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Animedragon

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Status Updates posted by Animedragon

  1. I've been seeing a lot more anime related content on my Facebook feed recently, I suppose it's really all my fault for liking and commenting on a couple of anime postings. On the plus side it has made FB a lot more interesting.

  2. So, here's my comments and thoughts about the new series I watched in 2023.

    Insomniacs After School For me this is the best series of the year. An interesting and enjoyable series about a couple of high school students who both decide independently of each other to use their school's abandoned observatory to catch up on the sleep they can't get at night. This leads on to them restarting the school's astronomy club and going out at night to take photographs of the night sky with a lot of help from a former student. I liked the way the relationship between the two main characters developed, although this did mean that the focus shifted more towards their activities with the astronomy club but that I think was a good thing.

    The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. In anime when a series has a title like that you're never quite sure what you're going to get! But in this case the "angel" is just an ordinary girl-next-door who has acquired the nick-name "Angel", which she hates, at school. The story is another Slice of Life romance, but the way the story unfolds with the growing friendship between the two main characters and their relationships with their families and friends along with the excellent artwork and animation are what really lifts this series above the rest.

    Kaina of the Great Snow Sea is a Sci-Fi series with an amazing and imaginative piece of world building. In a world where a small number of people live high up in the canopy of the great trees while the rest live on the surface on islands separated by a sea of snow and are at war with each other a girl from the surface and a boy from the canopy meet and embark on a mission to change the world. The series sort of stops short leaving the story hanging. However, the story continues in the movie which is impressive and action filled with a well paced story that provides a good ending to the series.

    BanG Dream! It's My Go. The latest release from BanG Dream, the huge multi-media franchise about high school girls forming bands and doing concerts. Earlier series featured friends getting together and overcoming difficulties and forming their bands. What sets "It's My Go" apart is that it centres on a group of girls who were members of a band that broke up when one of their members left. Some of them want to form a new band, others want to re-form their old band and others want nothing to do with bands any more. This leads to quite a bit of conflict between the girls  which creates an interesting and engrossing storyline which to my mind lifts the series above the usual "girls form a band" series. What I liked about this series is that the interactions between the main characters is more at the centre of the story than the band, the band side of the story is still there, but much more in the background. The series also has what I think is the best song of 2023 "Haru Hikage" ("Spring Sunlight") the lyrics of which hit home on so many levels.

    The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses. The trailers for this series promised so much, but the series delivered so little! The titular girl who forgot her glasses was an interesting character, but sadly the guy who liked her was a wishy-washy non-entity who had no character development throughout the series. With a stronger male MC there could have been a much better interaction between the two main characters and been quite a decent and interesting series.

    16bit Sensation Another Layer. This one had an intriguing storyline involving time travel, but it wasn't the usual time travel storyline as it had an interesting twist to it. I thought the story started well, but as it progressed more and more complexities were added and towards the end some those were unbelievable which I felt dragged the story down with the result that it tried to pull everything together in a rush in the final episode which resulted in something that had been presented as an important plot point being forgotten. I think that if the events of the final episode had been spread over two episodes the series would have had a much better ending.

    MF Ghost.This is a story about a half English half Japanese guy who arrives in Japan to find his family roots and take part in the MFG street race. As this is a motor-sport themed series the car racing takes up a large percentage of each episode, and it's certainly packed full of dramatic action race scenes. There is a story somewhere in there but it's rather left in the pit lane, hopefully it will become more prominent in series 2. Yes, there will be a series 2 it was announced at the end of the final episode, which ended on a cliffhanger. The only issue I have with the series is the amount of fan-service, the MFG Angels, grid girls, are clad in bikinis and I do wonder just how many close-up shots of their backsides are really needed.

    Shy. From what I'd seen in the trailers I wasn't expecting much from this series. With a main character who is nervous, introverted, lacking in confidence and seriously shy I thought that it didn't really have a lot going for it, but I was wrong. With the aid of her friends our shy heroine's character starts to develop into someone much more capable, although still not quite sure of herself but still able to rise to the occasion and do what is needed. In the series she's referred to as a "Hero", but I think she has all the requirements to be a "Magical Girl", she has a magic item with which to transform into her "Hero" outfit, she has a Special Attack and she even has a mascot creature. However, as the series progresses the visuals and storyline are more along the lines of Madoka Magica than Sailor Moon. Much to my surprise I quite enjoyed watching this series, which has quite decent artwork and animation quality and an intriguing storyline. The final episode ends with a cliffhanger and a second series is apparently coming.


    This post turned out to be a lot longer than I intended, and well done for making it to the end, but I wanted to say more about each series than just "I liked this" or "I didn't like this".

  3. I wish everyone on here on the forum a very Happy Christmas.

    1. viruxx

      viruxx

      To you as well, sir! Merry Christmas!

    2. Sakura

      Sakura

      Merry Christmas to you! 🎄

    3. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      Merry Christmas

      spacer.png

  4. So, December has come around again. But what makes this December special is that is it marks the first anniversary of my subscription to Crunchyroll and a having a broadband service fast enough to stream video without buffering every few minutes.

    One of the big pluses is being able to watch series a few weeks after it aired rather than a few years after it aired, always assuming it even got a UK DVD/Blu-ray release which quite a few series don't get.

    Over the past 12 months I've watched a huge amount of new anime, some of it very new and some of it rather old but new to me. Quite a lot of the series I've watched I'd never even heard of before I subscribed to CR. The series I watched were a fairly mixed bag, some I thought weren't bad but weren't all that good either, some were quite decent, and others were so good I wanted to watch them again (and I already have for some). But out of all the new series I've watched this year the ones that really stood out for me were, in no particular order:

    Yurucamp.
    A Place Further Than the Universe.
    Chihayafuru.
    Hyouka.
    The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten.

     

    1. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      Yeah, streaming really does broaden what’s available & enables you to check out series you’re not sure about before buying a physical copy. Agree with Yuru Camp & A Place Further than the Universe being a couple of CR’s best series. Probably won’t post my own Favorites/Disappointments of 2023 until the middle on January since there are a number of series I plan to binge. Also that’s usually the deadline for the “awards” thread over in one of my MAL Clubs (not really official in anyway, just some members “voting” for various categories).

    2. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      I won't be posting my favourites of 2023 until January either as I've still got a few I want to watch once they've finished airing and like you I want to binge them.

    3. Sakura

      Sakura

      Crunchyroll is amazing. I don't know what I would do without it lol It really does let you watch a lot of shows you never would have thought of or knew existed otherwise. 

  5. I don't like this time of year. Not only is it cold but the bright low sun angle is blinding when I'm out in my car because it's below the sun visors and it shows up all the dust on my shelves and such like in my house. Dust is very annoying because no matter how often you remove it, it comes back!!!!

    1. Bulletje76

      Bulletje76

      I have the same sun problem when i am driving, annoying. But i love this time of the year. Not hot like the summer, no musquitos (hate them). And it is so cozy and warm to stay at home. Also i sit in the forest with a raincoat. I hear the rain falling on my body. I smell the forest . Awesome. And hot chocolate drink after

  6. Crunchyroll here in the UK seems to be having a bit of a 'bad hair day'.  I get just over three quarters of the way through an episode then bang! the screen goes black with a little message that says "Oops, something went wrong, tray again", this has happened several times over the last two days. 😡

    There's a few series in my personal DVD collection that I'd like to watch again, so I think this gives me an opportunity to watch them. 🙂

    Hopefully the "something that went wrong" will have been sorted out by the time I've seen the DVDs I want to watch.

  7. I spent a huge chunk of today watching the TV coverage of the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey, the traditional place for coronations since 1066. The procession after the service was amazing and even though I've seen royal processions before I'm always impressed by the Household Cavalry in their traditional uniforms.

  8. Happy Easter everyone.

     

    (and however you do, or don't celebrate Easter, try not to eat too many Easter eggs.)

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      The Easter Eggs we eat in the UK are made of chocolate and come in a variety of sizes.

      Traditionally they're given to children, but a lot of adults like them too.

    3. viruxx

      viruxx

      Happy Easter to you as well! I'm trying to cut refined sugar out of my diet as much as I can lately, so sadly, no Reese's for me. I've been 'trying' to get used to dark chocolate, but it's been a bit difficult. 😭

      I don't suppose breakfast omelets count, do they? 😋

    4. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      Dark chocolate is definitely an acquired taste, but once you get used to it the ordinary milk chocolate just isn't as good.

      Dark chocolate is better for you as well.

  9. Trains feature in quite a lot of anime series, which suits me just fine as a railway enthusiast. 🙂
    On Saturday I visited, fairly local, heritage railway centre to see four of the former Great Western Railway's magnificent Castle class locomotives gathered together in one place which is not a common sight any more. Three of them were in steam and moving around the site during the day. 🚂 🚂 🚂 🚂 😃
    It was a great day out, but today my old legs are suffering from the effects of a lot walking and standing around in the cold weather. 😱 🥶

    Castles.jpg.a3cee881ab1ba51f2544c1bb316c5827.jpg

    The four Castles outside the loco shed, and a very small part of the huge crowd that came to see them.

  10. This morning was bright and sunny and the low winter sun was streaming in through my windows, how nice I thought. 😃

    The I noticed that the nice bright low sun was also showing up all the dust on my tables, mirrors and such like. 😱

    Dust is an annoying thing, as fast as I remove it, it comes back!! 😡

    1. viruxx

      viruxx

      Ahh, the eternal struggle of dust removal. Thanks for reminding me that I need to do some spring-cleaning soon. 😭

    2. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      Sorry for spoiling your day. 🙂

  11. The long cold January is finally over. Only February to get through now. 🙂

    Did I mention that January and February are my least favourite months?

    1. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      Sadly a certain overgrown rodent saw his shadow today locally

  12. I've just noticed that I won the day yesterday, which takes my total of 'days won' to 50, which I think is quite impressive. 😃

    It also quite possibly means that I spend far too much time on AF ! 😃

    1. viruxx

      viruxx

      Congrats on 50 wins! Here's to the next 50! 😁

  13. Winning the Day on January 1st is a good way to start the New Year. 😄

  14. I wish everyone here on AF a Very Happy New Year.

    1. viruxx

      viruxx

      Happy New Year to you as well!

  15. I've got an earworm!

    "Song for Friends", the closing song from episodes 3,8 & 9 of Little Busters Refrain keeps playing in my head.  It's a nice song so I don't really mind it being an earworm.

     

    1. Kōyamaki

      Kōyamaki

      You're right, it is a nice song. Haven't watched a single episode of this so cannot comment on the story. I have seen you mention it before though.

  16. There's two things I really don't like about this time of year.

    1: Is the cold weather.

    2: The low bright winter sun that's always below my car's sun visor so that I have trouble seeing where I'm going.

    1. viruxx

      viruxx

      This! It's always in the early morning and the late evening when the sun makes driving difficult. In my case, the sun seems to settle between my sun visor and rear-view mirror. 😫

      I'm looking forward to spring's arrival. It's always so dreary when all the leaves have fallen off the trees around here.

    2. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      Was having this issue with the sun about a month ago, but not so much now. Sadly due to the fact that it ‘s generally dark when I leave for work & dark when I head back home 😢

  17. Last week I upgraded my Internet service to something a good deal faster so streaming is now a practical proposition.

    As a result I've now taken out a subscription to Crunchyroll. Which means I can now watch those series that are not available on DVD/Blue-ray or are too expensive to buy. 🙂

    1. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      Congrats. As someone who came late to streaming myself (just 5 years ago), I can say it certainly broadened my enjoyment of anime. Not sure how CR’s UK library compares to the US though.

    2. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      There's quite a large selection in their UK library. I've made a start with My Dress up Darling, the interaction between the two main characters is very good and great fun to watch.

    3. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      If I might be so bold, some future suggestions based on past series you noted enjoying: Fruits Basket (2019 - 2021 version) • A Place Further than the Universe •  Vivy Fluorite Eye's Song • Laidback Camp • Bocchi the Rock

  18. Look what the postman delivered this morning. 😃 😃

    I'm going to re-watch the TV series then watch the movie.

    VE-Movie.thumb.jpg.41428da01a15feac238817872caab397.jpg

  19. 😃 I had an e-mail this morning to tell me that the Violet Evergarden Movie that I pre-ordered months ago has been dispatched. 😃 😃

    1. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      I've had an e-mail from the Royal Mail to tell me that due to a two day strike by the postal workers union my parcel will be delayed. 😡

      Not that I should be surprised by this, going on strike is a bit of a national pastime at the moment and those professions that haven't yet gone on strike are considering it.

  20. The birds in my area are obviously hungry. I looked out through the window into the back garden this morning and saw that both my bird feeders are almost empty, and I filled them up this time last week!

    When there's a break in the rain I'll go out and replenish them and do my bit to help the local wildlife.

  21. Aarrgghhh!!!!!!!!

    I've just discovered that mice, or some similar rodent, has been eating the top of my car's screen wash bottle!  😡

     

    MICE.jpg

    1. Ohayotaku

      Ohayotaku

      I see you got a pic of the culprit :P 

      I had a gable vent on the side of my garage fall out early in the year & then the replacement get mangled over the summer. Turns out it was a family of raccoons (had to have them trapped & relocated). Fortunately just superficial damage & got a stronger screen put on the inside to hopefully avoid a repeat. 

    2. Deeath

      Deeath

      Oh no! Little rascal! >:3
      he kinda cute tho? :0 

  22. I've installed a new graphics card in my PC, but this time I didn't follow the instructions that came with it and go to the manufacturers website to download the drivers I did that last time and driver install messed up the screen resolution and scattered all my icons randomly around the screen. It took ages to sort the mess out. 😡

    This time I just told the PC to update the drivers and it went to Microsoft Update found and installed the correct driver with no messing about. 😀

    1. Kōyamaki

      Kōyamaki

      Did it have an Nvidia or an AMD GPU chip? Generally it is said that Nvidia/G-Force plays nice with Windows out of the box and that AMD/ ATI Radeon GPU chips play nice with non-Windows systems. That's a little rule of thumb about choosing the right one for your hardware.

    2. Animedragon

      Animedragon

      It's an Nvidia Geforce GPU.

  23. It's temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius I have trouble with. 🥵

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