[Three of Seven]

I got it because it's pretty, I can't play it, I don't have a record player.

[Setalia]

Welp. I made the mistake of looking at info of Umi Sonoda's (Love Live) seiyuu. Now... I have a new crush.

I can't afford another idol right now. haha

http://www.generasia.com/wiki/Mimori_Suzuko

She's so pretty though.

[aceman67]

Must... Buy... All... Of... Them... (Evangelion Funko-pops)

https://www.cbr.com/evangelions-new-...a-unit-01/amp/

[Heyallo]

gorram now I want =(

EVA-01 LIFE!

[aceman67]

There's no Pen-Pen pop though...

[aceman67]

Just saw Weathering With You and it's a great film. Not as good as Your Name but that's ok. If you have a chance to see it in theater do it!
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Keeping spoilers out of the preview

The Your Name main characters make a small cameo

[Noram]

After five long years
DATABASE DATABASE

[Three of Seven]

Just saw Weathering With You and it's a great film. Not as good as Your Name but that's ok. If you have a chance to see it in theater do it!

Saw it yesterday, I did enjoy it, the soundtrack was great! I did prefer the story of Your Name, but still, great film!

[DeWolfe]

Didn't like it at first but it grew on me in a big way with its depth.

Attack on Titan

its slow going but I'm enjoying the ride so far.

[Noram]

I think I'm going to rewatch Toradora. There's normally a reddit rewatch leading up to christmas (Toradora has a great christmas episode) but for some reason the mood struck me the other day to rewatch it

[Taku]

Here I am, more than half-a-year after the last post, reviving a dead horse.

I am what you might call an Old School anime aficionado. I grew up with the typical afternoon Americanized/bastardized fare: Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, Voltron (both versions), that sort of schmaltz. Then I moved on a little to things like Project A-Ko, Space Battleship Yamato, Vampire Hunter D, Akira. That's where I started.

Then came Tenchi Muyo, and I had found my niche - for a while. So I thought. It turned out that I was sort of done with anime for the most part after Tenchi. No real reason. It just sort of slid away for a while.

Then last year I was watching something silly on youtube and one of the recommendations was for Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san ^[1]. As some of you may know, I am a BABYMETAL ^[2] fan. The Japanese demigods, the kitsune, are ever prevalent in the back story of the band, so seeing Kitsune in the anime title caused a certain perking of my ears. I watched whatever it was on youtube and then headed over to Crunchyroll to grab the entire series. Then came Keijo!!!!!!!! ^[3] which I understood, and finished, but I realized that it wasn't what I was looking for. Still, if you like that kind of fan service, I totally get it.

Then I started looking for my old faves, A-Ko, Tenchi, Yamato, Battle of the Planets, Speed Racer and most of it I couldn't find. Most of it.

I managed to find the original Japanese version of Battle of the Planets - Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and sub files to lay over it. So far, so good. I grabbed the 52 Americanized episodes of Speed Racer, and grabbed all of the Tenchi Muyos I could find. And I was happy. More or less.

Then, a few weeks ago as I was reading the comments on youtube video of a Cute Anime Girl called Omotea doing her Beat Saber thing to something called "Chikatto Chika Chika -Fujiwara Chika" ^[4]. The comments piqued my interest, so I went looking for the video for the song. It turned out that the Fujiwara Chika Dance ^[5] was from the closing credits of the third episode of something called KAGUYA-SAMA: Love is War ^[6] . So of course I had to grab that as well. I haven't actually watched it yet, and therefore have no opinion of it. Though I can say with some certainty that I shall enjoy watching Student Council Secretary Fujiwara Chika.

And that brings us to the series I have just finished: DARLING in the FRANXX ^[7] . All 24 episodes, 1 day. (Don't do that, by the way - HOLY CRAP!) I have explained to you how I got here so you can understand what my experience with anime has been.

• This is what I came here to discuss.

DARLING in the FRANXX is - without a doubt - a roller coaster ride of emotions and, unfortunately, quality. The first 15 episodes make this worthy of actual physical purchase. It's not something you try on to see if you like it and then toss it aside. It's semi-formulaic, the actual animation loses fidelity in some spots, and almost everything in it has been done before.

I don't care.

Cute Anime Demon girl? Check. Fan service? Check. Orphaned children raised to operate mecha and defend their people? Check. Tag-team, need a boy & a girl (very ecchi) to funtion mecha? Check. Mandatory school uniforms? Check. Cookie-cutter characters? Check.

I still don't care.

I loved the first 15 episodes. I laughed, I cried (but only a little!!), I cared.

The more observant (or masochistic if you've actually read all of this) among you might have noticed, however, that there are 24 episodes to this series. All I'm willing to say about the final 9 episodes is that everything that made the series succeed on the ground gets suckier when it moves into space. And what happened to Zero Two once Hiro found her? I want those 3 1/2 hours back please.

Okay, let me backtrack a little. MAYBE you can watch up to episode 18. But the action dies beginning with episode 16 and it becomes - for some reason - a slice of life. It can be fine if you like that sort of thing, but if you want mecha-on-mecha, you're going to be disappointed. Whatever you do, do not watch episode 19 without being in an altered state of consciousness. Any kind of alteration will do.

If you haven't seen DARLING in the FRANXX, I highly recommend it up through episode 15 (or 18 if you must). This is just my opinion and you may disagree with me 100% and you would also be correct.

--- NOTES ---
[1] Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san (Crunchyroll)
[2] BABYMETAL (youtube)
[3] Keijo!!!!!!!! (Crunchyroll)
[4] "Beat Saber - Chikatto Chika Chika - Fujiwara Chika" (youtube)
[5] Fujiwara Chika Dance (google drive)
[6] Kaguya-Sama: Love is War (Crunchyroll)
[7] DARLING in the FRANXX (Crunchyroll)

[aceman67]

I just finished the first season of Konosuba... and... well...

What. The. Actual. Fudge.

I went in thinking it was just going to be a run of the mill isekai comedy.

I wasn't prepared, however, to laugh my ass off at the antics of a perverted borderline-sadist reincarnated NEET with a latent hero-complex, a self-aggrandized useless lunatic bipolar fallen goddess with anger issues, a chivalrous knight with a masochistic domination fetish, and a one-trick destruction mage whose usefulness in a prolonged engagement would be surpassed by a basic campfire.

11 episodes of panty stealing, boob slapping, headless knight soccer, borderline softcore succubi porn, and porcelain doll horror later and I am hooked on this series. The animation is top-notch and fluid, and VO is amazing, especially the English VO (which surprised the hell out of me).

[Arno12]

I know Right!! Konosuba is hilarious!!!

[aceman67]

Inuyasha epi 1-54 and Movie 1 done, 55-193 and Movies 2-4 left to go... Being a weeb is hard work.

[Taku]

I have, in the past three weeks, watched:

Darling in the Franxx (24 episodes)
Love Live! (26)
Love Live! Sunshine! (26)
YuruYuri (12)
The World God Only Knows (36)
Strawberry Panic! (26)

Apparently I have a type. I blame Tenchi Muyo.
Who knew there was so much drama at Japanese private high schools?