Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23752 |
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Wow, here's a cool personal statistic: once Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing debuts, I'll be watching 16 currently airing anime TV shows. Out of those, 14 are available/or will be available shortly for streaming through CR, Funico and TAN. Only Ben=To and Mawaru Penguindrum are fansubs. Amazing!
Last edited by Blood- on Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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So I watched Kekko Kamen a few days ago. It came bundled with Puni Puni Poemi, which is actually a pretty good pairing, unlike Neo-Tokyo's package-mate New Fist of the North Star, which I still don't understand.
What the Hell was that? Within perhaps ten minutes of the beginning, I saw a schoolgirl chained to a wall having her clothes shredded with a whip by a Nazi dominatrix in front of a man dressed like a doctor and some sort of weird Demon in a mask, only to be saved by a woman who is naked but for a mask and boots. It doesn't really level off after that. Later there's a preposterously muscled teacher whose Olympian physique the titular heroine can't resist until she blindfolds herself and an android student who ends up torturing the perpetual victim of the series with tentacles. It wasn't often funny in the conventional sense, but the whole thing is so perfectly ludicrous that I enjoyed staring in confusion at the bizarre things that I was seeing. Sometimes I think that this was a successful exercise in getting laughs deliberately that are usually only gotten by things that are so bad that they're great. And sometimes it was funny in a more usual way too. I really think that I should've hated this, because it's horribly exploitative, but somehow my principles fail me. It isn't even as winking and fast-firing about it as Puni Puni Poemi Somehow I could bear and it enjoy myself. Go Nagai isn't being ironic or wry about his portrayal of women, he's being, well, Go Nagai, but, uhh... quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. A few weeks ago I watched all of Silent Möbius that's been animated, which is two films of less than an hour's length and a twenty-six episode series. I tried to write about it then, but I couldn't quite think of enough to say. I suppose that the franchise is just too straightforward for much commentary, but that works to its benefit and I enjoyed it. It's competently made, has skilled, professional female protagonists who aren't exploited and has a sort of almost quaint, but reliably enjoyable style. Below is what I tried to write about it. (Yes, all of my posts in this thread began as Microsoft Word documents) A Tedious Aside: The Japanese rendering of Silent Möbius is Sairento Mebiusu. I found the choice of me interesting, because that's how I pronounce that syllable when I'm too lazy to pronounce it as a rounded front vowel. I only pronounced it that way as a bit of whimsy because where I live there are many people and places with German names that have sequences a vowel followed by <e>, which is the equivalent of a vowel with an umlaut, which is in fact derived from a reduction and simplification of written <e>. Originally, if my rusty and rattletrap memory of this isn't too off, <ue> and <oe> were equivalent to <i> and <e>, but pronounced with rounded lips as in <u> or <o>, but Pennsylvania Dutch and other American German dialects lost this rounding, hence the fell I knew in high school whose name was spelled <Glueck>, but pronounced glick and why Speaker of the House of Representatives Boehner's name is prounced Bayner, not boner, even if the latter aptly describes his policies. This is of interest to me, although I found it very difficult to explain without resorting to more linguistic terminology and notation, although since nobody cares, I might as well have. Anyway... Silent Möbius isn't particularly rich in ambition; rather it settles nicely into a mostly familiar, comfortable space. Little of what the story does is unusual or exceptional, but is is done earnestly and well, so it's more like a cozy chair that you've sat in before than a routine bore. There's something almost quaint about the understandably fearful, confused Katsumi Liqueur of the films and the straightforward characterization of the 'focus episodes' of the series, but their more examples the remind one of why these particular characterization and stories are used than just dull retreads. It's strange to admit, but I often knew just how certain things would play out, but I was still very content to watch them. Ah well, as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said, "It is better to be good than to be original." Then again, I hate his architecture. It's also just nice to see professional, adult women going about their business and not showing me their pantyhose. The films have very little that could be construed as fanservice, none of it being egregious, and the series has pretty well none, which I appreciated. Most of the time they just wear their... well, I hesitate to use, "practical," on account of the very high stand collars and eighties-big shoulder pads, but it suffice it to say that their uniforms are durable enough not to be ripped across the bust and buttocks by anything north of casual physical contact and don't implausibly accentuate secondary sexual characteristics. The first film is the best of the three. It's basic structure entails a very stark contrast between a mature, confident and professional 'present' Katsumi Liqueur and the fearful, confused version that she began as. Silent Möbius the Motion Picture is only fifty four minutes long, so it can't spend much time with the mature Katsumi, having really only enough time for her to be cool and impressive, which also means that she's less interesting than her past self. Her past self is plausibly, and routinely, badly discomfited by being thrust abruptly into an existence plagued by horrible, but very nicely rendered, monsters whom she is expected to fight. Desires of wanting a normal life, by and for Katsumi, are heard more than once. Still, at least all of the proper to this sort of threatening unsettling of one's reality are there. Katsumi quivers in uncertainty and fear, but also spurns the entreaties of the AMP and repudiates the whole idea in an indignant conversation with herself. This is a pretty believable reaction for a person to have, which I appreciated. What I appreciated more was the less expected portrayal of the sincere, caring relationship between Katsumi and her mother. This is a substantial part of the film, which despite its brevity, takes some time to portray a genuine loving, familiar relationship between a mother and daughter. It gives the film more heart than one might expect. All of the narrative and character are bolstered by excellent animation and art. Silent Möbius the Motion Picture was animated in the heyday of OVAs, so it had the budget to be impressive. The characters move naturally against rich, evocative backgrounds and contend with impressively detailed and distinctive-looking menaces. There is no suspicious immobility, no blatantly simplified detail and no interminable looping of animation. It's as impressive-looking as something made in times that were to good to last should be. The film's brevity both serves and weakens it. Being so short, it can't really give a very thorough portrayal of Katsumi's maturation, much less do much with the supporting cast. It gives Kiddy Phenil and Nami Yamigumo some due, showing us some of their own particular rapport, but the rest of the cast mostly just do their jobs with showing much that's distinctive. The whole thing can seem too breezy; the first time I watched it, it all seemed to move so fast that when the end came, I was caught off guard. Still, that brevity means that it never halts or lingers, so it's consistently engaging. The want of time seems to have encouraged the creators to to be frugal, so there really isn't any time wasted on dodgy tertiary characters, lame comic relief or long runs of direct exposition. The film largely assigns its time well. If nothing else, it's not much time wasted if it happens to disappoint, which it, in my case, did not. Silent Möbius the Motion Picture 2 isn't as good as its predecessor, but it still looks very nice and has much the same solid familiarity. It isn't as stirring to the eyes, perhaps having been animated more cheaply and having fewer chances to impress. it is still more impressive-looking than average; all still moves well and is good looking. At one point one character shows a pendant in her hand to another and its chain subtly shifts, then falls. I imagine in that in many other works that chain would be absent, immobile or move clumsily. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6523 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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@ Surrender Artist,
The ANN encyclopaedia doesn't have a plot summary for Kekko Kamen. Now that you've seen it you can add one. And genres and themes while you're at it. 
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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Two words: Go Nagai. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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I decided to give my 360 a break this weekend and catch up on a few titles begging me to watch. Okay, the truth is, they finally closed for the season, meaning a marathon can be applied. Win.
I remember starting Steins Gate because the first episode was nothing more than a hook. I also recalled they had devised a way to send messages to the past, but that's about it. As I rewatched the episodes, I believe it was about the 6th when I decided to wait for it to complete. I was okay with the premise of sending messages to the past. That application of "time travel", though ridiculous, at least didn't contain the "now we've got to cover up our tracks" approach every single time traveling story does. Sadly, this one does the same thing, but with a unique twist. Instead of sending people through time, they send memories. Forget the nuances on why this is ridiculous, just know the issue now turned an interesting concept into another "We've got to cover our tracks". What a damn waste. As every episode continued, I became more distant to it, hating it for what it's doing to me. The breaking point was around the corner, I could feel it, and once the "plot twist" was revealed, I wanted to stop watching right then and there. I couldn't stop, though. This is a series I invested my time in and now I had to see the conclusion. I should have stopped. I really need to work on my arrogant stance on this "must complete" and this series will be used for this in the future. Final grade: D- Despite the wonderful premise, it fizzles to the point of utter ridiculous as every time traveling story delivers. Be thankful I didn't include my hatred of Mayuri's role in this series despite liking the girl. Thankfully, my next choice was a series I was already attached to. Not only was I salivating and completing it, but I remembered all the episodes I had viewed and didn't mind in the least to re-watch them. Hanasaku Iroha is, without question, 2011's "Anime Series of the Year" to me, and it had some pretty strong competition to join it (including the above). What made it leap above the rest to receive the award comes down to the three things we all appreciate about anime: -Great characters -Great art -Great story Though, truth be told, the latter wasn't "great" in the typical sense of the definition, but it's more than reliable to keep people entertained. It wasn't surprising the series poked fun at itself when cast members say they're in a teenage drama. Ohana's attitude can get a little grating, but her influence on the others sets in motion the typical "drama" we expect to see. We know, well ahead of time, how the arcs will play themselves out, but we don't care. We're watching because we want to see how those in the arc deal with the drama. This is where the series shines, because these characters, while moving toward a predictable resolution, don't always provide the same path. For example, there's an arc of the over-used "Girl A likes boy but he likes Girl B", but this series takes a strikingly different approach with Girl A's way of accepting this truth and was well done to the point I didn't see it coming. The arc itself resolved as I expected, but it's difficult not to care more for Girl A once it's over. She gains a level of respect for her actions, and this is how the writers applied all their arcs. A bit of a spoiler here, but we're pretty much used to "mean granny" becomes "soft and loving" at the end, but this series redefines "soft and loving", which brings forth one of the most realistic endings of a story I've seen in a very long time. It doesn't go for tugs on heart strings but instead, leaves those feelings to the viewer to decide. Some will love the ending, others will hate it, meaning it's a great closing to a well-crafted set of stories. Bias alert, as most of you will know I give special props to a series with great art, and there is no disputing the craftsmanship which went into the series. Yes, it uses CGI animation to show moving trains against a scenic backdrop, but it's still gorgeous to watch. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this series is 90% computer generation and 10% hands-on and wouldn't care less if it was. Surely I don't have to give a grade here, right? Fine, fine: A+, but please remember this is a heavily biased grade over the design, art, and my passion for slice-of-life anime. A more cautious grade would be B, but the point is simple: not too many wouldn't enjoy this series. FUNimation, take note: license this series. You'd be foolish not to. |
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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They did send out C&Ds to a site I use. That doesn't guarantee anything, but it could be a hint. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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*crosses fingers. I love this series so much, I'd buy the LE and scream like a little girl for the privilege. |
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle
 Posts: 1288 Location: Mastic Beach, NY |
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On Sunday I managed to get up early enough to get to NYAF in time to watch Makoto Shinkai's new film Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. While the film was enjoyable, it was by no means great. It had some pacing problems, and it borrows a great deal from other films, mostly from Hayao Miyazaki. And for all its fantasy trappings it's still One-Trick-Pony Shinkai doing the doomed-love thing. In fairness, it is a great-looking film and is certainly worth seeing at least once, and I actually would probably buy it if it was released on BD at a reasonable price. My rating would actually be somewhere between "good" and "very good" so I rated it "very good".
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11293 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger (17-26) - Finally made the time to watch the rest of the series. I hate when shounen titles just go on and on and on and on (here's flipping you off Bleach and Naruto), but I'll be damned if I could ever stop watching Ippo. The first series is still one of my highest-regarded shounen titles and one of my top-rated overall, and I was really happy to see more. Madhouse really cleaned up the art and animation for this one with a more colorful palette, bolder lines, and very good lighting. They even got all the same seiyuu, writers, and tech people back together again. But holy shit, the music sucks.
In just hearing his work for Ouran Host Club and Death Note, I'd say Yoshihisa Hirano is already a master at the classical genre. But to have him composing for Ippo over Tsuneo Imahori? Really?! To take a guy who clearly excels in more traditional instrumental music versus the guy who could make Al Qaeda jam out, played guitar for Yoko Kanno, and solidified the trademark hard-rock sound of the first Ippo series is the answer? Fail. I don't know why they picked such a polar opposite composer to make the music for this series, but I'm sorry Hirano-san, you did a terrible job. And if somebody wants to quote me and put this on his page, please do. But getting to the series, I was especially excited to see Takamura get more development at the end. Yeah, I still want Miyata and Ippo to duke it out at some point, and the Ricardo Martinez matchup looks like it'd be pretty awesome to watch as well. Ugh, but 80+ volumes, or however many heck there are, and all they could make were 26 more episodes? I know that Rikiya Koyama said there'd be another season, but I hope they make it a little longer this time. And this time, they need to get Imahori back. |
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Han Solo
 Posts: 57 Location: Great Britain |
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Kaiba.
Why? It's twelve episodes long (Don't have enough time to follow something long atm) Also because the artstyle is so different it's actually refreshing to watch. The show itself is pretty insane too, that's why I love it. I've only watched two episodes so far. More info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/3701/Kaiba |
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TheTheory
 Posts: 1029 Location: Central PA |
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Just finished:
Outlaw Star I really liked this one. Found the characters to be fairly interesting and the ending rather satisfying. Really wish there had been a second series, but can't have everything, eh? Starting: Trigun I got through the first disc (of 8) last night. Totally wasn't prepared for the general tone of Vash. I was expecting someone along the lines of Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop) or Alucard (Hellsing), but Vash is throwing me for a loop. I'll be curious to see how he develops over the next couple of discs. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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 . About halfway through the series the general tone starts to sober up, especially after Wolfwood is introduced. It's one of my favorite shows.
So I just started watching Ghost Stories yesterday (the dub of course) and it's hilarious. I'd heard it was offensive and crazy but still didn't expect this level of blatant racist and homophobic jokes. I thought it'd be similar to Excel Saga, but it's its own thing, and the only thing similar that I've seen is South Park.
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ManOfRust
 Posts: 1935 Location: Seattle, WA |
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There is a sort of side story called Angel Links, that is set in the Outlaw Star universe but is really only loosely related to the original series. It's got a very different feel than OS, and I didn't like it nearly as much, but that's just my opinion. It may be worth checking out. |
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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People lost their shit over that [hilarious] dub. You should take the time to read the review talkback thread. |
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TheTheory
Posts: 1029 Location: Central PA |
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I did notice that, but figure pretty much everything you said. Looks like the sort of series that'd be worth watching sometime, but on its own strengths, not because it is loosely affiliated. Then again, I probably won't lose any sleep if I never get a chance to see it. haha. |
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