PhantomStranger

I accidentally picked up Alice in Borderland thinking it was a complete series and not an OVA consisting of three episodes. Edgy survival-of-the-fittest thriller about a post-apocalyptic world where you have to compete in deadly games or some unknown entity in Borderland instantly kills you. The OVA felt incomplete because it ends with a natural beginning point for remaining episodes which never got made. The characters aren't particularly likable and the premise stretches the boundaries beyond realism.

I discovered the source material was adapted into a much longer running drama series but I didn't see enough potential to hunt the live-action show down.

tonyc3742

The (or 'a', not sure if it's the only one) live action is on Netflix. 2 seasons, 8 episodes each. I've watched three or four eps. No familiarity with the source material so I can't comment on its faithfulness, but my default streaming content opinion is "could this have been done in fewer or shorter episodes".

WTK

Live-action series has done very well for Netflix. Season 3 was announced in September. I only have watched Season 1.

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/lo...s-for-season-3

fujishig

The Live Action show isn't completely faithful to the manga but it is faithful enough and the changes they made are better for the adaptation. I'll have to see where the OAV leaves off but I thought the live action one was decent enough and it does take it to the manga's ending.

edited to add: which now confuses me how they're going to extend it. There are a few sequel mangas but I don't think they are particularly noteworthy, even one where Arisu has to go back after he has a kid.

PhantomStranger

I wasn't particularly impressed by Plunderer's first 12 episodes and probably won't finish out the series. Messy plotting and a hodge-podge of disparate characters all strewn together haphazardly results in a wacky mix of comedy, serious drama which is almost immediately undercut, over the top violence and even death. Based off a manga which I assume is better, this show never really knows what it wants to be.

spainlinx0

I really liked Pluto.

PhantomStranger

Beautifully animated by Production I.G with excellent character designs, Fena: Pirate Princess disappointed me. This ran on Adult Swim a couple years back so I caught the English dub, which I rarely hear these days over the Japanese audio. Not an entirely unwatchable show, but it's an odd mix of historical period characters with shonen-like action. The reveal about Fena, and really the entire show's underpinnings, take a bizarre turn near the end which left me cold. But truthfully I was already mentally checked out by the season's second half.

Mike86

So normally anime isn’t really my thing but my wife and I started up Netflix and the trailer for Delicious in Dungeon started and I was intrigued. The first episode was so bizarrely funny that it sucked me in. Think I’ll keep watching it.

A friend also recommended me The Way of the Househusband. We watched the first episode and it was okay but I’d prefer one story per episode instead of mini stories.

fujishig

Delicious in Dungeon is one of my (and my daughter's) favorite recent mangas. We haven't started watching it yet but good to hear that it's funny.

Mike86

Just the one episode is out so far. Second is coming on the 11th.

WTK

Delicious in Dungeon is one of the few anime series that Netflix gave weekly streaming treatment. Series is 24 episodes (to around June).

PhantomStranger

I rarely catch shows as they are currently airing but have now caught up with Ragna Crimson's 13? episodes. Interesting dark fantasy series about a world run by powerful dragons, as they terrorize humans according to the whims of their so-called god. The young Ragna becomes the world's most powerful dragon hunter, guided by the mysterious and devious Crimson. Sounds awfully generic from my description but quickly goes for the jugular, subverting many of the genre's tropes. The protagonist is overpowered in some regards but the story balances that with overwhelming odds against our "heroes".

The closest comp in terms of style and storytelling may be Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. The characters aren't quite as likable as that popular anime but the battles are better.

WTK

Series took a slight break. It's scheduled to continue January 13 (with episode 13). Series is 24 episodes.

https://www.hidive.com/news/2023/12/...only-on-hidive

chrisc31

Anyone else watching Gushing over Magical Girls? I joined Hidive for the first time, hoping it gets an English release.

PhantomStranger

It's definitely generated a lot of interest across the web. I'm sure it will get an English dub.

So I caught all of Reincarnated as a Sword. Fantasy adventure show which forgets it's an Isekai about 10 seconds into the first episode. A guy who dies becomes a talking sword in another world capable of learning magic from the monsters he kills, eventually bonding with a young catgirl. They develop a cute father-daughter relationship as she becomes a powerful adventurer. Despite all the killing and monster battles, I got the feeling this was aimed at a slightly younger crowd than your typical isekai. The heroine is only 12 years old. Definitely watchable even if it follows standard RPG gamebuilding tropes.

fujishig

Is it aimed at a younger crowd? When I first saw the preview I figured it was full of ecchi stuff so I avoided watching it with the kids.

chrisc31

Reincarnated as a Sword is fine, it has very mild ecchi if it has any at all, but the first anime he talked about has extreme ecchi scenes.

fujishig

Oh I realize Gushing is totally ecchi, just wondering about Reincarnated because sometimes you just can't tell...

PhantomStranger

There's basically no sexual content in Reincarnated as a Sword unless you think the occasional female character drawn attractively is sexual, at least none I remember. Maybe a throwaway line of innuendo? More questionable for younger viewers would be some of the gruesome and often graphic violence.

While I enjoyed it, the show has shonen tendencies which made me think it's aimed at a slightly younger crowd than your normal isekai these days.

PhantomStranger

Sat down and devoured Re: Zero - Starting Life in Another World's second season in a couple days, 25 episodes I think. Wow, I'm not sure any anime series has maintained this level of quality through its first 50 episodes. We get actual progress in Subaru's character development and a satisfying resolution to several ongoing sub-plots.

Few shows even make it this deep and the ones that have usually get mired in repetitive storytelling. Direction doesn't usually stick out on anime but Re: Zero's second season helps elevate what could have been a somewhat tedious adaptation of complicated plotting. The only issue I had with season two is that one fan favorite character gets completely sidelined but that should be rectified in the upcoming third season.

Re: Zero probably won't end up as my favorite anime ever but easily sits in my top ten. Maybe I'll get around and write out my favorite anime list for the forum.

PhantomStranger

I found The Dreaming Boy is a Realist a frustrating watch and poorly paced. Not recommended. It's technically meant to be a romance set in high school about an average protagonist, who has relentlessly hit on the school's most attractive girl with no luck. But the anime is more about a drawn-out, high school slice-of-life with a surprisingly narrow cast. And you still barely know the female love interest after 12 episodes.

The whole "conflict" of the series, the guy pulling back when the girl starts catching feelings for him, takes a ridiculously long time to develop any momentum. It's like they planned this series to have 40 episodes or something from the beginning.

PhantomStranger

I caught Journal of Mysterious Creatures on Amazon Prime. Not a great show, it's about a hapless landlord who rents out his home to a wolfgirl and vampire before accumulating more exotic creatures in his group. I guess you'd label it a comedy which loosely follows the path laid out by harem shows. Fun enough if you've never seen this formula but we've seen characters like this before used better in superior shows.

PhantomStranger

Caught up with a mess of anime recently. Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note is an off-shoot of the Fate series, a show I had been putting off for years despite being a huge fan of the Fate franchise.

Little more than a teenage side note in Fate/Zero, Waver Velvet grows up to be Lord El-Melloi II, now a teacher at London's Clock Tower. The show is more about solving magical mysteries than directly concerning itself with the Holy Grail War which dominates most of the Fate franchise's properties. There are connections and a little fan service for original fans but the series largely stands on its own. If you're into mystery and detective anime, this is a solid watch. I did roll my eyes a little when they reveal Gray's true nature.

Going through Berserk of Gluttony now, another fantasy adventure world set in a vaguely RPG-like manner. A low-born character gifted a poor skill at birth discovers his power can make him immensely powerful...at a severe personal cost. A new wrinkle on the overpowered protagonist formula, this starts out fairly strong though the animation isn't very good at times. Not my favorite because the plot becomes rather predictable and rarely surprises after the first couple episodes.

PhantomStranger

I had been meaning to catch Chivalry of a Failed Knight for a few years but kind of forgot about the show. It's now nearly ten years old by this point, wish I had caught it sooner. Watched its one and only season this week, I would have loved to see a continuation of the series. Fun fantasy high school setting about magical knights battling for school supremacy. The main character is a guy who has made himself the strongest in the school despite having almost no magical ability and he gets paired with the school's strongest girl. There are some family issues the guy is dealing with and he ends up battling administrative forces who are trying to keep him down. Solid battles, a little ecchi, and enough levity mixed with drama to keep things above most high school combat anime. A second cour is heavily set up but the anime only got 12 episodes.

PhantomStranger

Gave Skeleton Knight in Another World a spin and liked it. Pretty standard fantasy adventure isekai leaning more on comedy than serious drama despite a few graphic elements. Love the character designs, the hulking main character wears giant-sized armor. The show literally opens with an attempted rape but that really doesn't jive with the rest of the first season's fairly easygoing vibe.

I have grown a bit tired of the overpowered protagonist formula facing no serious threats at all and just wiping every enemy they encounter. It was refreshing at first and can still work if everything is going right, but we've seen most variations on the formula by now.