Forum - View topicANNCast Holiday Special The Third: Part Deux
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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@JesuOtaku:
I agree with your general analysis, but would like to add that I think another problem was that it had way too many characters. I have no problem with series that have a huge cast (I couldn't love Fullmetal Alchemist or be an Urasawa Naoki fan otherwise), but there is such a thing as having too many. Take Revolutionary Girl Utena (the obvious parallel to Star Driver). By my count, there were 21 plot-important characters in a series of 39 episodes, with maybe 15 being major characters. That's plenty of time to develop all your major characters and even some of your minor ones. Star Driver, on the other hand, had only 25 episodes and nearly 40 characters. A handful got some development, but others just got "twists" where they secretly liked so-and-so and nothing ever came of it. Also? Head had nothing on Akio as a villain spoiler[(or Anthy, for that matter)]. It was tremendously disappointing, though the visuals are stunning and the first half is pretty solid. But as it neared the end you could just see the whole thing collapsing. And I know, I know -- off topic! 
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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After listening to the podcast, I might give Wolf's Rain a look if the opportunity arises. For some reason I can't recall, I originally dismissed the series, but now I'm more intrigued. The fact that Yoko Kanno provided the music and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was the English ADR director only adds to my interest.
Kudos to Justin for bringing up Mary McGlynn's name as someone who's quite under appreciated. I've been a fan of her's since first hearing the English dub of GITS: SAC when it was initially released and her VA portrayal of Motoko Kusanagi. I didn't realise until after Justin pointed it out that she was also co-ADR director in the Laughing Man (SAC first season). It was after GITS: SAC that I started noticing her name appear under director and/or script credits more and more, in addition to VA credits. On top of that, she sings too! A very talented individual. I was in my thirties when I saw The Fifth Element when it was first released in the theatres. As the guys said, it still holds up quite well. I still find it a fun movie to watch.
I'm a Dai Sato fan myself. I didn't realise that Kazunori Ito was involved with the first two Patlabor movies (some staff names I remember, some I don't). I loved those two movies, especially the second one. |
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reanimator
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I labeled Mari Okada as hot writer because the results that she brings in. I admit that Okada is not everyone's favorite. Every writer has different style and his or her style may not appeal to all fans. Even Chiaki Konaka, the writer whom you prefer, has his own share of not-so-stellar titles as chief writer. How about Enokido? Even with him being Ikuhara's high school buddy and with Ikuhara's Toei and Gainax connections, he seems to have very few works both inside and outside of the animation industry. Every fan has his or her favorite writers for whatever reason. Okada's narrative style is not for everyone. Sure, her writing feels wordy and overdone. Even with her flaws, she managed to come up with decent stories and they seem pretty successful among (Japanese) fans. We all know that adaptive works are not the best to some writers. So far, her original writings worked well with when she teamed up with right people. More experience the better is for most screen writers. Not all writers are blessed with immense talent like Nobumoto and Enokido. Okada may not be the super talent, but she is honing her writing skills by getting involved numerous productions Again the result matters, not the process. As long as the she brings in good amount of audience with engaging story, then it's acceptable. |
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Parsifal24
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I marathoned Wolf's Rain in one night from a technical and artistic standpoint it's very good, but I didn't "get" the ending a lot like how some people didn't get the T.V. ending to Evangelion.
It's one of those shows I can respect but not nescerly like. |
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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Zac, you classify Precious as racist, but basically everyone from the original writer to the director to the writer, to the people who famously backed it (Oprah and Tyler Perry) are all of the same racial background.
So if it's going to be tagged with any label, it's self-hatred. I have not seen Precious, and I have not seen Observe and Report yet. I heard it was good, and Justin's review of it just makes me want to see it more. |
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Animerican14
 Posts: 963 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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 It's real awesome to see all the love for Wolf's Rain in here. Ever since getting a glimpse at a certain user's opinion over the series & the OVA (with the later being rated a few grades lower than "good"), I've been starting to think less highly of my original strong opinion on the show, being the terribly insecure person that I am. So yeah, it's cool to see that love/liking for it-- and from ANN's top guys, no less!
I really adore the music for this series. Having more of a preference for anime songs sung in English than in Japanese, I already found quite a bit to love about the OST-- I'll always have a soft spot for "Heaven's Not Enough" and "Gravity." And there are several really beautifully done instrumental pieces, some even heartbreaking ("Beyond Me" and both versions of "Requiem," in particular). Truly, it's been the music that's kept the memory and fondness for the series alive these past several years. It makes proud to own a legit copy of the second OST (and even prouder when I hear that the OST goes for ridiculous prices now, heh.) I never thought that this show dragged on for me, though. I guess part of that has to do with how Wolf's Rain counted as one of my first ever "grim-dark/cool" anime series. Having never seen any of those other dark/cool shows (such as Evangelion or even Cowboy Bebop) that Wolf's Rain could be compared to, and having the majority of my prior anime experience be rooted in long-running, generally more light-hearted shonen-type shows, I thought that the pacing was perfectly fine as I saw its initial adultswim broadcast. Therefore, I really didn't have a problem with the inclusion of such-and-such character (Darcia is always gonna be a cool villian in my heart). Hmm... this gets me thinking that I should finally fully re-visit the series sometime soon, now that all the singles are in my possession-- and yes, that includes the recap episodes that I asked for as a 16th birthday gift. |
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bemused Bohemian
Posts: 404 Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville) |
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Brazilian movie Central Station: back in the late '90's--early '00's TV's Bravo used to operate as an art house format. At certain times of the day or week you could be mildly entertained with foreign films, indie films, thought-provokers seldom-seen and thankfully not Hollywood, etc. while affording the most basic of cable options. You didn't need the extra $$ to afford the premium cable (HBO, Cinemax, Starz) options to experience cool flicks. Sadly, for me, Bravo changed this format about a decade ago and I was forced to pony up more $$ to the cable moguls in order to view anything worthwhile cinematically (short of collecting tapes and dvds).
I have watched this film several times over the years and I feel your summations about certain adult roles does this film an injustice. As there is a 30+ years' differentiation in our respective ages I have to take into account each viewer is unique and will analyze what they perceive different from the next person based on learned behaviors and life experience. Twenty years from now you may want to watch it again. I'm certain your interpretation will be different. Two parting remarks: 1) I have to chuckle about the reveal of Justin being condescending critiquing anime releases. Heck, I realized that the 2nd time I listened to these ANN weekly orations. Justin, I often wondered if you ever wrote some of this dialogue in a sober moment....hahaha, now I think I know?? 2) Yes, many of us are in agreement about tiring of high school as a plot setting in anime. One wonders: did all the Japanese animators flunk their college entrance exams and this is all they remember about those years or is this the age cohort of their core buying audience? Too bad there isn't an adequate foreign made movie detailing my experiences suffering high school where retribution for my restored sense of self is but a master stroke away from realization. Godzilla wasn't around then to firebomb or stomp on the environs while subconsciously deconstructing the rest of Baltimore for future urban renewal projects or highway thoroughfare land acquisition. However, thanks to a certain anime imaginative tour de force, I do have the visual vehicle available to deliciously derive limitless pleasure from such destructive impulses. I have elevated a certain half-episode of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt as my avenging angel. It accomplishes everything I could ever wish for from that latent adolescent perspective. It offers defiance of authority via hierarchy role diminution (Angels vs Demon Sisters with guns) and it facilitates cathartic release watching the chaotic school building demolition sequences (thank you See-Through and Brief). I believe this may explain why I dearly revere the series: it's everyperson's artistic form for dissing conformity and rules. |
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DmonHiro
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I just watched Colorful on hearing good things about it from Zac and Justin. May I please have my 2 hours of life back? I feel I could have been doing something more worthwhile, like snorting cocaine.
Oh my God, I've seen more subtle messages on fortune cookies. The twist was pathetic, and the spoiler[whole bullying part] was so goddamn predictable it was laughable to have them present it like a surprise. I could go on stating the problems with this story.... so I will. The pacing was horrible, and nothing was actually resolved with the family, like AT ALL. I cannot believe this movie is getting such high scores. It was beyond boring. I didn't even know there WAS anything beyond boring, but apparently, it's when you actually start thinking about soup during the movie. |
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ljaesch
Posts: 299 Location: Enumclaw, WA |
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I listened to this podcast the other day, but this is the first chance I've had to comment on it.
TO-Y: As a child of the 80's, I have to say that I'm interested in seeing this after hearing about it on the podcast. Seeing that it aired in 1987, this would be during my pre-teen and early teen years. The nostalgia factor alone would be amusing. 
Macross 7: Oh my goodness! My older daughter and I were laughing like crazy as we heard the descriptions for this one. While I was amused by the discussion, I'd probably be one of those Macross fans that wouldn't enjoy it. I loved the original Macross when I saw it as part of Robotech back in the mid-1980s, and loved the original Macross in the original Japanese version when I finally got to see it in the early 2000s. Wolf's Rain: Last year, I was given the Wolf's Rain: Leader of the Pacl DVD that has the first five episodes of the series of it. My husband and I watched this together, and by the end of the disc, we didn't feel compelled to continue following the series. By the end of those five episodes, we just didn't see any reason to care about the characters. The Fifth Element: I saw bits and pieces of this movie at my in-laws' house when it was on television. The bits I saw looked interesting, and I really should get it and watch it in its entirety. |
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YotaruVegeta
Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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I liked (or should I say didn't hate) Chris Tucker in The 5th Element.
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UtenaAnthy
 Posts: 694 |
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Uh, Justin, could you please not make generalisations about people with high functioning autism, I have aspergers syndrome, and I am not obsessively focused on one thing (in fact I also have ADHD so even though I really like animation, for instance, I often cannot finish a film without getting distracted, I can understand the themes and empathise with the characters, and I don't have a problem with slow paced, meditative sorts of films, but I have a ridiculously huge backlog in part because of my distractability), plus even if someone does have a special interest that is very central to their life, that does not mean they are "simple minded". I mean, seriously, I don't go around making generalisations about people with bipolar disorder. It feels like you assumed that no-one autistic would listen to your podcast. Now, to be clear, I haven't seen Macross 7, so for all I know the character in question genuinely does convincingly come across as autistic, but I get sick of people diagnosing a disability just because a character is portrayed as stupid or ignorant or obsessive about something. When you're talking about people who are viewed by society at large as missing a fundamental component of humanity, the simplifications employed by fiction often really don't help.
Disclaimer: The following statements are my opinion, I am not claiming that they are objective facts. TO-Y: Fun 80s time capsule, with oodles of style, and I get what Justin was saying about the character study aspect. I don't love the 80s, as I have never found an american TV animated series from that era apart from the first season of The Simpsons that wasn't a huge disappointment (personally I really don't think american TV animation took off until the 90s, though there was still lots of rubbish, there were some really excellent shows as well), to me they all just come off as embarrassingly cheesy toy commercials with a heaping helping of "won't somebody please think of the children" inserting clunkily delivered morals into the storyline (I'm not blaming the makers for that last problem though, as they didn't have a choice), on the bright side at least some of those shows got rebooted into something much better later on: Transformers Beast Wars, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Thundercats (2011), and I do think the decade produced plenty of great stuff on the media front (note I am not counting technological advancements in media storage such as the VCR and know very little about gaming) apart from that (alternative music and some of the mainstream stuff, animated films (pretty bad decade for Disney though) animated TV series from other countries than the u.s., the OVA, live action films, manga, books). Windaria: Haven't seen it, plan to, have been waiting until I feel like I can cope with watching something that depressing. However, I did just watch The Plague Dogs (by the same director and based on a book by the same author as Watership Down, and it's a much better film) and while I cried buckets during, I feel fine now, so maybe it's a good time to watch this. I just watched A Wind Named Amnesia the other day (had the DVD in a box of stuff to sell unopened as I only got it because it was in that Yoshiaki Kawajiri creator pack that CPM put out with the Birdy the Mighty OVA, which was what I really wanted at the time, also included was Demon City Shinjuku which I watched fairly soon after getting the set and think is good apart from that bit where the guy acts like he's the ultimate hero just because he didn't rape his love interest when they share a room for the night, not raping is the DEFAULT SETTING, not some advanced level of brilliance that can only be achieved by a select few, though maybe they were saying that he's a git and the film is supposed to show him symbolically letting go of that kind of attitude by the end, I doubt it though), it would be interesting to compare yet another piece of older downer anime (if you're wondering, yes I did like A Wind Named Amnesia, the animation leaves a lot to be desired and the soundtrack is unremarkable, but it's pleasingly romantic speculative fiction which makes me much more interested in seeing The Five Star Stories as that makes two poetically beautiful and haunting sci-fi anime by Kazuo Yamazaki that I've seen (Please Save My Earth was the other)). Sorry about the lack of proper paragraphs, I'm rubbish at them (and I also tend to put way too much text in brackets). Edit: Just remembered that AWNA is from 1993, I thought it was from the 80s when I first saw it because of the synth soundtrack, but the DVD cover informed me otherwise. Last edited by UtenaAnthy on Sun Jan 01, 2012 5:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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bemused Bohemian
Posts: 404 Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville) |
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After listening to this broadcast again I see that I was mistaken picking on Justin about his summaries re Central Station and I hope he will forgive an old guy for memory lapse (I do need to start note taking during these podcasts versus rote memory).
So that's my resolution for the New Year re posting: take good notes before typing. Good show, guys. Thanks for the entertainment. |
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She overwrites, is the problem. Even when she has good ideas, she runs them into the ground and has her characters REALLY MAKE SURE that you know exactly what they're thinking and why they're thinking it and--bleh. Sophomoric stuff. I'll take the aforementioned Yoji Enokido, Ikuhara, Konaka, and definitely Nobumoto over her. 
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