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If you come in here looking for "anime recommendations" then please refer to this chart before posting: Anime Recommendations (as of may 2014). We also have an IRC channel called #tladt where we all hang out. The channel is on Rizon, not QuakeNet! Feel free to check it out. TLADT discord is Discord.ggFor currently airing anime, please see Anichart.net |
On June 21 2023 09:36 Just_a_Moth wrote:Sunday: Heavenly Delusion + Show Spoiler +Watch a guy stuck in his sister's body get raped by the person they both looked up to as children, shortly after reuniting.
+ Show Spoiler + Those last 2 episodes really pissed me off. First we have this rape cliffhanger, which angered me to no end. I mean, I thought I can really understand where they were going with it, characters being basically kids unaware of dangers of the world etc. but then in next episode the resolution was horrible. Being bound and raped for several days (I assume from the food platters) and then all is kinda forgiven and moving on with life like nothing happened. WTF?!
I can understand denial but this was just way too much.
And some other stuff I watched:
Insomnia - good, heart-warming chill anime. Raeliana - much better than I expected, also getting some character progression which is nice. Mashle - dropped it, wasn't all too engaging and the blunt jokes repeated over and over get tiresome pretty fast. Hell's Paradise - I guess you can watch just few last episodes for the action because first 3/4 of the show is pointless. My Home Hero - Breaking Dad was surprisingly good. The Cafe Terrace and its Goddesses - didn't expect much from it but was very pleasantly surprised. A Galaxy Next Door - if you like sweet romance this is good. Dead Mount Death Play - pretty good, I really like the world they've built. My Love Story With Yamada Kun - another good romance. Witch From Mercury - pure awesomeness, doing Gundam justice. Summoned to Another World a Second Time - dropped it, quality is rather poor. The Aristocrat's Otherworldly Adventure - dumb but kinda fun, might be good for isekai fans. I Got A Cheat Skill in Another World - shameless power fantasy but quality is actually pretty good and it's an enjoyable watch. Skip And Loafer - dropped it. I like heart-warming slice of life but this was just too bland for me and the characters weren't that interesting. Demon Slayer - was OK but really just more of the same, wish they did something more interesting with it. In a Godless World - one of those "what the fuck did I just see and why the fuck am I watching this?" animes. Guilty pleasure.
Damn, that's a lot of shows I watched this year XD
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So...
+ Show Spoiler +Is By The Grace of the Gods a kids anime?
Just wondering because the main character never seems to age etc.
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Good season this spring
Mashle Insomnia Skip to loafer Hells paradise Mix Demon slayer Ousama ranking Heavenly paradise Home hero
Summer looks great aswell
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That's a lot you guys are watching. :o
News from Pluto: https://myanimelist.net/news/69457990
"The anime will release with 8 episodes of 60 minutes each. Pluto is scheduled to premiere worldwide on Netflix on October 26."
It's finally happening.
On July 01 2023 06:11 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:So... + Show Spoiler +Is By The Grace of the Gods a kids anime? Just wondering because the main character never seems to age etc.
Judging from the synopsis and preview, it's probably the typical self-insert isekai harem power fantasy shit and the writer has no idea how to write a story or characters. I don't think it's aimed at children the same way Pokemon or Digimon is.
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I know it's hard to believe but a really good anime dropped on Netflix. Ooku: The Inner Chambers is basically an alternate history political drama. Really cool setting with plenty of twists and dark dystopian ideas.
It's also very different from most shows you've probably seen so far.
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Oshi no Ko never did recover from the first episode's end. It was fine, had some funny/hype moments (the ending song outros had no right being as hype as they were at times), but nothing special like the massively inflated views would have you think. Raeliana was fun. Reborn in another world as the villianess is such a weirdly specific genre but they are strangely consistently good (at least until they resolve the "I have to prevent myself from being killed off" part). Ancient Magus was good for what it tries to do. Rough keeping track of things given how long its been since the first season though. Hells Paradise was kinda bad. Even after the fighting picked up it wasn't really interesting, and the cliffhanger at the end is just bad. It both felt too slow and like it was blazing past important points. Summon to another world again got dropped. Another isekai that skips all the potentially interesting worldbuilding parts and just speedruns to collecting basic bitch waifus. Sacrifice princess gets dropped after first episode due to not only having one of the most obvious "twists" with the sacrifice part, but also for going fully furry right after.+ Show Spoiler + Saw first season of ranking of kings but didnt bother with this one since the end of the last was so bad.
+ Show Spoiler +Also bonus round, new season's "Am I Actually the Strongest?" gets a call out for being so laughable bad I actually laughed out loud at the stupidity of it. Can't instantly communicate despite them speaking the same language in a different world? "Let me make a barrier that converts sounds to words. There, instantly can communicate fine". My fucking god.
I also apparently watched the first 3 episodes of aristocrats otherworldly adventure, but it was so generic and boring I only barely remembered the title image, and even then I wasn't sure I gave it a chance until checking.
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On July 04 2023 07:23 Manit0u wrote: I know it's hard to believe but a really good anime dropped on Netflix. Ooku: The Inner Chambers is basically an alternate history political drama. Really cool setting with plenty of twists and dark dystopian ideas.
It's also very different from most shows you've probably seen so far.
It was a very good manga too. I didn't know an adaptation had been in the works.
On July 02 2023 21:08 Miragee wrote: Judging from the synopsis and preview, it's probably the typical self-insert isekai harem power fantasy shit and the writer has no idea how to write a story or characters. I don't think it's aimed at children the same way Pokemon or Digimon is.
It reads a bit like Ascendance of a Bookworm in that the protagonist's main goal is to capture the happiness that eluded him in his dismal former life. So it is a fantasy, just not one that includes being a monster-slaying badass and roping a harem of big-titty girls. More like Mob Psycho 100 if the main dude was lucky rather than insanely powerful.
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I bit the bullet and watched Demon Slayer. I have mixed feelings concerning how Gotouge utilizes melodrama - in the technical, not pejorative, sense. The story feels like it's drawn out in vague sketches with the characters accordingly painted with broad strokes and motivation. It's as if Gotouge is either struggling to depict all the richness of the story that exists in her head, or she lacks a strong vision on what should matter. We get a little bit of world building, training montage, ancillary relationships, Tanjiro - Nezuko interaction, humor, but nothing strong to anchor the story. There have been accusations of being derivative and generic, but it feels plagued by indecision more than anything.
Notes:
- There's shameless abuse of flashbacks at the end of deaths to garner sympathy and gift gravitas. This is probably the most annoying aspect: it is manipulative to portray outrageously evil villains, only to engage in emotional whiplash without proper foreshadowing or buildup. Now this is a hallmark of 2000s shounen but it wasn't employed for every single bad guy with a role. When it used to cap Rengoku's death, it threatened to turn his sacrifice into bathos.
- The battle scenes have great flourish, but it does bring up the question: do breathing techniques infuse swords with elemental power or are the visuals meant to inform us which breathing technique is being used at any single point?
- Apropos of melodrama, the three main characters tend to embrace rather extreme poles. Tanjiro is the incarnation of a saint with how patient and ultimately empathetic he turns out to be. For most of the story Zenitsu is the epitome of whiny, possessive, and temperamentally frail, all mined for humor. Inosuke is the prototypical loose cannon: brash, competitive, proud of his untamed machismo, chaotic. This leaves the characters curiously inert when they aren't directly interacting with other people. They seem to possess nothing resembling the inner life of a person, full of contradiction and ambiguity. Perfectly fine decision but it favors a fast pace to story progression where we aren't left alone with one of them for too long.
- I don't get the fuss from some corners concerning Muzan's appearance. Is it really inappropriate to have a debonair big bad?
I do wonder what gave Demon Slayer the appeal to blow up so fast. Was it the beautiful artwork? The bombastic fight scenes? Riding the streaming wave that has exposed anime to viewers outside its formerly niche Western audience? The lack of focus, which allowed people to get caught up in the hype of the first two points and find what they wanted in the story? Furthermore, does it really deserve the praise and adulation worthy of "one of the best anime of the 2010s"?
5.8 out of 10.
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On July 11 2023 12:11 CosmicSpiral wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2023 07:23 Manit0u wrote: I know it's hard to believe but a really good anime dropped on Netflix. Ooku: The Inner Chambers is basically an alternate history political drama. Really cool setting with plenty of twists and dark dystopian ideas.
It's also very different from most shows you've probably seen so far. It was a very good manga too. I didn't know an adaptation had been in the works. Show nested quote +On July 02 2023 21:08 Miragee wrote: Judging from the synopsis and preview, it's probably the typical self-insert isekai harem power fantasy shit and the writer has no idea how to write a story or characters. I don't think it's aimed at children the same way Pokemon or Digimon is. It reads a bit like Ascendance of a Bookworm in that the protagonist's main goal is to capture the happiness that eluded him in his dismal former life. So it is a fantasy, just not one that includes being a monster-slaying badass and roping a harem of big-titty girls. More like Mob Psycho 100 if the main dude was lucky rather than insanely powerful. ------------------------------------------------ I bit the bullet and watched Demon Slayer. I have mixed feelings concerning how Gotouge utilizes melodrama - in the technical, not pejorative, sense. The story feels like it's drawn out in vague sketches with the characters accordingly painted with broad strokes and motivation. It's as if Gotouge is either struggling to depict all the richness of the story that exists in her head, or she lacks a strong vision on what should matter. We get a little bit of world building, training montage, ancillary relationships, Tanjiro - Nezuko interaction, humor, but nothing strong to anchor the story. There have been accusations of being derivative and generic, but it feels plagued by indecision more than anything. Notes: - There's shameless abuse of flashbacks at the end of deaths to garner sympathy and gift gravitas. This is probably the most annoying aspect: it is manipulative to portray outrageously evil villains, only to engage in emotional whiplash without proper foreshadowing or buildup. Now this is a hallmark of 2000s shounen but it wasn't employed for every single bad guy with a role. When it used to cap Rengoku's death, it threatened to turn his sacrifice into bathos.
- The battle scenes have great flourish, but it does bring up the question: do breathing techniques infuse swords with elemental power or are the visuals meant to inform us which breathing technique is being used at any single point?
- Apropos of melodrama, the three main characters tend to embrace rather extreme poles. Tanjiro is the incarnation of a saint with how patient and ultimately empathetic he turns out to be. For most of the story Zenitsu is the epitome of whiny, possessive, and temperamentally frail, all mined for humor. Inosuke is the prototypical loose cannon: brash, competitive, proud of his untamed machismo, chaotic. This leaves the characters curiously inert when they aren't directly interacting with other people. They seem to possess nothing resembling the inner life of a person, full of contradiction and ambiguity. Perfectly fine decision but it favors a fast pace to story progression where we aren't left alone with one of them for too long.
- I don't get the fuss from some corners concerning Muzan's appearance. Is it really inappropriate to have a debonair big bad?
I do wonder what gave Demon Slayer the appeal to blow up so fast. Was it the beautiful artwork? The bombastic fight scenes? Riding the streaming wave that has exposed anime to viewers outside its formerly niche Western audience? The lack of focus, which allowed people to get caught up in the hype of the first two points and find what they wanted in the story? Furthermore, does it really deserve the praise and adulation worthy of "one of the best anime of the 2010s"? 5.8 out of 10.
I do agree with most of your points. Kinda disappointing that the protag trio (quadruple if you count Nezuko) are the least interesting characters in the show, overshadowed by both the supporting cast and their enemies. And speaking of the main dude, I absolutely loathe the concept that's popular in anime of a saint guy who knows everything better and is of a mindset that you believe enough and try hard enough you'll eventually succeed at what you want to achieve at the moment. And then they also try to push this mindset onto others (why I found Re: Zero almost unwatchable because of the protagonist and this is very similar although not as bad).
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28084 Posts
I enjoy Demon Slayer for what it is still. Definitely agree with most of the points made, but if I turn my brain off and enjoy the visuals it’s a good experience. This anime could be a 9-10, but it’s ended up at like a 6-7 for me.
100% agree with the main cast being the worst. The lack of Zenitsu and Inosuke this season was a breath of fresh air. Also Muichiro has been my favourite Hashira so far.
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Zenitsu and Inosuke are very obnoxious 90% of the time. Im waiting til the dub is entirely out so I can just watch/listen at work, but I wont be invested in Demon Slayer particularly 'til they get to the ending, which should go hard if they do a half decent job of it.
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On July 12 2023 17:59 Manit0u wrote: I do agree with most of your points. Kinda disappointing that the protag trio (quadruple if you count Nezuko) are the least interesting characters in the show, overshadowed by both the supporting cast and their enemies.
For me, it depends on the structure of the story itself. One of the habitual complaints about One Piece Luffy is his relatively sluggish character development, and this would be an issue if the story was just about him + 1-2 sidemates. But with a large crew showcasing varied motivations. ambitions and temperaments, it's easier to relegate Luffy to the instigator of action and communal glue of the Straw Hats. Alternatively, it's fine for a protagonist to be boring if his primary motivation constantly pushes the narrative forward and the tension of the plot.
What is unacceptable to me in Demon Slayer's circumstance is how badly underdeveloped Tanjiro and Nezuko's relationship is throughout the series. This is supposed to be the emotional core behind all of Tanjiro's actions and if there's any area where detailed character work should be expounded upon, it would be here. But it's simply assumed that we should be invested in the outcome because of melodrama archetypes. For me, "caring about sister who was dealt a bad hand and does cute things on occasion" is not a compelling enough motivation to get emotional invested over 200 chapters/a multi-year story arc. And this is compounded by Nezuko being a non-entity as a character.
On July 12 2023 17:59 Manit0u wrote: And speaking of the main dude, I absolutely loathe **the concept that's popular in anime of a saint guy who knows everything better and is of a mindset that you believe enough and try hard enough you'll eventually succeed at what you want to achieve at the moment**. And then they also try to push this mindset onto others (why I found Re: Zero almost unwatchable because of the protagonist and this is very similar although not as bad).
Which is why Tanjiro being a prodigy in addition to the Nicest Guy Ever is detrimental to the world-building IMO. The rate at which he gains power, as well as the stroke of luck of magically discovering he "knows" Sun Breathing, both diminishes the prestige of the Hashira and muddles the complexity of trying to take on the Upper Moons. The story doesn't particularly try to justify it either.
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Demon Slayer is not so bad. We have elite guys (hashira) who are actually achieving something and killing really strong enemies. Most shonen only have them to die and accomplish nothing or to show how awesome the main character is by getting stronger than them.
This was what the fourth arc and Tanjiro is not even close to being hashira?
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On July 14 2023 04:23 sharkie wrote: Demon Slayer is not so bad. We have elite guys (hashira) who are actually achieving something and killing really strong enemies. Most shonen only have them to die and accomplish nothing or to show how awesome the main character is by getting stronger than them.
This was what the fourth arc and Tanjiro is not even close to being hashira?
What other shounen series do you have in mind that do this?
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On July 14 2023 04:25 CosmicSpiral wrote:Show nested quote +On July 14 2023 04:23 sharkie wrote: Demon Slayer is not so bad. We have elite guys (hashira) who are actually achieving something and killing really strong enemies. Most shonen only have them to die and accomplish nothing or to show how awesome the main character is by getting stronger than them.
This was what the fourth arc and Tanjiro is not even close to being hashira? What other shounen series do you have in mind that do this?
Naruto, Bleach, DBZ Maybe not a lot of deaths in the former two but they havent shown us much how many levels ahead they were of Naruto/Ichigo
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United States15275 Posts
Naruto never did this with the exception of Madara vs the 5 Kages, and neither did Bleach. In fact, Bleach was the opposite: Ichigo has weak showings compared to the Gotei 13 versus the Espada and the Wandenreich unless he was receiving an explicit powerup.
DBZ was guilty of it in relation to the Z Fighters.
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On July 14 2023 04:32 CosmicSpiral wrote: Naruto never did this with the exception of Madara vs the 5 Kages, and neither did Bleach. In fact, Bleach was the opposite: Ichigo has weak showings compared to the Gotei 13 versus the Espada and the Wandenreich unless he was receiving an explicit powerup.
DBZ was guilty of it in relation to the Z Fighters.
Naruto - Naruto's 1st/2nd arc was them saving Kakashi (who is supposed to be someone like a Hashira) vs Zabuza - whoever had any sort of respect for Kakashi after this? - Then Naruto was the one who had to defeat Gaara and the one-tail which otherwise would have wrecked havoc and prolly destroyed the village. How could you have any respect for any Jonin after that arc? - Jiraiya who should have been god level lost against 2-3 pains?
Bleach - Quincy defeats Kurotsuchi (Hashira) in the 2nd arc, Ichigo defeated Byakuya (again, a hashira level opponent) in the 3rd arc - Hueco Mundo: again Ichigo defeated the "strongest" hollow there
The list goes on and on
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I mean, Demon Slayer could be really awesome if they just dropped most of the comedic relief and silliness and focus on the darker stuff.
Zenitsu would be awesome character, his reveal of the thunder breathing was super dope but it's brought down by his character. If instead he would be some silent dude with dark past it would be 10x better. The same with Inosuke, if he were some poor farmer despising the samurai or those more well-off, dark and brooding but slowly growing fonder of Tanjiro and Zenitsu as they get to know each other (and Zenitsu also opening up a bit), with them also growing as characters as they learn that maybe there are actually people in the world they can trust etc.
In other words, this should be just as much a story about dark and horrible demons and slaying of those as well as dark and horrible inner demons and overcoming those, giving it the necessary gravitas and emotional charge to turn it into a masterpiece.
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On July 15 2023 03:51 Manit0u wrote: I mean, Demon Slayer could be really awesome if they just dropped most of the comedic relief and silliness and focus on the darker stuff.
Zenitsu would be awesome character, his reveal of the thunder breathing was super dope but it's brought down by his character. If instead he would be some silent dude with dark past it would be 10x better. The same with Inosuke, if he were some poor farmer despising the samurai or those more well-off, dark and brooding but slowly growing fonder of Tanjiro and Zenitsu as they get to know each other (and Zenitsu also opening up a bit), with them also growing as characters as they learn that maybe there are actually people in the world they can trust etc.
In other words, this should be just as much a story about dark and horrible demons and slaying of those as well as dark and horrible inner demons and overcoming those, giving it the necessary gravitas and emotional charge to turn it into a masterpiece. Nah. Leave that heavier stuff for other anime. This anime, and manga, isn't really as deep as that. It's about these 4 kids trying to survive against demons while helping Nezuko return to being a human. The style of the breathing techniques is just to show the difference in techniques, otherwise it'd probably look all the same without the added flair. The show is what it is and shouldn't be made into something it's not. Just take it as a good 30mins of amazing animation and decent storyline and leave it at that. Delving deeper into a mangaka's reasoning for anything is futile.
You can look at HxH for how being overly deep and detailed can derail a story quickly. YYH was probably the one shonen that hit everything to a T. After the Dark Tournament, it started to go downhill because you can tell someone wanted it to go further than the mangaka wanted.
What I like about DS is that it has an endgame in mind. How it gets there is cool, but it falls flat as fuck when it gets there. Probably the worst/rushed ending I've read.
TLDR; just enjoy the show or don't. Thinking too deeply about this isn't healthy. If you want a show to get deep on, go watch Gintama THE GOAT anime.
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On July 15 2023 06:21 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote: If you want a show to get deep on, go watch Gintama THE GOAT anime.
We all know that THE GOAT anime is FMA
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On July 15 2023 08:38 Manit0u wrote:Show nested quote +On July 15 2023 06:21 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote: If you want a show to get deep on, go watch Gintama THE GOAT anime. We all know that THE GOAT anime is FMA  Well that opinion is certainly incorrect. But you're allowed to have it. ^_^/
This season is pretty dry. Only good thing is Bungou Stray Dogs is back.
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