Forum - View topicWhat Are You Considering Buying?
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1886 Location: Netherlands |
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I enjoyed swimming. My swimsuit wasn't that revealing, fortunately
 . I'll post it if I've bought anything, thanks for the replies.
And if the second season is favored by most of the people, that will be something to look forward to, right? |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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The first season is quite good and in fact, its stakes are higher than those of the second, but the second is more emotionally intense and personal to the characters, which I think makes it more compelling. It also has some remarkable animation that I'd be interested in your reaction too. The nice thing is that despite being divided into 01 and 02, they fit together pretty tightly. The first lays groundwork for the rest of the story that make it feel quite cohesive. (Unfortunately, it also lays a lot of groundwork for future episodes that will never happen) If you do buy it, you might want to check what the last episode of Decode 02 is on your copy; in the American version, it's actually an OVA that links 01 to 02 and is best watched before the second season rather than at its end. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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I agree with SA's description of the seasons. I might add that one way of looking at season 1 and 2 is that the first could be seen as PG-13 and the second more like PG-15, which took a few people I know by surprise. The Funimation dub is pretty good with Birdy coming off as having a sunny disposition which I found charming without resorting to being overly cutesy. I found the show to be very enjoyable and wish it could have gotten a third season to tie up some loose ends. Also the one extra episode OAV (not to be confused with the 1996 OAV) occurs between both seasons, but for some reason Funimation as SA mentioned put it at the end of season 2 in North America. Oh, I just remembered Funimation also put a trailer in the beginning of season 1 for a fan-service show, which irritated me to no end. |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3872 Location: New York state. |
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Let's see:
Top Priority: Kimikiss: Pure Rouge My-Otome Blue Submarine No. 6 Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya Premise to Kimikiss has me giddy to want to try snagging it. Bottom 3 are obviously because of Bandai's upcoming shutdown in November. Desire to Snag Sometime Soon: The Cockpit Maetel Legend Secret World of Arietty Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike Tenchi in Tokyo Giant Robo Cat Soup DN Angel Orguss 02 Kimagure Orange Road OVAs Have the money to get these. Just have other titles of higher priority I wish to get right now. Desire to Get Somewhere Down the Road: Fushigi Yugi Marmalade Boy City Hunter Hare + Guu Kyo Kara Maoh Zegapain Yamato Movie Box Set These seven are beyond my price range at the moment due to my tight budgeting and/or have been out of print for a while with folks charging an arm and a leg for them. Hope to get some opportunity to get them when I'm not dealing with money woes. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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Well I'm not the only one who needs Bandai series help. I know I've probably posted this sort of stuff before, but now I have to consider things more seriously.
First, quick list of Bandai series I already own (everything is DVD, I don't yet own a bluray player): Cowboy Bebop, Crest/Banner 1/2, Fantastic Children, Flag, Gurren Lagann, .hack//SIGN Infinite Ryvius, Kikaider, Outlaw Star, Planetes, Scrapped Princess, Silent Mobius, Toward the Terra And movies/OVAs: Freedom, Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Gundam 0080, Junkers Come Here, Wings of Honneamise (lol, it's HDDVD combo pack, but it was cheap and still had the booklet, no?) So clearly, I already own a lot of the rarer stuff, like Scrapped Princess and Flag. And I also freakin' love Bandai. For now, let's say I can only afford one series, but might be able to get other ones for Xmas/Birthday. And there are series I definitely do not want (I'm not really a fan of Haruhi and Code Geass for example, thus won't buy them. I've owned Blue Sub, Gundam 0079 TV, and Escaflowne in the past, but didn't like any of those enough to keep). But ones that I keep considering or noticing, usually because they are scifi include: -Mobile Fighter G Gundam. So, back before Otakon, I asked a forum if this or GaoGaiGar was better, they said GGG, so I acquired that at Otakon (have yet to watch it), but I can't help but eye this anyway. But I'm also concerned that, since I have no nostalgic ties to it (or I wouldn't already bought it), that it might come off as "too kiddy" for me, so to say. Or maybe too ridiculous, I've seen some of those Gundams online, like the cactus and the mermaid/fish ones. Clearly I don't necessarily expect maturity from my mecha, I love Gurren Lagann insane amounts, but GL also knew it was a reconstruction, it was kinda self aware of certain things, including how it hated physics more than Pinkie Pie. But I'm also concerned that G Gundam might not be over the top enough, especially after having seen Giant Robo and GL. -Gundam 08th MS Team, well, I hear that this isn't supposed to be like other Gundams as well. But while G Gundam is ridiculous, and 0080 is sincere, I'm not sure how 08thMS team is supposed to be different. I didn't like 0079, so if it's not different enough, it's not worth my time. But not having Tomino direct is a plus, I don't seem to like his style of directing. I understand this series doesn't have newtypes and stuff, but it's gotta be more than just that. But the guy working with Ryosuke Takahashi is a big plus too... -Star Driver, well, Gurren Lagann comparisons certainly, but I've seen that Galactic Pretty Boy transformation, it's possibly the most awesome transformation scene I have ever seen. But a lot of my friends with similar tastes have found it kinda average, and I've heard that it tries to bite off more than it can chew. -Scryed, another [adult swim] anime that I never saw on [adult swim]. But part of it is also that I love that guy's character designs. They're so perfectly textbook stereotypical anime that I can't help but love looking at them. But I already have Infinite Ryvius, which I know happens to be an actually awesome series already. -Mars Daybreak, pretty much entirely because of its genre of scifi+military. I just wanna make sure I don't miss a hidden gem or something in all this scramble. -Yukikaze, genre, also, I can find the singles for dirt cheap at the local video store. But I do need to know if it's worth it, I don't care if I pay $5 or $50 for a series, a waste of money is a waste of money, right? They both annoy me. -Ghost Slayers Ayashi, that's right! This series exists too! No clue what it's about but like I said, I'm trying to overlook nothing! Though I usually have a more difficult time getting into historical series, probably because I never studied historical Japan in grade school. But then I always say that and love Ooku and Sakuran, so maybe I'm just lying to myself? Or maybe I only find it worth it for the actually good series. No longer looking at: -Witch Hunter Robin -Big O -Eureka Seven (I also think Funi is likely to get this, so I can probably sleep on this for now) -Gundam 0083 So far, these are clearly all series I can live without, but are there any I should keep living without? Or any that I shouldn't let slide me by? Last edited by zawa113 on Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:42 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Of those, I own and enjoyed Witch Hunter Robin and s-CRY-ed, although the former gets really weird and kinda falls apart in the latter half, and the latter is very much an action show.
My roommate owns and enjoys both G Gundam (I sat through it, am not a fan) and 08th MS Team (haven't seen it). 08th MS Team is a Universal Century series, unlike G, so it's part of the largest overall storyarc. |
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EricDent
 Posts: 997 Location: Georgetown, TX |
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Will only do the ones I have seen.
Spoilers just in case -Witch Hunter Robin: Only saw bits of it on Adult Swim I thought it was interesting. However never really hooked me into buying it. -Scryed: Get it NOW!!! It's awesome times ten! Great dub (with both Steve Blum & Crispin Freeman), cool characters, cool powers, and more manliness than most other shows. -Big O: Yeah the lack of a real conclusion (plus the rather odd plot) did not give it that "must buy" feel. -Ghost Slayers Ayashi: an interesting show (again it has Steve Blum & Crispin Freeman) with interesting characters. Plus cool powers. Though the rather odd thing about the plot is it is very "monster of the week", plus the rather weird concept of the eating of the monster they fight. |
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Sailor S
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Well, for titles that you don't have listed, I'd suggest 5 Centimeters Per Second. Of course, I'm rather partial towards Makoto Shinkai, so if he's not your cup of tea, then skipping this would be fine.
As far as the ones you're wavering on, the only ones I've watched are Eureka 7 and Scryed. Scryed was one of those series that was pretty hot when it came out, but it seems to not have stood the test of time so well. It's a fun enough series, just isn't terribly memorable to me. Eureka 7 was kinda bad. It was hyped up as this next great hit, and it never came close to living up to expectations. Plus it was easily twice as long as it needed to be. When a show catches my interest, I'm thrilled if it gets the 50 episode treatment. When it doesn't, then it gets to be a chore. I think the only reason why I finished this was because the completionist in me hates leaving anything unfinished. Renton is far too much of a whiny little brat for my tastes. But, this more or less solidified my assertion that mecha isn't for me. |
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Bright_Spear
Posts: 340 |
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The only bandai set I can think of that I need to get is .hack//Sign. Don't know if its worth it thow. If I do I'll prob have to grab up the QVA's and other stuff that I've seen around.
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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@Bright Spear
.hack//SIGN is definitely not for everyone. A lot of people consider it really slow, and I can see where they're coming from. I quite enjoyed it, but the ending did make it very clear that this whole thing was like a prequel/promo for the video games. But everyone that I've ever encountered loved the soundtrack, it is really amazing, I think the lady went on to do Madoka Magica's OST? But yeah, for SIGN, I found the main to be kinda whiny and annoying, but everyone else was interesting and got more screen time. But I also really liked the setting, whch looked fantasy, but everyone treated it as scifi. Characters might randomly stop moving because they went to get a cup of tea or something. So if nothing else, the setting and music are damn fun. I'm not sure how many discs the Legends set has, but I got disc 6 with a special bonus disc, which had a sorta distant finale ep, which did help clear up a bit of the ambiguity of the show's ending. Of course, it just had to tie into the games, so it's supposed to double as something for the game too. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Yes, Kajiura did indeed do both .hack//SIGN and Madoka.
She's also done Xenosaga (movies for II, everything for III), Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyokai, Madlax, My-HiME and My-Otome, Noir, Pandora Hearts, and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (among others), and that's not even counting the major titles she just did theme songs for. |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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Ok, so call me stupid, but I only just learned that Gundam 0083 is not a synonym for Zeta, which I had always assumed for what can best be described as no apparent reason. Or maybe 0079 and original MSG are synonyms, so I thought those numbers matched up too, but apparently that is not the case.
So now I need to add 0083 to my list of inquiry as it's not Tomino directed. Now, with 0080, I didn't really need to know much Gundam in order to follow along. I basically needed to know which were Gundams and which were Zakus, so that's about the extend of my knowledge, None of the newtype stuff. So on both 0083 and 08th MS Team, I need to know if they a) worth it and b) don't need me to watched anything else, and don't except me to know beyond what I know form 0080 (namely: the name of the sides/their robots) |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Zeta actually takes place in 0087.
For the Universal Century series, the breakdown is (roughly) as follows (years in parenthesis are the timeline for that title): (0079) MS IGLOO - OAV series taking place during the One Year War. (0079) Mobile Suit Gundam (Aka Original Gundam; aka Gundam 0079) - This is the original series. (0079) The 08th MS Team - This is a side-story to the original series. (0079-0080) Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket - OAV side-story to the main story (0083) Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory - OAV leading into Zeta (0087) Zeta Gundam (aka Z Gundam) - TV series continuing the main story (0088) Gundam ZZ (aka Double Zeta) - Sequel to Zeta (0093) Char's Counterattack - Movie continuing the main story (0096) Gundam UC (aka Gundam Unicorn) - OAV continuing the main story From what my roommate tells me (it's been years since I've watched UC Gundam stuff), 0083 requires knowledge of the final battle of the original series, and from what the wiki tells me, it leads directly into Zeta. |
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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Back in the day, I watched 0083 on VHS before even seeing the original series and didn't have much of a problem understanding what was going on. The basics come across well enough on their own and, as far as I can recall, there aren't any Newtypes involved. I would have to say the show is essentially the Gundam equivalent of the Hollywood blockbuster...in that it's not particularly smart as a whole and the characters aren't anything special nor are they very sympathetic, but the above average action sequences and high production values provide an entertaining though perhaps ultimately hollow experience. In several ways, it's the opposite of 0080, especially in terms of emphasis and tone. For that matter, it doesn't tie that closely into the rest of the property. There's barely a couple of cameo appearances from one or two relatively secondary Zeta characters (in practice) and a very brief introduction to one of the new factions at the end, but that's all. It's not exactly required viewing, but you might enjoy the series on a superficial level if nothing else is expected.
The biggest difference would be the comparatively greater focus on things like squad tactics and occasional moments of guerrilla warfare in an appropriate setting. There's a little bit of space combat and so on, but for the most part everything takes place on the ground. You don't have one truly special Gundam leading the charge either...but a whole unit of standardized variants. While not all of the resulting battles are necessarily great, at the very least there is more variety to the proceedings. It's also interesting to point out that the protagonist of 08th MS Team is actually a trained officer, albeit a low-ranking one, and this leads to a different kind of team dynamic between him and his squad. I'd say the cast of characters is pretty good, generally speaking, though opinions vary about the obvious "Romeo and Juliet" angle at the core of the story and how it was ultimately resolved. Speaking only for myself, I'd say it was fairly cheesy but not crippingly so. Btw, I believe the only Newtypes in 08th MS Team are in a mostly disposable epilogue episode at the every end. Not even fans of the series like it. Overall, the show has its rough moments and such, like the main villain being rather simplistic, but my opinion of it is more positive than negative.
Just for the record and other interested readers, I'd like to briefly add a counter-argument. The show did a much better job than Xam'd in terms of developing its cast and presenting its story. Which is exactly why I don't share the views expressed by Sailor S about the length being "a chore" (I'd shave off two or three episodes at most) or about Renton being "too whiny" in the grand scheme of things (he is basically your typical kid who learns to grow up and, in all fairness, his emotions aren't limited to whining). That said, this is definitely the kind of series that you tend to either love or hate. |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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^ Well, one of the reasons I'm no longer considering Eureka 7 is also that I think Funimation is incredibly likely to pick it up, with them getting AO and all. It might go oop for a while, but I'm expecting it to be back in print within a couple of years or so. So it kinda takes the urgency out of getting it. I'm still considering it, just probably not for this purchase/my xmas/bday list of this year. And heck, E7 is still airing on TV (I swear they must've done that just so it could air with Samurai 7), so it seems like something Funi wouldn't let slip them by.
Anyway, I think you've helped me out with the Gundams, 0083 doesn't sound like my thing, but 08th MS team is rising a bit higher on my radar. As the Mike Toole show pointed out, licensing Gundam should be an absolute nightmare. |
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