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[Uchip]

seriously
how can someone pick holes at madokas narrative
yet love k-on? yui being a musical genius for the sake of moe
fuck yeah thats great writing...
I also like the part where they pull studio quality songs out of their asses

 

[Branduil]

That's getting into meta-narrative (one that quite well stays on the right side of the uncanny valley) while I'm talking about the narrative narrative. That kind of misrepresentation of science in what is understood as a normal "human" environment, albeit with "A Wizard Did It" elements, is on the wrong side of the uncanny valley. It's dumb, contrived, and while it might easily fool those who don't remember their grade school science courses, it could have been done a thousand different ways that would have made sense with the consistency of the metaphysical narrative and/or consistency with ACTUAL science. Like Jexhius said, there's no reason for that mix. It's just bad writing.

There's nothing "normal" about a world where little girls have magic powers. Indeed I think that is the point you've so strenuously dedicated yourself to missing.

 

[A Black Falcon]

So Clannad has been mentioned a bunch again, and as I said that reminded me that I never gave it much of a chance really, so I decided to go back and (re)watch the thing from ep. 1, and see how far I'd get. So...

Clannad 01 - Hmm, is this main character a nice guy or kind of a jerk? He's not so nice to that male friend of his, but on the other hand that male friend is also sometimes an idiot, picking fights he always loses like that... Apart from that though, he's "generic harem nice guy main character #1". Apart from his deadbeat father, in ep. 1 he doesn't show much of an original personality, just generic "being kind to random girls for no apparent reason" harem protagonist stuff. Kanon and Air's protagonists did some of that, but both had more independent characters, the Air guy with his puppets and Yuuichi (Kanon) with how he kind of teases the girls sometimes, his dislike for the cold (in winter, in a snowy part of Japan), etc. And apart from that, generic wacky harem hyjinx. At least it was amusing. Few signs of the sadness and depression to come in ep. 1, though.

Also, there's way more action in this than in Air or Kanon. Those both have very little amounts of fighting, apart from specific sections of each series, but this had several generic anime fights right from the start. Trying to make this seem more like a normal harem show than Air or Kanon are or something, I guess, at the beginning? I don't think that's an improvement, quite the opposite. At least some of the characters are potentially interesting, as always with Key.

Clearly, you're both going to hell! Yeah, they have one for opinions now. This universe is harsh.

So what did you like so much more than my top two, or what's probably my #3 show for that year, Katanagatari?

Avoid, the stuff on Crunchyroll that isn't Iroha, so skip Sket-Dance, Steins:Gate, My Ordinary Life(Nichijou - also the people who like this are crazy), We, Without Wings(Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai ), Astarotte's Toy, A Bridge to the Starry Skies(Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi), The World God Only Knows, Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi and Battle Girls - Time Paradox, that's a solid list of skippers(no not sea faring boat captains) right there.

No, definitely watch Nichijou, it's quite good (for people who like it's style of humor, apparently, like I do most of the time). The rest of those can be skipped though, yeah.

There's really no need, I'm sure I wouldn't like it.

Don't let that stop you from trying it, you watched all of the infinitely worse IS after all, and most of Samurai Girls...

Says the person who thinks he understands Last Exile's ending but doesn't even know

Spoiler

if they're still on the same damn planet!

They probably are, but really it doesn't matter -- it's a good ending either way.

Episodes 23-39 is the rest of Youko's story, 40 is the resolution of a character's story introduced in that arc that's also good and then 41 through 45 are really about the King of En and not as good, at least to me.

Alright. Why so much sidestory stuff, and in big blocks too? It's more common to break that stuff up, instead of showing them all at once for bunches of episodes without the main character in them.

I was going to laugh at this and bring up this list of shows that was way better but after looking up 2010 I'll let you slide. There were shows I thought were technically better but I think I'd have to, gasp, say Sora no Woto was my show of 2010. I know, I don't like typing either it guys but the other shows were even less my thing.

Apart from one particular episode Sora no Woto was quite good, what's so wrong with that? It was a good show with interesting characters, story, music, art, and events, and few major flaws apart from that it begs for a sequel that will probably never be made.

Oh that's a given, I know of their origins and expect them to all be more alike than Angel Beats but as a whole, if they're objectively not as good as Angel Beats which I thought sucked, I hate harems, I hate dating games and I hate animes based of harems, dating games or both there's essentially no chance I'll like them.

Sure, you may well not. Air does have a pretty interesting ending for a harem anime though, and Kanon... I don't know, I think it has one of their best stories.

 

[mAcOdIn]

So what did you like so much more than my top two, or what's probably my #3 show for that year, Katanagatari?

He'll probably pick Ta

Spoiler

n

tami Galaxy.

Don't let that stop you from trying it, you watched all of the infinitely worse IS after all, and most of Samurai Girls...

It's rare I actively try and hurt myself, I don't feel like it right now, I've already comitted myself to Glass Fleet once I'm done migrating everything on my PC.

They probably are, but really it doesn't matter -- it's a good ending either way.

Lol, so, but it could be better! This is what I'm talking about with Gonzo, you're so happy for them to just aim for mediocrity when greatness is so close, I like to dream bigger.

Alright. Why so much sidestory stuff, and in big blocks too? It's more common to break that stuff up, instead of showing them all at once for bunches of episodes without the main character in them.

I dunno! I think some of it was to flesh out some of the concepts, like we didn't know really what a Kirian was so they showed us one "growing up" but just somewhere else, but it seems like they followed the order of the novels so I don't think it's the anime's fault. As for some of the other stuff, like King En's arc, it does somewhat tie into Youko's but I think there was more of a theme than a story with The Twelve Kingdoms that makes everything not related still related, almost as if a message rather than a single story was meant to be conveyed, I dunno how to put it.

Apart from one particular episode Sora no Woto was quite good, what's so wrong with that? It was a good show with interesting characters, story, music, art, and events, and few major flaws apart from that it begs for a sequel that will probably never be made.

It's few major flaws were pretty major though, in a decent season Sora no Woto has no right being highly ranked so Sora no Woto's biggest asset was nothing on it's part but the below average quality of it's competition.

Sure, you may well not. Air does have a pretty interesting ending for a harem anime though, and Kanon... I don't know, I think it has one of their best stories.

Still, I ain't going to like them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh and I gotta know, Iroha or AnoHana?

 

[Jex]

seriously
how can someone pick holes at madokas narrative
yet love k-on? yui being a musical genius for the sake of moe
fuck yeah thats great writing...
I also like the part where they pull studio quality songs out of their asses

Attacking one show in an attempt to defend another isn’t even an argument, it’s just irrelevant.

There's nothing "normal" about a world where little girls have magic powers. Indeed I think that is the point you've so strenuously dedicated yourself to missing.

Surely the Madoka thread is the perfect place for this discussion! Anyway, just so that my position is clear I’ll say that my problem with the explanation did not derive from some greater theory about the internal consistency of a world with magical girls and giant bathrooms, even if that may play some greater role in how I feel about.

It comes down to an immediate reaction of “that doesn’t make sense”. As in, I know what those terms mean and some of the basics behind them, so I can say that’s ridiculous.

Now the defence of this seems to be “but, in Madoka’s universe, anything can happen!”. Which is completely true, it’s a fictional place after all.

But the initial ‘gut reaction’ wasn’t “this doesn’t make sense in the context of Madoka’s universe” it was just “this doesn’t make sense”. The problem being that, as a viewer, I was suddenly aware of myself watching a show because my suspension of disbelief had been broken, which no show should ever do*. In other words, this is a problem with the viewing experience.

The question then becomes: why was your suspension of disbelief broken? The answer is: because I know that science and therefore I can immediately see why it doesn’t make sense as an explanation. I, as the viewer, am now stuck thinking about all the ways in which that’s kind of crazy and dumb. This is my own fault, perhaps, but the writer chose to use that explanation.

The final line of criticism then becomes: why was such an explanation chosen? We can never know. We can say, however, that a different explanation wouldn’t have caused that problem for me. Namely, a magical explanation,

For example if someone says “We need these girls do this because the Universe is running low on Zerqioun energy!” then the audience (myself) can’t say “That’s now how Zerqioun energy works!” because we have no grounding in that fictional concept. But as soon as you borrow a real concept then you’re running the risk of triggering the “this is bullshit” response which, as I’ve mentioned above, you don’t even need to do.

There’s an infinite number of made-up explanations you can use which won’t cause the problem. Therefore it could have easily been avoided.

After the fact you can argue "well, it can make sense because in Madoka's universe anything can happen", as I've mentioned above. This counter-point is however useless after the fact, during the subjective viewing experience my enjoyment of the scene was lessened because I was bothered by the unnecessary insertion of a strange scientific explanation. That's not an argument or something that can be fixed through discussion because it's an event that's already happened.

This is just an explanation of why certain viewers felt the way they did, not some kind of explanation or defence or complaint about Madoka's universe.

*Admittedly, some works will do this deliberately and for good reason, but I don’t think that was the case here.

 

[mAcOdIn]

Oh yeah, and only among anime nerds would K-on's music be "studio quality," well maybe, I can't really say actual professional licensed music is all that great these days either.

 

[Uchip]

Attacking one show in an attempt to defend another isn’t even an argument, it’s just irrelevant.

Im quite clearly questioning his selective logic

 

[Branduil]

I guess I don't see the problem.

Spoiler

Kyubey basically said he was using magic to rewrite the laws of physics.

I don't really see how this is stranger than the concept of magic itself, other than in scale.

 

[Instro]

So Clannad has been mentioned a bunch again, and as I said that reminded me that I never gave it much of a chance really, so I decided to go back and (re)watch the thing from ep. 1, and see how far I'd get. So...

Clannad 01 - Hmm, is this main character a nice guy or kind of a jerk? He's not so nice to that male friend of his, but on the other hand that male friend is also sometimes an idiot, picking fights he always loses like that... Apart from that though, he's "generic harem nice guy main character #1". Apart from his deadbeat father, in ep. 1 he doesn't show much of an original personality, just generic "being kind to random girls for no apparent reason" harem protagonist stuff. Kanon and Air's protagonists did some of that, but both had more independent characters, the Air guy with his puppets and Yuuichi (Kanon) with how he kind of teases the girls sometimes, his dislike for the cold (in winter, in a snowy part of Japan), etc. And apart from that, generic wacky harem hyjinx. At least it was amusing. Few signs of the sadness and depression to come in ep. 1, though.

Also, there's way more action in this than in Air or Kanon. Those both have very little amounts of fighting, apart from specific sections of each series, but this had several generic anime fights right from the start. Trying to make this seem more like a normal harem show than Air or Kanon are or something, I guess, at the beginning? I don't think that's an improvement, quite the opposite. At least some of the characters are potentially interesting, as always with Key.

Generally speaking the first season a lot of harem type stuff mixed with some drama, the 2nd season is pretty much all drama and overall significantly better than season 1. I think what separates the protagonist of Clannad from Air and Kanon is that his growth and change as a character is pretty significant and relatively well paced over the course of the 2 seasons. Also what I liked about Clannad vs the other two is that basically every major character in the show has their backstory's pretty well fleshed out by the end of the show.

 

[Jex]

So what did you like so much more than my top two, or what's probably my #3 show for that year, Katanagatari?

Shows I felt were better than your top 2:
House of Five Leaves
K-On!!
Katanagatari
Kuragehime
Gundam Unicorn
Otome Yokai Zakuro
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Rainbow
Shiki
Soredemo
Star Driver
The Tatami Galaxy
Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail
Yozakura Quartet ~Hoshi no Umi~

And that's not counting movies.

I guess I don't see the problem.

Spoiler

Kyubey basically said he was using magic to rewrite the laws of physics.

I don't really see how this is stranger than the concept of magic itself, other than in scale.

As I mentioned above (after a little rewrite) I'm not making an argument so much as explaining my response. Also, accepting magic is already built into your suspension of disbelief when you watch a magical girl show, therefore it's use doesn't detract from the viewing experience.

 

[Branduil]

Begun these list wars have.

As I mentioned above (after a little rewrite) I'm not making an argument so much as explaining my response. Also, accepting magic is already built into your suspension of disbelief when you watch a magical girl show, therefore it's use doesn't detract from the viewing experience.

I guess my confusion is over what specific part of the explanation is bothering people. I mean doomed's criticism can be dismissed pretty easily, but I'm wondering why it bothers other people.

 

[Uchip]

Begun these list wars have.



I guess my confusion is over what specific part of the explanation is bothering people. I mean doomed's criticism can be dismissed pretty easily, but I'm wondering why it bothers other people.

it only bothers me because its unfortunate
its like hes Sergent Angel from Hot Fuzz

 

[pieatorium]

Tiger and Bunny 3
I'm still enjoying this alot, the main characters and the budy cop dynamic thats developing just sells everything else for me.

 

[Ratrat]

Whats a good anime podcast with a decently consistent release schedule?

 

[Lain]

So what's anime GAF's opinion on RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne?

Only saw 3 episodes, but I like it.

 

[Jex]

Whats a good anime podcast with a decently consistent release schedule?

Don't ask for the impossible.

 

[zeroshiki]

It already has. Absolutely.

The first episode was excellent. At first you find her annoying but eventually, as it dawns on you what happened and then the confession scene and the scene with her family, the waves of sadness hit. Excellently manipulative. The bastards.

If I wasn't firmly on Team Ohana, I'd be flying the Mono no Aware flag. But Alas.

 

[Ratrat]

Don't ask for the impossible.

i debated whether to add that last part. That is the snag...right?

 

[zeroshiki]

Don't ask for the impossible.

Anime-GAF should make one.

It'll be 2 hours of off topic anime stuff interspersed with people getting duckroll to stop talking about X-Men.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

So what's anime GAF's opinion on RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne? I've been chugging along with this on Netflix. So far, I can't say I really like it. It's very sleazy and a bit hard to really believe.

Rin is an excellent character and the antagonist is cool though I thought it became super weird with the ending, ultimately, fun and memorable.

 

[Jex]

i debated whether to add that last part. That is the snag...right?

Sometimes. I mean, I'm not exactly an anime podcast connoisseur, although I am a podcast connoisseur, so I haven't listened to all the available 'pods.

I have listened to enough random podcasts to say that Anime World Order is easily the best in that they are knowledgeable and entertaining. All the hosts are good at explaining and defending their opinions, the podcasts are well edited to that they don't go on too long (these days) and they cover a wide variety of topics (anime, manga, conventions etc). They have no 'release schedule' though, even if they do have a fine back catalogue of anime podcasts.

I listen to the Fast Karate for the Gentleman podcasts about anime but that's more for the purposes of straight up entertainment because they aren't all that knowledge and I disagree with many of their opinions on 'good shows', but luckily they just tend to talk about awful crap.

I've also listened to the ANN cast which is okay, some of time. There is a new episode with AWO's Daryl and Gerald though, where they talk about this seasons anime! It's pretty good, but no-one had seen Hanasaku Iroha (bar Gerald) so they didn't get around to discussing it.

 

[Ratrat]

Sometimes. I mean, I'm not exactly an anime podcast connoisseur, although I am a podcast connoisseur, so I haven't listened to all the available 'pods.

I have listened to enough random podcasts to say that Anime World Order is easily the best in that they are knowledgeable and entertaining. All the hosts are good at explaining and defending their opinions, the podcasts are well edited to that they don't go on too long (these days) and they cover a wide variety of topics (anime, manga, conventions etc). They have no 'release schedule' though, even if they do have a fine back catalogue of anime podcasts.

I listen to the Fast Karate for the Gentleman podcasts about anime but that's more for the purposes of straight up entertainment because they aren't all that knowledge and I disagree with many of their opinions on 'good shows', but luckily they just tend to talk about awful crap.

I've also listened to the ANN cast which is okay, some of time. There is a new episode with AWO's Daryl and Gerald though, where they talk about this seasons anime! It's pretty good, but no-one had seen Hanasaku Iroha (bar Gerald) so they didn't get around to discussing it.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of AWO, kinda what my comment was directed at. That ANN episode is exactly what I wanted though, thanks!

 

[TheOddOne]

C The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 01 - That was suprisingly good, animation felt off sometimes though. Will be following it.

 

[BluWacky]

If I wasn't firmly on Team Ohana, I'd be flying the Mono no Aware flag. But Alas.

This has been bugging me for a while. Is there any reason not to just say "wistful" or "bittersweet" instead of "mono no aware"? It just feels like yet another way to try and compartmentalise anime into boilerplate methods of storytelling and it makes me sad It's a personal annoyance, nothing to do with anyone in particular.

 

[JKTrix]

This has been bugging me for a while. Is there any reason not to just say "wistful" or "bittersweet" instead of "mono no aware"? It just feels like yet another way to try and compartmentalise anime into boilerplate methods of storytelling and it makes me sad It's a personal annoyance, nothing to do with anyone in particular.

I think *some* of the folks here do do it just to annoy certain others.

BTW, what is this?

I'm confused and aroused.

This is from www.nicovideo.jp, most of the pages have a random animated image at the top. This is a year-old video that shows some of the ones they've used in the past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWFlDeSwBbE

 

[Haly]

Mono no aware is so much more than wistfulness. It is the ultimate manifestation of the beauty inherent in glorious Nihongo. To say anything less would be an insult to their history, their culture.

(I say it because it amuses me.)

 

[zeroshiki]

Mono no aware is so much more than wistfulness. It is the ultimate manifestation of the beauty inherent in glorious Nihongo. To say anything less would be an insult to their history, their culture.

(I say it because it amuses me.)

For me its much like saying tsundere or moe. Yeah there is an English translation, but there are subtleties to it and its easier to just shorthand it. This isn't a case of keikaku or something where there is stupidity and weaboo-ness involved.

Note: Keikaku means plan.

 

[7Th]

"Mono no aware" is GAF's NAKAMA.

 

[The Storyteller]

Can't wait to hear the last episode reaction.

I've been skimming this thread primarily waiting for that very reaction. Popcorn ready. Don't hold back cosmicblizzard.

 

[Haly]

"Mono no aware" is GAF's NAKAMA.

You kisamas are all my nakamas.

 

[7Th]

You kisamas are all my nakamas.

Well said, you yatsu.

 

[zeroshiki]

Holy shit someone made a thread for Deadman Wonderland.

Its not like we have like a thread for every decent show out there. Now we have one for meh shows as well.

 

[hamchan]

Ugh, and I was hoping the threads for individual anime would mean I didn't have keep stepping in here for recommendations.

 

[firehawk12]

"Mono no aware" is GAF's NAKAMA.

I've said this way back when, but if we can say "rendezvous" and "denouement" and hundreds of other words not native to Anglais, then what the heck. :lol

 

[Hitokage]

As offensive as the last several posts have been, it still pales in comparison to the horrors I've seen in other forums.

 

[Joe Molotov]

As offensive as the last several posts have been, it still pales in comparison to the horrors I've seen in other forums.

Let's work harder!

 

[Jex]

"Mono no aware" is GAF's NAKAMA.

Essentially, yes.

 

[pieatorium]

As offensive as the last several posts have been, it still pales in comparison to the horrors I've seen in other forums.

Horror... horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror.

 

[zeroshiki]

Ugh, and I was hoping the threads for individual anime would mean I didn't have keep stepping in here for recommendations.

You don't like us?

 

[firehawk12]

Run, run far away!

 

[Joule]

Run, run far away!

Vaguely related response.

 

[Black Republican]

'What anime is that in ur avy joule?

 

[Mockingbird]

anybody going to go see the new shinkai film?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T37GhIqsO28

Looks beautiful!

 

[hamchan]

You don't like us?

Nah, I like you all

This thread is not safe for my young innocent mind though

 

[zeroshiki]

Nah, I like you all

This thread is not safe for my young innocent mind though

The hentai talk comes around every 10 pages or so. Just steer clear then.

 

[JKTrix]

Hanasaku Iroha kind of blew its chances at being a 'family' show by showing as much about the ero novel as they did. I think they could have gotten away with just saying stuff from it without visuals.

Still a nice episode, and the most annoying character got more interesting this time.

anybody going to go see the new shinkai film?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T37GhIqsO28

Looks beautiful!

You don't post in these threads much, but I always bring you up (indirectly) when I talk about Kurau Phantom Memory.

 

[flawfuls]

Nah, I like you all

This thread is not safe for my young innocent mind though

lol have you seen the Madoka thread?

 

[Haly]

POPULATION DENSITY AND MATLAB SIMULATIONS.

New trailer for Children Who Chase Stars: DAT CLOUD. DAT TRAIN TRACK. DAT MAYAN MYTHOLOGY.

 

[SciencePilot]

Nichijou 3
Not as good as last episode, but I still laughed a lot, and it was still worth my time. I guess I particularly appreciate the kind of humor this show brings.

By the way, does anyone know how many episodes Nichijou is going to be?

 

[Master Milk]

Hoshizura 1
What was the last joke in the preview? It couldn't be what I think it was

I have no idea why I watched this. It looks dull and incestuous.