Thoughts of Summer 2010 Anime Titles

... I would just like to say that I think the characterization is fine in HSotD. I like most of them... :3

As it goes for characterization in zombie things... Left 4 Dead 2 had some nice characterization. ZombieLand was great too...

*Back away slowly from battlefield*

Sakura wrote:

Piero wrote:
I'm aware of what it's like to deal with someone who is convinced that their opinion is so righteous that they're entitled to use a public forum as their own personal bitching fest, and I don't wish to become like one of those people.

TOO LATE

If I was specifically posting things for the sake of pissing people off or was one of those people who liked to get high on ranting and raging about stuff, you might have a point. However I am neither of those things. I am simply someone who happens to calmly state my opinions on the shows I watch, whether good, bad, or in between. In this case, the opinion is in between, I simply happen to be talking about the negative a bit more because it requires some explanation and because my comments there have generated more debate than the positive comments I made.

Now let me ask you this -is this a thread where a person who happens to have some criticisms of a show can state their opinion and have a reasonable discussion, or is it a thread where only people who express strongly positive opinions towards the currently popular show are welcome?

I was just annoyed by this...

rusty-spring wrote:ALL zombie movies/shows/games have horrible characterization. Zombie media itself is completely off the wall and not to be taken seriously.

NOT a good thing to say at all.

Five_X wrote:I was just annoyed by this...

rusty-spring wrote:ALL zombie movies/shows/games have horrible characterization. Zombie media itself is completely off the wall and not to be taken seriously.

NOT a good thing to say at all.

Fair enough, I was being sweeping in generalizations - my bad. 28 Days/Weeks Later is quite good. However, those Resident Evil movies...Plus, Land of the Dead?

I don't know how long I'm going to be doing these individual write ups for, but at the moment things seem to be widely spaced enough to allow for it.

Kuroshitsuji 2 (Episode 2): A relatively light episode, but it's early in the season so that's not really hugely strange. Basically more of the same of what was in Season One. It's fairly enjoyable, although

Spoiler:

Piero wrote:If I was specifically posting things for the sake of pissing people off or was one of those people who liked to get high on ranting and raging about stuff, you might have a point. However I am neither of those things.

Well that happens to be how you're coming across to a number of us, myself included.

Now let me ask you this -is this a thread where a person who happens to have some criticisms of a show can state their opinion and have a reasonable discussion, or is it a thread where only people who express strongly positive opinions towards the currently popular show are welcome?

If you don't like a show, you don't like a show. Say your peace - and your piece - and move forward. But continuing to criticize the show - especially when noting up front "I probably shouldn't do this..." and then proceeding to "do this" - starts to looks like trolling to some of us.

Some titles are really popular in this forum (and anime in general, evidently). You may not feel the same and you are entitled to your opinion, but when you continue to offer that opinion in response to every positive discussion, it starts to become "the turd in the punchbowl" and those folks talking about enjoying the show get annoyed that you're always there "raining on their parade", to use your own words.

You guys have one somewhat legitimate grievance regarding my behaviour on this board when it comes to the K-On incident. Even there however I wasn't so much trying to provoke a reaction as much as I was trying to deal with my frustration at what I considered excessively over the top praise for the series combined with the fact that my opinion of the show had recently gone from "I think this is so-so" to "this annoys me enough that I've decided to drop it." I wasn't kidding when I said I felt compelled to point out my point of view in that case (although I'll admit that doesn't really make my behaviour right). You may have felt similarly when you followed up my praise for the cliffhanger ending to Canaan's second to last episode with a really vicious attack on the series.

As for the rest, I think some of you people are focusing a little too much on a few particular things I posted without looking at them within the context of the big picture. You may have forgotten this, but I actually said good things about K-On on occasion, however muted and caveated that praise may have been. I've also said some good things about High School of the Dead (which I actually like somewhat in spite of my problems with the cast). I just happened to talk about an aspect I had issues with more because it really stood out and because in that case I felt a need to justify and defend my perspective that I didn't feel when I was talking about what I liked about the series. Also note that as I've said previously, I've reviewed a lot of different shows this season and HSotD is hardly the only one I've expressed mixed feelings about (this last point is one that I consider really important).

One last important thing to consider -I sometimes make note of trends that occur in anime that I watch, which is one reason why I can end up making note of the same aspect of series on more than one occasion. In the case of the first two episodes of High School of the dead, I had an initial impression that was confirmed with the second episode. So I made note of the initial impression in episode one and then noted the general confirmation of it in episode two. Had the initial impression proven to be majorly wrong (as my first impressions of episode two had indicated it might), I would have made note of the improvement instead.

Re: High School of the Dead episode 2: Custom modded nailgun FTW!

Anyone else tried Asobi no Iku Yo? On the one hand, it seems to hit every "mildly ecchi show about guy who get magical girlfriend" trope in the book... on the other hand, in the first episode we've been introduced to 1) an alien catgirl (with more to come), 2) A childhood friend character who works for an intelligence agency, uses advanced spy gear on the main character, and is a gun nut, 3) a teacher who is part of some alien-worshipping cult, and 4) a shy somewhat otaku-ish girl with glasses who turns out to actually be a special forces agent who takes out an entire ship of terrorists using a nanosuit.

I'm sure it'll be a trainwreck, I'm just wondering how interesting of one it will be to watch...

After reading what you had to say about it, I had to check it out.

Asobi no Iku Yo (Episode One): This is good example of how much worthwhile anime I'd miss out on if my brother wasn't a good deal more experimental than I am when it comes to picking fansubs to download. I know that the plot descriptions I read in previews prior to the start of each season are often poorly written and not very reflective of the shows they're written about, but I still have a tendency to discard certain series based off of them.
Anyhow, this show is cliched as hell, but also lots of fun if you can get past the excessive emphasis on the alien cat girl's excessively large chest (when are anime creators going to get the hint that bigger is not necessarily better?). Simply put, this show is crazy. The only real major criticism I have is the effect of the high octane opening action sequence -it was like putting the opening from one of the more serious Bond films at the beginning of a really campy spy spoof (okay, maybe that's not the best example, but hopefully you people get the point). Hopefully the action sequences foreshadowed by the ending of the episode are more crazy in the old school school action comedy anime style, with A-Team firing all over the place and copious amounts of property damage and general mayhem. It would fit better with the type of show this is. (Speaking of which, the production values of this episode were surprisingly good considering the type of show this is.)

Occult
Academy (Episode 2): The first episode may have been quite choppy, but with episode two this show is officially awesome. This episode flowed much more smoothly than its predecessor and was quite entertaining, with strong elements of both humor and excitement. The artwork seemed fairly good too (though there was at least one notable exception to this). This episode really bolstered my opinion of the Anime No Chikara project. Thus far it seems to have produced one above average show (Sora No Woto) and two that have the markings of possible greatness (this show and Senkou no Night Raid, whose second half has been leaving me quite impressed). I’m definitely glad it’s around.

Just watched Shiki episode 2! I'm more intrigued now! It's SUCH a good show!!!! X3

Piero wrote:Occult Academy (Episode 2): The first episode may have been quite choppy, but with episode two this show is officially awesome.

The first episode did nothing for me, but I suppose I can try #2.

Random commentary on the characters in HSOTD.

Those I would like to have around in a zombie apocalypse:

Kouta Hirano: Firearms expert, also, he is a lot like me in a lot of ways.

Saeko Busujima: A melee expert would come in extremely useful, especially since I would probably stick mostly to guns and explosives. And there's the fact that she's hot, and not in the stupidly large tits way that some of the others characters are.

Takashi Komuro: Strikes me as an all-around useful character who doesn't let his emotions cloud his judgement.

Those I probably wouldn't want around:

Saya Tayagi: She's a tsundere, I get that some people like that, but I'd be hard pressed not to pistol whip her.

Rei Miyamoto: Lets her emotions cloud her judgement, i.e. keeping her infected boyfriend around when even he wanted to commit suicide.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:Occult Academy (Episode 2): The first episode may have been quite choppy, but with episode two this show is officially awesome.

The first episode did nothing for me, but I suppose I can try #2.

I don't know if the show would really be to your taste, but you may as well. You should know for sure whether or not you want to drop it by the end of episode two.

Strike Witches 2 (Episode 2): The first episode suffered somewhat due to forced character conflict and such, but this one worked pretty well. If it's any indication of the series as a whole, then it's essentially more of the same, only better.
There are still a few issues that bugged me though. One is that Major Sakamoto doesn't really act like the businesslike officer it seems like she should be -aside from her opposition to Miyafuji's coming along last episode because she'd "done her part" (what sort of competent military officer refuses a highly capable volunteer during wartime on those grounds?) she should have just ordered Miyafuji to get the hell out of the way when Miyafuji tried to prevent her from sortieing on the grounds that she could no longer project a proper shield (Miyafuji, why the hell did you wait to bring that up until you actually had to scramble -that flying boat trip supposedly took a freaking week!). It also strained credibility somewhat to have all of the 501st Witches coincidentally showing up in the same area at about the same time despite having been widely dispersed. But meh, it's Strike Witches -it's not really meant to be taken too seriously.
Next episode looks like it's going to have some of the witches have to do some training with actual brooms. That could be fun (if a little strange, considering that the unit is basically on deployment in a hot zone), although I might have been inclined to pursue the story possibilities inherent in the unit having arrived ahead of it's support and having to negotiate with local commanders for their supplies myself.

watched asobi ni ikuyo
looks like on of those lame kids finds an alien girl anime. It technically is but there is something else here...soemthing else that has to do with girls with guns.

tsun out!

scn STRIKEWITCHESSCRIPT

short logic
short hilarity
short strikewitches
short seriesgood

Begin OnSeriesStart

if logic == 1
set strikewitches to 0
if seriesgood == 1
set seriesgood to 2

elseif logic == 0 && if strikewitches == 1
set hilarity to 1
set seriesgood to 1

if strikewitches == 1 && hilarity == 0
set seriesgood to 0
resetscript

if strikewitches == 1 && hilarity == 1
set seriesgood to 1

END

Hopefully that mishmash of mutated coding explains how Strike Witches works.

like a most of Anime Strike witches is meant to be watched for amusement with your mind relaxed,so try to avoid over analysing it , it does your mind no good !

To some degree I'll agree with that (although there is actually a pretty goodly number of more serious anime series out there). Most of my issues of Strike Witches aren't really all that serious. However I really do think that Major Sakamoto's behaviour in the first episode in particular was kind of off the mark. Maybe my memory is kind of off since I haven't bothered rewatching the first season in a long time, but she seemed to me like she was a professional officer who took her job pretty seriously. Her angrily trying to dissuade a willing volunteer with rare and desperately needed abilities because she'd "already done her part" seemed out of character and seemed like forced conflict to me. Thankfully that part is pretty much in the past after the first episode.

BTW, while we're on the subject of nitpicks, the Neuroi have incredibly crappy aim. Seriously, they couldn't shoot down a freaking four engined flying boat!

I wasn't in the script pitches, but I'm still pretty confident that the scriptwriters had Major Sakamoto act the way she did not because they wanted to portray a realistic military situation, but because they wanted to expand on the personal feelings she feels for Miyafuji.

That could also be it (I'd sort of been thinking they'd done it too add tension to the episode, but your explanation makes sense to). It doesn't really change the fact that the first episode came across as forced though. Thankfully most of that stuff doesn't seem likely to affect much of anything beyond the first episode (I probably didn't really need to mention the bit between Miyafuji and Sakamoto in Episode Two -while it may have seemed off it didn't seem forced the way the stuff in Episode One did and was only a fairly minor nitpick in comparison).

I decided to watch Occult Academy 'cause one reviewer noted that it was similar in style to Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, two of my favourite horror movies. I definitely agree. The show is done in an awesomely over-the-top way, and it manages to be funny and enjoyable to watch.

I'm going to continue watching it, along with Strike Witches 2 (the second episode of which was very reminiscent of the original) and High School of the Dead, which had a very good second episode as well. So far, all the shows I'm watching seem to be getting better with each successive episode. Hopefully this trend continues.

Ookami-san (Episode 3): I wasn't particularly impressed by this episode even considering my classification of this show as "passable" light entertainment. That might have had something to do with it not focusing as much on the series' main cast this episode however Episode 2 didn't impress me that much either. I'll probably give the show at least a bit longer to see how it goes, but given it's performance since episode one and the strength of some of it's competition, things aren't looking too good for it.
Shiki (Episode 2): This episode was kind of interesting, but didn't hugely impress me. Of course it's worth noting that I made the mistake of reading the plot summary on ANN's page for the series when I went to look up some voice acting credits. I advise anyone who doesn't want the plot spoiled to avoid doing the same.

Hmmm... probably getting to be about time to do another weekly round up/summary soon.

I've got a shedload of stuff to watch this weekend, including K-On!! 15, Katanagatari 7, Cat Shit One, Senkou no Night Raid 7-10, episode 2 of both Seitokai Yakuindomo and Seikimatsu Occult Gakkuen and High School of the Dead 01.

Cat shit one, BANZAI BUNNIES !!!!!
using camels as the arabs was a neat touch,though i am a little confused by the use of a Hind attack helicopter

Awinnell wrote:Cat shit one, BANZAI BUNNIES !!!!!
using camels as the arabs was a neat touch,though i am a little confused by the use of a Hind attack helicopter

I think the rabbits are part of a PMC (Private Military Company), not troops in a national armed forces. So maybe the Hind might have been a "rental" or part of their PMC's inventory. If this story takes place in Afghanistan, it makes some sense as the Russians employed them there.

Kiskaloo wrote:Cat Shit One

Figure I better try this out too, though I get a weird surreal feeling watching Disney/Pixar-like CG animals blowing the crap outta each other.

Amagami SS episode 3: WTF - uh, wow. Girl for this arc sure likes her roleplaying.

rusty-spring wrote:

Kiskaloo wrote:Cat Shit One

Figure I better try this out too, though I get a weird surreal feeling watching Disney/Pixar-like CG animals blowing the crap outta each other.

yeah you can see every hair in their fur and whiskers,and blood and brains flying!

Awinnell wrote:yeah you can see every hair in their fur and whiskers,and blood and brains flying!

That they chose not to show the gore made it better, IMO.

CSO was badass. I highly recommend it, as it's nice and short and cool and has bunnies.

I just finished watching CSO. not bad, but I wish they'd kept Rats on the crew, like they had in the original source material.

Kiskaloo wrote:

Awinnell wrote:Cat shit one, BANZAI BUNNIES !!!!!
using camels as the arabs was a neat touch,though i am a little confused by the use of a Hind attack helicopter

I think the rabbits are part of a PMC (Private Military Company), not troops in a national armed forces. So maybe the Hind might have been a "rental" or part of their PMC's inventory. If this story takes place in Afghanistan, it makes some sense as the Russians employed them there.

The Hind in Cat Shit One was modelled on a South African modified Super Hind. So I think you can count on it being employed by whatever PMC the main characters are supposed to be from.

Anyhow, couple more updates before I do my next round up:

Cat Shit One: Overall I enjoyed this (come on, it's cute animals mixed with violence, what's not to like?), but it seemed to be having trouble deciding whether it wanted to be hardcore tactical or more action movie-ish. It also might have been a bit better if the enemies were fewer in number but more competent.
I'm curious as to why they said "The Animated Series" though when this is a movie. Is this the forerunner to an actual TV series or something?
Amigami SS (Episode Three): I've been kind of inclined to like the first arc of this series so far thanks to the craziness of the girl who is at the center of it, but this episode was... kind of weird. Scratch that, it was quite weird. Although in spite of that I still kind of enjoyed it even if it didn't strike me as being as good as the preceding one. I guess I'll see where it goes from here.

Cat Shit One (Really? That's the name? ) was amusing. Never thought I'd see the day a camel would look like an evil bastard, but there it was. It's something Disney/Pixar should do with their multi-million dollar budgets. I was hoping for ninja cats though, swooping down from rafters and silently swiping the faces off enemies - it's practically begging for it.

rusty-spring wrote:Cat Shit One (Really? That's the name? ) was amusing. Never thought I'd see the day a camel would look like an evil bastard, but there it was. It's something Disney/Pixar should do with their multi-million dollar budgets. I was hoping for ninja cats though, swooping down from rafters and silently swiping the faces off enemies - it's practically begging for it.

Cat Shit One is also known in the U.S. as "Apocalypse Meow", for obvious reasons. All it is is a call sign.

And yeah, if Disney/Pixar wanted to do at least a PG-13 rated movie, this should be an example.

It's been about a week, so here's another round up:

Asobi ni Iku Yo(1): Is awesome. It may be one of those shows that has a lot of crazy shit going on, but it's one of those shows that has a lot of crazy shit going on done right.
Amigami SS (3): The first story arc is proving to be decent thanks to a quite interesting thanks to the girl who is the focus of it, although things got kind of weird in Episode 3.
Occult Academy (2): The first episode was choppy, but the second flowed more smoothly and allowed key elements to fall into place, thus allowing the series to elevate itself to awesomeness.
Ookami-san (3): Initially seemed like passable light entertainment when it first aired, but seems to be performing kind of weakly at the moment.
High School of the Dead (2): The action rocks because it's exciting, while the characters suck because they're annoying.
Kuroshitsuji 2 (2): Seems to be more of the same as season one, though there are hints that other elements may end up playing a prominent role.
Shiki (2): Kind of interesting, although I've had a major plot twist spoiled for me so it's kind of hard for me to judge.
Strike Witches 2: The first episode had a fair bit of stuff that seemed rather forced, but with the second episode in the series essentially promises more of what season one offered -only perhaps better. A decent show if you can get over the eye rolling elements.

I basically dropped Seitokai Yakuindomo.

This weeks amagami was rather....kinky.

interessin.

I also dropped Seitokai Yakuindomo after the second episode. Like Chu-bra!!, I fear it's going to run the sexual innuendo into the ground to the point it is always grating. And it has absolutely none of what made Seitokai no Ichizon awesome.

Also dropped Occult Academy with episode 2 because it just doesn't hold my interest - I grew bored by the eye-catch with both episodes.

I also can't continue with High School of the Dead. I'm just not a zombie apocalypse fan and the show doesn't have the sheer comedy of Zombieland to distract me.

Cat Shit One - Overall, a solid effort. If it does become a regular series, I will be there waiting.

Strike Witches 2 - This show should be a train-wreck, for the sheer earnestness of some of the characters (Miyafuji, Sakamoto, et. al.) if nothing else, but for some reason I find it entertaining. I blame Pilot Officer Francesca Lucchini. Anyway, the original series did a solid job of animating the combat scenes and that continues with the sequel. It was a "guilty pleasure" last year and I imagine it will be the same this year, as well.

K-On!! (#15) - This show (like the original) has plenty of "meh" moments (there are times I wish it was just Sawako, Ritsu and Mio), but each episode continues to have gems that I find so full of win that it pulls the entire show up on to the pedestal of worth watching.

Katanagatari (#7) - To quote the girls of Garfunkel and Oates - "Shit just got real".

Kiskaloo wrote:
Strike Witches 2 - This show should be a train-wreck, for the sheer earnestness of some of the characters (Miyafuji, Sakamoto, et. al.) if nothing else, but for some reason I find it entertaining. I blame Pilot Officer Francesca Lucchini. Anyway, the original series did a solid job of animating the combat scenes and that continues with the sequel. It was a "guilty pleasure" last year and I imagine it will be the same this year, as well.

Franscesca is without a doubt the best character in the series. Funny how bratty characters can be either among the best characters in a series or among the worst.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm not particularly fond of Perrine.

Oh, this is reminding me -some art I came across for a character that hasn't appeared in the TV series got me interested in checking out some of the other material for the series. Now I've heard that the first manga is awful and the second doesn't seem to be going anywhere fest, but the fake "first chapter" of the second manga is still hilariously awesome:
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/strike_witches_tenkou_no_otometachi/c000/

I managed to find a streamed version of Cat Shit One (now I'm stuck on Library PCs I can't play .MKVs) and it was great fun. Pure action, but deftly-drawn and with an authentic verité feel without overexaggerating the shakycam... and ohmaigaaaaaahhhddd those bunniesaresocyyyuuuuuuooooootttt withtheirfloppyeaaaaarrrrsss i just wanna tweak their widdle whiskers...

...
...
...
...

...ahem. Hemhem. Hem.

Asobi ni Iku Yo (2): Well, it could have done without some of the awkward conversations suggesting the alien cat girl might want to get it on with the main character (although I guess her having gotten strange ideas from having found and read his hidden porn stash is kind of funny). Otherwise, still a very entertaining series. Some awesome dialogue too:

Spoiler:

Yeah... not your typical slightly ecchi love comedy.

I love all the classic sci-fi references in Asobi ni Iku Yo. They're really great, and add a touch of old school geekiness to the show.

High School of the Dead 3 - Fun as always. Follows the manga as closely as Black Lagoon follows it's own manga - which is nice. Not much to say beyond that I'm still loving the series. Easily one of the top anime I've enjoyed in years.

High School of the Dead (Episode 3): My love/hate type relationship with this series continues. On one hand, it's a pretty gripping story. On the other hand, well... I think you people are already aware of what I think of the characters. This episode set a new standard for most dislikeable character, but at least in his case I know that I'm supposed to loathe the character in question with every fibre of my being. Hopefully I can look forward to that bastard dying a horrific karmic death at some point in the future.

Piero wrote:This episode set a new standard for most dislikeable character.

Looks like GsG's own Jean Croche and Makoto Itou (School Days) have both been usurped as my most hated character in anime.

If I was stuck in a zombie apocalypse with that asshole, I'd probably leave him behind or shoot him.

Occult Academy (Episode 3): This series is not exactly an earth shattering title that will change anime forever, but it is very well done (aside from the choppiness of the first episode). It’s also a refreshing change from the complete otaku fodder that’s been popular as of late. Yes, it’s got its share of anime clichés, but it’s a far cry from the moe and fanservice centered titles that have been dominating the anime scene in recent seasons.

Strike Witches 2 (Episode 3): Oh dear. I have mixed feelings on the broom riding in this episodes training scenes. On one hand, I’m rather amused by the fact that they actually played around with the implications of what broom riding entails. On the other hand… they took it kind of far. On the plus side this week’s combat sequence was pretty good. Overall I actually am getting the feeling that this season may be an improvement on the first, although I have to admit it’s been quite a while since I actually saw the first season so my memory could be off.

On another note, I forgot to mention this last week, but does it bother anyone that none of the witches seem to carry any spare magazines for their weapons? Especially Shirley and Perrine, whose weapons should only have magazine capacities of twenty and thirty rounds respectively?

I believe that it was explained in the first season that their guns are magic powered giving them more ammunition than usually possible and allowing them to effectively attack the NeuroiSTOP

I too enjoyed the latest Strike Witches episodeSTOP It was better than the first two and was reminiscent of the first seasonSTOP I have to say that the dirty humour was appropriate for the series and dd not seem out of placeSTOP

Also I found the latest Occult Academy episode pretty entertainingSTOP It was rather slow at first but hints toward interesting developments next episodeSTOP This series definitely has promise that I hope it lives up toSTOP

I must stop typing now as my keyboard is malfunctioning causing this message to appear as if it were typed by a typewriterSTOP I will possibly post more thoughts when this problem is fixedSTOP

The Telegraph department will deliver your message shortly !

Could be expensive though... telegraph charges by the letter doesn't it?

Alfisti wrote:Could be expensive though... telegraph charges by the letter doesn't it?

depended on when you sent it,originally it was charged for every ten letters,later it was every 50, the STOP thing mainly came into use during the first world war for government and military telegrams as a . was considered too easily missed

Five_X wrote:I believe that it was explained in the first season that their guns are magic powered giving them more ammunition than usually possible and allowing them to effectively attack the Neuroi

I know that the Witches use magic to handle their weapons and enhance the amount of damage they do, but I don't remember it saying that it was able to increase the number of rounds that would fit in a magazine.

While we're on this topic, the machine guns wielded by the Witches in the anime would seem to be as follows:

Shirley -Browning Automatic Rifle (.30-06, 20 round box magazine)
Perrine -BREN Gun (.303 British, 30 round box magazine)
Eila, Erica, Gertrude, and Mina -MG-15 (7.92x57mm, 75 round double drum magazine)
Franscesca -Browning M1919A6 (.30-06, belt feed)
Mio and Yoshika -Modified Type 99-1 Cannon? (20x72mm, 60 round drum magazine?)

As you can see, the difference in the level of firepower carried by the different Witches is rather substantial. Next time one of the Fuso Witches makes a comment about needing more firepower someone ought to remind them that they're the ones packing those big 20mm cannons.

On another note...

Ookami-san (Episode 4): I would not call this show great, but this episode was quite a bit of fun at times and managed to correct the slump I felt the series went into after its first episode. So I guess I'm more or less back to considering this one to be passable light entertainment.

The German girls use MG42s, except Gertrud who dual wields MG42s and swaps between other German manufactured machineguns.

Any Lynette Bishop is using the Boy's .55 Anti-tank rifle.

But anime wise:

Strike Witches 2: Freaking awesome so far.

HSoTD: YAY ZOMBIES! ^_^ that is all...

Asobi ni iku yo: Watched it this morning randomly and I actually like it!

DLing Cat Shit One as I post... >_>

Five_X wrote:The German girls use MG42s, except Gertrud who dual wields MG42s and swaps between other German manufactured machineguns.

A lot of the stuff the Witches are listed as using on wikipedia isn't used in the anime, at least the TV version. I do seem to remember the MG-42 being mentioned in the OVA that was the prototype for the series. However while the weapons used in the TV series do have some MG-42 features the feeding and ejection systems are totally different (which was why I guessed they were MG-15s). MG-42s are right hand feed, left hand ejection using a belt feed. These guns are fed with top mounted double drum magazines and would basically have to eject from the bottom because of it. That being said the barrel shround, buttstock, and several other features do resemble a MG-42 a lot more than a MG-15.

Amigami SS (Episode 4): The serious scene towards the end of the episode was arguably kind of melodramatic, but the episode as a whole was still rather fun. Morishima Sempai's arc as a whole has been rather fun, actually -she's a pretty awesome character. It'll be interesting to see how the show does now that her arc is finished. With luck, the fact that it resets itself to cover the various girls who the lead could end up with in the dating sim it's based on won't be too awkward and the rest of the girls will also be a lot of fun. I noticed Morishima's strangeness brought out a certain strangeness in the series lead as well -I'll be interested in seeing whether his characterisation remains relatively consistent when they keep resetting and pairing him with a different girl for each arc.
So yes, overall Morishima's arc was pretty good, next I guess we get to see how the show does when it's focusing on other characters.

I'm watching Kuroshitsuji II but I'm thinking I may not bother commenting on it too much unless someone else does.

Asobi ni Iku Yo (Episode 3): Man this show is fun. I think a good way to describe it would be as an ecchi romantic action comedy (ERAC?). It's also got some surprising depth at times considering it's general craziness, sillyness, and gleeful indulgence of anime cliches. I do have to admit they hiked the fan service level up for this particular episode, but at least it was fairly well utilized. My only real complaints would probably be the overly obvious and intrusive censoring that required and the fact that apparently all the female Catheans (alien cat people) who aren't specifically supposed to be relatively flat chested are all ridiculously busty. Also while it's fairly common for loser male leads to get violence inflicted on them by girls who jump to conclusions it's pretty rare for one to get shot at by one. But I guess most loser male leads don't have childhood friends who are aspiring CIA agents either.
So anyway, this show is made of win.

Yeah, Asobi ni Iku Yo is easily the best harem comedy ever. It's amazingly cliched, but it's also incredibly original and fun. And yes, the ecchi was ramped up for this episode.

So out of curiosity, which girl do you favor? Crysis-tan or CIA-tan?

Actually I was reading in some blog comments recently that the author behind the Asobi ni Ikuyo novels wrote some actual hard science fiction in the past. Apparently the "Beautiful Contact" cult that tries to stop first contact with the Catheans because they're not what they think aliens should be may be based on the people who kept telling him his stories weren't realistic enough. Though I doubt the people who criticised his stuff for being unrealistic were packing uzis.

In spite of knowing that authors often like to try writing multiple types of fiction it's kind of odd to find that something as ridiculous as Asobi ni Ikuyo was written by someone who used to write hard sci-fi...

I find CIA-tan more interesting. She's a hilariously awesome tsundere, and a badass gun nut.

Some of the reactions to this show are pretty intriguing. Some people thought it would be similar to Elfen Lied, and others think that it's trying to be too many things at once. To be honest, I don't see why either one could be an issue. The possibility of the show being completely serious was kinda thrown out the window the minute Eris started doing stuff. And I think it's more genre busting than trying to cover too many levels at once.

On another note, Eris has the best introduction ever: she's literally just 'there' at a party, and no one cares. This series is great.

One could theorise that part of the reason no one cared about a random Alien Cat Girl showing up at a party was because a lot of the people at said party look like their eyesight is going a little. Plus a lot of them were drinking too.



I'm actually a big fan of CIA-tan myself, although I think Crysis-tan would probably be better for my life expectancy. She strikes me as the more capable of the two in a dangerous situation and she won't try try to ventilate you with a machine pistol if you happen to accidentally see her naked.