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Shelf Life - Summer Kamp


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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 1176
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:49 pm Reply with quote
Erin Finnegan wrote:
This deluxe set comes in an art box with space for season one. I've gotten used to Brina Palencia's bizarre affectation of Holo's formal speech by now. This is a fine dub, and I'm glad the dub screenwriting adapter managed to get in the flirty nuance.


Spice and Wolf dub script writer, Jamie Marchi sure does love flirty nuance. Wink ...She does love flirty nuance, right?

Also, holy crap! I'm the first to start a thread! That's new.


Last edited by Hypeathon on Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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utawoutau



Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:55 pm Reply with quote
Anyone who would call themselves a serious anime fan owes it to themselves to check out 12 Kingdoms.

The 12 Kingdoms is my second favorite anime of all time. It starts off kind of slow, but really picks up speed, and at a certain point becomes the kind of series where right after finishing one episode the only thought in your head is "one more, one more".

Its not surprising that the biggest hangup for me in the first part of the series is a character who was added to the anime (the series is an adaptation of a light novel series).

My biggest gripe though is that the rest of the series has yet to be animated. Although there is more than enough conclusion in what was produced, the fact that there are at least 3 unadapted novels makes me a sad panda.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:03 pm Reply with quote
utawoutau wrote:
Anyone who would call themselves a serious anime fan owes it to themselves to check out 12 Kingdoms.


I've given Twelve Kingdoms a couple chances, but I just can't stand it. It's the only series I've ever watched where I've actually hated the main character. That girl was so annoying that I wanted her to die a slow, painful death after about 5 minutes of her talking. Not to mention, the pacing could barely keep my awake.

I know a lot of people love this show, but I'm definitely in the minority of those that can't stand it. I made it a few discs in, but I just couldn't go any further. I'm glad I only rented it.
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kakoishii



Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 741
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:45 pm Reply with quote
dragonrider_cody wrote:

I've given Twelve Kingdoms a couple chances, but I just can't stand it. It's the only series I've ever watched where I've actually hated the main character. That girl was so annoying that I wanted her to die a slow, painful death after about 5 minutes of her talking.

Thinking back on all the anime heroines that I actually wished would just die, I find this hard to believe. Or at least causes me to question how many anime you've seen with annoying anime heroine.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:48 pm Reply with quote
utawoutau wrote:
Anyone who would call themselves a serious anime fan owes it to themselves to check out 12 Kingdoms.

The 12 Kingdoms is my second favorite anime of all time. It starts off kind of slow, but really picks up speed, and at a certain point becomes the kind of series where right after finishing one episode the only thought in your head is "one more, one more".

Its not surprising that the biggest hangup for me in the first part of the series is a character who was added to the anime (the series is an adaptation of a light novel series).

My biggest gripe though is that the rest of the series has yet to be animated. Although there is more than enough conclusion in what was produced, the fact that there are at least 3 unadapted novels makes me a sad panda.
IIRC there's only two novels that weren't adapted, and there were some short stories from the short story collection that weren't adapted (altho some were included in the anime).

from what I heard the primary reason they didn't adapt more is the 5th book didn't strongly tie in with the rest of the novels (according to what I heard) and the 6th and final book (at least, final until the author decides to continue the series, should that ever happen) continues Taiki's story but how it ends it far from ends Taiki's story, as it ends with enough problems left to be dealt with that it's frustrating knowing there's a chance no more will ever be written. I've actually read an online translation of it and I swear if I had read a physical copy of it I would have tossed the book across the room in frustration at how it leaves so many things unresolved. considering how I'm usually anal about treating books well that says a lot.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:49 pm Reply with quote
I'm prety sure dragon only watched the dub, which is a sentiment I can somewhat agree on. Yoko is definitely one of my favorite anime female protagonists though. I too lament that the later novels have not been adapted (and now that Tokyopop went kaput, who knows if I'll ever be able to own it)
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:26 pm Reply with quote
I remember that S&W1 review... Fun thread. Laughing At any rate, I think fans will be hard-pressed to find anything to disagree with about this season's review, myself included.

Except for the dub opinion; much as I liked the adaptation, it's hard to beat Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu.

And to John: that autographed KnK poster is very neat.


Last edited by Big Hed on Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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EnigmaticSky



Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:34 pm Reply with quote
Kampfer doesn't sound bad. The last stupid "boobs comedy" I watched maybe a month and a half ago was To Love-Ru, and compared to that it has to be better. I still need to watch Sekirei too.

I plan to watch Spice and Wolf, but I am usually a total sub guy, but I am concerned if I will be able to keep up with economics talk through subs... How much work does it take to watch it subbed?
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:41 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
I'm prety sure dragon only watched the dub, which is a sentiment I can somewhat agree on. Yoko is definitely one of my favorite anime female protagonists though. I too lament that the later novels have not been adapted (and now that Tokyopop went kaput, who knows if I'll ever be able to own it)
from what I understand they'd already lost the license for the novels before they shut down so we may not have seen anymore even if they hadn't ceased operations here. since it was published by Kodansha some thought they may release the rest here themselves, but they've stated they have no plans to do so but they're open to someone else licensing it from them and doing so (seriously, they should see if Del Rey wants it, they've a relationship with that section of Ballantine/Random House and that's an imprint that focuses on sci fi and fantasy novels, or they could get Vertical to do it if they really want now that they own 1/3 of their stock and they do publish some novels as well as manga).
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:43 pm Reply with quote
EnigmaticSky wrote:
Kampfer doesn't sound bad. The last stupid "boobs comedy" I watched maybe a month and a half ago was To Love-Ru, and compared to that it has to be better. I still need to watch Sekirei too.


Boobies comedies! That's one thing anime is good for! Laughing
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Julia-the-Great



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 328
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:55 pm Reply with quote
Twelve Kingdoms is definitely in my top 10.

I only own part 2 (on DVD), though, and for a long time I've wanted to buy part 1. So my question for Erin is, you say that the animation doesn't look the hottest on the BluRay. Does that mean I'd be better off just buying the DVD set (most likely used) rather than the BluRay, or just buy the BluRay? I'd like to have it looking as nice as possible.
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bob_loblaw



Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 229
Location: Tanning in Hell
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:58 pm Reply with quote
dragonrider_cody wrote:
[Twelve Kingdoms is] the only series I've ever watched where I've actually hated the main character. That girl was so annoying that I wanted her to die a slow, painful death after about 5 minutes of her talking. Not to mention, the pacing could barely keep my awake.


The funny part about reading this quote is that I felt the exact. Same. Way.

Early on, Yoko Nakajima annoyed me at a level that I could not believe; every five minutes she's whining and crying about the injustice of it all, waaaaaugh. Despite that, I stuck with the show. Never marathoned it; don't make that mistake. Just watched one or two episodes every week or so.

Then, by series end, Yoko Nakajima grew to become one of my all-time favorite heroines and characters. I was shocked how that happened. Looking back on it now, the growth of the character from whiny, highschooler to shrewd, confident leader was remarkable to watch.

Like other fans of the series, I'd love to see the rest of the novels be animated. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Fuyumi Ono's 12K muse is speaking to her anymore. That makes me sad.
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Melanchthon



Joined: 02 Oct 2010
Posts: 550
Location: Northwest from Here
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:44 pm Reply with quote
EnigmaticSky wrote:
Kampfer doesn't sound bad. The last stupid "boobs comedy" I watched maybe a month and a half ago was To Love-Ru, and compared to that it has to be better. I still need to watch Sekirei too.

Son, let me tell ya, anything's better than To Love-Ru.

Kampfer is a trashy show, but I loved it. I noticed that of late, standard normal male ero-comedies don't get made anymore. Everything has to have some kind of shtick. But the good ones, like Baka Test or Kampfer introduce the shtick (Quiz Fight or Random Team Battle, respectively), and then ignore it for the majority of the show, concentrating on the romantic comedy. I guess they need the fantasy gimicks to pick up an audience, but most of the show is plain old ero-comedy, which is so much better than another Ikkitousen type show. Basically, Kampfer is like "Low budget magic battle" for three episodes and "Screw the fighting, let's go on a date" for nine, which is a very nice balance.

If there was a list of must-watch anime essential for any fan, 12 Kingdoms would be on that list. And I don't know how many more times it will be re-issued. Look, if you don't have a copy, go and buy it now. (I have the Complete Collection DVD set, which somehow fit ten DVDs into a rather heavy box. The blue ray sounds nice, but not enough to double dip.)
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:29 pm Reply with quote
I had the first same reaction to the first couple of episodes when seeing 12 Kingdoms. There is a fair amount of whiny stuff going on. It does get better.

The strength of this show is the political infighting going on and when the series presents unvarnished moments when good decent people are unjustly subjugated or killed. I also think some of the designs are excellent. It is a very ambitious show in that it is trying to tell a history of this world. However, the weaknesses of this show include choppiness in the story due to incompleteness and recaps, at times not particularly exciting action, questionable heel face turns of some characters personalities, etc. Really, the way some of the Emperors turn out who would trust the Kirin or for that matter the Will of Heaven. Overall, I just have mixed feelings about the show. I feel it could have been excellent, but it has too many moments I personally didn't like and the incompleteness of it all would keep me from recommending it.

As far as Kampfer goes I think for the most part it is rental. I think the characters look nice, the jokes don't have me rolling on the ground but its enough to crack a smirk. I do like the stuffed animals that does crack me up a bit. The fights aren't that good and the ending is eh. But, I might pick it up if its bargain bin or at a more reasonable price than what I've seen it for.
Quote:
and somehow almost all of the girls are total lesbians, and they actually use the word “lesbian” and are totally aggressive.

So? Is there something wrong with the word lesbian? Or that they are aggressive lesbians as opposed to having sweetness and flowers and sparkles all the time? Maybe, its part of the joke? Yea, its kinda of a tired one in anime, but its par for the course.
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Surrender Artist



Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 3264
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:50 pm Reply with quote
I want to see both of the shelf-worthy titles. I enjoyed the ever-loving heck out of the first few episodes of Spice & Wolf on Hulu and the second season seems by all accounts to be as good as the first promises to be. It was certainly remarkable how quickly the series made me stop worrying that it would either wallow too much in appealing to some otaku fetish sect with its wolf-girl or that its economics, so to speak, would be either too simplistic or blatantly inaccurate; it's not like they talk about portfolio optimization and calculating β, but it's better than that for its purposes and certainly good enough for me.

12 Kingdoms seems like a clever, expansive, intricate fantasy epic; the sort of thing that I could watch at my leisure over a fair span of time. I've been slipping into the mood for that kind of thing lately.

It's a pity that the English dub isn't exemplary, but that's a flaw that I can either withstand or circumvent.

Besides: Shou Aikawa, having mellowed out from the exploitative gore, sex and... uh... antisemitism of the eighties, often writes damned good stories.

Erin Finnegan wrote:
...I have a bad rap for not liking boob-based comedy...


Wow, sometimes I forget, perhaps as an act of will, that we live with a subculture where that can be considered a 'bad rap'.
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