DARLING in the FRANXX - A Believing Heart is your Mecha

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What is Trigger's best previous anime
	Kill La Kill
	When Supernatural Battles become commenplace
	Kiznaiver
	Little Witch Academia
	Gurren Lagann*
	Panty and Stocking*
	Space Patrol Luluculo
	Goku

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Raxivace: Sep 9, 2014

I watched all of Argevollen, AMA.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:20

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# ? May 25, 2024 20:11

Guy Goodbody: Aug 31, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo

Raxivace posted:

I watched all of Argevollen, AMA.

how was it?

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:21

Raxivace: Sep 9, 2014

It was alright. It was pretty slow paced without exactly any huge payoffs or anything though.

The ending goes for an intentional anti-climax that's kind of neat if you're into that sort of thing.

Droyer posted:

Does the barber who only cuts the hair of those that do not cut their own hair cut his own hair?

Tbh I don't remember this barber character. I haven't seen the show since its initial run.

Raxivace fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Jul 11, 2018

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:27

Droyer: Oct 9, 2012

Raxivace posted:

I watched all of Argevollen, AMA.

Does the barber who only cuts the hair of those that do not cut their own hair cut his own hair?

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:28

Kanos: Sep 6, 2006; was there a time when speedwagon didn't get trolled

Indiana_Krom posted:

There was also that mecha show Argevollen that nobody watched and I pretty much forgot about. It couldn't quite out-bland buddy complex, but it made an honest attempt. IIRC the main mecha has a bio-feedback system that gradually drives pilots insane as their sync ratio goes up until they eventually go on berserk rampages killing everything that moves and then eventually die from the overload.

Buddy Complex is brief, to the point, and has a fun twist at the end that is actually vaguely interesting. Argevollen is a show that I watched and literally forgot that I watched for a long time, so I'm going to say it wins the bland competition.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:30

EponymousMrYar: Jan 4, 2015; The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Torquemadras posted:

Sounds like IBO might fit the bill. Since this thread has now turned into Actually Good Mecha Shows Central, good idea? Or any other recommendations?

IBO season one fits the bill pretty much perfectly. It does focus a lot on child soldier logistics/character building/coming of age-ness and it's antagonists are kind of anemic (in terms of actually being threatening) but the combat is pretty good.

Season two is ok for the first half which climaxes on a very good and cool combat scene. The second half is bad as it turns into a toilet drain of 'everything going wrong and things getting worse' that even the fight scenes can't save.
I will admit to a bit of bias on how mad Season Two's second half made me because they fridged my favorite character on the show :argh:

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:39

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

EponymousMrYar posted:

IBO season one fits the bill pretty much perfectly. It does focus a lot on child soldier logistics/character building/coming of age-ness and it's antagonists are kind of anemic (in terms of actually being threatening) but the combat is pretty good.

Season two is ok for the first half which climaxes on a very good and cool combat scene. The second half is bad as it turns into a toilet drain of 'everything going wrong and things getting worse' that even the fight scenes can't save.
I will admit to a bit of bias on how mad Season Two's second half made me because they fridged my favorite character on the show

IBO was always framed as a tragedy. It was just that Season Two finally delivered on that. All those little Imperial Japan allusions were a bit of a clue.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:43

Droyer: Oct 9, 2012

Darth Walrus posted:

IBO was always framed as a tragedy. It was just that Season Two finally delivered on that.

If only that was true it might have been a decent show.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:48

Darth Walrus: Feb 13, 2012

Droyer posted:

If only that was true it might have been a decent show.

Biscuit�s death, Mika confronting Orga on the train, and McGillis murdering his friends for questionable advantage were your warnings that this story would not end happily. Seriously, they weren�t exactly subtle.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 23:57

Droyer: Oct 9, 2012

Darth Walrus posted:

Biscuit�s death, Mika confronting Orga on the train, and McGillis murdering his friends for questionable advantage were your warnings that this story would not end happily. Seriously, they weren�t exactly subtle.

My point was that it didn't deliver, not that it wasn't framed as a tragedy. It was framed as a tragedy (except when it wasn't) and then it pulls its punches at every opportunity.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 00:00

EponymousMrYar: Jan 4, 2015; The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Darth Walrus posted:

IBO was always framed as a tragedy. It was just that Season Two finally delivered on that. All those little Imperial Japan allusions were a bit of a clue.

I don't mind that it was a tragedy. I've seen tragedies that were satisfying to watch.

IBO's tragedy arc was not satisfying in the least. It was frustrating, it was cheap and it wasn't earned.

Droyer posted:

My point was that it didn't deliver, not that it wasn't framed as a tragedy. It was framed as a tragedy (except when it wasn't) and then it pulls its punches at every opportunity.

And it overused shock value (the drive-by's) and it just had plain bad writing in it too (Mossa's final surprise backstab came out of nowhere.) Thematically the pieces all fit together but it's sloppy as heck.

EponymousMrYar fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Jul 12, 2018

# ? Jul 12, 2018 00:05

Guy Goodbody: Aug 31, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo

EponymousMrYar posted:

I don't mind that it was a tragedy. I've seen tragedies that were satisfying to watch.

IBO's tragedy arc was not satisfying in the least. It was frustrating, it was cheap and it wasn't earned.

And it overused shock value (the drive-by's) and it just had plain bad writing in it too (Mossa's final surprise backstab came out of nowhere.) Thematically the pieces all fit together but it's sloppy as heck.

I don't know what you mean by earned, it followed from characterization in the first season and was set up pretty heavily at the beginning of the second by that one kid getting out when he realized that being in Tekkadan had started to make it less likely that he'd be able to care for his sister

# ? Jul 12, 2018 00:13

Condiv: May 7, 2008; Sorry to undo the effort of paying a domestic abuser $10 to own this poster, but I am going to lose my dang mind if I keep seeing multiple posters who appear to be Baloogan.

With love,
a mod

just finished godannar, and it was indeed better than darling in the franxx. it had lovable side characters that actually had something that resembled arcs, an actual lesbian couple (though i have some complaints of how they were treated), and a mostly coherent message.

there are some parts that seem plotholish to me like why anna married goh in the first place, and its animation is not that great, but it's better than DITF, and its ending is way more earned than the bullshit DITF pulled

# ? Jul 12, 2018 00:20

Cao Ni Ma: May 25, 2010

IBO had the director apparently wanting to kill every single named character on the side of the protagonists and the writer/screen writer trying desperately to change his mind but this could be a random internet rumor.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 00:56

chiasaur11: Oct 22, 2012

Cao Ni Ma posted:

IBO had the director apparently wanting to kill every single named character on the side of the protagonists and the writer/screen writer trying desperately to change his mind but this could be a random internet rumor.

It's not just a random rumor. I read a few interviews mentioning it, although I was going with kinda rough translations.

Basically, if I remember right, Tatsuyuki Nagai's initial plan was for everyone in Tekkadan to die, reaching a point where a producer was suggesting Kudelia die too, but Mari Okada and the other writers felt that the viewers were invested enough in the cast that something going that far would just feel spiteful. Thus, they rewrote the plans for the last five episodes to get to the ending we got.

Again, it's been a while and I had a pretty rough translation, but it sounded less like a desperate fight and more like a discussion about what would be best for the story. Helps the director and the chief writer had worked together in the past, and knew each other pretty well.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 01:39

EponymousMrYar: Jan 4, 2015; The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Guy Goodbody posted:

I don't know what you mean by earned

A consistent flaw in IBO is that the primary antagonists are spoiled brats who never learn from their losses and keep failing to accomplish much against the protagonists while loudly yelling about how hard they're trying. The one person who actually does learn from they're failures enough to go 'to hell with our code I'ma become part of this robutt' still fails to do much of note although they at least look awesome doing it.

It started out as a theme, became a parody and then turned into an annoyance. Topped of by one of the brats delivering a moral during the ending, way after it would have been meaningful for them to have said it.

Kujan McCocksucker's victory over the Turban's and his wrist slap for using forbidden weapons against civilian targets was where I started to get pissed off about the show. His death should have been worse :black101:

chiasaur11 posted:

It's not just a random rumor. I read a few interviews mentioning it, although I was going with kinda rough translations.

Basically, if I remember right, Tatsuyuki Nagai's initial plan was for everyone in Tekkadan to die, reaching a point where a producer was suggesting Kudelia die too, but Mari Okada and the other writers felt that the viewers were invested enough in the cast that something going that far would just feel spiteful. Thus, they rewrote the plans for the last five episodes to get to the ending we got.

Again, it's been a while and I had a pretty rough translation, but it sounded less like a desperate fight and more like a discussion about what would be best for the story. Helps the director and the chief writer had worked together in the past, and knew each other pretty well.

That makes a bunch of sense and I'm glad the ending is the way it is considering the concerns with where it was going.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 01:52

Raxivace: Sep 9, 2014

Tbh I think a character as insufferable as Iok actually dying and giving the audience some satisfaction undercuts what probably should have been something more of a pathetic end for our protagonists.

Even though I liked the show I tend to agree with Droyer that IBO does pull its punches a little too much.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 01:59

AlphaKeny1: Feb 17, 2006

So it sounds like I can safely skip IBO because I'll just end up hating it, and it's not worth finishing?

# ? Jul 12, 2018 03:24

Droyer: Oct 9, 2012

AlphaKeny1 posted:

So it sounds like I can safely skip IBO because I'll just end up hating it, and it's not worth finishing?

In fairness, most people around here seem to like it, even if I do not.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 03:26

Guy Goodbody: Aug 31, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo

AlphaKeny1 posted:

So it sounds like I can safely skip IBO because I'll just end up hating it, and it's not worth finishing?

IBO is, IMO, a really strong show that doesn't always quite do it's themes full justice. When people say it pull it's punches, yeah that's accurate, but it's already pretty loving grim at times. IBO generates a lot of discussion because it actually has stuff going on, I totally understand why some people were dissatisfied with it, but I still think it's good.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 03:35

EponymousMrYar: Jan 4, 2015; The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

IBO is pretty ok. It's not great and has flaws but it's way more coherent than FranXX was.

It's no G Gundam though :colbert:

# ? Jul 12, 2018 03:48

Blaze Dragon: Aug 28, 2013; LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

AlphaKeny1 posted:

So it sounds like I can safely skip IBO because I'll just end up hating it, and it's not worth finishing?

Depends on what you want. Personally I really liked it, but, like everything else Gundam, it's very base-breaking. Which is, again, Gundam.txt, so just watch it if it's your kind of thing and make your own judgement about it.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 04:12

chiasaur11: Oct 22, 2012

Blaze Dragon posted:

Depends on what you want. Personally I really liked it, but, like everything else Gundam, it's very base-breaking. Which is, again, Gundam.txt, so just watch it if it's your kind of thing and make your own judgement about it.

Yeah, the only thing everyone agrees on is that you should play "The War for Earth" to get Tomino's real vision of how the original Gundam should have gone..

# ? Jul 12, 2018 05:04

AlphaKeny1: Feb 17, 2006

Blaze Dragon posted:

Depends on what you want. Personally I really liked it, but, like everything else Gundam, it's very base-breaking. Which is, again, Gundam.txt, so just watch it if it's your kind of thing and make your own judgement about it.

I'm being a little picky right now since I shouldn't really be binge watching a ton of anime right now. I just want to cleanse my poor soul of DitF and move on by watching a better mech show. I think IBO is probably on top of my list for mech anime to watch at the moment.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 05:05

The Black Stones: May 7, 2007; I POSTED WHAT NOW!?

I�m not a gigantic Gundam fan, I�ve seen Turn A, Seed, 00, and IBO. IBO is easily my favourite out of the bunch and all of my co-workers that watch anime loved the heck out of it as well.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 14:55

Pootybutt: Apr 5, 2011

Been burning thru Turn A lately maself. Highly reccomend it. Great setting, great, massive cast, great music, suitably ridiculous in the way a tomino gundam should be. Na na na century color

# ? Jul 12, 2018 15:26

Raxivace: Sep 9, 2014

I didn't think much of Turn A. The setting was cool at first but the cast was one of the blandest ones in Gundam IMO. I don't really think much of Tomino after the 80's in general though.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 15:40

Pootybutt: Apr 5, 2011

Couldn't disagree more, I'm loving p much everybpdy in this silly show, from Sochie and Kihel and Harry to the comic relief villains turned crew members/monks to the blond buff moonrace hippie indians(??) and Tomino loves pairing these characters together in weird, unexpected ways. It's great.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 16:04

Guy Goodbody: Aug 31, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo

Raxivace posted:

I didn't think much of Turn A. The setting was cool at first but the cast was one of the blandest ones in Gundam IMO. I don't really think much of Tomino after the 80's in general though.

I can understand why somebody would call Loran bland compared to other Gundam protagonists. He's just a well-adjusted, friendly, helpful guy who doesn't want war to happen. He's not gonna take a swing at a cop or respond to any setback with attempted suicide. But Turn A's cast in general is hardly bland

# ? Jul 12, 2018 16:35

Maxwell Adams: Oct 21, 2000; T E E F S

That flight unit looks real hard on the junk.

Also, shame on this thread for not recommending GaoGaiGar. You want a show with a good ending? GaoGaiGar ends with the characters naked and weeping with joy.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 18:15

Nephthys: Mar 27, 2010

I stopped watching Turn A when the hillbillies shot themselves into space in a barrel. Their side of the conflict was just so loving stupid and pointlessly aggressive it turned me off the whole show.

The only gundams I could finish were SEED and 00. The original was too dated and I just couldn't get past how much of a dick Wing's protag was.

Nephthys fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jul 12, 2018

# ? Jul 12, 2018 18:43

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

Maxwell Adams posted:

That flight unit looks real hard on the junk.

Also, shame on this thread for not recommending GaoGaiGar. You want a show with a good ending? GaoGaiGar ends with the characters naked and weeping with joy.

Also, it's Transformers-aproved hang on kid is both a) Not annoying and b) actually integral to the plot!

# ? Jul 12, 2018 19:13

Pootybutt: Apr 5, 2011

Nephthys posted:

I stopped watching Turn A when the hillbillies shot themselves into space in a barrel. Their side of the conflict was just so loving stupid and pointlessly aggressive it turned me off the whole show.

Whether you consider said moment one of the worst, or one of the greatest moments of the show(as I do) itself does a p solid job of laying out the dividing line on whether one will love or hate Turn A.

# ? Jul 12, 2018 20:21

Torquemadras: Jun 3, 2013

So! Based on the recommendations, I gave Iron-Blooded Orphans a try. Also snuck a peek at some of the discussion following it, because I am a bad person especially to myself. And ooooh boy, I do hope it matches my expectation, because I love a good misery train :haw:

But to be honest: now that I'm a good bit into the show, I'm a little disappointed. First, because it does not quite seem to be as the first 2-3 episodes suggested. The first one had a lot of land-based smaller mechs, use of additional military like barricades and snipers and, well, gravity. A lot of rock to be smashed in awesome ways, too. Now it's just space. Maybe that's just the aftereffect of DitF, but I like land-based mech action a lot more. There's a much better sense of scale and actual movement; in space, it's basically Dragonball Z fighting with everyone floating around, with generic space background. (Not that generic wasteland #45 is much better, mind you.) Also, much less occasion for awesome military coordination besides the mainships. Why yes, I'm one of those fabled creatures who liked the first episode of Diebuster the most.
Guess I'll see where things go. The posted GIFs didn't show up yet, so I'm sure there's more land-based stuff. Not to mention that, space or not, the action is easily the highlight of the whole show, holy poo poo.

Story-wise, it's eh. I kinda dislike the shorter main character, but given how he's basically an immensely screwed-up child soldier, I have good hope that things will turn ugly eventually. The princess is surprisingly tolerable, perhaps even... good?!?! Not quite sure how the show wants to sell the allied mafia dude with his space harem, that seems like another thing that could come back to bite them in the rear end big-time. Also, space harem? Seriously?

My main criteria was definitely awesome mech action with lots of weight + destruction behind it, and the show definitely delivers there. Let's see where this goes.

# ? Jul 13, 2018 00:47

Guy Goodbody: Aug 31, 2016; by Nyc_Tattoo

Don't worry, they get back to being on ground. they go back and forth a couple times over the course of the show

# ? Jul 13, 2018 00:52

Diabetes Forecast: Aug 13, 2008; Droopy Only

Turn A is bar none my favorite Gundam series, and i kinda wish more mecha shows attempted the type of broad-spectrum worldbuilding style it has going on. After a point, it feels like a really fun scifi novel, which is what Tomino clearly wanted to do for a long time.

E: loving EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THE LAUNDRY EPISODE, but I honest to god think it's one of the best episodes of the show because it's trying to show a side where characters not among the named cast are doing things and trying their best in a very bizarre situation. The rest of the worldbuilding with the separated named cast is incredible, but that one episode gets us to see what regular nurses and such are doing.

Diabetes Forecast fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jul 13, 2018

# ? Jul 13, 2018 05:53

chiasaur11: Oct 22, 2012

Diabetes Forecast posted:

Turn A is bar none my favorite Gundam series, and i kinda wish more mecha shows attempted the type of broad-spectrum worldbuilding style it has going on. After a point, it feels like a really fun scifi novel, which is what Tomino clearly wanted to do for a long time.

E: loving EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THE LAUNDRY EPISODE, but I honest to god think it's one of the best episodes of the show because it's trying to show a side where characters not among the named cast are doing things and trying their best in a very bizarre situation. The rest of the worldbuilding with the separated named cast is incredible, but that one episode gets us to see what regular nurses and such are doing.

I bring up the laundry all the time, but it's not complaining. It's mostly noting how the Turn A the Gundam is an apocalyptic weapon of war used for the most mundane tasks because Turn A the show cares about the world beyond whatever's exploding at the moment.

chiasaur11 fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Jul 13, 2018

# ? Jul 13, 2018 06:34