Retsam

Yeah, and honestly the incident you mention is IMO the most defensible example of it in the series, as at least there it's an important part of a main characters arc: there need to be something highly traumatic. The other cases in the series it's either just a shortcut to make a villain villainous (second arc, third arc, ... IIRC a minor antagonist in the first arc, too), or worse just... thrown in with tentacle monsters or whatever. (The last category is the stuff that I've heard some people say were added or exaggerated by the adaptation) And yeah, the writing has gotten better in some respects: other than a few incidents Alicization really was fairly well written, though I still found the conclusion a bit unsatisfying: it seems like the author is good at coming up with really interesting premises, but not that great at executing or resolving them.

SAO is probably the most inconsistent show I've ever seen: there's parts of it that are phenomenal and parts of it that are awful and they're not always that far apart. I've sometimes joked that most of the tension in SAO doesn't come from the antagonists but from the writers room. To the three famous sources of conflict: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self, I feel like we need to add a fourth: Story vs. Itself. But seriously, the show is incredibly inconsistent: the rift between the first arc and the second arc is famous, but even within the first arc, it varies pretty widely: the premise is great and there's some great episodes, but there's also a good chunk of not great episodes and a lot of "Kirito collecting his harem like Ash Ketchum collects Pokemon" (something that largely continues even after he has an established love interest). And there's just some fairly consistent downsides - for most people the aforementioned harem aspect is one, a lot of people aren't big fans of Kirito as a protagonist (a bit too blank slate) and the show tends to lean on sexual assault a fair bit - both using it to establish villains (which is divisive) but also the show just kinda throws it in sometimes when it's not necessary. (I'm told part of that last category is the adaptations fault, either adding or exaggerating stuff from the source material, but haven't read the source material myself to check) There's some really good parts of the show, and overall I enjoyed it more than I disliked it, but you kinda have to deal with some garbage to get to it. For a lot of people I think it falls into this really awkward "uncanny valley" where it's just good enough that the flaws really bug you. It'd be better if it were a bit better, but if it were a bit worse nobody would care.

Yeah, Love is War's dub is fantastic. We watch the sub as it comes out but then rewatch for the dub (though not immediately - we haven't watched the S3 dub yet): it's a rare case where the dub is so different from the sub that it almost feels closer to watching a different show at times than rewatching. Mostly the narrator is different, but that's a pretty big change, in a way it takes an opposite strategy: the joke of the original narrator is that they're taking the whole thing absolutely seriously, whereas the dub has a lot more "abridged series energy", and the narrator is much more in on the joke, and kind of poking fun at the whole thing. Overall I might actually prefer the dub... but it's hard to say, they're both good in their own way.

If you haven't you should check out Higurashi, as it's mystery/horror and it's one of my favorite things I'm watching right now. It's originally a Visual Novel, that was adapted to an anime back in 2006. It's been on my radar forever (I remember a friend excitedly describing it shortly after it came out), but I never got around to watching it. So when I saw that they were remaking it this year, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to see a slightly shinier version of a show that I've been interested in for awhile.... except, Shia Surprise, it's actually a Stealth Sequel, so I guess I'm watching the sequel to an anime I've never seen. Despite that, I'm enjoying it a lot. I wasn't sure at first: the horror and tension was on point, but the plot was disjointed and confusing. But that's I remember from my friend's description that's how the original was, too - it's a bunch of "question arc"s that don't really make sense, followed by the "answer arcs" that actually explain the plot. And now that the new show is into the answer arcs, it's on a whole other level: it's maintained a lot of the horror and tension from the first half, but it has a coherent and quite gripping story to go with it. I'm being intentionally vague as I really don't have a clue what I could say about the actual plot of the show without spoiling it, but it really exceeded my expectations quite a bit. That being said, this is a horror anime. It's got some quite violent and disturbing bits. I was mostly expecting that (again, reputation, and having seen some out-of-context bits of the original) - but even expecting that, there's one episode of this series that was just beyond the pale. Without exaggeration it was the most disturbing episode of anime I've ever watched. So, strong recommendation, but also a strong content warning on this one. It's been fantastically interesting, but know what you're getting into.

Overall, I liked this book a lot. I don't think it was quite as good as Skyward - but second books rarely are. It definitely went a different direction than I expected, (though that meant largely leaving behind the secondary cast). On the positives: I liked that it fleshed out the Superiority's side and motives. The alien races were all pretty interesting from a world-building perspective; the diones especially. I actually think Spensa's new flight is more interesting than her DDF one, with each member having their own background, agenda, and motives. Hesho was a particular favorite - both a classic humor character but still not one-dimensional. I liked Spensa's misreading of both Cuna and Brade. I actually liked Brade's character, she's an interesting foil for Spensa and certainly her perspective is skewed by her upbringing, but she's not just a brainwashed victim, either. The doomslug reveal wasn't particularly surprising - but I also think that a strength of this series is that it isn't so reliant on big worldbuilding twists to move the plot along. "Chapter 45" was probably the biggest twist of the book, which did make me laugh. (Though if Sanderson really wanted a "twist ending" he should have ended the series after two books) For negatives: I think Spensa is a less interesting character in this one. Her major character arc largely resolved at the end of Skyward - she's no longer an outsider, no longer needs to prove herself to the DDF, no longer insecure about her father. She has an arc in this one - realizing that the supremacy aren't all villains - but it's not as strong and a bit stereotypical feeling, to me at least. (Tangentially, I thought the Steelheart sequels suffered from the same problem: David has a really strong character arc in the first book, and much less so in the sequels) I also think there's less tension in this book, as a whole, compared to Skyward. There was a constant life-or-death threat in that book, and every time the squadron went up you never knew who would come back down. Spensa's infiltration is a source of tension, but it's much more passive "background noise" sort of tension, and overall the infiltration goes very smoothly.

I don't care if "introducing a major character in the middle of the climax" has been the plan from the moment Iron Man debuted, I still think it's narratively awkward. Apparently I'm a "senile old fan" for not having absolute trust in Marvel's storytelling. As a matter of fact, yes, I do think the resolution to Age of Ultron was really unsatisfying, (and frankly that Vision's entire character has been badly done in the MCU). And, incidentally that's a big reason why I don't have absolute faith that Marvel is not going to do basically the same thing this time. Again, I'm not saying they're definitely going to screw it up, I don't have a crystal ball. All I said is "if they resolve it this one particular way, I think that would be a bad resolution". But please keep going, it sure is fun having a discussion where if you say any negative thing you're accused of being sexist. It's not toxic at all.

Yeah, I'm really apprehensive about Endgame's direction; at best, the timing just is awkward - Infinity War / Endgame is the climax of the last decade of MCU movies, and introducing a new character in the middle of a climax is awkward, especially a powerful one. And I'll especially be pretty frustrated if the movie boils down to "and then Captain Marvel shows up and saves everyone", not because I have any particular beef with Captain Marvel, but just because introducing a powerful character out of nowhere to defeat an antagonist is a really unsatisfying resolution. I have a bit of trust that they won't do that... but it wouldn't exactly be the first plot misstep in a MCU movie. (I think they tend to do a *great* job with characters, and just an okay job with plot)

If anyone's looking for anime from this season, "Kaguya-sama: Love Is War" is the best thing I'm watching - granted, it's not a long list this season. It's a slightly topical recommendation, with Valentine's Day tomorrow, but mostly it's just a fantastic show. It's basically like if you made a romantic comedy in the style of the Death Note "potato chip" scene - the premise is two genius high schoolers who are in love with each other but both wants to force the other to admit it first, so mundane interactions are narrated and monologued as titanic battle of the wits. That premise alone would probably get dull fairly quickly, but it's got a lot else going for it: some actual heartfelt moments and the characters themselves are just a lot of fun, including the secondary characters. The best character in the show so far isn't one of the two main protagonists (and it's not even close).

Yeah, this is what finally pushed me to stop watching trailers, at least for Marvel movies. Not because Marvel movies are particularly bad about spoilers (this being a frustrating exception), but if I'm going to see them anyways, I may as well not watch the trailer. I'm not sure it'll work, in practice, as any big reveals will probably get spoiled by memes, or titles of reddit posts, or off-hand mentions in threads like this; but I'm not feeling a great loss in my life by not participating in the huge trailer hype cycle, anyway.

Based on what you've said, huge recommendation for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, if you haven't seen it. It's one of those shows where the less you know about it, the better; but it's likely to subvert some expectations. Hinamatsuri from earlier this year is a comedy that fits the "so stupid it's awesome" very well. A young girl with telekinetic powers shows up in house of a yakuza and coerces him into becoming her guardian by threatening to destroy his precious vase collection. It was hilarious (and strangely poignant at times) and never really settled into a formula, which kept it fresh. I also second A Place Further than the Universe in general; I think it was my favorite show this year; but it doesn't as much sound like what you're looking for specifically.

On the topic of recommendations; at least in America, the anime film A Silent Voice is coming back into theaters, in a few days. I saw it last time it was in theaters, and really liked it. It's got a lot in common with March Comes in Like a Lion (3-Gatsu); both tackle heavy subject matter - A Silent Voice is about a former bully who nearly commits suicide at the beginning of the movie, and the deaf girl that he bullied - but are ultimately uplifting: they start in a dark place and they don't trivialize the darkness, but they don't wallow in it, either. So if anyone's looking for a movie outing; the sub will be playing on the 28th and the dub on the 31st. The dub is especially noteworthy, as the deaf main character is actually played by a deaf actress, but the subtitled version is really good, too. --- Are you looking for more action-oriented shows? What did you consider "too mundane/SoL"?

The original version is pretty fantastic, too, IMO. And, from what I gather, quite different than Brotherhood. (I've never actually seen past the first few episodes of Brotherhood, admittedly) They start of covering the same material, at a point the original diverges heavily and tells its own story (because the manga wasn't finished yet). I've fairly frequently heard a lot of people say that Brotherhood has a tighter plot and more of a shounen tone, while the original has stronger atmosphere and themes, with a darker tone (edging on seinen) and persistent melancholic mood. And Bratja. The ending of the original is a bit weird - again, I actually really like it thematically and in terms of tone - but it's a sort of non-ending (with a big plot twist right at the end). The follow-up movie sort of resolves this but was also kinda mediocre. It's weird to say, but I'd love to see a sequel to the 2003 FMA series. But ending weirdness aside, I do think the original version is worth checking out, even after having seen Brotherhood.

2018 was a really strong year for anime, overall. I watched a ton of stuff that I really enjoyed. March Comes in like a Lion’s second season was really strong, and the show as a whole is one of my favorite of all time. The big shounens - My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, and SAO - are as good as (or better than) they’ve ever been. Almost every season had some unexpectedly good gem - A Place Further than the Universe from last winter, especially, but also Hinamatsuri from the spring and last season’s Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. And I know I missed some big stuff, like Violet “Don’t Call Me Saber” Evergarden and I’m still working on finishing Steins;Gate 0. The only season that was a bit quiet for me was the summer: other than SAO and AoT, I watched Grand Blue a drunken comedy that was good, but not great. The only real disappointments was Iroduku: The World in Colors from last season - which was just painfully average, despite some nice visuals - and, of course, Dumpster Fire in the FranXX. And yeah, like I said above, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai was a real gem - way better than the title or basic plot summary would suggest. And despite the prominent placement of a bunny girl outfit in both the title and promotional artwork, it’s very wholesome (not ecchi at all). It’s basically about helping people deal with emotional issues, which have a supernatural physical manifestation (called, awkwardly “puberty syndrome”). For example, the first arc deals with a main character whose feelings of isolation and figurative social invisibility manifest in literal invisibility. This still sounds a bit stereotypical (and it kinda is) but the show executes this premise really well. It’s briskly paced: 13 episodes adapts a whole five arcs. And though there’s a few places where a bit more time wouldn’t have hurt, especially the two two-episode arcs, overall the pacing works well: each arc is setup, developed, and poignantly resolved without ever overstaying its welcome or becoming overwrought. The main character is great, a very dry and constant sarcastic sense of humor, and great banter; especially his chemistry with the main female lead. And their relationship as a whole is one of the best aspects of the show: very unlike stereotypical anime relationships. My only main complaint is the obligatory complaint that it’s an unfinished adaptation of an unfinished light novel series: it’s less problematic here as each arc stands pretty well on its own, and there’s a movie coming out later this year that should give the series some closure.

I watched the first episode of Progressive on a lark; but I've only got vague memories of the original and it was never a favorite of mine. In lieu of my own opinions, a few non-spoilery ones from reddit: I'm not cherry picking, those are pretty much the top comments over on the reddit thread for the last episode. It seems like a pretty solid consensus that it was fine but really didn't live up to the original.

In a sense, Darling in the FranXX didn't let me down. One of my main thoughts when starting this show was "if it's a trainwreck, I don't want to miss it", and the last few episodes have not let me down on that account in the slightest. I don't think the ending was popular, even among the fans, and my skepticism gave way to disillusionment back at Episode 15. So as background, the show is set in a dystopian future where a group of teenagers fight giant robot dinosaurs via piloting waifu-shaped robots, via sexual metaphor butt controls. Hiro[1], the erstwhile leader, no longer fits into the group because he has "performance issues" while trying to pilot the mech, until a naked pink haired demon chick shows up ("Zero Two"... but I'm just going to call a spade a spade and call her "Waifu"), declares Hiro to be her "darling", and invites him to "ride her mech" and the first 18 episodes or so are about the squad fighting robot dinosaurs and love triangles. And, y'know, I'm just going to put the entire ending plot in a massive spoiler tag. In a sense it's safe to read because it's only going to spoil you for an anime that I really can't recommend watching... but I'm mostly writing this out of catharsis. (Each paragraph basically corresponds to an episode, in terms of pacing) The summary is ridiculous, and it certainly wasn't a "it makes sense in context" thing for me: it's a pretty big shift that largely comes out of nowhere. You can tell that they were sort of going for a story structure reminiscent of Gurren Laggan (also by Studio Trigger), but it just didn't work here: Gurren Laggan turns things up to twelve in its ending, but it did so in a way that felt like an extension of what came before, in a way that this doesn't. It just feels as if the genre suddenly shifts at the end. (For example, with the introduction of supernatural elements that weren't present up to this point) And it's a shame, because I really think this could have been a good show. (And I do know a lot of people enjoyed it) I liked the side characters, the premise was interesting (if not hugely original), the "mecha as metaphor for relationship" is a schtick with potential and the production values were pretty high across the board. But the show's a bit too bipolar (perhaps as a result of the two studios behind it): a more crazy (Studio Trigger-esque) version with fast pacing and playing the innuendo and premise for laughs could have worked. A more nuanced, drama-based version of the show could have worked. Instead we got the worst of both worlds; the plot was ridiculous, but not in a self-aware way, and the drama raised some tough issues, but without the nuance to really handle them appropriately. It couldn't decide if it wanted its central premise of "mecha as sex metaphor" to be an exploration of unbound teenage sexuality in a society that hasn't equipped them to deal with it properly... or if they just wanted to make "lol masturbation" jokes. But if I'm being honest, even more than the tone and the ending, the big reason why the show didn't work for me is that I couldn't buy into the main characters relationship. Their relationship is consistently presented as great and truly romantic, but I couldn't see it as anything other than glorification of an abusive and destructive relationship (a fairly rare example of female on male abuse). A more nuanced story could have handled this relationship well and had real character growth leading towards an actually healthy relationship, and for a hot second (Episode 14) I thought they were actually going to do that, only to have the next episode go with the "no, it's okay because he's really obsessed with her". No thanks. I guess what I'm really saying is that after 18 episodes of foreplay, the climax was disappointing and I feel like I need to go take a shower now. --- On a much more positive note, it seems like every season there's an unexpected gem; with Made in Abyss last summer, Houseki no Kuni in fall, A Place Further than the Universe in the winter season, and this season it was Hinamatsuri. It's a comedy/drama about girls with psychic powers that arrive unexpectedly on earth... the main character shows up in the bedroom of a Yakuza and convinces him to take care of him by threatening his pot collection. It's a weird premise, but it really worked and managed to land both the comedy and drama sides really well. (Like so many anime, though, it's an incomplete adaptation, with a pretty major sequel hook... hopefully there'll be a season 2) --- The upcoming season looks pretty slow, though, so hopefully I'll get through some backlog. --- [1] I'd complain about the stereotypical "Hiro" as name of the protagonist shtick, but the names are actually something I liked about the show. Every character has a numerical code assigned by the society, but they've given themselves names, based on the numbers. So Hiro is number 16, "1 = Hitotsu, 6 = Roku", hence "Hiro". And there's a bit of a social structure with the lower numbers being ranked higher. It's alluded to, but never directly stated, as far as I remember, that under this system Zero Two's name would be "0 = O, 2 = Ni" or "Oni", the horned demon that her character design references.