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#870297 Sun 08/01/17 21:26 UTC
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Oh Sure ... get me all excited about great new anime ... but when will =any= of this be on NetFlix? <sigh>


Fine ... at the start, it looks like Winter 2017 is not going to be as strong as 2016 in terms of anime. There are some we are looking forward to, like the second season of Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (The continuing story of a skill less Thief, airhead Water Goddess, one spell Magician and a masochistic Paladin) and Youjo Senki (we've had good witch on the battle field with Izetta, now lets see what happens with one that is ... uhm ... okay, down right bloody scary)

And others I'll discover as the season progresses.

But the one that has me writing this post is Little Witch Academia.

This one is is a hoot. Fine, it's mostly harmless, about a girl's preparatory school for magicians (and yes it is a school for witches, not warlocks) and on the outside shares a lot with the traditional little girl witch stories and even Hogwarth lectures ... but as opposed to playing to sweetness or melodrama, it plays for fun. It revolves around three less than stellar students: Akko, from Japan, who is the starry eyed idealist, Lotte the quiet and soft spoken Scandinavian apprentice and the absolutely deadpan Sucy from Southeast Asia. The dialogue is sharp and snappy, the action fun, the character designs are great and the scenes, a combination of boarding school comedy and action succeeds mostly because of the interactions of all the characters, both our heroines and the other other students.

Little Witch in Academia has an interesting history. The original short was part of The Young Animator Training Project - where a Japanese animation labor group and the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural affairs works with up and coming animators and teams them with an industry mentor, with the hope of helping them be part of the next generation of directors LWA is what happened when they put Yoh Yoshinari together with Studio Trigger.

Yoh Yoshinari had previously worked on shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Gurren Lagann. This is the first time he has been the full - director, character designer, animation director - creator of a show. Trigger is a small studio founded by former Gainax employees and is responsible for Kill la Kill and Kiznaiver. Kill la Kill is really really hard to describe without sounding ridiculous and Kiznaiver is a very interesting psychological drama ... which I enjoyed because somehow they managed to start with a very strong first episode ... and then every episode thereafter ... just got better!

So ... back to Little Witch Academia. The first one aired, got great reviews, so they said, hey ... it's not in our production schedule and we don't have a budget, but tell you what - we'll do a kickstarter and when we reach $150,000 we'll do another film. They reached that goal in six hours. By the end of the campaign they had raised over $600,000 dollars ... leading to a second film and now a television series.

And here we go, MikeD! The new series is being done in with Netflix!

At the moment Netflix has the first two short films already available ... and I'm waiting to see when the series first episode will be released. It's supposed to be today.


Oh yah ... i fergot smile How can you not like a show that names the Star Student's two Hanger-Ons Hannah and Barbara!





Last edited by Wolf; Sun 08/01/17 21:31 UTC.
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's funny ... I have been avoiding it because ... <sigh> ... the NetFlix 'descriptions' don't make it sound all that interesting. So now I will have to give them a serious look.

Yeah, Kill la Kill =is= difficult to describe, but =I= liked it <g> I would love to see more of =that= story <g>

I don't recall seeing Kiznairver on NF ... but if it is DVD only .... guess I will have to go look for that one too <g>

Thanks for the nudge <wink>


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Sucy has quickly become one of my favorite characters:)

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well MikeD two things ...

I saw the first episode of Little Witch in Academia and Trigger is doing what Trigger does best - make a show with a lot of fun. Then I went back and watched it a second time and blinked on how many things they got right, from spell syntax to not pulling magic out of a hat ... for example, if our beleaguered heroes use a spell, it's one that we've already seen competent magicians use rather easily smile

They also pulled off one joke that only a philosophy major would get smile

It starts at enrollment and they made one minor and very understandable change from the two short films, so that's a very good sign.

I also saw Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo 2! And just like the first season less than three minutes into the show I was laughing out loud again. And then it went straight into the completely unexpected-but-oh-no-you-really-should-have-expected-that OMG territory.

Last edited by Wolf; Fri 13/01/17 04:40 UTC.
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Three episodes later ...

I suspect you will have to wait until the first portion of Little Witch Academia has been completed to see it pop up on Netflix for binge watching. As it appears to be a 25 episode series with luck Netflix will put up the first half (to the traditional mid-season cliff hangar) in a couple months and then follow with the rest a few months later.

If they keep the quality up, it will be well worth the wait!

What the series has a lot of is heart. Even if Sucy's heart is cold and black and filled with poisonous mushrooms. Okay. Fine. Not completely cold and black. She does care for Akko.

Otherwise she'd need a new guinea pig for her potions.

Trigger is becoming a studio to watch; they've always done shows with great humor, from slapstick to over the top schoolyard martial arts. But you can definitely tell they are learning with each show - and Little Witch Academia has really benefited from it. The character designs are varied and great. Despite it having a rather large cast (three groups of three students + professors) are all quickly identified and each is very much a unique individual. The closest we have to clones are Those Two Girls, but that's to be expected considering they are named Hannah and Barbara (and so far they are the only two that really may deserve to be turned into a mushroom. Or two. Though putting training wheels on Akko's broom was hilarious)

The story lines have enough unexpected twists and turns, our heroes don't always win, the alpha ...uhm ... witch is actually a decent person, there are hints of tragic backstories and well, even though they are the weakest of the witches and Akko is more of a detriment than a help of course we end up rooting for Akko ... and Lotte and even Sucy.

Because Trigger's made us care for them.

That's actually kind of neat. Every other witch is descended from families or witches. The lead character, Akko is a normal girl, with normal parents who wants to learn to be a witch. And it is possible. The reason she's such a screw up isn't that she's such a screw up ... it's that she is only now learning what everyone else was taught in kindergarten. And that's why you end up rooting for her. Because we know it will be hard, we know she'll fall on her face again and again ... but if she doesn't stop trying, she just might make it. She's our character, letting those of us who wish magic was real live through her vicariously.

And it doesn't hurt that it's amazingly funny and filled with heart.

Oh, and Trigger is also great for details.

They had a shopkeeper reading a newspaper. Not only was the headline on the back of the paper a great reference to the previous episode, it was in English. Good English.

Why?

Because Little Witch Academia is set in Great Britain, of course.

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<heh heh heh> Still not on NF and that is worrisome.

NF will often 'pre-list' a show before it is available to actually watch. I can 'save' it in my queue and it will 'pop' onto the queue once it arrives. I have had some things in my 'saved' list for at least a year <g> But the series does not show up yet <sigh> Just the two that have been there a while.


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yah I know. However Netflix tends to wait until they can post a whole season at a time. The source material simply isn't done yet!

However the two short films they do have are good!

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Yup ... watched them on your recommendation. From the description on NF ... probably my biggest frustration is their 'cutsy' or 'dismissive' descriptions <sigh> ... I had resisted watching it for a while.

And like I said ... there are things that have been on my 'saved' list ... waiting for them to 'show up' ... for over a year. If they know it is coming, why not build some interest? <g>


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Studio Trigger says they will be on Netflix in April!

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Noted, thanks <g>


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As Winter slowly draws to a close I thought I'd mention two anime sleeper hits and one upcoming show folks might want to look out for.

The sleeper hits are both slice-of-life shows, so if you are looking for big robots, police procedurals, action and adventure or space ships dashing back and forth you probably want to be somewhere else. These two shows are low key character-centric stories (fine, one is about as low key as you can get with its uhm ... unique ... cast). They are engaging and immediately get you interested in and caring for the cast really fast. They are both full of heart (Fine. One of them is full of tails too.)

Demi-chan wa Kataritai - Interviews with Monster Girls

First, and most importantly, DO NOT, repeat DO NOT mistake this for Monsutā Musume no Iru Nichijō - Everyday Life with Monster Girls ... Everyday Life is the more than a little risque, definitely ecchi and dear god don't let a kid watch show that is everyone's stereotype of that kind of show.

Interviews with Monster Girls posits a time where demi-humans, long thought as dangerous and evil, finally become accepted and can now become part of traditional society. Our hero Tetsuo is extremely interested in them, but discovers that actually meeting them and seeing them is - nicely realistically - much harder then he thought. So instead of researching them he becomes a teacher.

Only to discover that three of his students are demi-humans. A Vampire, a Dullahan and Yuki-onna (Snow Woman). To top it off the newest teacher, Sakie, is a succubus. What makes this show work is two things:

Second: It is played very straight. The 'powers' of the demi-humans are logical and with logical consequences - for example, Sakie dresses in a figure disguising track suit, comes to work very early and leaves very late and lives out in the country with no neighbors ... so her innate abilities do not cause problems with other folks ... which means she doesn't quite know what to do when she discovers she actually likes someone - does he like her for herself or is it just her succubus powers that is coercing him!

First: (And yes I ordered my comments like this on purpose) the three schoolgirls are first and foremost ... schoolgirls. They are more concerned about getting along in school, nervous because they don't quite fit in (and the rest of the school kids getting to know them is well done) and doing, well, the stuff you'd expect school kids to do or want to do. Tetsuo wants to understand the demi-humans, for curiosity, personal knowledge and to help him help them better fit in school and understand why things are the way they are. Fine, one of the schoolgirls does develops a crush - but the nice thing? It's handled just like a real one might be (Tetsuo never finds out) and not turned into some romantic sub plot. Tetsuo remains the good teacher and lines are never blurred.

Each episode is engaging, fun, an interesting investigation of alternative demi-humans, and the character relationships are great. To the point that, yes, the cute vampire always tries to talk her way out of trouble. Does it work?

Just like when you were in school ... nope.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon - Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

Fine, when I saw the title, I went, nah, this can't be anything but same old same old. But for some strange reason I decided to watch one episode and I was hooked.

The premise is amazingly simple. Straight forward, average looking (fine she is sometimes mistaken for a boy) but really excellent software engineer Kobayashi can't really handle her liquor, and after her traditional after-work Friday Night binge with her co-worker she ends up in the mountains, finds a wounded dragon, helps her and invites her to her home. Of course, the next day, hungover, she doesn't remember this ... until this dragon shows up at her door (in an immediate roll on floor laughing scene)

The ongoing series (12/13) chronicles Kobayashi's life with her new maid (fine .. the dragon saw a pair of girls dressed up advertising a cafe on her way in) and the eclectic set of other banished to our world supernatural folk that are - for lack of a better word - Tohru's (the dragon maid) friends. Happily the dragons can shapeshift or Tohru wouldn't fit in Kbayashi's apartment. Don't ask about her tail.

This series runs on heart and laughter. Tohru adjusting to life with humans is absolutely hilarious. The collection of friends, perfect (When the dragon Fafnir describes living in a cave, Kobayashi observes ... oh, you are a NEET.) When big things happen they are more for laughs then drama (dragon-dodge-ball). And yes, while Tohru's affection for Kobayashi goes a bit over the top at times it's always drawn back and put into its proper place so it - amazingly - becomes sweet rather than saccharine.

Amazingly the lynch pin that holds this together is Kobayashi - a soft spoken, level headed and hard to shake person who is nicer than she thinks she is. Until the dragons came into her life she was a dedicated salariman ... now, she's a person with an instant family. That she too slowly grows as the series developed is neat. Kobayashi's secret power seems to be that very rare thing - true compassion.

And its her compassion that makes this really strange premise actually believable and very enjoyable to watch. Had a bad day at work? Stress tearing you apart? Watch an episode or two of Kobayashi and by the end you will be smiling. Even if its just a small smile.

And last, for the upcoming show, starting this April

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria

Oh my that's a mouthful. It's a second look at "Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon" except being a semi-prequel - telling the story of the sword princess Aiz Wallenstein - or at least from her and House Loki's point of view.

If you haven't seen "Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls ..." you should! It's a perfect mixture of serious fantasy adventure, comedy and awkward romance. Again, character driven against a culture focused on adventuring. It's a hoot.

Last edited by Wolf; Wed 29/03/17 23:40 UTC.
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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mike .....

Took them long enough!

This is a definite Trigger series ... somehow they manage to take a serious story line (about the nature and use of magic) and yet make it a mixture of carnival and looney tunes. Some shows run on drama, some on cool ... this one runs on heart and fun.

I think what happened is that Netflix wanted to have the show finished for binge watching, even if they are only releasing the first cour on the 30th.

As for the final episode? Somehow they managed to stack awesome upon awesome upon awesome smile

Last edited by Wolf; Thu 29/06/17 02:22 UTC.
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They seem to want to release complete seasons. I guess I like that ... I know how much I hate waiting for the the next installment enough that I hardly ever watch TV any more. Well, that and the commercials <wink>

Thanks for the reminder. The fun starts tomorrow <g>


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should I mention that episode 12 ends in a semi-cliffhangar?

*runs for cover*

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Don't they (mostly) always??? <chuckle> Otherwise you might forget to come back for the next season ... if it happens <wink>


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FWIW Wolf, I see 13 episodes in the list. Episode 2 just started <g>


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its a 25 episode season ... 12-13 are a pair smile

and I admit its taking me a bit to to get used to the dubbing voice actors - after viewing both I recommend watching it with english subtitles/japanese audio - especially for Sucy.

The Netflix subtitling is not getting good reviews. Which, sadly, makes sense ... the arc catch phrase (that Chariot speaks at the end of her show) as I learned it was:

"A Believing Heart is Magic" ... which makes more sense in the very long run of the show; especially the final episode. After thinking of both translations I get the sneaking suspicion that the Netflix subtitles are trying too hard to be literal - which may be a bit too rigorous for a Trigger show smile

And yes, 25 episodes for ONE season - one story arc. For some reason they are releasing it in two "cour" ... its not like there was a midseason break, like, for example the period between the first and second cours of Aldnoah Zero.

(oh and pre episode 13 watch the closing credits ... they often have things that are reflected in that episode!

Last edited by Wolf; Sat 01/07/17 21:52 UTC.
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I go back and forth on that. There are times when I =hate= having to divert my attention from the action on the screen to read the sub-titles, but then I also hate when the dubbing is poorly done <sigh> It is less frustrating with anime than live action, though since the 'mouth movements' are kinda vague with anime anyway <g>

Just finished Ep 13-Samhain Magic Festival. The biggest ... 'issue' I have with too many anime series, the characters take =way= too long to 'grow' and 'adapt' to what happens to them. Other than that, there were some really fun and entertaining parts. And the overall, has been entertaining <g>


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that's actually what I like about it! That the characters DO grow over time ... and that it takes time; its something that doesn't happen miraculously. Of course Akko does well by the end of the show ... but you know what? She bloody well worked her backside off (with some backsliding) to get to that point!

So for me thats a good point.

Yah, ever since what - episode 6 or 7 when everyone tells her there's no such thing as a free lunch, she actually buckles down and starts to work!

And then there's the 22-episode long brick joke ...

That's the other thing I love about Trigger. They never pull anything out of the apocryphal hat ... there will set something up episodes before and then call it back when its needed. And their attention to detail - did you notice that in Episode 1 when Akko leads the Cockatrice back to the Mandrake? She actually does go back over the same ground that they had just come over smile

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Yeah, I will grant you that =MOST= of the other characters 'evolve' as the series progresses ... but not Akko <sigh> She still does 'all the wrong things' ... admittedly mostly for a good reason <g> ... but doesn't seem to get that 'over reacting' might not be a good thing <shrug>

Yeah, they make a bigger point of her 'trying' ... but she doesn't seem to 'progress' ... at least not in relation to her efforts. I'm sorry ... but if I bang my head against a wall ... =way= more than 'once or twice' ... and didn't see any positive result ... I would probably begin to start 'rethinking' my 'plan of attack' <shrug> But maybe that is just me <g>


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laughs .... actually she does! AND she does so just like Chariot - even if she doesn't realize it yet ...

Remember the Party with Andrew? The squirrel? Her first no-holds-barred completely-successful spell? And then amusing the sad spirit?

That's right ... unbeknownst to herself, Akko is the Ace when it comes to transformational magic. There is no one who can beat her using that type of magic and she even keeps getting better at it.

Akko is also a tremendous Wild Card. When the Big Baddie shows up (next cour) she is so confident in her grey-morality schemings. But she can't get it into her head that no matter how powerful you are, no plan survives contact with Akko smile

Even Akko's .. which is why the show is so much fun.

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yup. That is why I watched the whole season <wink>


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FWIW, season 2 just showed up on NetFlix <g> Watching and watching and ... <g>


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Mike ... i just came from 10 1/2 hours of work, was scrolling through Netflix to decompress ... and just hit ...

Aldnoah.Zero

** time to binge! excellent and breathtaking giant robot series **

great subtitling ... sawano music ... and ...

... let justice be done though the heavens fall.

Last edited by Wolf; Thu 17/08/17 23:25 UTC.
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Yeah ... I enjoyed that one too when I watched it a while ago <g>

Personally, I would rather have 'voice over' than subtitles. For one thing, especially in anime, 'synchronization' is not an issue, and I hate having to spend so much time missing the 'action' to read the subtitles <wink>


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