Another weekly general thread! I know everybody has this time of the week set aside as their favorite, so here it is. Like usual, feel free to use this thread for any kind of anime/anime-adjacent topics you might want to discuss.
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Completed Terminator Zero and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
Terminator Zero
Probably top show of the season for me, tied with Makeine (unless Rick and Morty can pull off a surprise).
First off, I liked how well-animated it is. The first 6 minutes of the show convinced me to watch it, and quality of the animation remained consistently good.
It is its own self-contained story, but it still faithful to the style of the Terminator series. The iconic "dun dun duh dun" is nostalgic.
What I liked the most is
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the multitude of plot twists / reveals.
I know that going into time travel + AI sci-fi, a plot twist is to be expected. What I did not expected is the sheer number of reveals:
Misaki is a cyborg (that's cool)
Kokoro is built upon Misaki (ok, removal of Misaki's core component explains her strange behavior)
Malcolm came from the future (alright, that explains his nightmares)
Eiko is Malcolm's mother (now that's a surprise)
IIRC: the Terminator was sent by Kenta (surprise number 2)
I thought that the show would reveal that Reika would grow up to be the prophet, but turns out that didn't happen.
Overall, it's really good.
I've got to knock a point off due to some annoyances I have with the show though.
For example,
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in true HISHE fashion, most of the problems that the characters faced could have been avoided if Malcolm just brought his family with him to the lab and have them stay with him.
So 9 / 10
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
This show is if Steins;Gate was good.
This anime is if Subaru (from Re:Zero) at his best got isekai-ed to the world of Steins;Gate
This show is what I wish for from a sci-fi of this nature.
We have a capable, mature MC who gets down to it
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai spoiler
and solves the first and titular problem in just 3 episodes. Then he continues his streak for the rest of the phenomenon.
What a chad.
To be fair, Sakuta isn't with flaws e.g.
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when he doesn't tell his girlfriend of his troubles.
But that's when Mai would step in and scold him, all the while supporting him. I love their relationship dynamics.
It's been a while since I studied physics, so can't comment on how scientifically accurate some of the phenomenons are.
Otherwise, the story and the rest of the characters are great.
The only thing I found the show to be weak in is its soundtracks - none are really memorable to me - but that's just a nitpick.
One of the best sci-fi anime, and going into my favourites. 10 / 10
Bunny Girl Senpai is fanstastic, and I am glad you enjoyed it! Sakuta is a fantastic MC, and the chemistry with Mai feels so natural, despite all the supernatural things going on in their lives. Have you watched the sequel movies yet?
About the physics, I think that is one of my least favorite parts of the show. I think it goes too far to try to tie the phenomena back to real science. I think it would be better to just lean into the supernatural, but...I am a professional physicist. In talking about the show with non-physicists, it doesn't really bother them at all, so it is probably just me.