January 2016 Media Thread

ArisKatsaris

This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

Shirobako: The most realistic portrayal of ordinary working life (at least, like mine) I've seen, in any fictional medium. Warm-hearted (perhaps to a fault), straightforward, very much writing what they know and love. I recommend it to anyone interested in animation, but especially to students or similar interested in seeing a day in the working life.

Hibike Euphonium. Teenage drama (not actually a romance show, but it felt like one) that again felt very true, and with KyoAni's usual high production values.

A Farewell to Arms (one of the Short Peace shorts). High production values applied to a setting that's pretty novel in animé - an Americanized military unit in a ruined city in the desert with a (less extreme) Three Kings-style overexposed look. A very fun battle sequence that deserves points for putting thought into what near-future combat might look like - I don't think it necessarily got it right, but it goes much further than most.

Psycho-Pass Movie. A return to form after the trashy second season. Continues to ask the awkward question: given a paternalistic dictatorship that manages to act in the best interests of most people most of the time, what do you actually do? (I'm told there's also a colonialism side but that largely passed me by).

Non-recommendations:

Gakkou Gurashi. Ok premise but not enough content to fill the time.

Expelled from Paradise. Actually quite fun: visually very pretty (very Male Gaze), and some good CG robot fights, including a very cool one on the way down from orbit. But the themes felt done-to-death; it's not really adding anything new to the conversation, and I never found myself caring about any of the characters.

9

January 2016 Media Thread

9

9

9

January 2016 Media Thread

9

9