I think it's both the juxtaposition of the two sides of the picture, and the content of the picture itself.
On the right hand side you have the super-serious crewmen apparently saying good bye to a fallen comrade, on the left you have a scientist/doctor (?) lady striking the same pose, but holding an adorable cat. It's almost like she's giving the cat a 'bro'/knuckle-punch, and it appears to be responding.
This is the dumbest show (or at least dumbest first episode) I've watched all year.
Ridiculously stupid premise that left me shaking my head more than actually enjoying it and then the execution of said premise was a total mess. Such a terrible first episode in every possible way. Really don't think I'm going to watch a 2nd episode of this garbage.
I enjoyed Umineko thoroughly but I don't see it as that different from this, really. From the start, it was a rather convoluted mess with half the revelations feeling like they came out of nowhere and the basis of the mystery relied on half truths, awkward phrasing, and misdirection.
Not to say that's anything bad, really, but it was every bit as "what the fuck is this?" at the start. It slowly takes shape into something that makes more sense but the start of it was rather obtuse. And then the Anime was just lol-tastic in how confusing it was :/
Time will tell if Horizon does anything with the setup, though, or if it'll just be "lollll boobs, smug grin, HISTORY!" throughout. It probably won't get into anything epic and worthwhile but, hey, I'm willing to give it a shot until it starts to cause me physical pain.
I'm just amazed that people found Horizon interesting enough to devote time to working it out. The first episode couldn't even hold my interest to pay enough attention to realise there WAS anything to work out - I suppose it was an effective way to introduce an enormous cast of characters but it doesn't exactly lend itself to endearing a viewer to care about any of them beyond their surface quirks (maybe that's the point?). And the lead character doesn't seem interesting, just irritating - oh look, a hyper-competent pervert, how droll.
That was pretty alright even if it is a fairly standard "bullied, unpopular kid wants to learn how to fight" setup. I guess since it's a series and not a movie, though, we can skip the training montage in favor of actually showing the training in relatively real time.
I think it has a much darker tone, personally. Yuno in particular seems to be portrayed (Mirai Nikki spoilers)
less as a love-struck uncomfortably naive girl with a secret and more like an obsessive, maliciously psychotic, and domineering murderer. Truth is, both interpretations are true about her, just it was a bit more subtle at the beginning of the comic compared to the beginning of this one. Usually in the comic, she would have a sickeningly sweet moment with Yuki at the end of an adventure, and then react to that moment in a particularly unhealthy way. I had examples, but just in case somebody's curiosity got the best of them, I erased them and left them out. WATCH THE SHOW!
I'm excited to see how they do some of my favorite scenes.
The reminds me. The Elsie figurine came in two days ago. It added a new level of HNNNGH to my shelf. Highly recommended addition to anyone's moe collection.
The reminds me. The Elsie figurine came in two days ago. It added a new level of HNNNGH to my shelf. Highly recommended addition to anyone's moe collection.
Bunny Drop. I mean, if Girl Who Leapt Through Time got an Asian release, I'd think Bunny Drop would warrant one... besides, sentimentality bait is perfect for greater Asian audiences, surely.
PdotMichael said:
http://i.imgur.com/VMn5R.jpg[img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/RTr2q.jpg[img]
a little bit only worser[/quote]
That girl in yellow is clearly Starbuck.
This one.
I'm not into Nendoroids, although they are really cute. I prefer normally proportioned characters. That one is tempting though.
It's a really interesting pose for elsie. I like figurines with cute poses like that. Much more interesting that just standing up or whatever.
I enjoyed Umineko thoroughly but I don't see it as that different from this, really. From the start, it was a rather convoluted mess with half the revelations feeling like they came out of nowhere and the basis of the mystery relied on half truths, awkward phrasing, and misdirection.
Not to say that's anything bad, really, but it was every bit as "what the fuck is this?" at the start. It slowly takes shape into something that makes more sense but the start of it was rather obtuse. And then the Anime was just lol-tastic in how confusing it was :/
Time will tell if Horizon does anything with the setup, though, or if it'll just be "lollll boobs, smug grin, HISTORY!" throughout. It probably won't get into anything epic and worthwhile but, hey, I'm willing to give it a shot until it starts to cause me physical pain.
I should be fair to Horizon, as I have not read the light novels and only made it about 10 minutes into the first episode of the anime before I threw up my hands and walked away. Most of my knowledge is based on skimming plot summaries both outside and inside this thread. It is quite possible that the original novels actually develop a compelling cast of multi-faceted characters I can sympathize with and root for, weave in a variety of themes on which they have worthwhile things to say, and have what seem like shocking plot twists that upon rereading make total sense, where you can see the multitude of hints that should have made you aware of what was really going on if only you weren't distracted by the author's deft slight of hand. If that is actually the case, I will have to take back everything bad I said about Horizon.
I will say that the way Umineko sets up the story in its first episode, as a fairly traditional closed-circle impossible crime with a supernatural atmosphere surrounding it, is much more approachable than Horizon's post-apocalyptic rewriting of history in multiple dimensions to save the law of causation or I don't even know what.
And let's just agree to ignore the Umineko anime, shall we?
This one.
I'm not into Nendoroids, although they are really cute. I prefer normally proportioned characters. That one is tempting though.
It's a really interesting pose for elsie. I like figurines with cute poses like that. Much more interesting that just standing up or whatever.
I figured it would be that one, it is pretty hnnngg~ worthy. I'm not usually into the Nendoroids either (Too moebloby), but the one of Elsie running is too cute to handle. And my girlfriend would be more ok with the nendoroid one, than with the one you bought
I figured it would be that one, it is pretty hnnngg~ worthy. I'm not usually into the Nendoroids either (Too moebloby), but the one of Elsie running is too cute to handle. And my girlfriend would be more ok with the nendoroid one, than with the one you bought
Anne of green gables 50 (FINALE) - That was absolutely wonderful; and probably one of the best anime series I've ever seen and a true showcase of takahata directorial talents - the last three episodes were truly god-tier in terms of direction, character animation and writing, I'm also surprised that despite the subject manner of those episodes, they managed to keep it low-key as much as possible and avoid tear-jerky melodrama.
Amusingly I've been a member of Team Anne long before you were! considering i started watching it before you did. I've just been taking it slowly; because the show is so damn good.
Amusingly I've been a member of Team Anne long before you were! considering i started watching it before you did. I've just been taking it slowly; because the show is so damn good.
I should be fair to Horizon, as I have not read the light novels and only made it about 10 minutes into the first episode of the anime before I threw up my hands and walked away. Most of my knowledge is based on skimming plot summaries both outside and inside this thread. It is quite possible that the original novels actually develop a compelling cast of multi-faceted characters I can sympathize with and root for, weave in a variety of themes on which they have worthwhile things to say, and have what seem like shocking plot twists that upon rereading make total sense, where you can see the multitude of hints that should have made you aware of what was really going on if only you weren't distracted by the author's deft slight of hand. If that is actually the case, I will have to take back everything bad I said about Horizon.
If anything, it may just be a poor adaptation; I've heard good things about the novels from my brief searching ... but I've heard good things about basically everything at some point so I don't think that really carries much weight, y'know?
And let's just agree to ignore the Umineko anime, shall we?
I would love to forget it but I cannot. It's burned into a part of my brain and will never leave. It's like an unholy beast that has taken residence in my mind and torments me so.
Anyway:
Horizon - 02 - So our
Horizon (character) look-alike seems to be an automaton/living doll named P-01s.
Interesting development, I guess. Token love interest route unlocked?
And the meat of the importance for us, I wager, some refreshers on the history:
There was the Divine States and the Harmonic Divine States placed in an alternate/pocket dimension; the Divine States housed just the Divine States (i.e., Japan) and the Harmonic Divine States housed the rest of the World. Which is peculiar as I'm pretty sure Japan isn't larger than the rest of the World but, whatever, we'll roll with it.
More than that, we're told
that the Harmonic Divine States fell to the world in 1412; half of it was destroyed during this but the other half merged safely, it appears. The occupants, though, all came at once and war broke out due to these events due to the Divine States being blamed as responsible. Though, there is the correction of it being 1413 and not 1412, but I'm not sure if that's a detail Suzu and Asama left out or an actual correction to the timeline. Either way, they reuse the footage from Episode 1's 1457 intro when discussing the two "worlds" merging...
The next class fills us in on some more backstory, but now it raises more questions, possibly.
She merely says "those that returned from Heaven", which could mean the population as a whole, not just the Divine States or Harmonic Divine States. Either way, whatever group of people she refers to are the ones who wrote the Testament, the Record of the World's History.
Besides the history lesson, we do get some insight to one character: Honda Masazumi. Tragic backstories so soon?
She has her breasts removed and plans to undergo a sex-change operation to become a boy to fulfill a role for her family (not sure entirely on it due to the wording but seems to just be a servant-esque position for a noble?); she even goes as far as changing her name to Masazumi to hopefully gain the favor of the man. However, the position is taken from her by automatons/living dolls and she remains a she, though still without a chest (really, we needed an explanation for her loli-status?). And then her mother is tragically murdered.
I feel bad for her Looks like we may learn things vicariously through her due to her status (
not a native to Musashi
). And her backstory serves to point out the first guy for us to hate, I guess.
And then the rest of the episode is just kind of sprinkles of silliness and plot setup. Though, it does beg the question of
is Toori's silliness ... for real? Or is there more to it? I mean, it's just too far in that direction to be for real, right? Especially given the kind of respect he is given by the class as a whole. I can't believe that's merely due to his President status, really. Please don't make it just that "He's happy-go-lucky weird because we say so!"
Outside of some unclear bits (that still stem from the shaky background information part), not a bad episode entirely. Would have been nice to have moved into something happening, though, instead of pushing it away for at least another episode, though.
Perhaps there's a slight drop in production quality, as expected going from a first to second episode, but it's still well-directed and very beautiful. The karuta game was kept interesting and even involved actual strategy - amazing! If this quality keeps up for the whole run, it'll be a show to remember.
