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Shelf Life - Back in Black


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Youkai Warrior



Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 505
Location: Sarayashiki
PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:31 pm Reply with quote
I agree with Bamboo on Sasami Magical Girl. How can they do that to Sasami!? The Sasami I remember from Tenchi Muyo was not like Sailor Chibi Moon from Sailor Moon! And Chibi Moon was really annoying. Cute is fine, but Chibi Moon is sugary, cavity-causing cute. And no one likes cavities.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:32 pm Reply with quote
i thought the first half of Darker Than Black was shelfworthy, just my opinion though.
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bci110



Joined: 02 Sep 2006
Posts: 391
PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:32 pm Reply with quote
I'm going to wait until I buy the final volume before I get back to watching Higurashi. It's too tough for me to jump right into it after the year-long delay due to Geneon's shutdown, so I'll just marathon it once the final volume becomes available next month.
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bglassbrook



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1243
Location: Gaithersburg, MD
PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:28 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Some have to break their fingers, some have to drink the blood of children—and some of them get to do really trivial stuff like drink beer or eat flowers. It seems like the blood-drinkers really got shafted on this one.

Coming from someone who doesn't even need Higurashi-caliber kids to start prickling up the creepy factor, this statement really surprised me. I would've figured you to be first in line for that one ... though now that I think of it, that would require constant proximity to the spawn and no guarantee of their death.
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zhir



Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Posts: 353
Location: Nampa, ID, USA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:04 am Reply with quote
I wonder if the plastic wrap on his DVDs came on them, or if he bought them. I can see them helping with corner wear.
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:04 am Reply with quote
SakechanBD wrote:
minakichan wrote:
For one thing, the dub removes every reference to the fact that Hei is Chinese-- which might have prompted Bamboo to point out Huang instead (protip:spoiler[Hei is Chinese, Huang actually isn't.])


Really? I just assumed Huang was Chinese because of the name.


Hei, Yin and Mao are also chinese names. Hei means "black", Yin means "silver", Huang means "yellow", Mao means "cat". But I suppose they are all aliases in fact (not sure about that one, we'll see, but not very important either).

I think you should abandon the idea of "good" or "bad" in DtB. From what I understood, there are simply different organisations/groups with different goals. Sometimes they will fight each other, sometimes they will work together. Even our main characters aren't exactly friends, they just happen to be on the same team spoiler[for now]. And they simply obey to the orders they receive, without necessarily having anything to do with their victims.

I also liked that point about DtB, you have to pay a lot of attention to get all the details and few things are explained directly to the viewer ... so, it's like the opposite of your average shonen series ^^; It also took me some time to get that Yin is actually a doll xD
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 3904
Location: CO
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:05 am Reply with quote
maaya wrote:

Hei, Yin and Mao are also chinese names. Hei means "black", Yin means "silver", Huang means "yellow", Mao means "cat". But I suppose they are all aliases in fact (not sure about that one, we'll see, but not very important either).


Ha! I actually never picked up on that, despite being fluent in Mandarin. It didn't occur to me to even think about the other names-- I only zeroed in on "Huang" because it's my mother's maiden name and my Chinese name. ^^;;

Thanks for that insight!
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:42 am Reply with quote
Hehe, I was a bit confused, because I also believed that you're speaking mandarin ... now I understand ^^ I only realized because in the credits, their names are written in Kanji. But now you can already guess the name of Hei's sister Wink

PS: I understand Huang is a family name ... but is it used as a first name (with the kanji for yellow)? for girls? Somehow seems really weird to me, but on the other hand other colors are also used as names, so ...
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la_contessa



Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 200
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:32 am Reply with quote
Fans of 90s-era magical girl shows will probably love this, since this is definitely a callback to those times

Which probably means it will be my new favorite series when I get to it.
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CaptainAvatar



Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 381
Location: Saint Louis, MO
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:55 pm Reply with quote
la_contessa wrote:
Fans of 90s-era magical girl shows will probably love this, since this is definitely a callback to those times

Which probably means it will be my new favorite series when I get to it.


I don't think so. I haven't seen the second half, but if the first half is any indication, this show is nowhere near the quality of the 90s-era magical girl shows. This series pales in comparison to Magical Project S, for example - although that was primarily a parody where this series seems to be trying to take itself more seriously.
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ANN_Bamboo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 3904
Location: CO
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:23 pm Reply with quote
maaya wrote:
Hehe, I was a bit confused, because I also believed that you're speaking mandarin ... now I understand ^^ I only realized because in the credits, their names are written in Kanji. But now you can already guess the name of Hei's sister Wink

PS: I understand Huang is a family name ... but is it used as a first name (with the kanji for yellow)? for girls? Somehow seems really weird to me, but on the other hand other colors are also used as names, so ...


The character used for my mother's surname and for my first name are different. My mother's surname means yellow, but mine means vaguely a grove of bamboo. Incidentally, everyone in my family just calls me "Zhu zi" anyway-- that's even the name that's carved on my grandparents' gravestones.
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pparker



Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Posts: 1185
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 5:32 pm Reply with quote
I suggest Higurashi is one of those love-it-or-hate-it titles, but I consider it certainly in the top ten of all time. However, it cannot be judged until both season one and season two are watched, because it is definitely one story broken into two parts. Season one is part one, and season two continues the story as part two. Either one won't make sense without the other.

Anyone familiar with visual novels will recognize what's happening here after a few episodes, or a couple of arcs/reboots. The beauty of this series is it is by far the most clever and faithful adaptation of a visual novel ever. The story being brilliant to start with also helps. But it is the first attempt I think at really trying to capture the full experience of a visual novel "game" in anime. Normally, the adaptation varies considerably in the telling even when remaining fairly faithful to the original story. Higurashi the anime preserves the structure of the novel in a very unique way, which is also why it takes two seasons to tell the whole story (20 hours is quick to get through an entire visual novel).

But bottom line, if you can't stand horror or suspense or the art, or a story that takes more than one season to unfold, you may as well stop now. But if you appreciate what you've seen so far and have the patience, you will be very richly rewarded. I've watched all of it twice, and just writing about it makes me want to watch it again Smile
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:49 pm Reply with quote
I have a friend who has watched When They Cry and told me spoiler[season two isn't as gory and actually has humor in the mix. He also told me there is a reason for the all the fighting as well.]

I completely agree with you on that Sasami show bamboo, just one lookk and I instantly shake my head. I've never (and most likely) understood why women go to the bathroom and talk at the same time.

Great article, I look forward to next week.
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reanimator





PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:12 pm Reply with quote
zhir wrote:
I wonder if the plastic wrap on his DVDs came on them, or if he bought them. I can see them helping with corner wear.


Those plastic wraps came with DVDs. You can't buy them. I keep those wraps because they serve as dust cover. Some of them are shrink-wrapped, so I use an x-acto knife carefully to open the one side only.
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Hiatus



Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:40 pm Reply with quote
@ BD:

Most of the show is largely explained, and has a decent overall plot.

Though the plot is good, what really shines are the little individual "arcs". That's what really sold this show to me, and some of them are just amazing. That's where I'd really be looking when watching this show, and I think you'd find it a lot more enjoyable once you do.
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