Thoughts on cartoons
17 Dec 2012 01:10 pmWe've watched more Psycho-pass and From the New World, and these two shows have a lot more in common than you'd think from reading the descriptions I wrote last time.
In Psycho-pass, the Sibyl System (a computer) is judge, jury, and executioner if people's psychological profiles get too cloudy. People who could maybe exhibit criminal tendencies in the future are summarily executed (or thrown into jail, if their number isn't too high). Latent criminals, they're called.
In the New World, where all people have telekinetic powers, the Board of Ethics quietly eliminates all the people who might become Fiends or Karma Demons. (Fiends are basically sociopathic monsters; karma demons are people whose powers escape subconsciously and mutate the world around them.) They give kids all these psychological tests to see if they've got latent criminal tendencies.
What does it say about society today that two shows, by two different studios, are discussing the same essential theme?
In Psycho-pass, the Sibyl System (a computer) is judge, jury, and executioner if people's psychological profiles get too cloudy. People who could maybe exhibit criminal tendencies in the future are summarily executed (or thrown into jail, if their number isn't too high). Latent criminals, they're called.
In the New World, where all people have telekinetic powers, the Board of Ethics quietly eliminates all the people who might become Fiends or Karma Demons. (Fiends are basically sociopathic monsters; karma demons are people whose powers escape subconsciously and mutate the world around them.) They give kids all these psychological tests to see if they've got latent criminal tendencies.
What does it say about society today that two shows, by two different studios, are discussing the same essential theme?
Cartoons I'm watching
3 Dec 2012 05:11 pm1. From the New World (Shin Sekai Yori). In a distant post-apocalyptic Japan, everyone has psychic powers. Kids/teens have to face a trial in order to make it into high school (or they die/are killed). Anyone who exhibits any tendency toward bad behavior, cheating, or malevolence is killed.
The protagonists go on an unsupervised camping trip for school (because obviously it's a great idea to send 12-year-olds off into the woods by themselves) and learn some things about their history that they're really not supposed to. They're imprisoned by one of the Buddhist priests, have their powers sealed, and are on their way to a temple when they're attacked by monster rats.
We're 10 episodes in, and I'm really curious to see where this is going.
2. Psycho-pass. In a not-too-distant future, society is controlled by sensors that detect people's auras, essentially, and if their number is too high, they're considered criminals and imprisoned, or killed outright if the number is high enough.
The protagonists are a group of detectives and enforcers, who are basically people with a criminal mindset who work for the cops. The show is suitably creepy for the premise, treating it like the 1984-esque thoughtcrime thing it is. (Which is a neat trick to pull off, because the protagonists are cops who enforce the sensor system's rulings and shoot people with criminal tendencies.)
I'm very curious how this will play out.
3. Robotics Notes. This is a show about a high school girl who's a mecha-anime fan, her friend, and the poor classmate they rope in to help keep the robotics club her sister founded from dying. There's some still-unexplained Something in the background about the sister that they need to stop being fucking coy about.
I haven't been sucked in by this yet, but it makes decent crocheting background noise.
4. K! Ben described this as the urban fantasy blender show, and he's right. It's trope upon trope: magic, clans/gangs that fight under a king, one of which basically controls Japan, bishounen, a cat-girl with massive tits who apparently prefers to be naked.
I honestly can't say I recommend this show to anyone, and I'm not even sure why I watched it past episode 2. It's dumb. There's a thread of a plot (the lead male character is accused of murdering a guy, and he claims he doesn't remember it; the foil character was ordered to kill him but the lead keeps bluffing him out of it). There's just enough thread of plot to make me want to know what actually happened, but I don't know why I'm bothering.
The protagonists go on an unsupervised camping trip for school (because obviously it's a great idea to send 12-year-olds off into the woods by themselves) and learn some things about their history that they're really not supposed to. They're imprisoned by one of the Buddhist priests, have their powers sealed, and are on their way to a temple when they're attacked by monster rats.
We're 10 episodes in, and I'm really curious to see where this is going.
2. Psycho-pass. In a not-too-distant future, society is controlled by sensors that detect people's auras, essentially, and if their number is too high, they're considered criminals and imprisoned, or killed outright if the number is high enough.
The protagonists are a group of detectives and enforcers, who are basically people with a criminal mindset who work for the cops. The show is suitably creepy for the premise, treating it like the 1984-esque thoughtcrime thing it is. (Which is a neat trick to pull off, because the protagonists are cops who enforce the sensor system's rulings and shoot people with criminal tendencies.)
I'm very curious how this will play out.
3. Robotics Notes. This is a show about a high school girl who's a mecha-anime fan, her friend, and the poor classmate they rope in to help keep the robotics club her sister founded from dying. There's some still-unexplained Something in the background about the sister that they need to stop being fucking coy about.
I haven't been sucked in by this yet, but it makes decent crocheting background noise.
4. K! Ben described this as the urban fantasy blender show, and he's right. It's trope upon trope: magic, clans/gangs that fight under a king, one of which basically controls Japan, bishounen, a cat-girl with massive tits who apparently prefers to be naked.
I honestly can't say I recommend this show to anyone, and I'm not even sure why I watched it past episode 2. It's dumb. There's a thread of a plot (the lead male character is accused of murdering a guy, and he claims he doesn't remember it; the foil character was ordered to kill him but the lead keeps bluffing him out of it). There's just enough thread of plot to make me want to know what actually happened, but I don't know why I'm bothering.
Something that isn't about writing
1 May 2012 07:37 pmThough I haven't really done much else lately...
I'm still liking the Legend of Korra and Mouretsu Pirates (there are actualfacts canon lesbians in the latest episode!).
Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) is another new series that I'm enjoying. It's about a few high school kids in the jazz age, and one of them is a complete nerd boy who doesn't get jazz initially (he's a classical pianist), then he transfers to a new school and meets this rough and tumble guy who's a jazz drummer. They hit it off, and nerd boy learns the art of not giving a fuck. There's a love triangle+misunderstanding plot in episode 3, and I spent half the episode saying "you people need to have a conversation" or "TELL HER YOU LIKE HER DAMMIT" then he did, and I was happy. (We don't know her response, though I'm assuming that's episode 4.) I'm not a fan of love triangle plots, and the misunderstanding that would be resolved if they took 5 seconds and TALKED "plot" drives me up a tree. So I was pleased to see a quick resolution there. The music is by Yoko Kanno, and it's directed by the guy who did Michiko to Hatchin.
That last sentence is how Ben explained this show to me, and I said, so, what's it about, then? And he was like "iunno." I don't particularly find "it's by the guy who directed X" a helpful description. All that gives me is an idea of what it'll look like.
Gundam Age has serious pacing issues, and I'm not a person who notices pacing issues, so that's saying something. Also, its underlying premise is extremely stupid, and Gundam series aren't really known for their brilliant plots.
Space Brothers is still kind of interesting I guess, though sad sack guy is starting to annoy me.
Lupin III: A woman called Fujiko Mine would be a much better show if it weren't all about Fujiko's tits or Fujiko being a sex object. (Though it seems to be portraying her sexcapades as a tool she's using to manipulate men, which is kind of like agency and less like being an object, but it's still a pretty sketchy depiction.) Fujiko's tits are also very perky for being as big as they are. I have friends with her proportions, and I can assure you their boobs don't look like that unless the woman's in a corset.
I read Glamour in Glass, the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey. I enjoyed it a great deal. I'm currently reading TOR! The story of German football by Uli Hesse. I'm enjoying it, but it's kind of a special interest book, and I suspect most of you would be pretty bored with it. It's the definitive English-language book about the history of German football. (It's also the only one that isn't academic.) I also have a book on Eastern European football since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
My TBR pile isn't really getting smaller, but my to be reviewed pile is getting bigger.
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anthimeria, I found the notebook where I made notes on Skywatch, and I'll email you soon.
I'm still liking the Legend of Korra and Mouretsu Pirates (there are actualfacts canon lesbians in the latest episode!).
Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) is another new series that I'm enjoying. It's about a few high school kids in the jazz age, and one of them is a complete nerd boy who doesn't get jazz initially (he's a classical pianist), then he transfers to a new school and meets this rough and tumble guy who's a jazz drummer. They hit it off, and nerd boy learns the art of not giving a fuck. There's a love triangle+misunderstanding plot in episode 3, and I spent half the episode saying "you people need to have a conversation" or "TELL HER YOU LIKE HER DAMMIT" then he did, and I was happy. (We don't know her response, though I'm assuming that's episode 4.) I'm not a fan of love triangle plots, and the misunderstanding that would be resolved if they took 5 seconds and TALKED "plot" drives me up a tree. So I was pleased to see a quick resolution there. The music is by Yoko Kanno, and it's directed by the guy who did Michiko to Hatchin.
That last sentence is how Ben explained this show to me, and I said, so, what's it about, then? And he was like "iunno." I don't particularly find "it's by the guy who directed X" a helpful description. All that gives me is an idea of what it'll look like.
Gundam Age has serious pacing issues, and I'm not a person who notices pacing issues, so that's saying something. Also, its underlying premise is extremely stupid, and Gundam series aren't really known for their brilliant plots.
Space Brothers is still kind of interesting I guess, though sad sack guy is starting to annoy me.
Lupin III: A woman called Fujiko Mine would be a much better show if it weren't all about Fujiko's tits or Fujiko being a sex object. (Though it seems to be portraying her sexcapades as a tool she's using to manipulate men, which is kind of like agency and less like being an object, but it's still a pretty sketchy depiction.) Fujiko's tits are also very perky for being as big as they are. I have friends with her proportions, and I can assure you their boobs don't look like that unless the woman's in a corset.
I read Glamour in Glass, the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey. I enjoyed it a great deal. I'm currently reading TOR! The story of German football by Uli Hesse. I'm enjoying it, but it's kind of a special interest book, and I suspect most of you would be pretty bored with it. It's the definitive English-language book about the history of German football. (It's also the only one that isn't academic.) I also have a book on Eastern European football since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
My TBR pile isn't really getting smaller, but my to be reviewed pile is getting bigger.
anthimeria, I found the notebook where I made notes on Skywatch, and I'll email you soon.
Anime about soccer!
25 Jul 2010 11:24 amHow could I *not* love Giant Killing? I mean, really.
Unlike a lot of sports series, GK doesn't start out with a total n00b who learns to play the game (and the audience learns along with him, of course.) It's about tactics, politics, team-building strategies (aka free-market capitalism at its purest, which kind of spoils the game IMO), and the guys on the team: how they interact, how they grow, and how the team becomes a team.
Gino, the primadonna half-Italian, half-Japanese guy, is slowly becoming my favorite character, because he's just so ... ridiculous. And awesome. But Dori, the goal keeper, is probably really my favorite. (I have a thing for defense players, ok? Strikers and midfielders are great, and they bring the spectacular plays that lead to goals, but a good, solid defense is really awesome.I'm not biased because Arne's a center back. I don't know why you'd think that.)
We just finished watching the first season last night. This is the type of story that you have certain expectations for: new manager, who used to play on the team, comes in to turn a team on the verge of relegation into league champions. The arc I expect it to follow for the second season results in ETU becoming league champions, though they may lose a few more matches on the way.
I don't think you have to be a football fan to enjoy Giant Killing, though it certainly doesn't hurt. The more esoteric rules, like offsides, don't come up too much, and when they do, they aren't explained. In one episode, the line ref blows his whistle and drops his flag, and you get some reaction shots of people saying, "he was offside!" but that's it. I don't think it affects enjoyment or understanding, but I could be wrong.
I understand there's also manga for this. I want to read it. I'm not holding my breath for a North American release of either, though Ookiku Furikabutte got a NA DVD release. But that's about baseball, that fine American sport, not that crazy unAmerican game.
Unlike a lot of sports series, GK doesn't start out with a total n00b who learns to play the game (and the audience learns along with him, of course.) It's about tactics, politics, team-building strategies (aka free-market capitalism at its purest, which kind of spoils the game IMO), and the guys on the team: how they interact, how they grow, and how the team becomes a team.
Gino, the primadonna half-Italian, half-Japanese guy, is slowly becoming my favorite character, because he's just so ... ridiculous. And awesome. But Dori, the goal keeper, is probably really my favorite. (I have a thing for defense players, ok? Strikers and midfielders are great, and they bring the spectacular plays that lead to goals, but a good, solid defense is really awesome.
We just finished watching the first season last night. This is the type of story that you have certain expectations for: new manager, who used to play on the team, comes in to turn a team on the verge of relegation into league champions. The arc I expect it to follow for the second season results in ETU becoming league champions, though they may lose a few more matches on the way.
I don't think you have to be a football fan to enjoy Giant Killing, though it certainly doesn't hurt. The more esoteric rules, like offsides, don't come up too much, and when they do, they aren't explained. In one episode, the line ref blows his whistle and drops his flag, and you get some reaction shots of people saying, "he was offside!" but that's it. I don't think it affects enjoyment or understanding, but I could be wrong.
I understand there's also manga for this. I want to read it. I'm not holding my breath for a North American release of either, though Ookiku Furikabutte got a NA DVD release. But that's about baseball, that fine American sport, not that crazy unAmerican game.
Cartoon reviews
22 Mar 2010 11:51 amSo! It's over halfway through the semester, and that means it's time for me to express my opinions on some of those Japanese cartoons I've been watching.
Tegamibachi: aka Letter Bee: In a weird, super hierarchical fantasy world, people called Letter Bees deliver, well, letters. We meet a kid who's being delivered as a letter, and he's so impressed by the Bee who delivers him that he wants to become a Bee himself. He also wants to find his mother, who was abducted by the top hierarchy. The animation is pretty, but I didn't find anything super compelling about the characters or the story.
Natsume Yuujinchou: A teenage boy can see youkai, and he wants to release the ones his grandmother trapped by returning their names. I still like this. It's episodic, with a slight hint of overarching plot.
Durarara! Weird. I'm not sure I could explain what this is about, but an episode features epic gang warfare that involves one guy throwing a vending machine at another guy. Also, there's a Russian guy living in Japan whose name is Simon Brezhnev.
Brave Story: A boy's parents separate, and his mom becomes ill. He finds a mysterious doorway to another world, where he can get a wish fulfilled if he completes a quest. It's interesting, and based on a novel (which Viz has released in English in their Haikasoru line). Parts of it are clearly condensed. It follows a fairly standard hero narrative, but it isn't dull for that.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: In some weird setup for a shonen tournament show, a high school in Japan has segregated students by test scores into a strict caste system. The top level (smartest) students have a luxurious room, and the lowest have tattered cushions on the floor by broken desks. They can reverse their fortunes by challenging higher classes to a test battle. It's alternatingly hilarious and offensive, but aside from that, fairly typical shonen tournament fare.
Rideback: In a dystopic Japan ruled by martial law (for reasons explained in the first couple episodes that I now forget), transformable motorcycles are the kids' new thing. Our heroine, a ballerina who falls during a performance and sustains an injury that prevents her from dancing, gets sucked into the rideback club, and she's good at it. If you think Initial D with transforming motorcycles and some politics in the background (that start to become foreground in the episodes we watched this time), you've got Rideback.
Toradora: The continuing saga of Ryuuji and Taiga, and their friends. The first season gave me the impression that this would buck the typical shoujo series frame of boy + girl + friend = romance. Some developments in the second season make me concerned that I spoke too soon, but perhaps not. (Shoujo manga really likes to emphasize that boys and girls can't be Just Friends. It makes me cranky.)
Baccano! Weird. Like Durarara, I don't think I can explain what this is about, other than gangsters, black magic, alchemy, and an annoying narrative style which doesn't want to go in chronological order.
Darker than Black: Twilight Gemini: If you liked DTB, but the two-episode plot arcs irritated you because you just wanted there to be some ongoing plot, check out DTB:TG. Hei is back, and he's got a sidekick. It's two years after DTB, and there's some sort of politics involving the CIA, the Russian military, and a new division of the Japanese SDF. If you thought the promo materials showing a teenage girl meant the show would be moe blob anime and ran in terror, it's safe to come out. Coolest bit: Suou Utenas a giant sniper rifle out of her own chest.
Tegamibachi: aka Letter Bee: In a weird, super hierarchical fantasy world, people called Letter Bees deliver, well, letters. We meet a kid who's being delivered as a letter, and he's so impressed by the Bee who delivers him that he wants to become a Bee himself. He also wants to find his mother, who was abducted by the top hierarchy. The animation is pretty, but I didn't find anything super compelling about the characters or the story.
Natsume Yuujinchou: A teenage boy can see youkai, and he wants to release the ones his grandmother trapped by returning their names. I still like this. It's episodic, with a slight hint of overarching plot.
Durarara! Weird. I'm not sure I could explain what this is about, but an episode features epic gang warfare that involves one guy throwing a vending machine at another guy. Also, there's a Russian guy living in Japan whose name is Simon Brezhnev.
Brave Story: A boy's parents separate, and his mom becomes ill. He finds a mysterious doorway to another world, where he can get a wish fulfilled if he completes a quest. It's interesting, and based on a novel (which Viz has released in English in their Haikasoru line). Parts of it are clearly condensed. It follows a fairly standard hero narrative, but it isn't dull for that.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: In some weird setup for a shonen tournament show, a high school in Japan has segregated students by test scores into a strict caste system. The top level (smartest) students have a luxurious room, and the lowest have tattered cushions on the floor by broken desks. They can reverse their fortunes by challenging higher classes to a test battle. It's alternatingly hilarious and offensive, but aside from that, fairly typical shonen tournament fare.
Rideback: In a dystopic Japan ruled by martial law (for reasons explained in the first couple episodes that I now forget), transformable motorcycles are the kids' new thing. Our heroine, a ballerina who falls during a performance and sustains an injury that prevents her from dancing, gets sucked into the rideback club, and she's good at it. If you think Initial D with transforming motorcycles and some politics in the background (that start to become foreground in the episodes we watched this time), you've got Rideback.
Toradora: The continuing saga of Ryuuji and Taiga, and their friends. The first season gave me the impression that this would buck the typical shoujo series frame of boy + girl + friend = romance. Some developments in the second season make me concerned that I spoke too soon, but perhaps not. (Shoujo manga really likes to emphasize that boys and girls can't be Just Friends. It makes me cranky.)
Baccano! Weird. Like Durarara, I don't think I can explain what this is about, other than gangsters, black magic, alchemy, and an annoying narrative style which doesn't want to go in chronological order.
Darker than Black: Twilight Gemini: If you liked DTB, but the two-episode plot arcs irritated you because you just wanted there to be some ongoing plot, check out DTB:TG. Hei is back, and he's got a sidekick. It's two years after DTB, and there's some sort of politics involving the CIA, the Russian military, and a new division of the Japanese SDF. If you thought the promo materials showing a teenage girl meant the show would be moe blob anime and ran in terror, it's safe to come out. Coolest bit: Suou Utenas a giant sniper rifle out of her own chest.
Much-delayed anime reviews
12 Nov 2009 10:55 amThe current COUP season is 2/3 over. Here's what we've seen so far.
Bakemonogatari: I can't say I remember this at all. Was it the one with the weightless girl who could produce office supplies and use them as weapons? Sounds interesting, isn't.
Soul Eater: Yawn. Standard shonen fare.
Kuroshitsuji: Demon butler! Also, Jack the Ripper.
Project A-ko: Hard to believe I never watched this until this year. I know, right? It's the 80s, condensed. Very weird, and I almost fell out of my chair at the Fist of the North Star gag.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: This is a love it or hate it show. The premise is that a gigantic earthquake hits Tokyo and strands a girl and her (adorable) kid brother at Odaiba. The story is as much about them getting home as it is a well-researched piece of disaster preparedness. The protagonist is a 14-year-old girl, in the middle of her angst years. Some people hate her; I think she's accurately portrayed, and her fear-disguised-as-anger makes a lot of sense, though some people I know read it as her just being a bitch. I still want to kick her, though.
Michiko to Hatchin: Convict escapes from jail and busts a girl who may or may not be her daughter out of a shitty foster home. Hijinks ensue. Michiko is sexy and under-dressed, but they're in a fictional Brazil, so it makes sense. It's also not gratuitous boobage, like with, say, Basquatch. Give it a shot if you liked Cowboy Bebop and/or Samurai Champloo. Many of the same people worked on it.
Dogs: Bullets and Carnage: Apparently a prequel anime to a manga series? 4 15-minute shorts introducing 4 characters. As advertised, there are bullets and carnage.
Needless: KILL IT WITH FIRE. Aside from being incredibly stupid, the fansub we watched was written by people who don't speak Japanese, and I'm not sure if they speak English, either.
Guin Saga: The best part was when the guy with the leopard head set a tree on fire by punching a dude into it. Pity that was about 10 seconds out of 25 minutes.
Lupin vs Conan movie: Had some funny parts, but could have had far less Conan boring exposition and more Lupin Gang action.
Regular features:
Toradora: High school rom-com. Ryuuji lives next door to Taiga, and they befriend each other because he likes her friend and she likes his, and they want to help each other make the respective friends like them. This sort of backfires, because everybody thinks they're dating. It's cute and fun and sweet, though I'm certainly expecting Ryuuji and Taiga to end up together.
Canaan: William said it best: Noir by the Darker than Black crew. It started off slow and very confusingly, no doubt related to its basis in a series of light novels, but it eventually picked up. The ending song makes me want to stab somebody, though.
Eden of the East: I've seen 9 of the 11 episodes, and all I can say is there are more questions than answers. There are 2 movies (?) planned for 2010, where I hope things are cleared up dammit. Summarizing the plot would take far too long.
Bakemonogatari: I can't say I remember this at all. Was it the one with the weightless girl who could produce office supplies and use them as weapons? Sounds interesting, isn't.
Soul Eater: Yawn. Standard shonen fare.
Kuroshitsuji: Demon butler! Also, Jack the Ripper.
Project A-ko: Hard to believe I never watched this until this year. I know, right? It's the 80s, condensed. Very weird, and I almost fell out of my chair at the Fist of the North Star gag.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: This is a love it or hate it show. The premise is that a gigantic earthquake hits Tokyo and strands a girl and her (adorable) kid brother at Odaiba. The story is as much about them getting home as it is a well-researched piece of disaster preparedness. The protagonist is a 14-year-old girl, in the middle of her angst years. Some people hate her; I think she's accurately portrayed, and her fear-disguised-as-anger makes a lot of sense, though some people I know read it as her just being a bitch. I still want to kick her, though.
Michiko to Hatchin: Convict escapes from jail and busts a girl who may or may not be her daughter out of a shitty foster home. Hijinks ensue. Michiko is sexy and under-dressed, but they're in a fictional Brazil, so it makes sense. It's also not gratuitous boobage, like with, say, Basquatch. Give it a shot if you liked Cowboy Bebop and/or Samurai Champloo. Many of the same people worked on it.
Dogs: Bullets and Carnage: Apparently a prequel anime to a manga series? 4 15-minute shorts introducing 4 characters. As advertised, there are bullets and carnage.
Needless: KILL IT WITH FIRE. Aside from being incredibly stupid, the fansub we watched was written by people who don't speak Japanese, and I'm not sure if they speak English, either.
Guin Saga: The best part was when the guy with the leopard head set a tree on fire by punching a dude into it. Pity that was about 10 seconds out of 25 minutes.
Lupin vs Conan movie: Had some funny parts, but could have had far less Conan boring exposition and more Lupin Gang action.
Regular features:
Toradora: High school rom-com. Ryuuji lives next door to Taiga, and they befriend each other because he likes her friend and she likes his, and they want to help each other make the respective friends like them. This sort of backfires, because everybody thinks they're dating. It's cute and fun and sweet, though I'm certainly expecting Ryuuji and Taiga to end up together.
Canaan: William said it best: Noir by the Darker than Black crew. It started off slow and very confusingly, no doubt related to its basis in a series of light novels, but it eventually picked up. The ending song makes me want to stab somebody, though.
Eden of the East: I've seen 9 of the 11 episodes, and all I can say is there are more questions than answers. There are 2 movies (?) planned for 2010, where I hope things are cleared up dammit. Summarizing the plot would take far too long.
Cartoons: the summer review edition
12 Jun 2009 09:40 amSummer COUP is a lot more laid-back, since its mostly townies and a handful of summer students. We get to watch random stuff and finish off series we watched a few episodes of here & there over previous semesters.
Basquatch 1-4: The premise of the show is amusing: What if people played basketball in giant robots that look like VW Bugs with legs? And if it stuck to that, it would be an amusing show. Unfortunately, it turns into gross shonen fanservice very quickly. One character's tits are the focus of the screen for 45 seconds. Another character gets off in her mech when a male character knocks her over -- and she wants to get his "genes." A third character comes from the moon, and the episode where she's introduced focuses on her "Lunar Bust." Her tits are bigger than her head.
Verdict: If someone edited out the bullshit fanservice crap, this would be passably amusing. Otherwise, don't waste your bandwidth.
Tytania 3-4: I still adore the crap out of this show, despite it being a serious sausagefest. We meet Captain Miranda in episode 4, and she remains the awesomesauce. One of these days I'll get around to finishing it.
Kurozuka 3-4: This is one of those sort of artsy shows which uses a variety of techniques to be vague about what the hell is going on. It's also seriously violent and bloody. After 4 episodes, the most I can figure out is that there's this samurai guy, Kuro, who met this woman, Kuromitsu, who was really a vampire. He was on the lam, and when the baddies caught up with him, they killed him and she vampirized him, so they're living through time or something. Then suddenly they're in post-apocalyptic Japan and he's hiding from some guys again. It's deeply weird, but I think there's an intriguing story buried under it somewhere. I'm not sure I care enough to watch it on my own, though.
Mononoke 1-2: No relation to Mononoke-hime, this is about a guy who travels feudal Japan as a medicine seller, but he's really looking for demons. The art is very stylistic, deliberately looking like Edo-era woodblock prints. It's sort of like Mushishi, but weirder. It's also a lot more culturally Japanese, based on what I've seen. Whereas Mushishi evokes a sort of timeless Japan-like country, Mononoke is very much feudal Japan. It's interesting, and I would probably not complain if someone gave me a bunch of it to watch, though it wouldn't go high on my priority list.
Golgo 13 3-4: This is an update of the old (70s? 80s?) show & movie about the World's Best Assassin. It's macho shonen gun nut stuff, and if goofy camp Die Hard shit is your cuppa, Golgo is your man. Just don't watch the Streamline dub of the movie. (OK, do, but it's a doozy.)
Bubblegum Crisis 2032: The original 80s-era 8-part OVA series, not the late-90s remake. We got our paws on the Blu-Ray release, and it's hilarious what the animators put on computer screens and assorted display readouts that you could never see at VHS resolution. Song lyrics, lists of 80s bands, random news; it's fabulous.
BGC is very 80s, with the Zeitgeist of technophilia and technophobia creating a world where AI androids go mad, and if they're military droids, well, it's a bad thing. But the Knight Sabers, a team of four women wearing hardsuits (fancy armor with robot-like stuff), fights them when the police can't. (Also, Leon the policeman is a stereotypical 80s womanizing cop.) There's a lot of influence from Blade Runner as well, and that's the milieu of the show.
Of course, being an 80s sci-fi anime, there's a lot of pop music. Priss is in a band, Priss and the Replicants (Blade Runner!), and every episode has 1 or 2 of their songs playing in the background.
Moyashimon: MICROBES! So, the main character, Sawaki, can see microbes with his naked eye. He sees adorable little yeasts and bacteria and the like. (Seriously, they're ADORABLE.) He goes off to agricultural college so he can take over his family business of ... culturing yeast for sake brewing, I think. It's been a while since I watched the beginning. Anyway, it's his first year of college, and he gets into a lab run by a guy who's mad about fermentation and fermented foods. He's got some strange colleagues in the lab. It's all about college life, but also about adorable microbes.
The last 2 episodes we saw were the Spring Festival episodes. (Rule: Any anime set in an educational facility must have an episode devoted to the spring festival.) This is probably the weirdest school festival EVER, and I laughed myself silly. There's some fanservice, but it's not IN YOUR FACE like some other shows. (Dear shonen writers: see this as how to do fanservice without being gross. Thanks.)
Eve no Jikan: Not to be confused with that *other* no Jikan show (ugh ugh ugh, not naming it here, eeew.) People have androids in their homes as servants. Some people become overly emotionally attached to their androids. The protagonist notices that his android goes places without instructions from the family, so he follows her one day and discovers an underground cafe where androids and humans have no differentiation. (Normally androids have status halos.) He has to face his preconceptions and come to terms with his feelings about his android. Good stuff, so far.
Basquatch 1-4: The premise of the show is amusing: What if people played basketball in giant robots that look like VW Bugs with legs? And if it stuck to that, it would be an amusing show. Unfortunately, it turns into gross shonen fanservice very quickly. One character's tits are the focus of the screen for 45 seconds. Another character gets off in her mech when a male character knocks her over -- and she wants to get his "genes." A third character comes from the moon, and the episode where she's introduced focuses on her "Lunar Bust." Her tits are bigger than her head.
Verdict: If someone edited out the bullshit fanservice crap, this would be passably amusing. Otherwise, don't waste your bandwidth.
Tytania 3-4: I still adore the crap out of this show, despite it being a serious sausagefest. We meet Captain Miranda in episode 4, and she remains the awesomesauce. One of these days I'll get around to finishing it.
Kurozuka 3-4: This is one of those sort of artsy shows which uses a variety of techniques to be vague about what the hell is going on. It's also seriously violent and bloody. After 4 episodes, the most I can figure out is that there's this samurai guy, Kuro, who met this woman, Kuromitsu, who was really a vampire. He was on the lam, and when the baddies caught up with him, they killed him and she vampirized him, so they're living through time or something. Then suddenly they're in post-apocalyptic Japan and he's hiding from some guys again. It's deeply weird, but I think there's an intriguing story buried under it somewhere. I'm not sure I care enough to watch it on my own, though.
Mononoke 1-2: No relation to Mononoke-hime, this is about a guy who travels feudal Japan as a medicine seller, but he's really looking for demons. The art is very stylistic, deliberately looking like Edo-era woodblock prints. It's sort of like Mushishi, but weirder. It's also a lot more culturally Japanese, based on what I've seen. Whereas Mushishi evokes a sort of timeless Japan-like country, Mononoke is very much feudal Japan. It's interesting, and I would probably not complain if someone gave me a bunch of it to watch, though it wouldn't go high on my priority list.
Golgo 13 3-4: This is an update of the old (70s? 80s?) show & movie about the World's Best Assassin. It's macho shonen gun nut stuff, and if goofy camp Die Hard shit is your cuppa, Golgo is your man. Just don't watch the Streamline dub of the movie. (OK, do, but it's a doozy.)
Bubblegum Crisis 2032: The original 80s-era 8-part OVA series, not the late-90s remake. We got our paws on the Blu-Ray release, and it's hilarious what the animators put on computer screens and assorted display readouts that you could never see at VHS resolution. Song lyrics, lists of 80s bands, random news; it's fabulous.
BGC is very 80s, with the Zeitgeist of technophilia and technophobia creating a world where AI androids go mad, and if they're military droids, well, it's a bad thing. But the Knight Sabers, a team of four women wearing hardsuits (fancy armor with robot-like stuff), fights them when the police can't. (Also, Leon the policeman is a stereotypical 80s womanizing cop.) There's a lot of influence from Blade Runner as well, and that's the milieu of the show.
Of course, being an 80s sci-fi anime, there's a lot of pop music. Priss is in a band, Priss and the Replicants (Blade Runner!), and every episode has 1 or 2 of their songs playing in the background.
Moyashimon: MICROBES! So, the main character, Sawaki, can see microbes with his naked eye. He sees adorable little yeasts and bacteria and the like. (Seriously, they're ADORABLE.) He goes off to agricultural college so he can take over his family business of ... culturing yeast for sake brewing, I think. It's been a while since I watched the beginning. Anyway, it's his first year of college, and he gets into a lab run by a guy who's mad about fermentation and fermented foods. He's got some strange colleagues in the lab. It's all about college life, but also about adorable microbes.
The last 2 episodes we saw were the Spring Festival episodes. (Rule: Any anime set in an educational facility must have an episode devoted to the spring festival.) This is probably the weirdest school festival EVER, and I laughed myself silly. There's some fanservice, but it's not IN YOUR FACE like some other shows. (Dear shonen writers: see this as how to do fanservice without being gross. Thanks.)
Eve no Jikan: Not to be confused with that *other* no Jikan show (ugh ugh ugh, not naming it here, eeew.) People have androids in their homes as servants. Some people become overly emotionally attached to their androids. The protagonist notices that his android goes places without instructions from the family, so he follows her one day and discovers an underground cafe where androids and humans have no differentiation. (Normally androids have status halos.) He has to face his preconceptions and come to terms with his feelings about his android. Good stuff, so far.
Weekly-ish cartoonspam
8 Apr 2009 12:00 pmI missed last week, so:
Ponyo and the Cliff by the Sea: My first theater-cam fansub! It's a cute, funny look at ... well, a boy finds a mermaid that he thinks is a goldfish, and the mermaid wants to be a girl so she can stay with him forever. Unlike Hans C. Andersen's version, there's a happy ending. And some hilarious driving sequences.
This week:
Ryoko's Case Files (or something): Fairly standard supernatural/paranormal detective agency show. If you like that sort of thing, this is for you.
Good Morning Althea: Here's how I envision this OAV came into being: A bunch of animation guys were sitting around in one of their apartments, and saying, "How can we make a movie that'll sell?"
Dude 1: Psionic warfare and weaponry! That's hot! People dug "Terra e," right?
Dude 2: Yeah! And mecha. Mecha are awesome. Everybody loves mecha.
Dude 3: Totally! Uh, the Minmay defense. We have to include that.
Dude 2: Yeah, Macross is hot.
Dude 4: And a naked chick. The chick *has* to be naked.
(All 5 dudes: nod vigorously)
Dude 2: Don't forget cyborgs!
All 5: Yeah!
Dude 5: We have to have unpronounceable strings of characters to represent people's names.
Dude 1, skeptical: If you say so. Hey, we should also include a message that everyone should get along with each other and work together.
Dude 2: Like the Zentradi and the humans? Sweet.
To quote![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kurai_seraphim, this show was basically a clip show of the 80s. All of it. If it was hot in the 80s, it's in this show. Only unlike a lot of things in the 80s (and like many others), this one failed to have a coherent plot, good pacing, or characters you cared about. You've got your stock tank, your stock lead, your stock female lead. Meh. It's no "Grey: Digital Target." That was *awesome.*
Macross Frontier, episodes 20&21: *sniffle* That's some damn good writing. I heard a couple "no!"s off to my right last week. This is about where the climax of the series starts off, going from about eps 20-24, with 25 left for denouement. IJWTS, don't piss off a 50-foot-tall woman. She'll kick your ass into next week.
20 Faces: Apparently, there's another episode. I don't see how that's really necessary, because it wrapped up perfectly well, most threads tied off, but a couple left tantalizingly dangling. I guess we'll find out next week.
And after 20 Faces ends, we'll double up on MacF to finish off the series in a fell swoop. But it should be worked out so25 and 2624 and 25 are watched back to back.
Ponyo and the Cliff by the Sea: My first theater-cam fansub! It's a cute, funny look at ... well, a boy finds a mermaid that he thinks is a goldfish, and the mermaid wants to be a girl so she can stay with him forever. Unlike Hans C. Andersen's version, there's a happy ending. And some hilarious driving sequences.
This week:
Ryoko's Case Files (or something): Fairly standard supernatural/paranormal detective agency show. If you like that sort of thing, this is for you.
Good Morning Althea: Here's how I envision this OAV came into being: A bunch of animation guys were sitting around in one of their apartments, and saying, "How can we make a movie that'll sell?"
Dude 1: Psionic warfare and weaponry! That's hot! People dug "Terra e," right?
Dude 2: Yeah! And mecha. Mecha are awesome. Everybody loves mecha.
Dude 3: Totally! Uh, the Minmay defense. We have to include that.
Dude 2: Yeah, Macross is hot.
Dude 4: And a naked chick. The chick *has* to be naked.
(All 5 dudes: nod vigorously)
Dude 2: Don't forget cyborgs!
All 5: Yeah!
Dude 5: We have to have unpronounceable strings of characters to represent people's names.
Dude 1, skeptical: If you say so. Hey, we should also include a message that everyone should get along with each other and work together.
Dude 2: Like the Zentradi and the humans? Sweet.
To quote
kurai_seraphim, this show was basically a clip show of the 80s. All of it. If it was hot in the 80s, it's in this show. Only unlike a lot of things in the 80s (and like many others), this one failed to have a coherent plot, good pacing, or characters you cared about. You've got your stock tank, your stock lead, your stock female lead. Meh. It's no "Grey: Digital Target." That was *awesome.*Macross Frontier, episodes 20&21: *sniffle* That's some damn good writing. I heard a couple "no!"s off to my right last week. This is about where the climax of the series starts off, going from about eps 20-24, with 25 left for denouement. IJWTS, don't piss off a 50-foot-tall woman. She'll kick your ass into next week.
20 Faces: Apparently, there's another episode. I don't see how that's really necessary, because it wrapped up perfectly well, most threads tied off, but a couple left tantalizingly dangling. I guess we'll find out next week.
And after 20 Faces ends, we'll double up on MacF to finish off the series in a fell swoop. But it should be worked out so
Cartoonspam!
26 Mar 2009 11:35 amDetroit Metal City: Kid from the sticks goes to Tokyo for university and to be in a band. He likes syrupy pop music, but he ends up in a death metal band. The premise is hilarious. I'm not sure I can laugh at a band singing about raping women.
Library Wars: I adore the laid-back instructor guy. I want to bring him home with me.
Kuroshitsuji continues to be really weird and very pretty. It's kind of like Emma and Yami no Matsuei had a baby.
Macross F: Shit, meet fan. Next week: OMG. *shakes fist* And I have no idea how we're going to fit the remaining episodes into the semester.
20 Faces: Only a few episodes left. Will our heroes save the day?
Library Wars: I adore the laid-back instructor guy. I want to bring him home with me.
Kuroshitsuji continues to be really weird and very pretty. It's kind of like Emma and Yami no Matsuei had a baby.
Macross F: Shit, meet fan. Next week: OMG. *shakes fist* And I have no idea how we're going to fit the remaining episodes into the semester.
20 Faces: Only a few episodes left. Will our heroes save the day?
Weekly(ish) cartoon post
18 Mar 2009 10:40 amKuroshitsuji: The heir of a family company, a young boy, is served by a demon butler, who's apparently made a contract with ... something. That's from the pre-OP section, and it hasn't been explained in the episode we watched. It's interesting, and there's a high chance I'll download the rest of it and watch it later. (OK, maybe it's just the pretty.)
Library Wars: If we don't finish this up over the summer, I'm downloading it so I can watch it, dammit. Librarians! With guns! Fighting the government's censorship board! With a premise like that, it's gotta be good. (It could also conceivably be horrifically bad.)
Kannagi: My opinion on this show can easily be summed up by the following: I left the room rather than be subjected to that horrible moe shit.
Macross F, episode 18: backstory, and the Macross Cannon, and a long-range fold. And some sinister plotting. In 2 weeks, I'll be pissed off at you again, MacF, but for now I still love you.
Daughter of 20 Faces: OMG, plot. It's kinda awesome. Also, nuclear weapons are evil, guys.
Library Wars: If we don't finish this up over the summer, I'm downloading it so I can watch it, dammit. Librarians! With guns! Fighting the government's censorship board! With a premise like that, it's gotta be good. (It could also conceivably be horrifically bad.)
Kannagi: My opinion on this show can easily be summed up by the following: I left the room rather than be subjected to that horrible moe shit.
Macross F, episode 18: backstory, and the Macross Cannon, and a long-range fold. And some sinister plotting. In 2 weeks, I'll be pissed off at you again, MacF, but for now I still love you.
Daughter of 20 Faces: OMG, plot. It's kinda awesome. Also, nuclear weapons are evil, guys.
Sort-of-weekly cartoon roundup post
4 Mar 2009 10:05 amMichiko to Hatchin: A female gangster escapes from jail and rescues a kid from the church orphanage where she's living. By the guys who brought you Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, so it's stylish if nothing else. Two episodes in, it's hard to say where this is headed, but it's going to get there very stylishly. I can't figure out where it's set: the background language is Portuguese, but the people have mostly mixed Japanese and Spanish-ish names (Michiko Malandro, for example), which makes me think of Peru. (Wikipedia tells me it's a fictionalized Brazil. I can believe that.)
Natsume Yuujinchou: A high school boy can see youkai (Japanese nature spirits, sort of). He learns that his grandmother could see them as well, and she defeated a bunch of them and stole their names. The youkai want their names back. Natsume has a mascot-cat, who looks like a maneki-neko, but he turns into Ookami. The plot so far (6 episodes) has revolved around Natsume finding youkai and returning their names, with some high school-ish background stuff. It's sort of like MUSHISHI in high school; if you like that, you ought to give Natsume a try.
Tytania: OK, I dig the hell out of this show. It's over the top as hell, and there's so much yaoi fodder it's unbelievable. The problem with the new abbreviated COUP season (thank you, room scheduling) is that we can show more episodes of fewer shows or fewer episodes of more shows. So the first 2 episodes of Tytania are basically setting up the rest of the story, so it's all backstory, introductions, exposition, and a fabulous space battle. Episode 3 is where the plot starts to happen, and you don't meet the coolest pirate captain since Harlock until episode 5 or 6. (Captain Miranda *rules.*) Poor Fan doesn't even get any motivation until episode TWELVE.
Macross Frontier: Still love. Episode 17, the great Ozma backstory episode with obligatory FIRE BOMBER music? Hells yeah. And the evil fan baiting with the PINEAPPLE CAKE. (Hint: this episode of original Macross [SPOLIARZ]. And, damn, I just realized the parallel in episode titles; MacF ep 17 is called "Farewell, Sister." [The Japanese title, however, was Pineapple Salad.])
Twenty Faces: What, plot? 3 or 4 episodes from the end? And tying the random subplots from early episodes in? NO WAI.
Blah blah Index: I don't know, and I don't care! I stopped watching! I can go home early! Ben's a maso, so he's staying for it. He says there keep being hints of interesting plot, then it turns back into formula shonen crap. So if you took away the stupid shonen crap and condensed it into a couple OVAs or a short series, it might be tolerable. But I still don't care! HAHAHAHA!
Natsume Yuujinchou: A high school boy can see youkai (Japanese nature spirits, sort of). He learns that his grandmother could see them as well, and she defeated a bunch of them and stole their names. The youkai want their names back. Natsume has a mascot-cat, who looks like a maneki-neko, but he turns into Ookami. The plot so far (6 episodes) has revolved around Natsume finding youkai and returning their names, with some high school-ish background stuff. It's sort of like MUSHISHI in high school; if you like that, you ought to give Natsume a try.
Tytania: OK, I dig the hell out of this show. It's over the top as hell, and there's so much yaoi fodder it's unbelievable. The problem with the new abbreviated COUP season (thank you, room scheduling) is that we can show more episodes of fewer shows or fewer episodes of more shows. So the first 2 episodes of Tytania are basically setting up the rest of the story, so it's all backstory, introductions, exposition, and a fabulous space battle. Episode 3 is where the plot starts to happen, and you don't meet the coolest pirate captain since Harlock until episode 5 or 6. (Captain Miranda *rules.*) Poor Fan doesn't even get any motivation until episode TWELVE.
Macross Frontier: Still love. Episode 17, the great Ozma backstory episode with obligatory FIRE BOMBER music? Hells yeah. And the evil fan baiting with the PINEAPPLE CAKE. (Hint: this episode of original Macross [SPOLIARZ]. And, damn, I just realized the parallel in episode titles; MacF ep 17 is called "Farewell, Sister." [The Japanese title, however, was Pineapple Salad.])
Twenty Faces: What, plot? 3 or 4 episodes from the end? And tying the random subplots from early episodes in? NO WAI.
Blah blah Index: I don't know, and I don't care! I stopped watching! I can go home early! Ben's a maso, so he's staying for it. He says there keep being hints of interesting plot, then it turns back into formula shonen crap. So if you took away the stupid shonen crap and condensed it into a couple OVAs or a short series, it might be tolerable. But I still don't care! HAHAHAHA!
More thoughts on cartoons
18 Feb 2009 10:05 amLast night, one new thing and 4 old ones.
Kara no Kyoukai: WTF. As Ben guessed, this is based on a novel series which you're expected to be familiar with when watching the movie. Otherwise it makes NO FUCKING SENSE. Also, there was a bunch of pretentious philosophical bullshit, about flying and falling and souls and humanity and dreaming or some shit. Thumbs way down.
Ga-Rei Zero: Three episodes in, and it's still mostly incoherent. I disagree with Phil that it's dumb; there's a decent premise, but the execution is flawed. I think. It's hard to tell, because the explaining isn't happening very quickly.
Macross Frontier: Last night was the exposition + recap episode, #15. I can say that having seen the ending, the weird cryptic blah blah with Grace and them makes a lot more sense. Which is good, because they didn't just pull the ending out of their asses.
Daughter of 20 Faces: And suddenly, we've got wacky hijinks again!
Toaru Majutsu no Index: It had its three episodes to get me to care about the characters, and it failed. The problem is that there are tiny bits of "this could be interesting" (like tragic-past guy), but I loathe the main cast. I hate the squeaky voices. I hate the way the story is told. I don't see anybody's motivations for what they're doing. So I'll be leaving early the rest of the semester.
Unlike some whiners, I actually give every show a fair chance. If it offends or disgusts me after one episode, I'm done with it. (Or if the concept is offensive, like that shitty pedo show trend, I skip it entirely.) But since I'm a grown-up who doesn't say "I'll only watch shows of type XYZ," I'll watch 2-3 episodes of just about anything. If it doesn't suck me in, no big deal. I won't go out of my way to watch more of it.
'Cause, you know, the main purpose of a damn anime club is to expose you to shows you might not watch otherwise, and you may find a new show or genre you like. You might be surprised, if you're not a whiny 12-year-old who refuses to leave his tiny little box.
Kara no Kyoukai: WTF. As Ben guessed, this is based on a novel series which you're expected to be familiar with when watching the movie. Otherwise it makes NO FUCKING SENSE. Also, there was a bunch of pretentious philosophical bullshit, about flying and falling and souls and humanity and dreaming or some shit. Thumbs way down.
Ga-Rei Zero: Three episodes in, and it's still mostly incoherent. I disagree with Phil that it's dumb; there's a decent premise, but the execution is flawed. I think. It's hard to tell, because the explaining isn't happening very quickly.
Macross Frontier: Last night was the exposition + recap episode, #15. I can say that having seen the ending, the weird cryptic blah blah with Grace and them makes a lot more sense. Which is good, because they didn't just pull the ending out of their asses.
Daughter of 20 Faces: And suddenly, we've got wacky hijinks again!
Toaru Majutsu no Index: It had its three episodes to get me to care about the characters, and it failed. The problem is that there are tiny bits of "this could be interesting" (like tragic-past guy), but I loathe the main cast. I hate the squeaky voices. I hate the way the story is told. I don't see anybody's motivations for what they're doing. So I'll be leaving early the rest of the semester.
Unlike some whiners, I actually give every show a fair chance. If it offends or disgusts me after one episode, I'm done with it. (Or if the concept is offensive, like that shitty pedo show trend, I skip it entirely.) But since I'm a grown-up who doesn't say "I'll only watch shows of type XYZ," I'll watch 2-3 episodes of just about anything. If it doesn't suck me in, no big deal. I won't go out of my way to watch more of it.
'Cause, you know, the main purpose of a damn anime club is to expose you to shows you might not watch otherwise, and you may find a new show or genre you like. You might be surprised, if you're not a whiny 12-year-old who refuses to leave his tiny little box.
New(ish) toons
4 Feb 2009 10:20 amSo, the new season of COUP has started.
Kurozuka: The opening is done in the style of Noh drama. Odd. There's this samurai, and a vampire woman, and I'm not exactly sure what the plot is going to be after one episode. The samurai is being hunted (by his brother?), and there are some masked people who want to catch the vampire chick. Looks neat. I wish it were the third regular show, instead of the stupid shonen nun show.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubousensei: If you liked the original, this is more of the same. It's got the weird humor, bizarre parodies, and puns that the first one did. I don't think I could watch too much at a go, but I like it in small doses.
GaRei Zero: So, there are demons, and some people can see them. They're fighting the demons, which are (naturally) trying to wipe out Tokyo. Tragic histories, chick with an awesome motorcycle, emo dude. Then the end of the first episode happens, and you're left going "uh, this continues? How?" I guess I'll find out next week.
Macross Frontier: I've discussed this before, and you know I love the mecha porn. I can safely say that having seen the ending makes the story so much clearer, especially starting right about now (episode 13.)
Daughter of 20 Faces: I'm so confused with this show. It started out one way, then about 9 episodes in, it veered right, and now it's veering left. I want to know where it's going, so the story is working, at least.
Toaru Majutsu no Index (aka the stupid shonen nun show): Congenitally unlucky guy finds a magical nun hanging on his balcony. He's unlucky, there's a rival girl who wants to kick his ass with her Level 5 Esper powers, and there are people who want to kill the magical nun. We're watching at least 12 episodes of this shit. I think it's got about 3 episodes' worth of interesting. (Though Ben pointed out that it's got a surly redhead, who may or may not be a bad guy. I gave him the finger. Somehow, I don't think the presence of a surly redhead who looks like the dude from Saiyuki is going to make me change my opinion of this show.) But at least it's not the fucking appalling shrine maidens show.
Next week: more of the same. How exciting.
Kurozuka: The opening is done in the style of Noh drama. Odd. There's this samurai, and a vampire woman, and I'm not exactly sure what the plot is going to be after one episode. The samurai is being hunted (by his brother?), and there are some masked people who want to catch the vampire chick. Looks neat. I wish it were the third regular show, instead of the stupid shonen nun show.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubousensei: If you liked the original, this is more of the same. It's got the weird humor, bizarre parodies, and puns that the first one did. I don't think I could watch too much at a go, but I like it in small doses.
GaRei Zero: So, there are demons, and some people can see them. They're fighting the demons, which are (naturally) trying to wipe out Tokyo. Tragic histories, chick with an awesome motorcycle, emo dude. Then the end of the first episode happens, and you're left going "uh, this continues? How?" I guess I'll find out next week.
Macross Frontier: I've discussed this before, and you know I love the mecha porn. I can safely say that having seen the ending makes the story so much clearer, especially starting right about now (episode 13.)
Daughter of 20 Faces: I'm so confused with this show. It started out one way, then about 9 episodes in, it veered right, and now it's veering left. I want to know where it's going, so the story is working, at least.
Toaru Majutsu no Index (aka the stupid shonen nun show): Congenitally unlucky guy finds a magical nun hanging on his balcony. He's unlucky, there's a rival girl who wants to kick his ass with her Level 5 Esper powers, and there are people who want to kill the magical nun. We're watching at least 12 episodes of this shit. I think it's got about 3 episodes' worth of interesting. (Though Ben pointed out that it's got a surly redhead, who may or may not be a bad guy. I gave him the finger. Somehow, I don't think the presence of a surly redhead who looks like the dude from Saiyuki is going to make me change my opinion of this show.) But at least it's not the fucking appalling shrine maidens show.
Next week: more of the same. How exciting.
7 episodes in, and it's... I hesitate to say silly, but it almost is. The opening song most definitely is. It's space opera, and like all space opera, there's a huge evil Empire and some people who don't want to be in the Empire, and a lot of people who think it's a really daft idea to try to fight the Empire.
The Empire in question is Tytania, which is run by a Clan Lord and the Four Dukes, who are chosen in some as yet unexplained way from the bazillion members of the Tytania family. The current Clan Lord, Ajman Tytania, is relatively sane, and he upholds the balance of power between the Dukes.
The Dukes are split into two factions, basically, which I like to call "the sane side of the table" and "the crazy side of the table." The sane side is Jouslain (a feisty red-head) and Aryabart (a slightly-emo blond.) The crazy side is Idris (a very ambitious long-haired blond) and Zarlish (not exactly crazy, but fairly impulsive, and a stocky brunet.)
Idris hates Aryabart, and vice versa. So far, Idris has spent about half his screen time trying to sabotage Aryabart (who is saddled with a very goofy name and has fallen-antenna hair.) Jouslain is a skilled tactician. Zarlish mostly is the guy who looks like he played football.
In the first episode, Aryabart is fighting some planet, because they're putting up resistance at being assimilated. A young admiral, Fan Hulick, uses a surprise tactic to win, and he's summarily fired. This win excites the rebels, who kidnap him and want him to be a figurehead.
Fan is also a red-head, and is from the same mold as Captain Tylor, only without the irresponsible part. He ends up on a smugglers' ship, and ... well, not sure what's next, really. They've gone around to a couple planets so far.
Naturally, there's even more in-fighting in the Tytania family, and betrayals and back-stabbings. You need a map to keep track of everybody.
Basically, this: If you like space opera, you'll like Tytania. If you like science fiction, you might like Tytania. If you like pretty boys, you might like Tytania.
(It's not gay, really, at all. But you can make some super obvious pairings. "Sane side of the table" for example, or "hatesex between rivals." Pairings with Zarlish don't really work.)
Three guesses as to my favorite main character. Who wants to play?
Good god, there are a ton of characters. And at least 5 armed factions so far, one of which is (of course) fighting to make peace. To convince the world that fighting is wrong.
The first episode did NOT contain a Gundam-jack. That's just not right.
I'm just wondering which of the Gundam Meisters (lololoololol) will get stuck on the desert island with the Newtype chick. Just going by form, it'll beShinnSetsuna.
The Charchetype is also covered, only sans mask and mysterious tragic past. We've had a "Newtype Reaction" already. One of the Meisters has a Haro-D2 unit.
The 4 Gundams are 1) generic/sword, 2) sniper/buster, 3) jet plane/speed, & 4) overkill. The pilots are Shinn, some unholy offspring of Duo & Dearka, MPD Newtype boy, and Mr Crabby Pants who Hates Earth.
Episode 6 already has a new model kit.
So far, I'm not as attached to the characters as I could be, the plot is like a cross between UC/Seed (Newtypes via genetic engineering) and Wing (Gundam sentai, wacky pacifist idealists), and the overabundance of characters is overwhelming, though I think I'm starting to get a handle on them. The wikipedia article was helpful for the first episode. But it's a Gundam series: giant robots, outer space, vaguely dystopic yet optimistic while being realistic future, probable political machinations, and more double-crossing than you can keep track of. I'm in it for the giant robots, and I'm hoping the characters start to be compelling.
It's hard not to laugh, though, when they've got names like Lockon Stratos and Allelujah Haptism. They're probably code/fake/assumed names. I hope. (I know at least 2 of them are, from wiki.)
Considering the character archetypes I usually like, there's the blond Union guy & his buddy Billy the engineer and Lockon (I know...) It doesn't hurt that I identified at least 3 slash pairings in episode 1.
The first episode did NOT contain a Gundam-jack. That's just not right.
I'm just wondering which of the Gundam Meisters (lololoololol) will get stuck on the desert island with the Newtype chick. Just going by form, it'll be
The Charchetype is also covered, only sans mask and mysterious tragic past. We've had a "Newtype Reaction" already. One of the Meisters has a Haro-D2 unit.
The 4 Gundams are 1) generic/sword, 2) sniper/buster, 3) jet plane/speed, & 4) overkill. The pilots are Shinn, some unholy offspring of Duo & Dearka, MPD Newtype boy, and Mr Crabby Pants who Hates Earth.
Episode 6 already has a new model kit.
So far, I'm not as attached to the characters as I could be, the plot is like a cross between UC/Seed (Newtypes via genetic engineering) and Wing (Gundam sentai, wacky pacifist idealists), and the overabundance of characters is overwhelming, though I think I'm starting to get a handle on them. The wikipedia article was helpful for the first episode. But it's a Gundam series: giant robots, outer space, vaguely dystopic yet optimistic while being realistic future, probable political machinations, and more double-crossing than you can keep track of. I'm in it for the giant robots, and I'm hoping the characters start to be compelling.
It's hard not to laugh, though, when they've got names like Lockon Stratos and Allelujah Haptism. They're probably code/fake/assumed names. I hope. (I know at least 2 of them are, from wiki.)
Considering the character archetypes I usually like, there's the blond Union guy & his buddy Billy the engineer and Lockon (I know...) It doesn't hurt that I identified at least 3 slash pairings in episode 1.
