Anime and Manga v31


Well, that got worse. That date felt so awkward and sad. Basically Ishida was desperately trying to hold on to the only semblance of friendship he has.

This and One Week Friends are hitting their depressing points. Good thing I'm currently watching Aria for my slice of life feel-goodness.
 
Well, that got worse. That date felt so awkward and sad. Basically Ishida was desperately trying to hold on to the only semblance of friendship he has.

This and One Week Friends are hitting their depressing points. Good thing I'm currently watching Aria for my slice of life feel-goodness.

The fact that Nishimiya seems hold herself responsible just makes it all the sadder.

Edit: On less depressing matters, king have you read todaus Girl Genius chapter? And on a scale of 1-10 how bad do you think things are right about now?
 
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Just finished reading Holyland and am well satisfied. What a story! I'm putting this manga over Teppu and Chamo as my new favorite fight manga.

If you can find it, watch the LA adaptation of it. They get it real, real close (especially the main character).
 
Well, that got worse. That date felt so awkward and sad. Basically Ishida was desperately trying to hold on to the only semblance of friendship he has.

The fact that Nishimiya seems hold herself responsible just makes it all the sadder.

Man I was hoping for Nishimiya to find way to sway him back to his friends. But she's still fragile when it comes to these things. Yuzuru is all that's left really.

Edit: On less depressing matters, king have you read todaus Girl Genius chapter? And on a scale of 1-10 how bad do you think things are right about now?

Scale is broken at this point. I'm gonna guess fixing the time warp would unleash that beast. Although I wouldn't doubt this creature being related to that enigma that appeared in the beginning at Beetleburg.
 
I just finished the All you Need is Kill manga: meh. It's very close to the book in plot with no major alterations, but I just didn't like the designs and the characterizations felt weak. The book is better IMO. I get to see the film tomorrow so it'll be interesting to compare all three versions.

EDIT: Just saw the film. Here's my post from the review threads:
Edge of Tomorrow
Score: 9/10
Genre: Sci-fi, Action
Director: Doug Liman
Staring: Tom Cruise as Bill Cage, and Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski

TL;DR Review: The best sci-fi actioner of the last 10-15 years. Solid from top to bottom.

Full Review: This high budget action movie is based on a book by Hiroshi Sakurazaka titled All you Need is Kill. If that author name doesn't ring a bell don't worry, he's a small time light novel author working in Japan and hasn't done anything to put him on the map. Having read the book and the manga adaption before seeing the movie I can confidently say that the film is the best version of this story, and by a good margin. I do a review of the other two below, but know you aren't missing anything if all you do is see the movie.

Tom Cruise plays a military PR rep. The man is a coward who gets sent to the front lines of a war with an alien invader. This role is a departure from most of Cruise's parts where he's the super competent and confident guy who can do anything. Despite this break from type he still turns in a very solid performance. His growth from the start to the end of the film is believable and is a strongly empathetic portrayal. It's not an easy balance to pull off: being a self centered coward who the audience is invested in seeing succeed rather than rooting for him to fail.

Emily Blunt is hot. She spends almost the whole film being all toned and sweaty and kicking ass. I'd say her acting isn't quite as good as Cruise but she still does a good job and never really has a bad scene. I think one thing she did particularly well was being a bad-ass while still showing emotional vulnerability but not being too overt about it. It's a unified performance rather than a dichotomous one.

The rest of the cast are in pretty minimal roles. Bill Paxton's Sgt. Farell is enjoyable but somewhat underused and isn't given much range to work with. But what he does get he nails. The other people in the unit don't have much to do and are probably the weakest aspect of the movie. None of them stood out and they felt a bit incongruous. They were still necessary to the plot, and I don't think more screen time would have improved them, but still: meh.

The science fiction part of the movie is your fairly standard alien invasion. It's not all that original, but it's all very well handled. The visual effects for the aliens are great looking. They manage to look particular (as in "made of many particles") without being overly busy and still look like a living predator rather than some sort of cloud. I really liked how when one was killed it would freeze in the configuration it was in when it was disabled. They'd be these spiky, almost plant-like, shapes that did a good job emphasizing how different they looked in motion than as a still object.

The other big sci-fi trope is the "time loop", which has been done many times (ST:TNG, SG:SG1, Groundhog Day, etc) but this one is particularly interesting because the loop isn't based on any exact time, rather resets when Cage is killed. This time looping is also explained as the reason why the aliens have been unbeatable: whenever they lose they send the info back in time and try it again until they get it right. Only Cruise gets caught up in this and the aliens can't move on until they manage to cut him out of the loop. This looping is the crux of the whole film but it isn't as repetitive as it might sound. The editing and plotting is handled exquisitely so that you don't get sick of any one part. There's also an unexpected humorous bent to many of the resets. The humor is placed just in the right spots so that it doesn't get in the way of the action and doesn't undermine any of the drama (Marvel, take note of this!).

Spoilers:
I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. It wasn't bad by any means, and there's a real emotional satisfaction to it, but it also somewhat undermined the payoff of their victory. It also needs a little too much rationalizing. I don't need to be spoon-fed an explanation, but when you make a sudden jump like that, especially right at the end, it should make more intuitive sense. That said, it's a better ending than the book which is too bleak.
Conclusion: This was my most anticipated film of the year, and boy did it deliver the goods. Everything is well done with only a few complaints. The action is exciting, the acting is good, it's well paced and plotted, and it has a satisfying conclusion. This is the kind of movie Micheal Bay wishes he could make, but never has been able to pull off.

Bonus Review - Book: The book is an entertaining read, but it's got some things holding it from greatness. The biggest issue is that the author is obviously inexperienced. The plotting and pacing are inconsistent and there's too many exposition dumps and some wonky narrative jumps. The ending is also the sort of thing a teenager would say "man, that's deep" but for an adult reader it's not nearly so satisfying and feels sort of edgy for edgy's sake. At only 200 pages it's a jaunty read, but I couldn't help think how much better it could have been in the hands of a more talented writer. [6.5/10].

Bonus Review - Manga: The artistic fidelity is top notch, as expected of Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman, etc), but the actual designs themselves suck. The mimics look retarded, sort of like the Langoliers' down-syndrome cousin. And the suits are too futuristic and don't look like something that would be mass produced during total war and then given to grunts. The pacing is also somewhat break-neck, with the first chapter covering almost the first third of the novel. The characters never get time to breath and the finale is extremely rushed. Over all it's just a poorly executed adaption. [3/10]

Damn need to see this movie, especially after the disappointment that was Godzilla...
 
Man I was hoping for Nishimiya to find way to sway him back to his friends. But she's still fragile when it comes to these things. Yuzuru is all that's left really.



Scale is broken at this point. I'm gonna guess fixing the time warp would unleash that beast. Although I wouldn't doubt this creature being related to that enigma that appeared in the beginning at Beetleburg.

Lesson learned? If something is so dangerous and unstable that even the Heterodynes don't tamper with it, DON'T!
 
Just started Now and Then, Here and There last night. Really interested in it so far, seems very well written. Not to mention the old school animation is nicely nostalgic. Also liking the soundtrack so far.
 
I think Breaker returns this week...maybe
 
Good Chapter for NWs - wonder when part 3 starts


Fairy Tail - Nobody does cringe worthy power of friendship like Fairy Tail and once again former enemies are now allies , does Hiro Mashima not know how to do anything else ? I know other manga do that too but goddamn he beats that dead horse with a sledgehammer.

HSDK - I know its on break , right when last week left us with the battle really escalating.
 
Good Chapter for NWs - wonder when part 3 starts


Fairy Tail - Nobody does cringe worthy power of friendship like Fairy Tail and once again former enemies are now allies , does Hiro Mashima not know how to do anything else ? I know other manga do that too but goddamn he beats that dead horse with a sledgehammer.

HSDK - I know its on break , right when last week left us with the battle really escalating.

This just has to be posted again...

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Top Anime
Action/Adventure
Berserk
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Tiger & Bunny
FMA

Drama
Kuuchuu Buranko
Tatami Galaxy
Spice and Wolf
Kaiba
Millennium Actress

Fantasy
Kino no Tabi
Mushishi
Natsume Yuujinchou
Jinrui

Horror/Survival
Mononoke
Shinsekai Yori

Slice of Life/Romance/Comedy
Working
Haruhi
Nodame Cantabile
Cromartie
Aria

Sci-Fi/Mecha
Space Brothers
Eve no Jikan
Planetes
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Banner of the Stars

Sports
Ping Pong
Hajime no Ippo
Kaiji

Finally finished my PCS. Cleared a good chunk of my backlog while I was at Tech School. I ended up watching Ippo, Shinsekai Yori, and a few others. Most memorably, I watched Irresponsible Captain Tylor. I went in expecting something good and got something absolutely incredible. Episode 23 may be the best anime episode I've ever seen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I also watched Edge of Tomorrow this past weekend. It was pretty funny seeing a non-combatant military (like me) being told that they had to go to a battle the next morning was hilarious. I don't think anyone would ever try to blackmail a general, though. That was fucking retarded.
 
Was thinking Haikyu! was going to be some prince of tennis bullshit.

Pleasantly surprised. Enjoying it even though I don't like volleyball.
 
Was thinking Haikyu! was going to be some prince of tennis bullshit.

Pleasantly surprised. Enjoying it even though I don't like volleyball.

Haikyuu! has some great, fluid animation but the plot is almost too formulaic at this point.
 
What's the opinion here on Sherdog, and in the larger community of anime fans, on Fullmetal Alchemist vs Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?
 
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