A year and a half ago, I started watching anime again. I somehow found myself buying a subscription to Crunchyroll and most of my online viewing is anime simulcasts (after burning through several older series). Previous anime threads in SDMB have usually been about a specific anime or a request for recommendations. However, my viewing habits are now more aligned with specific seasons where I’ll typically watch 5 or more shows.
The winter 2015 season is winding down and the spring season is almost here. I’ll start another thread in a few weeks for the spring shows once the shows have started up in earnest. I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on the winter season.
Excellent series:
[ul]
[li]Parasyte - the maxim - A horror show that is not about scaring the audience (Boo) but crafting emotional responses as the characters find themselves in often hopeless situations. The basic premise is that organisms called Parasytes have invaded Earth and are taking over the heads of humans and then need to eat other humans for sustenance. One parasyte failed in its conquest and has instead taken over the arm of the protagonist Shinichi. They create a type of symbiotic bond to survive. Warning - lots of death and gore. [/li][li]**Your lie in April **- A piano genius can’t play the piano anymore after the death of his mother until he meets a girl that inspires him. After the 1st couple of episodes, I thought this was going to be a manic pixie dream girl plot. I was so wrong. Heartwrenching with beautiful music and gorgeous scenery.[/li][li]Death Parade - After death, people are usually sent to heaven or hell but for borderline cases, they visit a bar and play a game against another person. The show really digs into how we judge other people and what does it mean to praise or condemn people based on a few artificially made situations.[/li][/ul]
Great series:
[ul]
[li]Shirobako - An anime about making anime. Funny, sweet, exciting, frustrating, and very informative. A must watch.[/li][li]Assassination Classroom - A monster threatens to destroy the Earth in a year (he’s already destroyed most of the moon) and wants to teach a class of Japanese middle schooler’s that are the outcasts at their school. The students are allowed to try to kill the teacher (save the world and earn 1,000,000,000 yen!) while still growing and learning from him. Very funny![/li][/ul]
Good series:
[ul]
[li]Saekano - How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend - Fanservice beware!!! If you can get past the annoying fanservice, it is a very funny deconstruction of the harem genre.[/li][li]Log Horizon - Gamers of an MMORPG are magically?? transported into the game world (not a VR sim like Sword Art Online or .Hack). This show has serious pacing problems but I enjoy the examination of the relationship of self-aware adventurers and the People of the Land (NPCs). It really brings economic, cultural, and social issues to the front instead of a straight “kill the boss to return to our homeworld”. It has more in common with Maoyu and Spice and Wolf than SAO.[/li][/ul]
I loved “Parasyte” and I’m just starting “Your Lie in April”. My problem is I have such a backlog of stuff from previous seasons to watch that I fear I’ll never catch up. I’m really looking forward to the new Haruhi Suzumiya starting soon.
A friend showed me a couple episodes of Death Parade - I didn’t know it was available on Crunchyroll, I watched the first two on Funimation’s site. Kinda neat.
It’s not available on Crunchyroll I’ve been watching on Funimation on delay, but I’m not a big fan of Hulu’s video player. If I have a choice, I’ll watch on Crunchyroll.
Thanks! Steins;Gate on my list of older shows to watch. I’m slowly getting it smaller. I recently finished Psycho-Pass season 1, Death Note, and Madoka Magica.
Have you been watching anything from this past season?
Testament of Sister New Devil is a super-secret guilty pleasure of mine. In general, I don’t like fanservice but the show hit a sweet spot of “so bad - it’s good!” I ended up watching it just to see what sort of over the top plot (PLOT!) contrivances for sexy time they could come up with. Taken at face value, I didn’t like the show (paper thin characters, corny dialogue, so-so animation, standard adventure story). Taken as farce, brilliant. Oh, and Maria is hilarious.
For Measure for Measure, there is not one best way because the titles are often divided between different websites. The general consensus seems to be Crunchyroll plus Hulu or Funimation (they tend to have the same shows). Hulu has a slightly bigger catalog of anime, but Funimation carries more dubs. I’m still checking out LoveMyAnime since I wasn’t aware of that one either.
I am probably behind the 8-ball on this one, but I am about 6 episodes from finishing Sword Art Online. I love this show!
The first half of the first season was really really good, second half a little less so. First half of the second season was better than I thought it would be, and I’m about to bust out the second half of the second season.
My daughter is now 14, and she’s really into anime/manga. We’ve blown through the usual stuff (Naruto, Black Butler), and she’s read some manga (Ouran High School and Full Metal Alchemist). She’s looking for more stuff to get into, but I’ve run out of recommendations myself, and I’m concerned about stuff that may not be appropriate (I’m more concerned about realistic violence, sex stuff, and serial killing than cartoony violence).
I’m all for extolling the value of Sword Art Online now, so while I’m not going to be original, this was a series I love.
Since the premise of the show is that they’re in a video game, the violence is some blood coming out of a stab wound, but when people die they just kinda explode in digital pixels or whatever…more cartoony than realistic. A couple times late in the season and in later seasons there’s a bit of a rape vibe between the baddie of that season and one of the protagonists, but there is ZERO nudity and it’s not that particularly graphic…a hand up the shirt and once a character pins a girl down, but that’s it. No actual sex happens.
I’ve been watching on Funimation on delay, but I’m not a big fan of Hulu’s video player. If I have a choice, I’ll watch on Crunchyroll.