Digimon was the weird pokemon ripoff that weird kids watched, and there wasn't a huge trading card game behind it, so the younger me had no interest in it.
Kinda unfortunate since it's probably the better show.
Also, how limited a release is Arrietty getting? I hope it's not just an NY/LA thing, I'm having difficulty finding showtimes for it at any theaters near me.
In this episode, we learn Ueki has a family. It's a pretty lousy family though, as they don't seem to be concerned by him never coming home. At first they tell Ai, "He stepped out for a bit; he'll be back in a few minutes." But a couple hours later they tell her, "He said he'd be away at some camp for the whole summer." True familial love.
Of course they aren't Ueki's real family; he's really a Celestial whose father had him for the sole purpose of making him fight for him so that he could win the contest and become God. That's... not really much better.
"So who's going to see Arrietty in theaters on the 17th? Saw the poster for it while I was going to see Dragon Tattoo. It'll be the first time seeing anything anime on the big screen for me; I'd rather not miss out."
Also, how limited a release is Arrietty getting? I hope it's not just an NY/LA thing, I'm having difficulty finding showtimes for it at any theaters near me.
So who's going to see Arrietty in theaters on the 17th? Saw the poster for it while I was going to see Dragon Tattoo. It'll be the first time seeing anything anime on the big screen for me; I'd rather not miss out.
I hope Disney finds success with Arrietty. Its a great film and is the best of modern Ghibli. Kind of odd that a non-Miyazaki Ghibli movie will be getting a full court press from Disney though.
I'm probably just not looking hard enough, then. I'll be pretty disappointed if it ends up being too long of a drive to justify, but hopefully that isn't the case.
I wasn't talking about the Ponyo dub, rather some past efforts like Whisper of the Heart and Kiki's Delivery Service. I meant that Ponyo isn't a great movie. Miyazaki is going senile, I think. -_-
I hope Disney finds success with Arrietty. Its a great film and is the best of modern Ghibli. Kind of odd that a non-Miyazaki Ghibli movie will be getting a full court press from Disney though.
I wouldn't really say Witchblade is much better than any of the Marvel anime. It's twice as long as any of them, and the designs are pretty bad. I would say the writing is on par with.... Iron Man maybe, with the ridiculousness of Wolverine, and the terrible designs of Blade. X-Men is still the king with great designs, a decent story, and solid action animation.
I'm only two episodes in, but I like the characters so far. Ever since seeing Atticus in the To Kill a Mocking Bird movie, I've learned to appreciate awesome parents in fiction, so I'm digging the focus on a mom and her loli.
I guess I'll keep watching to see if an interesting plot develops and to give my support for milfs in anime, but you guys have been almost flawless in your anime guidance thus far so I'm keeping my expectations low.
That's entirely valid, I certainly don't consider my first anime to be, say, Fushigi na Koala Blinky even though I watched it in dubbed form as The Noozles on Nick Jr. as a toddler.
Better dubs than Princess Mononoke? Is there one in particular that stands out as the best?
I wasn't talking about the Ponyo dub, rather some past efforts like Whisper of the Heart and Kiki's Delivery Service. I meant that Ponyo isn't a great movie. Miyazaki is going senile, I think. -_-
I wasn't talking about the Ponyo dub, rather some past efforts like Whisper of the Heart and Kiki's Delivery Service. I meant that Ponyo isn't a great movie. Miyazaki is going senile, I think. -_-
This is a good example of these "artists" being given unlimited rein to do what they want. At some point, somebody should speak up and tell them enough.
That said though, I find Ponyo quite enjoyable from the point of view of it being a children's movie.
Nichibros 5: The student council are such bros that they would feign being delinquents and getting beat up so another bro wouldn't have to feel embarrassed. Funny episode again except the rubberband hero I didn't quite find as funny as the rest. Karasawa is the best. Funky highschool girls got nothing on him.
Symphogear 5: I haven't heard Engrish like that in awhile. Ugh. Some sadistic yuri going on in here. Poor government dude was killed as fast as he was introduced. Beast mode Hibiki with Durandal was cool I guess. I liked the fight sequence before she grabbed the sword. Those shoulder blows are so cool.
Amagami 5: I was wondering where the awkward perversion would come from this season of Amagami and here we go. Lap pillows aren't shit compared to belly button pillows with a lullaby. Junichi getting kidnapped by the cram school yakuza was pretty amusing. Nanasaki has to spend Christmas forever alone. : (
Highschool DxD 4-5: It's trashy but it's amusing. Main dude is just going scyred on these guys. Yell a lot and punch people. That moe clock was in milf mode this time.
Inu x Boku SS 4: Jun Fukuyama trolling it up made it a little more interesting. I think I would like this show more if it focused on the always shaking bartender Joe and his son.
Rinne no Lagrange 3-5: Still not really feeling whatever the alien war plot is but Madoka's still charming so it's still very enjoyable. I quite enjoyed episode 3 when Madoka was talking about all those Kamogawa places she landed on when she was fighting Kirius. Muginami vs Lan is quite amusing too though. Wan Maru and all that jazz. Laffinty is a cute name though.
Full version of Try Unite is pretty great. Dat Nakajima.
--------------
Still so behind on some shows and I'm considering rewatching Mahoraba thanks to Cajun.
Oh a sentai-themed episode. Excuse me for not having a strong nostalgia for Power Rangers and the alike, but the idea that these stage actors couldn't rest in peace because they wanted to perform the best show ever wasn't believable for me. If the actual actor died from any one of the sentai shows while shooting a movie yet was prevented from performing his last performance before retiring or for some emotional obligation to himself, then maybe I would have but there was a lot to believe before I could buy into the idea of these stage actors being so embodied by the ideals of a sentai ranger.
The new character designer for Eureka Seven AO is the Ore no Imouto guy and the show will have a primarily female cast. Story summary:
The setting is "Earth" in the year 2025 A.D. The story is about Ao and his friends fighting against monsters known as Secret. "Generacion Bull" is a private military company in the business of defeating Secrets, and they have assembled IFO (Intelligence Flying Object) pilots with great skills - all of which are girls since only females can pilot IFOs. Ao is the only male with capable of piloting IFOs and he is the only guy in Generation Bull.
The first new character shown is a 16 year old girl from France called Flair. She's the leader of Team Piped Piper, and sees Ao as a rival. The second new character is a 15 year old girl from America called Elena. She's a geek girl and little bit of a klutz, also a member of Team Piped Piper.
Who the fuck breastfeeds a kitty? Also, I totally forgot Sakura and Hinata were sisters. That background did wonders to remind me. Immediately remembered because of it.
And I must say this: black nameless creature this episode > Mone from Yumeria. The magic of silence and facial expressions to indicate tone. This is why MONEY MONEY MONEY isn't cute when overly done. Holy shit. Look at those teary eyes, that bashfulness, that disgruntled look, etc - why were you so bad Mone?
The ending was a lot more emotional than in the manga. The
diary adding in that Marco came to the rescue
is more effective animated. Quite touching.
We are getting VERY close to the nonstop "my mind is full of fuck" part of the story. When that happens, people will be saying HOLY SHIT every single week until the series ends. Can't wait.
What phone did Ueki use to call Don at the end there?
I don't think I've mentioned before how awkward the music can be at times. The orchestral music is OK, but everything else is pretty bad. This shows up mostly with the comedic scenes, which often fall flat due to how obnoxious the soundtrack is.
Disney's dubs are great, though they have the unfortunate habit of sometimes changing some things. You should have no regrets for missing out on Ponyo. :\
Ponyo came on tv on Christmas day, the dub hurt my ears after 45mins I couldn't watch no more, changed the channel to top gear to kill time till doctor who came on.
I felt like I was watching high pitched dora dora the explorer.
The only anime I watched in the theaters are in order:
dbz fusion revival/dragon fist(showed 2 movies at once)
dbz return of broly/bio broly(showed 2)
pokemon movie 1
Digimon the movie(three part movie)
So good. I can't believe they did such a fanservice shot. Unbelievably ecchi. I almost forgotten we needed a character episode for Yuuko.
If there's one disappointment I have with this episode, it's that
I would have totally lost at the ferris wheel scene if the dude was surrounded by roses as he stared at her like a bishounen. Why could you include this AMB?
I don't really understand this. Why not just use 100% of your power so you can ensure your victory. Maybe you think your opponent isn't worthy of your full strength, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Kind of looks like Super Meat Boy.
What were Alessio and Don doing down there anyway?
Everybody's started needlessly shouting out their attacks. I guess that's how we know it's serious time.
Well, I expected as much since the cat episode, but evil Buddhist monks? Really? It's only really a problem because Ikkou hasn't done any training, and they're relying on super monk mode to bail them out on any real troubles. It's like why even have this serious business shit at all and not focus on spiritual enlightenment and cleansing oneself of desires in the harem ecchi way since the beginning?
The old eyecatch wasn't great, but the new one is even worse. That's an eye-searing shade of plaid.
I like how this show keeps finding ways to break its rules.
Now he can use two powers! There's obviously someone monitoring all these battles, since Kobayashi and that other sponsor were sent to the Underworld fairly soon after they broke the rules. Where's that person now?
You know what I miss? Eyecatches I was watching Macross Frontier the other day (don't ask) and was actually surprised that they had an eyecatch for it.
You know what I miss? Eyecatches I was watching Macross Frontier the other day (don't ask) and was actually surprised that they had an eyecatch for it.
That sure was an Oshii movie. I mean, ignoring the lack of basset hounds, it sure had a lot of philosophical dialogue, surreal imagery, and fantastic build-up of atmosphere and tone that you expect from an Oshii film. Of course, it did have a lot more humor, and "warmer" characters than some of his later works. It was certainly fun, though I actually liked some of the supporting characters much more than the two leads.
The plot itself was not anything too special, but how Oshii dealt with it was fun. These kinds of dreamworld stories tend to rely on the strength of the director to make it successful.
It's too bad this isn't on bluray.
Well... that's certainly something.
A long-winded principal that likes to make philosophical references, eh?
Thankfully, they've only started to use the joke this episode.
I didn't think they would telegraph such a joke, but eh, it must be because of my higher than usual expectations. Still, an onsen episode? Not sure how I feel about this after seeing swimsuits and maid outfits. Quite a particular fetish I'm becoming enlightened about.
Can't believe the power of a holy priest involves seeing naked women.
... I've been having a bunch of computer problems for the past several days (which is why I haven't posted in this thread in like six days, mostly). I think my videocard has problems... hopefully it's not worse than that, but the system is running right now with an old card I had from another machine, so we'll see. But anyway, that's why I haven't posted for a few days. I don't really want to write a long responses reply right now, but maybe I can write about some of the stuff I've watched recently.
Bodacious Space Pirates 5 - I can see why people find this show boring, but yes, I still think it's this season's best new show. This was another great, realistic-space-combat episode. It was such a high quality, uplifting episode... watch out space pirates, your chances were slim once you challenged Japanese high schoolers! So yeah, this episode was slow, but it was great to see them pull off the victory,
particularly after the enemy started shooting at them... before then most of the girls hadn't been taking it too seriously, but that made them appropriately scared. Fortunately our heroine had a plan despite their lack of shields or armaments, and it worked.
The character interactions, realistic tone, decent plot, and general feel of this series are really the reasons why I like it, I think. Apparently,
in the next episode she moves over to the real pirate ship. We'll see how it goes there.
Trigun: Badlands Rumble - This movie was okay, but not great. It feels like a random and pointless action-heavy filler arc of a couple of episodes from somewhere in the middle of the series, and I guess that's what it was intended to be, too. It's too bad that they didn't aim higher with this, after waiting so long for more Trigun fans deserved better than this.
Now, I never was as big of a Trigun fan as many American anime fans were through the early 2000s, but I did think it was good, anyway. This was alright, and good at times, and the tone was reminiscent of Trigun's, sure, but... it had no point, no connection to the main plot of the series at all, a really stupid story, an annoying villain, and more. Vash was back to his frustrating self, which I guess is okay because that's how he's supposed to be, before the end of the series anyway, but I have always found it a little irritating how his only solution to how to try to save lives and be happy is to be completely over the top silly/annoying... oh well. Still, it was nice to see the main cast again after so long.
On the note of the villain, as I said, I didn't find him interesting. He's a completely generic invincible warrior type who is so amazing that he can stand still, out in the open, and mostly shirtless, in front of hordes of enemies shooting at him with machine guns and not get scratched by a single bullet, ever
(until he fights Vash, that is, of course
. I have always HATED that stuff. At least Vash has to DODGE... but no, this guy's just supposed to be so awesome that he will never be hit even while standing still while getting shot at. It's a completely stupid anime trope you see too often and it's always awful. And besides that, it gets boring when you have a character who simply cannot lose, as with this guy. There's very little drama through most of the episode because you know that the villain thief guy's going to beat everyone until the end part.
As for the new good character, that girl, she was fine. Her plot overall worked reasonably well, and
the revelation at the end about her age redeemed Vash's annoyingness throughout the film by showing that his decision to leave the guy alive 20 years ago was maybe the right one, though I'm sure people could argue that based on all of the other people hurt, even if without that she'd never have been born. It does make a better case for Vash's side than had previously existed though, yes.
The Sacred Blacksmith 7-9 - I dropped this after a couple of episodes when it first aired, but a while back, after reading the manga and finding it much less sexist than the anime (that is, still bad, but much less than the far too sexist to tolerate early on anime), and hearing that the anime gets a bit better, I tried it again. Well, it does get a bit better -- Cecily's only mostly useless now, as opposed to entirely useless, and actually wins a fight in ep. 8 -- but still, this is not exactly a great fantasy anime series. While ep. 7 is mostly comedy and maid uniforms, the series gets more serious in episodes 8 and 9, which is nice, here; this series is a better drama than it is comedy. Sure, ep. 9 was pretty depressing (though having read part of the manga I knew that backstory), but still, that was a better episode than many of the early episodes.
... I've been having a bunch of computer problems for the past several days (which is why I haven't posted in this thread in like six days, mostly). I think my videocard has problems... hopefully it's not worse than that, but the system is running right now with an old card I had from another machine, so we'll see. But anyway, that's why I haven't posted for a few days. I don't really want to write a long responses reply right now, but maybe I can write about some of the stuff I've watched recently.
I totally don't remember what this show was about until the second half of this episode. It's a nice end cap to the events of the final episode of the series and is quite a nice send off for the characters (very little Meme (un)fortunately), touching on the existentialist thread that defined the original tv series.
A few lovely Shaftisms, including dat close-up:
Dat Bakemono-ish reference:
Dat squid girl:
Dat good art (really!):
Here's hoping they pick something equally off-beat for whatever they end up doing after Nise and Kizu and whatever they already have lined up.
The Sacred Blacksmith 7-9 - I dropped this after a couple of episodes when it first aired, but a while back, after reading the manga and finding it much less sexist than the anime
I don't really understand this. Why not just use 100% of your power so you can ensure your victory. Maybe you think your opponent isn't worthy of your full strength, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
This has kind of turned into a running joke in the genre. I don't know if it started it, but DBZ definitely popularized it. The mindset is just the enemy is so arrogant that they don't think their full strength is necessary (and might anticipate having to fight again soon, so they would save it).
You know what I miss? Eyecatches I was watching Macross Frontier the other day (don't ask) and was actually surprised that they had an eyecatch for it.
Sakura x Haruka. I always knew this was a pairing.
So Saint Nicholas was a spirit huh? Regarding that anniversary of the train accident which happened like 45 years ago, just how many were killed exactly? The amount the Haruka exorcised for ten hours straight plus the large number which fought against the rest of the group makes that number seem eerily high. I guess you could say I'm too concerned about insignificant details because the number of people that died is causing me to ponder just how big of a death toll we're talking about.
And a jolly ho ho ho to you too Santa. I heard that Christmas theme.
Ah My Buddha - 12 (Finale)
Yesss
let's blame the baby boomers for that.
But come on Ikkou,
panties only? You really are losing to your desires. Next, you'll be okay with bare feet.
Overall in regards to the series, I would have been perfectly fine if the
secret Buddhist factions
never existed. I know it was foreshadowed since Episode 1, but I rather have had more episodes like 3, 5, 7, and 8 where they didn't give a shit about having a grand story and had the characters fool around more. Those were also the better episodes personally.
Ah My Buddha Katsu - 01
"I will never forget panties I've seen before" - Ikkou.
I will not be fooled. I will not be fooled. I will not be fooled. Even studio's like DEEN can have such episodes! Then I would be without any complaints. The fanservice isn't as lazily shot, the plot isn't ridiculously laughable
although Kazuki wanting to rape Ikkou is getting there and might be already for some,
the conflict between Buddhist factions is also better portrayed and paced, and well, there's more ecchi as one would have anticipated since the beginning.
Ah My Buddha Katsu - 02
Yep, I shouldn't have expected the art to have been as good as Episode 1's. Noticeable downgrade from the previous episode. Overall as an episode, definitely inferior overall too. I guess instead of saving wandering spirits from last season, they decided to fill in the newly available time for more fanservice. Not the worst decision they could have done.
Ah My Buddha Katsu - 03
That was on par with being the worst episode of the series, if not, the worst. This is how you run jokes into the ground if you're not careful. It's also one of the more noticeably uglier episodes in the series too. And really, they shouldn't have dropped the ball on this. It was an athletics festival episode with ample opportunities for absurdity.
Ah My Buddha Katsu - 04
When surrounded by mother nature, human beings will regressed to their primitive and act on instinct...? I think I require research on this as much as it amuses me where this questionable deduction was told. Also, this rivalry or love triangle - whatever they want to call it - is pretty boring between Kazuki and Chitose. Maybe if Chitose were more tsundere, this would be more palatable for me.
Great episode, one of the better non-comedy stories. Another one-chapter expansion, but they did a nice job adding in some new scenes and really helped the impact.
Next week is two more solo chapters; one just another stupid J-Son story, but the other one with Onee-san isn't too bad and starts a small subplot.