TheBigDave

I'm off to a slow start this season. But here's the shows I've watched so far:

I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job - Fino is mai waifu this season. Unfortunately I'm not crazy about the other aspects of this show. I really wish this show was focused on slice-of-life comedy/drama. But so far it's mostly about panties, boobs and tentacle rape. I went into this show expecting something similar to The Devil Is A Part-Timer which was awesome. This is a disappointment.

My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy - I hated this. Only made it halfway through the first episode. All the choice popups got on my nerves.

Non Non Biyori - I like the manga and the show is absolutely adorable. It's very relaxing and easy to watch. A great theme song by nano.RIPE.

Galilei Donna - I loved the first episode. I didn't know what to expect and was blown away. Can't wait to see where they go with this show.

PhantomStranger

I thought the first two episodes of I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job were very funny. What happens to the knight characters in an RPG when the evil boss is permanently defeated and they have to enter the real world? I see some potential in this harem setup, it looks patterned after Is This A Zombie?

My Mental Choices does get annoying at times, some of the choices are stupid. It's a premise that could be pushed much, much farther but it looks content to use the choices as funny material.

TheBigDave

Two more simulcasts, and I really liked both:

Golden Time - From the author of Toradora (Yuyuko Takemiya) which is one of my all time favorite shows. So I have high hopes for this series. It's off to a good start. The first 3 episodes had great comedy moments with some nice drama. This could be one of the best of the season.

Beyond The Boundary - A lot of people will compare this to Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions. They're both KyoAni shows with cute girls doing supernatural stuff. But Chu-2 is a comedy show. This is heavy on the drama/action, and I have a feeling it's only going to get darker. Personally, I prefer KyoAni's "cute girls doing cute things" shows. But I enjoyed the first 3 episodes. The story is interesting and I like the characters, so I'll keep watching.

slop101

I'm a couple episodes into this right now:




I'm really digging it, especially the animation style

TheBigDave

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta - Too bad no one's simulcasting this series. It's a really fun show. Lots of cute girls, fanservice and supernatural battles. If you can find it, check it out.

Here's the original series Yozakura Quartet (2008) at Hulu.

chrisc31

I got in the mail today and I watched Highschool of the Dead OVA now I am on episode three of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

LorenzoL

I have started watching Naruto on Hulu+

hanshotfirst1138

Do Hulu stream subtitled or let you choose, or do you just get what you get?

McHawkson

Some anime on hulu offered your choice subtitle or dub.

printerati

I have been working my way through The World God Only Knows on Crunchyroll. Unless I'm just completely missing it, they apparently don't have the OVA that bridges the second and third seasons, but filling in the gaps isn't too difficult. Considering how ridiculous everything is (the premise, the laughably bad understanding/interpretation of Western religions and mythology, the number of plot holes, and especially the tool of a lead character), it's astounding that the show is as clever and enjoyable as it is, and the "twist" in the third season thankfully keeps it from falling into a rut.

LorenzoL

I just saw that Hulu+ has Gatchaman and Ranma 1/2.

Hulu only has the first 7 episodes of Gatchaman but after watching the first episode, the quality is quite good which gives me high hopes for the Blu-ray release later this year. I loved this show as a kid and I cannot wait to have the complete collection. This was my second most wanted anime series after Mazinger Z (which is also being released) and to have it on Blu-ray is unbelievable.

In regards to Ranma 1/2, I'm ashamed to say that I have never watched the anime before but I have always heard good things about it. Watching the first episode, I'm hooked!
Hulu+ only has the first 28 episodes and looking on the net, this series has 161 episodes. However, just saw the announcement that Viz intends to release this series on Blu-ray next year. I'm hoping for a complete collection.

OutRun2

I have Mazinger Z on dvd but haven't watched it yet. I don't own Gatchaman but remember watching bits and pieces of it as Battle of the Planets way back on tv as a kid. From what I've read, Gatchaman has aged badly, and suffers from a horrible plot and total lack of character development. Is this true?

LorenzoL

Actually, I thought that Gatchaman held up better than expected, at least in the first two episodes.

The first 7 episodes are good sampler of whether you want to spend the money to buy the complete collection since is not exactly cheap.

I'm just waiting for the release date for Mazinger Z by Discotek. That's my Holy Grail.

fujishig

I think it depends on what you're expecting. I mean, this is the original Super Sentai/Power Rangers team, and true to it's time period it's more episodic monster of the week stuff, so character growth is not at the forefront (though some of the stuff that was edited out of Battle of the Planets was definitely grown up for it's time).

I doubt Mazinger Z has held up all that well either... it's basically over the top Super Robot action, with monsters of the week and upgrades and whatnot. The nostalgia factor is high for both of these. I wouldn't expect modern storytelling, or even more complex serial stuff like Mobile Suit Gundam, Macross or Yamato of the 80s.

TheBigDave

A couple more simulcasts I'm watching this season:

Kyousougiga - It's like a mix of Humanity Has Declined, FLCL and Little Witch Academia. It's stupefyingly beautiful, unbearably sweet and somewhat confusing. The visuals are mindblowing. If you're looking for something that's unlike everything else, check this one out. You can skip Episode 0. It's a standalone OVA that won't make any sense. I'd suggest watching it after you watch the series.

Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods - This one reminds me of Natsume's Book Of Friends. It's a light, heartwarming show. I look forward to seeing more.

OutRun2

Yeah, sounds more like MachGoGoGo type style. Episodic but still a classic nonetheless.

Speaking of Speed Racer, I have the dvds, but did they ever release the show as "MachGoGoGo" complete with original Japanese audio here in the States?

chrisc31

If Someone Private Message me I will randomly give my Crunchyroll 48 Hour Membership Guest Pass's to someone within a few days. I have no one to give them to.

McHawkson

I'm currently watching:

Golden Time (Chunkyroll)
Galilei Donna (Chunkyroll)
Samurai Flamenco (Chunkyroll)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Netflix)

I'm also re-watching Attack on Titan.

OutRun2

Ummm, don't you mean "Crunchyroll"?

McHawkson

Close enough.

PhantomStranger

Anyone that loves Kick-Ass, the movie about a normal kid attempting to become a superhero, needs to watch Samurai Flamenco. It's basically the Japanese take on Kick-Ass.

I've also been watching Kokoro Connect (yes, I know I'm a few months behind) and find it a really good exploration of the body-swapping premise. The series takes a much more dramatic turn, half the way in.

Are there any anime available on Amazon Prime one recommends?

chrisc31

I started watching dvds I own that I didn't watch in over 5 years. So far I watched all of "Mahoromatic" even "Summer Special" & "I'm Home" ova's.
Now I'm watching "Dears"

PhantomStranger

I ended up watching Maid Sama recently on DVD. The plot and premise are stretched a bit thin over 26 episodes, though it's funny enough to make up for that problem.

printerati

I guess the Sword Art Online rip-offs were inevitable. I started watching Log Horizon on Crunchyroll last night, which is about 30,000 Japanese (and untold thousands of others worldwide) who find themselves trapped in a MMORPG and unable to log out after a new expansion pack is released. There are several other similarities (lead characters who don't believe in joining guilds, roving packs of player killers), but there are a number of other differences as well, the main one being that people don't die in real life if they are killed in the game. In fact, four episodes in, what is happening to everyone's bodies in real life (and why they were trapped in the game in the first place) has yet to be addressed. One other difference is that several of the players are already at maximum "experience levels" and (mostly) know their way around the world since they had been playing the game for years before the expansion pack was released.

It's less polished than Sword Art Online in every way, from storyline to environment to character development to animation quality, and I have no idea what the series title means (yet), but it has been kind of fun so far. The lead characters readily accept that they are stuck in the game and decide to make the most of it by going on quests so that they don't get bored or stagnate. There is supposed to be a major revelation about the game world in episode 5, so we'll see where it goes from there.

PhantomStranger

I think it was inevitable we would get several SAO rip-offs. Anime series love ripping off elements from popular shows. I do think there was a lot of emotional terrain left unexplored in SAO regarding MMORPGs for derivative shows. It's only a matter of time until someone does a comedic take on SAO from the perspective of a low-level character.