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Fall 2013 Anime |OT2| The Rise and Fall of Kyoto

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Nafe

Member
Queen Emeraldas

Some others have been going through different anime databases and encyclopedias and such and finding some older or more obscure shows which look interesting. I like these kind of posts so I thought the one time that I'd try that. As far as titles went I wondered how many there were starting with Q since it's more of an odd letter. I haven't seen them but most of them are apparently Queen's Blade,haha.

I came across one called Queen Emeraldas though and gave it more of a look. The main character looked kind of like a female version of Captain Harlock. I'm only really more aware of him though and don't really know much about him. It sounded interesting enough anyway with this idea of a female space pirate, so I thought I'd give it a watch.

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Emeraldas herself quickly became one of my favorite female characters in anime. Strong, independent and not only cool looking but pretty as well.

The show is made up of four OVA which came out in 1998 and 1999. The name itself comes from the ship Queen Emeraldas, which is owned by the female captain Emeraldas. I found out that Emeraldas herself is somewhat reminiscent of Captain Harlock because it takes place in the same universe. Apparently she was a side character who would show up from time to time and these OVAs help flesh out her character a little more or tell what she was doing in-between appearances. I found out that it is also set in the same universe as Galaxy Express 999. All of these are works done by Leiji Matsumoto and are referred to as part of the "Lejiverse."

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The side male character named Hiroshi Umino who runs into Emeraldas on his travels.

The first and second OVAs have a concurrent story to one another. Hiroshi is a stowaway on a ship and meets up with a more carefree elderly character. On their travel they are attacked but saved by a mysterious ship. They arrive on a desert like planet which kind of has the appearance to the Wild West to it. Later the ones who had attacked come to the planet and it's there we meet Emeraldas. Later as part of the second OVA the residents are captured and Emeraldas helps to rescue them.

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The antagonists of the first two OVA's. I like both the male and female designs of this show. I like the hair on both and how the eye's are for the females.

The third OVA is a different storyline and it feels almost more episodic or part of a larger show now. There's a new villain named Vaidas, voiced by Akio Ohtsuka (Rider in Fate/Zero). He's a person who has become a mechanical cyborg and is looking for parts to better himself. The story is originally on Umino and the older fellow who has become his travel companion and they find themselves getting into trouble with Emeraldas coming in to assist them.

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The mechanical Vaidas. What's kind of funny is that his gun shoots lasers but then he splits it in the middle like a shotgun and puts in ammunition to reload his weapon. After this it's still shown to shoot laser though. Laser bullets? I don't know,haha.

The sister of the two siblings that Hiroshi wants to help, Lucille, I recognized as being voiced by Kaori Shimizu, whose only other role I'm familiar with is Ekuryua from Banner of the Stars. There's also a firefight involving Vaidas where things suddenly get a lot more violent than at any other time. It seems so overdone to the rest that it's kind of partially shocking and partially amusing at how over the top some of it seems.

A small spoiler regarding the end of this OVA...
I kind of wish Lucille was awake to say goodbye to Hiroshi when he left.

In the last OVA the group comes across a girl who is a Siren. It is also here that we see a bit more of Emeraldas's past such as how she got her scar. From here though I have found out that the "Lejiverse" is not exactly chronoligically accurate all the time, as apparently the events around her scar shown here are a bit different to how they are in another show. Also Matael from Galaxy Express is said to be Emeraldas's sister here where in earlier works it seems the two of them are not that familiar with each other and this was made as a retcon for later works.

Overall I enjoyed these four OVAs and I think my only major complaint was I wish there were more of them as it just sort of ends. It would be like watching one of the currently airing shows this season and having it just stop after the first four episodes. I've seen more with Emeraldas but I'll save that for another post as this one took a while to write up as it is.

Thanks to those who read everything.
 
Shit Got Real Pretty Sammy 19

Well I guess I was off by quite a bit.

The one episode where Misao is happy as fuck is when they find out who each other really are. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN

The love for her family pretty much broke Misa's hold. Doooooooooomed

I guess we're moving on from happy silly fun times!

This episode gave birth to Sexy Calling and Pixy Sexual Fire though. Awww yeah.
 

Narag

Member
Kill La Kill 6


Still feel like I should like this more than I should but can't bring myself to really give a shit about the characters or the story. Probably the lovely visuals that bring me back week after week.
 

cajunator

Banned
My Mental Choices 1-4

I decided to watch this anyway, really love the idea about multiple choice question, fun premise for a series. Of course, it didn't take long for girls to be swimming all over the main character.

Loved Kanarin in episode 2 <3 Chocolat is adorable, and the show's definitely entertaining. Hope we get more Kanarin in a later episode, God seemed to like her. haha.

This is Noucome right?
 

Articalys

Member
Soo.... what the hell is a log horizon?
While I'm not sure if you actually want an honest answer,
it's the somewhat direct English translation of the Japanese name of the guild that Shiroe makes: "Kiroku no Chiheisen", where "kiroku" means a record/document/log and "chiheisen" means... the horizon.
 

Quasar

Member
Log Horizon 6 - so who is that girl with the conical hat? A member of Debauchery Tea Party obviously. Book readers spoil away.
 
Coppelion Episode 6
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Wow The Clean Up Crew did its job in cleaning up the mediocrity of the show in a single episode. Utterly impressed with the direction it has gone and how solid and powerful a story that can be told in this. To think that all it takes is a really smart, well designed, and well done character to fix so many things. Haruto is a breath of fresh air in this anime and delivers a solid performance the whole way through. Fortunately his personality and antics alone easily make one ignore the extremely annoying and pitiful Aoi who served to try her hardest to somehow become the number one annoying character in an animated show this season in a mere 23 minutes. Easily Haruto is best character in this anime thus far.

Powerful ending moments though, especially how they focused on Haruto the whole scene to see the reveal of the potential death scene. I think a few things were left unanswered but with the next episode being titled Haruto, I imagine they will answer them there
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare

CorvoSol

Member
The Crystal Triangle

This is the worst Uncharted game yet. Even the one liners suck. "Moses said "Thou shalt not commit adultery."" *SEX IN THE DESERT BECAUSE OF BLOODSHED*. There is a LOT of engrish in this movie, by the way. The movie also jumps around A LOT. Like in the first twelve minutes, you go from the Middle East to the Pacific Ocean to Japan to "South Asia." A LOT. And the scenes do not transition well.

All of the vehicles are hand drawn, though. You'd think I wouldn't need to say that about a 2D cartoon, but basically fuck CGI in anime so, so so much. Also the crystal triangle is a cube. That alone earns this movie its place on The List.

Movie drops an awful lot to accept in a short period of time, too.
Aside from God, all other gods are members of an ancient super culture, and the only person who can read their language is Nathan Drake. How he learned to read the language of a culture which has passed into deified legend across the globe is beyond me.

. . . did Nostradamus even know about the existence of Japan?

So crazy old psychic gremlins are in this movie and you should not ask why. Because there is no real answer to this. Of course the real villains are the Americans, who are out to get the Sacred Message of God to turn a profit on it! You know, somehow. That or the KGB.

Gratuitous Russian and Rasputin are in this movie, probably because the writers could not think up any Russian clergy aside from Rasputin, who doubles for having been considered an uncool guy. Not that the portrayal of "I'd sell my soul for America" is any better.

So the monks lead Nathan Drake to the Crystal, bringing the KGB and the CIA along for the ride and now they're angry about it. I hate logic too. It's okay because magical swords.

It appears that one of the messages of this movie is "The Cold War really, really sucks." but it is hard to hear it over the more pointed message of "Nobody knows what the Hell we're writing anyway."

So I can't tell whether the movie wants me to believe that all Buddhism is bad, or just this one branch, but it DOES want me to believe that Buddhists are secretly lizardmen, and that's really argument enough for me. Oh also Nemesis like either from that Asimov book or those boring ass 2012 stories. Good grief this is like the mother of all conspiracy theory movies.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NATHAN DRAKE GOES SUPER SAIYAN

Awww yeah crappy romance and a woman in a cow jacket. That's not subtle AT ALL. Meanwhile VERY BAD ENGLISH IS SPOKEN. The Russian guy pulls on something so hard his shirt explodes. That is some DBZ stuff.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND GOD IS A GIANT SPACE FLEA. A LITERAL FLEA. FROM SPACE. WHAT IN FUCK'S NAME IS THIS. I DON'T HAVE THE WORDS.

HADOKEN HADOKEN HADOKEN

A GIANT FLEA WHO TALKS LIKE A BABY

Oh what the fuck WHAT THE HOLY SACRED FUCK did I just watch?
NONONONONONO. I don't. The whole thing. Just.

This is the worst Uncharted I have ever played.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
The Crystal Triangle

At least there was some sick Hideaki Anno fighter jet animation!

If this was your reaction to Crystal Triangle, there's no doubt that your eventual Laws of Eternity writeup is going to be........something special. I can't pretend that this isn't me waiting for it:

SFRr0wc.gif


Too bad UY gets overlooked on account of being super old and forcing viewers to endure S1.

Even I dropped it after a few episodes when I first tried it a few years ago. When you don't know that things eventually get better, the deadly cocktail of bad video quality + some hideous early art + absolutely horrendous "comedy" is too much to tolerate. Eventually when I start trying to push this on people I'll have to make a list of which S1 episode halves are wholly skippable, and I never endorse skipping.
 
Magical Girl Pretty Sammy 20

And this is where we decide to use different techniques to let you know this ain't your standard Pretty Sammy episode. Clearly the reason is due to...

....
......

Losing Pixy Misa as a result ;-;. Saddest episode just for that. Props for Misao being willing to dress up as her to freak Sasami out though.... but damn, that's not exactly something you want to wear considering what Pixy Misa did.

But seriously, this feels like an episode where I wish I had more technical knowledge for this medium to really give my thoughts out, but I'm really lacking here.
 

Narag

Member
Infinite Stratos 6

The next time we have a discussion about the best standalone episodes of anime, this will be mentioned.
 

Gazoinks

Member
The Adolescence of Utena

Y'know... this actually wasn't as confusing as I expected it to be. Probably because most of the impressions I've seen were by people who haven't watched the show. Without watching the show, this would've been almost entirely incomprehensible. As Hitokage mentioned, it's a thematic retelling of the show. Everything is symbolic, not only of its themes, but symbolic of things that happened in the show.

Nanami's only appearance being in cow form was hilarious, and I couldn't help but laugh when Utena got sucked into the car wash of doom.

The infamous car scene... actually pretty much made sense. That doesn't mean it wasn't weird, cause... Well duh, but I got what they were trying to do.
The symbolism of Anthy driving Utena into the outside world was obvious, and the fact that they retold most of the show in a 15 minute car race was simultaneously awesome and hilarious.

On the visual front, it obviously animated nicer and had crisper art since it's a movie, but I actually liked the style of the show more. I was disappointed this show didn't make the same use of silhouettes that the show did, although there was some pretty awesome architecture.

I like how this partners up with the series. It wouldn't make much sense without watching the show, but it kinda clarifies some of the themes and images in the show. Over all I liked the show more, much more of an emotional connection, but the movie is definitely worth watching. If anything the movie actually felt kind of rushed, packing such an enormous amount of symbolism and themes into such a tight space, although that helps make the extremely surreal atmosphere.

I'm gonna rewatch the first episode, and then it's time to move on from Utena.
 
Tomorrow my friend and I start our new show based off Gaf recommendations. I'd asked for help in regards to good action shows with a bit more substance (character and plotwise) to bite into than Attack on Titan. We only have two days this week, so we'll have to get through 24 episodes in 2 nights. From what we've been recommended, we'll be doing Fate Stay Night. In 2 weeks when we meet again, we'll tackle Fate/Zero. 2 weeks after that, we'll tackle JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
 

wonzo

Banned
Tomorrow my friend and I start our new show based off Gaf recommendations. I'd asked for help in regards to good action shows with a bit more substance (character and plotwise) to bite into than Attack on Titan. We only have two days this week, so we'll have to get through 24 episodes in 2 nights. From what we've been recommended, we'll be doing Fate Stay Night. In 2 weeks when we meet again, we'll tackle Fate/Zero. 2 weeks after that, we'll tackle JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Just skip to Fate/Zero.
 

Gazoinks

Member
From what we've been recommended, we'll be doing Fate Stay Night.

GOD NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU INSANE.

Okay I actually haven't watched F/SN. :p That being saaaaid, pretty much everyone seems to think that the anime is pretty horrible and you should just watch F/Z because it stands alone and is amazing. As I said I haven't experienced it myself, just what I've heard.
 

Narag

Member
From what we've been recommended, we'll be doing Fate Stay Night..

Jesus no.

GOD NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU INSANE.

Okay I actually haven't watched F/SN. :p That being saaaaid, pretty much everyone seems to think that the anime is pretty horrible and you should just watch F/Z because it stands alone and is amazing. As I said I haven't experienced it myself, just what I've heard.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=39266676&postcount=16001
 

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
Infinite Stratos S2 6

That was fucking amazing. I don't want to spoil, but I will have to say this episode truly redefined my conceptualization of the quantum world that surrounds us on a daily basis, in fact the existence of this episode may lead to a discovery of a unified theory for physics. It appears
panties
are the answer towards discovering it's existence.
 
Just skip to Fate/Zero.
Really? I know it's the prequel, but I'm afraid to just skip a whole part of the story. And if Fate/Zero is better, I'm afraid if I start with it then go into Fate Stay Night, it'll be bad enough by comparison I'll have a hard time finishing. Or would you recommend I just do Fate/Zero and skip Fate Stay Night?

*Edit*
Wow. That's a lot of anti-Fate Stay Night reaction. lol. Welp, I think that settles that. And we really wont' be missing out?
 
While I'm not sure if you actually want an honest answer,
it's the somewhat direct English translation of the Japanese name of the guild that Shiroe makes: "Kiroku no Chiheisen", where "kiroku" means a record/document/log and "chiheisen" means... the horizon.

i mean, like at the end of the eps, he's like this is the guild name... usually you'd have some sappy metaphor or reasoning?

Or was this some deep thing that happened this eps that i completely missed out on?
 

Gazoinks

Member
Really? I know it's the prequel, but I'm afraid to just skip a whole part of the story. And if Fate/Zero is better, I'm afraid if I start with it then go into Fate Stay Night, it'll be bad enough by comparison I'll have a hard time finishing. Or would you recommend I just do Fate/Zero and skip Fate Stay Night?

*Edit*
Wow. That's a lot of anti-Fate Stay Night reaction. lol. Welp, I think that settles that. And we really wont' be missing out?

F/Z is one of my favorite anime, and I've never watched F/SN. You're good. The ending ties into the beginning of F/SN obviously, but other than that it stands completely alone.
 
I actually remember the recommendations being for Fate/Zero, and for some crazy reason I just assumed everyone meant the series/spinoffs/etc as a whole. I'm glad I checked in. We'll be skipping Fate Stay Night then.
 
You mean the title wasn't enough?

Gosh, I've still even got to start the OVAs....

Well I knew it was lewd I just forgot that it was borderline hentai

Maken-ki 1 Dubbed
Just checked it out to see how good the dubbing. Not really that great. Considering that Maken-ki wasn't that great of a show, you probably want to avoid it
 

Narag

Member
F/SN being an eroge game always kind of baffled me. It doesn't seem like it gels with the concept at all.
Every Japanese schoolboy dreams of seducing King Arthur?

More like nailing a subservient female completely dependent on you to exist!!
 

sonicmj1

Member
F/SN being an eroge game always kind of baffled me. It doesn't seem like it gels with the concept at all.
Every Japanese schoolboy dreams of seducing King Arthur?

I'm pretty sure it's only recently that VN publishers realized it was even possible to sell one without sex scenes in it.
 
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