Forum - View topicWorld Conquest Zvezda Plot (TV).
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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I have rarely, if ever, enjoyed a finale episode more than this one. It just so perfectly encapsulated and expanded on the series. I loved the segments working in Kate's prior conquests, for example. The first block was so-so, but once the ball got rolling I just had a permanent smile on my face, and can't wait for the inevitable season 2.
As for the "13th" episode, my guess is that it'll just be a throwaway slice of life episode, maybe post-show, but also possibly set during the run. Should be fun though. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4085 |
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A satisfying finale that understood the ideas of "denouement" and "callbacks" and why, how should I put it?, pulling things out of your posterior at the ending is a bad thing?
"Don't lose your way..." No, may the light of Zvezda shine forever! |
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leatherhead333
 Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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Personally i thought this episode was just WAY to cheesy with the speeches. And Asuta's dad was a really pathetic final boss. Kind of was just like "I'M EVIL! I'M EVIL!" and that's it. At least Ragyo from kill la kill was a tad more entertaining even if she too was a generic villain.
Overall I think the series really lost steam about at the midway point. Tried to switch into serious mode and i just wasn't buying into it. The multiple "deus ex's" didn't help in that regard either. I couldn't enjoy it in the same way i could Kill la Kill because the presentation was just really lacking in style. I'll give it a Good but could have been much more enjoyable if it didn't try to integrate a forced plot so late in the game. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4085 |
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You thought the uncaring businessman/politician/wannabe dictator that drove his own son from his home and his wife to the grave was just "evil"? Suit yourself but he had motivation to be defeated which wasn't part of a serious of spoiler[suicides] from the villains. 24 episodes and we end with that. Trigger, you suck. {After [Nui spoiler[cut off her own head rather than turn against Ragyo which was clearly shown of her face when she was interrupted in her fun, I stopped caring about "villain motive" and the series itself because I realized the villains didn't have any motives; They'd just give up in the end with no conviction. In a battle of life versus death, death went "Ehhh, not worth it." and, uh, died. Well, if you're not going to see it through then don't bother in the first place.]} With Zvedza twelve episodes we got motive, bravado and a series of heroic moments from everyone, heroes and villains alike and a spoiler["I so suck as an antagonist that I may as well be working with the good guys" turn from Yasu] which was both expected and amusing. |
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leatherhead333
Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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From what it looks like to me he DID give up and was just going about his day after Kate beat him. After everything he went through to get where he was he certainly gave up pretty easily after losing.
The main thing is that he just doesn't do anything that we haven't seen from any generic villain. Who cares if he was a motivation? Ragyo was a motivation for Satsuki spoiler[as well and also drove her father to the grave]. Literally the same circumstance there so i really don't see that as a valid argument. It's not hard to make a parent evil just to drive the MC to do something and it's been done plenty of times before. And it was plainly obvious that White Light was going to turn on him in the end. It wasn't very shocking nor was it entertaining to me. It felt like i was watching a scene from some really cheesy shounen series. It doesn't help that Austa's dad is saying extremely generic things like "Ideals are meaningless!" and other crap like that. I've seen more class from a freaking kids show villain lol. I never said Ragyo was overall a better villain because she isn't. They both suck as villains. But at least Ragyo was more over the top evil and not just your "garden variety" evil. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4613 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I think some of it could have paid off better if it had been more explained... but maybe they left those details out to sell the THREE manga adaptations they've made. (although one seems to have ended at the same time as the show) or possible sequels (I think it's a decent gamble to bet on a show that features a cast of lolis from fake-child character to middle-schoolers).
...as far as I could tell... spoiler[Those cigars were utilizing the "soulless smokers" that they couldn't kill with their bomb in the early episode, right? ...and did I miss who provided the tech for the giant robot? ... were those Natasha's parents standing in the shadows?] Although, in the end it was solved with one of my less liked cliches... The bad guy is stronger and stronger and just keeps beating the good guys, no matter what they do until.... spoiler[they suddenly CAN beat him. No great explanations, but through force of spirit and teamwork or something, the beam attack that didn't hurt the seemingly indestructible robot is then able to beat the bad guy and robot back]... just because. Definitely a good show. Like many of the season, it was pretty inscrutable... hard to figure out what the point really was and what was comedy and what was serious, but it was still fun. |
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Bango
 Posts: 1122 |
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Such an extremely strange and fun show. It gets bonus points for the spoiler[powered-up version of Kate actually having more clothes than normal], kind of opposite to the usual.
The end bit kind of reminded me of spoiler[ Ixion Saga's] how it's all like "We might have a spoiler[continuation]... Or this could just be some extra stuff we're adding for laughs." A fabulous and very unique show that I'll probably not forget.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4085 |
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I thought it was fantastic; Kate finally got spoiler[Galaktica back and even that wasn't enough until she had to do a chin up/cancelled to a series of twirls after which she did a diving, driving punch, beating man and robot with a giant "conquer" move.] It's all callbacks so no magical powers just come out of nowhere; Even asking why it would be so powerful now is a little weird because, well, it's Kate. Unlike most other shounen series where the hero can get sudden, immediate power-ups "just because", Kate isn't just powerful or special, she's uniquely unique. And most of her power is in her spoiler[stuffie]. You can always ask what that is but I think the series defined it as "the stuff dreams are made of" so it's most likely from ancient aliens or cross dimensional residents of the lost continent of Mu or something similar. Ancient Udo? Sure, whatever that means. Even wondering how she could do things she couldn't do previously is silly because we watched her practice. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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(This isn't a review, so much as some comments about the Region 1 release. I'm pretty sure that this is where I'm supposed to post this sort of thing.)
Well, I got my DVDs in the mail yesterday, and I had a chance to watch the first 4 episodes again. This is my third time watching the series from the beginning, and my fifth or sixth time seeing Episode 3, which is one of my all time favorite "stand-alone" anime episodes. If you haven't had a chance to re-watch this show, I recommend you give it a try. There are a lot of background details - like newspaper headlines, phone conversations, people talking to themselves in their sleep - that are more meaningful if you've seen the ending before. This show clearly knew where it was going from the beginning. I prefer collecting DVDs instead of BluRays, so I appreciated the DVD-only price point. All the extras were beautiful, and I felt like I got my money's worth. I especially liked the reversible cover. Disc 1 has every pre-series TV/NND PV, plus Aniplex's movie preview-style trailer, all fully translated. Aniplex's translation was a bit different from what I remember - nothing major, just some individual word choices. There were also no subtitles for the opening and closing themes, which I found kind of disappointing, but it wasn't a deal-breaker or anything. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23787 |
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@ BSP - just curious, why do you prefer collecting DVDs to BDs? I am very far from being in the, "zomg, if it's not on Blu-ray, my beautiful delicate eyes cannot stand looking at it" but I don't think I've ever seen anyone say they actually prefer DVDs.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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Around 2003, I decided: "okay, I'm switching from VHS to DVD. I'm going to re-buy my entire sci-fi and anime collection, with the exception of my VCDs for sentimental reasons." I was a jobless college student, so this was a big deal for me financially, but I made the transition because: (a) DVD had way better picture and sound quality (b) I was about to begin collecting Farscape, and I didn't have the shelf space in my dorm for another four-season TV show on VHS and (c) I would never have to ask myself "should I buy the dubbed or subbed release of Super Dimension Century Orguss 02?" ever again. After the format war between HD-DVD and BluRay, I stuck with DVDs, because I didn't feel BluRay offered any truly noticeable advantages other than picture quality. "Sasami: Magical Girls Club already looks terrible on DVD", I thought, "why would I want to see the girls' ugly sweaters in high definition?" When NIS America announced that The Daily Lives of High-school Boys was only going to come out on BluRay, I was a little bit upset with the anime industry. I didn't see why a show like that benefited from BluRay's improved picture quality, much less why NIS America thought no one would buy it on DVD. I still don't see why something like Sailor Moon even needs a BluRay release, and when Cowboy Bebop was re-mastered and re-released last year, I bought a DVD copy, not the BluRay version. I'm sure that, along with everyone else still buying DVDs, I'll become a convert when I see the Evangelion BluRays. Until then, I don't see myself switching over. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I still get mostly DVDs, but if you have player (I use a console) it really is not a big deal other than cases looking a little different. What I have on BD is Patema Inverted, Log Horizon, Madoka Movies 1 and 2, Space Dandy, Bakemonogatari, and Attack on Titan. I see them all as series that can have some specially noticeable animation, so it is worth it. Attack on Titan on BD is amazing.
I can't quite see if Zvezda would be worth it, unless some things were changed after tv release. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23787 |
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@ BSP - okay, I see where you are coming from now. What you are saying is that to you, upgrading or collecting BDs doesn't bring enough of an improvement in the viewing experience to justify the increase in cost. The way you had worded it before it almost sounded like you preferred DVD to BD for, perhaps, technical reasons.
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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The benefit of higher resolution from DVD to BD formats can be seen if you know what to look for, but for typical animation it probably doesn't make that much difference to the experience. The reason is the colors and boundaries in an anime image are generally much simpler than with a live-action photographed scene.
If you have a choice when streaming, change the setting from 1080p to 720p. I would bet most people would not be able to tell the difference unless they looked at the widget. That said I am focusing only on buying BD on the lighthearted assumption that it will be a better investment. However WCZP isn't the type of anime that I would normally purchase the media for. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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Yeah, I think this is the sort of show where you know whether you're going to buy the DVD by the end of the first episode. Either you want to see it over and over again, or you're fine with seeing it just once. It's also a visually distinct show, but not in the sort of way that would be improved by upping the resolution (like Bakemonogatari, which is a very different show in 1080p than 480p, for instance).
Half the time I watch shows in 1080p, I end up turning the resolution back down to 720p, because they end up just being upscaled DVD-quality shows. |
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