Forum - View topicAnime in America: Carl and Theron's Best of 2008
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18195 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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That's because its initial release was entirely during 2007 (Its final volume came out in that December.) Only its boxed set reprint came out in 2008.
That's one reason why I like doing this: to make people aware of quality titles they might have overlooked.
Sigh. People really don't pay attention. . . I gave this link earlier, but here it is again: Romeo X Juliet episodes on Funimation site. |
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Charred Knight
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The fact that most people think its even worse than Code Geass R2. I am expecting something worse than a Friedberg and Seltzer movie. Ok I am joking about the last part but I don't have high hopes for Death Eater. I also don't care about a group of people who one minute gets a series a ten, and the next minute refuses to buy it. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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And so again, where do you draw this "most people" information from? Unless you're pooling Japanese people, these naysayers are getting their material from the same place as the same people you cynically assume don't buy their favorite series, but at least I'm not completely making stuff up.
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Both the ratings, and from my experience forums have Soul Eater as being worse than R2, so my hopes of it being any good is pretty small. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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nightjuan
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Hey, there's surprisingly limited jiggling in the show, at least compared to, say, Yoko or any anyone else subjected to the "Gainax bounce" over in Gurren Lagann.
Having said that, it's obvious that the main female (and male, I guess) character designs in Code Geass were made with fanservice appeal in mind. The same could also be said of other recent mecha shows but I wouldn't really blame anyone for disliking that aspect of the series. The early episodes of R2 make that particularly clear. Even so, I happen to think Kallen as a character gets bashed a little too much and, especially in regard to certain events during the later episodes of Code Geass R2, for ostensibly "wrong" reasons. Not everyone has to like her, of course not, but some of the most common bashing I've read online is just...facepalm-inducing. For instance, the whole (potential spoilers for late R2) spoiler["Kallen betrayed Lelouch"] rant is essentially flawed. Last edited by nightjuan on Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Brians9824
Posts: 281 |
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Glad to see you mentioned Witchblade Key. I'd definitely say that episode 22 of it was one of the saddest scenes i've ever seen in a LONG time.
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4429 |
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I definitely agree with the awards that Witchblade received. The Masane and Rihoko duo and th performance of Carrie Savage were fantastic. That show ended up being far more that what it appears.
Between Flag and Gurren Lagann, I'd side with Flag. It was surprisingly enjoyable and unique to me. On the other hand, while Gurren Lagann was entertaining I was expecting more from the way people talked about it. |
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BrothersElric
 Posts: 1996 |
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Personally I think Darker than Black's "Howling" got snubbed for any consideration at all for the best OP of the year. It was up against some pretty great ones have you, yeah, but I think it still should've been up in there. That's just gotta be simply one of the most downright cool OP sequences and songs I've ever seen. But from what I gather on what's been said in this thread, maybe it has a shot at next year? It'll be hard to say though, since it'll be going up against Baccano's "Guns & Roses."
Other than that though, some really great choices there, I pretty much agree with them for the most part. Especially on Theron's choice for the death scene. No doubt in my mind. No doubt at all. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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Just a shot in the dark, my theory is that they looked at news about Catholic homosexual priests and figured "hey, why not nuns too?" In light of that church's behaviour towards instances of rampant child abuse to suggest that a blind eye is turned to that sort of thing doesn't seem like that much a departure from reality. At least until somebody lights a fire under their asses about it. Anyway, I think when you question this apparently strange representation of western religion you need to widen your inspection beyond the correctness of the representation. You said yourself the point of the show is to let schoolgirls lez out; I would suspect that the religious setting is a purposeful choice for that end. There's something about violation, risk, and feeling depraved that is a mega turn on for a lot of ladies; what better way to evoke that feeling than putting teenage horndogs into a sexually repressive environment? There's an entire genre of film dubbed "nunspoitation" that I guess is expressly movies about nuns who burst under their religious pressures and go on sexual rampages and killing sprees. I think there is even a subgenre of hentai that goes that path as well. Maybe those aren't exactly female fantasies but the principle is still there. Would you think Japanese people justifiably mortified if some American TV show got Zen wrong? I think that even if the creator had a workable understanding of Christianity it's possible that was forgone in favour of creating a more interesting story. I think we could both agree a show like Strawberry Panic should at least have some elbow room in that regard. I would go a step further though. I'm not exactly a scholar of Abrahamic religion either but I don't see why it needs to be such a source of grief for anime fans to deal with what is ultimately artistic license. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Are you Catholic, Darpa Chief? Or, scratch that, do you have a belief that you hold sacred above all else? Imagine if someone took that belief and presented it as pretty much the exact opposite. That is why it annoys us.
Also, the idea that the surfacing of the abuse scandals surfacing being an instigating factor doesn't come close to making the kind of sense you think it does. The violation of trust from the cover-up is the important aspect of the scandals, the sexual taboo, while still important, is secondary. Thus, the complete change in doctrine, rather than a broader scope of disobeyal, is not an extension of that scenario. Also, are you sure it's Carl who doesn't get what's going on with the Japanese take on Western religion? You talk about a sexually repressive environment, but I never got the impression of such from the type of series we're talking about. I'm further insulted that you think it's okay to subvert religion in the name of a more interesting when such subversion adds absolutely nothing to the story except the excuse to add as many pretty stained glass windows as possible. In what other way do these shows distinguish the difference in setting the story at a Catholic all-girls school from a secular one? Finally, I am just as disgusted by Western debasement of nuns as sexual objects as Japan's; however, in the West, you generally need to look for this among goods that tend to be directed at adult fetishes, rather than material that is less explicit and has other redeeming qualities. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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@Dorcas_Aurelia:
I don't know if my personal beliefs necessarily tie into this but to satisfy your curiosity I'm an ex-Catholic atheist. What I did not claim to know was why Catholics or anyone else had a problem with the representation of he religion in anime; Carl made that more or less clear. I do challenge that view however. In light of the show's content it seemed strange to me. If you'll read carefully what I wrote previously you will notice I simply said "homosexual priests". I do not maintain the view that homosexuality equates pedophilia; if you consider that to be true then you are bigoted and ignorant of science. Rather I mentioned homosexual priests to reference men in the priesthoods of various Christian sects who have made controversy for the public discovery of their sexual orientation. "If priests can be gay then why not nuns" isn't a great leap of logic from there, unless of course you're an ignorant bigot. In regards to my suggestion that the religious overtones lend to the erotica it was just an idea. I don't have the extended knowledge to verify this idea to the point where you couldn't disagree with me but that was not my intention. Nevertheless the 13 or so episodes of the show I saw a while back were most memorable to me for the aloofness of everyone - aloofness being common to most cultures I don't know to say whether the whole Catholic thing is just a stab at exotic location or something more. Disagree with that all you want, you haven't really made a case as to why anyone should agree with you. Then you have the nerve to tell me I hurt your feelings because I have an opinion and you disagree - again. I guess you're taking no prisoners. Just in case you're wondering, it's not immoral to make fiction. Also, I think it's become apparent that Japanese media is made for Japanese people - a point I really should have focused on - and our criticisms of it should not forget that. If people want Japanese shows that pander to westerners there are some that do that, but Strawberry Panic doesn't seem to be one of them. |
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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Thank God someone else said it. Where the heck is volume 6 of Welcome to the NHK, Funimation?! I've checked TRSI every day since the "supposed" release date for the individual volumes of these series and every day it says "on order from manufacturer." I know I remember that Funimation was only going to sell those volumes through TRSI, since they would undoubtedly be limited print runs, and I was fine with that, but when the only available retailer doesn't have the copies when the publisher said they would have them available is a terribly poor move. I'd hate to have to see this issue brought up among the fandom again (but I will start one if this isn't resolved or at the very least explained, and soon)... |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4576 |
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I have no problem with other cultures using my faith in their entertainment media, even in the sense of parody, but I do have a problem when they don't even bother to get its most basic facts and tenets correct; I'd assume that most practitioners of Shintoism would feel the same way were a Western show to completely muck them up and then get aired in Japan. It's one thing to have Trinity Blood's crazy-future-church with ridiculous hats and female cardinals and cyborg priests...it's quite another to portray modern-day Catholic boarding schools with nuns who endorse rampant lesbianism and hear confessions. The show's creators could have at least put forth a modicum of effort and research. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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@Top Gun:
Why is that important? They're dumb TV shows. Are you just saying that it's okay for TV shows to have their facts wrong only to a certain degree? Granted anyone who knows enough might object to mistakes that are obvious to them. There are specific genres of Television programming where this is especially crucial. But what about the Looney Toons? That show doesn't even CARE about physics, yet despite our realizing that it's completely wrong we don't care because it's entertaining anyway. And in it's day, Looney Toons was more or less modern day. I should think misrepresentations of the laws of science should be far more damaging to viewers who are not aware of them than the specifics of a religion. If there's a show wherein the entertainment value depends on it's factual accuracy then I will agree that when it get's those facts horrendously wrong there is some explaining to be done. Putting that lens over a show that clearly does not care about them though, what are you trying to accomplish? The creators may even be aware of some of these mistakes, we don't know the intentions on their part; even if it was a mistake it still doesn't really matter because the entertainment value doesn't hinge on that success. Way to be anal. |
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