The Anime Thread

Oooh, sweet! Evangelion rebuild movies coming to prime video…

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Since most of the spring season anime have finished, it’s time to pick the top anime!

This last season was pretty packed with good anime so there’s a lot to enjoy, but there was one that I thought stood out from the rest.

:drum::drum::drum: anime of the season goes to…

[9/10]

This is a pretty well-known title with its original works from the popular manga back in 1998. There was an anime adaptation made in 2001 and the manga itself won “best manga” in 2007. Fruits Basket is marketed towards the shoujo (geared towards adolescent females) audience which I think is why some people are hesitant about going into it.

I’ve read the manga originally a few years ago, so I knew what to expect with this reboot. I did not, however, watch the anime adaptation released in 2001. The manga itself was excellent, although it did take some time to get used to its unique art-style.

Fast forward to the most recent adaptation/reboot…Season 1 was good but I could see people not liking it after the 1st season. Season 2 was even better and season 3…well, was a complete home-run! It was so good, in fact, that it made it into my top 5 (probably top 3) slice-of-life anime, and I’ve watched quite a few. Every episode was an emotional rollercoaster, making anime like Your Lie in April a walk in the park. Admittedly, Fruits Basket is one of the few anime that made me tear-up. Of course, that will depend on each person.

Anyway, this is a show that likes to deal with each character’s past family trauma, twisted personalities, loneliness, love, friendship, and to some degree, mental illness. There are a lot of characters and each one gets proper treatment/screen-time. I will admit that some of these characters were annoying at first, including the main female protagonist (to me). But they provide an explanation of why each character are the way they are and, by the end of the season, you can’t help but respect all their personalities and stories.

Animation is also solid and beautiful. There are 63 episodes total so it will take some commitment, but I think this is a definite must-watch for slice-of-life fans. On the bright side, this does adapt the manga from start to finish so no cliffhangers or anything of the sort. Fruits Basket is such a complete and satisfying anime thus earning my highest recommendation for the slice-of-life genre.

Highly recommended! Streaming on Crunchyroll

Now for the others…

86 [8.3]
Slow start and heavy dialogue may turn off some viewers, but it is a great anime. I would put this as 2nd place for anime of the season. :+1:

Oddtaxi [8.2]
Hidden gem of the season. Unique narrative but cleverly put together. :+1:

Megalobox 2 [8.1]
Complete departure from season 1 making this more memorable overall. :+1:

Vivy [8.0]
Felt that the plot wasn’t compelling enough but impressive for an original works. Visually stunning and surprisingly action-packed! :+1:

Higehiro [7.5]
Didn’t stand out much compared to others in its genre but wasn’t bad. :+1:

Osamake [7.1]
This one was absolutely ridiculous but enjoyable! One of those time-wasters that people will enjoy even if it’s bad. :-1:

Snow White Notes [7.2]
Little character development. There are others worth watching over this. :-1:

Nagatoro [7.4]
Great VA and animation but as it stands right now I wouldn’t really recommend it. :-1:

Iruma [8.0]
Highly enjoyable and nice watch. :+1:

Demon Slayer Movie [8.1]
Beautiful movie and enjoyable overall. :+1:

Still planning on watching…

Moriarty, To Your Eternity, Super Cub, Zombie Land, Shadows House, Tokyo Revengers, SSSS.Daynazenon

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Got a few episodes in and it really faded for me and stopped watching. I dont know if it was trying to generate some of that Snafu vibe but it just wasnt in the same league as that one.

I get a kick out of this one but it is repetitive and just when I think there may be some growth/development they go back to the usual formula. Im hoping it goes somewhere. It has recently generated an arc that might create a more compelling story.

These ones Im not familiar with, will look into them. The others in your plan to watch list I have seen parts of but not enough to pick a favourite.

Im not reading your Fruits Basket review as Im worried about spoilers. Ive watched some of the first season and I havent been all that engaged. It gets a lot of love so I always did intend to come back. I left it just when I think they were about to bring in the antagonist for the series so I realize it may get better.

This is the one I want to just be able to sit down and finish. It has the best narrative structure of all the new releases for spring and I really enjoy how well thought out and plotted it is.

Castlevania??? Hiromiya???

Dont forget Combatants Will be Dispatched if only to get some of the Konsuba nostalgia.

Ive been avoiding any info on the next batch of anime as I want to get through my watch list more thoroughly before I try other things.

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Super cub is the chill anime of the season similar in vain to laid-back camp but not as good.

Both are on funi btw.

I can see that but since this is 63 episodes you won’t get everything in 1 season which you can probably already guess.

Ah, that one was great too but I don’t really consider it part of “anime” (although I did forget about it until you mentioned it). Still watch it though for anyone else reading in.

That one was winter season, was it not? Regardless, it was kind of disappointing comparing it with the manga. The transitions from scene to scene weren’t that fluid imo making it seem choppy and disjointed.

Honestly, if it isn’t as good as Konosuba I probably won’t watch it. I’d rather wait for the next season whenever that is. But maybe I’ll go back to it.

most of them are uninteresting…at least, based on the trailers I’ve seen. I don’t mind it tho since this last season was packed! Gives me a chance to watch some actual good ones out of my queue. Maybe Space Brothers…

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Huh…this looks interesting. Star wars anime style show…

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Actually you are correct on that I believe.

Ok, fine.

Its kinda Konosuba in space?? Kon is better so you’re not missing anything unless you just wantt to watch a show with a similar vibe.

Watched a couple of episode of that SSSS Dayn… Well, I’m not sure if Im going to give it another episode or so before I kick it off the watch list. Super Cub, I looked it up, I do remember reading the blurb about it now but never watched any of it, will try it.

Space Brothers… no idea, been avoiding new info on purpose as stated, will investigate it directly.

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I sense some saltiness/disappointment in that. kidding lol
It’s a great show regardless, as you already know.

I watched SSSS.Gridman when it came out a few years back. I don’t typically watch mecha anime but I gave this a shot and I ended up enjoying it even though it was kind of bad. That’s why I was interested in Dyna…

Nah, that’s an “old anime” it already passed.

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Finished watching the Brotherhood version yesterday (HBOMAX). My brain burn-in happened after the 15th episode (out of 64). And I was really enjoying the anime. But I have to say I was expecting a better ending. To my taste, a B- anime overall.

I’ll start working in these two shortly:

Cheers. :beers:

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It’s a funny thing because part of the reason they came out with brotherhood, if I remember correctly, is to “fix” the ending of the regular fullmetal. :joy:

Out of curiosity, you only watched Brotherhood?

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Lol. I truly hope AOT ending doesn’t let me down. :smiley:

Yes. Although I was very positive I had seen this title already in the past, I’ve failed to do a proper research. Ended up going for the low hanging fruit, i.e., the only version my current service was streaming at that time. :stuck_out_tongue:

Definitely not watching the earlier version then. Thanks for the tip. :+1:

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Oooh! This arc was pretty sick when I read it in the manga…

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Hell yeah! I hope they don’t skip the most important arc like they did with promised neverland…

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Lil summer anime cheatsheet for upcoming shows…

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Hard to tell anything from the one sentence descriptors. I wish the streaming apps were better at highlighting new shows.

I’ve flagged the JC Staff and Mappa releases to at least try. However, I think you’re right that nothing jumps out for this season. I guess I’ll see what develops some hype.

Didn’t know that Slime had restarted. I like that one.

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Remake our life gives me some reLife vibes so I might try that. Also, that chainsaw anime from Mappa looks interesting, if not only for the animation.

I’ve been keeping up with the Slime manga but for some reason I don’t feel compelled to watch the anime after the 1st season. But I might try again.

A lot of the good stuff looks like it’ll come out in the fall season.

On a side note, I’ve been dying to watch Baccano for a long time but I literally cannot watch it anywhere legally. The only thing I’ve been able to get is the ost. lol Have you watched it?

No. Ive heard of it but thats about it.

Im reading the manga right now. Its something that I think might actually be well served by a good anime. There’s some hype about it, which is why I decided to read the manga.

Interesting. It took me a while to start S2. Its a different tone to S1, thats for sure.

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Just watched the Chainsaw trailer - definitely Mappa! Looks impressive. Perhaps better animated than Juju??

I think I saw some deviations from the manga but a few of the more important scenes were present in the trailer. Im going to keep reading.

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Got me to look it up, guess I’ll be reading it too!

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Just finished S1. Digged a lot. Thanks for recommending this one. Looking forward for S2.

PS.: First time seeing a range from 7+ to 18+. Age-wise. And all spread out in the season. I was shocked by “The story of the Moriko Song”. Never seen that situation before in an anime.

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Glad you liked it!:ok_hand:

Unfortunately there won’t be a season 2…at least to my knowledge.

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