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Shelf Life - Made in Abyss


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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 4:51 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Honestly, it's not hard to ignore but it's definitely there. Every time a punishment is mentioned it always has a sexual nature to it, but those are only present early on (and I think only depicted in one brief still image). It's really a tiny slice of the show and probably won't kill your enjoyment of it.


Gotcha. Thanks for the insight, and to Shiflan as well. I'll be seeing for myself soon enough.

Shiflan wrote:
The main character of Angel Links, Meifon, never appeared in Outlaw Star. A couple of her henchmen showed up as minor characters in one Outlaw Star episode. A couple of minor Outlaw Star characters have minor cameos in Angel Links (Fred Luo, the weapons dealer and the waitress from the bar depicted in Outlaw Star's first episode) I found that the Angel Links characters were standard tropes and the plot of all the episodes I bothered to watch boil down to the same simple formula: try and fight the enemy, when that doesn't work (it never does), use the secret weapon "links cannon" and blow them away. I know that anime is often times known for its formulaic plots but Angel Links, IMHO, is among the worst.


The thing is, Meifon and Kosei were part of the original Outlaw Star depiction of the Angel Links space police force in the development sketches, even wearing the same uniforms as Valeria and Duuz did in Outlaw Star. However, this was all scrapped when they decided to take Angel Links in an entirely different direction as a spinoff. I can tell you that Angel Links is nothing like how it was originally intended.

I think they were worried the crew would be too stiff and formal if they kept them as a space police team like in Outlaw Star, so they were transformed into something a bit more free-spirited, which included making Valeria and Duuz different than before, including changing their looks and personalities.

If the show had been longer, maybe they could have developed the cast better and not relied on the "always use the big gun" formula for most of the story. I was hoping they'd do an episode about Duuz's planet when I first got the DVDs back then, but that was too much wishful thinking on my part.
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Shiflan



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:01 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:

The thing is, Meifon and Kosei were part of the original Outlaw Star depiction of the Angel Links space police force in the development sketches, even wearing the same uniforms as Valeria and Duuz did in Outlaw Star. However, this was all scrapped when they decided to take Angel Links in an entirely different direction as a spinoff. I can tell you that Angel Links is nothing like how it was originally intended.


Yes, I know the background and that's why it's so frustrating that the anime wasn't what it could have been. I have a hardcopy of "All About Meifon". The OP was pretty good for its day too. Alas that's really the only thing I find memorable about it. Duuz was a pretty cool character but like all the characters was very superficial, and static. I thought it had so much potential (with such a great universe)but fell pretty flat on so many levels, especially compared to the background work they did.

Quote:
I think they were worried the crew would be too stiff and formal if they kept them as a space police team like in Outlaw Star, so they were transformed into something a bit more free-spirited, which included making Valeria and Duuz quite a bit different than before, including changing their looks and personalities.

Agreed.
And it would have been nice to have a bit more crossover with the outlaw star universe, even if it was just minor details--especially since that was a big marketing point not only in the west but also in Japan. I have the LDs, and the paper insert talks about how the story is tied to Outlaw Star. Yeahhh....not really. I don't think it's a bad show per se, but given high expectations coming off Outlaw Star it seems to get despised more than it otherwise would be. (oh why, oh why, is there not a real sequel to Outlaw Star...)
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:28 pm Reply with quote
All of Patlabor for less than a hundred dollars? Including MiniPato? Region A media collectors can appear rather spoiled from time to time.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Shiflan wrote:
Yes, I know the background and that's why it's so frustrating that the anime wasn't what it could have been. I have a hardcopy of "All About Meifon". The OP was pretty good for its day too. Alas that's really the only thing I find memorable about it. Duuz was a pretty cool character but like all the characters was very superficial, and static. I thought it had so much potential (with such a great universe)but fell pretty flat on so many levels, especially compared to the background work they did.


Oh you have the art book too? Nice, I thought I was the only one who owned a copy. Admittedly, Duuz was the whole reason I watched Angel Links in the first place (which should be obvious to anyone who knows me here). He definitely was the standout cast member, it's just a shame they didn't do more with him. I did love the soundtrack for the anime, since it was by the same fellow who composed for Big O. I recognized his style pretty easily in a lot of the background tracks.

Angel Links indeed had a lot of potential, but it just wasn't able to do enough in its brief run. I think more episodes would have helped and allowed it to become something even better.

Quote:
Agreed.
And it would have been nice to have a bit more crossover with the outlaw star universe, even if it was just minor details--especially since that was a big marketing point not only in the west but also in Japan. I have the LDs, and the paper insert talks about how the story is tied to Outlaw Star. Yeahhh....not really. I don't think it's a bad show per se, but given high expectations coming off Outlaw Star it seems to get despised more than it otherwise would be. (oh why, oh why, is there not a real sequel to Outlaw Star...)


Especially considering Valeria and Duuz had been rewritten with new personalities and looks, I wonder how their interactions with Gene and company would have been had the Outlaw Star team made an appearance at some point. Now that would have been interesting, for a start. As for a sequel, the ending to Outlaw Star definitely felt like it was teasing the idea that Gene's adventures in space were only beginning, but of course nothing ever came of it.


Last edited by belvadeer on Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:57 pm; edited 2 times in total
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2269
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:56 pm Reply with quote
The current season is filled with pretty strong titles, but I don't think anything's come close to the heights of Made in Abyss since it aired. I absolutely cannot wait for its next season.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:37 pm Reply with quote
I feel like the past two years or so have been especially strong for anime (really screwing with my classic anime schedule here!!), but Made in Abyss is the first title that comes to mind when I think of that, which is saying something.

And speaking of classic anime, yes, that complete Patlabor set is such as steal it might as well be robbery. I couldn't pre-order fast enough.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:53 pm Reply with quote
I reluctantly bought Made in Abyss on blu-ray. It's one of the most incredible looking shows I've ever seen and I love the story but Sentai discs tend to lock the subtitles if you switch to Japanese. You'll understand my frustration when I hear talk about piracy ruining the inudstry when they literally use tactics to prevent people from wanting to buy it.
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Raikuro



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:14 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
Gina Szanboti wrote:
I don't see any difference between the Handa-kun BD set that was released last year and this set, other than the "Essentials" banner slapped on the cover and the $25 ($35 list) price cut. Did they put it all on one disk or something?


The Essential line is the new name of Funimation's SAVE series so it should be exactly the same release except for the blue banner.

The older release is also a Bluray/DVD combo, while Essential is just Blu/digital.
Nice that removing DVDs can make it cheaper, though it is strange the Kino's Journey The Beautiful World skipped the DVDs but still the same price as other combo packs...
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Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:26 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
I feel like the past two years or so have been especially strong for anime (really screwing with my classic anime schedule here!!), but Made in Abyss is the first title that comes to mind when I think of that, which is saying something.


Agreed so much with this. When I used to come across a substantial amount of people a few years ago proclaiming that current anime is dead (a stance which I never understood), after Made in Abyss premiered, I thought to myself that that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. I love MiA to bits and is a show I think most people should take a look at.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1816
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
And speaking of classic anime, yes, that complete Patlabor set is such as steal it might as well be robbery. I couldn't pre-order fast enough.


My problem is that I already have all the Blu-ray releases included in the set, except the third movie. Guess I'll just wait for the stand-alone BD to go on clearance.
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Takizawa-Shinzou



Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:18 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The only gripe I have with the show is so extraneous, so occasional, and so unpleasant that I barely even want to talk about it - the pedophilia thing.


Did we watch the same show? There's nothing really remotely close to pedophilia in MiA. This makes me question what weird thoughts YOU have in your head if you viewed anything in that way. Best anime of the 2017 hands down. There's nothing really wrong with it in major way.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:44 am Reply with quote
Romuska wrote:
I reluctantly bought Made in Abyss on blu-ray. It's one of the most incredible looking shows I've ever seen and I love the story but Sentai discs tend to lock the subtitles if you switch to Japanese. You'll understand my frustration when I hear talk about piracy ruining the inudstry when they literally use tactics to prevent people from wanting to buy it.


The worst part is that Sentai and Funimation would rather not do it, and it was forced on them by Japanese companies. Sentai did hold off for a long time, and used geolocking instead, but they did eventually have to start locking them.

It would be nice if they would start including closed captions for the dubbed track, so hard of hearing viewers can enjoy them. Viz is really the only anime company that does it.
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1493
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:22 am Reply with quote
dragonrider_cody wrote:
It would be nice if they would start including closed captions for the dubbed track, so hard of hearing viewers can enjoy them. Viz is really the only anime company that does it.

Illumitoon's dubtitles were a good early example of that same practice.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:40 am Reply with quote
Quote:
more importantly, never allows what its characters experience to feel excessively cruel or sadistic. The show isn't suffering-porn, although its characters do spend a lot of time in immense physical pain.


I'm a little confused that Gabriella can make this statement while also going on to say that the author's depiction of particular types of suffering (including kinks like urination, and naked bondage) borders on pedophilia combined with other kinks. Doesn't that make it a form of suffering-porn, even if something enough of us are willing to overlook?
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:43 am Reply with quote
I had no idea Patlabor was coming. Ordered that off Amazon ASAP. So phenomenal that we're getting EVERYTHING, and at a really solid price point, too. Which other classics would get similar treatment--VOTOM and LoGH leap to mind.
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