Summer 2014 Anime Season

Topics on anime/other animation TV series, OVAs, specials, and movies
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Keropi
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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I can see why some people are comparing bits of Nobunaga Concerto to Irresponsible Captain Tyler. I'm finding it quite funny at times (especially the last two episodes). It didn't start out that funny to me. I think the timing of the jokes has improved. Even though I don't like the animation, I still like the story. It's too bad that Japanese history has so many missing holes in it compared to say...uh...European history.

Does anyone know what Sword Art Online Progressive is? I started reading the manga and have been enjoying it. The artwork is great. I can't find much information on it. I heard that it is a reboot of the series, but that's all I could find. Is it sort of like how he would have written it if he had written it today with his current level of writing experience?

The story is proceeding differently than the original series.
This Kirito seems to have little or no trauma so he has a stronger personality from the start.
I started reading Trinity Seven manga four days ago and then I found out an anime for it is coming out in the Fall Season. That could be a fun series for me. I like the main character's teasing/sarcastic personality. We've been getting more of the assertive, "cool" types of main characters in novels and manga lately and I like this trend. "Teasing main characters" remind me of those old 1990's main characters game protagonists. I guess trends come around in circles.
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darksuzaku
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Keropi wrote:Does anyone know what Sword Art Online Progressive is? I started reading the manga and have been enjoying it. The artwork is great. I can't find much information on it. I heard that it is a reboot of the series, but that's all I could find. Is it sort of like how he would have written it if he had written it today with his current level of writing experience?

The story is proceeding differently than the original series.
This Kirito seems to have little or no trauma so he has a stronger personality from the start.
To tell the truth i only skimmed a little of the Progressive first pages of the novel and thought that it was pointless to do that now. But if he finally decides to rewrite the entire Aincrad novels i will read it of course.

I can understand the reason why Reki Kawahara acts this way though. Originally the Aincrad novel was something he wrote in oder to participate in some kind of novel competition. A competition thatf had some kind of length limitation which forced him to do things a little rushed forcing him to "cut to the important stuff". But even with that seems that the story was still longer than the maximum allowed length for the competition and couldn't submit. Then he released the novel in a web format and started to write extra info as sidestories (That's also probably the reason why the story starts near the end and does flashbacks).

Knowing all of this is probably a good reason to do it. What i find surprising is that he is alternating this with the release of the Alicization arc (Volume 15 was released a few weeks ago and still continues).
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Keropi
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Thanks for the information.

That whole thing about a lot of them hating "beaters" like him, but then they're completely angry that he didn't help them when they wanted him to is very frustrating. I mean you have examples of stuff like that happening in real life, but it's really annoying when people don't even know what they really want. I mean do you want them around or do you not want them around? :P

To be honest I've been spending more time reading manga than watching anime this season. But I shouldn't have a problem finishing Aldnoah Zero, Mahouka, Nobunaga Concerto, Blade Dance, Argevollen, Sword Art Online S2 and Tokyo Ghoul.

Tokyo Ghoul really needed a second season. I guess the subject matter doesn't lend itself to getting a second season compared to most other shows.

Akame ga Kill is enjoyable, but kind of hard to watch at times just because of the darkness of the plot. I've got to motivate myself to watch more of Tokyo ESP and Zankyou no Terror.
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Knights of Sidionia is a must see. Awesome mecha series. Very realistic. Will watch Argevellon soon. Byhildyr into Darkness is ok so far, a little weak in plot in some areas. Sailor Moon Crystal is well put together. I like it because it makes more sense that Luna is in charge and calls the shots- for instance. Wrapping up Hekkedan 2014- awesome anime. Watching Clamps X. Blade and Soul is ok. One Week Friends is an obvious parody of 50 first dates movie. I quit watching it. Still recommend Engaged to the Unidentified, cute anime! Sakura Trick was ok, not really memorable or impressionable. Norabunga the Fool, disliked that one greatly bc plotline was disjointed. I can't think of anything else right now. lol
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darksuzaku
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Just watched Mahouka 22 and while they try not to left anything out from the novel they trim it so much that many times the concatenated scenes lose a lot of the meaning they have in the novel. This has happened during all the series but is specially noticeable in this arc. Also, on episode they changed a few minor details, probably to help to trim the scenes. Specially underwhelming are the 2 fight scenes on this episode. The novel recreates the fights explaining which magic skills is everyone using. On the anime however they also omit that, so the fights just become a few flashy exchanges with no meaning.

If things go like that probably the "true action" part of the arc will start halfaway during the next episode or maybe at the end. I hope they do this part better.
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Keropi
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Hmm...I hope the adaption will be okay. I still haven't seen the episode yet.

Usually I try to watch Sword Art Online S2, Mahouka and Aldnoah Zero on Saturday as soon as I have the free time to do so, but lately I've been addicted to reading the translated web novel "Mushoku Tensei". I read the first manga chapter on Friday evening and ever since then I've been reading the web novel translation:

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index ... oku_Tensei

That's about the only thing I've been doing since Friday night -- reading this translation. The story is a bit sordid and smarmy at times, but I can't stop reading it. The only parts I've skimmed through have been the missions stuff. The way how he thinks sometimes reminds me of those old erogames with smart aleck protagonists. It's like comedically-ecchi wiseass humor. That's going to turn some people off, but personally I'm more interested in seeing the characters grow and mature through the years. The drama between the characters is quite good sometimes. I keep wanting to find out how different plotlines are going to resolve themselves.

This is the first novel translation that I have read. I wasn't motivated enough to read any of the earlier novels that I had run across. And yes, this is one of those "reborn/reincarnated" character stories that seem to be so popular lately. Okay, at some point I'm going to get so far behind in anime and manga that I'm going to have to stop reading for awhile, but that point hasn't arrived yet. :D

So how is "Zenkyou no Terror" doing? Is anyone watching it? I'm curious as to how the anime is doing.
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Well, SAO S2 looks good indeed. And it's not rushed like in S1. However, having read the novel this arc is less interesting for me, as this arc is one of those "who is the culprit" plots that become less interesting once you know the end. I look forward to the next story arc (mother's rosario probably) and i hope they include the "excaliber" side-story before that.

Zenkyou no Terror started very promising for me but lately my interest on this series has gone down. Didn't expect the plot to go the way it went. I'll see it to the end anyway.

mmm, interesting link you posted there. I ussually track baka-tsuki projects but as it ussually takes a few chapters of anything to know if it's interesting or not i refrain from trying. However, now that you recomend it it's worth a try :D
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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I see. Well Zankyou no Terror is probably going to be a series that I won't feel motivated enough to finish. I'm probably not going to finish Gekkan Shoujo either. I don't mind watching Gekkan Shoujo, but I like other shows more so it's being sidelined.

One thing I like about the "Mushoku Tensei" novel is that the author often switches perspectives. The story is usually told in a normal manner - from a general point of view and from the main character's point of view. But every now and then the story switches to other characters and you learn something you didn't know before. Sometimes it's quite revealing and/or heartwarming or...bittersweet. It reminds me of that Nekoneko Giniro game -- all of the switching points-of-view.
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Alright...after reading 91 chapters in 3 days and 19 hours. It's time to catch up on the anime backlog stuff. Lol :D

I can't even imagine how many hours I have been reading it. The day turns into night and the darkness turns into light and yet I still keep reading it. It reminds me of when I was playing Civilization 3. :P I think it would be impossible for them to turn the "Mushoku Tensei" novel into a satisfying anime. There are too many mature and perverted parts and the novel has WAY too many small details that would be cut out of an anime adaption. It's an addicting read for me though. The author is smart enough to always leave tantalizing story plots dangling because it makes the readers want to keep reading to find out when they will be resolved...and you really want those situations to be resolved.

I think the story has too many perverted parts, but I do like the smart aleck humor...most of it. I still have 80 chapters to go, but I better get back to business.

Darksuzaku, I have the feeling that you're not going to like "Mushoku Tensei" because of all of perverted parts, but that's just my opinion. :)
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Keropi wrote:Darksuzaku, I have the feeling that you're not going to like "Mushoku Tensei" because of all of perverted parts, but that's just my opinion. :)
Well well, it's not that i son't like perverted plots or hentai. I do like them like most (at least male) people do.
What i don't like is when fanservice scenes are used cheaply and out of place for the sake of it, just to catter for the audience. From what you say, Mushoku Tensei doesn't belong to this type :D
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Well I guess ecchi scenes are harder to take in anime because it's harder to adjust the speed that you're exposed to them - unlike how you can skim manga or light novels.

It looks like there are at least 212 regular chapters of Mushoku Tensei, but it's only been continuously translated until chapter 171. I am up to chapter 112 and the story is turning into quite an epic. There is a large number of characters, but the author usually gives enough information every time they appear - so I can remember who they were and when I last might have seen them. The story has now gone on for about sixteen years of character chronological time and there appears to be YEARS of story development time after this part.

The manga is only up to chapter 4, but they are going to have to cut out a LOT from the novel development in order to progress the manga. Then I'm sure that if there ever is an anime adaption that the manga will look very well developed compared to the anime. That is usually always the case. Lol :rollin

It doesn't look like there have been any figures produced yet of the Mushoku Tensei characters which is a shame because I wouldn't mind getting a figure of Roxy and Eris. :D

I already have in my head the voice of one of an anime male seiyuu voicing one of the characters every time he "speaks" in the novel. I don't know the name of that seiyuu, but I hear his deadpan voice in anime all the time. I don't follow male seiyuu as much as I do female seiyuu.
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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that Mushoku Tensei novel is definitely being a good read.
I have completed volume 9 :D
I see volume 10 has 3 untranslated chapters on the sylphiete volume, don't know if i'll miss something important.....

mmm, just finished Tokyo Ghoul yesterday.... well, if you can consider "that" an ending. I have already read on reddit that the producers butchered the manga for the anime but this doesn't have any sense. If there's no second season announced very soon i'll scrap all the downloaded episodes ihave.

Mahouka's last arc is being animated better than what i expected for the reduced number of episodes. They sacrificed all the less important stuff. I hope they at least get to explain in it's entirety the symbology of the very last scene of last week's episode.
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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I'm glad you're liking Mushoku Tensei so far. There's a lot of foreshadowing in the story so small things often relate to something further down the line. This is the kind of story where I hope nothing happens to the author before they finish the story. I would hate to see it unfinished as has happened with some other stories. I've gotten up to volume 19 chapter 197.

The Preview Translations for Mushoku Tensei on BT are often not that bad. I was reading those, but by the time I got to volume 18 the Preview Translations became too rough to read. Then I switched over to this Pastebin site:

http://pastebin.com/ihQtsdBq

It was a lot better translation there. Then for volume 19 I had to switch back to the BT version. We're waiting for the fifth published volume to come out so we can see how some of the other characters are supposed to look like. For sixteen or seventeen volumes I had resist the urge to read ahead to find out how the story arcs got resolved. It was not easy. I cheated a couple of times, but I read just a little and then stopped. :D

That was a brutal ending to the Tokyo Ghoul anime. Fortunately there is supposed to be a second season in January according to Anime News Network. The anime seems to have messed up the manga's plot, but at least the anime is not going to end at a strange spot.

I can't wait for the next episode of Mahouka. It sounds like fun. It must be a little deflating for the other characters when they see Miyuki and Tatsuya doing that thing at the end there. :D

It looks like the Blade Dance anime is not explaining why Claire and Ellis's sister are acting the way they are. That makes their characters very annoying.
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darksuzaku
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Ah, that pastebin page is really a lifesaver. I was preparing myself to have to wait ages for the continuation :D

One more show ended. Aldnoah Zero. To tell the truth it has not been done very well. Inaho playing the god role all the time and that Slaine who in the end does nothing on the whole series. Who's side is this guy on in the end? I bet he doesn't even know. I'm scraping the series right now even i realized the 2nd season is announced for January. The only thing i can save from this series is the music, both BGMs and vocals. My favorite is the 1st ending A/Z in the end.

For Mahouka 25. Well, the battle it's not meeting my expectations. It plays like a movie on fastforward without voices. One of the main aspects of the novel is that they explain with detail all the techniques/magics used by everybody. Why and how they use it. They don't even say the names of the magics/techniques. Then there's basically no transition between scenes. I feared a lot that they were going to far compacting all this arc in only 8 episodes and it shows up. The 2 first arcs were decently done. This one not at all. I hoe at least they finish the series in a way that can allow for a second season.
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Keropi
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Re: Summer 2014 Anime Season

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Oh? I thought you were reading it from Baka Tsuki?

I read the fifth chapter of the Mushoku Tensei manga and it seems alright. Obviously a lot of the thoughts of the characters are left out. There was a lot of story depth from those thought revelations and the switching of character perspectives. The manga doesn't have much of that. It has some of Rudy's thoughts and that's about it. At least they are hitting the important points and the manga lets you visualize the story better. I can't wait for that dancing scene to be drawn. That scene was just too cute.

I haven't watched the last episode of Aldnoah Zero yet. The story always had some parts that bothered me, but I didn't think about them that much. It was fun for me even when parts of it didn't make much sense.

Mahouka ep 25 felt rushed to me and it was disappointing. Oh well, one more episode to go.

I don't know if I can watch more of Akame ga Kill. I don't think my heart can take seeing that scene all over again. Iya da! :bawl
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