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2011 Fall Anime Thread - Bad Shows & Self Hating Nerds

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Another thing that was cemented for me by this episode was that, as also evidenced by Seto no Hanayome and very select parts of Angel Beats, Seiji Kishi's strengths are solely confined to the realm of the silly and comedical. It's whenever he tries to stray even slightly from this that things invariably take a turn for the worse.

Although I mostly agree with you, Kamisama Dolls actually has good serious direction in its two flashback sequences.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Steins;Gate 23: Of course
Kyouma was the one who killed Kurisu
. This show is really bad at not telegraphing plot twists way beforehand. Or maybe that's foreshadowing?

Disappointed about the villain. He is the stereotypical jerk who will get over everyone and anyone to get his deeds done. For a show with such strong characterisation to do a complete cliché of an antagonist is a big letdown. On the other hand, the sentimental stuff with Kyouma hit me. It was a logical conclusion to all the shit this dude has had to deal for the last half of the series.

Re: the cliffhanger: Please don't pull a Doctor Who with this character. :( Fucking automatons.
 
Oh did anyone else notice in MPD episode 19 that
Himari states that to live is punishment? I thought that was pretty interesting. A contrast to her brothers who believe that her death (and illness) is punishment.
 

Branduil

Member
Persona 4: The Animation episode 8

The only reason I watched this one is because the camping trip was one of my favorite parts of the game. It was actually pretty good and Charlie being a jerk never gets old. One thing that took me by surprise was Kanji's VA since I found out I vastly prefer his english voice over this one. That very rarely happens.

Another thing that was cemented for me by this episode was that, as also evidenced by Seto no Hanayome and very select parts of Angel Beats, Seiji Kishi's strengths are solely confined to the realm of the silly and comedical. It's whenever he tries to stray even slightly from this that things invariably take a turn for the worse. It was also impossible not to notice that this episode had much cleaner and smoother animation than all the previous episodes I watched. I can only hope they can at least keep this level of polish going forward.



I wouldn't bother if I were you.

But the "comedic" parts of Angel Beats were mostly awful too.
 

Shouta

Member
Oh man, I just hit the Greed Island OVAs in HxH and MY EYES BURN! Crappy animation and crappy 2000s directing all over it.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Is there anything wrong with learning valuable life lessons through anime? Also, I doubt the creators of Guilty Crown put much effort into considering what kind of moral lesson the show is teaching to it's audience.

With regards to the fanservice, I find it disturbing how the show sets up it's school environment in a rather plain, grounded manner and how this conflicts with all the 'wacky' fanservice-events that take place. The way the show just laughs them off comes across as creepy.
But how is the audience going to relate with Shu unless they can fantasise about the female cast through a setting they've actually lived through like high school? Not that many otaku have had to deal with the harshness of war!
I'm brown and I approve of that comment.
 
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? 12

I dont even know what I just watched but they really closed the anime out in style, unforgettable.

Ano hana 11

First half of the episode totally ruined it for me. Nice that everyone finally came out and said how they felt, but I think it would have worked better if it was worked into more than just five or so minutes of the final episode though I wont forget when they realized they were calling each other by their nicknames, nice touch. Second half was wonderful and brought me to near tears and finally Menma for everyone to see, one of the top moments. I thought the ending would be as emotional as Angel Beats for me, but it wasnt.
 
lol yeah it's bad, huge drop off from the first ova but in the 3rd ova it gets better but doesn't get ova 1 good.

Eh, I still like GI Final more than OVA 1. It felt really disjointed with no real focus while ova 3 had some very memorable moments and the main characters actually doing something. It was then when it really hit me just how much Gon had grown both in strength and as a person.

But yeah, ova 2 is pretty uneventful. It's more a set up than anything else for the much superior GI Final.
 
Gintama 236

For the whole 2nd half of the episode, I'm just thinking "damn, this actually changes things. Maybe Sorachi is finally deciding to tackle some loose threads and further the overarching plot."

Then the post credits scene happens.... lol?
 
Mirai Nikki 6

The hell is wrong with Yukiteru? "Worst day ever" my ass.

I really wish they'd lay off the eye thing already. I've no problem with body parts flying every which way but anything to do with eyes grosses me out for some reason and the effect is only amplified when dealing with gigantic animu eyes.

Isn't the whole reason that animu eyes are big is supposedly because back in the day they were looking for a way to make faces more expressive?

COMPARISON BETWEEN MIRAI NIKKI MANGA AND ANIME:
Interestingly enough, the two notable scenes with the eye after the initial poke, 12th ripping it out with gratuitous screaming in a previous episode and receiving the prosthetic in this episode are both added to the anime. They weren't in the manga.

Soon you'll start to get bored by just cute and you'll need your waifus to be broken in some way or another. Or so I'm told.

Normal people are boring!
 

-Minsc-

Member
Gintama 236

For the whole 2nd half of the episode, I'm just thinking "damn, this actually changes things. Maybe Sorachi is finally deciding to tackle some loose threads and further the overarching plot."

Then the post credits scene happens.... lol?

After 236 episodes you should know that GinTama and overarching plot don't mix.
 
Mononoke 12

Agh, I'm so torn on this episode. I really enjoyed how the truth was presented, as the separate lives of the different characters intersected with one woman's tragedy. The episode was building to a powerful climax,
but then it's as if Nakamura reached out with his hand and said "No" - not once, but twice. First there was the head reporter waking up from his daydream, and then there was the abrupt cut to the ED. The subsequent epilogue showed the characters moving on with their lives and tried to sum up the theme of the show,
but I didn't feel like I got the proper satisfaction I desired.

My concerns are small though in the face of the overwhelming accomplishment. The art and character design is some of the best and most creative I've seen in any show - of course the Apothecary's design is beautiful, but I also like seeing a series that isn't afraid to have a lot of ugly-looking characters in order to portray them as real humans. Major props should be given to the VAs who give some very unique and effective performances, especially Takahiro Sakurai infusing the Apothecary with an otherworldly mystery through his deliberate speech rhythm. The stories were generally well-structured, and I loved the way it weaved in aspects of historical Japanese culture together with a general examination of the human psyche. I don't think I like this show quite as much as Trapeze, because it gets a little too deliberately obtuse at times and the last episode didn't wrap everything up as well, but it's still one of my all-time favorites.

Also, because everyone likes rankings:

Nue arc = original Bakeneko arc (Ayakashi) > new Bakeneko arc > Umibouzu arc > Zashikiwarashi arc > Nopperabou arc
 

Articalys

Member
Saw this list of upcoming anime movies in a MAL article:
.hack//The Movie (Jan 2012)
Berserk Ougon Jidaihen I: Haou no Tamago (Feb 2012)
Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen (Feb 2012)
Strike Witches Movie (Mar 2012)
Precure All-Stars Next Stage (Mar 2012)
Detective Conan Movie 16: The Eleventh Striker (Apr 2012)
Momo e no Tegami (Apr 2012)
Gothicmade: Hana no Utame (Spring 2012)
Blood-C: The Last Dark (Jun 2012)
Berserk Ougon Jidaihen II: Doldrey Kouryaku (Jun 2012)
Toshokan Sensou Movie (Early Summer 2012)
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's (Summer 2012)
Fairy Tail Movie (August 2012)
009 Re:Cyborg (Autumn 2012)
Evangelion: 3.0 Q Quickening (Autumn 2012)
Berserk Ougon Jidaihen III: Kourin (2012)
Kizumonogatari (2012)
Tiger & Bunny Movie 1 (2012)
Tiger & Bunny Movie 2 (?)
Steins;Gate Movie (?)
Ao no Exorcist Movie (?)
Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie (?)
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movies (?)
Gintama 2 (?)

Oh yeah, and speaking of the Madoka movies:
Regarding the status of the third part of the trilogy, producer Atsuhiro Iwakami said, "It's not being worked on in the studio yet, but Mr. Urobuchi has finished the screenplay."

On the possibility of swimsuit or onsen scenes, writer Gen Urobuchi hinted, "There's not a total lack of service scenes, but I can't say that they are decidedly swimsuit or onsen situations…"

Urobuchi's message to fans at the end of the interview was encouraging: "I myself didn't think I would be able to write a continuation of this series. But it's funny because now that I tried to write it, I was able to finish it, and I am greatly satisfied with the result. So I think the audience, too, can expect something that will satisfy you to as surprising a degree as it did me."
 

Shouta

Member
What? OVA3 is even worse than OVA2 because at least OVA2 is paced decently.

OVA3 is better than OVA2 from a content perspective but yeah, total shit from a pacing/directing/animation viewpoint. It would've been fun to see it animated like the TV series and OVA1.

Eh, I still like GI Final more than OVA 1. It felt really disjointed with no real focus while ova 3 had some very memorable moments and the main characters actually doing something. It was then when it really hit me just how much Gon had grown both in strength and as a person.

But yeah, ova 2 is pretty uneventful. It's more a set up than anything else for the much superior GI Final.

What? OVA1 is infinitely better than OVA3 is on almost all levels. It finishes York Shin properly and does it amazingly well. A little bit could've been count but it's still freaking awesome. GI Final spends like 3-4 episdoes playing wonkily animated super dodgeball. I mean, I like whacky dodgeball but it's such a mess.
 
What? OVA1 is infinitely better than OVA3 is on almost all levels. It finishes York Shin properly and does it amazingly well. A little bit could've been count but it's still freaking awesome. GI Final spends like 3-4 episdoes playing wonkily animated super dodgeball. I mean, I like whacky dodgeball but it's such a mess.

Well I can't speak for how well it is as an adaptation since I have little knowledge of the pre-Chimera Ant arc manga beyond minor changes, but content wise I just liked Greed Island as a whole a lot better than York Shin. It was more linear, had a neat concept, and had actual beatable villains culminating in what is my opinion Gon's best battle in the series. I also didn't see any problems with the animation, but this was also like 8 years ago when my eyes weren't as discerning (not gonna lie, it's still not something I focus on).

With York Shin, I'm not a huge fan of the focus and it just feels like a prologue to a much more significant arc focusing on the Genei Ryodan. Gon and Killua get pushed to the side while Kurapica is bumped up to protagonist just so he can
take out a few members.
There's very little resolution and it's filled with wasted potential in my opinion.
 

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
It's the episode where we learn what's in a name.

Honestly, I felt that sort of "Meaningful Name" was sort of a lame cop-out, a bad pun so to speak. But I really only left it at that because I had band practice (it was a pretty kick-ass practice). :p

Overall I felt like it was a sort of contrived, out of nowhere twist that only makes sense because we know so little about
Yuri's past
in the first place. But then, that's sort of what the show depends on,
and even lampshades with that pink haired dude and his "explanation" of the Penguin Drum
, so I'm not 100% sure of how to approach it. Though aside from the themes of "fate" and "destiny", it seems that another emerging theme is "loving someone for who they are", particularly with the female elements of the cast.
 
It's not that "extreme" horror movies aren't exploitative or generally meant for entertainment, just that it is unfair to call them out as being any more "pornographic" than any other movie genre, for various reasons some of which are detailed in that article. It's basically that specific, derogatory terminology I take offense to. I think the most cogent point she makes is that they're usually anti-violence, e.g. the Hostel movies she uses as an example which are arguably very crude satires of the business class (I don't care for them myself, fwiw.) So, really no more pornographic than a gratuitously violent anti-war film like Saving Private Ryan!

The argument that exploitation films are somehow more palatable because they are against the things being glorified is actually a pretty heavily used one. It doesn't hold water for several reasons. First, the exploitation films are always targeted towards people who are watching the films precisely because of the extreme themes being presented. Second, the exploitation films are are not all the same, while a few may have such oppositional themes presented in the narrative, the vast majority do not. The vast majority are absolutely in that sense not ironic, they are unabashedly glorifying whatever it is that is being exploited.

Insofar as the term 'torture porn' is concerned, I don't see anything wrong with that terminology, especially in an age where pornography itself increasingly doesn't have the taboo associated with it that it might have had even a few decades ago. The terminology properly associates the exploitation described, in this case sadistic and graphic violence, with the fact that just like pornography, people who are fans of this sub-genre of horror are absolutely being in some way, shape, or form titillated with the scenes of grotesque violence. So the terminology is factually correct, even if philosophically you may disagree with it in certain cases where the film has apparently a deeper ironic theme of rejecting what is being shown on the screen.

Pertaining to your example, Saving Private Ryan is extremely violent and features flying body parts, but it is not regarded as being exploitative because there isn't a fundamental intent to glorify or titillate. Movies like Saw and Hostel are, because they are focusing entirely on the graphic depiction of violence and are made with the intent of attracting viewers who desire to see these things being shown. This is why a film like Eyes Wide Shut is not regarded as pornography, and not just because that movie kind of sucked. The purpose of pornography is to titillate, and so is the genre of horror called 'torture porn', whereas a film like Saving Private Ryan or Eyes Wide Shut absolutely isn't intended to.

This is also completely off-topic in the animu thread, so if you want to discuss this more, feel free to make a thread or PM me.

I'm pleased you read the article, though! :)

It was interesting to read!

Do they involve suffering emanating from torture? Are power tools used? I barely have time for A-dramas so I have to prioritize. :p

Did you ever watch Highschool of the Dead? It had a very nice use of a drill in the second episode. If you enjoy power tools, you should play the Dead Rising games, you can do many fun things with power tools in those games! :3

Yes, you have guessed correctly. I am a fan of the zombie genre. That's also a fundamentally exploitative genre, though George A. Romero always snuck in Dat Social Commentary in his zombie films and many of his successors have followed suit.
 

Shouta

Member
Well I can't speak for how well it is as an adaptation since I have little knowledge of the pre-Chimera Ant arc manga beyond minor changes, but content wise I just liked Greed Island as a whole a lot better than York Shin. It was more linear, had a neat concept, and had actual beatable villains culminating in what is my opinion Gon's best battle in the series. I also didn't see any problems with the animation, but this was also like 8 years ago when my eyes weren't as discerning (not gonna lie, it's still not something I focus on).

That's the entire reason why it's not as good as York Shin. It turns basic shounen fight manga. Train, Fight, Train Fight/Play dodgeball repeat. I mean, the setting is cool and the heroes get to be stronger but it's so bland in comparison.

With York Shin, I'm not a huge fan of the focus and it just feels like a prologue to a much more significant arc focusing on the Genei Ryodan. Gon and Killua get pushed to the side while Kurapica is bumped up to protagonist just so he can
take out a few members.
There's very little resolution and it's filled with wasted potential in my opinion.

It was never about defeating the villains but about him coming face to face with them and himself. I mean seriously, look at how many actual fights occur in the arc, there's only one major one. Gon and Killua don't train as much or if at all during it and they, for the most part, are using their heads to solve the problem rather than brute strength.
 

Jex

Member
Sailor Moon R Movie, you say? I guess I should watch this sooner rather than later. I will be impressed if the amount of gratuitous rose petals meets or exceeds Adolescence Apocalypse.

It may actually exceed it, for reasons I cannot go into now. Sworn to secrecy, if I told you I'd be assassinated by ninjas, etc.
 
Mirai Nikki 08:

Another faithfully adapted episode. One thing the anime does well is sneak in bits of exposition as to what's going on, things which are shown in the manga but compressed for time in the anime. It does this without grinding to a screeching halt or interrupting what is going on. Again, the anime also tends to add exposition for things which were left entirely out of the manga, sure the reader could imply it but the anime is nice enough to show it where it could have been confusing.

The examples I gave above in spoiler tags involving
9th's dearly-departed eyeball
are just two of the good examples where the anime improved on the manga by explicitly showing things which were merely implied, or occurred "off-screen", in the manga.

One thing I like about the anime is the episode titles are all cellphone-related terms. This differs from the more prosaic titles of the manga chapters.
 

Jex

Member
But how is the audience going to relate with Shu unless they can fantasise about the female cast through a setting they've actually lived through like high school? Not that many otaku have had to deal with the harshness of war!

This is for the worse, clearly. What did WWII give us? A generation of animators and designers that grew up drawing tanks and planes and ships, actual mechanical animation was possible for every show!
 
This is for the worse, clearly. What did WWII give us? A generation of animators and designers that grew up drawing tanks and planes and ships, actual mechanical animation was possible for every show!

It's a fallacy to assume that traditional animation techniques are somehow superior simply because somebody broke their backs drawing everything by hand. The problem with modern animation is that CG is used as a cheap and easy shortcut, when done well CG animation easily surpasses traditional hand-drawn animation in technical quality.
 

Jex

Member
It's a fallacy to assume that traditional animation techniques are somehow superior simply because somebody broke their backs drawing everything by hand. The problem with modern animation is that CG is used as a cheap and easy shortcut, when done well CG animation easily surpasses traditional hand-drawn animation in technical quality.
What are you even talking about? When did I talk about traditional vs CG animation? Wut?
 

Thoraxes

Member
I'm brown and I approve of that comment.

iH2yn.jpg
 
That's the entire reason why it's not as good as York Shin. It turns basic shounen fight manga. Train, Fight, Train Fight/Play dodgeball repeat. I mean, the setting is cool and the heroes get to be stronger but it's so bland in comparison.



It was never about defeating the villains but about him coming face to face with them and himself. I mean seriously, look at how many actual fights occur in the arc, there's only one major one. Gon and Killua don't train as much or if at all during it and they, for the most part, are using their heads to solve the problem rather than brute strength.

And that has always been one of my problems with the series as a whole. It is somewhat bipolar in whether it wants to break away from the shounen formula or not especially after Togashi helped lay the ground work for one of its most prominent aspects in YYH (epic tournament arcs).

I don't think breaking away from the formula is inherently bad. In fact, the Marineford arc in One Piece is my favorite arc in the series and that is clearly breaking the formula. I kind of see York Shin as a "failed" Marineford in some aspects. A bunch of characters get introduced, but rather than one focused conflict, we have a bunch that kind of come together in a disjointed way while primary characters are given in the shaft in terms of development for Kurapica's struggle. It's just a jarring and drastic switch in focus that I felt was handled sloppily and I ended up being disappointed after the amazing tower arc.
 

Shouta

Member
And that has always been one of my problems with the series as a whole. It is somewhat bipolar in whether it wants to break away from the shounen formula or not especially after Togashi helped lay the ground work for one of its most prominent aspects in YYH (epic tournament arcs).

I don't think breaking away from the formula is inherently bad. In fact, the Marineford arc in One Piece is my favorite arc in the series and that is clearly breaking the formula. I kind of see York Shin as a "failed" Marineford in some aspects. A bunch of characters get introduced, but rather than one focused conflict, we have a bunch that kind of come together in a disjointed way while primary characters are given in the shaft in terms of development for Kurapica's struggle. It's just a jarring and drastic switch in focus that I felt was handled sloppily and I ended up being disappointed after the amazing tower arc.

Eh, I don't really agree. The storyline was set perfectly, all the characters came together right, the primary conflict was clear. We got to see each of the characters and they feel menacing during it. It's a shame the fodder gets trampled on but that's their fate anyway. Considering the previous stuff was totally focused on Gon and Killua, Kurapica getting the focus in a great story arc was needed. I thought the darn Heaven's Arena arc was actually pretty boring as it was training and fighting only for most of it. Then again, that's all Gon and Killua are about through Greed Island.
 

Branduil

Member
Well, there's a clear skills shortage in mechanical animation and I was just saying that the WWII generation of animators/designers was influenced by what they saw around them growing up.

So what you're saying is, Japan needs to go to war in order to create new animators.

This sounds like the plot of an anime already. Meta.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Gintama 236

For the whole 2nd half of the episode, I'm just thinking "damn, this actually changes things. Maybe Sorachi is finally deciding to tackle some loose threads and further the overarching plot."

Then the post credits scene happens.... lol?

Gintama rule #1: When in doubt, prepare for the troll. :D
 

duckroll

Member
So what you're saying is, Japan needs to go to war in order to create new animators.

This sounds like the plot of an anime already. Meta.

No, he's saying Japanese animation studios should start recruiting animators from Iraq and Afghanistan. That sounds like a better anime plot. :)
 
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