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

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A

aechris

Member
okayfrog said:
I can never consider episode 6 to be in the bottom half of episodes due to that ending.
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Haha, I was whining the whole ep about how bad this one was, how it was the worst one yet, and then 3 minutes to the end I was singing it's praises as being a masterpiece.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
I apologize if I missed this asked already, but does anyone know the song that plays during QT's fishing montage? From episode 12 I believe.
 
G

Gucci Messiah

Banned
If I had to rank the season 1 episodes this is how I'd do it:

1. Plants Are Living Things Too, Baby (9)

Amazing art style and attention to detail, this episode, directed by Eunyoung Choi, is where Space Dandy really shines as an episodic series. The vivid watercolor-esque visuals and simple to follow, yet surprisingly deep storyline meshed together to form one gem of an episode. This one will end up sticking with me for a while and might be remembered down the road as a defining work for this generation of anime.

tumblr_inline_n1u8y46UzH1r5kjtk.gif

So freaking good, baby


2. There's Always Tomorrow, Baby (10)

Meow is my favorite character and this is the first episode (hopefully of a few) that focuses on Dandy's feline sidekick. The whole time loop thing wasn't groundbreaking or anything but the way Masayuki Miyaji and the writing team handled the story telling was superb; doing an excellent job managing the comedic tone of the series with complex emotions such as feelings of acceptance, belonging, doubt, and guilt. Dandy is at its best in these moments.

3. Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby (4)

Arguably the funniest episode in the series if you ask me; this was the first time Dandy strayed away from the T&A jokes and went with a zombie gag. Now I know the walking dead are a little played out at this point but this episode is so wacky and unexpected that you can't help but have a big stupid grin across your face the entire viewing. Borrowing from films such as Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and others that I'm missing or neglecting, episode 4 takes us on a path much less traveled ultimately leading to a surprise ending nobody saw coming.

4. Even Vacuum Cleaners Fall in Love, Baby (13)

I really enjoyed this episode; we got some QT character development and a love story that managed to feel organic, rather than forced.

5. I'm Never Remembering You, Baby (11)

Here's another example that highlights the creative freedom Space Dandy affords its creators. This episode has a film noir vibe and introduces a complex plot that I was obsessing over days after catching the episode on toonami. This was a pleasant change of pace, breaking away from the simplistic writing of previous episodes to bring us something a little more meaty. When people say Dandy is more style than substance, I point them in the direction of this.

6. The Search for the Phantom Space Ramen, Baby (2)

This episode follows the trend of the early ones starting off slow and then picking up, but once Dandy and company meet ramen pops in an alternate dimension, this episode really shines.

tumblr_mzavruLLNm1r7h9bwo1_500.gif


7. Nobody Knows the Chameleon Alien, Baby (12)

This is also arguably the funniest episode in season 1; I was laughing from start to finish. The Dandy v Dandy quiz-off was a high point that might not be topped.

8. The Lonely Pooch Planet, Baby (8)

The feels episode to end all feels episode, although after the dog passes away, the episode does become extremely predictable and a tad boring.

9. A Race in Space Is Dangerous, Baby (7)

Ya know, I don't actually remember a whole lot from this episode! On one hand, it wasn't terrible by any means, but on the other, it definitely wasn't memorable. All I can recall is a pretty boy prince and giant robots..that's got to be good, right?

10. Live With The Flow, Baby (1)

Ah, the debut episode. This was filled with a boring first half that was light on character development. In hindsight, this is made up for, but going in fresh, I viewed it as a detriment. Even going back and watching this I think that Dandy and the crew along with their basic motives could have been introduced a little better. The 'boobies' jokes were/are incredibly juvenile and made me roll my eyes throughout; thank goodness the series moved away from that stuff. That last 8 or so minutes of animation are sublime but the lead-up to get there is painful.

11. A Merry Companion Is A Wagon in Space, Baby (5)

Oh man, this was the loli-girl episode, right? Jesus this was a train-wreck from what I remember. Yeah, this was the first time we saw Dandy care about someone other than himself but the execution was poor. I had no reason to care for this little girl yet the show tried its hardest to push 'feels' on me; that's a really hard thing to do in one-off episodic content. When that failed to hook me, the rest of the episode fell through.

12. Occasionally Even the Deceiver Is Deceived, Baby (3)

The end game was a giant boob monster. Do I really have to say anymore?

13. The War of the Undies and Vests, Baby (6)

This is actually one of the worst episodes of any anime I have seen in recent memory. The writing is god awful and the premise is mind numbingly dumb. Two aliens fighting over underwear/vests drag Dandy and Meow into a fight that ends up with everyone being killed, sounds HILARIOUS right!? Wrong, this was the definition of cringeworthy. Unlikable characters, juvenile writing and poor pacing really made this a unenjoyable experience for me. The surfing sequence at the end is the only thing that made this mess remotely redeemable in my book

tumblr_n0sn5p1Dln1rm4wgqo6_500_1.gif


I've talked about this at length over in the toonami thread but I'll reiterate here. Dandy is a very inconsistent show the first half as season 1; it seemed like the writers were experimenting with the comedy and structure of the storyline. However, starting with episode 7, Dandy really hits a sweet spot and has been consistently great. Once you throw away the expectation that Space Dandy is going to have some sort of continuation and is nothing more than the wacky space adventures of 3 friends; the programs starts to reach that potential we all saw when it was first announced.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Jigolo

Jigolo

Member
D

duckroll

Member
The most promising thing about the season 2 trailer is that it doesn't look like they're remotely out of ideas yet. Every sequence looks original and different from the stuff we already saw in season 1. :)
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
duckroll said:
Season 2 news has been announced: http://toonami.tumblr.com/post/87887965828/guess-whos-coming-back-space-dandy-returns-to



New Season 2 Japanese trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVde2A6zqUg

Updated Creator and Guest Cast list (Japanese): http://space-dandy.com/blog/?p=779


It's coming back, baby! :D
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Can't wait for the upcoming season. Space Dandy was fantastic aside from episodes 1, 3 and 6. Even episode one was redeemed by the balls to the wall animation in the second half, though.
 
M

metsallica

Member
G

Gucci Messiah

Banned
Mature said:
Translated list.

Cool to see Keiko Nobumoto and Toh Enjoe back on that list. Loved both of their S1 episodes. And Toshihiro Kawamoto? Maybe he needs to do updated designs of cameo characters...
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Hm, I like how each episode in the first season had a different team working on it. Glad to see the trend continue.

Looking over that list, I'm surprised at how many of these guys worked on Western cartoons. Is this the norm?
 
L

Levyne

Banned
I just love how Space Dandy doesn't run into spoilersno, it's set up in a way where it's impossible to overact or quarrel about whether it's melodramatic or not. Doesn't need a Wiki to list what happens when and whether something is filler or not. I apologize if it seems weird to praise those sorts of things, but it's certainly a bit refreshing, to me anyway.
 
G

Gucci Messiah

Banned
Mature said:
They said early on that they'd structured the series in a way that it could have a lot of episodes should the chance be given. I don't think it's very likely though.
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Why not if there's profit to be made? The show seems successful, although I have absolutely no clue what kind of returns CN/Japanese affiliates are seeing. With the show having a revolving door of directors/writers/animators, it seems like an easy thing to continue on with.
 
L

Levyne

Banned
I don't think Boobies is really fanservice, nor do I think Space Dandy has much, generally. I'm usually exceedingly put-off by fanservice, ask anyone who knows me, but Dandy doesn't trigger that. Since it doesn't target the viewer, and it doesn't seek to titillate the person watching. It's more to highlight an aspect of Dandy's shallow nature. Yes, it rams that fact in your face, but when is the show ever subtle? I'm trying to distinguish what I'm saying here from the crappy argument of "It's parody, it can't be fanservice", but maybe I'm making no sense.

Anyways, I just hope it's similar to the back half of Season One. A half-notch more serious might be cool, but I hope the tone doesn't change drastically in that direction.
 
M

Mature

Member
Gucci Messiah said:
Why not if there's profit to be made? The show seems successful, although I have absolutely no clue what kind of returns CN/Japanese affiliates are seeing. With the show having a revolving door of directors/writers/animators, it seems like an easy thing to continue on with.
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On paper it sounds like it would work just fine, but outside of your typical long-running battle or sports shonens, the industry has strayed away from long-form productions. Whether they can do it now because why not or if it wouldn't hold together thanks to some industry standard that would make it unprofitable (or less profitable) by extending it's life is a question for someone more informed than I.

There's also the question of people like Shinichiro Watanabe and their other commitments and projects. Notably, Terror in Resonance starting next season. It'd actually be pretty awesome if Space Dandy could be this transient, but ever recurring work that would show up every once in awhile with a new half-season.
 
G

Gucci Messiah

Banned
Mature said:
On paper it sounds like it would work just fine, but outside of your typical long-running battle or sports shonens, the industry has strayed away from long-form productions. Whether they can do it now because why not or if it wouldn't hold together thanks to some industry standard that would make it unprofitable (or less profitable) by extending it's life is a question for someone more informed than I.

There's also the question of people like Shinichiro Watanabe and their other commitments and projects. Notably, Terror in Resonance starting next season. It'd actually be pretty awesome if Space Dandy could be this transient, but ever recurring work that would show up every once in awhile with a new half-season.
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That's a really good point I feel dumb for overlooking right now but yeah, battle shonen and sports are typically the genres that has a long shelf life. I guess I'm just in love with how S1 ended up after the first few rocky episodes and want as much of that as possible.
 
A

aechris

Member
Levyne said:
I don't think Boobies is really fanservice, nor do I think Space Dandy has much, generally. I'm usually exceedingly put-off by fanservice, ask anyone who knows me, but Dandy doesn't trigger that. Since it doesn't target the viewer, and it doesn't seek to titillate the person watching. It's more to highlight an aspect of Dandy's shallow nature. Yes, it rams that fact in your face, but when is the show ever subtle? I'm trying to distinguish what I'm saying here from the crappy argument of "It's parody, it can't be fanservice", but maybe I'm making no sense.

Anyways, I just hope it's similar to the back half of Season One. A half-notch more serious might be cool, but I hope the tone doesn't change drastically in that direction.
Click to expand...

That is an absolutely fair point, but it doesn't excuse the fact I am embarrassed to recommend this show to anyone because of it. I am totally fine with it if its merited or done tastefully, but Dandy comes awfully close to that line way too often for my liking. It's not bad enough for me to stop watching, I agree with that. Normally I would just quit full stop.
 
C

Crocodile

Member
AOTY coming back for season 2. I'm HYPED! :)

Levyne said:
I don't think Boobies is really fanservice, nor do I think Space Dandy has much, generally. I'm usually exceedingly put-off by fanservice, ask anyone who knows me, but Dandy doesn't trigger that. Since it doesn't target the viewer, and it doesn't seek to titillate the person watching. It's more to highlight an aspect of Dandy's shallow nature. Yes, it rams that fact in your face, but when is the show ever subtle? I'm trying to distinguish what I'm saying here from the crappy argument of "It's parody, it can't be fanservice", but maybe I'm making no sense.

Anyways, I just hope it's similar to the back half of Season One. A half-notch more serious might be cool, but I hope the tone doesn't change drastically in that direction.
Click to expand...

The difference between Space Dandy and a lot of other shows in this regard is that it makes sense contextually more often than not. Top heavy women not wearing a ton of clothing makes sense in the context of a "Hooters"-esque establishment. It works within real world logic. The fact that all the major reoccurring characters are all grown ass adults and that fanservice is never the focus or the purpose of the overall show helps a good deal as well. As I've said before, nothing in this show is really outside what you'd see in an American movie/TV show rated PG-13/TV-14 and up.
 
M

Mature

Member
All this being said, I do understand people being disappointed if only because it makes a bit more difficult to introduce to other people. But, honestly, Space Dandy was never going to be a "my first anime" type of show anyway. That's what Cowboy Bebop is for.
 
H

HolyCheck

I want a tag give me a tag
Mature said:
All this being said, I do understand people being disappointed if only because it makes a bit more difficult to introduce to other people. But, honestly, Space Dandy was never going to be a "my first anime" type of show anyway. That's what Cowboy Bebop is for.
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I'm not a big anime watcher. I've only watched a few animes in my life (DBZ, Pokemon, neon genisis , cowboy bebop, patlabour, tokyo 2040 etc, that kind of fare)

I went into this really excited. and yeh boobies. I watched it and loved it. i've recommended it to others like me.. but htey never got past the first few epsiodes because of boobies.

Why the boobies guys?

Same thing with kill la kill.
 
G

Gucci Messiah

Banned
HolyCheck said:
I'm not a big anime watcher. I've only watched a few animes in my life (DBZ, Pokemon, neon genisis , cowboy bebop, patlabour, tokyo 2040 etc, that kind of fare)

I went into this really excited. and yeh boobies. I watched it and loved it. i've recommended it to others like me.. but htey never got past the first few epsiodes because of boobies.

Why the boobies guys?

Same thing with kill la kill.
Click to expand...

I dropped KLK in part because it seems like a generic school yard battle show with paper thin characters, but mostly because of the fanservice. Ryuko's outfit is ridiculous and panders to a certain crowd I cannot identify with. I won't spoil anything for you, but I also have a big problem with the way KLK handles serious topics such a rape and molestation. Personally, I would never in a million years recommend it to a casual fan looking to get into anime because the show caters to a very specific crowd and can be very offputting to others.

Dandy is a different beast. While I did have issue with the whole 'boobies' gag and lowbrow humor (T&A jokes, hilarious!), fanservice was never really an issue. Levyne made an excellent point that Dandy doesn't seek to titilate the viewer; it uses sexuality to drive home the point that our hero is an incompetent and lecherous fool. While the writing the first half of the season is extremely juvenile in my opinion (not trying to act like I'm 'above' toilet humor, it just wasn't well done in this series), the back half cleans up its act and provides an excellent experience. I don't have a problem watching Dandy with casual or non-fans.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Oh good. For some reason my gf told me it was coming back in the fall. Bring it on!
 
T

Transhuman

Unconfirmed Member
I don't care what the tagline is as long as it ends with ", baby"
 
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