I agree that Japan's defeat was a catalyst for the direction their art went in, not just in anime, though that's where it's most pronounced because it panders to otakus. But moral preening and whining to me or people on the forum about how terrible it is that someone might watch pandering escapist fiction is not going to change anyone's mind. And you do it in such an aggressive manner, like the spitting image of the Don Quixote windmill cliche. I don't need to justify to anyone that I watch some weekly shonen and think it's decent and don't care if someone looks down on me for it. Just as I don't care if I have the "wrong view" on something. I understand your perspective, but you're best off starting a community with like-minded people rather than screeching in rage at people on MAL for not disliking a commercial anime as much as you think they should. I'm not even opposed to what you have in mind for alternatives, but I'm more tolerant of a broader range of media. Not everything for me has to be high art, and I will watch some things for their commercial qualities. If that's not how you go about it, then that's fine. I'd suggest you focus on where you're similar to people and not where you're dissimilar and not taking it out on others because the world doesn't align with your worldview.
Your way of rating is rather harsh and mine is not nearly so, though I am considered harsh by the majority of people on here. Couldn't I just as easily expect a review to understand the justification for why it's so bad (meanwhile, 7/10 is not overly high and it's not as easy to make it to my 8s or beyond)? Hopefully, getting across a bit more than ewwww the MC is an otaku dork pandering to an incel audience, low brow humor involving pp, and it's not CSM. I might end up reviewing it, but it's not exactly high priority on my list. Would I also be expected to justify why I might give a 6/10 to an action film that didn't have some conceptual something or other, breaking the mold? Did you know I also am a fan of quite a few kung fu films, even less "thoughtful" than Dan? I haven't seen any in years, but I don't like them any less now. While nothing ground breaking, by "battle shonen" standards, it's not that unremarkable. I don't really recall any with Saru's sense of style and focusing on the dynamic of these two leads in the way that it does (the closest being older titles, like maybe Ushio and Tora, but that has a much different focus and edge to it, and they're not that similar). That kind of pandering romance is typically more of a school life thing and the kind of romance they usually have in shonen is something like... MC makes eye contact for 5 seconds with FMC confirming they're in love to the audience, but they're not aware of it yet. Then they go 10-episode-long stretches without any interaction and only exchange stammering pleasantries when they do and otherwise occasionally cast googly eyes at one another. I don't have unbelievable standards for every work of fiction, and shonen presently (and probably never) is not the place to be looking for artistry beyond the surface level aesthetics, though there may occasionally be one that you think stands out in that respect, as I know you do.
trying its best to masquerade itself as something beyond that.
Is that what it's trying to do or mere audience perception?
lol, I actually thought his tamed turbo granny form that's pasted as an image in that thread was from Hellsing for a second.
Well, I don't know. Perhaps that's not far off as a comparison, given the way these two titles tend to be vaguely associated. I've watched enough art films at this point that I don't necessarily care if an anime or movie does something that makes it standout heavily from the genre, theme, demographic model, etc. It already stands out enough to me by being better paced and having a decent SARU style, compared to a lot of monotonous shonen coming out. Sure, I suppose I'd prefer the banana joke to have more depth to it and not simply be a low brow give me ur penor, senor, joke, but it's a relatively teeny tiny thing. I've made a similar criticism in relation to JJK (dated and carries a lot of standard shonen model elements that the author isn't particularly good at), but I don't think everything needs to break the mold of the genre much, if at all. I don't know that these authors are necessarily so poorly "educated" regarding shonen manga so much as they're simply sticking with a formula that will sell, sometimes that's probably also at the behest of the editors, as I've read some hearsay here and there. For whatever it's worth, I believe it's also a faithful adaptation (though might take some heavy visual liberties, as it should). This is an improvement over Crybaby, which is an unfaithful adaptation that doesn't even manage to be as good as the briskly paced and stylish OVA from years ago (Devilman: The Birth from 1987). It's a low brow sexually charged battle shonen with a whacky occult edge, and it seems to have a fair enough execution in that respect. It's also rather early to make a judgment, I'd think. Anyway, not everything has to be Satantango or whatever. If I had your perspective, I probably wouldn't even try shonen, tbh. But I guess you did so only because of the CSM comparison.
Shounens really just feel like a genre by idiots for idiots.
Shonen is basically like the old cartoons where they bonk each other's head and grow bumps on top of bumps in exaggerated style, just with sweet ass action scenes. Loony Toons + kung fu cinema. It's an alright change of pace sometimes. XD
If you want to get a wider perspective on the genre (err... I mean, it's a demographic thing, but, you know) I guess maybe you should try Hunter X Hunter, since that's the other famous one. Mob Psycho 100 and One Punch Man also engage in some light genre subversion. MP100 has awesome animation but kind of pisses me off, since Reigen is a weasel that I've begun to view in a new light, Mob is a dipshit, and the anti-escapist message and genre subversion are often laughably pretentious and maybe "well read" in a busybody school marm kind of way.
Otherwise, Jigokuraku has a cool setting but is even worse than JJK, tbh.
To not forget about it, I guess you could aspire to write an entry every week, if only a small one? You could stockpile at first so you ensure that you upload regularly. Other than that try to keep in touch with artists and such. Probably easier to find ones with those specifications online, though. It's not even totally beyond the pale to find a few people who might want to do some kind of web animation. Maybe less than what you had hoped for, but it's not a bad start. I've even seen some web animators that worked their way into the anime industry. There is this one U.S.-based (I think) animator who was doing fight sequence animation on youtube, and he ended up doing a scene in Space Dandy, that one show of Watanabe's, and a bunch of other popular anime.
Yeah, let me see. There's the one I already mentioned before. Here's a wideish variety of different authors, styles, genres, etc. The Akira manga is a lot different than the movie... overall, I like the movie better, but the art is awesome, and the final arc is an interesting and perhaps more coherent alternative. Can't guarantee you'll like all of these, some of them I read a long time ago, and I got into this stuff more as an animation fan, so I've read much less manga compared to the amount of anime I've watched. Maybe I'll also add Yoshihiro Tatsumi, except I wouldn't no where to start. The volumes of his that I read weren't on the site when I was adding entries, but they have other manga of his. Also, not sure if Freesia is something you'd like, but that author seems at least worth trying something of. Though he reminds me of those arthouse-oriented pinku things, lol...
As for the review, they probably deemed it a "rant," especially if you were targeting the audience. You can kind of do that, but you have to be subtle about it. ;)
Narutaru looks sort of appealing from a distance, but I never did manage to finish the series and didn't like the manga either. I wish I had that edgy screencap with a 12-year-old nihilism quote, as it was fucking hilarious. Don't like Bokurano either. They both have a lot of the same problems. I like Bokurano's OP, and it has a decent enough start (something about it felt oddly cinematic until it got to the awful CGI). Takes too long for any plot developments, and it's insanely repetitive. It has a kind of syndrome where it's like oh this char will die this ep so let's give them some half-baked development before snuffing them out. Honestly, it's kind of like a much worse version of Madoka Magica, given the twist...
I'm familiar with a good amount of foreign animation outside of Japan. There were some decent ones from China, but they fell behind and are kind of playing catch up now. Aesthetics and animation are improving but mostly meh otherwise. A lot of people also mention Korea, but nothing left much of an impression on me. There were a lot of interesting Soviet animations (and certain Eastern European satellites). Canada used to get a lot of attention, I guess because of state funding; I was never keen on animation from there, but some Ryan Larkin and a few others are okay. France was always pretty notable for animation. If I look up the names, I can find a few I like from various parts of Europe, such as the Hungarian Dalias Idok. Maybe a few from Central/South America.
Well, it's true that art is a fickle place to make any money, so even if what they're making is good or they're talented, they'll likely end up throwing in the towel if it's consistently not selling, and the gatekeeping goes hard. Having a better standard of living can go a long way (or at least fewer costs and time sinks). It's like how far more people could afford to have a house, car, and big family early on in the U.S., even with what we would call "low-tier" jobs. They were also often more self-sufficient, sometimes having a garden or having mechanical skills or "handy" skills, etc. Nowadays, most married (or increasingly cohabiting) couples are both working and have fewer or no kids, and there's a high-degree of hyper-specialization so no one has any skills that can cut costs, and they have to outsource those skills. You can apply this trend to being an aspiring artist too, only they probably don't have extra mouths to feed. Art programs are also often being gutted when it comes to school, so either you have the ambition to pursue it from the start or you're probably getting barely any meaningful exposure. And so on and on. The problem is much deeper than just art itself. Art is a very political thing in this sense and inseparable from everything else.
I did a quick skim of your list, but I might have missed you having 1-2 of these.
For this one, you might appreciate the aesthetic in some of them. They're well made but fairly standard romance stories. The only reason I am recommending it is for 1 segment, which is Stop the Time, directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki (Texh director). You could just watch that one if the rest don't look appealing. It's like 10 minutes long.
Mamoru Oshii has some you might look into. Patlabor 1 and 2 films and Gosenzosama Banbanzai are likely the best ones that you haven't seen (ideal order is probably to watch the OVA first because it introduces the characters, but it's not entirely necessary).
Kino's Journey and Mushishi are quite atmospheric. I think there's a chance you'll like the latter at least. Kind of like a surreal medical/occult/mystery travelogue, lol, Which might make it seem superficially similar to Mononoke.
Don't think you tried Haibane Renmei, but it's from some of the same people involved with Lain.
Maybe Sonny Boy.
Boogiepop Phantom (has some similarities to Lain when it comes to audiovisual and the same sound designer).
Palme no Ki.
Shigurui.
You might not like some of what it does, but Bakemonogatari is unique enough that you should probably try a few episodes. Each arc is fairly different, so I wouldn't immediately give up if you don't like one of them.
Er... well, I could list a lot more independent short animation, but you might want something artistic and experimental more so in the commercial mold.
Yes, it's true that a lot of Konaka's projects had him scripting a handful of episodes rather than him doing a whole screenplay or something he had a bigger hand in. Let me look at his list. Hellsing was one where he was involved with most episodes. Of course, there's Lain and Texh. He did a few Mononoke. I heard that he wrote an arc for Undead Girl Murder Farce recently as a return to anime, but I dropped after 1 ep and didn't bother to get to that part. That series takes itself too seriously with a name like that perhaps XD... I doubt you've seen Ghost Hound, but this is another of his bigger roles and he had said in an interview that it was his favorite project that he had worked on, so it might be a good one to try. He did a lot of writing for Big O, which has a nice mood and aesthetic, but most people don't like the second half, and it's not really my thing (It's basically the old Batman cartoon with a Texh-like dystopia, a jazzy mood, and big mech battles). Parasite Dolls he worked on, which has a tone similar to Texh. I thought it was decent, a little rushed, but I can perhaps see you getting something out of it for the aesthetic and certain scenes. He created and fully wrote some old stuff like Armitage III and Malice Doll. I think the former is okay sci-fi, and the latter is quite bad, but that might be my distaste for old CGI. I could mention some others I like, but I'm not sure how into them you'd be and he didn't write for many episodes on maybe 2 of those.
If you want, I might be able to make a list of titles I think you might appreciate somewhat.
Manga should have more but I find it's harder to get a feel going in. You'd probably want to look more into the artsier side of gekiga (it's an older kind of independent comic before manga became as commercial... some of the titles are more experimental or avant-garde). Maybe try this manga:
It's old and might not be easy to find. Although, uh, I might know a thing or two about that. ;)
Oh, speaking of Jojo, you might even find the old OVA better than the manga or the new series. That's one of the better shonen for me. I'm a huge fan of a lot of the animators, and it's quite stylish and odd and casts aside the usual shonen buildup, since it's an adaptation of a later arc (I tried S1 of the new and very popular Jojo adaptation and found it to be garbage in comparison).
Pretty sure you would like it better than Dandadan if your problem is tropes and pandering. I don't really mind tsundere and doormat loser MCs. XD
Yes, I remember you mentioning that about an animation studio. I kind of wish the U.S. had something kind of like animanga as a start. It feels like there isn't much of a space for any kind of artistic ambition in the U.S. to me nor any kind of recognizable aesthetic outside of motherfucking capeshit, as well as far fewer animations and the like and totally toddler-oriented.
Yeah, I've seen Dan's first episode, and I recall it does have a stature somewhere around CSM amongst a lot of people when it comes to shonen. Although my experience differs quite a bit because when I tried the CSM anime, I had read well beyond, but I think I only read maybe 2-3 chapters of Dan. I didn't drop the Dan manga, but it's been on my reading list for probably well over a year. This is the first primary directing role for the director, it seems. He also directed in some capacity (episode director, along with others) on other SARU works, Inu-Ou and Ride Your Wave. The former I watched a little of, and it seems pretty good, but the latter is a cheesy fantasy romance. I'm looking forward to the series, but my lack of enthusiasm for the manga says something, I guess...
The philosophical references are quite rough in P-P, and I'd say it's one of Urobuchi's weak points (sure it's happened elsewhere with him, though I recall it did in the P-P movie and Expelled from Paradise). I don't mind that too much, given it's not spanning that much of the series, but it did make me cringe a bit. It would be smoother if they just said their bit, as goes with the plot development, emotion, conveying some idea, etc., and didn't feel the need to name drop. Name dropping has its own limited purpose but can easily become a distraction. Just make sure you skip on anything else P-P if you're somewhat lukewarm on it. S2 was written by Ubukata, so it's a highly sophisticated dumpster fire. The movie was written by Urobuchi, but it's more of a standard action flick applied to an exotic locale and with similar references. I've been underwhelmed by everything else I've tried in the franchise.
I added Hellsing to the site a number of years after I had seen it, so I guess I'm not sure where I stand on it. However, while I wouldn't consider myself an especially harsh rater (a lot of people on here might disagree), I gave Hellsing Ultimate 2/10 and a drop after only 1 episode. The original does look a lot better based on watching the OP and skimming through a bit. Appears to have a more pleasing color palette, composition, direction, and is less hardcore when it comes to the B-movie feel. Probably the biggest difference is that the original is more considerate of its atmosphere, and Ultimate pushes the cheese as far as possible. I didn't recall Konaka scripting the original, but I'm sure that helps a lot too. Oh, btw, there was an announcement a while back that he had some project in the works, and it appears to be something related to Despera, which was planned with Yoshitoshi Abe and has been in limbo for ages. I'll try rewatching the original Hellsing.
Sonnets and other short-form writing are probably more manageable for it, but I've heard mixed-to-negative opinions about its performance from editors and the like when it comes to numerous things. Not so sure about large sections within a novel. I'm sure it could help as a productivity tool, where you have snippets of workable text you can play around with, research, etc.
Oh, thanks, I didn't expect such a detailed response. I'll look over it more closely soon.
lol I think last time we mentioned him in conversation, his list was private back then too. Not sure what's up with him. It's much harder to source new content now. :(
btw, forgot to show you this:
"Chatgpt is amazing, I improved and expanded my stories tenfold. Anyone who is afraid of it has no original ideas to improve with it. Anyone interested to read the first half of my chatgpt-assisted first book can email me for a free pdf to see what I mean."
btw, you know when you were talking about shifting registers and such in regards to writing? Is this something you were thinking of from reading various types of writing, maybe sometimes seeing a shift, or thinking x author's style works, but one scene should have used a style more like y's author? Or is there someone who has written about the subject more directly? It's the kind of thing that would probably benefit from being fleshed out with examples in an essay.
It's been a long time since I've seen CB, so I'm not really sure. I think it was intentionally episodic in that it was likely meant to be so, but I don't think there was any artistic purpose behind the choice—at least not a well-defined or substantive one. Though I think it's one of the better episodic anime. It's a good fit for their lifestyle and the semi-realism it has in parts, I suppose... and, yeah, maybe a nod to jazz improv, but that's kind of basic bitch and doesn't do anything special for me on its own.
I also don't like most episodic series, and the format seems like somewhat of a throwback to older TV, as it's less common other than gag comedy and police procedural shows nowadays. Most of them are too formulaic to feel like a distinct compilation of short stories. If you have the same characters and there isn't much conceptually, then it tends to turn into something like Detective Conan, with a new whodunnit every episode—though most episodic stories do have a semi-episodic element, like an overarching villain who eventually becomes the focus. I think Paranoia Agent was semi-episodic, wasn't it? It seemed to have arcs of a sort, but it would also break off to explore one-off characters and events. But all of these episodes revolved around an overarching concept. I think something like that is generally for the best, and I'm pretty sure I like this series better than CB.
A case-study of that nature sounds like it could be interesting. I wonder if there's a decent list somewhere of the best and most noteworthy episodic anime. Admittedly, I've dropped series before upon finding out they were episodic, so I haven't seen too many... typically, I think a non-episodic anime can get away with being less well-written, amongst other things, more so than an episodic one. An episodic series, at least for me, has to be something special. Otherwise, it needs aesthetic overload or to be a bit short—like a 4-6 episode OVA. 26 episodes is rough for a bunch of mostly unrelated episodes. CB makes it work with its aesthetic sense, good directing, unique amongst anime, etc.
Hahaha... that sounds rough with One Piece. I've only seen a couple episodes at most.
Oh, you mean all the Lain stuff but without a message? I think Lain memeing is fairly common for this kind of thing, often without any followup message. What makes the message a little questionable is that MAL is an English site and far removed from anime trends. I guess it spreads the message to other likeminded people, but most of them will probably just be annoyed because of the inconvenience. I kind of doubt the "Lain Collective" will be heard from again (maybe copycats), but it would actually be amusing if there were something like this with the intention of shaping the anime industry. It reminds me of the Monster with 21 Faces story because there are theories about them being hired by industry insiders in a corporate war (that old story would be a great starting premise for an anime...). Although that was serious business. This is just goofing around. :P
All Comments (147) Comments
Is that what it's trying to do or mere audience perception?
lol, I actually thought his tamed turbo granny form that's pasted as an image in that thread was from Hellsing for a second.
Well, I don't know. Perhaps that's not far off as a comparison, given the way these two titles tend to be vaguely associated. I've watched enough art films at this point that I don't necessarily care if an anime or movie does something that makes it standout heavily from the genre, theme, demographic model, etc. It already stands out enough to me by being better paced and having a decent SARU style, compared to a lot of monotonous shonen coming out. Sure, I suppose I'd prefer the banana joke to have more depth to it and not simply be a low brow give me ur penor, senor, joke, but it's a relatively teeny tiny thing. I've made a similar criticism in relation to JJK (dated and carries a lot of standard shonen model elements that the author isn't particularly good at), but I don't think everything needs to break the mold of the genre much, if at all. I don't know that these authors are necessarily so poorly "educated" regarding shonen manga so much as they're simply sticking with a formula that will sell, sometimes that's probably also at the behest of the editors, as I've read some hearsay here and there. For whatever it's worth, I believe it's also a faithful adaptation (though might take some heavy visual liberties, as it should). This is an improvement over Crybaby, which is an unfaithful adaptation that doesn't even manage to be as good as the briskly paced and stylish OVA from years ago (Devilman: The Birth from 1987). It's a low brow sexually charged battle shonen with a whacky occult edge, and it seems to have a fair enough execution in that respect. It's also rather early to make a judgment, I'd think. Anyway, not everything has to be Satantango or whatever. If I had your perspective, I probably wouldn't even try shonen, tbh. But I guess you did so only because of the CSM comparison.
Shonen is basically like the old cartoons where they bonk each other's head and grow bumps on top of bumps in exaggerated style, just with sweet ass action scenes. Loony Toons + kung fu cinema. It's an alright change of pace sometimes. XD
If you want to get a wider perspective on the genre (err... I mean, it's a demographic thing, but, you know) I guess maybe you should try Hunter X Hunter, since that's the other famous one. Mob Psycho 100 and One Punch Man also engage in some light genre subversion. MP100 has awesome animation but kind of pisses me off, since Reigen is a weasel that I've begun to view in a new light, Mob is a dipshit, and the anti-escapist message and genre subversion are often laughably pretentious and maybe "well read" in a busybody school marm kind of way.
Otherwise, Jigokuraku has a cool setting but is even worse than JJK, tbh.
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=bahi_jd+
Yeah, let me see. There's the one I already mentioned before. Here's a wideish variety of different authors, styles, genres, etc. The Akira manga is a lot different than the movie... overall, I like the movie better, but the art is awesome, and the final arc is an interesting and perhaps more coherent alternative. Can't guarantee you'll like all of these, some of them I read a long time ago, and I got into this stuff more as an animation fan, so I've read much less manga compared to the amount of anime I've watched. Maybe I'll also add Yoshihiro Tatsumi, except I wouldn't no where to start. The volumes of his that I read weren't on the site when I was adding entries, but they have other manga of his. Also, not sure if Freesia is something you'd like, but that author seems at least worth trying something of. Though he reminds me of those arthouse-oriented pinku things, lol...
https://myanimelist.net/manga/10521/Nejishiki
https://myanimelist.net/manga/149/Blame
https://myanimelist.net/manga/26012/Kokoro_no_Kanashimi
https://myanimelist.net/manga/1373/Nijigahara_Holograph
https://myanimelist.net/manga/9138/Sekishoku_Elegy
https://myanimelist.net/manga/442/Tekkon_Kinkreet
https://myanimelist.net/manga/664/Akira
https://myanimelist.net/manga/18570/Ultra_Heaven
https://myanimelist.net/manga/936/Homunculus
https://myanimelist.net/manga/5655/Kaijuu_no_Kodomo
https://myanimelist.net/manga/72467/Shoujo_Shuumatsu_Ryokou
https://myanimelist.net/manga/93972/Totsukuni_no_Shoujo
https://myanimelist.net/manga/114939/Under_Ninja
I'll also add the Neo Tokyo comp to the anime list.
I'm familiar with a good amount of foreign animation outside of Japan. There were some decent ones from China, but they fell behind and are kind of playing catch up now. Aesthetics and animation are improving but mostly meh otherwise. A lot of people also mention Korea, but nothing left much of an impression on me. There were a lot of interesting Soviet animations (and certain Eastern European satellites). Canada used to get a lot of attention, I guess because of state funding; I was never keen on animation from there, but some Ryan Larkin and a few others are okay. France was always pretty notable for animation. If I look up the names, I can find a few I like from various parts of Europe, such as the Hungarian Dalias Idok. Maybe a few from Central/South America.
Well, it's true that art is a fickle place to make any money, so even if what they're making is good or they're talented, they'll likely end up throwing in the towel if it's consistently not selling, and the gatekeeping goes hard. Having a better standard of living can go a long way (or at least fewer costs and time sinks). It's like how far more people could afford to have a house, car, and big family early on in the U.S., even with what we would call "low-tier" jobs. They were also often more self-sufficient, sometimes having a garden or having mechanical skills or "handy" skills, etc. Nowadays, most married (or increasingly cohabiting) couples are both working and have fewer or no kids, and there's a high-degree of hyper-specialization so no one has any skills that can cut costs, and they have to outsource those skills. You can apply this trend to being an aspiring artist too, only they probably don't have extra mouths to feed. Art programs are also often being gutted when it comes to school, so either you have the ambition to pursue it from the start or you're probably getting barely any meaningful exposure. And so on and on. The problem is much deeper than just art itself. Art is a very political thing in this sense and inseparable from everything else.
If you want, I might be able to make a list of titles I think you might appreciate somewhat.
Manga should have more but I find it's harder to get a feel going in. You'd probably want to look more into the artsier side of gekiga (it's an older kind of independent comic before manga became as commercial... some of the titles are more experimental or avant-garde). Maybe try this manga:
https://myanimelist.net/manga/10521/Nejishiki
It's old and might not be easy to find. Although, uh, I might know a thing or two about that. ;)
Oh, speaking of Jojo, you might even find the old OVA better than the manga or the new series. That's one of the better shonen for me. I'm a huge fan of a lot of the animators, and it's quite stylish and odd and casts aside the usual shonen buildup, since it's an adaptation of a later arc (I tried S1 of the new and very popular Jojo adaptation and found it to be garbage in comparison).
https://myanimelist.net/anime/666/JoJo_no_Kimyou_na_Bouken
Pretty sure you would like it better than Dandadan if your problem is tropes and pandering. I don't really mind tsundere and doormat loser MCs. XD
Yes, I remember you mentioning that about an animation studio. I kind of wish the U.S. had something kind of like animanga as a start. It feels like there isn't much of a space for any kind of artistic ambition in the U.S. to me nor any kind of recognizable aesthetic outside of motherfucking capeshit, as well as far fewer animations and the like and totally toddler-oriented.
The philosophical references are quite rough in P-P, and I'd say it's one of Urobuchi's weak points (sure it's happened elsewhere with him, though I recall it did in the P-P movie and Expelled from Paradise). I don't mind that too much, given it's not spanning that much of the series, but it did make me cringe a bit. It would be smoother if they just said their bit, as goes with the plot development, emotion, conveying some idea, etc., and didn't feel the need to name drop. Name dropping has its own limited purpose but can easily become a distraction. Just make sure you skip on anything else P-P if you're somewhat lukewarm on it. S2 was written by Ubukata, so it's a highly sophisticated dumpster fire. The movie was written by Urobuchi, but it's more of a standard action flick applied to an exotic locale and with similar references. I've been underwhelmed by everything else I've tried in the franchise.
I added Hellsing to the site a number of years after I had seen it, so I guess I'm not sure where I stand on it. However, while I wouldn't consider myself an especially harsh rater (a lot of people on here might disagree), I gave Hellsing Ultimate 2/10 and a drop after only 1 episode. The original does look a lot better based on watching the OP and skimming through a bit. Appears to have a more pleasing color palette, composition, direction, and is less hardcore when it comes to the B-movie feel. Probably the biggest difference is that the original is more considerate of its atmosphere, and Ultimate pushes the cheese as far as possible. I didn't recall Konaka scripting the original, but I'm sure that helps a lot too. Oh, btw, there was an announcement a while back that he had some project in the works, and it appears to be something related to Despera, which was planned with Yoshitoshi Abe and has been in limbo for ages. I'll try rewatching the original Hellsing.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/ThatAnimeSnobRE
Sonnets and other short-form writing are probably more manageable for it, but I've heard mixed-to-negative opinions about its performance from editors and the like when it comes to numerous things. Not so sure about large sections within a novel. I'm sure it could help as a productivity tool, where you have snippets of workable text you can play around with, research, etc.
lol I think last time we mentioned him in conversation, his list was private back then too. Not sure what's up with him. It's much harder to source new content now. :(
btw, forgot to show you this:
"Chatgpt is amazing, I improved and expanded my stories tenfold. Anyone who is afraid of it has no original ideas to improve with it. Anyone interested to read the first half of my chatgpt-assisted first book can email me for a free pdf to see what I mean."
I also don't like most episodic series, and the format seems like somewhat of a throwback to older TV, as it's less common other than gag comedy and police procedural shows nowadays. Most of them are too formulaic to feel like a distinct compilation of short stories. If you have the same characters and there isn't much conceptually, then it tends to turn into something like Detective Conan, with a new whodunnit every episode—though most episodic stories do have a semi-episodic element, like an overarching villain who eventually becomes the focus. I think Paranoia Agent was semi-episodic, wasn't it? It seemed to have arcs of a sort, but it would also break off to explore one-off characters and events. But all of these episodes revolved around an overarching concept. I think something like that is generally for the best, and I'm pretty sure I like this series better than CB.
A case-study of that nature sounds like it could be interesting. I wonder if there's a decent list somewhere of the best and most noteworthy episodic anime. Admittedly, I've dropped series before upon finding out they were episodic, so I haven't seen too many... typically, I think a non-episodic anime can get away with being less well-written, amongst other things, more so than an episodic one. An episodic series, at least for me, has to be something special. Otherwise, it needs aesthetic overload or to be a bit short—like a 4-6 episode OVA. 26 episodes is rough for a bunch of mostly unrelated episodes. CB makes it work with its aesthetic sense, good directing, unique amongst anime, etc.
Hahaha... that sounds rough with One Piece. I've only seen a couple episodes at most.