Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

[Screw Danlon]

Anyone who’s seen the second Last Exile series (is it Wings of Fams?) mind telling me if it’s any good?

I found the original series had a lot of really evocative scenes and looked amazing (and I’m not usually into steampunk), but the plot was slow and confusing and I sort of felt like the characters just kind of stumbled into winning. Honestly my favorite parts were when the kids were just kinda hanging out being friends or flying.

So, is the second series worth checking out or does it just compound the problems?

 

[ZMOT]

I can see what you're saying with the characters being caricatures of an archetype, but seeing as how the cast of the show is easily over 50, with at least 30 characters returning regularly, they had to run out of character ideas to an extent. I'm more impressed that they manage to give even the minor characters some personality and that they aren't only on screen for 3 seconds twice in the entire series.

don't even mean caricatures, in the series they were more like normal schoolgirls with their own personality, since they kept most of the slice of life stuff to the OVAs. half of them you hardly ever see or hear unless it's relevant (which makes the talent show more fun tho). it also kinda ignores/brings back traits characters had already moved on from. miho for example was kind of a clumsy airhead till she becomes a proper captain asf.

there's also stuff like anteater suddenly being in a band if the OP is anything to go by, which feels like "haha they were getting swole in the film, how can we top that", story is much more contrived trying to raise the stakes again by literally making momo a dumbass, when all people really wanted was more cute girls doing cute panzer things, and since there's always some tournament or training going on there wasn't really any need for that. new team driving a ww1 tank when everyone is at least on ww2 level feels and looks off (not that gup was ever overly realistic in that regard, but still), and compared to the rest shark team is more stereotype first, characters second, if you know what I mean. plus the way they joined feels more like it came from an OVA, but since there's no separation anymore it kinda clashes in tone.

all in all it feels more like the usual MORE and BIGGER than a sensible progression, but maybe that's just me.
don't get me wrong, it's still enjoyable, but I'll probably always prefer original series + film over finale (whenever that finishes, since they had to milk it for years).

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Spoiler: Higurashi Gou

I called it, but holy shit that ending was clumsy.

There were more cases of "God please don't watch this series if you haven't read the VN/watched the DEEN adaptation" when they show the final part of Minagoroshi-hen at the start of the episode as well as Satoshi under the clinic but at this point, I don't think anybody who hasn't watched or read Higurashi is holding on to this anymore. It would be interesting to see how a complete newfag would take these episodes as a whole but that's besides the point.

I would've just been cool with seeing the same red eyes that Rika had on Satoko, but her pulling out the gun was really fuckin' stupid and stripped away any tension from that scene. It did, however, confirm that Satoko has been using this gun to carry out the murders from the prior arcs, the fact that it was originally Okonogi's weapon, and partially confirm that she has been forcefully making people go L5 with the H173 syringes from Takano's suitcase.

Another thing that is up in the air is the fact that Takano may also be looping as well due to the sudden change of heart and conviction as well as the fact that she says "I don't think you'd understand, even if I told you" when Rika asked why she had such a change of heart.

They do have a lot of fuckin explaining to do as to why she's the culprit now and why she's forcing Rika to stay in Hinamizawa. I suspect that something horrible happened in the 5 years after the end of the original series and the beginning of Gou, probably something revolving around Satoshi or her crippling loneliness since everyone left after 5 years, but it still undermines Satoko's character as a whole and turns her into an obsessed yandere. I won't accept 'lol witches' either! It's a lazy copout.

On another topic, the QUALITY for the Okonogi scene was so comically bad, it took me out of the scene. I don't think they managed to get his face right for one shot in that scene. It was dreadful. I don't know what else Passione has done recently or their track record when it comes to animation quality, but the quality has just been ok to ass for most of the series.

Next week's episode also begins a new arc: Satokowashi-hen or Village-Destroying Chapter. Now I swear to god if they go the route of Danganronpa V3's ending, this anime is getting a fucking 0. Nobody wanted a remake of Higurashi or a quasi-sequel series in disguise. I just want Ciconia Phase 2 already goddammit.

They also shared this artpiece for the new ending theme and if it's supposed to be her face during the scene where Akasaka burns down Rika's house, then lol they didn't do a very good job imo.
View attachment 1878137

Spoiler

Yeah, I've become apathetic towards this series over time and this episode just further proves it. They've killed everyone's characterization at this point that I honestly am refusing to believe this is part of the Higurashi canon, and supposedly this has been advertised or considered "When They Cry 1.5" which is stupid if true. Bernkastel's origin story, if this is what it indeed is, was nothing more than a simple if vague explanation of "When 'that' Rika died, I became 'this' Rika, but I had to cast out the 'other' me in the process when I chose my fate" and she called that "other" her "Bernkastel". And she talked to Bernkastel in the beginning of "Massacre", so she's somewhat aware that the one who's lived a 100 years is Bernkastel, the original Rika from 100 years ago. But there was no real mention she was ever sent back into the loop or even lived out her own life outside of embracing being a witch.

Lambdadelta is supposed to be like a combination of Satoko and Takano, but who the fuck knows what even her deal is in coming into play. I suppose if this is the Bernkastel origin story that she had to meet Lambda somehow, but where did Lambda even come from anyway?

The glowing eyes is fucking retarded, seriously. It's meant to represent the "witch" personality coming out, I suppose, but Rika and Bernkastel's personalities are so different that her demeanor changes whenever Bern comes out. None of this glowy eyes bullshit, her eyes just get colder and her face more stoic. Passione or the director is so talentless or thinks the audience is so stupid that they can't even convey that in animation that "Hey, this look the character's giving is uncharacteristic, but reminiscent of the dreary, apathetic look of Bernkastel!" Lambda I think is a more crueler Satoko, the one who makes traps to legit harm people, so in actuality she'd have to be more crazy in appearance and have a slasher smile on all the time. But nah, glowy eyes for everyone!

The punny name for the last arc is so forced, holy shit, this has to be Ryukishi's way of saying "I'm burning it all down and you can't stop me". What the fuck even is his thought-process going into this?

 

[Trashfire Garbagefuck]

Looks like Promised Neverland is changing things for the anime. The fourth episode came out and it's completely different now. I'm surprised it's happening this early though, apparently the author is signing off on this too. I'm very curious to see if they can salvage the series, and how much is changed from here on out.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

Spoiler: Higurashi Gou

I called it, but holy shit that ending was clumsy.

There were more cases of "God please don't watch this series if you haven't read the VN/watched the DEEN adaptation" when they show the final part of Minagoroshi-hen at the start of the episode as well as Satoshi under the clinic but at this point, I don't think anybody who hasn't watched or read Higurashi is holding on to this anymore. It would be interesting to see how a complete newfag would take these episodes as a whole but that's besides the point.

I would've just been cool with seeing the same red eyes that Rika had on Satoko, but her pulling out the gun was really fuckin' stupid and stripped away any tension from that scene. It did, however, confirm that Satoko has been using this gun to carry out the murders from the prior arcs, the fact that it was originally Okonogi's weapon, and partially confirm that she has been forcefully making people go L5 with the H173 syringes from Takano's suitcase.

Another thing that is up in the air is the fact that Takano may also be looping as well due to the sudden change of heart and conviction as well as the fact that she says "I don't think you'd understand, even if I told you" when Rika asked why she had such a change of heart.

They do have a lot of fuckin explaining to do as to why she's the culprit now and why she's forcing Rika to stay in Hinamizawa. I suspect that something horrible happened in the 5 years after the end of the original series and the beginning of Gou, probably something revolving around Satoshi or her crippling loneliness since everyone left after 5 years, but it still undermines Satoko's character as a whole and turns her into an obsessed yandere. I won't accept 'lol witches' either! It's a lazy copout.

On another topic, the QUALITY for the Okonogi scene was so comically bad, it took me out of the scene. I don't think they managed to get his face right for one shot in that scene. It was dreadful. I don't know what else Passione has done recently or their track record when it comes to animation quality, but the quality has just been ok to ass for most of the series.

Next week's episode also begins a new arc: Satokowashi-hen or Village-Destroying Chapter. Now I swear to god if they go the route of Danganronpa V3's ending, this anime is getting a fucking 0. Nobody wanted a remake of Higurashi or a quasi-sequel series in disguise. I just want Ciconia Phase 2 already goddammit.

They also shared this artpiece for the new ending theme and if it's supposed to be her face during the scene where Akasaka burns down Rika's house, then lol they didn't do a very good job imo.
View attachment 1878137

Spoiler

Yeah, I've become apathetic towards this series over time and this episode just further proves it. They've killed everyone's characterization at this point that I honestly am refusing to believe this is part of the Higurashi canon, and supposedly this has been advertised or considered "When They Cry 1.5" which is stupid if true. Bernkastel's origin story, if this is what it indeed is, was nothing more than a simple if vague explanation of "When 'that' Rika died, I became 'this' Rika, but I had to cast out the 'other' me in the process when I chose my fate" and she called that "other" her "Bernkastel". And she talked to Bernkastel in the beginning of "Massacre", so she's somewhat aware that the one who's lived a 100 years is Bernkastel, the original Rika from 100 years ago. But there was no real mention she was ever sent back into the loop or even lived out her own life outside of embracing being a witch.

Lambdadelta is supposed to be like a combination of Satoko and Takano, but who the fuck knows what even her deal is in coming into play. I suppose if this is the Bernkastel origin story that she had to meet Lambda somehow, but where did Lambda even come from anyway?

The glowing eyes is fucking retarded, seriously. It's meant to represent the "witch" personality coming out, I suppose, but Rika and Bernkastel's personalities are so different that her demeanor changes whenever Bern comes out. None of this glowy eyes bullshit, her eyes just get colder and her face more stoic. Passione or the director is so talentless or thinks the audience is so stupid that they can't even convey that in animation that "Hey, this look the character's giving is uncharacteristic, but reminiscent of the dreary, apathetic look of Bernkastel!" Lambda I think is a more crueler Satoko, the one who makes traps to legit harm people, so in actuality she'd have to be more crazy in appearance and have a slasher smile on all the time. But nah, glowy eyes for everyone!

The punny name for the last arc is so forced, holy shit, this has to be Ryukishi's way of saying "I'm burning it all down and you can't stop me". What the fuck even is his thought-process going into this?

Well that's disappointing to hear. Idk what Ryukishi's been smoking or how much is Passione, but this has all gotten really clumsy. And yeah that pun made me cringe. I was hoping for some tightly plotted interlude between Higurashi and Umineko. We just can't have nice things.

Edit: someone in r/Umineko is saying this is Amakusa:

Too late guys, you fumbled it and I can't bring myself to care about any Umineko tie in.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Edit: someone in r/Umineko is saying this is Amakusa:

View attachment 1878782

Too late guys, you fumbled it and I can't bring myself to care about any Umineko tie in.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Amakusa (not far enough in Umineko atm), but apparently he's in "Festival-Accompanying" anyway, so I guess it's not too far-fetched. I thought it was weird how he stands out like a sore thumb against everyone else, though.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Amakusa (not far enough in Umineko atm), but apparently he's in "Festival-Accompanying" anyway, so I guess it's not too far-fetched. I thought it was weird how he stands out like a sore thumb against everyone else, though.

Amakusa (and Okonogi) are secondary characters in the 1998 segments.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Spoiler: Higurashi Gou

I called it, but holy shit that ending was clumsy.

There were more cases of "God please don't watch this series if you haven't read the VN/watched the DEEN adaptation" when they show the final part of Minagoroshi-hen at the start of the episode as well as Satoshi under the clinic but at this point, I don't think anybody who hasn't watched or read Higurashi is holding on to this anymore. It would be interesting to see how a complete newfag would take these episodes as a whole but that's besides the point.

I would've just been cool with seeing the same red eyes that Rika had on Satoko, but her pulling out the gun was really fuckin' stupid and stripped away any tension from that scene. It did, however, confirm that Satoko has been using this gun to carry out the murders from the prior arcs, the fact that it was originally Okonogi's weapon, and partially confirm that she has been forcefully making people go L5 with the H173 syringes from Takano's suitcase.

Another thing that is up in the air is the fact that Takano may also be looping as well due to the sudden change of heart and conviction as well as the fact that she says "I don't think you'd understand, even if I told you" when Rika asked why she had such a change of heart.

They do have a lot of fuckin explaining to do as to why she's the culprit now and why she's forcing Rika to stay in Hinamizawa. I suspect that something horrible happened in the 5 years after the end of the original series and the beginning of Gou, probably something revolving around Satoshi or her crippling loneliness since everyone left after 5 years, but it still undermines Satoko's character as a whole and turns her into an obsessed yandere. I won't accept 'lol witches' either! It's a lazy copout.

On another topic, the QUALITY for the Okonogi scene was so comically bad, it took me out of the scene. I don't think they managed to get his face right for one shot in that scene. It was dreadful. I don't know what else Passione has done recently or their track record when it comes to animation quality, but the quality has just been ok to ass for most of the series.

Next week's episode also begins a new arc: Satokowashi-hen or Village-Destroying Chapter. Now I swear to god if they go the route of Danganronpa V3's ending, this anime is getting a fucking 0. Nobody wanted a remake of Higurashi or a quasi-sequel series in disguise. I just want Ciconia Phase 2 already goddammit.

They also shared this artpiece for the new ending theme and if it's supposed to be her face during the scene where Akasaka burns down Rika's house, then lol they didn't do a very good job imo.
View attachment 1878137

Damn, you know it's bad when Danganronpa V3's ending is described as the best case scenario.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Lol I've never played nor watched Danganronpa so I honestly have no idea how bad it had to have gotten for it to become a meme now. Kinda don't want to know tbh.

 

[Desu Mountain]

Mushoku Tensei is so good I'm actually getting invested.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Lol I've never played nor watched Danganronpa so I honestly have no idea how bad it had to have gotten for it to become a meme now. Kinda don't want to know tbh.

Its not outright bad as much as a massive fuck you to the player for keeping up with a series that already concluded its main arc and now only exists to satisfy people's gore fetish and repeats the same plot points and memed ad infinitum.
It usually don't work, but V3 somehow pulled it off.

Edit: The ending also shat on fanfic writers, which is an added plus.

 

[King Dead]

Anyone who’s seen the second Last Exile series (is it Wings of Fams?) mind telling me if it’s any good?

I found the original series had a lot of really evocative scenes and looked amazing (and I’m not usually into steampunk), but the plot was slow and confusing and I sort of felt like the characters just kind of stumbled into winning. Honestly my favorite parts were when the kids were just kinda hanging out being friends or flying.

So, is the second series worth checking out or does it just compound the problems?

I enjoyed Last Exile too, but from what I've heard, the sequel isn't as good as the original. I haven't seen it, but it seems to be a bit of a lackluster series overall, without much relation to the original. And more than one review suggests the main character is a pain to watch, so that doesn't bode well. I'd probably give it a pass.

 

[Vapewizard]

Looks like Promised Neverland is changing things for the anime. The fourth episode came out and it's completely different now. I'm surprised it's happening this early though, apparently the author is signing off on this too. I'm very curious to see if they can salvage the series, and how much is changed from here on out.

I know this used to happen more often cause I remember blue exorcist veering off from the source material and I heard about the old fullmetal alchemist anime and black butler doing it, but I find it peculiar it's a thing here cause I thought these days anime adaptations were more likely to just stick to the source material. Now I wonder if I should be reading the manga instead of staying an anime only.

 

[HexFag]

I know this used to happen more often cause I remember blue exorcist veering off from the source material and I heard about the old fullmetal alchemist anime and black butler doing it, but I find it peculiar it's a thing here cause I thought these days anime adaptations were more likely to just stick to the source material. Now I wonder if I should be reading the manga instead of staying an anime only.

I believe the changes to the anime are happening because of the quality dropoff that happened in the manga. I read some of the manga after the end of the first arc and found that the series was never as intense nor as good as that first arc in my opinion.

 

[albert chan]

R-15 was probably the first anime that I watched, dropped, rewatched, dropped and rewatched again because I was really surprised how this didn’t turn into a hentai.

Looking back, there’s probably more anime that I’ve watched, dropped and rewatched again that are just like this, though with different subject matters.

 

[Gar For Archer]

I know this used to happen more often cause I remember blue exorcist veering off from the source material and I heard about the old fullmetal alchemist anime and black butler doing it, but I find it peculiar it's a thing here cause I thought these days anime adaptations were more likely to just stick to the source material. Now I wonder if I should be reading the manga instead of staying an anime only.

Back in the day they used to make up new endings because anime used to run year-round instead of being in seasons, once they switched to the seasonal model they're content to just wait years between seasons, at which point there'll be more manga to cover.

In this particular case, it's probably being implemented as a "fix" to the story, which was generally considered to have nosedived to "kinda average" after the very promising first arc. The mangaka might also feel disappointed with how the story turned out and see this as an opportunity to fix their mistakes.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

You know, idk maybe I can forgive Ryukishi a bit as long as he doesn't pull something completely retarded. Why do I bring this up? I've seen people theorizing Satoko going nuts is Lambdadelta's origin

Spoiler

Which would make no damn sense. Lambdadelta was confirmed in the Confession of the Golden Witch manga to be the one who appeared to Takano when she ran from the orphanage and made Takano her piece when she said she'd become a god

It would be one thing if they went all Umineko meta world and had Satoko be Lambda or Featherine's piece. Hell, I'd be ok if they showed one of them appearing to Satoko as she's bawwwing over Rika going away. But retconning something like that...

Then again they kinda retconned Rika's motives already....

 

[HexFag]

You know, idk maybe I can forgive Ryukishi a bit as long as he doesn't pull something completely retarded. Why do I bring this up? I've seen people theorizing Satoko going nuts is Lambdadelta's origin

Spoiler

Which would make no damn sense. Lambdadelta was confirmed in the Confession of the Golden Witch manga to be the one who appeared to Takano when she ran from the orphanage and made Takano her piece when she said she'd become a god

It would be one thing if they went all Umineko meta world and had Satoko be Lambda or Featherine's piece. Hell, I'd be ok if they showed one of them appearing to Satoko as she's bawwwing over Rika going away. But retconning something like that...

Then again they kinda retconned Rika's motives already....

My guess (and I really hope this isn't right) is that it's going to tie into the gacha game, Higurashi Mei. As for an explanation and a motive, I really want something that can explain this other than witches and Umineko references.

There's this one Italian mega autist on /a/ and /jp/ who has the worst possible theories about Higurashi and Umineko who was throughly blown the fuck out by this episode's reveal since he thought Rika and Ooishi were the culprits. He literally writes fucking manifestos about his retarded theories that make no sense and it's a pretty interesting rabbit hole if you have read Umineko and Higurashi into how somebody can be so wrong about a mystery.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

My guess (and I really hope this isn't right) is that it's going to tie into the gacha game, Higurashi Mei.

Fuck no. I'll take a shoddy tie in to Umineko over fucking mobile games.

There's this one Italian mega autist on /a/ and /jp/ who has the worst possible theories about Higurashi and Umineko who was throughly blown the fuck out by this episode's reveal since he thought Rika and Ooishi were the culprits. He literally writes fucking manifestos about his retarded theories that make no sense and it's a pretty interesting rabbit hole if you have read Umineko and Higurashi into how somebody can be so wrong about a mystery.

Lol wtf is this bullshit? I bet he's still unironically a Rosatricer

 

[HexFag]

Fuck no. I'll take a shoddy tie in to Umineko over fucking mobile games.

Lol wtf is this bullshit? I bet he's still unironically a Rosatricer

He isnt a Rosatricer, it's FAR FAR worse.

https://pastebin.com/XVrRMWqS read this with some vodka. It's all in broken fucking english so have fun deciphering it.

He also makes shitty memes and puts them on a shitty booru website. It's at it's finest. https://erikce.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=list