What Anime and Animation are you currently watching?

[hitmouse]

Watched over Christmas:
The Boy and the Beast. Fun mismatched duo coming of age story. The kids enjoyed it and so did I.
Your Name. One of the highest grossing Japanese films last year, apparently. Slightly odd (to Western eyes perhaps) low key romantic story of adolescent body swapping between a Tokyo boy and a country girl, with time travel thrown in. The story is skilfully told. Beautiful animation. The kids were a bit nonplussed at the ending.

Both of these are free to watch on Amazon Prime TV.

Summer Wars. Completely brilliant, absolutely bonkers, and a massive hit in our house. Think Japanese anime teenage romance/family comedy (pretty girl convinces awkward computer nerd to go home with her in the college holidays to pretend to be her boyfriend, in order to get her family off her back) set in the countryside, combined with a Matrix/Neuromancer type story, where the Earth needs to be saved. Fantastic animation. Best anime I have seen for a while.

 

[Jeffbert]

Just finished Recovery of an MMO Junkie, 12 episodes. It is about two people who meet as characters in a game & fall in love.

 

[Talysia]

Currently having a look at Sengoku Musou. It's nice to watch a bit of historical anime, even if it is a bit of a loose adaptation.

 

[Jeffbert]

I have watched quite a few anime since my last post. Lupin series 4 & in the midst of series 5. Another Lupin title, this one about Fujiko Mine; a short series, about 12 or 13 episodes.

Enjoying Black Clover & My Hero Academia, but these are relatively new series, and not enough content is available for my voracious appetite. Started My Hero Academia on Adult Swim, then continued on Crunchyroll. about 60 episodes currently available there.

Not anime, but watched a few Ultraman series on CR; currently watching U Mebius.

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches So far, the guy accidentally kissed a girl as they both tumbled down the HS stairway, & they switched bodies. I think there was a Disney film decades ago, in which the mom & daughter switch bodies; I never saw it. This series is fun!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Your Name.
great film, dodgy DVD. Light bars and shadows all over the thing

 

[Jeffbert]

Just started watching SOUTHPARK on HULU. I really enjoyed the parody of Star Trek's DAGGER OF THE MIND. There was also an episode that had a red shirt kid meet the fate common to many similarly attired guys.

 

[Scookey]

Just started watching SOUTHPARK on HULU. I really enjoyed the parody of Star Trek's DAGGER OF THE MIND. There was also an episode that had a red shirt kid meet the fate common to many similarly attired guys.

Southpark the Movie, remains the only film I have ever seen in a cinema where the entire audience burst out laughing. The inspiration was the song "Shut your (something) face (something, something)." It still brings a smile even thinking about it.
Totally outrageous series, especially for Kenny (who dies in every episode) but raised some good points too. Like the episode where the internet went down everywhere and people walked around like zombies or met their online chat friends in person and had no clue how to talk face to face. Quite a comment on the times we live in - especially for those with kids...

 

[HareBrain]

I recently watched Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, which I bought without any prior knowledge because it looked like it might be quite fun and the art looked good.

The set-up is one that apparently is now a trope, though I wasn't aware of it before, where a bunch of teenagers from this world are transported to a game world. In this case they have no knowledge of their previous lives, and six no-hopers (like being picked last for school sports) form a party and have to kill goblins to make enough money to survive. The first battles, where they have trouble bringing even a solitary goblin down and find killing it upsetting as well as dangerous, feel quite realistic, but the whole thing then becomes repetitive, loses any moral questioning, and there are some truly annoying aspects to the relationships within the party. Shame, as it seemed promising at first. I'd be interested if anyone can recommend anything similar but which doesn't have its flaws.

 

[Jeffbert]

I started watching Mob Psycho 100 on Adult Swim, then switched to CRUNCHYROLL. The 8th episode was extremely violent! Already CR is carrying the 2nd season.

 

[WarriorMouse]

Time Team
on Youtube.

 

[AnnWanges]

I'm currently watching Dororo series, It's an extremely realistic anime and I like the atmosphere of that historic time. I've always been in love with Japanise culture and Samurai's time, I'm eager to learn Japanise so badly.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

April & The Extraordinary World.

Really good. For steampunk fans, and fans of high quality animation.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Time Team
on Youtube.

I watched all the Roman TV series episodes last year - I'm currently watching through the specials touching on anything before the Tudor period. Just watched Special 22, about Dinnington Roman Villa. Have also downloaded the archaeology report on it.

 

[picklematrix]

I've almost finished season 3 of Bojack horseman.
Very well done show.

 

[Jeffbert]

I'm currently watching Dororo series, It's an extremely realistic anime and I like the atmosphere of that historic time. I've always been in love with Japanise culture and Samurai's time, I'm eager to learn Japanise so badly.

I still need to view the season finale. I have the B&W version on DVD, though just learning to read Japanese. Interesting to compare the two. In the new version Tahomaru, Hyakkimaru's younger brother, who is ignorant of an elder brother, is not the total jerk he was in either the manga or the anime. Lord Daigo Kagemitsu the father of both, has taken credit for bringing prosperity to the area; though, people assume he did it legitimately. Surrounding areas are suffering from drought.

Some of the stories are new, most are old. All are good!

So, I just finished Mob Psycho s2. Sad about only 12 eps, though.

Watching Southpark s6; Fairytail final season; One Piece (it just goes on, forever!); My Hero Academia, ran out of episodes; Radiant, like this series! It has both drama and humor, but, already ran out of eps! Others, but cannot recall titles.

 

[L.L.Lotte]

At the moment:

Fairy Tail: The final season of this show, been with it from the beginning and will be sad to see it go, but it's been an epic, fun ride. Fantastic, memorable characters, the plot is consistent, even filler episodes develop the main storyline. There is so much emotion in this show that it makes me cry numerous times, especially when the Dragon Force theme song is playing in the background; those scenes are always powerful.

Black Clover: This show was only supposed to be 50 episodes, but it has been so successful that it has become mainstream. It's the new Fairy Tail. So similar. You can tell the author took inspiration from Fairy Tail when creating it. It even revolves around the same theme of family and how friendships make you stronger. The MC is really annoying, especially at the beginning, but after awhile he calms down. It's the rest of the Black Bulls that makes this show great.

Attack on Titan: this show is back, answers are finally being given and progress made. They've toned down on the shock tactics of the first season and instead focusing on plot, which is fantastic. This show is another one that has been a runaway success. Very few non-mainstream anime end up getting more than one season. This anime has gone for 3 seasons now and will likely get a 4th before it is done. For awhile, and still does to some extent, this anime feels like GoT; no character is safe.

Fairy Gone: this is a unique show. It mixes a world war 2 style setting with spirit possessed super soldiers. Great action, fantastic soundtrack. Definitely worth watching.

Demon Slayer: PA Works is the studio behind this anime, so straight away you know it is going to be good. Strong animation, great characters, and a powerful story premise.

Dororo: This anime is so raw and heartfelt. Hyakkimaru has had such a hard time you can't help but feel for him. It is great to see him slowly recover what was taken from him and the new experiences he gets to explore. Dororo is such a lovable and supportive character. I will miss this one when it finishes in the next few weeks.

Rise of the Shield Hero: Sometimes this anime makes me really angry that I want to punch my TV. It is full of injustice that makes you want to hate the world and all the people in it. But being capable of envoking that anger means this is actually a good anime. It's derivative in that its another isekai (main character from another world) but where this show gets it right while the majority of other isekai fail, is that the MC isn't grossly overpowered. The characters start from the bottom and struggle to work their way up. The MC is pretty much fighting against the whole world just to survive.

There are others that I'm watching but they aren't worth mentioning. Fairy Gone and Demon Slayer are the two fresh anime (that started a couple of weeks ago) that are definitely worth picking up. All the rest worth watching are carry overs from previous seasons. You can't go wrong watching any of the anime in the list above.

 

[L.L.Lotte]

I recently watched Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, which I bought without any prior knowledge because it looked like it might be quite fun and the art looked good.

The set-up is one that apparently is now a trope, though I wasn't aware of it before, where a bunch of teenagers from this world are transported to a game world. In this case they have no knowledge of their previous lives, and six no-hopers (like being picked last for school sports) form a party and have to kill goblins to make enough money to survive. The first battles, where they have trouble bringing even a solitary goblin down and find killing it upsetting as well as dangerous, feel quite realistic, but the whole thing then becomes repetitive, loses any moral questioning, and there are some truly annoying aspects to the relationships within the party. Shame, as it seemed promising at first. I'd be interested if anyone can recommend anything similar but which doesn't have its flaws.

I too was disappointed with Grimgar, and while it wasn't the worst example of those type of anime, it did fail to live up to the potential it showed. It could have been something great but fell short of the mark.

Yes it is a trope. Its refered to in Japanese as: Isekai.

Sword Art Online started the trend and every season since then has had an anime with a similar premise. It's like when Twilight became a success then hundreds of YA vampire novels popped up all over the place. SAO was a blockbuster hit and everybody else wanted to get in on the action.

Almost all isekai anime are bad, and while Rise of the Shield Hero isn't perfect, its still has a lot more potential than 99% of the isekai out there. The next closest to that would be Starting in Another World Other Than Zero.

Even the original, Sword Art Online, had its problems, but I still feel the anime was worth watching. And if you can make it through the weak second and third season of SAO, the latest one; Sword Art Online: Alicization is a huge improvement and definitely worth watching.

If you like comedy, then there is also KonoSuba, although that anime is a love hate situation.

If what you are most interested in is the game aspect of isekai, and don't mind ecchi, then you could try DanMachi. It's been successful enough to have both a spinoff and an upcoming second season.

 

[Jeffbert]

Just started watching KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS; which is an anime Zombie-type apocalypse involving heavily armored trains transporting people between 'secure' train stations, while the zombie-types are mostly mindlessly feeding-frenzied cannibals. Two teens, a boy and girl have the strength of the Kabane (zombies) but retain their human reason. That is, until they hunger -- for blood! Most of the humans are reluctant to trust them, so there is that element of friction, no, better to say conflict.

The humans are behaving like scared rabbits, clawing each other, trying to escape the onslaught of Kabane. In some ways, they are no better than the Kabane.

So far, I have watched the 1st 4 episodes (on PRIME).

 

[L.L.Lotte]

KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS was a great anime. It is supposed to be getting a second season, but there has yet to be any confirmation on that. Instead they did another movie. The next season is rumoured now to be a follow up to the movie.

 

[Jeffbert]

sO THE MOVIE PICKS UP, WHERE S1 ENDS?