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Hey, Answerman! [2009-12-04]


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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:17 am Reply with quote
On a whim, I started eating my way through the Macross franchise a while ago, and I have to say the only thing Region 1 is really missing out on is the excellence of Do You Remember Love? and a decent-quality version of the Macross Plus movie. Macross 7 is silly and a bit aimless and Macross Zero is incoherent and preachy (not to mention has very little to do with the rest of the Macross universe aside from the token inclusion of Valkyries and Roy Fokker, who's something of a stock-type anyway).

I haven't gotten to Macross Frontier, so I reserve judgment.


Last edited by Fronzel on Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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giascle



Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 157
Location: Denver
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:32 am Reply with quote
There needs to be a clear definition that art is not the same animation. A show can have amazing character design, they never go off-model, they backgrounds are well drawn, and it's basically just pleasant to look at. However, if it has only slightly more movement than a slideshow, and when it does, the movements are poorly timed, with few in-betweens, that is bad animation.

Also, who wrote the Flake of the Week? I have a feeling it was me, as a joke. You seem to like succinct answers at the end, and you can't get short than one word.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:35 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
On a whim, I started eating my way through the Macross franchise a while ago, and I have to say the only thing Region 1 is really missing out on is the excellence of Do You Remember Love? and a decent-quality version of the Macross Plus movie. Macross 7 is silly and a bit aimless and Macross Zero is incoherent and preachy.

I haven't gotten to Macross Frontier, so I reserve judgment.


Macross Zero is without a doubt the worse mecha series I have ever seen, and it is one of the worst anime series ever. It's dumb, and boring, their isn't a single interesting character in the entire series (including Roy Fokker), and nothing is ever explained. It's needlessly condescending to undeveloped nations (oh look she has a soft drink), and for some god awful reason their are mayans in the South Pacific, and people say Americans are bad at Geography.

The whole thing screams that they wanted something for Macross 20th anniversary, couldn't think of anything so they just made an OVA with the largest budget ever and try to cover up the lack of story, and characters with pretty animation.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:50 am Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:
It's needlessly condescending to undeveloped nations (oh look she has a soft drink)

It's also needlessly condescending to developed nations (waah, technology ruins everything. Go away, white people!).


Last edited by Fronzel on Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:59 am; edited 1 time in total
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:52 am Reply with quote
Wow, I actually agree with Charred Knight on something. I dislike Macross Zero, myself. There were some decent aerial combat scenes, but I couldn't have been any less enchanted by either the flat characters or disjointed storyline that didn't belong in a Macross entry. I didn't even find myself enjoying the music.

On the subject of Macross, I just want to see a decent re-release of Macross Plus and maybe someday DYRL. Frontier was okay, but not really worth a purchase.

As far as the Answerfan answers, I wonder which reviewers Matt thinks try to be "objective". There's no such thing as an objective review, and if anyone's trying to be objective, they're doing it wrong. That said, you can still be diplomatic, even in honesty.

My own blog has rankings for my episode reviews, but I've honestly considered phasing them out, because I feel like some people skip the text portion in reviews and go right to the rating. This, though, is why I try to make the body of the review interesting, mixing things up with a little humor.

To be honest, my blog probably doesn't get nearly enough attention for me to need to worry about ratings, but I do anyway. Must be all the free time I have on my hands.


Last edited by penguintruth on Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:00 am; edited 3 times in total
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:52 am Reply with quote
Aaaahhh. Why does everyone love DYRL so much? Yeah, it looks great but it's also utterly incomprehensible, extremely rushed and reaches an unparalleled level of ridiculous.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:58 am Reply with quote
ikillchicken wrote:
Aaaahhh. Why does everyone love DYRL so much? Yeah, it looks great but it's also utterly incomprehensible, extremely rushed and reaches an unparalleled level of ridiculous.

Well, I watched it right after finishing the original series and found the corrections to the numerous serious problems to be refreshing (Hikaru and Minmay aren't nearly such boneheads, to mention a very imporant one), and I was able to fill in the blanks in the narrative from my memory of the series.

I suppose you can rightly peg it for failing to stand alone, but as a distillation of the series, which had strong ideas and bad execution, it's quite nice.
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Shale



Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Posts: 337
Location: The Middle of Nowhere, DE
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:59 am Reply with quote
Also, Macross is all about reaching unparalleled levels of ridiculous. If you want something believable, watch a show that doesn't involve invading alien menaces being defeated by pop music.

The failure to stand alone is valid, though. The first time I saw DYRL I remembered all the relevant background detail easily, but having to remember it was enough to derail the experience.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:08 am Reply with quote
Shale wrote:
Also, Macross is all about reaching unparalleled levels of ridiculous. If you want something believable, watch a show that doesn't involve invading alien menaces being defeated by pop music.

I've got to disagree with that. It's not as if the music was magic (which was the biggest mistake Macross 7 made). In DYRL Misa even comments that the final song that saved the day is "just an everyday love song".

It's about culture, about there being other things in life than warfare, about those things being better. It's hardly camp. It gets a little stylalistic in expressing this (yes, singer vs. alien war-fleet), but that's fiction; things make more emotional sense there.
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:41 am Reply with quote
giascle wrote:
There needs to be a clear definition that art is not the same animation. A show can have amazing character design, they never go off-model, they backgrounds are well drawn, and it's basically just pleasant to look at. However, if it has only slightly more movement than a slideshow, and when it does, the movements are poorly timed, with few in-betweens, that is bad animation.


Yes. It drives me nuts when people talk about design and animation as the same thing.

As for Macross: after having seen Frontier followed by Zero, I've taken it to heart Macross simply equals Gundam x Disney.

And wtf? Harmony Gold, please leave Mechwarrior alone.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:46 am Reply with quote
Eureka seveN is better than RahXephon? An Awful show is better than a Masterpiece?

Thanks Otaking09; best laugh I've had all week.
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Stormwaltz



Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:56 am Reply with quote
On Frontier's licensing cost, Brian said:

"Mainly because of the excess of catchy J-Pop tunes that are littered throughout each episode. The rights to license the music alone would be more expensive than your average, run-of-the-mill moe-fest anime series."

Is this actually true? All the songs were written by series composer Yoko Kanno, Ranka's vocals were performed by series VA Megumi Nakajima, and Sheryl's were performed by May'n specfically for the series. It's not like Initial D, where there are songs licensed from dozens of performers.
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rekishi



Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 78
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:04 am Reply with quote
Macross reaches an "unparalleled level of ridiculous"?

Then why not watch something sensible like Gurren Laggan.
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Ai no Kareshi



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 561
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:28 am Reply with quote
Brian, for a moment there I almost thought it was Zac behind the keyboard, but then came the traditional Miyazaki plug and I knew it was you after all. I guess it means that after doing this for a year you're finally getting comfortable with the position of Answerman.
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21stcenturydigitalboy



Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia
PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:30 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Eureka seveN is better than RahXephon? An Awful show is better than a Masterpiece?

Thanks Otaking09; best laugh I've had all week.


Uh... RahXephon is great but Eureka Seven is a whole level above it. But that's neither here nor there.

I think when it comes to the 'good vs. bad animation' deal, people should differentiate between 'art' and 'animation'. A show can have great character designs or even great backgrounds and still have godawful animation. The best example that comes to mind is Revolutionary Girl Utena - the art direction is top notch, having been done by one of hte best int he biz, but the show was low-budget and it shows horribly with lots of mistakes and frequently off-model designs.

I think that while 'art' is subjective, animation quality is more of a clearly defined thing.
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