Leadup Aftermath - More Anime and Manga

[TMS]

Update (February 18, 2016)
I've decided to turn this into more of an all-purpose topic, so as to have everything in one place.

Well, the Adventure Tri leadup has finally succeeded in getting me addicted to anime in general, rather than just Digimon in particular. Since it ended, I have watched or am planning to watch a number of other anime (some totally new and some sequels or spinoffs of stuff from the leadup), and may start to read more manga as well. Everyone please feel free to jump into discussion on anything I bring up, or to bring up shows that the leadup has inspired you yourself to pick up. Also, if anyone has suggestions for anime to watch, I'd be happy to consider them.

Here's a link to my lists of anime/manga:
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/TMS1

Original Post
This is the first of what may be several topics on the subject of anime/manga that I've watched/read as a result of MarcFBR's leadup to Adventure Tri. I figured I'd go ahead and start a new topic for the Hellsing TV series, since the last topic on it has been dead since 2008: http://withthewill.net/threads/6559

WARNING: I won't be using spoiler tags in this post, since we're talking about a 13-episode show that's as old as Tamers.

So a couple days ago I finished watching the TV series. I'm basically in agreement with a lot of people who consider it inferior to the OVA, though it was a fairly enjoyable watch nonetheless. It's been a while since I've seen the OVA, but the voice acting didn't seem as good in this series (I watched the dub again). I did have to giggle whenever someone said "bloody hell," though. Plot-wise it did seem a little unfocused, and I was particularly surprised by the lack of a definite ending. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that a number of fan fiction sequels have been produced, considering I was inspired to write The Call by the more minor loose ends left by Digimon Adventure 02.

By the way, given that Konaka worked on the show, I wonder if Set might be a reference specifically to the deity from Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (part of the Cthulhu Mythos Konaka's such a big fan of), since both are depicted as evil snake gods, whereas the Egyptian Set didn't resemble a snake in any way. The "exotic" aspects of some of the villainous vampires was interesting. Incognito was kind of weird in that he was apparently a white guy despite his tribalistic appearance and the references to the "Dark Continent" (never explicitly referred to as Africa). Maybe he's supposed to be Egyptian or something, given that he summons an Egyptian/Stygian demon god.

 

[Unknown Neo]

It was a pretty good series. I liked the ED since it was fully English and what kind of song it was. The OP was good too. Though Ultimate is better but that's obvious. This one is still pretty good.

 

[TMS]

I've updated the original post of this topic, basically saying that the thread will now be for commentary on any anime/manga that the Tri leadup has inspired me or anyone else to pick up.

Just to get us caught up, here's a list of the stuff I've watched since the leadup ended (leaving out some random specials and OVAs for leadup shows that I caught up on in the process):

Trigun [see leadup topic for commentary: withthewill.net/threads/14959 ]
A Certain Scientific Railgun
A Certain Magical Index: Miracle of Endymion
Yuru Yuri Summer Vacachun+
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
Hellsing [see first post for commentary]
Yuru Yuri San Hai
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure [currently watching]

Besides the above anime, I've also been reading the manga version of Soul Eater, which I am nearly finished with.

A Certain Scientific Railgun / Miracle of Endymion
I always thought that Index the character really played a rather minor role in the show named after her. I remember that it really wasn't much of a surprise to learn that there was a spinoff series starring Mikoto, who seemed almost to have a bigger presence in the main series than Index herself did. Going in, I was expecting this spinoff series to be kind of a downer, on the assumption that it would focus on the background of the Level 6 Shift project, but the series didn't really get into that until the second season. It was interesting to see the events of the Level 6 Shift arc retold from a different perspective.

On the whole, I enjoyed watching the series about as much as I enjoyed watching A Certain Magical Index. The focus was a little narrower, but I think that actually worked in the show's favor, since the story arcs were longer and there wasn't as much new information to absorb, since the various oddities of magic weren't usually involved. I wonder if A Certain Scientific Railgun will continue in the future. It still has quite a ways to go to get caught up to the point in time at which A Certain Magical Index's second season ended. I also wonder whether any future continuations of either show will revisit the handful of characters exclusive to Miracle of Endymion, which I also watched and enjoyed.

Yuru Yuri Summer Vacachun+ / Yuru Yuri San Hai
Well, the continuations of Yuru Yuri were as cute and amusing as one would expect them to be. I had watched the first Yuru Yuri Summer Vacachun during that week of the leadup, but didn't realize until later that there was another OVA. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that there was already a third season out by the time the leadup was over, which is nice, though I have to say I almost would have preferred a continuation of one of those shows with ongoing plots that have been waiting a few years (possibly on more manga / light novels) for something new in animation.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
I enjoyed The Second Raid. It answered a few questions that I didn't realize needed answering, and I suppose that the upcoming third season will do the same, assuming the Amalgam incidents are going to have further repercussions. The second season of Full Metal Panic was somewhat more compact than the first, and leaned more decidedly towards the dramatic than the comedic, but neither circumstance can really be called a bad thing. The Tessa-centric OVA, which I also watched, provided some levity. The main villain of the season, Gates, was an interesting character. Nothing very pretty about him or his personality, but his twisted sense of humor made for an interesting dynamic.

Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
I don't have much to really say about this one. It was more of the same from the first season, though with some interesting new characters.* It's still not an absolute favorite of mine, but I definitely did enjoy it, and I plan on watching the franchise's various other anime adaptations eventually. I see that the most recent of these came out some years after Flights of Fancy (in 2011), a three-episode OVA. Wonder if that's a continuation of the television series, or something relatively unrelated.

*Speaking of which, I noticed that characters from the first season's opening finally showed up in this season. But then I reached the end of this season with a couple of characters from its ending credits still yet to be introduced. The series seems to have a problem with getting ahead of itself.

Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
As I said, I'm still watching this one. As of writing this I've seen the first eight episodes, and will be watching episodes 9 and 10 later tonight. So far I like the series. I was a little timid at first about watching it, since its connection to Tenchi Muyo (the reason it's on my list) is pretty tenuous, and it was essentially the first totally new series I've watched since the end of the leadup. That actually made me skip it at first (I've been watching anime sequels/spinoffs in roughly the same order as their original shows came in the leadup), but thought I might want something to go between a couple of sappy shows like Ah My Goddess and Ai yori Aoshi. Naturally I'll reserve my final verdict for when I've finished the series, but I'm enjoying it for now. It has a special kind of goofiness to it. My favorite character is probably Dr. Sanada, though after seeing episode 8 last night I've been trying to puzzle out

Spoiler

to what extent his comment on "Miss Rah's" appearance is creepy now that I know more about her identity. Speaking of which, I'm beginning to suspect that her mother is the real power behind the Rara Empire.

I've also been wondering about Sanada Mitsuki, who says she arrived in the parallel world a month before Kazuki did, which doesn't really make sense unless her father's machine allows time travel. Not sure yet if that's a plot point or a plot hole.

Soul Eater (Manga)
I'm nearing the end of this, currently reading through volume 24 of 25. I'm greatly enjoying the manga, and seeing how it diverges from the plot of the anime, despite the fact that I prefer anime to manga as a medium. I've been debating whether to start a topic on the manga for some time now, but I wasn't sure if anyone else here has ever read it. There's a lot of interesting stuff and new characters to talk about, so let me know if you have read it or are reading it. One thing I like are the further Cthulhu Mythos references, and the elaboration on the Book of Eibon.

Spoiler

Cthulhu himself seems to be the inspiration for the unnamed Great Old One. What's more interesting is that for once he doesn't appear to be an actual villain.

Well! I think that finally gets us up to date. I shouldn't have put this off for so long. Anyway, feel free to discuss any of the series I've mentioned, or to bring up any other series that the leadup has inspired you to try out.

 

[TMS]

Forgot about this topic (probably since there were no responses), but I've remembered now, so I'm going to make another post. Since the last one I've finished both Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and the Soul Eater manga, and have watched several additional anime and started a new manga. Among the anime were the second season of Ai yori Aoshi and the Fullmetal Alchemist movie Sacred Star of Milos. Both were enjoyable, particularly the latter, but I don't really have much else to say about them. That leaves three (or four, depending on how you count it) things to comment on.

Digital Devil Story: Goddess Resurrection
This movie was the first anime based on the Megami Tensei franchise, and is about the most 80s-looking thing I've ever seen. Not having played the game or, for that matter, read the novel on which the movie was based, I probably didn't get as much out of it as some people could have. The fact that it's clearly only the beginning of a story didn't help, and I felt no real connection to the characters or their development (I had to laugh at

Spoiler

how worried Akemi was about Yumiko five minutes after trying to use her for a human sacrifice

). Still, it was an experience, and I'll be trying the franchise again this week or next by watching the anime version of Persona 4.

Star Driver: The Movie
I watched this with the expectation that it would basically tell a similar story to Star Driver: Radiant Takuto, but in a different way. Turns out that, other than an opening action sequence and the ending credits, it's mostly just an abridged version (if not in the internet's usual sense of the term) of the television series. It was fun to see the new scene (

Spoiler

and to see the Cybodies used outside of Zero Time, hard though it must be on the economy

) and watch the highlights all at once, though I definitely prefer the anime's more leisurely and much more thorough way of developing the characters, particularly the antagonists.

Excel Saga
Years and years ago, probably after my brother and I discovered the AMV Hell series, I poked around at several anime/manga, and this was one of them. I watched the first couple episodes of the anime, and read the first six volumes of the manga, but didn't finish either of them (in the latter's case due to limited funds). Since the leadup I've been meaning to get back to both of them, and have now done so. I finished watching the anime over the course of the past week or two, though the 27-volume manga will probably take me some time to finish. While the anime has its moments, and I applaud its goal of parodying various genres and anime conventions, on the whole I greatly prefer the manga. Though still silly, the manga feels a lot more grounded (it helps that not every chapter is a "quack experiment"), and I find it much funnier. Whether I'd enjoy the anime more if I understood all of the random references to various anime, I'm not sure, though I sort of doubt it. A few episodes were so far removed from the "plot" as to be almost pointless. I'm glad I watched it, though. For now I'll continue to enjoy the manga, which, aside from its humor, interests me because of the mystery surrounding Il Palazzo and Doctor Kabapu.

So that's it for now. Once again I'd like to invite everyone to join in the discussion and/or talk about their own leadup aftermaths.

 

[TMS]

Still in the process of reading Excel Saga, having recently finished volume 8 of 27. Nothing new to add yet. For my anime this week I watched...

Persona 4: The Animation
Since my time is limited, and playing the video game would be a big commitment, I watched the anime adaptation's main series of 25 episodes and the bonus "true ending" episode, "No One Is Alone." I liked it quite well. It was easy to get into despite being the fourth in a series (plus some extra baggage from the older Megami Tensei stuff). I was surprised at how relatively little there was in the way of action, considering it was based on a video game. Of course, combat and story are always separate to some extent in RPGs, so maybe it's not too surprising. Then also, you don't fight as much when you're doing it for truly altruistic reasons rather than just more experience points. The theme songs were... interesting. Most were performed by a group called Lotus Juice, whose native language is evidently Engrish, but that ultimately didn't stop me from finding two songs I really liked (one of which I posted about in the "What are you listening to?" thread.

I liked the concept of the Personas and Shadows, though being me I sometimes wished the series had something similar to Digimon's Analyzer screens. It's kind of funny that the "Sexualization" thread was revivified recently, since most of the "boss Shadow" incidents deal with sex/gender issues, and I found myself wondering what the reaction of the thread's contributors would be to the series. Also makes you wonder what our own Shadows would be like. Since we're real people and not limited fictional characters, any given Shadow would probably have quite a few angles of attack to choose from. Overall, a fun show with fun characters (I even saw a little of myself reflected in the human villain's philosophy, though I haven't killed anyone yet). I'll be looking forward to watching adaptations of other Persona games.

Well, I'll be back here in a week or so, if no one else posts. Coming up next are a Tenchi Muyo movie and, in honor of Marc's recently posted reading list, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi.

 

[TMS]

Manga reading continues apace (or will once tomorrow's birthday gets me enough money to feed my new habit). Since my last post, I've watched the following:

Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2
The interesting thing about this movie was how relatively subdued it was compared to the usual Tenchi stuff. The emphasis wasn't as much on humor either. It kept my interest, but probably won't be a favorite of mine. The first "in Love" movie was much better, in my opinion.

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi
The weirdest thing about this show is not its premise (which, by anime standards, is nothing very out there) but the bizarre way that its episodes were originally aired out of chronological order. I went into the show unaware of this, so that my first exposure to it (outside of pop culture osmosis) was an episode consisting almost entirely of an amateur movie made by the characters. I sort of shrugged that off, though, and didn't figure out what the deal was until most of the way through the fourth episode I watched, after which I looked up the chronological order and watched the series (both seasons and the movie) that way. Anyway, as far as the actual contents of the show go, I really liked it. The characters were fun and in general the show was funny, perhaps the highlight being Kyon's mental commentary. Haruhi herself was generally more entertaining than she was annoying. My only big complaint is "Endless Eight,"

Spoiler

which really could have been cut quite a bit shorter. Though the minor changes between episodes could be somewhat interesting, I think half as many episodes could have gotten the point across well enough.

But yeah, I had fun. During the Tri leadup I skipped over The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, since I wanted to watch this first, but I'll definitely see the spinoff series eventually. I sort of wonder if the movie

Spoiler

might lead into it somehow, since the movie was really as much about Nagato as Haruhi, if not more so.

This week I'll be watching Tenchi Muyo! GXP. By the way, at Py687's suggestion, I've added Mushishi to my list of anime to watch eventually. I'd never heard of it before, but the premise sounds like it might be somewhat interesting. Has anyone else seen it? Really there's probably a lot of anime out there that I would find interesting. It's true of other media as well, but I'm rather picky about what I devote time to. I probably wouldn't have watched hardly any anime outside of Digimon if it weren't for challenging myself to do the leadup.

 

[Unknown Neo]

Everyone had an issue with Endless 8. But please watch the Nagato spin off. But I like Nagato so I may just be a bit bias. And GXP isn't that bad. Toonami has had worse. Can't remember if I saw that movie though. It's been years.

 

[MarcFBR]

I was actually at the USA premiere of the Haruhi film.

It ALMOST made up for Endless 8.

Although honestly, I was more happy that the film had the designs looking more like they did in the first season as opposed to season 2, which sort of shifted more to the studios house style.

 

[TMS]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Well, I changed my mind on watching Tenchi Muyo! GXP, and wound up watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood instead. In consequence, it turned into a very long week, but I finished watching the series and its four specials a few nights ago. I found this second anime adaptation just as enjoyable as the first. It had a lot of ground to cover, and only an extra cours or so to do it in, so it went rather quickly at the beginning, with certain characters and situations not being as well developed as they were in the first series. But it wasn't a real drawback, and it was cool to see the story play out with all the elements from the manga that the first anime didn't get a chance to handle. One thing I found especially interesting was the difference between the two adaptations' homunculi, both as individuals and as a species. Just a great show all around, as I expected it would be.

Next up on my list of anime to watch is the 2-episode A-Channel OVA, +smile, followed by Cowboy Bebop.

 

[Vande]

FMA: B was one of the anime i really liked a lot. More than the original. It covered key things, but I feel did go on at points that it didn't need to. Overall enjoyable.

 

[Xadhoom]

Since you're taking suggestions, how about Fate/Zero? At the risk of sounding biased, it is the perfect anime (or at least, something very close to it), and a series that any anime-fan ought to watch at least once. That being said, points which might sour you on the series include:

• How expositiony the series is (with the first episode being an almost-literal documentary of the world-building and backstories involved).
• Fate/Zero taking place in a multiverse with much prior world-building, making briefly-mentioned concepts (such as The Root) likely to confound.
• How much of a bastard Zouken is. I cannot stress enough that this part of the show redefines effed up.

Beyond that, it is formidably well-made, both in terms of visuals and character-work, and reminiscent of a blend between FMA and Hellsing (I mean, really, Fate/Zero is the only other anime where you can find a man of the church who uses swords and is physically superhuman battling a gun-toting dark-haired man in a trench-coat who has previously killed vampires, one of the pair being voiced by Crispin Freeman in its dub).

 

[MarcFBR]

The Fate franchise has the same problem as Macross.

A large portion of fans think it's far better and unique than it is.

 

[Spongebond]

I love FMA:B, I prefer Fate/Stay UBW to Fate/Zero but I think both are great, the animation on both especially UBW is some of the best if not the best for a TV series I have seen my whole life. UBW is one of my personal favourite series.

 

[TMS]

Thank you for the suggestions, guys. I'll look into the Fate franchise and see if it's something I might be interested in.

A-Channel +smile
Not much to say about this one, though of course it was cute and amusing. It's really a shame that A-Channel's anime adaptation has so little to it.

Cowboy Bebop
On the recommendation of its creator, this became one of the few shows that I watched dubbed rather than in the original Japanese. It really made sense given the characters, the setting, and the themes it drew on. I actually saw the (rented) Bebop movie years ago; I forget why. But it was nice to see the series proper, which I'd previously only caught a single syndicated episode of (episode 23). I found the series very entertaining, though maybe not quite as great as the hype surrounding it would imply. The main characters were fun, and certain episodes, such as the one with Mad Pierrot, were especially excellent. That episode, actually, was one of two I noticed where the Japanese title and English title differed. Episode 11 was "A Dark Night's Heavy Rock" in Japanese and "Toys in the Attic" in English, while episode 20 was "Clown's Requiem" in Japanese and "Pierrot le Fou" in English. The music was interesting, and I love the opening theme, which certainly sets Bebop's apart from other anime openings. The only minor gripe I have about the series is with its ending, [SPOILERS]which does a good (if sad) job of wrapping up Spike's character/story arc but seems rather abrupt, leaving me feeling almost that Jet and Faye, at least, had been left in the lurch.[/SPOILERS] But like I said, it's not a big deal. Partway through watching it, I learned that it shared a director with Samurai Champloo (though not an animation team, apparently; the foreheads are much more reasonable), and could see the similarities between the two series, right down to their titles. Anyway, after finishing the main series I went and rewatched the movie, which I think is a damn good movie, and once again I loved its music. How exactly one would determine what Martian day is Halloween, though, I'm not sure.

Well, I think that's about it. Next I plan to watch the anime adaptation of Devil Survivor 2.

 

[Xadhoom]

Thank you for the suggestions, guys. I'll look into the Fate franchise and see if it's something I might be interested in.

I now predict that TMS will go, at least a few of the following:

• "What is Kara No Kyoukai / Tsukihime / non-Fate Nasuverse works and how does it fit into anything?"
• "How does magic work here?"
• "What the hell is up with 5HF Archer?"
• "So that's where that Unlimited x Works meme comes from"
• "Are all the titles just 'Fate/(random words)'?"
• "So this stuff replaces goggles with blondes?"
• "The author is trolling."
• get a bucket upon realizing that Zouken Matou makes a pair of psychopaths doing ritualized child-killing seem like preferable baby-sitters.
• "4HF Archer is OP-as-crap-plz-nerf."

 

[Unknown Neo]

I think we all(those who've seen it, which I'm sure is a good deal) saw Cowboy Bebop on Adult Swim. And it's very good. Possibly one of the only ones to fit both a possible live action movie and something to show people who don't watch anime. It's really, really good.

 

[TMS]

Devil Survivor 2: The Animation
I rather enjoyed this one, perhaps a bit better than I thought I would. Post-apocalyptic stuff doesn't usually interest me much, but I liked the way it was handled here. I don't have any major complaints to make, though there were so many characters that not all of them got the attention they deserved,

Spoiler

and it kept their deaths from having the emotional impact it could have; I found myself mostly just disappointed that they hadn't stuck around longer for development. But erasing them from the ending sequence was a neat touch, and I liked how by the last episode only Hibiki and Yamato were left at each end.

Two things interested me in particular about the anime. The first was being able to read afterwards about the differences between it and the game, and how things were changed around to take advantage of the new medium. The second was the long-awaited return of Cthulhu Mythos references in the form of JP's' Alaozar firewall system, where each layer is named after a different deity (or forms/epithets of Nyarlathotep, in the case of layer 8's sub-layers). Fittingly, the first two are Lloigor and Zhar, which dwelt beneath the lost city of Alaozar in "Lair of the Star-Spawn," the August Derleth story in which the three debuted. I know no one cares, but just for the hell of it I'll go ahead and list the whole schema here.

ALAOZAR
1. Lloigor
2. Zhar
3. Cthugha (another Derleth creation; appears in "The Dweller in Darkness")
4. Hastur (name used in various contexts by Ambrose Bierce, Robert W. Chambers, Lovecraft, Derleth, and others)
5. Cthulhu
6. Tsathoggua (Clark Ashton Smith deity; appears in "The Seven Geases")
7. Ubbo-Sathla (from the eponymous story by Smith)
8. Nyarlathotep (Lovecraft deity of many forms)
8.0. Ahtu (Nyarlathotep avatar invented by David Drake)
8.1. Crawling Chaos (common epithet for Nyarlathotep)
8.2. The Faceless God (Nyarlathotep form from Robert Bloch's story of the same name)
8.3. Dweller in Darkness (from the aforementioned Derleth story)
8.4. Bloated Woman (from the Call of Cthulhu campaign Masks of Nyarlathotep)
8.5. Howler in the Dark
8.6. Dark One (mentioned in RPG publications)
8.7. The King in Yellow (from Robert W. Chambers; usually considered an avatar of Hastur)
8.8. The Black Messenger of Karneter (epithet from "The Faceless God")
8.9. Nephren-Ka (Lovecraft's fictional Pharaoh; identified with Nyarlathotep in Masks of Nyarlathotep)
9. Yog-Sothoth (major Lovecraft deity mentioned in "The Dunwich Horror" and other stories)
10. Azathoth (the "blind idiot god," Lord of All Things, from Lovecraft's stories)

Anyway, as a last note, the fact that the anime's final battle was between

Spoiler

Lucifer and Satan

struck me as kind of funny.

Next I'll be watching Crawling! Nyaruani: Remember My Love(craft-sensei), the first Nyaruko anime series adaptation (even though the second adaptation was technically the one that people told me I should watch). This anime at least is guaranteed to have Cthulhu Mythos references in it. I'm sure it'll be very respectful of and attentive to Lovecraft canon.

 

[Xadhoom]

Next I'll be watching Crawling! Nyaruani: Remember My Love(craft-sensei), the first Nyaruko anime series adaptation (even though the second adaptation was technically the one that people told me I should watch). This anime at least is guaranteed to have Cthulhu Mythos references in it. I'm sure it'll be very respectful of and attentive to Lovecraft canon.

Beyond the core conceit of them being cute anime girls (and occasionally, very effeminate anime boys) who are about as big anime-nerds as the viewers, I guess that could be true.

 

[TMS]

I was just joking, though probably you knew that. At any rate, I'll be able to form my first impression when I watch the first couple episodes tonight. Last night I read another volume of Excel Saga instead, since I'd been neglecting it for a while. As of volume 13, its plot is starting to kick into high gear, and a number of longstanding questions have begun to be answered (assuming Kabapu isn't a lunatic, as his employees seem to think). Its also started to get funnier again these last few volumes, after having dragged a bit the few before that. At its best, the manga is hilarious, and I laughed aloud a number of times last night. Definitely better than the anime.

 

[Unknown Neo]

Yay. You're watching Nyaruko. That's a fun show and there's a whole blog about the references.