Forum - View topicBest First Episode Tournament: Post-Mortem
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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Group C-1
Le Chevalier d’Eon vs. Nodame Cantible Vote for: Le Chevalier d'Eon Nodame is charming enough, but d'Eon is truly fascinating, a feeling I don't often experience in anime. It dives straight into a mystery and tells a tale that had me focused from beginning to end; so much so that I'm watching episode 2 while I type this because I want to see what's next. Group C-2 Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Koi Kaze Vote for: Evangelion For all of the hype, I really expected something mind-blowing out of Koi Kaze. What I got was...almost nothing. I do wonder if maybe I'm just jaded, but when the sakura blew across the screen every time they met, I rolled my eyes. That alone would be fine, but otherwise nothing happens; certainly no trace of the emotional impact I keep hearing about. Evangelion's first episode isn't nearly as amazing as what it becomes, but it's servicable enough to vote for over an episode I thought was pretty boring. Group C-3 Cross Game vs. Coyote Ragtime Show Vote for: Cross Game Speaking of emotional impact...Cross Game floors me every time I see it. This is what a special first episode looks like. Coyote Ragtime Show just doesn't have the chops to compete; the action is fine, but otherwise it's not a great episode. Group C-4 Ga-Rei Zero vs. Noein – to your other self Vote for: Noein This was a little tricky; I wasn't particularly entralled by either. Ga-Rei Zero has an interesting hook right at the end, but a lot of the episode is just action, action, action. Noein is similar, but in a way that suggests a grander scope. I also thought the art style stood out a lot more; Ga-Rei Zero is flashy but not especially noteworthy. |
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The Naked Beast
 Posts: 1028 Location: A Blue Planet |
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Group C-1
Le Chevalier d’Eon vs. Nodame Cantible The conspiracies and secrets within this series hooks you in fast. An interesting way to compare this would be a modern day espionage-themed drama set in old France. My vote goes to: Le Chevalier d’Eon. Group C-2 Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Koi Kaze As hotly debated and discussed even to this day, this huge series has brought a lot to anime. You have a alternate real world where giant creatures are destroying whatever gets in their way. The only way to fight them is with giant bio-mechanical beings known as Evas. This barely scratches the surface as this series also explores human nature as well. Human interactions, emotion, psyche, and more are fleshed out throughout this series. My vote goes to: Neon Genesis Evangelion. Group C-3 Cross Game vs. Coyote Ragtime Show This first episode sets up for what will come in the future. We see hopes and wishes of a little girl for the futures of everyone dear to her. You see most of the main characters that will be involved in fulfilling this grand wish. The emotional impact of this first episode is enough to bring forth rivers of tears. My vote goes to: Cross Game. Group C-4 Ga-Rei Zero vs. Noein – to your other self Noein has the better premise to it and keeps you wanting more. The way it is set up keeps you hooked with its action scenes and cliffhangers. My vote goes to: Noein – to your other self. |
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mow123
 Posts: 339 |
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Group C-1
Voting for: Nodame Nodame's budding relationships wins it here and D'Eon plot is all over the place and the story doesn't take off until later. D'Eon's CG also put me off, and I also instantly connected with Nodame's character; something that didn't happen with anyone of the Chevalier characters. I for one didn't find Nodame boring; sometimes a show needs to take its time to set up the chemistry between two characters or the seemingly lack of it in this case. Group C-2 Voting for: Koi Kaze No doubt here. Great story telling, strong characters, believable, heart wrenching in the first episode, but also ineffably unpleasant in a way that makes it unique. NGE has an epic mecha battle, but on its own the first episode doesn't stand out much. Group C-3 Voting for: Cross Game Blown away by Cross Game. It makes an emotional connection and really draws you into the anime making you want to see more and more. Coyote Ragtime may be zany fun that relies on hyperbole, but compared to something like Cross Game CR's first episode seems vacuous and even shows early signs of weakness. Group C-4 Voting for: Ga-Rei Zero Both are eerily similar with their large scale battles and intense action scenes, but GRZ has a stronger ending, and I prefer the story of older characters that's a little less obtuse and meandering that is the opening episode of Noein. GRZ opening episode may be a feint but at least it was more direct, than just aimlessly philosophical and unfocused. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Round 1 Group C (Part 1) is now closed.
Apologies for the delay in posting this; I had to run up to the wire to finish an end-of-month review. Before we get to results, let me address one concern:
Yes. What you posted tells us nothing specific about why CRS is better, and that's a violation of the requirement to justify your answers. I counted your votes this time, but pull something like this again and I probably won't next time. Also, one person who name shall be a mystery (heh!) neglected to post a vote for C-2. I counted the other votes this time because that single missing vote had zero impact on the outcome, but I would appreciate if that person would add who the vote was supposed to be for to a future post so that my voting numbers will come out straight later on. Now, the results, with 18 votes in for all but C-2: C-1: Le Chevalier d'Eon outdueled Nodame Cantible 12-6. C-2: Koi Kaze blew away NGE, 12-5. C-3: Cross Game turned Coyote Ragtime Show into a weeping wreck, 16-2. C-4: Ga-Rei Zero outlasted Noein, 11-7. C-1 and C-4 were each at 7-5 and back-and-forth as to who was leading for most of the round, but the leaders in both cases built bigger advantages in the final few hours. NGE did try to stage a comeback after being down 11-1 at one point, but it was much too little, much too late. CG, contrarily, never had a whiff of challenge, and I'm guessing that it won't next round, either. Next round will be up sometime before I go to bed this evening - hopefully. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Round 1 Group C (Part 2) is now closed.
Results can be found here. Hmmm. Three eps in this one that I haven’t seen yet. Guess I’ll be waiting until later in the week to vote this time. And which one of these do you suppose was set up deliberately? 
Group C-5 Bleach vs. Sayonara, Zetsobou-sensei Group C-6 Haibane Renmei vs. Slayers Group C-7 Kurau: Phantom Memory vs. Kaiba Group C-8 Trigun vs. Gurren Lagann Last edited by Key on Mon May 07, 2012 11:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6528 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I have to say I was surprised by how much Koi Kaze led Neon Genesis Evangelion at one stage .
Group C-5 Bleach vs. Sayonara, Zetsobou-sensei Viewing history: First exposure to both. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series: Bleach, no. Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, yes. Bleach surprised me by being highly enjoyable. I guess I was expecting something cornier and more juvenile than it proved to be. The character design and personality of Rukia are both appealing; Ichigo, less so. (It’s the female characters that make or break an anime for me.) Had Bleach been up against Slayers or Trigun or Gurren Lagann it probably would have got my vote. Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is the first candidate that I haven’t seen before and where, thanks to the tournament, I intend to follow up. Shinbo isn’t a favourite director of mine, but here the steady stream of incongruities and ironies make up for the coldness I feel lies below his pretty surfaces. The wit and sophistication makes this a winner for me in this particular contest. Voting for: Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Group C-6 Haibane Renmei vs. Slayers Viewing history: I have Haibane Renmei on DVD and watched it through 3 or 4 times; first exposure to Slayers Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series: Haibane Renmei, yes. Slayers, no. I enjoyed my belated introduction to Lina Inverse – she’s some character. Beyond her, though, there isn’t much going for Slayers: it looks dated and the humour mostly falls flat. Good as Lina is, she can’t compete with Reki or Rakka. Where Lina comes across as a clown with spunk, the two leads from Haibane Renmei, in just one episode, prove themselves more layered and more appealing, with their own cache of humour and charm. And with one the most beguiling first episodes you will ever see, there really isn’t any contest. I always appreciate it when a TV show or film takes time out, to slow down, to appreciate simple visual effects. Haibane Renmei does this constantly, such as the play of light on a ceiling, or a character admiring the reflection of their wings in a window. Too often, anime rushes by altogether too swiftly. Voting for: Haibane Renmei. There is one thing about the first episode of Haibane Renmei that I find very disappointing: it skips the OP, with its beautiful, elegiac theme, “Free Bird”, by Kou Otani, one of anime’s most underrated composers. But, of course, I can only judge the episode on what is actually presented. Group C-7 Kurau: Phantom Memory vs. Kaiba Viewing history: First exposure to both. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series: Neither first episode is compelling enough to convince me watch the entire series, yet both show enough that viewing a second episode might be worthwhile. In both cases I finished the episode not sure what to make of things. Kurau seemed rushed, undermining the potential emotional impact of some of the scenes. Also, until I did some further research, I was confused about who or what Kurau was and how many creatures she was supposed to be. (Perhaps that was intended effect.) Kaiba presents itself with an oddball visual style and some exhilarating motion effects, but, even more than Kurau, is content to let events pass by without providing much context. It’s a beautiful trip, though. Voting for: Kaiba, because it's more adventurous and I like to be surprised. Group C-8 Trigun vs. Gurren Lagann Viewing history: Watched Trigun through once; first exposure to Gurren Lagann other than clips from previous tournaments. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series: No. I watched Trigun, despite the first episode, on the recommendation of my nephew. Thanks, Mike. Two very similar episodes with heaps of bravado and over-the-top action. Very much the sort of anime I avoid. Voting for: Trigun, by rating the three recurring characters that are introduced in these episodes, according to how I reacted to them. Vash – disliked; Meryl – OK, Millie – OK; Simon – indifferent; Kamina – disliked; Yoko - indifferent. And the music's better - there are some nice steel guitar licks. Last edited by Errinundra on Tue May 01, 2012 6:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3882 Location: New York state. |
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Match C-5: Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei
Don't feel too strongly for either of these titles. Bleach's first episode starts out like any typical fantasy/ action title of its type by having the seemingly normal male lead unwillingly thrown into a paranormal situation where he acquires powerful abilities and is tasked with slaying different monsters. It felt like something I already seen done before enough times. Zetsubou-sensei at least goes for something original with its comedy in its opening episode focused on the opposing character dynamics of Kafuka and Nozomu in their first encounter with one another. Regardless, the winner of this match will be fodder for the inevitable winner of Match C-6. Match C-6: Haibane Renmei Slayers starts off decently introducing you to Lina and the show's humor focused on subverting cliches of medieval/ fantasy adventure titles. But it is easily outclassed by the powerful drama of Haibane Renmei's opening episode as Rakka undergoes both her pleasant and painful ordeals of learning about her new life as a Haibane. I see this being the top-runner for the Group C bracket. Match C-7: Kurau: Phantom Memory The tricky match to vote on in this group. Kaiba does a solid job introducing you to its world in its opening episode and featuring an exhilarating chase sequence with Warp escaping his pursuers. However, I found the setup for Kurau's opening episode to be more engaging for me as the circumstances that affect Kurau and her father create mystery and drama over whether or not the human side of Kurau still exists after being taken over by the Rynax and the feelings of loneliness felt by Kurau over not being with her Pair. Match C-8: Gurren Lagann Both of the first episodes to the titles in this match rely on their style and comedy to get by in hooking fans. The opening episode to Trigun has a self-contained plot which introduces Vash pretending to be an incompetent buffoon to avoid being detected as the infamous criminal being hunted down. Gurren Lagann introduces the main trio of the series in the form of Yoko, Simon and Kamina; as well as having its manic action scene when a Gunman attacks the underground city that Simon and Kamina live in. Kamina provides much of the fun in this episode with his hot-blooded speeches about manliness and reckless behavior during the Gunman battle. These aspects made me realize right away that Gurren Lagann would be a homage/ parody of the "super robot" mecha genre of anime. Because of Kamina's antics and said robot battle, I'll side with Gurren Lagann for this match. |
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1886 Location: Netherlands |
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Hahahaha
 I didn't notice that! Because it takes some time to write that stuff up, I copied the text in my mail. And yes, when I wanted to submit it, something went wrong and the text was all gone, so I was glad I could copy and paste it from there. But apparently I didn't copy everything  . It didn't matter that much in this case. I edited my post, it was indeed NGE.
(As for why I didn't notice earlier: it was already past one o'clock and I was sleeping sweet dreams) |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Damn...didn't expect Koi Kaze to make Shinji into a prison bitch. I figured that would be the second closest match up given NGE's huge fanbase. A bit surprised Noein lost but that's how the cookie crumbles. I need to watch 2 of the first episodes before I vote. I think I wanna rewatch Trigun's first as well just as it's been some damn long since I've seen it. Pretty sure I'd vote for GL anyways but just to be sure I'll re-watch it first.
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Voting early because there are a number I've seen here ... and half of the time I will be voting against them for that reason.
Group C-5 Voting for: Bleach This would normally go against pretty much every grain of my tastes. But Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei failed to impress when I watched it (IIRC it was one of those shows where I watched the first ten minutes and stopped because I was bored, though with this one I also felt like some of the jokes were going over my head). What I've heard about Bleach actually makes it sound good and if it wasn't a million episodes long I might even be inclined to watch it. So we'll go with it, I actually do feel like the shounen tournament shows do tend to have good first episodes anyway, it's just beyond that where things go terribly wrong, at least when it comes to my personal preferances. Group C-6 Voting for: Haibane Renmei I actually am pretty sure I have seen both of these. I've definitely seen some Slayers and I have to assume that I would have seen the first episode. But Haibane Renmei clearly left more of an impression on me and, of the two, is the series I am more likely to continue watching (I actually do plan on finishing this one after how much I've heard about it). Group C-7 Voting for: Kaiba After the Duos tournament, I tried to watch Kurau: Phantom Memory and just didn't really take to it, though I think I did at least make it until the very end of the episode. So I'm going to go with Kaiba. Group C-8 Voting for: Trigun This is one of the first episodes I think I've watched the most and I never get sick of it. It sets up three very fun characters and has one of the most unique reasons for supporting cast sticking around with the main character that I've ever seen in the insurance girls. Haven't seen Gurren Lagann and everything I've heard about it makes it sound like something not for me. Plus, I nominated Trigun and it always takes a lot for me to vote against my nominations, even at times when I think they probably deserve to lose. This is not the case here though. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Even over Cross Game?
I wasn't surprised at all, because NGE's first episode has never been regarded (even by fanboys) as one of its greatest strengths and it was up against a fairly strong competitor. (I'd put KK's first ep at least in the tournament's Top 10, if not the Top 5.) Perhaps Dorcas_Aurelia could weigh in on how the minigame called that one. |
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Ggultra2764
Subscriber Posts: 3882 Location: New York state. |
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Though I would prefer to avoid discussion over such a matter until later rounds if the two were to meet, I would indeed find Haibane Renmei to be of a high caliber in its first episode quality than Cross Game. While both are emotional episodes for differing reasons and do well at introducing their major characters, I found there to be a great deal more intrigue to be found with Haibane Renmei over the nature of Haibane as Rakka learns of her unique circumstances after "being born" as there are already a number of religious implications and symbolism made clear from the get-go when you start the series off and keeping you curious over what direction the series will be taking with its themes. Cross Game does well at sticking out of the norm for a sports anime, but I found Haibane Renmei's opening episode to be far more special in comparison. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Hmmm. That will be an interesting debate to have when the time comes. I'll hold off on bringing it up again until then. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Right, mini-game. Ggultra and NakedBeast slipped up a little this round, so the ranking has bunched up again, but they both remain, tied, in first. The top 10 are spread across a 5 point range.
Ugh, this is gonna be a tough round. I have seen all 8 of these, but I'm going to have to rewatch at least 2 of them (can skip Haibane this week, as it's probably not going to matter), probably more like 5, though.
You mean it was only one? Two of them are split 50-50 in the minigame, and a third is pretty close. Wait, probably not Bleach v SZS; that wouldn't make any sense as a deliberate match up. And you haven't seen Kaiba (according to your list), so that pretty much leaves Trigun v TTGL. Kaiba v Kurau is the one that kills me the most, though.
Pretty badly. NGE was the preferred pick 12-6 over Koi Kaze. It's been the biggest upset in the tournament so far, and the only show that did worse in its tournament vote to minigame choice comparison was Lain, although that didn't have a majority of the votes. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Basing anything on my "seen" list is a chancy business because I've been far from meticulous about maintaining it; at least a couple of times a month I come across some title that I saw ages ago but never got around to marking as "seen." In this case, though, you can accurately judge that I haven't seen Kaiba. It's going to have to impress me massively for me to vote for it over KPM, though. FWIW, I also need to see SZS and HR's first eps, and I'm working another 58 hour week. Ugh. . . |
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