Forum - View topicThree Reasons Why Blood Blockade Battlefront is the Best Show of the Spring
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Nyron
Posts: 161 |
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"Anime" is not a genre. It's just animation, made in Japan. Not all anime has to be schoolgirls and samurai and people SHOULD judge anime based on whether it's a good show or not, and not its country of origin. But it's sentiments like this that cause normal adults to eyeroll at the idea of TV anime being a respectable thing. "It's not 'anime' enough?" Really? That's what makes me uncomfortable. We, America, can create feature films and television series that reflect all manner of time and culture, but anime is apparently supposed to be doomed to being as awkwardly Japanese as possible. |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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And where, exactly, did I say that? If we're going to intentionally misread things, the fact that you're saying anything Japanese is awkward and nothing but "schoolgirls and samurai" pretty much proves my point... (Do you really think America makes art that "reflects all manner of time and culture?" I mean, we try to, but...) Americans like to think they're interested in other cultures, but very little of anything in (for example) anime that doesn't fit neatly into American values avoids being labeled "some weird Japanese thing." Or that neologism that starts with a W. The most popular, most hyped anime are always either 99% American-esque (some sort of dark cerebral sci-fi-fantasy action movie, usually), or ridiculously absurdly weird (Kill La Kill, for one). Or both, if possible... like BBB. Apparently what gets people's attention is familiarity and/or memetic bizarreness (What Does The Fox Say comes to mind). I generally prefer anime to not cater to Americans--neither by aping our media nor by appealing to "weird Japan" or other stereotypes. They should make whatever they want to make. Obviously there will be some mixing of cultures, and that's a good thing, in moderation. I just feel like over-globalizing of art may eventually make it all basically the same (the mass-media part of it, at least). It's especially obvious in Japan, where America has a tremendous amount of influence (due to us destroying and then helping rebuild their country). Why do you think anime is such a big subculture compared to, say, Korean comics? Couldn't be because the insane global popularity of American media has rubbed off on anime, could it? |
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justsomeaccount
 Posts: 471 |
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And they do. This is made because they wanted to. Geez, practically most of their shows are japanese-centric to their fullest, things like these are exceptional. And their anime market doesn't think much about sales in foreign countries except in veeery specific cases (I guess Space Dandy? And even then, not that much profit I think), many manga authors don't even know their works are being published outside until they hear some polemic news (for example Bleach's author when somebody copied his work his first reaction was "Am I popular outside Japan? Woah!"). So appealing to the outside is not at all a trend in the anime industry, only specific authors who like to do it do it and if the work is popular then it's made into an anime, that's about it. |
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Beobachter
Posts: 18 |
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I'm one of the few people who was extremely lukewarm on Baccano, so...how similar is BBB to it, all things considered? Not that I hate this kind of show, but as I've discovered, insubstantial story about eccentric superpowered characters faffing off each other isn't exactly my cup of tea (*not a big fan of American superhero genre either).
The visual ingenuity part and Rie Matsumoto's pedigree caught my interest though. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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When Marvel went to japanese anime companies for them to make Avengers: Disk Wars, the intention no doubt was catering to Japanese tastes. When Taco Bell was created, it no doubt was meant to make mexican food cater to USA food tastes. If japanese anime companies ever attempt to cater to gaijin tastes, they will no doubt open an office in said country to get some japanese employees acquainted with what is hot at the moment (and maybe even hire local talent) and try to improve into it. Even when american companies were part of the production committees I do not think there was any palpable "americanization" in those anime series. You should feel proud BBB made scenery porn out of New York, on the other hand all we got is this. |
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shenlongmizuno
 Posts: 51 |
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This anime is really not that great. It has all the hit elements that a focus group would put together for a hit show like a Durarara or a Baccano but it feels fake. There is no soul to it. Jazzy music, stylish art style, set in old-timey New York City/America, stylish fights, cute mascot.. I should love this show but something is missing..
Not sure how to explain it, I'm not a good writer. But it is kinda comforting to see in these comments that I'm not the only one who isn't drinking the koolaid. I'm surprised to see this article as the header of ANN. The best anime of the season isn't Blood Blockade or Fate/Stay UBW and whatever holy war ANN seems to have against it lol. Last edited by shenlongmizuno on Sun May 31, 2015 11:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Haiyami
Posts: 11 |
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I think its disappointing to see people liking SNAF better than BBB. They are two different types of anime. You can't compare them.
I don't watch BBB for laughs. I watch it because its a good serious action/mystery anime that doesn't try to be pretentious. My Teen SNAFU is a totally different genre. And as I said before people comparing romcoms to a scifi action mystery will find one better than the other because they pull at different emotions. What can you compare with a recent anime within at least this year or last year with Blood Blockade Battlefront and runs under a similar genre? Death Parade is about the only thing. While Cowboy Bebob is the closest thing that was over a decade a go, and Space Dandy, while recent, I believe ruined what it had by throwing in the modern fascination with fan service and overly used modern tropes and excessively blunt toilet humor. My Teen SNAF is a post 2000, creation that really has many similar stories to it. I'm not saying it's bad. That show is very entertaining, but it is much like other school romcoms that the industry has been over saturated with. And with an over-saturated market of school romcoms, the flare of freshness, and foreignness and mystery disappears in anime. What I'm glad to see in Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront is that it harkens back to anime types such as Record of Loddess Wars, Cowboy Bebob, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, Ninja Scrolls, Tank Police, Ghost in the Shell, and any other anime you expected to see in the late 80s and all the way through the 90's. It's a shame that the generation that was born in 2000 or the end of the 90's have gotten used to the moe boom and over saturation of mass produced story line that relates and can no longer expect to see that the storyline and not just the visuals was written in a way as an art form. Yes the 90s had the types of mass produced stories easily relate-able, but BBB has the flare, culture, and fresh atmosphere of many memorable classics. This show appeals to someone who's seen just about every type of genre of every decade/generation of anime. So when you run out of stuff to see, stuff becomes very similar. This is very fresh and interesting! I could never see this as something that's just "meh" or "oh that was good" and then move on. This will become a memorable anime for me. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18227 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I really wish people would stop using unqualified generalizations in cases like this. I fall pretty squarely into that category and, as I've stated before, the show doesn't hold enough appeal to me for me to stay completely up-to-date on its episodes. (Including this weekend's episode, I think I'm currently two behind now.) I would strongly suspect that there are at least some others who have had lukewarm responses who also fit into that category. (And this seems to happen by far most commonly in these forums when more artsy productions are involved.) Now, BBB could still end up being the best of the season by default because, quite frankly, I've found this to be a very weak season for quality content even though it's a pretty good season for entertainment content. As it stands now, not a single series from this season seems likely even be in the running to make my Top 5 for the year (although I might have to find a place for the surprisingly good Is It Wrong To Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? if it continues to outperform expectations). |
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shenlongmizuno
Posts: 51 |
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heh I'm also one of those; started watching anime in the early 90s renting vhs tapes from Blockbuster Video and BBB isn't holding my attention either. And I'm really not seeing the connection between BBB and shows like Lodoss War, Dominion Tank Police and Ninja Scroll. It sounds like a weak patronizing attempt to dismiss critics as "newbs." |
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Moroboshi-san
 Posts: 174 |
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Well, Baccano! had mindbogglingly superb directional work with astoundingly lovable cast and it managed to translate atmosphere oozing with nostalgia and 30s gangster film patina. Probably best anime ever made. Kekkai Sensen, on the other hand, has weak to non-existent plot and characters whose names i don't even remember yet nor I actually care. And "director" Rie Matsumoto seems to think atmosphere is created by large number of blinking lights and loud noises, she clearly has no idea what his job is all about.
Kekkai Sensen is Inferno Cop with worse plot-line and weaker characters. The "genre" it represents is what I call Wile E. Coyote -anime.
Oh, this is easily the strongest season for several years. We have in the air Ore Monogatari!!, Hibike! Euphonium and Plastic Memories, supported by Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic and Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki. That's almost unparalled quality and variety for a long time, and Ore Monogatari!! is on its way to best anime for several years. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4098 |
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Hey, now there's a show from this season that I like. That's not fair, being a critic and all, picking something that's watchable. SNAFU Deux would have been acceptable as an answer as well. I also like Food Wars but it's probably not for everyone. I'm also watching My Love Story... What's so bad about this season? I tried the first episode of BBB as per this whatever it is as I try out new shows on Mondays, I didn't think any of Funimation's shows this season were interesting so I haven't watched any of them yet, I say that I tried the first episode and found it very tiring. My problems? Long and varied for a show only 23 minutes long. The sigh inducing elements: Lone anime hero who is "perfectly normal" and "unlucky" but who is able to survive in that unruled hellhole for at least three weeks. But that's just the basis, every "normal" comment earned the sigh. The "unlucky" part was just uncalled for. Named and numbered attacks and the show pausing for them for them to be spelled out. Younger sister, whom he's looking for. Of course he is, him being a reporter and just following the story would be too cliché. No, that would have been better. The Katze-like guy showing how unstructured the world is, so how many deus ex machinas will we need to get though this series? Well, the bad guys are their villainous opposite so one for each? {sigh} "New powers as the plot demands" meet your sibling, "villains with overpowering powers and abilities when the plot demands". Wow, that's... um, "fun". Facepalms: "Unlucky" "I had too. I still have to come back and wash the dishes". Look at the building, picture a "closed for repairs" sign. Wait... You know, I can't tell if he can see or not. He can only see if it's convenient for the plot? What? "Libra". "Hellsalem's Lot", "Johnny Landis" and every other misused horror/anime reference both misspelled, mispronounced and used out of context. Flea. "Looks like a job for... The Tick!" Ok, now, that would have been funny but here it's just a flea... as a job designed for the MC. Guess there will still be parasites in the future/alternate world but how did the villain... Forget it. What if they incinerated the monkey? Forget it. Younger sister, whom he's looking for... is handicapped and is, well, you know the anime drill, from "stronger mentally than the mc" to "kind of a fetish for him". Probably going to turn out to be... Yeah, yeah. There's more than one stock path to take. Hey look, he's not normal. Didn't see that one coming. Ha, "see". I'm whimpering now, please stop the hurt. What I liked: Yu Kobayashi but I can get her in other shows. The music but I can get that from, well, music. Yeah, that's it. The bottom line: There's no incentive for watching episode 2, how does that even happen in shows adapted from manga which are built upon building the premise as quickly as possible to ensure serialization? Also, it's their rules, like that FLCL mess, so there's no involvement necessary for me and nothing to get from it because they change the rules in order to save or endanger characters at their whim. I can't even wonder if it gets better because that would assume a baseline of quality and substance or rather, me caring. |
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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@Animegomaniac
First of all, he's not looking for his sister. He knows exactly where she is. That's not even a plot point. Also, she has yet to reappear in the series, so your "prediction" is off. Second, the calling out attack names, big letters on the screen and time-slowing is obviously a throwback to old timey anime cliches; it's more of an homage than something done seriously. It's intentionally hammy. Now, whether or not that's for you or not is an entirely different story. Thirdly, horror/fantasy names from the west mispronounced? Wow, it's almost like the voice actors are speaking in a different language! And no, they are not misused. Fourth, this is primarily an episodic show, so a tight plot is not really what it's aiming for. If that's not your cup of tea, then don't watch it. There are definitely flaws in this show, but basing your opinions of the entire show off the first episode alone is incredibly ignorant. Finally, your post was borderline incoherent at times. Might want to work on that. Cut down on the long quote. --willag |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18227 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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"The strongest season for several years?" Riiight. It doesn't even stack up to the previous two, both of which I thought were loaded with good stuff. I did think highly of the first episode of My Love Story!! (and am only not watching it because it's beyond the limit of what I can keep with), so that one turning out good wouldn't surprise me. I have a more favorable evaluation of Plastic Memories than what its reviewer Gabrielle does but I'll still agree that it's not performing up to the potential it showed at the beginning. The second season of Knights of Sidonia would have to have a big writing quality jump from the first season for it to be worthy of such talk (have not seen it yet because I don't think it's officially available yet). Cannot comment on Kin-Iro Mosaic since I have not seen any of it and was only mildly positive about Sound Euphonium. |
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Shippoyasha
Posts: 459 |
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I definitely think this season of anime was pretty good personally. =
Kekkai definitely deserve some props, but I really like Etotama's masterful combination of 2D and 3D CGI as well as Show By Rock's pretty interesting usage of CGI. OreGairu also kicked it up a huge notch with this season compared to the much more rom-comy first season. Danmachi to me is a much better form of SAO where we get to see the hero gradually get better. Really excited by Owari no Seraph's combat as well. Really nice to get Shokugeki no Souma started at a solid note as well. As for returnees, Highschool DxD has been pretty fun, Kiniro is better than season 1, Grisaia has also been a step up from the past season. Nisekoi is as fun as usual. For overlooked shows, I think Punch Line is doing pretty neat things with the time-loop premise and the mystery is building up nice. Yamada-Kun is a lot of fun, even if they're really rushing things. As for my personal underdog of the season, it has to be Mikagura Gakuen, which was a lot more solid than I thought it'd be . |
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Jackanapes
Posts: 119 |
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It's certainly refreshing and a pleasant surprise that's not just another one of the kinds of shows that always gets talked about and the favorites nod from most people like Fate or whatever Kyoani is doing in a season. I swear the past year or so that's all anyone on the internet has ever talked about and it's like everything else doesn't exist with BBB being the only thing to make any discussion headway amidst the overwhelming chatter about Fate and for the past month or so Sound Euphonium so again just really refreshing both as a show and an actual new topic of discussion. Personally my favorite has been Heroic Legend of Arslan but since nobody else ever talks about it it's kind of a personal enjoyment really.
That gets me thinking though, how are things going to look the next season cause for the first time in a year Fate won't be absolutely dominating the anime scene for what looks like just about everyone besides myself and something else is going to have to fill the gap be it a combination of things or just one show that emerges. At least for the first little while I predict a massive dropoff in anime discussion in general at the start of the Summer season as people are figuring out wtf to do in the absence of Fate and it wouldn't just surprised me if people are stuck discussing the ending of that for quite a while while actual new stuff is coming out even though most of the people that are watching that show likely already know the ending from the source novel. |
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