Jump to content
UnevenEdge

What Anime Are You Watching Right Now?

BUU8800

By BUU8800
in Anime & Manga

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 10.5k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • blueraven1999

    2524

  • PokeNirvash

    2148

  • The1gairon

    1078

  • BUU8800

    865

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

PokeNirvash
PokeNirvash

Whatever happened this year, Buu, I hope next year goes better too. (Bullhorn.) Yona of the Dawn 17

BUU8800
BUU8800

Alright well 2017 has come and gone and I've made no secret of my feelings regarding it. I've had bad things happen in my life before, loved ones die, etc...but this was probably the worst year of my

Dark_Cloud_Overhead
Dark_Cloud_Overhead

Hiya. I decided upon my New Year's resolutions, and one of them, believe it or not, is to watch some more anime.  Watching more than I did this past year, which was practically nothing, should be a pi

Posted Images

Martinman Villager

Martinman

Posted
Posted

Finished some time in the last few days: Patlabor TV up through somewhere is Sentai's set 3...I don't even know, I'm just watching it while I paint Warhammer stuff.

Just finished Attack on Titan Final season 12-16.  8/10.  I don't know how long it has been since I've just sat down and watched an anime for more than a couple episodes at a time without doing anything else.  I'm not saying it's the best show ever made, but it has my attention.  Definitely looking forward to part 2 of the final season.  I wish they would have just called this season 3 or whatever it is....  Hopefully I'll have the time to watch it week by week as it comes out on Crunchyroll for free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Martinman Villager

Martinman

Posted
Posted

Finished a few days ago:

Patlabor TV last few episodes.  8/10 good stuff.  Also watched 1-4 of the New Files.  Wish more was dubbed. :(

Patlabor move 1 rewatch.  I haven't seen this in maybe 10+ years and still liked it.  

Spoiler

How many other movies or series have the main villain die basically at the start of the movie before anyone even knows they are the villain?

Watching either Patlabor movie 1 special features or the New File OVA subbed episodes.  Depends on how I feel once I get this margarita made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Blatch Luminary

Blatch

Posted
Posted (edited)

Daily Lives of High School Boys 6-12 (oh boy)
The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 2
To Your Eternity 10-13
Vlad Love 10-12

Finished two anime comedies, one old and the other fairly new. I liked one of them (that being Nichibros), but maybe not much as I thought, while the other one was too avant-garde for my tastes, having a tendency to either not tell jokes or run them into the ground.

But enough of that, because it's time for what you're really waiting for:

The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 2: "I have never seen such a beautiful castle"

Spoiler

Okay, so I don't have much time. I've got to start being more prolific with the shows I cover. You might know I've been a critic of binge watching shows in the past, but honestly, that only extends to watching a huge chunk of or even all of it at once. Lately, I've been watching two episodes at once of most of my shows, like a rewatch of Squid Girl. It gets through the proceedings faster, especially if I watch one every day. Ultimately, it's all about getting a good rhythm going, which I hope to start doing with this post. In the interim, there's been a lot of stuff happening in CG, like a new general election (I won't tell you who won, at least not now), some live concerts (that nobody outside of Japan will be able to see because of COVID... heh), and even a brand new anime thingy made by the Evangelion people that will feature characters from all branches of the franchise. Going forward, my job will be to make you genuinely care about all of this and more.

So, last week's episode saw us drawn into the world of 346 Production, and now its time to check out their digs. Uzuki and Rin are drawn to a huge office building that contains the office they'll be staying in. Turns out this place is a huge business that handles all kinds of entertainment, even shooting its own movies. And then comes Mio running up behind them, the third member of the new unit. It's mentioned that she didn't pass the initial audition but was eventually called up when a spot became available. Once in the lobby, they meet up with TakeP as well as the agency's secretary, Chihiro Senkawa. You can tell she's not going to sing (at least in this show) because of her green motif, like Kotori. Then it's off to the 30th floor to check out their office space, which is pretty distinct from 765pro's rundown eighty-year-old bungalow. For one thing, it's got lots of windows. But the real draw to the place is that there are a lot of different places on campus where you can see idols actually train, get pampered, and then do their jobs!

So, just like my adolescent self would've wanted to do, the main three decide to travel around the 346pro campus. And this is where the show really starts to flex its muscle of having a rich continuity to draw from. The girls end up meeting lots of idols, some of whom are in units, but also a few interesting stand-alone girls, some of whom were seen back in the first episode, such as the news reporter-turned idol Mizuki and the ultra-famous (and better than anyone at anything) Kaede. They also attend the agency's cafe, which has idols both using it and working for it. It's just that... Nana, the one with the orange hair, seems to be the weirdest of them all. I mean, wearing a maid outfit with no headdress? That's just strange. And the fun doesn't stop there, because it turns out the girls of this new three-piece unit are going to be a part of another, much larger unit.

Uzuki, Rin and Mio are called downstairs to a photography studio to meet all sorts of new girls... eleven of them, in fact. And they're all introduced in order: playful Miria Akagi, little sister Rika Jougasaki, catty Miku Maekawa, very big Kirari Moroboshi, sisterly Minami Nitta, obligatory Russian Anastasia (no last name), plus-sized Kanako Mimura, wannabe rock star Riina Tada, bashful Chieri Ogata, chunnibyou Ranko Kanzari, azy-ass Anzu Futaba, and Rika's superior Mika Jougasaki. And it turns out they're all doing publicity photos! So that's another parallel to that house across the street. We get a good feel for their personalities in not long at all, but it's clear they're going to get more development down the line. Eventually, Mika emerges from backstage in a fairly revealing outfit she has on for a photo shoot. After the main three take some publicity photos of their own (and have some shenanigans with a toy ball), she tells them that they're going to be backup dancers for her next live! Needless to say, they soon agree, and just like that we have our first big event planned for the new trio.

Anyway, that's episode 2. Honestly, as I was going through this episode and spotting all the cameos, I felt like it got a little gratuitous. The average viewer probably won't understand just how deeps CG's world is, and might assume these characters were made up just for the anime. While that was true for the original series, at least in response to stuff like Shinkan Shoujo, I personally got some hits of dopamine upon recognizing the characters, assuming I hadn't been spoiled on their appearances. Like I said, the wiki's better for that stuff.

Random thoughts:

  • There are a lot of cases of seiyuus in this show appearing in other titles I've covered, but I'm not going to mention most of them because I don't want to sound that gratuitous. But I will mention my favorite: Mizuki's voice, the almost omnipresent Nao Toyama, previously showed up years ago as Rin Suzunoki. It's... a pretty big departure from what she normally does, to say the least. And that's why we love it.
  • I dig the word Cinderella being misspelled at "Cindellera" on a plaque in the building. At least they knew to use Ls and Rs.
  • Units featured in this episode, aside from the important ones, include Napoleon (which this episode voiced two members of; see below), the important-for-game-reasons Frilled Square, and the affable New Wave. If they weren't already making another iM@S anime, I'd love to see them dip back into CG for those three idiots.
  • Mio also got picked for the unit because of her smile. Frankly, I wouldn't have accepted anything else.
  • To give you an idea of just how thorough this show is with trying to mimic the game: everyone's portraits in the publicity photos scene are based off of their initial cards in the game. Some of them don't even have their usual outfits on.
  • Gratuitous Cinderella Girls meme of the week(?): Uzuki fucking dies, part 1 of many
  • Rating: TV-PG for Ranko's pretentious antics apparently including a blood pact, as well as arguably Mika dressing like a stripper.

Idol roundup:

  • Mio: 15, Passion-type, 8th Cinderella Girl. She's had a bit of a rough go of it, being in line to win the 7th Election only for Nana to take it from her. Then an artist did a video to pimp her for the next one, and you may have actually seen it as a wide-reaching meme. Sadly, the artist got harassed over it and didn't do any CG art for a while. As it stands, Mio is a favorite of Internet shitlords, and that's just how it is.
  • Haruna (new voice): 18, Cool-type. She loves glasses... and cats. That's about it. She went years between getting major content in one of the spin-off games. Feel free to make fun of her.
  • Chie (new voice): 10, Cool-type. Youngest member of Blue Napoleon, a unit features cleavage windows on most of the other girls. (Coincidentially, Mizuki is also in it.) It's worth noting that this girl is not only younger than anyone in the 765pro cast (the Futamis, 13), but she isn't even the youngest girl in this part of the franchise. And that's why you may have seen it develop a minor stigma for attracting pedos. Don't worry, because I play it safe and be chaste with most of the idols. As for her personality? Well, she's young, but she isn't a stereotypical character with shallow likes.

Music reviews:

  • "Star!!": First season ED. Enjoyable, but not very memorable. It does its job, just like "READY!!" before it.
  • "Kagayaku Sekai no Mahou": Song for the second CG election, the first to feature the top-ranking girls. Despite the twinkly beat at the start (which procludes diabetes-inducing cuteness), I think this one's pretty good.
  • "Yuubae Present": First season ED. This one manages a good balance between stirring up emotion and being nice and mellow. The final verse, with the "Moshi te o nobashitara fureru kana" really gets me in the spot.

[august west is looking good]

Edited by Blatch
Fixed title color.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...