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REVIEW: Fafner BD+DVD


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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:12 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Zalis116 wrote:
Indeed, any first episode that does not lay out exactly what's going on in the entire show is awful.


Oh very funny.

Unfortunately for your argument I like plenty of shows which are just as cryptic in their first episodes as Fafner is. Mysteries intrigue me. Badly-written shows - well, episodes, as I haven't watched any but the first - do not.


Fafner gets much, much better in its second half. The writing for the first half of the show was...not so good.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:13 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Lynx Amali wrote:
I love how Evangelion always pops up when people talk about Fafner. Just so damn fun. Laughing


Just like how Evangelion gets mentioned in every discussion of RahXephon.

People love to compare things.


Only because most western anime fans haven't seen Raideen.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:22 pm Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:
Fafner gets much, much better in its second half. The writing for the first half of the show was...not so good.


Darn, I dislike having to sit through an entire cour of not-so-good episodes just to get to the good stuff.

Well, if I can sit through nine episodes of Brain Powerd then maybe I could survive Fafner's first half.

Fencedude5609 wrote:
Only because most western anime fans haven't seen Raideen.


I'm in that unfortunate majority. I should really track down some fansubs (if they exist) and rectify that one day.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:50 pm Reply with quote
Moonsaber wrote:

Rebecca, great review but I would appreciate more details on packaging and the disc details. You did mention the BD was sharper, and that neither BD or DVD was in widescreen. No surprise there, it was not shot in widescreen, it was a 4:3 show. A little more on video and audio quality would be nice, as well though.


The packaging is pretty unimpressive - one case, no box. There are 4 DVDs and 3 BDs, with the final BD covering the episode guide (what's on which disc) and the extras being a making of, trailers, commercial spots, and clean theme songs. The audio quality was pretty good, although I was thrown by the similarities in Kazuki's and Soshi's voices on both tracks. Everything's pretty easy to get out of the case and the Funi commercials are skippable on both BD and DVD. For its age, the show looks and sounds pretty good, really.
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Levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:35 pm Reply with quote
Fafner TV is a weak show but it can't compare to how dreadful the movie is.

Quote:
Fafner takes a more serious look at what happens when only children can pilot machines of war than the wish-fulfillment variety of giant robot shows.


First Gundam did this over 30 years ago.

I take it this reviewer doesn't know much about mecha anime since she talks as if this mecha show is something special...and its not.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:49 pm Reply with quote
Levon_r wrote:
Fafner TV is a weak show but it can't compare to how dreadful the movie is.

Quote:
Fafner takes a more serious look at what happens when only children can pilot machines of war than the wish-fulfillment variety of giant robot shows.


First Gundam did this over 30 years ago.

I take it this reviewer doesn't know much about mecha anime since she talks as if this mecha show is something special...and its not.


Characterizing the original Gundam as being 'a serious look at what happens when children pilot machines of war' is a really weird way to describe that show and really doesn't tell anyone what to expect from it because it isn't about that. There are some elements of that in there but there's no way in hell the show treats that element as a central theme in the same way Evangelion or Fafner does. Nor is it executed in the same way, nor is it exploring the psychology of it.

If you're going to say things like this in an attempt to run down the critic at least be honest and fair about it.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:02 am Reply with quote
Lynx Amali wrote:
Your wording made me assume you were literally talking about Fafner trying to be exactly like Eva. Most notably what set off my trigger was "The show is obviously trying to be a NGE clone."
Which could mean they are borrowing lots of ideas from the show, not that they copied the script word for word. [sigh] How one word can cause so much trouble. Look you even said yourself that it borrows from Eva. We probably agree on many things. You could have just asked me to clarify what I meant and saved me from the fury of your indignation. Wink Laughing

dtm42 wrote:
I've come to the realisation that the word "clone" is too loaded to use in this case. For titles such as Gasaraki, Argento Soma, Brainpowerd, RahXephon and Fafner, I would rather call them "Evangelion-inspired".
This seems to be the case.


Lynx Amali wrote:
I was referring to the aspect of Evangelion of 'what it does to a pilot's mind' in the sense that Eva is character driven, not so much with an actual ongoing plot. (Most of Eva TV was essentially Monster-of-the Week and used to flesh out the characters and their issues.) Fafner, while it touches briefly on that, doesn't go as deep as Eva did.
I actually meant both and agree with you, but I probably did not explain myself well. When I said Fafner is not as psychological as Eva I meant it doesn't delve too deeply and its a reason why I found some of the Fafner characters a bit shallow. Besides that I also meant both shows include elements of mental stress and pilots being assaulted mentally.
Quote:

2) Not really what I was going for. It does borrow aspects. I just stated that Eva really didn't create the tropes you listed and that they were shows before Evangelion that used those tropes (In some cases, better I might add.)
I never said that Eva created all those tropes, but it sure does have a long list of them that Fafner also contains.

Quote:
I love how Evangelion always pops up when people talk about Fafner. Just so damn fun. Laughing
Every time NGE pops up it makes me want to go back and watch it again. Smile
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504NOSON2
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Joined: 28 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:09 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I've come to the realisation that the word "clone" is too loaded to use in this case. For titles such as Gasaraki, Argento Soma, Brainpowerd, RahXephon and Fafner, I would rather call them "Evangelion-inspired".


"Inspired" seems to be loaded, as well. Or extremely vague, at the very least. For something had to be "inspired" by the work it's a carbon copy of. I'd say they're more like Evangelion-influenced. A couple even did a better job at executing what elements influenced them.
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Gewürtztraminer



Joined: 14 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 7:41 pm Reply with quote
Out of all the Geneon out of print titles, all discs of Fafner were available through Netflix as of late last year. The discs looked vitually unused.

After watching it, I did not hate it, but I could see no reason for me (and in my mind anybody else) ever wanting to watch it again.
When the Funimation license was announced I was perplexed.
There was enough interesting/unique/competent there to make it through once, but I just do not this being much of a seller.

I did like the opener and closer.
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eyeresist



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Of Fafner it can truly be said: it was a show.
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