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I actually want a season 3 of darker than black, something I think is not out of the realm of possibility, so they could still explain things later on. But Hei has to be one of my favorite protagonists, easily in the top ten.

I've avoided Casshern for those reason, from the live action to the show, I really haven't heard any praise for the show.

CrownKlown wrote:

I actually want a season 3 of darker than black, something I think is not out of the realm of possibility, so they could still explain things later on. But Hei has to be one of my favorite protagonists, easily in the top ten.

I've avoided Casshern for those reason, from the live action to the show, I really haven't heard any praise for the show.

Casshern Sins got praise right here on ANN from writers other than Erin. Mike Toole called it one of the better anime shows in recent years on one of his columns.

animenewsnetwork.com/the-mike-toole-show/2010-09-26

I know you were just throwing that comment out there, but I'm just anal like this. Laughing

As for DTB season 3, the director says he has no interest in a third season, much to the dismay of fans unsatisfied with the lack of concrete explanations in season 2. I had mixed feelings about the way it ended too, but not for the same reasons as other fans.

I'd have to disagree with the post about Casshern Sins. Yes, it was very slow paced, yes, alot did not make sense and yes, it may not be someone else's cup of tea.

However, to someone who enjoys symbolism and a little bit of a mystery aura in their anime and loves beautifully animated fights, then Casshern Sins is it.

To be honest...I can't see Casshern Sins being longer or shorter. The first eight episodes did drag out...but it emphasized greatly on what Casshern realizes later on in the series, so they're important. Especially the episodes with the bell builder, the robots protecting the humans, the singer and the painter.

The entire series symbolizes how one can live their life to the fullest in a dying world and death is something not to be afraid of. You can't be so afraid to die that you do not live. That is what Casshern was trying to teach everyone who was running away from death and something he feels sad about because he could never feel such feelings the others felt. Since life is short, living it to the fullest is the morale of the story.

I admit, the ending could have been a little differently, but I'm satisfied with how it ended, considering how the series went.

Zhou-BR wrote:

Good to know Darker than Black is selling well, but I wonder why Funimation has yet to license the first season in high definition, even though they already released the second season on Blu-ray.

Probably licensing/negotiation issues with the Japanese side over reverse importation fears. It seems like a lot of 2006-2009 titles that got initial DVD-only releases in Japan, with Blu-Rays later down the line, have not made it to Blu-Ray here. (See Sekirei, Rosario + Vampire, Lucky Star, Haruhi, and various others.) Of course, that hasn't precluded the existence of Blu-Ray rips of the Japanese DtB release with the English DVD audio added, so both Funi and the licensors have kind of missed their window.

Joe Mello wrote:

Watching Scrapped Princess means you instantly win everything forever.

Scrapped Princess is one of my favorites, mostly because I am a huge fanboi of Jack Vance.

As for Darker Than Black, the first season is total awesome sauce. It is very heavy on dialogue, but when it gets to the action, it hits hard. I splurged an bought the first season on singles, even grabbing the nice little artbox to hold them in. As for the second, well, it is disappointing. First, Hei stops being sexy hero boy and becomes a bitter, unshaven drunk. And I have a total moecrush on Yin, and well, yeah. But the Russian chick is kinda hot, I guess?

And as for Casshern Sins, well I didn't watch it because it sounded lame.

Where did you get that Alicia Melchiott figure? How much was it?

I enjoyed Casshern Sins up to episode 12, which was when I discovered it wasn't a 12-episode series (I'd been wondering how they were going to wrap things up for a couple of episodes by that point).

There are a couple of striking episodes in among the tedium that I thought made a 12-episode series worthwhile --- the episode about the painter, and the episode about the tower builder are two that I remember.

I think Erin is right --- there's a brillian four (maybe six) episode OVA in there. If they'd been forced to fit themselves into such a time constraint, I think everything about the series would have been better.

Joe Mello wrote:

Watching Scrapped Princess means you instantly win everything forever.

So you just have to watch it? You don't have to like it or anything? How many episodes are we talking? Because I've seen at least two...

bravetailor wrote:

On the Darker than Black S2 commentaries, the Funi staff keeps mentioning that Hei is REALLY A LOT LIKE BATMAN.

He's a lot more like Batman in the 2nd season.

Megiddo wrote:

I didn't like Darker than Black because it is almost complete style over substance. As far as I know, the purpose and existence of "The Gate" is never explained. The explanation for why contractors have to perform a certain action... is never given.... For those who don't mind pure style over substance, they're sure to love it. But for those like me who crave substance, meaning, and decent writing in anime over spiffy animation and 'cool' battle scenes will have a harder time I think.

I don't think an absence of explanation equals a lack of substance! All of the characters are so well written, after a while I stopped wondering if they'd get to the bottom of the Gate business and just accepted that this was an interesting setting to throw characters in to.

I think a show like Soul Eater is more style over substance, because there is an awful lot of style there. DTB is lacking a bit in the style department, and I thought the animation was a bit better in something like Birdy the Mighty.

Last edited by eyeresist on Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

I found Erin's reflexive dislike of Casshern Sins amusing. We all have certain things which we just can't stand, with the justifications basically invented later. Watching it with a hangover probably wouldn't help!

I bought and watched the first half, and enjoyed the art and the atmosphere, but couldn't see any reason to continue with it. That said, I much rather watch more Casshern Sins than practically any boring boring show from Bee Train.

Darker Than Black had some interesting ideas and atmosphere, but succumbed to generic anime villains and the standard mystical hoo-hah instead of a proper ending. I wanted to know more about the business and intrigue of the contractors, but after setting up the situation the story didn't bother to explore it. Of course the whole set-up was nonsense anyway. I can actually accept the stars being replaced by mysterious lights, and people having super powers which they have to pay for by weird behaviour - but why does having special powers oblige these people to join huge international assassination guilds? That needed some more selling.

The reputation of France as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (a phrase I think was invented by Seinfeld) is kind of weird and not really based in historical fact. It was basically a result of France refusing to vote for the invasion of Iraq, which in retrospect was probably smart of them.

France is actually one of the most belligerent European countries. They held onto their African colonies long after other European countries had given theirs up. They are perhaps the only European country with a self-sufficient nuclear weapons program, i.e. they're not just a weapons platform for the US. You should remember, after all, that the bikini swimsuit was named after Bikini Atoll, which France blasted to crap with nuclear weapons tests throughout the 20th century. Also, the French secret service blew up a Greenpeace ship in New Zealand. So, to summarise, the French are not peaceniks.

Italy on the other hand had a reputation for surrender dating back to World War One. The standard joke was that their tanks had five gears: four for reverse, and one forward for parades. (In fact, Italian military leadership and training were so mediocre that surrender was generally the only option for the PBI.) You would know this if you knew history!

dm wrote:

There are a couple of striking episodes in among the tedium that I thought made a 12-episode series worthwhile --- the episode about the painter, and the episode about the tower builder are two that I remember.

Yes, thanks for reminding me - the tower episode was a good one.

Meygaera wrote:

Where did you get that Alicia Melchiott figure? How much was it?

Man, honestly I can't remember, one of the popular figure sites like toylet dot net or something. I kept missing out on getting a Valkyria figure, so when I finally had a chance to preorder one, I leaped at the chance. The price was standard for the size, probably $60-70.

erinfinnegan wrote:

Joe Mello wrote:

Watching Scrapped Princess means you instantly win everything forever.

So you just have to watch it? You don't have to like it or anything? How many episodes are we talking? Because I've seen at least two...

Don't forget there was that recent news article that mentioned Bandai allowed the license to lapse and let the dvd's go out of print. Buy 'em if ya can, because they aren't getting any easier to find. I found that one limited edition box in the one photo on top of the bookshelves sitting forlornly by itself in an FYE for $8 or something. (I really need to rewatch that series myself)

yuetheguardian wrote:

Nice Collection i am also from the detroit area. and run an anime club over in Wayne.

Thanks for the complement. I remember reading a request from Shelf Life a few weeks ago they asked for photos and I finally got my lazy butt in gear enough to prep some photos and send them in and I was honestly shocked to see them posted. Keep sending them in fellow readers, they'll use 'em!

eyeresist wrote:

The reputation of France as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (a phrase I think was invented by Seinfeld)

Simpsons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rJAw-fuYHk

Last edited by Megiddo on Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

eyeresist wrote:

The reputation of France as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (a phrase I think was invented by Seinfeld) is kind of weird and not really based in historical fact. It was basically a result of France refusing to vote for the invasion of Iraq, which in retrospect was probably smart of them.

Hmm, not quite. They didn't seem to defend the Rhine for long against the Germans that I can recall. And at least Wikipedia can somewhat back that up.

And it's hard to claim that they held so dearly to their colonies (to us Americans anyway) when they sold like a quarter of what is now the US for a pittance at the time.

EDIT: And I might ad that the Simpsons clip posted by Zac is from 95ish maybe, around the Bosnian War period.

Personally I love Casshern Sins. It's hard to see one of my favorites listed as perishable but everyone has shows they love or hate for various reasons, I just think Casshern is worthy of watching at least to decide if you hate it or love it.

Nice to see a good review of Darker Than Black. My husband and I watched it on Netflix, then went out and bought it. Being from Gen X, we found it to be very reminiscent of David Lynch and Twin Peaks. So the whole weird, unexplained stuff didn't bother us at all.

The Japanese loved Twin Peaks and I've caught references to it in anime several times. For example, in Soul Eater, the whole thing with Soul and the demon is taken from Twin Peaks. Course, I guess most younger fans today wouldn't get it.

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