• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Space Dandy |OT| We're up all night to... ASK D-N-A... again, baby!

Status
Not open for further replies.
what the ACTUAL fuck

Also a lot of that shit seemed familiar after Doctor Who. Aliens you forget after you see them and who can make you do what they want, a giant library planet, etc

Yeah my sister and I just looked at each other and we agreed that this episode totally gave off a Doctor Who vibe.
 

duckroll

Member
How the hell do you end a show like Space Dandy? It's episodic and doesn't have a main plotline.

It'll probably just end when there are no more episodes left. That way if they want to make more in the future they can continue to do so. I certainly don't expect any sort of specific "ending".
 

kirblar

Member
It'll probably just end when there are no more episodes left. That way if they want to make more in the future they can continue to do so. I certainly don't expect any sort of specific "ending".
Doing a full-out parody of the Cowboy Bebop ending wouldn't be bad.
 
It'll probably just end when there are no more episodes left. That way if they want to make more in the future they can continue to do so. I certainly don't expect any sort of specific "ending".

They'll end it like Cowboy Bebop.

They kill him, which happens in some episodes already but they use the Ultimate Nullifier.
 

Grakl

Member
They got trolled by a paper losing their memories haha classic. Though they didn't explain why everything went grey. Dandy will never get an alien passed.
I think everything became gray because the art style began looking more like paper, since it was an episode about books/paper. most coloring seemed to be done by charcoal
 
With a show like space dandy I wouldn't be surprised if they randomly have the entire story line of the whole series crammed into the last few episodes.
 

ЯAW

Banned
Started watching yesterday and I'm already in episode 8! What a great show. I have liked every episode so far, I think this is simply amazing.
 

Yonafunu

Member
Some seriously awesome effects work this episode.

f7dc397920233c0195c39b690c15633c.gif

bfb7e59cc7a102a53b9aab6728c9117d.gif

18a8a1a51bb6f51fb89b6fe0f601837f.gif

Hisashi Mori flaunting his stuff.
 
I hope they make it like the mutant lunch episode of Bebop. Where they go hard horror, but the premise is so ridiculous that if you think about it for more than a second you have to audibly utter wtf.
 
I’ve officially given up on expecting any sort of continuity in Space Dandy as far as the story goes and am starting to enjoy the show for what it is – a wacky space themed comedy with stellar animation that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Speaking of the animation, it seems like every week something new makes me sit back and say “Wow, these visuals are extremely impressive.” The big action sequences obviously stick out but I find myself appreciating the little things, like how Scarlett’s garments wrinkled and moved in a realistic fashion last weekend. The facial expressions are also..well, expressive! This is some god tier animation at work here; we’re truly being spoiled even though the script doesn’t always live up to the eye candy.

As for the actual episode content, this was a confusing one to say the least but I’ll try to make sense of it. From what I gathered Dr. Gel was given a book by Admiral Perry (skeleton guy) that he checked out from the planet Lagado which happens to be a massive library of sorts for the universe. This book, known as ‘the librarian’, happens to be sentient and takes over his mind in order to solve a formula about time space distortions. This makes sense considering Dr. Gel is a gifted scientist, as confirmed by Admiral Perry during the episode, and happens to have the resources of a massive space empire at his disposal. Due to Dr. Gel’s preoccupation with the formula, Bea is given control over the attack on Lagado which Perry has authorized because he doesn’t want to pay a fee for the overdue book. What a cheapskate.

Anyway, somehow the librarian is separated from Dr. Gel and finds its way into Dandy’s hands thanks to his ‘unique energy’ the Gogol Empire keeps mentioning; I took this to be confirmation that Dandy is the key to this multiverse theory the show relies on to explain how characters die and come back the next week with no repercussions. Is this power what the Gogol and Jaicro empires are fighting over? Hmm, looks like we’re slowly unraveling that mystery, although I don’t expect it to be fully explored until season 2.

Eventually the ticket found at Boobies, who also happens to be a sentient being from Lagado, decides it’s time to go home and manipulates the crew into traveling to its home world through Honey as a coupon advertising free food. Dandy and the crew warp to Lagado as Bea and the Gogol Empire prepare to attack it. Upon noticing Dandy’s arrival Bea attempts to capture him but he escapes, vanishing into thin air before they can pull him in with the tractor beam. Dandy and crew, unaware of the danger posed by this massive fleet of ships, assume they were at Lagado for the free food.

Dandy and company make their way through the planet to a chamber where they are introduced to the Librarian and ticket that led them there. Here they confirm that the book is an alien who uses other people’s brains to think because according to the duo, “doing so is much easier than thinking for oneself, afterall.” The Librarian is revealed to have the power to alter memories at will which explains why nobody can remember anything; she uses this as a form of mind control due to the inability to move her physical body unassisted. Dandy and the crew go on a number of adventures with her over the span of 6 months because she wanted to explore the universe and saw Dandy as her best option to get home after being checked out by Admiral Perry. Think of the name “Secrets of the Cosmos for Dummies”. Remember when the librarian said that it uses other people’s brains to think because doing so is so much easier than thinking for yourself? This is actually some pretty deep stuff although viewer has to travel a convoluted road to get to this point. I think the overall theme of the episode is that knowledge is a powerful tool that can consume a person if used for the wrong purpose. True knowledge resides within those willing to discover the truth rather than be handed it on a silver platter. This kind of reminded me of Plato’s cave allegory in The Republic, that may be a bit of a reach but I can see some parallels, I wonder if portions of the book served as inspiration for this episode?

Probably not. This is reach of Mr. Fantastic proportions but let me have my moment.

As a thank you to Dandy and crew for letting her waste 6 months of their lives the librarian wipes their memories and gives them a box as a souvenir. The only thing the crew remembers after this is that they came into contact with a rare alien and that this mysterious box has something to do with it so naturally they try to cash in on their discovery. Then the episode takes a left turn and the world is destroyed in a format war or something? Yeah..this was a weird, overly complex episode that I don’t fully understand even after multiple viewings.

The whole film noir vibe was pretty cool but left me wishing there was less dialogue a la Samurai Jack, and that the writers let the atmosphere and soothing tunes take over. The Librarian’s planet was very haunting and reminded me of a Metroid game for some reason but I guess that direction doesn’t mesh well with the comedic overtones of the show.

Overall this was a really odd episode that I’m still trying to figure out. The noir look was definitely a jarring change of pace; I personally prefer the more colorful episodes we had been getting the last couple of weeks but can appreciate the switch. Dandy has been aces for me the last 4 or so episodes but this one was meh, it seemed way too complex for its own good and the story could have been structured better in my opinion. It didn’t need to be dumbed down, just made easier to follow because the confusion comes from a lack of structure and pacing in my opinion.

Sorry for the long post
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I always thought the ending was akin to Ideon. The universe is destroyed by something strange and ultimately will be reborn again.
 

Linkhero1

Member
Loved the episode. I was hoping for a story to develop but I've given up on that as well. It's a great show regardless of whether there's continuity or not.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Loved the episode. I was hoping for a story to develop but I've given up on that as well. It's a great show regardless of whether there's continuity or not.

If you were expecting much of a story on the surface after CB and Samurai Champloo you were going to be disappointed. Samurai Champloo's story was "A girl looks for her father with the aid of two samurai" and was completely about the journey rather than any overarching story. And Cowboy Bebop was episodic, with each one focussed on different members of the Bebop crew. The overall story was only 5 episodes, and of those 5, only 1 of them was standalone - the other 4 were a pair of 2-parters.

Keep in mind that in Bebop, the first 11 episodes only had Ballad of the Fallen Angels, too, as far as "story" episodes go.
 
If you were expecting much of a story on the surface after CB and Samurai Champloo you were going to be disappointed. Samurai Champloo's story was "A girl looks for her father with the aid of two samurai" and was completely about the journey rather than any overarching story. And Cowboy Bebop was episodic, with each one focussed on different members of the Bebop crew. The overall story was only 5 episodes, and of those 5, only 1 of them was standalone - the other 4 were a pair of 2-parters.

Keep in mind that in Bebop, the first 11 episodes only had Ballad of the Fallen Angels, too, as far as "story" episodes go.

The fact of the matter though is that Samurai Champloo did have an overarching storyline; it wasn't crammed down the viewers throat like a long running shonen, but we always knew that Fuu was looking for "the samurai who smells like sunflower seeds.". Bebop is a little more vague but there's the whole Vicious plot line that starts in episode 5 and really takes off the second half of the series. It isn't shoved in your face but certain questions are always lingering in your mind in regards to his relation to Spike.

Space Dandy on the other hand doesn't have that in the least; every episode is distinct and self contained. Dandy has no goals or motivation outside capturing different aliens so he can blow the money at boobies. I don't think it's weird people expected some sort of continuous narrative, especially those watching on Toonami considering the block is nothing but action cartoons. Crocodile made a great point in our thread:

Most non-comedic anime (even a lot of comedic anime too) in my experience tends to adhere to tight narrative arches with plotlines flowing directly from episode to episode. It's this common narrative structure that I think sharply contrasted anime from a lot of Western animation when anime was first being introduced to the West. Oddly enough the Western animated TV show on the air with new episodes with the tightest narrative is probably Archer or TMNT 2012. Shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show occasionally have back-to-back two partners but the overarching plotlines or distinct character development tends to be more protracted over a season.

Anyway, I think a lot of people who watch a lot of anime but often not a lot of Western animation (I'm not speaking of anyone in particular in this thread) have developed a STRONG preference for tight narratives. Its why you often see so much whining about filler, even in original productions not adapted from manga/novels.
 

Grakl

Member
I just don't understand why people expect a cohesive narrative when every episode deals with a different universe, which was shown in the first episode.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
I just don't understood why people expect a cohesive narrative when every episode deals with a different universe, which was shown in the first episode.

Also this.

Look out for episode 13 since it's directed by Shingo Natsume and the midway point of the series if you're looking for something to hint or connect back to a cohesive narrative.
 
I don't think the first episode establishes a multiverse theory; I guess you could make that argument for the second one though where he meets ramem pops in an alternate dimension. Still, that doesn't prove that there are an infinite number of universes each with their own unique version of Dandy; we have no clue if that's the case and people are just guessing at this point unless I'm missing some key evidence or dialogue that has proved otherwise. Almost every episode is written by a different person, it could just be a 'ignore what happened in the previous episode, lets have the talent craft their own stories and mold the characters to fit their unique narrative" type of deal. Not everything has to be explained or make sense with this series, it reminds me of some Western cartoons where something bad will happen at the end of an episode but there will be no repercussions and everything will inexplicably be back to normal the next week.
 

Linkhero1

Member
Well, Champloo and Bebop had an underlying story. Of course each episode was a bit random but they had an "end goal" in mind. I get Gintama vibes from Dandy, which isn't a bad thing, but I'd at least like to have more backstory on Dandy and his purpose. Right now it seems to be about him making enough money to go to Boobies.

Edit: I agree with Gucci.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Rick and Morty also has interdimensional shenanigans and it somehow maintains continuity to great effect.
 

Levyne

Banned
I'm with Gucci here, I don't think you really need to lean so heavily on "It's a multiverse!!", why can't each episode just be its own thing without explanation?
 

Pete Rock

Member
Right now it seems to be about him making enough money to go to Boobies.
"You fool! Is there anything else in life?" /stated with my best Dandy accent

This is why I adore this show, I absolutely love that they fully grasp the freedom to push each episode to its logical extents without holding back for fear of maintaining any semblance of continuity outside of the basic premise.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
The multiverse thing might not also pan out since as I recall, this week's episode did reference the previous week's. Or maybe that was last week's episode which referenced the ep from 2 weeks ago. I don't remember. :V

Just treat it as episodic and enjoy the ride.
 
The Japanese credit song references Hugh Everett, who proposed the parallel universe theory, several times. The multiverse thing is probably true.
 

Tamanon

Banned
I'm sure we'll get the Dandy backstory episode eventually about how he became an alien hunter.

Hopefully as well told as the Ramen Alien's story.
 

Linkhero1

Member
"You fool! Is there anything else in life?" /stated with my best Dandy accent

This is why I adore this show, I absolutely love that they fully grasp the freedom to push each episode to its logical extents without holding back for fear of maintaining any semblance of continuity outside of the basic premise.

Ahahaha. I love his quotes.

I'm watching it as is going forward. I've enjoyed every episode so far.
 
I'm sure we'll get the Dandy backstory episode eventually about how he became an alien hunter.

Hopefully as well told as the Ramen Alien's story.

My guess, probably in season 2 you get an episode like ep 10 for him. But probably lighter on the exposition.
Then again, with all the shifting directors and directions for this series... just about anything is possible for this series.... save any real continuity.
Personally, I'd to see some one off characters make a reappearance though.
And, I maintain, I still think it would be a great idea to add another character to the main cast.
 

DarkKyo

Member
I don't think the first episode establishes a multiverse theory; I guess you could make that argument for the second one though where he meets ramem pops in an alternate dimension. Still, that doesn't prove that there are an infinite number of universes each with their own unique version of Dandy; we have no clue if that's the case and people are just guessing at this point unless I'm missing some key evidence or dialogue that has proved otherwise. Almost every episode is written by a different person, it could just be a 'ignore what happened in the previous episode, lets have the talent craft their own stories and mold the characters to fit their unique narrative" type of deal. Not everything has to be explained or make sense with this series, it reminds me of some Western cartoons where something bad will happen at the end of an episode but there will be no repercussions and everything will inexplicably be back to normal the next week.

There has been plenty of evidence of the multiverse theory in effect. I'm almost positive that's what they are trying to achieve.

The multiverse thing might not also pan out since as I recall, this week's episode did reference the previous week's. Or maybe that was last week's episode which referenced the ep from 2 weeks ago. I don't remember. :V

Just treat it as episodic and enjoy the ride.

Actually the entire episode referenced the multiverse thing heavily(mostly the Dr. Gel aspect of the episode). The show has a lot more continuity than most people think.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom