New Testingstan

so i ran through what's aired so far of Sakurasou

i'm enjoying it a lot more than i thought i would

i think there's a lot of dramatic power in it

So, apparently, in Animeland,

Dubstep is a weapon of mass destruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXT9IZvwi7g

You know I am really glad that latest episode had a decent budget for the big fight between Caesar and Wham cuz jeez guys most of the others have been like i'm watching Fist of the North Star on a filler episode.

I don't even know what's that show

JoJo's Bizarre totally not gay Adventure!

I've heard some good about it. Mostly how about it's weird even by anime standards.

It's the best fighting anime that begins in late 18th century England out there!

...

How many of those are there ?

A couple although I think those others aren't about fighting per se.

http://masterfileblog.jp/anime/2013/03/01/2942.html

Final episodes of Girls Und Panzer starting the 18th of this month.

We'll finally have closure.

Alright. I know the new episode of Gundam unicorn is out. Has anyone found an English sub of it yet? All I can find is the original and one with Chinese subtitles.

The BD has been released.

And like

It was amaze

So i'm watching it now. First reactions?

1. Holy shit! Awesome action scene. Why is it always the Zeon who get the awesome ace scenes though?

2. Ugh. Banager and Mineva are talking about understanding. Fast forward quickly.

More to follow.

After watching Ep 6, I have to say i'm pleasantly surprised. When I saw a spoilerized of the novel ending, I honestly expected the rest of Gundam Unicorn to suck.

http://twitpic.com/c9ed1p

sumika i love you and your gigantic hair bow

Please tell me you aren't playing through one of those visual novels.

lemma tell ya if you were playing Muv-luv Extra for porn you'd have blue balls through 99% of it

You know i've always wondered how they actually handle the porn portion of those H-games. Do they just show a movie clip of people fucking if you pick the right dialogue options?

well the thing is with Muv Luv and similar titles, the porn is a bare minimal component and is removed when they do a console release or an all age version. It's really just there to get some initial sales.

As for how they handle it? The same way the rest of the game plays out.
ps the romance is actually really sweet and adorable and it gets really emotional when Takeru and Sumika confess their love for each other. they build it up so you feel really bad for Meiya too even though her backstory is so anime.

boy I can't wait to play Muv-Luv Unlimited now! All those people you come to know and love now gotta get eaten by aliens!

Here's what I don't understand about these Muv-Luv games. They have this pretty awesome setting with giant mechs fighting evil alien monsters to save the earth, and the games are all a bunch of text-boxes about people's love lives? What kind of bullshit is that?

yeah what kind of person can relate more to people interacting when they could relate to space explosions

I think what he mean is that he's wondering why, if you want to tell a story about the human heart, you have to wrap it up into a backstory of evil aliens and giant robots.

Like with Evangelion.

wow i haven't seen faux-catgirl ears made out of hair before

that's some clever design right there

no those hair intakes aren't cat ears

http://twitpic.com/bmuwny

Miki is the one with the cat ears. and a bell and a tail she wears as a fashion accessory. in the later games she's a super skilled sniper

To answer Darksies's question I gotta break it down for y'all. The first game has two stories, Extra and Unlimited. Extra is the goofy and heartfelt high school romance that doesn't have any aliens and the only robots exist in the video game CYBER LEGION VALGERN-ON that everyone plays. So yeah that story is more about life, love, and uh... lacrosse for a fair portion of the game

Unlimited is where the main character, Takeru, somehow finds himself in an alternate reality where SHIT IS FUCKED and has to deal with everything he ever knew being similar but somehow different. I still gotta mess around with Extra to unlock this but it's like half the length because it doesn't have as many branching paths. Takeru has to learn all these new things about a world everyone has been in their whole lives. You get politics, technology, fighting tactics, history, and all that WORLD BUILDING except now there's more a reason why the main character needs to learn this because he will be eaten by goddamn aliens if he doesn't.

Alternative is the biggest and longest of the three. Takeru basically gets a do-over in the SHIT IS FUCKED universe and tries to put right what he can using the knowledge of what happened before. This game is apparently 65+ hours long (longer than most mecha anime) and is super dense and emotional and is the main focus of the franchise where Takeru takes a much more active role in fighting the aliens to where he is in the thick of fighting of the BETA in the middle of their hives.

As to why a visual novel?

CUZ THEY'RE CHEAP AS FUCK TO MAKE! Plus video games actually make a profit in Japan even if they are light on the gameplay! Isn't that right, Final Fantasy

Honestly it makes perfect sense. Why kill yourself trying to put together an anime? With a visual novel you can tell the story you want to tell without having to fit a crappy video game around it. Most J-RPGS (or Japanese games in general) already have that heavy visual novel component so it's something that has been ingrained in their gaming culture for decades before Muv-luv even came out. Add to the fact that these games are basically fully voiced, it's more or less like you're playing an anime just with less animation Or what is also like an audio drama just with illustrations to give you more context. Plus because these are all translated it's just like watching a show with subtitles and I gets ta hear all them Japanese people talkings

Something like Super Robot Wars is just as beloved for the and screens screens of text and voice that happen between the missions as it is for the dodgy Strategy RPG gameplay. Cuz oh fuck are those games dodgy! There's a reason they let you save and reload ANY TIME YOU WANT! So you can totally take back an attack if it doesn't hit a boss juuuuuuuuuuust right!

Admittedly it's not something everyone can get into easily and even I had many reservations before starting in. I was even told by another guy (an anime fan twice my age who loves 80's sci-fi anime and Muv-Luv just rekindled his faith in Japanese mecha) to just read these novel summaries and then read the translated Unlimited Manga and maybe dive in the Alternative visual novel if I felt brave. I decided to stick with and really enjoyed Extra so I'm going to do Muv-Luv right. As much as I had fun with Total Eclipse, it's still just a side story and the real meat is in these visual novels.

But the crazy fucking thing is, Muv-Luv is now sci-fi franchise that is completely legitimate with spinoffs and a regular publication dedicated to it and even several different lines of toys and model kits to compliment all dem sexy ladies statues

It's ten years old now! Those guys at Age may be totally crazy but they fucking proved you don't need an anime to really make something so long as you have a great story.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=gdYID1Ysqpc

Total Eclipse is getting turned into a visual novel and I'm betting it will be better received and make more money in that format than it ever did as an anime (or light novel or manga sheesh you are such a whore Total Eclipse). also this is a console release so no sexxors but they can still have the skin tight pilot suits



tl;dr Muv-Luv is some kind of weird genius. It's everything everyone wanted 80's mecha sci-fi to be but is actually following through with world building but DOES NOT forget that what makes a story really grand is the characters that inhabit it.

http://collectiondx.com/series/muvluv_alternative

PLUS LOOK AT THESE SWEET ROBOTS!