What anime are you watching?

[the_wolfs_howl]

Clannad episodes 3-4 - Hilarious, and I thiiiiiink I'm finally starting to keep track of who everybody is <_<

[AnimeGirl]

Watched up to episode 8 of R.O.D. -the TV-

I am lovin' this series....

It can get freakin' bizzarre at times, but the writing IMHO is brilliant, and keeps you glued!

Also watched episodes 1-2 of NGE, first in English, then in Japanese. I like both versions equally.

[Neane]

Finished RahXephon, the whole coming of age story resonated on a personal level very handsomely and I loved it. It was the inverse of a BONES series: jumbled beginning which got steadily more comprehensible until a great IMO ending. (The way the ending just clicks is amazing. The story is really well told. One of the few times where you can tell the writers aren't pulling stuff out of their butt, but made a series with overall great planning.) I quite liked how this series did the whole jigsaw plot. A lot of series will only have technobabble/foreshadowing scenes that will only make sense in context once you re-watch the series. RahXephon had some technobabble/foreshadowing, but it also had scenes which sounded like ordinary dialog, which only became more meaningful and really add to the depth of the series a second time around. The pacing was, by-and-large, was masterfully handled, with the exception of the first four episodes (which were fairly condensed but by no means intolerable). Also, this is a great series to watch with a film-major or writing major. There's oodles of neat direction techniques and subtle catches you probably won't notice unless you're really on the ball, and they all work towards telling an excellent story. (he creators of Rahxephon are obviously extremely well read and intelligent people. For the plot and story line of this anime to make sense and avoid the boredom it emits in most people, one has to understand a number of things. The anime's plot is based around the writings of Mr. Churchward. His ideas are alluded to in every instant of the show. Throughout the anime we also see direct references to JRR Tolkiens "Music of the Ainur," CS lewis's "Narnia," Sections of "Genesis," several works by William Faulkner, and even Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." Also, Mayan creation philosophy also plays a tremendous role on the plot.) This show appealed to the part in me who likes to puzzle out clever plotting and the sentimentalist in me who bawls over touching character relationships. And while dubs generally are down upon, I strongly recommend the dub on this one. The actor who played Ayayto gives a real grand performance, and the actress who played Haruka was like sex to my ears.

Also re-watched Madoka.

[skreyola]

Watched up to episode 8 of R.O.D. -the TV-
I am lovin' this series....

I loved that series (except for that one part where the rating suddenly changed, but I like the series as a whole in spite of that).

Tonight, I saw episodes of El Cazador de la Bruja, Persona, Steins;Gate, and Persona 4.

[LastLfan]

Through ep 10 of bleach, through ep4 of shaman king and through ep 1 of one outs.

[eightluvver888]

For some reason, I'm watching The Wallflower. O.O The dub is painful to hear, even with Vic Mignogna and Greg Ayres... I was very disturbed to find that Ranmaru is 15.

[Atria35]

Chance Pop Session 1-5 - This is a very interesting, solid shoujo title. Something that I know would interest a few members here is that one of the main characters (okay, she's really the main character) is Christian and starts out as a singer in her local church before deciding to aim to be a singing idol, and continues to live/work at the Church.

[skreyola]

@Atria: I would say the trio is an ensemble. None of the three really takes over the spotlight most of the time. And I love that series.

Tonight, I saw Robotics;Notes (the unveiling), Steins;Gate (almost to the half-way mark), SILY (such a sweet episode *sparkle*), and Kobato (I'm still not sure if this show will turn out being really good or annoying enough for me to tear my ears off. It has the potential to go either way).

[Neane]

Was able to watch Mikan-Seijin.
I now know where the annoying orange came from...I've some crazy stuff in my life, but this one wins the cake.

[rocklobster]

started Kaze No Stigma. Girl with a fiery sword? Awesome!

[SierraLea]

I had an anime marathon and watched all of Kaze No Stigma yesterday. I must say, I liked the way the two main characters' personalities balanced each other out, one firey and the other as cool as ice. I t kind of reminded me of Spice and Wolf. I'm back for more Yu-Gi-Oh now, though.

[Atria35]

@Atria: I would say the trio is an ensemble. None of the three really takes over the spotlight most of the time. And I love that series.

After finishing it, I can't say I agree. They are supposed to be an ensemble, but Akari by far gets the most screentime and has the vast majority of the series devoted to her POV. Yuki is a close second. Nozomi gets an episode devoted to her, but it is at the end and really feels wedged in there because the writers realized they had spent the bare minimum amount of time on her. I think Kisaragi's assesment of her in the beginning says it all: She has the smile of an idol (and nothing else. Please note NOTHING was said about her singing ability, whereas Akari's is made to appear to be something incredibly special).

But all in all, I really have to say that as saccharine sweet and melodramatic as this was, it's a good show. Definitely not a favorite of mine, but I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for shows that they could share with younger siblings. It has a solid plot, characters simple enough that the kids will remember them, and it's very child-safe as well.

And now that I've seen it, I'm foisting my DVDs off on the first person I can think of who'd want them. It's not something I'd ever feel compelled to watch again.

My Beautiful Girl Mari - I can tell what this was supposed to be; A story of a boy who is going through a difficult period in his life, finding a magica world he could escape to, and then learning that life isn't as bad as the problems make it appear. However, it chose to go off the deep end into fantasy land instead of following that formula. Instead of being a compelling story about a boy growing up one summer, it's a jumbled mess of fantasy scenes and dropped plot threads. And the CG is pretty bad, to boot.

[skreyola]

@Atria: I really enjoyed it.
[snip]
That may have sounded weird, so I cut it.

Tonight: Persona, Persona 4, Cazador, and Honey & Clover

[Neane]

A Tree of Palme.

So the animation director of Akira made this, I guess. It's a rather imaginative flick with some great visual moments (dem trees, dat fish), some really nice world design, and a lot more walking cactuses of cathartic epiphany than I expected. Unfortunately it's also a Pinocchio story, which means the robot protagonist is an apocalyptic freak even without the fact that he's an anime protagonist taken into account. No effort goes into making him likable, and at some point I'm sure they must have just given up on making hem relatable at all, possibly the point where he straight-up slaughters a baby animal with a sword for da lulz. Add to that the most contemptible abused loli of all time (as his love interest ) and you've got yourself a real treat. Also

XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN
XIAN XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN HEY XIAN XIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN I DAISUKI YOUR UTA ONEGAI XIIIIIANNNNNNN XIAN XIAN

In short, it kinda sucked.

[Atria35]

@Atria: I really enjoyed it.
[snip]
That may have sounded weird, so I cut it.

Different stroked for different folks. I sincerely think I'd have loved it if I were 10, but my tastes have changed enough that a lot of it was just not my thing. (Yeah, it did sound a little weird! )

@ Neane..... SHOOT. And that's the movie I had up next on my list to watch! I'm not excited now.... Maybe I'll pick RahXephon instead....

[Vilo159]

Started Angel Beats on Friday, watched up to episode10 Saturday. I really love this show, I love how the nature of the world unfolds, how Angel's person unfolds, I love all the characters,I love the music and the band, I pretty much love all of it. Except the swearing, I could do without that.

Rock and Sierra, you guys should write reviews of Kaze no Stigma. I was looking into it, but couldn't find any good reviews.

[SierraLea]

I just found out that Kekkaishi has an English dub and that my favorite voice actor plays the main! I am so watching that over Chirstmas break!

[mysngoeshere56]

Finally got around to watching episode 11 of Clannad the other day. Haven't been able to watch as much lately because of my busy school schedule.

[MangaRocks!]

walking cactuses of cathartic epiphany

...What.

I have no idea what that even means, but that was the best line I've heard/read all day.

[Mouse2010]

I got a bunch of work done last week, and finally felt free to watch a little anime again. So, I started watching My Daddy Long Legs, an anime based on Jean Webster's novel of education. I'm four episodes in and I like it for the most part, but watching this is a very strange experience. There are many ways in which it is like its American source material, but there are also many ways in which it is like a classic shojo story. The basic storyline about a poor girl struggling in a high school for rich people feels very shojo to me. (Not that I have seen that much shojo, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about!)

I also started watching Shin Sekai Yori. I wish I'd started this one earlier. I just watched through, so I'm way behind, and I therefore don't want to read the posts in the dedicated thread. (I mean because it's hard to avoid spoilers, even if folks use spoiler text.) But I really really want to talk about the series! If I were watching this on my own, I would probably try to marathon it as best I can (it's kinda hard to marathon stuff when you have a child to care for AND a full time job!) so that I would be caught up. But I'm watching it with my husband, and I have even less time to watch things with him than on my own, so I am just going to have to accept that I probably won't get caught up.

Lastly, we've also been watching Chihayafuru. No rush here. My goal is just to finish the first season before the next season starts airing. We're up to episode 15, so I think that's doable.

[Neane]

walking cactuses of cathartic epiphany

...What.

I have no idea what that even means

It's a fancy way of saying that it looked like an acid trip.

[MangaRocks!]

It's a fancy way of saying that it looked like an acid trip.

LOL, thanks. Still best line I've heard/seen today.

[LastLfan]

Yep I'm officialy sucked into one outs.

[Neane]

Wow Toei...brutal.

[Oddood198]

I'm not so much watching an anime right now, as repeatedly looping the Shingeki no Kyojin trailer. I have high expectations for this.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

I watched about the first 13 episodes of Shugo Chara, and about half of Natsuyuki Rendezvous. Plus, the stuff I`ve been watching from this season... Save for Blast of Tempest, which I haven't actually watched in weeks. :/

[skreyola]

Tonight, I watched a couple of episodes of Honey & Clover. Did I mention this is my third or fourth time watching this series? It's one of my favorites. Wish I could afford the box sets.

[Atria35]

Tonight, I watched a couple of episodes of Honey & Clover. Did I mention this is my third or fourth time watching this series? It's one of my favorites. Wish I could afford the box sets.

I got so lucky- with Funi's sale, I went ahead and purchased all of them. I've never seen it before but it looks like it will be right up my alley!

Monster 1- Because I really needed to start rewatching this series. Brilliant.

[skreyola]

It is awesome. You made a good purchase.

*gasp* Hulu has started posting Season 2 of Kimi ni Todoke!!!!!!! BBL...

Tonight, I saw Persona, Honey & Clover, and the first two episodes of Kimi ni Todoke's second season (0 and 1).

[impact777]

The first 7 episodes of "chi's sweet home" and the first episode of Bokurano.