Forum - View topicShelf Life - Love to Love Ru
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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I wasn't talking about you, I understood what you meant.
I AM SO OLD. It doesn't feel like that long ago... |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4478 |
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I'm right there with you on that. It's getting to the point where many of my favorites are about to cross the line into what younger viewers will deem "too old" to watch. I'll probably break down if I ever hear somebody say that R.O.D the TV is too old for them to watch. |
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CaptainAvatar
 Posts: 381 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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Don't feel bad. I remember watching the Conan O'Brien running skit "In the year 2000" when they did it before the year 2000! By the standard of many youngsters seen in the ANN forums, I am older than dirt! |
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Swissman
Posts: 769 Location: Switzerland |
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Erin Finnegan wrote:
And Orange Road had episode 43 ("Hikaru, with a broken heart, at the Sea") which was dead serious, had exceptional good animation compared to the other episodes and just was superb overall. Does ToLove Ru has such a gem in the latter half of the series? ^^ |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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This is the issue. You see a High School romantic comedy. I see campy use-whatever-comes-to-mind I'll see this Lum you're apparently so impressed with (I have one of the movies in my collection, but it didn't really do anything for me. I saw an ep at Comic-con) & raise you I Dream of Jeannie (I'm sure it's not only been syndicated in every country, but all the aliens that actually exist in the universe have probably picked up the signals) & Bewitched, not to mention the screwball comedies I ref'd from the 30's & 40's with the headstrong/ditzy/overbearing female intruding in the life of the mild mannered male protagonist. Bringing Up Baby(1938) in particular offers the established palentologist engaged to be married to his equally established palentologist when hurricane Katherine Hepburn shows up to topple his plans. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend checking it out as it's one of the better screwball comedy titles. I'm sure it has been seen in Japan at some time during the last 70 yrs. There's really nothing new under the sun. Bewitched. Gilligan's Island. Batman. THe Flintstones. Wild Wild West. My Favorite Martian. These shows from the 60's have been seen around the world & they all have fantasical plot devices that greatly force the suspension of disbelief by the viewer. I see To Love-Ru as more this than a High School romantic comedy. I do see Onegai teacher as a romantic comedy because it wasn't loaded with sci-fi refs. I probably see Mahoromatic as more romantic comedy because it doesn't ref a bunch of other titles.
I'm reading the manga which does expand that universe even more. I love the notes in the back which, to the best of the editor's abilities, explain all the little refs the author makes to everything & anything, not just anime, but tv, the news, American media...it is awesome. If you're not following the manga, you probably don't know that Kabapu spoiler[has been chasing Il Palazzo for centuries. They're both survivors of an ancient civilization which Kabapu seems to blame Il Palazzo for destroying, but I suspect Kabapu had something to do with it, considering his blatent disregard for the safety of the public blowing up buildings in the attempt to get Il Palazzo.]
Earth Girls was fun, but TLR is probably closer to Dude for the "whatever-the-writer-can-thing-of" plot. But then, my daughter gave me Dead Heat (87) for my birthday which I also see as acceptable to the sci-fi audience I'm thinking of. I think growing up in the '60's probably messed with all our heads. I know I'm way more willing to accept strange plot elements than my daughter who had the 90's as her childhood. I am all too willing to accept a story for whatever it presents itself as, yet I do hate when it then violates the reality it establishes for its universe. If purple monkeys talk in the beginning of the story, they better talk throughout or it better be explained. |
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Ojamajo LimePie
 Posts: 769 |
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Scary, isn't it? My two favorite anime, which I remember being brand new, are now more than 10 years old. |
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sirkoala13
 Posts: 134 Location: Muscle Tower, U.S. |
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Why's To Love Ru under Shelf Worthy if you hate it so much?
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RedLeader
 Posts: 310 |
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You think THAT'S old?! I used to watch David Letterman! ... On NBC!!! Johnny Carson too. :p I'm probably as ancient as they come around here! 
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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One upper time.... I remember watching Letterman's short lived Daytime show. As far as To Love Ru, you can do a WHOLE LOT worse in your choice of harem comedies. What I liked about this one against something like Urusei Yatsura, is that the characters in To Love Ru are actually sympathetic and enjoyable. UY featured some of the most unlikeable tools of characters all the way around. It still worked brilliantly though. To Love Ru features a cast of likeable chars, and works in a different way. The same set up, but very different. |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
Posts: 598 |
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It's not. It's Rental Shelf. The production quality is too high for it to be Perishable. Also it's not morally despicable enough to earn my hatred.
I think the Edo-era episode is probably the To Love Ru equivalent of that, although I no longer remember the Sea episode of KOR.
Lum is heavily influenced by Bewitched, which, according to a comic by Evan Dorkin, was hugely popular in Japan. Also the Lum opening can be synced up to the Bewitch theme, or so I am told. The best Lum movie is Beautiful Dreamer. For a while, the guy at Awesome Engine was blogging Lum A Day. There's some voice actor info of note in that first post.
Agreed. An old Japanese man once told me that Japan doesn't value uniqueness as much as American culture. Inventing something new is costly and time consuming. Improving upon an existing invention is way more cost effective. Every story has been told - that's some Joseph Campbell nonsense. Narrative art is telling old stories again and making you love it all over again as if it was the first time. The best anime isn't necessarily the most original anime; the best anime often on an existing concept and makes it feel new again. Lum is an improvement on Bewitched. However, I don't think To Love Ru is an improvement so much as another iteration. I'm willing to admit the show has merits. I just didn't like it.
Those notes are by Carl Gustav Horn, King of American Editors. I'm considering buying the Excel Saga manga just because he wrote those notes. I once made Carl Horn buttons, so great is my admiration for CGH. |
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The Human Spider
Posts: 334 |
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COBRA looks really interisting--anime needs more hyper-manliness these days. I'm looking forward to your review of the GOLGO 13 DVDs when they come out. I know the feeling of being "nostalgiac for someone else's childhood"; I love old things that I never experienced firsthand(e.g. Victorian ghost stories, 70s/80s punk, classic OVAs...) Awesome Keroro wall art on this week's shelves. I don't recall many previous shelves with a lot of Keroro merchandise. I've never seen, or don't remember seeing, Nikuniku before.
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Anime World Order
 Posts: 389 Location: Florida |
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And here we find the real failure of To-Love Ru ("Trouble"), which happened to be the same failure of Trouble Chocolate and all the rest. They're not doing anything fresh with the idea, AND they're not even doing the idea all that well in the first place. These shows keep using the same types of gags, characters, situations, etc as have been used for decades. A few weeks ago I wrote a fairly substantial piece on Urusei Yatsura, which touched upon exactly how and why that series succeeds in aspects that its many, many successors haven't even attempted to compete in. The key areas were in the situations and the characters, which account for pretty much all of the humor you'd get in a sitcom. Of all the blatant Urusei Yatsura clones--and I'm not saying it's great or even good--Rizelmine probably came the closest to matching the outlandishness factor. (Yes, I forgot about Rizelmine too until I just typed that sentence.) Well, that and Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan, but they held up pictures of UY in that to say "hey, isn't this similar?" But both of those really ratcheted up the lolicon fanservice aspect though in their quest to be as "raw" as possible, so they're not particularly suitable for general audiences. Last edited by Anime World Order on Wed May 05, 2010 1:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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I would voluntarily watch TLR. It looks trashy, and it's the run of the mill harem show, but since I am a harem show lover this looks like something I might enjoy. Already added it to my Netflix queue. Nick, love all the Sgt. Frog stuff. I need to get more Sgt. Frog stuff myself since it's become a favorite of mine. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Excel Saga is worth it. I'd read it no matter, but the Oubleitte (?sp?) is often as much fun. Excel & Gintama are 2 titles I set aside when they arrive because I know they will take longer to get thru & I don't even try to read them on work break. (Gintama because it is so dialogue dense. Excel because of all the flipping between the notes & the story.)
I'd put TLR more Jeannie than Bewitched. I don't really like Takahashi prior to Ranma 1/2. I haven't tried the manga for Urusei, but I really struggled with the little bit of Maison I tried (3 or 5 volumes). Mermaid was a bit dry for me, though better than Maison. Takahashi is a talented author who knows her craft & can be counted on to deliver a good story, but she's safely floating down the middle. This or that other author is edgier or better, but is also up & down while she is consistantly up to her standard if that makes sense. She's like Old Faithful. Bewitched was a bit more classy to me-a better bunch of actors in recurring roles which made for a wider range of jokes. Jeannie was silly fun, but had a tendancy to one-note humor. The really good jokes were excellent, but a lot of misses, but overall it worked like TLR. Lala is really similar to Hepburn's character in Bringing Up Baby-set her sights on her man & not listening to his protests otherwise. There's a bit of Shampoo to her, but she's not as annoying (to me) as Shampoo was. (I always felt sorry for Mousse) The Sci Fi audience is a quirky lot. Witness that Star Wars Day. TLR is that sorty of quirky knowledge. It's like Mel Brooks' stuff is going to ping off his circle of jokes & not just ref the subject at hand, but having a knowledge of his movies makes one more aware of his humor. Sgt Frog is fun & in the same light. Trouble Chocolate? I didn't think anyone else watched that one. It was light, brainless fun that never aspired to a whole lot. It had more promise than it delivered on (interesting cast could have been used better like Kiddy Grade had that large batch of agents that never really saw much action. Entertaining enough, but could have been better). It's disappointing when a title wastes a great premise. Magic User's did a bit better than Trouble Chocolate. At least TLR knows what it is & never seemed (to me) to try to be more. However, it is only knee-high to the crazy goings on & sheer amount of outside refs in Excel. |
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CareyGrant
Posts: 453 |
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Agreed. It's completely formulaic and forgettable otaku-bait; nothing we haven't seen countless times before and not even something I'd watch if nothing else was on. But... WHAT A BUDGET! For something little more than a cheesecake, T & A harem-esque comedy, it looks like a ridiculous amount of money was spent to produce/animate it. |
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