Forum - View topicShelf Life - Home Alone
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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This is news to me. I assumed a financial motive was responsible for continuing the franchise (which is to say, a motive akin to that behind the endless Eva merchandising) but I wouldn't have expected a third party to request another Eva production to be created for their commercial gain. That's the sort of business proposal more common for smaller animated intellectual products. I have the inclination to make a quip about a tangy orange dip to sell with the Doritos, but it'd be in poor taste. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2607 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Actually, I've always thought of "The Adolescence of Utena" less as a remake and more of a sequel - like it's spoiler[Utena's dream while she's waiting for Anthy to find her] after the last episode. That explains things like the cars (spoiler[trauma from Akio's car of sketchy love]), Touga's role (spoiler[guilt over not choosing him]), and the disjointed landscape and storytelling, which are typical of dreams. Maybe I'm giving Ikuhara more credit than he deserves or just playing my favorite over-analytical game, but I'd like to give him more credit given how well the TV series was planned out. Though I wouldn't show the film as a series introduction either. (Sorry Erin!) |
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The Nagabuchi
Posts: 103 |
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Firstly, let me echo what has already been said here - wait for the bluray. I have the R2 of 1.11 and its GORGEOUS. If you cant tell that every frame has been reanimated its probably because you're not watching the bluray
Now I know a lot of people have had one of two issues with 1.01. Either a)its too similar to the original or, b) its difficult to understand. I've watched the 1.11 blu with quite a few Eva newcomers and noone really had any problems with it. Sure there were some questions, but impossible to understand? Hardly. But as has been said, this isnt a movie targeted at new viewers. It's really meant for two audiences - 1) fans of the series and 2) the legions of mid 40's housewives who made the pachinko and pachislot games such a huge hit and had never seen the series (yet know all the characters and mecha from the games cutscenes). What's the point of the movie as far as Eva fans are concerned? The point is that 1.101 is not meant to be viewed as a stand alone production. Its only one of four movies and, honestly, the rehashing it does is necessary to lay the groundwork for 2.0. 2.0 is where things start to go differently to the series, in fact things go pretty damned crazy. I have seen both in the cinema 3 times and believe me the setup of 1.01 is VERY worth it. Not saying that you shouldnt judge 1.01 on its own merrits. I'm just trying to provide some context here. As far as the product placement is concerened, personally it actually added a lot to the movie for me. The Panasonic laptops that Nerv employees use? Same as the one my company and many, many around Japan use. Similarly, theres a Lawson just around the corner. The placement was a little over the top but I had no issues with it. These rebuilds are part of a cycle that occasionally occurs when an anime IP is a breakout hit in the Pachinko/Pachislot industry. If its big enough, the money gets pumped back into the anime (either for new installments and/or merchandising) which is then in turn used to promote the game. For fans its a win-win situation really. Thanks to this we have the Eva rebuilds, the recent Fist of the North Star movies (3) and OVAs (2) as well as an actual funeral for Raoh, and in the case of Macross, Sankyo even sponsored the Macross Crossover Live concert and managed to get every Macross singer together over the course of 2 shows (which was awesome). Speaking of which, I'm off to see Fukuyama (Basara) sing in Shibuya. Keep up the great column! Peace out! |
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zrdb
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"Plenty of people hate Dragon Ball Z"-no s**t-I can't stand it-always hated it. I did like Evangelion 1.01, actually I thought it was better than the originial series.
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Youkai Warrior
 Posts: 505 Location: Sarayashiki |
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No offense Erin, your reviews are good in all, but if you're gonna make something shelf-worthy, it should be because of the content of the show, not the nice things that come with it. Like you said, there are plenty of people who hate Dragon Ball Z, so why would they care about the hardcover book that includes plot summary, relationship diagram, designs and timelime? |
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HJSoulma
Posts: 62 |
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I actually just taught that movie to a class of high schoolers, most of whom had never seen an anime, and none of whom had ever even heard the WORD Utena, and I have to say, if you treat it as a purely symbolic treatise on the difficulty of adolescence and the fact that becoming an adult means accepting ugly truths, it works very well. They were pretty freaked out when I first showed it, but they got it after we discussed it in terms of theme and symbol. A few kids even seemed interested in watching the series afterwards, which was not my intention, but hey, not a bad thing either, I suppose... |
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Quark
 Posts: 710 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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I totally agree with you on this. Evangelion, at least to me, was way too complex a show to just compress seven episodes of it into one movie, and expect someone with no experience of the show to follow, or understand. I think it would be doing someone newly interested in the series a disservice to show them 1.01 first. And, as an Eva fan, I can openly admit that 1.01 probably makes very little sense without prior familiarity with the entire story. Especially when it gives away huge plot points spoiler[(Lillith! Need I say more?)] so early in the story. 1.01 in my mind, was made for old fans of the show to revist a world, and characters, that we've become very familiar with, and to see a new take on the situation, or, act as a refresher for those who have seen it, but don't remember it very well (my boyfriend doesn't especially like Eva, but said that 1.01 was pretty good). But to introduce someone new to the series...I'd rather sit them in front of the TV show first, and see how they fare with that. |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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Oh ho! You can buy them both at Lawsons! At least we know these brands survived the First Impact.
I hope they make an Eva pachislot manga aimed at housewives! I would totally read that. When I was in Japan I tried to find pachinko manga magazines for my "Manga About Everything" panel, but all I could find were pachislot manga magazines. |
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Actually, I'd never seen Eva and knew next-to-nothing about it before watching 1.01 and it made perfect sense to me. I really enjoyed it! 
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I always laugh heartily at Princess Snake's henchwoman introducing Russian Roulette to Goku. Mostly because as filler, it's something that not even the twisted mind of Akira Toriyama came up with. But it does seem like something he might, albeit probably for something in earlier Dragon Ball or in Dr. Slump.
I love the filler in the first arc, it helps make it feel "fuller" and developed, the way it follows Gohan along and lets the viewer learn to care about this kid and his situation, and see how he adapts. I wish I could have gone into this more in my review. It's the later arcs that have filler I could do without, like the fake Namek, Bulma's adventure under water on Namek, and the like. As for a BD release, it wouldn't do the original DBZ any good, really. You're better off waiting for Dragon Ball Kai to be licensed. |
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russ869
Posts: 422 |
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Good. I see you adhered to the age-old tradition of reviewing Dragon Ball Z, all the while making sure to never publicly admit that you would ever actually like the show.
This exactly. If you really don't think we need you to tell us to buy DBZ, then please save your breath and don't tell us. Review something you care about. Also, you don't need a marathon mode to "power through" a show. Just a remote control. |
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Captain Crotchspike
 Posts: 355 Location: Phoenix, AZ |
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Is anyone really surprised that, even for something based on a pre-existing franchise, a movie that makes no secret of the fact that it is the first installment in a series of films doesn't explain everything right away?
Are we sure we're not confusing "makes sense" with "leaves the viewer with unanswered questions"? |
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Son-kun
Posts: 345 |
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I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that. One of the things I've always disliked about the earlier Season Sets was the lack of quality from the packaging and content. The Dragon Box prints existed before the Season Sets. I often wondered why FUNimation couldn't go the route of simply purchasing the Dragon Box prints, but I'm pretty sure some complications existed with Toei. The attention to detail on the Dragon Book was pretty nice too. I'm glad Erin pointed out that if DBZ was to be purchased in any format, the Dragon Box is the best way to go. The Season Sets are more for the nostalgia of the CN syndication or if you just want the cheaper route. As far as the actual merit of the show, just as I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people that hate it, the same can be said for those that enjoy it. |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Technically it is a trilogy, actually; the series proper will be covered in the first three movies, Jo, Ha, and Kyu. All bets are off about what's going to happen in the fourth movie. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I really have to buy some Doritos to thank them for helping to make this possible. 
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Kakugo
Posts: 163 |
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I'm kind of shocked Eva 1.01 would be recommended, knowing that 1.11 is coming out in just a few months, on a "special edition" Blu-ray, no less.
Dragon Ball Z doesn't have an HD master: Dragon Ball Kai does. The two are made of the same footage, but the pacing and atmosphere between the two are different enough that, inevitably, you'll like one better than the other (or just hate them both for different reasons). I'm sure FUNi will announce Kai once the show's finished airing in Japan, but if we ever get more Blu-ray releases, they certainly won't be "Z". I doubt Toei's going to do yet another transfer of DBZ in the next 5 years, and even if they did it could take FUNi a decade to get their hands on it. |
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