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REVIEW: Aria the Scarlet Ammo BD+DVD


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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:12 am Reply with quote
Melanchthon wrote:
Well, Aria isn't the worst show I've seen. Sadly enough, it's not even in the bottom ten. But Christ, it is a bad show. I put it on the same level as Butt Attack Punisher Girl Guataman, but that OVA was stupidly fun.


Hell's bells, there's an OVA called Butt Attack Punisher Girl Guataman????? The F---?

I demand to know why no-one has told me of this before now. Was there a conspiracy to hide it from me? I also demand to know where I can watch it, because that has to be the most awesome Anime title I've ever heard.
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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 1176
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:21 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I demand to know why no-one has told me of this before now. Was there a conspiracy to hide it from me?

No, it's just's that no one probably talks about it much. The most I've heard it talked about was on an episode of AWO Podcast along with Kekko Kamen (which is where the "tickle me pink elmo" joke is coming from, Drayl's review of Kekko Kamen).
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:58 am Reply with quote
I've seen Aria the Scarlet Ammo, I've liked Aria the Scarlet Ammo and I bought Aria the Scarlet Ammo. There are many shows which are similar but aren't much better and certainly far worse, Demon King Daimao and Yumakei Merry just to name two.

My likes of the show {I read the posts and its depressing yet not shocking that most of the people complaining about how bad the show is have not seen all of it}, let's see:

An actual plot and character arc that's actual covered in the twelve episodes. Complaining "is that all there is" is better than Demon King's mess, Yumakei's "Why not try this story instead?" sideplot plot and Infinite Stratos' lack of everything but looking pretty.
A show that while running on the "stupid cool" factor, is well aware of why it's both and manages to succeed for me.
Aria, it's her against the world.
New plot devices introduction and execution starting in episode four and beyond: I liked the whole "Well, didn't you already know that..." manner they were used. Usually I don't like it {See Un-Go, oh hell, Don't see it} but seeing how this is their world, they all should be used to it and their lack of reaction is normal.

Last thing:
Bad fanfic implies there's good fanfic. Explain.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:40 am Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:

Last thing:
Bad fanfic implies there's good fanfic. Explain.


To the Stars, Dissonance, Inter Nos.
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Exaar



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 279
Location: Delaware
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:48 am Reply with quote
Normally I am the first one to stick up for shows other people hate, because I have extremely low standards - that is to say, I find entertainment easily and I don't ask for a lot from a show to consider it good.

However, even I have to agree with the majority here and say this show is terrible. I watched the first few eps because of Rie Kugiyima, and had to stop. It was just a smorgasbord of re-hashed ideas executed more poorly than they originally were, with boring characters and ridiculous pretense - which normally I am fine with, but when you combine it with moronic ideas and poor writing, its just another bullethole in the corpse of what could have been a neat show.

I remember I was absolutely shocked when I saw that Funi had licensed this. My immediate gut reaction was "Remember what happened last time the US Anime companies started licensing garbage without discretion? Most of them went out of business."

Hopefully this is an anomaly and not indicative that Funi is getting overconfident and is going to start flooding the market with crap again.
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:35 am Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
RyanSaotome wrote:
The anime itself was made only as an advertisement for the light novels, since you could easily pick it up in the 4th volume and continue the story. Many anime are made like this without explaining plot holes, because those plot holes aren't supposed to be explained during that part of the story.


Marvel makes 'em like that, they'd be shot. Laughing

adaptations need to stand on their own unless they know they are going to get another season etc.


But they don't. Its a bad move to make an anime adaption that already reers off course and then happens to sell far better than they expected. Look at Zero no Tsukaima.. the entire anime adaption was doomed after they messed up so many plot points with anime original stuff in the first season, since they didn't originally expect to make sequels, but it sold well enough to greenlight them. You can't have it both ways, but I'd rather have a pure adaption of the source material which keeps the potential open for new seasons rather than try to force everything in and have anime filler ends. Filler ends are probably the worst thing you can do.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:04 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Hell's bells, there's an OVA called Butt Attack Punisher Girl Guataman????? The F---?

I demand to know why no-one has told me of this before now. Was there a conspiracy to hide it from me? I also demand to know where I can watch it, because that has to be the most awesome Anime title I've ever heard.

I actually have the fansub for this one, as a couple of years ago it was one of those random older titles that circulates every once in a while. It's not very good, and I don't remember it being quite as racy as Kekko Kamen, but it's stupid fun in a similar spirit. If you were entertained by KK, you should find this one at least vaguely amusing.

Oh, and don't get your hopes up about that other thing. I had totally forgotten about it, and have no interest now in revisiting it.
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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Posts: 1377
Location: Clemson, SC
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:21 am Reply with quote
Kalessin wrote:
She's done some good work to be sure, but too many of the roles that she's played are horrible characters - this one included.

I think her role as Happy from Fairy Tail is probably her best by far.
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Mesonoxian Eve



Joined: 10 Jan 2012
Posts: 1858
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:21 am Reply with quote
Exaar wrote:
Hopefully this is an anomaly and not indicative that Funi is getting overconfident and is going to start flooding the market with crap again.

This action will only lead to the inevitable backlash from fans, and it's not a history I wish to see repeated. For all we know, this title was part of another deal, or it could have been licensed at a price point FUNimation felt was worth the risk.

FUNimation has claimed it has first dibs on many license options in Japan, so if they're picking this up, you can bet it was in their best interest in one form or another.

The box set design also implies they're going for the eye-catch audience, who may stumble on this title while perusing other titles from their catalog. It's well known a good box design can sell.

***

I had a feeling this series wasn't going to live up to its preview, and now that I've read a trusted source on the matter, I'll be passing on this one. I may pick it up if the price drops below $20, but I certainly won't take a chance at its current price point.

The Japanese audience seems to be numb, from my position. I'm not sure how this title could justify "strong" sales in Japan, especially at those prices, yet we still see them produced and sold.

This isn't a complaint, but it's indicative the "moe-a-thon" isn't going away anytime soon. This title is obviously so cut and pasted, yet anything the studios throw together seems to be just enough to satiate the appetite of those who are either obsessed with Rie or tsundere, and it sells because of it, even if the earnings are barely considered "profit".

I suspect these types of reviews will also continue to be cut/pasted, but that's par for the course today.
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
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Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:39 am Reply with quote
Mesonoxian Eve wrote:
The Japanese audience seems to be numb, from my position. I'm not sure how this title could justify "strong" sales in Japan, especially at those prices, yet we still see them produced and sold.

This isn't a complaint, but it's indicative the "moe-a-thon" isn't going away anytime soon. This title is obviously so cut and pasted, yet anything the studios throw together seems to be just enough to satiate the appetite of those who are either obsessed with Rie or tsundere, and it sells because of it, even if the earnings are barely considered "profit".


Japanese audiences just watch anime for different reasons than a lot of Westerners do. The buying market wants cute girls (and hot guys to a lesser extent), so having attractive characters will always be one of the most important things to having a successful anime. Like for myself, I don't really care so much about the plot as long as the characters are good and enjoyable to watch. On the flip side, a plot can be really good but if I don't care about the characters involved, it has no real impact on me. Its the whole Type A vs Type B anime fan thing that 2ch created... Unfortunately for Type A fans, the people who care enough about anime to buy it are generally Type B.

But yeah you're right, it won't change anytime soon. Girls und Panzer is projected to be the big seller of the Fall season based on the preorder rankings, and thats another waifu factory show. Chuunibyou will likely be #2.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:11 am Reply with quote
But it seems like there is no rhyme or reason why Japan (and anime fans in general) goes for one moe show over another for the most part. Take for instance my earlier mention of Futakoi Alternative which sold a mere 2k between two half-series box sets. And with Kaori Mizuhashi and Mai Kadowaki voicing the two lead female characters and Ami Koshimizu and Yui Horie being among the secondary characters there was definitely enough voice talent to attract people. Animation production was by ufotable who have always had a good reputation and hell the director of FA later went on to direct a little movie known as Kara no Kyoukai 5, near-unanimously considered the best movie of that franchise. People complain all the time about generic harem garbage and so when ufotable basically went, 'okay, we're going to take a harem garbage title (Futakoi) and make it as insanely over-the-top as possible and still provide more of an emotional drama than the original' and nobody bit. It had pretty much everything that otaku would want (seriously look at the FA characters and tell me that nearly all the twin pairs are not moe) and failed horribly.

So yes, seeing a god-awful show like Aria get 5-6k sales absolutely astounds me. When there are far better action-oriented bombastic harem series that have been done that accomplished much, much less. And when the author of HnA later went on Twitter basically begging for more sales it really irked me.
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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:12 am Reply with quote
one thing thing i am thankful for is that the Big Bad's derpy laugh was not included in the English dub. that laugh killed any tension that was supposed to be building up during that scene.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:15 am Reply with quote
This was a big nope for me as well overall it was so cliched ridden that I made a bingo chart for each episode.
Now as far on the adaptations need to stand on their own.. I'm really really happy the manga is licensed over here now so I can avoid re-watching this at all cost.
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:22 am Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
But it seems like there is no rhyme or reason why Japan (and anime fans in general) goes for one moe show over another for the most part.


I think a lot of it has to do with marketing and how popular the original source material is. I'm not too familiar with Futakoi, so I'm not sure if its original source material was very popular, but Aria is a MF Bunko title (Haganai, Infinite Stratos, Zero no Tsukaima). Is gotten lots of marketing from Media Factory, so it already had a pretty significant fanbase before the anime aired. Many of these people just like to see stories they enjoyed reading get animated. Obviously, this doesn't really mean much for overseas crowds since we don't read LNs too much, though.
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Mesonoxian Eve



Joined: 10 Jan 2012
Posts: 1858
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:35 am Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
But it seems like there is no rhyme or reason why Japan (and anime fans in general) goes for one moe show over another for the most part.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Every so often, CR will show the results of polls taken in Japan, and some of the lists have me raising an eyebrow. Granted, these certainly don't represent the entire market, but it's still questionable as how some choices are... well, the "best".

In one recent poll, the majority of the audience indicated they're tired of the moe-a-thon, just as we are, yet sales indicate differently.

Makes me wonder if there isn't a generously rich otaku who buys more than just one copy of a title they like.
Very Happy

I jest, but yeah... this has been a very interesting decade of anime, for better or worse.
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