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Spring Anime 2015 |OT2| Euriphonium

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This show blows

Fy1P875.jpg


(found the img after all)
 
DANMACHI - 09

Damn hestia still reign surpreme on the reaction and gimmicks.


That subtle relationship with trust and teasing is excellent.

Also , BEST friend 2015 edition:

She can be my friend any day of the week.
as everyone should know , don't look down to the owner of the bar..

Great episode.
Bell got some cheat code , this is gonna be good.
 

cajunator

Banned
Yuri is overrated anyway.

Love Live S2



Better than S1 in almost everything (other than face reaction). That being said while it quite decent. Is kinda lack everything that make it really special other than cute girl doing cute thing.

Idolmaster is better IMO

Yeah Love Live is a lot better than initially expected but Idolmaster is a tier above.

It's kinda scary how close this picture is to your avatar from Gatchaman lol. Had their eyes been the same colour and I would totally say they are the same character.

Please dont insult Hajime like that :(
 
Oh hey, new thread!

Even without yuri bait, i'm still going to watch Hibike, because sensei is awesome and i want to see more of him.
Mad Max: Fury Road (not yet out in Japan)

Show is awesome. This show taking the best part from Road Warrior and thunderdoom, and applied modern cinema technique to it. And there's a dude rocking with a guitar that fire flamethrower on top of huge car equipped with huge ass amp. Great car chase, easy to understand plot, and boy, shit is craaaaaazy


It was pretty badly written with no background exposition to make me care for the leads
why they kill best character, his newfound hope was inspiring, I teared up
but the explosions and high climax action was great so it was worth the 8.50$ cost of admission on today.
 
Can somebody tell me if Seraph of the End is decent?

And isn't saying it because of pretty boys goggles? lol

But that is part of its goodness.

In any case I would take the criticisms from people with a very large grain of salt, as the writing puts it in a league of its own and the unique story with vampires makes it one of those rare definitive anime in years.
 

Jarmel

Banned
FSN UBW-21
What this episode confirmed is that this series indeed the sequel to Fate/Zero despite the staff saying they weren't going to make one. Gilgamesh's stuff is a straight expansion to Fate/Zero and actually helps explain the ending in Fate/Zero more.
Part of the problem with this episode is that it feels like the staff is rehashing information already provided in the previous episode, only in a less dynamic manner. Archer's stuff feels really lazy in comparison to Shirou's and so if they were going to go this route, they should have spiced up his scenes. The storyboarding is sort of questionable in that for example Rin wandering the hallway feels completely unnecessary and is a waste of time and pacing. Saber's scene of looking at her past self could have been better integrated into the scene. Not to mention Saber's dialogue was clunky as fuck and redundant.

Nozomu Abe's cut was pretty damn good but that's par for him at this point. This soundtrack is complete shit btw. EMIYA was a complete step down from Last Stardust. Wasn't worth the hype at all.

Oh and congrats Shinji, you are a winner!

 

faridmon

Member
I really liked Tomorrowland. The action setpieces alone made it worthwhile, although I can see why anyone would be down on it. It wasn't well written one, although it got me a few chuckles here and there.

Remember when people say KyoAni is dead after Hyouka?

Its still dead.

Although, Chuu brought it back ever so slightly from the dead, and this happened!
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
The DEEN version of the fight was far superior to the ufotable version as odd as that sounds. They botched the single most hype fight of this route with a shit ton of redundant dialogue and pacing that is slower than Endless Eight. The fuck is this bullshit. They could've easily made this in to an amazing two part sequence going over Archer and Shirou's contradictory belief while fighting but it's fight then talk and fight then talk again and again and again. Who the fuck thought this was a great idea.

The music was also shit.
 
hallofe5joh.png


Cornbread mounted a commendable challenge but alas, he faced insurmountable odds.

I don't understand how I end up with so many posts

*KyoAni does Free!*

"Man fuck you KyoAni, I don't want no pandering same sex service!"

*KyoAni does Hibike!Euphonium! with a hint of Yuri*

"ZOMG MOAR PLEASE!!"

Were people really like that when Free! was announced? I always took that as a joke. And I think Free! is pushing it's angle harder then Euphonium imo
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
FSN

I think this episode showed very clearly what was wrong with the last episode. The ending to the fight really needed to be in the same episode with the talky stuff.
 
Boring Memories - 09

This episode was tough to get through, my mind kept wandering off. If it weren't for Zack's smug comments and expressions I'd probably have turned it off.
They had a pretty cool setup with the pilot, and it turned into snooze romance I give zero shits about. I believed they would've focus on the drama of the retrievals, but I guess that's what faith gives you. Disappointment.
 
is Sky Crawlers really bad? What makes it bad? Looked interesting to me back when I had watched Last Exile.

Yeah, I just didn't enjoy it when I first watched it, it just felt very slow. I was expecting something along the lines of an action film which wasn't the case. The dogfights that were in the film were very well done and are another good example of CG being used well.
 

Phatmac

Member
I think they'd sticking too close to the VN or maybe they spent all their money on the next fight. Overall I'm happy with the clash of ideals but it kept repeating several aspects of it instead of creating some more compelling scenes to further develop the fight. Loved Rin's smile with Shirou. Rewatching the first season I really like the scenes with Shirou and Rin. They have better overall chemistry than saber and Shirou. Next week it's dolphin time. Get hype.
 
Boring Memories - 09

This episode was tough to get through, my mind kept wandering off. If it weren't for Zack's smug comments and expressions I'd probably have turned it off.
They had a pretty cool setup with the pilot, and it turned into snooze romance I give zero shits about. I believed they would've focus on the drama of the retrievals, but I guess that's what faith gives you. Disappointment.

I definetely agree with you, especially with the bolded line, however that twist at the ending of htis episode was enough to keep me interested.

I´d like to believe that this show still has a chance of redeeming itself, regardless of the fact that we are in the final stretch now.
 

Arabesque

Member
This soundtrack is complete shit btw. EMIYA was a complete step down from Last Stardust. Wasn't worth the hype at all.

The music was also shit.

Kenji Kawai: tomcruiselaugh.jpg

i honestly thought it was okay for the most part, and the placement was better than early on in the show, but yeah this just isn't a strong OST

The DEEN version of the fight was far superior to the ufotable version as odd as that sounds.

Probably because the DEEN version focused more on the actual fighting and less on all the pretentious talking. Guess the limited time of a single film did help afterall.

I think that overall, there were a lot of great ideas presented (trying to mirror Saber's life with Archer/Shirou's while bring her narrative arc from Zero to a close, the symbolism, the changing scenery in UBW and the fragility of the blades etc) and the core itself is pretty okay (sacrificing yourself for an altruistic goal is not a mistake, because working to improve the human condition is a noble thing to strive for) but much like it was in the Visual Novel, it's just brought down by the execution of it. There might have been a chance had the entire anime been re-written to be more compelling, but as it stands, the faults of the Visual Novel are being amplified by the faults in the adaptation.

Pretty cool looking fight though (whenever they fought anyway). Still have no clue why they seem to be trying to push for Archer's past to be the same as from Fate/Extra given that makes no sense, but okay. Cross promotion and all that.
 

Tuck

Member
Plastic Memories - 9
Orange hair is such a bitch.

Tsusaka's reaction at the beginning was hilarious.

Did not appreciate the nudey magazine.

Zack is hilarious.

Isla in a bunny suit wf haha

Blondie is into some weird sex stuff, I bet.
 
From the New World 15


This episode wasn’t quite as strong as those that preceded it, due to its detrimentally transitional nature, but the consistently exemplary writing elevated it considerably, resulting in a surprisingly dense episode, as several intriguing developments were cleverly foreshadowed. Though the narrative was thoroughly compelling, the episode was, by itself, rather oddly paced. The beginning, in particular, was quite tedious and ultimately immaterial. The bleakly oppressive atmosphere that has permeated the story throughout is seemingly nearing it‘s crescendo, as a myriad of disparate, yet equally foreboding threads are gradually being woven together, establishing significant potential for a nihilistic conclusion. Not simply for this singular arc, which certainly seems to be inevitable at this point, but for the story as a whole. Of course, the final arc could tell a separate story altogether, but, as each episode passes, a relatively pleasant ending appears to be an increasingly unlikely proposition.

My favorite sequence in this episode was the surrealistic depiction of the
Queen’s descent into a debilitating madness
, which was notably heightened in effectiveness by
Squealer’s cruelly enlightening explanation
that accompanied it. His reasoning for
isolating and subsequently preserving the nearly lifeless corpse of their once-revered Queen
provided excellent insight into their society’s newly adopted hierarchy, as they appear
thoroughly determined to ascend past the decaying mortals that once enslaved them
.


Satoru’s characterization continues to develop quite well. Rather than relying on an ill-advised naivety, he quickly realized that
Squealer’s carefully measured words and his intentions don’t appear to be aligned
. The most substantive example of his elevated awareness was illustrated by his ominous declaration that the
queerats might be attempting to replace humans
. This sentiment serves as a fairly insightful and unsettling foreshadowing of the potential conflicts that could arise as the story, most notably the third and final act, unfolds. More to the point, a proper understanding of their reality has been gradually awakening within each of the main characters from the beginning, so the natural development of this theme is very satisfying to observe. Saki, on the other hand, hasn’t been quite as astute, which was especially evident by her inability to understand that the
queerats aren’t mere beasts in her attempts to rationalize their disturbing revolt against the queen
. Hopefully she eventually sheds this well-worn trait.

Squealer’s reappearance was one of the most effective moments in the episode, as he continues to be a surprisingly fascinating character, perhaps the most intriguing of them all, due, in large part, to his perpetually indistinct motivations. Once again,
his manipulative tendencies were subtly illustrated immediately following Saki and Satoru’s unassuming query concerning the Goat Moth Colony
. Daisuke Namikawa’s voice work is particularly impressive, notable in his ability to convey the myriad of intentionally deceptive affectations that Squealer exhibits.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this episode was the quietly unsettling evolution of the Robber Fly Colony. This was most effectively depicted by Squealers tour through their colony. The humanistic transition between the earth hovels the queerats once occupied and the industrial construct of their current society was expertly illustrated. This dichotomy was smartly encapsulated by the culmination of their tour. Rather than
the Queen’s nest serving as the all-encompassing center of the colony as it once did, there now looms, instead, an imposing assembly hall wrought solely of concrete. No longer beholden to their once-revered queen, the queerats have chosen sixty elders to represent the 8,000 inhabitants. The structure of their society is rapidly evolving into one that is strikingly similar to that which the human Elders had once designed. Even now, the queerats have fashioned themselves a legitimate democracy and, if accurately foreshadowed, an army of 18,000 or so
. It‘s really rather impressive. It will be interesting to discover how exactly this element will unfold, as they could very easily devise the same ruination that the humans are currently experiencing.


The direction was fairly competent, but noticeably lacking in regards to distinctive imagery. It also possessed a distracting tendency for excessive close-ups, which is certainly an overly common flaw, but a very unnecessary one. The storyboarding, on the other hand, was one of the stronger aspects of an otherwise poorly produced episode, weakened only by several stale transitions. The music remains superbly atmospheric, consistently accentuating the whispers of despair that linger around every corner of the story. Of particular note was the beautifully ominous selection that accompanied Saki and Satoru’s discomfiting approach toward the assembly hall.

The Robber Fly Colony was beautifully designed, providing a rather unique diversion from the fairly unimaginative visuals that have pervaded the last two episodes. The wintry environments are considerably effective at emphasizing the hopelessness of their ordeal and the deafening isolation that is slowly ensnaring them.

All in all, this was a reasonably enjoyable, yet largely unspectacular, episode, detrimentally affected, most of all, by occasionally lethargic pacing and mediocre direction. Although quite interesting, due to a plethora of foreboding narrative implications and, of course, Squealer’s undeniably glorious return, this episode’s uneventful and evidently transitional nature undercut much of its intended effectiveness. The narrative, on the other hand, remains refreshingly well-written and effortlessly captivating. As such, the closing scene established immensely compelling potential for the conclusion to this arc, as
the mysterious letter Saki and Satoru received
should prove quite revelatory.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Man, way too many posts in the last thread, I need to slow down quite a bit. Still have a bunch of stuff to watch once all these games ate done and I can relax, lol.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
UBW 21

This shit is madly offensive. Fuck this.

Strap in. We have dolphins coming, then madness. The roller coaster begins now.

FSN: UBW 21


What a disgustingly predictable end to the Archer-Shirou conundrum.

Gilga, like Dio, doesn't amount too much besides "buhahaha I'm evil and I want to kill people" but in a show like this, it's probably better this way. Like Dio, at least he has presence and an entertaining way of showing off his dickery. Though the n-th time he put off the showdown because "reasons" sucks. I enjoyed learning bits of new info about the grail though I'm confused on how this meshes with things we learned in F/Z. ( F/Z spoilers )
Angra Maiyu where art thou ?

Wrong arc. Wait for Heaven's Feel.
 

PK Gaming

Member
I know we're definitely, totally, completely beyond the Eupho episode 8 thing, but I found a pretty good writeup on the situation.
The Kumiko/Reina discussion has turned from a simple “I want them to be together because I ship them” debate, into one of how homosexual relationships are represented in media. People in favor of the Kumiko/Reina ship declare that anyone who doesn’t ship the pair are supporting discrimination against homosexuals. Because apparently, not wanting them to be together equals not wanting homosexual relationship representation in media of any kind. People against the pairing declare that any ship tease regarding Kumiko/Reina is “pandering”, and that yuri is just a fetishization of lesbian relationships. First of all, this is obviously jumping the gun as Euphonium is not a romance anime and is more of an ensemble drama. It is about the huge cast of characters developing as musicians and people as they approach the Nationals. Expecting a romantic conclusion of any kind is very silly.

They have some pretty good things to say about it.
 

Jarmel

Banned
So one of the major things striking me listening to Kekkai's OST is besides how great the tracks are, it's the raw diversity. While it's not quite up to Space Dandy's level in that there are numerous artists independently working on it, it's amazing how many different tracks pop up and how different they are from each other.

For example the music when Libera is fighting the blood breed is straight out of Cowboy Bebop. I was wondering for a few seconds whether they flat out ripped one of the tracks from CB. Then there's a violin piece that goes well with the horror theme of a later scene. They must have spent serious money and time on the OST.
 
So one of the major things striking me listening to Kekkai's OST is besides how great the tracks are, it's the raw diversity. While it's not quite up to Space Dandy's level in that there are numerous artists independently working on it, it's amazing how many different tracks pop up and how different they are from each other.

For example the music when Libera is fighting the blood breed is straight out of Cowboy Bebop. I was wondering for a few seconds whether they flat out ripped one of the tracks from CB. Then there's a violin piece that goes well with the horror theme of a later scene. They must have spent serious money and time on the OST.

It's one of the most diverse OST I've heard in a long time. Every track is different from each other and isn't rehashed. The guy who's in charge of the music is really good, he should definitely be hired to direct more anime OST.

Kekkai Sensen's OST is definitely the best of the season if not the year.
 

Jarmel

Banned
After rewatching episode 20 of FSN UBW, I don't think the show needed a heavy revision or whatever. I think it again boils down to direction and storyboarding. The idea of making the Archer vs Shirou fight as long as it is, would have worked if the storyboarding was better and the show tried to present the material in an interesting fashion rather than just the dialogue. The most interesting thing visually the show has done in both cours is the repetition sequence in episode 20 and it works to present the material not only in a visually arresting manner but also condenses the theme of the work to a quick sequence. It's economical storytelling and it works emotionally.

The soundtrack is also so fucking lackluster that many scenes are just dead on arrival because the OST is flatter than soda left out for a week. Fukasawa totally shat the bed and this show makes me think of him less as a composer.

FSN UBW isn't an example of bad writing, it's an example of a bad director and composer not knowing what the fuck they're doing. The storyboarder and episode director for UBW ep 20, Takashi Suhara, also unsurprisingly did some of the stronger episodes for Fate/Zero such as Lancer's 'exit' and the first episode of Kiri's flashback. The storyboarder for episode 21 of UBW was Takahiro Miura himself. The difference is apparent.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
After rewatching episode 20 of FSN UBW, I don't think the show needed a heavy revision or whatever. I think it again boils down to direction and storyboarding. The idea of making the Archer vs Shirou fight as long as it is, would have worked if the storyboarding was better and the show tried to present the material in an interesting fashion rather than just the dialogue. The most interesting thing visually the show has done in both cours is the repetition sequence in episode 20 and it works to present the material not only in a visually arresting manner but also condenses the theme of the work to a quick sequence. It's economical storytelling and it works emotionally.

The soundtrack is also so fucking lackluster that many scenes are just dead on arrival because the OST is flatter than soda left out for a week. Fukasawa totally shat the bed and this show makes me think of him less as a composer.

FSN UBW isn't an example of bad writing, it's an example of a bad director and composer not knowing what the fuck they're doing. The storyboarder and episode director for UBW ep 20, Takashi Suhara, also unsurprisingly did some of the stronger episodes for Fate/Zero such as Lancer's 'exit' and the first episode of Kiri's flashback. The storyboarder for episode 21 of UBW was Takahiro Miura himself. The difference is apparent.

There is lots of material from other routes that could have been used as backstory instead of wasting two and a half episodes on Emiya fighting Archer, like Kirei's motives and the real truth behind what happened to Kiritsugu.
 

Jarmel

Banned
There is lots of material from other routes that could have been used as backstory instead of wasting two and a half episodes on Emiya fighting Archer, like Kirei's motives and the real truth behind what happened to Kiritsugu.

Unfortunately I imagine they're saving some of that shit for the HF movies.
 

VRMN

Member
UBW 21

...so, my conclusion last week that the Illya/Saber fight in Prisma Illya would hold up as the best-animated fight the Nasuverse has ever produced...winds up still being the case at the fight's conclusion. I still can't believe that ufotable dropped the ball on this fight. It's not awful, necessarily, but in stretching it out as long as they did, I think the impact was diluted and it became less of an epic battle and more of a long dialog with occasional action.

I'm still stunned by this, by the way.
 
Plastic Memories 09

Has the black haired girl always been there? I never noticed her until know, what an unremarkable character.

Isla's bunny suit wasn't able to redeem this mediocre episode.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The biggest problem is that Shirou-Archer should have been one episode, not 1 and a quarter, and then you can do Gilgamesh-Dolphins and set up the final part. Next week is gonna be random as shit.
 
UBW 21

...so, my conclusion last week that the Illya/Saber fight in Prisma Illya would hold up as the best-animated fight the Nasuverse has ever produced...winds up still being the case at the fight's conclusion. I still can't believe that ufotable dropped the ball on this fight. It's not awful, necessarily, but in stretching it out as long as they did, I think the impact was diluted and it became less of an epic battle and more of a long dialog with occasional action.

I'm still stunned by this, by the way.

It's okay to admit you hated it! Let it all out, we don't judge people for crying!
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Sega Hard Girls 01 & 02

If you have the slightest bit of love for Sega in your heart, watch this now.


Pure, unadulterated hilarity. I love how they got the rights to all those games.


Unfortunately I imagine they're saving some of that shit for the HF movies.

Kirei I can understand, since he has a bigger role in HF, but Kiritsugu's fate would have been perfect for UBW.
 
Sega Hard Girls 01 & 02

If you have the slightest bit of love for Sega in your heart, watch this now.



Pure, unadulterated hilarity. I love how they got the rights to all those games.

I stopped watching this show after the Sonic the Hedgehog episode. As good as the other episodes were, I just didn't really want to watch much more after that.
 

VRMN

Member
It's okay to admit you hated it! Let it all out, we don't judge people for crying!

I wish I cared enough to get emotional about it. Kind of just disappointment, but I don't have that much reverence for the source material anyway. Or any, come to think of it. Some nostalgia, no real reverence.
 

Jarmel

Banned
I feel bad because I don't think anything is going to live up to the ending of ep 20 for the rest of the cour of UBW, including the Shirou vs Gilgamesh fight.
 

phaze

Member
Strap in. We have dolphins coming, then madness. The roller coaster begins now.



Wrong arc. Wait for Heaven's Feel.

Oh yeah I was warned most of the stuff I want to know is going to be in Heaven's Feel. F/Z spoilers:
#TeamReviveKariya still counts on you Sakura !

I can't believe I'm saying this but I kind of miss Taiga and Sakura. After being so prominent in the first cour they're nowhere to be seen now. It's been so long that I forgot what state the former is in, still in hospital ? I wonder if
Sakura's dealings with Gilga will be explained here or if it is also something that will have to wait for HF.
These famed dolphins have a lot to live up to, whatever they might be.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Oh yeah I was warned most of the stuff I want to know is going to be in Heaven's Feel. F/Z spoilers:
#TeamReviveKariya still counts on you Sakura !

I can't believe I'm saying this but I kind of miss Taiga and Sakura. After being so prominent in the first cour they're nowhere to be seen now. It's been so long that I forgot what state the former is in, still in hospital ? I wonder if
Sakura's dealings with Gilga will be explained here or if it is also something that will have to wait for HF.
These famed dolphins have a lot to live up to, whatever they might be.

If you want to know,
That won't be resolved until HF. Sakura is gone from UBW.
Gilga's role here will be resolved, though.
 

Phatmac

Member
It's funny to see how night and day impressions on here are for FSN when compared to other places I see reactions for. It's hard to not get a little upset considering how much I love Fate and the whole universe. I do understand some problems with the latest episodes but I still find the clash of ideals to be fascinating. The promise of the story is immense but it's excicuted poorly at times. Hopefully the show ends strong as the story moves forward.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Oh yeah I was warned most of the stuff I want to know is going to be in Heaven's Feel. F/Z spoilers:
#TeamReviveKariya still counts on you Sakura !

I can't believe I'm saying this but I kind of miss Taiga and Sakura. After being so prominent in the first cour they're nowhere to be seen now. It's been so long that I forgot what state the former is in, still in hospital ? I wonder if
Sakura's dealings with Gilga will be explained here or if it is also something that will have to wait for HF.
These famed dolphins have a lot to live up to, whatever they might be.

They're not prominent in any route that isn't specifically Sakura's route.
 
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