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REVIEW: Ray Sub.DVD




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thaivuN



Joined: 06 Jul 2010
Posts: 64
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:48 am Reply with quote
Too bad it doesn't have an english dub, but still, I'm glad Ray the Animation got a DVD release. This one is on my "to-buy" list.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 7:06 am Reply with quote
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't get the "Maiden Japan" pun until Theron pointed it out. Embarassed It's still a weird moniker for a label that puts out titles like Ray, but whatevs. Despite the fact that Theron highlighted the weaknesses of the title, I am nonetheless intrigued by it (not having seen a single frame of it, myself). Think I may have to buy this one.
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RapidEyeMovement



Joined: 11 May 2010
Posts: 106
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:00 am Reply with quote
Hurm. I tried watching this last year, but gave up after episode 1. Theron's review doesn't really convince me it's worth finishing.
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Penguin_Factory



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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Location: Ireland
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:14 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
the director can make a devastating whirlwind attack by spinning around like a top on his peg leg


I watched the first episode of this years ago. The scene above is where I stopped watching. It was just way too ludicrous to take seriously.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Penguin_Factory wrote:
Quote:
the director can make a devastating whirlwind attack by spinning around like a top on his peg leg


I watched the first episode of this years ago. The scene above is where I stopped watching. It was just way too ludicrous to take seriously.
Same here.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 3:37 pm Reply with quote
I remember watching this all the way through in 2006 and more or less enjoying it but it wasn't memorable enough to stick with me (I can't summarize most of the plot or even remember the twists) but I think I found the psychological elements interesting.
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:38 pm Reply with quote
octopodpie wrote:
I remember watching this all the way through in 2006 and more or less enjoying it but it wasn't memorable enough to stick with me (I can't summarize most of the plot or even remember the twists) but I think I found the psychological elements interesting.

Ditto, which is why I can't recommend buying it. A rental on a rainy weekend perhaps, though..? It's interesting to try to see a more "old-school"-style series get made in the present day, but the most memorable thing was the (rather cool) lead and the use of spoiler[genetic memory], which is totally bogus science, though no more so than a lot of this series, as one of its final twists.

Also, Theron, you got to remind me (in spoiler tags, of course), what are the obvious Evangelion parallels...? There was nothing that struck as particularly Evangelion-ish at the time.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:08 pm Reply with quote
vashfanatic wrote:
Also, Theron, you got to remind me (in spoiler tags, of course), what are the obvious Evangelion parallels...? There was nothing that struck as particularly Evangelion-ish at the time.


One that I can do without a complete spoiler tag is that Rei=Ray. (And, as we find out, spoiler[Ray's name is, in fact, derived from "rei," which is what her serial number calculates out to if treated as a subtraction problem]. Another is the way she's bandaged up in one late episode, especially on the head; it's in the style that Ayanami made famous.

On a much more spoiler-intensive front, spoiler[Ray is a clone - and far from the only one - of a woman near and dear to the heart of the head of the Organization, just like Ayanami was for Gendo. Rei was at least vaguely attracted to the son of her original, while Ray was at least vaguely attracted to the clone of the son of her original.] Combined with the above, that's a little too much coincidence.
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tangytangerine



Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Posts: 439
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:17 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't get the "Maiden Japan" pun until Theron pointed it out. Embarassed It's still a weird moniker for a label that puts out titles like Ray, but whatevs.


Yeah, I have to admit that I didn't catch it until I slowly said the name. When I was first reading the review, I thought maybe it was a reference to the Iron Maiden album.

It seems weird to have a different label for more mature anime. It's almost like they're following the Media Blasters method of business.

But if it means getting more mature, different anime, I'm all for it.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:30 pm Reply with quote
tangytangerine wrote:
Blood- wrote:
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't get the "Maiden Japan" pun until Theron pointed it out. Embarassed It's still a weird moniker for a label that puts out titles like Ray, but whatevs.


Yeah, I have to admit that I didn't catch it until I slowly said the name. When I was first reading the review, I thought maybe it was a reference to the Iron Maiden album.

It seems weird to have a different label for more mature anime. It's almost like they're following the Media Blasters method of business.

But if it means getting more mature, different anime, I'm all for it.


It's not really that simple. Maiden Japan is not a label made specifically for "mature" anime. In fact, they release Himawari this past week and I certainly wouldn't classify that as mature.

Basically, Maiden Japan is the animation label of Switchblade Pictures, which had thought to have been defunct until the past couple of months. Switchblade has been referred to as "someone else's baby" and is a legally separate company from Sentai, Section 23 and ADV/AeSir. The someone else appears to be Matt Greenfield, as he appears as Executive Producer on all the Switchblade and Maiden Japan titles, something he's never done for ADV or Sentai. John Ledford is listed as Executive Producer on all Sentai and AeSir/ADV titles. So while it's obviously closely tied to Sentai and Section 23, it is a separate operation.

In short, it appears they are picking up pretty inexpensive titles to augment their library of live action and "pink cinema" titles, as well as provide additional content to Anime Network's VOD service and online player. It remains to be see how many, if any, additional titles Maiden Japan/Switchblade acquires, while Switchblade has not acquired any new live action material in well over a year now. They did have one re-release recently however.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:39 am Reply with quote
well while Maiden, Sentai, Section 23, AeSir, etc might be legally distinct entities, they can all be lumped into the neo-ADV moniker. How ADV proper went under was just a means to get rid of debt. I mean, they still involve the same people from before in Texas Very Happy
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vashfanatic



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
On a much more spoiler-intensive front, spoiler[Ray is a clone - and far from the only one - of a woman near and dear to the heart of the head of the Organization, just like Ayanami was for Gendo. Rei was at least vaguely attracted to the son of her original, while Ray was at least vaguely attracted to the clone of the son of her original.] Combined with the above, that's a little too much coincidence.

I would never have made a connection on something like that, but then again, I'm not the world's biggest Evangelion fan. I'd argue there's a difference in that spoiler[Gendoh didn't create Rei for the same reasons as the villain in Ray, like, at all. And people with a wider range of older SciFi knowledge than me could probably confirm my suspicion that Evangelion isn't the first to use a similar generic formula.]

Anyway, Rei suffers from other reasons than one reviewer's sense of a vague connection between it and another series, so I'm not going to argue you on it. It's all personal impressions, after all. Your other criticisms of it are spot-on. It's overall an odd licensing choice.
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Nayu



Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 676
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:16 am Reply with quote
Bought this one for the original creator. Akihito Yoshitomi (Blue Drop, Eat Man, lots of yummy yuri) is awesome. I really wish ADV had produced more of the manga, it was pretty good.
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