Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-02-20]
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malik_chan
 Posts: 134 |
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I love DNA Digivolving, it made me realize how good a couple Ken and Daisuke were. I meant that Godawful epilogue, since the second half of the season isn't really the end. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8464 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Yeah, the plot with Mihoshi's brother was so overdone. Did they really need two episodes for that? I don't think so. Not to mention that little to nothing actually happens. I mean, it feels like something the first two OVAs would have spent a single episode tackling, and certainly not towards the end like the third one did. I mean, really, it's fine that Mihoshi's brother is overprotective and his henchwoman has a crush on him, but they don't need two episodes to handle that. Not when the OVA should have been setting up the battle between Tenchi and Z. Tenchi got shorchanged more than usual. And Ryoko and Ayeka might as well not have even been in the third OVA, since they did and said nothing. The only plot thread I liked was Tenchi's father remarrying, but how are we supposed to accept that Rae had been an integral part of the Masaki family for years when she hadn't ever appeared before? That's almost as bad as Tenchi's useless sister. |
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AckIsBack
 Posts: 50 Location: Omaha |
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But then wouldn't Simon lose all this development that happened when spoiler[Kamina died?] Would he stay the same scared little kid the entire series then? If I could change something in an anime...I would have made Mello spoiler[take down Kira] instead of Near. And Matt would have more screen time and development and whatnot. |
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Teriyaki Terrier
 Posts: 5689 |
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If I could correct one misstep in one of my favourite anime series, it would be from either Inuyasha or Ranma 1/2.
spoiler[ Though the ending of Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha wasn't all that bad, I still would have liked to see things different. After seven seasons of Ranma 1/2, one would think the final episode would be Ranma and the rest of cast who fell in the cursed springs going back to that location. Although I am glad the ending did show Ranma 1/2 meeting his mother for the first and last time, having his curse gotten rid off would have been a better way to end the series.] But for the first time in several months, I actually agree with one of the answers from last week. Strike Man really hit the nail on the head on his answer. Your Under Arrest and Oh My Goddess are two of my favorite slice of life shows. None of that stupid moe garbage or constant fanserivce for no reason, just excellent perspectives on the characters life. I especially enjoyed Your Under Arrest, I only wish the second, third and OVA were licensed. But the first slice of life series I ever watched, Azumanga Daioh, is still one of my favorites as well. The show was realistic in the sense the characters did what normal high school students did. No science fiction, no over the top fanservice and most of all, no moe. If only there were more shows like Azumanga Daioh, there would be more quality slice of life shows. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I love the original "Oh My Goddess" OVAs, they are my comfort food anime, my favorite, etc. If there is ONE minor thing that has ALWAYS bugged me, I would change OMG! OVA 5 so that the COMPLETELY SUPERFLUOUS fanservice moment when Belldandy changes clothes and she goes naked for a moment gets left on the editing room floor. Belldandy changes clothes (magically) in OVA 1 and it doesn't necessitate the complete REMOVAL of her outfit in the process, so adding that effect in OVA 5 serves NO purpose and basically just adds a "risque" component to what is otherwise a fairly "all ages" kind of show. (and while I don't think the brief nudity SHOULD change that, it simply does and I find that very unfortunate and it has ALWAYS bugged me since it serves NO LOGICAL PURPOSE in the anime)
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7ThIsGod
Posts: 80 |
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Really? Gurren-Lagann is over 100 episodes of content fit into 26 episodes of actual animation. It develops the ideas Evangelion tried to develop, the ideas Gundam tried to develop, the ideas FLCL tried to develop along others while still developing its own individual theme on pass on time and the conflict between the future and the past. If anything, it's the most rushed anime created to date. |
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marklungo
 Posts: 80 Location: Berea, Ohio |
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I would change some of the events surrounding Ray and Charles Beams in Eureka Seven. Warning: Spoiler text alert!
It always bothered me that spoiler[a. Ray and Charles died and b. that they died while working for and trusting in Dewey, never realizing how he had betrayed and lied to them. (In particular, Ray thought her infertility was Eureka's fault, not Dewey's.) If I had written Eureka Seven, Ray and Charles probably would have lived--and they definitely would have learned the truth about Dewey and turned against him. Also, they would have realized that they'd been wrong about Eureka and befriended her.] |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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While I would STRONGLY disagree with the notion that Eva/FLCL/Gundam merely tried to develop their themes as opposed to fully developing them, I do agree that TTGL had a fine length. Aside from the recap episode and most of episode 6 (and hurling the old man and Viral's return into the end of episode 5 or the start of episode 7 would be bad pacing), nothing felt unessential to me. Okay, we don't necessarily need to see Yoko's time as a teacher, but it hardly took away from the show, and just gave her some nice focus. And the generals didn't add much to the plot, but they gave our heroes something to go after while developing Simon and Nia's relatioship; spoiler[if Simon had met Nia in 9, recovered from his BSOD in 11, then beat Lord Genome in 12, and then proposed in 13, it would be the most insanely fast-paced relationship ever (regardless of time-skip).] Gurren Lagann was about "fighting spirit", but I don't recall when it said it was about "relentlessly fast-paced spirit". |
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7ThIsGod
Posts: 80 |
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I don't mean to argue that Evangelion, Gundam or FLCL merely tried to develop their themes, that was beyond the point. Whenever or not they developed their themes is irrelevant, I just said that Gurren-Lagann thematically achieved a lot of what they achieved with its 27 episode length. And the Teacher Yomako episode is incredibly important from a symbolic standpoint. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8464 Location: Penguinopolis |
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You sure live in some fantasy world, don't you? Gurren Lagann is just a very stylish super robot show, not some grand masterpiece. Its simple themes have been done better in better anime and its plot is thin and overstretched. It has enormous "cool" value, but it's really padded to hell, stepping past the line of "over-the-top to prove a point" to "just plain stupid" long before it ever ends. It's a great show, but it's the very definition of overrated. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4603 |
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Opinions are wonderful things, ain't they? For instance, I happen to think (and many people evidently agree with me) that the show executed its themes far better in combination than any titles which preceded it. The fact that said themes were simple is exactly as intended; the show was made as a way of infusing time-honored genre elements into modern packaging, and I feel like it was all executed superbly. I firmly believe that the plot was competently paced and handled, and it was decidedly not "stretched out" or "padded." And I get the distinct feeling that what you would term "stupid," I would call "friggin' awesome." 
Aaaaanyway, back to the topic. Things I would change...hmm...part of me would want Big O to have a more definite ending, but at the same time, the fact that said ending was so vague has allowed me to spend many happy hours trying to piece together what happened. I might apply a slight tweak to Eureka seveN's ending, just to allow us to see spoiler[Talho and Holland's child]. I definitely would have liked spoiler[Ed and Al to remain in Amestris] at the end of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, though I did think that the ending of the series was superb as it stood. Last Exile's ending could have done with a bit more exposition and structure, instead of making me rely somewhat heavily on Wikipedia. And I think Witch Hunter Robin's ending is definitely fit for some tweaking, seeing how utterly vague (and not in the cool Big O way) it was. I really don't have major complaints about any of these shows as they stand, so these are really just small nitpicks more than anything else; I tend to accept what's given to me fairly well. (Well, I suppose one major exception to that might be Inuyasha...investing 167 episodes only to get a "read the manga!" conclusion seemed like a colossal waste of time. Oh, and can we make it so that Virus Buster Serge was never created? Because I'd be all for that.  )
As for the previous week's question, I don't know that I have any series I think of specifically as "comfort food," because it's been quite some time since I've actually sat down and rewatched anything. I suppose that any of the shows I viewed multiple times back in the day on [adult swim] would definitely qualify. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Ghost in the Shell, FLCL, FMA, Big O, Samurai Champloo...they all feel like old friends, and I'd gladly pop in a disk of any of them at the drop of a hat. |
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7ThIsGod
Posts: 80 |
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I don't believe Gurren-Lagann is a grand masterpiece; I actually don't believe any TV show is a grand masterpiece and that's that. But I do believe that Gurren-Lagann is never padded as every scene has meaning and that the reason it works is because it has plenty of subtext behind the cool value and style. It is, if clearly not a work of art as it is something produced for primarily for entertainment just like the mecha adventures that came before, a true example of excellent writing. The script is stripped down of the sort of filler and padding that dogs most anime shows and arguably fits 2-4 different series into 27 episodes. Just take episode 1 and how expertly structured it is. In the first scene we witness Kamina getting Simon to help him with his plan to ascend towards the world above, a place said to be nonexistent by their defeated and restrictive society; thanks to this quirky set-up we're are introduced to the key ideas of the narrative. Through Simon's own nihilism we are able to understand the current state of humanity, hopeless and without expectations; through the village elder we get a first hint at the main motif behind the antagonists the heroes will struggle against, superiors of wisdom burdened by their own responsibility and with the intention to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival and well-being of their protectees; through Kamina's hot-headed sense of justice and rebellion we discover the will of the youth, the hopes that still exist in those that will still be born. As you said, the narrative is brilliantly simple... but it isn't simplistic. It is presented very clearly but presents something well beyond the levels of Anno's raw but badly knit together Evangelion. |
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ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
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Oh god, I had totaly forgotten about Digimon Zero Two's ending (mostly because it's so egregious) but yeah, that needs to be changed.
One thing I've noticed in all other Digimon Conitunites (Zero Two is such, that story ended in Zero One, TK's high resistance stat to whips nonwithsatnaing) that the children and thier digimon, they had to go thier seperate ways, and often the children were better for it (Bugger knows with Frountier and I know of Marcus' way of doing it, thanks). That all said, personal cannon is what it is, It allows me to regard Seed Destiny as nonexistant, Digimon Tamers to be season 2 of Digmon (PRevious Takeru awesome is some random thing drawn as a test scene) and for what happened at the end of Gurren Lagann to be slightly diffrent. I'm greatful for that, at least. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8464 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Thanks, I needed a good laugh. There was a lot of unnecessary material in the program. Most of episode 4, for instance. Wasting time with the different generals when they could have trimmed it down and maintained the same plot progression and even increased the emotional impact. Most of the beginning of the timeskip arc was too padded. The drama with Rossui really could have been trimmed and still had the same relevance. The entire space portion could and should have been a couple of episodes at the most, instead of trying to pull the most out of the deaths of redshirts. And at a certain point it becomes a giant, cartoonish pissing contest. Fun to watch, no doubt. Just not really anything special.
What does this even mean? This isn't part of the argument. "Beyond the levels"? Really. Last edited by penguintruth on Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4455 |
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I'm not going to bother quoting since it would take too much space, but I have to side with penguintruth about Gurren Lagann. It had the cool factor, without a doubt, but I don't think that it had any sort of amazing themes in it. It had themes that have shown up before, and I definitely don't think it somehow managed to "fit 2-4 shows" into it, and certainly not those of the shows listed. To me, this was a successful attempt by Gainax to make something that was fun to watch, and that's about all there is to it.
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