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[Orange Wizard]

It could be worse. Could be a really over-the-top DESUUUU~~~~

[Furtuka]

 Ah I finally caught up on Iron Blooded Orphans. I fell into a big slump for a while because I was worried about what direction it was going in since up until they reached the colonies they were meandering for so long and there had been barely any action, but now everything feels wonderful again. All that worker's revolution stuff was great, and the ending of this weeks episode was spectacular. Mikazuki you magnificent bastard.

[Reelya]

I just watched Soujuu Senshi Psychic Wars (rated 3.4/10 on MAL). I'm actually really glad I watched that. It has a similar appeal to Mars of Destruction: Terrible, but very entertaining. I laughed at every "epic" plot twist in Psychic Wars (basically there are more plots twists than actual plot). This one only seems to exist as a dub, but that only added to the fun.

[NullForceOmega]

So, I've kinda come up with a theory about OPM.  After watching the whole first season again, and watching a few fight compilations, I think Saitama may be a representation of the Raging Buddha.  I'm not certain that it is a conscious portrayal, but to my (admittedly limited) knowledge of Buddhism he seems to fit the Raging Buddha archetype.

[Cruxador]

Boku Dake feels kind of tryhard to me, actually. It throws a lot of "deep" stuff in the plot but at the end of the day it's a story about time traveling NTR. (This opinion is based off of the manga though, I haven't been keeping up with the anime. But it seems pretty heavy on the melodrama too.)

Rakugo is definitely the patrician anime of the season, but it's relatively niche in appeal, I think.

Dimension W is good. Not like, sensation-that'll-be-remembered-for-a-decade-good, but normal good. So it's one of the best this season.

KonoSuba is fun and pretty well-executed. The best anime of the season by a wide margin, according to BD preorders, and enjoyable no matter who you are. Unless you're a perpetually offended social justice warrior or soccer mom I guess – there are some revealing outfits here and there and it's about teenagers, which I guess is what Reelya is alluding to as "ecchi"?

I started watching that Koukaku no Pandora one, but I think that was a mistake. The story is a mess, pacing sucks (ep 1 is setup, ep 2 shows a huge battle, but episodes 3-6 basically had zero action), and the comedy falls flat.

Yeah, sounds like it's not your style, then. I find it fun and nostalgic, but if you don't enjoy the SoL aspect of it then it's not for you (and even if you like it, the low budget shows pretty clearly). Still something I'd recommend people give a try before discarding.

Ajin is ugly as sin, Grimgar and Dagashi Kashi are boring.

That's all that's been brought up so far, I think. I also find Oshiete! Gyaruko-chan to be amusing and nostalgic, but besides that there's not much that stands out, aside from Musaigen, which stands out as a failure.

It is like your defending trash for being trash

It's like you're going to a McDonalds and complaining that any restaurant without a wine menu is trash. You went to the wrong place for the experience you're looking for, but if you're dissapointed it's your own problem.

It is because Jopax is saying because HE thought Dungeon was bad, with only the title apparently...

He thought it was going to be an anime about picking up girls in a dungeon. Seems like a pretty reasonable conclusion to draw, to me.

Pandora has much higher ratings than Active Raid, however, and that's just wrong. I think Active Raid is a much more watchable show. Active Raid is running a 5.9 on MAL, which is abnormally low. Even the most appalling series usually clock 6+, which would seem to indicate that Active Raid is worse eye-cancer than even the shittiest harem comedy. But that's just not true! It's not the best or worst show: it's a typical in-the-middle anime with good and bad aspects.

Being soulless and boring is a worse sin than being a poor attempt at something fun. That said, why would you trust MAL's opinion ever?

So, for all the arguments against the haremshit and that it panders to the lonely otaku, I have to ask- doesn't One Punch Man do the same thing? I watched the first seven or so episodes the other day, and it's looking to me like a no-guilt no-obligations power trip. You've got this guy who trains for three years doing normal training and then he's better than everything (follow your dreams! School is only four years!), he doesn't actually work, doesn't live with anyone, remarks about how he could've become one of those young men that didn't want to have to work, goes through hero examinations (which then takes over the whole plot), and gets publicly ridiculed as the focal point of an episode. It's just exactly the kind of thing yon otaku would flock to.

So "Work hard, get good at something, and in the end you live in a shitty apartment with no prospects, an unfulfilling existence, and public ridicule" seems like wish fulfillment to you?

I'm not sure what the fuss is with this show, or maybe I'm not the target demographic, or maybe I don't know all the tropes yet for a fight-style anime, I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't seem to get it, and it doesn't seem so different from other fantasy fulfillment anime.

It's true that a lot of stuff doesn't come through as cleanly in the anime as in the original material, and the anime really only covers the introduction arc, but I think the main problem is that you're looking at it wrong. It's not a fighting-style franchise, it's more of a comedy SoL with action scenes.

[Andres]

I'm not sure what the fuss is with this show, or maybe I'm not the target demographic, or maybe I don't know all the tropes yet for a fight-style anime, I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't seem to get it, and it doesn't seem so different from other fantasy fulfillment anime.

It's different because it's a guy who can beat anyone with a single punch. He is a cool guy.

Also, OPM does side characters well. It does have its fun with its "joke" characters like other shows, but unlike them it actually treats these characters seriously and with respect. Ex.: Puri-Puri Prisoner, Metal Bat, the three guys who died against Deep Sea King.

[Orange Wizard]

KonoSuba is fun and pretty well-executed. The best anime of the season by a wide margin,

Hnnnnnng

according to BD preorders,

Oh, that's what you meant. Popularity != quality.

and enjoyable no matter who you are.

I stopped enjoying it after the "joke" where the dude had all the doctors and his parents standing around laughing at him as he died; that's not funny at all

Unless you're a perpetually offended social justice warrior or soccer mom I guess

Well shit

[Reelya]

By "ecchi" in KonoSuba, I mean there's one girl who wears a skirt so short it might as well not be there, and they're obsessed with shots of her bending over doggy-style, i.e. this will happen multiple times per episode. Sure, the avoid showing panties, but you see so much of her ass that she might as well be going commando.

[Flying Dice]

Pretty sure the point of OPM is to deconstruct the shonen protagonist archetype, at least in part.

[Orange Wizard]

Ajin is ugly as sin

That's not a real criticism

[IronyOwl]

I'm not sure what the fuss is with this show, or maybe I'm not the target demographic, or maybe I don't know all the tropes yet for a fight-style anime, I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't seem to get it, and it doesn't seem so different from other fantasy fulfillment anime.

From reading the (original) manga, I didn't really get a "wish fulfillment" vibe so much as that he either wanted to poke fun at shonen but then it kept going, or wanted to actually make shonen but wasn't brave enough to do so without a comedic veneer to shield himself from parts of it being dumb/bad. The result strikes me as more gutless than anything else.

Accordingly, the current hype looks to me like people just doing that artist thing where it's okay to enjoy something embarrassing so long as it's "ironic" and therefore all the problems are on purpose and therefore strengths.

I'm not sure what the fuss is with this show, or maybe I'm not the target demographic, or maybe I don't know all the tropes yet for a fight-style anime, I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't seem to get it, and it doesn't seem so different from other fantasy fulfillment anime.

It's true that a lot of stuff doesn't come through as cleanly in the anime as in the original material, and the anime really only covers the introduction arc, but I think the main problem is that you're looking at it wrong. It's not a fighting-style franchise, it's more of a comedy SoL with action scenes.

The comedy, at least from what I've read, is mostly the same exact "gag" (see:title) and haha remember when this happens in shonen get it get it. Saitama's too dull to pull off much comedy or slice of life aside from overeacting to small things, underreacting to big things, and having bizarre social obstacles placed in his way.

I'm not sure what the fuss is with this show, or maybe I'm not the target demographic, or maybe I don't know all the tropes yet for a fight-style anime, I don't know, but whatever it is, I don't seem to get it, and it doesn't seem so different from other fantasy fulfillment anime.

It's different because it's a guy who can beat anyone with a single punch. He is a cool guy.

Also, OPM does side characters well. It does have its fun with its "joke" characters like other shows, but unlike them it actually treats these characters seriously and with respect. Ex.: Puri-Puri Prisoner, Metal Bat, the three guys who died against Deep Sea King.

That's because its joke characters are its real characters and everyone, including the author, is aware of this. But, as I've mentioned, it feels like he wasn't brave enough to actually make a series with them, so he copped out and slapped a big PARODY label over it.

[Reelya]

Boku Dake feels kind of tryhard to me, actually. It throws a lot of "deep" stuff in the plot but at the end of the day it's a story about time traveling NTR. (This opinion is based off of the manga though, I haven't been keeping up with the anime. But it seems pretty heavy on the melodrama too.)

Don't you mean "NEET" here, not "NTR"? NTR is netorare, which means a cuckold (someone who gets their girlfriend stolen by another man). And he's not a NEET, because NEETs don't have a job, and this guy definitely has a job.

He's a FREETER - which means people who work part-time or casual jobs. e.g. if you're at a restaurant and they rotate your shifts around, you're a Freeter in Japan. Basically, the "freeter" concept is Japan rationalizing the rising number of people forced into low-paying casual work by labeling them as a specific type of lowlife who like being shat on by employers: i.e.  they're poor by choice. Rather than admit the economy is hurting people, they talk about the rising tide of the "working poor" types who just don't want a job with actual job security. I'm sure you can smell the bullshit here.

So, the real reason he's a "loser" in Japanese eyes is that he's 29 years old and he hasn't landed a job in corporate. In middle-class Japan, that makes you a loser in life. But in "real life" that just means he's an actual average joe in the 21st century.

[IronyOwl]

I just watched Soujuu Senshi Psychic Wars (rated 3.4/10 on MAL). I'm actually really glad I watched that. It has a similar appeal to Mars of Destruction: Terrible, but very entertaining. I laughed at every "epic" plot twist in Psychic Wars (basically there are more plots twists than actual plot). This one only seems to exist as a dub, but that only added to the fun.

Just watched this, and ayup. Mars of Destruction is "better" and shorter, but this has its moments.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also that horse was awesome-looking.

Did not understand the very ending at all. What parents? Waiting? What?

[Cruxador]

Oh, that's what you meant. Popularity != quality.

BD pre-orders aren't exactly just popularity. After all, people might well be watching Musaigen because it's KyoAni, but it's only recently that the sales rank got back into the three digit range.

I stopped enjoying it after the "joke" where the dude had all the doctors and his parents standing around laughing at him as he died; that's not funny at all

Okay yeah that part wasn't funny. It's not really representative of the series as a whole, though.

By "ecchi" in KonoSuba, I mean there's one girl who wears a skirt so short it might as well not be there, and they're obsessed with shots of her bending over doggy-style, i.e. this will happen multiple times per episode. Sure, the avoid showing panties, but you see so much of her ass that she might as well be going commando.

They do show her ass from time to time but it's not super titillating and definitely not what I'd call ecchi. It fits her character in my opinion, since she's not super good at decorum.

Ajin is ugly as sin

That's not a real criticism

I guess it depends on your opinions on the aesthetic qualities of moral transgression, but I suspect that isn't what you meant. In which case, your criticism of my criticism is more inept than the criticism that it critiques, because from mine you can tell what quality is lacking, but you make no allusion to what you think is actually inadequate about my comment.

It's true that a lot of stuff doesn't come through as cleanly in the anime as in the original material, and the anime really only covers the introduction arc, but I think the main problem is that you're looking at it wrong. It's not a fighting-style franchise, it's more of a comedy SoL with action scenes.

The comedy, at least from what I've read, is mostly the same exact "gag" (see:title) and haha remember when this happens in shonen get it get it. Saitama's too dull to pull off much comedy or slice of life aside from overeacting to small things, underreacting to big things, and having bizarre social obstacles placed in his way.

"Bizarre social obstacles" is a big category, but the odd social aspects of the manga generally are comedy by way of allusion to real experiences in the life of the young underemployed Japanese man, which is ONE's situation prior to becoming a hotshot mangaka. A lot of them transfer well to non-Japanese men, which is why it's popular in lots of countries.

That's because its joke characters are its real characters and everyone, including the author, is aware of this. But, as I've mentioned, it feels like he wasn't brave enough to actually make a series with them, so he copped out and slapped a big PARODY label over it.

Dude, OPM is a series. This isn't some Scary Movie 4 one-off. The fact that it plays off of tropes and of things that other series do doesn't invalidate the series in other respects, nor is there some clear distinction between series which do this and series which are serious in their aim.

Don't you mean "NEET" here, not "NTR"? NTR is netorare, which means a cuckold (someone who gets their girlfriend stolen by another man).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I used the acronym I intended to.

Not exactly, but I could see it as something that it'd be easy to relate to in the event that you're in such a position. That you can relate to a guy who can punch meteors to kibble is my point. Similarly, he -was- an aspiring businessman who dropped that to do strength training, to which he now does really nothing with a hobby of superheroics. Hell, he doesn't even train any more. I mean, it's okay to be content with less, but that message doesn't seem to come across well at all, particularly when compared against the hero grade thing.

It's not about being content, it's about being directionless. It's a bit of light social commentary. Not super deep, but a lot deeper than the level at which you're evaluating it; you should look at it as seinen first and shounen second rather than the other way around, because that's how it was written.

On side characters- maybe it's only because I'm seven or eight episodes in, but there's maybe four repeating side characters (crazy assassin guy, cyborg, bicycle man, I must've missed one, the green chick that gets angry?), and they're all very two-dimensional, and the other 'heroes' have their theme gimmick and attacks and that's about it. And no, I didn't approach it as a straight fight-style show, I approached it as "this thing is really popular, let's find out why." I don't know enough about the standards for the genre to relish the inversions if they exist.

The anime so far hasn't covered a whole lot, so the side characters aren't as fleshed out as they will be. It also doesn't cover side chapters, which often flesh things out in other ways, like showing the time that Speed of Sound Sonic was at Pri-Pri-Prisoner's home. That said I think it was largely popular because it's the animation of a popular comic, rather than just because of the adaptation as a stand-alone.

[Orange Wizard]

That formatting though okay you fixed it

...

BD pre-orders aren't exactly just popularity.

True, it's also determined by how loyal/devoted/whatever the fanbase is

But saying it's indicative of quality is like saying NGNL and SAO are masterpieces but Shinsekai yori or Jintai are worthless shitstains

I guess it depends on your opinions on the aesthetic qualities of moral transgression, but I suspect that isn't what you meant. In which case, your criticism of my criticism is more inept than the criticism that it critiques, because from mine you can tell what quality is lacking, but you make no allusion to what you think is actually inadequate about my comment.

But the CG itself is very well-done. Your criticism isn't "it's bad", it's "I don't like it", which isn't a criticism, it's you not liking something
Admittedly I'm not a fan of CG either, but that doesn't make CG bad