Haika

(Can't remember if I've posted here yet or not, oh well) I watch most of my anime over on otakucenter.com, always streaming these days. And if they don't have it, a quick google search usually gives a couple other options like animefreak or animeseason. I tend to watch new stuff that isn't licensed yet, and even if I wanted to, torrenting doesn't like my horrendous DSL upload speeds, and will cripple my computer if I try it.

Time for some more first impressions. I actually watched Sasami-san yesterday. This is definately a strange one. Next I watched two new ones today before checking out the latest one piece and hunterxhunter as I usually do on Sat nights: Mondaiki-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? - Fast paced, but still quite interesting. Hakkenden: Touhou hakken ibun - Great atmosphere, finally something that isn't a slice of life high school anime.

Randomness really isn't my thing. However I probably will give Sasami-san a chance. Though if it gets too random, I likely won't be able to keep watching it. For example, I've seen neither of the two anime you mentioned here. Both their art styles, and sheer randomness keep me away. Reminds me of shows like Bobobo, comedy is not random stupidity. At least not to me.

Just watched Kotoura-san's first episode, and let me say, that was amazing. Going on my watch list this season, however I worry about how much staying power it might have. The second episode really will be the clincher for me.

Glad you got it working OMA. Unlimited is actually pretty important for the changes that happen at the start of Alternative.

Hello everyone. Well the new season for this year has started in the world of anime. I decided to start up this thread here so people at this forum can write down their thoughts on first impressions and what they think of the shows as they come up. I've watched a few handful, and have plans to check out a couple more before the premieres finish up next week or so. The first one I watched this season is Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. And I approve. Then I watched Senran Kagura. And while I think it had potential, I don't plan to watch anymore. And then today I watched Love Live! School Idol Project. And really quite enjoyed myself. There are still a couple more that I'm interested in watching next week. I'd like to see more deeper anime, something with a little more bite than these, Maoyuu might have some depth to it, but I think it may suffer a bit from trying to mix ecchi into a serious tone. And the Idol one is just pure lighthearted fun, not really something you should worry about looking too deep into. As the season goes on, I'll go ahead and reply here and add thoughts about other shows as I watch them. And I encourage others to post their thoughts on new shows this season, even if they are ones I've mentioned or something I haven't seen yet. Who knows, we might even entice people to check out anime they may otherwise not have any interest in. http://cdn.myanimelist.net/signature/Haika.png

I highly doubt that consoles will disappear any time soon. Even with cell phones and tablets becomming stronger, and computers and the internet being more widespread, consoles are an evolving system that will just adapt and come out with something new to try and get people to spend money on. They really are nothing more than specialized computers used to play games, and only games(though some consoles are trying to be more PC like). As to the whole digital distribution and such. I think it's possible, but not everything will follow that route. I personally think that the industry has been falling in a slow decline for quite some time, especially the consoles. Games are produced, and shat out by big companies more worried about piracy and money in their pockets than making a decent game. The hope I see is in the so called 'indie' developers, who are making good games without all the corporate nonsense that goes into the more big budget titles.

That bike shot. xD Very nice, if a bit loli. And naked apron is always nice. Anyway, enough drooling. Enjoy some pics: And a bonus from this season's new anime: Maoyuu Maou Yuusha looks to be pretty decent, and good potential for Ecchiness.

Yeah, this is legit. I've seen it already on a couple of other anime sites. It's looking to be a very comedy and slice of life season. Very little in the way of serious or dark anime. I'll probably check out several series, but I doubt any of them will hold me. The one I'm looking forward to most is probably Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru So Desu yo?. It has great potential from what I've seen to be awesome, just as long as the comedy bits don't get too out of hand and silly.

Yeah, I know there are plenty of decent shooter games and gamers out there. I've played several different types of shooter myself, some are quite decent. However, Microsoft, and games like Halo, Call of Duty, and the like, have a market presence and campaign focus that hurts what little respect we that play many types of games have. Between the so called 'Game Journalists', and the increasing frequency of paid reviews, there's so much BS around the industry these days, that an article like this, just makes me want to poke my eyes out. Even sadder still, is the fact that I KNOW there are still gamers out there that do buy into everything these companies feed to them through advertising and marketing media.

Oh, I plan to play things one way or the other. Reviews and such don't dictate how I experience a game, I've dropped games that have been written up as great, and played some really crappily reviewed games. Though... I totally blame you that I will forever more think about Nagisa looking like a bug. (Still think she's rather cute though, like a weak little puppy type cute.)

... Yeah that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, and I do know from reading a bit that there is supposedly no 'good' ending on the PC version. But even playing the first few moments of this has me planning to play it later. The kissing at the start is quite erotic, and that's great, but the art seems less polished than in Clannad, and Tomoyo is acting like some shy delicate thing and that feels about as right as the moon being underwater... Also the bgm has the dango song remixed, that really makes me feel awkward, since that's so connected to Nagisa. So yeah, I'm thinking I'll at least put this off. I'll probably come back and fiddle around with it a bit, but for now while I'm in the mood, going to finish up the other Clannad stuff.

Welp, finally got the time to finish Tomoyo's route in Clannad. And after all the discussion here in this thread over the past few days, I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I want to play Tomoyo after, or continue on and finish up the other routes in Clannad's main game first. I do feel better about this route than I did the other 3 I was feeling unfinished with, maybe because it seemed a bit more relaxed(other than the stupid 'dragging her down' theme) when they are together. I still have to go through Kotomi, Mei, Kappa, and Dango girl's paths(along with after story), to finish up the main game. But, it makes logical sense to try and play Tomoyo After now, so I'll likely give that a shot and see how things go.

I find this highly amusing that prisoner market of all things is actually putting up a fight against games like Uta and Kanon. Makes me wonder if someone is just trying to troll people.

... 1. Halo 2. Sexism... really. The single player campaign for Halo 4 has Cortana's blue ass in the players face nearly every 10 minutes of gameplay. 3. Halo 4. Microsoft. 5. Let's ban everyone for being an asshole, that'll stop the internet jerkwad theory right? *just shakes his head sadly at shooter gamers and news writers who actually think this sort of thing is a good idea*

Looks good, only issue I see, is that the 4th choice, 'Private Nurse' isn't a part of that game's title... I think that's something else. Anyway, voted for Utawarerumono. Played most of the others, and while they weren't all bad, Uta was much better. Also, for your 'great VN' comment, you can go to the VNDB and sort by popularity, any in the top 20 or so would be a safe bet.

I know well the issues with random H scenes in good VN's, Fate/Stay Night comes to mind, and how out of place those seemed to be tacked on. I'm not trying to say that Clannad should in particular be explicit, it probably would ruin it if we go by standard experiences. However, I still feel like I'm missing something that could be there(and could be done properly), if that makes any sense. It was more Yukine's ending, and partly Kyou and Ryou that had me feeling a bit meh about it all. I have nothing against Tomoyo, and rather like her as a character, just haven't been able to finish her route properly yet because of the holidays and I like playing VN's with larger stretches of free time. I haven't dropped it at all, like I said, even with all these complaints, I'm still playing and enjoying it for the most part. Also, I don't think that H-scenes are vitally important plot points for all VN. However, Clannad in particular is primarily based around romantic relationships, and romantic relationships(to me at least) should have a part in showing skin as it was mentioned. Without the love life premise, Clannad would have very little to go on. I just don't think there's much story there otherwise. Except for a few cases like Fuuko and Misae(so far anyway), those two have special stories that only vaguely even need romance at all. Because of that, I didn't feel slighted at all because there was no H-scenes. I loved those routes and still do. But, in the other heroine routes(Ryou/Kyou/Yukine) the storylines cut off abruptly. As soon as the relationship becomes confirmed, the story is dropped like a hot potato, because the rating is all ages and they can't show anything explicit. That's the part that bugs me, especially with Yukine's route because it felt like we barely even got to know her(makes sense with the whole side character thing). Some people might say that it's all in the hunt, but in reality, the story doesn't just end like that. Compounding this fact is the ecchi manga I was reading yesterday, that is 99% sex tease, so I may be a bit irritated in these posts. I'm also reminded of horrible experiences I've had with translators turning fully adult games into all ages stuff(Eien no Aselia).

To be honest, I had the same sort of unsatisfied resolution with the Kyou/Ryou routes as well. Though those did tend to give a bit more. It just saddens me more that Yukine is considered a side character... I'm obviously not finished with the game yet, and I still think it's great. I loved it as an anime, and despite all my complaints about it being all ages, I'm still playing it. I think it would be far worse if I was indifferent about the storylines. I think my complaints boil down to the fact that I'm an adult, sex is part of being an adult, and having an adult relationship. I don't really want a crude porn flick, nor do I want this safe and secure in family land. I crave that balance between adult situations and experiences, without losing the grip of a decent story. It's a very hard balance to find.

Still working my way through Clannad, finished up Yukine's route, then move into Tomoyo's. After that got distracted the last couple of days reading some manga and playing dragon age. Yukine's route really reminded me of Lilly from Katawa. I know Clannad came far earlier, but the atmosphere of that reference room seemed so familiar to that tea room in Katawa. The girl herself is only slightly like Lilly as far as personality, but I think it's more the calming nature of relaxing tone that really resonates with me. Of course this being Clannad and all ages, it feels like everything ended abruptly. This route reminded me EXACTLY why I dislike playing all ages stuff, everything stops when it should have just been starting. This is partly why I went to Tomoyo's route next, tired of this teasing and have Tomoyo's After ready to go if I get the same irritation.

I finished Boob Wars... Though I'm not really all that proud of that as an accomplishment. The story was drivel, the concept was just dumb(I prefer less extremes), the combat thing was a complete headache, they might as well had you throwing dice and fighting that way. By the end of it, I was using skip on text I hadn't read, basically skipping to the H-scenes, and sometimes even skipping that just to see if there was another decent scene later on. I got all the scenes with little trouble, and the animated ones weren't actually half bad. Though I still wish the 'flat chest' officer had more scenes, in the end I think her scene was about the only one I really liked. Even some of the fetish scenes I usually like just didn't impress me much. Not that I can say I really expected much going in, but I had at least hoped for a little better than it was.

... I just picked up Minamoto-kun Monogatari and read about 50 chapters worth in a single sitting. Honestly, I enjoy it, but it pisses me off to no end. It's basically a heavily sexual ecchi, but because it's ecchi and not full hentai, it's basically a never ending tease. Like watching a hot girl dance and strip for you, then at the last moment waving 'ciao' and leaving. Some guys may love that sort of teasing thing(and some girls of course), but eventually I feel like something has to give, and it's usually me stopping and going to find a nukige or porn or something... Maybe it's just a guy thing, but blegh.

... The anime there titled 'Convience stores managed by high school girls are boring' is kind of a tip off... Oh and technically this is the Winter season.

Haah... Just finished Misae's route in Clannad. Was totally not expecting to get so invested. There are so many moments in this VN that I've known about from watching(and loving the anime) when it first came out, years ago. I know there's a bit more to her route(the orb of light) in Tomoyo's path, but the flashback dream thing was so impactful(far moreso than I expected). I played the twins routes before this, and that just made me a bit bored(Ryou), and pissed off at the mc(Kyou). Both were very sweet and romantic, but at the same time, I didn't feel that gut punch like with Fuuko and now Misae. It leaves me thinking about how I'm personally alone now, and all the mistakes I've made in the past with romance, and how I totally disregarded any chances I might have had in high school and even college. It's a bit depressing. I've said for a while that the best VN's bring out emotion and retrospective on our real lives. As I read this novel, instead of playing any of the new games I got from steam this christmas, I wonder about why I'm more interested in a romantic novel than in games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age that I've wanted to play since they came out. I think it comes down to that feeling of regret I have over my teenage life. And I think the reason I like the more fantastical bits, is some inner hope that some phenomena might yet happen to change my life into something that evokes these feelings naturally. Or even just a basic wish that reality isn't as bleak and depressing as it usually is. It's a bit silly, and I know the only one who can really change one's life is themselves... but I can't help but have these thoughts as I type this with the clannad title music playing in the background.

I meant it becoming fully translated. I know there are quite a few partials out there, but I can't stand reading them, and prefer to wait until something is fully translated. I even had issues with the couple of short passages at the end of Unlimited and Alternative that didn't get translated, I needed to post here to try and read a translation because it bugged me so, a partial would be more of that irritation.