It's good, folks. Hexbear is picking out my anime from now on.
mikazuki slay...
Ive been watching it with my friend at her request too, it's really good
Hell yeah! Just started s2 last night, a few episodes into it. Will probably have the complete series of IBO knocked out by the weekend.
sick! we're going at a slower pace but im a bit further ahead of you for now, season 2 is taking an interesting direction
How far along are you? Also, thinking Witch From Mercury next, any thoughts on that? I'm just wrapping ep31
We just finished episode 11 of season 2. Don't remember how many are in season 1 lol so I dunno the total. I would say WFM has more liberal political themes because one of the main pov characters is a CEO heiress, but it's still really good and worth a watch (especially if you love lesbians), as there's a lot to like
I'm part way through my first watch of the 79 Gundam and it's a great time
Nice! If you like to listen to podcasts related to shows you're watching, Great Gundam Project and Mobile Suit Breakdown are great companion pieces for Gundam
both are good podcasts. great gundam project is a couple of communists (who start reading lenin partway through gundam zz) doing broader thematic analysis, 2 episodes at a time. after the first 2 seasons they almost always have a backup show they're watching alongside gundam, to add some variety into the mix. they're great, they have a great community and other podcasts they do
mobile suit breakdown goes one episode at a time and does really deep dives into production, possible real world inspirations for things in the shows, covering the cultural significance of minor details that might not be obvious to a non-japanese audience, or trying to figure out where exactly in the world white base is at any given time. things like that. both are good, i personally vibe more with ggp but msb has lots of cool stuff going on as well
Those both sound tight as hell. I'm on the last bit of 79 and now I wanna watch again so ill have it.finished soon. If I start a pod while watching Zeta is that a good call? I don't mind spoilers too much but they matter more for some shows than others I guess. So far it seems like a franchise I can spoil and still totally enjoy as long as the moment to moment is rockin
for ggp the hosts are basically completely blind, and avoid referencing any future things when they aren't. one of them saw 0079 and a bit of zeta before the podcast but preserves the mystery for their cohost, and after that they both have seen no gundam beyond a given podcast episode's subject matter, and try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. if you listen to them cover the start of zeta gundam they won't bring up anything beyond the first 2 episodes of zeta (though obviously 0079 spoilers will be free game)
for msb, one host has seen a lot of gundam and the other hasn't. they try to avoid anything predating the current episode but sometimes give little hints of the future because they don't always record perfectly in order because that's not how their podcast works. nothing major though
Okay, sounds tight. I generally don't mind spoilers but it's also hard to tell which ones matter to you until it's too late. They sound cool and having recently gotten into building stsr trek models, Gundams are a-comin as well for sure.
Also I'm watching the dub cause it's good and only the opening and closing themes are in Japanese so of course they're catchy as hell and I keep just singing 'gundaaaaaaamu'to myself
Whatever guy they got to sing that in 79 was about absolute pro. There is no way he didn't think whatever he's singing wasn't dumb as hell but he delivers it with the conviction of a martial choir baritone solo.
OH MY GOD, SO IT TURNS OUT,
Andrew WK did an English version cover:
https://youtu.be/zILVdHewOZ8?si=S1ZGiIXtzf5DfRi3
Which is cool but the top comment is the best comment:
Huh, I always thought the English version of this song would go like, "Put your left foot in, take your left foot out, put your left foot in, Gundamu!"
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Such a good series. without becoming another edgelord anime, it did such a great job at depicting life as cheap. I haven't watched enough gundam to know how different this is, but the fighting was so well done, you could really tell that in all the mobile suit fights that pilots were with full intention trying to kill the pilots of the other suits. The jump cut at the start of that one episode where they're suddenly in a slow, grinding offensive towards
VancouverEdmonton was a top tier moment, even if it first felt like you accidentally clicked an episode too far in your [Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans 2015 1080p BluRay x264 10bit AAC-Shiniori] folder.I didn't like much about that series, tbh. the first 10 episodes are spent doing school life shit at the boarding school for rich assholes, and then just when you think you've escaped, THEY GO BACK.
in no relation to anything how does "Yikes, my girlfriend is brainwashed and being manipulated, I must cuck her to keep her safe" sound as a plot point?
With IBO, I didn't actually know this was a seperate universe from the rest of the Gundam Series, I thought Gjallarhorn, Ahab Reactors, and the Calamity War, and Agnika Kaieru were series hallmarks that the normal audience would be well acquainted with, and that's why there wasn't a ton of exposition on any of them, and the fact this was all new shit made me realize how seamless the world building was, very well done.
Got another series you recommend more? All I know about WFM is that it does a lot of school stuff, and Hexbear watched it together not long ago.
nope. only other series I've seen are Unicorn and War in the Pocket, and I can't remember anything about them, but I think fans regard them highly.
And also is that ep31? "Silent War?" Cause it sounds like exactly the one I'm watching right now.
No, it was Episode 24. Actually In Edmonton. The Silent War Episode was cool too.
Love IBO
It can be daunting, but most of the main timeline series are worth watching if you liked what you saw. OG Gundam and Zeta are old, but so good. Or, for newer animation and a bangin soundtrack check out Thunderbolt.
For a non-Gundam rec I would check out Kaiji of you haven't, there are some good elements of material analysis and really gripping tension
Also SK8 The Infinity for cute gay skateboard bois and a loveable juggalo
I think I've seen people posting screens in c/art a while back. What's the premise?
it's about a woman leading the french royal guard in the lead up to the french revolution. written by a card carrying communist and directed by some of the all time greats. i only didn't recommend it in my thing because i haven't finished it (5 more weeks!) and i didn't want to recommend anything i haven't finished
no it's from 1979
(i'm watching it along with a still ongoing podcast)
Yoooo just finished IBO. Talk about a gut punch those last few episodes. That's gonna stay with me for a bit.
it's so good! the ending is just crushing. seeing everyone forced to just live under gjallerhorn as they make mild reforms that just further consolidate power under rustal. ride shooting nobliss in the bathroom and the fact that most of the surviving members of gjallerhorn seem to have found some level of happiness cushions the blow a little, as does iok finally getting got, but it's still so depressing
I expected Orga and Mikazuki to get got, but it still crushed me.
Thinking about starting that 100 Years War anime you referenced next, unless you have something else from your list that is like "yeah do this one immediately?"
it doesn't help that it doesn't go like you'd expect. they spend a while setting up orga's custom mobile suit and so you're expecting him and mikazuki to do like a big last stand together or something, and instead orga gets shot in the streets and mika gets bombed from orbit
100 years war? which one was that, i don't remember. my #1 recommendation is revolutionary girl utena, but honestly any of the ones i recommended are good
Utena it is then! And I was thinking of Lady Oscar/Rose of Versailles
ahhh, ok. i can see how that mixup would happen. i hope you enjoy utena! like i said in the recommendation comment if you have any specific content warnings you'd like you should definitely ask, because the show can be a lot
So good. Like on every front. It's one of the classics of the late 00's that just hits on every level. The opening and ending songs are amazing, the story is amazing, the characters are amazing. It's a total rollercoaster that's probably emotionally traumatized an entire generation of otaku. Also, I don't wanna spoil anything but, it's responsible for one of the most iconic memes out there.
I can't find a good trailer for it but this is the first opening song.
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=KIyDlqIU3fk
It's a pretty big spoiler emotionally.
spoiler
There's an entire genre of memes around Nina Tucker.
that was me!!!! ibo is one of the best gundams, only beaten out by turn a (which is completely different in tone)
when im back at my computer i will add some other recommendations
recommendation time!
sorry for listing so many lmao
SHOWS
- revolutionary girl utena: no hyperbole, the greatest show of all time. surreal exploration of abuse, systems of power, and how to break free. if you watch one show i recommend please make it this one, i cannot say enough good things about it. it's where the base premise of witch from mercury was taken from, and is significantly gayer than you'd expect from a show that aired in the same timeslot as season 1 of pokemon. content warnings for a LOT of shit, lmk if you need anything specific
- serial experiments lain: great show that i don't really know how to describe. about the ways the internet and associated technology alienate us
- universal century gundam: you can just watch 0079 (which i recommend! it's a good show that really makes you understand where a solid 30% of scifi anime comes from, and will expand the way you see some bits in ibo) or you can try and watch the whole thing. the only other standalone universal century gundam i'd really recommend is 0080: war in the pocket, which is a fantastic 6 episode miniseries, all the other stuff you really need to watch 0079 first
- turn a gundam: this is only kind of a standalone alternate universe, but it's the best that gundam gets. just as frank about the horrors of war as ibo but in a completely different perspective. after 2000 years, the people of the moon come down to resettle an alternate earth that's basically pre world war one europe. if you thought mobile suits in modern edmonton was bad, imagine them fighting in victorian london. and the show goes so many more places than you could imagine with that, being both incredibly gentle and brutally horrifying in equal measure. also the protag has Gender in a way that's remarkably well handled considering it was 1999 and coming from yoshiyuki tomino
MOVIES
- liz and the blue bird: absolutely devastating quiet drama about the relationship between two members of a high school band. gorgeous, just absolutely beautiful
- vampire hunter d: bloodlust: you liked hellsing, right? here's that but in a post apocalyptic fantasy world where the alucard equivalent is hired to rescue a kidnapped woman as things go rapidly off the rails
- millennium actress: satoshi kon's masterpiece. the story of a famous actress, melding her movies and her life together seamlessly as we're just along for the ride
- inu-oh: medieval japanese rock opera about a blind monk who invents playing like jimi hendrix teaming up with a monster who wants to regain his stolen humanity through the power of song and interpretive dance
- ghost in the shell: introspective, moody cyberpunk piece about personhood and being subsumed by the state. easily the single biggest influence on the matrix's visual style. has a lot of gender going on
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those are basically all must watches. below are more recs behind a spoiler to avoid being too obnoxious to readthe following is stuff that i like and recommend but isn't quite as standout as the above
- monthly girls nozaki-kun: lighthearted comedy that makes fun of romcom tropes. very good, would recommend!
- madoka magica: it's a little bit a "what if sailor moon was dark" but it's also doing it's own thing and i love it to pieces. absolutely would recommend
- keep your hands off eizouken: incredibly creative show about a crew of autistic teenagers who want to make anime. deeply charming and in love with the creative process
- death note: kinda edgy incredibly dumb homoerotic mind games, just a lot of deeply ridiculous fun
- fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood: saw this get recommended elsewhere. it's a very lib show that doesn't always handle its topics as well as it should (the way it handles the disability stuff is especially egregious) but if you can get past that it's a very well done epic fantasy
- revue starlight: the weirdest audition for a high school theater program i've ever seen. a few girls are competing for the lead, but this manifests as them having beautifully animated sword fights under the supervision of a giraffe. fascinating show with a lot of stuff to say about the nature of art and passion. the movie is a 10/10, but the show isn't quite as good
- nichijou: maybe the funniest show i've seen. absolutely wild stuff
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- perfect blue: tight psychological thriller about the ways the entertainment industry exploits young women and tries to break them
- night is short, walk on girl: romcom about all the wacky things that happen to a couple college students in one night as the girl tries to drink her way through every bar in the city and the guy tries to find her so he can finally ask her out
- urusei yatsura: beautiful dreamer: what if the cast of a kinda formulaic sitcom were thrown into a david lynch movie and just had to deal?
Thanks for all this! Saving this for stuff to start after IBO. Hopefully finishing it up tonight!
always happy to try and introduce people to good anime! let me know how you like them!
or Turn A Gundam 
