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House of 1000 Manga - Kimagure Orange Road


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ittoujuu



Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 164
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Forget Madoka Magica, this Madoka was magic way before that. Razz

Really glad to see KOR show up here. I've never read the manga, actually, but I do love the anime, so I'm curious about check out the source material. The music in the show contributed so much to the way I perceived the story's atmosphere, though - I'm not sure if it'll come off differently without it. Something about hearing Madoka wail on her sax into the quiet night just kind of nails the complicated loneliness of her character in a way that comes off perfectly without too many words.

It's difficult to describe why KOR clicked with me as much as it did. Maybe it's the fact that I related a lot to Kyosuke as a character, being kind of idealistic and indecisive as a youth, or because it captured so well that feeling of "having someone that makes you happy close at hand, but someone that would require a lot more work/investment further off that might make you even happier, but you don't really know if they'd ever end up feeling the same way about you as you do about them." That the characters were all likeable added to the effect - I was totally for Madoka, but Hikaru wasn't a bad person, and I knew there was no way around her getting hurt if Madoka and Kyosuke got together. Because of that, KoR's first movie felt like just watching a car crash in slow motion. Its achievement in making me feel uncomfortable was noteworthy, but it felt like a bad place to end the series on. That's why, for all the flak it gets, I liked the second movie. Sure, the art style was weird, but it felt like a send-off much more in line with the spirit of the show. Ultimately the advice I would give if someone asked is to either stop at the end of the TV series, or go on and watch EVERYTHING else (OAVs and both movies). Those seem like the best stopping points. Of course, now I'm curious to see where the manga ends the story, and how. It always felt like the anime was fairly headstrong with doing things its own way. Like I said, never read the manga, but just got that impression from the way the show carried itself, especially in the latter half with the some of the episodes that had nothing to do with the plot but which the artists obviously had fun working on.

One thing that always made me curious about the manga vs. anime was that KOR was 18 volumes long with a 48 episode series, while Maison Ikkoku had only 15 volumes yet produced a whopping 96 episodes. MI definitely had too much filler in it, but I've heard people accuse KOR of too much filler as well.

I still crack up sometimes at how certain elements of the show feel so rooted in their time, like Kyosuke dressing up in his powder-blue suit to hit up the disco for "cheek time," or Madoka's long-dress yankee brawling. But it's nice that in spite of that, the show's emotional core remains pretty timeless and relatable even still.

I really should rewatch this one of these days. I got the DVDs from Animeigo in the early 2000s (after originally seeing the series as a fansub...I know, shame on me), but it's one of those shows I knew I'd revisit someday. And, coming off their Bubblegum Crisis kickstarter, if AnimEigo were to do a KS for KOR on blu-ray, I'd be there.


Last edited by ittoujuu on Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:32 pm Reply with quote
^ I haven't actually watched most episodes of the Kimagure Orange Road anime in over a decade due to not owning it on DVD (please, please, please relicense it, Discotek). However, if I remember correctly, at least 90% of the episodes were fairly straight adaptations of manga chapters or short arcs. The only episode of the TV series that really sticks out in my mind as being completely original to the anime is the "TAP Gun" one.

The biggest difference from the manga in the anime adaptation is the near total omission of Kyosuke's cousin Akane Kasuga (Kazuya's older sister), only present in two episodes of the OVA series. She can cloud one person's mind into thinking she's someone else, but only one person at a time.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:39 pm Reply with quote
ittoujuu wrote:
Forget Madoka Magica, this Madoka was magic way before that. Razz

Really glad to see KOR show up here. I've never read the manga, actually, but I do love the anime, so I'm curious about check out the source material. The music in the show contributed so much to way I perceived the story's atmosphere, though - I'm not sure if it'll come off differently without it. Something about hearing Madoka wail on her sax into the quiet night just kind of nails the complicated loneliness of her character in a way that comes off perfectly without too many words.


There were several composers involved in the soundtracks, Yuki Kajiura (also known for Madoka Magica) amongst them:

http://canta-per-me.net/discography/skor-ost/
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:50 pm Reply with quote
doom: The Kindle editions were terrible, so good riddance.

Quote:
What old enemy of Matsumoto's has been hiding in the shadows the past 20 years conspiring against his success in America?


Well, as Jason pointed out, Vizeisha not being interested, but continuing to play the role of the gatekeeper, was the biggest thorn in that manga's side. Also, the whole selling manga through digital venues is still a relatively new phenomenon.

Tenchi: Anime Sols could hypothetically bring back KOR, too, but I'm not sure if it'll happen. I'm surprised they haven't put out a 30th anniversary Blu-Ray yet for the show, though. Maybe in three more years to coincide with the anime?
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ittoujuu



Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 164
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:57 pm Reply with quote
omiya wrote:
There were several composers involved in the soundtracks, Yuki Kajiura (also known for Madoka Magica) amongst them:

http://canta-per-me.net/discography/skor-ost/


I remember waaaaaay back finding an mp3 of Madoka's piano song she wrote for Kyosuke from movie 2 and really liking it (this was before I had seen the film, even), and years later I was very pleasantly surprised to learn it was a Kajiura piece. Even when she was a relative unknown, she was good! That's certainly the earliest work of hers I know of, at least.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:29 pm Reply with quote
ittoujuu wrote:

I remember waaaaaay back finding an mp3 of Madoka's piano song she wrote for Kyosuke from movie 2 and really liking it (this was before I had seen the film, even), and years later I was very pleasantly surprised to learn it was a Kajiura piece. Even when she was a relative unknown, she was good! That's certainly the earliest work of hers I know of, at least.


There are a few tracks from KOR on Yuki Kajiura's "The Works For Soundtrack" which is still available new from online or retail Japanese stores (mine was from Tower Records Shinjuku):

http://canta-per-me.net/discography/the-works-for-soundtrack/
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 12:01 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:


Tenchi: Anime Sols could hypothetically bring back KOR, too, but I'm not sure if it'll happen.


I'd much rather Discotek license-rescue Kimagure Orange Road as I'd be able to buy it at the local bricks-and-mortar anime store, something I doubt I would be able to do if Anime Sols was doing it.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1816
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 12:35 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Tenchi: Anime Sols could hypothetically bring back KOR, too, but I'm not sure if it'll happen. I'm surprised they haven't put out a 30th anniversary Blu-Ray yet for the show, though. Maybe in three more years to coincide with the anime?


Studio Pierrot doesn't own KOR, just animated it, so Anime Sols isn't an option.

There were remastered R2 DVDs, but I don't know how well they sold.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:03 am Reply with quote
fuuma:
Quote:
Studio Pierrot doesn't own KOR, just animated it, so Anime Sols isn't an option.


Oh, it's an option. Just not active ATM. That's all I can say.
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LaughingSalesman



Joined: 24 Sep 2014
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:41 am Reply with quote
In 1991 I asked my friend for Akira as my first anime and he lent me KOR instead in its glorious Arctic Animation subtitled glory.

Maybe he misheard me, maybe he wanted to convert me, but it worked. Next thing I remember, I was joining Cal-Animage, then I was an officer, buying genlocks, LDs and subtitling myself.

As long as we are on nostalgia trip, anyone have any pointers to old Kimagure Orange Road movie AMV with Red Flag's All roads lead to you as the song?

Song in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdfjY4RR2jw

The AMV was quite well synched in linear editing(ie pre-Caldwell)days so it could not have been Arctic AMV and it was not C-Ko either.
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