[TV] The What Anime Are You Watching Thread!

GasBandit

Staff member
This video doesn't tell anybody already watching Goblin Slayer anything they don't already know, but if there's anybody out there wondering what the deal is with Goblin Slayer, this is a decent summary of the premise, and why he only cares about killing Goblins, even in the face of other world-jeopardizing threats.

 

GasBandit

Staff member
Rising of the Shield Hero premieres Jan 9. Apparently it will also be a same-day simuldub.

I've been reading this manga for a while now, too. It's an interesting read, though it irks me that the author obviously knows nothing about the martial history of the shield and treats it as something that can only be used for defense (you can bash the fuck out of some faces with a shield, some people forget that). What makes it noteworthy though is how all the other heroes are jerks, frame the Shield Hero unjustly for a crime he doesn't commit, leading him to break bad and go antihero on their asses.

 

GasBandit

Staff member
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai



Genre: Romance, High school, Supernatural?

Fanservice: Some, not particularly egregious

Premise: Sakuta Azusagawa meets several girls during his second year of high school all suffering from bizarre paranormal afflictions, and helps them overcome them.

Ok, remember what I said about "This is Bakemonogatari?" It still kinda is, but it becomes less so by the end. There's more action in the monogatari series, but this one takes a hard left turn into "y u do dis" feels territory. Overall it left me a little dissatisfied, but it's not terrible, and while it doesn't ever quite get as awesome as monogatari at its best, it also never plumbs the depths of awfulness that is monogatari at its worst. I give it a 6/10. Not great, not bad, maybe slightly better than your average fare. Lots of good meme-fodder, though.

But spoilers...

It was NOT fair to kick my heart in the nuts by having his sister basically suffer a death of personality, even if it brought her original personality back, it still felt like an innocent had to die.
 
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GasBandit

Staff member
Tonight was the finale for:

Goblin Slayer



Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Fanservice: Quite a bit, both the good kind and the problematic kind

Premise: While the big heroes are out defeating the Demon Lord, who's there to look out for the little guy? The farmers or townsmen whose lives are destroyed by the paltry goblins that no serious adventurer deigns to stoop to confront? Especially since the victims often can't afford the rewards needed to post a quest that would entire an adventurer? I'll tell you who - the Goblin Slayer. He doesn't care about pay. He doesn't care about glory. He doesn't care in the slightest about what other people think about him. He doesn't care about politics, or demon lords, or the end of the world. All he cares about is killing goblins, and he'll take any job if it involves killing goblins - and if it doesn't, he's not interested.

So, in case you've been under a rock, this was one of the Big Damn Anime Shows of 2018, and it didn't disappoint. It's a good show. However, it's not for the little kids. Like Grimgar, or Berserk, or a number of other disturbing anime that have come out, this one mixes in a lot of blood, violence, gore, torture, death, and rape. Actually, it softens that last bit up quite a bit from the Manga, but it's still unquestionably there. It's blatantly stated that that's how goblins perpetuate their species - they kidnap women for breeding purposes, then kill them when they're not "useful" any more.

In fact, goblins are shown to be often vastly underestimated. They're not individually strong, but in groups they are cunning and ruthless. Unprepared novice adventurers often find themselves swarmed or outsmarted, and shortly thereafter, dead (or worse). This was the fate of the Priestess's (shown above) first adventuring group - too many rookie mistakes, and they were wiped out, with her soon to follow - when she was suddenly saved by Goblin Slayer.

He's not the toughest, or the strongest, but his experience and intelligence means that he always tackles every goblin problem the best way possible - the way that is surest to leave him alive and all the goblins dead. He'll use any tool, no trick is too underhanded or overkill. And he never leaves a goblin alive - not even a newborn one. The only good goblin is a dead goblin.

He starts off as a loner and a one-trick pony, but as events progress, he makes friends, gets an adventuring party, and starts stretching his wings a little, eventually doing more than just fighting goblins. But it always comes back to goblins - he's got a personal score to settle with every goblin in the world.

A side note - it's clear that this is meant to be a depiction of somebody's D&D campaign - none of the characters have names, they are just addressed by their classes or careers. Adventurers take quests from the adventurers guild. There's a very prevalent "dice" motif to all the ancillary artwork, even though dice do not actually feature in any plot point. And most tellingly of all, all the spellcasters don't have "mana" or magic power or anything like that - they get good ol' D&D "spell slots," so a low level priestess or wizard might only get 2 or 3 spells an entire day.

Also, there's a lot of expy characters on the sidelines here. You'll see unmistakable direct homages to Berserk, Dragon's Crown, Fate Stay/Night, MTG, Warhammer, and of course, Tolkien.

There's also a harem angle smoldering below the surface. There are 5 prominent female characters in this series (Cow girl, Priestess, Guild girl, Elf, and Sword Maiden) and they all have varying levels of infatuation with the titular protagonist... but he doesn't care, and never responds to their interest - he's only interested in killing goblins.

It's also being simuldubbed, though the english dubs are 3 or 4 weeks behind, but if you want to watch it in english, you've already got 9 of the 12 episodes available. Definitely one to watch.
 
A side note - it's clear that this is meant to be a depiction of somebody's D&D campaign - none of the characters have names, they are just addressed by their classes or careers. Adventurers take quests from the adventurers guild. There's a very prevalent "dice" motif to all the ancillary artwork, even though dice do not actually feature in any plot point. And most tellingly of all, all the spellcasters don't have "mana" or magic power or anything like that - they get good ol' D&D "spell slots," so a low level priestess or wizard might only get 2 or 3 spells an entire day.
You'd be surprised how popular table top is in Japan, though Call of Cthulhu and Sword World are more popular in Japan than D&D. I wouldn't be surprised if this WAS somebody's table top campaign, as "replay" books (literally scripts of table top sessions, reformatted for reading) have been popular in Japan for decades... hell, Record of Lodoss War was a series of replays transcribed into novels (Ryo Mizuno, the writer, played Deedlit) before being turned into a manga and anime. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

Also, I'm pretty surprised Call of Cthulhu is #1 in Japan. I've been told it's because it's easy to modify to a modern setting and because women like being able to make characters without being typecast like they kind of were for decades in D&D?
 
Not as problematic as the wailing and gnashing of teeth after the first episode suggested. A decent but not spectacular series. Would watch a season 2 (and it looks like one is on the way.) 7/10.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Not as problematic as the wailing and gnashing of teeth after the first episode suggested. A decent but not spectacular series. Would watch a season 2 (and it looks like one is on the way.) 7/10.
They REALLY toned down a lot of stuff. The ravaged elf they rescued on their first group quest? The manga showed her and her party getting overrun and tortured in a flashback. The meat shields in the farm battle were particularly glossed over. They were barely mentioned and kept out of focus or off camera, whereas in the manga they were used for much more shock value.
 
They REALLY toned down a lot of stuff. The ravaged elf they rescued on their first group quest? The manga showed her and her party getting overrun and tortured in a flashback. The meat shields in the farm battle were particularly glossed over. They were barely mentioned and kept out of focus or off camera, whereas in the manga they were used for much more shock value.
And the MAL forum episode thread went apeshit over that. "Not rapey enough. 1/10." :facepalm:
 
I started to read the manga out of curiosity and the rape scenes are surprisingly detailed. And the aftermatch, oh boy. When GS and Priestess find Female Fighter she looks wet and is covered with ...stuff. :(

I will still read it but I'm surprised it only got a 16+ rating (here in germany).
 
Not as problematic as the wailing and gnashing of teeth after the first episode suggested.
I really thought this was going to make Berserk look like a bedtime story with the way some of the people were talking about it. I was braced for violence, really gory violence. I'm glad it wasn't. I've liked the series overall. Will watch S2 when it comes out. Might read the light novel.
 
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai



Genre: Romance, High school, Supernatural?

Fanservice: Some, not particularly egregious

Premise: Sakuta Azusagawa meets several girls during his second year of high school all suffering from bizarre paranormal afflictions, and helps them overcome them.

Ok, remember what I said about "This is Bakemonogatari?" It still kinda is, but it becomes less so by the end. There's more action in the monogatari series, but this one takes a hard left turn into "y u do dis" feels territory. Overall it left me a little dissatisfied, but it's not terrible, and while it doesn't ever quite get as awesome as monogatari at its best, it also never plumbs the depths of awfulness that is monogatari at its worst. I give it a 6/10. Not great, not bad, maybe slightly better than your average fare. Lots of good meme-fodder, though.

But spoilers...

It was NOT fair to kick my heart in the nuts by having his sister basically suffer a death of personality, even if it brought her original personality back, it still felt like an innocent had to die.

Also, I guess there's going to be a movie this summer, so hopefully it gets an english translation.
 
A Place Further than the Universe

The story of a bunch of high school girls who want to go to Antartica. Started watching this with my daughter today. It's cute and pretty inspirational.
 
The Restaurant to Another World

Do you like isekai? Do you like food porn? Watch this 12 episode series that is basically Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, if everyone came to the same restaurant and they were all fantasy stereotypes. Perfectly wholesome.
 
A Place Further than the Universe

The story of a bunch of high school girls who want to go to Antartica. Started watching this with my daughter today. It's cute and pretty inspirational.
PROTIP: You WILL need tissues. Lots of tissues.

PROTIP 2: Shirase bestest best girl.
 
A Place Further than the Universe

The story of a bunch of high school girls who want to go to Antartica. Started watching this with my daughter today. It's cute and pretty inspirational.
Looks like I neglected to post about it on here, but this is the only anime I've watched in the past few months (at the repeated insistence of one of my besties). I really enjoyed it, "cute and inspirational" about covers it.
PROTIP: You WILL need tissues. Lots of tissues.

PROTIP 2: Shirase bestest best girl.
Agreed on the crying, I think it got me 2 or 3 times.

All girls are bestest girls :mad:
 
Finished Seasons 1 & 2 of Netflix's Castlevania. Holy shit, that was fantastic. Carmilla's motivations for her backstabbing made sense and she's played to the hilt by Jaime Murray, whose stock in trade is seductive betrayers - HG Wells in Warehouse 13, Lila in Dexter, Stahma in Defiance, etc. She also delivers the best line in episode S2E6: "What the FUCK just happened?"

Alucard, Trevor, and Sypha had great heroic chemistry and all had their moments to shine in the main battles. When they stormed Castlevania and a version of "Bloody Tears" played as they laid waste to the vampire army inside, I literally stood up and clapped.

The epilogue episode was surprisingly poignant. I was also amused that Sypha was about as subtle as an anvil about her intentions towards Trevor. "Belnades and Belmont. Belnades, and Belmont. Belnades and Belmont. Sounds good together, no?" Trevor merely asks, "Why does your name come first?" and she hands him the reins and says, "Because you're the one driving the horse." Trevor sighs, and says, "Is this what my life is going to be now?" And she immediately goes, "Yes. Forever."

Can't wait until season 3.
 
The worst part is, my husband was an emotional wreck after Bunny Girl, and while we watched some Cells at Work as a palate cleanser, we then jumped right into this, so he's making pouty faces all the time now.

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I have also learned my daughter is a true soulless redhead. She had not sniffled once at this show yet, and my husband and I have teared up at least three times and they only just got to Antartica.
 
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