Anime?

[Retsam]

Speaking of movies, it's been a really good year for anime movies.  Though, I suppose I don't have much point of comparison, as I hadn't seen an anime movie in theaters (other than Pokemon) before this year, and now I've watched three this year.  (Or five, if you the count screenings of old Ghibli movies)

One was the SAO movie, which, as I said before was better than I expected (if nothing to write home about or particularly go out of your way to see).  And, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) was really good.  I'm surprised no one has mentioned it here 

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And then this week, my wife and I went out to catch a screening of Koe no Katachi (billed as "A Silent Voice", but the movie seems to translate its own title more literally as "The Shape of Voice").  It was moderately hard to find a screening (only one theater in the entire state of Indiana), and it was only showing for two nights.  I think this was a limited release to qualify for the Oscars, (as Your Name did last year around this time); I'm guessing they'll have another, larger release sometime in 2018.  If so, I'd highly recommend it.  

Though, compared to Your Name, it's a big weightier and heavier.  It's a pretty bittersweet film with pretty serious subject matter: it's about a deaf girl who gets bullied in elementary school and about the boy who bullied her, and the first scene of the movie is the boy, (now in high school), contemplating suicide.

It's also got lighter moments; my wife and I laughed quite a bit, despite the overall seriousness of the movie - that sort of "emotional whiplash" seems to somewhat of an anime staple; I know some people don't like it, but I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed the film as much if it had just been two hours of sadness - but it's overall a very bittersweet sort of film.  That's not usually my cup of tea; but I really enjoyed it in this case.  

 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Retsam
Expanded description of the films content

[PlanetReelo]

I absolutely loved 'Your name'! My hubby and I watched it at the cinema, and we were so happy that we did because we got to behold the visual beauty in all its glory. Koe no katachi is great too, though I found that the character development was slightly lacking so I read the manga which was heart wrenching in the best way.

On a side note, is anyone else as excited as I am about the 4th season of Full Metal Panic and three movies?? After almost two decades of watching anime, it's still on my top 5 anime series, it just holds such an important place in my heart. I almost cried from happiness when I heard the announcement!

[Retsam]

I watched the whole of Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni) over the last few days (which wasn't particularly difficult to do so, as it's only twelve episodes), as it's been getting a ton of praise from the bits of the anime community that I'm exposed to.

And by-and-large, it definitely deserves the hype, in my book.  It's about anthropomorphic gemstones that are thousands of years old but look like young girls*, defending themselves from invaders from the moon, that take the form of Hindu statu... okay, the premise is odd, but the execution is solid. 

Interestingly, one of the strongest aspects of the show is its visuals - the show looks really good, and sells the "human gemstones" premise well, and has some solid action scenes.  However, it's particularly noteworthy, because the show is entirely CGI.  It's a landmark, as it's the first time that I've seen an all-CGI show get this amount of widespread praise for its visuals.  Previous all-CGI anime, like Studio Polygon's Ajin or Knights of Sidonia, have had passable visuals, with a "you get used to it eventually" disclaimer (that was definitely my experience), but this show just looks good, full stop**.  (Also, the soundtrack is really good, too)

And it's not all just aesthetics, the premise is interesting (if weird), and there's some really phenomenal character development.  The story is good too... as much of it as we have. 

Unfortunately, the major achilles heel of the show is that it's just a partial adaptation of a larger story, and there's no resolution to it.  The main character has a solid character arc, the story works really well as a coming-of-age tale... but the main plot itself doesn't really resolve anything in this first season (and there's currently no confirmation of a season two).   

This certainly didn't ruin the show for me, it's still an absolute "gem" of a show, but it's the one thing that prevents me from unconditionally recommending this show like something like Madoka or Steins;Gate.  

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* Thankfully, despite the appearance of the cast, it's really not a "cute girls doing cute things" show, or particularly sexualized (despite a few lingering butt shots here and there).  

** You can actually compare the actual show's CGI trailer with a traditionally animated promotion for the manga, and the CGI version just looks better (to me, at least).  The CGI effect for the gemstone hair looks really good, as well as all the liquid body and dynamic motion used in the show.  

[NamelessThirteenth]

So I went and watched Death Parade, and at the same time watched Charlotte. Out of sheer luck, the ending of death parade coincided with the saddest episode of charlotte...

Depression Overdrive (Ayumi-chaaaaaaaan)

Anyway now I have nothing to watch so any recommendations? I like anime that are short, action-packed, with lots of feels and nice characters