Winter 2018 Simuldubs Week 5: Already have a show of the Year Contender

Hugtto Precure episode 3 was different than I expected.  The third girl is going to take a little longer to awaken.  I am quite interested in the character, having a fairly Bifauxnen look at school in the first two episodes, but we now know she does like dress to femininely as well.  Makes me wonder just how much she might be modeled after Makoto.

As of episode 5, I feel ready to say on this blog that I think Togi No Miko aka Katana Maidens has the potential to be the Anime of the year.  Especially since I know it’s gonna be two core.  I’d kinda said this in comments sections and on Twitter already.  But now I feel firm enough about it to say it on my blog.  Things could go somewhere I don’t like later, but for now it’s doing great.

Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody episode 4 managed to be it’s most engaged episode so far.  At one point the Music sounded a little bit like something out of Noir, but that may be just me.

PopTeamEpic Episode 5 was pretty funny.  I don’t think I’m ever gonna have anything more to say about this show other than whether it was funny or not.

Overlord II episode 4.  Ya know, even just one year ago I would have been compelled to make David Icke references through all this Lizardman stuff.  At any rate Ains managed to outdo Xerxes in 300.

It’s really weird seeing a Lytch Evil Overlord quote Jesus to his council of monstrous Dungeon bosses.

In episode 5 of Citrus, the show finally goes a whole episode without any sexual assault.  It was a good episode.

So the Live Action Sword Art Online is going to be done by Netflix.

And like when the Death Note project started I don't know if it'll be a series or a movie.

With Death Note I have always been adamant that that should be a serialized story.  But Sword Art Online is more complicated.

The first Web Novel was a stand alone project originally.  And as such I think it could work as a stand alone film, though it would need to be longer then the Death Note movie was.  However if it's a movie I think I'd be a shame to miss out on getting a theatrical release.

Thing is, some of my personal favorite stuff from Aincrad wasn't in the original Novel, but based on the short stories written for the second novel. Like Scillica and Lizbeth's episodes.

Later on SAO however becomes something definitely written in the hopes it would get an Anime.

Now as far as the inevitable debate about westernizing it.  Which I don't know if it'll do that but it probably will.  I'm not against adapting stories to a different setting, it just depends how it's handled.  I feel a lot of the inherent outrage would die down if the American lead could be a type of American other then White for once.  In this case if I were doing it I would have both Kirito and Asuna be ethnically Japanese, even if I set it in America, and later that would add Suguha.

Fortunately the show has a pretty well written African American character right in the source material.  Seriously I don't think people appreciate how much credit SAO should get for not drawing Agil like an early WB black face cartoon.  That look is still pretty common in Anime because Japan just doesn't know why it happened or why it's offensive.

Winter 2018 Simuldubs Week 4: Three Episode Test

Hugtto!Precure episode 2 remains fun.  I may not always bother to comment on PreCure, but I will say if I decide to Drop it or put it on hold.

I feel kinda like they may be harkening back to Smile and Doki Doki. But that may just be cause those are the two shows I’ve seen the most of. Besides the Original series which predates them always being drawn as humanoid Skittles.

Katana Maidens just keeps getting better.  Episode 4 was great, these characters are fun and that’s what matters most to me.

Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody episode 3, “Let he among you who is without Sin cast the first stone”.  I wonder how many Anime viewers who are less religious than me instantly thought of that quote? 

In this Dub I’m not too fond of the MC’s voice.  Yet I’m certainly not compelled enough to watch the show Subbed.  I’ll give it another episode or two.

It also occurred to me during this episode that I’d like to see a trapped in a Video Game Anime where the Game is a Zelda clone rather than an RPG.  Might not be a big difference narrative wise, but I’d appreciate the battle strategies the MC has to come up with being more interesting than just Stat manipulation.  And you could make a joke or two about Eyeball bosses.

PopTeamEpic episode 4 is still funny.  I was really surprised by the Dastardly and Muttley appearance.

Overlord II episode 3 started slow but got pretty interesting.  I’ve heard around episode 6 the Lizardmen stuff stopped becoming the main focus of the show.  So I guess I can stick it out.

Citrus episode 4 was really good.  My praise means a lot here, I’m a big fan of the Manga, so this is my first time watching an Anime where reverence for the source material had the potential to be an obstacle to my enjoyment.  Instead I feel the Anime is largely improving on it.  And the Dub cast is great.

The Simuldubs all have at least three episodes now.  The three I've been following since week one I'm pretty firmly sold on.  It's the Isekai shows from week 2 that I'm undecided on.

PreCure shows aren't as applicable to the three episode rule.  This team won't be fully formed till the end of episode 3.

Code Geass Season 1 is nearly Perfect

Code Geass in general is one of my favorite Anime, it was number two for a long time, and it's still high enough to almost certainly make my 3x3 if I ever made one.

What issues I have with it are pretty much all in R2, much of it coming down to how Suzaku was handled.  A lot of people didn't like him much in season 1 either, and there were certainly some inconsistencies in how he was written already.  But mostly I felt he worked as a foil to Lelouch.

But in-spite of the flaws I still enjoyed a great deal of R2, especially at the end.  I feel the last episode is one of the most perfectly executed series finales in Anime history, which to begin with has a better series finale track record then western television.

But season 1 was nearly perfect.  I say nearly only because it falls short of being as masterful as something like Noir.

The rest of this post is me defending Season 1.  And there will be Spoilers.

The growing Hostility towards Redemption narratives in some circles.

I already hinted at how this bugs me briefly in my last post about The Last Jedi, called Subverting Expectations is not a substitute for actual Imagination.

The "some circles" I mean right now are largely SJW ones, but not all SJWs.  But it's ironic cause long ago, before I started these BlogSpot blogs, it was mainly a Conservative thing to complain about sympathetic villains in fiction.  While people on The Left were arguing we need to reject such superficial classifications as good and evil.

So the issue tends to be that redemption narratives are often a Privilege of Cis-Het White Males.  And like my feelings on other subjects, the answer to this should be making more redemption stories for Queer and Non-White characters.  Though those narratives can become problematic when it's primarily white people leading them to the right path.  Or when redemption for a Queer villain requires rejecting their Queerness. 

Plenty of these people are not against any redemption narratives.  But feel there are certain lines you can't come back from. My concern is that making people believe there is a certain line you can't come back from, will simply become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Actions have consequences.  A redemption story should not mean it's like that character's sins never existed, or that people have to trust them now.  And just as recovering alcoholics need to stay away form alcohol, people who have a history of abusing their significant other should stay out of romantic relationships, especially with the specific people they abused in the past.  Forgiving a lover who wronged you in the past does not mean you should then start a new relationship with them.

This subject can kind of be divided into two categories.  1. Villains repenting of their sins and being forgiven by the narrative represented by the protagonist in the end before they die or something else ends their role in the narrative.  Maybe while also doing some heroic redemptive act.  2.  A Villain flat out becoming a Hero.  I'm a supporter of both, the latter is a much more difficult thing to pull off well, which is exactly what makes the former often feel lazy.

There are times when Sexism makes it seem easier for female villains to be redeemed, the High-Heel-Face Turn as TVTropes calls it. Plus the endless number of Femme Fatales who changed sides from falling in love with the Hero they were sent to seduce.  The frustrating thing is when the now more virtuous version of the character loses the cunning she had before, like what happens to Ellen Palmure in the Rocambole novels.  Also every Zelda Villianess has been pretty soft compared to the major male ones.

On the subject of Star Wars.  Some people feel in The Last Jedi specifically Kylo Ren passed the point of no return.  And I can't call that wrong in the sense that I half way feel like that's what the film was saying.  But logically I don't really buy it.  Kylo (and the First Order as a whole) do not surpass the evilness of what they did in TFA, only in TFA were there attacks on civilians (if anything Rose and Finn's actions on Craite may have endangered more civilians).  TFO's actions are wrong in TLJ only in so much as they are on the wrong side of the War.  Kylo certainly hasn't done worse then Vader in either film. Vader also killed his father-figure, and was much more directly involved when a super weapon was used to blow up an entire planet.  And that's going off only Vader's OT Sins, just what audiences were expected to forgive him for in in 1983, not including what was added by the Prequels.

And once again I have to talk about Anime.  My love of Anime has a lot to do with how often enemies are forgiven.  Because in Japan the West's simplistic Good vs Evil dichotomy has only recently become an influence.

It's frequently been a big part of the Magical Girl genre.  Sailor Moon didn't do it all the time, but Wedding Peach, and PreCure do it frequently, and so do the Darker Ones.  So Rey setting out to try and save Kylo Ren because of the good she senses in him, and then that totally back firing on her.  Feels to me like far more of a Meanspirited deconstructive slap in the face to Magical Girl convention then anything Madoka or it's imitators have done.  And Rian Johnson could have been doing that intentionally, given how I saw a blatant homage to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha episode 6 right in that very confrontation.

It's also a big thing in the Mecha Genre, where the message is often that War itself is the real villain.  And my love of the Prequels has been that I felt it was saying something similar, that The Empire was created because The Republic fought a war it shouldn't have.  When I started watching Mecha shows like Code Geass and Gundam 00, they reminded me of my love of the Prequels from day one.  So the Sequel Trilogy doesn't just bug me that it's staying stuck in the simpler OT formula.  It's the subtext that what happened between episodes VI and VII was that the First Order rose to power because the New Republic was too passive.  As an Anti-War person, that is a very problematic message to me.

I consider myself an SJW, (and also a Communist).  Maybe you want to question my status as one simply because I don't agree with TheMarySue 100% of the time.  But I've been banned from Christian Forums and Facebook groups for saying Homosexuality isn't a Sin, when I wasn't the one who brought the topic up.  The only stance I take on any major modern political issue that would be classified in modern America as a Conservative one, is not a Social Justice issue directly though it does come up on those websites, but I feel confident in saying it should not be part of the definition of what SJW means.  For the most part when I get into disagreements with other SJWs, from my POV I'm to the left of them.

I used to not be as much of an SJW as I am now.  Much of that transition happened before I even started these blogs, but since starting them I've moved to the Left on Abortion and a few other things.

It is not really relevant to mention that I'm a Universalist, this topic is about fictional narratives where characters change their moral enlightenment during their mortal life, and what real life lessens they teach.  Some of the people I'm disagreeing with here may not believe in an after life at all.  And probably would prefer Christians who reject Eternal Damnation.

The Christian value that is relevant is that you should always forgive those who wrong you, even if they never apologize.  And that you should love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  For most of my life this seemed to be the most unambiguously Liberal of all Christian Values.  It's the main area where Conservative Christians fail at being Christian, and the main area where Liberals might quote The Bible whether they're believers or not.  It saddens me that this has changed about the Left over the same time period that I've moved to the Left.

But perhaps even that second Biblical subject may not be directly relevant.  The question is, are there Biblical narratives of villains who become heroes?  Well there is Saul aka Paul, who defined himself as the Chief of all Sinners.  But perhaps a better parallel for saying that yes you can reach even Hitler level villainy and turn back would be King Manasseh of Judah.  He made the streets of Jerusalem flow red with Blood from one end to the other.  But Second Chronicles records that he did repent and turn things around before the end.  It's interesting that the compilers of II Kings chose to ignore that part of his story.  But in the New Testament I think Matthew is siding with Chronicles here, since Manasseh isn't among the bad kings he skips in his genealogy in chapter 1.

Winter 2018 Simuldubs Week 3: Plus Hugtto! Precure

There is no guarantee I’ll keep watching Hugtto!Precure.  But for now it’ll be the one exception to my only following Simuldubs as they air.  Since Precure shows are about 50 episodes and thus nearly impossible to Binge, following one as it airs is probably my only chance of ever completing one.  And I want to keep up with something so my ability to read Subs doesn’t get rusty.

And it only took like 6 minutes to start getting Super Gay.  I think I’m gonna enjoy this.

Katana Maidens episode 3 was great.  The Yuri level continues to rise.  I think this show could be show of the year.

Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody will still be awhile for me to decide.  For now I’ll say that the “Demon Lord” looks suspiciously like Mandrag Ganon.

PopTeamEpic is still funny.  Not sure I’ll keep up with it though.  I’m not into things like Robot Chicken as much as I used to be.  Lucky Star, Yuru Yuri and Anime Gataris are much more what I look for in terms of Anime Meta Humor.

Overlord II episode 2.  I’m kind of interested in this Lizardmen storyline, but I hope it doesn’t continue to be to the complete exclusion of the original cast.

Citrus episode 3 was great, this Anime is capturing what I loved about the Manga pretty darn well.  This year may be the best year ever for Yuri.

My problem with the Crunchyroll Anime Awards is the categories

I don't care that the nominees and winners are decided in a fashion more analogous to the Teen Choice Awards then the Oscars.  Neither of those systems is good for my personal favorites to win, none of the nominees for Anime of the years are shows I followed in 2017, but I'm used to that with award shows.  I did cast a vote for Tanya for best villain.

It's that the categories aren't Anime specific categories, but rather ones any award show could have, if there was one devoted to all Animation it's categories would probably be no different.  A few they tried to name using Anime specific lingo (like "Best Girl" instead of best female character), but that's it.

I would rather an Anime award show had categories like Best Yuri couple, Best Yaoi Couple, best Trap, best Loli, best Tsundere, best Yandere, best Sakuga sequence, best Twintails, best OP and best ED.  And instead of genres being Action or Drama, how about Isekai, Mecha, Cute Girls doing Cute Things, Magical Girls, Idols, ect.

That is what an Anime award show should look like, a few of those generic categorizes should be there, but the real fun would be these awards.

I want a Streaming Site that doesn't even offer a Paid Subscription Service.

 And just funds itself off Ad revenue alone and maybe a Paetron account.

I'm pretty sure the majority of people paying for subscriptions to Crunchyroll and HIDIVE only care about one of the bonuses that gives them, not watching the Ads.  But I'm fine with the Ads.  And yet these sites feel like they have to offer (or rather restrict) more, "people can't really be paying 5-10 dollars a month just to skip ads?" they must think.  Well plenty are doing it just because they morally want to support the industry.

The lack of ads are not the reason people go to illegal sites, in their own way their ads are kinda worse, with Pop Ups that undo my Full Screen mode every-time I try to pause it and then it didn't even pause.  It's mostly that the pirates have a wider selection that leads people there.

I'm not gonna pay for the highest resolution version, I'd just buy the Blu Ray for that, my Laptop can't support HD anyway.

The only thing that is really incentivizing me to consider getting a paid Subscription to either of those sites or similar ones is how often the Dub isn't available for the Ad supported Free Viewing.

If anything it should be the other way around, the obsessives who are willing to throw away as much money as possible on their Anime Hobby tend to include most of the Sub only Elitists.  So make them pay extra.

Part of the purpose of Dubs is being the more accessible experience for new and potential future Western fans.  And that's precisely why they should be more easily available, they should be as simple as me giving someone a link.  Instead a few Dubs air on Adult Swim, but what can only be watched legally on the FUNimation website they won't even let a non-Premium member try the first episode.

I know they are charging more for Dubs because technically that costs the localizers more to make, they have to pay the Voice Actors and so on.  But that's how marketing is supposed to work, you spend money on stuff given away for free to incentivize people to buy the full product.  And it's not like Dub actors are getting paid that much anyway, it's the Seiyu in Japan who are getting Rich off doing it, so it should be their performances that cost more to listen to.

Occasionally on Reddit I've gotten comments from people who don't believe me that newbies still won't watch Subs.  These people must live in some unique circles.  I showed Higurashi to my brother last October, since he's a Horror fan and it's the best Horror Anime.  I started with the Sub on HIDIVE since it's Dub isn't highly regarded (I'm relatively fine with it) and he didn't like needing to read to follow what was going on.  So the rest we watched Dubbed.

Being as willing to pay for the Dubs as I am however is rare.  Most who prefer Dubs as much as I do are casuals who aren't gonna subscribe to a specifically Anime web site.  

But no, my ultimate goal is not making people pay more for Subs.  What I'm saying is watching Anime online should be as free and easy as watching it on Cable would be.

As I've said before, my descent into full Otakudom was facilitated my Hulu including Dubs in their ad supported Free viewing back in 2014-2016.  But then they stopped.

So either stop offering the paid service at all, or come up with incentives for it that don't render the point of Dubs useless.  If you really need to offer more then just no Ads and higher resolution.  Maybe put up DVD bonus feature type stuff like audio commentary tracks, or interviews.

Don't think that destroys the incentive to buy the Blu Rays, for me having it on home media is the preferred experience simply because I don't need to depend on my internet connection.   And then plenty will buy them just to collect them.  The reason Anime DVDs aren't selling enough is because they're ridiculously over priced.

And if it's really that important to need to make more money off the Dubs, give them more ads.

They should be able to charge more for Dub ad slots because they reach a wider audience.  But sadly that doesn't seem to be how internet ad revenue works.

Winter 2018 Simuldubs Week 2: Digibro was Wrong

Katana Maidens Episode 2 was very good. This is a perfect example of why Digibro is wrong in his rejection of the three episode rule.  Everyone was accusing this show based on Episode 1 of not knowing what it’s focus is.  But as of episode 2 it’s clear that was never the case.

Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody Episode 1 was, not enough for me to even start to decide yet.  We haven’t met any of the Harem yet, and that will largely be the deciding factor.

I’m not to fond of shows like this and Log Horizon trying to be half Isekai and half Trapped in an MMO.  The difference between them to me is that MMO stories should be SciFi and ISekai should be Fantasy.

Smartphone didn’t reveal it’s Non-Monogamous Harem resolution till half way through.  People who know the Light Novels might know if this will go there or not, I did hear some other Light Novels were also doing that.  I don't mind being spoiled so if someone wants to tell me go ahead.

PopTeamEpic is still funny.

Overlord II had a decent start.  A number of new characters were shown who seem…. Interesting.

I then watched all of Kakegurui once it’s Dub dropped.  It was pretty thrilling.

Citrus episode 2 was based on 2 chapters of the Manga, but surprisingly it didn’t feel that rushed to me.

The upcoming episodes are going to be important as they are where the Manga really found its footing if I remember correctly.

I’ve heard nearly universal praise for Darling in The Franx.  Yet much of that praise is based on Trigger’s relationship to Gainax, which I mostly consider overrated.  I’ve decided not to bother with it.  I think I’ve got enough to keep the Winter interesting.