What Are You Watching/reading This Month?, September 2007

Last Month

Please talk about what you are watching or reading in terms of anime/manga and related material.

Also please make a new thread if you actually want to talk about the stuff in depth.

to start us off...

Claymore
Umisho
Heroic Age
Gurren Lagann
Darker than Black
Code E
School days on pause
Lucky Star
probably going to drop Boccano, undecided.
Denno coil
Touka Gettan still on pause
Sayonara zetsubo sensei
Sky Girls...maybe

September already...

Watching:
Bacanno! - Very silly show.
Code E - A bit dull, might drop.
Darker Than Black - Second season please.
Dennou Coil - Seems kind of stalled at the moment.
Hayate No Gotuku! - Hit and miss. Maria is still great though.
Moetan - Probably going to drop. Too much otaku trash.
Lucky Star - Loved the most recent episodes.
Potemayo - lol, what? Funniest thing on TV.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Will we ever see another sub?
Sky Girls - Enjoyably dumb, but prime train wreck material.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Top stuff, looking forward to the conclusion.

Looking forward to: ARIA The OVA ~Arietta~

Reading:
Somedays Dreamers - Spellbound - Meandering.

Claymore: Claymore baby yeah!
Heroic Age: Just up to Ep 9... Not bad but not the best.
Lucky Star: On hold.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Gonna start soon... can't wait for this one.

Claymore (great story, characters, plot and animation)
Darker than Black (quite intriguing)
Moetan.
Potemayo (I don't know why I laugh but I do).
Reideen.
Wangan Midnight.
Devil May Cry (awesome animation)
Lucky Star.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (siiiick show)
El Cazador.

For Manga:
D.Greyman
Ichigo Mashimaro
Claymore (the manga is better, but the animation expands the manga)
Venus VS Virus (the manga tells more)
Black Lagoon (want to see what the author will come up with next)

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei -funny stuff
Lucky Star -very funny, good stuff
Dennou Coil -strange and interesting
Nanatsuiro Drops -strange, waiting to see if I'll keep up with it
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann -makes you feel like a kid again watching your favorite saturday morning cartoon, pure win
Claymore -curse them for deviating from the manga so much recently
Code E -a nice watch even if they have noses that only exist in profile
Mushiuta -awesome show, even if it doesn't make much sense
Doujin Work -funny (and just a little perverted) stuff
Umisho -there's fanservice and... um...
Moetan -I feel like I should be worried about Chris Hansen showing up at my door, especially after watching episode four, that one just felt wrong

Nodame Cantabile (live action) -the anime was great stuff so I recently decided to check out the live action series, still too soon for me to say anything about it

I'd include Darker than Black, Hayate no Gotoku, and Potemayo, but I had to limit myself somewhere.

edit: almost forgot, I bought one manga because I just had to, so for manga King of Thorn.

This post has been edited by Desidarius on Sep 1 2007, 09:25 AM

Fansubs/Raw
Darker Than Black: Kinda getting boring again. I liked the colours/storyboarding in 19-20 though.
First Gundam: Moar plz
Hayate no Gotoku: Half way through it seems to be losing a bit of steam, but I trust it'll be able to pick itself back up. Episode 22 was a little yashigani. All is well since it referenced the Gundam lance and Evangelion (just in time for the movie?!)
Lucky Star: Same fun light slice of life/otaku thing that it always is. A bit behind.
Otokojuku: Episode 5 was funny.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Oh no the Shinbo curse. Episodes 7 and 8 were absolutely brilliant. I love how Shinbo can string together an episode with mostly still images.
School Days: Oh god trainwreck ahoy. Each episode is painful to watch in a good way. What?
Sky Girls: Fun, light rori/mecha romp~
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. This is a show where people break holes in TIME SPACE. That's all I have to say.
Zero no Tsukaima 2: Best fanservice show ever~ I love that this season is focusing on my three favourite girls :3

Stalling
Hidamari Sketch: Shinbo curse
Negima!?: Shinbo curse

Finished
Tenchi Muyo! TV: While uneven, a pretty great series in the end. Needed more Kiyone. Gonna watch the three movies now, and the original OVA somewhere down the line. Oh nostalgia.

Dropped
Bokura No: I may pick it back up, but I just lack the drive...
Dennou Coil: Died.
Doujin Work: No one's subbing it, and I don't care.
iDOLM@STER XENOGLOSSIA: May pick it back up just because, but for now it's dropped.
Moetan: Dropped after 2 episodes
Nanatsuiro Drops: More on hold. Will continue when I feel like getting more episodes

Reading
Stuff.

I did some watching up on older shows during the holidays :
Good Witch of the West, Astrea Testament : nice but muvh too vague on all the hinted things that were setting the world appart.
Kemonodzume : on drugs but good
Maze OAV : watched that in the train, was somewhat disturbing since the TV show was "purer". Well it is an OAV i guess...
Narutaru : much less fucked up that i had imagined from what i had read (i guess it's all in the manga ?). Too bad it obviously was stopped/ended in the middle of everything.

Currently watching :
Animal Yokocho (if ever they decide to release new subs that is)
Bokurano : i really like how it's going along showing all the different problems the cast has (and them not be all totally disfunctionnal), the revelations around 17 were quite predictable, but they put the childrens in an interseting situation.
Charge !! Otokojuku : greatness abounds
Claymore : bah, why is Raki being given an important role ?
Code Geass : need Season 2 :/
D.Gray man : for when i'm traveling in trains
El Cazador de la Bruja : for the music and the laid back atmosphere (and hot office lady)
Gun X Sword : caught up on the episodes i hadn't bothered watching before, but still no subs for the end in view. Oh well, I like the uncaring Van.
Hayate no Gotoku : Wakamoto FTW, plus it's the type of comedy show i like (just don't understand why everybody cares about Nagi and not Maria or Hinagiku)
Heroic Age : graaar
Hidamari Sketch : Shintani please ? I still have the anons somewhere but am waiting for you !
Kenichi : guilty pleasure
Mononoke : stuck at ep1, need to see more of this bizarre thing
Lucky Star : o/ Kagami o/
Negima! : errr, waiting on subs
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei : possibly the most amusing show of the season
Seirei no Moribito : interesting how people naturally choose stupid solutions to simple problems because of their preconceptions (haven't watched past ep16 yet)
TTGL : graaar too


Other assorted random shows which i'm not yet really interested in or have already dropped.

Watching:
Hayate - *maria with high cut* Having some trouble catching all the refferences, *maria with high cut* but still funny. *maria with high cut*
Lucky Star - Decent enough, but not something I'll be revisiting after having seen it once.

reading:
Touhou doujins - Gakuland made me a zuniverse addict... Still stuck on "Eeeh really!? Easy mode? How weak"
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Gives you a bit moere time to absorb the refferences, also not under the Shinbo curse.
Doujin Work - A Hiroyuki comic is fine too.
Vinland Saga - Slow releases are slooooow, but that's to be expected of something runing in a monthly magazine.

Shinbo curse(read need subs):
Negima!?
Hidamari Sketch
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei


backburner:
Baccano! - Waiting for a good time for me to start it up.
Dokuro-chan - GAH! Season 2?
5 Centimeters - Haven't been in the mood lately.
Potemayo - Sugar level of the first episode was a bit high.

Teh subbies:
- Claymore - Oh Noez! My awesome show is ending this month! But oh, there will be blood! (Does the manga go longer?)
- Darker Than Black - Been catching up with show and since the oh-so highly amuzing vampire/blood chucker episode it's been getting exciting. And what was wrong with the first awesome opening and ending!? (I didn't ask for Initial D, the HMC tune is ok though).
- Devil May Cry - Stupid demon slaying fun with Dante and friends. Will watch to the end but not really worth keeping.
- Higurashi Kai - Not too shabby
- El Cazador - Also ending this month, I aspect a huge plot twist. (and moar sexy tacos Nadie)
- D. Gray Man - Like DTB, I've been heavily catching up on this show too and been going pretty decent leading up to the upcoming finalle, unless they throw us a bone for another season, ugh....
- Naurto Shippuuden - Why is this show rocking so much!? (I'm not trying to be a Narutard here, it's been damn good)
- Bleach - Why is this show sucking so much !? (teh fillarz suxorz)
- Bokurano and Gigantic Formula - Both on hold, that is until more subs come out. , also Lucky Star is sort of on hold too (what's going on with AFK?), although I only watch that show for the Akira and Minoru love.

Teh discies:
- Eureka 7 Vol. 9 - 09/04
- Black Lagoon Vol. 3 - 09/18 (and the unstoppable chambermaid. )
- Noien Vol. 5 - 09/18
Maybe or eventually:
- Wings of Honneamise (HD DVD+DVD Combo) - 09/11 - Definately not now, paying over $70 for a forced Hi-def w/ standard DVD combo version is fucking insane!
- Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Box Set - 09/25
- Witchblade Vol. 01 - 09/25

This post has been edited by VasHtheStampede on Sep 1 2007, 02:35 PM

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan Second - Brilliant.
Claymore - Time for anime original material
D. Gray-Man - Hard to say how they're gonna end this, could be a lot better
Darker than Black - Best cat ever
Denno Coil - I know that if i watch raw, my mind will explode
Doujin Work - Justice, what a guy
El Cazador de ka Bruja - Still very entertaining
Hayate no Gotoku! - Lol references
Heroic Age - Wonderful drama
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - Impressive so far, i just need more INSANE Keiichi
Lovely Complex - Not as funny as it used to be, though at least the story has finally gone somewhere
Lucky Star - Hard to believe only three episodes left
Mushi-Uta - I'm enjoying this more then i should
Nanatsuiro Drops - What a wonderful moe show
Potemayo - Need to catch up, shall do tonight on laptop
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - good old Shinbo
School Days - Surprisingly very good
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - <3
Toward the Terra - Need to catch up
Zero no Tsukaima. Futatsuki no Kishi - Neya Michiko <3

DVD:

AIR - Beautiful
Diebuster - Lovely Nono
Eureka Seven - Catching up with the DVD release, i love this show

This post has been edited by Shiro on Sep 1 2007, 02:00 PM

Much the same as last month for me. I'm still grabbing Nanoha StrikerS and Lucky Star every Sunday, though they're both ending late this month. Also ending in a few weeks is Idolmaster Xenoglossia, which I have a lot of catching up on to do (I think the last episode I watched was 6). Blue Dragon is scheduled to run another six months or so, and once I finish the source game, I'll actually get around to watching it. Of course, Pocket Monsters: Diamond and Pearl and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX still show no sign of stopping.

I finally managed to find time to finish ARIA the ANIMATION, and I'm partway through ARIA the NATURAL; hopefully I'll be able to finish that before the OVA comes out. Mai-Otome Zwei finally finished up—though I'm still waiting on subs for it—and if the new Dokuro-chan OVA series is this amusing raw, I can imagine what it'll be like when I can understand all of it, instead of just some.

As for domestic DVDs, I haven't been purchasing much due to the onset of videogame season, but I have been getting caught up with Bandai's releases of Galaxy Angel, and I picked up ADV's first disc of AIR. Might take Scrapped Princess off the shelf and actually watch it if the JRPGs don't take up too many of my nights. (How long have I been saying that, now?)

There isn't much I'm keeping up on for manga; Del Rey is taking their time with Negima!, Tokyopooppop hasn't started releasing AQUA yet, and the ADV-published volumes of ARIA that I ordered aren't scheduled to ship from Amazon until October sometime.

This post has been edited by Dark Morford on Sep 1 2007, 03:29 PM

Watching?
Lucky Star: More characters = more fun? For me, yes. Has Minoru restored the rightful order in things?
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Ep. 22 was alright, but I want more for the end. Hopefully I get it.
Nodame Cantabile: On episode 22. It's been a nice ride so far.
Hitohira: Only on episode one. Grow some confidence!
Kokoro Library: Only saw episode one. Definitely going back for more.
Doujin Work: Needs more Hiroyuki-brand dark humor. :V
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: I'm not feeling it as much as other Shinbo works, but I'm still stuck at 5, so we'll see~

Currently Watching

Scrapped Princess (ep. 9) so far so good
Marimite (ep. 4) interesting, and so far pretty good
Hayate no Gotoku (ep 21) lulz and fun
Gankutsuou (ep. 8) Just bought volumes 3 + 4!
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (ep. 1) They had it used for 2 bucks at Gamestop. If I like it, I'll probably buy it again with the box, but damn, good deal!

Everything else is 'should be watching'

This post has been edited by 2007digitalboy on Sep 1 2007, 08:45 PM

Anime:

TTGL- My favorite, a super awesome show beyond reasoning.
Higurashi Kai- Staying at a consistent level between super-good and really really-good.
Hayate- Plot died, but a good amount of funny stuck around, so still enjoying.
Lucky Star- If I wasn't stupidly waiting for afk, I'd have seen more of this show...
Claymore- Now with more shonen! But still pretty damn good.
Darker than Black- Shady subs are slow...
Romeo x Juliet- Pulled up from the nosedive towards terrible, now it's decent.
Naruto Shippuden- Yay episode 26 you saved the show.
REC- Just grabbed this, first episode was very cute.
School Days- Slowly catching up. Cathartic to see characters I don't care for screwing each other over (literally and not so much.)
Mushishi- Probably shouldn't include this since I watched all of one episode, but it was kind of interesting and animated well.

Finished:

.hack//Roots- Worse than Sign if you go by potential vs. results. Enjoyable in places though. Want game bad.

Manga:

Naruto- This is the part where Jiraya talks too much... and then DIES.
Tsubasa- Making sense again and pretty cool looking battles. I'm all for it.
Bleach- Standard procedure, but ok plot twist there. Makes some of my complaints less true.

This post has been edited by shoeboxjeddy on Sep 1 2007, 10:23 PM

Just finished Hitohira. d(><d).

I'll have to think about what to say though. Too much to think about right now.

Saw the first Higurshi DVD now. I'd say it's entertaining, but the English dub is completely godawful. I couldn't get my brothers to switch it though T_T Either way, I like some of the characters, and the number of mysteris left unsolved will keep me watching it. Not to mention the brutal deaths are fun. My only complaint is that the series is rather predctable throughout. You can usually figure out what's going on pretty easily, but it's still fun to watch it happen, as it sometimes takes you by surprise in how it's excecuted.

You are a funny fellow. If you have predicted what is actually going on in the first disc, I will eat... well I don't wear a hat, but the equivalent.

I have no idea what the hell your talking about. What I mean is, like when I saw the photographer guy talking with the blode chick I immediately thought 'he's gunna die' and then he does. When he talked to the detective guy, I could always see where the conversation was leading up to. It's not as though I can predict the whole series, but individual scenes are easy to figure out before they are happening, and you usually have a good idea of what's gunna happen next. Contrary to something like the fucking awesome Gankutsuou which I watched most of today where I could never predict what would happen the next moment.

Unless you'd... read the book it was based on. Or seen one of the thousand movies. You know besides it's complete plot dependence on a 150+ year old novel, it's completely original and unpredictable.

I was just saying you really shouldn't call it predictable because you understand the narrative. The things you mentioned are easy to see because they want you to see that. It's a layers thing and you're shouting from the rafters how smart you are for seeing the first one.

PS To fans of Gankutsuou, it probably is a great show and I wasn't making fun of it. It was just a horrible choice to prove his point is all.

This post has been edited by shoeboxjeddy on Sep 3 2007, 02:47 AM

You obviously misunderstood me in every way possibe XD I wasn't braggin at all. I was saying that the predictability was rather annoying. I'm not saying it's hard - it's frikkin easy, and that's why it's annoying. Doi.

Well first, go after your brothers with a baseball bat for wasting your time on that English dub. The Japanese voices are done excellently, and anyone who causes you to miss them must die. Or at least beaten unconscious so they can't stop you from watching it properly.

As for being predictable, either you're using the wrong words or misunderstanding what's going on. The scenes you speak of were very deliberately set up to make you reach the conclusions you did. The fact that you figured out what they wanted you to figure out is a sign of good writing: it accomplished exactly what they intended.

For it to be predictable would be for you to tell me what is going to happen in the second arc, having only seen the first DVD and not read any spoilers to clue you in. The first DVD only includes one episode of arc 2. Can you tell me from that who's going to do what to whom, in at least some detail? Preferably more than just what the preview shot showed you.

This post has been edited by Random Wanderer on Sep 3 2007, 07:34 AM

Iknow that, I'm saying I don't like that style of writing, goddammit!!! You people don't listen!!!

I started watching Bleach again... Do I hate myself? Yes I do.

I'm also slowly working my way through Vision of Escaflowne. I saw like 2 episodes way back in the day when I was about 7.

I'm trying to bring myself around to finish 12 Kingdoms and The Melancholy of Suzimya Haruhi. It may or may not happen.

And I managed to find the Last Exile boxset for :45bux: so thats getting a spin.

We're listening... it's just that you're wrong. You don't have a different opinion, you're incorrect. You can not like it (the writing style or whatever) all you want, that's your perogative, but calling it predictable is very misleading. That's like me saying "I knew Osborn was the Green Goblin the WHOLE TIME, how predictable," about the first Spider-Man movie. It's just not right... But anyway, hopefully it didn't bother you enough to give up on the series, I think you'll find lots to enjoy in there, and even your specific complaint will seem silly as you progress further.

I said from the beginning it was my only real complaint. Maybe predictable is the wrong word, but I don't know a better one. I like to be completely surprised down to the moment, and I meant to say that it didn't do that so much, but the series is enjoyable thus far. I liked episode 5 especially. The ealier episodes of the first arc didn't interest me as much - it wasn't until the needle in the bun that I really started getting into it, but episode 5 got the arc off to a good start.