Statistics
All Anime Stats Anime Stats
Days: 454.3
Mean Score:
7.44
- Watching25
- Completed1,214
- On-Hold5
- Dropped4
- Plan to Watch54
- Total Entries1,302
- Rewatched905
- Episodes26,925
All Manga Stats Manga Stats
Days: 47.8
Mean Score:
0.00
- Total Entries114
- Reread2
- Chapters6,565
- Volumes502
All Comments (993) Comments
Been doing pretty good man, can't complain. Hope you have been well.
And 76% of the completed anime you rewatched. Huh...
I can only recommend the Escaflowne TV series. The movie looks like a summary and I haven't seen it. The setting is fantasy with mechs (which are rare and hereditary weapons, lost technology), essentially upscaled suits of armor. There are no modern projectile weapons, and there is very limited flight. The mech operators are functionally knights. Neat concept and it's well polished.
Gave Slayers a shot and I thoroughly enjoyed the first 4 episodes or so, but they apparently changed writers because they wrote themselves into a corner with Lina's over-powered nature. The moment it became clear was in a scene where Gourry was being chased by the possessed shopkeep and begging Lina to help. Lina replied to the effect that she could probably solve it with a spell, but didn't want to (there was no motivation for her to say that). Then it was solved inexplicably by the shopkeep's wife yelling at him, knocking him out of the enchantment. This is only plausible because the magic system in the series is weakly defined (why don't writers define their world more?). Several similar scenes occurred in the following episodes where the writers introduced a problem that was insufficient in size or complexity for Lina and they were forced to separate her from it. The first few episodes had good exposition and worldbuilding, and I was looking forward to the character development to follow. Unfortunately it fell into a mostly episodic routine after that with very sparse development by the end of the season. It was nice that some hint of romance had shown by that time, but having seen many similar shows I do not expect it to develop further. There was also a very strange development at the end where Lina was unconscious for about two episodes and the production staff seemed to be in disagreement about how to handle it. They were so concerned about her not having screentime that there was a 4th wall-breaking insert into the episode to have Lina explain some magic mechanic, and Lina herself assuring the viewers she'd be back soon. I understand that the series is supposed to be comedic, but I don't find that to be an excuse for bad writing. Lina is cute as heck and her party has a few interesting characters, it would be better if they were met with problems more befitting of their rank (like in the long and drawn-out ending to the season, or the first fight with Rezo). If this changes, let me know. There are certainly shows that improve or find their niche after the first season. Nanoha comes to mind. They don't settle on a single formula until season 2, and then they polish out the rough spots in the summary movies.
I need to catch up with Gundam. I got some of the U.C. story through the games so I was prioritizing the others, but CCA and Origin are things I really need to watch. Seikai no Monshou is something I'm excited to see too.
Didn't realize Maaya Sakamoto had a voice role and an OP in one of the Lodoss anime. That's very cool.
Strangely I saw the sequel to Last Exile because it was airing at a time when I was watching everything seasonal; I heard it stood on its own so I tried it and it was good. I do want to see the original.
We have similar taste. There's a lot I could recommend to you. If you like Tomino I can definitely recommend Ideon. It's so good that I'm not sure if I like the original MSG better or not. Votoms is another essential Sunrise work from that period.
One of my favorite contemporary Sunrise works is Kakumeiki Valvrave. The setting is secession and the pursuant fight for independence with a dual military/civilian perspective. It's evenly split with military and political angles, there's a lot going on and it was well thought out.
You're well versed in sword and sorcery. There are two works that I think you'd really like though: Escaflowne, and the ufotable Tales of Symphonia adaptations. Both are very high quality.
This last recommendation is not for everyone, but I honestly haven't seen any animation with better writing than the Monogatari series. It helps to watch the entire thing without breaks so that you can remember the little details. Every action either foreshadows or references some other action that will happen or has happened. The author does this while simultaneously shifting genres on a character basis, and gracefully merges genres when multiple characters are on screen. It's completely insane. In fact I've been reading classic literature, really any literature I can find, to see if there's something else with a similar level of constrained writing. SHAFT and their various directors added a lot to the story visually, and for once it's a good adaptation of a novel. Exceptional voice acting as well. There was an awful lot of effort in the production of this series.