I don't think I've seen one of these threads in a minute, so why not? shrug-outta-hecks

Here's what I've had going on -

Completed:

Good:

Giant Robo: the Day the Earth Stood Still - Great OVA! I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys G Gundam since the first few episodes of this essentially helped Imagawa get the job as the first non-Tomino TV Gundam showrunner. From what I know, they didn't license the actual stories from the manga, so Imagawa and crew made shit up whole cloth and use characters from miscellaneous Yokoyama manga. It gives it this really manic energy when guys with random super powers and Romance of the Three Kingdoms characters are all fighting each other like a kid playing with a box of their parents old toys. Very light on actual robot fights, but the animation is gorgeous.

Getter Robo: Armageddon - More 90s super robots. I didn't like it as much as Giant Robo, but this goes pretty hard and was enjoyably edgy as fuck.

Rose of Versailles - Delightful 70s classic. It has me wanting to watch more Dezaki stuff - maybe Space Adventure Cobra will work its way in soon.

OK:

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 2 - Wasn't bad, but it just didn't have enough to interest me.

.hack//Sign - This was a favorite of mine back in the old days. It's good for an advertisement/prelude for the PS2 games, but I don't think I would recommend it otherwise. I also watched the Intermezzo and Unison OVAs - they're eh.

Kill La Kill - I watched this on a whim after watching Cutie Honey (1973). It's not bad, it's just not really my thing.

Musha Knight Commando: SD Gundam Scramble - Probably cool if you were like 10 in Japan in the early 90s. vivian-shrug

Bad:

Cross Ange - Please check CWs before considering this, but wow is this an interesting train wreck of a show.

Ongoing:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - 30/110 so far. Still liking it a lot, but I'm just slowly working my way through this one. I couldn't imagine binging through it.

  • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
    ·
    3 months ago

    GOATED:

    Dungeon Meshi - monumental feat of imaginative worldbuilding, on par with LotR or Dune.

    Ok:

    Frieren- I think we've talked about this show on here enough already. It's a mixed bag.

    Apothecary Diaries- It's neat. Having the plot twist be that the literal personification of patriarchy actually be a victim of patriarchy was a choice, although I'm not sure how successful of a story beat it was as presented.

    Bad:

    Granblue Fantasy- I started watching it because of the game, but it's literally the middest of mid shows. S1 is at least kinda interesting for having all these baroque, incredibly hard to animate over-the-top over-designed JRPG character designs, that the animators somehow heroically tried to animate beautiful fight scenes for, but the story is mid as hell and then S2 simplifies all the designs and they just straight give up on trying to tell a story, so bleh.

    • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      GBF was one of the biggest disappointments ever, it had potential, if you are at all familiar with the franchise it got some people from Final Fantasy working on the GBF game, the gacha game story wasn't even that bad once you get past the early stuff.

      But the problem is GBF is a gacha game primarily, and it had a lot of fan favorite characters, its ridiculously bloated for a gacha. But imo in particular just the Eternals they're one of the best designed characters I've seen anywhere, also in terms of personality too, and also top notch VAs etc...

      But you see what stupid Japanese incompetent company decides to double down on? The most bland main cast ever created. Also litealy half the appeal of the MCs in the gacha game is the fact they can transform into all these different classes and they wear all these different outfits etc but nah, not even that.

      The gacha game is slave labor simulator 2014 but Cavalier, Gunslinger, Luchador, Glorybringer, Runeslayer... what could have been.

      • CriticalOtaku [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        Ah, should have made it clear that the game I was talking about was Relink, not the Gacha (Ever since Fate Grand Order I've bounced off hard on all gacha). Relink won me over with how sincere of a "JRPG where we go kill God with the Power of Friendship" deal it was, even if the story itself was kinda tropey, so I wanted to learn more.

        But apparently all the really kino stuff like Biblically Accurate Twinks screaming John Milton at each other while there's more lasers, explosions and J-rock going off in the the background than an X Japan concert never got covered in the anime. Instead we get swimsuit OVA. deeper-sadness

        • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          If you are intereted in an actual above average/good GBF "multiverse" anime maybe you've heard of Rage of Bahamut Genesis. Favaro is a gigachad nuff said. Its good because it was before Cygames got big and ambitions drinking their own koolaid. Some people don't like Virgin Soul, I thought it was fine too, but I recommend the original S1 first and foremost.

          I quit GBF a long time ago now in early 2020, at that time the game was already dying. Cygames was the typical xenophobic shit pandering to 2ch, in 2019 or so they mass banned foreigners because of browser plugins, just QOL stuff realy, but the Japanese couldn't or wouldn't make or use their own QOL so they cried etc.

          The Chinese gachas(Arknights and Mihoyo) completely destroyed the competition at that point too.

          The GBF anime was entirely made to promote the gacha game and it followed that story, if you're disappointment with the anime its sadly because as I said the franchise had potential. When the anime was made in 2017-8 the story was in a decent place, all they had to do was skip pretty much the entire early stuff and ignore the main 5. Yet they did the opposite.

          The gacha game had some very good even stories too, specifically I think the What Makes The Sky Blue series, that first event was the 3rd anniversary in 2017 the same year as the anime. Sandalphon is probably the most popular male these days and that was his debut.

          I can tell you Cygames is incredibly incompetent, apparently Seofon, Twen and Sandalphon are DLC characters for Relink, I don't have or played that game but, Seofon and Twen are part of the Eternals I mentioned. Too little too late but I guess it will be good for new people into the franchise.

          GBF could have been the next Fate. That is how anticipated and how much good material they had to work with. Maybe not the first season but certainly the second season. The next Fate will definitely be Genshin when that anime comes.