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REVIEW: This Ugly Yet Beautiful World DVD 3




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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:37 am Reply with quote
I thought the series as a whole was pretty okay and even borderline disappointing, but maybe I've just watched too much Gainax and have become jaded. (Probably also didn't help that I was watching Melody of Oblivion during the same time period)


Quote:
And, sorry oglers, this volume is almost (if not quite) nudity free.


The almost being the final episode, but it felt like a lot of naked all at once.
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SnowfairyX



Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Posts: 438
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:48 am Reply with quote
I generally seem to hear bad things said about this series so I'm kind of surprised it received a score as high as a B+ on the final dvd and also coming from a different reviewer other than Key. I just picked up the final dvd fairly recently to complete my collection of the series but I'm not quite ready to finish watching the series just yet. From the first few episodes of the series that I've seen so far, I don't really see a whole lot of substance but I think the overall art is really good. I also think the character designs and outfits are also very attractive Smile. I'll continue keeping my expectations low when I eventually do get to finishing the series.
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Yuukichan's Papa



Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 3:45 am Reply with quote
I have to admit to being slightly disappointed when I watched the series fansubbed, but at the time I thought, like you Joe Mello, that I'd just watched too much Gainax and despite being a big fan of the studio, wasn't expecting something as mind blowing as their earlier works.

I think therein lies the trouble though. For a Gainax series, yes, it's somewhat disappointing, but when put against the broad spectrum of other shows out there, it's a quite competant, visually pleasing, pretty well written show. It just doesn't help that the first couple episodes very strongly played up the "the world might be coming to an end" angle before turning the ominous scientist into a drunk and throwing her in with a bunch of nudity prone teenagers.

I actually initially enjoyed Melody of Oblivion more than I initially enjoyed Konomini, just because of all the strange imagery that just screamed Gainax.
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britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:19 am Reply with quote
going to pick it up on thinpak. unlike almost all of the other ADV dvds at best Buy these weren't on sale.

darn.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 5:47 am Reply with quote
Even though ANN never said this, the back of the DVD wrote:
"Sexy, thought-provoking and beautifully animated...Gainax's best work since Evangelion."
--Anime News Network
Rolling Eyes (see this post.)
In fact, in the review for volume 2, Key wrote:
[This Ugly yet Beautiful World] isn’t a great series, and does not stand as Gainax's best effort since Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it is a better one than it might appear to be at first.
Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes
I was expecting to see Key on this review as well, but variety is indeed the spice of life. TUyBW isn't the greatest Gainax series EVAR, but I think a lot of the flack it gets is from people evaluating it against Gainax standards and against the hype, which was admittedly a little high for their "20th Anniversary." While I haven't watched the third disc yet, the first review motivated me to watch the fansubs that I happened to have lying around, and I liked the conclusion. If not taken as "This must live up to EVA," it's a pretty good story for 12 episodes, and since it's a Gainax original, it's not like all those "the manga continues on, you'd better buy it Wink" anime.

I'm not a huge dub fan, but I found the English dub acceptable enough to watch--it's pulled up a little bit by the tweaks they do to make things funnier, like "Damn you, nature!!!" in episode 7. I agree that it's not very inspired--maybe the unease that caused the VAs to use aliases carried over into the performances.[/quote]

Yeah, the mass-extinction and Extended-Definition talk is pretty hoary, but it's a forgivable offense in my book. Many people decry the juxtaposition of fanservicey comedy and apocalyptic storyline in TUyBW, but I think that the fun of the middle episodes serves a purpose: to make this series different from other "End of the World" series like SaiKano and Evangelion, where it's a deliberate progression and everyone, characters and audience alike, knows where things are headed. In TUyBW, we get things proceeding as normal with mirth and laughter, until everyone is caught off-guard with impending doom.
Quote:
It's unlikely to drive anyone to tears,
Oh, you'd be surprised--to me, even series like Girls Bravo and Shrine of the Morning Mist have their moments, so some of the events near the end of this one, like spoiler[Akari saying, "No, we can't, we're family] did have that effect.
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:27 am Reply with quote
Meh, well at least someone thought it was more than just a poorly-contructed collage of cliches designed to sell merchandise. I actually didn't think it was that bad for the most part; not all that good, but fairly enjoyable fluff (the serious parts fell flat in my opinion). But it's kind of hard to cut something slack when they rushed an ending THAT much.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:53 am Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
I was expecting to see Key on this review as well, but variety is indeed the spice of life. TUyBW isn't the greatest Gainax series EVAR, but I think a lot of the flack it gets is from people evaluating it against Gainax standards and against the hype, which was admittedly a little high for their "20th Anniversary." While I haven't watched the third disc yet, the first review motivated me to watch the fansubs that I happened to have lying around, and I liked the conclusion. If not taken as "This must live up to EVA," it's a pretty good story for 12 episodes, and since it's a Gainax original, it's not like all those "the manga continues on, you'd better buy it Wink" anime.


What Carl says in his review is remarkably close to what I would have said had this one fallen to me. I also fully agree with what Zalis116 says here. The one point I would add (and I've basically said this in my reviews, too): this is one of those series where you really have to go back an watch it through a second time to fully appreciate it, not because of its complexity but because what goes on in the first 9-10 episodes looks a lot less casual, and much less like filler, once you see how it all comes together. I know I didn't appreciate it fully the first time, but have gone back and upped may rating of it (from "Good" to "Very Good") on the second pass-through.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:58 pm Reply with quote
I decided to purchase the 2nd and 3rd volumes since there seems to be a bit going for it even though the first volume didn't grab me. I should have guessed that Gainax would have a little more below the surface TRSI is currently having an ADV sale, and there really isn't anything else that ADV has released (besides Macross and Noein which I've got) that I'm interested in since their last sale. I wonder if ADV will use a quote from DVD 3's review on a thinpak edition. I hope they put "Boring on-disc extras for this outing -Anime News Network" on the cover!
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
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Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:04 am Reply with quote
I picked up disk 1 of Noein myself and it seems to be the non-Geneon or non-Bandai title I am most excited about this year. Umm it's being released by Manga Entertainment of all companies, quite a nice suprise there. Plus it stars my all time favorite English dub VA, Melissa Fahn aka Melissa Charles.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:46 am Reply with quote
oops, I meant Jinki as the other ADV release, not Noein. I have both in my to be watched pile and am looking forward to seeing them. I'm waiting for the third Jinki DVD before I watch the series since it is a short series that I don't think I'll regret buying. As for Noein I only had time to watch the OP credits on the extras menu. I prefer the alternate OP on the extras menu, especially the music. Manga has really improved their video transfers too. The Noein DVD looks great.
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