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What are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)


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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:51 am Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
I've been watching Kurau: Phantom Memory recently, I'm currently up to episode 8. This series came to my hands with a high recommendation level from my brother, who told me it made a fantastic portrayal of a lesbian relationship,

What? No, no, no, no, no, you need to watch Simoun for that! The lesbian kisses needed to power their machines isn't even it, many of the characters definitely have feelings for one another. Part of the set up of their world is that everyone is born female, and when they're 16, they go to this magical spring and get to choose their gender, so two girls already in love can decide whose going to be male so they can have kids and whatnot. Despite all the female-female love relationships, there somehow isn't gay marriage in that world, oddly enough. Anyway, it's a damn good series, so when you want lesbian relationships, go for this!
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:02 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
CrowLia wrote:
I've been watching Kurau: Phantom Memory recently, I'm currently up to episode 8. This series came to my hands with a high recommendation level from my brother, who told me it made a fantastic portrayal of a lesbian relationship...


Ahahahahahahaha.

I applaud your brother's wickedness.

You got trolled good.


If he'd been trolling me that'd be... okay, I guess, but I'm pretty sure that he held this series in really high regard. It's not like he said "Watch this lesbian shit, it's awesome" -besides, I'm a girl, so half the awesomeness in lesbian shit is lost on me I suppose- but more like "here, watch this, it's super cool. The main character is fantastic and they make a very nice approach to lesbian relationships". I was expecting something closer to No.6 where the relationship just develops naturally, but here Christmas just pops out of nowhere and suddenly they're playing husband and wife in a disturbingly Japanese manner. I seriously hope it improves later on
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:25 pm Reply with quote
^
Wow, gullible much? You still believe his words about lesbianism?

I'll put it in words you can understand:

THERE IS NO LESBIANISM OR EVEN ANY LESBIAN SUBTEXT IN THIS SHOW. IF YOU THINK THAT THE CENTRAL RELATIONSHIP IS A ROMANTIC ONE THEN YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT BY A DISTANCE WIDER THAN THE DIAMETER OF THE EARTH.

Forget about lesbianism, forget about what your trollish brother said, and just watch the show. In fact, I would recommend re-watching all the episodes you've seen because you obviously tainted your opinion of them from expecting a lesbian relationship where none exists. You need to completely refresh how you look at the show. The bond between Kurau and Christmas runs far deeper and stronger than a romantic relationship would. If you paid more attention to the talk about Rynax Pairings you would know this.

Is Kurau: Phantom Memory a great show? Absolutely. But even great shows can look like bad shows if you hold them to ridiculous expectations that have no basis in reality.
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trilaan



Joined: 17 Jan 2009
Posts: 1053
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:19 pm Reply with quote
I am watching the 3rd season of Ranma 1/2 with my dad just after we saw Project A-ko. I'm very happy that I could get another member of my family into anime.
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victor viper



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 630
Location: The deep south
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:27 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Oshawott wrote:
I'm currently watching Cyber Team in Akihabara. A girl named Hibari Hanakoganei befriends a small, cute mechanical creature called a PataPi, who she names Densuke.


For a while, I thought I was about the only anime fan outside of Japan who actually enjoyed Cyber Team in Akihabara. In many ways, it's a convoluted mess which seemingly tries to be a little bit of everything, but somehow it maintains its charm. I do wonder how people discover the show these days, though.
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Tris8



Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 2114
Location: Where the rain is.
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:09 pm Reply with quote
I finished all 203 eps of Reborn!. Why I started it when I'm in the middle of a handful of other long-running shounen series, I have no idea. Anime hyper

Overall it was good enough, but I can't really recommend this series to anyone as it has a long bad start. The first 20 episodes are dull as mud, rehashing the same crazy antics over and over. Once the plot kicks in at ep 20, things are better but the story falls into many shounen tropes. It doesn't truly start to get interesting until the Half Ring Battles start, at ep 34. But my favorite part was when spoiler[the time travel stuff started.] I enjoyed the heck out of that.

But unfortunately, that's also when it begins to suffer from long recaps. Every ep has a 4-6 minute recap at the start and 3-5 minute un-plot-related chibi skits at the end of each ep. The skits can be funny, but mostly just eat up time. The show truly suffers from this, which is really unfortunate because story-wise we've really gotten to the good stuff. Even though the meat of the story is really interesting, the pacing is thrown off from all this feet-dragging with the constant recaps.

I was really glad though that it had a satisfying ending. I was worried it would end without conclusion or defeating the Big Bad, but all the main plot threads were tied off. I would've liked to have some more definite info on the Arcobaleno and spoiler[why they were cursed], but enough secrets were revealed that the main picture can be inferred.

And then I started Sword Art Online to see what all the fuss is about. I'm on ep 16 (the beginning of spoiler[the faerie arc]) and really liking it.

I absolutely loved the first 4 episodes. They struck me and really set the series apart from other shows by spoiler[not shying away from the player's deaths. At the end of the first episode, how it matter-of-factly stated 2,000 people died in the first 2 months (IIRC) shocked me. I couldn't believe it.] Not to mention spoiler[the deaths of the Moonlit Cats and their leader's suicide in response to their loss. O_O] Couldn't believe this series was brave enough to go there.

Except for ep 14 (spoiler[Kirito shuffling off to find Asuna]), the rest has not been quite as good as that beginning, but it's still a fun and engaging series. I love how Asuna is introduced early on, but then goes off and does her own thing. She doesn't immediately fall in love with the MC just because he is the MC like so many other heroines. She has her own life. And I really like how there are information brokers, fishers and all sorts of other jobs I didn't even think of. It gives the situation a feel of realism.

Most of all, I love how Kirito doesn't just get by on luck. He's smart and calculating. The whole 'dual for Asuna' thing annoyed me at first, and had me worried about the direction the show was going, but the entirely unexpected outcome of spoiler[Kirito losing] made up for it. I'm really looking forward to the rest and hope this show continues to surprise me. I see now why it is so popular.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:17 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
^
Wow, gullible much? You still believe his words about lesbianism?



I usually tend to trust more in my family than on random people on the internet. Apparently that makes me gullible.

Regardless, there's no reason to get so freaking anal about it. And, no, I'm not rewatching the now 10 episodes I've already watched to see if watching it under your illuminated vision makes it better. I'm pretty sure it won't. The plot still makes little to no sense, and while you point out the importance of Rynax companions, I'll have you know that I've so far seen no explanation on that matter. Or on anything else, actually. I'm nearly halfway through it and I have no idea of what Rynax is. Sometimes they talk about it as various independent beings or a new species, sometimes an energy source, and sometimes Kurau talks about the "will of Rynax" as if it were a higher single entity. I don't expect all the answers to be bombed on me so soon, but at least I'd like someone to try and explain what the hell Rynax is, given how important it is to the plot.

And even if their relationship isn't romantic, I still haven't seen anything in it that makes it unique. Kurau is overprotective of Christmas in a motherlike manner, and Christmas is constantly worrying about Kurau's safety -and screaming "KURAU" at any given chance in an incredibly annoying voice-. They're just... there. They care deeply about each other, but there's been no explanation whatsoever about why this partner thing is so important. Also, unless I misunderstood, RynaxKurau had said that she'd leave Kurau's body once she found her partner. But now Christmas came out -randomly and for no understandable reasons- and she doesn't seem to think that her search is over. So all I am right now is confused.

Like I said initially, I'm very willing to give the series a chance, I have hopes that it'll get better at some point, but right now it's just unremarkable and confusing. Hopefully, the first arc finale, with Kurau going to the moon to rescue Christmas and meet her father will spice things up and make it at least a bit more interesting
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:45 pm Reply with quote
victor viper wrote:
For a while, I thought I was about the only anime fan outside of Japan who actually enjoyed Cyber Team in Akihabara...I do wonder how people discover the show these days, though.

Well, I did find this show on an English anime website. I don't recall ever seeing Cyber Team in Akihabara on TV once when Toonami had their 11-year daytime run five years earlier, so this is my first time that I found this show out.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:48 pm Reply with quote
@CrowLia:

Some points to consider:

#1: The show already is great. It will not get much better than it is now, so don't bother holding your breath. Instead, re-evaluate your negative impressions; your view of the show is based on ludicrous expectations, poor assumptions and you not paying attention.

#2: Yes you are gullible if you blindly believe your brother on everything. He is categorically wrong about the lesbianism angle. They do not have a lesbian relationship. Period.

#3: There have been explanations, you just need to pay more attention. Rynax form pairs, and each pair's bond is very strong. That's just how they are. What's important is not why they form pairs but how they act because of their pairings.

#4: As aliens of pure energy, Rynax are sought after by humans to use as a power source. But they are sentient beings which have their own will. A Ryna-sapien is a Rynax inhabiting and controlling a human body, essentially a new species of both. This is all explained.

#5: Kurau and Christmas won the Best Duo Tournament. Their relationship is extremely tight and well-recognised by the forum. Even if you are too stubborn not to believe me when I say they have a strong (but not a sexual) relationship, at least believe everyone who voted for them in that tournament.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:33 am Reply with quote
I don't know what you call "ludicrous expectations". Hoping for it to be as good as it's general appraise suggests it is? I got it, there's no lesbian romance in this. Knowing that and watching episodes 9 and 10, I still wasn't particularly impressed by their relationship. Your explanation of Rynax companions is fine and all, but that just tells me they're not much different from penguins, without the mating. I get it, they have a very deep and important relationship. I'm just not seeing anything about it that is particularly touching, interesting or unique. They just really care for each other and nothing they have done really shows their bond is any deeper or particularly stronger than, I don't know, Nana and Hachiko or Tomoyo and Sakura (to take other nominees from that tournament). Heck, actually I could say Nana and Hachiko's bond is a lot more powerful than what I've seen of Kurau and Christmas, because their emotions are so intensely shown and their moments of joy, sadness, caring and arguing are so natural yet so very emotional and touching.

And that's the point. Knowing they won the Best Duo tournament, is it wrong to have expectations? I'm not saying their relationship is badly portrayed -though the early happy family routine was awful- but I expect much more than that from such a highly regarded Duo, and I'm not getting anything that I can say is particularly memorable. Like I said in my very first post on this topic, I'm simply underwhelmed
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Crisha
Moderator


Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:33 am Reply with quote
To summarize dtm42:

YO CROWLIA, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM? KICK REASON TO THE CURB, AND BELIEVE IN ME WHO BELIEVES IN ME. I AND THIS OTHER GROUP OF RIGHT PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOUR OPINION SHOULD BE BETTER THAN YOU.

DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, SEE THE INVISIBLE, ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWA!!
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Aylinn



Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:49 am Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
CrowLia wrote:
I've been watching Kurau: Phantom Memory recently, I'm currently up to episode 8. This series came to my hands with a high recommendation level from my brother, who told me it made a fantastic portrayal of a lesbian relationship,

What? No, no, no, no, no, you need to watch Simoun for that!

Or/and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Smile The approach of the TV series is very low-keyed, but the movie doesn't shy away from things.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:51 pm Reply with quote
willag, your point may have worked if I and the forum had actually been wrong about the nature and strength of Kurau and Christmas' relationship.

As an aside, I would never stoop so low as to imitate TTGL. Therefore you didn't even say it in a voice I'd actually use.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 3:21 pm Reply with quote
I always imagine dtm42's posts as being read by Kermit the Frog. But hey - that's just me.
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Chagen46



Joined: 27 Jun 2010
Posts: 4377
PostPosted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:46 pm Reply with quote
I just watched the first episode of High School DXD. I am watching this show in full to test the whole "ecchi shows can have good plot I swear" stuff I hear a lot and I'm a horny bastard

Anyway, I decided to analyze the first episode. Here are my results:

Tits: 31 shots

Ass/Crotch: 21 shots

Running time: 21 minutes, 51 seconds-- or 1,311 seconds, or 21.85 minutes

Averge number of tit shots: About 1.4 shots of boobs, naked or under bras, every minute--or one shot roughly every 42 seconds

Average number of ass/crotch shots: roughly .96 shots of an ass or a crotch every minute, or one shot roughly every 62 seconds

Average number of fanservice shots: About 2 shots of boobs or ass/crotch every minute, or one shot of some kind of fanservice every 25 seconds.

Does not count OP or ED (as it isn't in this episode)

/////

An average of 2 money shots every minute.

God [expletive] damn.
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