The all things Anime related thread.

[memyselfandi]

I'll start with ... (in probable descending order of likelihood to be dropped)

(Very likely to watch)
Tamayura ~hitotose~ (loved the OVAs and imported the LE's for them on BD so it's highly probable I'll follow this on a weekly basis)
Shinryaku!? Ika Musume (liked season 1)
Working!! (liked season 1)
Last Exile -Ginyoku no Fam- (agree with Demoniser on this)
Shakugan no Shana III (Final)

(Very good chance of watching)
C Cube
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!
Mashiro-iro Symphony
Kimi to Boku
Bakuman. 2nd Series
Chihayafuru

(50/50 at best)
Ben-To
Maken-Ki!
Fate/Zero (note: I was reading earlier that this is going to be streamed (leagally) internationally)
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
UN-GO
Guilty Crown

I of course won't end up watching all of these, in fact the last season or so has been rare in that I've actually managed to follow five shows on a weekly basis ... I normally only manage two at the most. It will also depend on who (as in Crunchyroll etc) picks up what as well as what time I have.

 

[lsg1r]

ah new season again, might need to catch up with my backlog too lol

Likely to watch if they turn out any good at the beginning
Battle Spirits: Heroes
Bosou Shinki Moon Angel
Cross Fight B daman
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (it's gundam... they can't go that far wrong lol)
Fate/Zero - been waiting for this
Guilty Crown
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
UN-GO - sounds like gosick/dantalian from the last 2 seasons
Last Exile - didn't think much of the first series but I'll give it a shot
Tamayura - hitotose-
Maken Ki!
Mira Nikki
Phi Brain
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - has a toradora vibe to it
C3
Shana - obviously lol
Persona 4 - wasn't overly keen on the second series but the first series was ok, they might have got it sorted with this one lol


Not to say I won't watch any others, try to watch most first episodes as you never know there might be a surprise series like rideback was....

 

[Alexrose1uk]

I'll be honest, not really sure what I'll be watching next season, as I've not even started this season really due to my preference of block watching/marathon runs.

There's a few I'll most likely check out though like Shana.

 

[Werewolf]

I'm not sure what i'll be watching next season, it seems I've barely watched anything so far this season (deadman wonderland is about the only one that I've even really started on).

It looks like Section 23 have announced their December releases, including the Rozen Maiden Complete set for $50 (TRSI have it for $37ish).

 

[memyselfandi]

I'm not sure what i'll be watching next season, it seems I've barely watched anything so far this season (deadman wonderland is about the only one that I've even really started on).

It looks like Section 23 have announced their December releases, including the Rozen Maiden Complete set for $50 (TRSI have it for $37ish).

And they are doing the nice sensible thing of releasing the Rozen Maiden OVA separately as well for those of us who already have both seasons.

It's also nice to see the return of Elfen Lied and Kino's Journey.

Re-watch of Summer Wars this evening ... nice

 

[Alexrose1uk]

Aye, I was glad to get Elfen Lied in clearance, it's good to hear someone else has picked it up as it's one of the shows I'll continue to acredit as one of the shows to really introduce me to the medium, and is certainly a show you can show to people to demonstrate that anime isn't all the cliched shounen stuff they expect. (Especially that first episode...bit of an eye opener for some )

In other nice news, my new revamped HTPC XBMC DSPlayer setup is also now Hi10p capable (and more than capable, the 720p test clip I used only average 14% CPU usage ), which could have some benefits in the near future both in terms of space and picture quality


Edit: Been a bit tight on time recently. Between other more serious series, atm I'm taking a look at Yoiko. It's quite an old anime that seems to be the predecessor of some of the recent slightly off colour comedy series like Seitokai. It's not an amazing series and not one I'd necessarily recommend as other, newer shows in this vein I think are done better, but the episodes are only 10 minutes long which makes it really easy for me to watch.

Not quite sure what to watch after that TBH, the list of 'I coulds' are a little long atm.

 

[Demoniser]

Just watched the last episode of Hanasaku Iroha.

I get the distinct impression that they set the ending up for a possible continuation.

 

[Alexrose1uk]

Was it any good? Without giving spoilers this was on my 'might once the season is over' list

 

[memyselfandi]

Just watched the last episode of Hanasaku Iroha.

I get the distinct impression that they set the ending up for a possible continuation.

Also watched that earlier ... but I disagree, I don't see a really continuation from the series. At a push you could probably have an OVA or two set with the same characters in the future if what was said came together but I really don't see any more than that.

I did find it a very enjoyable series overall though. The characters were really nice and you found yourself being dragged into their world and really caring about what happens to them ... giving you an emotional roller-coaster at times. The plots were reasonable for the story and didn't seem out of place. The animation was pretty good and the backdrops were absolutely gorgeous ... and the 3d models weren't too bad most of the time. The OPs and EDs were good too.

Overall it's been one of the best series I've seen in quite a while.

Also today I've watched the final episode of Kamisama no Memochou ... this is a series which due to it's nature could easily be carried on further but did round itself off quite nicely at the end of the last episode. Yes the last episode could have been better, they had everything in place that could have made it really good but it just lacked some energy, (although I was reading earlier that it was pretty faithful to the source material instead of J.C.Staff doing their own thing which may explain it). The last scene on the rooftop was a really nice way to end as well.

Haven't had much time to watch much over the last few days, (due to sorting out my home office and making some changes to the PC in there ... although an OS reinstall and patch did give me time to get through a chunk of my manga backlog) ... what I did watch though was ...

Usagi Drop ... re-ran through the whole series now that it's ended. Excellent laid back series, not much happens, not much is supposed too ... slice of life with some light humour and drama. Very catchy OP and ED.

Working ... re-watched the NISA boxset ...I do find this an annoying series; it feels to me that it could have been so much better but it just kinda missed the mark. It's ok but it does tend to over use the same jokes again and again. Doesn't help that out of the staff I like Matsumoto the best and she's only really in the last episode or so (just being the background doesn't count). Hopefully season 2 will be better.

The Twelve Kingdoms ... watched the first couple of disks of part 1 of the BD release earlier. I've tried to watch this series before and not got very far with it ... it's not that I don't care about the characters ... it's just that I actively dislike them. As a series it's supposed to be good but I don't know if I can work up the enthusiasm to see it through.

Did some shelf rearranging earlier so may pick something I haven't seen a while for tomorrow ...

edit:
@Alex; Yes Iroha is very good, but may be one of those series you either get or don't see what the fuss is about. It's a slice of life / drama series with some humour from time to time ... and despite that it isn't set in a school. Some of the backgrounds and animation really deserve HD too.

 

[Strife212]

Fate/Zero - been waiting for this

Yes Yes

 

[ANDARIAL]

Usagi Drop actually watched this today
Nice easy going series as you said.Nothing bad happens.Wish for a second series to continue the story
Yoiko saw this on my vacation a few weeks ago ,was not too sure about it when i read the blurb about how it is about a grade/middle school girl with the body of a 20 year old but it was relatively tame even the chronic m*********** male cousin was not tooo gross a charector

 

[saitrix]

In other nice news, my new revamped HTPC XBMC DSPlayer setup is also now Hi10p capable (and more than capable, the 720p test clip I used only average 14% CPU usage ), which could have some benefits in the near future both in terms of space and picture quality

How good do you find using an external player for XBMC? I also use XBMC but have always used the built in player, just wondered what the advantages were. Plus do you find it works seamlessly?

 

[Alexrose1uk]

DSPlayer isn't really an external player, its more an official prototype replacement/alternative player branch. It was officially scrapped about 6 months ago at the big developer conference, when the mainstay part of the XBMC team decided that they didn't want another player implemented into the Windows branch of XBMC. There have been a few updated builds since from some of the users though, since the original developers put the project down to begin working on other parts of XBMC, which have basically imported the DSPlayer section into the newer pre-eden builds, the newest of which I'm currently using.

As DSPlayer is an internal player (like DVDPlayer [the standard video player] and PAPlayer) there's not a massive amount of configuration you need to do, and MOST of the internal controls and XBMC GUI work perfectly, although there's obviously a little more configuration than standard XBMC required. By default (on installation) DSPlayer is configured to use MPC-HC Video decoder (with DXVA2 assistance where possible, this comes with DSPlayer so no need to install) and FFDShow audio (you have to have installed/registered FFDshow).

Mine is configured to use the LAV Filters instead of the MPC-HC and FFDShow default, as although I lose GPU-assisted decoding, it means I can now play Hi10p h264 (which MPC-HC's video decoder doesn't support properly yet) and bitstream TruHD and DolbyMA no issues (FFDShow also allows HDA Bitstream but LAV seems to do a slightly better job of dealing with it if you're say fast forwarding etc inside the video). If you're watching subbed material, you also have to remember to setup a basic XML file to tell it to render subs at your output resolution (rather than the default of something like 800x600) and to render animation.
Doesn't take very long once you know what you're doing though!

There is a replacement for DSPlayer in the works called DSCodec, but its much more immature atm, and no where near as ready as the current builds of DSPlayer, hence why I've stuck with DSPlayer, although when DSCodec reaches the same levels of 'completion' I'll switch over. The unfortunate thing was that DSPlayer was VERY nearly finished when it was officially canned, it's almost all there, bar some bugfixes and couple of minor feature additions.


In terms of integration, the only thing I've not managed to do with it I can do with normal DVDPlayer is change audio stream. Pretty much everything else works, and for the occasional files that bug in DSPlayer, you can fall back to DVDPlayer.
Edit: One thing I do need to test soon is whether they've integrated Hi10p support into DVDPlayer yet, to round out the fallback on the odd files that say the refresh rate detects on incorrectly in DSPlayer or I *need* to switch audio stream.


So long and short, my XBMC/DSplayer config is virtually seamless, I have DSPlayer setup as the windows GUI instead of explorer by default on my HTPC, and only exit and go into explorer when I need to do any updates, tweaking, check a file with mediainfo etc. I also use the official Android Remote app to control the system, including Boot/Wake on LAN and Powerdown by remote so I don't even need to have a mouse/keyboard attached to the system 99% of the time.

I'm pretty happy with it!

 

[NuclearWinter]

The Twelve Kingdoms ... watched the first couple of disks of part 1 of the BD release earlier. I've tried to watch this series before and not got very far with it ... it's not that I don't care about the characters ... it's just that I actively dislike them. As a series it's supposed to be good but I don't know if I can work up the enthusiasm to see it through.

I'm not sure how far into the series you are, but the character development is perhaps the best thing about 12 Kingdoms. The characters really do grow up and change as the circumstances they live through affect them.

It would be hard for me to recall another anime series with a character that develops as much as Youko does (and pulls it off as convincingly).

 

[memyselfandi]

I'm not sure how far into the series you are, but the character development is perhaps the best thing about 12 Kingdoms. The characters really do grow up and change as the circumstances they live through affect them.

It would be hard for me to recall another anime series with a character that develops as much as Youko does (and pulls it off as convincingly).

Whilst there is character development unfortunately the characters don't develop to be likeable

Currently Youko's gone to En (I think) and found out some things about herself. I think this is getting close to how far I got with the series last time I watched it, (although I can't watch that much more now as I'm almost at the end of the part 1 BD release and I no longer have my copy of the DVD release).

 

[saitrix]

Excellent explanation

Thanks for that. I may have a play round with it and see what it's like. Though I won't be getting 10 bit support sorted as I don't have a cpu powerful enough for it, as I do all mine via my gpu.

 

[NuclearWinter]

Whilst there is character development unfortunately the characters don't develop to be likeable

Currently Youko's gone to En (I think) and found out some things about herself. I think this is getting close to how far I got with the series last time I watched it, (although I can't watch that much more now as I'm almost at the end of the part 1 BD release and I no longer have my copy of the DVD release).

You still have about 30 episodes to go then, you've barely even got started

I think Youko becomes pretty great myself.

The only thing I dislike about Twelve Kingdoms is that they were never able to conclude the Taiki arc so it feels a bit out of place.

 

[memyselfandi]

Thanks for that. I may have a play round with it and see what it's like. Though I won't be getting 10 bit support sorted as I don't have a cpu powerful enough for it, as I do all mine via my gpu.

I'd say give it a go, I had some 10bit files playing back on a slightly different software stack to Alex at the weekend on an AMD 4450e with onboard HD3200 graphics ... CPU decoding was <50% for 720p and <80% for 1080p and that's on a pretty low spec'ed machine.

Just need Plex to update their OSX client with support really so I don't have to use MPlayerX on it instead ...

You still have about 30 episodes to go then, you've barely even got started

I think Youko becomes pretty great myself.

The only thing I dislike about Twelve Kingdoms is that they were never able to conclude the Taiki arc so it feels a bit out of place.

I'll probably give it a chance but it's not going to be a high priority title for me.

 

[saitrix]

I'm using a core duo t2350, so it really is a bit on the slow side! Works nicely with gpu decoding though so I am happy for now. Next htpc I will go for one that can still do software decoding as backup.

 

[lsg1r]

I have hi10p playing on an amd x2 4200+ (s939 2.2ghz) with hd5450 gpu... I play mine in wmp11 (32+64bit) and 64bit media center (with media browser add on)

I've got the amd codec pack which I installed first, it's supposed to help decode mpeg4 with the gpu....

Then all I did was install shark007 codecs (latest 3.07 - 32+64bit) onto windows 7 (fresh install), tweak a few settings in haali splitter to personal preference (languages etc) and tick the below on each tab..

for both 32 and 64 bit unless stated otherwise

Config - subtitle control vobsub
Misc - no change
audio - no change
avi - no change
h264 - do not use ffdshow, use mpc-hc with config set at codecs h264/avc (dxva) and h264/avc (ffmpeg), settings are default. Set the merit of MPC-HC Prefered +1. H264 in directshow players = Use MPC-HC
MKV - use haali, disable the divx media foundation and enable linked files
Mov/Ogg - set mov to use haali splitter, ogg/ogm- use haali splitter, mov thumbnailing (32bit only) - older style
MPG-MP4 - overall mpeg playback - use microsoft/haali, set mpeg2 (system default), mp4 - use gabest splitter
swap - xvid/divx - microsoft default, mpeg2 - microsoft default, aac - microsoft default. Tick boxes on right - all empty.

Only change in ffdshow is tick to allow raw files.

I haven't come across anything I can't play (default is 64bit player due to media center) so far including hi10p although hi10p do have the occasional artefact. Not sure if this is the encoding or the decoding due to newness of hi10p....

edit: just checked another 720p video, still got occasional artefacts, cpu hovers around 30-50% and 2GB ram with firefox open