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Winter 2012 Anime Thread 2.22: You Can (Not) Outpost Cajunator

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B

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
Ultimadrago said:
I'm ashamed that I do not remember
Norland and Calgara's story as much as I'd like (the battle of culture vs. science/reality with the trees, right?) , but I think I remembered it being pretty solid and a good backstory dealing with trust (and lack of it) following in the future generation.
Click to expand...

Yeah.
Norland reaches Jaya by following the Golden Bell's ringing. There, he finds a sick kid and heals him with medicine that the Shandians clearly lack. They go in further into the island and find Calgara readying his daughter as a sacrifice to the snake "god". Norland stops the ritual and vows to cure the village of the disease/curse. He searches the island for the bark of a tree that he needs to make the medicine, but when he finds it, Jaya's struck by an earthquake and he gets stuck.

Calgara then finds him and saves him after a discussion about the progress of civilization and medicine and how sacrifices were disrespectful to that progress and whatnot. Then Norland cures everyone, and they party hard. Calgara gives the crew free access to their village's treasure. Norland then begins scouting the island and cutting trees - which, we later find out, were the cause of the disease that struck the Shandians. They end up cutting trees from a sacred grove unknowingly, and Calgara and the rest of the villagers get all passive-aggressive towards them. His daughter clarifies everything, and while Norland's already dropped all the gold in the beach in regret, Calgara runs to apologize and make the promise that they'll meet again.

Beautiful stuff.

Ultimadrago said:
The scope of age was larger, but how was the intensity, the stakes? An honest question, I remember the major issues of both arcs well, yet it's getting fuzzy for me how Skypiea went about presenting the danger and probable effects on the people.
Besides the hidden introduction of Enel and the later introduction of his "Army"
Click to expand...

"Holy Land"-kind of wars are always intense, as reality has already shown us more than once.
But I see your point. Although I belive
the fact that at the end of the arc losing to Enel basically means the complete destruction of Skypiea along with everyone puts the stakes at an incredibly high level.

Ultimadrago said:
I found it okay. The battles there (in intensity and special attackness-ness) don't compare to quite a number later in the series.
Click to expand...

I agree. The execution was lacking, but I found the concept pretty cool.

Ultimadrago said:
Glad to see you're still on the ride for One Piece! Even though Skypiea isn't my favorite arc, it never gets old hearing others go through some of the earlier arcs. I've halted since a certain arc on a journey to watch other anime. (Mission very successful), but I will pick it up again one day to see how it has fared since my hold. I'm positive you will keep enjoying!

WE ARE!
Click to expand...

I'm sure I will.

I'll keep posting my impressions. I'm enjoying taking notes of remarkable events after each episode during my marathon sessions, haha.
 
F

frostbyte

Member
Final impressions on Blood-C

Even after the disappointment that was Blood+, there was a little light in me that believed that the Blood franchise would one day shine again. I feel so naive; I don't even know what to think of Blood anymore.

I heavily disliked the gratuitous use of gore and violence. The amount of gore throughout the show was unbelievable. I mean Saya was covered with blood from head to toe. What was the purpose of this other than pandering to fans of bloody violence? It didn't further the plot meaningfully in any way.

There is little to no context to the gore and violence. They could've toned it down like in the previous incarnations of Blood but they deliberately used copious amounts for no good reason. I concede that the original Blood: TLV didn't have that much context to the slayings either but it was done much more tastefully than Blood-C did.

The pacing was straight on horrible on the first few episodes. It was a bore to get through the first 4 episodes. The next few episodes progressed the plot with the speed of a snail. It wasn't till the last two episodes things started to happen. (The funny thing was that the last two episodes answered many of my questions. Things like Saya being more vapid than the generic harem lead, the singing, the stupid uniforms, etc). Even if they wanted the troll end, they could've structured it better. The plot was so bad it's good. Seriously, the test is just that?

The characters were...interesting to say the least. Most of them weren't even in character half the time. Ep 11 was almost like a parody, pointing fun of each character. There goes all the time invested in those characters. I had the same emotionally drained, shocked face as Saya did during the majority of ep 11. They've give me little to like about the characters, whether pre- or post-Ep11. Either generic and one dimensional or trolls. *sigh*

Strangly, the music is the only constant high in this franchise. The tunes aren't mindblowing, but pretty fitting. The OP and ED weren't terrible either but Blood+ trumps it by far.

Animation-wise, it was a bit janky at times. Faces looked slightly disproportionate at times, especially the twins. The action was decently choreographed. Nothing radical here though.

Maybe I've got nostalgia goggles on and I'm still viewing the original with rose-tinted glasses. But Blood-C has little to no context behind the gore and violence, denigration of every character and lol story. I'm willing to wait for the movie to tie up the loose ends though.

As the biggest fan of the original Blood: The Last Vampire, Blood+ disappointed and Blood-C defiled. I've been trolled so hard. Curiously, I don't exactly hate the direction it's taken; it's more interesting than Blood+ ever was. If the last two episodes hadn't happened, I would've probably raged more. It's just cruel that they've had to sink to these methods to maintain interest in this series instead of creating a quality work.

I never though I would be trolled like this ever again after School Days. I knew this was going to be bad but this warped the definition of it. My body wasn't ready.

Oh, and DAT singing. I liked Saya no Uta but this brought it to another level :p Lame joke aside, will we ever hear Saya grace our ears with her song? Movie perhaps?

Score: Troll/10
 
C

cajunator

Banned
ZetaEpyon said:
I do not understand this at all. Do you have a specific example that you're talking about?
Click to expand...

Like i mean that I have double dipped on a bunch of anime because the blurays dont scratch easily, but I continue to watch older anime in dvd format and prefer the blurred look to the ultrasharp hidef stuff
 
C

Crash Station

Member
Persona 4 24

I actually really liked the way they handled
Adachi's insane ramblings by basically turning it into the dungeon itself.
If the directing was a bit better, it could have really been something amazing.

Next week should be fun.
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Does anyone know what song plays at the end of Shakugan No Shana 3 final ep 24? Or the info/song hasn't been released yet?
 
U

Uchip

Banned
frostbyte said:
Final impressions on Blood-C

Even after the disappointment that was Blood+, there was a little light in me that believed that the Blood franchise would one day shine again. I feel so naive; I don't even know what to think of Blood anymore.

I heavily disliked the gratuitous use of gore and violence. The amount of gore throughout the show was unbelievable. I mean Saya was covered with blood from head to toe. What was the purpose of this other than pandering to fans of bloody violence? It didn't further the plot meaningfully in any way.

There is little to no context to the gore and violence. They could've toned it down like in the previous incarnations of Blood but they deliberately used copious amounts for no good reason. I concede that the original Blood: TLV didn't have that much context to the slayings either but it was done much more tastefully than Blood-C did.

The pacing was straight on horrible on the first few episodes. It was a bore to get through the first 4 episodes. The next few episodes progressed the plot with the speed of a snail. It wasn't till the last two episodes things started to happen. (The funny thing was that the last two episodes answered many of my questions. Things like Saya being more vapid than the generic harem lead, the singing, the stupid uniforms, etc). Even if they wanted the troll end, they could've structured it better. The plot was so bad it's good. Seriously, the test is just that?

The characters were...interesting to say the least. Most of them weren't even in character half the time. Ep 11 was almost like a parody, pointing fun of each character. There goes all the time invested in those characters. I had the same emotionally drained, shocked face as Saya did during the majority of ep 11. They've give me little to like about the characters, whether pre- or post-Ep11. Either generic and one dimensional or trolls. *sigh*

Strangly, the music is the only constant high in this franchise. The tunes aren't mindblowing, but pretty fitting. The OP and ED weren't terrible either but Blood+ trumps it by far.

Animation-wise, it was a bit janky at times. Faces looked slightly disproportionate at times, especially the twins. The action was decently choreographed. Nothing radical here though.

Maybe I've got nostalgia goggles on and I'm still viewing the original with rose-tinted glasses. But Blood-C has little to no context behind the gore and violence, denigration of every character and lol story. I'm willing to wait for the movie to tie up the loose ends though.

As the biggest fan of the original Blood: The Last Vampire, Blood+ disappointed and Blood-C defiled. I've been trolled so hard. Curiously, I don't exactly hate the direction it's taken; it's more interesting than Blood+ ever was. If the last two episodes hadn't happened, I would've probably raged more. It's just cruel that they've had to sink to these methods to maintain interest in this series instead of creating a quality work.

I never though I would be trolled like this ever again after School Days. I knew this was going to be bad but this warped the definition of it. My body wasn't ready.

Oh, and DAT singing. I liked Saya no Uta but this brought it to another level :p Lame joke aside, will we ever hear Saya grace our ears with her song? Movie perhaps?

Score: Troll/10
Click to expand...

pretty much yeah
the franchise is just there for people to make different vaguely connected shows it seems
 
M

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Another 05:

So
Misaki is real, but there's still some kind of vengeful ghost.....or something
. That's certainly an interesting twist, but the idea of there being
an unidentifiable "extra" person in 9-3 that causes the deaths to occur
seems like it shouldn't be as important as it is considering that
there's already an established way to ensure that the curse doesn't occur
.
If ghost-Misaki is just offended when someone occupies her eternal "place" in the class, why isn't class size just always kept at normal size -1
? There would be no need for
scapegoating a class member
, unless I'm misunderstanding how the
curse
works.

Especially with there being mention of
memory modification
, I'm half-expecting that
someone somewhere has an ulterior motive in triggering the curse. It seems like the only way that Sakakibara would be admitted to 9-3 when it was already at safe capacity
.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Inu x Boku SS 11:

Finally, some fucking backstory for Miketsukami. A lot of it too, and I really liked the payoff at the end. Fucking adorable, they are! :3
 
Z

ZetaEpyon

Member
cajunator said:
Like i mean that I have double dipped on a bunch of anime because the blurays dont scratch easily, but I continue to watch older anime in dvd format and prefer the blurred look to the ultrasharp hidef stuff
Click to expand...

I guess I just can't relate to this. I can't think of an instance where I'd rather watch something at a lower resolution when a true HD version is available. (Excluding stylistic choices and upscaled blurays for the sake of discussion.)

I suppose there's a certain degree of familiarity/nostalgia that could go along with watching stuff in SD resolutions? If that's what you're most used to from when you got into anime, maybe that has some impact on it? Just speculating here...
 
C

cajunator

Banned
ZetaEpyon said:
I guess I just can't relate to this. I can't think of an instance where I'd rather watch something at a lower resolution when a true HD version is available. (Excluding stylistic choices and upscaled blurays for the sake of discussion.)

I suppose there's a certain degree of familiarity/nostalgia that could go along with watching stuff in SD resolutions? If that's what you're most used to from when you got into anime, maybe that has some impact on it? Just speculating here...
Click to expand...

Pretty much. My eyes are bad anyway so it's not as though I can fully appreciate high quality visuals.
So it becomes a case of nostalgia and how I grew up watching anime that wins the day.
 
F

frostbyte

Member
Uchip said:
pretty much yeah
the franchise is just there for people to make different vaguely connected shows it seems
Click to expand...

Such a waste of potential, really. The original really could have been expanded and fleshed out so much. *sigh*

ZetaEpyon said:
I guess I just can't relate to this. I can't think of an instance where I'd rather watch something at a lower resolution when a true HD version is available. (Excluding stylistic choices and upscaled blurays for the sake of discussion.)

I suppose there's a certain degree of familiarity/nostalgia that could go along with watching stuff in SD resolutions? If that's what you're most used to from when you got into anime, maybe that has some impact on it? Just speculating here...
Click to expand...

There is a certain charm to the animation style in older anime. I can't pinpoint what exactly it is though. For example, when I watched Kare Kano, there was something so appealing about the rustic, simple kind of style. Argh, I can't describe it.
 
H

hosannainexcelsis

Member
frostbyte said:
There is a certain charm to the animation style in older anime. I can't pinpoint what exactly it is though. For example, when I watched Kare Kano, there was something so appealing about the rustic, simple kind of style. Argh, I can't describe it.
Click to expand...

You're probably thinking of cel animation vs. digital animation.
 
C

Cwarrior

Member
Bleach 286-289

It feels unreal that the bleach anime has ended, I've been following it weekly since day one(since 2004 huh feels longer) but droped around after the stark vs vizard after I was outraged when I found out lord Aizen-pimp-sama leaves the show to go on holiday.

every scene with Aizen is work of art that should in a gallery

Forgot how great the opening was

yes am watching bleach,don't judge me
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
frostbyte said:
There is a certain charm to the animation style in older anime. I can't pinpoint what exactly it is though. For example, when I watched Kare Kano, there was something so appealing about the rustic, simple kind of style. Argh, I can't describe it.
Click to expand...

The overall feel of anime changed when cels went from being painted by hand to being painted on a computer. Especially in the early days the work looked incredibly flat (I mean, flatter than normal) because they weren't layering the colors like with real paint. As computer processing power grew and higher definitions and better techniques were developed this improved. But overall there still is something lost with digital cel painting as opposed to hand painted cels.

EDIT: beaten by hosa
 
Z

ZetaEpyon

Member
frostbyte said:
There is a certain charm to the animation style in older anime. I can't pinpoint what exactly it is though. For example, when I watched Kare Kano, there was something so appealing about the rustic, simple kind of style. Argh, I can't describe it.
Click to expand...

Sure, but I don't think it's that difficult to separate the animation and art style from the technical visual clarity involved. Like hosannainexcelsis implies, you can have extremely sharp older cel-based anime.

hosannainexcelsis said:
You're probably thinking of cel animation vs. digital animation.
Click to expand...

There's this, but also just the general changes in art style that have occurred over the years. Clearly, the most obvious is in character design.
 
F

frostbyte

Member
hosannainexcelsis said:
You're probably thinking of cel animation vs. digital animation.
Click to expand...

RurouniZel said:
The overall feel of anime changed when cels went from being painted by hand to being painted on a computer. Especially in the early days the work looked incredibly flat (I mean, flatter than normal) because they weren't layering the colors like with real paint. As computer processing power grew and higher definitions and better techniques were developed this improved. But overall there still is something lost with digital cel painting as opposed to hand painted cels.

EDIT: beaten by hosa
Click to expand...

Alright, thanks for clearing that up.

Btw, what's a good shoujo series if I liked Kare Kano? Shoujo isn't a series I usually watch so I'm open to any kind. I've watched Ouran Host Club but that isn't exactly typical Shoujo.

Cwarrior said:
Forgot how great the opening was
Click to expand...

I personally like Asterisk a bit more but this is still a really good opening.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
ZetaEpyon said:
There's this, but also just the general changes in art style that have occurred over the years. Clearly, the most obvious is in character design.
Click to expand...

This is definitely true, especially in hair style/colors. There's been a huge push over the last ten or so years to do away with the crazy wild outta this world hairstyles for simpler, down to earth hair designs and colors, usually fancied up with a ribbon or accessory of sorts. This is probably to make the female characters in particular feel more like "the girl next door" or something. Also the way character hair is shaded/lit has been made simpler to make coloring a faster and probably less expensive venture.

While this is great for budgets (and easier for statue makers), it's also just a reflection of the change in dominant anime tropes. In the 80s and early 90s space-operas, giant mechs, and high fantasy were in. Around the late 90s to the present, the dominant genres shifted to contemporary settings, often in high school, to accommodate harems, "romcoms" and PC game adaptations. The other genres didn't disappear, obviously, nor did the harems not exist prior. The only thing that shifted was which genres dominate the market, and as such the art styles reflects this change.

frostbyte said:
Alright, thanks for clearing that up.

Btw, what's a good shoujo series if I liked Kare Kano? Shoujo isn't a series I usually watch so I'm open to any kind. I've watched Ouran Host Club but that isn't exactly typical Shoujo.
Click to expand...

If you're looking for an older show that's focused on misunderstandings, a wacky premise, a love dodecahedron, and the craziest most awesome parents ever, you're looking for Marmalade Boy.

If you're looking for a modern show that isn't focused on several relationships but rather one primary relationship, watch Nodame Cantabile.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
Ozma/Ozuma 2

First half of the episode was pretty epic. I love the visuals for it
the way the missles launched etc
. Second half was pretty decent, though all they did was just
stand around
.

Kind of dislike the OP, the song is cool but why do the visuals have to be so, well nonexistent.
 
H

hosannainexcelsis

Member
Ozma 2

Hasn't improved since last week. In fact, it's even worse, since there was nothing but low-budget talking head technobabble. What a waste.

frostbyte said:
Btw, what's a good shoujo series if I liked Kare Kano? Shoujo isn't a series I usually watch so I'm open to any kind. I've watched Ouran Host Club but that isn't exactly typical Shoujo.
Click to expand...

Lovely Complex is a very good shoujo romantic comedy. Highly recommended.
 
M

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Another 06:

A lot of infodump on the
phenomenon
that basically boiled down to
"sometimes the countermeasures work, sometimes they don't"
. At least I understand the
"extra person"
concept a bit more now, even I still don't see how this makes
simply keeping the maximum class size at or below a certain number
any less of a solution.

Sakakibara's
imagination scene
was absolutely ace. I'm disappointed that it wasn't
real
, as
they're pretty much free to fuck with their class as much and as obnoxiously as they want. Have a problem? Tell them to knock it off at the price of your life. Dancing Mei is also fucking adorable.

Ultimadrago said:
You are already judged!


/watched300+episodes
Click to expand...

I've been there from day one, I'm totally going to have a heartfelt eulogy ready for next week. The very last bit of my adolescence is going away.
 
F

Femmeworth

Banned
frostbyte said:
Btw, what's a good shoujo series if I liked Kare Kano? Shoujo isn't a series I usually watch so I'm open to any kind. I've watched Ouran Host Club but that isn't exactly typical Shoujo.
Click to expand...
If you liked the Kare Kano anime, you really should check out the manga. The anime only adapted a fraction of it, a third to be more precise.
 
U

Uchip

Banned
frostbyte said:
I personally like Asterisk a bit more but this is still a really good opening.
Click to expand...

Dont know the names but the first one stood out
they had a solid grafiti-ish style going on that worked really well
the rest of them dont have any real style and are just generic shounen OPs
 
D

Defuser

Member
darkside31337 said:
Thankfully its not up to us to decide.

For the record I think AnimeGAF should be in a community forum.
Click to expand...

Well to me it shouldn't considering anime threads consist of too many different shows with too mamy different topics where I see OTs move to community always consist one particular topic/thing. But its not up to me decide,if evilore decide it should be in community then so be it.
 
F

frostbyte

Member
hosannainexcelsis said:
Lovely Complex is a very good shoujo romantic comedy. Highly recommended.
Click to expand...

Will check it out.

Femmeworth said:
If you liked the Kare Kano anime, you really should check out the manga. The anime only adapted a fraction of it, a third to be more precise.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok thanks.

kinda guessed something was up with the abrupt ending

Uchip said:
Dont know the names but the first one stood out
they had a solid grafiti-ish style going on that worked really well
the rest of them dont have any real style and are just generic shounen OPs
Click to expand...

Yep, the first one's Asterisk. It just exuded so much style.


Dedication Through Light said:
D-Technolife (2), Shojo S , Harukaze (most recent), and Change were my favorite ones from bleach. After they finished the second filler arc, the openings and endings just never failed to be good to great.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Bleach has a goldmine of good OP and EDs. Houki Boshi and Tabidatsu Kimi he are good EDs too.

I personally didn't really like Shoujo S though.
 
M

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Uchip said:
I see Bleach but no One Piece
I still cant believe that people were hating on the current One Piece Opening
it practically fits the shows character perfectly
Click to expand...

There's been a ton of One Piece. Did you miss Brazil's huge writeup on Skypiea?

edit: beaten
 
Q

qcf x2

Member
Cwarrior said:
Forgot how great the opening was
Click to expand...

I never really liked that one. I think almost all of them up to the middle of the arrancar arc were good to excellent, but my favorites are probably Hanabi, Life, Asterisk, Rolling Star, Tonight, Alones, Houki Boshi, Sakura Biyori, After Dark and Ichirin no Hana.

That's a lot, lol. Don't remember how many were actually openings though.

Steins;Gate 7 - That's it, I'm adding El Psy Congroo to my lexicon. It's kind of a boring show so far, but Hooooooooooouin Kyoma keeps bringing me back.
 
U

Uchip

Banned
Ultimadrago said:
showpost.php


New One Piece OP, huh. I guess it has been that long since I've last watched.

*
watch
*
Click to expand...

well it has been this opening for 30+ episodes so im not sure
 
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