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Shelf Life - Regios Free


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Nephtis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 138
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:14 pm Reply with quote
I'd just like to say before the (likely) bloodbath begins, you have coloured lines on the sides of each section reminding readers which category you've placed a title in? How have I never noticed this before? I feel fairly silly right now.

Quote:
and, damning the show further, episode four is titled “Put on that Maid Outfit.”


The show sounds amazing.

End of the day critics are critics. They are meant to be critical. As long as you don't come out and say 'this show is crap' and don't go further in explaining why it's not that bad. So when I say 'critical' I don't mean harsh, I mean looking at something in a critical way; analysing strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has an opinion, and as long as there's a good explanation as to why you do/don't like something people can make their informed decisions from it. Some people might love the above episode title, in which case they'll go check this show out because of your review. Well in theory.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:20 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
At least Regios's score is interesting; the electronic music instrumentation oddly reminded me at times of the old late-night PBS show, Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler.


Coincidentally, I Googled Jack Horkheimer this past weekend wondering if he was still around and was saddened to learn that he died on August 20th last year.

I also didn't know that they changed the title to "Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer" at some point over the past decade or so, presumably because "Hustler" has too many negative connotations in this politically correct world.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:42 pm Reply with quote
Nephtis wrote:

Quote:
and, damning the show further, episode four is titled “Put on that Maid Outfit.”


The show sounds amazing.

End of the day critics are critics. They are meant to be critical.


Heck, critics panned Sucker Punch, look at what it did. Laughing
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Nephtis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 138
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:06 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Nephtis wrote:

Quote:
and, damning the show further, episode four is titled “Put on that Maid Outfit.”


The show sounds amazing.

End of the day critics are critics. They are meant to be critical.


Heck, critics panned Sucker Punch, look at what it did. Laughing


Yes but as the wikipedia article points out:

Quote:
Betsy Sharkey from the Los Angeles Times also wrote a positive review describing the film as "a wonderfully wild provocation" and "an intemperate and utterly absorbing romp through the id" that she said she wouldn't have missed for the world.


So trying to stay on topic here, the point is that someone somewhere will always like a given title. The people making these things (I'd like to imagine at least mostly) believe in their work, and with so many people in the world odds are someone, somewhere will agree.

I think shelf life potentially gets it bad for looking at 3 titles each time, so the odds are much higher that one of the reviews will not be what fans want to see. We need to see more fans of shows that critics pan defend their titles in a more constructive way. I'm sure Erin would much rather see a fan post something explaining why the aspects she doesn't like appeal to them in a critical way instead of simply being critical of the reviewer simply because they don't share the same viewpoint.

I disgress, I haven't seen any of these shows (this week). I just read the column to read the analysis and to flag titles that (irrelevant of the opinion put forward) sound good to me based on my own tastes. That's the whole point of reviewing screen media.

Anyway that's enough for me, let the battling commence!
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Erin likes whiskey? With a last name like Finnegan, I'd never have guessed Laughing (Ah stereotypes, there's something for everone) Incidentally, what would you recommend as your favorite for something that's under $50 a bottle? (standard 750 ml)

This week's Shelf Life didn't really do it for me, simply because I have never been able to get into Gundam, and the other two never looked like something I'd enjoy. And after skimming the review, and last week's indignation from fans of Phantom, looks like I was right to avoid them. Nothing anyone has said about the show would lead me to believe I would enjoy it.
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist


Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 598
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:38 pm Reply with quote
Nephtis wrote:
Quote:
and, damning the show further, episode four is titled “Put on that Maid Outfit.”


The show sounds amazing.

I'm going to review the second half next week. If you love maids, you'll be disappointed too. So Regios can be disappointing to you and me both.

The little bars beside the reviews have been around for several years, since before I took over the column.

Nephtis wrote:
End of the day critics are critics. They are meant to be critical. As long as you don't come out and say 'this show is crap' and don't go further in explaining why it's not that bad.

We've been back and forth about reviewers and critics. Here's an interesting article on that very topic, which says "The purpose of reviews is to tell the consumer how to spend their money. "
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Nephtis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 138
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:53 pm Reply with quote
Erin - that's pretty much what we were told in our screen crit subject last year in cinema. The notion was put forward that 'critics' are dying out and 'reviewers' are replacing them - with the advent of blogs/social media anyone can in theory be a 'reviewer'.

Still end of the day, I'd much rather read an honest review instead of one that panders to a specific crowd. If you don't actually like a show, say why and move on that's better than only ever getting high praise for every title.

Keep it up!
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist


Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 598
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:03 pm Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Erin likes whiskey? With a last name like Finnegan, I'd never have guessed Laughing (Ah stereotypes, there's something for everone) Incidentally, what would you recommend as your favorite for something that's under $50 a bottle? (standard 750 ml)

What's in a name? I'm only one eighth Irish... Anyhow, I love Scotch, the more peat-tasting the better. My favorite under-$50 pick is Famous Grouse, or Islay Mist; both are often under $30. I love everything from Islay, and have heard the tap water there tastes like peat.

Keeping it on the topic-ish, an entire volume of the Bartender manga and one volume of Oishinbo were devoted to Scotch whiskey. One episode of the Bartender anime introduced me to Drambuie.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:05 pm Reply with quote
Can't say I had any major problems with Gundam Unicorn's third episode. I was fine with the attempt to address whatever Laplace's Box is supposed to be, in all honesty, as opposed to just letting it remain as some sort of vague motivation for the entire ordeal.

I'm not terribly desperate to conclusively resolve that issue in and of itself, mind you, but there were enough interesting character interactions happening in and around those scenes to keep my attention and suspension of disbelief intact. Besides, the episode's themes seemed to mesh relatively well with what we learned about the glorified MacGuffin.

Admittedly, I did notice the inconsistent CG integration and a few sloppy or off-model seconds of animation, even if they didn't stop the whole production from continuing to look a lot better than almost anything else out there.

And yes, a term like "Hyper Mega Particle Cannon" does come across as something of a mouthful but I guess Gundam fans are more or less used to seeing such words thrown around from time to time. Zeta Gundam even had a "Mega Bazooka Launcher" from what I can recall and that seemed to be just as slightly ridiculous.

As for Phantom...well, what else can possibly be said at this point that wasn't already discusssed to death the last time around? Seriously.

I suppose just a couple of things. The third act can probably be considered the weakest in this anime adaptation and, you know, quite rightfully so. If you weren't liking the show before, there is no way you'll think otherwise here. Suffice to say I share some, though certainly not all, of the nitpicks and complaints mentioned in addition to a few more that weren't addressed in this column.

However, I actually didn't mind the basic idea at all. The concept spoiler[of using a stereotypical anime high school ] wasn't a problem for me, mostly because it more or less served to point out just how idealistic and artificial such settings are supposed to be. After all, the characters had to visibly act in order to properly blend in. And, naturally, you could tell those careless shenanigans weren't going to last...which isn't even a spoiler given the premise of the show.

I find it hard to argue true "wish fulfillment" really applies here when the entire point wasn't to play that angle straight, let alone if we were to consider what happened after the fact. Other than that, I really don't have anything else to say about the subject. When all is said and done, I don't see myself rewatching Phantom despite not actually hating it and, for any number of reasons, would rather go back to the game instead (which is, ironically, more of a slog to get through).
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Julia-the-Great



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 328
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:30 pm Reply with quote
I enjoyed Phantom for what it was, but definitely agree that the third part of the story kind of fell apart for me. Not to mention that terrible, TERRIBLE ending. Ug.
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1323
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:46 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The second arc introduced Cal, because as we know from watching Léon (a film worth your time), little girls sometimes live with assassins due to various circumstances. Cal returns in part three with a foxy new adult body that leaves us asking exactly how old she was before the time jump and wondering how her hair could have possibly grown that long in two years.


Her hair was the only 'grown' part of her that made you wonder? And here I was distracted by other parts of her that she didn't have from her little-girl phase (from a couple years prior).

Speaking for myself, you've pretty much summed up what made both Phantom and Regios problematic for me, the latter of which I couldn't get past Ep. 4 itself.
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batou37



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 455
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:51 pm Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Erin likes whiskey? With a last name like Finnegan, I'd never have guessed Laughing (Ah stereotypes, there's something for everone) Incidentally, what would you recommend as your favorite for something that's under $50 a bottle? (standard 750 ml)


If you can find it (I only found one store in my area that had it) I'd recommend Jack Daniel's Gold Label 1981 (released in 1996) but I think it has become more and more rare. On the scotch side I used to sip on a little laphroaig every now and then.
Back on topic, I think one of the reasons that people disagree with these reviews is that they are looking at things from the perspective of probably already having seen the full series, while Erin is basing it off of the discs in the particular set alone. For instance I am a big fan of Chrome Shelled Regios, but a lot of the things she brought up in this review also confused me and many things don't fall into place until later.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:14 pm Reply with quote
Julia-the-Great wrote:
I enjoyed Phantom for what it was, but definitely agree that the third part of the story kind of fell apart for me. Not to mention that terrible, TERRIBLE ending. Ug.


For whatever it's worth...the way I would put it, the anime's ending is pretty bad if you try to take everything literally and completely seriously. But if you simply consider that as just another symbol or the vessel for certain themes, and this isn't entirely unwarranted given previous scenes in the show, it can actually turn out to be relatively fitting. That's how I ended up wrapping my head around it. The original game had multiple endings and, for the record, doesn't run into this particular problem.
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KiriSen



Joined: 28 Mar 2011
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:38 pm Reply with quote
Heh, I stopped reading this column after one particular Gunslinger Girl review. After months of skipping over it, I finally decided to try it again, as Phantom was one of the reviewed titles. Now I remember why I stopped reading. Anime hyper
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sonickid101



Joined: 24 Apr 2009
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:01 am Reply with quote
why didn't you call this episode the Phantom menace? oh well

Im realy diging Gundam UC, realy good stuf, but it is designed to be enjoyed by people familure with Gundam, however if we make a star wars TV series Im gonna asume they'll do the same thing, I wonder why Gundam never came to america in the 80s, oh well. great article as always
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