What Anime are you watching?

I finished watching the first season of The Elusive Samurai/Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi! I'm not super into shounen animes for reasons I can't quite place, but the historical fiction element helped keep my interest. Yorishige also helped keep my interest (he's funny AND best mom <3). The animation is probably its biggest strength though, it's super pretty and fluid. I liked it enough that I'll be watching season 2 once it comes out.

I also had my semiyearly rewatch of Yuri on Ice! I've... accidentally gotten into the habit of watching it every June and December. Its been 8 years since I first watched it (I first watched it when episodes were still coming out!), but I still really like it and have a massive soft spot for it. Still kind of sad the movie for it was canned, even if it wasn't particularly surprising.

I just started watching Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury! I've been wanting to watch this for a while, but I only recently had the time to. This will be the first anime I've seen from the Gundam series, so I'm really excited to watch it!

THE WANDERERS; EL-HAZARD The Magnificent World (1995/1996) "Ifurita" is ♥Adorable♥

We're now on Steins;Gate 0. We reckon it's the best anime of all time in terms of the storyline. It has many great characters too.

Towa thinks we need a シュタインズゲート UPA but I believe they're now grails, especially the metal ones. We might just 3D print some instead.

Started watching the OG Sailor Moon... only halfway through Wonderful! Precure, so I should really be focusing on that, lol.

1 hour ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

Precure, so I should really be focusing on that, lol.

Precure isn't bad as a show, but I would say it's aimed at a younger age group than Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was aimed at 10 - 14 year olds, and Precure was aimed at 5 - 12 girls and 16 - 35 year old men, per Toei. 

I only watched the one where the girls were adults in their 20s, but when they became PreCure they turned into 13 year olds. I found that element and the fairies a bit off-putting, but that's just my own tastes. The humor in that one still had adult elements, like jokes about "having young skin again" being used to tease the 20 something girls that hadn't regained their ability to transform. The adult girls had adult problems to deal with like career and relationship issues. I suspect that one was aimed at grown up fans who watched the show as kids. 

If you enjoy PreCure then watch them for sure, it's a well made series, but if you haven't seen it yet be prepared for a children's show.

Speaking of magical girls, I need to get into Ojamajo Doremi now that they're adapting the light novels! My girlfriend is a HUGE fan that grew up with the series (my gift for her this anniversary is a compact that looks like a Rhythm Tap and a plushie of one of the characters) and her enthusiasm for it makes me so happy.

On 1/3/2025 at 12:02 PM, BeyondTime said:

Precure isn't bad as a show, but I would say it's aimed at a younger age group than Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was aimed at 10 - 14 year olds, and Precure was aimed at 5 - 12 girls and 16 - 35 year old men, per Toei. 

I only watched the one where the girls were adults in their 20s, but when they became PreCure they turned into 13 year olds. I found that element and the fairies a bit off-putting, but that's just my own tastes. The humor in that one still had adult elements, like jokes about "having young skin again" being used to tease the 20 something girls that hadn't regained their ability to transform. The adult girls had adult problems to deal with like career and relationship issues. I suspect that one was aimed at grown up fans who watched the show as kids. 

If you enjoy PreCure then watch them for sure, it's a well made series, but if you haven't seen it yet be prepared for a children's show.

I am a returning PreCure fan, so I do enjoy it, but yeah, it definitely is more "kiddy", for the most part. That's not to say the series lacks darker themes, but the characters themselves are usually younger, and act as such, plus the villains are usually pretty goofy/nonthreatening, as our their monsters. It's still a good magical girl franchise tho, imo.

I think I know which series you're talking about, and you were right, it is a sequel series to one of the older seasons that I haven't seen, and aimed at fans who grew up with it. I haven't seen the afformented sequel, either, but the jokes you've described track with what I'd imagine "Adult PreCure" would be. 

2 hours ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

It's still a good magical girl franchise tho, imo.

I agree, the adult version of the characters were certainly cute, and the show concepts were solid. I would say it has high production standards, but it wasn't for me.

We finished Made in Abyss. This has a number of controversial scenes so it's not for everyone. I have mixed feelings. I don't really like where season 2 went storywise, but parts of the show are incredibly inventive and it has a lot of very interesting characters and concepts.

We're now onto Ergo Proxy. This is somewhat challenging due to the complex plot. It has a lovely early 2000's feel to it and is recommended for anyone who likes Bladerunner/Akira type stuff. Also Re-l is a character who would be an awesome DD.

Steins;Gate 0 was top class anime and the ED is the best one since the 2nd Frieren one. I might turn Kaito into Ruka.

Just about to finish Future Diary! Going to try Elfen Lied next 

currently watching: bucchigiri?! with my sister and we both hate it. the main character is strangely unlikable and the story seems to waste the potential of the interesting cast. not sure what mappa was thinking with this one. i'll be looking into watching something else asap!

 

BLUE SEED (1995)

 

On 1/18/2025 at 10:19 PM, stars said:

Just about to finish Future Diary! Going to try Elfen Lied next 

Congrats - I think Elfen Lied was the second or third anime I ever watched, way back in 2008. The manga is worth a look too because there's a lot more to the story that never made it into the anime.

We've finished Serial Experiments Lain. Lain is an amazing character and the show was well ahead of its time.

Ergo Proxy was also incredibly good.

Next up is Texhnolyze. We're gradually working our way through the cyberpunk classics.

2.5-jigen no Ririsa is almost finished. It's much better than I thought it would be and is my pick for Volks' next collaboration dolls. It's kind of Oshi-lite meets My Dressup Darling.

Texhnolyze had no subtitles. Grrr.

It's replacement is Summer Time Rendering. Misaki thinks it's the best anime ever because the Mio character is a tan girl 😁. It has Elfen Lied vibes. Anything with a character called Ushio is guaranteed to be heartbreaking 😪.

We're also watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I don't know if we were quite ready for another magical girl show, but the visuals on this are absolutely amazing. It definitely has Yellow Submarine trippy vibes.

Finally we thought 2.5 Jigen-no-Risisa had finished. Then we discovered 3 more episodes. It's been a great light novel adaptation, and should hopefully get a series 2. It's probably sold the creators a vast amount of figures 😆 (and hopefully DD too if Volks are watching).

6 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

Texhnolyze had no subtitles. Grrr.

Consider it language practice 😏 

6 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

It definitely has Yellow Submarine trippy vibes.

Oh boy, you are in for a ride 🤭 

Currently watching BanG Dream: Ave Mujica. It's already gone so off the rails for an anime about being in a band and we're only on episode 4!

So I realised Shin Sato (below) is channeling her inner Mami.

Puella Magic Madoka Magica is likely to be in our top 5 anime. I was wondering what a magical girl series like Sailor Moon was doing in lists of edgy cyberpunk-like shows. When we reached episode 3 we understood. Probably we've not been as emotionally crushed since we watched Clannad After Story and Angel Beats.

Lucky Owl Water is a new meme in our doll household 🦉. A wonderful franchise and there's a new movie dropping soon.

We're now onto Psycho Pass. Some episodes are better than others but the overall story is really interesting.

OK so a rather nasty incident occurred in Psycho Pass and now everybody is super traumatised 😬. We haven't been this shocked and upset since Clannad After Story.

I said we'd better stick to light novel adaptations so we're also watching Welcome to Japan MS Elf. This could have been great but it's not. They should have ditched the fantasy arc and done more elf in Japan slice of life stuff. Even Plus Sized Elf was better than this.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Side Story Season 2 is great, even if nobody here can really understand the plot. The original cast is back and the animation is incredible.

Summer Time Rendering is pretty good but just lacks the want to watch the next episode certain something that the great shows have.

Finally we've watched a couple of episodes of Lucky Star. We have some of the DD outfits. God only knows what this show is about 😂. We haven't been as confused since we watched the Madoka Magica cakey song 🍰.