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[Hitokage]

BGBW: You need to watch Laws of the Sun, and possibly others. Your impressions betray your unfamiliarity with the intricacies of Happy Science theology.

 

[Kazzy]

BGBW I want to read your impressions so desperately but I fear that it would ruin my ability to go into the movie totally fresh. I'm tempted to avatar-ize one of your pictures for myself, though.

If you do, please let it be the huge-forehead Nazi!

 

[Chet Rippo]

Ladies vs. Butlers! - 01

How the fuck does this 'just happen'?

Also, thank you for the greatest scene in anything ever.

I told you man!

senran kagura is gonna save vita

I can't wait for the anime!
Considering I'm going to have to wait for the games for a while indefinitely.

 

[yn-neko hates a cat]

The only thing that comes to mind is Mawaru-Penguindrum and that's really stretching it. I would recommend Revolutionary Girl Utena too since that takes its visual style from Versailles, but that's the 90s and I don't know if that's too recent for what you want.

Melodrama isn't a gebre hat's explored in quite that same way anymore. It doesn't help that we no longer have Osamu Dezaki with us, because he encapsulated that style more than any other anime director.

You're absolutely right. It's not and its a tragedy that it isn't explored more. You can almost plot a path over the years to see the devolution into other forms of anime as though it was an undesired aspect of modern anime; a product of its time. As mentioned by Regulus, Utena had the style part down but the melodrama felt (was) intentional comedy. While Utena's execution worked other things that attempt to reproduce it came of annoying because they lacked the style... I'd put Hana Yori Dango in this bucket. I thought it was a great overall series but I'm a little saddened by the over-heaping servings of angst without the yummy cheese.

I'm not sure other than the thick lines, eye lashes on everyone and stilted animations that's drawn me into this style so favorably. Maybe I feel that they excelled at showing character emotion better than other animes of their time (please reference most late 70's to early 80's mech animes) but it it was all very grandiose as in larger than life; it was like a stage play.

Maybe the background music had something to do with it. I notice that these days, you only hear bgm when there's a battle or something sad or something comical enters the equation. But these shows had music for everything from the mundane to unsubtle changes in scores based on fast subtle transitions between emotions. It was so unnecessary and excessive and I love it. It was the kind of excess granted to everything on the screen like you wouldn't just become depressed - the character would run to the highest spot they could find and then fall into darkness. It's like their psyche became the background art to the reality the character was experiencing. It though these elements were far ahead of their time.

I hope some brave experimental animator at least incorporates these aspects if not go full boar on them. Penguindrum feels more like Utena and that's fine but I think people can go further. By further, I mean become more extreme with much more scaled down plots. I mean crying over spilled milk when it IS actually just spilled milk. I'd like to see more exploration of nuance with gargantuan plot devices.

Maybe an over-the-top take on a slice-of-life anime in the thick lines and lashes vein of yore is all but extinct but I'll keep hoping.

 

[CorvoSol]

And it just gets bigger and more insane. God I wish we had gotten another season.

My immediate thought, during the episode, was "Oh my GOD IT'S THIRD IMPACT." All the talk of Awakening, and then there was the crazy crazy crazy on the stage, and then the SHOW TIME, and I don't even know what that was.

For the last two episodes Roger's grip on reality has completely slipped out of his hands. I don't know what year this show came out, but I firmly declare it the best anime of that year.

Gurren Lagann 15 Okaaaaaay, that was awesome and all, but now what? There's like, 11 more episodes. Is this show gonna pull a Dragon Quest and keep going even when the initial conflict is all resolved? Hmmmmmm.

 

[DiGiKerot]

BGBW: You need to watch Laws of the Sun, and possibly others. Your impressions betray your unfamiliarity with the intricacies of Happy Science theology.

I know I'm going to regret asking this, but is there a particular order in which you should consume the Happy Science flicks?

 

[Chet Rippo]

Gurren Lagann 15 Okaaaaaay, that was awesome and all, but now what? There's like, 11 more episodes. Is this show gonna pull a Dragon Quest and keep going even when the initial conflict is all resolved? Hmmmmmm.

It has only just begun.

 

[Andrew J.]

I really do recommend that people check out the 1UP podcast where they discuss the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, which can be found here: http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182486

When I first heard that they were going to be doing an Evangelion-centric podcast I assumed that it was going to be an absolute disaster, after all they don't specialise in anime and most discussions about anime on podcasts (and discussions about Evangelion in particular) are just garbage.

Luckily, however, that's not the case here. This is pretty much all down to the fact that Jeremy Parish and Christian Nutt are the two hosts who talk the most about the series and they're really good at articulating their points cleanly and quickly. The reason their discussion didn't become a stupid Eva argument was because, amazingly, Jeremey and Christian had already has there argument about the show over a decade before when it first aired. Their ability to reconcile their differences and admit that they were both being jerks online gave me faith in the ability of people to rationally discuss things online. Good stuff.

Parish created the Eva Thumbnail Theater series. If there's one game writer I would call an expert on Neon Genesis Evangelion, it's him.

(Did he complain about Eva getting ripped off by Xenogears?)

 

[Articalys]

This is probably the main reason why Mamoru Miyano took the lead character role for Dog Days:

 

[Hitokage]

I know I'm going to regret asking this, but is there a particular order in which you should consume the Happy Science flicks?

Multiple orders work, but the one we ended up doing and were happy with was:

1. Laws of Eternity
2. Rebirth of Buddha
3. Golden Laws
4. Laws of the Sun
5. Hermes

Release order being Hermes, Laws of the Sun, Golden Laws, Laws of Eternity, Rebirth of Buddha

Chronological order being

Spoiler

Laws of the Sun, Hermes, Laws of Eternity, Rebirth of Buddha, Golden Laws

, with overlap.

 

[Uchip]

I dunno. One of my friends puked once and it was crazy multicolored because she was drinking some sort of tropical mixture and she said "oooh I puked a rainbow!" and I was like d'awwww. Therefore while not usually a cute action, it can nevertheless be adorable under the right circumstances.

I guess you had to be there

 

[chickdigger802]

uguu is kinda like the sound of a person puking.

 

[madp]

Multiple orders work, but the one we ended up doing and were happy with was:

1. Laws of Eternity
2. Rebirth of Buddha
3. Golden Laws
4. Laws of the Sun
5. Hermes

Release order being Hermes, Laws of the Sun, Golden Laws, Laws of Eternity, Rebirth of Buddha

Chronological order being

Spoiler

Laws of the Sun, Hermes, Laws of Eternity, Rebirth of Buddha, Golden Laws

, with overlap.

Chalk it up to El Cantare's divine providence but I feel like there's no better order to watch the films in than the order we ended up watching them in purely by chance.

If you do, please let it be the huge-forehead Nazi!

All for you, BGBW!

I almost feel like I should have NAZI in big red letters at the bottom of the image but I don't know if that would fly particularly well outside of animegaf, lol

 

[Ultimadrago]

Chalk it up to El Cantare's divine providence but I feel like there's no better order to watch the films in than the order we ended up watching them in purely by chance.

I must say, gauging on levels of engagement for someone fresh to it all, that was a damn good order.

 

[BGBW]

Dammit, I was just about to post extended thoughts on The Mystical Laws. It hardly feels worth the effort now, and I'm certainly not drawing pictures to go with it!

Sorry about that. Still would like to hear your views on it.

What, these postcards are a thing? Dammit, wish I'd picked one up.

They were on desk where you bought your ticket. I suppose you could nip in and pick one up if you're still around.

BGBW: You need to watch Laws of the Sun, and possibly others. Your impressions betray your unfamiliarity with the intricacies of Happy Science theology.

I skipped most of the Happy Science parts of the film. I focused more on the silly story they came up with to set around their beliefs.

Some choice titbits:

• Sho used to live on Venus in a previous reincarnation, but when Venus became unstable they all moved to Earth. They are not the only alien race here because Earth is the perfect teaching ground for souls.
• The Earth is a living being and if we mistreat it it will expel thousands of natural disasters to create a clean slate, which includes sinking continents. Guess that explain Atlantis.
• Demons corrupt us and will try to sway us to not believe in God. Flash images of historical figures including good ol' Friedrich "God is Dead" Nietzsche and Charles Darwin.
• Sho is never once described as awesome.

But yes, I need to get round to watching Laws of the Sun. I regret not getting round to it sooner, but I didn't expect to suddenly find myself watching Happy Science on the big screen.

@Mad Pierrot: Nice avatar HA HA. Seriously when you get round to seeing the film you'll understand why I drew him with a tiny face.

 

[Dresden]

This is probably the main reason why Mamoru Miyano took the lead character role for Dog Days:

Fukuyama-in-chuuni's position looks more appealing tbh.

 

[Crash Station]

Gurren Lagann 15 Okaaaaaay, that was awesome and all, but now what? There's like, 11 more episodes. Is this show gonna pull a Dragon Quest and keep going even when the initial conflict is all resolved? Hmmmmmm.

Bigger and better is where it goes. Also, I think only half of next episode is a recap, so don't skip it.

 

[Kazzy]

I almost feel like I should have NAZI in big red letters at the bottom of the image but I don't know if that would fly particularly well outside of animegaf, lol

Ha!

And as long it's not a CommieNazi, I think it'd be fine!

 

[Regulus Tera]

Bigger and better is where it goes. Also, I think only half of next episode is a recap, so don't skip it.

You are thinking of Evangelion and Kare Kano. Episode 16 of TTGL is all recap.

 

[madp]

@Mad Pierrot: Nice avatar HA HA. Seriously when you get round to seeing the film you'll understand why I drew him with a tiny face.

The wait for any sort of news on a BD release is suffering.

We're all chipping in and ordering a copy off of amazon.co.jp when the time comes, right?

 

[CorvoSol]

It has only just begun.

Oh my *blush*.

Bigger and better is where it goes. Also, I think only half of next episode is a recap, so don't skip it.

Ah, well, I guess I can-

You are thinking of Evangelion and Kare Kano. Episode 16 of TTGL is all recap.

-skip it then. Recap episodes are terrible and the worst part of anything.

Big O 15

So goooooood. I need moooooore.

 

[Thoraxes]

I am with cajun on the cute puking.

 

[dakkumauji]

Magi 08

Yeah, this episode was boring. The whole flashback did nothing for me and if anything I just don't care about what was going on. Not even sure why, as normal I can handle shounen flashbacks but this one was just so boring.

 

[Tomat]

Alibaba is going to get raped my Mor isn't he?

 

[DiGiKerot]

Sorry about that. Still would like to hear your views on it.

I can't say I've got anything particularly interesting to say about it anyway. Maybe tomorrow.

They were on desk where you bought your ticket. I suppose you could nip in and pick one up if you're still around.

Ah, I'd booked my tickets online, so I didn't really look at the counter. Unfortunately, I'm not about 300 miles outside of London at this point, so I'll have to pass up on having such a wonderful piece of Happy Science memorabilia.

 

[Uchip]

Alibaba is going to get raped my Mor isn't he?

going to?

 

[dakkumauji]

Alibaba is going to get raped my Mor isn't he?

That would have made the episode much more interesting that it currently is.

 

[SDBurton]

Kiss x Sis (OVA) - 01-04

:O

I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

 

[Crash Station]

You are thinking of Evangelion and Kare Kano. Episode 16 of TTGL is all recap.

Actually, I was probably thinking of Panty and Stocking. I don't even know what Kare Kano is.

 

[Envelope]

Kiss x Sis - 01-04



I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

Filth

 

[Uchip]

Kiss x Sis - 01-04



I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

lol
I like how the only animated element is the tongues

 

[Chet Rippo]

Kiss x Sis - 01-04



I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

You're only getting to this now!?!?

 

[PdotMichael]

Kiss x Sis - 01-04



I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

that's not the way it works, though!

 

[Grzi]

Magi - 08

The flashback wasn't terribly interesting in the manga either, so I'd say they did a fairly good job with it.
Next week should be great though.

 

[SDBurton]

You're only getting to this now!?!?

I saw some of the OVAs way back before, but back then they were only at #3.

Surprised I forgot about them.

 

[dakkumauji]

Teekyu 08

Well at least the punchline for the episode wasn't that bad. Slightly more interesting than Magi.

 

[Thoraxes]

I saw some of the OVAs way back before, but back then they were only at #3.

Surprised I forgot about them.

Well then, you are in for a treat.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Kiss x Sis (OVA) - 01-04

I.. um.. oh.. my. @_@

TOO HOT FOR TELLY

 

[Instro]

JoJo 8

While I'm sure most people know how this arc ends, its kind of shitty that they gave it away in the preview. Otherwise, another cool episode. I'm excited to get into Battle Tendency as I know nothing about that arc.

 

[Chet Rippo]

I saw some of the OVAs way back before, but back then they were only at #3.

Surprised I forgot about them.

Better late than never, as they say.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Actually, I was probably thinking of Panty and Stocking. I don't even know what Kare Kano is.

His and Her Circumstances. Aka what Anno makes when he's not so depressed.

It's a shoujo!

 

[Novid]

Filth

its a ova dude. its whatever.

 

[Regulus Tera]

-skip it then. Recap episodes are terrible and the worst part of anything.

As always, the answer to this is some Utena.

its a ova dude. its whatever.

I'm surprised why they didn't just make it straight hentai.

 

[Grzi]

Here's a Akitoshi Yokoyama MAD for all the sakuga lovers in here.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Maybe an over-the-top take on a slice-of-life anime in the thick lines and lashes vein of yore is all but extinct but I'll keep hoping.

Suddenly I wanna suggest Chihayafuru to you but that's totally not what you want.

Shoujo is the most melodramatic genre today anyway.

Does Penguindrum get better in the second half? I'm at the halfway point and losing interest.

If you are not liking it now you are not gonna like it later.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

It's a shame that it took an absolutely ridiculous deal on the special edition to get people to pick these movies up but I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Yeah, I feel bad that it took so long for me to actually pick these up, because I wound up loving the first movie so much, and I'm really looking forward to digging through all the extras and watching the second movie.

I'm not really sure how I always managed to just miss on watching Patlabor given how long I've been an anime fan, but I'm thankful that I finally did get to see it (and that such a great deal was posted in this thread).

Does Penguindrum get better in the second half? I'm at the halfway point and losing interest.

The second half is great, but if you aren't enjoying it now, you probably never will. I personally thought the show was incredible from start to finish.

Actually, I was probably thinking of Panty and Stocking. I don't even know what Kare Kano is.

The last great show GAINAX made.

 

[Novid]

You're absolutely right. It's not and its a tragedy that it isn't explored more. You can almost plot a path over the years to see the devolution into other forms of anime as though it was an undesired aspect of modern anime; a product of its time. As mentioned by Regulus, Utena had the style part down but the melodrama felt (was) intentional comedy. While Utena's execution worked other things that attempt to reproduce it came of annoying because they lacked the style... I'd put Hana Yori Dango in this bucket. I thought it was a great overall series but I'm a little saddened by the over-heaping servings of angst without the yummy cheese.

I'm not sure other than the thick lines, eye lashes on everyone and stilted animations that's drawn me into this style so favorably. Maybe I feel that they excelled at showing character emotion better than other animes of their time (please reference most late 70's to early 80's mech animes) but it it was all very grandiose as in larger than life; it was like a stage play.

Maybe the background music had something to do with it. I notice that these days, you only hear bgm when there's a battle or something sad or something comical enters the equation. But these shows had music for everything from the mundane to unsubtle changes in scores based on fast subtle transitions between emotions. It was so unnecessary and excessive and I love it. It was the kind of excess granted to everything on the screen like you wouldn't just become depressed - the character would run to the highest spot they could find and then fall into darkness. It's like their psyche became the background art to the reality the character was experiencing. It though these elements were far ahead of their time.

I hope some brave experimental animator at least incorporates these aspects if not go full boar on them. Penguindrum feels more like Utena and that's fine but I think people can go further. By further, I mean become more extreme with much more scaled down plots. I mean crying over spilled milk when it IS actually just spilled milk. I'd like to see more exploration of nuance with gargantuan plot devices.

Maybe an over-the-top take on a slice-of-life anime in the thick lines and lashes vein of yore is all but extinct but I'll keep hoping.

that type of anime is almost dead because you got a "conservitive" fanbase trying to get a nut off and "conservitive" businessmen plactating them despite "conservitive" leadership trying to make the genre more "conservitive".

 

[R_thanatos]

Athrun is not cool at all in Seed Destiny. In fact, he went from badass military dude to dumbass moron.

Atlas tried to pick the mentor coat in destiny ... it would have worked if shiin wasn't such a moron..


Shiin also needed a power boost , someone like flay or lacus or even cagali . all he had was a friend whose goal was to get him dumber and a dumb girl he liked that unfortunatly knew that "dying isn't good" ( her own words )..
The salvation could have been lunamaria , but she was watching athrun all the time ..why go for the new pilot when a real star was there ?

 

[Kagami]

What with all this talk of KissXSis, is Kanokon worth watching?

Speaking as someone who doesn't like tease-stories, I found Kanokon surprisingly tolerable because of the protagonist, who is this timid boyish kid voiced by Noto Mamiko. His frightened reactions to Chizuru's agressiveness were cute enough that it didn't annoy me the way most "I'm allergic to women" protagonists do.

Watch Ladies vs. Butlers! instead.

This on the other hand was really boring.

But I usually don't like harem anime so I'm probably not the best person to take recommendations from on this.

 

[Novid]

As always, the answer to this is some Utena.

I'm surprised why they didn't just make it straight hentai.

half the damn shows would have sold 6x as much as hentai but none of the managaka will ever want to be connected to porn again or they just left just become legit or the audiance wants to be cukholded.

the sad thing is that its happining in the US faster than i thought and not in the same way i thought it was going to happen.