Guaporense reviews animated series

I really got into the main series around episode 35-40. And I was really absorbed by it around episode 70, when I cried, around episode 90.

17) Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrickerS (2007)



Nanoha is my favorite guilty pleasure in animation. Kinda like a movie such as The Avengers but actually good. While I enjoyed this I regard as the weakest entry of the franchise because it lacks the usual magic of Nanoha, and the characters are less cute (and these cute costumes doesn't work for adults, (since the characters became adults)):

Nanoha is Anime with a capital A, that means, in the sense that it celebrates all the tropes and cliches that are common in the medium, specially among otaku oriented titles:

1) Multiple hair colors, always bright and vibrant, relatively long hair on everybody, except the middle aged male supporting characters,
2) Most characters are female, in fact, male characters are outnumbered 4 to 1 or more.
3) Many bright/vibrant colors everywhere.
4) Character designs are the definition of otaku manga style: pupils are even bigger than usual, heads are like balloons, hair is pointy and spiky (on most males),
5) Story is very dramatic, characters cry all the time, a common characteristic of otaku anime.
6) Has many cutesy elements, though fewer than previous entries in the franchise as most characters grew up and became "boring adults".
7) Has a lot super exaggerated action.
8) Features a lot of transformation sequences.
9) Of course, it's Fantasy with capital F and even mixes up some science fiction elements, in a way, it combines mecha action with the magical girl genre. Similarly to Symphogear in that regard (but it is not as bad).

Yeay! It's pure otaku culture injected intravenously!



+

Do you take requests?

Of course.

Okay, cool. Here are my (American) requests:

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
The Venture Bros.
Rick and Morty
Batman: The Animated Series
Samurai Jack

That one I watched when I was 10-12 years old. I kinda liked it at the time. Barely remember anything of it and obviously I cannot review it now. However, while I am a fan of animation I am not very interested in children entertainment at the moment, if I review it I will probably dislike it and do not provide good information for prospective watchers (like I do when I trash Disney films).

I watched Rick and Morty recently pretty fun show, I think I can do a review of it.

Batman I watched when I was like 6 years old. Venture Bros looks like something I would like since I generally like Adult Swim cartoons (like Rick and Morty). Samurai Jack I remember my cousins watching it when they were around 10 years old but it looks like something I might enjoy,

18) RIck and Morty (2013)


I always enjoyed the teenager/young adult oriented cartoons at adult swim. Rick and Morty in particular was a very funny show. Watching it contrasted it's extremely minimalist art style, animation and fast paced editing with the more sophisticated art and direction of Japanese animation. They represent two different points of view regarding animation, American adult animation is based on newspapers comic strips and tends to share that minimalism, without much regard for detail and physical realism of movement.



Despite these "issues" I found that it featured quite intelligent writing and was a very enjoyable comedy show. It's very accessible as well, thanks to it's super fast pace, it's hard to not being entertained by it all the time. While Japanese animation is faster than Japanese live action film, it's much slower on average than Rick and Morty so the super fast pace of the show threw me off at first.

Scene from my favorite episode:


Given it is an episodic show it lacks a bit of a story though there is the sense of the passage of time and kinda of a plot organizing the whole first season (like Cowboy Bebop in that sense). My rating is

Season 2 is coming this summer!

I will watch it. I am also interested in watching the rest of Archer as well (watched the first 2.5 seasons), among North American animated shows I am interested in.

If you like Archer, I'd recommend trying Frisky Dingo if you haven't already. It's by the same people, I think(?,) and I find it to be funnier. I haven't really been able to get into Archer for some reason. Also the guy in my avatar does some voice acting in Frisky Dingo.

Looks interesting. I think that I liked Archer because I liked the characters, it's a more "realistic", less "cartoony" animation for American standards (even though it's writing is still a bit "cartoony", it's not a relatively subtle comedy like Shirobako).

I'm not familiar with Shirobako, so I can't compare Frisky Dingo with it. Frisky Dingo is more cartoony than Archer though, I just think it's funnier. I guess your appreciation of it would depend on whether or not it matches your sense of humor.

Seinfeld is perhaps more subtle humor than any American animated series. Well, you have King of the Hill which is more subtle than the usual though. My fav. North American animation (in general, not just among series) is Futurama (first 4 seasons) though because I liked the writing and the characters.

19) Cross Game (2009-2010)



Really interesting show in some aspects, really boring in other aspects. Cross Game is a drama and an sports show. I though it was kinda of boring though.



Like as usual in anime, it portrays high school students experience with baseball. Interestingly even more adult anime tends to be set in highschool and writers/directors tend to enjoy producing highschool themed shows for decades. One of the mottos of studio Gainax is that otaku are forever 14 year olds.



I found the characters a bit dull and the themes did not attract my attention that much. Baseball tends to be boring for me (even though I know the rules!). Though this series is really well made and considered by many one of the best animations of all time.

20) Arakawa under the Bridge 2 (2010)



I am pretty much trying to watch everything Shimbo did even his most mediocre work's. Arakawa under the Bridge was regarded by some of among his best works but it's not actually that good IMO.



This one was a pretty decent entry in his "animationgraphy", my ratings for his work, his animation directing works and my ratings for those I have watched (clearly I am far behind mastering his work):

Metal Fighter Miku (1994)
Devil Hunter Yohko 6: Double Jeopardy (1995)
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna: The Abyssal Fairy (1996)
Debutante Detective Corps (1996)
Hurricane Polymar: Holy Blood (1996)
Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko series (1996–1999) (fist OVA)
Detatoko Princess (1997)
Twilight of the Dark Master (1997)
Tenamonya Voyagers (1999)
The SoulTaker (2001)
Triangle Heart: Sweet Songs Forever (2003)
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (2004)
Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase (2004)
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (2004)
Pani Poni Dash! (2005)
Negima!? (2006)
Hidamari Sketch series (2007–2013)
Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei series (2007–2010)
Mahō Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba (2008)
Maria Holic series (2009-2011)
Natsu no Arashi! series (2009)
Monogatari series (2009-2014) & for first and second seasons
Mahō Sensei Negima! : Mō Hitotsu no Sekai (2009)
Dance in the Vampire Bund (2010)
Arakawa Under the Bridge series (2010) +
Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (2010)
Katte ni Kaizou (2011)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011-2013) (series and the third movie, respectively)
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (2011)
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (2013)
Nisekoi (2014)
Mekakucity Actors (2014)
Koufuku Graffiti (2015)

He directed about 10 times more animation than Miyazaki did and he is only in is early 50's, will probably make 20-30 plus years of more animation. Incredible volume of production but besides the first Madoka series it was his only masterpiece.



Arakwawa under the Bridge is a fairly entertaining comedy. It's very typical Japanese comedy, very aggressive and full of crossdressing routines and similar absurdities such as a muscle man dressed as a nun.



Also they have a live action of that:

21) Maria Holic Alive (2011)



Begin review. A rather mediocre dark gross cross-dressing comedy made with excellent art. End review.



Has a lot of very aggressive jokes.



+

Have you seen Welcome to the NHK? I watched the first two episodes yesterday.

You should check out Superjail, it's hilarious.

Yes, it's an excellent series that explores some of the problems people face in life. I watched it a couple of years ago but my memory still remains fresh.

Awesome.