Winter Anime 2016 Season

King Cat the Sixth wrote:

Tenshigami wrote:

Really promising first episode and it just might turn out to be my AOTS.

Should be. Unwilling tsukkomi protag best protag. Though I kinda vehemently disagree about the part about DanMachi; it's a whole different genre even.

One is some generic fantasy harem adventure with quite honestly a very standard donkan MC, and the other is a really random fantasy comedy with an awesome, albeit very unlucky (with that Luck stat nonetheless) MC that uses a goddess as fish bait. Wait, was it water purifier? Meh, probably both. And it ain't no harem. (yeah i dont like danmachi much sue me)

Gifting for AOTY.

It become a harem later on.
It takes 5 volumes to make one girl fall in love with Kazuma, though.
And I doubt the anime cover that. It's probably ends at

Spoiler:

I feel bad for the Demon Army.

Spoiler:

KonoSuba earns super ultra mega bonus points for parodying Slayers this week! SOMEONE IN THE ANIME INDUSTRY ACKNOWLEDGES MY FAVORITE SHOW EXISTED! *single tear*

[spoilerbox="image"][/spoilerbox]

For the uninitiated, while this would also be close to the start of the incantation for Lina's Dragon Slave spell in the Slayers series, it's actually closer to the Giga Slave.

Giga Slave wrote:

Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night...

EDIT: Holy shit, I just realized. Her name is Megumin. Lina's voice actress in Slayers is Megumi Hayashibara. Could easily be a coincidsnce, but KonoSuba is the friggin best regardless.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi any good?

^Erased?

Yes. Yes it is.

I usually skip out on shows like that one, but gave it a shot when a friend recommended it. Every week it leaves me wanting more.

fateoffate wrote:

It become a harem later on.
It takes 5 volumes to make one girl fall in love with Kazuma, though.

Eh I didn't feel like the stuff with

Spoiler:

is really love though, more like a deepened bond of comradeship, and they go back to being dumb the next volume too. Either way, the whole thing is kinda overshadowed by the arc being way too hilarious after all with the chuunis and stuff. It's like saying Seitokai Yakuindomo a harem anime than a comedy anime; it has the element of it but not necessarily the main and defining point of the series.

Or were you talking about the orcs? It's the orcs isn't it? Then yeah, harem it is.


On another note (since this thread also functions as Today in Animation), I just watched Noblesse got an anime short woohoo. It's refreshing seeing a manhwa, a webtoon at that, gets the anime treatment (last I remember is Shin Angyo Onshi) because honestly, Korean manhwa/webtoon scenes have some really nice gems with plots and characterizations that aren't typical as compared to most Japanese mangas. Granted, most of them have despair/tragedy tags and seemingly weakass MCs, but a lot of webtoon tackle certain issues common in mangas in different way than mangas did. Anyway, here's the Noblesse: Awakening if anyone's interested, produced by Production I.G.



There's also a prequel OVA made by a Korean animation company but I can't find this anywhere. Such a pity to be honest, I like the quality of this OVA more than the above, but I'll take what I can get.

Falcom wrote:

Boku dake ga Inai Machi any good?

It's good. I like the way they do the monologues, and although there are differences with manga regarding the pacing (and slightly removed stuffs), it still stays true to the source material so far.

King Cat the Sixth wrote:

On another note (since this thread also functions as Today in Animation), I just watched Noblesse got an anime short woohoo. It's refreshing seeing a manhwa, a webtoon at that, gets the anime treatment (last I remember is Shin Angyo Onshi) because honestly, Korean manhwa/webtoon scenes have some really nice gems with plots and characterizations that aren't typical as compared to most Japanese mangas. Granted, most of them have despair/tragedy tags and seemingly weakass MCs, but a lot of webtoon tackle certain issues common in mangas in different way than mangas did. Anyway, here's the Noblesse: Awakening if anyone's interested, produced by Production I.G.

I actually just came here to post Noblesse. Pretty good shit, I didn't actually realize until now that Korean names usually get convered into Japanese ones, Unbalance x Unbalance apparently experienced the same in Japan.

Manhwa's pretty hype in the subtle differences between it and manga. Personally I'm a fan of a couple of Dall-Young Lim's works, particularly Unbalance x Unbalance and Kurokami. The way he handles relationships is much more honest than a lot of romance manga.

I would definitely watch a series of this if Production I.G. OBLIGED TEE HEE META HUMOUR

King Cat the Sixth wrote:

fateoffate wrote:

It become a harem later on.
It takes 5 volumes to make one girl fall in love with Kazuma, though.

Eh I didn't feel like the stuff with

Spoiler:

is really love though, more like a deepened bond of comradeship, and they go back to being dumb the next volume too. Either way, the whole thing is kinda overshadowed by the arc being way too hilarious after all with the chuunis and stuff. It's like saying Seitokai Yakuindomo a harem anime than a comedy anime; it has the element of it but not necessarily the main and defining point of the series.

Or were you talking about the orcs? It's the orcs isn't it? Then yeah, harem it is.

Spoiler:

Female orcs harem is still the best and the most frightening harem.

fateoffate wrote:

Female orcs harem is still the best and the most frightening harem.

Second only to transvestite demon king that bound MC to him while having something poking from behind of course.

Taiyz wrote:

Manhwa's pretty hype in the subtle differences between it and manga. Personally I'm a fan of a couple of Dall-Young Lim's works, particularly Unbalance x Unbalance and Kurokami. The way he handles relationships is much more honest than a lot of romance manga.

Lim Dall-Young's works are what I would categorize as weakass insufferable MCs, well except for Kurokami because that guy is awesome. He does make a good series like the two you mentioned, but there's a lot of his other works that I just can't sit through to the end because the MCs are being such a pansy and indecisive. Like Freezing, Re:Birth and that one borderline hentai manga about mangaka, forgot the name.

I like that Korean manhwa scene doesn't really conform to the norms of ...comic...writing? Like, they don't usually follow your 'predefined concept of storytelling' you honed after several dozens of manga reading. You'd expect the story will go this one way because it's the norms but nope, it almost always won't go in your envisioned way. It hurts because we're control freaks and don't like it when things don't go our way, but at the same time it's a pleasant surprise. Stuff like Dice, Tower of God, Ha Il-Kwon's works (3-level Combination, Afterschool War Activity), The Breaker, and Veritas for example.

Erased is such a freaking great anime this season!

I want more! MORE!

So after accidentally listing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time on their store last month and saying that they don't have the license, turns out that FUNimation does.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-02-18/funimation-licenses-the-girl-who-leapt-through-time-anime-film/.98810

So now, they have every Mamoru Hosoda project under their belt except for Digimon (for obvious reasons) and MOTHERFUCKING BARON OMATSURI AND THE SECRET ISLAND WHY ISN'T IT LOCALIZED FUNIMATION COME ON

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-03-16/tonari-no-seki-kun-anime-english-dub-cast-announced/.99865

Aww yee, this is a series much like Natsume Yuujinchou and Allison and Lillia that I felt would make a really good "intro to anime" show if only it had a dub. Fortunately, unlike the former examples, it's actually gonna get one!

Erased went downhill in last weeks ep. It's still a good show but the whole reveal last ep was so incredibly anti-climactic and cheesy and cliche

Spoiler:

Really disappointing.


KonoSuba is freaking AMAZING and I loved almost every minute of it, with the exception of Episode 9. That episode felt totally out of place with the amount of fan service compared to the rest of the show, and had Kazuma acting way dumber than he usually is, if not completely out of character. Plus the animation quality went down for that episode too. Over all though the show was best anime of the season if not best anime of the year.

Also, SEASON 2 CONFIRMED! OMG OMG OMG OMG EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


btw if you're reading this, Txn - I dare say KonoSuba is practically the second coming of Slayers! They are certainly different beasts in that Slayers can actually be a pretty serious show, while KonoSuba doesn't even try. But KonoSuba might actually rival it at times when it comes to comedy in a medieval fantasy world.

Konosuba AOTS/AOTY

Tenshigami wrote:

KonoSuba is freaking AMAZING and I loved almost every minute of it, with the exception of Episode 9. That episode felt totally out of place with the amount of fan service compared to the rest of the show, and had Kazuma acting way dumber than he usually is, if not completely out of character. Plus the animation quality went down for that episode too. Over all though the show was best anime of the season if not best anime of the year.

I'm sorry to say this but that's in character for Kazuma.
He is pervert. He also bully anyone that force him to get out of his comfort zone.
There is a reason why he is called Scumzuma, Trashzuma, Kazuma the brute, etc.

The dude is a Hikkineet and a scum. He is never above anyone else in his party.
He fap next to Aqua in the barn. He sexually harass Megumin for fun once she is 14 years old.

And I love him for it. He is not some paragon of justice or some kind of satan.

He is some kind of satan. In his thought mostly because he's too much of a coward to actually act on it.

Tenshigami wrote:

Erased went downhill in last weeks ep. It's still a good show but the whole reveal last ep was so incredibly anti-climactic and cheesy and cliche

Spoiler:

Really disappointing.

Spoiler:

The KonoSuba finale was great. The Destroyer itself was one of the impressive things I've seen in anime, Darkness was very cool (minus the occasional maso regression :p), the fight was long and multi-stepped and got everyone involved. Glad season two's been confirmed.

Just watched the first half or so of Outbreak Company's dub.

Holy shit! A Sentai dub that is actually GOOD! Like, REALLY good! Rather than phoning it in like most Sentai dubs, the actors go over the top with everything, which works really well for a comedy. The only casting I don't like is Kira Vincent-Davis as Petralka, as she screams just about every line at the top of her lungs. Japanese Petralka was loud and annoying, but not THAT loud and annoying. Tyler Galindo on the other hand does a great job hamming it up as Shin'ichi. He's got the sarcasm and random outbursts down pat.

Aside from Petralka, I only have a couple complaints with the localization. One complaint being the notes Sentai put at the top of the screen for every time it references another anime/manga (which happens a LOT). Guys, you don't need to tell me it's a reference to "Bastard!" when they're holding a manga titled "Bistard!" that even uses the same font in the parodied logo!

The dub also uses Japanese words where English would have sufficed, including "moe" - without even using one of the annoying notes to explain the word. I do know what it means, but to me that still seems like a fairly recent term as I've been watching anime since the 90s and that word has only really seen use in the last decade or so. Really though, if you can avoid using a Japanese word in an English dub, then for god sake please do.

They also are speaking English in the dub but still refer to the language they are speaking as "Japanese", but you can sort of explain that away due to the fact they're wearing magic rings that translate and allow them to speak to and understand each other. Though this does cause awkward situations where they're using Japanese terms in class within an English sentence and then translating the term into English, even though they're already speaking "Japanese". (And to be fair, these terms are on the board in kanji, so using those Japanese terms in English sentences was in this case unavoidable.)

Granted that's already an awkward situation because of what these terms are, and that the students are all 10 years old (including the bearded dwarves) - it's just made more awkward in a different way.

I dunno man, there are definitely some strong cases for using fandom terms in dubs, depending on the context. Haganai for example has characters who nerd out over visual novels and anime so it makes sense for them to reference fan terms, even if it's super awkward when they reference stuff like "yaoi hole" (to be fair I think that's a literal translation of the Japanese actor saying "yaoi ana.") There's also a really good scene where they reference the term "harem hero" that wouldn't work in any other context IMO. Such a fucking stellar dub that skyrockets that show to AAA status. Considering that you're watching a comedy I reckon it's probably fine in context.

At least that dub doesn't patronize you by putting the fucking liner notes on-screen WHICH IS A FUCKING SIN. I can't believe Sentai did that for a dub of all things. PUT A LEAFLET IN THE BOX OR A MENU ON THE DVD HOW HARD IS THIS

FUNimation dubs are pretty much the golden standard for modernity right now. Bang Zoom is probably still the best overall, but if you want something that feels like it was written for our day and age, FUNi's got the style nailed (not that they don't handle period pieces like Baccano! well, also, I just don't see a lot of dubs for those unfortunately.)

^Shin'ichi is an otaku, and the entire plot is that he's been hired to spread otaku culture to this alternate fantasy world, so it does fit I suppose. The terms I was talking about on the chalk board are also otaku culture terms similar to what you mention, but not nearly as bad. Shin'ichi starts off with "Absolute Territory", which is the amount of bare thigh between the end of the skirt and the top of the stockings. (And look, I was able to explain it in English without using the Japanese words for it! - but then I'm not pointing to a chalkboard with Japanese written on it either.) And it only gets worse when the BL-loving Minori goes up to the chalkboard; did I mention the students were 10 years old? XD

Also it DOES patronize you with notes. As I said, every time a joke references a different show or a manga, Sentai's gotta put shit like "NOTE: This is a reference to 'Bastard!'" at the top of the screen. It'd honestly be better to not have it, or to at least make it optional, as it's sort of the equivalent of a laugh track. "NOTE: THIS WAS A JOKE. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LAUGHING."

If I don't get the joke because I wasn't exposed to the original material, then plastering a note on the screen telling me where it's from isn't going to help me. I'm not going to drop everything and go read a manga/watch a show just so I get a reference. Plus, if I was already exposed to the original material, I'd get the reference without the note. Besides, even when the reference isn't used as a joke, part of the fun of the original simulcast was noticing the references yourself. That said, I can't remember if the show ever references the Death Note "All according to plan", but if it does that's the only area where a note would actually enhance the experience, due to a fansub at the time.

[spoilerbox="image"][/spoilerbox]

is erased finished yet? because if so, why is everyone complaining about obvious villain instead of the (sorta)ntr????

Tenshigami wrote:

Shin'ichi starts off with "Absolute Territory", which is the amount of bare thigh between the end of the skirt and the top of the stockings. (And look, I was able to explain it in English without using the Japanese words for it! - but then I'm not pointing to a chalkboard with Japanese written on it either.)

See, that's funny, because people in the fandom generally don't use "absolute territory," they use zettai ryouiki. I'm sure they localized it because "zettai ryouiki" is a meaningless mouthful that doesn't convey anything to an English speaker, where-as "moe" gets a difficult concept across easily without losing that feeling that he's an anime nerd ("absolute territory" is still considered an anime nerd term even if the Japanese words are favoured.)

Tenshigami wrote:

Also it DOES patronize you with notes.

That's the point I was making. That this is an amateur move and doesn't belong on a professionally produced disk. They should have included liner notes in the box or on a DVD menu if they want to avoid paper-waste.

Taiyz wrote:

Tenshigami wrote:

Shin'ichi starts off with "Absolute Territory", which is the amount of bare thigh between the end of the skirt and the top of the stockings. (And look, I was able to explain it in English without using the Japanese words for it! - but then I'm not pointing to a chalkboard with Japanese written on it either.)

See, that's funny, because people in the fandom generally don't use "absolute territory," they use zettai ryouiki. I'm sure they localized it because "zettai ryouiki" is a meaningless mouthful that doesn't convey anything to an English speaker, where-as "moe" gets a difficult concept across easily without losing that feeling that he's an anime nerd ("absolute territory" is still considered an anime nerd term even if the Japanese words are favoured.)

Yeah they used it here too, but I couldn't remember the Japanese term off the top of my head myself, which also allowed me to show that they wouldn't really have needed to use the original Japanese term in the dub there - if it weren't for them pointing at Japanese writing on a chalkboard, anyway. In these classroom scenes they give the Japanese term, then translate it literally into English, and explain what it means from there.

EDIT: Oh. My. God.
In the dubbed episode preview for the swimsuit episode, Petralka is reassured that she does not appear in the episode, until she points out that "Mai Fuchigami" is in the episode credits, and it puts ANOTHER NOTE stating that Mai Fuchigami is Petralka's Japanese voice actress. WHY DO YOU USE THE NAME OF HER JAPANESE VOICE INSTEAD OF THE ENGLISH ONE?!


EDIT EDIT: AHAHAHA oh lord episode 10 had a reference every 30 seconds or so and they had a note for EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Including, and I quote: "NOTE: Petralka's costume is an obvious reference to Puella Magi Madoka Magica." I shit you not they actually used the word "obvious" - even the notes know they're unnecessary!

Well, for the first example to work completely they would have to edit the on-screen footage to show the English credits, which might not even exist since this isn't a FUNi dub. I'm assuming that they showed the credits on-screen for that gag, anyway.

^Nope, no credits at the time, but when there were a bunch of seiyuu gags later on - direct quotes from characters that the Japanese voice actors voiced in other shows - that mostly get lost in translation in the dub but the notes point the gag out anyway, it occurred to me that the reason they did that with the episode preview was because switching names for the gag would have required they make the notes different between the sub and the dub as well.

Just marathoned Erased from ep 2-12

That was enjoyable. RIP my ship doe