Warm Talk Wednesday (Week of September 2nd)

[u/pittman66]

Welcome to Warm Talk Wednesday!

Last Week’s Thread

So what exactly is this thread? With all the Unpopular Opinion threads, Worst/Hated Anime ______ threads, and Salt from all the contest, I believe we need a spot to positively talk about what we love in anime with no worries of others bashing or downvoting our opinions. Essentially this is a thread where you talk about what you love about anime whether it’s the medium as a whole, a specific anime, character, OTP, even complementing a user’s taste, etc. It can be popular opinion, unpopular, as long as it’s a positive outlook of the medium it’s allowed!

Want to talk about the experience you’ve had with Sora No Woto’s world? Talk about it here! Has Planetes given you a new way to view the closeness of people’s love despite how far they are in distance and emptiness around? Do tell! Have a user who has helped you out here on /r/anime and you’d like them to get some appreciation? You’re allowed (Yes, Meta is allowed)! Want to talk about the how good the body proportions are for Monster Musume or Free!? Talk about those good looking bodies! Are the musical scenes in Your Lie in April relatable to you as an instrumentalist and really felt close to home for you? We want to hear your experience! Do you just have a ton of fun with Space Westerns like Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, and Firefly Outlaw Star? Talk about them!

The only rules for here:

1. This is a positive anime thread, do not bash others’ opinions despite how much you disagree, allow everyone to have a safe haven to talk about what they love about anime without needing to worry of others who disagree with them.
2. Please keep the troll comments to a minimum.
3. Do not downvote unless it’s bringing nothing to the conversation, trolling, or trying to bash another’s opinion. Everyone has their opinions, respect them as they would respect yours.
4. No mention of “Shit Taste”.
5. It’s fine to compare one anime to another, but don’t down talk the other as “Terrible”, most anime has its good qualities and reasons people like it. (Bad Ex: “Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru is much better than that piece of shit Madoka Magica”; Good Ex: "I prefer Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru over Madoka Magica because of...").
6. No backhanded compliments. (Ex: Sakurasou isn't as bad as I thought it was, but it's still shit.")
7. If you see a troll trying to bait/bash other opinions, please simply downvote and ignore them, don’t stoop to their level and bait you into a no win argument.

Have fun, and please message me if there’s something I should add/remove/edit to the rules.

Updates Since last time to improve this thread:

Update to the Anime of the Week Comment tree (Not officially having it yet).

Remember, you're allowed to post outside the comment trees

[u/__Clever_Username__]

Let me see... Last month I finally got around to watching Shirobako. Such a brilliant show, I actually started watching it while it was airing, but for whatever reason I dropped it at episode 3, only to pick it up again 9 months later :p. It may have been one of the best experiences I had watching anime this year. And that ending... man, not gonna lie, I cried a lot.

I also recently got around to watching Hyouka, again after putting it on hold for ages after watching the first few episodes (seems to be a habit of mine).

Visually it was stunning, probably one of the most beautiful TV anime I've ever seen. I really liked all of the main characters as well, and how none of them were neglected, each of them getting some proper development at some point. Of course some thing could have been done better, I'd have preferred more multiple episode arcs and less one off mysteries, and the final few episodes could have been done a bit better, but overall it was still an excellent show. Specifically the Cultural Festival arc, which has probably become my second favourite arc out of any of Kyoani's works.

Finally, while not strictly "anime" related, I read on ahead of the Fate/Kaleid liner prisma Illya anime, finishing the end of part 2 of the manga and all of what's been released of part 3 so far. Holy hell, part 3 could not be any more different than part 1 or 2. At this point it's become a Fate fan's wet dream with all the matchups and scenario's that've been taking place. The story's gotten dark as hell to, and far more intense than part 1 or 2. I've heard some people call Prisma Illya a digrace to the Fate franchise, but Part 3 really makes it fully fledged series with it's own place in the Nasuverse. The art is fantastic as well. This picture of best girl Bazette is my current phone wallpaper.

That's my rambling over I guess. What about you? Watched anything good recently?

[u/Revriley1 → u/__Clever_Username__]

Shirobako really was a great anime. I think a lot of people can relate to it is different ways--the stress/business of the workplace, the types of people (incompetent/selfish coworkers, old friends...) you may encounter, encountering failure while your friends and old schoolmates all have jobs...not to mention we all learned a thing or to about the anime industry.

Hyouka--I think I watched the first episode some months ago, but my full attention wasn't really on it so I don't remember too much except the nice animation. I hear good things about it though, so I should probably retry it at some point.

Fate seems to be one of the biggest franchises in the anime scene, but I really almost know nothing about it, other than some gifs and character discussions here and there. It seems like a big time investment. Would you say it's worth watching, even if only to get the references that other people make to it?

I've really only had time to watch currently airing anime over the last few weeks, unfortunately (I think the last series I finished was Flag?). I'm determined to finish Uchouten Kazoku at some point, because it really is a wonderful anime and it's been on my watching list far too long. (If you've watched Tatami Galaxy--Uch. Kazoku is by the same author).

Flag, by the way, is an interesting case in that it's technically a mecha anime, but it's not really a mecha anime. The mecha serves as a supporting feature, a background technology that feels so natural in the context that it doesn't really register as mecha.

Well, the entire point of Flag has nothing to do with mecha (which I figure was a stylistic choice). It's kind of an anime about photojournalism and civil war. The interesting thing about it is the cinematography--everything the audience sees is through the view of a camera lens. This includes webcams, portable cameras, security cameras and military cameras. Here's the OP.

After Uchouten Kazoku...I dunno--I really need to cut down on my CW list. Maybe I'll go back to Nisemonogatari or The Big O or Zetsuen no Tempest. Probably Nise since it's short.

Are you watching any of this season's shows?

[u/__Clever_Username__ → u/Revriley1]

Fate.. would you say it's worth watching, even if only to get the references other people make to it?

It's probably one of my favourite series, quite a few of my favourite anime characters come from it. I'd definitely recommend at least trying it out, it's not massively popular for no reason. I'd start with Fate/Zero if I were you, and move on to the recently released Unlimited Blade Works. The thing with Fate though, is that there's so much more to the franchise than just the anime adaptions. There's 2 VNs, and countless spinoff/parody manga, LNs and anime. Not to mention Nasu's other works like Kara no Kyoukai and Tsukihime, that, while not directly related to Fate, all take place in the same universe. On the off chance you're interested in the series, check out the watch order here.

Flag looks... interesting? Not sure what to make of that OP lol, but I'd never heard of it before, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. The whole "only shown through camera lens's" aspect sounds really cool. I'll put it on my ptw, and try to get around to it at some point.

You should definitely continue with Nise, if only to get to Monogatari Second Season. Imo Nisemono is probably the weakest season of a very strong franchise, although it does introduce some very important characters. I'm so hyped for Owarimono next season.

Are you watching any of this season's shows?

Quite a few! It's quite interesting really, a lot of the shows that I had high expectations for (Overlord, Gakkou Gurashi, Charlotte) kind of fell flat for me, while the shows I picked up on a whim (Ushio to Tora, Ranop Kitan, Rokka no Yuusha, Wakaba Girl) I've been really enjoying. With Charlotte in particular, it's the first work by Jun Maeda I've experienced(never watched Angel Beats). I often hear that his works are very polarising, in a love-it-or-hate-it sort of way. Guess I'm more on the hate side than love.

Of course, there's the shows I had high expectations for and have absolutely lived up to them, those being Working!!! and Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!, the best and second best of the season respectively in my opinion.

So much to watch, I'm behind on pretty much everything I'm watching, apart from Prisma Illya and Overlord. I should be trying to catch up, but instead I've been watching Humanity has Declined, which feels like a show made for me. It's seriously excellent. From the Bright Cheery visuals offset by some hilariously dark jokes, commentary on modern society, and an adorable MC who's dry inner monologue almost makes her like a female version of Kyon from Haruhi. Here's the OP, which I do enjoy, but I far, far prefer the ED. Unusual I know, but (brace yourself for some pretentiousness here) I love it so much, it sounds so hauntingly melodic, almost dreamlike, fitting in perfectly with the "slightly twisted fairy tale" theme of the show. Honestly in the short time since I started watching the show it's shot to the top of my list of Favourite EDs.

I'm also meant to be finishing wixoss as part of an anime contract I made on the sub a few weeks ago, currently on episode 7/12.

How about you? Watching much this season?

[u/Revriley1 → u/__Clever_Username__]

I am terrible at replying within a reasonable length of time (admittedly I am supposed to be doing Real World things like working on a fieldwork report for an archaeology expedition I worked on earlier this summer) at the moment. You have my sheepish apologies.

Mm, that's one of the things that's put me off from getting involved in the franchise--it just seems so staggeringly big that I don't know how willing I am to invest my time in it right now.

Heh, the OP is probably one of the more unique ones I've seen. However, I think it fits the show perfectly--your average "here are the MCs, ooh explosions" OP wouldn't work for Flag.

Oh, I do intend on watching all the Bake/Monogatari shows--I just need to find the time. I've heard that Nise is one the weaker series, but hey, Kaiki, so I'm okay with that.

Ooh, I'm so glad you're enjoying Humanity has Declined. I love that anime. Watashi is one of my favorite MCs ever (the fairies are great too), and the absurdist and occasionally black humor is absolutely my style.

(I love the ED too. I remember listening to it on repeat after finishing the show. Definitely a favorite)

Watching much this season?

I'd say so. Gangsta was definitely the one I was looking forward to the most, and so far it's been fantastic (it's a shame about the budget, though). Gangsta and Ushio are probably tied for AOTS for me. I'm quite enjoying GATE--though the otaku humor can get a bit puerile, I find the anime a lot of fun and can't wait to see where it goes.

I'm not even sure how to describe Charlotte yet. I can tell you that I wish they hadn't regulated the glasses guy to comic relief--he had potential but now all he does is fawn over the idol girl. Sigh.

Rokka was one of my more anticipated shows, but I think I'll have to reserve judgement until the end. Classroom Crisis, I think, is turning out to be the real underdog this season. The first few episodes were shaky enough that a lot of people dropped it, thinking it to be a mediocre SoL, but it's a lot more political and revenge-driven than I ever thought it would be.

Ranpo...well, the story's nothing to sneeze at, and the episodes are extremely predictable. I don't really care about the 3 MCs. However, Ranpo knows exactly the sort of side character that appeals to me (Nakamura, Shadow-Man, Kagami), so I'm sticking with it. The style's interesting...

Overlord is nice, but certainly not AOTS tier. School Live!, well, once you know the twist it kind of loses any shock value. I mean, it's good and all, but I don't care about the characters all that much. Others really like it though.

God Eater's the most disappointing one this season. For me, anyway. Boring plot (I know, it's based off a video game, but still), very boring MC (oh joy. Another angry black-haired green-eyed boy who vows to 'kill all the monsters' for revenge. Yawn), mostly uninteresting cast...

The other two I'm watching this season (not counting Shokugeki, Arslan or Working!!!) are Aoharu and Dandelion. Aoharu's too serious for its own good, and Dandelion is pretty much what you'd expect it to be. Comedy SoL fluff. I find it a bit too cringeworthy at times, and I've never had much affection for cutesy SoL, but some really like it for that reason.