• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Winter of Anime 2013 |OT -5| This is stupid, kayos90 sucks!

Status
Not open for further replies.

cajunator

Banned
Well... it's every more creepy than usual is what I meant.

It definitely isn't.
But if you go to other community threads, you will likely find similar discussion going on.
Its human nature to talk about sex. Why do you think there is such a successful porn industry?
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
It definitely isn't.
But if you go to other community threads, you will likely find similar discussion going on.
Its human nature to talk about sex. Why do you think there is such a successful porn industry?

There is no talk of sex in the Tales threads.
 
Problem Children and their Apathy to Cats 03

sGcWqNB.jpg
1rwxNEV.jpg

I guess this is the final set up episode since not like we'll understand MC's power. I do look forward to more problem children.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
You're talking about like, arcs. When I watched the series in large, regular chunks I came across the odd (purely episodic story) which didn't do anything for me and I proceeded to skip it. It was very easy to tell when it was an arc and when it was just a one-off thing.

Well I enjoy the singular episodes and you really can't tell how good they will be since they often lead to a punchline. But I'm the kind of person who watches every episode once I decide to follow a show, even when I was catchingup with Gintama.

Then again when I was catching up I wasn't watching anything else so I just watched a few episodes when I felt like it. I'd say I took a few year to catchup at my slow rate.
 
The Girl Who Leapt Through Revolutions: Utena 2


This show is still as boring and ugly as I remember. I was perfectly content not remembering that fuckin monkey mouse :/

And of course there's the damn singing. There are many things you can make dramatic, but walking up a spiral staircase needs to be bombastic, not a damn musical.

On the plus side, I still like Anthy's red dress.
 

Jex

Member
Shit, that's what I've been doing actually. Especially because of all the visual wonder this show produces (that moon scene being a prime example). I'm extremely bad at artistic analysis though, so it'd probably fly over my head anyway. Are you gonna do a short exposition on each episode as you rewatch it? I'd be pretty interested in that since I like learning about symbolism in art.

I can try.
 

cajunator

Banned
The Girl Who Leapt Through Revolutions: Utena 2



This show is still as boring and ugly as I remember. I was perfectly content not remembering that fuckin monkey mouse :/

And of course there's the damn singing. There are many things you can make dramatic, but walking up a spiral staircase needs to be bombastic, not a damn musical.

On the plus side, I still like Anthy's red dress.

I suppose there is always one...
 

Narag

Member
We should each accept a watchbet from cosmic in exchange for him watching more Utena. We can then monetize his ordeal as a shounen anime.
 

Chronoexe

Member
I really wish they gave Kittan more time earlier on. He was so cool.


;___;

I love everyone. For me there's no bad characters. Simon's development all the way to the end was awesome, and I even liked Nia.

It's the one show I don't even care about having blind fanboyism for. I fucking love it.

But he dare to kiss mai waifu and hated him, then he blew my mind in the same episode he's so awesome.
 

Jex

Member
[Mouryou no Hako] - 1 (More stuff)

MnH13.jpg


Ha, you thought I was done discussing this episode but you were sorely wrong. I've decided that, because of my failure to talk about this in a timely manner I am going to massively overcompensate and write far too much about this episode.

I'm going to throw down some subheadings so this doesn't become a wall of text that's wholly impenetrable.

First Impressions

MnH11.jpg


First impressions are very important - I think we're all aware of this fact, especially when it comes to stories and entertainment that we consume. Most creators will try and lure you in right off the bat with some obvious hook - think of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's explosive opening scene. Getting the audience's attention is a little bit more difficult with works that lack such obvious visual and emotional appeal, so this series aims for a confusing and bizarre opening sequence instead. It certainly worked on me because the reveal was so extreme in nature that I just had to know what the heck was going on. So good job on that front.

Here's why this show might not be for you.

MnH12.jpg


The episode pulls a fast one on you and the sequence that you witnessed in the first scene is completely forgotten. After the OP we're immediately launched into what appears to be a fairly standard shoujo storyline. There's this average and plain girl, Yuriko who has trouble at home who becomes bewitched by the elegant, beautiful, sophisticated and intelligent girl Kanako and over the course of the episode somehow they become very close. I can hear half of you falling asleep at the very prospect of such a story - what's so interesting about girls from different walks of life becoming friends? If this subject wasn't boring enough the series seems to interested in discussing really old Japanese poets like "Outomo no Kuronushi" and boring-ass mythology. The show is extremely dense and wordy and it rarely gives the audience a second to catch up. I can literally see people flicking the channel to something else to stay awake.

So what's so good about it? You're a poor salesman, Jexhius.

Well, after I've just crapped all over the show by calling it wordy and boring you'll probably be wondering why I'd recommend it at all. I'm not calling it wordy and boring because I think that's what the show is actually like, I'm just forewarning you. It's a demanding, thoughtful show which requires your energy, attention and patience, in a similar way that Legend of the Galactic Heroes of Stand Alone Complex can do. Which isn't to say that it's really difficult, just that it requires more effort than your normal series. I've said above that I had to watch parts of this episode multiple times but I also had to make notes, too. You need a bit of time to reflect on what you've seen to try and understand what the creators were getting at. It's good because the characters are interesting and they explore some fairly interesting subject matter in a fairly unique manner.

So it's not a Yuri-Shoujo show? Fuck. Visual clues.

MnH15.jpg


I've already discussed how the audiences expectations have been played with since the start of the episode, first it's a mystery show, then it's a shoujo, then it's some kind of horrific war flashback thing, you can never be sure where it's going to go next. Why you might be confused as an anime viewer is that in the medium of anime pretty much every series that we watch fits neatly and safely into a well defined genre. It's a shounen action series, it's a romance show, it's a mecha series, it's a shoujo. We assign these labels automatically without any prompting when we encounter certain character designs, characters, visual clues and stories.

This episode feels like a shoujo series to an avid anime watcher purely because it resembles a shoujo series by way of the flowery imagery and because of the way the character relationships are initially presented. However, that automatic assumption is completely incorrect. If we encountered it on the printed page it probably wouldn't come across half as shoujo as the visuals portray it.

Visual Symbolism and other Film School Wankery

MnH16.jpg


This shot is fairly useful. On one hand you have Yuriko's mother front and centre, the focal point of the image. Her visual appearance is clearly very important to her because she's sitting in front of a huge mirror and this is how we're introduced to her, taking care of her own appearance. This already tells you something valuable about who she is. On top of that information the image is fairly unsettling because of the disembodied heads on sticks, the purpose they serve will only become apparent later. For now they're just creepy because they resemble people, but they aren't people.

MnH14.jpg


This scene made me laugh out loud when I re-watched this episode today.
The visual foreshadowing is delicious.

Themes and all that Eng Lit Crap

MnH17.jpg


A number of ideas are unfurled over the course of this episode sometimes in surprising and unexpected ways. . Through Yuriko a number of important ideas are discussed such as: the difficulties in growing up, accepting change, challenging authority, the role of women. I think these themes are all fairly recognisable and understandable, it's just that the way they are delivered to the audience is unusual.

For example, Kanako and Yuriko have a really weird discussion and belief in reincarnation. Specifically, Yuirko believes that she's a reincarnation of Kanako and Kanako believes she is a reincarnation of Yuriko and that for all eternity they will carry on being reincarnated as each other. This ideas, is, well, bizarre and I can see that those of you watching the show have really struggled with understanding how it's supposed to fit in with anything else. What does is at add to the story? Similarly, Kanako has a weird fascination with the 'Five Death Omens of A Godess' where she discusses the signs that appear when a Goddess is going to die.

It's pretty clear that both these ideas tie heavily into the characters of Yuriko and Kanako. The Death Omens actually sound like what happens to a woman as she ages - the way her outward appearance changes over time, a metaphorical decline into old age. Conversely the idea of an endless cycle of reincarnation is about never changing, about being the same forever.

For the character that we follow the most, Yuriko, this idea is clearly very appealing. She doesn't want to become like her mother, a husbandless women who is overly concerned with her vanity and trying to attract male attention despite her age. She clearly sees such a thing a life as digesting, undignified and inappropriate - she openly asks why her mother is still alive after showing all the five death omens. (Yuriko has so many problems with her mother that I don't even have time to go into them all here!) Instead Yurko desperately wants to be Kanako - beautiful, sophisticated, intelligent - all the things she isn't. The idea that when Yuriko dies she can become Kanako, rather than her mother, is very attractive to her. It guarantees her a better life at some point in the future and that she lived a better life at some point in the past.

What about Kanako? Why is she so interested in never changing, never aging? This is a lot more difficult to understand because Kanako is a very mysterious figure. We know practically nothing about her home life beyond some distressing tales of her mother. We're left to assume that she never wants to become like her mother too - decrepit, spiteful, blemished. This is just an assumption though because we really don't get to see anything from her perspective, only Yuriko's really idolized vision of her.

Of course, you can't stay the same forever and this is really the crux of the problem in this episode.

I've barely touched on souls, boxes and dolls but you get the idea. There's a lot of meat to this text and I've only really gone over a few of the concepts that this episode holds.
 

cajunator

Banned
I'm just realising how hypocritical that post was from me when I'm the Utena and Precure fan in here. lulz

oh great cajun discovered nyanners. This is going to get saccharine.

Nah. I have known about nyanners (which is probably a guy with voice editing software) for a while but that troll video is always so relevant.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
Mouryou no Hako 3


2deep4me, ":kayos", :wonzo.

The shaky camera was used well with
Kyoushu's incantation
, an escalation of an unsettling feeling for Yoriko. I rarely see it used decently, therefore it was of note.

Besides that, I'm certainly not fully aware of the weight in certain confrontations. For example,
Shutaro and the woman inside the box
. The information given in the latter half seemed helpful, but I can't help to think that
Yoriko's testimony on Kanako's death
is a "red herring" for lack of better term. If not that, a mere imagining. I have a problem taking her words at face-value because. Well, she's obviously a tad unstable in the head. Of course, given the conclusion, this could all be a non-issue.

Finally, the color filters in the
operation room
were giving me studio GoHands trauma. What monster would place lighting like that? *Insert mythology here*

Looking forward to eventually wrapping my head around this all. I would still like to understand all that's going about.
 

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Mondaji 3

So basically everyone's powers are super broken, then? :lol With the possible exception of Kasukabe, but I feel like we still haven't seen the full extent of what she can do yet.

Also both the OP and ED for this show are absolutely glorious.
 
Classy fanservice is an unfortunate rarity. I think its more fun than all out blatant fanservice.
I think thats why Zettai Ryouiki is so effective with people. Or why half dressed is a more sexy idea than fully nude. There is probably a scientific explanation for all this.

It leaves more to the imagination.
 

Steroyd

Member
I was under the impression that enforcers were people who had regained some level of control. If they are walking around with numbers shooting off the charts that seems kind of nonsensical even by the standards of this show.

The enforcers are people whose Psycho pass hue has gone cloudy and won't ever go back to normal even if they act normal, this was somewhat pointed out in Yayoi's episode while she was detained in the correction center a couple episodes back.
 

BluWacky

Member
And of course there's the damn singing. There are many things you can make dramatic, but walking up a spiral staircase needs to be bombastic, not a damn musical.

Way to be a downer on how I make a living - musicals are by nature dramatic, what with being dramas and all :p

Do you not find it dramatic when a song kicks in at a particular time? I dunno, like Libera Me From Hell in Gurren Lagann or whatever? I guess I've just always found the grinding guitars and overblown lyrics for the J A Seazer songs to be absolutely fricking awesome in Utena, and surely there must be other shows where a song kicks in and it lifts you up?

Besides, the actual Utena musical is much, much more irritating.
 

cajunator

Banned
Way to be a downer on how I make a living - musicals are by nature dramatic, what with being dramas and all :p

Do you not find it dramatic when a song kicks in at a particular time? I dunno, like Libera Me From Hell in Gurren Lagann or whatever? I guess I've just always found the grinding guitars and overblown lyrics for the J A Seazer songs to be absolutely fricking awesome in Utena, and surely there must be other shows where a song kicks in and it lifts you up?

Besides, the actual Utena musical is much, much more irritating.

The realization that this exists makes the world a better place.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
[Mouryou no Hako] - 1 (More stuff)

I've barely touched on souls, boxes and dolls but you get the idea. There's a lot of meat to this text and I've only really gone over a few of the concepts that this episode holds.

This is a nice read. I've picked up on some of these cues you state here, but overlooked a couple. I'm pondering as to which ones I will need to successfully catch in order to get a "good" grasp on the overarching story and its characters. It's quite a unique experience for me thus far, but then again, I have not run into too many mystery anime.
 
It'll devolve into a complaining about Scamco thread three pages in.

Probably.
I was just wondering given they were talking about community threads. A random Tales of thread on the gaming side isn't going to last long enough to get to the discuss about how cute Rita's butt is. ...Unless the thread was initially about that.
 

Mr.Jeff

Member
We should each accept a watchbet from cosmic in exchange for him watching more Utena. We can then monetize his ordeal as a shounen anime.
I keep thinking about a way of doing a recommendation type circle I guess? Starting with one person, the following person has to recommend a series to them to watch while the next person does the same for that and so on.
The only trouble is for people that have seen a lot of shows.

I'm not sure why I brought that up.

On entirely unrelated news, I'm happy that a new Banner of the Stars book is finally being released this year, even if nothing will ever be done with it.
 
Way to be a downer on how I make a living - musicals are by nature dramatic, what with being dramas and all :p

Do you not find it dramatic when a song kicks in at a particular time? I dunno, like Libera Me From Hell in Gurren Lagann or whatever? I guess I've just always found the grinding guitars and overblown lyrics for the J A Seazer songs to be absolutely fricking awesome in Utena, and surely there must be other shows where a song kicks in and it lifts you up?

Besides, the actual Utena musical is much, much more irritating.

My point is they need a better song. That's why I used the word "bombastic".
 

CorvoSol

Member
Guys, I'm dropping Rah Xephon for the time being because it's like Evangelion if Evangelion were to substitute cool action and creativity for trite anime cliches and mecha designs that ranged from ugly to fugly ass holy hell get that off my screen.

Character designs ranged from cool to ugh what an annoying anime cliche.

Mostly though I couldn't stand the ambiguously fey scientist and the inexplicable guy with red sunglasses and a white suit whose occupation and role was never really clear to me. The show started out good, but I don't have time for the rest of it, and my interest dropped radically. I know, I know, don't judge 8 episodes in, so I'll come back and finish it after I'm done with Eureka Seven, but for now, I just don't give a flip about this knock-off Evangelion.

Today I had an epiphany, though. With short hair, Eureka looks just like Leeron from Gurren Lagan.
 

cajunator

Banned
Guys, I'm dropping Rah Xephon for the time being because it's like Evangelion if Evangelion were to substitute cool action and creativity for trite anime cliches and mecha designs that ranged from ugly to fugly ass holy hell get that off my screen.

Character designs ranged from cool to ugh what an annoying anime cliche.

Mostly though I couldn't stand the ambiguously fey scientist and the inexplicable guy with red sunglasses and a white suit whose occupation and role was never really clear to me. The show started out good, but I don't have time for the rest of it, and my interest dropped radically. I know, I know, don't judge 8 episodes in, so I'll come back and finish it after I'm done with Eureka Seven, but for now, I just don't give a flip about this knock-off Evangelion.

Today I had an epiphany, though. With short hair, Eureka looks just like Leeron from Gurren Lagan.

I still think you should check out Kiddy Grade.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Good Job Club - 1

This anime is trying to give me brain cancer. It is possibly one of the most boring 4-koma adaptions I've seen.

The keima voiced main character doesn't seem interested in the opposite sex.

Seeing the huge spider in the episode was weird though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom