[Secert Santa Anime 2k16] Buckle up kiddos It's a week til Christmas and we need anime in our lives

[ÆƵ–]

What's up weebs, it's ya bopi Aez comin at you with the dankest memes hottest trend since last year when I saw it.

 

You like anime, I like anime.

You like presents, I like presents.

Well guess what? Ho ho ho, santa-chan is coming to a town near you and it's gonna be d a i j o u b u

 

Weeb Rulez for giving dank presents:

1. Meet ur deadlines
2. The anime must be complete
3. It shouldn't be longer than 24 epis (or if it is, at least pick an arc that can stand alone)
4. It must be available legally (like crunchyroll or hulu or netflix or w/e)
5. Meet ur deadlines. Seriously.
6. Don't lift the veil of mystery I have set between you and your giftee
7. (optional) Suggest an anime for me to watch {I'll provide my list and no-nos and hell yeas at the end of this post}

Weeb Rulez for receiving dank presents

1. Meet ur deadlines
2. give a list of anime youve seen/ are currently watching
3. give a general description of what you like in an anime
4. give a clear description of the type of anime you would not watch
5. Don't be super specific with rule 3. Don't do it.
6. Did I mention that you should meet ur deadlines?
7. (optional) after finishing ur gift, leave a review of it and why you thought it rocked/ flopped for you. 

Kawaii Sugoi Deadline desu

 

• Thursday, the 22nd: Last day to enter, closes at midnight PST
• Sunday, the 25th, Christmas: Last day to give gifts.
• Sunday, the 8th, January: Last day to finish ur gift before I reveal who gave who what. 

The Main Characters (Entrants):

• Moog
• Johan Liebert
• Yui
• VCR CAT
• Elly
• Your
• Name
• Goes
• Here

[spoiler=Aez's Anime Stuff]

Soul Eater (NOT, too)
7 Deadly Sins
Heavan's Lost Property
Yugioh GX (re-watching because I need it)
Shuffle!
My Love Story!!
Angel Beats
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Not the movies, though)
Black Butler (seasons 1-2, haven't seen circus)
Deadman Wonderland
Yuki Yuna is a Hero
Red Garden
Hell Girl (most of the first season, am open to re-watching 1st season)
Mushishi (first season)
Chaotic (That counts, right?)
Angelic Layer
Rosario + Vampire
Gatchaman Crowds (and some of Insight, open to watching insight)
Akame Ga Kill
No Game No Life
Selector Infected Wixoss
Day Break Illusion
Bakugan (1st season only)
Shiki
Dangan Ronpa
Popotan
Gourmet Girl Graffiti
Spice and Wolf
Negima
Shangrila (open to rewatching)
Sword Art Online
XXXholic
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Sekirei
Mega Man Star Force
Baka and Test (season 1)
Cat Planet Cuties
Girls Bravo
My Bride is a Mermaid
C Control
Sasami Magical Girls Club
Princess Jellyfish
Okami-sana and her 7 friends
Fairy Tail
Tamako Market
Daigashi Kashi
Barakamon
Outbreak Compony
Shimoneta
Uta~Kata
Death Parade
BTOOOM!
My Hero Academia

Flip Flappers

Amagi Park Brilliant

Matoi the Sacred Slayer

Durarara!!

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Bungo Stray Dogs

Dance With Devils

One Week Friends

Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun

Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren't They?

A Corpse Lies Under Sakurako's Feet (Aka Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation)

Hamatora

 

Probably others but I don't care/ remember

 

No-nos: Zombies, sports, or romance (only if it's the exact central plot), preferably no ecchi or super hype-train stuff but I can deal.

 

Hell Yeas: Tournament anime is always cool, also fantasy stuffs is also also cool. Sci-Fi works too. Really anything that's distanced from life by a tick is alright in my book.

 

 

[Susie]

Stuff Ive Watched: https://myanimelist.net/animelist/MoogInRow

(If you wanna rec me something from my Plan to Watch then thats alright its pretty big)

Stuff I Like: Weird artsy psychological stuff, dark stuff (So long as its not edgy as fuck like Elfen Lied or AoT), Action/Adventure stuff, hyper violence so long as its stylized or doesnt take itself seriously, furries, and really visual experiences.

Stuff I Dislike: Majority of CCDCT/Moe/Harem/Ecchi/Cute Gurlz kinda shit sometimes im lenient with this shit but I aint in the mood to go through with one right now, and even though I love the fuck out of it Horror is a toughie with me when it comes down to anime, if you wanna throw me a horror rec think hard about it. No sports or Romance either please.

[Johan Liebert]

Stuff I've watched: [spoiler=title]1. Naruto (December 17, 2009)

2. Shuffle! (October 3, 2011)

3. Yu Yu Hakusho (February 4, 2012)

4. Dragon Ball Kai (April 23, 2012)

5. Death Note (July 12, 2012)

6. Bakuman (March 22, 2013)

7. Sword Art Online (April 11, 2013)

8. Rosario + Vampire (May 17, 2013)

9. Steins;Gate (July 13, 2013)

10. Clannad (July 23, 2013)

11. Clannad: After Story (July 24, 2013)

12. Code Geass (August 13, 2013)

13. Future Diary (August 29, 2013)

14. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (October 25, 2013)

15. Attack on Titan (November 7, 2013)

16. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (December 1, 2013)

17. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (January 4, 2014)

18. Cowboy Bebop (February 1, 2014)

19. Eden of the East (February 15, 2014)

20. Fate/Zero (April 23, 2014)

21. Welcome to the NHK! (April 29, 2014)

22. Berserk (July 27, 2014)

23. Monster (September 21, 2014)

24. Another (October 25, 2014)

25. Kill La Kill (November 1, 2014)

26. Now and Then, Here and There (December 26, 2014)

27. Shiki (January 8, 2015)

28. Gurren Lagann (January 20, 2015)

29. Fullmetal Alchemist (April 8, 2015)

30. Gantz (May 11, 2015)

31. Hunter X Hunter (2011) (June 8, 2015)

32. Parasyte -The Maxim- (August 14, 2015)

33. Serial Experiments Lain (August 23, 2015)

34. Paranoia Agent (September 30, 2015)

35. Boogiepop Phantom (October 12, 2015)

36. Neon Genesis Evangelion (November 6, 2015)

37. Mushishi (November 6, 2015)

38. Hajime no Ippo (December 16, 2015)

39. The Devil is a Part-Timer! (December 21, 2015)

40. One-Punch Man (January 17, 2016)

41. Mononoke (February 17, 2016)

42. Great Teacher Onizuka (February 27, 2016)

43. The Vision of Escaflowne (April 3, 2016)

44. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (April 4, 2016)

45. Place to Place (April 6, 2016)

46. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (April 11, 2016)

47. Haibane Renmei (April 19, 2016)

48. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (April 26, 2016)

49. Ping Pong: The Animation (May 4, 2016)

50. Requiem from the Darkness (May 12, 2016)

51. One Outs (May 27, 2016)

52. Zankyou no Terror (May 27, 2016)

53. Cromartie High School (May 31, 2016)

54. Trigun (June 7, 2016)

55. Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters (June 15, 2016)

56. Texhnolyze (September 3, 2016)

57. Baka and Test (September 4, 2016)

58. Bokurano (September 14, 2016)

59. Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories (October 17, 2016)

60. Aoi Bungaku (October 28, 2016)

61. Master Keaton (November 8, 2016)

 

 

Stuff I Like: I love anime series that are very unique and original. I typically enjoy dark and psychological stuff the most, but as long as the anime series is unique and original, and has excellent characters/character development, great writing, and decent voice-acting, I'll watch it if I can. My top five favorite anime series (in order from #5 to #1) are Berserk/Now and Then, Here and There (it's a tie), Paranoia Agent, Ping Pong: The Animation, Cowboy Bebop, and Monster.

 

Stuff I Don't Like: Don't give me any form of hentai. Also, I really don't like it when anime series get extremely melodramatic and I don't like anime series that aren't unique/original in more than a few ways. While not the worst anime series I've watched from a critical viewpoint (although, it's probably the third-worst anime series I've ever watched), I particularly dislike Sword Art Online quite a lot. I also hate one-dimensional and boring protagonists (like Kirito and Goku), and I don't want any forced romance subplots. Also, keep the fan-service to a bare minimum, if possible.

 

If you need to ask me any further questions, let me know. I'll tell you if the anime series I receive won't work. The entire series needs to be less than fifteen total episodes, and it can't be something I've already started watching (again, I'll mention it if it is). Oh, and since I was recommended this anime series last year (I think), don't give me Red Garden. I'll get to it some other time.

[Yui]

Well I did a bad job giving out gifts the last two times, but third time's the charm.

 

Stuff I've watched

 

Stuff I like: Well yuri is a big one. I mostly just like stuff I can kick back and enjoy watching casually, be it comedy, action, slice-of-life, whatever. So long as the girls are cute and the characters on-point, I'm typically not very picky.

 

Stuff I don't like: Bleach, Naruto, etc. The big stupidly-long shonen anime irk me, but that shouldn't be a problem here. Yaoi is the antithesis to my very existence so definitely not that. Other than those, the only thing I can think of is that I don't like when characters have tits purely for the sake of tits. So something with an overabundance of chesty bits for no real reason is probably a no-go. Probably.

[VCR_CAT]

Sign me up!

 

These are in order of most-liked to least-liked in their respective categories.

[spoiler=Stuff I've watched and loved]

Dennou Coil

One Punch Man

Gurren Lagann

My Hero Academia

Death Parade

Medabots

 

 

 

[spoiler=Stuff I've watched and liked]

Last Exile / Fam the Silver Wing

Working!! and www.Working!!!

Death Note

Yugioh and spinoffs (duh)

Megaman NT Warrior

Erased

Code Geass

 

 

 

[spoiler=Stuff I've watched/tried and disliked]

Yuri on Ice

Samurai 7

Watamote

 

 

 

What I Like: Good plots and/or strong characters. If it's something light-heated and comedic, my only desire is that the characters are good and the humor is strong; strong plot not required. Otherwise, I'm fairly loose on genres

 

What I Don't Like: plots that reek of the writers making it up as they go (looking at you, Code Geass), fanservice/T&A, and shows that are just positively bloated in episode count/pacing issues abound! (looking at you, Shonen anime). It goes without saying that I'm also not a fan of yaoi or yuri.

[ÆƵ–]

you make my kokoro go bumpu bumpu

[a bad post]

Like I need an excuse to watch anime, but this seems like a fun time

 

[spoiler=Stuff I've Watched]

Madoka Magica + Rebellion

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku

Bungou Stray Dogs (Currently watching S2)

Classicaloid (currently watching)

Iron Blooded Orphans (Currently watching S2)

Gundam SEED

Nanbaka (Currently watching)

Occultic;Nine (Currently watching)

Shuumatsu no Izetta (Currently watching)

Touken Ranbu Hanamaru (Currently watching)

TRICKSTER (Currently watching)

Watashi ga Motote Dousunda (Currently watching)

Yuri!!! on ICE (Currently watching)

Ao Oni (Currently watching)

Cheating Craft (Currently watching)

Kiitarou Shounen no Youkai Enikki (Currently watching)

91Days

BERSERK (2016) Dropped

Berserk (the better version)

Cheer Danshi

DanganRonpa (All Seasons)

Fate/Stay Night (Studio DEEN)

Fate/kalied liner S1

Fate/Zero

HATSUKOI MONSTER Dropped

Hitori no Shita Dropped

momokuri

SERVAMP

Tales of Zestiria the X

Taboo Tattoo Dropped

B-Project

Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV

Joker Game

Kotetsujou no Kabaneri

Kiznaiver

Mayoiga

Re:Zero

Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV

Durarara S1 (paused at S2)

Owari no Seraph 

Comet Lucifer

Concrete Revolutio (paused at S1)

K Project

The Perfect insider (paused)

Diabolik Lover (...unfortunately)

Kowabon

Free! (paused at S2)

Tokyo Ghoul (paused at S2)

Aoharu x Kikanjuu

Gakou Gurashi

GANGSTA.

Gate Dropped

Ranpo Kitan

Rokka no Yuusha

Shimoneta

Little Witch Academia

Persona 3 Movies

Persona 4 

Persona 4 the Golden

Angel Beats

Death Parade

Hitsugi no Chaika S1

Garo S1

Akuma no Riddle

DRAMAtical Murder

Love Stage!!

Black Butler

Tokyo ESP

Sword Art Online (gagging)

Zankyou no Terror

BLACK BULLET

Eureka Seven

Blade & Soul Dropped

Gokukoku no Brynhildr

Kamigami no Asobi

Irregular at Magic High School

Mekaku City Actors

No Game No Life

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi

Blazblue: Alter Memory

Infinite Stratos S1

Devil is a Part-timer

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

Attack on Titan

Future Diary

Gurren Lagan

Ouran Highschool Host Club

Evangelion

Utena

Gravitation

Hamtaro

InuYasha

Hellsing (original and newer one)

Hikaru no Go

Cowboy Bebop

Shaman King

Ghost in the Shell

All things Ghibli

GetBackers

Black Lagoon

NHK

Le Chevalier d'Eon

Gakuen Heaven

Higurashi

Umineko

Nana

Princess Princess

Strawberry Panic

School Days

Venus Versus Virus

Junjou Romantica

Michiko to Hatchin

Toradora!

Paradise Kiss

Kino's Journey

Cardcaptor Sakura

Ixion Saga

No. 6

Shin Sekai Yori

Yuri Kuma Arashi

Soul Eater

Shiki

Panty & Stocking

Guilty Crown

HunterxHunter (watched the old series, and I'm in the middle of the new series)

 

 

 

Unless otherwise specified I've watched all seasons of whatever's listed on here

 

What I like: I really like animes with respectfully portraited LGBT+ characters. In terms of genre I really like mystery or horror type stuff, though I also really like a good fantasy anime. I can usually find something I like in almost anything I watched (I mean for god sake I watched two funking seasons of SAO). To be perfectly honest as long as they art/animation looks good, and the plot is decent I'll watch just about anything. Also I like seeing good romance and shoujo anime, though I'm a little hesitant about shoujo anime cause sometimes they're sexist or rape-y. 

 

What I don't like: No hentai or ecchi. While I do have some tolerance for titty characters, so long as the show's not over populated with them, and the plot is good, having to watch fanservice stuff tends to lower my opinion of an anime. Also Harem stuff is almost always a deal breaker for me because of how they treat women, though I have seen a few "harem" anime that are alright. 

[ÆƵ–]

Last day to enter

[ÆƵ–]

PMs sent, message me back when you decide what the gift is gonna be. Do not, I repeat, Do not send your giftee the present directly. I love you buhbye <3

[Yui]

I've just finished my Secret Santa anime, and am here to write up a quick review of it. The anime I was given was Dennou Coil.

 

I can't really think of a way to ease into this, so I'm just gonna go in guns blazing and avoid spoilers. Usually, when I am given an anime by somebody, I expect either a yuri or comedy show. Dennou Coil is neither of these (though one or two really good yuri ships do exist, and we had spectacular comic relief via Daichi). However, the third thing I specified is that I like good characters, and Dennou Coil had that in spades. It also had a great soundtrack and animation that was easy on the eyes yet very clear on what was what. All this without mentioning the plot. It starts off kind of slow, but things picked up wonderfully into the later parts of the show. In my experience, when a show starts slow but then picks up like that near the end, it can feel rushed or forced. However, Dennou Coil doesn't have that problem. I've seen a lot of anime (or so I like to say), but I've yet to see something that paces everything this perfectly. To try putting it into perspective, I went into this blind (minus reading the summary on MyAnimeList, which doesn't even remotely do it justice) so I had no idea what the hell was going on. By the time I hit the recap episode about halfway in, I had a working knowledge of how the rules of the anime's Space, the augmented-reality glasses, and more worked, without even realizing I'd picked up all this knowledge. It's that smooth. Now arguably, the ending can be a bit rocky in places maybe, but I liked it.

 

I also don't usually give the protagonist the best girl spot. Nor do I typically give timid characters the spot. The fact that Dennou Coil's protagonist got my best girl spot for this despite both of these speaks volumes about her characterization in particular. Also the OP - both the music and the animation - is really good. Like, really good. I wanted to give this a 10/10 score, but it's my firm belief that if you doubt the 10/10 rating at all, you probably shouldn't hand out the 10 (I actually went into my list and updated a few scores in this spirit). I couldn't really stand the protagonist's sister since about 95% of the time she just ran around inconveniencing literally everybody, and like I said, some might argue that the ending was a bit rocky for reasons I can't go into because spoilers. However, it's definitely in the upper ends of the 9/10 range. If decimals are allowed, I'd give it a solid 9.7/10.

[VCR_CAT]

I also finished my Secrit Satan animu! I was given Kiznaiver

 

Like my first Animu Secrit Satan, this animu actually didn't give a very good impression right off the bat. Its introduction and first episode or so painted it as some edgelord anime that appeals to depressed teens, and there was a lot of factors that led to this impression. The first, and probably my biggest complaint with the show, is the obtuse bullshit philosophical rants the show gave about pain linking people together yadda yadda. Especially the part of how the seven main characters "represented the seven cardinal sins" (they didn't at all) when that didn't add anything at all to the show's plot was just a huge eye-roll for me. So, overall, bad first impressions.

 

But, there was a lot of redeeming qualities. Like, a lot. Most of the characters are very well done, and Tenga in particular I just really enjoyed watching. The emotional scenes hit hard, and I loved Tenga especially. Overall, it was actually the side-cast away from the two main characters that shined the most, and they shined very brightly with a good variety of themes that all developed quite nicely. Some more than others, unfortunately, which led me to wanting to watch more of them, but I also have to praise the inconclusiveness of the anime's ending. It didn't wrap everything up in a nice, neat package, and that's good. That's life. It ended things off in a very good spot. Also, the quality of the animation and the art are just superb, so bonus points for that.

 

And when I say the characters besides the main characters shined the brightest, that was not necessarily a hard thing, but they did by a long shot. The two main characters, protagonist and antagonist, were both garbage characters in my opinion. They development went hardly anywhere, and in the case of the protagonist, he did nothing but display himself as a SUPREMELY unlikable person the more the show went on.

 

And remember when I said "obtuse bullshit philosophical rants"? There was a lot of this show that wouldn't feel out of place if a Metal Gear Solid villain was preaching it in a melodramatic tone. A lot of metaphors/themes really were not working too well, and the links between what they were trying to tell about relationships and what they were doing to convey that message were just very weak. I just can't help but honestly roll my eyes when I think about the bullshit reasons they came up with for the main plot device of the show, which really is not a good thing for the writing.

 

But nonetheless, some very strong characters and touching moments carried this anime into my good graces, despite how negative this review may sound. Please understand; there are some VERY good characters in here, and it makes for a good anime. Although, I feel like if they focused more on those interactions and less on the main underlying plot revolving around a really bad protagonist, I feel like it could've been a GREAT anime. It's very close to being something fantastic, but it's held back by some bad themes and main characters that hold back the real stars of the show.

 

Final score: 7.5/10

[Susie]

Annnnnnnnd at 4 in the morning one day before the reveal I finished muh animu that I got which was Durarara!! Which was also a show that ive heard of for many years but never watched, it was done by the same person responsible for Baccano wich I did watch a small amount out of. Its always nice to get a show that youve been meaning to watch, lets you get your butt off and view something that you know 100% that youre looking forward to, even if it kinda sucks that youre not getting something that youd never be familiar with ever.
 
But anyways I thought that Durararaarararararblah was a pretty great show. Like with most people for me the biggest seller of the show was its characters as they are all quirky and fun in their own kind of way, a lot of people like to bitch about the lack of development that most of them have but thankfully im the kind of guy who cares more about the fact that I had fun instead of some cold analytical bullshit, so yeah everybody and I really mean everybody in this show has their own unique personality or some little eccentric trait that sets them apart from all the other characters. The ones that were my personal favorites were Celty and Shizuo. Celty is a dullahan that rides a bike with her own cat hear helmet, shes easily the most recognizable character in the whole show, I have a bit of a thing for her and to whoever my secret santa was I congratulate you for finding someone non-furry that I dig in that kind of way even if its just a little bit cuz dat be one hard accomplishment to make, then again theres cat ears on her helmet so I guess that helps. One problem though that I have with her is the fact that they really didnt take too big advantage of the whole cell phone qurik, like they just give her a voice that monologues her thoughts and I liked her better when she didnt have that, of course thats not too big of a concern for me cuz I still enjoyed her enough to rank her as a favorite but I still felt the need to point it out. Anyways Shizuo was a bit of a surprise for me to be a huge fan of since I dont usually like the kind of super stronk kind of characters and at first I actually didnt care for him as much as most of the other cast (Not to say that I disliked him because I disliked nobody) but after seeing his backstory episode and how his personality played out more I found myself getting more into him also love the quirk of him dressing up like a bartender. Needless to say I could go on about all of the other characters like I really enjoyed Shinra, his father, Kida, Simon, Dotachin and his gang of friends and so on with the endless list of awesome characters.
 
Of course characters aint the only thing that I loved about Durauraururararrrarararraa as I really liked the plot structure of this show, it might possibly bother other people but I dug it. The way the show starts in the beginning sort of goes in the direction that I like to call the "Pulp Fiction/Go (1999)" formula in which the plot is made to be intentionally all over the place and the emphasis goes into character interactions and the connectivity that all the characters have to make it cohesive and coherent in its own way. I can easily understand why some people wouldnt like this kind of thing because it can make a show feel difficult to follow along with but I always thought that this style of writing was cool and unconventional and I wished that more people would go for this kind of thing. The show does go away from that formula a bit when its plot becomes more stable in about the 10th episode but thats okay with me because it felt necessary and the direction that it went was totally up my fuckin alley man. I love gangster/gang wars/yakuza kind of stuff and I really glad that the gangs became the more relevant and at first I wasnt expecting it to, which was a pleasant surprise.  Also the fantasy aspects were super well placed and added more quirkiness to get out of in this show.
 
If I really had to complain about something is that there were a few conversations that did annoy me, I wouldnt call any of them pretentious (partially because I really reeeeaaaally hate that word) but yeeeeaaah they were borderline at certain parts, mostly any of the things that sounded philosophical that werent spouted by Izaya were kind of annoying but thats a really minor nitpick. Overall Durarara!! is a fun and quirky ride that has a lot of memorable character personalities and a really unpredictable plot (Theres a lot of fuckin plot twists in the second half) that is worth the watch by anyone. A good solid 9/10.
 
 
Oh and I also forgot to drop a mention for the soundtrack which is incredibly good. The opening themes are pretty catchy but the soundtrack itself, like the background music in the show works well. The weird ambiences work well to create the tone and the upbeat quirky songs in the background alone are able to put a smile on my face, paired up with the funny scenes this shit really works well.

[a bad post]

Finishing your show on the deadline like whaaaattt... Anyway, I had Vision of Escaflowne. 

 

[spoiler=This review has spoilers so if you want to watch the show I would recommend not reading this]So I'm not gonna lie I wasn't too crazy about this show. I thought it was pretty solid, but there were a lot of little things that bothered me. I'm going to start with the positives of the show first, though. The animation holds up pretty well even though it's an older show, and the score is pretty good barring the ones were they just chant 'Escaflowne'. They always played that track during serious moments, and it really made it hard to take the moment seriously. The plot was solid, and I, for the most part, enjoyed the characters. Sometimes characters were a little (a lot) melodramatic, but I actually enjoy a good bit of melodrama. Hell Mari Okada, the Queen of Melodrama, is one of my favorite writers in anime.

 

Now onto what I didn't like about the anime. First of all, there were a lot of things that didn't make sense or were left unexplained. Like why Celena changes into Dilandau, like she completely physically changes sex. I guess you just hand wave it as alien science, but still, that went a little beyond my horizon of disbelief. Also what's up with the Ispano? They were never really explained well, and it was never explained how they were able to create this super robot connected to Atlantis. To be perfectly honest they whole series would have benefited from a lot more worldbuilding. Why doesn't Hitomi stay on Gaea with Van? Like there's nothing forcing her to go back. There was a lot of other little things that I had a problem with, but this was kind of a long series, and because I watched it all at once I forgot some of them. 

 

Also, I had a few problems with the characters at times as well. Like nobody every calls Van and Hitomi out on their sheet. Like those two make a lot of brash or selfish decisions, but all of the characters seem to be able to look past it. A particularly egregious example is after Hitomi purposely gives a false reading cause she wants Allen, and everybody forgives her for it right away. The only time I can remember that one of them got called their behavior is when Hitomi slaps Van in the barn when he says that he needs her for her power. Speaking of Van and Hitomi the double love triangle was really annoying. One of my least favorite tropes in fiction is the love triangle because it often destroys the writing for female characters, and this was no different. Merle was already annoying enough, but once the love triangle is put out in the open Hitomi, and Millerna also just become shallow and petty. Also, everybody's character arcs are resolved way too quickly, or rather they're not resolved, they just get hand-waved away. Like Hitomi had just finished having a breakdown about how she didn't want to do readings anymore, and then not two scenes later offers to do a reading for Chid.

 

 

Ok, spoilers over. Honestly for all my complaints about the series I honestly did enjoy it, for the most part, but the mistakes a show makes tend to stick more with me than the things it does well. I'd give Escaflowne a 6.5 - 7/10, and if anybody is really likes shoujo or mecha anime I'd recommend checking this one out.

[Johan Liebert]

I haven't even had a chance to start the anime series I received, but seeing that the givers haven't been announced yet, maybe I'll try to watch and finish it all in one day. I wouldn't count on it, though; I'm in the middle of a lot of things right now.

 

EDIT: To be fair, though, the original poster was late on telling me what my gift was (if I recall correctly). I probably would've started it and maybe finished it up by now if I had gotten it on time; I started a bunch of stuff the day before I was told about my gift. For someone who made a big deal about sticking to deadlines, you didn't do a good job doing so yourself.

 

ANOTHER EDIT: I remember looking it up and realizing that I really wasn't interested in watching it and I was looking for an anime series (which, in my opinion, means it has ten or more episodes), not an OVA. By the time I had realized this (either way, he was late, so it was too late for me to ask for something different), it was too late for me to ask for something else and I didn't want to sound rude in doing so. Honestly, I looked up the OVA I was given and it sounded...like something I'd probably not enjoy. I was given "Le Portrait de Petite Cossette".

[ÆƵ–]

EDIT: To be fair, though, the original poster was late on telling me what my gift was (if I recall correctly). I probably would've started it and maybe finished it up by now if I had gotten it on time; I started a bunch of stuff the day before I was told about my gift. For someone who made a big deal about sticking to deadlines, you didn't do a good job doing so yourself

Hun I gave out the animes to everyone at the same time, so you cant blame me for you not following your deadlines, especially when your thing was only 3 epis. Also, the idea behind a secret Santa is that you might get something you like. You don't have to like it, but at least give it a try.

 

As to why I haven't posted the list yet, I was tired at midnight and just woke up, so I'll do it soon.

[Johan Liebert]

Hun I gave out the animes to everyone at the same time, so you cant blame me for you not following your deadlines, especially when your thing was only 3 epis. Also, the idea behind a secret Santa is that you might get something you like. You don't have to like it, but at least give it a try.

As to why I haven't posted the list yet, I was tired at midnight and just woke up, so I'll do it soon.

They weren't "my" deadlines; they were yours, as stated in your first post in this topic. Anyway, I'm just crabby; I didn't mean to sound rude or mean if I did. I haven't been in situation where I can enjoy what I typically enjoy; I mean, lately, I'm been into pretty mindless stuff lately because I can't seem to find a time where I've slept well enough to enjoy something more complex and up-my-ally. Anyway, I'll try it sometime soon.

 

EDIT: My bad, I don't think you actually said you were giving them on the 25th.

[ÆƵ–]

List time

 

Elly gave VCR Kiznaiver

Yui gave Moog Durarara!!

VCR gave Yui Dennou Coil

Moog gave Johan Le Portrait de Petite Cossette

Johan gave Elly Vision of Escaflowne 

[Susie]

Johan bruh cmon that was kind of a low blow, just giving a surface look and going bleh at it, last time in this thing I got something that looked super fucking unappealing but I sucked it up and tried to watch as much of it as I could. Sorry if you didnt want an OVA and that it didnt match what you were in the mood for at the moment but I aint no fuckin mind reader and I can only go off of what im given. I threw it your way because it was a dark toned surreal series with horror elements thrown into it, ill admit that the plot itself isnt too big when you read it but the OVA is meant to be more of a visual extravaganza type of thing and that you really cant get the feel that its trying to go for just by reading up on it. I almost went for Kaiba but you had watched Ping Pong and I figured you were more likely to be familiar with Kaiba and I decided on Cossette instead since it was one of the lesser known works done by one of my favorite directors, Akiyuki Shinbo who also did Madoka Magica which I noticed you had on your list.

 

 

Funny thing I actually predicted that it was Yui who gave me DRRR but yeah thank you Yui third tine was definitely a charm and I really appreciated the rec. its a huge step up from Railgun (which I also predicted you gave me). Also thank you Aez for once again hosting this shit with us weeb trash loser nerds, im hoping that next time it wont feel so damn rushed.

[Johan Liebert]

Johan bruh cmon that was kind of a low blow, just giving a surface look and going bleh at it, last time in this thing I got something that looked super fucking unappealing but I sucked it up and tried to watch as much of it as I could. Sorry if you didnt want an OVA and that it didnt match what you were in the mood for at the moment but I aint no fuckin mind reader and I can only go off of what im given. I threw it your way because it was a dark toned surreal series with horror elements thrown into it, ill admit that the plot itself isnt too big when you read it but the OVA is meant to be more of a visual extravaganza type of thing and that you really cant get the feel that its trying to go for just by reading up on it. I almost went for Kaiba but you had watched Ping Pong and I figured you were more likely to be familiar with Kaiba and I decided on Cossette instead since it was one of the lesser known works done by one of my favorite directors, Akiyuki Shinbo who also did Madoka Magica which I noticed you had on your list.

Funny thing I actually predicted that it was Yui who gave me DRRR but yeah thank you Yui third tine was definitely a charm and I really appreciated the rec. its a huge step up from Railgun (which I also predicted you gave me). Also thank you Aez for once again hosting this shit with us weeb trash loser nerds, im hoping that next time it wont feel so damn rushed.

Calm down. I was in a bad mood earlier; I said I was crabby. I initially typed a much longer response to this, but my iPad decided to randomly refresh the page, so I lost everything I typed. Basically, to sum it up, I was initially put off by your recommendation because I saw that "romance" was one of its main genres and because I wanted a full-on anime series as opposed to an OVA, I'll give the OVA you recommended to me a try sometime, I was also pissed off at myself earlier for not doing another Secret Santa (this is like the third one I failed to do in-a-row; the only one I ever completed was my first one; it was Bakuman and that was a handful of years ago), I never judge any anime series by its looks (I initially judged your OVA based on a review I read, seeing the main genres, and skimming through the plot, but I plan to try it soon; also, this should be obvious, seeing as how Ping Pong: The Animation and Mononoke are two of my all-time favorite anime series and they have very unique art-styles), Kaiba is also something I'm trying to get around to soon, and I'm sorry if I sounded rude earlier.

[Susie]

Calm down. I was in a bad mood earlier; I said I was crabby. I initially typed a much longer response to this, but my iPad decided to randomly refresh the page, so I lost everything I typed. Basically, to sum it up, I was initially put off by your recommendation because I saw that "romance" was one of its main genres and because I wanted a full-on anime series as opposed to an OVA, I'll give the OVA you recommended to me a try sometime, I was also pissed off at myself earlier for not doing another Secret Santa (this is like the third one I failed to do in-a-row; the only one I ever completed was my first one; it was Bakuman and that was a handful of years ago), I never judge any anime series by its looks (I initially judged your OVA based on a review I read, seeing the main genres, and skimming through the plot, but I plan to try it soon; also, this should be obvious, seeing as how Ping Pong: The Animation and Mononoke are two of my all-time favorite anime series and they have very unique art-styles), Kaiba is also something I'm trying to get around to soon, and I'm sorry if I sounded rude earlier.

I actually am calm, im not offended or anything just a bit annoyed that it didnt get watched. You did sound a bit rude earlier but its all good man. Well whenever you do end up watching it I hope you do dig.

[Johan Liebert]

I actually am calm, im not offended or anything just a bit annoyed that it didnt get watched. You did sound a bit rude earlier but its all good man. Well whenever you do end up watching it I hope you do dig.

Alright. Yeah, again, I'm sorry for sounding rude. I just can't seem to find a time where I'm conscious to enjoy something that I'd usually enjoy. The OVA sounds interesting (after another look), so I hope to try it sometime.