Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Anime Mondays #24

I know, I know, there was no post last week.In my defense, I didn't really watch enough to write about and I was busy as all hell.I did pick the winner for my birthday giveaway, however, so



CONGRATULATIONS TO PRIAFT!!!




I know I said I was going to give away two memberships but that was the only entry that counted.Lesson learned.Next time I'll use rafflecopter.But for now, let's talk shit about some anime!Cool?Cool.



All images below are from , and there are spoilers up to the episodes listed!



ATTACK ON TITAN - EPISODES 9-10



So ATTACK ON TITAN continues to be the only anime I'll watch weekly this season, but, truth be told, I'm almost ready to take a four week break and then start marathoning episodes.I mean, I got to that point with CHIHAYAFURU 2 because I just didn't want to burn out on the hype.Plus, I hate waiting.I am a super fan of instant gratification.These two episodes seemed like a whole lot of talking and not a lot of action.I don't necessarily need to see giant titan fights every episode, but I would like something plot wise to move along.Instead, we watched as Eren turned cannibal on himself to turn into a titan (the type of which apparently depends on his intentions), realized that he gets uber-amnesia afterwards, but then figures out that in order to know exactly what's going on with his new power, he has to go home and creep into his daddy's locked basement.And where is his good old father, anyway?We know his mom died, but daddy dearest is totally MIA.Oh, and Armin yells a lot.That's pretty much the gist of these 45 minutes.In other words, they took two episodes to over-explain to us things we could figure out already.Well at least the opening and ending are still bad ass.



SHIKI - EPISODES 2-3



Truth be told, I have no idea why I randomly picked this up again on the Funimation Channel.I think I wanted to watch HIGURASHI again, realized that it's no longer being streamed by Funimation (which is how I watched it the first time), and tried to use this as a replacement.It's not.I fell asleep during episode 4.I want something to happen, and it's not as inherently creepy as my beloved HIGURASHI, and it's probably going to be about vampires, so .eh.Honestly, I can't even remember what happened during these episodes, so I'm just going to move on.



SOUL EATER - EPISODES 30-51 (COMPLETED!)



SOUL EATER was a show that I did not want to end, yet I couldn't stop watching.Yes, the second half of the series was not as great as the first, but it finally got into a rhythm that made it interesting.I pretty much marathoned the entire second half once I remembered how great the damned thing was.I still have a completely inappropriate anime crush on Death the Kid, and I have no shame in admitting that.I'm not one of those people who wants to punch Black Star in the face, and I'm happy to say that other than Excalibur (fucking worthless filler, say what?!), I loved every single character in this show.Even the villains.Except for the Keysian in the very last episode.But that doesn't count.Sidenote: how in the world do you spell "Keysian?"Another reason I didn't want it to end was because I heard the ending was fucking terrible.Now, y'all know how I feel about endings: if it sucks, it pretty much ruins most of the show for me.However, this ending was not worth the hype it received.Yes, it came out of left field and pretty much didn't make sense with the build-up of the entire show, but it was a solid ending.It didn't have any of that 'to be continued, but we're actually out of money and not going to finish this' bullshit that so many shows have that I absolutely loathe.It was sort of a cop out?But I can understand how it would make sense within the context of the story.Let's just say that if this were a game, I'd feel like I'd have to replay the entire thing after this ending to get the "good end."SOUL EATER was 51 episodes that didn't feel like 51 episodes, and I loved almost every minute of it, except the boring few in the middle and all the stupid Excalibur episodes.I ranked this 9/10 on MAL, and you should all take a couple days out of your lives to watch it, if you haven't already.



KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (COMPLETED!)



I really want to start getting into more of the Studio Ghibli films, as NAUSICAA VALLEY OF THE WIND was one of the very first anime I ever watched as a kid (the other was UNICO, so suck it, haters) that made me completely fall in love with the genre.I had no idea what anime was at the time, but I practically wore out my VHS copy of the movie about the girl who flew around on her space segway chasing giant bugs.KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE seemed right up my alley as I shoved it to the top of my Netflix queue out of the movies I hadn't seen yet, but I have to say, I was semi-disappointed.Please keep in mind that I watched the Disney dub of this, and probably should have sucked it up and watched the subtitled version, but eh when I eventually buy it, I'll have to go there.When a fledgling witch turns 13 (I think that's the age), she has to leave home for a year and pretty much do an internship in a new city to figure out how to use her powers and adjust to society.So, off our heroine Kiki goes to this city where she knows no one, and starts up her delivery service after doing a favor for a nice woman who owns a bakery.She delivers packages, makes some friends, has a run in with a blimp and then it turns into a power of friendship ending.Guys.I'm so sick of the power of friendship endings.I know friends are important.But goddamn, let someone do something for themselves for once.The show is less about the magic a little witch can possess and more about the coming of age message.It's preachy.I mean I saw PONYO.I know how preachy Ghibli movies can get.I just didn't think that they'd start out that way in the 80s and continue down that path post 2010.I want to give a special shout out to Matthew Lawrence who was in this dub and was also one of the first boys on my bedroom wall.If you haven't seen SUPERHUMAN SAMURAI SYBER SQUAD you should probably just open a new Firefox tab and order the DVDs off amazon.Like now.You're welcome.Ahem.Anyway, I ranked this 6/10 on MAL.Next on my Ghibli list is probably watching VALLEY OF THE WIND again, which I own on DVD now but I really wish it had the 80s dub track.There was a ninja turtle voice on there, though now I can't remember which one.Childhood, people.Nostalgia trip.



ROSARIO + VAMPIRE SEASON 2 - EPISODE 1



Okay so when I watched this, my Netflix Instant queue said I was still on the last episode of the first season, so I turned that on.And I was like, wow, this looks kind of familiar, but I can't remember ever watching it yeah, turns out I had seen it already and was primed to move on to the second season.Whoops.I had the urge to continue for the sole reason that I watched some videos on youtube, and those guys just love this show.Sidenote: if you like unboxing videos, check these out.They're honestly the only good ones I have ever seen that aren't part of like a giant collection where they import things from Japan.Anyway, season 2 continues after a school break from the season 1 ending.And really nothing has changed, except they introduce a new character who wants to punch Moka in the face.And it's her younger sister.Dun dun duuuuuun.I have a feeling this will be the plot of the entire season, but when you want to watch something mindless that has monsters, you pretty much can't beat this show.



YU YU HAKUSHO - EPISODES 29-39



My love for tournament fighters knows no bounds.I mean if I didn't love the genre, I surely would not be watching this show, as we've been inside a battle arena for the past ten episodes, and I don't see that stopping for at least another five.The gang is all up in this battle to fight against the giant monster dude they thought they killed in the last arc or he will destroy everyone they care about.However, this is like a super monster tournament, battle royale, fight to the death with such an amazing prize (I forget what it is, but it's the thought that counts) that all these random monsters are willing to kill each other over it.So far, only the demons have actually killed people, and the humans are just mortally injuring them but offering the chance for their opponents to walk away.Guys there are some of the WORST accents I have ever heard in this dub.They're so bad I feel like I need to have subtitles just to understand them for the ENGLISH DUB.I mean, one bad guy was Australian and the one I'm currently watching is Scottish or something and I can't understand a bloody word he's saying.I actually caught myself looking at the lip flaps to try and figure it out and then I realized this was made in JAPANESE so that wouldn't matter anyway.Fuck, talk about a blonde moment.BUT THIS SHIT IS GREAT.And as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going to finish off the disc, so look forward to more of this next week.



ONE PIECE - EPISODES 67-70



Well, when I watch shonen, I fucking watch shonen, so when I got through with a disc, I switched to ONE PIECE.I think now they are taking that princess girl back to her island?I think I was only halfway paying attention.ONE PIECE moves really slowly when there's not a lot of fighting going on.No wonder there are 400+ episodes of this.



DIGIMON ADVENTURE (SEASON 1) - EPISODES 1-2



I'd been debating back and forth over whether or not I wanted to start collecting the DIGIMON sets that have been coming out since there's no sub and the episodes are probably edited all to hell but Amazon was having a really great sale, so I ordered the first three seasons.Now I never really watched the show.I was more into POKEMON.I think I saw a couple of episodes but never really thought much of them.But from the ones I watched to start out DIGIMON is really the poor man's POKEMON.All the little digimon are ugly and there are too many characters introduced way too quickly, and when the digimon evolve, they look ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE THEY DID BEFORE.It's all really confusing.I'm surprised so many kids could keep up with it.The theme song, however .in my head.It's been in my head for the past five days.There's only like two lines of lyrics.Dear lord, make it stop.



GETBACKERS - EPISODE 21



WHEN THE HELL DID GINJI START FIGHTING DR. JACKAL?HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?I THOUGHT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO FIGHT MAKUBEX?WHY ISN'T THIS ARC OVER YET?



Fuck, GETBACKERS, I wish I could quit you.



KIMBA THE WHITE LION - EPISODES 6-10



I have no excuses for this other than that this is what Netflix sent me.Now, I love me some retro anime but I don't think I love going back this far into the past.This is a shame because I pre-ordered PRINCESS KNIGHT thinking it was going to be something I would like, but the art style is such a turn-off.And dude Kimba not only has made all the animals in his jungle become friends and not eat each other but is turning them all vegetarian.And they planted a garden.And he is in love with this other little lion named Kiri but he won't stay with her.He talks about his "heart palpitations" and then just fucking leaves.BE A MAN, KIMBA.STAND BY YOUR WOMAN.I think I'd rather watch The Lion King.



FULL METAL PANIC - EPISODE 1



I'm such a sucker for trailers.I saw this preview before the last disc of SOUL EATER, I think, and I was like, "whoa, this show actually looks interesting, I wonder what it is " and it turned out to be FULL METAL PANIC.Now I think this is a mech show.I fucking HATE mech shows.But it didn't look like too much of a mech show from the preview.And after the first episode, the mechs took a backseat to the plot, and I am kinda digging it.I know.What is the world coming to?Plus, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I have found the only role where Monica Rial's voice does not grate on my goddamned nerves.That is her as the blue haired girl's best friend, right?If not, please correct me, but I can't remember her name and I couldn't find it in my sixty second google search I just did.I hope the mechs stay far far away so I can continue to enjoy this.



Best of the Week: SOUL EATER, YU YU HAKUSHO, FULL METAL PANIC



Love it or Leave it: ATTACK ON TITAN, ONE PIECE, DIGIMON ADVENTURE, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE



Hope it Gets Better: ROSARIO + VAMPIRE SEASON 2, GETBACKERS, KIMBA THE WHITE LION, SHIKI



And you have made it through another double post!To reward your awesomeness, here is a free Crunchyroll guest pass!



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See you next week!
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