[Mongoose]

So far the best of this season seems to be re zero and boku no hero.

Read that as Boku no Pico for a moment there.  Was very   (for the love of Vasuda don't Google that if you don't know already)

Just finished up watching Le Chevalier d'Eon with a group of friends.  Very early-modern-Europe-by-way-of-dark-magic-and-zombies.  It managed to induce multiple deep Wiki binges on all sorts of fun historical tidbits (and here I thought politics today were messy).  Also working my way through Princess Tutu, which is the manliest girliest thing ever and don't let nobody tell you different.

[Scourge of Ages]

After suggestions here, I'm halfway through Knights of Sidonia S1. Pretty brutal so far, but interesting.

[Luis Dias]

So news finally arrived to this wretched corner of the planet that Marvel and Netflix had actually produced one more series other than Daredevil, named Jessica Jones. I was instantaniously curious about this choice when I realised it was about two characters I had gone through in the civil war comic run which I found grounded and interesting at the time.

So I binge watched it recently. Marvel made it again, it's a really good show. Not as good as Daredevil, especially the fighting (subpar), but the story, the characters, the arcs, and the overal themes were really well crafted.

And then yesterday I watched two episodes of THE FLASH. Now that's what I call "Culture Shock". I couldn't stop laughing manically at it.

[Dark Hunter]

Late on this one, I know, but I just finished Serial Experiments Lain.

My only comment is: what the what?

[Luis Dias]

Finally ended Daredevil's season 2. Some neat cross-overs between DD and JJ (Jessica Jones), which are subtle and never clash with the overall series, more like a statement that the series are within the same universe, which is the exact same as the MCU, after the NY "incident" (The Avengers, 2012). That is very good in itself, because it enlarges and gives wider context to each show, it enriches the stories themselves.

Season 2 of Daredevil is as good as the first, if not better. It lacks the "big ass villain" arc that both DD season 1 and JJ season 1 had (I don't think that The Hand qualifies), but it totally compensates that with the introduction of the Punisher and Elektra, whose entrance into the scene makes Matt's life go out of his control. More characters, never clear if one's a villain or a "good-doer" (and no one fits that bill better than the Punisher, who you're always in doubt if he's in self-control calculating things or a loose-canon mad man), each intersecting one's paths in very organic, natural ways. All plot points make sense, and are always the culmination of each character's agendas, rather than being shoe-horned. You never know what happens next, and the series is astounding in delivering what is "obvious" in hindsight, but quite a surprise when you're watching it (there was a brief exception when the wheels turning were too obvious, I think in episode 12, but otherwise, flawless).

Cinematically impressive, the fights are truly amazing and always a pleasure to watch (can't say the same about Jessica Jones, for technical and artistic reasons), the tone fits with DD really well (the "detective noire"), and they hit everything in the right key. Matt's catholicism, Page's struggle with her own moral questions, Foggie's ascent to a professional, mature lawyer, Elektra's dance between pure psychopathy and love / goodness, Stick's obsession with the "war", Fisk's becoming Kingpin, the birth of the Punisher, etc., etc.

I can't recommend the series enough. All other "superhero" shows that have ever been on screen just look childish and idiotic after Daredevil now. I tried watching The Flash but couldn't get past the obvious "this isn't for you adults" slap in the face. Daredevil is perhaps the first true really good adult superhero series, and I couldn't love it any more for that.

[The E]

Cinematically impressive, the fights are truly amazing and always a pleasure to watch (can't say the same about Jessica Jones, for technical and artistic reasons), the tone fits with DD really well (the "detective noire"), and they hit everything in the right key. Matt's catholicism, Page's struggle with her own moral questions, Foggie's ascent to a professional, mature lawyer, Elektra's dance between pure psychopathy and love / goodness, Stick's obsession with the "war", Fisk's becoming Kingpin, the birth of the Punisher, etc., etc.

Yeah, the fight scenes in DD are immeasurably better than what they did on JJ. I don't really blame them for it; the kind of stunt team it takes to pull those off does not come cheap (and Netflix seems to be really big on doing a lot with comparatively tiny budgets), and JJ, while being a fighter, is not a character that is defined by punching people.

That said, I do wish they put a bit more effort into the wirework for the next Jessica Jones season. One thing that took me out of the show's fight scenes was that the wire work was so bloody obvious; I know it's hard to sell someone like Krysten Ritter as being superhumanly strong, but it's also not impossible. I've been watching a lot of pro wrestling recently, and if you look at people like Sasha Banks or Bailey (seriously, do it, women's wrestling is the real deal right now), you have women who sell physical strength really well without being super muscly.

And can we talk some more just how good Bernthal was as Punisher? It's the best version of the "Remorseless Avenger" stereotype I've seen in years.

(That said: I still rate Jessica Jones a bit higher in terms of story. Daredevil S2 was a great ensemble work, but JJ delivered what I felt was a more compelling overall storyline.)

[Luis Dias]

Oh Bernthal nailed it 11/10. Absolutely. Superfan here too. So many amazing acting scenes throughout the season by him, I could really believe in his Punisher.

Regarding JJ's fight scenes, I think the problem has to do with the kind of fighting she does. She is supposed to have superhuman force (and jumps and etc.). Matt's skills are supposedly all human, all natural, just really damned good at it. That works with good stunts and without wires. But when Jessica throws a punch, it's supposed to throw her opponents flying, therefore it's harder to film (everyone has to be wired, the hits have to feel superhuman, etc.), and thus they usually cut the film at the punches and kicks to then put those people flying in the next cut. Which feels shoddy and unnatural. I see Supergirl also suffering from this problem. They correctly decided to tone down all fights (and jumping feats) in her show, but the technical difficulties leak to the screen.

Daredevil has these amazing long cuts where he just dances ballet around his foes in an unnerving realistic manner. That hallway fight right at the second episode is probably up there in the ranks of the best ever fighting sequence I've seen in my life. Number one reason? It felt real (the fact that it was shot after midnight, after dozens of failed attempts, and everyone was actually tired and thus, they had to breathe and collect themselves before continuing just added to the realistic effect). But it worked because Daredevil only has human fighting abilities. Had he been forced to do superhuman things of his own, I do think they would suffer the same problems as JJ.

[Luis Dias]

A friend of mine advised me to watch Code Geass.

I'm unimpressed. A mediocre attempt to copycat Death's Note without any of its charm. Everything is sudden, unintelligent, told not shown, and the 1st series doesn't even end in a satisfying manner (like Death Note 1st season did). I'm struggling with the decision to continue watching it.

[Phantom Hoover]

it sounds like it's clearly terrible and you've been misled by the notoriously divergent sense of terrible that anime fans possess

[Scotty]

Code Geass's only redeeming attribute is its giant mech battles, something you can get in much more satisfying (and sensical) fashion by watch Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team.

Go watch 08th MS Team if you haven't already.  It's good.  And the OP is maddeningly catch in a good way.

[NGTM-1R]

War In The Pocket, not 08th MS. Better in every way.

Not that 08th MS is bad, necessarily, it's just that when you stop and think about everything Shiro Amada is a bit of a ****.

Also I gotta be honest, I don't think that Death Note's particularly good either. I've watched enough Criminal Minds to know that the only reason Kira wasn't apprehended in days was the difficulty the cops had coping with his method of killing and the power of author fiat. He wasn't particularly criminally sophisticated, he had little restraint and a huge ego. He would not have been hard to bait into contacting the police and from there it's all downhill.

[Luis Dias]

I think the first season was fine, except for some arcs. The second went downhill. I do agree that the major thing going for Kira was the novelty of his methods, but his eagerness and naiveté was pushed down by L right at the get go when he was able to pinpoint Kira to Tokyo. I think many episodes were really cool and clever. Some machinations he pulled off were smart and surprising. Also, the art style was good, something I cannot say about Code Geass.

Code Geass's only redeeming attribute is its giant mech battles, something you can get in much more satisfying (and sensical) fashion by watch Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team.

Yeah, I wasn't terribly moved by the mech battles in Geass. They felt like a blend of typical mechs with some Attack on Titan hooks. The chess theme wasn't even properly developed. Even one episode of Cowboy Bebop did it far better.

[Scotty]

War In The Pocket, not 08th MS. Better in every way.

Not that 08th MS is bad, necessarily, it's just that when you stop and think about everything Shiro Amada is a bit of a ****.

I will take a bit of a **** over a whiny 10 year old any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Plus the fights in 08th are more numerous and have the benefit of more modern animation.

[NGTM-1R]

I will take a bit of a **** over a whiny 10 year old any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Plus the fights in 08th are more numerous and have the benefit of more modern animation.

The whole point of the kid is that he's out of touch with the reality of things until the end, where it all becomes brutally clear and he has a major breakdown because god knows he should.

Shiro by contrast basically walks off a war he knows more than any other Gundam protagonist is a moral necessity. He saw Zeon kill billions of people with his own eyes, in an incredibly painful and degrading way; he is an eye-witness to the greatest crime in human history. (Even the colony drop could at least be defended as a military action intended to achieve a military objective; the gassing of the majority of the colonies not so much.) He knows they have to be stopped. It's not that he has the mother of all PTSD from it. It's not that he can't handle things when his black-and-white view of reality is deconstructed because we actually see him work through it and keep fighting. He just walks away because Aina's hot. Such is the depth of his reasoning.

[Scotty]

I'm not arguing that Shiro is a better protagonist, I'm saying I'd rather watch 08th MS Team if I want to be entertained than War in the Pocket.  The kid gets on my nerves.  Whether it's better writing or not is irrelevant: I like 08th MS Team better, and will recommend it as a better vehicle with which to watch giant robot fights.

[Mongoose]

A friend of mine advised me to watch Code Geass.

I'm unimpressed. A mediocre attempt to copycat Death's Note without any of its charm. Everything is sudden, unintelligent, told not shown, and the 1st series doesn't even end in a satisfying manner (like Death Note 1st season did). I'm struggling with the decision to continue watching it.

Personally, "charm" is the last thing I'd use to describe Death Note.  Plenty of unintentional (or perhaps intentional on the anime team's part) hamming-it-up drama and L funtimes and "shut up Matsuda" moments, but not so much charm.  Light is one of the most insufferable little ****s I've ever stumbled across in anime, and any potential for moral complexity gets chucked out the window within the first episode when he goes full-Stalin.  Most of the so-called complexity of it is Light and L talking circles around each other ("No, now it is I who am over here!")  Plus the show makes one of the most bafflingly-awful creative missteps I've ever seen in fiction: 

Spoiler:

Sure, let's kill off your most compelling character halfway through, and replace him with two cardboard cutouts that no one gives a **** about!

 
Beyond the I'LL TAKE A POTATO CHIP...AND EAT IT!, I guess what I did enjoy the most is Ryuk doing pretty much everything for lulz.  Just didn't do it for me.

In contrast, I found Code Geass to be substantially more fun, with the significant caveat that you absolutely have to turn off your brain for significant stretches because lol, animu.  The second season in particular wound up turning into this gloriously awesome trainwreck that you had to watch to see what the hell it would pull off next.  Even so, I found Lelouch to be a far more compelling protagonist than Light could ever hope to be: he actually maintained humanity behind his megalomania and had a legitimate moral purpose behind what he did, even if his methods were often reprehensible.  Plus it had table-humping and robots making giant pizza...what's not to love?

[StarSlayer]

I will freely admit War in the Pocket has some choice dank Suits, the MS-14Jg and RGM-79SP being personal favorites

But at the end of the day...

[AdmiralRalwood]

The best thing to come out of Code Geass:

[Luis Dias]

I have to confess that the second season is much better than the first. If you skip all the irrelevant "school" bits, it's actually an interesting show. And unlike in the first season, there are actually "ideas" in it. Most of them are retrieved from obvious sources, but still.

Thanks for your pushback. Without it, I would probably not watch the second season.


Regardless, I have skipped the generous suggestions to watch gundam and instead resorted to follow some people's advice and see Mr Robot. 3 episodes in and I'm really impressed. It's very good! And the one thing that impressed me the most was how code was dealt with. They were actually able to film code correctly and with tension! I had never seen that before, so that's a congratulations.

OTOH, Tyrell Wellick seems like an over the top, unfinished, unpolished character. And that first dialogue between him and the protag is cringe.

So, so far, if we just ignore this character, everything is really impressive. I totally recommend it.

[GhylTarvoke]

Just started The Walking Dead. I really like it.

Question for everybody: do you think the decision to kill a zombie would be difficult for most people? I don't think it would (even if the zombie were a loved one, or if zombies weren't part of popular culture). The experience would be traumatic, but I think most people would make the decision and go through with it.