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REVIEW: Outbreak Company Blu-Ray


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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:36 am Reply with quote
Dang, i was on the fence about checking this series out but you sold it so hard! I was kinda worried this would be excessively fan-service heavy (one of the reasons i will never buy No Game No Life), but this is definitely near the top of my anime buying list now Smile
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:52 am Reply with quote
Merxamers wrote:
Dang, i was on the fence about checking this series out but you sold it so hard! I was kinda worried this would be excessively fan-service heavy (one of the reasons i will never buy No Game No Life), but this is definitely near the top of my anime buying list now Smile


Not excessively--Barely any; hints at it, but then kids the characters for getting interested in it.

(Although you could sense that the whole idea of making an anime fan a good character didn't last long with the Japanese studio--
In the first few episodes, it seems to be almost in brave defense of otaku, showing our character as active and open-minded--But then, halfway in, it's as if there's something forbidden about portraying an anime fan as NOT a closet NEET who's retreated from the world because of social rejection, who we found out "won't be missed", has his room cluttered with manga and games, and drools over fan service. Imagine, the very idea that anime/manga won't be a gateway drug to every other social fan ill...
In the US, we got the joke of the "foreign country" catching the otaku disease; over there, it was a series ahead of its time, in a country not ready for tolerance.)
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AsherFischell



Joined: 24 Feb 2014
Posts: 327
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:18 am Reply with quote
A couple of notes:

Quote:
and the notion that it could theoretically work as effectively as it does here is actually a little scary. (And how this aligns with some Cool Japan initiatives was doubtless not lost on the original manga-ka or production staff.)


Outbreak Company was originally a light novel series.

Quote:
The quality of the series also shows in a great scene where the Eldant people have a horrified reaction to the JSDF using their full military capabilities to drive off an interloping dragon and in one episode where Shinichi must convince Petralka that the life of a hikkikimori


The word is 'hikikomori."

[EDIT: These and a couple of grammar errors have since been corrected. - Key]
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:21 am Reply with quote
I was hoping to see a review of this show at some point. Sentai has been advertising the show a fair amount and I was curious, but I needed to know whether the seemingly silly premise holds up.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:38 am Reply with quote
Only a B+? But the review was so overwhelmingly positive. I myself gave it an A- and if I was going purely on entertainment value the rating would have been even higher. That soccer match in particular was simply epic, especially spoiler[the gung-ho loli dwarf striker, the goalkeeper who posed like dead Yamcha, and the Mass Produced EVA/15 Metre Titan crossovers who casually strolled past.]
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:14 pm Reply with quote
I was on the fence about whether to give it a B+ or A- overall. A step better on the artistry probably would have convinced me to go higher.
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Via_01



Joined: 24 Aug 2014
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, the artistry wasn't anything spectacular, but everything else was pretty damn good. I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this show while it was streaming. It made me laugh, I could actually take seriously the serious moments, it was clever, and overall a fun ride.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The release does, however, pepper the episodes with numerous top-of-the-screen notes to explain references to/parodies of other series, including cases where characters reference other characters voiced by the same Japanese voice actor. This is a wonderful addition since some of the references are pretty obscure and/or get lost in translation in the English dub.

Really great to hear about the inclusion of on-screen notes, and I'm surprised they used included it in the dub. Some publishers/industry people are averse to that because it's too fansub-like and use a separate booklet instead, which kills the experience IMO.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:36 pm Reply with quote
I think that "Outbreak Company" sounds like an interesting anime to watch. A shame it wasn't popular in Japan. It might be popular here. And if it's successful over here,who knows? They may do a second season for the U.S. market. They might have Americans coming to that world to spread American pop culture there. It's well-known in our world. And why not? It would be very interesting to see how the lead character deals with competition from America.
Also,what would the American contingent be like? Would they have a foreign-born American or a Japanese-American or what not? If it is successful here,will they do that? I don't honestly know.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:55 pm Reply with quote
I am enjoyed Myucel's Eng. VA as Jeanne in Nobunaga the Fool.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:35 pm Reply with quote
configspace wrote:
Really great to hear about the inclusion of on-screen notes, and I'm surprised they used included it in the dub. Some publishers/industry people are averse to that because it's too fansub-like and use a separate booklet instead, which kills the experience IMO.

That's not new to Sentai (and its predecessor ADV), though. Though they do it sparingly, they have been doing it in one form or another for over a decade.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:33 pm Reply with quote
I just watched this series streaming and I didn't see anything in the review that would convince me to buy the BD. Are there any differences?

As for the review itself it is pretty complete. I kind of liked Petralka's character -- she was neither a fool or too wise and also never became a run-of-the-mill tsundere. Even though she was a pettanko she managed not to dwell on it too much.

It was a bit curious that the credits animation featured her roaming around the castle and grounds solo -- something that never happened in the story.
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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:14 pm Reply with quote
HaruhiToy wrote:
I just watched this series streaming and I didn't see anything in the review that would convince me to buy the BD. Are there any differences?


Better sound and video. If that doesn't convince you, why would there be any other differences?

Although pretty sure the stream didn't have any notes, so that would be the main addition. Certainly no other extras to speak of.
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Lusbox



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
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Location: UK
PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 3:57 am Reply with quote
Definitely an enjoyable series, had the OP stuck in my head for a while.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:09 am Reply with quote
An otaku-pandering show about that is how we could describe it.
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