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Fronzel wrote:

I hated the first season of Nanoha. It may be about magically-powered 11 year-olds, but it reminded most of a humorless muscle-bound shonen series in its first major conflict.

spoiler[Fate won't give Nanoha the time of day until Nanoha shoots her in the face with a magical laser, whereupon she becomes gay for her instantly. DEFEATING YOU WILL BE AN ACT OF FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!]

Princess Tutu is the best magical girl show ever partly because it is neither a little girl's toy commerical nor otaku whack material. The mid-season climax impressed me to no end...a bitter, hard-fought battle with zero violence! The whole connection to ballet was pretty inventive, too.

Ojamajo Doremi is for little girls, and does try to sell toys, but not very hard. It's awesome because of the emotional authenticity...from a child's perspective. The episodes only make sense if keep in mind that the characters are young children with the corresponding needs and concerns (the dependance on parental love in a common theme). If you can see it like that it's great. The Naisho OVA is one of the few animes I've watched recently that actually wow'd me.

Watch out for Nanoha, she'll befriend the $^%! out of you....

Ai no Kareshi wrote:

I quite regret that someone has nominated Final Fantasy: Unlimited for the worst anime ever, but I can't say I'm surprised. I imagine a great many people check out FF:U expecting to see Cloud and Sephiroth, only to be disillusioned when they discover that the main characters are actually two helpless kids.
Personally, I found FF:U much more intellectually entertaining than, for instance, the no-plot-and-all-action Advent Children (though I did enjoy the latter regardlessly).

I want you to know, Ai no Kereshi, that I appreciate your opposing point of view. I figured someone out there would disagree with me. And I did say that I did not follow through with the rest of the story. However, the context was the "worst anime I'VE ever seen," and FF:U gets the mention. Maybe I haven't seen very much anime, but I do hope I never come across anything as disappointing as that was, which I'm sure is any anime fan's wish.

I think there just might be no single better question for determining an anime fan's level of kung fu than "what's the worst anime you've ever seen and why?" If the worst thing you've ever seen is something like Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam Wing/SEED, Neon Genesis Evangelion, or anything else that aired on Cartoon Network (even if it's as bad as Trinity Blood!)...then you just plain don't know what suffering truly is.

This is debatable, but I honestly believe that there is a difference between something that is truly bad and something that you personally dislike; that the truly terrible things are intrinsically so. But in this day and age where nearly everything gets fansubbed (thus implying SOMEONE cared), there's always someone who'll defend any given newer series. Even if it's Cosmopolitan Prayers. Okay fine, that's not exactly new.

Still, as fans of MST3K can attest, watching bad anime and making fun of it is often incredibly entertaining in its own right. In fact, the truly bad stuff like Angel Cop, Violence Jack, and Mad Bull 34--which I refer to as "the Manga Video Holy Trinity of Suck"--is so damn entertaining (for the wrong reasons) that in my book, they're actually good. Once you reach a certain level of amorality, anime that entertains for whatever reason is, in fact, good anime. Even something as sleep-inducing as Roots Search or Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight can be entertaining in the proper mindset. I stole a page from Neil Nadelman's playbook and run bad anime showings at anime conventions. More people ask me about Mad Bull 34 and Apocalypse Zero than anything else. They want to see it. They want their own copies. It's THAT insane.

The way I see it, the REAL "worst anime ever" are the stuff that are bad, but not so bad that you can laugh at or be otherwise entertained by how bad it is. The stuff that's so bland and forgettable that watching through it is a chore, and afterwards you don't even really remember much of it since it failed to make any impression whatsoever. THAT'S the worst anime ever. In that sense, the worst anime ever can't be something super-popular like Naruto (even if you hate it) or something so supremely terrible it's hilarious like Baoh. God, I love Baoh. There's a Buried Treasure if ever there was one. No, the real worst anime ever is probably closer to something along the lines of Early Reins, Gundress, or The Humanoid.

Oh well. Although nobody will ever agree on what the worst anime ever is, perhaps we can at the very least agree that MD Geist is the second worst.

Busaiku Chama wrote:

I noticed that a few of the Magical Girl series out/coming out soon are spinoffs of popular series.
There's that Sasami one (Tenchi Muyo), then there's gonna be an Illya one (Fate/Stay Night), and there's also a Kokoro one (School Days).
Nanoha is also a spinoff of some other series (though it wasn't all that popular).
Wonder if this'll become some trend (or has it been established already?).

huh, Illya magical girl show? For magical girl shows, there is also the current running Shugo Chara magical girl show

The Ramblin' Wreck wrote:

Watch out for Nanoha, she'll befriend the $^%! out of you....

Nanoha is really only a magical girl show for the first few episodes. After that, its a super robot show and shonen fight fest (minus all the attack explanations) disguised as a magical girl show.

darcerin wrote:

Wow, I have something worthy to contribute for once!

Zac, if Nanoha ever does come out here (I'm still crossing my fingers for Geneon to pull through), you should watch it. I *loved* it, and couldn't wait till the second season came out. I'd love to eventually catch up with the third season. Talking ferret, FTW! Smile

I love Nanoha and all but... there is no reason Zac would like it or really needs to watch it. I am quite sure he wouldn't like it. Did you not read his response to what anime he likes?

Quote:

Nanoha was a "spinoff/sequel" (if it can be called that) of the 4 episode OAV "Triangle Heart", however, you don't need to have seen TH to see Nanoha. TH is mainly about Nanoha's older brother and sister and their...interesting line of work. Smile

Correct me if I'm wrong, Triangle Heart was based off a game?

And hits is why you should read the thread before posting. I already explained Nanoha's origins and the how it relates to Triangle Hearts (more or less) several posts above yours.

My only complaint with Evangelion is the only complaint I have with a lot of anime, that being that there's no ending. Yes, I realize not everything has to be set in stone, but getting involved in this great big conflict to decide the "fate of the world" only to have the end be a big acid trip inside the main character's head? That's just plain disappointing.

.hack is fantasy. It doesn't defy the genre any more than Fushigi Yugi (harem title where girls get drawn into a fantasy world inside of a book while friends/family on the outside read along & try to help). Never Ending Story 2 didn't dad do the same? So .hack's a game--games weren't that big in the '90's--not like they've grown into this century. Fantasy simply means not reality so really everything has fantasy elements short of documentaries (Has there ever been a "true life drama" without a few embellishments? However, in the usual usage fantasy is usually applied to magical stuff. Or all the various sexual fantasies.

Technically Tsubasa is Magical Girl reversed-Li being the hero instead of Sakura this time around (Magical harem? Sakura & her 3 dwarfs? 5 if we count bro & Yukito left behind)

Jees, everyone takes their anime so seriously. It's not all supposed to be deep or meaningful. People can actually get worked up enough about Mouse to call it the worst ever made? It's Akahori! Never seen Saber Marionette? Sorcerer Hunters? Magical Shopping Arcade Abenoboshi? Master of Mosquiton? And you expect what out of Satoru Akahori? Dweebish hero falling face-first into a pair of DD-or-larger breasts? Check. The only one I don't see is his connection to Sakura Wars. I've seen a couple of the titles & don't see his mark on it like the above & KO Beasts. He did say in Newtype he got in trouble over Mouse & he was alegedly (yrs ago) working on another Saber Marionette. I've heard he's horrible about finishing stuff, though.

And Virus Buster Serge. Eva? Maybe. I've tried to watch that one & never could get past the art style (DePalma does split screen well. Eva wasn't impressive.) It just seems a bunch of stolen camera tricks. I do intend to force myself to watch it (maybe listen to it? Then I don't have to be annoyued by the style) I love Ohbari's character designs. Do I expect a plot? If you've seen enough of his stuff (Tekkaman BLade intro-Akahori did some scripts, Fatal Fury, Dangizer, Gravion), you know they're all like the same story so it doens't really matter. He's looking to make cool-looking characters & cool-looking action. There are enough mech title that aspire to greatness, Ohbari's are eye-candy. I love his character designs. Raven in Virus was written specifically for the late Hirotaka Suzuoki-Dragon Shiryu/Saint Seiya, Tenshinhan/DBZ.

THe characters I cared about in FF:U didn't fly off, so I didn't really see it as a non-ending. I probably wouldn't have bothered if it had gone to a 2nd series.

I have to agree with Anime World Order-the only really bad stuff IS the stuff you can't make fun of. Apocalypse Zero is AWESOME. My god, it is sooo over-the-top. I was following the manga until MediaBlasters dropped their shonen line (sob). Their shonen line was all that huge doses of testosterone flowing thru our heroes. A baddie with a Mr Microphone flugelhorn? That horrid Amazon thing wearing a boy's face as half a bra(poor Shinichiro Miki)--so bad, one has to laugh while the hero spouts out all his noble stuff. And of course it's brother vs brother (ok, castrated).
Early Reins was pretty bad. I couldn't find anything (Maybe it's made for train freaks. The train looked pretty good as I recall)

I think if people actually played the freaking Pokemon games on the GBA and DS then they would appreciate seasons other than the first one. Mad

Moyashimon! I love that show! It's so educational and interesting. I never thought I'd be excited to learn about microbes.

My complaint with Eva has nothing to do with the show itself. I'm a huge RahXephon fan, so people automatically think I hate Eva (what?). I enjoyed Eva quite a bit. Sure, I wanted to strangle half the show at times, but overall, I really did enjoy the series. What pisses me off about Eva is the crazy amount of die-hard fans who swear by the show. Someone earlier said that the Eva haters now seem to outweigh the lovers, but I must disagree. In all the clubs and conventions I've visited, I've met more people who worshipped the show like a god than who knew who Osamu Tezuka was. Now, I have no problem with this, but it's the attitude and insults I get from a number of these people for not agreeing with their views that turns me away from the show. The show didn't turn me off, the fans turned me off of the show. =\

Hey, FF:U hater, have you seen the older FF anime? Something about crystals or something, I think. If you thought FF:U was bad, never ever watch that one. My life still revolved around Pokémon when I saw it, and even then I thought it was horrible. At least FF:U was watchable! D=

Hey s-CRY-ed hater, you make me so sad. There is a plot and there are reasons for their powers. The show is insane fun and it's one of my favorites when I want to toss something on while I'm working on a project. Did you just watch one episode? Because that could be the problem here. =\

[quote="HitokiriShadowI love Nanoha and all but... there is no reason Zac would like it or really needs to watch it. I am quite sure he wouldn't like it. Did you not read his response to what anime he likes?[/quote]

I think everyone's main thing with Zac and his constant Nanoha bashing is that he's obviously never seen it, which is especially clear with his "frilly dresses" comment.

Personally, I don't want him to review it, because I know that he won't give it the time of day (unless a miracle happens and he changes his mind about it). Though considering the first volume, whenever it may come out, likely won't reach Fate's entrance anyway, most reviewers will pass it off as a CCS copy (even though the pre-Fate eps tend to have more resemblance to Pretear) to begin with.

Of course, as those who've seen the series know, it's quite apparent why "befriending" has become sort of a synonym with "severe ass-kicking" in the Nanoha fan community not too long after the first season's halfway point.

Last edited by skyechan on Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

"Which is better, anime or manga?"

While I don't believe one is technically "better" than the other, I would definitely have to say I prefer manga over anime. As fun as it is to watch the characters move around on screen, let's face the facts:

Manga very rarely has fillers. Some people may disagree with me on this, but take for instance my current favorite anime, Detective Conan. It's been...what? 10 years the show has been running? Although the manga is technically still being written, it takes the anime 50 some filler episodes to catch up with the actual plot as opposed to the manga touching on the plot at least once each manga volume. (You can only kill a victim so many ways, people.) Since most people probably don't share my views on Conan, perhaps Naruto would be a more acceptable reference. Yes, dear Narutards, although I personally do not read or watch the show, I have heard your whining about filler episodes in the anime. Read the manga instead, save yourself 100 episodes or so or whatever the crazy amount is.

Manga usually IS the original story. Sometimes in anime things get changed around quite a bit. Or...in the case of say, Sailor Moon, a LOT. The manga provides the story straight from the manga-ka, so readers can get a feel for what on Earth he or she was originally trying to convey. With an anime the storylines usually aren't the original manga-ka's thoughts or ideas. Personally I'd say if you're aware an anime is based off of a manga first, it'd be best to read the manga first and see later on how the directors of the anime interpreted the story. Even when the manga isn't the original source and the anime is instead, it's nice to see the characters and stories in a new way. (Technically anime does this to the original manga as well, but given a choice between the two, I'd actually prefer reading the manga.)

Manga is CHEAPER. For the price of one anime DVD usually you can buy two manga. My wallet appreciates this fact. A lot. (Heck, if you really wanna be cheap, go to a con and purchase the original Japanese manga for $6 each, whereas a lot of the vendors will jack up the prices of the anime DVDs.)

So...there's my reasonings for why I prefer manga over anime.

why is answerman so rude to everyone? and he always criticizes everyone who writes to him

Anime, like almost anything in a medium will have superb and horrible. It's expected. One cannot say one medium is better than the other because all of them will have a worst and best. For now, another good Answer Man and I like the departure to the whole business and down to the usual questions. Personal opinion about which is better on anime or manga? Manga is cheaper but requires some reading. Anime requires paying attention. One is cheaper, but not all the time. Both wins, but manga leads by a bit, especially in Japan where manga florishes and anime is still more of a "fanatic" side.

Answerman is rude because that is what makes him answer. Would you like an Answerman who bends over backwards to every question?

Personally I'd have to say that Manga wins almost every time in that epic battle.

Firstly, while giant strides have been made in the animation industry and there is some truly beautiful work out there; the talent and finesse with which many Manga-ka draw with is often lost in translation -- leaving many animated series looking generic compared to their source material.

Secondly, in the corperate journey towards profiteering, many Anime series get elongated with "filler episodes" which are rarely entertaining and often feel soul-less. While there are pleanty of needlessly long Manga out there, to me it seems like the "filler-phenomenon" is more of a problem with Anime series. But, that's just my personal observation.

Don't get me wrong, I love both media dearly. But, for me, for reasons of artistic integrity and storytelling continuity, Manga is tops. Though I suspect that won't stop me from spending a great deal of money on Anime DVDs this Christmas. Mushishi, anyone?

Zac, do you really want to receive the answer to your question this week? lol...

I am looking forward to the responses. Maybe we'll get a:

Manga, nough said.

Rolling Eyes

Great column this week btw. I like the whole talking about anime concept. I'm not being sarcastic since industry and fandom are really two separate facets that you can obviously spend a bunch of time on. Talking about anime itself, however, is a welcome break and overall this was a solid column. I hope to see more like this one!

Keep up the great work.

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