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I actually like a lot of OPs this season. After last season, where I thought all the EDs were better, it's a nice change. Gangsta's is probably my fave, but Durarara and Gatchaman's are nice too. Working's OP is a little eh compared to the last two but I like it's ED. Not the best season for theme songs but I'm sure they'll grow on me. I also think Monster Musume's OP is really cute.

On the show front, Ranpo Kitan and Chaos Dragon swapped positions for me. Chaos Dragon walks this fine line of lovably shit and actually kinda decent, should be fun to watch. Ranpo Kitan meanwhile:

Context does not fix this.

Really it seems like the top 5 new shows to watch (minus sequels and continuing shows) would be in order:

Charlotte
Rokka
Gangsta
Akagami no shirayuki-hime
Monster Musume

Special mention to Chaos Dragon for those who like a little shit in their schedule. You can't go far wrong with all those shows, I recommend them highly.

It depends on what you mean by alternate Universe. From what I understand the rules and events of all 3 IPs is pretty much the same, just occurring at slightly different times. A character from Kara no Kyoukai actually makes an appearance in Fate/Zero so that pretty much confirms that they're the same universe.

Hi, just dropping in to acknowledge how cute this is. That is all.

according to this they aren't

In certain route of Fate/Stay Night, a character from Garden of Sinners is hinted at, but it is also made clear that there are an infinite amount of alternate universes and that some sorceress have the ability to traverse them. As far as I know, the events of Fate and Garden of Sinners don't take place in the same world as Fate.

The events are slightly different, but the rules of all three are the same. Concepts like Origin, the Root, and the different Magics are present in all three IPs, as well as the existence of the Mages Association (referred to by name as "Clocktower" in both). This guy makes an appearance in both Sinners and Fate/Zero, and it's never stated that he has ability to travel to different universes.

I think we might be arguing about the same thing here though.

That's more or less what I am talking about. The 3 IPs are connected, but they don't take place in the same world.

The ending wouldn't have been effective if it wasn't for the majority of the first episode. Instead, it would have been just another zombie show but with cute girls. The whole thing about Yukis school life made the ending of the first episode so tragic. I won't deny that I found it to be too moe at first, but the ending justifys everything that came before it. I thought it was a great first episode and I am very much looking forward to see where this goes. I can't knock it for the moe beginning, it was too perfect.

But it wasn't just the moe. Moe can be entertaining when it wants to be, or at the very least engaging and hold my interest. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew there was some sort of twist beforehand I wouldn't have put up with it. Imagine if I went in completely blind? I'd have dropped it in the first 10 minutes, had the ending fully spoiled for me later and have the whole experience ruined. Look at Madoka, it's slow before the twist, sure, but it's not dull, it does a good job of keeping your interest before it shows it's hand. In my opinion I can't praise a show where the only good thing is it's ending. School Live didn't do that for me, THAT'S my gripe.

Not to argue semantics, but it's the ending of the first episode, not the show. If we were talking about a series that was a bore the whole time, but managed to have a good ending I would agree. The first episode can stand to be a tad flawed as long as it is able to capture your interest in the end as well as introduce us to the series. I think that the first episode worked brilliantly.
Madoka was different, it's twist doesn't work in the same way, so it was able to hint at it more and show more of its story before it showed it's true colors. It not a true one to one comparison as it was never trying to show a peaceful slice of life in the first place, there was always something sinister lurking. You kind of need to see just how deep this girl is in her delusions.

It doesn't change the fact that they could've done it way better and more engaging. The fact of the matter is that I didn't enjoy the first 20 minutes of the episode, and 2 minutes worth of content for me does not change the fact that I was essentially forcing myself through the beginning. 20 minutes of an episode is hardly a tad flawed, that's almost all of it. These are my thoughts, I didn't like the first 20 minutes at all, and there are ways to show cute girls doing cute things without making it dull.

These are my thoughts,

Anime general: Where good taste goes to die

"Good tatse is dead, and Twenty-One killed it."
Albert Einstein

I interrupt this shitposts session to bring you my favorite OP atm:

Fate/hollow ataraxia – OP 1 (PS Vita) from kotelo on Vimeo.

I've never really followed the anime seasons, but I've decided to give it a shot. I'm planning on following just three shows this season. Here's my early thoughts.

Just so you know, the genre subversion you're referring to in things such as Madoka and Eva is referred to as a Deconstruction.

And as far as your thoughts on school live, I agree with you completely. I think I might actually go back and rewatch the first episode before I watch the second one just to see if I catch anything else that was hinting at what was going on.

@Crimeariver
I've heard of "deconstruction" before, but I avoid the term because it reminds me of my horrible time in grad school. In an academic context, the term deconstruction carries a hell of a lot of baggage. It could just be my misunderstanding, but when I hear "deconstruction" I imagine breaking something down to its basic elements and studying them independently of each other. When I hear "subversion" I think of something containing the basic elements of a genre, but taking them in a direction unintended by most examples of that genre, which fits better with what Eva and Madoka did. Probably just my hang ups though.

MORE PRETENTIOUSNESS! Thinking about it, they mean more or less the same thing. I just don't like being reminded of having to read Derrida in college. Plus, deconstruction just sounds like a flat and boring study to me.There's more descriptive words out there. I don't want an anime to deconstruct something. I want it to subvert expectations and interrogate assumptions about the genre. Powerful language.That shit gets me high.

Hehe fair enough. Just as long as you realize that they're basically the same thing is all that matters to me. You can use whichever phrase floats your boat.

So, the summer season didn't have much that interest me; so far, I've only picked up the new Durarara and Gangsta. But onto another subject. If you guys haven't yet, put on hold whatever you're watching and watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes RIGHT NOW. I marathoned the entire series this week, since I had my wisdom teeth removed, and I couldn't do much anyway. You're doing yourself a disservice by not watching this true masterpiece. It's one of the few anime where I didn't even have to think twice about its rating; the series wasn't over yet, and already I considered it a 10.

Why did it take me so long to get into Black Lagoon? I mean, it's really good. Yes, it's dark and all the characters are vile, but I still enjoy it. Some of the highlights include the action, style, characterization, and influences from Tarantino. One thing I find interesting is how the main character doesn't seem to be the main character. That is, although Rock is introduced as the central protagonist and narrator, I feel like Revy is the one who's getting the most development and many of the characters (including Rock) serve the function of teaching her something about herself. I'm not all the way through the series yet, so I won't go into much more detail, but I can't yet decide of Rock and Revy are equal protagonists or if Revy is the true protagonist. Even if she is just horrible.

One of the reasons I finally decided to start watching was when I found out the voice artist of Revy was also Sonata Dusk in Rainbow Rocks. It was just too funny not to take notice. Soon after I began the series, I realized there were a lot of My Little Pony voice connection. Voice artists get around, so even if it was funny, it wasn't too surprising, but…it just kept happening. Every time I discovered another voice artist working on both shows, the joke just kept getting funnier. There's no less than seven connections and some of the Black Lagoon characters sound weirdly/hilariously similar to their MLP counterparts. Roberta, for instance, sounds like a South American Luna and Hansel is a creepier, slightly lower-pitched Rainbow Dash. It adds more than a little humor to my viewing experience.

I guess I was out of the loop, but Inferno cop and Ninja slayer are jokes.

I thought they looked so damn cool and were gonna be balls to the walls action, but they are fucking jokes. At least I laughed my ass off.

So has anyone else watched God Eater? It seems to me like Attack on Titan but with giant monsters instead of titans and focused on spectacle rather than characters. The only thing is that, while the animations is certainly an amazing quality (being ufotable and all), it's almost like they didn't put an anti-aliasing filter over it. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the show or with the file I downloaded, it's just kinda weird.

No it's a problem with the show. It looks nice, sure, but the actual story and writing is so boring I couldn't get invested. I was looking forward to it as well, so I'm disappointed,

@twenty
yeah, it was probably the biggest disappointment of the season so far. As for the characters looking weird, I think its because they outline the characters with thick black and white lines. The white part of the outline is what throws me off.

I wish someone had told me gakkou gurashi was a feels fest slice of life before I started watching it so I could prepare. It's so depressing. In a good way.

God Eater's OP looks amazing, I think the actual show suffers from trying to keep that art style on whatever short time frame they have. The shading is so hard and really apparent in the show, it looks crazy. The scenery has looked pretty great tho… so it's got that going for it.

I think Gangsta and Rokka no Yuusha are still my top two.

I am not really digging Code Geass. It's not bad, but I have yet to see what makes it such a fan favorite. Does it get better after episode 10, or should I like it already?

I was the same way Dac. I found that the series should have taken itself more seriously and done away with all the fanservice. It definitely had a lot of potential though with all the talk of strategy and espionage but it never really reached that potential. It felt like it was trying to be as complex as the first half of death note but it really never got there.

@lisa
I totally agree on God Eater. It's a really shame that the lines ended up looking so rough. I'm not sure if it was a deliberate aesthetic decision or if it was due to time constraints but either way it's a real shame since Ufotable has made three of the best looking anime of all time (Fate/Zero Fate/UBW and of course, Garden of Sinners). I'll probably still stick with the series though because even a low quality Ufotable production is well above most other anime.

Anime suggestions? I like sci-fi, especially with time travels.
So far I've watched Steins gate, Digimon, FLCL, Btoom, Summer wars, the girl who leapt through time, Suzumiya Harihu, No Game No Life, etc.

Doraemon. It has time travel though the series doesn't focus time travel too much.

Cowboy Bebop would be a good one. And if you liked Haruhi for all the supernatural stuff going on then I would definitely recommend Beyond the Boundary (Kyoukai no Kanata). It's by the same studio but is more focused on the supernatural side of things rather than the slice of life. And if you're looking for good old straight sci-fi then give Psycho-Pass a try. It's probably the best cyberpunk anime of the last several years.

I would agree with Crimea on Psycho-Pass and Cowboy Bebop for good sci-fi shows (Although I pretty heavily disagree on BtB, but that's just me), you really can't go far wrong with those two, they're my main recommendations too. Full Metal Panic is also good too, so there's that. Also Gatchaman Crowds, that's a really good Sci-Fi show too.

Also just want to take a moment to recommend Charlotte to anyone who isn't watching it, that show is super good. The writing is really solid and has a fun little story and characters, in fact I might even recommend it over Angel Beats a little bit.

In fact now that I think about it, I would totally recommend it if you liked Haruhi, Simon. The supernatural elements are really fun, and also has a good balance of slice of life and supernatural

Hey guys, I have a Black Lagoon joke. What do you call Balalaika when she's trying to get something done quickly?

A rushin' Russian!

So I found out about a show called Show by Rock, the premise is somewhat interesting, and the company behind Hello Kitty made this.

I;m considering giving it a shot and I'm leaning towards the sub for three reasons:

>It's free. Even even by actual perfectly legal means (Funimation has the sub on both youtube and the site for free)
>It's complete, Funimation has a dub, but not all the episodes had been dubbed yet, so I'm waiting for that before trying it out
>Consistency, unless the show has a similar case to MLP (i.e. the singing voices are different from the character voices), I expect the voices to be similar (with one possible exception due to medical reasons)

Of course all of this is basically preyeral to the actual question. I just want to know what you guys think of (note that IT does have Moe elements, it IS based on a "filthy casul" game and it is 12 episodes, which for me is more of a plus since the last time i watched a show subbed was Sailor Moon Crystal and I left after the Metallia arc was basically done, plus instead of waiting for weeks I can just spend 6 hours binge-watching it)

unrelated: I'm either finished with the dub of Kill la Kill or am finished, depending on whether or not Toonami is airing the OVA

I loved Show By Rock! I thought it was super cute but genuinely fun to watch for the story too. It looks nice the whole way through, and the 3D parts are generally short and not so bad anyway! It's not your typical idol slice of life if that's what you're thinking. Go into it for a fun watch and don't think about it too hard and you'll be fine, I really liked it. It's also one of those anime where there are actually guys so that's a plus.

Okay the first episode was a little enjoyable, you at odds with the "short 3d segments" bit (I'd day that half the episode was CGI'd), I;d ask how the Myumons are able to speak without mouths (Human forms notwithstanding) but considering Sanrio's involvement I'd say that would be as futile as asking what is the meaning of life.

Well time to see if the Crimson-whatever's gonna be the butt monkeys or not. To Episode 2

The first episode I couldn't decide if it was for kids or not trying to be for kids, very confusing. The 3D parts don't actually play a very big role until more near the end besides this intro. I think part of why it wasn't super talked about is because of the first ep tbh.

Yeah they had a tendency of being meh or non-indictive Speaking of which, that episode really made it felt like Symphonica meets Madoka Magicka (with a bit of Kill la Kill with the guitar)

Watch the next three episode between that and what I knew first hand spoilers I noticed:

Can't help but butt in, but if you like Show by Rock's use of 3D then you'll probably like Etotama.

I constantly kept hearing how both these shows were displaying how good CG should be.
Which show did it better, that's up to debate I'm guessing, I haven't seen show by rock to share my opinion.

For one thing Etotama does fight scenes really well.

The CG was pretty much the highlight of the show, and boy was it eye candy.
Overall it was a fun show to watch despite the story being pretty average.

I'll consider it. Thanks for the suggestion

Just finished the Anime, man was that a fun show. Though now I have a question for lisa (and anyone else who seen the show) How come of the Myumon characters we've seen int he show the only ones that have human forms are Elvis Grateful King (who doesn't have a furry form) Angelica and most the bands (And while we're at it the Yokai and Merfolk bands didn't show they Myumon forms in the anime as well). Is it a sign of musical talent? (and I'd rather you not being politics into this lisa, so far racism seems to be highly unlikely)

"Can I ask a question? Who is 'Megu-nee'?"

That was probably the saddest moment that I saw coming from a mile away of all time. Just goes to show that execution is everything (seriously that radio tho).

Now I am seriously asking who is Megu-nee is.

Also, I find some of the changes in some scene… interesting?