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Join us in the [Anime] thread to end all [Anime] threads
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In the early 90s, there was a live action toku show called Hyper Agent Gridman. You might recognize the combat footage as having been adapted in the west into Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad starring Matthew Lawrence and Tim Curry. I don't really know the details of how a 39-episode Japanese show was adapted into a 53-episode American show, but that's what happened.
25 years later, SSSS.Gridman, the first anime season, released. It's technically a sequel to the live action show, but it's mostly a new cast and setting so you don't really need to have seen the original show. It's mostly just references that you can find out later if you want. They even reference Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad at times, though mostly just visual references and not any plot elements.
Despite being an anime that is done by Trigger, the giant monsters are animated as if they are guys in rubber suits.
On the surface, the show is about some high schoolers where one transforms into Gridman to fight giant monsters that attack the town. But there are a lot of weird things going on that will be revealed over time.
No wait, you can't get out of the elevator yet.
A few years later they did SSSS.Dynazenon which is a new setting with a new cast (though some characters from the first season cross over) which focuses on some other elements from the original show that weren't in the first season. I also like the hero cast better in this season. Unlike the first season where one of them turned into Gridman, in this season all of them get to pilot vehicles that combine into Dynazenon.
Then this year, Gridman Universe released which combined everyone from both seasons of the show. It's basically Trigger thinking of every cool thing they could possibly do, and then figuring out how to jam it into a two-hour movie.
And if that isn't enough, here's the official music video for the theme from the movie (though it only uses scenes from the two anime seasons, and they're so rapidly cut and without context you shouldn't have to worry about spoilers unless you're really good at inferring stuff):
The same way you do Power Rangers, by hiring English-speaking actors to sit in interstitial scenes around the battle scenes, crafting your own story using the battle scenes as backdrop/payoff.
I should watch more SSSS.Gridman. I started the show a while ago and then forgot it over other things.
With Power Rangers, at first Saban contracted more battle footage to be made for the Zyuranger suits so they could make more episodes, and then they just started using footage from other Sentai after Zyuranger.
But for Gridman there was just the one show, so they must have reused some battle footage quite a bit to stretch an extra 14 episodes out of it.
So does Dynazenon!
It's not necessary to enjoy the anime but it fucking whips.
Yeah they do a great job of smashing the toys together along with having some additional weird shit. I'd imagine it is complete nonsense if you haven't seen both anime seasons though. Very pretty, though.
Also at one point you can see Delicious in Dungeon airing on TV behind some characters, which is Studio Trigger's next project.
Oh yeah. Pretty sure it did reuse footage or broke fights in one episode in the source show into multiple ones in SSSS.
Now anyone watching any of the current airing anime shows? I'm keeping caught up on Apothecary Diaries, I Shall Survive Using Potoins and Shangri-La Frontier.
Apothecary is by far my favorite of the three but Shangri-La is pretty good for its basic plot synopsis. It's also the two shows with the best openings!
I really should. It's been nothing but praised in my hearing.
aw
That's your loss. No one's spoiling it, it just means it's a popular show. More often than not, this thread's been correct in recommending quality stuff.
Mostly I know I'm not emotionally capable of dealing with a show about someone coping with the mortality of the people they've lost right now, which appears to be what Frieren is about from the blurb.
It does sound good, but just, like... not right now.
That's the first two episodes or thereabouts, but the series as a whole is more about appreciating the time you have with people right now in the moment so you don't have those regrets when they're gone.
It also has one of the best takes on what a "demon" is that I've seen in fantasy media.
The writer must be a big SMT fan. It's also got some amazing magical duels, definitely not what I expected.
Apothecary's been fine. I wish the mysteries were more focused on/better developed, especially since they keep teasing them as big things with dramatic cliffhangers, only to unceremoniously resolve them as almost an aside. Shy's been fairly disappointing to me after a decent start. The most recent episode was an almost shot for shot redo of a previous episode, and it doesn't seem to want to commit to either the superhero stuff or the character stuff, resulting in neither really going anywhere. The Vampire Princess show is... okayish. Would be greatly improved if its arcs were two episodes each instead of four, but it at least has a story and some character stuff going on.
I'm pretty checked out of this season though. My tolerance for shounen is extremely low, and those shows seem to have sucked up all the budget (and oxygen) for the next couple months. And I'm including Frieren in that. I know everybody else has been going nuts about the latest arc, but there's quite a lot that I found pretty distasteful about it, and the last episode I think may have been the final straw for me.
It's not shorthand. It's literally named Shy.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/53237/Shy
E:
And here's the Vampire Princess one too, since that was shorthand. It has kind of the same issue where it's largely pissing about and only gets to the good stuff every fourth episode or so, but actually finished an arc and is well into its second now while Shy is still waffling around. But its baseline is a lot more fanservicey comedy and the whole setting/writing just makes no sense whatsoever.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/54103/Hikikomari_Kyuuketsuki_no_Monmon
Adding that one to the list.
I think I only like Isekai because there's not enough fantasy anime in general. Slayers and Lodoss War are what brought me to anime, and I have a hard time finding anything that hits either of those notes.
Mushoku Tensei is getting real close for me though.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Just completely awkward as hell
Disgaea 5 was really bad for this - I'm pretty sure the English script was quite different to the Japanese VA
Benefits of mainlining too much anime & toku across the years, I guess?
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On a different note, I've been doing a start to finish reread of Full Metal Alchemist, which remains one of the finest comics ever produced. Just top shelf stuff
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So a character would say this really cool line that is an entire paragraph in English and the japanese sub just said "Hai"
It kind of worked but also it was pretty weird sometimes.
Yesterday I received volume 3, which is
The Trails in the Sky localisation is one of my all-time favourite localisations of anything, ever.
Yeah it’s just… it’s crap all around. It’s often very literal and stilted, the grammar is horrendous and there’s no real attempt at preserving the character of voice or tone of the performances so it’s all so very flat.
Several of the official releases for the Ultra series that TOKU HD got their hands on first are the same, which baffles me how Mill Creek and Tsubaraya let all that happened; I have to wonder if it was not wanting to pay for a new pass or if there’s some bizarre licensing issue involved.
TOKU HD also has the rights to Kamen Rider Agito and Kamen Rider Faiz and Faiz at least is plagued with an even worse translation.
Yeah it's really good. I like the japanese voices accompanying it because sometimes I like the japanese version of certain small interactions, but overall the English localisation is superior.
I basically pick and choose my canon from the best of both worlds.
Yeah. I watch a lot of dubbed anime because I just tend to watch stuff while I'm doing other things, or because I'm watching something with animation or visual detail that I want to pay close attention to and subs can be a bit distracting for my brain. Sometimes I also just like a dub more! Sometimes I like a sub more but watch the dub for some other reason. Sometimes I like both equally and end up watching a show twice haha
this is 100% bozo behavior im afraid 😔