to?"
And Eren replies "I don't know. Because I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot who got too much power."

And it feels like it's as much a conversation that the writer is trying to have with his audience going: Listen, I know you guys don't like the ending. I don't know why I wrote it like this. It just kind of happened. I didn't think this would get so popular and that people would get this invested and I don't know what to do or how to end it."

 

[BrawlMan]

I don't know why I wrote it like this. It just kind of happened. I didn't think this would get so popular and that people would get this invested and I don't know what to do or how to end it."

Sounds like a you problem Mr Writer. (I can't even bother to look up the writer or creator's name of this IP). How about next time, you don't make your main character develop into an unsympathetic sociopath and complete idiot? This anime and that ending is almost making me take back what I said about Black Lagoon.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Sounds like a you problem Mr Writer. (I can't even bother to look up the writer or creator's name of this IP). How about next time, you don't make your main character develop into an unsympathetic sociopath and complete idiot? This anime and that ending is almost making me take back what I said about Black Lagoon.

I mean, I kind of understand why he made Eren an unsympathetic sociopath, because the alternative was making him sympathetic, and then having a story where genocide is kind of morally justified because of circumstances outside of Eren's control.

Spoiler

The first several seasons of Attack on Titan turn out to be about how the world outside of the walls (the rest of the world outside of the Island of Paradis) are all actively trying to kill the people living on the island (the Eldians) because Eldians have the power to turn into Titans. The world is afraid of Eldians because hundreds of years prior the ancestors of the island settlers (who those on the island don't even remember because their memories have been erased) used the power of the titans to subjugate the rest of the world.

So the rest of the world feels justified in their treatment of "The Island Devils" because of atrocities committed hundreds of years prior, and the Islanders feel justified in defending themselves as they are essentially blameless for the actions of their ancestors. One side was the aggressor previously, but now have been pushed to live in a tiny walled area and have a technological disadvantage, and the other side are the current aggressors, but have a pretty reasonable fear of the Islanders due to generational trauma. (Does that mirror anything happening in the world today?) No one is happy with the status quo, and both sides want to be free of their fear of the other side. The conflict was always going to lead to a massive explosion of violence.

The entire last season after Eren has started the genocide against the rest of the world the people trying to stop him are going "he's probably right that this is the only way to permanently protect the Island of Paradis, but genocide is unconscionable and we have to stop him."

So to make it easier to root for those trying to stop the genocide the author makes it so that Eren isn't actually a product of the environment he was born into. The hate in his heart isn't because his family was killed in an attack against Paradis. Instead now he's a psychopath, he's always been a psychopath, he engineered everything to give himself the excuse to commit the genocide, including him personally allowing his mother to get eaten by a Titan. That's the easy way out to make the audience root against him in the end because otherwise he would be a good person who is doing an unforgivably horrible thing because he believes there's no other choice to protect those he loves, and that would put the author into the uncomfortable position of going "maybe genocide is a reasonable reaction sometimes."

And that's why I hate it, because it's the easy way out.

 

[BrawlMan]

I mean, I kind of understand why he made Eren an unsympathetic sociopath, because the alternative was making him sympathetic, and then having a story where genocide is kind of morally justified because of circumstances outside of Eren's control.

Spoiler

The first several seasons of Attack on Titan turn out to be about how the world outside of the walls (the rest of the world outside of the Island of Paradis) are all actively trying to kill the people living on the island (the Eldians) because Eldians have the power to turn into Titans. The world is afraid of Eldians because hundreds of years prior the ancestors of the island settlers (who those on the island don't even remember because their memories have been erased) used the power of the titans to subjugate the rest of the world.

So the rest of the world feels justified in their treatment of "The Island Devils" because of atrocities committed hundreds of years prior, and the Islanders feel justified in defending themselves as they are essentially blameless for the actions of their ancestors. One side was the aggressor previously, but now have been pushed to live in a tiny walled area and have a technological disadvantage, and the other side are the current aggressors, but have a pretty reasonable fear of the Islanders due to generational trauma. (Does that mirror anything happening in the world today?) No one is happy with the status quo, and both sides want to be free of their fear of the other side. The conflict was always going to lead to a massive explosion of violence.

The entire last season after Eren has started the genocide against the rest of the world the people trying to stop him are going "he's probably right that this is the only way to permanently protect the Island of Paradis, but genocide is unconscionable and we have to stop him."

So to make it easier to root for those trying to stop the genocide the author makes it so that Eren isn't actually a product of the environment he was born into. The hate in his heart isn't because his family was killed in an attack against Paradis. Instead now he's a psychopath, he's always been a psychopath, he engineered everything to give himself the excuse to commit the genocide, including him personally allowing his mother to get eaten by a Titan. That's the easy way out to make the audience root against him in the end because otherwise he would be a good person who is doing an unforgivably horrible thing because he believes there's no other choice to protect those he loves, and that would put the author into the uncomfortable position of going "maybe genocide is a reasonable reaction sometimes."

And that's why I hate it, because it's the easy way out.

I already dealt with one manga (and it's second anime adaption that came out 2 years ago on Netflix) back in the day that tried to justify or nearly excuse the death of baseline with its "sympathetic villain", Hao Asakura. I am not having the shit again, and author's intentions can get fucked. Glad he wasted everyone's time for over a decade for such a shitty ending.

 

[Piscian]

Finished Attack on Titan. I have thoughts.

Spoiler

So Attack on Titan is basically a dumber version of Dune. Eren is Paul, he has the power of prescience, and The Rumbling is the Jihad. He sees it coming, he knows that billions of people will die, and they will die in his name and by his will, but he can't stop it. His ability to see the future prevents him from taking action to change the future because in his head the future has already happened.

This is dumb, because they decided to explain how the "Attack Titan's" future sight ability works when they brought it up for the first time earlier in the season when Eren and Zeke are going through Eren's father's memories. The Attack Titan doesn't see the future. The current user of the Attack Titan can see the memories of all future users of the Attack Titan. The show ends with the power of the titans being destroyed so Eren is the last user of the Attack Titan. This means that Eren shouldn't be able to see the future because there are no future Attack Titan users whose memories he can access.

This whole explanation is basically just there to make Eren the mastermind architect of the whole genocide against humanity. It turns out that it was always his plan, and that all previous Attack Titan users were following the plan laid out in Eren's memories. The problem is that this also creates a closed loop where Eren only has the power to influence events because events happened that allowed him to have the power to influence those events to happen. This is why time travel stories are dumb.

I feel like the whole "seeing the future" plot really doesn't need to be in the show, and just takes away from it really. They could easily have had Eren just be carrying out the genocide against humanity because he truly thinks it's the only way to save the island. After all, that is exactly what he thinks, and why his future self creates the genocide plan in the first place, and it's where the story was going anyway even without anyone seeing the future. It's perfectly fine for Eren to make the decision to start a genocide because of social and political factors outside of his control, and in fact I think it makes for a better story than "he did the genocide because he wanted."

Edit: Also the whole plot point of "the founder Ymir did the king's bidding for 2000 years because she was in love with him" is fucking stupid.

I sat down and watched the last couple episode this weekend. Part of me wants to defend it and say it was maybe beyond me, but truthfully it sure felt a lot like an attempt to capture the ending of the Evangelion series with some kind of pseudo artistic introspection meaning to elevate the characters and stories. It just doesn't fit the material, and feels like a kid trying to write adult drama.

When I sat down to watch the last couple episodes I hadn't watched any of it in while and I'd forgotten some of the details. For a minute I thought I'd maybe restart season 4 at least, but within minutes I was reminded that this is a show that constantly tells things out of order, the episodes meander. No one asks meaningful questions or gives meaningful, the truth is hidden for nonsensical reasons, out of a supporting cast of like 50 half the characters look the same, and I just couldn't do it. I watched recap that confirmed I was up to speed instead.

I think that says something about this series. It's just not a show I'd ever want to rewatch. It had interesting story beats, but the episodes just aren't enjoyable. No one is memorable except Levi who also looks like Eren and like 3 other characters so I forget whos who. I'm just glad to be done with it.

 

[thebobmaster]

Watched the first episode of Arcane. Holy shit, this is a pretty show. Good acting, all that stuff, but it's the animation that really struck a chord with me.

 

[BrawlMan]

but truthfully it sure felt a lot like an attempt to capture the ending of the Evangelion series with some kind of pseudo artistic introspection meaning to elevate the characters and stories. It just doesn't fit the material, and feels like a kid trying to write adult drama.

It always bounces back to Evangelion somehow. Christ Japan, let it go!

Watched the first episode of Arcane. Holy shit, this is a pretty show. Good acting, all that stuff, but it's the animation that really struck a chord with me.

Wait until Season 2 comes out. It got announced a few weeks ago.