Forum - View topicShelf Life - Do You Believe in Magica
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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I simply do not agree. It was neither dull nor sanitized. I think it either meets or beats the quality of action of the best action anime I've seen and the current anime I watch.
animenewsnetwork.com/video/5092/ |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4365 Location: New York |
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The show's action is so rare though. The dialog that occupies the in-between is painful. People couldn't finish this show when it was on Adult Swim because they would fall asleep mid-episode.
I grant the unique setting and lead, but other than that it is mind-numbingly awful. |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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When a show premiers at 5:30 AM what do you expect? Which why I just waited for the DVDs to come out. One of the best anime to come out of Japan in recent years. |
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YotaruVegeta
Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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Well is it overly praised or overly boring people. You can't have it both ways. As for Adult Swim, is what anime does well there the greatest endorsement of an anime? BTW, they also brought it back to the lineup, so what statement does that make?
Could you say that it wasn't for you, not that "overratted!" and "horrendous" line of criticism. Really? Not one good word about it? You seem to have watched much of this show! 
To me, the overwhelming praise and the harsh condemnation of entertainment are the two types of scores I lop out of my consideration. I stick more with the people who have cooler heads when they review something, people who can break down why they enjoy/hate a show. |
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4365 Location: New York |
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They ran the show once, stopping midway after a rights gaffe. Personally I would have left the show to rot in limbo, but that's me.
The show did have good points, like I said, the animation and unique setting but the story is so mind numbingly boring and the characters so dull that it is unwatchable. Completely unwatchable. |
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YotaruVegeta
Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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But...you watched it...a lot.
I'll leave my point at that I feel a lot more people will enjoy their experience with it than hate it. I find things like Mushi-shi and Natsumo Yujincho to be good anime, but some people who prefer a different paced show or shows of certain genres would say what you have, that "nothing happened." |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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The above is almost exactly how I feel about Soul Eater (the most over hyped piece of re-cycled garbage I have ever seen.) I hated, HATED, Soul Eater. Rental Magica was almost as bad, but at least the characters weren't fugly, and the cat guy seemed to have a personality. I usually like Nozomi choices, but Rental Magica was so completely mainstream, I was a bit surprised that it was licensed by them. I rented it to try it out, but dozed off at least once during every disc. So "rental" is where it belongs. OTOH, I'll add my voice in with the chorus in favor of the beautiful animation of Moribito. I have the four two-pack sets. (So there is a BOX that I was supposed to get with the last one? WTF? Was it a separate purchase that I missed?) I also love Gintama. Like Erin, I get at least a laugh (or two or three) per episode. The humor in this one is much more original than most shounen fare. I can't help but wonder how far into the series S23 plans on releasing. As long as they do, I'll buy. |
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Tortoiseshell Tabby Girl
 Posts: 153 |
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Moribito is one of my most favorite anime TV shows, too. I read the first novel about 2 years ago before the series premiered on Adult Swim and I loved the novel so much, I could not wait for the anime to premiere. I remember that at first my mind was working too hard at comparing and contrasting the novel with the anime, but once I relaxed and went with the flow of the anime's rules, I found myself enjoying myself immensely. The series doesn't drag for me at all--for me it's a wonderful and refreshing combination of action, mystery, and slice-of-life. I adore the slice-of-life in this show--it's extremely compelling to see how much detail went into creating the cultures of Moribito's world. I tend to associate the people of the capital with Japan/China/Korea; the Yakoo with the Ainu; and Balsa and her homeland with Tibet/Nepal/Mongolia.
I think that people who like a lot of fast-paced development and frenetic action should steer clear. This is more for people who can enjoy a more down-to-earth fantasy with a lot of slice-of-life elements, and subtle clues and changes. And people who are fascinated by traditional asian cultures. I mean, I was totally mesmerized by finding out how the water wheel in the mill worked. I think people who are fascinated by the past and by the way human beings interacted with nature will love it too. It sometimes reminds me of Princess Mononoke, although it also reminds me of Haibane Renmei, Wolf's Rain, Ghost in the Shell, Totoro, and .hack//SIGN, for various reasons. In the case of SIGN, which might be the least obvious, I found the character interactions and dialogues to be presented in similar ways. And I love SIGN, too. As a writer who is interested in trying to share my respect and feelings for nature in the form of fantastical stories, Moribito, as well as Princess Mononoke, are very important reference points for me, as well as being stories that speak to my heart. However, while I find Princess Mononoke to be an excellent balance between nature and the human point of view (which Ashitaka's character represents--"To see with eyes unclouded," and walk between two realms of being), I feel that Moribito is the more successful of the two in terms of maybe finding a way to awaken people--to gently show how all things are connected, how what we do to nature can affect our well-being, and how by helping nature we will help ourselves--without alienating people who somehow feel that it is an either/or situation with two sides, rather than a whole web with multiple holes and tears that need to be repaired. Although, when I think about it, I suppose it still won't appeal to people who love things that are fast or action-filled. It's rather like the difference between someone who likes to race around cutting through traffic in a city and someone who likes to enjoy a slow pensive hike through an old-growth forest (to use two extremes as examples). Plus, Balsa and Chagum and Tanda and Torogai and Shuga and Touya and all the other characters rule! I defninitely have a deep affection for most of them. Yes, Balsa and Tanda are a refreshing couple. And Chagum is an immensely likeable child character. I adore how much he understands about animals and the natural world, which is shown in a flashback about a bird. He actually reminded me of myself when he stopped the farmers' kids from playing a game that interfered with the feeding habits of the frogs in the rice paddies because one time in high school I ran in front of a blackbird to shield it and protect it from a girl who was throwing rocks at it simply because she was bored. It's incredibly sweet when he chooses to protect the egg inside of him the way Jiguro decided to protect Balsa, and Balsa him. Oh, and I also loved the episode where Shuga was trying to find signs of drought and he had all his scientific tools and Tanda came along brimming with curiosity about the tools and telling Shuga about mantis eggs. Anybody who loves learning about nature and ecology will definitely have an affinity for that episode. I for one am immensely pleased that Adult Swim didn't abandon Moribito after the break, as I was only recently able to purchase the 6 volumes that I did not yet have. I was able to record Moribito on Adult Swim and watch the episodes for a second time with closed captioning on so I could understand the dub better. And now I look forward, with great anticipation, to watching it subbed and seeing the beautiful artwork on the art box and inside each separate DVD case (the various examples of background art under the DVDs are beautiful). The production art inside the covers really makes me long for a Moribito artbook. I can't believe Balsa was wearing earrings in some of her earlier character designs. I prefer her simple, unaccessorized anime look (where even her bracelet is really just a tool). |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Sure you can have it both ways, all you need is multiple people watching it. If one person doesn't like the palace intrigue dimension and a second person does, there is the 2nd person discussing the quality of the palace intrigue and the 1st yawning, "boring." If someone wanted a shonen style anime composed of a fight-kabob (in the image of Even a Monkey can Draw Manga), all the social commentary on the peasants and lords is just filler that needs to be swapped with the meat of a fight. If someone has no interest in the fantasy elements except as an excuse for a fight, and doesn't care about character development unless it involves powering up ... ... Moribito would be a boring piece indeed. A few well-animated fights separated by long periods of all the rest of the stuff that the people who love it love to watch. |
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Dargonxtc
Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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Yes, sort of. That's the route I took, buying the two packs as they came out. Originally, the first two pack (V.1-2) set also came with a box. This box was made of true cardboard (non-corrugated) and rather cheap. So of course a bunch of people complained (myself included), and at the end of a rather long release schedule Media Blasters decided to offer a better box upgrade made of 'plackboard'. This is now offered as a package for V.7-8. But by that time I had already gotten those DVDs, but MB did great, and also offered it as an individual purchase to persons such as myself (which I also bought).
And this is the main reason I implore that people buy those two-disc sets. Although my posts are mentioned in Shelf Life in helping a fan fit discs from a stack pack into a more expensive artbox, I urge fans to go ahead and make the more expensive purchase of getting either the singles or the 2-pack sets. To put it simply and align myself with the quote above, they are fucking gorgeous. And if you are a collector like myself, you should seriously consider it. That is not to say if you don't care about packaging, you shouldn't get the cheap stack-pack. Go ahead, anyone who buys anime gets an A+ as far as I am concerned. But if you want looks, no one will be disappointed with those jewel cases. |
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mulrich
Posts: 139 Location: Denmark |
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I see the Haruhi manga series in that Shelf-Obsessed photo. What a waste of money. It is so incredibly ugly. Just stick with the novels/anime.
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4365 Location: New York |
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I don't appreciate your tone. At all. The idea that people who think Moribito is a slow-moving pretentious piece of junk are idiots or too slow in the mind to get it is offensive. This show is dull, it's boring, and its pretentious. Being called an idiot in so many words because I hate this show is infuriating. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad the show bombed on TV since it shouldn't have aired in the first place. Pretentious does not equal good. This show is boring because it fails to see that. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23750 |
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Your strident, "zomg, I'm right and everybody else is wrong" tone is far more off-putting. You somehow feel "insulted" at the idea that you were indirectly called an idiot for finding Moribito boring - how is that any different from you "insulting" those who liked it by claiming the show is pretentious? I'm a big fan of Moribito but I acknowledge I wasn't gripped every single second of every episode. It's just that, for me, there was so much that was good about the show that I overlooked the sometimes slow pace. Simmer down. A lot people liked a show you didn't. It happens. |
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YotaruVegeta
Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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agila61, I was referring to the public's reaction to Moribito and whatever effect it had on the US ratings. So Beatdigga was saying that it was boring, so that would have lead to it being canceled. He also said it was overrated, which to me means that people loved it way more than it deserved to be.
I don't make assumptions about Beatdigga's intelligence because he's so dead set against this show. I know a lot of intelligent people who like what I like who also happen to be glued to trashy reality shows. Just because you don't appreciate a certain thing. Again, I don't get the word overrated at all, because I think there is something for every fan that they like way more than you think they should. They are not you, they are individuals. How can you tell someone that their overwhelming love for something is not real? I think people get carried away with the words and phrases they use ("best ever," or "perfect") and that's why we're here, because Beatdigga and Moribito are like oil and water, but for others, it's "perfect. " Also, just to give a feel of who actually likes Moribito (at least according to the votes on ANN), most of the votes are in the "excellent" or "masterpiece" Only about two handfuls think that it's terribly bad. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Might I suggest that those of you who enjoyed Moribito take a look at Kemono no Sou-ja Erin which is streamed by Crunchyroll? It's based on another novel series by Uehashi Nahoko, though this one is putatively targeted at a slightly younger audience than Moribito. (Watching episode seven does make you wonder whether Japanese kids have nerves of steel. A show like this would never be shown in America; it would be seen as too emotionally wrenching.)
One pleasure of watching Moribito is its emphasis on creation myths and their role in establishing the legitimacy of the regime that followed. That theme recurs in Erin as well. (Uehashi is also an anthropologist so it's not surprising that she emphasizes these issues in her work.) Erin, herself, is an excellent character -- intelligent, curious, and caring. Yet in the later parts of the story we see her flaws come to the fore. In that sense it reminds me of the fight between Balsa and Chagum near the end of Moribito, where Balsa behaved very badly, in my opinion. If you start watching episode one of Erin expecting to see remarkable artwork like the paddies at the beginning of Moribito, you'll be disappointed. Erin is drawn in a rather child-like style and includes a pair of buffo characters whose antics can be annoying at times. Still if you enjoyed Moribito and have never seen Erin, I strongly suggest giving it a try. And, of course, this invitation applies doubly to Ms. Erin Finnegan! As for the setting of Moribito, apparently it generated some controversy among right-wing denizens on Japanese forums like 2ch who thought Kanbal was supposed to be Korea and Balsa thus Korean herself. My biggest disappointment with Moribito was that it lost its political focus in the last third. There is a lot of palace intrigue and political conflict in Moribito, much more so than in most anime. Then it suddenly vanishes. I was left wondering, to coin a phrase, "What did the Holy Sage know, and when did he know it?" |
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