The State of Anime Today

[MuMu]

Claymore (As Reccomended by Gregness)

"In a gritty, mysterious world, humans are constantly tormented by the gruesome Yoma; Monsters that can take human form but constantly hunger for the guts of the hapless peasants



Enter the Claymore; given this name by the commons due to the enormous swords they wield, they are an all-female, half-human half-yoma elite of warriors trained by the Organization to kill the Yoma in the world, in exchange for a wealthy sum



Despite being strong enough to chump off the common Yoma, there are still more dangers out there; creatures known as Awakened Beings, former Claymores that lost control and let their Yoma side take over, also roam free and these are way beyond the abilities of a single warrior to deal with



Not only that but it seems the Organization itself has been doing some shady business and the few Claymores that learn about it seem to disappear

In the middle of all this is Claire, an aloof Claymore on a personal quest of revenge, who gets involved in the conspiracies and machinations of the Organization."

This one was pretty interesting. It's bloody, gory, often grotesque but still a shonen. Lots of hyperfast battles, secret abilities, long drawn out battles and such. I gotta be honest, at first it does not look good. The first few arcs aren't very engaging and mostly involve the Claymore effortlessly dealing with common Yoma. But! After a backstory arc, the author introduces the Awakened Beings, which are always a treat to see as they get an opportunity to really splurge on the art














Each encounter with one of those is pretty fun as they are frequently overpowered and require a team of Claymores to be taken down; more characters are introduced and often get some time to shine and show off their special abilities; Claire too begins to grown as a warrior along with her new partners and the plot kicks off.

Overall it's a great action packed story and even though it is a bit long I still enjoyed it a lot.

[Gregness]

Hoo boy, I forgot how rough some of that early art looked. As evidenced by the awakened beings, it gets much better later on.

Originally Posted by MuMu

Overall it's a great action packed story and even though it is a bit long I still enjoyed it a lot.

This is really the most important part. Glad you liked it!

One thing I didn't see you mention at all, and was one of the strongest parts of the series for me was the supporting cast. I've got kind of a weakness for ensemble casts, and while Claymore doesn't quite have one and Clare is definitely the MC, there's so many fucking great supporting characters that it almost gets there regardless. Miriya and Jean were the two that resonated most with me. Miriya mostly because I'm a sucker for that sort of front-line commander mother-to-her-men schtick, on top of her being a stone-cold badass. Jean was interesting because the kind of wookie life debt thing she had going on really crystallized for me how refreshing the way Claymore handled its female characters was.

Also, did you check out the anime adaptation at all? I saw that version before I read the manga (one of only a few anime to inspire me to chase down the source material), and it was actually an incredibly faithful adaptation with the exception of the anime-only ending they tried to cobble together in the last few episodes (which I don't really hold against them). Clare hugging Teresa for the first time during that flashback made me tear up.

[MuMu]

You're right, I could've said something about the supporting cast. They don't shine as bright as the Awakened Beings but around 1/2 of the series the main group is formed and they make the entire thing way more lively.

And no, I didn't check the anime adaptation. Lately I've been avoiding anime and preferring the original manga; fillers, deviations and different endings are some of the reasons, although I've also grown fonder of the action on a page than in a low-budget animation.

I'm still open to OVAs, Movies and Non-Adapted Animes tho.

[Gregness]

Maaaan, I've got a couple of ideas for posts in this thread that just keep getting pushed back behind other priorities, but with the new season coming up, I've got a few rapid-fire opinions.

First thing: My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan season 2 were both fantastic (and MHA isn't even done yet - it's getting a full 24 episodes), but the real hype is that AoT had its next season announced for next year, and some people familiar with the manga got the impression it was going to be a full 24 episodes given what was teased in the trailer.

The other thing I'm hyped for is that season 4 of Symphogear starts on the 2nd. For those not familiar, the glib version is that Symphogear is about girls saving the world using magical power armor fueled by J-pop. The show has its flaws. For one thing, there's a bit of mood whiplash in the first few episodes (and does occasionally crop up later on) as it seems like they weren't really sure what kind of tone they were even going for, but they eventually settle for running on raw hype.

But goddamn the hype is real.

Here's a couple examples for people who don't mind spoilers.

Those clips pretty much encapsulate most of the show's appeal, but there's also a surprising amount of subtle characterization stuff that happens, even if the plot itself is kind of ridiculous at times.

I roped Sithdarth into starting on it a while back, and last I heard he was partway through second season. I don't think he was as high on this show as I am (I think it's great despite, and in some cases because of, its flaws), but he liked it enough to get that far so maybe he'll weigh in a bit.

[pochercoaster]

The studio that's producing Berserk needs to be fired because each episode looks like it was made by a kid who waited till the last minute to do their homework. It's atonishing how terrible the animation is.

Just imagine how fantastic post-Golden Age arc Berserk would be if it were properly animated. Actually just get the studio that makes Attack on Titan to make Berserk. It would be so good but it won't happen. ;_; (I still watch Berserk because they're still mostly sticking to the story though and that's enough for me.)

[phil_]

At this point, the anime forcing Miura to write new chapters for three months straight once a year is justification enough. And, yeah, the show looks bad most of the time, but they do use the cg well in some of the fights, and it's a handy way of toning down the violence enough to air on tv without actually making it any less violent. Plus the voice acting is good, and the direction isn't bad.

But the dream of an anime drawn as well as the comic sure is an appealing one.

[MuMu]

Everything I see about the Berserk anime is horrid which makes me glad I never jumped into that boat.

And since the Anime thread was revived, I guess I can post about whatever I'm reading! Too bad it's been months since this one and I already forgot most of what happens but whatever

This is a short one so I'll try to be brief
Bonnouji

Ozawa is having a weird night. After a drinking binge and a little accident, she ends at the doorstep of Oyamada and in need of a favor, which he promptly takes care of



But as she enter his apartment she notices somethign different





It turns out as Oyamada's brother travels around the world in search of a purpose, he buys loads of stuff and when he doesn't need them anymore he just ships them to his brother's apartment. Noticing Ozawa's curiosity, Oyamada asks if she doesn't want to open one of the boxes, which she promptly does finding a bounty of fine alcohol. They drink it together, Ozawa opens up about her life while Oyamada is awestruck and they have a fun night together opening other boxes. When she decides it's time to head out, Oyamada tells her she's free to come back and open more boxes another day. And so begins a relationship that'll turn into something more.



As you can see, this is a romance manga, but a bit atypical. First, the main characters don't spend 100 chapters wondering if they should hold hands or not - In fact the entire story is only 35 chapters long - both being adults. And second, despite being an adult comic it also is not a dark, pessimistic story - hell, it might be the most cheerful depiction of romance in a manga; both characters are adorable idiots, enough to get attached but not overboard to the point of being irritating. It is a simple, captivating story about newfound connections and well worth a read.

The only drawback I can point out is that there is a precarious depiction of passage of time - Not to give spoilers but it'll be obvious when you get to it. Perharps some "__ [time] later" indications could've helped but it's nothing that ruins the manga.

[Gregness]

Daaaammit!! I was looking forward to Enter the Ballroom this next season and it's gonna be an Amazon Strike exclusive.

[BB]

So, anyone at Anime Expo or Bushiroad Grand Festival this year?

Yeah, me either. I'm grumpy, too.

[Tev]

So...one of my favorite anime of all time, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, just got something of a.....revival(?) in the form of what appears to be several 2-3 minute long random clips stuffed to the brim with insanity and only the most tangential connection to the show I know and love.

I went from a hilariously comedic space opera about a lazy but well meaning guy who keeps accidentally failing forward until he averts a galactic war and brings peace to the galaxy...




To this......thing.....with an banjo.


And now I just....I just feel like Joe.