Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [Week 16]
Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [Week 16]
Hi everybody! I hope that you have been able to sort out your winners and losers for the season so far. As we head into the next week, many shows are going to be on episode 3 at this point. This means many of them might not get a discussion post if people haven't commented on the episode 2 thread.
Please use this thread as a dumping ground for all your anime questions, thoughts, recommendations, etc.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
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I mentioned last week that I am in charge of putting forth proposals for a little makeshift anime club with a couple friends, and now that everything's out, my anime tasting menu is finalized (from which we'll likely pick 2 or 3):
- Astro Note - captures a retro aesthetic without needing to be tied to the baggage of the past, and manages to be sincere without taking itself too seriously
- Bartender - none of us are big drinkers, but the healing genre is strong with this one and we all love a comfy time
- Spice & Wolf - I've been a bit underwhelmed so far, but it's interesting enough and if my friends latch onto it I'll have an easy time actually finishing it, which I would like to do either way.
- Tonari no Yokai - this one is delivering big time on both its slice of life elements and its dark mystery plotline
- Whisper Me a Love Song - very cute romance, plus it's gay
- Wind Breaker - excellent action and very fun characters. Definitely my favorite of the season thus far, but it might just be that it's delivering on a lot of my personal favorite tropes (specifically: kind-hearted delinquents, lovable weirdos, friendship via punching, and non-romantic tsunderes)
notable other anime:
- Dungeon Meshi - my friends and I are carrying this over from last season and I'm so excited for more every week
- Kaiju No 8 - I passed along this recommendation which I am not going to be able to follow myself due to a sensitivity to gore and body horror
Stuff that didn't make the cut but I'm still following (for now):
- Appraisal Skill - hasn't hooked me yet, but I'm curious
- Banished Former Hero - what can I say, I love a good powerpoint
- Train to the End of the World - has some good ideas, but I'm not sure how well it can execute them
- Unnamed Memory - it's a bit hard to tell where this is going
- Vampire Dormitory - look, everybody has their own anime slop they can't help but slurp up, and this is mine
- Yatagarasu - episodes 1 and 2 were so different in content and quality I'm not really sure what to expect yet
I think Train To The End Of World has been great so far with its Galaxy Express/Petit Prince story structure.
Episode 3 was great, but episodes 1 and 2 i found to be largely very slow and bogged down by dialogue. If it does more short story type episodes with the different stations I'll be happy to see more, but I'm just not sure which parts we've seen are indicative of the overall quality, if that makes sense.
This type of show is like an anthology.
Even though we have the same characters every episode, they're thrown into new settings that are thinly disguised parables for something about the human condition that the writer is trying to say.
Galaxy Express 999 and Le Petit Prince both lean into pathos, with GE999 laying it on especially thick with its soundtrack.
The 3rd episode is also pathos, but it's much more subtle.
The mushroom people are just falling over and dying, but they just accept their fate, and in denial proudly saying that they're living life to its fullest, although there's little evidence of that.
The only thing I can see is they just continue living on, knowing they're doomed, not even pausing to pick the dead off the street.
So you what does that correspond to in real life? Nothing too obvious. Maybe a type of person that the writer doesn't like?
edit: Or maybe some Japanese social criticism that I'm not aware of?