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Shelf Life - Dance Revolution


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Nadare Xizos



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 115
Location: The Heero Hole
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:39 pm Reply with quote
Sorry, but "Eureka Seven" is probably one of the worst mecha series I've seen. It's way too long, and the characters are just not that interesting.
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sakurahitagi



Joined: 12 Jan 2014
Posts: 70
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Bamboo I usually don't preorder anything but I had to for Eureka Seven. It's an amazing show. I laughed in the early episodes (especially the one when spoiler[ the Gekkostate hazes Renton]) and was hooked on the characters and the later mecha fights.

I've also been loving the second season of Love Live. I thought the first season was good and was hesitant about buying NISA's release. However, after seeing how the second season stepped up it's game, I'm going to have to buy both seasons.

I've never been much of a fan of Mariaholic. I thought the first season was OK. I never bothered to watch the sequel but at least the first season was rentable to me.
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publicenemy333



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 563
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:02 pm Reply with quote
I've been wondering what the dub for Maria Holic would be like. I saw the first season, enjoyed it alright, and thought to myself that it could be great if dubbed right, but could easily backfire if done improperly. With this, maybe I'll upgrade my DVD purchase
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leatherhead333



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
Posts: 1187
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:07 pm Reply with quote
Honestly I can't say that I enjoy S2 of Love Live more than the first. S2 is just WAY to random for me. A couple episodes are almost entirely dedicated to something stupid that gets solved by either "friendship" or "realizing that the answer was in front of us all along".
A good example of this is that accursed "what should we wear?" episode (shivers).

It feels like the show doesn't really have a sense of direction. It's almost turned into a "concert of the week" format with maybe a character gettting development happens but the fact that they stuff it ALL into one episode really cheapens the characterization. The episode that focused on Rin really made me upset with the group. They constantly pushed her to be the leader of the group when she was obviously uncomfortable with it. And despite her objections they never tried to understand how she felt which made them really come off as jerks. However like I said because of "FRIENDSHIP" they are able to spring the fact she was going to end up being the leader anyway (even though they didn't practice it that way) and it still worked out. Needless to really ruined the episode for me.

I liked the process of building up the group for a noble cause in the first season much better. Everything clearly flowed together and things went a nice/realistic pace. Now it's just episode after episode that have almost nothing to do with each other. It's quite a let down for me.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:38 pm Reply with quote
leatherhead333 wrote:

Honestly I can't say that I enjoy S2 of Love Live more than the first. S2 is just WAY to random for me. A couple episodes are almost entirely dedicated to something stupid that gets solved by either "friendship" or "realizing that the answer was in front of us all along".
A good example of this is that accursed "what should we wear?" episode (shivers).


Hey! Friendship is magic.
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 1215
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:06 pm Reply with quote
I think the lack of cynicism is a big part of what makes Love Live so marketable and likeable at the end of the day. It kind of reminds me of Gundam Build Fighters (also by Sunrise in 2013-2014) in that it's so blatantly meant to be a commercial advertisement for something much bigger than just the TV Show, but as the article said it's like the staff involved actually gives a genuine fudge and the lack of weird creeping cynicism and just awkward mean-spiritedness that has started to plague other recently popular upstart franchises like Madoka Magica with it's film sequel and the recent as of this season Mekaku City Actors where there's an equally large pre-existing fanbase yet it just seems like the team involved in the anime doesn't even remotely care about trying to capture what fans liked about it's source material in the first place and are turning out a strangely cheap looking product for how much hype there was going into it.

And yeah now that I realize it that sets up yet another dichotomy for me between Sunrise and Studio SHAFT yet I can't help but see it this way as of late with just one appearing to be full value for their big projects and the other just really not appearing to care at all about how the project is managed once the team is assembled and it's time to go to work.
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Ali07



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 3333
Location: Victoria, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:19 pm Reply with quote
Hmm, I've never seen Maria Holic. The mention of it's second season here made me look at some more information on it.

Was the mention of "flip-flopping" meant to be a clue about the cross dressing? Laughing
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unitmikey



Joined: 15 Feb 2013
Posts: 286
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:13 pm Reply with quote
In regards to changing my mind about a show/movie, when I was a kid I could not stand Leiji Matsumoto's art work and avoided his shows like a the starry plague. Now though, 999 is one of my all time favorite series and I've watched a ton of his shows over the years. It's a welcome change, I say.

I really like that you give E7 a lot of credit, but I still feel like I love the series more than 98 percent of anime fans. It just surprised me at how good it was when I saw it, but it's been about four years since then so maybe this will be my next change in taste when I revisit it (although I sure hope not).

I needs to start love live soon.

And can't we have shelves and pictures of your dog more often? Dogs are cool and always relevant to any situation in my opinion.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:48 pm Reply with quote
Eureka seveN has been one of my all-time favorite series since I first saw it on [adult swim]. I still remember how the desperate tension of those last few episodes consumed me, and spending almost the entire week before the finale with speculation running rampant in the back of my mind. It was one of those extremely-rare pieces of entertainment that affected me on a fundamental level--maybe even changed me somehow--and that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It's one of those things that I sometimes wish I could un-watch, just so I could have that amazing first viewing all over again.

From a more technical standpoint, if anyone out there has bought FUNi's BD release, do you think it's worth double-dipping given that I own Bandai's singles? The show was from the digital-SD era, so presumably the BDs are just upscales, which I figure is what I'd be seeing on a decent upscaling BD player anyway.
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Cyclone1993



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 947
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:00 am Reply with quote
I agree about Eureka Seven. It was one of the first few anime I watched and it opened my eyes to the medium as a whole. It is still to this day my favorite anime even if it isn't the best I've seen. It had a deep impact on me, and my thought processes over the years since I first watched it. I've seen it 4 times, and I still look forward to rewatching it every once in a while.

Sure, it's not perfect, but very few anime are. But, it has great characters who actually develop, and a touching romance. That alone seals it in my heart as something important to me.

I own the Complete Collections from Bandai, and most of the singles, but when I get a chance, I'll be buying the Blu-Rays as well.
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Dark Absol



Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 813
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:38 am Reply with quote
A Tip:

If you have too many anime DVDs/Blu-rays and manga sitting around, it's best to buy some woods and build it yourself instead of buying the ready-made shelfs from big markets like Wal-Mart.

I currently have 3 shelves that reach from floor all the way to the ceilings. Of course, I had my dad build those for me since I'm not good at building stuffs. :/
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:10 am Reply with quote
Since I haven't since part 11 of Eureka 7 yet {still just the first disk still of part one; I've rewatched Girls Und Panzer, Haganai, a little bit of K-On and now I'm looking at Rahxephon instead and those were just my own DVDs}, I wasn't going to comment on part 2, but there seems to be some confusion at what's exactly wrong with the show.

Ok, here it is:
It's too long for what it is, a mash up of a character slice of life {the long boring stuff} and a mecha show {for this show, the other long boring stuff somehow}. This should have been done in 26 episodes which is just form my experience with the first 8; "Familiarity breeds contempt" is the perfect description for the characters of this show. Renton, Eureka and the rest have wore on my patience to the point where I look at other shows where the main character is a valued addition to the team by the third episode.

Unrealistic, yes but it's my time which is being wasted, not theirs.

The dub makes Maria Holic Alive totally shelfworthy; You'll never get all of it in one sitting. By the way, I'd say it's Calvello over Rial as the MVP of the dub. Yuu Kobayashi was too good to discredit out of hand as Mariya.

My feeling about the series is that Kanako deluded herself into thinking she's a lesbian by watching too many "oneesama" type shows. Whether or not that's better or worse, I leave up to people who have more interest in analyzing fictional characters. But as she's stuck at a "Of course I am and I'll put it into practice at an all girl's school!" phase, she's yet to fully understand or explore her growing sexuality; Not to mention the fact that it's based on her unrealistic expectations doesn't help. At the same time, she picked the same all girls school where her mother met her father{one of my favorite plot points of Strawberry Panic was that the main girl was sent to the trifecta of all girls academies by her aunt}...

Kanako, what does she want?
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Ortensia1980



Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 803
Location: some town near Amsterdam
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:30 am Reply with quote
I'm really liking the second season of Love Live! so far. I wouldn't say that I like it more than the first season though, they're pretty much on equal footing at the moment.
Eureka Seven and Maria Holic are still on my watch-list.

I spy a Yuuma from Magical Pokan figure on those shelves! I used to love that show!

And I'm already looking forward to reading your Amnesia review next week, Bamboo Very Happy
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eyeresist



Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 995
Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney)
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:05 am Reply with quote
Once again I am weirded out that some people think rotoscoped dancing is not creepy....
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SquadmemberRitsu



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1391
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 5:32 am Reply with quote
My opinions on sequels are general quite mixed. I loved how Madoka Rebellion and the second season of K-ON (As well as the Movie) expanded on their predecessors. Then you get sequels like Chuunibyou Ren where absolutely nothing is achieved and turning the entire franchise into little more than a one trick pony. And then you've got sequels like Eureka Seven AO.

That being said, I absolutely agree with Love Live S2 being way better than Season 1. And I absolutely adored Season 1 despite some minor flaws.

Despite generally being quite good the drama in Season 1 felt a bit forced at times and the introduction phase took a little too long for my liking. Plus I'm not too big a fan of the 'Saving the school' cliche even though it wasn't exactly bad in its execution. That being said for a show in a genre that often gets criticised for 'shallow pandering' it was surprisingly genuine and packed with charm to boot.

Season 2 still has the charm and also still feels just as genuine but with all the character introductions over and done with and the premise having already been introduced they were able to get straight to the point. Which overall makes the series not only more focused but more enjoyable too. We've got a fair amount of character development and the plot is moving at just the right pace. Not to mention the music is just as great as ever and the animation and OST are a step up from the first season.

The Snow Halation performance in the latest episode has basically solidified the show's status as my favourite anime of the year. That's not to say I'm not optimistic about the next season (Quite the opposite actually) but it's been a very long time since a show has blown me away like this.
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