Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4644 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Oh these cliches these days.
Pervert boy embarrassing himself by doing things like "unintentionally" stealing bikini bottoms and panties and being just generally irresponsible. And boy is he an idiot. The kind of character who realizes he has the panties in his pocket and thinks "I can't show these to this girl" and almost immediately wipes his face with them. And there's the fact that apart from the girl he originally likes he also ends up living alone with his stepsister who has been away for six years and is always fighting his feelings for his non-blood-related sister. How did we get to this state? ...oh, did I forget to mention that this show is 30 years old? Miyuki, The first anime adaptation of a Mitsuru Adachi manga (Touch, Cross Game) I'm 10 episodes in (out of 37) and I'm having problems getting through it. Part of it is the dated aspect and clumsy humor of the time. It's presented as sort of realistic, but the MC's actions are gag humor stupid played straight. And being from the early 80's it is also comparatively very sexist. I mentioned the MC keeps embarrassing himself in front of his crush (Miyuki the crush) and constantly pulls out the bikini bottom he straight up stole of hers or some of his sister's panties (her sister is also named Miyuki) and I kind of cheered that she slaps him every time (way to go- beat on a guy because he deserves it!)... but THEN... she keeps on coming up with reasons why she's at fault for the problems he causes. Yeah, her fault. They end up dating of course. But the worst... it's supposed to be funny but to me comes off as massively creepy... are the two adults who are are constantly harassing the younger sister, who is 15. One is her teacher, a fat 30-something with very touchy hands and the other is the father of the crush (her daughter is a year older than the young girl he is pursuing) who is also a police officer who regularly harasses boys her age in order to spend time with her. The first time he meets her he tells her that both his wife and daughter are dead. ...I keep watching it though. There's still something that keeps me watching. Miyuki the sister is a nice 80's free spirit that defies the usual type, although occasionally still stuck on backwards 80's girl role and a bit too permissive of the creepy guys that are obsessed with her. |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1909 |
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^
For some reason, most of Nasu's works seem to translate better to text. Most people agree that, even with his good adaptations, something about them feels rushed or artificial. Maybe you'll like the novels better, or maybe you'll be able to appreciate Garden of Sinners more upon rewatch (like I did). As much as I really don't want to rag on people on the site, I've gotta say... Hope Chapman was a little too easy on Fullmetal Alchemist 2003. Yes, it's her favorite anime, and yes, I'm sure she gets a lot of crap from Mangahood purists, but upon starting my rewatch of FMA 2003, I noticed that the anime-exclusive parts of the first half (I guess I'd call them filler, but some parts of them amount to something in the 2003 canon) are often terrible. Alright, so episode 4 was okay (not sure if that was in the manga), but the Psyren episode was just hateful. I remember that being my first exposure to 2003 FMA when I stayed up to watch it on Adult Swim, and... well, I didn't actually watch FMA 2003 all the way through until 2013 because of that experience. After a rewatch, I have to say that it's even worse. Ugh... it turns Alphonse from the "nicer brother" to "Timmy Turner's parents being oblivious to Vicky's evil even if she's vivisecting their kid right in front of them." Psyren is... I'm not sure if the show wants me to sympathize with her, or think of her as a "cool" Faye Valentine/Fujiko Mine type character, but I'd have to say that she's just hateful. The Fake Elric Brothers two-parter was... better, but I'd have to say that it was still a bit of an annoyance to sit through. When the villain flat out says "Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice that you were fake when the real Edward has an automail arm and Alphonse is a suit of armor?!" I basically nodded my head and said "THANK YOU!" How is everyone in that town so stupid. Plus, Fake Edward is too much of a jerk to Ed at first for someone who's doing this for "sympathetic" reasons. The only reason to watch this two-parter is because it introduces the concept of the Red Stones to the anime, and it foreshadows Dr. Marcoh's importance to the story. Finally, the big point just before the full-on divergence from the manga! Right after the fifth laboratory when Barry the Chopper's words are getting to Alphonse. It's okay to show that Alphonse has some vulnerability to him, but the fact that he believes the dangerous psychopath so simply was just too... unbelievable. Either we're supposed to think that Barry is a skilled manipulator (which he isn't) or we're supposed to think that Alphonse has zero faith in his brother and loved ones. Is it me, or does the anime exclusive stuff seem to make Alphonse out to be a totally annoying, easily manipulated craphead with no faith in his brother? Believing Psyren, Barry the Chopper, and Sloth over his own freaking brother. Ugh... However, there are some anime exclusives that I loved. Extra time with Hughes is always welcome, episode 4 was decent, episode 8 was actually pretty good. And the overall quality over the show's non-manga material does improve greatly after episode 25. Heck, it even improves upon some anticlimaxes that the mangahood had (it always was kind of annoying that Scar and Kimblee never had much closure in Brotherhood). I guess in my experience, fans of Brotherhood condemn the 2003 adaptation as pointless because it deviates from the manga, while fans of the 2003 adaptation condemn Brotherhood as an action-driven shounen adventure where the protagonists are overly benign and the antagonists have little to no humanity. I personally believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and love both. There's no superior version, but to truly be able to claim that one is better than the other while having some weight behind your words, you must accept the flaws of whichever you are defending. That aside, I think Sailor Moon R will be coming in the mail soon. Can't wait to marathon through that before I start rewatching the original Mobile Suit Gundam on Blu-ray! |
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TRNielson
Posts: 182 |
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So I was about to jump into Eden of the East when a short visit to the local store saw me find Summer Wars for the bargain price of $18. Being a huge fan of the director's future work (Wolf Children) and hearing similar praise for this movie, I knew I had to buy it.
Luckily, I was not disappointed. While it went a different route with the main narrative (preventing an AI from causing Judgment Day) than Wolf Children did, it had a very strong sense of family that was touching to see. The action scenes were very well done and this movie certainly places with Madoka Magica and ef: a tale of memories/melodies as the type of show I would love to watch while tripping on acid. Seriously, the animation in this movie was so bright and vivid and just all around jaw dropping. The only problem I have with this movie is I now have to find a Blu-Ray copy of the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to complete my collection. In all seriousness, I would highly recommend this movie to any anime fan. It is an absolute treat. |
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Wandering Samurai
 Posts: 875 Location: USA |
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So far I'm watching what fall series are currently out. I've been interested so far by Heavy Object and Concrete Revolutio, and I've always been a fan of Black Jack, so that's a no brainer.
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Today I finished watching Kill la Kill. I found the show to be an emotionally thrilling experience. Never have I thought that a few fibers and a company's uniform wardrobe would lead to deadly chaos on a worldwide scale.
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DuelGundam2099
 Posts: 533 |
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Today I marathoned Little Goddess Karin, 14 episodes in a row. Ya know, I was going to be nice on this series, but after this level fail I am going to town. So much horrid animation, so much slow pacing, so much lackluster humor, so much grating music, so much annoyances from the main character, so little action, so much slice of life based filler that made this series longer than it should have- THIS IS CHOBITS WITH MAGIC GIRLS. Then there were the twists, first one spoiler[Nyx/Kirika turns out to be a woman that dresses like a boy because.... She feels like it? It would explain why she rarely engages in combat] and the one they stuffed in the last episode spoiler[the main characters are clones of a married couple and Himeka is their child who was divided into to bodies using the power of Zeus and it was so poorly foreshadowed]. The twists weren't necessarily bad, but they could have been handled better and it makes Nyx look like a pedo.
 In addition of being boring and obnoxious, this is the worst anime to come out of Satellite studios not counting their horrid Muv-Luv adaption. I'll give it a bit of credit, there was effort put into this and the plot related stuff wasn't bad.
I thought this would be a unique experience because most magic girl anime I come across I have a bad experience with. This series had nothing that would have put me off (being aimed for adult men, having ecchi, CLAMP having a role in its production, not being super long, lack of proper TV episode and series length, and being super-science instead of actual magic) and I have seen such anime before (IE *Cutey Honey, Mao-chan, Pretear, Witchcraft Works, and even Virgin Witch, as laughably horrible as the theological holes I pointed out were). I thought I'd get something a bit more "generic" and this proves you should never judge books by their covers. 
*Technically nothing made by Go Nagai is bad and if there is anything I sure as hell haven't seen it; yes I've seen Violence Jack and found it quite awesome person that might reply |
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louis6578
Posts: 1909 |
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On Disc 5 of the blu-rays of Fullmetal Alchemist (2003). Gotta say, I love this show. I think my favorite parts are the little moments of emotion and positive relationships rather than the awesome fights or tragic death scenes. The scene in... episode 27 (I think) where Izumi beats the crap out of Ed and Al after confronting them about their human transmutation, only to embrace them both right afterwards actually made me tear up more than a certain Brigadier General's funeral (though that did make me cry as well). She was angry at them for ignoring what she taught them, but at the same time, she knew exactly what they went through and felt sorry for them. It's a touching scene whether you're a parent, an older more protective sibling, or if you just know a child that you want to keep from emulating your mistakes.
Being someone who's seen this and Brotherhood already, I have to say that Kimblee is less interesting here than Brotherhood, but more outwardly entertaining. He doesn't have the same class or interesting morals that he does in the manga continuity, but he's more entertaining in the same way that someone like Ladd Russo (Baccano) is more entertaining than Kirei Kotomine (Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero), despite the fact that the other one is infinitely more complex. Frank Archer is also a very interesting anime exclusive character. I think a big "flaw" (if you can call it that) of the manga was the lack of human antagonists. Villains who are still human, but side against the protagonists for their own unique reasons. Yeah, Brotherhood had a few who wanted (falsely promised) immortality, but that's such a simple, greedy motivation. It makes the more mustache twirlers than actual human beings on a destructive path. Edward gets more chances to show me why he's such a beloved character. I believe that Brotherhood's major problem was not letting Ed have many fights that he has any chance of winning without huge amounts of luck, and making the plot so epic and grand in scale that Edward and Alphonse's original goal (regain their bodies) seems too insignificant and is rarely brought up later on. Sure, I miss a lot that Brotherhood had (the Xingese characters and epic scale), but on a personal level, this anime is easier to connect with, and I'm sure that starting with this over Brotherhood will only help one's understanding of the characters. It's a shame that so many people that I know only watched Brotherhood. |
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phia_one
Posts: 1663 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Let's see...
Castle Town Dandelion-I admit that I passed over this when it was airing because the premise didn't interest me very much. However, it got seem good reviews and it actually sounded like it could be entertaining. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It had some great characters. I didn't enjoy it enough that I'd want to own it, but I it wasn't a waste of my time. D-Frag-I didn't even have a reason to watch this except, "eh, why not?". I dropped it after the first episode. The humor wasn't doing anything for me. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1828 Location: South America |
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Ghost in the Shell SAC. Pretty bland police procedural show. I don't see what is so great about it. Reminds me of Law and Order SVU.
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louis6578
Posts: 1909 |
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Eh. I kind of agree. GITSAC is overrated. It has a decent story and it's very well told, but... these characters are too serious. The show needs a Han Solo. Someone to lighten things up. These characters, at the end of the day, bring nothing to me. Even Motoko, or The Major (I never call her that because I saw Hellsing Ultimate first so... she's not the true major to me), is too boring. She's got personality, so she's not bland. It's just... her attitude. Cowboy Bebop, even discounting Edward, gave every character moments to be silly or lighthearted, or even just human in a way that makes you smile (the Tiger Striped Cat story is my favorite among these moments). Ghost in the Shell never did that for me. I did like the standalone episodes and their themes, but I wish they were pulled off with more dynamic characters. As is, I think I'll stick with my favorite cop anime, Psycho Pass. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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^ I'm almost done with Psycho-Pass. I don't wanna finish it now... (-_-')
Anyway, I finished Season One of School Rumble. It was adorable! It kind of reminded me of Spongebob Squarepants in it's simplicity. I will admit it's not one of my all-time favorites, but it was an enjoyable waste of time. I think I'll wait to watch the second season. Anyway, I'm going to go start on Paradise Kiss soon. I also have to work on my Halloween short story for my Akane Analyzes thread. Busy busy busy! I have a lot of good shows on my schedule for just a short time. m(_ _)m |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 728 Location: California, USA |
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Wait a minute!, I like Law and Order SVU  Anyway, as a huge GITS SAC fan, lemme say something.
It's true, GITS is basically a police procedural/ military-action thriller at its core. For me and a lot of SAC fans, SAC is great because it expands on all those sci-fi and cyberpunk elements that are only touched upon in the movies. I admit, some of the standalone episodes can be dull but I'd also argue they give you a glimpse into different aspects of the GITS world. Personally, I thought the one SAC episode that takes place entirely in a chat room was brilliant, but plenty of people also thought it was super boring, so it depends. This is same reason why I liked the first couple episodes of Psycho Pass, even most people complained it was too episodic. Most of high praise for SAC is because of the Laughing Man storyline, which I do think is excellent.
The humor and light heartedness in the show is very subtle and doesn't happen much. As for Motoko and the rest of the cast's attitude, I'd actually argue it's part of the appeal of the show. There's very few anime out there where all the characters are super-calm, collected, and professional all the time and I think it's kinda neat. And while it's debatable, GITS has always been more concept driven than about dynamic character development, for better or worse. |
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HoshiNoMiko
 Posts: 27 Location: Canada |
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Currently I'm watching Lucky Star. Mostly I started watching this due to sheer curiosity, I had heard about it but I was never quite told what it was about. I had no idea it was a slice of life anime, and normally I don't go for those, but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt(and now I'm like two episodes away from completing the series ^^; ). I think what's kept me on it so strong is just the strong sense of nostalgia I get from it, aside from the fact that I do not live in Japan, and thus some of the cultural references are very different, my high school experience was quite similar, and I know that's probably the draw of the show(if it actually was, mission accomplished). I think I have an odd relation to Konata as well, my mother's not dead, but she was never really in the picture for me, and my father is absolutely the kind of odd duck her father is(never mind that I was almost as hard core an otaku as she was when I was in my high school years >> <<). My nostalgia goggles were super strong with this one.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4644 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Finished watching Miyuki (1983-84) and then reading Miyuki…because the anime just felt “wrong” on a few levels and I was curious as to why.
In Mitsuru Adachi’s later work Cross Game the character Junpei Azuma (the older brother of the other Azuma) is introduced in a scene where he “playfully” flips up the skirt of a cheerleader and declares that the team’s cheerleaders need to be sexier. The girl sequels and one of Aoba’s friends comments with something like “Geez, doesn’t he know that behavior like that isn’t funny anymore?” In retrospect that scene seems like a comment about Miyuki and other 80’s/Showa era anime. In Miyuki, behavior like this is very common and seemingly supposed to be quite funny. One entire episode is devoted to all the boys trying the best to take panty shots and other “sexy” photographs of the high school girls. One guy gets on the floor to take underskirt pictures of the girls as they walk down the stairs, another uses a hidden camera in a bag on the ground to take shots of the unsuspecting surrounding girls, a group of guys drill holes into the floor to get their shots. It just does not come off as funny. Add this to the things I mentioned in my previous post (girls accepting sexist behavior, adult authority figures letching after young girls) and it yes, it comes off as creepy. Although the structure of the manga versus the structure of the anime is probably partially to blame for the emphasized lechery of the anime. The manga is a rather economic work. In all it is only 95 short chapters so the anime really drags out the perviness sometimes. If something pervy happens in the manga it is in the anime, but it is lengthened, emphasized and added to. Scenes are added that occasionally make the story better but often make it more obnoxious. For instance, in the photo epsisode the characters never go so far as to drill peep holes into the floor. To its credit, the photo episode also adds some very good stuff about Masato defending his girlfriend Miyuki and making friends with the other girls as well. Although, minus the photo episode, the show did get better after those early episodes. In some ways the main character of the show, Masato, is actually very gentlemanly and honorable. He is attracted to his step-sister (who is not body shy) but never makes a move, and he never (in four years- manga timeline) tries to push himself on his willing girlfriend either. He protects their honor and defends them selflessly (although maybe a little selfishly too). He also stops getting caught with panties in his pocket.. And there is nice forward movement in the show (moreso in the manga). Feelings deepen, characters slowly mature, as well as effective comedy and drama. Oddly though, it is an unfinished show. I say oddly because the anime ended the same year as the manga and even at this time Adachi was apparently a wildly popular author who you figure could rate a complete work. The show was also supposed to be popular too, not as popular as Touch (TV) was becoming at this time, but popular. If nothing else the ED song for most of the show became a signature song of the era Very possibly never finished due to two significant changes the show decided to make for indiscernible reasons. One, in the manga an important supporting character, Ryuchii, purposefully flunks a year so he can be in the same year as his crush, the younger Miyuki. In the anime they instead have a rather funny episode in which he instead studies very hard in order not to be expelled. I guess a moral choice was made at some point that they did not want to condone such delinquent behavior on the TV. But the second choice is much more far-reaching and destructive of continuing the show from the point it was left off at. The anime adapts about 2/3 of the manga and in the manga that spans 2-3 years time. In the anime, for some unknown reason, they condense the timeline into a single year… and maybe not even that long. The next major arc in the manga had to do with Masato graduating high school and failing to gain acceptance to the local university but in the anime he wasn’t even done with his second year. Actually, Ryuchii never even got the chance to flunk like he does in the manga. And it is a shame, because it does have a good ending. Not perfect, you might not like Masato’s choice, although it’s well and thoroughly foreshadowed, but good. Apparently they was a TV movie anime adaptation that came out before the series, I couldn’t find it, but it and the success of the Touch movies make me wonder if the plan was to finish the story with theatrical movies that somehow never got made. So, in summary. Miyuki is mostly a disappointment that needs the manga as a companion to make worthwhile. It definitely informs a person on how far anime has come in 30 years though… and how little some things change. I mean, it’s not like anime is less pervy these days, just the opposite in fact, but the way its depicted is certainly different. Anime teens are still panty obsessed, Lolicons are certainly way more prevalent, but watching Miyuki at least lets you see how less permissive such behavior is now as a society. When something pervy and creepy happens in a current show-- you see it as pervy and creepy, in Miyki, it's sort of seen as a little naughty and just some harmless fun. p.s. Muraki is a new candidate in my book for most irritating character ever. It's like Urkel voice times ten plus pure shallowness and skeevy behavior. |
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DuelGundam2099
Posts: 533 |
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A few days ago I watched some one shot OVA called Elementalors. The pacing, art, and action were good although the world building could have been done better and it would have been nice of the antagonists' motives were explained more clearly. The final boss was awesome though, haven't seen an anime monster that awesome in a while. I've seen MAL users compare this to Fate/Stay Night and Neon Genesis, but editing aside it has nothing in common with the latter. It seems more like a knockoff of Akira and I would have mentioned X, but the movie came out four years after this so....
Moving onto other anime, I got up to episode 4 in both Ghost Hunt and Scrapped Princess. The former remains solid throughout and the latter has gotten more tolerable although it tries too hard to be funny when it isn't. Also reaching that episode count I recently started Samurai Champloo............................ Aside from being made by the guy that did Cowboy Bebop and the studio that did Ergo Proxy and Samurai Flamenco I had no idea what to expect from this. At first it looked like it would be like Afro Samurai.... One episode in and the main characters are disgusting and they only get worse, this reminds me too much of Black Lagoon which is a bad thing. Gotta love how the MCs are okay with killing people that saved their lives and try to murder people by provoking them by stealing their food; they even get to a point where they literally start killing just because nobody is chasing them. "Everyone is evil: The anime" would be a more proper title, what is the appeal of this? Actually, scratch this, why do critics like this for reasons other than "it is unique"? I'm quite curious. Everything else seems- Oh screw it, the writing, pacing, and music are mediocre as hell and the art style is the only likable aspect about it. Characters like Geist and Afro usually have the excuse of self defense and being unable to run away since the enemies usually have guns, machines, and swarms, but here? Completely uncalled for and avoidable and they enjoy it, this is just evil. And I know someone might bring up "but what about Ken and Ryo from Mazinkaiser SKL?" Simple: They work for King Enma, meaning they are agents of the afterlife and the enemies they fight hold Earth in danger, some restrictions you can loosen given the context. Even Daemon Abashiri at least gives lowlifes a chance to flee and Light Yagami did his killing to reduce crimes (which arguably improved civilization despite Meer being on his high horse) and in rare cases self defense. There is no other reason beyond "I feel like it" and being a jerk about it. Yuck. |
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