Forum - View topicREVIEW: Den-noh Coil Blu-Ray 2
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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I enjoyed the last half of this series. The one flaw I often heard was that the last half tried to cram too much into the last half trying to resolve things. Which created a slight pacing issue. Which is what I saw. I felt this after coming off Moribito. And yes it carries a more supernatural aspect than science. I saw this after I watched it as I was worried that I would need to understand some tech related stuff. But I found watching the show to be easy to follow. It's an interesting combination. It's a great series nonetheless and highly recommended for anyone to watch. Which is why I'm glad that finally happened.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4081 |
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I don't know, I really don't know. In my mind, the main germination of this show wasn't the science or the glasses but that the creator was one day waving to someone across the street at a crosswalk and suddenly imagined that he was at the river Styx... or whatever the Japanese equivalent is; I've seen it in enough shows to know that it's fairly common over there... and the person he was waving to was dead. Or so he thought.
Everything else, all the science and the details, were tailored to fit that idea. I started to throw up my hands when the "E spaces" started moving... that's the closest I can guess what happened when the series became John Carpenter's The Fog crossed with Romero's Night of the Living Dead... and didn't put them down... well, I still have the last two episodes so they're still up in the air. I'll finish it tonight unless I can come up with another excuse. The series really does become a work of fiction where devices designed to augment reality... whenever the creators remember what that means; an image covering a hole means you will fall through it but an E-Space showing a hole doesn't mean you physically walk through it... become tools that... I can't even think it, let alone say it because it's so ridiculous; "Slightly supernatural" is an understatement. Yeah, those two stand alone episodes from the first half... each representative of actual classic science fiction... really were the highlight of the series. I love the music and I love the design, I really love the atmosphere, I just don't like the show itself. |
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Kimiko_0
 Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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I think "slightly supernatural" isn't far off from how a lot of people treat modern technology. They use it, and it works, but not many bother to figure out how it works. It's like magic.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5316 |
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I hope this gets a UK release.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law, yes. |
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ChestPains
Posts: 101 |
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I enjoyed the show. It was good as I watched it and it had quite a few good episodes, but the only lasting impact it had on me was the fact that it felt stale. I liked how they treated technology as close to the supernatural and characters were nice but there were a lot of things that just kind of fell flat.
It's enjoyable as it happens, but it doesn't leave much of an impact when it's done, I think. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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The parallels with the supernatural appear from the outset. The paper tags, like the one Fumie uses to change the traffic signals in episode one, are clearly ofuda. Satchis cannot enter shrines. Much of the dennou world evokes the supernatural like Michiko-san, the illegals, 4432, and the encounters between Yasako and various characters late in the series.
Dennou Coil is hardly the first show I've watched where the line between science fiction and the supernatural is muddy at best. Even a show with a strong scientific emphasis like Noein has supernatural overtones. So I wouldn't call Coil unusual in this regard. The one area where I take exception to the review concerns the musical score. To my mind, Tsuneyoshi's work is a gem with a much wider array of instrumentations than you hear in most anime scores. There are pieces that employ string quartets, woodwind quintets, choral music, guitars, electronics, percussion, and full orchestras, often in unusual mixes. I bought the OST CD back when the show was aired and still listen to it today. Perhaps it can seem underwhelming compared to the more bombastic scores we hear in modern shows, but to me it is a masterpiece of subtlety and musicality with few equals. |
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Kimiko_0
Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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What I liked about Dennou Coil is how it looks at things from a kids' perspective and imagination. The more fantastical aspects feel very natural like that. It's exactly like the sort of stories I used to read when I was a kid (except no one had thought to add AR glasses or even wireless internet to those yet back then), with exciting mysteries and adventures just around the corner of your everyday life.
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I run a middle school anime club. This sounds like something my kiddos would really enjoy. For those of you who have seen the series, do you think it's appropriate? I can show PG-ish things, but no excessive fan service, R-rated cursing, or extreme violence. Thank you!
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18186 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Oh, this one is safe for middle school level, no question. It's rated at TV14 on the case, but honestly, I can't think of a good reason why it's that high.
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here-and-faraway
Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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Awesome! Thank you! |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Yes, this one was shown on NHK Educational TV, so it's definitely fine for middle school. Public television standards. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Having seen it way back in the day in fansubs, I recently recommended it to a friend whose son is eight. It does deal with some serious issues like death, but so did Big Hero 6. To me this is a solid PG show, good for children so long as they don't scare or get upset too easily. |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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You might also consider another show that aired on NHK-E, Kemono no Sou-ja Erin, a fantasy by anthropologist Uehatsu Nahoko who also penned the Moribito series. It does have a few violent moments, and episode seven is profoundly disturbing, so I'd give it a preview before deciding. It streams on Crunchyroll, though frankly the fansub has a better translation. Erin was one of the first shows CR translated themselves, and it shows. Seirei no Moribito itself also aired on NHK-E. Uehatsu targeted a slightly older audience in that show (maybe 14-17), but it's worth a look, too. The violence in Moribito is more one-on-one while Erin shows armies using magical beasts. Moribito streams on Netflix and has an English dub. Both shows focus on the role of founding myths and their influence over politics and society centuries later. |
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ChestPains
Posts: 101 |
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Definitely. Erin was a masterpiece and I am forever glad it was recommended to me one day, I can't think of any moment that was too violent in it, but I agree on episode 7. |
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