mushishi is unexpected I love that you can watch it in any order whatsoever and it would still make sense. not every episode is good, but those which are, are real treat.

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It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so loving what - Stephen Fry.

RC Anime has done a critique of Shaft's adaptation of Kizumonogatari from the novel to the screen. As usual his work is very good.



The video contains spoilers.

I also watched the second film last night and enjoyed it very much more than the first one. I think by now I was more comfortable with the 3D CGI and the differently drawn characters. It was a nice surprise to discover that what I thought was a worse character design for Shinobu in the first film was done deliberately as it portrayed her as a younger person than in Bakemonogatari, a look I was used too.

The relationship between Araragi and Hanekawa seems even more poignant and heart-rending in the second film than the earlier TV shows though I found Hanekawa's character less believable in this film. She seems too - well - slutty and sensuous compared to the bright, witty, nerdy girl we knew before. I think you can have too much fixation on underwear in a story for the point to be made.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

I also found Hanekawa's portrayal in part 2 over-the-top. That - and the fact that it's the worst at standing lone - made it my least favourite of the three. The third film actually has one scene sexier than anything in part 2 (or the entire franchise, I'd say) but that didn't bother me much because I believed it more than the constant intense flirting of part 2.

In any case, it is an interesting detail, when you consider the point it happens in the story. This is before Senjogahara shows up, so it sets up the awkward obviously-mutually-interested-but-never-going-to-happen dynamic that Araragi and Hanekawa have later.

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I agree with that last comment and it makes the pain at the end of ep.5 of "Second Season" all the more agonising. Despite its flaws I find the Araragi-Hanekawa love story one of the most intense and well-portrayed and downright sad I've ever seen in any anime, and many live action films too.

In the original series didn't Oshino wipe Hanekawa's memory of the events of Golden Week? She was still in love with Koyomi but had forgotten everything else and the fact he wasn't human?

The sequence in which Shaft chose to work on and release the different books gives the stories more depth as well, a purely chronological telling would have given less impact to both Hanekawa's and Senjougahara's characters.

The whole franchise is one of my favourites of all time and is in my top ten, I should think, though I never attempt to quantify what those top ten are.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

Not sure about the memory thing. I haven't watched Bakemonogatari since many years ago, and I've forgotten some details of the stories in between as well.

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About a week ago, I rewatched Death Parade with my flatmates (who'd never seen it before). They really enjoyed it, and I did too. Really good series. It's a travesty that there's no second season, there was so much potential...

Ah, I'm also halfway through Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon) at the moment. It's set in Hokkaido, about a city boy starting at an agricultural high school in the countryside. It's mostly gentle and comedic, with some deeper, reflective scenes. I'm really appreciating the main character's development as he gets used to this new way of life, you can see him changing and getting stronger as time goes on.

Incidentally, it's by the same person behind Fullmetal Alchemist.

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Anyone watching anything new? This season the only things I'm definitely picking up are sequels (Osomatsu-san and Sangatsu no Lion) but I have my eye on some others in case they end up seeming good. Right now I'm looking more at things I didn't get round to in past seasons. I just started Princess Principal, which I didn't watch at first because I knew its very anime premise could go either way, but I gave it a chance after hearing good things and I like it so far.

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Has anyone got a link to one of those "this seasons anime" sites?

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

https://www.livechart.me/fall-2017/tv

And here's a preview post from a blog if you want some more information about what there is:

http://randomc.net/2017/09/22/fall-2017-preview/

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Many thanks Arren. There's several there that look appealing.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

I'm very please that Sangatsu no Lion is back. Only the first episode of the new season has aired but it's already like it was never gone. The first season was a bit unbalanced, but the way it set things up makes me think this season could be really something.

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Checked out Say "I Love You". This is basically "how to be a shitty girlfriend" tutorial. The one that never says "I love you" in 13 episodes, or never takes the wheel at all.

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It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so loving what - Stephen Fry.

I watched "East of Eden" again... And, again, I'm not sure that I totally understood the ending, but I still enjoyed it...

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Watched "Epic" last night. A good movie, but seemed to get a little 'crowded' in some of the scenes....

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I'm currently watching Ancient Magus Bride and Black Clover.

Ancient Magus Bride I knew I would like because I love the manga, but it's fairly slow-paced and odd so I'm aware it might not be to everyone's tastes.

Black Clover I'm watching because after introducing my boyfriend to anime he favours shounen - he's a big fan of One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, and this is of a similar vein. The protag is a little shout-y, but it's had some cute moments so far that have kept me interested.

I'm keen to watch Sangatsu no Lion so might pick that up!

Oh, I've had my eye on The Ancient Magus' Bride for a while now. I'll probably wait until it's finished airing; glad it's living up to expectations though.

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I finished watching Orange tonight and on balance can recommend it. I say "on balance" because like almost all romance anime it has a pair of lead characters who at times are completely annoying. You all know what I mean. Everyone including the postman can tell they're perfect for each other... except these two. Grrr.

I stumbled onto Orange by chance when an AMV I was watching had a short clip in it and I liked the art style so went into it completely blind.

It ended up being a bit of a different twist but still piling on the tears and emo stuff in shovelfuls like most of these slice of life romances do.

I can best describe it as a mix of Honey & Clover and Steins;Gate. We get to know the same group of student friends at age 16 and 10 years later and there's some half-assed time travel mumbo jumbo that lets the 26 year olds send letters back to their 16 year old selves.

It sounds really idiotic but as a device to tell a cute story it works well. There's some philosophy chucked in there about motives and selfishness and that kind of thing the Japanese are fond of examining.

On the whole, quite a good series and only 13 eps. Just try not to punch the screen in frustration at the male lead in the last 2 to 3 eps...

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

The dynamic in the romance didn't bother me so much because I thought the circumstances provided a good reason, and it wasn't as if the characters involved were totally oblivious to their own feelings, just that they kept sabotaging themselves.

As for the time travel gimmick, I preferred that it was half-assed. I was actually a bit annoyed when they attempted to explain it, because it really wasn't that important. I don't like when something has a central contrivance that lets the story happen but then feels the need to give it a perfect explanation that just distracts from the story itself.

Honestly, the main thing that was a problem for me in Orange was the several episodes in the middle where the quality took a nosedive. I can typically overlook some iffy animation if there's other stuff to enjoy, but there was a point where it looked laughably bad and the story wasn't even really progressing. I still liked it in the end though, but I wasn't as excited about it as I was to begin with.

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It took me forever into getting going with the series. I think I probably had gaps of around 1 - 2 months between about the first 5 episodes because life was distracting me in other directions and my interest in all kinds of anime had dropped off entirely.

However at about ep 7 the series got my interest up enough that I watched the last half in about 3 days.

Maybe its for this reason, but I don't recall any drop-off in animation or production quality mid-series. This was about the time in the story that the arrogant upperclassman came on the scene and to me it felt like several episodes were focussed on dealing with that.

I agree, the attempt to rationalise the time travel thing was very awkward and best off simply left out. The scene where their science teacher explained time travel paradoxes and parallel world theory was enough info to cover all of that.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

Currently watching Deadman Wonderland with my flatmates. It's alright, a typical shounen trying hard to be dark, in the same sort of vein as Tokyo Ghoul (though not as good, I think).

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