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EP. REVIEW: No Guns Life


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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 12:20 am Reply with quote
I'd like to take a moment to express my appreciation for Juuzo's head not being a big, obvious, clashing CG thing. From the moment this was announced, I figured that's what we were getting, and it helps a lot that it isn't (honestly, I'm surprised it's Dorohedoro doing it instead).

I will gladly instead take the surreal 3D (Unreal Engine?) backgrounds that evoke "Masamune Shirow playing with the same computer he bought in 2000 for CG backdrops forever".

This really has been a great start for something going down familiar territory, and...yeah, feels like it could go either way. Hope it stays solid.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 4:16 am Reply with quote
Quote:
the second episode gets at this a bit by throwing Juuzo into a desperate search for his favorite cigarette brand

What was really neat about that was that it wasn't just his "favorite" brand, but apparently the only brand with enough of the right additives to suppress the side effects of extensive extensions. Except -twist!- it actually was just his favorite and he didn't need the medicinal effects after all.

I kinda agree about the chibi takes for humor, but mostly because he looks like chibi Alphonse Elric every time.

And from the OP it appears Juuzo's not the only one with a gun for a head. This could get interesting.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 4:43 am Reply with quote
Did Steve give up on this? I'd expect more comments, if there were more reviews, but it's just been radio silence all around since episode 4.

I'm still liking this a lot, but I guess I'm not sure what to say about it without some prompting. :/ I also don't feel like spoiler tagging everything for the last two episodes.
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#894822



Joined: 08 Apr 2019
Posts: 111
PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 7:49 pm Reply with quote
I didn’t really understand what was going on so I dropped it...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 5:53 am Reply with quote
Found the arms dealer.

Quote:
If your tolerance for his infallibly hardboiled persona hasn't already been tested, it surely will have been by this season's halfway-point.

Why would it be tested? It's what I'm here for. Smile

As for "America's current state of Forever War," despite WWII being our last declared war, the US military has been shooting at other people for all but about 17 years since the country's inception, so it's definitely Forever War, but hardly just the current state.
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Iron Maw



Joined: 29 May 2008
Posts: 482
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 4:06 am Reply with quote
Quote:
What's much more interesting is how the episode concludes. Olivier sits with Mega Armed in the police van and coolly informs him that his self-aggrandizing confession has been sent to the Justice Department. Mega Armed is unfazed, however, as he's content in the knowledge that it was their very government that propped him up as a shiny-headed distraction from their war crimes in the first place. Such is the very modern conflict at the heart of most noir: corrupt institutions can't be policed when they're in charge of the policing. We laud the concept of justice as this literally divine institution, but justice in practice is as subject to human foibles as anything else. And it's just as Olivier realizes this that a giant hole gets punched through the side of the van, presumably disintegrating Mega Armed (but not her, I'm hoping). Olivier stopped herself from killing Mega Armed earlier, but perhaps this act of vengeance from yet another party is the closest thing to “justice” a man like him could ever hope to see. It's a depressing thought to chew on, and one I'm glad to see No Guns Life ask us to chew on.


It's actually Beruihen who is behind al of of shady stuff including covering up the Norse Scott incident not the government. The newest episode also revealed they ones who propped up Armed in the first place and then assassinated him when he became a liability. Which makes sense when you remember they are ones who originated extension technology introduced it to the military and then populace. They have most lose if anything stymies the proliferation of extension tech. That said, it is obvious they have some influence government due to their support in the war and their tenuous but dependent relationship with EMS due to resources is one example. But it's not enough that Armed being dragged into court would not be a problem for them. Hence taking the drastic action straight up kill him before he falls into the government's hands.

Gina Szanboti wrote:
As for "America's current state of Forever War," despite WWII being our last declared war, the US military has been shooting at other people for all but about 17 years since the country's inception, so it's definitely Forever War, but hardly just the current state.
Quote:


I mean to be frank you say about lots of countries. There never an era without conflict for one reason or another no matter relatively peaceful it is. Its not a thing that's tied to one country.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:53 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Jack Dorsey, for instance, stubbornly refuses to grapple with the awful power of Twitter


Where "grappling with" would mean you want the billionaire you despise to be the one enforcing the censorship? Asking the government to censor or break companies up would be consistent (but weird to me with Trump as President), boycotting the incredibly voluntary and unnecessary to your life Twitter would be reasonable, somehow loving the tech billionaires and demanding that they censor bad people would be at least consistent too, but simultaneously hating them and demanding that they exercise a high level of fine-grained (but impossibly accurate) control over what people see and say is especially weird.

Steve Jones is exactly exhibiting "a terrible and religious awe towards our incomprehensibly wealthy overlords."
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Dec 15, 2019 12:20 am Reply with quote
10

Very nice review. My main quibble with the episode was the classic countdown bomb trope, but given the retro-noir trappings, I suppose it's to be expected, especially since Hollywood has yet to abandon it in contemporary works. At least no one had to decide whether to cut the red wire or the green one.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 1:27 pm Reply with quote
So my guess is that Victor is going to turn out to be Juuzo's former Hands. I'm saying that on the assumption that he doesn't know Victor is Mary's brother or that she's looking for him, but maybe she's told him, in which case my guess will be wrong.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sun Jan 05, 2020 12:14 pm Reply with quote
Ep12- What a fun way to end S1!! This could have been my Best Anime of 2019 if I'd thought of it. Rock On Robot Hands!! So looking forward to S2...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:59 pm Reply with quote
I didn't think it's good enough to make my Best of list, but it was still one of my favorites this season. I'm looking forward to whatever's next (especially the new cyborg hands mascot). I'm just afraid that, judging by this page, it won't get enough votes to continue the reviews. :/
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:09 pm Reply with quote
The first cour was an interesting cyberpunk story since Beruhren is an incredibly evil globalist corporation and in the anime they are shown to be clever, intelligent, and patient. If it wasn't for Juzo and his incredible powers Beruhren would have won each time since they carefully plan ahead to portray their opponents as enemies of the common people. In that aspect No Guns Life is a great example of the cyberpunk genre in the idea that the majority of people will believe what the mainstream media tells them and that if you control the mainstream media than you control what the majority of people believe. Mega Armed was the public relations mascot with his honey flavored lies about equality and progress which simply required people to obey Behuren. I am curious to find out more about Spitzbergen in the next cour since their anti-extended views would be a huge problem with most of the main characters but they seem to be the only group that Beruhren views as a threat to their rule.
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7777ale7777



Joined: 13 Nov 2017
Posts: 105
PostPosted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:48 pm Reply with quote
The first time watching the new ED I didn't even notice it (was too focused on Mary dancing) but there's a couple of robot dogs banging in the foreground, that's some worldbuilding.

Last edited by 7777ale7777 on Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 8:52 pm Reply with quote
Had a chuckle at Juzo noticing Mary's getting big up top and as for the ED, great stuff all around. Fairly standard fare in the symbolism and atmosphere department if you don't get wrapped around the axle at the concept that sexual desire and violence are related emotions and supposedly linked. Why are Mary and Olivier there as background to the man-fight? Obviously, as incentive because one or both will get to do what they portray for the victor. I think it was some French philosopher who claimed that women were sexually attracted to powerful men because they crave safety, provision and strong offspring.

Seeing Rockin Robot Hand get hurt so soon I was sad (like Juzo), so I hope we see the little guy get rebuilt as a big buff ROBOT FIST that pounds on Victor and flashes the "rock-on" sign to a big "HYAAH"...
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:20 pm Reply with quote
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
I think it was some French philosopher who claimed that women were sexually attracted to powerful men because they crave safety, provision and strong offspring.


Yep, all through history, there's been a ton of clueless dudes who think they understand what motivates women. I know... why don't we do something wild and, oh, I don't know... listen to what women have to say about what motivates them? Am I getting too crazy here?
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