The Ubiquitous What Are You Watching Thread?

Tuesday I finished  Rozen Maiden for this time around with episode 2 of Overture,the flashback part of it takes place before the original season about a century earlier but the actual chronology puts it in the middle of Traumend.

Wednesday episode 2 of Mahoromantic:Something More Beautifulthis was all about poor accident prone Miniwa's first day at school.

Thursday episode 6 of Geneshaft which is one of my personal favorites since it shows a contrast between the characters and the world they live in and our own world with the astronauts from the 21st century.My favorite moment is still when Beatrice is being held hostage by that one astronaut and he refuses to let her have her Register Meds and then she goes all bonkers:
"Fairies and Elves!"

On an interesting note Beatrice was actually played by Sakamoto Maaya so this is the second time I got to watch something with her in it since I finished Escaflowne.

Strike the Blood
Sounds familiar?
It's about a guy
who during daylight complains: "It's hot. I'm burning. I'm gonna turn to ash."
who gets exited with a nose bleed when smelling a girl's wallet.
In order to keep him in check a girl is sent to take care of him in case something happens. And that's a promise.
She's dedicated and works 24/7... but she's a country bump. As a result, she got hurt by him, bled and needed to be checked but luckily it was a safe day so the test was negative...
And so begins his ascension to fame. Well, that's the gits of it.

The show is based on  (currently) a nine novel series and an abridged manga based on the anime (not cut as much as the seikai mangas).
The story is slow paced and takes quite a while before it gets interesting, though. The whole first novel is just the intro.
There are 37 adventure chapters so it might become a long show...
The impression is that it's similary to "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun" only dressed differently and more of a harem type. [Imho "Kyoukai no Kanata" is superior.]

------------
Toshokan Sensou/Library War
Toshokan Sensou The Movie - Kakumei no Tsubasa
Library War: The Wings of Revolution

I finally came around to watch the movie and it's better than expected.
The movie continues where the show left off.
The war is escalating. Using a faked accident the censorship law has been expanded and to be used to forbid an author from writing.
The Library Defense Force is finally able to take this to the court, but it also mean a do or die situation.
If they lose the constitutional freedom of expression will be practically gone. Once again our protagonists risk their lives for an idea the public doesn't care.

Sadly, the show and series as a whole has been taken over by recent events. Worse the freedom of speech is being lost without the need of censorship laws.
The recent censorship law passed in Japan this week already censored the news about itself.

Anyway, the movie is unexpectedly well made and has virtually no weakness compared to other movies made for a show.
The script and directing made everything look right without looking forceful or trying to bring the audience up to speed on the show.
Nothing seems missing or left out or to be desired. The movie wraps up everything in the show, and for all lead and major characters.
Even other characters from the show get an appearance and some role. The movie managed to keep the charm and atmosphere of the show.
It has a little less action compared to the show as it addresses the core of the problem instead of fights on the surface.
What's more the BD has over 100 minutes of commentary. I haven't seen anyone providing this much yet.
It's a great movie for fans, and perhaps the best one made for a show in this light.
Since it's a difficult theme and virtually a niche show it may not appeal to everyone, though.

Friday saw episode 9 of Black Lagoon basically the first part was showing the events of the second part of episode 8 through the eyes of Revy and company.The rest(aside from Balailaka getting her forces
together)was Roberta chasing the Black Lagoon crew around and doing all sorts of mayhem.

Saturday episode 2 of Giant Robo .

And Sunday Tenchi Forever which means I am now done with Tenchi for now until I start War on Geminar around July(I think I
estimated that's when it starts for me).

Finally this coming Sunday...........................................FLCL! 

My Cutie Honey 1973 finally came in yesterday.  
So I will be watching it when I finish with Black Lagoon.

Yesterday I saw episode 5 Moonlit Rambler of Bubblegum Crisis.

Wednesday episode 3 of Mahromantic:Something More Beautiful it's the one with the gag where
Mahoro orders the device to increase her proportions and of course everything goes wrong.

Thursday finished what I have of Geneshaft with episode 7.Great animation.

Kyoukai no Kanata episode10
Shocking!! The beloved megane died!    
The episode reveals her secret deal that led to her death

Watching Arpeggio of Blue Steel now - the sci-fi anime about ships, girls, naval battles... It looks kind of simple at first, but i felt there's a lot of interesting sci-fi concepts behind it, as if it's a more complex story than it seem (in anime) and i was right. I was able to find the original manga and enjoy reading it as it contains more of sci-fi and battle/tactics elements than anime does which was dropped (but not by much) probably to appeal to more regular audience. Once you read past a few chapters - an idea of nanotech ships having mental models (girls) that serve to analyze/understand humans (to destoy them better) that develop human feelings and habits doesn't seem so weird anymore.

Almael, did you see/read it? You usually like this sort of stuff

Thanks for the heads up.
I saw the title and the cover once. The "blue" in title and the cover drove me away as I expected to see yet another retro naval show from the 50, 60 or 70's
Well, I will take a look.

Started re-watching FLCL.  
In any language it's hilariously whacked out.Plus Funi included a live action music video to Ride On Shooting Star as one of the extras.      

Re-watched episode 10 of Full Moon raw on Monday.  

Tuesday episode 6 of Bubblegum Crisis also saw the live action
Jumping Heart video with the cast.  

Re-started Nuku Nuku Tv yesterday and before I did saw the trailer for the Nuku Nuku Dash
OVA.Quite a different view of things to say the least,the fact that the OVA seems to have been the more serious work and the tv serious the more comedic.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel episode 1
It does look interesting at first. Despite everything I have the impression it's like Code Geass or Suisei no Gargantia and made for kids, though. It just doesn't seem serious enough, and adding the signs of a harem anime. *shrugs*
It appears the anime is made completely using 3D models for objects and characters.
They are rendered with a "cartoon shader" so you won't notice it right away. If you look at the hair of the cast they move definitely 3D-model-like than drawn.

Kyoukai no Kanata episode 11
Alright, the "Megane" is alive but trapped in a different dimension. She is still fighting an all out war. After this revelation the cast move to rescue her. Fights All around.   

Almael wrote:Arpeggio of Blue Steel episode 1
It does look interesting at first. Despite everything I have the impression it's like Code Geass or Suisei no Gargantia and made for kids, though. It just doesn't seem serious enough, and adding the signs of a harem anime. *shrugs*

Like i said:  compared to manga it's made a little bit more appealing to general public by adding a bit more of emotions to it, but still doesn't stray too far from manga which has little of that stuff.
Manga is unexpectedly serious, especially when it comes to warfare and technology.  It's as if it's written by 2 authors - one is hardcore sci-fi nerd who's into thought-out technologies and naval warfare, and other is all into cute girls and all typical anime stuff. The nerdy sci-fi guy wins most of the time though
Second episode contains more of a manga taste

As for CGI - yea, it's the first time I see full 3D rendered so cartoon like, if it wasn't for movements it would've be hard to tell and it gets better later as if animators learn in the process.

Black Lagoon episode 11 on Friday and intro of Xenhua/Shenhua or however you spell her name.
Giant Robo episode 4 on Saturday.Good Gotterdammerung feel to it as everything goes south for the heroes.
FLCL episode 2 on Sunday.Also watched one of the music videos by the Pillows.

Thanks for the clarification.
I guess I will read the manga first.

Monday re-watched Silent Mobiusepisode 7 "Kagome,Kagome great Nami episode.  
Did you know that Rei on Sailor Moon was inspired by Nami?
Tuesday re-watched Bubblegum Crisisepisode 7 "Vision".

Kill la Kill - it's crazy and awesome   A taste of old style animation in world of modern copy\paste and static anime Watching 1 episode replaces energy drink   

Yu-Sibu - maybe not the worst representative of modern static copy-paste anime, had couple of fun moments though, mediocre otherwise

Kyoukai no Kanata ep. 12
It's the end! *runs around in circle*
How unpleasant! Kuryama did die after all when her body disintegrated. What remained was her mind, which combined with the power and false reality gave her a temporary body.  All that fighting and her sacrifice did end in a status quo...e.g. no different from the beginning

And then she reappears at the end for some reason. It's a different end from the novel. Purely the animators fault.

Wednesday finished what I had of Mahromantic with the Summer
Special aka one boy's quest to protect his beloved H collection!  
And so now on to what I have of Hayate,The Combat Butler.

Thursday episode 2 of Nuku Nuku tv.

And so finished with season 1 of Black Lagoonwith episode 12.Next week begin Black Lagoon:The Second Barragewith episode 13 and the intro of Hansel and Gretel.  
I loved the scene in episode 12 where they're having the running gunfight and Revy and Shenhua are having a catfight on the roof of the jeep over who gets the privilege of mowing down the enemy from the top!  

Saturday saw episode 5 of Giant Roboonly two weeks left to the
Grand Finale then on to The Gin-rei Special.  

Sunday episode 3 of FLCL now half way through.Even by it's own standards episode 3 is totally weird.It's the one dealing with the Class President.

Only one episode left of FLCL.
Now waiting for the Blood-C movie to come in,I think I owe Rightstuf some money on it though and they
said they would tell me how much.

i re-watched ep.6 'Arbiter Attack' from Last Exile on Monday night.It's a good reason why there shouldn't have been a sequel or spin-off for Last Exile.I mean the sequence where Alvis runs around the ship with the music...I don't think a sequel or spin-off could have done justice to
something like that.

Tuesday I re-watched ep.23 'Hydra' from Bubblegum Crisis,Tokyo 2040.Horie Yui as
Galatea.  

Plue Slyia played by Yukino Satsuki,Kagome from Inuyasha.  
Doesn't get better.

Speaking of weird,re-watched ep.10 of Hayate,The Combat Butleron Wednesday night.I wonder
how many in-jokes a Gamer might have been able to pick out of it.

Thursday Nuku Nuku Tv Special 2this is the Valentine's Day one and poor Nuku Nuku gets turned down by the tomcat she has the hots for.Then again the ending where Cheiko's henchgirls go on the wild shopping spree for Mishima made products after eating the chocolate!  

Ok...so episode 15 of Black Lagoon has got to be among the creepiest anime I've seen to date.
I mean Rock wasn't the only one freaking out when Gretel took off 'her' wig and then later lifted her
skirts.
On the other hand,Balailaka continues to show her total awesome coolness.  
I mean sitting there acting as decoy smoking her cigar and waiting for Hansel to show up.

Saturday saw episode 1 of the Gin-rei Special. Yeah...this is definitely gonna be about the fanservice if episode 1 is any indication.

Sunday finished FLCL also watched the live action music video for 'Ride On Shooting Star'
by the Pillows that came with it.fun!

It's busy times for me so didn't see much new, except for:
1. Final of Arpeggio anime - i guess it had to be expected, the anime took a totaly different road than manga. Simplified and predictable.  I'm kind of disappointed - they turned big and more complex story into something small and simple - few characters, little left of those complex battles, tech and plot described in munga, less fun. I haven't been in this "manga vs anime" situation often, so now i see what people mean...

2. One of the best anime of this year and probablyone future classics for me is Kill la kill :DIt's awesome. Funny, interesting, crazy, great style etc. Can't wait for more episodes!

3. Log Horizon - i guess "MMO style anime" is here to stay after huge success of Sword Art Online, but is it better than SAO? It's more "hardcore" into virtual world and mmo stuff, but overall - i feel SAO was much stronger. It was good anime and story on it's own, while Log Horizon is more for MMO freaks and SAO fans, although it has a few good moments.

The amount of cheap "school/romance/life" anime is mind blowing, only a few of those are sci-fi, a good story, or something worth watching quality wise. Does it indicate the majority of it's audience? I hope things will change next year...

Black Lagoon - it's been year since i watched all of it, both seasons if not mistaken and some OVAs. It's good, although sometimes it feels a bit "polite" despite it's "badass" style. But i must say the "stereotypes" about different types of mafia are pictured right here. Russian mafia of that time was all ex-millitary.
And it's "Balalaika" mitsuki (a musical instument). Yeah, she's cool. The type i met once or twice in rl, survived the meeting - better to see em in anime