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Hey, Answerman! [2008-10-24]


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Toshirodragon



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:15 pm Reply with quote
The whole "oh we've been friends since we were babies, we're close as siblings, so why is he interested in HER and not ME!" cliche needs to DIE DIE DIE!! And as a corollary the girl crush, who is too gutless to talk to the boy, angsts for 10 minutes ON SCREEN and blows smoke every time her crush talks to another girl, because I suppose he's expected to divine her feelings, needs to go as well. Wagaya no Oinari sama anyone?

For me, Ghost Hunt caught me, soon as a new episode was downloaded I dropped everything to watch it. Just waiting for Part 2 to join Part 1 on my shelf.

Paradise Kiss was another one I marathoned. I was, at first, disappointed in the spoiler[ non Cinderella ending and Yukari and George separated and never got back together] but after thinking about it for a couple days I decided it was a far more realistic and believable ending.
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FlamingPinecone



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 131
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:23 pm Reply with quote
the one boy in a whole school/college/mansion/cave full of women needs to die. it was cute and fun thought to cross my mind but seriously. gags over, lets be mature here. most otaku put in a similar situation would still successfully not get laid.

*the opinions expressed in this post do not nessecarally reflect the opinoins and attitudes of zac and ANN staff however, let us all agree to the staggering ring of truth contained therein


fawhooosh!
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JesaneR09



Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:54 pm Reply with quote
Hmmm... I guess I would have to go with Blood+, my favorite anime. It had a good storyline, good characters, and those sadistic plot twists that make you go "Why?!" or "Son of a --". Not to mention that there was a good number of action scenes and some romance to balance it all out.
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nightmaregenie



Joined: 13 Aug 2007
Posts: 167
Location: Palmy, NZ - student central
PostPosted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:23 pm Reply with quote
One cliche anime line that I do NOT care to hear again. EVER:

"When I grow up I'm gonna be niisan's/papa's bride"

I have never heard anything like this from real little girls, however innocent they might be. I personally don't think it's cute or sweet, just annoying, not to mention plain weird.
Well, if it's a cultural thing (like family members bathing together) I can understand, but if it isn't...

Oh, and the whole brother worship thing irratates the hell outta me too. I have no problems with shows like Code Geass and Higurashi where the little sister characters have logical reasons to be strongly attached to their older brothers but there are way too many shows with convenient brother complexes that are never explained.
Quote:
Cannot enthuse enough about "Baccano!".

Hell yeah!
And Denno Coil too, and before that, in a similar vein, Ghost Hound (as per my avatar :p).
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Gilaskan



Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:40 am Reply with quote
nightmaregenie wrote:
One cliche anime line that I do NOT care to hear again. EVER:

"When I grow up I'm gonna be niisan's/papa's bride"

I have never heard anything like this from real little girls, however innocent they might be. I personally don't think it's cute or sweet, just annoying, not to mention plain weird.


I've taken a lot of psychology classes and read psych texts pretty often, and I can say this is actually really normal. A lot of young kids (in this case, under 6 or so) say they want to marry a parent, or an older sibling. It's really just part of self-identification. When a child realizes the differences between sexes, they often will try to fill a certain role.

In the case of many girls, for example, they see their mother being a wife to their father. The girl, knowing little about other relationships, wishes to fill that role as a way to identify their own gender.

Now, get past the age of 6 or so, it's unusual. Before that age, it's innocent, and they don't understand the difference between familial love and romantic love. After that age, it's a bit peculiar.

nightmaregenie wrote:
Oh, and the whole brother worship thing irratates the hell outta me too. I have no problems with shows like Code Geass and Higurashi where the little sister characters have logical reasons to be strongly attached to their older brothers but there are way too many shows with convenient brother complexes that are never explained.


This one is more cultural. If you expressed this to a Japanese person, they would probably respond along the lines of, "Well, why WOULDN'T a younger sibling want to worship their older sibling?". It's just part of in-family politics of Japanese culture. The oldest sibling is looked up to, no matter what.

If you want a particularly frustrating example, read Dazai's novel "The Setting Sun". The eldest brother is treated like a king by his younger sister, despite the fact that he's an alcoholic opium-addict with no job and no goals.
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FlamingPinecone



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 131
PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:09 pm Reply with quote
nightmaregenie wrote:
One cliche anime line that I do NOT care to hear again. EVER:

"When I grow up I'm gonna be niisan's/papa's bride"

I have never heard anything like this from real little girls, however innocent they might be. I personally don't think it's cute or sweet, just annoying, not to mention plain weird.


seen paranoia agent? that cliche is deployed in one character however 'niisan' fells the same way and well, the whole thing is tragic but effectively comments on this.

fawhooosh!
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nightmaregenie



Joined: 13 Aug 2007
Posts: 167
Location: Palmy, NZ - student central
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:05 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I've taken a lot of psychology classes and read psych texts pretty often, and I can say this is actually really normal.
In theory, yeah. It's just that in real life we rarely hear that from kids, hence why I think it's weird. It's like how some books point out the fact that young kids will masturbate due to curiosity about their own bodies. It makes sense but in my experience at least it's not something that's demonstrated too often. I'd be surprised, too, to find that Japanese girls actually worship their siblings to the extreme extent shown in some manga/anime (if the Japanese students in my old high school were any indication, that is).

Anyway, these two things as cliches just rob me the wrong way. I suppose I just don't like how they're used in a lot of anime/manga.
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NovaProspekt



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 5
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:25 am Reply with quote
First off, thank you Gilaskan for pointing that out. I've heard quite a few people complaining about those two topics, and I was almost beginning to think I was the only one who "understands" the situation from the Japanese perspective.

I also gotta add that Last Exile, RahXephon and Evangelion (series, not really the movie) all had great endings. They were not traditional by any means (meaning, all the plot threads were nicely tied and explained); but they provided an interesting and thought-provoking conclusion to the series. Last Exile had the most... err, "complete" or "direct" ending provided you pay close attention to the story. RahXephon, was EVA done right (love the incorporation of music in the series). And the ending I choose to go by regarding EVA (the series) is a great, albeit slightly blurred, examination of how humans interact with each other. EVA is really a show about relationships, not so much the crazy philosophical/religious aspects. I consider those the "setting" and Shinji's struggle with living with people the "story". But yeah, the movie, a total "up yours" to those that didn't "get" the vision. Love the new movie by the way.

Now to the answer to the question of the week. Maybe I'm part of the herd, but I have to go with Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. I picked up the first season waaaay after it finished airing (in Japan). With all the rabid fandom surrounding the series when it first aired, I concluded it was just the new fanboy hotness. After watching most of the other series I had my eye on that season, I decided to watch a few episodes of Code Geass "just for kicks". The first episode blew my mind so completely I ended up watching the entire first season in one marathon that night (and morning... and afternoon). Considering it employs quite a few mecha series cliches I was so refreshed and pleased at the sheer level of depth and complexity, not only in the characters, but in the story itself. Each episode had me on the edge of my seat and kept me guessing. Everytime I thought I had the plot figured out, and resigned myself to just watching it unfold, it threw a curve, heading a completely new direction. I found my jaw literally dropping quite a few times throughout the first season. Even now I can't think of a series that was so non-conventional and entertaining as Code Geass.

After the last two cliffhanger episodes aired, I got worried. An unplanned "second season" was announced at the tail-end? Sounded to me like a push for more ratings. I entered the second season cautiously, praying hard that the most refreshing series of the previous year would not be destroyed by a push for more money. After finishing the second season, I can safely say it exceeded my expectations. They managed to pick up the story and carry it to an amazing ending with the same skill and sheer awesome that made me fall in love with the first season.

As a whole, the Code Geass series reminded me why I love anime. I got into anime because it was so different than America's run-of-the-mill legal drama or doctor drama that continues to be so prevalent on TV. Anime wasn't afraid to "go there" with their series. Recently it seemed that, despite the occasional diamond in the rough, anime was starting to become more predictable; eager to rely on what worked in the past. After watching Code Geass, my eyes were re-opened to the levels of greatness anime can achieve. Faith successfully restored.
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:02 am Reply with quote
Gilaskan wrote:
This one is more cultural. If you expressed this to a Japanese person, they would probably respond along the lines of, "Well, why WOULDN'T a younger sibling want to worship their older sibling?". It's just part of in-family politics of Japanese culture. The oldest sibling is looked up to, no matter what.

If you want a particularly frustrating example, read Dazai's novel "The Setting Sun". The eldest brother is treated like a king by his younger sister, despite the fact that he's an alcoholic opium-addict with no job and no goals.


Not so sure about that, really. There are also quite few animes including a "dame-ani" or something like that, where the younger sibling doesn't worship the older one no matter what. Dazai's novel is also a bit older already, so I wouldn't use it as an example for today's society and families (also Naoji is the younger brother, isn't he?). Some anime series definitely exagerate on the "oniisama"-stuff. In real life you won't hear anything that implies more respect than a "nii-chan" or "nii-san".

Quote:
I was so refreshed and pleased at the sheer level of depth and complexity, not only in the characters, but in the story itself.


I was looking for that so desperately all the time and just couldn't find it, unfortunately xD

I never lost faith in anime actually with series like Honey & Clover, Guardian of the Spirit, Denno Coil, Noein, 12 Kingdoms, Ergo Proxy, Kino's Journey ... about every year had some real gems for me.
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CaptainAvatar



Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 381
Location: Saint Louis, MO
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:53 am Reply with quote
MrAnimeSpecialist wrote:
doctordoom85 wrote:
snl67 wrote:
try Tenjho Tenge - I still get fumed thinking about that one! And despite licensing and even dubbing it, Geneon still has not released on DVD the OVA that was suppose to give some semblance of a conclusion. Mad


Ah, I KNEW it! My friend didn't believe me when I said there was an OVA, because he figure it would be released (I too was confused on that part). And it's already been dubbed? Come on, Geneon, you guys are "sorta" back in business, release it already!


Um, yeah, about that... The thing is that the episodes 25 & 26 on vol. 8 are the OVAs.


Um, no they are not. See this link:
anime#4817

Tenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight (OAV) was licensed and dubbed by Geneon, but only aired on G4Tech TV in Canada.
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HellKorn



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 1669
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:03 pm Reply with quote
NovaProspekt wrote:
But yeah, the movie, a total "up yours" to those that didn't "get" the vision.


Ugh. I wish people would stop propagating these baseless rumors. They were started by people who were frustrated who didn't understand EoE, and tried to pass it off because of the more visceral moments of the film.

They are, of course, ignoring the fact that Gainax had announced an OVA two weeks after the television ending, and also used the original script for episode 25 for The End of Evangelion. Oh, and that EoE is more or less a physical representation for the events that transpire in EoTV.

I'm not asking you to like the movie, but stop with that nonsense.
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