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This Week in Anime - Does Gen Urobuchi's Name Mean Anything Anymore?


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Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:23 pm Reply with quote
I'm sorry to hear that Revenger is not making more of a splash in fandom. It's among my favourites this season. I like that, despite some flourishes, it's a reasonably grounded action/thriller show with some thematic heft. And for the record... I didn't even know that Urobuchi was involved.
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moozooh



Joined: 30 Sep 2022
Posts: 148
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 2:43 am Reply with quote
I stopped having any faith in Urobuchi long ago. F/Z and the original PMMM were his best works by a long margin. Psycho-Pass S1 was a conceptually interesting take on The Minority Report (although it seriously irritated me with all those paper-thin philosopher namedrops) and occasionally fun in execution, but nowhere near the level of the other two in terms of the originality or emotional impact. I'm not into Thunderbolt Fantasy, but I'm willing to take all of your words for it that it's a good one. That concludes everything noteworthy the man has ever done. Which is good, sure, but not worthy of the reverence he's constantly showered with as if he's the writer. Why not Chiaki J. Konaka, Hideaki Anno, or anyone else whose thought-provoking screenplays shook the anime fandom to a much bigger extent at some point?

But holy cow did everything else suck! Almost made me believe Butcher's best works were a fluke rather than something deliberately made.

I didn't even watch Bubble because I immediately figured it was another vanity project conceived to cash in on the big names involved. It was evident exactly from the names themselves, because who'd ever be naive enough to believe so many superstar creators would be able to work well with each other? When has that ever worked out in practice? Surely enough, that was exactly how it panned out.

Madoka Rebellion in particular made me feel so much worse about the entire series because it felt like somebody extremely rich had paid a studio to film their horribly written fanfic—which is structured like every horribly written fanfic ever: subtly retcon a very clever and satisfying ending to fill an unnecessary sequel with inconsequential celebratory scenes where it's either everyone having a good time together and munching on memberberries, or characters who we hadn't seen fight each other fighting each other, or poorly set up drama happening just because there needed to be a reason for the movie to exist. Rebellion has all three of those and no plot progression for almost the entire first hour. Riveting stuff, and it pains me to admit it's treated as canon now. Do I have faith in the sequel? Not in the slightest. Probably won't even watch it either, unless I hear very convincing endorsements from people whose taste and reasoning I can trust.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 4784
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 3:04 am Reply with quote
I feel alone in liking Bubble pretty well. It wasn't the most original story but I liked the characters, the world building, and I like the whole sci-fi take on The Little Mermaid story and I thought it was a cute enough movie. I'm not sure what more people were expecting from it?
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blooperboy



Joined: 28 Dec 2021
Posts: 131
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 5:09 pm Reply with quote
This article really honed in on the feeling that so many of us have of disappointment; where for a short time he was a reason to be excited about things and then we just got our hopes dashed time and time again. Now it really IS more of a 'oh he's working on x project? I'll keep an ear out to see if maybe (this time) its good.'
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vanfanel



Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 1239
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Even great novelists, who unlike screenwriters do not have to follow the edicts of directors and showrunners (who themselves receive lists of demands from the big media companies who are paying for their shows' production), aren't able to produce great novels every single time. Do a deep dive on almost anyone who's written an acknowledged classic, and you'll probably find they wrote tons of other stuff too that nobody ever talks about. They did so because they had to keep writing even when they didn't have an incredible idea, because they had to put food on the table just like everyone else. To have even one or two things remembered long after you're gone is quite an accomplishment.

Urobuchi gave us Fate/Zero and Madoka (Rebellion does not exist in my dojo), and for that I'll always appreciate him, and know what he's capable of when firing on all cylinders. But if I expect that level of work every single time, I'm setting myself up for disappointment. Almost everyone who finds themselves "hot" for a while eventually goes through this. Unable to repeat prior levels of success, their fans' expectations become a double-edged sword that holds them to a higher standard than other, less famous writers.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 4784
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:10 pm Reply with quote
I think it's less of an issue with Urobuchi's writing dropping in quality and more that anime studios keep slapping his name on all the marketing on all these projects where it turns out later that he had very little actual involvement in them and it's usually those projects you can tell the writing isn't as good as the stuff Urobuchi actually did. Like he clearly had little involvement in that RWBY anime but that didn't stop Shaft from slapping "from Gen Urobuchi!" or whatever all over the trailer which already gives people false expectations of what it was going to be like. I remember studios also used to do this a lot with Shoji Kawamori when they would have like "from the creator of Macross!" on all the marketing but it turns out he just did mecha designs or something.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2377
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:37 pm Reply with quote
Hearing some people still bitter over Rebellion reminds me of the time people still complained about it. I've gotten the impression that over the years, the people who loved it still love it and the people who gave it another chance or let it sit with them after some time ended up coming around to appreciate it almost as much as the series (it is written with a lot of the same subtle, but tight attention to dialogue and character). I've seen lots of video essays taking it apart bit by bit with love, but I haven't seen any actual vitriol over it in literal years. That's fine. Some pain never dies. Lol

But yeah, I'm lucky to say I've mostly delved into the stuff he's written that has been good and avoided (by chance?) a lot of the stuff people are less thrilled about. Thunderbolt Fantasy has a big place in my heart for its characters and storytelling, which feels like a normally serious Urobuchi just trying to have some fun. And I'll vouch for his older visual novels. I don't think Urobuchi is a one-hit wonder, but I never put so much on any single author. Even my favorite writers in anime like Ikuhara and Okada Mari have a lot of duds that just get washed out by their good works. And they don't have a "good era" or anything, either. They sometimes come back with good stuff. And so be it. I'll always keep my mind open for anything Urobuchi writes and if it's not that great, I'll just stop watching/reading.
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Suxinn



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:09 am Reply with quote
I absolutely love Urobuchi, and I've done my best to watch/consume most of his output over the years, even the ones that just seemed to slap his name on it and call it a day. (Yes, I, in fact, sat through the whole of Chaos Dragon -- a big mistake.)

What I've realized is that Urobuchi is still a good writer (or, at least, his writing is still to my taste) -- as long as he's allowed to write. If he's just responsible for the scenario (Aldnoah) or a few episodes (Gargantia), I don't tend to end up enjoying them, or I tend to enjoy only the episodes written by Urobuchi. I feel like Urobuchi is the kind of person to need an entire cour at least to air out his pet themes, and his themes, and the way he presents them, are what I like about him, which is why those things with Urobuchi's name slapped on them willy-nilly just don't resonate with me.

I do agree that the Godzilla trilogy movies were his weakest work, though, and I think they're a complete mess, writing-wise, but thematically, they're still as fascinating as Urobuchi's usual output tends to be, and so I don't regret watching them at all.

I also find Urobuchi's work, despite slipping into dark places sometimes, some of the most... hopeful stories I've ever seen? Like, putting aside his Nitro+ VN days, all of his TV (and movie) work has ended with a glimmer of hope despite whatever dark things the protagonist goes through, which is part of why I like him. And I think this quality has only become more pronounced in his recent work.

Anyway, I had genuinely no idea that Revenger had Urobuchi involved. Is he actually writing the scripts? If so, I might watch it then. I haven't been keeping up with recent anime news at all, so I hadn't even heard of this show until now.
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Mewmaster300



Joined: 04 Dec 2018
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 3:36 pm Reply with quote
So, just wanted to note here - Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom was pretty well known a decade ago. In 2011 it was ranked at #170 on MAL.

- https://web.archive.org/web/20110807132018/http://myanimelist.net/anime/5682/Phantom:_Requiem_for_the_Phantom
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:57 pm Reply with quote
Juno016 wrote:
Hearing some people still bitter over Rebellion reminds me of the time people still complained about it. I've gotten the impression that over the years, the people who loved it still love it and the people who gave it another chance or let it sit with them after some time ended up coming around to appreciate it almost as much as the series (it is written with a lot of the same subtle, but tight attention to dialogue and character). I've seen lots of video essays taking it apart bit by bit with love, but I haven't seen any actual vitriol over it in literal years. That's fine. Some pain never dies. Lol


I am still one, who is still bitter about it. Though I have never blamed Urobuchi for it. There were many hands in that mess.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 25, 2023 6:33 am Reply with quote
There are a couple of nice official clips about the music for Gunslinger Stratos 2 game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go6raeJ6kqQ&t=164s (start point is Kaori Oda on vocals). Maria from Garnidelia is also a vocalist in the game OST.

Another official clip with Ayasa, Maria and Kaori Oda for Gunslinger Stratos 2 is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgbVWb3lqtQ

Returning to Gen Urobuchi again, he does have some absorbing creative input, but not enough to recommend anything on his name alone.

I bought the Gargantia OVA's from CD-Japan while they were still available but haven't watched the full series or the OVA's yet. Great series OP by Minori Chihara btw (ironically last heard at a Nitro+ event where there was a live Thunderbolt Fantasy performance complete with Kyuubey).

One of these days I'll have to get hold of and watch Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (RIP Bee Train).

Thanks for this particular journey through This Week in Anime!


Last edited by omiya on Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:21 pm Reply with quote
I'm definitely in the minority. I never really thought highly of Urobuchi, in fact I'm of the firm opinion that Fate/Zero is hot garbage, while Madoka was just fine (largely carried by everyone on the team that *wasn't* him). Ironically, despite the column dismissing it, Phantom is the most engrossed that I've been in an Urobuchi work, although it's certainly far from perfect, and the ending was quite distasteful.

It is shocking to note that despite penning two massive hits that came out within close proximity of each other, and every studio under the sun trying to use his name to attract attention...he himself has just kinda faded. Not totally irrelevant mind you, otherwise people still wouldn't be trying to use his name as recently as last year, but if you became an anime fan within the last couple of years, I wouldn't be shocked if you hadn't really heard of him much.
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