Yeah. A lot of the blogs out there are fairly negative on it and I just finished a whole 50 episode marathon so I was just wondering if I needed to go out and watch it. 
Summer Anime 2009
- Thread starter firehawk12
- Start date
Hah, yeah, fair enough. 
I've just got through watching all of Spice And Wolf up to the most recent one I think (S&W II Ep4), partly as a result of recommendation in this thread.
BRILLIANT series.
I love it, really. The banter between the characters is charming and really gets better with time - Horo balances worldly courtesan and shy girl beautifully, with some marvellous expressions and Lawrence has grown from the dumbstruck character of the first few eps into being able to hold his own and surprise her occasionally.
Plus, I love economics, so the trading stuff really keeps my attention.
I love that in the current storyline Lawrence seems to be basically be planning short-selling in order to bankrupt Amarti with a late margin call (for now, it seems very similar to the OJ scheme from the last scenes of Trading Places), with an added twist of using Amarti's own money as collateral.
The music is fab and some of the animation is quite lovely too.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Welcome to the club.
I suspect the translation is significantly better this season as I can actually understand the economic stuff this time, so that helps.
Not seen much mention of the music before, but I agree. The opening of the first season had a really beautiful song.
Wow, I just heard about this super mega awesome hyper real (err...) Yoko Kanno concert that was held last month that pretty much sums up her entire freaking career.
One might consider looking here... just saying.http://forums.ffshrine.org/showthread.php?t=67749
One might consider looking here... just saying.
http://forums.ffshrine.org/showthread.php?t=67749
She does definitely do some awesome music. Some of her stuff doesn't work for me but I love the soundtracks for Ghost in the Shell: SAC, Cowboy Bebop, and Escaflowne.
I'm a bigger fan of Yuki Kajiura though. I wish I would have had the time and funding to go to the Boston anime convention last month as she and one of her sponsored groups Kalifina had a concert there. I could have also have seen the 5th Kara no Kyoukai film on a big screen there too. But no I was too busy and live halfway across the country from there.
I'm a bigger fan of Yuki Kajiura though. I wish I would have had the time and funding to go to the Boston anime convention last month as she and one of her sponsored groups Kalifina had a concert there. I could have also have seen the 5th Kara no Kyoukai film on a big screen there too. But no I was too busy and live halfway across the country from there.
You know, I haven't actually seen anything she's done. But yeah, I know the feeling of missing something you'd like to go to but can't.
A couple examples of Kajiura's work:
From .hack//SIGN
From Noir
From My HIME
From Madlax
From Portrait of Petite Cossette
From .hack//SIGN
From Noir
From My HIME
From Madlax
From Portrait of Petite Cossette
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Neat. I'm thinking of watching My Hime at some point, so hopefully I'll be able to experience it in context.
Neat. I'm thinking of watching My Hime at some point, so hopefully I'll be able to experience it in context.
Mai Hime and Mai Otome are awesome, I think you'll like them
Well, good times.
Hopefully we'll still be in an Endless Eight loop when I start them.
Hopefully we'll still be in an Endless Eight loop when I start them.
The season ended? Anyone have some thoughts on what they watched and what they're planning on checking out when the Fall season starts next week?
Here's a cut and paste on my thoughts on some of the finales:
Taishou Baseball Girls ending - kind of expected. You almost want a final episode just to wrap up all the relationships and whatnot... and I don't think it ever lived up to the insane patriotic Tokyo fight song thing in the first episode. I'm just sort of glad that all the Yuri stuff basically went out the window.
Saki - end with an Onsen episode. Why not, I guess. I stayed for the Mahjong and the characters sort of sucked me in. I can't imagine how the mangaka managed to essentially do 20 unique characters and fill in their backstories, but it works. One thing I like about some Japanese sports anime is that there are no villains... yeah, your protagonists will probably win, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the other team is evil.
Valkyria Chronicles - stuck with it to the end. Yeah... not so much. It seems like they ran out of steam at the end and had to basically compress the last act. The only thing I enjoyed was the epilogue they threw in.
Still need to catch up on a couple other shows, including Bakemonogatari and Sora no Manimani, but I enjoyed what I watched this season.
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I also need to just go back and watch stuff I thought I'd watch, including Tokyo Magnitude 8. I read somewhere that the show takes a bad turn in the middle, so I've been putting it off, but I like the concept. Also need to watch Spice and Wolf 2... but I still don't know if I should start with the first season.
Of course, Cross Game (which I have 10 episodes to catch up on) and Full Metal Alchemist (perhaps my favourite "long term" serialized show in a while) are still going on. Say what you will about anime, but they just have the balls to do things to characters that rarely happens in live action TV.
Here's a cut and paste on my thoughts on some of the finales:
Taishou Baseball Girls ending - kind of expected. You almost want a final episode just to wrap up all the relationships and whatnot... and I don't think it ever lived up to the insane patriotic Tokyo fight song thing in the first episode. I'm just sort of glad that all the Yuri stuff basically went out the window.
Saki - end with an Onsen episode. Why not, I guess. I stayed for the Mahjong and the characters sort of sucked me in. I can't imagine how the mangaka managed to essentially do 20 unique characters and fill in their backstories, but it works. One thing I like about some Japanese sports anime is that there are no villains... yeah, your protagonists will probably win, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the other team is evil.
Valkyria Chronicles - stuck with it to the end. Yeah... not so much. It seems like they ran out of steam at the end and had to basically compress the last act. The only thing I enjoyed was the epilogue they threw in.
Still need to catch up on a couple other shows, including Bakemonogatari and Sora no Manimani, but I enjoyed what I watched this season.
----
I also need to just go back and watch stuff I thought I'd watch, including Tokyo Magnitude 8. I read somewhere that the show takes a bad turn in the middle, so I've been putting it off, but I like the concept. Also need to watch Spice and Wolf 2... but I still don't know if I should start with the first season.
Of course, Cross Game (which I have 10 episodes to catch up on) and Full Metal Alchemist (perhaps my favourite "long term" serialized show in a while) are still going on. Say what you will about anime, but they just have the balls to do things to characters that rarely happens in live action TV.
Yep, you got to start with the first season of spice and wolf. Its the only way to do it 
As for this season, theres still a few things I have to catch up on but over all it was enjoyable. Haruhi...well enough has been said about haruhi lol. Sora no Minami i still need to finish but Im enjoying it. Bakemono I just started and it has quickly become one of my favorites of the season. Phantom though was the big surprise of the season for me. Im not a big fan of their animation studio but they really pulled out the stops for Phantom
As for this season, theres still a few things I have to catch up on but over all it was enjoyable. Haruhi...well enough has been said about haruhi lol. Sora no Minami i still need to finish but Im enjoying it. Bakemono I just started and it has quickly become one of my favorites of the season. Phantom though was the big surprise of the season for me. Im not a big fan of their animation studio but they really pulled out the stops for Phantom
You can start with the Japanese adaptation of Lilo and Stitch!
I've been putting Phantom on my backlog as well... although I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. I already have so much stuff I need to watch. In terms of old series, I'm trying to decide between You're Under Arrest and that violin playing anime.
I've been putting Phantom on my backlog as well... although I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. I already have so much stuff I need to watch. In terms of old series, I'm trying to decide between You're Under Arrest and that violin playing anime.
Yeah, that was it. I'm pretty much stuck on the slice of life stuff now.
Yeah, I enjoyed Saki too, I'm embarrassed to admit. I'm going to miss the ridiculous Mahjong superpowers and absurdly over-the-top "action". Hisa's triumphant flicking of the tile into the air before slamming it down was my favourite finishing move. Hope it's not too long before the second season. Pity the poor lone male character though, whose name I can't even remember, and whose only role was to buy food for the girls and occasionally fantasize about them. What a loser.
Thought Spice and Wolf went off the boil slightly in the last arc, but the last episode was good. There simply has to be another season. The light novels are into double digits so there should be plenty of material.
CANAAN was okay but wasn't as good as I'd hoped after the first episode. The story needed to be a bit more focussed; and I didn't really like how things ended up for Maria and Canaan.
Haven't finished Sora no Manimani yet, but again not as good as I'd hoped after the first episode. It's less humorous than I thought it would be and it gets a bit too sentimental too often for my tastes.
Bakemonogatari's had its moments but hasn't been anything to get excited about.
As for the Fall season, quite looking forward to more Darker Than Black. Didn't think the first one was brilliant, but it had some good episodes and was generally interesting. Hopefully there will be a bit more illumination this time round though, as the murkiness of the story was somewhat impenetrable at times during the first season.
Don't know much about it, but any show called Armed Librarians deserves a look at least.
Guess I'll watch Railgun as well.
Queen's Blade 2 has already started, which I'm watching. It's so bad that one of the admins at a site I go to resigned because they're hosting it. It's that bad. Total rubbish just this side of hentai. But I find it entertaining in its awfulness.
Thought Spice and Wolf went off the boil slightly in the last arc, but the last episode was good. There simply has to be another season. The light novels are into double digits so there should be plenty of material.
CANAAN was okay but wasn't as good as I'd hoped after the first episode. The story needed to be a bit more focussed; and I didn't really like how things ended up for Maria and Canaan.
Haven't finished Sora no Manimani yet, but again not as good as I'd hoped after the first episode. It's less humorous than I thought it would be and it gets a bit too sentimental too often for my tastes.
Bakemonogatari's had its moments but hasn't been anything to get excited about.
As for the Fall season, quite looking forward to more Darker Than Black. Didn't think the first one was brilliant, but it had some good episodes and was generally interesting. Hopefully there will be a bit more illumination this time round though, as the murkiness of the story was somewhat impenetrable at times during the first season.
Don't know much about it, but any show called Armed Librarians deserves a look at least.
Guess I'll watch Railgun as well.
Queen's Blade 2 has already started, which I'm watching. It's so bad that one of the admins at a site I go to resigned because they're hosting it. It's that bad. Total rubbish just this side of hentai. But I find it entertaining in its awfulness.
