Welcome to This Week In Anime for Fall 2024 Week 5 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Fall Week 1| Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Imagine criticizing modern anime and its creators for the "lack of focus" studios have, telling some directors they are "geniuses at copying others" or "devoid of any substance." Then, decades later, they make an abysmal attempt at comedy that not only copies others (failing to even do that right) but also lacks any semblance of substance. Even worse, they act as if they are above tropes, making fun of them while still using them anyway.

I know he said this show can serve as "strong medicine" and "piss off an old man," but it fails on both fronts since old men aren't watching this, and the people who usually watch this type of show will find the referential humor boring, tacked on, and nonsensical. It's like if a Letterboxd user created a show just to brag about how cultured he is.

The show itself is not funny at all, the animation is mediocre at best, it can look good in some moment but it feel rushed and cheap most of the time, the character design is either uninspired or straight up ugly and not in the good "experimental way" speaking of that, they also have live-action sequences but they are just not funny either like you would see in panty and stocking.

The most interesting part about this is the presumption that this project was merely a money laundering scheme from a company called ICHIGO INC., which is a sustainable energy company. They only opened a subsidiary called Ichigo Animation, but this company hasn't done anything since 2021, and their contact section is no longer working. The show was also a collaboration with Studio DRIVE and Production I.G.

They bragged about how they got him behind it and that this was his ORIGINAL creation, which is the most disappointing aspect of all of this because it feels so empty. It has nothing to say, it’s not funny, and it’s not even so bad that it’s good; it’s just plain boring. This wasn't a deep, subtle critique of modern anime since it embraces the worst aspects of it. I assume he just wanted to make more money and stay relevant, which he failed to do since nobody talks about him that much nowadays outside of anime news networks. I hear zero hype surrounding his new projects (if they even past pre-production at this point), and that show faded into irrelevance before it was completed, especially since they split the show into two parts. Also, nobody discusses the live-action movies he made recently.

Is so sad to see someone who was involved in on of the most influential films of all time ending up doing an insult to not only art but it's legacy, If you want to create this kind of wacky over the top show and maybe make fun of others, at least do it right you know.

Honestly it's so awful i dont even wanna mention it's name, here's the thing im talking about:

https://www.arthipo.com/image/cache/catalog/poster/anime/1898-2381/anime2341-vlad-love-778x1100.webp

###Here's a link to the video [12:11]

#Transcript:

It’s 2006, and the FIFA World Cup is underway in Germany. During the course of the event, more than three million people made their way into stadiums to watch the matches. And while most people just saw passionate fans, one person saw a target audience. That person was Natalia Vashko (Натальи Вашко). She had been a program director for the Russian television station THT, and she saw a large group of people who were trying to hang on to their youth. These “kidults” would do things like engage with new technology and adopt trends started by teenagers in order to remain young. And she had an idea for a tv channel that would uniquely appeal to this group: a channel featuring adult animation.

She pitched the idea to Rafael Akopov, the CEO of the media holding company Prof-Media, and he bought in. Not only did he believe in the concept and appoint Natalia as the head of the project, he already had a television station ready to go. In February, Prof-Media purchased the Moscow television station Two times Two (2x2), for $30 million. While the channel was historically significant–it was the first commercial television channel in the USSR when it launched in 1989–its relevance had long since faded. The channel had low ratings and was effectively just a shopping and music video network that occasionally showed movies. The deal was viewed as a fairly massive overpay. However, according to NEWSmuz, by acquiring the channel, Prof-Media had also secured, “...the last independent broadcast frequency in Moscow.” While it would take work, and a fair bit of cash, many people thought that it would still be a worthwhile investment.

But that doesn’t explain why they ultimately decided to turn it into a channel focused on cartoons. As for why Rafael Akopov felt so strongly about Natalia’s idea, he thought that a channel focused on animation would be more effective at drawing in his target audience of 11-34 year olds. And the low production costs also didn’t hurt. He explained the decision in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter and stated, “We didn’t have any fixed ideas for 2X2 when we bought it — content and branding was a wide open book — but working with data from (market research company) TNS Gallup and (media sales agency) Video International, we soon hit on animation as a key niche ripe for exploitation. The TNS Gallup research showed that most of the (11-34) audience hops between channels. Animation catches the eye and trawls in viewers. Cartoons are relatively cheap content, fast and easy to buy and dub, especially in Russia where the major channels are not always eager to accept offers from the Hollywood majors for these (animation) parts of their packages.”

As you probably noticed, their target demographic includes more than just adults. While adult animation would be their primary focus, they were aware that they wouldn’t be the only people watching. There were content laws to consider. Cartoons that contained obscenities would have those sections muted, and graphic violence would be obstructed. If you wanted to see the uncensored versions, you’d have to tune in late at night. Natalia Vashko explained their position in an interview with Ogonyok (Огонёк) Magazine, “We want to conduct a fairly aggressive campaign aimed at preventing children from watching television. I think TV is entertainment for adults. And tired adults at that. We have a pretty tough position: we are an animation channel, but not for children. Although we will have children's cartoons on air. After all, the TV is in the family, and I can't stop the children from going near it. …” During the day, the channel would feature popular shows like Futurama, The Jetsons, and Johnny Bravo. But, at night, they would air uncensored animation on a programming block with a familiar name: Adult Swim.

While Rafael announced that Natalia would be in charge of 2x2, Prof-Media didn’t reveal their plans for the channel until October. During a small event for reports and those within the media industry, they announced their plans for 2x2: a 24-hour, animation based channel for adults. And this revamped version of 2x2 was going to officially launch on April 1, 2007. While there would be two hours of programming specifically allocated to Russian cartoons, the vast majority of the channel’s content would be licensed from overseas. And Prof-Media was currently in the middle of negotiating licenses for content. According to Konstantin Vorontsov (Константин Воронцов), Prof-Media's Public Relations Director, they were working on acquiring, “...modern American animation, both short and serial, cult series like The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, Japanese animation.” They even considered airing hentai in the evenings, but ran into trouble trying to obtain licenses.

But that wasn’t because they weren’t willing to invest in the project. The channel was planning to spend between $10-15 million during its first year, and most of that was spent on licensing content. They also followed up the announcement of the channel’s makeover with another large acquisition. At the end of October, they spent $23 million on the Rambler TV channel. The purpose of this acquisition was to acquire the channel’s St. Petersburg broadcast frequency, which would allow them to broadcast 2x2 in both Moscow and St. Petersburg.

After a short test run in March, 2x2 officially launched in April of 2007. The channel hit the ground running, drawing in their target demographic and pulling in decent ratings. However, after a few months, things began to stall and they weren’t picking back up. And, at the end of the year, Prof-Media decided to streamline their operations. They combined the management of their television channels, as well as various legal, financial, and administrative tasks, in order to form a new entity: Prof-Media Business Solutions. This restructuring changed the way the channels were managed and the roles of existing managers. Because the responsibilities of her position were going to be reduced, Natalia Vashko decided to leave the company in February of 2008 and was replaced by Roman Sarkisov (Роман Саркисов).

While the channel didn’t maintain the ratings it pulled in at launch, it was in no danger of being shut down. And they didn’t appear to have any major issues in their first year. But, right before the channel officially launched, and Natalia was still running the show, she predicted that the channel would see resistance. Due to the controversial nature of some of their programming, she expected that they would receive pushback from two groups in particular: the government and the Russian Orthodox Church. And, right after she departed, her predictions began to come true.

On March 4, 2008, 2x2 received a warning from the Federal Service for Supervision of Mass Communications (Rossvyazokhrankultura). In their statement, they said that two shows they were broadcasting, The Adventures of Jeffrey and Happy Tree Friends, “...promote the cult of violence and cruelty, harm the health, moral and spiritual development of children, and infringe on public morality, which violates Article 4 of the Law of the Russian Federation ‘On Mass Media,’ as well as the conditions stipulated by the license.” Despite disagreeing with the assessment, they immediately decided to pull both shows from their line-up. While they had received complaints in the past, including a notice from a member of a government committee, this warning was much more serious. If 2x2 received another warning from the agency this year, they could have their broadcasting license revoked.

While removing these two shows seemed to satisfy the Russian government, there was another group that wasn’t satisfied with the channel just receiving a warning: the church. But instead of the Russian Orthodox Church, like Natalia Vashko predicted, the next wave of opposition would come from Protestants. On March 11, the leaders of the four largest Protestant churches in Russia wrote a joint letter to Yuri Chaika, the Prosecutor General. In their letter, they claimed that 2x2 was corrupting the youth. Stating, “On this TV channel, through animated films, there is a 24-hour mass pumping of the consciousness of minors with the ideology of depravity and other vices, ruthlessness and cruelty, propaganda of homosexuality, religious hatred and intolerance.” They demanded the several shows be banned and wanted 2x2’s broadcasting license to be revoked. While the complete ban list apparently had over a dozen shows listed, the ones mentioned by name were: Ikki Tousen, Beavis and Butt-head, Angry Kid, and South Park.

On the 13th, Muslim leaders from the Nizhny Novgorod Region called on all Russian followers of Islam to support the effort started by the Protestant church and file complaints to the Federal Service for Supervision of Mass Communications. While these complaints grabbed headlines, things slowed down until the summer, when a church decided to escalate the situation.

On September 4, leaders from the Pentecostal Russian United Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (ROSKhVE/РОСХВЕ) filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General about 2x2. While they also signed the joint letter in March, this complaint reiterated their demand that 2x2’s broadcasting license be revoked. They also said that South Park should be banned. According to Gazeta, they asked the channel’s staff to, “refuse to continue working on the ‘television megaphone of Satanism and universal abomination’” and asked the channels managers to, “voluntarily emigrate in full force to some uninhabited island and indulge in their vile pleasures there.” While commentators didn’t think that these complaints from religious groups would meaningfully impact the channel, with some just calling it free PR, the channel’s managers were questioning their motives. According to Roman Sarkisov, “Someone probably just needs the TV channel's broadcast frequency, but for some reason they chose believers as the instrument in the fight. It is strange that the media are covering some complaint from Pentecostals about our TV channel. All this is not serious, and their accusations are groundless. It is obvious that they are someone's mouthpiece and are carrying out someone's orders. …”

The reason why they were so suspicious of the Pentecostals goes back to the early 2000s. From 2001 to 2007, a show titled, “Good News” aired on TV3. It was hosted, and founded, by Rick Renner, an American preacher who also served on the board of the Pentecostal church. So, for seven years, there was Pentecostal programming airing every single day. But that changed in 2008. Rafael Akopov explained the situation in an interview with Izvestia, “... On November 7, 2007, after the purchase of TV3 by Prof-Media, the contract with ‘Good News’ was terminated, and since January 2008 … ROSKhVE [the Pentecostal Church] has launched a massive campaign against 2x2. The real goal of this campaign is to achieve the return of Protestant preachers to the airwaves. … And during this campaign, members of ROSKhVE [the Pentecostal Church], including its chairman Sergei Ryakhovsky, have repeatedly approached us privately for a behind-the-scenes settlement of this situation [Edited for clarity].”

While that complaint probably didn’t worry them too much, what happened next was much more serious. On September 8, the Moscow Prosecutor General’s Office submitted a notice to the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications and Mass Media to take action against 2x2. According to the notice, the Prosecutor General’s Office had experts study 118 episodes from 12 different cartoons. And they came to the conclusion that, “...the content of the cartoons does not comply with the requirements of the legislation on the protection of the moral and mental development of children, on the protection of their health.” South Park, in particular, was labeled as “extremist.” The previously mentioned experts were members of Moscow’s Forensic Expertise Department, and they concluded that South Park, “...demeans the honor and dignity of Christians and Muslims, insults the feelings of believers regardless of faith, may provoke an interethnic conflict, not excluding extremist actions, and may contribute to the incitement of interreligious strife.”

This news quickly spread across the country. While some groups, like the Russian Orthodox Church, celebrated, 2x2 had plenty of supporters. Not just from their viewers, but journalists, actors, writers, radio and tv hosts, and more. But the threat to the continued existence of the channel was real. They had already received a warning from the communications agency this year. And, if the court agreed that they were broadcasting extremist content, that could result in their second warning. Which, if you recall, could result in the termination of their license. If that wasn’t bad enough, their license was set to expire on October 17, and 2x2 received an official letter to remind them that the Federal Competition Commission for Television and Radio Broadcasting (FCC) had to consider the opinions of consumers when determining whether or not to grant them an extension. And, so far, it looked like the only consumers that they were hearing from were those who wanted the channel taken down. But that didn’t last.

On September 13, fans of the channel gathered in Moscow’s Novopushkinsky Square in order to voice their support for 2x2 and condemn the ban on South Park. 2x2 then started to organize. On September 15, they announced that they would be collecting signatures from viewers who wanted to support the channel in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. And people showed up, allowing the channel to collect 1,192 signatures within 24 hours. They started working with volunteers to set up signature collection stations, and the number of signatures continued to rise. While this was going on, they also decided to fight back in the courts. On the 19th, they filed a lawsuit against the Prosecutor General’s Office in the Arbitration Court of Moscow to challenge the legality of the warning that they were issued. And, even though they had resisted it so far, they decided to pull all controversial programming until the case was resolved.

And fans not only continued to sign petitions, but they continued to protest. Starting on the 20th, a series of fan lead protests took place across Moscow and St. Petersburg. The largest of which took place on September 22, when 1,500 of them returned to Novopushkinsky Square. The signature collection campaign came to an end on September 23, the day before the FCC was going to decide whether or not to extend their license. And they managed to collect around 35,000 signatures.

On September 24, the FCC recommended that the channel's license be extended. They also confirmed the network's suspicions about the nature of the complaints. In a statement to Kommersant, one of their representatives said, “...a significant portion of the letters to the prosecutor's office and Rossvyazokhrankultura [the Federal Service for Supervision of Mass Communications] were organized from the outside. In addition, the commission members had doubts about the work of the experts involved, some of whom had previously been seen speaking out against the channel.” Things were made official on October 17, when 2x2’s license was extended by five years. And while this was a big win, they weren’t out of the woods just yet.

They still had to contend with the extremism warnings issued by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Preliminary hearings for 2x2’s appeal began on November 11, but the issue wouldn’t be resolved for several months. But the channel’s opponents didn’t give up either. They submitted a new complaint to the government about a completely different show: Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). The expert opinion on GTO was that it promoted violence, cruelty, and sexual perversion. But that case appears to have been dismissed in February 2009. Then, on June 2, 2009, the courts revoked the Prosecutor General’s warning and dropped all charges against 2x2. The Prosecutor General’s Office appealed the ruling, but the court’s decision was upheld on August 28th. So, after a long, drawn out battle, fans of 2x2 could finally relax. Adult animation was here to stay.

Which of your favorite (non overall music-genre) anime series has music that is so integral/essential to your ongoing enjoyment while watching it that its absence or significant reduction of the amount of it would seriously impact your enjoyment of the anime? For me, for example, it is clearly FLCL.

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Fall 2024 Week 4 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev Fall Week 1| Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Fall 2024 Week 3 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Anime has been a huge part of my life, responsible in many ways from my recovery from crippling mental illness and parental abuse. Even though I'm not quite the otaku that I used to be and wouldn't be able to name any popular Vtuber (and am still not used to releases being in "seasons"...) I still love and cherish the artform.

I've brought various series to my therapist many times in our work together, and I've seen her struggle to understand the art and values of a culture quite alien to her. But the use of media as a healing modality is not new - in fact, it dates back from many years.

Bibliotherapy is essentially using books to heal. People are encouraged to draw upon the experiences of fictional characters to better understand themselves and their problems.

When is the last time that you read a book - or watched a movie, or anime - and you really felt a kinship with one of the characters? It went beyond a feeling of "oh, I understand" Perhaps it was more like "that's me! that's it! That's what I am feeling!"

Those feelings and identifications can be fertile ground for healing and understanding. A related field is graphic medicine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic\_medicine)

All of these tap into the healer's maxim - you need to feel to heal.

I would respectfully submit that anime can be used in this vein as well. So, Exhibit A - Neon Genesis Evangelion.

NGE's impact on the landscape of anime cannot be understated, and at this point in time - almost 3 decades after it's initial air date - doesn't really need explanation.

The psychological depth of the work and how it deals with mental illness is a landmark in the development of the artform.

Early on in its lifespan in the West, many an anime magazine asked why Shinji was such a wimp. Why are the characters so messed up? In the many years since it's inception, there have been some that have tried to answer that question.

https://comicbook.com/anime/news/neon-genesis-evangelion-therapist-weighs-in-treatment-for-shinji-ikari-anime/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/science-and-philosophy/202003/neon-genesis-evangelion-and-the-meaning-of-life

For a more thorough and robust look, this article goes deeper.

https://medium.com/@dmapes/japanese-portrayal-of-mental-health-and-american-consumption-of-neon-genesis-evangelion-3b416eaadaad

Mental health is still unfortunately a taboo subject in some of the world, especially Asia, and works like NGE could help in broaching issues that are not often discussed. Hideaki Anno's own struggle with depression that culminated in his creation of the series is quite well-known.

Perhaps what helped me the most in the series was seeing my own life writ large on the screen. I was a young Asian teenager with depression, a dysfunctional family as well as my own latent and unacknowledged bisexuality. Watching NGE was a watershed moment for me...wait. Cartoon characters can be depressed? Can have dysfunctional families? Can be bisexual?

This wasn't Disney (Either then or now!) that was for sure. While Disney and Pixar are touching on some of these topics in their later work, I do believe that in this respect, anime did get there first.

While NGE is probably (and rightfully) the animated work most associated and known for its depiction of mental illness, there are other ones that generally fly a little under the radar - and so I hope to bring them to your attention.

Kodomo no Omocha (Child's Toy) is a more understated look at another taboo subject - parental abuse and neglect. Hayama "acts out" (to use psychological language) in school because he's neglected at home, and is part of an extremely unhelpful family dynamic (no spoilers!)

The main character's later attempts to befriend him and get him out of his shell do eventually shed light on exactly why he might behave the way that he does - and remind us that abuse and neglect of any kind rarely exist in a vacuum. The abusers are in a sense also victims - these actions, while still inexcusable, are seen in a different light as the series progresses, and reconciliation is also shown to be possible.

What a series about a rough-riding biker chick have to do with this touchy subject? While it's not the main focus on the narrative by far, Michiko to Hatchin does actually have a very graphic and realistic portrayal of child abuse right in its first episode. It's heavy going to watch, but the way Hana deals with her situation is a reminder of the grim reality of an abused child.

And sometimes it's the series that you don't think that will help that do. One scene from Read or Die the TV stands out for me - when Anita goes into shock from seeing something that triggers a traumatic memory. Michelle simply stands in front of her and tells her that she's here right now - not in the past, and she's safe. Sometimes the simplest of interventions are the best, and the older sister's words serve to snap her out of the dark memory and into the present. Trauma is healed right here, in the now - informing the psyche and the nerves that the danger is past and life is ready to be lived once more.

In short, I've found that what works is seeing the characters you know struggle to understand and overcome many of the things we ourselves face in our lives. When we can see it outside of ourselves, we gain perspective. We can keep the work as far or as close as we desire - diving deep into it to experience troubling emotions in safety, or zooming out to understand it from a different angle. The characters and shows that we know and all will always be there for us - to inspire, educate and help us understand worlds both real and fictional.

What shows and series have spoken to you? How has anime touched your heart?

A long time friend of mine has recently shown some interest in anime and watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners which he liked. He then asked for a list of my recent favourite shows and after spending some time looking into them, decided suddenly to break off the friendship, saying that he cant be friends with someone like that. He said these shows represent 'toxic incel mentality' and that I'm 'messed up in the head' and need help.

The list I sent:

• Laid-back camp
• K-On
• Girls Band Cry
• A Place Further Than the Universe
• Spy x Family
• Bocchi the Rock
• Buddy Daddies

On one hand, I do feel he's in the wrong but on the other, I've always felt a bit weird for liking these kinds of shows and not really enjoying the 'guys' stuff' like Berserk but I didnt feel like these shows have any particularly bad gender stereotypes but now I'm no longer sure.

I'm obviously quite upset about this but also trying to see it from his perspective but I really need a thoughts from other people because I'm now confused and feel awful and guilty for enjoying this stuff.

Hi i've been watching anime since I was in middle school. Back then I was attracted to loli characters such as Megumin from Konosuba or Tatsumaki from One punch man. At the time I thought its fine since i'm practically the same age or younger than them. And i'm now starting to pass the age of 18 and still feel attracted to these type of characters. Does this mean I am a pedophile? Will I grow out of these feelings? I really don't know what I should do and I feel that I am a bad person because of it... I'd really appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

I also like mature body types as well though.

Myanimelist collects the ratings of several million users, and uses those to make an overall anime rank. The problem with this method is that some people systematically give higher ratings than others, and those people might be more likely to watch certain shows. Conversely, there is the same issue on the user side, where some people might deliberately search out shows with higher ratings than others.

To test for the effect of this bias, I downloaded the myanimelist data for March, 2022 and got to work. Regression was not an option here becaus of memory constraints. Instead, I used an interated method where I observed which raters gave higher ratings than others controlling for the anime they watched, and what anime received higher ratings than others controlling for the users who rated them. Because the confounding goes both ways, so I had to repeat the method to get roughly reliable results.

This is the rank (no sequels) when user-bias is not adjusted for:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 9.11

Steins;Gate 9.08

Hunter x Hunter (2011) 9.05

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu 9.0

Koe no Katachi 8.94

Monster 8.83

Kimi no Na wa. 8.80

Ousama Ranking 8.79

Shiguang Dailiren 8.78

Vinland Saga 8.73

This is the rating when the bias is controlled for:

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu 9.83

Steins;Gate 9.34

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 9.33

Monster 9.33

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei 9.31

Ping Pong the Animation 9.29

Hunter x Hunter (2011) 9.27

Odd Taxi 9.22

Shiguang Dailiren 9.17

Ashita no Joe 9.14

These are the anime that gain the most from the user-adjustment:

Area 88 1.01

Ashita no Joe 0.93

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden 0.89

Kaiba 0.83

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu 0.82

Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi 0.78

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei 0.74

Ping Pong the Animation 0.70

Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster 0.69

Sennen Joyuu 0.68

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Fall 2024 Week 2 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

After the whole Rouroni Kenshin celebration controversy that happened a day or two ago, I’ve been wanting a few things cleared up. For starters, how well known are Watsuki’s crimes to the general Japanese public? Who were the seiyuus who reprised their roles (whether they were pressured to or not?) Were there any seiyuus who refused to reprise their roles or couldn’t? How popular is the series in Japan?

It's that time again! Welcome to the end of this season (in anime)! Did you think it was good? Or did you think it was unremarkable? Tell the rest of us what you think!

Feel free to post one for something I missed. :)

Here's last season's in case you feel like reminiscing about last season. :P

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Fall 2024 Week 1 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Winter Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

###Here's a link to the video [09:34]

#Transcript:

In 2006, a strange virus started circulating on Japanese file sharing websites: Trojan.Haradong. This trojan horse was officially logged by Symantec, an antivirus and data management software company, on June 19. It appears to have been disguised as various movies with the .avi file extension. When the virus was executed, the first thing it would do is create two text files. The first file contained a message threatening the reader to come to an address and apologize or risk having their computer self-destruct. The second file contained the computer’s name and IP address. This file was sent to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, which downloaded a file named HARADA.avi, that was played automatically using Windows Media Player. This file displayed an image of someone apparently named Harada. The virus then proceeded to delete as many media files as it could with commonly used file extensions–from .jpeg and .wmv to .txt and .mp3. The last thing it would do is delete files related to internet browsers and antivirus software.

The origins of the virus also seemed to start on peer-to-peer, file sharing sites. Some people decided to upload tools that made creating viruses extremely easy, and Trojan.Haradong appeared to be one of them. But Trojan.Haradong wasn’t what the virus was being called online. Instead, it was named after the person who showed up on the screens of every infected PC and was commonly referred to as the “Harada Virus.”

The next month, a new strain of the virus was infecting PCs. Trend Micro, a cybersecurity company, officially logged several new trojan horses: TSPY_HARADONG.A and several variants of TSPY_DENUTARO. These viruses behaved very similarly to the Harada virus, but had some new features. Instead of showing you a picture of “Harada,” HARADONG.A and some DENUTARO variants would show pictures from the popular anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. These new strains were also more effective at deleting media from people’s harddrives, having added several new file types to their list of potential targets.

While things appeared to settle down for the rest of the year, they picked back up at the beginning of 2007. In February, a virus was specifically distributed on the infamous file sharing site Winny–who’s creator, Isamu Kaneko, was currently appealing a conviction for helping others violate copyright laws. This virus, Trojan.Pirames and its variants, disguised itself as a screensaver on the site. Once it was downloaded and executed, an image ripped from the popular game and anime series Kanon would be displayed. Each image contained a warning to the reader to stop using file sharing sites like Winny. The virus would then replace every file with a .txt, .jpg, .zip extensions, as well as files with no extensions at all, with these images. After that task was completed, it proceeded to delete everything located in the computer’s program files folder (C:\Program Files).

As mentioned earlier, people suspected that these kinds of viruses were made by tools distributed on peer-to-peer websites, but they didn’t know which one. When they got their hands on the virus, Symantec discovered that the Pirames virus was created using HKTL_DESTROYER.B, also known as P2P-Destroyer Pro. This virus creation tool made it easy to create viruses that delete files from infected computers. And people began to suspect that this was also the tool used to create the Harada virus and its variants.

Speaking of the Harada virus, another variant, Trojan.Haradong.B, started making its way around the internet at about the same time. And it only took a few months for another variant, Haradong.C, to pop up. This variant also behaved slightly differently. First, it would replace all files shared on a network with copies of itself. While it was running, a window featuring Lucky Star would appear on screen and it couldn’t be closed or moved. It would also turn all executable (.exe) files into bitmap (.bmp) files featuring the same Lucky Star image that you couldn’t get rid of.

2007 came to an end with a few smaller outbreaks that don’t appear to have received much attention and there aren’t many specific details available. In November, some computers appeared to have been infected with a similar virus, but the featured images were different. Instead of Lucky Star, Haruhi, or Kanon, the owners of these infected computers would see pictures of Clannad. But, despite not being as widely covered as previous incidents, this is when everything started to change.

On January 24, 2008, Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS), released a statement. The Kyoto Prefectural Police Department had arrested three men for, “... allegedly uploading and transmitting TV broadcasts of anime programs without permission from the rights holders via the file exchange software ‘Winny.’” All three suspects were arrested on the same day, and, according to the ACCS statement, they had all confessed to the crimes that they were charged with. But they weren’t all charged with the same crimes. The first two suspects, Male A and Male B, were arrested for uploading anime episodes to Winny. Male C, on the other hand, was arrested for something more interesting. The 24 year old graduate student from the Osaka prefecture was arrested for distributing copyrighted images of Clannad through a computer virus.

Male C was quickly identified as Masato Nakatsuji, a graduate student at Osaka Electro-Communication University. In addition to creating the Harada virus, he was also suspected of having developed, and distributed, the program used to create the virus in the first place. The apparent goal of the tool was to stop illegal activity on file sharing sites, which would explain the “P2P-Destroyer Pro” name. The Harada virus had become fairly wide-spread by this point. There were over 100 different variants, and it apparently managed to infect computers outside of Japan. With the police discovering that at least 5,500 computers had been compromised.

With everything that he’s accused of, and admitted to, you may be wondering why the first person in Japan to be arrested for creating a virus is only being charged with copyright infringement. That’s because, at the time of his arrest, nothing else that he did was actually illegal. While the Japanese government had been working on getting laws related to cybercrime passed, nothing was officially on the books yet. According to Internet Watch, “In 2004, a bill to amend the Penal Code to punish the act of creating computer viruses with the intent of having others execute them … was submitted to the Diet, along with a bill to create the crime of conspiracy, but it is still being discussed. For this reason, there is currently no law that directly criminalizes the act of creating a virus, and the man in this case was arrested on suspicion of violating the Copyright Act.”

Things only got worse for Masato Nakatsuji on February 15th, when he was charged with another crime: defamation. Remember the pictures and address associated with the original Harada virus? Those belonged to one of Nakatsuji's classmates. Apparently, in 2005, he posted the pictures to Winny to mess with him, but eventually decided to incorporate them into the virus he was working on in order to make it more popular. The defamation suit was being brought against him because, since his face and address were all over it, people assumed that his classmate had created it. But that wasn’t it. Just before he released the Clannad viruses that got him arrested, he released another batch of viruses that contained his classmate’s name, face, and address. He also showed this kind of information to a, seemingly, random employee in Nagoya.

As for how Nakatsuji was related to the other two people he was arrested with, Shoji Sakai (Male A) and Katsuhisa Ikema (Male B), it was pretty straightforward: he was using their alias. When he posted some viruses online, he would use the name “Trip,” which was the name that Sakai and Ikema used when they were posting anime episodes. This allowed him to disguise his appearance online, pin the blame on someone else, and potentially trick more users into downloading the virus.

Things unraveled fairly quickly after Nakatsuji received his second charge. When he appeared in the Kyoto District Court on March 18, he admitted to creating the virus and using copyrighted images. However, the defense argued that the virus wasn’t all that harmful and that he shouldn’t be punished for distributing the virus because it wasn’t actually illegal. These arguments don’t appear to have been very persuasive, since Masato Nakatsuji was found guilty of defamation and copyright infringement on May 16. Judge Shibata Atsushi addressed a courthouse filled with reporters and television cameras and said, “This crime was intended to make the virus he created famous. There is no room for leniency, but he has vowed not to release any viruses in the future.” Nakatsuji was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation, and this sentence didn’t take the creation and distribution of the virus into account. When asked, Nakatsuji’s lawyer said that he didn’t plan on appealing the decision. Nakatsuji was commended for expressing remorse, and vowed to never use Winny, or create viruses, ever again.

But he decided to create viruses, and distribute them on Winny, again. On August 4, 2010, while he was still on probation for his previous conviction, he was arrested for creating the Ika-tako (Squid-octopus) virus and spreading it over Winny. The virus started spreading on file sharing sites during the summer of 2009, and it managed to infect somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 computers before Nakatsuji was arrested. This virus functioned in a similar way to later Harada variants. Once a computer was infected, it would override files with pictures. But, this time, instead of using pictures of another person or screenshots from an anime, the files would be replaced with stylized pictures of various sea creatures. Apparently, he decided to use these pictures because he thought that would make his virus completely legal. Even though it had been years since his previous case, there was still no law criminalizing the creation and distribution of viruses. And, since he created these pictures himself, he wouldn’t be violating anyone’s copyright. The problem was–like last time–they didn’t arrest him for the virus itself, but something directly related to it. In the first case it was copyright infringement caused by distributing copyrighted material within the virus. This time it was property damage. Because the overridden files would be difficult, if not impossible, to recover, it was considered property damage.

Masato Nakatsuji’s trial concluded in July of 2011, in the Tokyo District court, the same month that amended penal code that criminalized viruses finally went into effect. Nakatsuji’s defense argued that since only the data, and not the physical hard drive, was damaged, he shouldn’t be charged with property damage. But the Judge, Masaru Okabe, didn’t agree. According to Okabe, a harddrive has two essential functions: the ability to read, and write, data at any given time. And since both of these functions were damaged, the crime of property damage had been established. The judge described the crime as, “...an ingenious, planned crime to spread a computer virus over a long period of time.” And Nakatsuji wasn’t going to receive a suspended sentence because, “The defendant committed the crime while he was on probation for a similar charge. I have no choice but to give him a sentence without suspension.” Masato Nakatsuji was then sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

But things didn’t end there. Unlike last time, Nakatsuji decided to appeal to the ruling, and the case was sent to the Tokyo High Court. Again, their main defense was that there was no physical property damage. With Nakatsuji stating, “I only rendered the data unusable, I did not destroy the hard drive.” But the new Judge, Masaki Wakahara, wasn’t any more receptive to this defense. However, after his mother said that she would aid in his rehabilitation, the Judge decided to reduce his sentence. Instead of spending two years and six months in prison, Masato Nakatsuji would be spending two years and four months in prison. And that concludes the story of the anime deleting virus.

It's not that I don't like the anime today it's just that some people who watch anime sometimes make weird for some to watch anime, I don't wear anime shorts anymore and I don't admit I watch anime to others due to the stereotype of "Do you have a waifu and do you have a body pillow of a anime girl?" I can't stand the amount of times i got stereotyped due to me watching anime. (Edit: Thanks for the kind words and I see it the way you guys are thinking, I'm in middle school going to highschool and I know how brutal people can be when you say you watch anime. But like someone said in the replies people are gonna judge me no matter what so it doesn't matter. Thx 👍)

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Summer 2024 Week 13 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Winter Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Summer 2024 Week 12 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Winter Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

For those who dont know whay i mean. I mean like if an anime character for example always wears red, or blue, or yellow, etc. It doesn't necessarily have to be all 1 colored but yeah.

I remember watching an animated movie , and I want to watch again . It's main character is a mammal, mostly resembling a rabbit, cat, or mouse. The story is about a famine (or disease) happening in the main character's homeland, a village, and his whole family dies (or disappears) because of it. The next scene I remember seeing many spider webs (and maybe spiders, but I'm not sure), and he seems to be enslaved. Later, he escapes, although I forgot how he managed to do it. He arrives at a big city (maybe the capital) and sees a poster of a dancing cat high on the wall. This reminds him of his sister (but I remember his sister wasn’t a cat). Finally, he successfully gets into a college to research something. At the end of the story, the city is under the threat of a volcanic eruption. He sacrifices himself to save the city in some way. The last scene I remember is him riding a hot air balloon near the volcano, then the volcano erupts, and everything ends. His art style is very similar to Hayao Miyazaki’s, and it’s probably from Japan. There were no subtitles, and I borrowed the DVD of this animation from the library. I asked my classmates, and later I searched online, even going through the list of animated films provided by Wikipedia one by one, but I couldn’t find any relevant results, so I’ve decided to post my question here.

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky) that's not currently airing. For specifically discussing currently airing shows, go to This Week in Anime.

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014

Welcome to This Week In Anime for Summer 2024 Week 11 a general discussion for any currently airing series, focusing on what aired in the last week. For longer shows, keep the discussion here to whatever aired in the last few months. If there's an OVA or movie that got subbed for the first time in the last week or so that you want to discuss, that goes here as well. For everything else in anime that's not currently airing go discuss that in Your Week in Anime.

Untagged spoilers for all currently airing series. If you're discussing anything else make sure to add spoiler tags.

Airing shows can be found at: AniChart | LiveChart | MAL | Senpai Anime Charts

Archive:

2024: Prev | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2023: Fall Week 1 | Winter Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2022: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2021: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2020: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2019: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2018: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2017: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2016: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter week 1

2015: Fall Week 1 | Summer week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2014: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2013: Fall Week 1 | Summer Week 1 | Spring Week 1 | Winter Week 1

2012: Fall Week 1

^Table ^of ^contents ^courtesy ^of ^sohumb

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

###Here's a link to the video [04:37]

#Transcript:

In what appears to be early 2011, Toshimichi Otsuki–a producer at King Records–approached a director to see if they’d be willing to make an anime based on one of their artists. The director was Shoji Kawamori, of Macross fame, and the artist was the popular idol group AKB48. Kawamori wasn’t exactly a fan of the group beforehand, but he decided to take on the project. After doing some research, he submitted an initial proposal for the upcoming series. After it was accepted, he decided to visit AKB48’s theater in Akihabara for the first time. While he was there, he watched a performance, attended a handshake event, and conducted several interviews. His experiences at these events caused him to re-evaluate the initial concept. Instead of focusing on the main idol group, he thought it would be more interesting to tell the story of trainees trying to make it to the top. In the end, they decided to have the story revolve around nine trainees.

But they quickly had to make another crucial decision: should they use experienced voice actors from the anime industry or recruit members of the idol group. While there’s obvious benefits to hiring experienced actors, they may not have been the right fit for this particular project. Shoji Kawamori explained this dilemma in an interview with Excite, “Voice acting is a very special skill. Voice acting is extremely difficult. Since ‘Super Dimension Fortress Macross’ 30 years ago, we have tried many times to discover a singer and new voice actor... but we have never done nine people at once. But, last June, I saw the general election live for the first time. I felt that the concept of this story would not work if the nine main actors were recruited from outside of the group, when there were such a group of girls who were working head-on and putting their bodies on the line. So, while we were meeting on the way back from the election, we said, ‘We have no choice but to tell the story with these girls…’”

The first thing they tried to do was trim down the list of candidates. In addition to the main group, AKB48 had several sister groups: SKE48, NMB48, and the newly formed HKT48. They tried to have the group self-select by submitting a list of people who were interested in voice acting, but they weren’t interested. According to Shoji Kawamori, “We asked them to reach out to those who wanted to be voice actors, but the AKB48 group said, ‘If we're going to do this, we're going to be serious, so everyone should audition.’” Since they didn’t have a lot of time to get this done, the first round of auditions would be tape auditions. After having to postpone the auditions twice, they were able to conduct them in October at one of the group’s handshake events. At a parked car outside of the venue, they would hand group members a piece of paper with lines on it and record their auditions. At the end of the event, they had exactly 200 auditions to review. Some of the candidates were big fans of anime and read their lines the same way that a traditional voice actor would. Unfortunately for them, this didn’t help, and they all immediately rejected—even if they were good voice actors. The reason for this was simple: if they wanted anime voice actors, they could just hire experienced ones from the anime industry.

On October 17, 2011, the AKB48 anime project, and the auditions for the leading roles, were announced. The announcement stated that the top 30 candidates would participate in a public audition in Tokyo to determine the final nine members. On November 26, the date of the final audition was revealed to be December 13th, and 100 lucky fans would be able to attend. They also revealed the anime’s title: AKB0048. On December 9, the 30 candidates moving on to the final audition were revealed. 17 of them were from AKB48, 8 were from SKE48, 4 were from NMB48, and there was 1 member from HKT48.

The public audition was held on December 13, 2013, at Shinjuku Wald 9, a movie theater in Tokyo. The participants would be judged based on three things: how well they performed on a common set of lines they were told about in advance, their reading of random lines that they’d be assigned, and how well they promoted themselves. After the MC kicked things off, all 30 candidates went on stage and picked up a ball from a box. They were assigned into groups based on the ball’s color and the number listed on it. The order of the auditions was randomly shuffled, and each person was assigned a script based on their color and number. There were four judges: Yasushi Akimoto (Planner, Supervisor), Shoji Kawamori, Toshimichi Otsuki, and Jin Aketagawa (Sound Director).

After hearing everyone’s audition, the judges deliberated for 30 minutes before announcing the 9 winners: Amina Sato (AKB48, Team B), Karen Iwata (AKB48, Trainee), Kumi Yagami (SKE48, Team S), Sayaka Nakaya (AKB48, Team A), Sawako Hata (SKE48, Team KII), Sumire Sato (AKB48, Team B), Haruka Ishida (AKB48, Team B), Mao Mita (NMB48, Trainee), and Mayu Watanabe (AKB48, Team B).

With the auditions finally complete, they had their actresses, but none of their roles were finalized. And the official cast wasn’t announced until 2012. According to Shoji Kawamori, “We had them try out various roles and act out lines in groups, which revealed new possibilities, and the staff had heated discussions until the morning.” On February 2, 2012, the roles for the nine winners were announced. Sayaka Nakaya as Orine, Amina Sato as Yuuka, Sawako Hata as Suzuko, Sumire Sato as Mimori, Haruka Ishida as Kanata, Kumi Yagami as Sonata, Mayu Watanabe as Chieri, Karen Iwata as Nagisa, and Mao Mita as Makoto. And while the story of AKB0048 is just beginning, this concludes the story of how real idols auditioned for an anime idol group.

So my dad is a casual anime fan. 47 and works a lot, but he's been an anime fan for very very long. So I decided to make a tier list of all the anime he's watched (with or without me) and post it. This probably won't get much attention but I decided to post it anyway. A list of 34 anime he's seen, either finished/caught up or watched enough of to give an opinion on. You can give me recommendations for him depending on his opinion. Also, these are actually ranked by order. So when one is over the other, that's his actual opinion.

Here's the list:

Bad Tier:

Fate/apocrypha: He said that this is the worst thing he's ever watched.

Ninja Kamui: Like everyone else, loved the beginning, hated the rest.

Average Tier:

Dragon Age: Absolution: Don't know about this one honestly.

Pluto: He liked it. That's about it.

Sirius the Jaegar: Also don't know it.

Blood of Zeus: It's ok.

One Piece: Before you crucify him, we've only watched till Arlong Park. He also adores Luffy.

Solid Tier:

Yaki Tori Soldiers of Misfortune: IDK.

Onimusha: Good.

Chainsaw Man: Weirded out at times but he liked it.

Seven Deadly Sins: If it wasn't for Escanor it would be in Bad.

Blue Eye Samurai: He sings its praises a lot.

Black Lagoon: Pretty sure he's seen both seasons. He likes it I guess. Can't say more because I wasn't there with him.

Devilman Crybaby: Also sings its praises a lot.

Black Clover: We're currently on ep 104, but he says this has the potential to be in the top tier. It gets better the more we go on. Rocky start but Elf Reincarnation is just peak

Claymore: He really likes this, that's all I can say because I haven't seen it.

Parasyte: He really likes it.

Really Good Tier:

Trese: Haven't seen it but he really likes it.

Dota: IDK.

Spriggan: Also don't know.

Attack On Titan: Before you get mad, we're still halfway on Season 2. He says it has the potential to be much higher.

Kengan Ashura: Really invested into it, almost done with it.

Overlord: He's at season 3 and loves it.

Vinland Saga: He loved S1. Didn't really like S2. But it was still enough to be here.

Berserk: I know that's the 2016 cover. But we're talking about the 90's anime. He loved it all the way and hated the ending they chose.

Hellsing: Great. What else can I say?

Kaiju No.8: I didn't expect this to be this high, but he started off a bit cautious and ended up loving it, he can't wait for Season 2. Also he has the OP and ED saved on his playlist, Bangers.

Castlevania: I expected this to be here. He loves it.

Bah-Hah! Tier: (This tier is named this because Sekke makes him laugh so much)

Solo Leveling: He loved the fights and Jin-Woo. Can't wait for October.

Demon Slayer: He loves this, we're currently fully caught up. He was iffy about the latest season but that last episode had him JAWDROPPED. He's rewatched it like 3 times.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Caught up to the anime, he really liked S1, liked the movie, but he was really disliking the start of S2. Then he warmed up to it and then he loved the rest of season 2.

Bleach: This is mainly about TYBW, but he's kind of skimmed through the OG. This is the first time I found out he watched anime, when TYBW Cour 1 dropped. He loves this so damn much. From the fights/animation, to Ichigo, to Kenpachi. He really likes it.

My Hero Academia: I know, surprising right? A 47 year old man having MHA as his favourite anime? How scandalous! But he is absolutely enthralled, captivated and bewildered by this series. He loves EVERYTHING, Deku as a MC, Bakugo as a character, who is his favourite. Endeavor, Shiggy, AM, Dabi, Toga, Twice. The storytelling, the fights, the character development. We're caught up to the anime and he's actively looking forward to every Saturday. I'm so happy his favourite is also my favourite, we bond over MHA so much, and I'll always appreciate it for this.