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What are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)


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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 11:59 am Reply with quote
Well, got several shows on DVD all at once (curse you and your cheap prices, TRSI! I am so tsundere for them though, how I love them!) and RahXephon was the first one I finished!
I'm not sure everyone compares this to NGE, ok sure, I see the teenage piloting a mech thing and a semi-post apocalyptic world, but TTGL did that too but no one calls it an NGE clone (and for good reason). So I disliked NGE, a lot in fact, but I did enjoy RahXephon. I think it's because the characters weren't on permanent angst for the most part, but I also feel like it didn't leave a ton of loose ends everywhere all over the ending (not to mention they didn't run out of budget and start drawing on napkins the last two episodes), I feel like it tied up just about everything at the end, maybe not 100% clearly, but enough that the viewer can infer what might have happened. Now, that said, I'm sure I missed stuff, I'm still not sure what was up with the (call me dumb but I forget their names, so I call them the:) Jay Hickman, Illich Guardiola, and Kelli Cousins trio (or the white snake, the glasses guy, and the strange blonde), but I think it's the sort of show that both demands and deserves a rewatch, so I'll be paying closer attention to that the next time around.
So it didn't make me go "OMG, WOW!" but I did rather enjoy it, not bad for a blind buy. Not sure what I'd rate it, but I know my mind filed it away into "the realm of good", but it also wants another rewatch in maybe 6 months to catch everything.

Speaking of catching everything, that's where I intend to go next, I either want to watch the RahXephon movie, or do a rewatch of Infinite Ryvius, which sure came off a slow the first time (especially the first half), but I think now that I know the characters better, seeing spoiler[Ikumi subtly go power insane, Fina dropping hints that she might be a psychopathic murderer, and Neeya slowly become more human] will be more fun to watch, hehe! And for some reason the character designs in that show please me to ridiculous degrees, I'm not sure why, it's like they're such a classic perfect generic definition of what anime should look like to me, yet still unique. Not only that, but IR is old enough to be cell animated! That pleases me even more!
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ManOfRust



Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Posts: 1935
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:46 pm Reply with quote
^^^ Your thoughts on Rahxephon are very similar to how I feel about it. I found that I enjoyed it even more with a second re-watch. I picked up on things I had missed the first time, and lot of plot elements fell into place the second time around that were kind of hazy after my initial viewing. Plus, it's not a hard show to re-watch. In addition to the story, the animation is nice and I enjoyed the music too, enough so that I even bought the soundtrack.

I finished episodes 7 - 12 of Nodame Cantabile, and my opinion of the show is changing rapidly. I am starting to see why so many people have such love for it. The first handful of episodes seemed sort of generic to me and I was wondering what was the big deal, but with the start of the "S Orchestra" story line, things are beginning to pick up. I guess the early episodes were just a chance to meet the characters and get things set up for the real story to begin.

The classical music used in the show is fantastic. There have been a couple times when I have been enjoying the music so much that it's almost a shock when it ends and we go back to the animated story.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the show!
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:51 pm Reply with quote
Oh yeah, one thing about RahXephon that eluded me this time and probably will in the future is why absolutely everything seems to respond to the singing of Prince Igor. Borodin was Russian, so it can't be that he was Japanese and I don't think it's that he did chemistry either, what, did they just pick it because it sounded nice? I can't disagree with that, it does sound very nice, it just seems a random choice to me is all.
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:04 pm Reply with quote
I'm starting on Rozen Maiden for no particular reason. Maybe I just want to see the infamous Desu~girl, Suiseiseki or whatever? So far, it's going great. Poreclain dolls are scary and all but this show makes them cute.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:25 pm Reply with quote
Midori Days. Like a rocket, with plenty of ups and downs. In the beginning I thought it'd be great... protagonist entertaining, etc. But then the girl got annoying. But, his right hand? Just notice the impure intentions -- Laughing And then the show got better again with the figure pervert. I particularly liked the episode where he finds a girl who looks exactly like his doll.
Either way, just another ephemeral anime. And the ending... oh the ending... "oh, there's the last scene---oh crap gone already". No lasting feelings whatsoever. To quote the protagonist: "She just came and went all of a sudden".
7/10 I guess.


Quote:
I'm starting on Rozen Maiden for no particular reason.

Probably the only anime I'd ever compare to NHK. Or did I forget about something very important...?
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:50 pm Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Now, that said, I'm sure I missed stuff, I'm still not sure what was up with the (call me dumb but I forget their names, so I call them the:) Jay Hickman, Illich Guardiola, and Kelli Cousins trio (or the white snake, the glasses guy, and the strange blonde), but I think it's the sort of show that both demands and deserves a rewatch, so I'll be paying closer attention to that the next time around.


First off, everyone misses something in RahXephon the first time through.

Now, about those three, if you don't mind spoilers:

spoiler[The three were in a program to create another tuner candidate to Quon. The letter they received indicates their ability in this regard. Itsuki, being the twin brother of Ayato, was of course was pretty good, while Helena is related to Bahbem so had some of his potential. Isshiki was merely the test-type for the clone army and apparently made using Bahbem's DNA. His design was supposed to be mass-produced; it's why he's weaker than the other two.]
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Nosferatu21



Joined: 19 Jul 2010
Posts: 520
Location: Ohio
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:51 am Reply with quote
Watching Gantz but I'm thinking of dropping it now and being satisfied with what I've seen. I've seen a few posts around here saying the series is great except for the ending(then again how many anime actually have satisfying endings?). So far I've watched through episode 21 and I'm not sure I need to see anymore. spoiler[Most of the characters I found interesting or actually had some character development to them(Both Kei's, Kato, the male model Houjo, his stalker sadako, and Sei) died in episode 20. Only Kei Kurono is alive now.] So from a character standpoint I think the last 5 episodes will be lacking.

I'm also not very attached to spoiler[any of the new characters Kei will be on the hunt with. In fact I don't like any of them at all except maybe the blonde haired dude who drowned saving that kid and the girl who was stabbed by her stalker. Hate the 2 hobo hunters and hate the homeroom teacher. Plus now Gantz is evidently pissed Kei shot him after coming back last time when everyone died so he's made Kei the alien prey in the hunt.] No thank you. I can already see how this is going to play out and I'm not interested in lowering my opinion of this show. Just gonna throw this one back onto the shelf and maybe finish it at a later date.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:15 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
First off, everyone misses something in RahXephon the first time through.

It's not that I mind missing stuff the first time and I know with some things it's more to be expected, for me it's a question of it I liked it the first time enough to want to rewatch it again in the first place. I mean, just look at Hot Fuzz, that was a hilarious movie the first time I watched it, but I had no idea I'd missed a good third of the jokes until I watched it again. I feel like I uncover a new joke somewhere in the dialogue or props every time I watch that movie because there are so many jokes carefully laid out throughout the movie, but I never would have rewatched it had I not enjoyed it the first time. Luckily for me with Rahxephon, I did enjoy the series enough to want to rewatch it.

Now, will the movie answer any questions or just make me more confused?
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:34 am Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Now, will the movie answer any questions or just make me more confused?


Well, objectively speaking, the movie tells a rather different story (or at the very least, a different interpretation of the original story), and some of the characters' roles have been changed*. It raises fresh questions without answering any of the old ones. There is a good chance you will be become more confused.

Subjectively speaking, I thought the movie was mediocre at best and almost an insult to the television series. Okay, so I think the series is the best Anime I've ever watched, and therefore the movie was always going to have a hard time topping it, but really? All that talent and that was the best movie they could come up with?

Compressing ten hours of animation into two hours is always going to be impossible, and even though the staff tried to avoid that by having a new story, they foolishly left in too much of the old story. It just became an incomprehensible mess, only with (not a major spoiler, but I'm tagging it anyway) spoiler[off-screen copulation], which I hypothesise was a misguided attempt to appeal to fans.

I may have found a small handful of the ideas to be interesting if more time had been given to them, but in that stew of What The Bleep they floundered. To top it all off, a lot of the subtlety that helped made RahXephon great was metaphorically drained away with a sieve, and there was little the movie could offer that was good fullstop, let alone good compared to the series.

Like I said, that's my subjective take on the movie. But I would be willing to bet that the vast majority who have seen both the series and the movie would say the former is better.



*
Uniformly changed for the worse. For example, in the series Itsuki was this smart and perceptive scientist who was privy to a lot of secrets, whereas in the movie he did so little he was a waste of screentime.
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Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6864
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:17 am Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Now, will the [RahXephon] movie answer any questions or just make me more confused?
Given that it's pretty much a straight-up summary movie with a few new scenes here and there, it's not going to change your confusion level in either direction.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:13 am Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
classicalzawa wrote:
Now, will the [RahXephon] movie answer any questions or just make me more confused?
Given that it's pretty much a straight-up summary movie with a few new scenes here and there, it's not going to change your confusion level in either direction.

Fair enough.
How about the novels or manga, anyone know if those are any good? I don't honestly expect the manga to be if it came after the anime, but the novels appear to have 5 in the series, that could actually work out, more pages to work out a story.
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Generic #757858



Joined: 03 Nov 2008
Posts: 1354
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:48 am Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Fair enough.
How about the novels or manga, anyone know if those are any good? I don't honestly expect the manga to be if it came after the anime, but the novels appear to have 5 in the series, that could actually work out, more pages to work out a story.


The manga has the same premise and characters (and plenty of added fanservice), but tells a slightly different story. Not nearly as good as the anime, but it's decent enough and I admit to enjoying it. Certainly one of the better anime-to-manga adaptations I've read. Plus, it's only three volumes so it's not like you'd be wasting much time or money (like with NGE...).
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Sanosuke_Inara



Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Posts: 1662
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:49 am Reply with quote
Nosferatu21 wrote:
Watching Gantz but I'm thinking of dropping it now and being satisfied with what I've seen. I've seen a few posts around here saying the series is great except for the ending(then again how many anime actually have satisfying endings?). So far I've watched through episode 21 and I'm not sure I need to see anymore. spoiler[Most of the characters I found interesting or actually had some character development to them(Both Kei's, Kato, the male model Houjo, his stalker sadako, and Sei) died in episode 20. Only Kei Kurono is alive now.] So from a character standpoint I think the last 5 episodes will be lacking.

I'm also not very attached to spoiler[any of the new characters Kei will be on the hunt with. In fact I don't like any of them at all except maybe the blonde haired dude who drowned saving that kid and the girl who was stabbed by her stalker. Hate the 2 hobo hunters and hate the homeroom teacher. Plus now Gantz is evidently pissed Kei shot him after coming back last time when everyone died so he's made Kei the alien prey in the hunt.] No thank you. I can already see how this is going to play out and I'm not interested in lowering my opinion of this show. Just gonna throw this one back onto the shelf and maybe finish it at a later date.
I take it you picked up the new classic line release? Same here.

Anyway, even though Gantz is still one of my faves and I actually did enjoy the last arc(aside from the very last episode, of course), you might be making a smart move to stop watching there. I was told to do te same, but I didn't, and even though I have no regrets, I can understand why somebody wouldn't wanna watch the last arc.

I was told to start reading the manga from that point. I'm not sure exactly which volume, but, if I'm not mistaken(which I probably am) I think it's somewhere around 8/9 that the anime breaks off from the manga. The manga's apparently hella better than the anime, so if you wanna continue the story, you should start from there. I'm gonna start buying the manga myself soon enough.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:56 pm Reply with quote
Junk Boy or Poteto Boy

This site that usually translates hentai translated this and put on a streaming service, so I thought why not. Quite weird but somewhat similar to Golden Boy. Remember the episode he works in an office? Yeah, it's pretty much that but with sex. 6/10

Minami-ke or Black Bible goes Moe

Thought for sure I hadn't completed it, but now I'm confident to say that it was a complete re-watch. It's pretty good, but the cozy mood it sets puts me to sleep quite easily (happened 3-4 times). This is definitely worth watching, and I'll get to the sequels eventually.
Favorite character? Most likely the crazy volleyball club fella. 8/10

Bakuman 20 or Death Note: Behind the Scenes
Still going. This anime is getting better and better... just as planned. But then again, those who disliked earlier episodes most likely still won't enjoy it. 8.5/10

Legend of the Angel or Hentai from the Nineties
Heard good things about it on the recent column and decided to give it a go. If anything, it's way too incomplete, but since it's comedy it doesn't matter as much. I also noticed a drop in quality (lack of freshness) halfway through. Either way, I just have to wonder how much influence it had over the creation of Toradora's protagonist. 6/10

Hitsuji no Uta
Oh dear lord. It's not bad, but if you want a proper description, think about the first Twilight movie but with incest and suicide. And here I thought at least the story would be rather innovative, since the art and animation were shit and looked like some cheap anime from the early nineties but with strong colors. 5/10

Completely in the mood for Hell Girl.

Oh, yeah, Saint Seiya fans, Lost Canvas episodes 14 and 15 are now streaming at CR.

Next: no idea. When I check me folder it's full of romance, a genre I've been putting aside for the last couple years. Will get to Tokyo Magnesium eventually... and Witch Hunter Robin is indefinitely on hold... god help me watch 2 bland protagonists; no wonder it's like the third time I stop WHR around episode 10.
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Wrathful



Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 372
PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:23 pm Reply with quote
I'm watching Monster. I'm up to episode 14. Here's my first impression, eh. The story is good and all but I have been bugged by the constant side story that deals with preaching morality and justice. It's just me but the character who constantly spews a moral crap and justice annoys me. Anyways, the plot is ok enough I'm willing to stick with it to see the high point of the show. The reason I'm watching in the first place is I'm curious about Johan Liebert and how much impression he makes.

So far, he barely made any impression on me, so I guess he will be a major character in the following episodes soon.
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