I'm not sure I really think of oreki as any of those. Smarter than the rest of the cast in figuring out mysteries sure.
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Winter 2014 Anime |OT| I've got to find a dandy guy who killed my dad in the space
- Thread starter Branduil
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I'm not sure I really think of oreki as any of those. Smarter than the rest of the cast in figuring out mysteries sure.
ZachDeKoromaru
Banned
There was a question someone asked here not too long about favorite supporting casts, and now that I'm back into Aria with Origination I'm gonna have to add that to my favorites. Everyone seems to have a perfect place in the world and they add so much to it. Also the cafe manager is the classiest looking gentleman in anime.
One of these days I'm gonna need to find the time to sit through all 50 episodes. I read the book few years ago and it became one of my favourites. Though I doubt this has much to do with the source material given its length.
Speaking of EDs and songs (okay this is a loose segue), I really revel in the Patlabor OP. I wouldn't call it the best OP, but it's pretty quintessential 80's stuff.
Oreki isn't self-obsessed at all. In fact, at the start of the show, he considers himself completely average.
Full Metal Panic! 18
Sousuke invites Kaname to go to a beautiful island getaway with him! Psyche! It's a mission~! This may also be the first episode where Sousuke actually notices Kaname. I mean he does that whole "I'm embarrassed that you put your knee between my legs" thing waaaaay back at the start of the series, but for the most part, Sousuke is much more attracted to Tessa early on, or at least more openly so. He spends a decent amount of time brooding in this episode, though, but is still pretty damn chipper considering what just happened.
We also meet Lt. McCallen, who is Urzu 1, and therefore the SRT leader (making him Melissa's direct superior, and the man between her and Lt. Commander Kalinin in rank.)
Sousuke invites Kaname to go to a beautiful island getaway with him! Psyche! It's a mission~! This may also be the first episode where Sousuke actually notices Kaname. I mean he does that whole "I'm embarrassed that you put your knee between my legs" thing waaaaay back at the start of the series, but for the most part, Sousuke is much more attracted to Tessa early on, or at least more openly so. He spends a decent amount of time brooding in this episode, though, but is still pretty damn chipper considering what just happened.
No he isn't. When Melissa gets injured in a few episodes his bottled up trauma from Afghanistan will come boiling out.
We also meet Lt. McCallen, who is Urzu 1, and therefore the SRT leader (making him Melissa's direct superior, and the man between her and Lt. Commander Kalinin in rank.)
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I love how most episodes just fade into the ED at the end. It just works as a way to end a lot of these episodes.
It's as Sherlock-influenced as House is. The Oreki-Satoshi relationship is basically the House-Wilson relationship. Oreki himself feels like a toned down version of House anyway, for obvious reasons.
His version of being anti-social is the whole "don't want to expend any energy" thing. That mostly disappears after the festival though.
And heck, he even has a "nemesis" in Irisu.
Bowler hats > fedoras?
As a close, Origination does go back to a lot of the older characters and fills it out. But it helps that the universe just feels like a real place (since, of course, it is). Building an episode around a puppeteer and then using that episode to show how Akari makes friends with everyone was just natural in a city where it seems like everyone would know each other.
Of course, it makes you wonder if Mars has any other cities other than Neo Venezia. lol
lazybones18
Banned
Sword Art Online 22
Such feels. ToonamiGAF just doesn't get it
Such feels. ToonamiGAF just doesn't get it
Can we compromise and say "in decline"? The number of mecha series being produced is the lowest it's ever been, and twenty years is a long time for a genre to be fixated on attempting to reproduce the success of something that already perfected the concepts being reproduced from the get-go. There are lots of mecha since Eva that are entirely their own thing, but I'm skeptical by default whenever psychic/spiritual/etc. bonds between man and machine are involved.
I may just be more particular, but I still haven't enjoyed a mecha series produced since Gurren-Lagann (note: I have not watched Star Driver, Break Blade, or Gundam Unicorn); there are a couple of cases in which I enjoyed something in spite of mecha content (Rinne S1, Gargantia, Valvrave), but there's yet to be something produced in the past few years that makes me feel the way that I feel when watching older series in the genre. Some of that lovingly-crafted military/industrial imagery and manly spirit is just lost forever since the change to digital and the shift in what constitutes an "otaku-friendly" protagonist.
seconded on "what's a geekbox?" but that's seriously SOS-worthy.
Eh, most of what I've seen so far indicates that Oreki's self-deprecation is all egotistical in nature. He's not on Lelouch's level of bitching about how awful he is to prove to himself how great he is, but it's still basically what he's doing. Dude only thinks about himself all the time.
And Chitanda, but only because she's an obnoxious idiot who cannot make use of higher brain functions. Pretty sure her mom has to help her get dressed every single day.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I guess it depends on how apathetic you think the character is at the beginning of the show. Certainly he is depicted as someone who is dragged into the club by both his sister and Chitanda's Chitandaniness.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Go 575 3
Sigh, even in a 3 minute anime, they couldn't help themselves. I guess it was to be expected, given this season.
Edit: I blame SDBurton for all of this.
Sigh, even in a 3 minute anime, they couldn't help themselves. I guess it was to be expected, given this season.
Edit: I blame SDBurton for all of this.
Sword Art Online 22
Pretty much this.
Admiral Woofington
Member
A twist on the formula I enjoyed as well is that the sister, who represents Mycroft, is both the more outgoing one (Sherlock) AND as of the first show the better at connecting dots. While Oreki who is Sherlock acts more like Mycroft does and is not as perceptive as his sister. Though
they do show hints he has the capabilities but he's so lazy and rags on himself so much that he doesn't fully realize his capabilities yet. I mean what he did on the episode he figures out everything from the PA announcement was brilliant
Mikakunin de Shinkoukei Episode 1-3
I saw the show was all the rage and honestly... I gotta admit the little sister is pretty cute. But the best character so far for me is Hakuya and it's painfully obvious they're going to push his plot to the side to focus on the moe girls being moe. There aren't enough kuudere guys out there as main characters/almost protagonists, they should focus on that instead of yet another show that panders to moe/loli fetishes.
House is a narcissistic drug-addled asshole, very much in line with the original Sherlock. Oreki is a lazy bum with self esteem issues. Then there is also the type of mysteries House solves, mainly those of life and death. House as a show is very serious and tense (or at least tries to be) most of the time.
I haven't seen Star Driver, but I have seen Break Blade and Unicorn, and I think those two hinge heavily on what you're going into Mecha for. If you want to see robots beating the shit out of each other then they're awesome. If you're looking for great plot, then neither Break Blade nor Unicorn are going to fulfill you.
I WOULD argue that Gundam Build Fighters really nails it, though. Especially since they've managed to break up the weight of protagonist between Sei and Reiji, so that Sei can be the nerd-friendly hero, while Reiji embodies the hotblooded hero of yore.
I don't mean to say that all Mecha has been consumed with aping Gundam and EVA, though. I will argue till I'm blue in the face that Eureka Seven, for instance, is very much its own thing with its own style and its own point going on. I concede that Mecha has been in a rut lately, and one need look no further than the Gundam franchise to see that since the conclusion of the original SEED until Unicorn, the franchise was more or less utter shit.
There is difficulty that the genre faces in branching out, though. Gargantia is a perfect example of a show that wanted to do something different with giant robots and people instead just pissed on it for having them. I'm not saying the show was perfect, but it still gets a raw deal around this place.
Still, I don't think every Mecha show nowadays need be consigned to the same creatively bankrupt bucket one might dump Valvrave, Buddy Complex, and Majestic Prince into because there are still shows like Gargantia trying to do new things and great shows like Build Fighters that remember what kind of notes Mecha needed to hit to make itself great.
The serious problem facing Mecha right now, as I see it, is twofold. First, CGI Mecha. There must be something done to either improve the quality of them or they must be done away with. When they move well like in MJP, they're still hideously overdesigned, or they move at jarring paces like in Nobunaga the Fool. CGI has not been kind to the genre, and looking back at older shows with CGI mecha only makes it worse. Second, the plots. Tonally, mecha shows are sort of struggling to find their place. They wind up flat comedies like MJP or full-blown-retard when they try to be serious, like VVV, and when they seek to branch out from the EVA/MSG umbrella, like Gargantia, they're met with some complaint or another.
Maybe I've just been watching a bunch of great old ones recently, like Gunbuster and Diebuster, but I have confidence for the genre.
What's more is it is hardly any more strangled a genre than the High School Romantic Comedy. I've been watching Hyouka for awhile now, and frankly the entire thing is plagued by the same problems one can throw at Mecha. It's stuck doing what every other high school comedic, dramatic, romantic show has done before it. "The wonders of x!" plot, the "hot springs episode" the inevitable school festival, the general plotline of a disaffected loser having friendship and beautiful women dumped into his lap.
I submit it to you, then, that Mecha anime is no more in a decline than the overwhelming majority of anime currently is.
Sword Art Online 22
Fricking dying here.
Admiral Woofington
Member
This made my day. Thank you I burst out laughing at 2 am
Thank the Toonami thread.
SparksterMeta0
Member
SAO 22
As a first time watcher, I found this to be a bit better than last week's episode--
*activates flame shield*
ONLY BECAUSE There's no creepy tentacle molestation involved.
I give points for Kirito trying to fight, and points for Leafa for risking herself to save him.
With all that said, I wholeheartedly agree with everyone saying how hilarious the end was, though not as awful as they state. Awkward? Absolutely.
I almost felt sorry for her, but her reaction was gold.
As a first time watcher, I found this to be a bit better than last week's episode--
*activates flame shield*
ONLY BECAUSE There's no creepy tentacle molestation involved.
I give points for Kirito trying to fight, and points for Leafa for risking herself to save him.
With all that said, I wholeheartedly agree with everyone saying how hilarious the end was, though not as awful as they state. Awkward? Absolutely.
I almost felt sorry for her, but her reaction was gold.
Admiral Woofington
Member
I congratulate on still watching this. I basically stopped once I noticed where the anime was going. I'm still untainted by the second arc. Thank god.
Evangelion 3
Can't believe I was planning on watching one episode a day, I don't think I can hold out. Most likely gonna finish it before the end of next week.
The battle in this episode was really good. It helped that it was animated pretty good, but more specifically seeing the fucked up state of Shinji was what made it more satisfying. Hope this creepy tone to the fights stays for the majority of the show.
Can't believe I was planning on watching one episode a day, I don't think I can hold out. Most likely gonna finish it before the end of next week.
The battle in this episode was really good. It helped that it was animated pretty good, but more specifically seeing the fucked up state of Shinji was what made it more satisfying. Hope this creepy tone to the fights stays for the majority of the show.
lazybones18
Banned
One episode a day would have been a bad idea. Five a day should do the trick
2D mecha is dead and the mecha genre as a whole is pretty much garbage now. There are a few people/directors that do 2D, but in general nobody bothers. It's too much work seemingly and the people who actually know how to do it, are dwindling down. The payoff vs reward, is seemingly not there.
The only studios who are producing 2D mecha are Sunrise and BONES. Sunrise doesn't even do 2D for all their shows now either. Gainax is done and KyoAni's interest in the genre is for the most part, seemingly long gone. Production IG does mecha but so far their recent output has been CGI.
Very few directors are seemingly interested in this level of artistry.
Now as for the writing, welp, this has been a problem with anime as a whole. Anime is seemingly infested with adaptations instead of original works and the stuff being produced on the LN side is seemingly not that mecha heavy. So now we're talking about anime original adaptations. Star Driver was the closest attempt recently to making a great mecha show, and I don't mean a show with just mecha in it, but fell apart due to the writing. BONES while still outputting 2D mecha, also has had some dogshit level writers on board causing their works to fall apart *looks at AO*. So what you pretty much want are either BONES or Sunrise to get better and more ambitious writers.
Honestly if you guys want to see a 'mecha' show, in that the characters are being awesome and yelling and punching the fuck out of shit, I would cautiously recommend Star Driver. The structure and style is much more in line with some older shows while still being heavily Utena themed. It's flawed as fuck but it's the closest thing I've seen that would qualify.
Shotgunning Evangelion messed me up. It was worth it.
It's not really a mecha show though in structure and tone. It's a toy/sports show with mechs around it.
Admiral Woofington
Member
THANK. YOU.
I dunno, I still think things like Rinne, Gundam Build Fighters, and Gargantia give a spark of hope for the genre's continuation. I mean, it's not like the money for the mecha market has dried up, and I doubt that interest in 2D mecha is so rare a thing. I know it is beyond reason to do so at this point, but FMP's return to SRW also gives the world's tiniest spark of hope for an adaptation of the rest. I'm not averse to LNs, though.
I don't understand why people make this kind of post lol
Agreed though that is actually one of the reason why I like this show. Still, it is a show that does have mechs, albeit toy ones, in it.
It's a show about mecha fighting in a tournament. G Gundam's entire second half had the same premise and it was a perfectly good mecha show. Just because it isn't wasting its youth going "HEY GUYS SEE HOW THE ALAWS ARE REALLY THE TITANS WHY DON'T YOU LOVE 00 YET" doesn't mean it isn't a mecha show. I don't even know what "Structure and Tone" mean in this sense. Getter Robo's structure and tone is wildly different from Martian Successor Nadesico, but both are undeniably mecha shows.
The money is still there I'm sure. The problem is that the money seemingly doesn't differentiate between CGI and 2D. That's partially why I can't hate Igarashi too much as he is trying to put out legit 2D mecha shows with serious stories to them.
G Gundam also had the stuff before the tournament and also after the tournament. Part of what makes a mecha show is the person being physically in the cockpit in that there is some element of danger to it. The pilot is using the mech as an extension of their body to do what they normally can't.
DXLelouch153
Banned
Sword Art Online 22
what anime is this from?
Admiral Woofington
Member
Sure it's a mech show. Just like Yu Gi Oh is a show about powerful creatures fighting each other with sorcery and strategy....
lol
Because I didn't have the guts to say it considering how people just ooze love for the show. Genuinely though I was the only one who didn't see why it was so praised as a mech show when it's structured as a childrens 'toy' game.
Duckroll's victory is just a horrible, adolescent phase mecha is going through.
I'm sure you felt your comparison worked, but it doesn't, and it kinda looks extremely dumb. Is the Gundam Wing suddenly not a mech because the plot says it's a model? Of a mecha? Like where the Hell were you even taking this pathetic attempt at a comparison?
Shit's intolerable, I'm not sitting here listening to this idiocy, and I'm going to bed.
SparksterMeta0
Member
Nichijou.
One of the best anime I've seen back in 2011.
Hilarious and well animated. You should see it if not already.
The thing that you mentioned isn't sub-genre though
Mecha show only need to have mecha to could identified as one.
It does get better as it goes along, and there's payoff for things that were built up before. Not to say you'll necessarily love it, but it's full quality can't be understood just from the first few episodes, other than the fact that it's one of the prettiest anime ever made.
From what I understand it's a talent issue as much as it is a money issue. Which sadly makes sense... who wants to train to become a mechanical animator when mechanical stuff can all be easily done in CGI now? It's a vicious circle.
Admiral Woofington
Member
hahaha people sure take their anime seriously. I put the lol there as a sign I hoped people would realize I was kidding. Take a chill pill.
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