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[JoshuaFH]

Nah, this thread has gone off the rails so often the local populace has built mysterious train stations with no tracks leading in or out.

To reiterate though, Thunderbolt Fantasy is the coolest puppet show ever devised. I'd never thought I'd fall in love with puppets this much, but it's happened, and I can't wait for the sequel.

[Reelya]

Yeah? I might give that another look then.

BTW for last season, something you should never watch is Tenshi no 3P. Basically it's like K-On, but a loli ecchi harem version.

[Cruxador]

Somehow Knights and Magic ended up being one of the few shows I watched all the way through this season.
I'm not sure why, it doesn't really stand out that much. Maybe it was because it doesn't stand out.

 

BTW for last season, something you should never watch is Tenshi no 3P. Basically it's like K-On, but a loli ecchi harem version.

I mean, K-On was pretty good though.

[JoshuaFH]

SO this is unusual: Hell Girl Fourth Twilight starts off as an actual new series of the show, in where it does more of the same of showcasing unrealistically terrible people being assholes for no reason and then they go to hell and get their comeuppance, but then episodes 7-onward are... reruns of episodes of the first season? Like, not similar, they're the exact same episodes, just copy-pasted.

WTF Studio Dean? I can understand filler, but just reruns? I'm so confused.

[Cruxador]

SO this is unusual: Hell Girl Fourth Twilight starts off as an actual new series of the show, in where it does more of the same of showcasing unrealistically terrible people being assholes for no reason and then they go to hell and get their comeuppance, but then episodes 7-onward are... reruns of episodes of the first season? Like, not similar, they're the exact same episodes, just copy-pasted.

WTF Studio Dean? I can understand filler, but just reruns? I'm so confused.

I mean, Endless Eight is considered masterful.

[Karnewarrior]

BTW for last season, something you should never watch is Tenshi no 3P. Basically it's like K-On, but a loli ecchi harem version.

So it's good?

[Reelya]

I should make this clear when I say "loli" that they're literally in between the ages of the girls in Kodomo no Jikan and Ro-Kyu-Bu, with similar level shit going on. So this ain't half-assing-it highshool lolis, it's the full deal.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

and the main male character (16 y/o) often ends up in situations such as sprawled on a almost-naked loli and has to explain himself to others "it's not what it looks like!". That level of harem shit but made extra-creepy.

However I only saw ~three episodes to that point, so I can't say whether it gets more or less creepy after that.

[Cruxador]

I should make this clear when I say "loli" that they're literally in between the ages of the girls in Kodomo no Jikan and Ro-Kyu-Bu, with similar level shit going on. So this ain't half-assing-it highshool lolis, it's the full deal.

I mean, still sounds like it could be an endorsement.

[EnigmaticHat]

You know, when I was in High School I watched the first episode of Elfen Lied.  I'm not sure if matters if it gets better past that point.

Granted, I liked the Ghost in the Shell movie, which had a similar level of gratuitous nudity and ridiculous blood.  Except with older characters and IMO vastly superior... not really writing.  Choreography?  Barely anyone talks in that movie but it still felt like a well written movie.  Visual storytelling, that's what I'm looking for.

[Reelya]

Elfen Lied doesn't really get any better. The first 10 minutes of episode 1 is probably the highlight of the whole thing, fairly dark and edgy.

After that however ... it falls into the "domestic harem" series structure (using harem in the loose sense here). e.g. it switches to a focus on the one hapless teen "everyman" male who conveniently has a big house, and zero parents, with a number of attractive females who either live in the house or who's lives orbit around it.

Sure, there are some effective scenes here and there focusing on the tragic backstories of the diclonius girls, but they don't make up for the fact that the type of structure that I outlined above is inherently a static structure. Series like this are written like that because it's easier for the writer. No matter what happens the story can "snap back" to the daily domestic life (or school clubroom) thing as a point of reference. Sure, it can work but it's a fine line between having a point of reference when needed, and the "domestic life" aspect draining all tension and sense of movement out of the plot (not an issue for some genres of course). And it's made worse in Elfen Lied because the main girl has a split personality, she has the "ruthless killer" personality and the "bumbling kawaii girl" personality, so the seams between the "action plot" and "slice of life comedy" are very demarcated. It's like two shows in one! Selling point! Basically the main story tension derives from times when the one show (horror thriller) impacts on the other show (domestic slife of life harem).

[EnigmaticHat]

Honestly, my main complaint was that I watched an entire episode and the character I felt the most for was some bumbling secretary who somehow got into the line of fire in the opening scene and was clearly doomed for the ~30 seconds she was still alive.

I do see what you're saying tho.  The first 10 minutes were certainly memorable.

[Reelya]

My take on the comedic bumbling secretary, is that she's the archetypal heroine of late 80s - 90s anime action comedies. So basically she's the "everywoman" type character in older anime and manga. So having her die horribly early on is a bit of an edgelord statement. It's basically a "hah I spit on convention" moment, without any deeper significance or meaning. e.g. pure edgelordiness.

It would be like doing a "dark and edgy" fantasy setting and the first thing you do is introduce a plump and friendly halfling who's worried about second-breakfasts, who is promptly murdered - completely at random - then spit-roasted for dinner by the anti-hero. And never spoken about again or plot-relevant in any way. That's basically the role of the secretary in the original Elfen Lied manga: "look I introduced a stereotypical likable character, i bet the series will switch to focus on her antics. <Next chapter> Oops they're dead straight away. Sucks to be you, reader!"

But then he, you know, goes and makes the actual main character a bland harem lead to whom nothing bad ends up happening. So the "pure random edgelordiness" of the opening basically gets replaced by the "how long can we milk this thing?" ethic of serialized manga.

[Cruxador]

Gamers! spent the season being about misunderstandings and drama, and managed to do a good job as a fairly by-the-book farce. And then on the last episode, they did an OVA-type thing that didn't progress the plot but... It also is the only episode actually about video games.

[Reelya]

And then there's last season's anime Hitorijime my Hero. I swear, that shows so gay, dude. I mean just look at this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Tack]

Gamers! spent the season being about misunderstandings and drama, and managed to do a good job as a fairly by-the-book farce. And then on the last episode, they did an OVA-type thing that didn't progress the plot but... It also is the only episode actually about video games.

Spending an entire episode talking about good and bad types of DLC should infuriate me. But considering my normal reaction to 'comical misunderstanding romcom' shtick it could well have been the best part of the series.

Gotta say though the amount of game references in the opening was basically what hooked me to the series.

Spoiler: This nugget alone (click to show/hide)

was a pleasant surprise.

As for 'Knights n' Magic'.
It's too shounen. It's like they've rigidly adhered to every single tickbox of the shounen genre.

Just be glad you're not watching "In another world, with my smartphone".

Did somebody say Tatsuya?

But anywho, finished (I think) K&M and it was just as disappointing all the way through to the end.
Randomly reminded of Kono Subarashii- which I thought would be an equally "OP MC, fanservice harem galore" anime, and turned out to be an adequate comedy.
Maybe westerners are just a shit market.