Any anime fans?

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@unit00

It took me a while to realise that by Gankutsuou, you were referring to what I once knew as The King of The Cavern.

I believe the Geneon dub (later acquired by Funimation) went with the title of The Count of Monte Cristo as that's what the anime was based on.

Anyway, from what I recollect, it's an anime aimed at a very mature audience, rather similar to Monster. Not because there's any graphic content but because it's a heavily character-driven anime dealing with some very weighty exploration of human nature (true non-sexual desires, wrongful imprisonment, what is justice, etc, etc). But rather than 17th Century France (like the novel) as a setting, Gankutsuou takes place in a far-flung heavily stulised future where planet colonisation and deep space travel is commonplace.

Whilst I didn't see this project all the way through, I think it'll prove an intellectually-stimulating one if you go through with it --- and visually very exciting as Mashiro Maeda could go nuts (designer for Evangelion's Angels, vehicles for Nausicca, Laputa and Porco Rosso, animation director for that anime part of Kill Bill; Kill la Kill...) But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone wanting something more casual to watch - this is like the anime equivalent to those live-action period dramas like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, or Charles Dickens' The Olde Curiousity Shop (meaning you have to pay attention).

See what you think at any rate.

I'm an anime fan, first anime I think I remember seeing was Samurai Pizza Cats about 20+ years ago on ITV in the UK then later again on the Fox Kids channel then finally on DVD along with the seperate release of the original Japanese version on DVD as well

I love anime. I feel a little bit guilty and self conscious about hobbies like this, though. Since fans of things like anime or My Little Pony or things like that often get stereotyped as autistic. On a lot of anime communities people use autistic as an insult.

By being autistic, I feel like I'm helping to further the negative image of anime fans and help promote the stereotype of anime fans.
I've seen people say things like "I don't like anime fans, they're autistic and I don't want to be around creepy autistic people", and then an anime fan will say that "not all anime fans are nasty autistic people."

And then I feel sad. Like I'm a burden to any fandom I'm a part of and that I hurt them just by being around. I usually try to keep that I'm Autistic to myself to anime fans because of this. And some other fandoms, too. It feels sad to be closeted. But I feel like being outwardly autistic might hurt their communities.

@ RainbowFairy

Reading what you said and seeing your avatar of Kate Hoshimiya makes me feel like going into a Kate style speech about not needing to hide and that the people that make people have to hide who they are the ones who should hide. I am actually fairly likely to bring up my disability in the anime forum I frequent when I feel that it might have bearing to do with the show. Some people found it quite interesting that I was actively able to link Tomoko Kuroki's experiences to my problem, experiences that I was able to explain as quite reasonable.

The ones I interact with are not the type that demean people like that. Although some disputes often involving things like the term "Mary Sue" can get a little heated. A discussion on The World is Still Beautiful, which ended with people meeting the middle that the main character is a little too perfect but is still very likable.

Well, today I sat through six episodes of Selector Infected WIXOSS but I can't say I much liked it...

Being aware of spoilers here, the tone seemed... muddled to me. Like it wanted to be taken seriously and dark a-la Psycho-Pass, or Shinsekai Yori but then you have Misaki Kuno (Tama) and Ai Kayano (Hitoe) squeaking like kittens out of something like Lucky Star. Then there is Chinatsu Akasaki (Aki), Ayane Sakura (Yuzuki) and Ayako Kawasumi (Hayano) and the majority of the male seiyuus phoning it in as though on auto-pilot (re Modern Simpsons style). To be frank, I found myself muting large sections -- especially if Tama opened its mouth (I really don't like cutesy mewling voices) or when Aki was talking. I'm not sure if that's the way the character has been written, or it's the voice-director's fault or Chinatsu Akasaki herself isn't used to playing characters with large monologues. Regardless, Akasaki stuck out as literally an actor being paid to speak the character lines, rather than giving a genuine performance of being the character, if that makes sense?

In addition, for a show supposed to promote a relatively new card game, explanations pertaining to the game?s rules and stratagem to win were patchy. Even by the end of episode 4, I was still left none-the-wiser so with episode 5, I went in with the notion of viewing it like a novella and accepting events as they happened because that's what the production committee wanted, rather than it being much to do with the game or the skill of the players.

Unfortunately, the characterisation was fairly one-dimensional and trope-y; ie. agreeable girl with hidden power, quiet girl, idol-y girl,'doing it for only one reason that I must keep secret' girl, the cold calculating girl... it felt like a merger between Yu-Gi-Oh and those sort of harem-esque anime, minus the bland male protagonist to obsess over. Neither of which I personally like.

It's a shame because in places, Mari Okada's signature style of writing shines through wonderfully when dealing with the girls' mental anguish, and psychological manipulation (albeit at a very shallow level). Same case with Takuya Satō's interweaving of otherworldly influence intersecting through the (all-too-brief) glimpses of normal life and effects it has on the characters involved (though frustratingly, there didn't seem to be enough time for them to go into this, and the dark atmosphere was brought to the forefront rather early on).

But as a whole, I personally found WIXOSS to be as, if not more broken, than Bushiroad's later Vanguard series. There are some good elements but cancelled out by the bad. Chiefly, the very choppy pacing (the story felt like it was written to be longer than the 12 episodes it was budgeted for; regardless, J.C. Staff are still trying to cram it all in), pedestrian animation and art-setting (I found myself liking the backgrounds far more than Kentaro Akiyama's character designs) and on-the-rails voice-acting (maybe it'll sound better dubbed?)

I would recommend this series for people who enjoy watching cute girls do stuff, without worrying about the why's, who's or where's per se. Sort of like a far less gory, far less confusing version of Higurashi. Maybe that's why Funimation went straight for it, as there aren't many anime like WIXOSS out now? (sort of)

But if you go in like I did, expecting a new Black Rock Shooter or Madoka, prepare to be somewhat disappointed - WIXOSS is unfortunately a missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, people are entitled to give things a go and make up their their own mind, right? See what you think for yourself, and if you enjoy it, then good for you. If not, then never mind.

It is actually going to have 24 episodes, well a second season coming apparently according to Wikipedia which is using ANN (link).

As for cuteness, I really don't find Tama cute, in fact I find her to be a kind of play on the whole moe mascot thing. And I don't think they are as one-dimensional as you describe them. Ruuko maybe the agreeable type, but against it she get a big thrill out of the battles that she does not have much of a stake in. Idol character is quite terrible as she may have killed a girl, staying away from being possible friend, but not sophisticated enough to be a true villain.

more than halfway through with bokurano. blankcanvas you were right when you said it gets darker. sometimes i'll have to pause an episode halfway through because i'm learning to dread the inevitable thing that happens at the end of most of them.

i'll definitely be adding fantastic children and gankutsuou to my 'to watch' list.

also i started cyber city oedo 808, to balance out bokurano.
length: three 45-min long episodes
plot: 3 ex-convicts are given an offer - join the police force and keep the local crime in check. for every criminal they catch, their sentence gets reduced. (note: the lowest sentence of the three is just below 300 years. impressive?) if they fail however, they get their heads blown off via futuristic neck collar.

not the most original, but it's fun to watch if you're into early 90s sci-fi. the main characters are likable, story isn't complicated (so far), i'm enjoying it.

Very true, you make a very valid point about Ruuko. In WIXOSS's defence, I found her to be okay to follow and Ai Kakuma is doing very well in her first lead character role. In fact, Ruuko reminds me of a modern-day version of Misaki Suzuhara from Angelic Layer, which I really quite enjoyed. Ruuko slowly started getting fleshed out over the course of the series, though I found some her actions a wee bit difficult to swallow (like how is it she's so procifient at WIXOSS so quickly, especially as she didn't know the rules initially? Why was she suddenly okay with Yuzuki invading her home life when they barely knew each other at that point?)

It's just a shame I didn't like the pacing; things happened far too fast for me and though certain events occured that were meant to be shocking, they rang somewhat hollow? I was either confused by the lack of exposition (re: the card fights, especially between Yuzuki and Aki), or the haphazard character-writing (I felt a little for Hitoe, because that was written well but I couldn't get myself to care about Yuzuki, Aki or Inou at all; nor the typical 'brother' characters). And with Ruuko going on a regular basis about how cute Tama is (along with Tama's voice and cutesy basic grasp of speaking), I'm afraid I can't quite agree with you on Tama satirising the moe aspect. At least not so far based on what I've seen.

Maybe I'm just not used to this sort of plot-driven style of show where character writing is somewhat sacrificed to keep the story moving; I had the same problems with Legend of Korra also...

Still, in your favour, WIXOSS has been drip-feeding hints of a very dark turn in events so maybe it won't do a Higurashi and wait an enitre season to answer questions, but instead address things in the second half of this one? * I won't be watching but I hope there's a lot of merit and pay-off for people who remain committed.

* I'm astounded this is 24 episodes long - I was given the impression it was 12, especially with how fast things have moved. Unless they're planning to do it as a two-cour series? (two instalments of 12 episodes, aka A-1 Pictures-style?)

Perhaps you are more like Kate Hoshimiya than I am.

I am a disgrace to my Kate Hoshimiya avatar!

I have a feeling it will work into a sort of Mato Kuroi sort of thing where she may look totally normal on the outside, but the people around her notice that there is something strange about her. In Mato's case it was that she did not hate anyone, and in Ruuko's it is connected to what distances her from most people, what scared her mother, and what is reflected in Tama that scares Ruuko.

If you watch you would notice that each card represents their master's wish: Super confident in her decisions, outgoing and friendly, stoic like the rival, and the rival is quite terrifying that we don't know yet. But Ruuko has no wish, but from developments we see that she just wants to play some games or to battle, it is this innocence outside yet underneath terror of crushing people just to satisfy the thirst. It might actually work into some part at a level Ruuko likes things that entertain her despite the friendship talks she has, this isn't just over analysis there are huge hints towards it and people getting kind of spooked by her.

I don't think the show also wants to focus on the actual card battles, the characters won from outside practicing of the game that we have seen a little of, and their emotions are their last barrier.

All I would have going is I am not too bad at speaking in public.

And I just watched the 7th episode of WIXOSS, lets just say I am quite close with the themes as it is relevant, and has gotten quite dark.

I'm afraid you've confused with me with "card representing the master's wish," part; I didn't see that sort of link between the girls and their other cards (other than Tama being Ruuko's opposite, personality-wise).

But hey, it's a non-issue for me now, even if I had continued viewing it like a novella. Regardless, the main thing is that you continue to enjoy WIXOSS and not let external influences (especially me) dictate your perception or interpretation.

So VIZ Media confirmed they've obtained all the rights to Sailor Moon within the US, including the original series (to be re-dubbed and released on Hulu and Bluray) and the upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... -franchise and http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... stal-anime

I don't know how to react...

Would anyone here recommend Kill La kill? I've heard great things about it, but I'm not sure what I think of it first-impression wise.

Then again, I wasn't too keen on Attack on Titan either because I thought it was pretty violent at first, but I eventually came around.

I did not really like Kill la Kill at first, but I ended up finding it to be awesome. It might at first feel that a lot of it is making sexual jokes and showing a lot of skin, but what is all about is being comfortable in your own skin, that humans can be odd and that is totally fine. Mix this with a heroine that is as hot blooded and awesome as male character, along with some great music.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=tmgA3moScyA[/youtube]
I have the personal opinion of the show being much deeper than it may seem on the surface, occasionally looking like things are random that anything can happen with characters, it is actually more of characters all follow rules set by their character type, and when they change it.