Anime?

[Taffeta]

They did something weird with this week's Zeroin. It was an omake kind of episode which means now my calculations for how the real plot is going to run are all out. I know the first half was Zakuro and Gokuu's manga omake. I have no idea about the second, aside it was an URASAI, which is usually an anime omake... though if I wasn't impatient for certain scenes to be animated I'd have actively laughed at the Saiyuuki guide to how to behave in a cinema.

Editing into previous post to avoid doubleposting, just caught up with this week's Saiyuuki Zeroin. It cliffhangered exactly where I expected it to...so next week will probably cover my favourite scenes.

Spoiler

It's weird seeing Ukoku animated so much as Ukoku, rather than Ni Jianyi, since the old anime barely ever touched on that aspect.

I wondered how they were going to do the scene with Sanzou and Gokuu, even though part of it was in the trailer. But I did think they'd end the episode with it and they did.

Looking forward to next week =D

[Pokeyonekenobie]

You can now download Crunchyroll to your Nintendo Switch.

[Ponyfan]

I heard about Crunchyroll and Nintendo Switch. I'd be interested in hearing how it works if anyone tries it out. 

I'm still watching Daiya Act 2.  I'll probably start Haikyuu soon.  I'm also thinking about rewatching Sailor Moon (either the 90's version or Crystal/Eternal)

I read that Makoto Shinkai is working on a new film called Suzume no Tojimari.  I don't know if the English title has been decided yet.

I know that I'm probably being impatient but I still can't find anything about a release date for Western audiences for Free Final Stroke part 1 or the last season of the new Fruits Basket.



Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

I've been back through watching some older anime from my DVDs the last few weeks. Also a couple of new ones. The salaryman's club seems like a bog standard sports anime but set in a company. But it has Miki Shinichirou voicing one of the main cast so I shall probably keep watching it.

Also, THAT EPISODE of Saiyuuki aired. I am pretty happy with it. Only the slight detail that Hakkai's real eye should have been gold/yellow...but otherwise, it felt so nice to see it animated after so long.

I'm maybe going to rewatch Haikyuu, at least season 3 and four, since I never finished 4 yet.

I also bingewatched Hakuouki, or at least, as much of Hakuouki as I can ever stand to watch without having an emotional meltdown because the second season is very hard going.

Spoiler

SO MANY character deaths.

Although for the first time,

Spoiler

I thought about Okita's death and realised that in a way the anime gave back to him the ability to die as a warrior, something denied him as a real person, because he died of TB. And for a warrior in that time, probably, he'd have preferred that. So in a weird way maybe it's fine that way. I dunno. Okita Souji's story is a sad one either way.

[Ponyfan]

It makes me really happy that Saiyuuki is doing such a good job at staying true to the manga.   It gives me hope that if the Yona anime ever continues that they can make it as good as the first episodes.


Belle/Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime will be released on Blu Ray in the US in May.

Crunchyroll announced today that they now have Funimation and Wakanim titles on their website.

Ponyfan

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Yeah, Funimation announced that they are merging with Crunchyroll so soon their new releases will only be on Crunchyroll.

[Ponyfan]

Komi Can't Communicate season 2 will start in April. 

I saw an anime movie called Josee, the Tiger and the Fish at Walmart.  Has anyone seen it? I glanced at it and the description on the back didn't grab me but I didn't read all of it either. 



Ponyfan

[Harmonie]

Yeah, Funimation announced that they are merging with Crunchyroll so soon their new releases will only be on Crunchyroll.

Hm. I saw something about FUNimation titles coming to CR, but didn't catch the full context of the companies merging.

Streaming services consolidating isn't what I expected to happen in this age where everything is becoming its own streaming subscription service, but I'll gladly take it! I just hope that FUNimation is able to keep up with their dubs.

[TimeDance]

Just watched season 2 of One Punch Man. Great show, though it definitely didn't have the same high-quality animation as the first season.

I see some people posting about Saiyuki. I was a huge fan back in the day and have fallen out of touch with it. I just realize yesterday that there is another Sayuiki Season, Reload something. So I'll have to go check that out.

[tikibirds]

Not sure how I feel about the merger. I originally paid for both but ended up dropping CR because it was a pain in the ass to connect via a VPN. I have a year long subscription to Funimation. Do I get a refund if I cancel it? Also what I was watching has not been transferred to CR yet.

[Taffeta]

CR and Funi were I think together as an entity for a while, at least with sharing material. Then they separated out. Now back together. I'm ok with this though. I like CR much more than Funi, and I just cancelled my funimation sub.

Also, I found out how to turn off subtitles on CR on the firestick the other day. At last

Although I do wish dubs were kept in a separate section. It's annoying when a series says there are new episodes but they're actually dub eps, or you click on a series to start watching it and it defaults to the most recent (lately, Portuguese dubs, twice). I also don't like when the Japanese version gets put as 'season 2' when it's clearly not.

Maybe with this merger and more dubs coming over from Funi, they should think about this. I really don't want to deal with dubs at all if I can help it, and it would be great for people who want them to be able to go straight to them without having to navigate a ton of versions to find the right language.

[Ponyfan]

I think the Funimation titles are moving in batches to Crunchyroll until everything is on one streaming site.  Out of the titles that moved on the lst the only one that interested me was the dub of Fruits Basket now being on CR along with the sub.  I still need to finish the new version and it looks like the Blu Ray release of the final season is not going to come out for a while.

When I started looking at subscribing to Funimation and Crunchyroll I chose CR because there were some titles on there I was interested in that weren't on Funimation.

I finally got a DVD copy of Sailor Moon Crystal set 3.    I hope that the Eternal movies will be released on Blu Ray also. 

Today is the 30th anniversary of the anime of Sailor Moon.


Ponyfan

[Ponyfan]

I've got around 10 episodes left before I finish Daiya for the 2nd time.    I'll probably start Haikyuu next.


I watched a couple episodes of Komi Can't Communicate.  Watching the anime is making me want to read the manga because I want to see how the the stories play out there and what changes the anime may have made.

I also watched The Wind Rises and Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish this week.  I really enjoyed both films. 

The Wind Rises was interesting although it took me a bit to get used to the fantasy elements being confirmed to a dream world while the rest of the movie was realistic.

Spoiler

I've heard there's some complaints about the movie because it focuses on Hirikoshi Jiro, the man that designed fighter planes for Japan.  I thought the film did a good job of showing that Jiro was focused (at least in this version) on building better airplanes then what was currently made and that he upset that his designs were used for war.

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish took a lot of unexpected twists and turns.



Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

I've been watching a lot of random anime as they've come up on my feed.

Today I was watching Kemono Jihen.
Yesterday, The Detective is Already Dead.

...These are both a bit eccentric, especially the latter.

I also hardly ever watch Isekai anime because these days they are ten a penny and it's become a really overworked and unnecessary genre because of that. But I did end up watching the one with the 32 year old guy who ends up turned into a girl. Because it's crack. It's absolutely making a joke out of the whole Isekai thing but even though it's completely ridiculous it makes me laugh. So I've kept watching it.

Ep 11 of Saiyuuki Zeroin. Which was basically

Spoiler

Ukoku flinging Sanzou around and then threatening to erase him from existence.

Gat was very cool. Two episodes left.  I'm so glad they have all the original voice artists. Ukoku's guy is so good at being smarmy creep.

I thought the ep synopsis summed it up:
"Sanzou senses a presence. Unfortunately that presence has a name, and it's Ukoku'.

I keep thinking about rewatching Haikyuu but if I do I'm likely to start somewhere in the middle. I still didn't finish season 4, either.

Also watched Horimiya, now it's moved over onto CR.

Some comments...

Spoiler

I really like the beginning of it, but I feel like there could be more episodes overall with them in the second year building their connection and with Miyamura building his with the rest of the class. It kind of speeds through second year and spends most time in third year...

I wish Miyamura didn't cut his hair. It's a silly aesthetic thing - aside the fact he looks much better animated with long hair - but it's the reason he cuts it and keeps it cut that annoys me.

Spoiler

He cuts it because people are gossiping about him and Hori and he feels like his appearance is the problem, so he conforms by cutting it and then everyone thinks he's really good looking. Frankly, though, I preferred the long hair and piercings because that's him. Hori met him like that, and it was never an issue forf her. So I really wish he hadn't felt like he had to 'normalise' in that way.

The other thing that makes me uncomfortable is

Spoiler

Hori's fondness for being yelled at or even slapped. I don't care if it is her 'interest' to have that kind of interaction. I don't like it. Especially not in a high school anime, nor the way the students around them react to it most of the time. Also that Miyamura himself doesn't want to do it really and is bothered by it. It's just unnecessary and I don't like it at all.

The only other thing is that there are a lot of characters resolving issues alongside Hori and Miyamura and I mostly don't care about them. I mean, I think if the series was longer, it would be easier to care about them. But there are so many things not explored. Like, Yuki first sees Miyamura without his glasses jumping over the fence, and Miyamura mentions it to Hori and says he doesn't think Yuki knows who he was - but it's never followed up. There's no conversation ever about it. Miyamura's interactions with Ishikawa are all built up nicely, but there's literally nothing with him and Yuki.

Yanagi randomly appears and I don't really understand why. Although I think he'd be more interesting for Yuki than Ishikawa, that whole plotline seemed to run aground.

And all the conversations about using Miyamura's first name and in the end pretty much nobody does (maybe Hori's mother?) It's like, why bring it up if you're not going to use it.

The student council people...we don't see enough of the fact Sengoku and Hori are old school friends. Remi goes from being irresponsible and selfish to being a good friend to Sakura...I dunno. I feel like they could have done more with all this to flesh out the plot and character interactions so that I cared more about what these other characters were doing.

Overall, though, I thought it was cute. And I really like Miyamura as a character. I just like the opening episodes more than the later ones.

[Ponyfan]

Crunchyroll announced today that a lot of Sentail Filmworks series will be leaving the site at the end of the month.  It's a pretty long list.  Most of the titles I haven't heard of but I did notice Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun and some episodes of Food Wars.  Haikyuu seems to be staying for now.


Viz Media announced yesterday that they will be re-releasing the 90's anime of Sailor Moon on Blu Ray season set starting in June.  When Viz released them before each season was broken up in to 2 releases.  I'm not interested in the new release since I have the DVD sets of their last release.


Ponyfan