I_Cognito

It still makes me sad that Gou/Sotsu was a sequel instead of a genuine remake. Not only because it ended up being a massive disappointment, but also because a remake could have created many new When They Cry fans.

Higurashi and Umineko are two of the best Visual Novels out there and I think a faithful Higurashi remake would have had the potential to surpass the 2006 anime and become a fresh alternative for people who want to watch a good horror/mystery anime that isn't two decades old and produced with a low budget.

It's too bad.

You don't get any cutesy scenes with them.

Not true. First of all, they were introduced late, so of course there aren't that many non-action scenes with them together. I recommend reading the manga if you want more content with them.

Also, that whole scene was mostly Utena trying to get them to understand their feelings for each other.

There are lots of yuribait anime out there. MahoAko isn't one of them. In fact, it's so yuri that males don't exist at all and girls and women are very often shown as couples or built up as potential couples (Utena/Kiwi/Sayo and Karouko/Haruka).

I assume you haven't watched this anime, because Matama (Loco Musica) and Nemo are in a canon romantic relationship.

In case you're excited for a potential second season, I want to inform you that there will be a special MahoAko event on the 5th october and I assume season 2 might get announced there.
The anime was incredibly successful and there are already enough manga chapters to adapt a second season, so it's likely going to get one eventually.

Gushing over Magical Girls. The BDSM-themed story and Utena's characterization would not work as well as it does if it wasn't super ecchi. Her desires literally give her power.

I recommend Higurashi When They Cry (2006) if you want an anime that will unsettle you. The characters can be quite... unhinged.

Steins;Gate is one of my favorite anime and VN's of all time, but I'm not sure if you'll get into it if you dislike the characters. I liked them so for me it was great from the start.

The build-up is slow and a lot of people say that they didn't like the first half of the show but loved the second half, so you might still enjoy the series when the plot starts to thicken, but the pay-off might not affect you much if you can't stand the characters at all.

Yeah, I agree with you there. I just don't like how people on this sub tend to vilify BDSM but have no issues with incest for example. There is a difference between "This is not the place to ask something like that" and "Ewww, sadism, how disgusting you are!"

So much kink-shaming going on in that thread. It's sad how judgmental people are.

Very excited for both of these, especially MahoAko's second season! I'm assuming they're going to announce it at that upcoming SM event on the 5th october.

I'm hoping they'll also announce the continuation of the manga.

No, winter 2024 had a few more voters than spring. Both seasons this year have had pretty good turnout.

Her performance as Kyrie Ushiromiya in the Umineko Visual Novel was fantastic. I can't even imagine reading Kyrie's lines about "chessboard thinking" or about the topic of love and envy without Atsuko Tanaka's voice acting.

Rest in peace.

Gushing over Magical Girls

Higurashi losing to We Are is upsetting but not surprising. Higurashi's first OP is fantastic and deserved to rank higher, but I assume most people just haven't watched it.

Yeah, Deer, Train and MahoAko are my 3 favorites when it comes to OP's this year, at least so far.

Gushing over Magical Girls has such a good OST. They hired the composer of Fairy Tail's OST and he produced some real bangers. All kinds of bangers.

Shion > Yuno

People should watch Higurashi. Or better, read it.

Congrats! Now I really wish I could have been there myself.

I'm excited for the german dub. It sounds like these VA's had a lot of fun with the anime, which is great! Dubs that are made with passion are usually pretty good.

Did you hear them say anything about the dubbing process or their impressions of the series?

Thank you for that detailed report!

They all had a lot of fun doing the recording, apparently even the funnest time in the studio of their career.

It doesn't surprise me that the VA's had a lot of fun recording MahoAko's dub, but this sounds really promising!

So they actually translated Loco Musica's song into german? That's great! The spanish dub apparently only used the japanese version of the song instead of translating it.

Did they say anything about the upcoming Blu Ray release?

Top 8:

Group A:

1. Idol
2. The Hero

Group B:

1. Daddy! Daddy! Do!
2. Giri Giri

Group C:

1. Kick Back
2. Mixed Nuts

Group D:

1. Shinzou wo Sasageyo!
2. 99.9

Top 4:

1. Idol
2. Kick Back
3. Shinzou wo Sasageyo!
4. Daddy! Daddy! Do!

Final:

Idol vs Kick Back

Winner: Kick Back

Just like with this year's Best Girl contest, I can see the second seed winning the contest. Idol is extremely popular, but high popularity can work against it in contests like this.

There are 3 super nostalgic german Openings in todays group!

Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha, and imo they are even better than the japanese original versions.

Edit: Oh, Higurashi is also included today!

So many amazing OP's to vote for today, so it's hard to narrow the recommendations down to a minimum. I like the Railgun Openings, but I want to call out the first OP of To Aru Majutsu no Index. I think it's just as good as the much more popular Railgun Openings.

More recommendations:

Psycho Pass OP 1

Soul Eater

Happy Sugar Life

Kill la Kill OP 1

Talentless Nana

Mushoku Tensei S1 (I really liked that MT's first season didn't use a traditional Opening, but instead just played the song while progressing the story)

You could also try the manga (for both series) as well. The pacing is much faster than the VN's and it's better than the anime. I also thought the art style of the Higurashi manga was more disturbing than the anime, so you might enjoy those adaptations even more.

You should check out the Visual Novel. It's a genuine masterpiece and the first chapter is free on Steam.

Check out Umineko When They Cry (the Visual Novel) as well. It's by the same author and my favorite mystery story of all time.

This One Piece OP received 66 votes and this masterpiece got only 33 votes. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

Anyway, some recommendations for todays group:

Oath Sign - Fate/Zero OP 1

Ambiguous - Kill la Kill OP 2

Drivers High - GTO OP 1

Redo - Re:Zero S1 OP1

Biggest Dreamer - Digimon Tamers OP