/otaku/ - Japan / Otaku / Anime

>>240
Texhnolyze was interesting, but I think I will get more out of it on a rewatch. Haibane Renmei and Lain will both forever be two of my favorites, though. I still haven't seen Niea yet, unfortunately.

>>240
I want a comfy Texhnolyze Slice of Life spinoff. They deserve a break.

I love Texhnolyze's ED song as well as its full version, always good to listen to.
>>>/tunes/1012

>>241
Oh yeah I should definitely finish NieA soon. It is sad that the stream was cancelled though, it was fun.

Any of you read the Phenomeno teaser VN? It was pretty intriguing but ended just as it was getting good, shame the novels will never be translated.

For those who don't know Yoshitoshi has a youtube channel and a flickr account that both are very active. It's worth checking it out.

https://www.youtube.com/user/abflygm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/abfly

>>243
> It is sad that the stream was cancelled though, it was fun.
I was thinking about trying to reorganize a stream of that here, since I'd like to finish it as well. Question is whether I should just start from ep1 again in case we get new people watching.

>>246
I see, I wouldn't mind starting over from episode 1 to accommodate for new people watching. Hopefully that should be cool with the others who previously attended.

after much pestering from a friend I finally gave Haibane another try and actually stuck with it this time
go up to ep7
it's pretty good
I like the mysteries of the world and the way it's a very small cast of core nonhuman characters living their nonstandard lives

it reminds me of Houseki no Kuni, only the MC isn't nearly as genki
it Phos was
also compared to HnK it's much more slow paced
it's also very "artistic" and you can tell some actual thought was put into it (that is, beyond just "what would be a cool manga setting")

>>248
>>249
Really glad to hear you're enjoying it. You're in for a heck of a ride, the final couple episodes are exceptional.

A thread about one of my all-time favourite artists? Oh man, I'm so glad!

…I'm still trying to get over how bad Project D turned out to be. It should have never happened.

>>241
NieA is better if you've experienced being poor yourself.
One of its strongest points was that some of the gags had impact on all the following episodes (e.g. when a rooftop exploded, it wouldn't get fixed later on and there were consequences because of it).

>>244
It's been on my PTR for years now…

>>245
He also has both Patreon and FANBOX (I think) accounts.

https://www.patreon.com/abfly


>>248
>>249
>>250
The last couple of episodes of Haibane Renmei will always remain my favourite scenes I've seen in anime of all time. Astonishing work, not many things come close to it.

I still want Despera someday.

>>252
Never ever ;_;

>>254
I have been trying to get a copy of the original manga for years now, off and on.

>>256
It's actually an LN, not a manga. I bought it expecting an artbook, hehe.

finished Haibane Renmei
the actual meaning of the world turned out a lot simpler than I expected, but the story and the characters made up for it. Frankly I did NOT expect to like the characters as much as I did
Reki in particular is extremely relatable
So yeah, I can see why is it considered a "classic". Very good show.


I still don't get the scenes inside the wall though. wtf was the point of that?

one thing I didn't like tho were all the scenes involving Abandoned Factory. I don't get why the baseball cap guy was such a huge part of the story, especially when he only barely appears in 2-3 episodes and has very little personality to him

>>259
It's a shame only a small extract has ever been translated. Then again I probably wouldn't want to read it knowing they might actually finish the anime in the next few years.

>>256
>>259

Definitely too much text in pic related to think it was a manga.

>>262
Gotta keep wishing ;_;

What do you think, sushi rolls? If Despera was to be adapted after all, which studio would do it?

>>260
Yeah Reki is moe.

Something about those who completed their day of flight leaving behind a part of themselves to help protect all the haibane who aren't ready for their day of flight yet, at least that's how I see it.

>>261
Think about it this way, he isn't really that much a part of Rakka's story, aka the perspective that has the most focus, but he definitely had a big role to play in Reki's story.

Forgot to unsage.

>>260
There's quite a lot of small things that are left open to interpretation. I think they add to the whole mystery of the world though, and they certainly give people something to talk about after it's all over.
>>272
Oh I've never considered that about the wall. Very good theory!

Here's a neat article on the communicator's riddle.
https://nightmoonless.wordpress.com/tag/salvation/

>>294
On the topic of interesting readings, I adore this thread in the CFF forums comparing aspects of Haibane Renmei to Japanese culture. Some very thought provoking posts.
http://cff.ssw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2893

Really want a little pendant or something with the angel smiley from the logo on it
>>294
Good read. I basically always took it to mean you had to get help from outside as well. The scene where Reki finally asks Rakka to help her after showing all her insecurities is so powerful

Since I'm watching Niea_7 again with some sushi rolls here I may as well post some thoughts on it. Only done with the first 3 episodes but I still find the gags and character interactions extremely funny. This is one of those shows where I find it hard not to smile constantly while watching it. I also like that behind the sillyness there is themes of poverty and potentially even some stuff about culture shock and integration, although I'll have to wait and see if that becomes more prevalent.

Also, Niea is extremely cute, I really love her character design. Sasuage Abe.
>>247
Well I finally got around to it. Not sure how many people are still here who watched that stream though.

>>294
>>295
Very interesting links, thank you both.
>>260
What is the meaning of the world in your opinion?

Episodes 4-6 of Niea_7 were good as well, especially episode 4 which I thought was the best one so far. I liked that it was a little more character focused and emotional, and I really liked Chie and her dad as characters. I was glad to see they weren't just one-off characters. The other episodes with the gaming tournament and the rival bathhouse were fun as well but not quite as impactful and I felt like some of the gags wore a little thin, although there was still plenty of quality ones and I found myself cracking a smile a lot. I'm curious to find out if they will do more episodes focusing on character growth and Mayu's backstory and aspirations. The latter was hinted at a little bit when she was wondering if she had anything she cared for like Chie cared for the store and her father.

>>1754
Niea can be cute but I find a lot of her reactions or way her face is drawn not cute a lot of the time.
Watching niea-7 also up to episode 7 or 8 I just finished the rival bathhouse one it gets a little too silly at times for me and could allude to more serious stuff without becoming serious iself like haibane renmei.

I guess I will need to watch more and finish it to fully develop an opinion about it.

Here's the shot of Ueda who shows up at the end of NieA_7 ep7 for those who missed it during the stream. A pleasant suprise.

Really liked episodes 7-9 of Niea_7. All three episodes were a bit more serious in tone compared to the average, but still had a couple funny moments. I enjoyed seeing Mayu and Niea's relationship get explored a bit more in depth beyond just the comedy aspect, and there's even some real conflict going on now between Mayu and her emotions/Niea. I'm impressed with how effectively emotional these episodes were, and with how relatable a character Mayu was. I think anyone who's ever ducked out of a get-together for feeling like they didn't belong will find something in common with her here. Her realization that she has no plans for her life beyond "go to college and…" will surely resonate with many people as well. I can't wait for the last few episodes and I'm hopeful to see Niea let out some emotions too because they've hinted a couple times at her sensitivity about being a "lesser" alien. I wonder if the show will go any more in depth with the themes of culture and integration or if we'll have a more character focused finale.

Niea_7 was finished today, and I was pleasantly surprised with how it wrapped up. I was expecting just a lot of dumb comedy but the latter half of the episodes had some excellent character driven stuff between Mayu and NieA, and even some nice messages in there about the passage of time and the stress of trying to plan your life out vs being carefree. I find Mayu to be a really relatable character, and the scenes where she realizes how much she misses NieA were really sweet, and had a great insert song to boot. I'm gonna miss this show a lot and it's one of those where I want to see more of these characters but never will. I'm gonna miss the scratchy voice OP too, it really grew on me.

I was confused at first about the whole Mothership disappearance thing but I think it makes sense in context of the prior episodes where Mayu is searching for NieA. The reason it disappears is alien to us and Mayu, just like a lot of what NieA does, but I think it's supposed to show how the passage of time affects NieA similarly to anyone else and characterize her a bit beyond just her silly gremlin personality. The show makes a point to say how, while NieA is missing, nobody even recognizes she's gone because ultimately she's only significant to Mayu (even though Mayu doesn't like to admit it). After the Mothership disappears, they make a point to say that to most people it was like it was never there. Just like Mayu's memories of watching fireflies with her father, her connection to the bathhouse, and the old watch that Chiaki was so fast to dismiss, I think it's just another way to show how personal memories and the passage of time are important to people, "alien" or not. This isn't the theme I expected the show to have the strongest messaging on but it handles it very well.

Speaking of aliens, the show never really has any message or reason for the whole theme of the aliens fairly clearly representing immigrants and naturalization, but it's an interesting aspect for the show to have there.

Also check out this cool easter egg in Haibane

Some more thoughts about it:

It's interesting to see a show where poverty is a main element, I feel like it's uncommon. Much of the time in anime the characters live in inexplicably fancy houses/apartments with inexplicably missing family members.

I really wish I had a carefree lunatic alien with cute armpits living in my closet, I understand why Mayu misses her.

Chie was extremely cute and would make a great wife

Show has surprisingly nice music at times. You can tell it's a low budget production from the many stock sound effects and some of the animation but at the same time it's clear a lot of love was put into it.

All in all I liked Niea_7 even more than I thought I would. I'd heard a couple times it's less great than the other anime ABe worked on, and while I do think that's true it certainly ended up being plenty memorable, and way better than just the dumb comedy diversion I thought it would be.

I just finished watching Haibane Renmei because of all the talk about it here lately, and I'm definitely glad i did. It's really beautiful physically and emotionally. and yeah, later parts are extremely relatable, both for me and i feel like all my friends ;; Thanks for recommending it

>>1906
I also enjoyed Niea_7. The characters seemed very human, not too bound by cliches to be relatable. Not any I know, anyhow.

Interesting interpretation, that bit about memory. I never gave the show much though myself.

>>2025
>Interesting interpretation, that bit about memory. I never gave the show much though myself.
Normally I don't think I would either but watching with people and having little conversations after each episode lends itself to thinking about many things. Probably OVERthinking many things, honestly, but it's fun nonetheless.

Apparently ABe also distils whisky, because I have found one called Reki.
It is from Okinawa and the description calls it a sweet and fruity one, unfortunately there is nothing mentioned about it being smoky too.
I couldn't resist and bought a bottle, although it is quite pricey. Sources claim Japanese whisky to be rather expensive, thanks to the fact that they have to import ingredients for it and afterward it is getting exported. The bottle should arrive next week but I will wait with trying that one out until Non Non Biyori season 3 and Yuru Camp Season 2 are finished airing, to this occasion I will open it.
A pity I rewatched Haibane Renmei last October, else that would have been the occasion for it.

Forgot that I wanted to give my thoughts on NieA_7 after watching it. I really liked the show. The show is really calm (when NieA isn't present) and the themes are subtle. From what I can gather, the show is about Mayuko not knowing what they want it life and coming to terms with that. Mayu is contrasted by NieA who is carefree and lives one day at a time, basically like a cat. The ending with the spaceship disappearing really shows this contrasts, with NeiA simply accepting the past going away while Mayu has trouble accepting that the bathhouse they spent a lot of time in is most likely going away. I forget the specific line but at the end of one of the early episodes Mayu said how she doesn't even know what she wants in life and I felt that.

Definitely going to check out Abe's other work after this. Something about their art style is so calming and human.
(reposted for spoiler)

>>2041
>Definitely going to check out Abe's other work after this
Have you not seen any others? Most things he had a hand in are really great so I'm envious if you're gonna experience Haibane or Lain or Texhnolyze for the first time.

>>2042
I'm an anime noob.

>>2043
Well that just means you have no shortage of great and classic stuff to watch

I finally got around to watching the end of Niea_7 after missing the final sushistream, and it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the calmer style of the later episodes with large passages of simply going through life and reflecting on things. It was pretty surprising as I, like many others in this thread, thought there would be a lot more dumb comedy. The themes were done quite well, and I felt the comedy complemented it, though sometimes it could be a little jarring. Overall it was a pretty good show and definitely a worthwhile watch for something comforting and funny.

>>295
I am sorry for being so stupid but how do you register on this forum?
I fail at the question it asks, "Rakka is to Reki as Reki is to________?

>>3507
probably "Kuramori".

y-you should watch the anime….

>>3508
Alright, this is embarrassing, very embarrassing even.
I have watched the anime, twice even. Once in 2014 and once in 2020. Even worse is that a few minutes ago I suddenly had that realization and yes, it is Kuramori. Unfortunately I am too late to redeem myself here, sorry for being slow and thank you for your kindness.

I just love how uniquely Yoshitoshi ABe draws…you can always tell at a glance when he drew something.

>>3541
Yeah he has a very distinct look to his art, I like it a lot. I really wish I was well-spoken or educated enough about art to put my finger on what makes it distinct. They feel grounded/real in a way most anime art doesn't. It's something about the color palette, the scratchiness of the lines, and the relatively unexaggerated proportions and expressions I think.

This message at the start of Ryuushika Ryuushika is very nice