Forum - View topicNight Head Genesis - It's pretty darned bad
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undeadben
 Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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Ok I haven't seriously followed this show regularly, actually it came as a surprise to me when I found out the season had ended, and I still haven't finished it but I had been wanted to post about it for a while now.
First of all this show is bad. Really bad. So bad that not many people may want to chime in on this for fear of admitting that they have seen a few episodes. Actually the first episode was pretty good and sets up a potential story with a good concept behind it. But after that all it really offers are ridiculously contrived predictable plots, poor characters and dialogue, disastrous absurd endings, and some very weak "shock" sequences. So why am I still watching? Well, on the flip side, the reason I have not dumped this into my "will not finish" list is that it is so god awful it's sometimes comical, which is also why I won't rate it as bad as it honestly deserves (I gave it a "weak"). I mean it does get annoying often which is why it's not good to watch more than an episode at a time. But in scenes that try to get dramatic or serious especially, it will make me roll my eyes, but often chuckle or laugh out loud at the same time at just how bad it was done. Particularly scenes with the ever crybaby younger brother Naoya, god what a poor character he is. He screams for everything, and is always crying for his brother to save him, even when in apparently no danger whatsoever, and the actor really helps out by really hamming it up. I remember one scene early on where Naoya and Naoto, no they're not twins, were driving around trying to find a girl who'd been abducted. spoiler[The girl had been put in some kind of suitcase, or trunk as it was translated, by some villain (another inane character) and the brothers were driving around following the visions that Naoya was having about the abduction in process. They cut to a scene where the villain (sorry so bad I can't remember her name) kicks the trunk and the girl cries. Quickly cut back the the car where Naoya feeling her pain also cries out loud. And this is how the dialogue went more or less: Naoya: Aaahh!!!! Naoto: What happenned? Naoya: (crying) She was kicked.. in the trunk. Naoto: Sh**!!] And that Naoto, he is always angry. Often no reason for it whatsoever but he gets really worked up and scowls a lot which is also good for some laughs. Even the choices in direction and animation are often so hideous that I can't help but laugh at how completely inane and incompetent it looks. It's like watching a bad horror movie, you know the plot is bad and the idea contrived but you can't help but laugh at it. And the the only bigger problems are the episodes where they try to actually build a story and get things moving, those just end up incredibly boring and I usually skip through large parts of these. I mean honestly this is not so "horribly" funny that it will ever be memorable in any way whatsoever, and I might never really finish it, last I saw was episode 10, but what I've seen does provide the occasional laugh. Last edited by undeadben on Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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selenta
 Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Wow, I'm glad.
I'm glad that it wasn't just me that thought that. I was pretty interested after the first episode, but due to various reasons didn't get back to it until episode 4. After watching 2-4 (each episode requiring exponentially more effort to watch), I just gave up in disgust. The attitudes of the characters, the completely illogical behaviors, the "acting" (for lack of a better word), and the absolutely terrible direction for the show, were all... for lack of a more appropriate word (to express that it is my opinion): unacceptable. You gotta wonder why fugitives would make such a huge fuss and get so heated over such ignorant (from the main character's perspectives at least) comments from complete strangers that weren't even directed at them. When they flipped there, the show basically lost the last shred of respect I had for it. |
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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Heh, even the fansub groups are complaining about how bad it is and wondering why they're still even subbing the thing.
Which makes me not want to watch NHG even more. Apparently it was based off of some 1992 live-action film titled "Night Head". I don't think I want to watch that either. 
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undeadben
Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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Oh, god, that was right from the beginning in the second episode. And you seriously sat down for another two after this? I mean I'm watching it, more or less, but I'm getting some sort of amusement from picking out all the absurdly inept moments (there's a lot), I can't imagine too many other people, who aren't insane like me, watching this after 3 episodes. I mean they may have gone back to episode 3 thinking that 2 was a fluke, but you are an incredible optimist to go back to a fourth. 
Yeah, after episode one I was all set for a tale of mystery and horror, and couldn't believe just how asinine it got, and at how quickly it got there. I'm thinking the creators for this show are probably the same people that write some of the really bad fillers that people hate for other shows, except they went a step further in making this one monumentally atrocious (this series quickly turns me into a thesaurus for negative adjectives). I should take note of the writers and directors to make sure I stay away from their stuff in the future.
Wow, I hadn't thought of this, but now that you mention it I'm crying at how long it takes me to get new episodes of some of my favorite series when a really good group took 24 weeks to get this POC (piece of crap) out in 3 to 4 days every week. They could have been doing NANA! 
There's a movie!?  I'm almost tempted to see if it just as bad. No, no, no. I think I'll find a better use for my time.
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Buster Blader 126
 Posts: 1206 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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I've also watched only the first 4 episodes, but that's mainly due to me prioritizing other series that I enjoy more.
I personally don't think it's THAT bad. I do like the concept, and it has a lot of potential, but the quality does seem to be decreasing. Maybe I'm just too open-minded? & on another note, I absolutely love the 2nd Ending Theme for this series. 
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Daemonblue
 Posts: 701 |
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I've actually sat through 17 of the eps....does that mean I'm optimistic or just wanna watch all of it so I can say "I watched all of it and it sucked."?
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undeadben
Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Normally when I don't like a show I can see where it would interest other people. I dislike Eva, but I can see where people either really appreciate all the episodes before the last few and are willing to overlook them, or then again, I can see where people might actually enjoy the last two for any number of reasons, despite how poorly done I think they are. I also despise Tennjho Tenge, but I can see where people might really love that show for the high energy action, the music, and a few other things. I can not see anything at all that I believe anyone might enjoy, except for the unintentional humor, in the episodes 2-10 that I have seen of NHG. So, you said it is not that bad. How not bad? What redeeming values do you see that I might have missed? I'm not trying to say you're wrong because it is always subjective, I'm honestly interested.
Well, it all depends how you see it. Are you disgusted with it and yet still looking for it to get better? Or heck, I haven't seen that far, does it actually get better? Or are you just putting yourself through some type of torture test? Do you find the ineptness occasionally humorous like I do? Or maybe even, do you like the show? If so, I'd like to know why. |
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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Well I'e watched 10 episodes of this and.........have the rest on my computer, well through 23. I didn't actually think it was that bad until 5.....then I realized it was getting awful. Then it continued down that long and lonely road to 10. Now I need to watch the rest.
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Daemonblue
Posts: 701 |
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@ben Well it's hard for me to say, it really takes a lot to turn me away from a series, though I must say it does get rather boring with everyone mind controlling everyone else >< I don't feel like I'm forcing myself though, that is saved for the first ep of Hanaoka (or h/e it's spelled) and the first 7 minutes of Kemonodzume.
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Buster Blader 126
Posts: 1206 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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I put a lot of thought into this, so it might be a bit long. It's mainly the concept that interests me. The whole "psychic" thing is one of the things that intrigues me, as well as the mysterious girl in the beginning of the series, which has/had potential to become interesting. But to be honest with you, one reason that might attribute to my lack of dislike for this series is because I'm VERY open-minded when watching anime. I don't give a hoot what genre it is, nor do I care who its intended for. If it's anime, I'll watch it. In addition, my opinion of an anime virtually never worsens throughout its airing/release due to this. Also, I usually go into a series with relatively low expectations, to prevent overrating a series, which lessens my overall enjoyment. Like Daemonblue, it takes A LOT to turn me away from a series. As a result, I find many series that would usually be regarded as garbage by anime fans in general to be decent enough to my liking, and some I actually end up liking (alot). Heck, my favourite anime is Pokémon, a title aimed for children that is usually seen as repetitive, never-ending, slow-paced (in terms of plot), and only meant to promote the games in which it was originally based on! I also seem to lack the ability to properly critique a series. Honestly, I often try to, but by doing so, it usually lowers my overall enjoyment of a series. It might be because of my open-mindedness, or maybe I just don't look hard enough for the specific faults of a title. Basically, it has to be extremely crappy for me to think of it more negatively than positively. Therefore, I guess that NHG just isn't "crappy" enough for me to think of it in a negative light. Of course, I've only watched the first four episodes, so who knows? Though I must say that I already find the "Naoya!!" "Nii-san" banter to be a little annoying. 
I hope this answer satisfies you.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator  Posts: 11297 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I watched half of the series today and didn't find it all that bad. While the concept of psychic powers and such can make for an interesting story in the long run, a lot of the potential is ruined by a number of things (mostly from a production standpoint, in my opinion). However, I currently have this rated around a B- (So-so) / C+ (Not Really Good) up to this point.
------------------------ I'll start with the pros. As I mentioned, the concept itself seems pretty intriguing. Psychic abilities and supernatural phenomenon of that nature are elements I like in fiction. In this series you have the two brothers, while sickeningly dependent on one another, representing the two halves of the psychic spectrum; telepathy (Naoya) and telekenisis (Naoto). Rather than having just one person possess both of these abilities, I think the contrast in characters (weak Naoya & strong Naoto) compliment each other fairly well. Yes, Naoya is a giant crybaby who whimpers everytime he comes into contact with someone, but that's where the contrast should be most apparent. Personally, I think his mind reading abilities serve their purpose in trying to provide either a small shock for the audience or just exposing the apparent "dark side" of all these wretched people they keep meeting. After all, they were locked up for 15 years in that research facility and were only kids. So it's not like they have any life experience in dealing with all the potential scum out in the real world. I like Naoto's character much more as an adult. Seeing glimpses and flashbacks of him as a kid, I really wanted to slap him in the face for how annoyingly angsty he was. Screaming at everyone, claiming pursecution, sheltering his brother, and throwing psychic punches/body slams at everyone was just uncalled for. But that's how children are; stupid, irrational, and always jumping to conclusions. I also like his seiyuu. Toshiyuki Morikawa is a guy I've been wanting to hear more of, and a lot of his stoicism is retained from past roles I've heard him do (Griffith from Berserk, Sephiroth from FFVII: Advent Children) as well as a bit of fire and passion (D-Boy from Tekkaman Blade). He grounds a majority of the voice acting by himself and serves as a nice distraction from his whiny little brother. But getting back to the story, after the first 5 or 6 episodes spoiler[ where that crazy lady and her submissive boyfriend were killing the girls in purple,] I think the series becomes a lot more watchable in terms of continuity. spoiler[ You actually have somewhat of a cohesive story centering around Shouko (who I'll call "God" girl, since she seems to be acting like one) and the sudden appearance of all these other psychics.] spoiler[ Then, you still have the theory of who exactly these villains are and how their statements of the Kirihara brothers' power to alter reality will affect things. Did they make their parent disappear? Do they really hold the key to mankind's future? Does their power have anything to do with God girl?] I also like some of the music. I don't care too much for the synth work, but there were a few pieces that gave off an almost Mushishi atmosphere; subtley creepy. Looking at the credits, I see this guy also did the soundtrack for the live-action movie Onmyouji, which I hear is a pretty good movie (I have the DVD, but have yet to watch it, though I will say this soundtrack might sound pretty good for a Heian era setting). If you can get over the first few episodes and eventually become accustomed to the two brothers' personalities, there's actually a decent mystery underneath all that rubble. But don't get me wrong, there are cons as well. ----------------------- The cons. Terrible artwork and animation. The 2D hand drawings have an extremely stiff and rigid feel, which is only made up for by some of the CG, in particular the little psychic battle in episode 12. Aside from that, though, the animation is some of the worse I've seen in recent years, and this was only made in 2006! The coloring is average, but the character designs feel either very uninspired or just plain stupid (especially spoiler[ that Commando looking guy who's suppose to be the manifestation of the brothers' negative energy]), all of which is accopmanied by very rough outlining. There's just no feeling of symmetry, and too much of the characters' frames have a real jagged appearance. The scipt is pretty bad as well, most of which were from those first few episodes. It does a poor job of charcterizing the main characters, as well as throwing in a lot of random comments that seem to fill in the silence rather than create any particular kind of drama or build an atmosphere. Not sure which versions you all are watching, but from what few words I picked up in Japanese and the subtitles, the translation wasn't that bad, so much as it was just the choice of dialogue and the places they decided to insert some of the crappier parts. And as mentioned, Naoya is a friggin' crybaby for a lot of the first half. Thinking about it now, the little bit I mentioned about how this span of time is essentially the brothers' first experience of freedom makes a lot of sense. To remain in captivity for 15 years with the same old, same old, only to break your way out and experience the unknown would be shocking for anyone. Although it's a bit overexaggerated by Naoya in particular, I can empathize with the concept they're trying to present here. ------------------------ So up to episode 12, this is my analysis. I wish I could be a little more detailed, buy my eyes are really tired, and listening to Asian Kung Fu Generation isn't helping my concentration any .
I will complete the series tomorrow and post my final thoughts afterwards. Not a bad series, but it's not as horrendous as I thought you guys were making it to be. |
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undeadben
Posts: 1212 Location: West Texas |
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Thanks for the reply. I'd like to think that I'm pretty thick skinned when it comes to anime, but the truth of the matter is that I'm very critical of things that don't fall into my usual tastes while often over-praising works that do. So while it might seem completely horrible to me, that's just my prejudice maybe, and that's also why I asked, I like to try and see things from other people's perspectives.
That's why I first started it, I read some of the summaries and thought that it might be interesting and the first episode actually did do a good job of hooking me in also. Just the following episodes sort of turned me away.
I don't think that at all. Everyone has an opinion and the best things about opinions is that they are your own. improper or proper has nothing to do with it it's an opinion, how you word it is up to you.
Fair enough. I've seen my fair share of titles that people probably label as awful or worse but to me they just weren't so that's how I look at things to. Like I said before I think I just too often hold additional prejudices against certain titles that aren't in my usual likes.
Sure does, thanks!
Thank you for the list of pros. I think that one of the things with me is that after a certain point I started mainly paying attention to all the faults and started to simply ignore anything positive that might be going on. Some of the things you mentioned, like the continuity of the story with the appearances of Shouko and the story around spoiler[the disappearance of the parents (and their house)], thinking back to it it actually does make a certain sense in the progression of the story. Now that I actually think about it it was strange that the spoiler[elderly lady, when they went to the property, told them that the lot had been vacant since she was young,] or something like that. That actually provides a nifty little clue. But I'll reserve second guessing myself until I watch more I don't know, maybe if I stopped trying to pick at the series it might turn out to be decent, I'll have to keep this in mind the next time I sit down to watch it instead of letting my prejudices get the best of me.
Looking forward to it. If, when I go back to the series I'll post more and see if I can actually find any good stuff. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11297 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Alrighty, just finished the last episode, and I have to say it's not too bad. I will give this a B- (So-so), meaning if it ever got licesned, I'd buy it, but only if it were in the Bargain Bin at Right Stuf or something.
From the first half I watched yesterday, I thought the series was going to be some kind of supernatural drama with a psychic theme, and that's it. But if you get into the second half, there's a surprising amount of philosophical undertones written into the conflict between the Kirihara brothers and their opposition. The summary I'm about to give may sound cheesy from a plot perspective, but if anyone out there has seen X (TV), NHG is essentially a very, very low grade version of the same theme. spoiler[ So in the main plot, you have the Ark Corporation, which was alluded to by the crazy lady killing all the purple-dressed girls and God girl Shouko. So what the heck is Ark? On the outside, Ark is a corporation that specializes in the communications industry (Internet, TV, stuff like that). But underneath, you have this old lady who is the President and also a soothsayer. She sees this terrible, terrible future for humanity and is attempting to purge the planet by inducing worldwide destruction through the release of Negative Energy, wiping out everyone, and letting the planet heal itself.] spoiler[ Her motives for doing so are explained beforehand by that crazy, sadistic guy with the mind control (Sonezaki). He claims the world is full of materialistic hedonists that seek nothing but pleasure and that a majority of people in the world are scum that deserve to die. Of course, this is false if you have any sense of reality, but they seem to depict mostly negative images throughout the series, so in a way Sonezaki is right.] spoiler[ However, Sonezaki himself plays a very small role, as he soon becomes incapacitated, and we move on to the big fish; Mikuno] played by one of my favorite bad guy/anti-hero seiyuu, Junichi Suwabe. Anyway, spoiler[ his power is a mixture of mind control along with some id amplification powers. The point of this is to seek and control a girl who is being targeted by Ark, Sakie Amamoto. Her power is signifcant in that she has the ability to transmit her emotions to anyone around her. Subconciously, she has the potential to use this power on a very wide, even global range.] spoiler[ The President of Ark knows this and attempts to bring out this force by severely wouding her psyche. By using Mikuno to kill Sakie's sister, her mind is completely shocked, sending the negative force of her power all over the world and nearly killing everyone. Naoto, whose powers are just about fully awakened, kills Mikuno and resolves things with the Ark President, averting the disaster that would've anniahlated humanity.] This is the main story, but oddly enough it only ends at episode 22. The last 2 episodes are somewhat of an epilogue involving a new scenario. However, the scenario is resolved in the exact amount of time it needs, and there's really no conclusive ending, so if they wanted to, they could continue with another series (probably an episodic one). Concerning the whole "70/30 percent of our brain is used" thing in the prologue of each episode. Mikuria explains this in detail around episode 15: spoiler[ Saying there's a theory he made while at the research lab and that all humans have the potential of using psychic/spiritual energy. But because society has become so materialistic (this is meant to compliment Sonezaki's motive), hardly anyone remembers it anymore. And if people were to surpass that 30% limitation, the mind would then detach itself from the body and become a spiritual entity like God girl Shouka.] spoiler[ Unfortunately, they hardly use her character beyond this revelation, aside from one scene where Naoya's full potential is almost tapped, seeing his spirit ascend to where Shouko was, until she sends him back (somehow).] But getting to the philosophical undertones, I have to say I was sort of impressed. Not for the fact that they wrote it into the story, but the way it was explained. It's been a while since I've seen X (TV), but a lot of what they talked about in NHG holds true in a sense. Mankind can appear to have sunk so low at times, it's no wonder the plot is so Apocolyptic. The writing is not bad when you get further into the series. But because a lot of the characters are lacking in depth, along with some terrible production values, much of the plot and hidden messages may feel overshadowed or choppy. It's fairly coherent, though I would've appreciated more detail and explanation during the revelation and philosphy parts. The message itself isn't necessarily "deep," but it makes for an okay amount of reflection on yourself and humanity as a whole. And yeah, Naoya still whines a lot past the halfway mark..., so I wish I could have given this a B (Decent) instead. If you have absolutely nothing better to do and don't mind crappy art/animation with an ocassional whiny mind reader, but enjoy a decent (though subtle) psychological drama that dictates a little bit about life and philosophy, give NHG a shot, or try to finish it if you think you can handle it. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7983 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Well, I've seen the whole show as well. It's not as bad as you're making it out to be. I found most of the initial episodes extremely interesting as I'm a fan of psychic/supernatural series. The series did a good job of setting up a creepy kind of atnosphere. Although it lost this and it's direction and purpose as it went along and became somwhat of disappointment. Expecially the end which was anti-climactic after all the build up in the early episodes. It could have been better yes but it isn't horrible or anything.
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selenta
Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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My wording was perhaps a little harsh, and I didn't rate it a "Weak" or anything, but I did give it a low "So-so". For me, that's considerably below average. Just thought I'd clarify for those who might have gotten the impression that this is so bad it's good, it's not, it's just not good and was a chore for me to even sit through what I did.
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