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I've only seen the first three episodes so far, but based on those the review is accurate. Chris Sabat is perfectly-cast as Roy (he does those world-weary, morose heroes so well), but it's the Roy/Solty dynamic that's going to keep me watching.

And is it just me, or is Solty's hairdo more than a tad ridiculous?

still can't get over that dvd cover. Laughing

is the show really that cliche? i've heard it was decent, but i have yet to check it out.

Carl's review comfirmed it: Solty Rei Vol. #1 is a rental for me. Whether I believe this series gets better as it goes on will determine if I will eventually buy this series.

v1cious wrote:

still can't get over that dvd cover. Laughing

is the show really that cliche? i've heard it was decent, but i have yet to check it out.

yeah, the show is pretty cliche, but it's so entertaining that it doesn't really matter..

tetratrax wrote:

yeah, the show is pretty cliche, but it's so entertaining that it doesn't really matter..

I still haven't watched it, and decided I won't start it until I have the entire set, but outside of this review and a few like it, I've heard the same thing you said and other good things about Solty Rei from other places, so I'm still confident in continuing to purchase it.

I wonder if the other volumes will also have a slipcase. It's too bad that the second volume of Noein didn't have one. The "Salty Roy" cover is hilarious and I was also guilty of a juvenile chuckle. The return of Funimation's reversible cover (boo to both Black Cat, and Rumbling Hearts) is really nice and flipping it for the slipcase is a great idea.

While six episodes is also a wonderful deal for this release I wish that Funimation would continue this trend and release this 24 episode series on 4 discs. Although I don't mind a higher video compression for a series if I'm not too interested in it, this is silly since 24 episodes would fit nicer in a 5-5-5-5-4 pattern. The 5-5-4 Rumbling Hearts discs (so far at least the first two volumes) look great with 5 episodes on them. Compression does become a factor when you pass the 2.5 hour mark and include extras.

I also enjoy the interactions between Roy and Solty, and always enjoy when the main character is a loner that is around my age. Much like Gonzo's Speedgrapher, there is some nice character moments that older fan's can relate to. I will agree that Solty is my least favorite (although I don't really care for Black Cat either) of the Gonzo titles that Funimation is currently releasing.

Well, I picked it up and I must say I enjoyed it regardless of the cliche's and improbabilities. A lot of it I just accept with a "Hey, it's anime" look at the whole thing. It follows the style for this type of show and it's the kind you don't watch for realism, rather it's the type you watch when you just want to shut off your brain and be entertained. It's no deep or artsy storyline but it's an interesting, amusing and enjoyable series so far.

I did enough research on it before I picked it up so I went in to it knowing full well the type of show it was, so it didn't disappoint me when it became apparent there was no deep storyline or significant artistic quality. Of course, that alone doesn't give it a good score for me, just knowing it's not deep or artistic doesn't mean I ignore the faults. After all, I went in to FF7:AC knowing the type of movie it was and with those expectations and I still walked away from that viewing experience shaking my head. No, Solty Rei is an enjoyable series so far that I still found worth the price, it's no masterpiece but it is fun and entertaining with great execution for the type of show it is.

Quote:

And is it just me, or is Solty's hairdo more than a tad ridiculous?

Heh, yeah, but that's not rare in anime and frankly I've seen much worse in other series.

Yeah its no masterpiece, but i enjoed it much. Last few episodes are crazy as hell! Smile

Cant wait to see DVD exclusive bonus episode....

And kudos to Jouji Nakata, he nailed another great preformance...

I was just reading Solty Rei's vol 1 review and wondering has the person actually seen all of the Anime. It's one of my peeves for people who almost define the Anime as what it is and going to be with only the first few episodes they have seen. Now I'm not saying what was said is not true of the first whatever first few episodes. Just that there is no general outlook of the Anime and what is can possibly offer. To out right say "Sure Solty Rei is a hackneyed patchwork of worn genre tropes, but that's what puts the "mindless" in "mindless entertainment"." just based on the first DVD is to provide an ignorant opinion and give the Anime a bad impression in general. Sure, it's his opinion of what he thinks, but then again, what's said excludes everything else the Anime has to offer later down the road. But not giving it any hope shows a bit too much of one's own convictions about the Anime that's gone too far.

You can imagine there are 6 DVDs and each DVD gets rated individually. To not say anything on now much Solty Rei can offer down the road is like placing a cork on DVD one and turning people away from checking it out.

I guess what I said can be summed up as " giving something a bigger picture". it's like one of those GunxSword things. yeah, sure, the first few episodes are boring. It goes nowhere. But had I stopped, I would have not realized how much everything was made up the second half. It's just that it was dissapointing not giving Solty Rei any future prospects.

Maybe it's a policy NOT to go into the next vols and what one would expect and how it might change. But not doing so only gives the Anime a general negative impression and a turn-off.

I guess individual DVDs are rated this way?

The point is, it's supposed to be a review of the first DVD, not the entire series.

So maybe if ANN reviews all of the DVDs, in the end, they'll like it more, but the opinions are meant to give a review of the first volume, and that's all.

JoshuaStChristopher wrote:

The point is, it's supposed to be a review of the first DVD, not the entire series.

So maybe if ANN reviews all of the DVDs, in the end, they'll like it more, but the opinions are meant to give a review of the first volume, and that's all.

I know that. I have said that. It's the opinion of the first DVD. The main concern is that there is a lack of FUTURE prospects of the series that I would like to see mentioned. A simple " it has potential" or " let's hope for some character dynamics and the establishment of a less vague and more firm of a plot" or SOMETHING. The ending part of it seems to almost give the whole attitude as if the entire series reflects this DVD.

Lord Kefka wrote:

I know that. I have said that. It's the opinion of the first DVD. The main concern is that there is a lack of FUTURE prospects of the series that I would like to see mentioned. A simple " it has potential" or " let's hope for some character dynamics and the establishment of a less vague and more firm of a plot" or SOMETHING. The ending part of it seems to almost give the whole attitude as if the entire series reflects this DVD.

In other words, you've seen the whole thing already and have a strong opinion based on having seen the entire series, so this review should reflect your opinion that the show "gets better".

Last edited by Zalis116 on Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:45 pm; edited 2 times in total

Lord Kefka wrote:

I was just reading Solty Rei's vol 1 review and wondering has the person actually seen all of the Anime.

Do you expect that reviewers should watch all of the fansubs before writing a review of the first volume?

Lord Kefka wrote:

To out right say "Sure Solty Rei is a hackneyed patchwork of worn genre tropes, but that's what puts the "mindless" in "mindless entertainment"." just based on the first DVD is to provide an ignorant opinion and give the Anime a bad impression in general.

I guess individual DVDs are rated this way?

Granted, it is "ignorant" of the rest of the series to base impressions on the first six episodes, but since only the first six episodes are (legitimately) available, that's what he's basing it on. And six episodes is 25% of the series; it'd be different if the review were for something like Bleach, Naruto, or Inuyasha.

EDIT: Speaking of Naruto, another point to consider -- if I watch 55 episodes of the first Naruto series, am I able to make an accurate judgement on whether or not the show will dramatically improve?

Zac wrote:

Lord Kefka wrote:

I know that. I have said that. It's the opinion of the first DVD. The main concern is that there is a lack of FUTURE prospects of the series that I would like to see mentioned. A simple " it has potential" or " let's hope for some character dynamics and the establishment of a less vague and more firm of a plot" or SOMETHING. The ending part of it seems to almost give the whole attitude as if the entire series reflects this DVD.

In other words, you've seen the whole thing already and have a strong opinion based on having seen the entire series, so this review should reflect your opinion that the show "gets better".

It's not a matter of whether I liked it more than the person who is reviewing it. "Getting better" is too general for my taste and pretty subjective. I'm also not trying to point out anything that is related to how Carl rated it and what he said. As far as I can tell, I agree with some of the stuff. It's just the way of how saying "Sure Solty Rei is a hackneyed patchwork of worn genre tropes, but that's what puts the "mindless" in "mindless entertainment"." is a pretty bad turn off and gives such a negative point of view as to regard it as being stoic all the way through. Now, as far as subjectivity goes, yes, it's whether you like it or not. But to ignore the "fact" that it isn't just mindless entertainment later on is just turning a blind eye. Of course you can always argue that even when it does get serious and non-mindless, the point of view of the person who is rating it can say otherwise so it's almost like a chain of "what ifs" and "what if I disagree with you on how this turns out".

My main point is to see that there is some outlook at possible future progression of the Anime beyond what just the first DVD has to offer. This doesn't apply for just Solty Rei but also for everything else and can go other way. For example, if someone was to give Coyote Ragtime Show an awesome score for the first DVD without considering how it might possibily go down hill (of course to have seen it and even when you know it), is almost like ignoring the whole picture which can lead to misconception of the series as a whole.

Zalis116 wrote:

Do you expect that reviewers should watch all of the fansubs before writing a review of the first volume?

I don't expect you to do anything other than what you want to do. But keep in mind, the people who have seen it will have some kind of feeling towards a belief by someone who is imposing an almost objective point of view only after watching parts of it. And yes, it does help to watch the whole thing and then go into the DVDs almost like segments and how it progresses through each segment. I'm saying for the reviewers who haven't seen all of it, to have an open heart despite what only 6 episodes has. It isn't just an optomistic idea but it also has the potential to lead someone else into possibly "getting into it" after 6 episodes as well.

Zalis116 wrote:

Granted, it is "ignorant" of the rest of the series to base impressions on the first six episodes, but since only the first six episodes are (legitimately) available, that's what he's basing it on. And six episodes is 25% of the series; it'd be different if the review were for something like Bleach, Naruto, or Inuyasha.

Again, I'm not saying that what the reviewer said is invalid. I'm only saying to have an open heart of what the series can offer. With negative aspects, there should also be some prospects from what you haven't seen. Saying how this series is "so mindlessly fun" or whatever else and making it seem like it's more objective than subjective really shows how the reviewer puts so much faith in this vastness of uncertainly yet to declare something so soundly.

EDIT: Merged all replies from the topic in the Anime Forum and the new thread in Talkback (don't ever use that "new topic" button in Talkback, btw) into this thread. ~Zalis]

In reply to Lord Kefka:

Being me (and not you) I have to base my review off my own impressions. This includes the fact that I have not seen the rest of the series. I can only comment on what I have seen, not on the infinite narrative possibilities that may follow. That would be silly now, wouldn’t it? As to putting a disclaimer on the review that “this show has potential”: There needs to be some sign in the episodes being reviewed of that potential. If there isn’t (and Solty Rei had no such indications in the first volume), then a disclaimer would simply be speculation that “maybe it’ll get better.” That’s silly, because it could just as easily get worse or stay exactly the same. Such unfounded speculation would be unprofessional and ultimately pointless, because if my impression proves to apply only to the first volume, then that impression will be corrected in future reviews (when no wild guesses are needed).

I must also emphatically state that a review of a single volume, especially a first volume (and with the possible exception of final volume reviews), is always a review of that specific volume, not the series as a whole.

This isn’t a difficult distinction to make, and yet you assume that, while you yourself are able to make it, readers of this site will be incapable of doing the same. This kind of implicit arrogance is a pet peeve of mine. Why not give people a little credit? The people reading the review aren’t automatons, they’re people just like yourself, with comparable critical reasoning capacities and decision-making capabilities.

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