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Spring 2011 Anime Thread of ZAWA ZAWA, Money, emo Cyclops, and fun^10xint^40=Ir2
- Thread starter InfiniteNine
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Hellsing321
Member
I think your taking this discussions more seriously than anyone participating in it. Most everything said in this thread is taken in jest.Sage00 said:
doomed1 said:Oh, that won't happen. It's as silly a comparison as the Madoka/K-ON comparison I was trolling you with. The REAL showdown is between Cromartie High School and Azumanga.
YOU BITCHES READY?
Cute girls doing funny things vs Manly men doing funny things.
This is indeed a difficult battle.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Wandering Son 11:
And so ends one of the best anime I've seen in a long time. There were a lot of great moments here with most of the characters. I loved seeing the scene of Nitori trying on the dress, and his conversation with Anna.
I think it speaks to the strength of this show that I can't really think of any real issues with the show across any of the episodes. The characters were all really strong and believable, and I think the show had really strong pacing and direction throughout the whole series. I'll get around to reading the manga soon.
And so ends one of the best anime I've seen in a long time. There were a lot of great moments here with most of the characters. I loved seeing the scene of Nitori trying on the dress, and his conversation with Anna.
I think it speaks to the strength of this show that I can't really think of any real issues with the show across any of the episodes. The characters were all really strong and believable, and I think the show had really strong pacing and direction throughout the whole series. I'll get around to reading the manga soon.
Hellsing321
Member
I need more time to let the whole thing sink in, but I think Wandering Son will make it into my top 10 favorite anime ever. Just everything about it was so well done.KuwabaraTheMan said:
Branduil said:
What I got:
She makes wish for boy she likes. Becomes magical girl. Finds out that she's technically dead. friend admits that she likes crush, says she'll confess if she doesn't. Girl feels trapped, since there's no way that she could confess; no way that he could ever like somebody like her, regardless of the fact that she's no outwardly different than the day previous. These silly emotions get the best of her. Kyubei admits that it's all going according to keikaku. She turns into witch. Other magical girl dies fighting her.
I'm guessing that they mean for that to be the whole point of it. Simple shit like that tears at the heartstrings of girls her age, which makes them ideal candidates for the whole magical girl process etc etc. However, in my eyes, it's a justification that makes the end result no less stupid.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Hellsing321 said:
Yeah, I have it just barely sitting outside of my own Top 10, but it's definitely pretty close. I have a lot of stuff closely bunched together up there in my mind.
(Yes, I actually keep a regularly updated list)
Miri said:
It's certainly melodramatic, but not overly so.
It seems like you're glossing over the whole "I've locked myself into having to risk my life fight witches forever with no hope of backing out and now I realize I did that for a really stupid reason." I mean, the whole thing about having an unrequited crush works in concert with the fact that she irreversibly screwed herself over with nothing to show for it. Pretty sure most people would buckle under that kind of realization but, then again, it's not like I've ever been a magical girl soooo.
EDIT - Also what Branduil said, though I'm responding more directly to your point about her actions being "unbelievable."
Which is a problem because if the boy is "just a plot device" then it shows how shallow the show really is. If he's just being used as a way to "show" something, he's not a character, he's a flat board. Likewise, if they needed that cardboard cutout to justify bringing SayakaBranduil said:
into becoming a witch
become a plot device herself to drive the exhibition of OMG, meguca is suffering
make Homura go Bill Murray
BTW, understand that I don't share this view of Madoka, but labeling entire characters as "plot devices" in SRS BZNSS shows is not a good thing. It is in fact a bad thing, since it exposes incredible weakness in the writing (which definitely isn't Madoka's strong suit).
firehawk12
Subete no aware
doomed1 said:
Madoka isn't really about the characters and much more about subverting the Magical Girl tropes though.
There's nothing wrong with characters being used as plot devices, assuming they're not a main character. Julia in Cowboy Bebop is nothing more than a plot device and it's one of the greatest anime ever made. Not every character in a show can or should be developed fully.doomed1 said:
Like I said before, I think this is the problem when you go into a show looking to win an argument.
To be clear you disagree with my disagreement in your interpretation of moe, right? That's all my complaint was about really. A semantics issue.doomed1 said:
I've only had a serious discourse once in anime-GAF!Sage00 said:Perhaps you have a bit more faith in people than I do. Well, that's a nice way to live life!
hosannainexcelsis
Member
doomed1 said:
While Kyousuke is a relatively minor character and his main purpose to the plot is as a motivating factor for Sayaka, I didn't feel that he was a cardboard cutout when watching. Probably because, as a musician myself, I instantly sympathized with his despair at having his life taken away from him prematurely. Obviously there's not time enough in a 12(hopefully!)-episode show to develop every character that appears. I certainly didn't feel that any of the main girls were cardboard cutouts (even Mami, the least developed); each episode revealed new sides and hidden motivations to them. I grew to feel for just about every member of the cast.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
firehawk12 said:
I think it's about both. Deconstructing the typical elements of magical girl anime wouldn't work as effectively if there was no reason to care about the characters. The characters are still at the heart of the story.
It's true that the characters are not especially deep (outside of Kyoko), but they're still decently fleshed out as far as the show goes.
Infinite Justice
Member
Miri said:
thats what you got?
I just got the fact she fucked herself out of a situation with nothing to show (after being warned to think carefully). Those scenes just accelerated that fact and came off as a huge "fuck you"
firehawk12
Subete no aware
That's the thing though. Madoka only works as a subversion of the "I want to use the power of love to help my friends!" trope of Sailor Moon or PreCure or whatever. The constant delay of that presumably inevitable moment is where the tension comes from. It's not like the show is a character study on Madoka's internal conflict when it comes to learning the truth behind the fiction of becoming a magical girl.KuwabaraTheMan said:
firehawk12
Subete no aware
You guys are such fuckers for watching Star Drive and not Fractale!7Th said:
firehawk12 said:
At the end of the day, you're watching the characters. Who they are is as important as anything.
kuwabaratheman said:
The fleshing them out is what does the show in. They're little girls, who have no more to contribute to a show than little girl shit. So they play up the things that are important to a girl of her age: crushes. And that's where it fell flat. I didn't care to delve any deeper because the surface had already turned me away. You could say that I knew what I was getting into; that it comes with the territory, and you'd probably be right--kinda. Still, it irritates me to no end that shit like this is what sells now.
Hellsing321
Member
Has he had very many "bombs" aside from Fractale? He directed the first season of Haruhi, correct?7Th said:
kiunchbb
www.dictionary.com
Are you guys at this Madoka vs K-On shit again? Didn't we just have this not long ago =/?
Madoka is exactly the same as K-On, the only difference is,
And yes K-On does have a plot! Its about a girl that spent most her life doing nothing finally found a goal, meeting friends, and achieving it together!
Not every 14 years old girl in anime world have the privilege to meet Kyubei.
Madoka is exactly the same as K-On, the only difference is,
K-On don't have Kyubei.
And yes K-On does have a plot! Its about a girl that spent most her life doing nothing finally found a goal, meeting friends, and achieving it together!
Not every 14 years old girl in anime world have the privilege to meet Kyubei.
Hellsing321
Member
Ah my mistake.7Th said:
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
firehawk12 said:
Well, there's a lot more to the show than that. I wouldn't even say that's the biggest place that Madoka is subverting the magical girl genre. You have the fact that gaining power has consequences, which is a big lesson that Sayaka and Kyoko have to learn, and the fact that making wishes to help other people backfire and you should just try and help yourself. Not to mention the fact that Kyubey is a subversion of the typical cute mascot character who is giving girl's magical powers. It doesn't just deconstruct the genre on that one level, but on several different levels.
The show isn't a character study, but it makes you care about what happens to the characters. It wouldn't work effectively if the viewer didn't care about what was happening to them. The series in many ways is about the loss of innocence that the characters go through and showing how they cope (or don't) with that.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Kannagi was good though. He should have just stuck with awkward nerd humour and harems.
Well yeah, I'm just saying that all the characters serve mostly to deconstruct tropes. It's interesting to see how everything falls apart around them, but it depends on so much nerd knowledge for it to be meaningful.KuwabaraTheMan said:
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Aigis said:
I made it to episode 3, but I've never managed to watch anymore of it. It's a shame, as I could see the makings of an interesting story there, but it was riddled down with terrible 'comedy' and stupid characters who added nothing to the story.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
KuwabaraTheMan said:
I think it kind of takes things to the extreme (and does so well). Madoka takes the Magical Girl idea and goes all out with the darker, "more realistic" look at consequences of power that Magical Girls get.
I'd even put it as the polar opposite of Princess Tutu, which took the fairy tale aspect of the Magical Girl genre and went all out with it.
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