Glad to hear it, liked the first episode, couldn’t figure how they’d get a whole season out of that one skit.
Also, the demon torture girl looks like some decent waifu material…

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Finally got around to watching it, and they really managed to fit a lot of plot twists, intrigue, and drama into the first episode. I also like that it was a longer episode, so they took the time to explain things rather than rush or skip over important parts of the backstory.

It has a lot of potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Speaking of the "80,000 gold" lady, she ain't got nothin' on the "Survive using potions" lady, who is absolutely ruthless.

I also like how creative and ridiculous Kaoru geta with the "potion bottle" designs, which becomes a separate cheat skill in its own right. She could literally build nukes if she felt like it.


It kind of makes Mitsuha's machine pistol pale in comparison, doesn't it?

I recently finished binge watching the Summer season anime and now I can start binge watching the Fall season anime.  Then, right around the time I finish that, I can binge watch the Winter season anime.

For 95%+ of the anime I watch, there is no waiting for the next episode of a season.  Plus, mid anime seems better when you binge watch it as opposed to watching only one episode a week.

I highly recommend this approach to anime watching.

Not sure about Metallic Rouge. Being a Bones original production my expectations are pretty high, but the first episode really didn't set the hook very well.

The bad guy throughout just looked like a schizo retard. It's okay that we don't know much about what's going on, but the first episode just comes off as a bunch of weirdly disjointed scenes. The fight scene itself wasn't that exciting unfortunately and the sound design was odd. Rouge could have used a bit more fleshing out and the other protagonist, Naomi, looks like they're trying a bit too hard. The premise seems flawed early on. There is an ultra valuable and rare drug that is so hard to get humans have to steal it from androids, who apparently need it daily... but androids are a slave caste utterly subservient to humans to the point where the most powerful hide their android nature at all costs.

That said I like the looks and the animation was good. I hope it improves but if Bones wasn't involved I would probably be more critical. I didn't know much other than "android Kamen rider". I was hoping for something hype like Star Driver (maybe with a touch of Ghost in the Shell), another Bones original series that was super flashy and over the top. It looks like Metallic Rouge is trying to go for some Bladerunner vibes from the androids, the color scheme of scenes, and the rain, but I'm not sure they nailed it. I don't know how super sentai fight scenes are going to jive with the inevitable existential hand wringing about what it means to be human or whatever.

Current season top so far seems to be Frieren still (and probably will be).

Solo Leveling is only 12 episodes and the best part of that series is relatively early on, so it may be fine.

Sengoku Youko looks like a good adaptation of a mizukami work, which means if will be good if you like his series (Spirit Circle and Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer the other well known series). It's actually getting a 37 episode adaptation.

"The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic" looks well made and was pretty funny.

I like Ragna Crimson and the next cour picks up after what is in my opinion the worst doldrum in the manga so it should be good.

Dungeon Meshi will probably be good. The manga was excellent and the ending wonderful, although we're not getting anywhere near that.

Banished from the hero party will be decent if it is as well done as the first season. Nothing phenomenal but probably enjoyable.

But I am a little disappointed in the first episode of Metallic Rouge. I'm most excited for Lazarus, an upcoming project by shinichiro Watanabe, which might scratch that post-human itch better.

I still need to watch Metallic Rouge, was too busy dicking around on guitar after work

But as for the mention of Lazarus, you had me at Watanabe. Every show he's directed has been a banger. Even the soundtracks. I look forward anything he graces with his touch.

Well, Metallic Rouge is heavily inspired by Carole & Tuesday, which was a Bones and Watanabe work.

But at least the trailer and teasers for Lazarus look cool.

Then I hope it turns out well.

It's almost time to do my yearly watch of Watanabe works.  I'll probably kick it off with Terror in Resonance this time.

ETA: what the trailer shows is very reminiscent of his other works.

I guess I'm glad I still have cable, so I can watch it on Toonami.

I've watched about half of the first episode.

The artwork is well done - but I'm not sure that I have enough patience to try and unravel what is going on, who the characters are, what their motivations are, why the bird got sliced, WTF is that murder-death-kill red thing, is it all happening on Mars, etc.

Maybe I'll come back to it later and it will make more sense.

It gave a little more info on the last half, but so far it's just OK.

I hope it picks up, because the description made it look interesting.

Majo to Yajuu's first episode gives some strong Hellsing vibes. It isn't nearly the quality of the Hellsing OVAs, but it's a decent start for something I had no prior knowledge of.

I watched the first ep of The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash, and I liked it. Too early to see where it's going, but so far it has sort of the same melancholy feel of Freiren, but without the massively OP MC.

It’s a good one, I’m up to date on the manga and it’s been interesting.

What service are these newer shows mentioned in the last couple pages on? Not Crunchyroll?

How long is the First Class Mage Exam arc going to take in Frieren?

I see potential to drag it out past ten episodes.
We did one day from Frieren's POV and didn't touch upon Fern's POV this week.
That implies four episodes could be devoted to the first two day exam.

It does look like this arc has potential. Frieren has a couple of oddball companions, and Fern appears to have one bona fide freak in her party.

I'm not good at estimating episode count, but in the manga the exam arc starts at chapter 37 and ends the first exam on 45. Second exam starts in 48, and ends at 55.

Chapter 57 is the third exam and that ends on chapter 58.

There's backstory and other daily life stuff dispersed in there as well.

The latest episode covered chapters 37 and 38.

A number of the ones mentioned in the last couple pages are indeed on Crunchyroll (which I do have).

Some may be on HiDive (which I do have) or Netflix (which I don't have) or Hulu (which I also don't have) or elsewhere.

OK - I chuckled a bit

It's a little different than the typical 'reincarnated in another world' story.  More relaxed, though danger does pop up here and there.

I've read the first five volumes of the light novels, and some of the manga, so I should probably use some spoilers, though my memory may be fuzzy on some of the details.

Background information on the world (first episode gave a cliff notes version):
Click To View Spoiler

How the MC got to the point where things were at in the first episode:
Click To View Spoiler

Based on the plot of season 2, episode 2, they ought to rename "Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside" to "Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Devote The Show to Fan Service"...

I'm now 728 episodes into One Piece, while compelling could be abridged..


I've recently got my coworkers into JJK so we're waiting on info on the movie and next arc

I’ve stalled out around 430.  While “compelling” isn’t a word I would use to describe the vast majority of what I’ve seen so far, I definitely agree about how it could be abridged.  So much of it feels like one episode’s worth of content was watered down to make three episodes.  The “prison breakout” arc I am currently stuck on is a prime example.

Not spotted much about this one

Solo Leveling anime

I have been reading the mega on an off - and from what I can tell; the anime does follow the first two chapters so far.
At times the story line is a bit grim at times.  

So far this season is mostly miss versus hits...but some of the hits are quite good.

Dammit. Now I'm reading ahead, just like MFGhost.

Chapter 104... I have a theory, didn't Frieren kill
Click To View Spoiler

That's quite possible. It hasn't said yet and I left off on chapter 116.

Dragonball was like that. Kids HAD to be home every day to watch it, but I used to tell them they could watch Mondays and Fridays and not miss a thing.

I've been back from Japan for 3 months now and it's fucking weird but I miss it. When I left after 2 weeks I thought.. well got that out of my system for a while but now I really want to go back.

I was planning a trip back in 2026 with my son but checking my airline miles I have enough for 3 round trip tickets right now as long as I go economy and not business like I did last time. I'm really considering a shorter run there, maybe 9-10 days including the 2 travel days instead of the full 14 days I did last time. I need to get the wife's buy in, maybe spring of 2025 and I might have enough miles for another business class. This time I just want to spend a more casual time in the Tokyo area instead of the jam packed itinerary I had before.

Going in March to visit my kid at school with my wife and cannot wait.  I have some concerns about my wife as she isn’t exactly a roll with the punches get outside your comfort zone American.  That said, she needs to see it because our kid is pretty invested in a future there.  

I picked a couple weeks to go and unintentionally landed on peak cherry blossoms timeframe.  Oops.

It is pretty silly...

Some of the humor is subtle - and some of it is laugh-out-loud silly.

Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch with the "comfy chair".

The back-and-forth with her smart sword "Ex" is predictable, but it has its own special charm.

It's seductive. You know that it's the same schtick repeated over and over and over, but somehow you can't manage to avert your eyes.

Click To View Spoiler

I can relate. Ha ha ha ha!

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Speaking of which, is this true?

I definitely can’t recall a single fight taking up more screen time.

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Sorry, I never watched it directly, so all my data is collected through kid filters.

I've met an 11 year old that is caught on One Piece and it is their favorite anime.

You guys are getting beat by an 11 year old.

Many such cases.

Sad!

DBZ (parts of it anyway) was the first anime I ever watched.

Elfen Lied was the first anime I ever watched on my own.

I thought it was an anime about cute catgirls.

It wasn’t.

Yeah, my friend's 12 year old daughter has apparently powered through the whole thing over the past couple of months.

Astro Boy for me, back in the early '60s. Came on Sunday afternoons right after we got home from church. There was another one with a giant flying robot I can't remember the name of. Then, of course, in the '70s, Speed Racer. I had a model of the Mach 5.

I think it was Trigun that started me back on the anime path after I'd been adulting for awhile. Or maybe FMA came first, I can't remember.

Speed Racer was my first back in 79 and then it was Gatchaman then Yamato. Mazinger Z, the flying giant robot, was in there as well. Even the kid in me noticed the similarities and then when Macross hit I was hooked for life.

In the extreme WTF department, Manyu Scroll (on Crunchyroll) is a samurai-style show about... oppai. And swords.

It's evidently from 2011, and it is rated as 'mature'. It's a sub.

It's not just about huge bazoompas, but it somehow has something to do with slicing or stealing them.

Yeah, I did say that it was a WTF...

Click To View Spoiler

Himmel was still probably around 80 and Heiter pushing or over 100. Himmel was about on track and was pretty active up to extreme old age, as he was regularly checking on things like Qual until not long before his death.

If the horn did anything it didn't drastically shorten his life (maybe just turned him into a manlet). I think it's more likely it didn't do anything.

Just watch this.

They've been uploading a bunch of stuff lately. It's gonna fill my backlog even more

Somewhere in the Anime Himmel remarks upon Heiter's age or aging appearance at the end of the journey, which gave me the idea Heiter was significantly older but he was actually very close to Himmel's age.
It's funny how they drew old Himmel shriveled and hunched over like a 95 year old woman with osteoporosis at 75-80.
I found some childhood info on Heiter and Himmel in the manga, Heiter is taller but I can't tell if he's just taller or if he's a couple years older than Himmel. He kind of acts like Himmel's senior so I'll go with two years older.

I guess that post was just me wondering why Himmel looked so decrepit 50 years later, when Heiter still looked fairly spry 20 years after that.
In the Anime Himmel kept checking the status of the sealed demon Qual up until about the time he died, and in the Manga a knight very far north met Himmel in the woods when he was in his 70s, so as you say Himmel the hunchback did still get around despite his appearance.  

Click To View Spoiler

There's some flashbacks and even time travel in the manga chapters especially 100-120 that answered some of my questions. The translation I read ends with chapter 121. I picked it up where the Anime currently is. After reading 121 I tried chapter 1 and said "this translation is shit". I don't know if it changed translators or if the translator got better, but I can't enjoy the early chapters.

https://www.mangaread.org/manga/frieren-at-the-funeral/chapter-1/

And at Ōsei Academy (I got a cheat skill in another world), Kaede is the name of the titty monster.
MFG spoiler:Click To View Spoiler

The author of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer has clearly played enough Dishonored for the aesthetic to start rubbing off

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic is the show I was most looking forward to this season, having just read the manga a short while ago, and so far it doesn't disappoint.

It's a well-balanced blend of absurdist humor in an otherwise normal isekai setting, which is pretty much a perfect combination in my opinion.

I'm also really enjoying the second season of The Dangers in My Heart. Based on the latest episode, it will be interesting to see how both physical growth and character growth will affect their relationship dynamic.

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In Dangers in my heart I’m waiting to see how it goes after he tried to sneak out and was busted, they don’t even know it yet, but daddy seeing him in the elevator is not going to end well.

So far I'm enjoying the new stuff this season, but I also started watching something I never noticed on CR until they showed it in their 2024 releases for its second season.

Fire Hunter is a pretty interesting story so far, and has some interesting artwork and animation. Mediocre reviews in general, but at least it's not another trash isekai

Well, binge watching:



I know, big surprise.

I like it so far.  

It's like if the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast never transformed at the end.

So, yeah, interspecies dating.  

Yeah, trying to explain that one should be fun for those two kids.

Has anyone else watched Fruit Brains yet?