Forum - View topicShelf Life - Junjo Come Here
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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Yes, Casshern Sins is mercilessly depressing and ponderous to the point of repetition. There's no way around that.
It's certainly very easy to end up being bored to death by something like that, particularly if you're not in the right mood or if your initial expectations were completely different, but as long as you're willing to deal with those conditions...I thought it was pretty interesting and occasionally even poignant. The art style was fairly unique, at least by contemporary standards, and some of the action sequences were well choreographed. I ended up liking the characters more than the story though, and it's not the kind of show I'm in any hurry to revisit on short notice. |
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Veoryn87
 Posts: 808 |
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The cannibalism accusation is almost as old as Christianity itself, though I'm sure it's a joke this time.
There was a time when I wanted Casshern to be a good show, but it looks like I'll have to give up on that hope. |
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nishime
Posts: 27 |
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I'm not sure how Hiroki and Nowaki and Miyagi and Shinobu count as "non-recurring characters". Usagi's known Hiroki since they were what, 10? (Mr Purehearted looking up sex in the dictionary), and Hiroki works with Miyagi, plus their respective boyfriends show up as cameos in Misaki's life. I can't remember what was in the anime, but Misaki shopped at the florist Nowaki's working at, at least.
Somehow, it always gave me the impression that everyone Misaki knew, except for his brother, was on the gay side. Even Usagi's editor, if she were a man, would probably have a boyfriend. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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I thought Casshern Sins was like a cross between Technolyze and Wolf's Rain, only not as good as either. It had an interesting premise and world, but it didn't really seem to go anywhere with it. There was some character development during the early part of the series, but then it seemed to stop, and the plot just... kind of... stagnated, mostly.
Maybe this series was too entrenched in Japanese philosophy for me to really appreciate it as much as it deserved. Some of the concepts that were used either confused me or left me underwhelmed. Really, I think the ingredients could've been better used, especially towards the end, and I would've ended up enjoying this series quite a bit more than I ultimately did. I wouldn't call it Perishable myself, but it's definitely not Shelf-worthy, either, IMO. So: Rental Shelf is about where I'd put it. |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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I said in the column that I would post all of Carl Horn's reply, so here it is:
I hope someday I can write so eloquently!
Agreed! I enjoyed the retro look of Casshern himself. I just wish there was more on screen besides Casshern to look at. Also, I suppose if you were in a mood where you hate humanity (it happens to everyone sometimes) that's when you should watch Casshern.
If you can stomach Taxhnolyze, Casshern is definitely for you!
I have never seen that movie.
It turns out yes, I used to be Catholic. Although I never got confirmed... In any case, I don't see why what I said was offensive. It's very Last Supper-ish, like this:
I also didn't intend it as Catholic-bashing. I hate it when people bash Catholics. But Casshern reminds me of transubstantiation... I don't think of transubstantiation as cannibalism or as an insult.
I have not seen Bakemonogatari, but GiTS looks very expensive! There's a lot of CG, very detailed backgrounds, well-animated action, and so on. They hide lip flap a lot, but there is an in-show reason to do so. Don't confuse mood with budget. Casshern establishes a mood very effectively, but it still looks low budget to me. I did work in animation for several years, remember.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Care to explain further?
I think you've taken the opposite meaning away from this week's column as what I intended. I'm not a huge fan of yaoi, but Junjo was one of the best yaoi series I've seen. I'm not a fan of harem anime, but Ranma 1/2 (at least the first season) is one of my favorite shows ever. (Some would argue it's not a harem show, but maybe it is closer in set-up to Brighter Than the Dawning Blue...) What genre does Casshern Sins belong in? |
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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"Moody weird shit"? Like...I dunno, Darker Than Black, or Argentosoma? |
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yuricon
 Posts: 145 |
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I'm behind you 100% on the strikes.
Annoying child bad guys: Project Arms (made more vexxing by the fact that Al was voiced by Ogata Megumi and was, therefore, the only reason I was watching it) Devilman Lady (aka Devil Lady) in which there was a sneering little kid who kept implying that Jun was sleeping with her protege, which she *hadn't*...yet. He couldn't die fast enough. Also on my strike list - female teacher/boss who looks like an elementary school girl. No. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2606 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I'll also add the sexy/oversexed school nurse to this list. She can make me run screaming from the room without even turning off the DVD. The more recent addition to my personal strike list is the girl friend with glasses and an obsession with sex. I've seen her pop up in a few series and she annoys me every time. Yuricon, is there as much non-con in yuri as there seems to be in yaoi? (Please don't flame me, yaoi fans! Limited exposure here.) |
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yuricon
Posts: 145 |
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[quote=I'll also add the sexy/oversexed school nurse to this list. She can make me run screaming from the room without even turning off the DVD. The more recent addition to my personal strike list is the girl friend with glasses and an obsession with sex. I've seen her pop up in a few series and she annoys me every time.[/quote]
Hah, and I like that particular fetish. See, you can never please everyone. 
[quote=Yuricon, is there as much non-con in yuri as there seems to be in yaoi? (Please don't flame me, yaoi fans! Limited exposure here.)[/quote] Maybe not quite *as* much, but there is definitely some. And that's not something that appeals to me at all. Thankfully, there is also Yuri in which adult women who like adult women consent to have romantic and sexual relations with adult women. Thank you Morishima Akiko, Takashima Rica, Tadeno Eriko and others. 
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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I purchased both Casshern sets on day one and am about ten episodes in so far. It certainly is dark and depressing as hell; it's by no means for everyone and it certainly isn't fun. How can such a post-apocalyptic scenario as this be so? I don't fault Erin for her attitude at all. Casshern is well done but also possibly the most divisive anime to be released this year due to its nature.
While the show can be fairly called out for its unrelentingly bleak atmosphere, I do have some interest in the potential shift of Casshern going from wishing that he could die to trying to redeem himself instead. Depending on how that ultimately turns out, I could either embrace the show or dislike it as much as Erin does. If the entire story is one long narrative of despair, I can't see myself seeing it more than once and I'll put my Blu-Rays up on eBay. Guess we'll see what happens. I have very, very vague memories of seeing the OVA on Sci-Fi channel...it'd be fun to track down that DVD sometime and get a fresh glimpse at the classic take on the character. Last edited by GWOtaku on Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2606 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Good to know! I've been turned off of yaoi by the fact that nearly every title I've tried has featured non-consensual sex. I had planned to check out Takashima Rica's work, and now I have some more authors, so thank you!  (Don't you just get sick of goopy high school romances sometimes?)
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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That's probably way more accurate than the insistance those who dislike yaoi seem to feel no-con is just another way to say hello in yaoi stories. It is really amazing how the entire circle of friends/story characters are homosexual. I also love how it seems the US used to be portrayed as ragingly homosexual-like every American who shows up in a story wants to bed the protagonists or the innocent Japanese boy goes to US & is raped/seduced & is now gay. Manga-ka seem to have moved past that (mostly). I was a bit surprised by the left field of the Catholic comment if only when the idea was presented, the first thing that lept to my mind was Saiyuki-Sanzo Priest & various demon stories (Bleach, in fact) where eating the being gained that being's power (12 Kingdoms-Kirins have no grave) But then all the ire. Wow. Dudes, as someone who grew up in the Mormon church (agnostic now), taught all that stuff about being chased from state to state & it even being legal (until 1976) to "drive" or "exterminate" Mormons in the state of Missouri--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_War_(1838) --I've never really seen what all the fuss over how Catholics get treated. I never even knew other christians felt Catholics weren't christian until meeting my born-again sister-in-law & it frankly was rather amusing because in the time when I grew up Mormon, we considered ourselves separate & a "peculiar people" & all the other christians-Catholics included-were wrong. Yeah, the whole muslim treatment we're seeing right now seems closer to the Mormon church treatment & I pray it doesn't get as ugly, though it already is in some ways. I've been contemplating Cassahern, but might wait now. I guess I could dust off the old one to see if it was worth a re-make, but I would have to wonder why they replaced the rather higher-profile Takeshi Kusao (Trunks) with Tohry Furuya (Yamacha). Kusao is rather more active than Furuya in VA work these days & they did keep Kenji Utsumi & even Morikawa was in the old one. Sure sounds like cost-cutting, though it could be recording schedule conflict. At least Ranma didn't have the little girl, thank you. (It's harem. No way around it. Genma was the worst father in the world, wasn't he? Kid afraid of cats? Chuck him into a room full of cats. Promise anyone with a daughter your son will marry her in exchange for a meal & turn onto a panda & play with a tire when the son asks about the latest fiancee) Don't we have Tenchi for the initial idea (though, to be fair, Sasami wasn't sexualized originally)? I sort of see & Kaolla-Su & Shinobu from Love Hina as the slippery slope that got us to where we are today of every harem has to have the "little sister" everyone can make their own doujins of deflowering. That's right. Belldandy, Skuld & Urd have to be in there somewhere. But Skuld, like Sasami in the first 3 Tenchi series, never really hit me as child porn fantasy material, though I only saw the movie from ages ago & only read about 6 volumes of the manga. Skuld seemed older-12-14- while Sasami seemed around 8? But I can't stand the whole child body/adult mind or child prodigy trying to be accepted into the adult world. It is an ancient idea (Rice did it, didn't she?) Clamp-Mage Clef. When it was the exception, it was interesting, but now we see it in every 5th manga/anime made, it's not as interesting. In fact, the whole moe thing is beyond me. Fan service harem like Ranma or Saber Marionette where everyone is of an age where sex would be possible (though I guess really Ranma is child porn since they're not legal, but then one has to start nit-picking high school romance & it gets ugly). I hate ingenues, though, so that might be part of the problem. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7338 Location: Maine |
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Well, to each their own. I still happily (happily?) consider Casshern Sins a rare masterpiece. I thought the art was actually very beautiful, very crisp and clean with strong lines. Probably the best use of a drab color palette I've ever seen, kinda like how dried flowers are dull and dead, but still appealing. The animation itself is smooth and full of great little nuances. Yes, they do hide the mouth flaps, but they use it to great effect and there's usually something else moving on the screen in their place. It felt like they were trying be less restrictive to the actors and give them more freedom in their lines than try to save on animation.
No, it's not for everyone, but I'd have a hard time not at least recommending it as a rental. Emerje |
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belvadeer
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I'd actually wanted to consider Casshern Sins for some time but it seems there's some kind of debate hate with the depressing atmosphere going on. I'll judge it for myself. Besides, if I watch one episode of Casshern and then follow that up with a wacky episode of Oh! Edo Rocket, it balances out ;D
Kenji Utsumi! I've always loved his voice since hearing him as Duuz in Angel Links. He needs to do more reptilian or dragon characters
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Shichimi
 Posts: 349 |
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Erin, my main complaint with the review of Casshern Sins is that you seem to identify elements that you personally dislike, and use this to dismiss the show out of hand. For example, amnesia. I'm in agreement with you in that it often isn't used well, and I assume that this is the case here, but you don't explicitly say if this is so (and why it is so).
Uh, I guess what I'm getting at is that I basically felt your review boils down to: 1) I don't like depressing things. 2) Casshern Sins is depressing. 3) I don't like Casshern Sins It's nice to read you like the retro-styling, though!
Oh, good grief. How often will Erin have to see comments like this in her column's talkback threads? It's her column now, and personally I can't imagine anything more annoying than continually being held up to someone else's approach to work. Last edited by Shichimi on Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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