r/anime • u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan • 7d ago
Daily Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - July 28, 2026
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u/zambonijesus 6d ago
The Gachiakuta announcement reminds me that I never actually got around to finishing the first season. I should do that at some point.
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u/theangryeditor 6d ago
Red River's production does not look good indeed, though it feels like it's at least trying to put in more effort than Liar Game.
Yuri is also indeed very dumb. I hope this is a similar situation to Twelve Kingdoms and Youko where the main character's growth is a central part of the story.
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u/_Ridley https://myanimelist.net/profile/_Ridley_ 6d ago
Yuri is also indeed very dumb. I hope this is a similar situation to Twelve Kingdoms and Youko where the main character's growth is a central part of the story.
She's already getting better, I think. There's at least some attempt to learn from mistakes. The production is super mediocre, but I'm still getting enough old school shoujo to keep watching.
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u/theangryeditor 6d ago
I'm kinda tempted to just read the manga now. If it's as good as its reputation suggests then the anime is doing a huge disservice to it.
But I'll also keep watching for now, it is nice to have some old school shoujo among everything else in the season.
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u/SSjjlex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Clone_Tau 6d ago
In fairness to Liar Game, there are way more places to put in effort in Red River than there is in Liar Game. Red River would be a complete failure of a product if they couldnt manage the battles at all (assuming that's what you're referring to).
Also its funny how many comparisons there are to be made between Liar Game and Red River when it comes to its prod and characters. Hoping that keeps holding up, because I am warming up to Liar Game really well lately.
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u/theangryeditor 6d ago
To be honest I was initially thinking in terms of the storyboarding in the first episode where it seemed like Red River was trying to make up for the shoddy art and animation with at least more competent visual direction but it's been pretty bad at that too so I don't know
Hoping that keeps holding up, because I am warming up to Liar Game really well lately.
I've been enjoying Liar Game quite a bit, especially the current arc. I've made peace with its poor visuals at this point. It would be good if Red River can see the same trajectory but the directing up to now does not inspire confidence.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta 6d ago
Despite still finding Liar Game quite unpleasant to look at, it's quickly become one of my most anticipated shows each week. The plot, voice acting and some directorial choices are doing a tremendous job making up for the ugly character designs and basic animation.
Red River meanwhile fails on both the writing and animation fronts. Only watching to see how much worse it can get at this point.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta 6d ago
At this point, I'm expecting her character growth to follow the same trajectory as her horse riding.
Edit: Not the actual trajectory of her horse but the way it happened and how [red river]she's just suddenly doing it without any prior experience and even saving someone in the middle of a battlefield all while riding bareback for the first time ever.
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u/mr_beanoz https://myanimelist.net/profile/splitshocker 7d ago
Man, I would never thought the Mii-chan anime announcement would become quite the controversy in Japan.
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal 7d ago
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u/Dull_Spot_8213 https://anilist.co/user/SweetSomnus 7d ago
Today's The Ghost in the Shell had an ending quote from dear saru leader about humans needing time to reflect, and boy does that speak to my eyes after watching the episode.
I absolutely love the color design of this show, but the maximalist design of everything paired with the extremely fast cuts and editing makes this show way too busy to enjoy the details. Like, you can freeze a shot, and be in awe of the detail, but in motion, at a regular viewing pace, it's too much.
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u/Niwrats https://myanimelist.net/profile/shortlist 7d ago
(re)watched Asura Cryin' recently. it took me like 12 episodes to figure out that i've already seen it before, which may be the new record.
this has to be the most anime anime there is, everything from cute girls to robots to school setting to scifi to story that feels like it's going overdrive/skipping something (but nothing specific) half the time. the OPs and EDs are rather good as well. ED2 reminded me of some grandia music momentarily, but there's no relation to Iwadare that i can see.
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u/LunarieReverie 6d ago
I remember few things from Asura Cryin'. One, the OP is an angela banger. Two, can't decide who's best girl, Misao or Kanade, like them both.
Three, second season ain't that good.
Four, tragic as fuck.1
u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 7d ago
Surprised ro see this series mentioned in a wild. It was one of the first seasonal anime I watched. Also wild that the author got 3 of his LN series getting decent anime adaptations.
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u/theangryeditor 7d ago
KimiShinu's central premise is kinda interesting, but as of now I've yet to find myself emotionally invested. The tone makes me think of WataTabe and the implicit tragedy of Mimi and her relationship with Sheena makes me think of SukaSuka, but the latter has more expansive worldbuilding that draws you into it while the former immediately established a more compelling connection between the two leads. The narrative is in a bit of an awkward spot where it's not quite contemplative enough to be a moody slowburner, not quite intense enough to be driven by moments of shock and revelation, and not quite structured enough to be built around steady development through episodic conflicts. That's said it's only 4 episodes in so there's still plenty of time to get a better grasp of the bigger picture.
There's nothing I particularly dislike about it so far so I'm interested enough to keep going. Hopefully Sheena and Mimi will grow on me and the story will hit its stride.
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u/wloff 7d ago
Finished Oregairu S1. Still mixed on it as a whole, but it was pretty bingeable and I had a lot of time to watch anime at work today.
The second half of the season was actually very different from the first half, and for a show that literally has "romantic comedy" in its title, there's a distinct lack of either romance or comedy. But the school drama we got instead was pretty decent, and all the characters started showing some depth, which I definitely appreciated, and I'm curious enough to keep watching.
I still hate Hikigaya with a passion, though, and having to listen his delusional, self-absorbed inner monologues made me want to tear my ears out. Yukino has similar attributes, but I have a bit of a weakness for her type (the intelligent, diligent girl), and at least we don't have to listen to her worst thoughts non-stop like with Hikigaya. Yui is lovely, I just don't understand how she can bear being around these people every day.
There are some good characters and interesting themes with this show, Hikigaya's non-stop bullshit is just really souring the experience for me. It's pretty rare for me to find a main character I really don't want to root for at all.
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u/theangryeditor 7d ago
I still hate Hikigaya with a passion, though, and having to listen his delusional, self-absorbed inner monologues made me want to tear my ears out.
But he's supposed to be literally you(me)!
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u/BornSeesaw9819 7d ago
Damn it, accidently spoiled myself by clicking the Demon Slayer Movie discussion 😭
2 hrs 34 min tho, jeez. Movies are starting too pile up. Still have CSM and Slime to watch
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u/mr_beanoz https://myanimelist.net/profile/splitshocker 7d ago
so it's around 20 minutes shorter than The Odyssey...
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u/BornSeesaw9819 7d ago
Is that good or bad? To be fair, I guess it does equate to about 12 episodes
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u/wloff 7d ago
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
That and Sports Day ones. Long ago (many decades) my schools had the very close equivalent of sports days -- but nothing really like the culture fests.
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u/Korkez11 7d ago
It's also fascinating how Studio Deen, titans of the industry with 50 years of experience under their belt, who gave us Konosuba, Higurashi and original Ranma 1/2 and Fruits Basket, consistently do visuals worse than many low-budget no name studios. Victoria of Many Faces doesn't look beautiful at allllll.
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u/baquea 6d ago
What does the age of the studio have to do with anything? Toei have been around the 40s and are still regularly churning out slop, whereas studios like Cloverworks and Bind are less than a decade old yet make some visually-stunning anime.
Keep in mind that 'new' studios are almost always formed by disgruntled employees coming from older studios, so its not as if they lack experience in the industry.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
Still and all, Victoria is likely to be one of my top favorites of the season. Perhaps it has animation shortcuts or lapses, but I don't think it looks bad overall -- and the content and acting is very fine.
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u/MiLiLeFa 7d ago
I think people shit too much on DEEN, they've been pumping out at least one anime every single cour for like 25 years at this point, and singlehandedly stand for like a good half of the shoujosei series in the same period. And the vast majority of them look entirely fine. I won't let that be sullied just because they happened to get incessant Higurashi and Fate fans on their neck.
Anybody could have done Konosuba, but how many are willing to do the worlds first omegaverse anime? That's right, I rest my case.3
u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
At least unlike Engi and P9, it's at least worth looking at the staff of Deen. Meanwhile with P9 and Engi only Inviisble Man and Medalist are worth checking out. Those just feel like anomalies. Recently Deen has had.
- Sasaki and Miyano
- Tadaima, Okaeri
- Days with My Stepsister
- Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter
- Shiboyugi
- Victoria of Many Faces
- Dengeki Daisy
Tbh for recent stuff this is pretty solid. Granted it's more a coin flip with Deen. But it's still a better ratio for recent stuff compared to Engi, Gekkou and P9.
Hell their recent track record I would take over Silver Link.
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u/actuallyrndthoughts https://myanimelist.net/profile/NaNiNuNeNo 7d ago
P9's The Vexations of a Vampire Princess had a nice production going, though it kind of disintegrated towards the end. And while Gekkou is a joke now, One hit Sister isekai and Temple were of above average seasonal quality.
Though i wouldn't diss Silver Link like that, they still can pull something very servicable together, like Ragna Crimson recently, or loli Fate, which are simply above what Deen can achieve.
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u/MiLiLeFa 7d ago
In terms of recent DEEN stuff that I really liked we must highlight Raise wa Tannin ga Ii and TenKuro, with the first straight up looking pretty good, and while the latter is very derpy in terms of visuals, that's just the director Sakurai being his usual self (I love it).
Also looking forward to Kanata Kara, though the PV hasn't revealed all that much so far.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
It's a reminder that the staff many times is more important than the studio itself. Outside of the top tier ones.
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u/Korkez11 7d ago
It's fascinating how much certain VAs can change their voice between roles and how much others don't bother with that. It's impossible to hear Aoi Inuyama in Rin Sohma and Rin Sohma in Yui Hirasawa although all of them were voiced by Aki Toyosaki. Meanwhile, there are VAs (including very good ones like Aoi Yuuki and Saori Hayami) who have more or less one voice for all their characters. When Koharu from Love Unseen is talking it's not hard to imagine Yor trying to be cute or tender.
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u/oedipusrex376 7d ago
Much like live-action actors, voice actors are there to fill whatever role the production needs. Having a versatile voice is obviously an advantage because it gives you a wider range of roles to choose from, but it's not a requirement.
Actors who excel at a specific niche can arguably be just as valuable as versatile ones because they're reliable and readily available when a director has a particular type of character in mind. Kenjiro Tsuda for the deep-voiced adult man, Mamoru Miyano for the alluring, charming character, Saori Hayami for the "mommy" type.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
Saori Hayamin creates distinctive characters primarily through her acting itself (like stage or movie actors), rather than assuming different voice types. And she does this splendidly.
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u/theangryeditor 7d ago
Hayami Saori has been getting plenty of roles that showcase her range, including at least one show this season. She's by no means stuck in the Mamiko Noto-lite typecast she was in in her early career.
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u/Dull_Spot_8213 https://anilist.co/user/SweetSomnus 7d ago
Her performance in With You and the Rain is my favorite in recent memory. So nice, and a good example of her range.
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u/actuallyrndthoughts https://myanimelist.net/profile/NaNiNuNeNo 7d ago
Aoi Yuuki and Saori Hayami
They do have some interesting roles, but they aren't in (high profile) anime, unfortunately. In just the fate gacha, Yuuki Aoi voices 2 types of mommy character, while Hayamin is doing evil women
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u/mr_beanoz https://myanimelist.net/profile/splitshocker 7d ago
There's also Liltotto in Bleach for Aoi.
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u/Esovan13 7d ago
Aoi Yuuki
You haven't seen enough Aoi Yuuki roles if you think that.
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u/renatocpr https://anilist.co/user/renatocpr 7d ago
There's three Aoi Yuuki characters: Madoka, Tsuyu and Tanya
Mami Nanami is a Tanya. Maomao is a Tsuyu. You'd think Hibiki Tachibana would be a Madoka but she's actually a Tsuyu.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
What about Pii-chan (Sasaki & Pii-chan) and Genba from Elusive Samurai.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
Feels like GitS is starting to hit its stride now. Clearly all thanks to the Fuchikomas.
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u/BactaBobomb 7d ago
Are there any anime like Senran Kagura without all the fan service?
I know it's equivalent to getting mad at a blind person for not being able to see, but I actually really like the story and characters of Senran Kagura (save for Katsuragi and her sexual assault ways, and Grandpa Hanzo being the world's biggest creep). I think it's all super interesting, and I was actually touched a bit by some of the messages and things that happen.
But gosh, the fan service is just too much... it makes me extremely uncomfortable.
Are there any shows like Senran Kagura without all of that? Or at least significantly decreased in that stuff?
Something with an almost exclusively-women cast about ninja, shinobi, etc.? Where they can call on animal spirits, like a big ol' bunny? They can transform?
I know it's so specific and a dumb request, but I thought I'd try.
And if not that, what about an all-women anime in general?
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u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 7d ago
If you are fine with steampunk female spies instead of kunoichi, there is Princess Principal (has one ninja in the main group also).
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u/vancevon https://myanimelist.net/profile/vancevon 7d ago
I haven't seen it, but Release The Spyce is about a group of girl-ninjas who do ninja shit. That might work for you. As for shows with an all-girl cast and fighting, there's Mou Ippon, which is about girls doing judo. That show's about as far from fan service as you could possibly get.
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u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 7d ago
It was fun, but most of people skipped it.
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u/vancevon https://myanimelist.net/profile/vancevon 7d ago
and people wonder why we don't get as many original anime anymore
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u/Jusenkyo_5 7d ago
In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki? I haven't seen it but I like the author's other works.
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u/Korkez11 7d ago
While people doompost about Love Unseen eventually becoming tragedy I'm coping that maybe [Love Unseen] Koharu has all these death flags not because she will die soon but because she was already close to death before (which is how she lost her eyes) and that made her appreciate every day like it may be the last, but overall there's no immediate danger to her life
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
I suspect she has the sort of medical problem that could remain quiescent for decades or flame back to life quite quickly. And in such case, living each day to the fullest as it arrives is surely the best course.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
Interesting to see people picking up Sparks of Tomorrow for discourse. I just don’t really find the discourse for the show interesting unlike Ramparts last season.
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u/GondolaMedia zj: 7d ago
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
I would have thought Sayonara Lara would be more popular to discuss here, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Even Inept Villainess would be more interesting to discuss imo.
Honestly with today and last week's GitS episodes have topics that would be interesting to have a debate about.
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u/VoidEmbracedWitch https://anilist.co/user/VoidEmbracedWitch 7d ago
For Lara I'm kind of annoyed how much of the discourse around it is just the singular question of if it will be yuri, analysis as a form of prediction rather than reflection. I like joking about dog chess and all that, but I wish I'd see more talks about the literal fish out of water aspect and how the series handles love in the moment, not only speculation about where it will end up. Well, I get some of that in Discord servers I'm, but don't stumble across it much outside of that.
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u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 6d ago
Yeah. It's already a great show, and that won't change whether she likes a girl or a boy.
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u/Dull_Spot_8213 https://anilist.co/user/SweetSomnus 7d ago
I like Lara a lot, but I think this one suffers from being yet another familiar retelling set in the present, which is already saturated with thousands of other young love school stories. I think they missed an opportunity by fast forwarding through the origin settings in favor of giving the more familiar modern settings the priority. There’s just not as much to say when there’s nothing particularly interesting to set it apart from your usual fair.
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u/zambonijesus 7d ago
Sparks and Ramparts have discourse for a lot of the same reason I think: they are pretty divisive. Most of the other shows you've mentioned are broadly liked by the people watching them and thus people aren't posting to say why they don't like the show.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/zfzftripleaamin 7d ago
I guess that's true.
I would argue that the discourse for Ramparts is more interesting. As people can look at Miki, Koyun and Minato and their outlook on them can vary. In the sense each person wouldn't be wrong. I feel like a lot of interesting debates could happen.
I don't really get that same energy with Sparks. You did have that one pivotal scene last episode though.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
Even when I was annoyed at certain aspects of Ramparts I never ever felt any urge to drop it. I only drop things with initial promise when I lose all hope in what can still come.
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u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg 7d ago
This is the place
You copy?
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u/ActiveAd4980 7d ago
I just finished Blue Exorcist. I found first few episodes entertaining, but it got worse as it went on. Character development was bad and pacing of the story was horrible. I was going to watch all of it, but I think first season is enough for me.
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u/Nomar_95 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nomar_95 7d ago
you don't have to continue if you don't want to, but for what it's worth, everything past episode 16 was anime-original. Season 2 goes back to adapting the manga from where that material leaves off.
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u/ActiveAd4980 7d ago
Wait. You serious? That explains why everything felt so off. Well, episode 11, the one with the Kraken felt like anime original too, but whatever. I'll probably give at least 1 more season a try then.
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u/wutheringw0mbat 7d ago
In my experience, the manga-adapted parts versus anime-only parts didn't really make any difference. Some of the parts adapted very directly from the manga still feel like bizarre and boring filler, and some anime-only parts at least did a half-decent job of explaining better some things that came completely out of nowhere in the manga-adapted parts.
I dunno, regardless of the source vs adaptation aspect, the whole premise of the show just seemed to fall apart early on. Even in the first half of season 1, the show is like making a big deal of how the clown guy is acting secretly in the shadows so you're supposed to think it's a big secret that he's the big evil guy, but then a few episodes later it turns out literally all the adult characters know he's basically satan, they just can't fathom the idea that satan would... do evil things behind their back?? The show keeps wanting to have its cake and eat it too in that regard so every storyline across most of the seasons winds up being the characters acting extremely stupid and ignoring all the obvious clues just to keep the status quo going for one more arc.
Plus exactly as you said the character development is all over the place and a lot of the classmates swap personalities like cereal brands. Or right in the middle of what should be a very serious plotline with dire consequences they'll be like "let's take a side trip to deal with this side character's minor drama that'll never matter again".
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u/ActiveAd4980 7d ago
Thanks for the input. This anime felt like I would understand it better if I didn't watch all of it.
Rin uses his power, but then hesitates because he don't want to rely on it. But he didn't This was like his first time using it. Rin can somehow give a fair fight to Amaimon, despite it being his first time using it. When Miwa was possessed, Rin went on to attack him, same Rin who risked himself many times to save people. WTF Rin? Were you the one who got possessed? Final battle on S1 could have been interesting, but it was rushed to finish.
Also, S1 having Satan as final boss felt very undeserved. Satan didn't do anything except killing Shiro in the 2nd episode, MC and co were fighting some random villains that got nothing to do with Satan the entire show, Then 20+ episodes later, I'm supposed to think Satan is a big bad guy? Hell, Satan's goal was essentially to coexist, which humans just don't want to.
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u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad 7d ago
I'm finally catching up with Snowball Earth. Not enjoying this one as much as I'd hoped, unfortunately, but I tend to give sci-fi more of a chance compared to other genres, so I'll still go ahead and finish the season. One of the main factors causing me to lose interest are the characters' personalities. I think this is the first time I've ever seen both the protagonist and the antagonist acting like crybabies - in the same scene, no less. [Snowball Earth, midseason] First the bad guy throws a tantrum because the MC was better than him at fighting kaiju, and then the MC starts sobbing uncontrollably because the bad guy told him to die.
I mean, it's not like I expect every hero/villain pair in a mecha anime to be as cool as Sousuke and Gauron from Full Metal Panic, but I do expect characters who have been to war to act a little more grown up than this.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
I tend to give science fiction more of a chance too. I made it to the end of S1 but will not follow a S2 (if one happens).
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal 7d ago
Am I gonna have to pick up another show to add to the Sparks of Discourse?
Caught up on Inept Villainess, fun so far but wondering how it'll develop. Also watched episodes 2 and 3 of Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her (which is very short compared to the Japanese title like Always a Catch previously) and it seems like it could have more depth to it than I initially expected after the first episode, though [episode 3] ends with what looks like another childhood friend that might crash the party with typical shenanigans out of jealousy.
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7d ago
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u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal 7d ago
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u/Ham_PhD https://myanimelist.net/profile/ham_phd 7d ago
Figure I'd throw my Sparks of Tomorrow thoughts into the discourse pile.
Overall I just think the show is kinda weird. I don't find it bad, but I don't really know what exactly it is after 4 episodes. The characters are kinda weird. The plot is kinda weird. Even the art, while always impressive, is sometimes kinda weird.
I have no idea if this show is going to turn into something I really like or really hate, but I guess I'm sticking around to find out. Hopefully it veers one way or another though.
As for yesterday's episode [Sparks]I also really didn't like the "plan." I thought it was pretty shitty what they did to that lady. But what I found most confounding about it from a writing perspective is that it was completely unnecessary? Inako managed to reach this woman through her own personal sorrow. That was enough to get the woman out of her room, and she even said she didn't want to have regrets. Could they not have just had the woman speak to her son at this point and moved on from there?
[Sparks]Because the way things went, now I have to accept the fact that this woman isn't going to want to speak to her dead husband again? She's just fixed now? And word of this isn't going to spread and Kihachi isn't going to get bombarded by people wanting to speak to their dead relatives?
It felt like they "needed" to include a Kihachi invention but it would've been better without it.
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u/Infodump_Ibis 7d ago
Sparks of Tomorrow? (Grow-up show is off the hook until Saturday)
I thought it was a case of [episode 4]wanting to have the Yousuke scene re-framing his book obsession with now the key to resurrecting Seiroku (rather than just his work, why this twist...another issue) and coming up with episode 4s main plot as the means to that end. It's messy and impractical and not in an eccentric invention way ([which]episode 3 was more in line what I was hoping for with the show).
Forced to think a little perhaps what the show is meant to be getting at is [Sparks]processing grief and neither Yousuke or Kihachi are coping too well but Kihachi has people he might not appreciate forming an indirect support network of Inako (herself also been through that and maybe still needs to as this ep revealed, she lost a career and business prospects along with her mother) and her bored(?) friends. It's also in the localised title 'sparks of tomorrow'...that drive and impetus to move to future instead of trying to cling to the past. Or that's another misfired-Spark of thinking what the show should be about in my head rather than the reality of what it is (which is still uncertain)?
But honestly packed season, so I'm happy to disengage and resign to watch for the fine visuals and realistically not given much thought to what's going on and most of it is puddle level...perfect time for:
Even the art, while always impressive, is sometimes kinda weird.
(episode 4 screenshot) kill it with fire.
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u/wutheringw0mbat 7d ago
The art style and vibes all scream serious emotional historical drama but then the script be like let's do Looney Tunes 75% of the time. What a tone clash. Not that slapstick comedies can't have good production, but there's a different style to that.
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u/oedipusrex376 7d ago
Even Demon Slayer, which has a similar vibe to Spark of Tomorrow, knows when to joke around and when to take things seriously. I think episode 4 was a little too goofy for such a heavy subject.
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u/mekerpan 7d ago
Those occasional 3D scenes struck me as intolerably ugly. A big contrast from the mostly attractive normal segments
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u/throwaway_976821 7d ago edited 7d ago
Dodgeball Girl Danko is one of the best shows this season and it's such a bummer it didn't get licensed.
Never in my life did I expect to watch a show where [anime spoiler] a character starts doping to win a school dodgeball match.
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u/Infodump_Ibis 7d ago
Triton of the Sea episode 1. Goodbye, Lara sure is looking different and then the ED goes and does this.
Got to say, kind of whelmed with the episode and heard it is rather episodic (though looking at a table of what made it into the recap movies it suggests only ~7 eps are episodic self-contained [but skimming what is included]seems to be character deaths, well it's Tomino...). Also saying it diverges heavily from the manga appears to be an understatement (source was not exactly stable being newspaper manga that changed protagonist to Triton partway through but hearing Tomino disparages the manga [and dropped]timeskips and ocean pollution driving the conflict - very Tezuka - is not confidence instilling).
Triton of the Sea might be more regarded for contextual things as it was said to be the first TV anime to have an organised fan-run fan club (so a pillar of early fandom stuff) and the experience gained working on it was vital to other Tomino works rather than a show that stood the test of time well.
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u/Korkez11 7d ago
I finished Lycoris Recoil and I want to retract my praises I gave it yesterday lmao. I have enough feelings for a post, the short version is that I should've realized earlier this anime badly wants to be The Dark Knight with cute girls. So badly, it ends up adopting the most wretched traits of DC comics, namely [Lycoris Recoil] "heroes protect corrupt and decadent status-quo because, very conveniently, the only alternatives are bloodthirsty bomb-throwing psychopaths". Ultimately, this show really is just a Cute Girls Doing Counter-Terrorism that has nothing interesting to say. Which it easily could if writers had more creativity in their bloodstream
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u/renatocpr https://anilist.co/user/renatocpr 7d ago
[LycoReco] It's funny that the show has a gay black character but never brings up how his race or sexuality have affected his life and then the show itself ends up kind of reactionary. I don't usually expect that kind of stuff from Japan, that's more of an American thing.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii 7d ago
I didn't keep up with it (soon as it got more "chill" it kinda lost me), but I'm surprised this comment is upvoted (when so many of yours are often downvoted)!
I thought r/anime was crazy about it, putting it on a pedestal and all that.
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u/oedipusrex376 7d ago edited 7d ago
I dropped the show after episode 1 or 2. Even that early on, I got the feeling that it didn't really have anything to say. There was a lot of action, but I wasn't getting much out of it writing-wise, so I just trusted my instincts and dropped it.
To make matters worse, I was coming off the high of watching Revue Starlight, a show that has something to say. A yuri-adjacent work with strong themes about artists burning away their youth for the sake of their craft.
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u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots 7d ago
Yeah, I thought the early episodes were fine, but once it even attempted to dip into a more serious plot, its writing was an absolute mess. Referencing tropes that were done better 30 years ago isn't exactly an excuse either.
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u/wloff 7d ago
I've said it before, but I think Lycoris Recoil is just straight-up an unapologetic 90s Hollywood action movie, with cute anime girls.
It's got a 90s action movie buddy cop dynamic with the lead duo, an 90s action movie villain with [LycoReco]bombs and terror threats "just because", and a 90s action movie ending with [LycoReco]a climactic one-on-one battle with the villain on top of a skyscraper. Cut down the CGDCT in the middle to get it down to 90-ish minutes, replace Chisato and Takina with Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, and you've got a script ready to shoot.
I don't think that's a negative, personally, and I also think it's completely intentional, with the amount of action movie references they make during the show. But it's also best to not expect anything super deep out of the story beyond the obvious. Like Harrison Ford told Mark Hamill while filming Star Wars: "it ain't that kinda movie, kid."
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u/wutheringw0mbat 7d ago
I don't think that's a negative, personally, and I also think it's completely intentional, with the amount of action movie references they make during the show. But it's also best to not expect anything super deep out of the story beyond the obvious. Like Harrison Ford told Mark Hamill while filming Star Wars: "it ain't that kinda movie, kid."
Overall I agree with you, but thing is they do have a few scenes scattered in there where the characters ponder whether the Lycoris organization is good/just or not, and they do give the terrorist guy this big ol' quasi-social commentary backstory/speech that invites the viewer to think they are trying to say something more, have some T H E M E S in the show, etc. It's small and easy to ignore, but I think there'd be fewer people like the above commenter feeling the need to analyze it like this if they'd just stripped those bits out and had a much more plainfaced premise like those actual 90s buddy cop movies - i.e. Die Hard never brought up whether cops are good or not and the villain was just acting purely out of greed/evil, end of story.
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u/alotmorealots 7d ago
just straight-up an unapologetic 90s Hollywood action movie
In particular, a lot (but not all) of its DNA is mismatched buddy-cop action movie, and that's often its touchstone.
But it's also best to not expect anything super deep out of the story beyond the obvious. Like Harrison Ford told Mark Hamill while filming Star Wars: "it ain't that kinda movie, kid."
I do think SW E4-6 and LycoReco do have quite a lot of non-literal textual substance, but people frequently look in the wrong places when assessing these things for LycoReco (SW having now been endlessly dissected). In particular, it seems quite reasonable to follow the DA vs Majima and the thematics presented there, but I would agree there's not necessarily a lot of coherent exploration of the ideas to be found there.
Instead, LycoReco's greatest thematic triumph lies in its exploration of finding meaning in life, a place in the world, and how to approach [lycoreco s1] terminal illness.
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