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Furious Lobster posted:Reposting a question asked in the recommendations thread thanks to a kitten, I had forgotten about this thread. Yep, I've read it. I do think it's good, but its flavour is somewhat different from the anime version. Examples: - Some characters' personalities are different. The anime and manga versions of Rei, in particular. Anime Rei likes to project an air of being an elegant young lady who is faultlessly cool, while actually being kind of a doof who faceplants in front of the boy she likes and gets her head stepped on. Manga Rei actually is an elegant young lady who is faultlessly cool, and really isn't interested in boys. - It often goes a lot darker than the anime. Villains are killed off more violently (and quickly) and, without giving too much away, there's a suicide that's a major plot point. There are elements of genuine horror: people with their faces melting off spring to mind. - Naoko Takeuchi's artwork is lovely in many ways (the lady can draw hair) but has some limitations. She's not really strong on anatomy and freely admits she can't draw children; she draws little girls with the same kind of bust-waist-hip ratio she gives teenagers. The anime, of course, has a wildly inconsistent art style because of all the different animation directors who apparently weren't instructed to STAY ON MODEL and not just draw in their own style. It's a matter of taste which you prefer. - The plot moves along way faster; it doesn't have 'filler' chapters in the way that the anime has filler episodes (marking time until new manga chapters were published and they knew what story elements they were adapting). I actually like a lot of the filler episodes because they provide breathing room between major plot developments and give us time for character and relationship development, and goofy stuff like the time Chibi-Usa accidentally turns off gravity. - Usagi matures more, Mamoru is closer to her age (he's in high school while she's in middle school), and there is more of a sexual element to their relationship as it progresses. Mamoru is also a gentler, less aggressively obnoxious character early on, and suffers from some self-esteem issues that Usagi has to help him with. The anime's attitude tends to be more 'What is a silly, dorky girl like HER doing with a successful cool dude like HIM?' while in the manga, he's like 'What is an amazing, heroic, loving girl like YOU doing with a powerless waste of space like ME?' (He also doesn't throw roses.) - The Doom Tree/Makaiju plotline doesn't appear in the manga, because it was created by the anime staff to fill in time while Takeuchi, who wasn't expecting the series to be renewed, came up with a plot for Sailor Moon R. Some manga fans are very dogmatic about it being the One True Source and all adaptations being inferior. I think they're all worth something on their own merits, and my favourites are the first three seasons of the anime, and the live-action PGSM (which incorporated some elements from the manga that weren't used in the anime). We also really, really don't know how much like the manga the new anime will be. So far there is only excited speculation. People have seized on the director saying that Crystal will be an adaptation of the manga rather than a reboot of the 90s anime, but, of course, the 90s anime was itself an adaptation of the manga. The stage musicals are adaptations of the manga. The live-action series was an adaptation of the manga. It all comes back to that, and they have all come up with their own variations on the theme (e.g. the musicals have Sailor Moon go to Transylvania and fight Dracula because why not? SOMEONE ought to do something about that guy). Like the writers of PGSM, the writers of Crystal have the great advantage that they are adapting a finished manga story, rather than trying to keep up with one being published concurrently with their production. They can carefully pick and choose the elements they want to use, how to fit them together, how to order events and how to pace the whole thing. Plus, they can put in some completely new elements if they want to. I hope they've taken full advantage of that opportunity to give us a really well-constructed Sailor Moon story, with a good balance between action, magic, romance and friendship (because my favourite parts are always the stuff that's just about the girls being a group of friends growing up together, dealing with real-girl issues like parents, school, relationships, plans and dreams for the future, self-image and esteem, conflicts within their group, etc, while also being magic superheroes). There's been a lot of criticism of translation errors, poor proof-reading, and awkward phrasing that doesn't sound like natural, idiomatic English in the official Kodansha translated editions. Some fans prefer the scanlations that were created during the time when there was no officially licensed and available English translation, although these can also contain errors or poor English. Translation of a comic or manga series is extremely hard to do well; you have to get across the same meaning but in vocabulary and diction that are appropriate for the character speaking, and when you're working with a language as different from English as Japanese is, the nuances can be hard to capture (especially puns and other wordplay, forms of address and social manners for which there is no exact equivalent, and bits that rely on cultural references the English-speaking audience can't be expected to know). And the end result has to read like normal, natural English. My hat is off to anyone who accomplishes that. So if you're not sure you want to invest in the Kodansha translations, I guess see if they're available through your public library system? Then buy your own if you like them and can afford them. Oh, and if you haven't seen PGSM, I really recommend it. The battle sequences are cheesy as heck, but if you enjoy them as cheese, like a fight scene in the original Star Trek, that's not a problem, and all the civilian stuff is wonderful. The writers (and actors) really understood and loved the characters and it shines through. Dove from Above fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 22:01
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Thanks for the awesome effort post and I'll check out the PGSM before watching this version of the anime!
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Jun 19, 2014 22:09
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Furious Lobster posted:Thanks for the awesome effort post and I'll check out the PGSM before watching this version of the anime! To help you along with that, here's pretty much the best quality (visually and translationally) versions of PGSM I've been able to find: http://missdream.org/sailor-moon-fansubs/pretty-guardian-sailor-moon-fansubs/ I'm a huge fan of the live-action as well! Think of it as a soap opera with magical girls and you'll be prepared to deal with some of the over the top drama stuff. I will say that one of the early "friendship" episodes with Ami is probably one of my most favorite character building bits in all of the series - the lesson Usagi learns is actually a really good one and not all "Sailor Says" saccharine. I actually really enjoy how the group dynamics work in the live action. It really drives home the fact that *probably* these disparate people would never have given each other the time of day without the whole magical girl thing, and all of the personality conflicts and quirks that derive from that. Of course things generally work out with the power of friendship, but that they actually made an effort to address that is nice. It's hammy but it's the good kind of hammy, I think. LegionAreI fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 22:22
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I love live action Sailor Moon. It's so cheesy in so many ways, but it does a lot right, in plot and in characterization, as you said. I've never been successful in convincing anyone to go past the first episode, though. Some can't even get past CG plushie Luna.
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Jun 20, 2014 06:50
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Dove from Above posted:- Usagi matures more, Mamoru is closer to her age (he's in high school while she's in middle school), and there is more of a sexual element to their relationship as it progresses. Mamoru is also a gentler, less aggressively obnoxious character early on, and suffers from some self-esteem issues that Usagi has to help him with. The anime's attitude tends to be more 'What is a silly, dorky girl like HER doing with a successful cool dude like HIM?' while in the manga, he's like 'What is an amazing, heroic, loving girl like YOU doing with a powerless waste of space like ME?' (He also doesn't throw roses.) They better get to R in crystal (JoJo's did it, don't cock me out, Toei) so we see Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber and it better be the most expensive attack animation wise.  In short; don't just be a repeat of only the Dark Kingdom, SMC, we have at least three tellings of that story (not counting the numerous musicals).
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Jun 20, 2014 09:13
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http://natalie.mu/comic/news/120123 Episode 1 screencaps.
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Jun 30, 2014 14:20
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And leaked shakycam footage of the opening and Usagi's transformation sequence  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBYsyJGc7DQ
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Jun 30, 2014 17:33
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Hmm, they used a 3d model for the transformation. Hmmmmmmmmm. I mean it's great to use one if you plan to hover around the character like that but you miss out on a lot of good flow-y and peppy animation that hand drawn animation can give.
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Jun 30, 2014 17:41
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Would've been nice if that clown hadn't kept saying "SUGOI" constantly. Other than that, pretty cool. Only 6 more days till we actually get to see it in non-shakycam mode. On another note, Viz has put up the first half of Season 1 up for digital download for both US and Canada in celebration of Usagi's birthday.
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Jun 30, 2014 19:23
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I'm really disappointed with the transformation sequence. They were so beautifully done in the original anime, and the way the limbs look like they are stretching in this one just looks ... not good. It doesn't fit well with the rest of the retro style (which I am also still not a fan of.) The scene of Usagi sitting there and blinking with her mouth open and doing nothing else is literally nearly 10 seconds long. That should have been ten seconds of Usagi flipping her emote poo poo all over the place, not ten seconds of a blank open-mouthed stare. Maybe I am being too cynical. But I don't get the feeling I get all all that I get when I watch the original, and it isn't because of rose-tinted glasses. It's because those girls were dripping with personality even when they weren't talking. I liked the opening, although it felt more like an ending theme to me. Not sure why. Still liked it.
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Jun 30, 2014 22:55
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Actually, I feel a lot better after seeing the trailer. Her expressions don't seem as blank as that first tiny clip, but she does stare with her mouth open a lot. I think seeing the voice acting with the animation helped a lot too.
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Jun 30, 2014 23:11
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Hell yes! Now I'm getting really excited for this! 
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Jun 30, 2014 23:39
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Dogwood Fleet posted:Actually, I feel a lot better after seeing the trailer. Her expressions don't seem as blank as that first tiny clip, but she does stare with her mouth open a lot. I think seeing the voice acting with the animation helped a lot too. Yeah, that bit in the leak with Usagi staring blankly with her mouth open whilst Luna spouted off was an obvious animation cheat (which I hope is few and far between given the circumstances). The classic anime did that far better with Usagi scared out of her wits, clinging to her bed / playing with the locket. Other than that, whilst the CG isn't Jojo's op teir, I'm still on board. ConanThe3rd fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Jul 1, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 05:36
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Why is she going 3D? Is it really that much more expensive to shell out a regular animation transform? It's not like they have to remake it each time.
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Jul 1, 2014 06:09
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Tae posted:Why is she going 3D? Is it really that much more expensive to shell out a regular animation transform? It's not like they have to remake it each time. It may genuinely be because they think it looks cooler; I don't know. There's a similar debate about the costume-change special attacks in Happiness Charge Precure; when Cures Lovely, Princess and Honey transform into Cherry Flamenco, Lollipop Hip-Hop, Macadamia Hula, Sherbet Ballet or Popcorn Cheer, they switch into a fully CG/3D attack animation, then cut back to regular-style directly afterwards. To me, it kinda works in the sense that the flavour/dance transformations are a temporary power-up, on a different level from their normal appearance and fighting style, but the very visible difference is somewhat jarring. I still think the best magical girl transformations I've ever seen have been in Precure (specifically Smile and Heartcatch - I absolutely adored the way the Smile transformations were tailored to the girls' powers and personalities) and this is not quite up to that level but it does look pretty gosh darn awesome. Still, suspending judgement till we can see it in the context of a full episode. Thank goodness we don't have much longer to wait.
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Jul 1, 2014 06:46
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cg is more expensive then hand-drawn for anime studios the use of cg here was specifically a choice by the director Munehisa Sakai, Animedia July 2014 posted:In particular, during the transformation scenes I’d like to use CG to capture the movements of the girls from different angles, freely use lighting effects, and have a flashy display of their twirling forms. anime doesn't really work like they suddenly decide to pay some guy extra to animate a transformation scene. toei specifically has both a base salary (most studios do not) and then pays extra based on amount of work completed (the metric is probably something like # of cuts completed), most studios just pay the second bit. both good and veteran animators will generally get paid more for their work. i thought Toei's top animator (Naotoshi Shida) was going to do a few of the SMC henshins, but he actually animated significant parts of the opening instead and possibly some of the episode, although we haven't seen it to know. aers fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Jul 1, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 07:01
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It's not like the transformation sequences ever meshed with the rest of the show anyway.
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Jul 1, 2014 07:05
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Dogwood Fleet posted:It's not like the transformation sequences ever meshed with the rest of the show anyway. True, the artstyle evolved and while Usagi's transformation and everybody's special attacks for the most part changed every season the other sailors got what amounted to a different pen they held up followed by the old season 1 animation with a few new flashy effects or a new background. Or the transformations/special attacks were really good looking because they were stock footage while the rest of the episode looked like rear end.
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Jul 1, 2014 07:33
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aers posted:cg is more expensive then hand-drawn for anime studios Thank you for the background info! I guess it is just because he thought it looked cool. It does look pretty cool. A random detail that I really like is the field of blue flowers that the girls are standing in, at the start and end of the opening sequence. I'm not even sure why I like them so much, so I have to fall back on 'they're pretty!' and 'they didn't have to put something detailed and pretty there to add to the atmosphere of the scene, but they did, and I like that.'
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Jul 1, 2014 08:53
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http://nagaharuakiyama.tumblr.com/post/90431384591/only-click-play-if-you-want-to-watch-more-sailor pre-OP scenes + a couple more clips + ED cam.
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Jul 1, 2014 11:35
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That fall looked paaaaainful.
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Jul 1, 2014 12:08
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neongrey posted:That fall looked paaaaainful. Well the manga is more brutal... 
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Jul 1, 2014 14:18
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aers posted:http://nagaharuakiyama.tumblr.com/post/90431384591/only-click-play-if-you-want-to-watch-more-sailor Already down. (sad pouts)
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Jul 1, 2014 20:29
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Dove from Above posted:Already down. (sad pouts) Here you go.
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Jul 1, 2014 20:41
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Gotta say that the more I see of the animation the more I'm growing to like it. Looking forward to the full episode at 2am on the 5th of July.
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Jul 1, 2014 20:50
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Count me in as another person disappointed in the choice for CG during the transformation. Also if I'm not mistaken, isn't Princess Serenity's hair color suppose to be silver and not blonde like Usagi's in the manga?
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Jul 1, 2014 20:50
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JA1kwDl_kI&t=13s Henshin in non-camrip quality. I have no idea where this even came from.
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Jul 1, 2014 20:55
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planetarial posted:Count me in as another person disappointed in the choice for CG during the transformation. That's Queen Serenity - and yes, in both the manga and the 90s anime her hair was silver/white, so it's a different choice. Edit: Whoops, I was thinking of a different shot than the one you meant. Anyway, it appears that in Crystal both the Princess and the Queen are shown as blonde, while in the 90s anime just the Princess was blonde, and in coloured manga art they both have silver/white hair. And thank you, Tender Child Loins! Dove from Above fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Jul 1, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 21:05
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The only things that really bug me are 1. the weird lighting effect, like everything is too bright and reflective and 2. the way her arms bend when the gloves appear just looks really wrong somehow, like they're being bent in the middle of the forearm.
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Jul 1, 2014 21:05
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I LOVE the Background music trailer! It reminds of Madoka, which is awesome.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:09
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aers posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JA1kwDl_kI&t=13s gently caress, that looks awesome.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:41
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Looks much better at the proper angle. I'm a little sad the tiara is so shallow on her forehead though. Can't wait for the other girls transformation sequences 
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Jul 1, 2014 23:39
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Ugh, why the unnecessary CG? Never use CG unless you can't do it with traditional animation (think Love Live's massive dance sequences.) I'm still not convinced about the 'elegant' approach this new series is taking. Usagi just isn't elegant at this point in the manga. She should have freaked out more when Luna first talked to her. The 'falling down the stairs' scene was good, though.
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Jul 2, 2014 03:39
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Snow Halation posted:Ugh, why the unnecessary CG? Never use CG unless you can't do it with traditional animation (think Love Live's massive dance sequences.) Yes, that was an epic rear end-slide.
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Jul 2, 2014 06:53
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I've been rewatching most of R & S (dubbed, so I only have to pay half attention while doing other things) over the past few weeks, and it's strange; I think my favorite Sailor has changed. Before, I had a slight inclination to Jupiter, but I think I'm now strongly in the camp of my previously least-favorite: Venus. She's just so ridiculous about everything, with no shame. I love when she disguises herself as Moon towards the end of S, I love when she two-times the villains in SuperS, I love how exasperated she makes Artemis. When I was younger, she just seemed like lame Moon, but she's so much more fun to watch than any of the others. In live action Sailor Moon, Mercury is of course the best, but then, in live action, Venus is super-competent and super-boring, and Mercury goes Dark, so it's hardly a level playing field.
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Jul 3, 2014 03:58
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Well, the first episode was absolutely beautiful. It took me a few moments to get used to the new art style, and it moved a little faster than I remembered the original's first episode, but I still had a big goofy smile on my face through almost all of it. Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out, and it left me really looking forward to the future episodes. I'm really glad I waited until seeing the actual episode to see the transformation sequence. Seeing that off of a shaky, blurry camrip wouldn't have done it any justice.
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Jul 5, 2014 11:40
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Loved it. The biggest trip up for me with the art style was getting used to everyone's pastel hair colours. Haruna-sensei threw me off hardcore when she came out, her hair colour is almost completely different.
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Jul 5, 2014 11:46
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It's basically a near perfect note-for-note recreation of the first manga chapter. Really great. Also those commercial break still drawings are real pretty. Only thing I kinda miss is Moonlight Densetsu. This new song isn't bad, but nostalgia and all that. Is there a full version of the new song anywhere? Man, I wish I could buy the manga set. Don't have the money for needless expenses right now unfortunately. Some manga site has it up for free, but it goes from a few chapters of fan-translation to the really old english one and it's so lovely. I tried reading it and honestly thought I was reading the word balloons in the wrong order with out disjointed and off all the writing seemed. Lava Lamp Goddess fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 11:49
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That was a great first episode. My wife tells me that there are a lot of references from the manga. It's too bad about the fact that it only airs twice a month but I'm really looking forward to next episode. Can't believe I waited all night for the first episode to air.
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Jul 5, 2014 12:04
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Holy poo poo the official subs are loving AWFUL lmao. Heads up: Crunchyroll and Hulu's broadcast do not have an episode 2 preview. Nicovideo does. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/1404364425 You'll have to let the video load the full way to skip to the end. Preview looks good, it has a way better animation director than the first episode (you can tell the character designs look better).
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Jul 5, 2014 12:23
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