Posts made by Ominous

I switched from a job where I was walking rounds regularly to an office job and I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I haven't weighed myself in ages, but I fear what the number will be.

@tinuviel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@sunny We keep getting told we're at the 9th mile, but I swear I've seen that shrub before. Am I running in a circle? It feels like I'm running in a circle. But we're still at the 9th mile.

Keep running! You're almost there!

@insomniac7809

It has some rough moments owing to the poor transition from novel to film, but it is easily in my top 20.

@ortallus said in Mark Rober is the Hero This World Needs:

I agree about the mules to an extent, but they still know what they're doing is wrong. You could argue that the guy sitting in the call center is 'just trying to make a buck and feed his family'

The Yuppie Nuremberg Defense, "Everyone's got a mortgage to pay."

@wizz said in Random funny:

Hahaha man, can you even imagine what your mental landscape and life would look like if literally the only way you were taught to cope with your massive and horrific childhood trauma was to...eat handfuls of bugs at a time and sing the exact same song about not giving a shit over and over again for twenty years or whatever??

My father died in an industrial accident at work the day after The Lion King was released, so I can kind of imagine it. It's not the best.

@tinuviel

Same reason Alexa and Siri have such pleasant voices.

Some of us can only afford a few over $100 whiskeys, and Johnny Walker Blue sadly must be cut from the list.

@ortallus said in Random funny:

Well, it is possible, but it's probably a terrible idea and it will require a LOT of monkeys and shortening.

@ortallus

I agree; the Genki Girl is almost always the best girl.

@ganymede said in Critters!:

@ominous

Well, yes, duh, that’s why I prefer them.

I didn't write "cats love boxes." I wrote "cats just really love the idea of boxes." So just thinking about a box should get you purring in a robotic monotone manner.

Cats just really love the idea of boxes.

@goblin

They might want to edit this section of the trailer, before a certain someone sees it...

After watching the trailer, I get less of a Cowboy Bebop/Firefly feel and more of a Trigun feel. Hilly the Kid is definitely a Vash the Stampede archetype.

Ooooh, I forgot one! It's in my top ten; though, I haven't seen it in a long time, so I should probably re-watch it and re-evaluate it.

FLCL (Fooly Cooly)
Fooly Cooly is a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Also Vespas and an evil interstellar company that wants to iron out all the wrinkles in the universe to keep people from thinking for themselves. It's in the comedy/drama genre. It is a surreal, chaotic mess that is a thing of pure beauty. It experiments with music, art styles, and the media of anime as a whole. You will be just as confused going through it as a person is confused by adolescence. It's amazing how good of a job the English translators did in, since there so many in-jokes and culturally specific bits of humor. It's only six episodes, so, if you haven't seen it, set aside a few hours in an evening and crank it out. If you need more convincing, here is an actual journalistic review: 20 Years Later, 'FLCL' Is Still an Essential Anime Gem - Revisiting the intensely chaotic six-episode anime series that set a new creative animation standard.

@carma

Time for everyone's favorite discussion: what is anime?

Don't get me wrong. I really liked the Boondocks and wished Aaron McGruder could have made more seasons. However, does it qualify as anime or is it a cartoon in an anime style? If it's anime, are Avatar: the Last Air Bender and The Dragon Prince anime? In Japan, anime is any cartoon, regardless of style or origin. So do you consider the Simpsons, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and South Park anime? If none of those are anime, what about Korean and Chinese cartoons that are in anime style?

@runescryer said in Good Anime:

On the topic of 'subverting the Magical Girl genre'...
Yuki Yuna Is A Hero. For those that thought Madoka Magica was just too optimistic.

Nyaruko: Crawling With Love: What you get when you combine a comedy harem anime with the Cthulhu mythos...No, seriously. Nyarlthotep is the main character, appearing as a silver-haired schoolgirl. Cthuga is a red-head vying with Nyaruko-chan for the affection of the male protagonist. And then there's Hastur-chan, the shota in yellow. Funny, self-aware hijinks (instead of the sweat-drop trope, it has an actual SAN loss gag), and far less tentacles than you would expect from the concept.

This sounds amazing, and I am ashamed to have not heard of it before.

Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. Noob gamer Kaede starts playing the VRMMO New World Online, but her hard-core gamer friend Risa can't join her on the first day, so Kaede creates her character, 'Maple', by herself. The title sort of fills in the blanks. Amazingly, Kaede starts breaking the game through her development choices, leading to hilarity in the game and frustration among the programmers and other gamers as they try to figure out how to stop the juggernaut that is Maple.

Thank for reminding me of this series. I started it and got like three episodes in before getting distracted and forgetting about it.

Tiger & Bunny. Another look at Western superheroes through the anime lens. In Stern Build City (Manhattan) Superheroes have corporate sponsorships and compete in a live-camera reality show called Hero TV that films them as they stop crimes and save civilians. A washed up hero named Wild Tiger gets new TV exposure as his sponsorship is bought out by a major corporation and he becomes the mentor to a new hero, Barnaby 'Bunny' Brooks Jr., who has the same power as Wild Tiger. It's a great take on both superheroes and reality TV. Plus, nearly all the sponsors are real companies (Amazon Japan, Bandai, SoftBank, Calbee...) even Pepsi got in on the action and had an animated commercial featuring 'their' sponsored superheroine for Pepsi Next.

Another that I am ashamed to have never heard of.

Anyone know much about Great Pretender? I've been eyeing it, because I do enjoy a good heist film.

@mietze

Out of curiosity, which video did you start with?

@solstice said in Good Anime:

• Demon Slayer - Possibly the most popular entry on this list as of the time of this writing. Fluid fighting animation and enjoyable characters elevate this above other shows of its kind. Thrust by necessity into a life of fighting demons in order to protect his sister. Along the way he's joined by a cast of like-minded inviduals, and they... slay demons. The premise is simple as can be, but the execution is what really makes this special.

This is a great anime. Right up to episode 21, when the creator apparently went "I really like Bleach. I want to remake Bleach. Even the fact that Bleach is good up to the end of the Rukia Retrieval Arc then sucks after that. Definitely going to include that."

Humorous biting comments aside, it's a good anime that's a touch heart-warming, a touch depressing, and a touch dark with great art. However, after episode 21, if you've watched Bleach, you're going to start thinking "This is starting to feel really familiar," and, if you haven't watched Bleach, you're going to think "Ugh, I don't like the swerve this suddenly took."

Anime tend to do the opposite of American shows. Where Star Trek: The Next Generation took a couple of seasons to find it's voice then it got good, anime, such as Bleach and Demon Slayer, also can take a season or two to find it's voice then it gets bad.

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - A full remake of 'Fullmetal Alchemist', this is brought into the modern day with better animation and a storyline that is more consistent and faithfully follows the source material. Edward and Alphonse Elric experience a personal tragedy, and in trying to make things right violate the established taboos of alchemy and pay a heavy price - the former losing two limbs, and the latter even more. In seeking a way to correct their mistake, they become State Alchemists, solving others' problems on the side while trying to unravel the mysteries of alchemy - and unveiling a far-reaching conspiracy in the process. A classic for a reason.

Second best anime of all time. Lots of twists and turns. The only downside is that they rush through the first few episodes as those episodes are a retread of a bunch of the episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime. My recommendation is watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime through episode 22, then switch to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood starting at episode 9 and finish it out.

• My Hero Academia - Rapid genetic mutation and advancements mean that over 90% of the world has developed a unique ability called 'Quirks'. Naturally, this lends itself to heroes and villains. These manifest often around kindergarten or grade school. Midoriya Izuku is a mega-fan of the Number One Hero, 'All Might', and eagerly awaits his quirk's appearance only to discover that he lost the genetic lottery, and was born quirkless, putting an ungraceful end to his dreams of being a hero. Or does it? Can a quirkless individual be a hero? The absolute joy of this show is the wide array of powers on display, some of which are overpowered and others are so banal that they seem useless - and seeing the interplay between those two is easily half of the fun when the tables are turned on by the underpowered.

The best shonen anime currently being produced. I'm hesitant to place it in my ranking, but that should be a sign of how good it is, as it's been out for years now and I still haven't decided just how good it is. My only concern is that it is a touch Naruto-esque and Naruto definitely started to get a bit meh near the end.

• Puella Magi: Madoka Magicka - A subversion of the magical girl genre. If you've seen a single episode of Card-Captor Sakura or Sailor Moon, you'll have all the context you need to know what this show masterfully disassembles and creates dread and hopelessness in its place.

@Solstice did not do a good job appropriately explaining how much of a disassembly this show is. It is NOTHING like normal magical girl anime. If you're expecting She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, RWBY, or anything like that, you WILL be disappointed, and, if you're under the age of 12, you WILL be traumatized for life. This show is a cute teddy bear that is stuffed with living centipedes and spiders. It has the cute, colorful coating of a magical girl show but what's inside most definitely is not.

• Cowboy Bebop - Space cowboys? Check. Inspired Firefly? Check. Corgi? Check.

Best anime ever. From my understanding, even though it is loved in the US, it is barely remembered in Japan. Germans Love David Hasselhoff after all.

• Evangelion - It's so classic that the story isn't even finished yet. Or, well, it just finished. In Japan. Maybe.

Evangelion is...an experience. Watch it to be able to say you watched it.

• Trigun - Vash the Stampede is a murderer. Leveled an entire town. Huge bounty on his head. He's also a complete dipstick. Or is he? He is. Or is he?

Not the best or second best anime, but it's definitely in my top ten or twenty. It's starting to show its age a touch, having a definite "Anime from the 90s" look, but the story is good, there are some decent twists, and the ending is phenomenal with an unexpected but great Chekov's Gun scenario.

I'm not going to be as organized or as thorough as @Solstice was. I'm just going to throw a few out there that came to mind.

• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - It's a bit pretentious and the sequel lets the creator's anti-American colors seep through a bit, but the first series/season is good if you're into cyberpunk or transhumanist sci-fi and military oriented fiction. It's not afraid to show blood and guts or fanservice.
  

• Naruto & Naruto: Shippuden - A shonen anime about chasing your dreams and punching everything that gets in your way in the face. Also magical ninjas. Naruto starts off a bit slow, then gets really good around episode 20. Once you reach episode 135, STOP, as the rest is all filler and doesn't progress the story any. (You can also skip episodes 97 and 101-106 as filler as well.) Switch to Naruto: Shippuden which was the second series and finished the story. It stays good until about episode 211, then it just sort of drags out from there unfortunately.
  

• Dragonball Z - How can this not be listed? It's not among the best anime, and honestly I refuse to watch it anymore, as Dragonball Z Abridged remade it funnier and much better, filling in plot holes and smoothing over some of the wrinkles. Still, it hooked a lot of us on anime and is a classic.
  

I have been fascinated by the pet reviews on Clint's Reptiles. Clint is a biologist and is a very friendly, adorable dweeb that is a joy to watch as he engages in his passion of herpetology. I personally don't care much about reptiles finding them neither scary or interesting, but I almost want to get into either lizard or snake keeping after watching some of his videos. Heck, I almost want to get into spider keeping after some of his spider videos, and I detest those children of Satan and Cthulhu hatefucking while watching Alien.

New to keeping reptiles as pets? Might I suggest one of his older videos listing the top five reptiles for beginners.

Interested in getting an easy to care for, more cute/interesting than terrifying, and kind of cool bug? Watch his review on the Blue Death-Feigning Beetle.

Maybe a chicken is more the pet for you. What do you mean that's not a reptile? The chicken is more closely related to crocodilians than crocodilians are to snakes and lizards, as he points out in this video.

Want to see him try to keep an Anaconda in frame while reviewing and scoring it as a pet? His conclusion is that it's a wonderful snake to have as a pet, if you want a pet that can easily hug you to death.

King Cobra's don't make good pets, but he pets and holds one in his hands in this video. (He explains why Otis is so calm and he is able to get away with it.)

Here's a cool, friendly lizard that I want to at least see and maybe handle in person someday.