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Shelf Life - Pitch Men


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:01 pm Reply with quote
Agreed with the Area no Kishi thought for this latest Shelf Life so far. I'm considering dropping the series although this is the only sports-theme anime I'm watching so far this season so I'll probably just watch through the whole thing.

Ah those old school DBZ manga and the Code Geass collection. Love it.

And damn, all those collection figures. Nice collection Cool
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Mikeski



Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Posts: 608
Location: Minneapolis, MN
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:05 pm Reply with quote
Rozen Maiden could have been: Child's Play + Highlander + Grimm's Fairy Tales = awesome.

Rozen Maiden was: Moe Harem Comedy - Romance - Comedy = Uninvited-Guest Angstfest.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:12 pm Reply with quote
I was never interested in Rozen Maiden and always thought the dolls looked creepy. I finally took a shot at it after Setai rescued it and licensed the OVA. I appreciated the effort they put into getting the original studio and cast back and wanted to show them some support for their work.

In the end, I really enjoyed it much, much more than I expected. It certainly wasn't perfect but I had a good time and don't regret the purchase one bit. It didn't seem a little odd to review an OVA of a series they've never watched, but I guess most OVAs should be able to stand on their own. However , I think viewing the series first may impact their opinion of it somewhat.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:24 pm Reply with quote
Watching Rozen Maiden Overture, while technically a prequel, without having seen the two TV series strikes me as a good way to be very confused.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:42 pm Reply with quote
The character "Nana," in the Knight in the Area review, has been capitalized and linked to NANA, the anime. And then the rest of the review has NANA capitalized and italicized throughout.

Last edited by kyokun703 on Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Otishio



Joined: 04 Mar 2012
Posts: 73
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:42 pm Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
Agreed with the Area no Kishi thought for this latest Shelf Life so far. I'm considering dropping the series although this is the only sports-theme anime I'm watching so far this season so I'll probably just watch through the whole thing.
Not that you had said anything but if you would be looking for another sports anime to watch I think Kuroko's Basketball is off to a good start.

I tried the first episode of Area no Kishi and didn't care for it much so I agree.

Now, I'm not a huge mech fan but I have no issues with them and watch them from time to time and such I started Rinne no Lagrange and I liked it a lot actually. It was pretty good and I liked the characters.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:44 pm Reply with quote
Otishio wrote:
Stark700 wrote:
Agreed with the Area no Kishi thought for this latest Shelf Life so far. I'm considering dropping the series although this is the only sports-theme anime I'm watching so far this season so I'll probably just watch through the whole thing.
Not that you had said anything but if you would be looking for another sports anime to watch I think Kuroko's Basketball is off to a good start.


I also didn't watch Knight in the Area past ep. 1, but am greatly enjoying Kuroko's Basketball so far, this season, so I second Otishio's suggestion for sports anime, if you want one.
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Kohii



Joined: 12 Nov 2010
Posts: 428
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:45 pm Reply with quote
That's a very impressive figure collection. How about those Eris scale figures, huh.
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Veers



Joined: 31 Oct 2008
Posts: 1197
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:
Watching Rozen Maiden Overture, while technically a prequel, without having seen the two TV series strikes me as a good way to be very confused.

Yeah, it's been a long time so they kinda run together in my head but I'd say this is an accurate statement...

Quote:
Rozen Maiden could have been: Child's Play + Highlander + Grimm's Fairy Tales = awesome.

Rozen Maiden was: Moe Harem Comedy - Romance - Comedy = Uninvited-Guest Angstfest.

...as is this. Neutral It is well drawn, though. The manga has some beautiful art, too, but Rozen Maiden is definitely a "once is enough" kind of thing for me.
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Aynslesa



Joined: 08 Feb 2012
Posts: 199
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:24 pm Reply with quote
Funny, I seem to be on the exact opposite of everyone posting comments so far. I've stuck with Knight in the Area since it started airing, and I couldn't stand the first ep of Kuroko's Basketball.

That said, I'll admit that the second half of Knight has been a lot more entertaining to me than the first half. A lot of the hard-to-believe stuff that they threw out in the beginning (Nana never getting to play, the insane fluctuations of weight loss and weight gain from one character) has been ironed out. And as someone who isn't normally a sports anime fan, I've really been enjoying the soccer matches, which are the dominating force of the second half so far.

^^; Just felt that I had to stick up for one of my favorite shows from last season, though I'll acknowledge that it's not for everyone and it does get off to a rough start.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2261
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:24 pm Reply with quote
Erin Finnegan wrote:
The show vacillates between grim scenes and comic humor. For example, one episode cuts back and forth between orphans on a penal colony planet and a humorous incident where an eel vendor has left live eels in the school pool, with wacky results. That kind of sharp tonal shift is very Code Geass, where some episodes are about chasing cats and others are about brutal acts of terrorism. It's awfully jarring to watch. Am I the only person who's bothered by this sort of thing?

Nope you are not the only one and these jarring tonal shifts between wacky humor, fan service and grim background was one of the reasons I dropped the show around episode 7-8. It felt like the creators were checking things off a list in order to reach the largest number of viewers.
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:56 pm Reply with quote
Erin wrote:
Did Lagrange just jump the shark?


Nope, get back on board for the last third. The "scissors" thing was an allusion to something else--although a good climax does await in the last two episodes.

Funnily, I didn't once think of Atlantis while watching Lagrange. In any case, as of the end of episode 12 they don't seem to be going specifically in the direction of said lost city, backstory-wise.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:05 pm Reply with quote
While I've also had fun with a couple of sports titles in the past, even the relatively positive early reviews for The Knight in the Area didn't do much to keep my interest so I didn't check it out. It's unfortunate that this seems to have been a good decision, in retrospect. Guess I should go ahead and rewatch Touch or Cross Game, huh? I'm a bit too old for Captain Tsubasa though. Laughing

Rozen Maiden is one of those anime properties that people kept talking about but I never really paid much attention to. Still, I don't have anything in particular against it either....so I might as well give that a fair look one of these days.

Instead, I think I'll play a bit of devil's advocate here. Wink

Erin wrote:
It's awfully jarring to watch. Am I the only person who's bothered by this sort of thing?


I don't think it's such a big deal. Of course, I haven't seen a single episode of Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne myself, so it remains to be seen how that's being handled there. I can imagine how that would be a problem if you have too many tonal shifts from scene to scene during the same exact episode without any rhyme or reason. But, contrary to popular belief, that's not how it always happens. Even in titles like the Higurashi series, which had perhaps the most radical and intentional shifts in tone between the bloodiest of tragedies and the silliest of antics throughout the majority of its narrative, I felt that having such a contrast was entirely warranted and there were plenty of circumstances that justified it.

Conceptually speaking, the main reason why I am not too bothered by those and other tonal shifts is because most of the time they tend to happen after the crisis or conflict of the day has already been resolved, either during an earlier scene or at the end of the previous episode, or they are just meant to make the audience develop a false sense of security right before surprising them with another development.

Once again, I'd say Higurashi is a pretty good example of the above, but even the apparently infamous Code Geass cat sequence happened when the main character wasn't doing anything remotely important. The way some people describe feeling bothered by that scene, you'd think it took place right in the middle of a deadly battle, not when he was taking a break at a comparatively lighthearted school. It's an absurd comedy sequence at the expense of a protagonist who is really too serious for his own good (and the staff knows it). I didn't laugh, to be honest, but I'd simply suggest not trying to take everything too seriously...and especially not when watching shows that are just so clearly over-the-top.

Therefore, my point is that sharply shifting tones when the most immediate source of tension is no longer filling the air doesn't necessarily feel particularly jarring, in my experience, though I can understand reactions will vary among different members of the audience, and particularly among those who were expecting something different to begin with. Still, going back to the topic of this column, just one brief look at the Lagrange cover art tells me I shouldn't try to expect too much.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3820
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:17 pm Reply with quote
.... Idea this weeks shelf life anime fan is singly handly keeping the anime industry in business.
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Chagen46



Joined: 27 Jun 2010
Posts: 4377
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:24 pm Reply with quote
Some bitchin' swag on that person's shelves. I wish I had the money and space to have that much stuff, but I'm still unemployed.
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