Mood: Better
(note: probs gonna be revealing spoilers to stuff, sorry.)
I've been watching a fair amount of anime, lately. :V Which is weird, 'cause I usually read more manga than watch anime, haha... BUT YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA POST ABOUT TODAY.
I finally finished Hunter x Hunter (2011), a couple weeks ago. I meant to finish some months ago, but I got stuck at the Chimera Ant Arc... although it turns out I really only had the last episode of the Ant arc, along with the final arc of the series left to watch. The last arc was pretty good!
I kinda didn't like the Chimera Ant arc very much, though. ""orz I'M TOO LAZY TO GET INTO DETAIL, RIGHT NOW...
I will admit there were things I liked about the Chimera Ant arc. There were a lot of cool new characters. For one, I really liked the Meruem and Komugi episodes, they felt really genuine. And the overall concept was interesting, too.
BUT.
I HAD TOO MANY THINGS BOTHERING ME ABOUT THE ARC FOR ME TO REALLY ENJOY IT... Maybe it's just because I was expecting it to be a really sad, dramatic arc (which it was to some degree), but there were too many things getting in the way of the emotions in the arc for me to enjoy it. orz Basically, it's just that:
- There were too many characters + extensive and unnecessary backstories to minor characters
- There were too many plots that were resolved slowly/never fully addressed
- The narrator was way too prominent in the latter half of the arc, making the show too "written story-like" (ie: the arc didn't utilize the anime medium)
- The scope of who's powerful in the show was blown out of proportion
Maybe I'll get more into this some day, but FOR NOW... I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT.
I did like the last arc a fair amount, though!! It was cool to see a lot of the old characters, again. :,D AND MY FRIEND, LEORIO... BACK IN ACTION... I was glad Leorio had a semi-prominent role, haha.
Oh, and, I thought the stuff with Killua and Alluka was really cool!! The backstory stuff with her powers was really cool (AND CREEPY BUT... YEAH, COOL STUFF.)
I enjoyed this arc, yeah.
/idk what to say, hahaha
BUT YEAH, I was glad to finish up Hunter x Hunter. I kinda wanna go back and watch some of the old arcs, haha. And maybe the movies. :^D But yeah, maybe some time...
Another anime I finished recently was Daily Lives of Highschool Boys/Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. :U It was 12 episodes, so MUCH SHORTER THAN HXH, HAHA. I only decided to watch it 'cause I had seen some photosets from it on tumblr, but it turns out it's actually a kinda old anime from 2012 that no one really talks about. (??? I WENT IN UNDER THE IMPRESSION IT WAS POPULAR, HAHA;;;)
It wasn't a favorite of mine, but it wasn't a bad series. I was kind of uncertain about it at first, but I think I was just annoyed 'cause I was watching it on Hulu... with ads.......... SO I SWITCHED TO YOUTUBE AROUND EPISODE 3, AND I FELT A BIT BETTER ABOUT IT, AHAHA;;; But yeah, it's a sketch comedy show about highschool boys being stupid. (??? IT'S TRUE, OKAY.)
I liked a lot of the sketches with the main 3 characters, and just with the dudes in general, but I didn't usually like the sketches with girl characters...!! It was weird, 'cause every girl character in this show is KIND OF A JERK...!!! IDK THE GIRLS WERE ALL SO VIOLENT! I wouldn't have really taken notice to it if it was just like 1 or 2 girls who were bratty and violent, but it was almost every girl;;; Idk, it was kind of unsettling and strange. :U
Other than that, I've been watching Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (first season), Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen, and Free!.
Chunibyo's not bad, it's got cute characters and I like the concept well enough. :U Though sometimes the characters are a little too cutesy, for me. BUT IDK, that's just me, I'm not a huge fan of the "moe" stuff, or whatever. Kyoto Animation usually does cutesy moe characters (I think?), so it's to be expected, haha. :^D
/idk what I'm saying, don't bother me
Free!'s probably my least favorite of what I'm watching right now;; It's not horrible, and I really like the background music (???), but it's just not what I'm really interested in, for an anime... -u-/ I like that it's lighthearted and cute, but the fanservice is a little aggravating. I MEAN... I'D PREFER IT TO OWN UP TO BEING BL, INSTEAD OF DOING AMBIGUOUS HOMOROMANTIC FANSERVICE, OR SOMETHING...???? Leaving it as subtext just makes it feel a little shallow.
Personally, I'd like to see a casual BL anime where the main storyline has to do with something other than romance (like swimming, here), while the romance happens (without being subtext) in the peripheral. Idk if that makes any sense, but yeah. It just feels like Free! is being all, "HO HO. CHECK OUT THIS SCENE. WITH THESE DUDES. SHIP THEM, MY AUDIENCE." without trying to present or understand (?) how the characters themselves might actually feel for each other. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the show cares too much about the audience, rather than the show itself and it's characters. (???)
Now that I think about it, I feel like Tiger and Bunny might've had a similar problem, with Kotetsu and Barnaby having ambiguously platonic or romantic feelings for each other... Though when I watched it, it felt more like the show was like, "Hey, here's what Kotetsu thinks about Barnaby, you decide whether it's romantic or platonic," or something. While Free! feels more like it's pushing for the audience to ship characters, even though it'll never be officially addressed in the anime.
OR MAYBE I'M JUST BEING TOO HARD ON FREE!, I DON'T KNOW. But yeah, there's some thoughts on that.
So yeah, lastly, I'm watching Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen. I decided to watch it 'cause I read the manga as a kid, and heard there had been a new anime series (2013). :V
I was confused watching at first because it seemed like it was just skipping through everything, but it turns out the anime is based on a manga sequel the author made.
I had no idea there was a sequel to the manga, but I was personally really glad to hear! The original manga ended really abruptly... I'm glad the author decided to continue it, and work out some of the original plot holes. :^D I haven't read it yet, but I'm gonna give it a read once I finish the anime.
Visually, I like how the new anime looks...! The backgrounds are pretty, and the drawings look pretty close to Peach-Pit's (the manga artists) art style. (Also I looked it up just now, but apparently Peach-Pit is a manga duo. :O I didn't know, haha.)
I never watched the original anime series, so idk what to say about this new series compared to the old ones... I do remember looking at some screenshots at some point, and not really being a huge fan of the old animation style. BUT UH, I'M JUST PICKY. Sometimes older anime styles don't appeal to me. -u-/;;; I think it was just 'cause it was different from the manga, which is what I was familiar with.
Here's what the old anime looked like:
The new anime:
And the manga:
Idk why I'm showing all these images, or even talking about the art at all. SORRY, I'M JUST RAMBLING.
BUT UH, SOMETHING REALLY WEIRD ABOUT THIS ANIME IS
THE SHEER NUMBER OF BAD REVIEWS IT HAS ON CRUNCHYROLL!!!!
I don't understand, 'cause watching it I don't think it's that bad...!! I mean it's not the greatest, but I think it's kinda decent so far!
????
I DON'T UNDERSTAND, AM I MISSING SOMETHING...
Other anime websites give it around a 6-7 out of 10, which sounds pretty right to me. I'm just so confused by this... (?_?)/
Yeah.
WELL, that's all I have to talk about, and idk how to end this.
I'M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL, SOON...
HAVE A NICE LIFE, Y'ALL. *U*/;;;
