Forum - View topicShelf Life - Chocolate Bund Cake
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GATSU
Posts: 15306 |
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vash:
They didn't do it to him, but they're still loose cannons.
Except the only people he really kills are those who are guilty. And they were going to kill him first, so I wouldn't say they're entirely "innocent".
If the guy or gal's a potential threat to his life, and chooses not to give him a hard time, there's at least some justification in protecting himself and others from a future assault. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Sounds awesome. I should check out the movie, then. I honestly did actually like the story and really wanted to know what happens to Tetsuro and Maetel... there were just things that bugged me throughout. A more streamlined telling might work better for me. Thank you for listening to me complain! 
And I'm gonna just ignore GATSU and thon's "vigilante violence is okay" logic. Mostly because he's not addressing my point that the kid wasn't "a good, kindhearted boy" anymore. |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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I can't recommend an anime loli show, but I can recommend a book: Fledgling by Octavia Butler. I dislike lolita characters in anime because they are filled with tacky pandering and bad writing. Fledgling doesn't pander, but it is much more explicit than any anime loli show, and extremely well written. I always think about how much I liked this book when someone on the internet is pointing out how much of a "prude" I am. 
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Baltimoron
 Posts: 43 Location: Charm City |
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Re: The debate about character morality and hero/villain status and the use of Magneto as an example
Magneto (along with Emma Frost and some-time villain Namor) is currently a full-fledged member of the X-Men and is a vital part of their operation on Utopia. Professor X, on the other hand, is persona non grata because it turns out he's a dick who was covertly manipulating a number of X-Men with his psychic powers. Moral allegiances are even more fluid than the imperfect moral systems underlying them. |
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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Erin, from what I recall, you enjoyed Gravitation and Junjou Romantica, right? Well, both of those are just as (if not more) laden with fan service than K-On and other shows that I've seen you rag on. While one can't compare a plot-heavy show like Gravitation with decidedly more simple fare like K-On, the concept of somebody freaking out over one type of fan service, yet embracing another, is pretty much the same. If you're going to bash on panty shots and a (grossly misinterpreted) display of a girl being embarrassed, then surely you can understand how shirtless guys clinging onto each other and blushing like submissive waifs might not be as brilliant as you make it out to be.
I know every critic has bias in some aspects, but I might argue that I've rarely seen such a broad display of it. Female fans' love of BL is no better than male fans' love of moe, and people acting like such elitists about it is starting to get really old, really fast. It would be a lot easier if women admitted that they're just as perverted as men and got on with it. Surely it can't be hard to understand that men are just as attracted to seeing women in a hyper-sexual light as women are to seeing men in a hyper-sexual and submissive light. |
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Anymouse
 Posts: 685 |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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I think you're selling me a tad short here. I haven't reviewed Gravitation for this column, just Otaku USA, and thanks for reading the magazine. That said, I gave Miracle Train a Flushable rating, because it was quite bad. I also rental shelved Neo Angelique Abyss because it was boring. I've been avoiding La Corda D'Oro because I hated volume one of the manga soooo much (super boring protagonist!). Anyway, those are shows that pander to chicks and I don't like them. I don't give every "moe" show a perishable. I thought Sekirei was OK, and it even had a loli character. I gave Magikano and Clannad ~After Story~ Part 2 both rentals, and those shows have moe elements. I am particularly sensitive to hyper sexualized depictions of children - of either gender - in anime. Thankfully, I haven't had to review any shotacon titles, but you'd find I would probably give those perishable more often, too. Since little girl characters have fallen into the mainstream, I can't very well rate every show with a potential "loli" character as Perishable. I try to save Perishable for the truly offensive things that are in truly bad taste, poorly produced, or have a mess of a plot. I can understand where some people might get just as offended as I got about Strike Witches if they watched Junjo Romantica. Cultural (and/or religious) standards in some countries probably facilitate similar "hang-ups" when comes to depicting gay adult men (and/or women) as the U.S., Canada, and Australia have laws on the books about depicting sexualized kids (virtual or not). But I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't about the law. Every reviewer is going to have some bias, I think that's human. If you're wondering where my kinks are, I've tried to mention in the column that I'm biased towards muscle hunks like Toriko or Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. I'm biased towards loving Shonen Jump titles like One Piece and Hikaru No Go. I'm also biased towards anything taking place in space. I've loved what I've seen of Space Commander Cobra, and that had bikini babes for male fan service on screen all the time. As I said in that review, it didn't bother me because those ladies were sexually mature. I'm not against sexuality or fan service, but I am against sexualized, prepubescent kids. My real problem with a lot of "harem" shows or magical girlfriend series is that more often than not they tend to be very predictable and highly formulaic. |
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_Emi_
 Posts: 498 Location: Langjökull |
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You should really look into Jojo's Bizarre Adventure then if you haven't already. Muscled hunks all over the place. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15306 |
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vash:
I didn't say vigilante violence is ok, but vigilance is fine. And unless he gets off on his kills, then he's a good, kind-hearted boy in my eyes. Besides, it's a wild and crazy trip he's on, and expecting to have the same standards on one planet as he does on Earth is a tad naive. They even point that anomaly out a couple times in later episodes. |
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Kakugo
Posts: 163 |
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I'm only half inclined to agree with you; it's certainly there for shock value/titillation, but also serves a defined narrative purpose. It proves that the Three Clans already suspect that Nina is duping them, but without any sort of concrete evidence they're resigned to honor the agreement that they made with her. The Three Clans seemingly want to make their takeover of the vampire's political world to appear as "legitimate" as possible, and the only way to do that is by marrying into and siring the next generation of the Royal Family. Nina is the key to that, and keeping her humiliated and watching her every move is likely them trying to brow-beat her into admission that she's really spoiler[an adult in children's clothing]. I've already addressed the fact that we're discussing a completely absurd lolicon-vampire political-thriller. Of course it places service over common sense; that's simply what pulpy trash horror cinema does, anime or not. Now I get it, this particular flavor of pulpy trash just ain't your bag, but at least it's woven that fetish into its raison d'etre. You can't remove the lolicon and still have the same political narrative in DitVB any more than you can remove the violent, pervasive sexuality from Wicked City or Legend of the Overfiend and not dramatically change the outcome of the storyline. Heck, that level of taboo "service" is seemingly the very same reason the titular vampiress Carmilla was a lesbian circa 1872. Well, either that or Shiredan Le Fanu was writing one heck of an allegory championing heterosexuality... take your pick, I guess. |
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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Interesting that I should finish watching both Galaxy Express 999 and Dance In The Vampire Bund just a day or two prior to this recent issue of Shelf Life being posted.
I found GE999 to be a nice romp back in time, resurrecting some nostalgia for something I'd seen over twenty years ago. I know I've seen it's sequel, Adieu Galaxy Express 999 many years ago as well, though admittedly, I don't remember much about it and I'm eagerly looking forward to watching it again (I picked it up at the same time as GE999). As for DITVB, I didn't find it particularly overly offensive, though I can see where others would have a problem with certain elements of it. Controversial elements aside, I found the story to be an interesting take on the vampire/werewolf mythos. I tend to agree with Theron Martin's review of the series. Erin, or anyone else who's seen the Blu-ray version of DITVB, did you notice anything odd about episode 2 in regards to sharpness of the visuals? I know in episode 1 there would be a change in focus of subjects as many views were from a camera's perspective (ie you are seeing the subject through a camera lens, which is adjusting to bring the subject into focus). I noticed in episode 2 that often subjects in various scenes were not sharply defined and almost looked to be out of focus. This phenomenon stopped after the second episode. Was just curious if you'd experienced the same thing. |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
Posts: 598 |
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I don't remember anything like that, specifically. Were you watching the DVD or the Blu-ray version? Maybe they were trying some intentional rack-focus techniques to add depth. Did it look unintentional? |
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Jedi Master
 Posts: 400 |
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"Oldtimers"... I guess if you get old enough all younger women may as well be considered lolis 
~~~ DitVB: I got it on sale but haven't watched it yet. The trailer shows cool action scenes. I hope it lives up to the hype. One of my buddies is into the manga and seems dissapointed with the anime. He used to be in favor of censorship of anime/manga until I used Bundt to point out the flaw in his logic. K-on! fanservice: I read the manga before watching the anime. I agree with the earlier statement that the anime handled Mio's fanservice scene more tastefully than the manga. Overall though, Mio is the least loli of the main cast. K-on reminds me of Azumanga in that each of the girls has a specific role to fill and one could expect that Mio's role in the group is to be the mature sexy girl, much like Sakaki in Azumanga is teased as "an American" due to her developement. K-on! marketing: I recall hearing it mentioned on ANNCast that people will gripe about the cost of K-on! but buy it anyway. I definitely consider the show entertaining enough for a purchase. I also wouldn't be surprised if it becomes more popular overtime. At AX there wasn't much expression of K-on fandom during day 1 or 2. But after the day 3 concert I recall day 4 having more k-on cosplay and k-on music blaring from boomboxes and such. Magneto!?!: I don't recall why y'all are debating about Magneto, but I remember one of the great appeals of X-men is that the protagonists aren't always heroic and the antagonists aren't always villainous. The series has deep characters and complex relationships that helped elevate it beyond a simple good guy / bad guy story. |
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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I was watching the Blu-ray version. As the DVD version comes with the combo-pack, I checked episode 2 in that format too and the same focus issue was present The phenomenon was strange, because it mostly occurred during action scenes. For example, during the missile attack scene a few minutes into the episode, Akira saves the princess. The scene goes in and out of focus. The same thing occurs when the two of them are battling the spider creature amongst the tall buildings. It's almost like being in a theatre and someone keeps adjusting the projector. If it was intentional, it was very annoying. I didn't get the impression that we were looking at those particular scenes "through the lens", as in the first episode. |
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