printerati

I finished .hack//SIGN the other day. While I agree that it is "pretty much" standalone, explanations for a few things are definitely lacking, some of which are apparently filled in by the subsequent OVAs and video games (which include some, but not all, of the characters introduced in SIGN). I'm not inclined to continue the cross-platform experience because I really didn't care for the show's pacing, or most of The World and its inhabitants.

chrisc31

I just watched Tenchi Muyo OVA 13 episodes and Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki OVA 7 episodes.
The first seven episodes of Tenchi Muyo OVA I watched before in the 1990s on cartoon network, then I rented the anime back in 2001, I don't remember watching the other 6 episodes before. then I watched Tenchi Muyo Ryo Ohki I bought back in 2009 but didn't watch it until today after I watched the original.

Tenchi Muyo OVA was what got me interested in anime but now that I watched it after so long, now I don't think the Tenchi anime is as good as I once thought it was. Its not that its just old because I really liked Ranma 1/2 when I bought and watched the entire series last year for the fist time.

printerati

The first episode of Tanaka-kun is Always Listless has its moments, but I'm already annoyed by the main character. I hope things are livened up by the introduction of additional characters as the series progresses.

wlj

i watched the first 2 episodes of High School of the Dead and it is awesome entertainment. On Hulu the series is subtitled but I found it on youtube dubbed and I prefer listening rather than reading. The random and forced panty shots are rather hilarious.

I have also watched 3 episodes of Claymore. I think that show is pretty good, but I am going to finish High School of the Dead before going back to it.

printerati

I finally watched Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren't They? on Hulu. I was worried that they would try to cram too much into 10 episodes, and I was right. (I have not read the manga.) It's still a fun show, but it has no shortage of annoyances, including an apparently invincible lead character and the typical half-assed attempt at shoehorning mythology into the storyline. Looking back, No Game No Life borrows heavily from this show.

I also rewatched a handful of other shows, including Amagi Brilliant Park and both seasons of Silver Spoon.

TheBigDave

I love Silver Spoon. It's one of my favorite anime of all time. I've watched it a couple times. The Pork Bowl arc always breaks my heart.

It's too bad the manga has stalled. There's only been 2-3 chapters in the past year. I guess the mangaka has been having personal problems.

I still need to finish Amagi Brilliant Park. I just bumped it up on my Crunchyroll queue. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

printerati

I enjoyed it more the second time through, and the throwaway episode with the magic "costumes" didn't bother me as much as it did the first time, either. Crunchyroll doesn’t have the OVAs, but they can be located easily enough.

PhantomStranger

Claymore starts getting very intense in a couple of episodes after that point. High School of the Dead is just a fun anime program. It's so ready to be made into a Hollywood movie.

I enjoyed Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren't They?, though it started better than it ended. I have no idea why they only made ten episodes with a seemingly huge backstory.

Amagi Brilliant Park is one of my favorite anime of the past few years. It's funny and I like the concept of a magical theme park pretending to be a real one.

McHawkson

Just finished Kuromukuro via Netflix and it ended with cliffhanger. They better get 2nd season in work!

printerati

Just finished the first season of Haikyu!! on Hulu and enjoyed it quite a bit, despite the near constant use of slow motion action shots. I plan on starting the second season (also on Hulu) as soon as I can.

TheBigDave

During this month's animation challenge, I've been able to watch a couple shows I missed.

Probably my favorite was Princess Jellyfish. That was a really fun romance/slice-of-life show.

The Seven Deadly Sins was decent. It reminded me of Fairy Tail.

TheBigDave

I just finished ReLIFE. That was a good show. Anyone that likes heartwarming rom/coms like Kimi Ni Todoke and Blue Spring Ride will enjoy it.

PhantomStranger

I caught Waiting In The Summer on Blu-ray. An alien high school girl crashes on Earth and talks her way into staying at this boy's home for summer. He doesn't know she's an alien. It's not anime made for the purpose of fan service, the story is sweeter and more realistic. While it's not a match for Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, the relationship stuff is handled very similarly.

Recommended if you enjoy high school relationships and slice-of-life.

printerati

I caught this on Crunchyroll (it might be listed as Ano Natsu de Matteru instead) a year or two ago and enjoyed it as well, although it does get a bit ridiculous towards the end. I have not watched the OVA (episode 13) yet, but I know it's out there on YouTube and elsewhere.

On Hulu, I recently revisited Samurai Champloo (still mostly great, but still don't care for the mining and baseball episodes), and I just started Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, which has been fairly uneventful through the first two episodes (which may end up being the point).

Thrush

Stick with Grimgar, I enjoyed it. Though it may be a little light on action for some.

Just finished: Durrarara X2 and My Hero Acadamia, thoroughly enjoyed both.

Bailed on: Tokyo ESP (couldnt get into it), Garo (just dumb) and Magical Warfare (even dumber).

Starting up: Charlotte, Arslan 2nd season, and Psi Nan

Koby

Grimgar was excellent. Slow but excellent. The art style alone was worth watching imo. Yeah it's slow, and it's definitely left off like the story intended for there to be more to tell, but that's pretty typical of anime though. :/ I just hope we do get another season at some point.

PhantomStranger

Tokyo ESP is great if you like X-Men. It's the closest thing I've seen to X-Men in anime.

My Hero Academia is fun. I wish it was less decompressed, they stretched out the plot in season one.

printerati

I finished it last night, and ended up enjoying it for the most part, although I feel they "cheaped out" on the final battle and didn't spend enough time developing Shihoru and Moguzo. (Well, a couple of things about Shihoru were...developed.) I would like a second season as well.

My Hero Academia has been in my Hulu queue for a bit, so perhaps I'll start that one next.

PhantomStranger

The OVA for Waiting in the Summer is on the Blu-ray. Honestly, it's a bit disappointing if you are looking for a proper conclusion. The OVA is filled with a flashback and teases a second season plot. I don't believe a second season was made.

I haven't heard much talk about it but Selector Infected Wixoss is very watchable. I think its bizarre, nonsensical name in English probably hurts its appeal. Wixoss is the name of the card game the girls play in the series.

The people behind Selector clearly took elements of Fate/Zero and decided to mix it with Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's not as good as either of those two classics, but works in spite of some odd elements.

buckeyes8604

Starting The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for the first time, picked up the Collector's Edition set last week.

PhantomStranger

Beware the Endless Eight.

printerati

I'm early into Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom on Hulu, and I was not at all surprised to discover that it's from the same director as Noir. Both have common themes of assassins and shadow organizations and take place on a global scale, but Phantom is missing the religious overtones (so far?).

I also watched Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun again to counter it with something a bit more uplifting.

Koby

I loved Phantom, but didn't like Noir at all.. I ended up dropping Noir fairly early into it (like a couple episodes).

printerati

Noir reminds me of The X-Files in a way, where half of the episodes deal with the "assassination of the week", and the other half deal (and sometimes get bogged down) with the Soldats mythology. It takes more than a couple of episodes to get going, but while I enjoyed the ride (especially once Chloe gets involved), I'm not sure that the payoff was worth it. Still, I wish there were more shows like it.

chrisc31

I just watched Only Yesterday, I saw it at best buy today so I bought it. I always buy Studio Ghibli films, the only one I couldnt force myself to watch the whole film was The Princess Kaguya. My Favorite non Disney released Studio Ghibli films was "From up on Poppy hill", and "When Marnie was there".
"Only Yesterday" I thought was an odd story like "The Wind Rises"