OK, I've binge-watched season 1 several times now since it's release on BD. I have to say that the anime pace and what is included/left out gives me a different take on Catarina vs. Katarina.

The actions of Catarina are more like, "Oh yes, this is a death flag! I have to do something about it," but then she acts just like her original incarnation in Japan... Friendly towards everyone around her, not changing her (previous life's) behavior. Even falling on Keith had a precedent in falling out of a tree onto A-chan.

Maybe it's just how compressed things are in the anime. Guess I'll have to re-read the novels again at a similar pace.

@paulnamida I saw this one coming. The first season, for all its faults, actually did very well on Japanese and Chinese streaming sites. Then the BDs actually sold out (BD Volume 1 at least) over the course of the anime's run. Then there's the crowdfunding that hit nearly twice its original goal.

Granted I couldn't be 100% sure, but all the factors I mentioned was why I was optimistic for a second season.

Well, if it was not a 1 cour series I would have been extremely disappointed by that ending of season 1. An abrupt end which well left a lot of threads, many reveals and the most mellow climax.
The series is very slow paced, which matches the novel in a sense, but personally, I felt the pacing could have been a little faster.

so this deal is now final and in reading the news/press releases it looks like Funimation is looking forward to welcoming Crunchyroll's staff/IPs (hinting that CR is going away? Funimation will remain?) what this means for VRV and the Sony licensed titles on Hulu, I have no idea- I'm in wait and see mode before I start cancelling services (hoping for some promo benefit for 'active' subscribers when whatever change happens, happens)

my heart goes out to the folks at CR doing translation work/ subtitles- I'm guessing many of them will soon be out of a job (redundancies/'synergies' whatnot when mergers happen- I doubt Sony will let many of their own folks go)

I'm cynical by nature - I believe that this will lead to less quality in translations of 'subs' and more of the same mediocre 'dubs' and my costs not going down- Sony needs to make back $1.2B

On the 'bright' side maybe more translators available to bolster Kadokowa's direct LN plan or in the talent pool for other TL work ?

I finally signed up for Funimation and watched the anime.

That "maybe it's yuri" ending is out of left field for readers of the LNs. As of volume 6 which takes place after the anime, there is nothing like that in the LNs. Yuna sees Fina as a friend / little sister. No yuri, no loli harem.

The only hints of yuri are with adults

spoiler

Ignoring the ending, it did a decent job of covering the highlights of the LNs, but anyone who enjoyed it really should read the LNs too. They left out a lot of fun content to cram 5 volumes into 12 episodes.

@pcj - it's definitely fun to see everyone animated and to watch some of the highlights from the LNs. Also, it's leaving out a lot but not actively changing things the way the Abilities Average anime did.

@father_v I believe that's because that movie adapts a story arc from roughly the middle of the manga without having any set up for the people who are unfamiliar with the series and have never read the original manga. I assume you have never read the manga so your experience of the movie was understandably middling; I as someone who has read up volume 15 would get a lot more out of it given I already know who all the characters are, their backstories and motivations etc.

I actually don't consider Mugen Train to be a movie per say, I think it's a half cour of the tv anime in movie format that has been broadcast in theaters. In other words, it's not a movie but season 1.5 of the show

As @Rahul-Balaggan said some Dubs are untouchable. Bear in mind, I'm a guy from Latin America, the lands that (mostly) do the best Dubbing Ever! (For example, the DB franchise)

Now, this was long before the old hags of the ENCHILO (Enemies of the damned Otaku Reader, in Spanish) came and did get Caritele canceled, prompting Telerisa to cut off the funding for its Anime offerings, the Great Dubs of Mazinger Z in the '80s and the three Big ones of the '90s (Saint Seiya, Knights of the Zodiac -with the Spanish adaptation of the french Opening-, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z) are the DEFINITIVE Dubs, some Even surpassing the original Japanese Release IMHO.

There are many more shows that became Cemented with their Dubs (Captain Tsubasa --The Super Champions until the 2019 series-, Digimon -Up until Fusion, which Dubbing was made based on the INFERIOR English Dub-, Slayers -The avengers, Justicieros-, Utena --The Magical Ring- Nube, Goal FH -Scorers-) and many more are rather watched Dubbed while others (Evangelion, Fafner) are Subbed -I fondly remember staying up to Midnight to, in complete Darkness, watch both shows while everyone else was asleep- Finally, the English Dubbed ones from when our local Cable Provider had set up 'Murican Cartoon Network instead of LatAm Cartoon Network. Things like Trugun, G Gundam, The Big (ass, Badass) O and even Hamtaro! We're well liked by me.

And then there's the Jetix Age. Thanks to Jetix the Dubs of the Digimanz up to Savers, Shaman King, Megaman NT Warrior were enjoyed their best with the impressive Spanish (Latin american) Dubs.

Nowadays I watch most of the shows Subbed, with Some Exceptions (Youjo Senki, The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Super Loli Nazi Is a show that I Downloaded Subbed, English Dubbed AND Spanish Dubbed).

I honestly couldn't get into the series, but I'll try it again.

@mystyk Same.

@paulnamida I recentley reread vol 1 to 10, on the spider chapters thou. And noticed that in the LN Kumoko said naiwa less often than I remembered. How it was used often in the WN making it iconic for me

@renofury said in The Top Five JNC series you wish would get an anime:

Third - The Sorcerer's Receptionist - This is one of my favorites LN, it just hooked me from the start I loved the interactions of Nanalie and Rockman thou it is about time that Alois confessed.

I would love to see this as an anime, but given the intricacy of the plot, I don't think it could work without at least 26 episodes, and that's a hard sell these days. Trimming this one to 12 or 13 episodes would either leave major unresolved plot hanging at the end (and then never have another season to resolve it) or would lose half the plot in the middle.

I just finished the first volume last week and thought damn this would make a funny anime for a roomcom. Luckily roomcoms are booming again in JP.

I would never have thought that reading a roomcom as a novel would be that entertaining. At least in this genre I had a "need to watch it to find it funny" attitude.

2nd ep was very interesting, especially those Po po po sounds in the background if you listen to it closely during the Hasshaku-sama scene. Also, they made Abarato hot, erm, quite decent here (vs the manga).

As for the OP and ED songs, the translated lyrics do fit the inner struggles of the main characters, I know Funimation doesn't have those translated but if you get the chance to watch the Ani-One subbed version, you'll see what I mean.

Speaking of which, there's a mistranslation Funi did in one of the scenes, you'll know what it is, especially if you started with the novels.

And also, next episode is an anime original, so that's something I'm looking forward to

In no particular order my list is:

Otherside Picnic: will definitely be watching this one at noon with all the lights on, not a fan of horror but really I like the characters so I got check it out. [JNC title]

That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2: enjoyed the first season, looking forward to this one

So I'm a Spider, So What?: love the LN, its probably my favorite non-JNC title right now, worried they wont get to the really good stuff in the later volumes; cautiously optimistic.

Horimiya: adore the manga, romcom with great character development, doesn't rely on archetypes as a crutch, projected to be one of faves of the season

Cells at Work/Cells at Work Black: fun story, great action and you learn about biology while you're at it. What's not to love?😊

Heaven's Design Team: Read the first volume of the manga and really enjoyed it, it's basically a Cells at Work for Zoology

list of shows I'll check out but not sure if I'll stick with

Vlad Love: saw the first episode, thought it was good. Has a early 2000s romcom vibe

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a starter town: Read the first volume of the LN, it was fun, so I'll watch it.

Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki: premise intrigues me

SK8 the Infinity: looks interesting, watched the promo and thought it looked cool.

Wonder Egg Priority: intrigued, like the character design, and original works are always worth checking out

So I have a pretty full dance card this winter 😊

@lighthawk96

Sorry for getting to this thread so late. @Lily-Garden Gave a very good general response that I don't think I can top. But I did want to make a few specific comments.

Anime is its own medium. It is well-suited for certain kinds of storytelling. I mostly look for an anime to tell a compelling story in a way that uses the strengths of the medium to maximum effect. Compared to many people, I think that my expectations tend to be very forgiving when watching an anime adaptation of a beloved story. Indeed, I've noticed that people get really upset when the anime makes changes to a story. But for me, I expect the anime to make changes... otherwise what is even the point? I've read (or can read) the LN, so please tell me something than can only be expressed through a visual medium. It's a bit like when I listen to a cover of a beloved song - I will be disappointed if it is too true to the original. After all, I can go back and listen to the original at any time. Instead, I want a cover artist to reinterpret the song for me. When done well, I can re-experience the joy hearing a beloved piece of music for the first time. I feel roughly the same about anime adaptations.

I get really annoyed by the "alpha geek" tendency within niche sub-cultures to hate everything that isn't obscure or old or original. Only the original version released 40 years ago is good enough for the alpha geek (and if the original isn't 40 years old yet, he will find it inferior to something that is). This individual will find glee in pointing out every single discrepancy between the versions. In my opinion, this person is missing the forest for the trees. He is so focused on tedious minutia, that he has lost the ability to enjoy the work as a whole.

One of my favorite recent examples is "Make My Abilities Average". The story in the anime was quite different from the LN. BUT! The story itself is not meant to be all that serious, and the anime added visual gags that were very much in the spirit of the series, but that could not have been made in a printed medium. I enjoyed that adaptation (at least the first half) very much.

Another thing to consider is people who are not familiar with the source material to begin with. For example, I found Arifureta through the anime. The story itself was so strong that it somehow shone through the terrible animation. After the second episode, I couldn't wait to see what happened next and gobbled up the LNs. Indeed, it wasn't until I went back and tried to re-watch the first couple episodes that I even realized how bad it was.

Anyway, there's probably more that I could say, but I will stop there for now.

@TheGrimLich Thats why I asked where to draw the line.

And as I gave the example with Lovecraft. Yes I know he was a white supremacist. But I still enjoy reading his stories. Some could say I overlook this theme in his books as I know why he wrote it. It still doesn't change that he was one of the most imaginative writers for horror stories.

But it is always how you look at something.

@saffire said in If You Find An Author / Director is Morally Corrupt, Do You Still Continue Buying / Watching Their Work?:

@saskir Most of those are not particularly difficult calls. Dante, Lovecraft and MINE (NG+) didn't bother creating a line between their beliefs and their works; it's all on display. I'm not familiar with Cordwainer Smith. James Gunn didn't create GotG on his own so whether you think that BD needs destroyed depends on how you weigh others' contributions.

Oh I never said they did. Just wanted to point out well known authors whose works are still read by many. But I need to interject with something. MINE. Yes his main character has a resemblance about someone linked to a massacre (to the tee with the mentioned victims). But I don't see him proactively propagating Japanese supremacy (although excluding contempt for anyone who pisses him off). Except you take the part of it that even though he killed so many he is not seen as a bad person according to the system.
And if it was not clear (but I think you meant it in jest). Nope I will not burn my BD.

I'm slowly watching Abilities Average, and it's a bit weird after reading the LNs for years.

They cut out most of the Mile / Adele humor that amused me, for example all of the hunter school arc where she is trying badly to be a "normal" girl and is satisfied with herself when her cunning plans succeed (in her mind).

Instead the humor is "someone calls her flat-chested and she explodes". It's replacing sly and clever fun with dumbed-down farce.

It's "Abilities Average for Dummies."