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Blimey, had to search through eight pages to find this thread! /follows thread *ahem* Friends! What is a good, single-cour show, on Netflix, which is also available for download? Oddly specific, I know, but I'm going away on Monday morning and fancy loading up on something for travelling/downtime. Any recommendations very much appreciated. |
The Anime Appreciation Thread • Page 40
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Ror 20,336 posts
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Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years agoOn PC not tablet, so can't check which shows are downloadable. But a quick google shows that Madoka and AnoHana are both downloadable.
The first of those, if you haven't seen it, is god-tier. The second isn't quite that good, but is still very decent. Both are 1-cour. -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years agoYeah, I own Madoka. Could definitely rewatch it, but I don't think it's quite sunny, holiday viewing .gif)
Cheers for the AnoHana recommendation. It's actually one I've been meaning to check out. -
@Ror little witch academia.
Your welcome -
dominalien 10,703 posts
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Registered 15 years agoAnohana is great. Thanks for Madoka, I’ll certainly watch it.
Edited by dominalien at 13:56:48 01-09-2019 -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years ago@Graxlar_v3 is it actually, y'know, good?
Dom, report back after you've watched Madoka
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Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@Ror Little Witch Academia is Harry Potter but anime.
It's not bad,, verging on pretty good. It's a Trigger show and has their usual (high) production values. That said, it's not their best effort. The plot drags for a while in the middle, though it does come back together in the final few episodes. -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years ago@Rogueywon Thanks. Elevator pitch doesn't appeal, so I'll skip it. -
Malek86 12,331 posts
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Registered 14 years agoMachikado Mazoku is better than I would normally expect from a 4koma adaptation. Very feel-good too. -
dominalien 10,703 posts
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Registered 15 years agoBlame! is excellent. Look for my exhaustive review in the film thread. -
@Ror You Monster! -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years agoMalek86 wrote:
Aye, one of my favorite shows of the season. Manages to be both good-natured and funny, which is pretty rare.
Machikado Mazoku is better than I would normally expect from a 4koma adaptation. Very feel-good too. -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years agoI decided to load up on both AnoHana and Violet Evergarden, and then felt like watching the latter on my flight. Watched an ep and a half so far, seems alright. -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years agoI really loved the Violet Evergarden series (saw it on Netflix). Some brilliant writing once it gets going and the animation quality is outstanding.
Remember that there's also a 35 minute 'special' episode available as a separate stream on Netflix, chronologically this one fits in between episodes 4 and 5 of the series. -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years agoSo I've recently watched Fate/Zero on Netflix, I very much enjoyed it so thought I'd try Fate/Stay Night ...... and I gave up after two episodes. It really was crap. So I'm now trying Fate/Stay Unlimited Blade Master - it's certainly a bit better than Fate/Stay Night but the 'goofy' segments do my head in and the tone in general is far lighter than Fate/Zero.
Does the latter improve at all?
Are there any anime shows as good as Fate/Zero with a similar compelling story and dark undertone with an absence of anime goofiness? -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@RobAnybody Ah... Fate.
Fate/Zero is probably the best bit of anime based off that franchise (with two slightly strange competitors I'll come to later). Interesting thing about F/Z is that it's an original anime work - not based off a game like most of the other titles in the franchise were. Fate/Stay Night is the oldest bit of the franchise and was originally an erotic visual novel. The general immaturity of its writing comes through strongly in the original F/SN anime.
Fate/Zero was the first venture into that particular world by UFOtable. It benefited from their production values (which are stellar) and from being an original production rather than an adaptation of something that was only one step removed from porn. It was a huge success and eventually led to Unlimited Blade Works.
UBW adapts, I gather, the second of the three routes from the original game. UFOtable bring their production values to the table and tried to bring the tone closer to F/Z, but you can't really disguise the fact that it's an adaptation of a shagging simulator with some really teenager-ish writing.
As far as other Fate products go, you could always try Fate/Apocrypha. That's an alternate world story which shares some concepts and a couple of characters with the "main" timeline, but otherwise stands alone. It's not a bad action show and lacks the goofiness of F/SN, but it's nothing like as good as F/Z.
And then... there are the other two genuinely good Fate shows. The first doesn't even have "Fate" in the name and is still airing right now (so could potentially still veer into crap before it finishes). The Lord El Melloi II Case Files is a sort-of sequel to Fate/Zero, which picks up Waver Velvet's plot arc years after the end of F/Z (and a few months before the start of F/SN). It's a very different kind of show - basically a detective/mystery show with a few action elements, but picks up Waver's character arc from F/Z quite nicely.
The other... while excellent... is at the opposite end of the goofiness scale. Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya is another alternate-timeline show. This one skips to a timeline where the events of F/Z were aborted before people actually starting dying. So it has Illya (from F/SN) as... well... a Magical Girl (transformation sequences, frilly costumes, the works). It is a very, very silly take on the franchise without most of the angst, which veers mostly towards the comedy end of the spectrum (though the final series goes darker places). That said, its battle sequences look every bit as good as, if not better than, F/Z's, with the first season's battle against Dark Saber being some of the most impressive animation UFOtable have done.
Edited by Rogueywon at 15:48:36 03-09-2019 -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years ago@Rogueywon - Thanks a lot for that information, seems like there are a few things there that I could also try. Apparently the Fate/ stuff is rather extensive !
Edited by RobAnybody at 19:10:10 03-09-2019 -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@RobAnybody "Extensive" isn't the half of it. There are a few other shows/movies I haven't bothered to mention.
Also, the hardcore fanbase for this franchise is really, really creepy. -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years agoRogueywon wrote:
What would you recommend in terms of 'serious' non-Fate/ shows or films with very well written stories that are also very nicely animated and directed? Must admit that up until recently my main interest in anime has been Miyazaki's films, also many years ago Ghost in the Shell (movie and SAC) and not much else really. That is until recently where I sat down to watch Violet Evergarden and really loved it. I then decided to try out Fate/Zero and liked that a lot and now I'm still struggling with the intermittent goofiness of Fate/SN UBM so I'm looking around for other satisfying anime.
@RobAnybody "Extensive" isn't the half of it. There are a few other shows/movies I haven't bothered to mention.
Oh yes, I've also recently watched Your Name (good but I didn't enjoy it as much as many people seem to) and The Garden of Words (also good).
Oh, and another from a few years ago - Haibane Renmei - I really loved that too.
Also, the hardcore fanbase for this franchise is really, really creepy.
Now why doesn't that surprise me?
Edited by RobAnybody at 19:28:38 03-09-2019 -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@RobAnybody Ok, quick warning, my tastes on "serious" shows are not universally shared. I really dislike a lot of the "made for export" stuff, which goes all-out to appeal to Western tastes. I can't stand Cowboy Bebop, for instance, which puts me in a minority.
But of the more serious shows - without the more "anime-ish" elements I'm guessing are a bit of a put-off for you, I'd recommend the following:
From the New World/Shinsekai Yori - Creepy rural dystopian story, rare in that it's adapted from a "proper" novel rather than a light novel or manga series. Starts out looking harmless enough, but goes some pretty harrowing places. Borrows heavily - as the title implies - from Brave New World.
Psycho Pass - Another dystopia, though more traditionally cyberpunk. Basically an anime take on Minority Report, though with enough new things of its own to say to keep it interesting. Season 1 is amazing, but be warned that the second season (by a different director) is pretty much garbage and should be ignored.
Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - Not sure whether you've any interest in mecha or not. Iron Blooded Orphans is basically a more serious take on the formula than is usual for Gundam shows (its main characters work for an organised crime syndicate) and mostly avoids the ludicrous power-spiral that these shows fall into.
Darker than Black - A few years old now, but still decent. Basically a near-future action/sci-fi show. Starts out looking like one of those "made for export" shows that I don't like, but gets more interesting as it goes on. Season 1 is good, season 2 is excellent.
Ga-Rei Zero - Another old-ish show, from just over a decade ago and another show which, like F/Z, is a far superior anime-original prequel to a fairly crappy original work (a manga in this case). A very neat 1-cour action show (not a single scene wasted), structured on the lines of a traditional tragedy.
Angel Beats - Including this because you mention Haibane Renmei, as it shares a fair few ideas and concepts. Has a much heavier "goofy" quotient than any of the above, but generally uses that stuff early on as a setup for major emotional pay-off towards the end.
Note that the above wouldn't really be my "best shows ever" list (though Shinsekai Yori would make that too), but is my attempt to callibrate to the shows you've liked previously. -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years agoI've never actually asked, Roguey, but I'm curious, given your dislike of Bebop: what's your take on Samurai Champloo? -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years ago@Rogueywon - Excellent, thanks very much. I'm going to look into those right now.
Edited by RobAnybody at 20:01:55 03-09-2019 -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@Ror Didn't watch much. Thought it was crap.
Edit: Should probably add, the only Shinichiro Watanabe work I didn't actively dislike was Terror in Resonance, which I regarded as "ok".
Oh, and Carole and Tuesday managed to ascend the heady heights of "a bit dull but not actively offensive".
Edited by Rogueywon at 20:05:08 03-09-2019 -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years ago@Rogueywon Ha, fair I liked it a fair bit, and I think it benefits from a clearer throughline than Bebop ever enjoyed, but it is still pretty monster of the week-y (though I know that isn't your issue with either).
I quite liked the anachronistic elements and the (eventual) focus on the Shimabara Rebellion.
Well, 'focus' is maybe too strong a word.
Edited by Ror at 20:08:04 03-09-2019 -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years agoRobAnybody wrote:
Actually, AnoHana (mentioned a few posts back) would also seem to be a good fit for you. Elevator pitch is "melancholy coming-of-age ghost story". Callibrates well with Violet Evergarden and Haibane Renmei.
@Rogueywon - Excellent, thanks very much. I'm going to look into those right now. -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years ago@Ror I actually thought Bebop was at its best... well... its least-bad in its self-contained 1-shot episodes and its movie. That's not to say I liked those bits, but I disliked them less. The main story I absolutely hated. -
Ror 20,336 posts
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Registered 12 years ago@Rogueywon Aye, that's fair. I always thought there just wasn't enough there of the 'main story' to care about one way or the other (though the church fight with vicious looked cool).
But I really liked the characters and in the end thought we saw just enough of the world to keep things interesting without bogging the viewer down on detail.
I think I actually like Champloo a bit more. -
Rogueywon 12,387 posts
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Registered 16 years agoI think I find a lot of Watanabe's stuff to be "style over substance". There's a missing emotional core to a lot of his stuff.
I'm not at all averse to "style" - hell, it's a positively good thing. But it needs to be accompanied by a certain degree of sincerity. Maybe Champloo had that - I only stuck with it for 3 or 4 episodes. Bebop didn't.
Don't get me started on Space Dandy. That was fucking terrible (though admittedly, I seem to be in less of a minority in holding that view than I am on Bebop). -
RobAnybody 2,892 posts
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Registered 10 years ago@Rogueywon - how could I forget, I also recently watched all three available seasons of Attack on Titan. Loved it. -
Don't get me started on Space Dandy. That was fucking terrible....
.........
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