Fall 2014 Anime Season

I found my brother watching Cross Ange the other day. Not interested in mecha or fanservice, but holy crap the soundtrack is amazing. Makes me almost want to watch it for the music alone. Almost.

I'm not sure where to post this but...I gave World Trigger some flack for being slow, but now I've learned it's fifty episodes the pacing makes a bit more sense.

Man, when was the last time there was a new fifty episode anime that wasn't Pretty Cure?

It always amuses me how some series can polarize opinion. There is all the negativity about Cross Ange here and then you get others like this blog post that are quite positive. To quote the blog:

This is the TV Tropes forums you can not enjoy anything. This place loves to rip things apart, objectify each piece, and cynically bash the hell out of it for any perceived flaw.

Go look at the Nisekoi, UQ Holder, or any number of other threads for large examples, it's been pages since anything positive was said.

edited 15th Dec '14 9:52:33 AM by Memers

Cross Ange is entertaining. Anyone still watching it at this point probably agrees. That doesn't make it good, as train wrecks can easily be fun to watch without being good. That being said I don't think Cross Ange is a train wreck, since that would imply it was ever on rails to begin with. I do prefer it to Psycho Pass 2 though, if only because Cross Ange isn't ruining a previously good show.

Personally, I think CA is both good and bad, and not in a So Bad, It's Good way. The production values are quite good overall. It's mostly well animated, and the OST is generally pleasing. The plot and characterization are well done, though naturally there are some plot holes. Having an honest dick for a main character is refreshing. The pacing seems about right thus far. I think the producers are creating exactly what they set out to create and are getting the reactions they want as well. So in that sense the show is a success.

For the bad, the writing frequently sucks. It has its moments, but a lot of the dialogue is eye-rolling at best. If you want traditionally likeable characters, then your options are limited to Vivian and Momoka, and even Momoka is questionable. Then there's the fanservice and fetish pandering, but those lead into what keeps CA from being actually good. The show dose not have potential brought down by too much fanservice and the like. That would imply that stuff is removable while also making the show the same. But it's not. Those elements are coded into its DNA just as much as the mechs and everyone being an ass. But those elements, which help give the show its identity, also make it, well offensive to put it lightly. That doesn't mean the show doesn't have other merits that can't be appreciated, but it does mean there is too much wrong with it on a fundamental level to even reach Code Geass status.

TLDR, it's interesting to watch and does have it's strong points, but no one should be surprised that it's frequently bashed because it was always made to be bashed. It's a trashy show given a large budget. If you can go into it with that mindset, you'll come out alright.

Basically, what's actually happening tends to be quite interesting, and may even make sense given enough time. I mean, yes the plot is nonsensical, but it's decently well set-up and actually seems to be going somewhere with its premise. I don't expect a better lesson than "racism is bad", but at least they're doing something with it. It may easily fall apart in future episodes, but the plot itself seems to know where it's going. Stuff like the sudden police beating may be funny in its execution, but it does get its main point across.

As for the characterization, all the main characters have a defined personality. Ange is a royal dick that takes advantage of anything that she can, but does show some care for people that are nice to her. Momoka is loyal to a fault, but she is given a reason. Salia is hard working due to the conditions she grew up in. Hilda is extremely selfish, and so on. The dialogue isn't great, but the overall meaning of it and who these people are is generally understandable.

That's how I see it at least. I can understand not seeing that in this though.

A.K.A. Tominospeak, but worse

edited 15th Dec '14 11:22:10 AM by Logograph

Season is slowly coming to an end.

Danna ga nani... (Dannaken): strong disappointment. Had a sort of comedic energy in the beginning, all joy got sucked out of it in favor of attempts at feels and drama that cannot be well-established during the show's 3-minute runs. The pregnancy subplot was outright dropped (was the doctor just scaring her into abandoning smoking) and we still don't have an answer to the main question: how did these very different people end up together?

F/SN Unlimited Blade Works: Overall satisfied with how Ufotable handles things, slightly disappointed with some of the characterization scenes being thrown out, odd pacing issues. Fate/Stay Night is very hard to adapt to screen in any reasonable time, and they are doing a decent job so far.

Inou Battle: very pleasantly surprised. I jumped into this show expecting nothing and got a very pleasant romance/comedy show that manages to keep me at the edge of the seat. Though the rant in Episode 7 was sadly spoiled to me in an off-hand link, I would have been floored by it even more.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san: Got just what I expected. Decent unusual comedy show, though with a little bit too much focus on gender-bending perhaps.

Amagi Brilliant Park: 9/10 it's okay - IGN. Kind of all over the place, but very pretty and very pleasantly erotic for lack of another word.

My motto for watching anime continues to hold true: watch everything expecting nothing, you will be sometimes pleasantly surprised and never disappointed.

edited 15th Dec '14 3:41:10 PM by lazybanshee

Meh. I am enjoying CA so far. Not an outstanding series but it is better than the expectation I have for it.

Don't laugh, Akiko Shikata was actually my main reason for watching it initially. And I may not be the only one. Or I may be… >.<

Otherwise, well, I mostly agree with Sterok on the qualities and flaws of the show.

… by the way, is it a 25 episode series? I was pretty sure it was going to be 12 or 13 episodes but after seeing episode 11, that's gonna be difficult, unless they rush it like crazy…

Then again, the FSN VN has an odd pacing overall… but yeah, it feels like after 10 episodes, not that much has happened… I think they are trying to be too faithful to the source material, personally.

edited 16th Dec '14 1:27:16 AM by Lyendith

Cross Ange is 2-cour, yes. And, seriously, just get a mod to reopen the thread

There are rather interesting worldbuilding and characterization scenes that get outright thrown out in favor of spending half an episode on a complete red herring in ep09 for instance.

Apart from some pacing things the FSN adaptation is kind of messing up the power scale, which bugs me. It's going to either destroy the impact of later scenes (Berserker) or make us wonder why Shirou can suddenly stand up to Kuzuki after he flattened Saber.

CA episode 12: All Dragons are human now, k.

Is the ring Jill had the same one on Ange's finger? I swear they were the same color in Tusk's flashback but somehow red in Jill's flashback.

And now you know you were killing humans all along! *puff*

edited 20th Dec '14 4:36:26 PM by KnightofNASA

"I don't hate my life here, you know." Well, you just had to say it.

Unsurprising (hell, it's even lampshaded as such!) but relatively well done. Jill narrating the whole stuff as a tale, with "masu" forms and all, was a bit funny too. I liked the end of the episode.

Does sunlight count as Scenery Censor, by the way?

I don't see how they could be the same, since she says she lost it.

edited 21st Dec '14 6:04:26 AM by Lyendith

In my opinion, Cross Ange is awful. The pacing is awfully slow, I don't enjoy most of the fanservice and some of them are just unnecessary, the racism is too ridiculous, most of the characters are too unlikable, I don't really care the action scenes and the dragons are bori...... what do you mean that dragons actually have some depth?! Now that's worse! Also, why the hell did Ange gets a cold for staying on a hot water after having a fight with Salia? There's steam, so it's hot water!

While I can't see why peoples like Cross Ange. But if they like it, that's fine. I noticed that outside of Tv tropes community, many peoples seems to considered it excellent. CA is has a Love It or Hate It relationship here.

Oh yeah, what do you think about Hilda. Given the fact that she's on the Ensemble Dark Horse entry on CA page. Personally, while she's does have a somewhat sympathetic backstory, I found her actions doesn't match her backstory at all.

edited 21st Dec '14 6:33:27 AM by flamemario12

Where do you find love for this series? I can only find hate and/or So Bad, It's Good type love.

Hilda wanted a better life whether by escaping or achieving a better rank in Arzenal. And she is bitter and ruthless enough to do anything to achieve her goals.

I'm pretty sure you can get a cold by staying too long in hot water actually. Difference of temperature, and stuff. Also, regarding the pace, I rather find it too fast, if anything (in the early episodes, especially)…

I refuse to believe there is anything that can love Cross Ange.

Watch it without subs first and missed it. Still, they could be the same ring. Shitty that Jill didn't tell Salia that you have to have special bloodline to pilot Vilkiss.

r/anime seems to like it.

Why?

There are people who enjoy CA a lot, myself included.

I look forward to each new episode for how silly it can get.

Never disappoints. Vivian dragon a cutie.

Cross Ange is Cross Ange. If nothing else, you can watch it for the next apple pie of shame or Crisis on Infinite Anges. Politics stuff. Guess Hilda is in charge now. They are really screwed if she's in charge. Can't be worse than Salia though. Backstory stuff. Not much to comment on. Vivian is a dragon. Humans being dragons really should've been anticipated considering the succubus last episode. I maintain that Vivian is honestly likeable. Now Ange gets to be angry again. Time for the cleansing to begin.