The General Anime Thread...

[bdj57]

I wasn't sold on Aquors when I saw they were replacing mu's, and I'm still not now. As I've said before, if they were markedly different to mu's in the sense that they're nine girls, with three first, second and third year girls each, they'd stand out more. But they don't. So I'm just not interested in them.

As for the sub-units, if any one of those right now or in the future is as good as BiBi ever was, they deserve a spot in a hall of fame. What sort of hall, I'm not sure. But basically they'd have to be damn good.



Here, Eli > Maki > Umi > Hanayo > Nozomi > Nico > Rin >>>>>>>> Honoka > Kotori.



I'm not quite sure how I'd go about ranking the voice actresses, since only three of them (Mimorin, Pile and Nanjo) have singing voices I find any good. Except Kubo is so impossibly cute I can't possibly look past her. As is her voice when she's not singing. Soramaru is much the same in the voice stakes. And I'll admit an occasional liking to Emitsun's singing. But I can't really condone Kussun, Rippi or Ucchi in any way. With the greatest of respect.

I appreciate to what you said about Aqours and Muse. It is obvious that the originals would never been replaced and I do respect that, but I think Aqours is starting to change some people thoughts toward them with their own characteristics and charm. As for sub-unit so far I quite hooked up with Guilty Kiss because this unit imo have best combination of vocal range compared to the other two. The only proof imo is whether they succeeded their ancestor will be the start of the Sunshine second season when we can possibly see the true Aqours is told by story and plot.

 

[ToyGTone]

Am I the only one who didn't like Eli at first due to being strict and "aggressive" only to started really liking her when she started helping the u's and even more when she finally joined the group?

I tend to look at Nozomi as the wiser person of the members and her along with Eli, Umi and Maki as the more mature one's compared to the rest of the group.

Basically, my standings:

Umi, Kotori, Nozomi, Eli, Maki, Honoka, Nico,




Rin,








Hanayo.

Here, Eli > Maki > Umi > Hanayo > Nozomi > Nico > Rin >>>>>>>> Honoka > Kotori.

So far IMO:
Kotori > Umi > Eli > Nozomi > Honoka > Maki > Hanayo > Rin > Nico

Not saying any of them were bad or anything, just my preference which's rather close.

 

[Sir Tuddle]

All this love live talk is completely beyond me.

Spoiler

but svx is right Umi is, in fact, the best

 

[RacingOtaku86]

All this love live talk is completely beyond me.

Spoiler

but svx is right Umi is, in fact, the best

Same here. I'll stick to my own 'waifus' like Mayuri from Steins;Gate among others.

 

[SVX]

Seems like Love Live on topic right now so there are few questions I want to ask. First, we know Muse is a great idol group, but how about Aqours? And which sub-unit from Aqours that you guys think is the best? Is it as worthy and comparable as previous Muse's sub-unit?

I like them! A lot. I was more skeptical at how the anime series was played out rather than the members themselves. If anything, as a whole, I'm enjoying their group music more so than I did with Muse.

Am I the only one who didn't like Eli at first due to being strict and "aggressive" only to started really liking her when she started helping the u's and even more when she finally joined the group?

I tend to look at Nozomi as the wiser person of the members and her along with Eli, Umi and Maki as the more mature one's compared to the rest of the group.

Pretty much on par with what was intended with the show, really.

All this love live talk is completely beyond me.

Could be car-girls

As for the sub-units, if any one of those right now or in the future is as good as BiBi ever was, they deserve a spot in a hall of fame. What sort of hall, I'm not sure. But basically they'd have to be damn good.

Go listen to Strawberry Trapper. You won't regret it.

I'm not quite sure how I'd go about ranking the voice actresses, since only three of them (Mimorin, Pile and Nanjo) have singing voices I find any good. Except Kubo is so impossibly cute I can't possibly look past her. As is her voice when she's not singing. Soramaru is much the same in the voice stakes. And I'll admit an occasional liking to Emitsun's singing. But I can't really condone Kussun, Rippi or Ucchi in any way. With the greatest of respect.

Ucchi has an excellent solo voice. Go listen to Go! Go! My Cruising! and you will see.

 

[nk4e]

I LOVE THELoveLive!...oh wait wrong thread.

 

[AOS-]

^ He edited that to say he loves Live.

How's y'all liking Saekano 2 so far?

Maybe it's because I'm not paying full attention at the moment, but it's not keeping my interest I find. Maybe it's also because I paused that to finish a watching Automata playthroughs.

 

[bdj57]

I like them! A lot. I was more skeptical at how the anime series was played out rather than the members themselves. If anything, as a whole, I'm enjoying their group music more so than I did with Muse.

Go listen to Strawberry Trapper. You won't regret it.

Yeah, me too. While the anime is just okay which in my case not really put much hype (until last episode...), but as a musical group they did really well.

And I agree Strawberry Trapper is nice, but my fave has to be Guilty Eyes Fever, that one was lit!

^ He edited that to say he loves Live.

How's y'all liking Saekano 2 so far?

Maybe it's because I'm not paying full attention at the moment, but it's not keeping my interest I find. Maybe it's also because I paused that to finish a watching Automata playthroughs.

I found the second season of Saekano is going a bit more serious route. However I'm judging based on the anime itself cause I don't read the light novel. And I've just reached the winter Comiket episode where it has some good moments with Eriri but Kato is going salty at the end... I don't know how it is going to be after that because I take hiatus to do important task first.

 

[ToyGTone]

Since y'all are still talking about Love Live, i just gotta say that i just finished the First Season of it.

Spoiler: and...

The way the situation became bad during the last few episodes left made me feel bad about them...weird i know but at the same time i was glad seeing them grouping up once again at the end.

Now i'm just watching some videos of the voice actress on Youtube, quite entertaining i would say

 

[SVX]

Since y'all are still talking about Love Live, i just gotta say that i just finished the First Season of it.

Spoiler: and...

The way the situation became bad during the last few episodes left made me feel bad about them...weird i know but at the same time i was glad seeing them grouping up once again at the end.

Now i'm just watching some videos of the voice actress on Youtube, quite entertaining i would say

Yeah, just wait until the second season.

 

[bdj57]

@SVX what do you think with the latest Guilty Kiss songs? They go for another rock and a bit chill with Shadow Gate to Love

 

[SVX]

@SVX what do you think with the latest Guilty Kiss songs? They go for another rock and a bit chill with Shadow Gate to Love

Ah yeah, that reminds me! I'm still quite behind on that. I'm going to wait for when my headphones are sorted out before I comment. Full justice, yo!

 

[Techy]

Seen Koe no Katachi.

Spoiler

At first I was pretty pissed at Ishida and the others, but they slowly started to grow on me. Towards the end I even relate to them, which is pretty uncanny. I think by the end, they truly did redeemed themselves, especially Ishida. Though I heard the romance subplot between him and Shoko was lacking, which is kinda true. But I didn't really care about it that much. For one I think the last time we see them at the bridge implied that they'll get together. And more importantly, the film's about Ishida's redemption from bullying her. The romance bit is a byproduct. Though I will admit, it would be nice to get a reciprocation scene or something like that.

Another thing was Shoko's broken Japanese. Now that was very well-done.

 

[bdj57]

Ah yeah, that reminds me! I'm still quite behind on that. I'm going to wait for when my headphones are sorted out before I comment. Full justice, yo!

Did your headphones broke or do you want to buy a new one? And I agree to wait until your headphones got it right for "full idol experience"

About my opinion on these new songs are pretty good but not enough to replaced Guilty Eyes Fever. The new rock is slightly harder tune than Strawberry Trapper which okay and Shadow Gate to Love is probably the first chill song came from Guilty Kiss playlist and I quite like it with Riko is finally being in the center with it. (Yohane still have the best voice though lol)

 

[SVX]

Did your headphones broke or do you want to buy a new one? And I agree to wait until your headphones got it right for "full idol experience"

About my opinion on these new songs are pretty good but not enough to replaced Guilty Eyes Fever. The new rock is slightly harder tune than Strawberry Trapper which okay and Shadow Gate to Love is probably the first chill song came from Guilty Kiss playlist and I quite like it with Riko is finally being in the center with it. (Yohane still have the best voice though lol)

I bought some new headphones, but I had to send them out for repair. I can't listen to music the same way now, so I'll have to wait!

 

[Cano]

@Cano will hear me out. And @Lain.

it took half a day for this thread to return to it's normal Love Trash talk. I ain't even looking into it again.

 

[SVX]

it took half a day for this thread to return to it's normal Love Trash talk. I ain't even looking into it again.

If only you were faster.

 

[bdj57]

Since Your Name is being popular Makoto Shinkai's movie, what other movie did you guys like from the same director/creator? Mine was 5cm per Second because it is the first Shinkai movie I did watch. Other would be She And Her Cat which is Makoto Shinkai first animation project and then adapted into short series few years ago.

 

[JayOTT]

Well I kind of expected the mods to take action on my first knee-jerk post. Since I'm not a coward, I shall now explain in detail why I think Love Live is a bad anime.

I said in the unpopular opinions thread a while back that I see Love Live as either a failed slice of life, a failed drama, or both, and the primary reason for both boils down to characterisation. Whoever was writing the Love Live anime must have felt that the nine protagonists all needed to be distinctly different from one another in personality, and whilst they for the most part succeeded at this, it comes at the cost of likeability. And in a slice of life type series, having likeable and relatable characters is very important.

But all of the third-year students made me want to reach through my computer screen and punch them at some point (and I only watched 6 episodes before dropping for good). Eli, the least unlike-able by default, makes up bogus rules about forming new clubs on the spot, and is generally abrasive for reasons that go unexplained. Her one legitimate complaint about the group potentially sucking is answered by episode 3.

Every single one of Nico's on-screen appearances seemed dedicated to making her look like a struggle n grunt. From scoffing angrily at others, to internet trolling, to stealing food, it baffles me as to how her character still has any fans at all let alone as many as she has. The sad part is that she might still only be the second worst character because Nozomi... molests Maki in episode 2.

Love Live is not a hentai! A scene like that where a future protagonist gets away with a sexual crime should never have made it into the first draft of the script let alone the anime itself. And Maki doesn't do a darn thing to stop Nozomi either, letting her off scot-free and leading me to why Love Live also fails as a drama. Because a key aspect of drama in my opinion is that, unless you're writing a tragedy, the antagonists eventually need to receive their comeuppance, especially if they're becoming protagonists afterwards.

So the antagonists in this scenario would be Nico and Eli. Not only does Nico get off scot-free too, she also ends up becoming the club president on a technicality! As for Eli, I dropped the series after episode 6, but written recaps of later episodes suggest that she too is pretty much instantly forgiven by episode 8 without so much as having to apologise for being so obstructive. So what was the point of having certain protagonists start the series as antagonists?

In a way I do get why people still like this show. Cute girls and catchy music. I really like cute girls too, but I'm not so shallow that I'm willing to overlook major issues with the characterisation and plot of a show just because of aesthetics. I just don't understand the trend of donning the Love Live avatar and/or claiming that this show was anything more than K-On, minus the likeable characterisations that made me actually enjoy K-On.

 

[Downhill Dino]

I have a similar opinion, didn't watch Love Live though. I did see Idolmaster and felt that was enough, haven't revisited the idol genre since.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

it took half a day for this thread to return to it's normal Love Trash talk. I ain't even looking into it again.

You know you could've posted a Misato picture of some description, since that's what called you back here (probably), instead of voicing your concern over the LL takeover, right? Wow us with your expertise and not your broken heart and all that jazz...

 

[C-ZETA]

I have a similar opinion, didn't watch Love Live though. I did see Idolmaster and felt that was enough, haven't revisited the idol genre since.

There's a slightly different premise behind the two though. Idolmaster would probably be fine if the premise behind it weren't so ugly (the actual, real life idol industry and all the evils that come with it). Love Live is just some girls deciding they'd like to sing one day. But I know there's plenty to criticize about idols on the whole so, yeah.

And yes, Love Live is a long way from perfect. Though not sure why the third-years need to be singled out. If you wanna go after anyone, make it the second years. Honoka is one of the single worst characters I have ever seen, as nigh on everything she ever does is just completely wrong. Except Kotori is even worse because she actually agrees with everything she says...and does nothing else apart from that. At least Honoka can evoke emotion, no matter how bad it may be. Kotori, for the most part, seems utterly worthless.

On a more general scale, the first season got really stupid at times, and the movie was largely meaningless. Especially the second half of it. I'm not into most of the music, largely because I'm not into 2/3rds of the seiyuu's voices. I'm about the only fan I know who doesn't give a crap about LLSIF. And I've already said my piece on Aquors.

And I don't care because the best parts of it are all absolutely ****ing brilliant.

 

[bdj57]

In a way I do get why people still like this stupid show. Cute girls and catchy music. I really like cute girls too, but I'm not so shallow that I'm willing to overlook major issues with the characterisation and plot of a show just because of aesthetics. I'm starting to get sick of seeing so many people on the internet don the Love Live avatar and/or claim that this show was anything more than K-On, minus the likeable characterisations that made me actually enjoy K-On.

You're allowed to give these kind of statement and I also judging anime by how good is the story, execution and how characters having time for development are points that what I focus with. I do not watch the first Love Live so I can't judge it yet, but I already jumped and watch Sunshine and I can say is just fine but not stellar nor impressive in term of story and plot but at least there is a little bit character development from what I've seen. The music however is different story because Aqours (and Muse) are real musical group hiding under the shade of fictional characters, so it is basically they are just regular celebrities or artists.

As for K-On! that one actually the first anime to brought myself knowing Kyoto Animation for the first time and I found it was gorgeous anime at that time combined with some music and band elements are what make this thing popular back then. Not really bother about the story for this one, it's all about moments that you spend together with friends just like when you're back in high school and imo KyoAni nailed that aspect of slice of life and ever since KyoAni became my one of favorite anime studio until these days.

 

[JayOTT]

And yes, Love Live is a long way from perfect. Though not sure why the third-years need to be singled out. If you wanna go after anyone, make it the second years.

Because I focused my rant on the episodes I actually watched (1-6) rather than the ones I've only read recaps for, and at the point where I dropped the show most of the things that Honoka gets criticised for hadn't actually happened yet. I could have ranted about Honoka (I'm singing in the rain except it makes me sick) as well as Umi (you gained 2kg so now I'm going to fat shame you), but it would be complaining about episodes I didn't watch.

I don't really 'hate' Love Live as a franchise, and in fact I did play School Idol Festival for a few months, which was enjoyable for a bit though did get boring after a while. I just hate how they put an amateur in charge of writing the anime story and still managed to cash in...

Most other anime that I've watched more than a few episodes of have been ones I've mostly enjoyed, so I do like the anime medium as a whole, though I don't watch as much as I really should or want to due to letting myself get distracted when I try a lot of the time.

 

[C-ZETA]

at the point where I dropped the show most of the things that Honoka gets criticised for hadn't actually happened yet.

You see, for me it wasn't just the obvious flashpoints Honoka was responsible for. She literally pissed me off from the first minute. I think expectation has more to do with it than anything, really. Prior to watching Love Live my sources described Honoka as 'average'. So I took that to mean 'Well OK, she'll be a plain Jane who we just see everything through'. Imagine my surprise, then, when instead I found a jumped-up little **** as its main protagonist. That's what done for Honoka, really. I was misled with her, perhaps. Still doesn't make her any better, though. I'm amazed she gets any respect from me at all, to be honest. But I suppose that's what happens when you do something that isn't just not completely terrible, but also the anime's best moment. But that's in the second season.

 

[bdj57]

Found this... (not my Tweet btw)

 

[jus1029]

Oh my, what did I miss?

 

[SVX]

To be frank, I watch Love Live for the good music, cute girls and funny scenes. If I wanted a critical sense of character and plot development, I have other shows which utilise that. LL is my chance to turn off and watch something, and I really think that's its main strength.

 

[JayOTT]

I probably should've just kept it to myself anyway as it hasn't really accomplished much and I knew in advance that personal opinions would be impossible to change. I don't know what side of the bed I woke on yesterday but I was in 'that' sort of mood for reasons I can't figure out...

 

[Techy]

Since Your Name is being popular Makoto Shinkai's movie, what other movie did you guys like from the same director/creator? Mine was 5cm per Second because it is the first Shinkai movie I did watch. Other would be She And Her Cat which is Makoto Shinkai first animation project and then adapted into short series few years ago.

All of them for me. Though it has been a while since i've watched his past films. 5cm per second was really good, thus an opener for many of Shinkai's films.