Omnibus Summer 2012 Anime ThreadFollow

There's one where Buddhists fight undead by using their own undead. And one where some guys in turbans fight aliens with blowdryers while the main characters are fishing.

Edit: Oh, and I think the organization in Blue Exorcist had some multi-faith elements too.

Edited, Aug 15th 2012 10:26pm by Poldaran

Blue Exorcist is pretty good, though they really did the anime way to early on, given how relatively new blue exorcist is for a monthly release manga. They do combine several faiths (ie: those you'd find in japan) and make it seem like the exorcists are working behind the scenes, and are in charge of all the major religions in the world.


I'm the same way, a story needs to be really interesting to get me to be willing to sit down for half an hour to watch someone else sitting down for half an hour.

edit: derpy

Edited, Aug 20th 2012 5:47pm by Jinte

Well, 2 episodes into Jormungand, and it seems like something demea might enjoy, though I'm not sure it'll be his new favorite.

It's about an arms merchant much like black lagoon. Definitely a lot of action, as there have been two "fights" per episode so far. Dialogue is fast paced and reasonable interesting. Drawbacks seem to be that the characters seem to have multiple personality disorder with how quickly the tone shift from heavy to light, and certain situations--while not quite plot holes--could benefit from further explanation.

You wouldn't visit Disneyland to ride on Jormungand, but you'd get in line for it if you're already there.

It's due to way Christianity was introduced to Japan, I believe.

Shinto buddhism sorta coexisted with spirtual prescences barring small scale exorcisms/appeasement/etc, whereas zealous Christian missionaries sorta sought out any 'demonic presences' to destroy it in order to galvanize people toward their conversion efforts. That, and christian missionaries came along with the introduction of firearms to japan, which is probably why you get so many interpretations of the 'christian vampire hunters with guns' theme.

Finished Jormungand, and it turned out better than I expected. Overall I'd rate it 7/10. It was researched enough that it had a fair sense of realism, and was nice to see the copious use of snipers. While the audience will build sympathy for the characters, it's only through familiarity. The show never pretends they're any better than the people they kill.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood done. That one was right up my alley. Out of curiosity, what are the differences between FA:B and the vanilla, non-secondary-titled Fullmetal Alchemist?

Durarara!! is up next so Allegory will stop bringing it up.

For anyone watching Sword Art Online (I'm just gonna use this thread, rather than the other one, since that one's deader), thoughts? I'm watching it having read most of the source novels, and I'm really loving it, but... it really, really feels so rushed. It's like they're trying to cram too much into a single episode, and it's causing them to cut out a lot of the novel's charms. Up until Lizbet's episode it was fine, but the two before it Spoilerfelt really unnecessary, because unless they're told in one of the last three books I've yet to read, as flash backs, due to how the story with Sword Art Online itself is only in the first book and a collection of oneshots that make up the second book, they're just pointless filler, because every episode since then has felt so rushed... I can sort of see what they're aiming towards, but that event works way better as a forgotten memory coming back tothe surface, so I really hope they don't do it.... One of the things I really love about the books, though, is how the author uses perspective. Kirito always narrates his own story in the first person, explaining things about the game to the reader, like he's remembering it to tell someone. Chapters that focus on Lizbet are in the first person, too. Chapters focused on Asuna and everyone else are told in third person. Maybe it's just because I'm an MMO geek, but their are some pretty important plot points and characterization moments made clear by how the author explains different things about the game(s), and that the anime doesn't even gloss over them, but completely ignores them, really bothers me.

SpoilerLike Asuna's cooking. That she has cooking Mastered is a big deal, because it takes a long time to Master (max level) a skill, and most people on the only have combat and survival oriented skills chosen to have any levels in, let alone mastery, meaning that people with high level cooking are incredibly rare. Asuna, despite being on the front lines, fighting the strongest monsters in the game, and continually fighting the very dangerous boss monsters, instead, chose to master a skill that serves no purpose in combat and only allows her to make food that tastes good. In SAO, the players do need to eat, but only because their brain is tricked into thinking it's hungry, so if they don't eat some virtual bread or something, which they can get cheaply at npc vendors, they'll be uncomfortable. They won't starve, though. It says a lot about Asuna's character that she's willing to forgo a skill that could help her survival in order to master a skill that only helps her comfort level (and the comfort level of others). Kirito actually teases her for it in the novel prior to actually tasting her food.

Also, I just read your second spoiler and they totally mention the deal about Spoilercooking and how surprising it is that she leveled it.

Some things like that are to be expected. I just hope they continue the series long enough to Spoilerget to the other two MMOs.


Edit: Oh, and the Fall shows start up at the beginning of next month. Might be time for a new thread for those.

Edited, Sep 4th 2012 12:16am by Poldaran

Eh, I just wish SAO was a real game- without the whole logging out and death problems.

A comment on Youtube led me to some very minor digging, and it does sound like it's going at least 25 episodes(at the very least Wikipedia lists it at 25 episodes). Said comment said Spoilerthey'd be going on to ALO, with no mention of GGO.

SAO:
Maybe it's explained better in the manga, but what just happened? or more correctly: how much of that was a dream? My memory is too short to handle dreams that cover more than a single episode.