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Shelf Life - Rise and Shine


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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:01 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
And I think that comparing Robotics;Notes with the great Steins;Gate is unfair because the latter in an Excellent works that does a wonderful job with its inventive premise, plot twists and characterization.


Why is it unfair? If one work is genuinely better than the other, then why is it unfair to compare them?

If someone was comparing an Alfred Hitchcock film to some movie a random university's film club produced then that would be unfair, unless the comparison was positive. But comparing two professionally-made two-cour shows based on VN source material produced by the same company and made just a year or so apart is about as fair a comparison as one could possibly get in the anime industry. The only thing the Steins;Gate's adaptation had in its favour that Robotics;Notes's adaptation did not was Mamoru Miyano.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:24 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
angelmcazares wrote:
And I think that comparing Robotics;Notes with the great Steins;Gate is unfair because the latter in an Excellent works that does a wonderful job with its inventive premise, plot twists and characterization.


Why is it unfair? If one work is genuinely better than the other, then why is it unfair to compare them?

But comparing two professionally-made two-cour shows based on VN source material produced by the same company and made just a year or so apart is about as fair a comparison as one could possibly get in the anime industry.


Unfair is not the best word to use. I should have said that expecting Robotics;Notes to be in the same caliber as Steins;Gate is unrealistic. True, both are professional productions, with some of the same people behind them, that in paper could produce the same level of excellence.

It would have been wonderful if Robotics;Notes was as good as Steins;Gate, but it is not. I am saying that Robotics;Notes ought to be examined more as a stand alone show, and not be punished for not being as good as its semi-colon predecessor.
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GiriOni



Joined: 10 Aug 2012
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:24 am Reply with quote
Here's the thing with Robotics;Notes and Steins;Gate. Steins;Gate had plot points (time travel) that allowed it to integrate the multiple routes the game had into one cohesive series.

You can really feel the difference between the two. Robotics;Notes feels very segmented with focus on small character arcs before almost running out of time to get to the conspiracy and lost its pace with a rather large mood whiplash. Steins;Gate you can somewhat feel the different routes made into arcs, but each arc flows brilliantly into another.

Doing VN anime is hard, especially when most VNs have multiple routes. At least that's how I view everything.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:47 am Reply with quote
I have just one quibble with the review of Robotics;Notes part 2. While I pretty much agree with Bamboo's assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the series, I disagree with the shelf placement. My reasoning: If she is going to give part 1 a shelf-worthy rating, the second half is pretty much a must buy, if your shelf already contains the first half. Otherwise you have an incomplete story sitting there taking up valuable shelf space. So I guess what I am trying to say is: Does the train wreck of part 2 counterbalance the well done aspects to the extent that part one should also be deemed "rental shelf"? If not, you pretty much need to complete the set, no?

Maybe that is my own personal issue....

I also agree, for the most part with the WUG review, though I may end up purchasing the show in the long run. I am really enjoying it, and the meta-level critique of the Idol industry is impressive, considering the show is a product of that industry. It really pulls no punches in the way it portrays the darker side of the industry and the way idols are treated by the corporations and the fans.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 12:34 pm Reply with quote
^
I think it is up to the individual collector to balance their need to own complete collections of a show with the natural desire not to spend too much money on crap. Some people will finish collecting a show no matter how bad it gets, while others only want stuff they actually like on their shelves. There's no objectively right or wrong answer.
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EighteenSky





PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:37 pm Reply with quote
While I don't agree with Bamboos thoughts (well the negative parts) on Robotics;Notes I can certainly understand them. The explanations to the various questions the show brought up I was happy with, a bit farfetched perhaps but I like that kinda stuff so didn't see them as a negative, the opposite in fact, thought they were inventive.

As for the 'not knowing what kind of show it wants to be' well, I disagree here as well. I thought all the aspects were well balanced, nothing felt out of sorts, it flowed well from one style to the next. Compare this to say Samurai Flamenco which uses a few styles to disastrous effects and R;N works.
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leatherhead333



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
Posts: 1187
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Ehhhhhh I haven't really been able to get into wake up girls for some reason. I personally still prefer Love Live! over it mostly because i find it to be more entertaining and just looks much smoother. Animation is one of the things that set me off very quickly and WUG's certainly doesn't look pretty most of the time.

As mentioned i find most of the girls to be boring outside of Mayu who has easily influenced the way the show has operated due to her past in I-1. Yoshino has some expected struggles being the leader but i wish they went a bit further with that issue.

Overall i find to be watchable but not something i'll really remember down the line.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:53 pm Reply with quote
Wow. I'm jealous of those shelves. The thought that an adult would love anime so much is quite interesting.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:11 pm Reply with quote
zensunni wrote:
I have just one quibble with the review of Robotics;Notes part 2. While I pretty much agree with Bamboo's assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the series, I disagree with the shelf placement. My reasoning: If she is going to give part 1 a shelf-worthy rating, the second half is pretty much a must buy, if your shelf already contains the first half. Otherwise you have an incomplete story sitting there taking up valuable shelf space. So I guess what I am trying to say is: Does the train wreck of part 2 counterbalance the well done aspects to the extent that part one should also be deemed "rental shelf"? If not, you pretty much need to complete the set, no?


This is a totally valid comment, and describes the greatest flaw with the Shelf Life ranking system. Which is why I've always pleaded with people in the past to not be too literal with the rankings, and use them more as a guidepost. I conceived this column maybe 10 years ago, and the ranking system has certainly bit me in the ass a couple times since then.

Of course, if you bought part 1, you should buy part 2. However, if you haven't bought part 1 yet, and read that part 2 is kind of "Eh," maybe you should Hulu it first and then make up your mind.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
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Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:13 pm Reply with quote
TsukasaElkKite wrote:
Wow. I'm jealous of those shelves. The thought that an adult would love anime so much is quite interesting.


He was probably your age, when he started buying anime. I started buying Japanese anime LaserDisc's in the late Eighties. Now I am buying anime BD's.
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:36 pm Reply with quote
TsukasaElkKite wrote:
Wow. I'm jealous of those shelves. The thought that an adult would love anime so much is quite interesting.


Don't be. You really don't need to buy them nowadays with all the legal streams.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14754
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:40 pm Reply with quote
zensunni wrote:

I also agree, for the most part with the WUG review, though I may end up purchasing the show in the long run. I am really enjoying it, and the meta-level critique of the Idol industry is impressive, considering the show is a product of that industry. It really pulls no punches in the way it portrays the darker side of the industry and the way idols are treated by the corporations and the fans.


It'd be a real tragedy if the real group still follows the conventional idol business practices.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5823
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:59 pm Reply with quote
Spotlesseden wrote:
TsukasaElkKite wrote:
Wow. I'm jealous of those shelves. The thought that an adult would love anime so much is quite interesting.


Don't be. You really don't need to buy them nowadays with all the legal streams.


Legal streams are not forever, but those things on the shelves are as close as you can get. They too, are also legal.
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revial



Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:48 am Reply with quote
Once a year, since this column started, I'll ruminate through the archives-if only for nostalgia's sake. It occurred to me tonight that it'd be fantastic if the listings throughout the years could not just be done chronologically, but by classification.

How nice it would be to be able to see a list of all Shelf-Worthy titles in one list. Wink

As for this Shelf Life, I agree about the two seasons of Jorm. Season 2 was definitely far better, and the climax of the show-imo-the final conversation between Koko and her brother was just so perfect.
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:26 am Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
Spotlesseden wrote:
TsukasaElkKite wrote:
Wow. I'm jealous of those shelves. The thought that an adult would love anime so much is quite interesting.


Don't be. You really don't need to buy them nowadays with all the legal streams.


Legal streams are not forever, but those things on the shelves are as close as you can get. They too, are also legal.


if you like to own stuffs, yes. IF you don't care to watch them again, there is no point. There is a risk of own tape, dvds, bluray because they can always release something better. People bought those movies, then throw them away 10 years later.
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