Ecclesia on Second Dimension Shenanigans

Reading subs is something I've been doing for ages with my addiction for Spanish horror movies, so I'm used to it... kind of. Sometimes I can zone out and be aware of the picture and subs at the same time, other times I need to pause for long sentences, I'm jealous of not being able to Japanese though.

It's the little things that irritate me about dubs, really... 99% of the time the original voice actors are more expressive (but I guess Japanese is also more aesthetically pleasing for me, with words like "baka", haha), when Americans often intentionally change a character's personality and localize the dialect to make them more relatable to us Westerners, they often take less care with quirky and unconventional side characters that need to be pulled off just right... for example a character that's eccentric and charming in her own way, who would sit in a corner and condescendingly say "how unwise.." in a distant tone with a hint of disgust and contempt while wearing a distant expression and looking to the side whenever someone makes a fatal mistake or comes up with a bad idea... getting replaced with an angsty teenager that just yell "this is stupid!", who doesn't contrast against the other characters as much as she did in the subbed version and ends up just feeling like the kind of generic side character fodder you'd see in a slasher film.. and this was an example of anime that was apparently "dubbed well". It also breaks the fourth wall for me to see people living in traditional Japanese lifestyles while speaking English to eachother.. it all just starts adding up.. and yes I'm a pedantic retard. ;P

Just finished watching Attack on Titan... damn this series starts off light hearted but very quickly goes from 0-100% and the atmosphere becomes oppressive and the tone becomes that of despair and portrays a world full of hopelessness and desperation where everyone in the world has been eaten except for a small population that have taken refuge in a multi walled city that comes under siege and faces the threat of annihilation.. the atmosphere is also achieved in part thanks to the cruel storytelling that fleshes out characters in a way that makes you become endearing to them only for said character to die screaming with half their body missing while getting eaten alive by Titans (that eat only to murder, as they vomit up massive chunks of flesh that's often the combined remains of multiple half digested victims).

The storytelling is almost lovecraftian in a sense that humanity and the characters accomplish a string of minor victories or breakthroughs only for a desaster or oversight to happen that ends with 70% of the cast getting eaten with nothing to show for it. The series bullies you by getting inside your mind and preying on your emotions, it lets you put your guard down then throws a gear in the works, it doesn't give you time to feel bad about a character it spent 10 episodes fleshing out getting killed since the focus quickly turns to another that's getting eaten, when you think you're starting to get an understanding of the lore of the world a new revelation will show up that throws you off track... but most importantly; you'll grow to love the feeling of tension, excitement and constant changes in pace it gives you. It's one of the shows that I wasn't waiting impatiently, wishing it'd end and instead was dreading hitting the last episode. There's so much more than what initially meets the eye of what first appeared to be another gory edgy series, and I also enjoyed the inter character developments and how they interact and cooperate with eachother towards common goals and occasionally when they say something ridiculous that makes you laugh.. which is all often my favorite part about zombie or post apolyptic movies where the world is doomed.. when people share hope even when they're staring at the jaws of annihilation (sometimes literally, haha).

Heavily debated whether I should put kewl action scenes in, since they're much more effective when watched in context of the series.. but fuck it, just have a trailer instead.



PS: dat steampunk dress code. ;P

I've only seen the first season of Attack on Titan and haven't seen much of it since the initial release of the anime. Guess the hype is gone lol. Howl's Moving Castle was the last Ghibli film I saw and that was a few years ago too but it was great. I want more surrealish stuff that preferably isn't horror related :y

Still keeping up with the new Kino's Journey and it's neato!

Watched a bunch of Yu-Gi-Oh last night too

The Endless Eight lol, people were really pissed off (and still are now) but I think that nowadays since you can watch it one sitting it's a less painful thing to do, or you can watch only few essential episodes. The second season had some cool stuff and it sets some things for the Disappearance movie which is really worth to watch.
This a little off-topic but I understand what you feel about playing Doom wads, to a certain extent I miss when I started to download wads and playing stuff like Alien Vendetta, Hell Ground, Caverns of Darkness without knowing anything about them was very mindblowing. But it isn't happening with anime for me, at least not yet
I would be interested to be able to watch stuff raw, I know that the visuals convey lots of things and the tone of the voices also helps a lot though I never actually started the learn... It is something difficult?

Also the year is almost over guys, are there some series you are looking for in the next year?
I must say that I'm quite excited for the third season of Index

Thanks, spammer, for letting me find this thread! (long read ahead, if you find this while scrolling and aren't interested, give that mouse wheel a good spin or two)

Either way, oh boy, me and anime. If anything, now quite a large percentage of my internal pop-culture feed is made of anime (other being some books, wh40k and games). Before internet and "dank mehmehs", I didn't really know what anime was, thinking it was something like Mah Lil Pony, and that DBZ was just a "cartoon". Then, when I managed to dig up a "internet stick" (a stick with internet on it... too long and complex to explain) with really bad speed, without being able to watch anime for longer periods (not even a 2 second Youtube video could load at all), I tried going with manga, but I had this idea that manga is the same as Marvel/DC with their continuities and whatnot (WHERE DO I START), so I just sticked with old italian comics and creepypastas. At this period I thought anime was for sissies, still, I knew it wasn't as same as MLP, but I thought it was equally as bad.

Cue skip into third year of high school. A stable internet connection had been established, even if a bit limited. Now anime is a thing that is just waiting for me to trip over, as I was a hardcore "anime is cancer" hater who just spewed shit like that for popularity. I dunno what happened, but I discovered Attack on Titan, tried to watch it, and got bored. My opinion of anime was improved, but I was still radically against "cute anime girls" and could go on for days about why that stuff is sin and your basic anti-anime arguments (something that bit me hard later). I guess, one faithful summer of 2016, I read a lot about "Sakamoto desu ga" (easier to write than the official english translation) on the internet, and whilst basking in the afternoon summer glow of boredom, I spoke the words which changed me:

"Eh, why not?"

I had three binges for the show. I loved it. I loved it completely. How over-the-top character was, how did he handle situations, and all the "cool, cooler, coolesto" stuff. Needless to say, I was hooked. Yall know its a short show, so I felt a "empty heartburn" after it, only to fill it with "One Punch Man", which was the next hot shit. And that was even better. It reminded me a lot about DBZ which I eagerly watched as a kid, and I went back into these childhood power fantasies. I cannot remember what happened in the meantime, but I then discovered "Lucky Star", and I LOVED THAT EVEN MORE OOOH MAI GOOOD. I was a "artist" of sort (making shitty drawings and writing suprisingly okay stories), so I connected a lot with Hiyori. Did not help that I myself was going through a IRL shipping phase so it just became worse as I watched I didn't not really think my shitty drawings could lead me anywhere, but seeing Hiyori practice a lot like that kinda inspired me to bravely chase the style, and well... once I grab my tablet, I will show my shit I guess. Thing is, Lucky Star was just the thing I needed to plunge myself into anime and what I needed to push myself to do something. I was pretty much a loser then, but, I guess, the world became more colorful with anime?

I then did research on Lucky Star, realized that the show references Haruhi a tons. Guess what happened next? Yup. Got hooked. I just watched the first season though, I think, didn't knew there were 2 seasons. I like the concept of "Haruhi" a lot, I still think about the characters, the setting, about the art-style, how it just has everything. But lemme just describe what happened next: I went online, seen what KyoAni does, and went for the next title, K-On!

My reaction.

At this point pretty much a Holy Trinity 2: Tokio Drift kinda formed in my soul. I cannot say I worshipped all three, but they clearly formed a fond memory inside my still quite young mind. There wasn't anything I couldn't like about them all, individually or not. K-On! might had been a bit too cute, but eh, that never harmed anyone. I loved Lucky Star for the chill-ness and casuality of it, I loved Haruhi for the story and thoughts, and K-On for the beats and sweet stuff. This is kinda when I started reading manga as well, starting with K-On, then with Lucky Star. It wasn't really, until I was halfway through the Lucky Star manga, when I realized there was a second season for Haruhi all along! Who knew?! I didn't! It was when I watched the "Disappearance" movie and was blown away.

It helped that I was going through my fourth year in high school, and pretty much like how did all characters in all three shows thought a lot about the "life after high school", aka college and shit. Needless to say, my fourth year went with a breeze. I kinda went through my tiny weeb phase as well, doing poses, calling my friends with suffixes -kun & -chan. Good thing no one knew what anime was and just thought I was using a "english phrase or something" (not a native English speaker, nor do I live in such a country). That stopped as subtly as it started. I still have some of my friend's phone number contact names with the suffix -kun. Other than that, I pretty much learned how to draw, even if it was a bit shit, but I was proud In my country, in my backwards region, knowing what anime was (and not just saying "Its a cartoon" even if it technically is), is like being a movie/music connoisseur. In educated eyes, you are cool, in hillbilly eyes, you are wasting time. Either way, even in this millenia, even in this year, being a anime fan, being able to draw shit like that, from where I came from, is a good thing, instead of a demonized concept it is in the west. I guess, I was cool because I never had a waifu, nor did I try to cosplay, nor did I really went far to call someone "baka gaijin" and shit like that. Never really liked Japan that much to be a weeaboo. I mean, the artstyle is to die for, and that was the only thing I did. Drew manga panels on places you would least expect.

Not even today I never went full neckbeard, never defended anime or Japan. I did not get offended at being called a "anime trash", but I don't consider myself a dissapointment or a waste of time because of my hobby. I guess this is my saving grace. Caring enough about all things anime to understand and feel emotion for them, but never going that far to make a display out of myself.

That being said, I never bothered looking at the big anime titles like Naruto, One Piece and anything that goes on forever (This including DBZ, sorry). Even today, I look for shows which don't go beyond 25-30 episodes. A lot of things can be condensed with the standard 12-episode format. I never really liked franchises that dragged on forever.

While on sub vs dub, I prefer the subs, because I can read them and follow the story accordingly. This has to be me living and growing up in a non-English-speaking country, so a lot of things shown (shows and movies) have subtitles, and you just get used to them. Plus, the way my countrymen dub stuff makes me recoil and cringe. Its just... bad. I know that is Neil Patrick Harris on the screen. I know how his voice sounds, pls don't put our guy as his aaand they did it. Thankfully they don't dub things other than cartoons/animated shows, so thank God. I cannot imagine my folk dubbing Pulp Fiction. This logic passed onto anime, and while I can listen and understand dubs quite well, I always go for the subs first. I just got used to it, it would take a while for me to get rid of that habit.

Oh yeah, ever since the HT3:TD, I watched other shows, either KyoAni, or the "cult classics". But this summer I got sucked into Jojo's Bizarre Adventure... hard. Started by reading the Phantom Blood manga, I devoured the other animated parts, and I am spreading onto the manga of the unanimated parts. And I had become a Jojo fiend. Literally almost everything is a Jojo reference to me. Even breathing IS a Jojo reference. I have started treating myself, and I am slowly getting out of the Jojoking hell, making less and less Jojokes. I didn't say its a fast process. Its rather slow. I still enjoy the music (OST and references) and the setting, and the memes. Trying to erase the third atm. It doesn't help that I have a idea for a fan-part that won't go away, and the amount of art I made of my characters testifies to that. I am still glad that atleast I had stopped saying "You thought it was [X], but it was me, Dio!". Jojokes aside, JJBA is great. The first part might be your standard shonen plot of two brothers, one just other a dick, but from there it expands into this universe where people have imaginary friends/punch-ghosts who are mental extensions of themselves, who use them to battle other people like them or to achieve a goal. These imaginary friends are called Stands, and the people who have them are Stand Users. JJBA gets creative with who gets to have a Stand, how does a Stand User look like and behave, and what abilities every Stand has. It isn't just a simple power-level competition, it gets complicated. I reckon yall are familiar with this already so I won't go far. Either way, if anyone likes JJBA, I guess... I guess I am not alone then

I've been watching a lot of anime on Netflix, as it's often just over 4 hours for a season, so the story has to move relatively quickly. I try to look past all of the cultural stuff and hilarious pronunciation of non-Japanese words in the subtitled ones, although I'm not particularly enamoured with the way it's almost always school children and they're all awkward and repressed as fuck around the opposite gender. Why even shoehorn in a romance when it's just going to be a load of blushing and stuttering... Or worse, massively overreacting and screaming?

I won't list everything I've watched, although generally speaking I'm leaning on sci-fi and violence. I will say that the best ones I've seen so far (not necessarily on Netflix) are Berserk (which badly needed to keep going past Griffith fucking the world over in either version that I've watched), Hellsing Ultimate and Attack on Titan. Black Lagoon, the first half of Aldnoah Zero and Redline are very worthy mentions, too.

What I'm currently on now, though, is Gunslinger Girl. It's fucking atrocious. Beautifully drawn in a nice pastel theme for the most part and with the odd moment of good action (which is what I'm all about if there's no humour to be found), but for the most part it's just dull. Trudging, trickling events with terribly slow character development and no driving plot that I can detect. I get it - there's an emotionally complex ethical minefield in turning near-dead school girls into super soldier cyborg assassins under the control of an older, male handler. Do I need an entire season prodding at the permutations of this relationship? Fucking no. I want to see them combat the kind of threats that would necessitate these kind of superhuman warriors. As things stand, they seem to have justified these cyborgs to death from a technical point of view (they have to be children due to the brainwashing and speedier recovery from the physical enhancements) but at no point does the show try and say why any cyborg assassins are necessary in the first place. They're all accompanied by grown men who tend to be capable agents on their own... That then seem to deliberately stand back and see what happens, only stepping in to stop the cyborgs getting out of hand or direct them. Fuck it, at one point one of the handlers takes a sniper shot in place of a cyborg because she's being unreliable! It's like the writers know this is impractical and are just making sure we do, too, rather than telling a story. Were we worried about human modification and child soldiers in 2003?

I've seen there's a second season that was made in 2008. Part of me wants to avoid it like the plague, especially when there's other things that have to be good that I want to watch (Sword Art Online II is my next target) and another part of me hopes that they take this concept and do something interesting with it, as these final two episodes don't seem set to.

I read the Gunsmith Cats manga and watched the first episode of Recovery of an MMO Junkie after watching some Darling in the FranXX. I'm only on episode 12 of the franxx but I'll still say 02 is best girl because of darling attitude and pink hair which I am biased towards favoring. Those adults in the show are pretty weird. 

It could be longer than that; like Eureka 7 was 50 episodes and Anemone was also best girl with pink hair in that show and had the alien DNA and stuff :y

Finished Jojolion (as much as one can finish a comic that is still being updated and it takes a month between every chapter (and for it being on a break right now)), so now I am reading "Cromartie High School". I remember watching the anime about it, but I had to stop out of sudden. Never mind, the manga is just as good 

That would be nice! There are a few things I would like to discuss but I don't feel too inspired to start these discussions when all we have is this only topic. And I'm also afraid to open it sometimes because I might get spoilers about anime I haven't seen yet.