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supercreep wrote:

Really? Hmmm, well then maybe I'll give it another go.

Yes, I also think should you keep going with Kamisama Dolls. I rated it Very Good. It starts slow but really picks up and packs a couple of really powerful episodes in the middle. It is also fairly funny, though not side-splittingly so. The Utao expressions are always good for a laugh.

Now, the ending is one of those "sorry folks, that's all for now, if the show sells well we might think about a second season" sort of deals, which I hate. But it doesn't just end like Berserk, there is at least a bit of resolution. Overall, I think the show is worth watching.

I am currently watching Usagi Drop and Black Butler. I'm not entirely sure where I heard about Usagi Drop but I have to say I am really a fan. I haven't seen too many slice of life like it but if there are, please someone recommend. I'm also watching Black Butler due to insistence of a friend and while the Sebastion seems a bit too invulnerable, I like it.

I just finished watching Adolescence of Utena and Revolutionary Girl Utena yesterday.

I really liked Revolutionary Girl Utena. I must confess that I don't appreciate it as deeply or zealously as its most ardent devotees; I'm not interested enough in symbolism and analysis enough for that. I appreciate the presence of those things, quite a lot, because they make it more interesting and give a sense that the people who made it cared quite a lot about their work, but I can't bring myself to put a high premium on it. My intellectual engagements are elsewhere. In Shamokin, I think.

Besides the bracingly rich symbolism, I found impressive characterization in Revolutionary Girl Utena. The series really shone in the last arc when the routine duels, interesting as they had been, went out of style and the series was bathed in Utena's feelings, uncertain and destiny. Utena was an appealing character the whole time just for being so competent, willful and cool, but when she really begins to bend a little under the weight of what she's caught in and faces genuine doubts, she becomes more interesting and engaging, especially because of the pointedness of the contrast to the indomitably she bore for most of the series.

Even better than Utena was, so far as I am concerned, Anthy. She was the living central mystery of the series. Her nature, freedom of will and true intent were constant, always changing mysteries. Through every arc of the series, besides all else, I was most interested in what more would be revealed about Anthy. She was a most remarkable creation.

The greatest surprise to me was that by the end, I liked all of the members of the Student Council. Miki and Jury were always easy to like. Jury especially appealed, to me, but I ultimately found Touga, Nanami and even Saiyonji sympathetic by the end. In the case of Saiyonji this is damned near amazing as I had spent most of the first third of the series hoping that somebody would run him over with a truck. By the end, even he seemed to have become a more worthwhile person. I wish that the series had spent even more time on the student council. Utena Tenjou was a great character, but by the end, I felt a real sense of investment in the first round of antagonists.

All in all, I was very satisfied by this series. I never had any expectation of how it would end and I never would have thought of how it all ended up. It was spectacular to see and emotionally intense, which is damned near all that I ever ask of a finale. This is a really excellent series that I like better the more I think about it. I'm glad that Nozomi put this new edition out and I hope that it was a success for them.

Oh, and "Rondo Revolution" is a totally boss theme song. I never skipped it, which puts it in a very rare class with "Tank" and "Duvet".

As I wrote, I also just a short while ago finished watching Adolescence of Utena.

What the Hell was that?

I don't think I understood anything that happened. I'll concede that the old fashioned, glass of Gewürztraminer, ill advised blend of chocolate liqueur with orange juice and plain ol' glass of scotch that I imbibed in the process might have worked against me, but this film seemed like something David Lynch might make if he were an animator who chewed a lot of bubblegum. The film flitted among its often quite strange scenes with halcyon disregard for structure and often just goes plain nuts. I couldn't believe what I was seeing more than once. The finale is cool looking, but insane. I knew it was coming, but even so, I wasn't ready for... that.

That's something that I liked about the series too. Kunihiko Ikuhara has a great knack for throwing one out of reality to enlivening effect. He distorts reality, plays with expectations and just outright surprises with great aplomb.

I've watched the series and film in both languages because I'm a philistine, but insecure about it and have a lot of free time at the moment. The Japanese version is better and far more consistent, especially in the series, but by the end of the series and for this film, I think that the English cast had at last settled comfortably, if often imperfectly, into their parts. I actually really like Rachel Lillis as Utena Tenjou. The film is helped a lot, of course, by Nanami having a shockingly limited and really bizarre part, thus relieving it almost wholly of Leah Applebaum's regrettable performance.

It was a narratively incoherent film, but still tremendously fun to watch and good looking too. Ohtori Academy is portrayed as a wonderfully impossible Rube Goldberg machine designed by M. C. Escher and the whole film is soaked in fabulous imagery. The new character designs are fine, although I didn't like Utena's silly little cap.

It might well be best to watch Adolescence of Utena slightly tired, drunk, high or concussed.

Oh, and I watched the first four episodes of Rosario+Vampire on Hulu because I'm still in a fundamentally unhappy place in my life, which leads me to make stupid, regrettable decisions like that. Unless it turns into a unique, inventive and intelligent artistic work in episode five, I'm content to dismiss this as a tediously exploitative harem series that I want to murder my immediate past self for watching. It wasn't as egregiously tedious and obnoxious as other things that I've watched while emotionally distressed (Ikkitousen... twice... while eating an entire pizza), but it's just another show about a dull, feckless, sometimes obnoxious male lead who is more or less arbitrarily fawned over by some women-like psuedocharacters for the delight of male audiences who have either inadequate senses of shame or can effectively suppress it (I fall into the latter camp... ...) There is plenty of ostensible comedy, but when I laughed, it was a vicious, awful laugh of contempt and incredulity. The animation is strikingly unimpressive; some of it is very stiff and cheap with no other virtues to distract me or make me forgive it. The more I think about this show, contra Revolutionary Girl Utena, the worse it seems. I've changed my mind, I loathe this series and I didn't even get to eat a pizza.

So, I've just watched the first 6 eps of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, and I can't quite put my finger on why, but it's really not doing it for me quite like any other mecha military anime I've seen. And I usually get into them really fast. I think part of it is that Amuro is using a Mewtwo while the Zeon seem to be using Weedle and Rattata. Of course it's going to win, it's a Mewtwo! I'm never on the edge of my seat guessing, and every encounter Char somehow has to withdraw, it's happened every time so it's not all that suspenseful. Sure, I finished VOTOMs recently and Chirico might as well have been a Mewtwo, except that he was using the exact same type of mecha that everyone else had access to, that made Chirico the Mewtwo, not his mecha. Amuro seems to be winning due to having a better mech, not actually being a better pilot.

But I've enjoyed pretty much every scene with Char or Zeon, I find them far more interesting to watch than Amuro. Please tell me the focus will shift and give Zeon way more screen time! It's like every single person over the age of 30 in the Federation is a raging idiot when it comes to strategy and they'll blindly shout out the worst possible tactic and go "hurr, insubordination!" if anyone calls them out on it. While Zeon seems to have somewhat incompetent mecha pilots, they seem to have far better leaders. Strategy is discussed a bit and all the adults seem intelligent. It makes me want to watch them instead because I keep siding with them and wanting them to win because they're just more interesting to me.

I dunno, I'm just finding it boring right now and I was hooked on Legend of the Galactic Heroes by the end of ep 2! Some consider LoGH to be slow to get into (and I can see why even if I got into it right away) and it's certainly wordy. And it's not just that the entire ship in Gundam is run by teenagers that annoys me, I liked Infinite Ryvius (speaking of, half of the dub voices appear to be the same, odd to hear Lucson and Kouji's voices pretty much exactly the same again). And the ship those kids were on was a Mewtwo as well, but that was also Lord of the Flies in space and that was the main point of the series, not the mecha or military stuff. Here everyone's like "ok, sudden civilian teenagers who joined the ship's command, you're good" (ok, they were threatened something at first, but then it seems to have been revoked or something since I've not heard it mentioned again), but I also have a hard time calling them teenagers when they have no problem coming up with winning strategies instantly while all the teens on the Ryvius acted like actual teens. The command on Ryvius were teens unsure of themselves with insecurities, I liked that, it made the characters interesting. Here, Bright and Amuro seem pretty sure of themselves, and why not when they have a freakin' Mewtwo?

I also liked 0080, but that kinda stands on its own, fortunately. So can anyone tell me if 0079 finally realizes that the Zeon are more interesting and gives most of the screen time to Char? Kinda like what From Eroica With Love did with replacing the three teens from chapter one with the villain (because he was so much more awesome) as the main? Or if the style of the show remains much the same forever....it will affect a future TRSI order!

A F.E.A.R. Rattata could kick a Mewtwo's ass.

The King of Harts wrote:

A F.E.A.R. Rattata could kick a Mewtwo's ass.

Not if the Mewtwo has a priority move or holds Custap berry allowing it to go first when it's low HP. Stealth rocks also ruins a F.E.A.R. Rattata by crippling it's Focus Sash. Although a Focus Band might save it but the chances are rare and it is banned from competitive battles. Laughing

And to stay on topic with the thread.

I recently ordered Persona 3 ~ trinity soul for the delicious artbook. I'm about to watch it to finish my DVDs that I wasted money on. I ordered a few things from months ago but never bothered to finish them up.

Things to finish:

Evangelion: Need to watch the 2nd DVD (Episode 6 was it...?)
Ga-Rei-Zero: Need to watch Episode 7+
Persona 3: Episode 5+
Basilisk: Episode 2+
Gantz - Need to start this.

Well, I hope school doesn't take away my free time like it usually does. I still have one more day of Winter break so I may pull an all nighter to finish some of these series... but hentai is getting in my way of the DVDs.

Are we talking competitive battling up in this piece?
1) Mewtwo has no priority moves
2) If your Mewtwo is holding a Custap, you're doing it wrong
3) 1 on 1 battle (so no entry hazards), Rattata kicks Mewtwo's ass

Lol, ok, clearly can't mention Pokemon without complex strategy coming into play, so let's say I was talking gen 1 games where you can't hold items and there are no abilities, and F.E.A.R can't yet exist due to lack of endeavor and focus sash. Where even if a Rattata used Quick Attack, it would do jack to a Mewtwo, back when Mewtwo pretty much was the most powerful Pokemon in the game. So yeah, I meant gen 1 games.

Now can anyone answer my Gundam question?

classicalzawa wrote:

Now can anyone answer my Gundam question?

No matter how massively incompetent the Federation is, that does not justify Zeon killing five billion people in a week through gassing them, nuking them and dropping a colony on the Earth. You're not the first person to unwisely cheer for the Zeons and you sure as hell won't be the last. But it's sad all the same.

To answer your actual question, yes, Zeon does get much more screentime. If you like massively competent and sympathetic soldiers who nevertheless fight on the side of true evil, just wait for Ramba Ral. "This is no Zaku, boy! No Zaku!"

Heaven's Lost Property. I picked up the BD at Best Buy on an impulse buy. What is weird is when I got home I found I have it marked as "Seen All" but I don't remember any of it other than the first episode.

This anime is really nicely drawn but much of it goes to waste on such a whacked out plot line. It is strange that the ending credits animation in each episode is different and quite a bit of work went into them. It almost seems like they paid more attention to that than the main feature.

Anyway, the bottom line is it is really silly, and unfortunately it has a tendency to take a joke way too far rather than moving on to something else. If I ever resell this BD I am going to have a hard time charging full price for it.

So I finished Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers, and I really enjoyed it, that makes all seasons which together was wicked. Each season seemed to get a little darker/emotional, with Strikers really putting it to the max with multiple fights at the end, which although could be tough to keep track of, kept me involved. My biggest problem probably was that I could not remember most of the names, I knew most from previous seasons but I likely had a problem watching it in such a small period. Oh and I cried, I am such a sucker for the parts involving Vivio, at least I laughed too.

Fate still fits in as one of my favourite anime characters, though there is no fault in Nanoha whos unflinching innocent views are insperational. Not enough Yuuno though.

Well most from previous season have ended, not really much has began, but I did see the first episode of Rinne no Lagrange. It did not seem to have much wrong, likely something I will continue watching over the dozen weeks. The MC (who is called Madoka by the way) was bubly, but not really an idiot, and Kudere character also looks fun, I guess I could use a new mecha.

I recently watched 11 eyes because the only anime I had in my Seen All list that started with a number was 5 centimeters per second and it looked lonely.

Anime hyper

Also because I heard 11 eyes was kinda scary, not just creepy like many shows and it kinda was. Nothing compared to true horror movies but this series had a good atmosphere going for it. The story started out pretty interesting too, and although it didn't cash in on all its potential it was still an enjoyable watch. The ending though spoiler[was a reset. A double reset, really. All the characters died, then we found out that it was just an ep long vision, and then certain characters died again, and were brought back AGAIN.] That was.... meh. They could have done worse.

Just dropped Kurenai, I was so pissed off with it that I couldn't stand it anymore. The writing was hugely variable, with some episodes being really, really good and others so shockingly awful I couldn't stand them. But overall, this was not a good show. The final straw was episode nine, which had characters acting too dumb to live. So I killed them before they killed me. I was so pissed off in places I actually bit my lip hard enough to draw blood on three different occasions.

Anyway, moving on from that trainwreck, I now have the much-hyped Rose of Versailles on my viewing schedule. Wish me luck.

I just finished Sekirei: Pure Engagement only to see a "To be continued..." screen.
* shakes fist in anger *

Is it me or have the fights gotten shorter in the second season? They meet, announce who they are, then five seconds later, the fight ends. It just feels weird. I was hoping to see more combo attacks though spoiler[it was only featured one time and at the end no less. During the last episodes, Mikogami's Sekirei combined their attacks to temporary incapacitate Homura which was temporary effective].

I did find it annoying how Miya passive aggressively avoids speaking about the past. Those who even attempt to speak about her past are quickly intimidated into silence. Miya is the typical example of a archetype of a character not letting on more than they know. When the city is plunged into chaos, Miya is casually tending to her everyday cleaning.

Still, the second season was very enjoyable though the ending felt a bit rushed. There is a gratuitous amount of fan service, including nude scenes, not that I am complaining. I do know that the manga is ongoing though I am not sure how much material has been animated so far. For now, it is a tortuous wait being stuck with yet another cliffhanger.

I spent the past week as a homebody in my apartment, and other than a couple projects, this is how my week went.

The week and a half prior to this past week was spent away from my apartment and away from anime, so the first couple days were mostly spent catching up on the final episodes of the fall season.

The next couple days were mostly taken up by a marathon of Mawaru Penguindrum. I had been watching weekly but it got too difficult to keep track of what had gone on before, and considering how even more confusing it became I'm glad I waited to watch it all together. I'm having a current conversation in its own thread about how I think the symbolism got out of hand but I genuinely enjoyed it very much. I didn't completely connect with the characters but the story and themes worked well and the art direction and design was second only to Madoka.

While watching that and afterwards I watched a couple of my mega-bargain DeepDiscount.com sale purchases to take the edge off that heavy thematic workout- Best Student Council and Special A. I've seen BSC before and I enjoy it but I put it on hold for awhile, it really hasn't been so long since I watched it before so I decided to switch to unwatched material instead.
Special A turned out better than my first impression of the first couple episodes but I question if it was really worth buying, even at such a small price. I knew that it was supposed to be a cliched sort of show, and it is, but the cast isn't really the most likable at the beginning and only get slightly better. They really are a cast of poor little rich kids, and we're asked to sympathize with plights of the super-privileged, it mostly works- but not completely. they pull off the pairings of couples at the end pretty well... except for the singer and the noble jerkwad... that was odd, forced, and actually left the main cast member you expected her to get with all alone with his animal friends. I'm giving it a "good" rating though, it had enough to keep me watching.

And finally, tonight, I got around to watching The Secret World of Arrietty (The title Disney is releasing it under in theaters next month). I probably should have waited for the proper release but I wanted to watch a sub beforehand and felt like watching a sure-fire quality movie, I mostly got what I was looking for. It isn't the most exciting picture, even under Ghibli standards, it'll take a patient child to really enjoy it, but tey are the masters at presenting a world of wonder to the viewer, and of course it looks beautiful. It could have used a scene or two dedicated to Spiller though, he looked great and represented a part of the world they probably should have touched on a bit more. (Excellent)

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