Forum - View topicREVIEW: Strait Jacket DVD
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I recently watched this when Sci-Fi network played it on their Monday anime block, and wasn't impressed. It was like one of those chaotic, trashy anime they used to air back in the day when they ran out of good ones, like Venus Wars or Robot Carnival. Or better yet, most of the anime Encore's Action Channel has aired. You know, okay to watch while you're not really paying attention or care, but not really worth getting into.
Interesting review, as usual, Casey. |
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Vash6905
 Posts: 6 Location: Southeastern Oklahoma - Tracking a huge buck |
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Yeah I would have to agree with the review on this one. I mistakenly bought this on a whim without checking the history on it first(darn my attraction to shinny things
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Should only be a rental at best, but I only lost $15 on it so I'm not too mad. Last edited by Vash6905 on Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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LordPrometheus
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I also made a blind purchase of this, but I wasn't nearly as disappointed as the reviewer. It was only okay, but it wasn't nearly as bad as has been made out. But then again, I'm a sucker for anything featuring Crispin Freeman.
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Vash6905
Posts: 6 Location: Southeastern Oklahoma - Tracking a huge buck |
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I'm in total agreement with ya there. I hold the dub a little higher than the review, the va's are one of the reasons I held onto it that and it's one of those titles you can pop in the dvd player if you're in the mood for some bloody vilence with an easy story to follow. So i guess I'm not in complete agreement with the review. 
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MagusGuardian
 Posts: 589 |
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I also watched this on the ani monday block when it was aired on sci fi, I thought it ok although not As bad as the reviewer found it, worth watching if your not die hard on what you watch or too loose about what you watch. all in all in my personal opinion worth watching if you want to kill time
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Really, I'm rather surprised. I haven't seen it yet but I recall it getting a relatively positive rental rating on Shelf Life a while ago. I was sort of looking forward to it but I don't know if I'll get it now. Especially if as the reviewer says: Strait Jacket...is not a self-contained animated feature film. It's just an OVA that mines the original source material...for a subplot or two. I find this trend in anime very annoying. If I purchase an anime, I want it to contain a complete plot. It seems for some reason though, they feel it's fine to produce only a piece of a story. It really is rather crazy when you think about it.
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lesterf1020
 Subscriber Posts: 292 Location: Trinidad and Tobago |
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It has a complete plot. It just doesn't have a complete plot or story arc from the original source material but what is here is complete. The quality of the plot is what the reviewer is attacking. In particular he is attacking the quality relative to the source material which I suspect is the reason for all the hostility. This is not A-list or even B-list material but it isn't awful. I thought the dub was decent and well acted. Again not A-list material but better than a lot of the dubs for A-list anime I have heard. The animation wasn't bad and even quite pretty in places. I have seen a lot worse on far better anime. In short, while this isn't great stuff, probably a rental for most people, I really don't see the need for all of this hostility. There are lots of anime that deserve that kind of venom. This isn't one of them. The reviewers trashing of this anime was amusing though. For an alternate assessment you might want to take a look at AOD's review at http://www.mania.com/strait-jacket_article_87480.html. It is not as amusing but you will probably have a better idea of whether or not this is for you. |
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Jinxso
 Posts: 101 Location: Toronto, Canada |
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I would have to agree with lesterf. 2 weeks ago I found this in a used DVD shop in my hometown while visiting the family. It was only 5 bucks so I figured why not.
As a whole I found it entertaining but the lack of a complete story arc was what let me down the most. The blend of technology and magic was fairly well done and interesting. My biggest complaint is the incomplete story arc, I was left wanting to know more. |
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Anime World Order
 Posts: 389 Location: Florida |
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That an entire paragraph was not dedicated to appreciating the finer details of that gun and its ability to shoot through hospitals suggests to me that Casey is perhaps outside of the target demographic for this cartoon. Indeed, this reads like something I would write were I forced to do a review of like, Sasami Magical Girls Club. Strait Jacket is one of those things where the people who dislike it do so for the same reasons as the people who do like it: it's a throwback to the OAVs of the 1990s. That is precisely why I thought it was quite entertaining.
A critical detail that was somewhat glossed over in this review is how INSANELY GORY AND VIOLENT Strait Jacket is. Yes, there's one brief mention of shedding large volumes of blood, but it's so fleeting that it suggests the reviewer considers such a detail trivial and ultimately of little importance. In fact, the OAV-caliber violence level that was so commonplace once upon a time is precisely what makes Strait Jacket so refreshing. Story? Who CARES that there is no story?! And characterization? I'm sorry, I was too busy watching that freaking demon explode to object to the fact that there wasn't any. Strait Jacket is a cartoon for sophisticated people who can understand the finer qualities of seeing women, children, scientists, and blue collar laborers getting bloodily bisected by a crazy deformed demon--the default cause of death in this world--which in turn is then shot to death by an enormous cannon that ends up doing more collateral damage than the demon itself. Either you strongly want to see this sort of thing or you strongly do not, and if you strongly do not then you should be aware that you are the fuel of the Moe/Fujoshi industrial complex. In this era of instability, I say that anime needs more things like Strait Jacket for the sake of restoring the balance. King of Fists though he may be, Raoh cannot do it alone, and while Strait Jacket may not quite be at the Cyber City Oedo 808 level of greatness (really though, what else is?) it is a capable soldier nonetheless. |
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Animehermit
 Posts: 964 Location: The Argama |
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I think that the review was a little over critical, like the previous poster said, its a throw back to the good ol' days when anime was all about blood and breasts. I found it pretty enjoyable. not worth buying, but worth renting defiantly.
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Reibooi
 Posts: 394 |
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I think the reviewer if going way overboard with the hostility. I found the Dub to be quite good. I picked up the DVD simply because it featured Bridgett Hoffman and Crispan Freeman. I thought it to be a pretty good dub. Not the best but certainly not the worst.
Sure the OVA doesn't explore the manga all that much but that's not to bad a thing it ends up being a decent diversion I enjoyed it and picked it up for like 10$ on Amazon so I don't regret my purchase. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Did it ever occur to you that, as a female reviewer, Casey might not consider those to be "the good old days"? I certainly don't. If you want anime or manga with gobs of violence and sexuality, go watch/read Berserk, at least there you'll also get complex plots, developed characters, and gorgeous art. I watched one episode of this via fansubs and was utterly unimpressed. It was appalling how many things it seemed to be ripping off (Fullmetal Alchemist being one of them, as Casey noted). Now, I often feel that Casey's reviews sometimes take unnecessary shots at people who might like an anime or manga (not to mention giving anything BL a free pass...), but in this she just blasted the anime, so I think it was perfectly appropriate. If you disagree with it, come up with a way to convince people she's wrong... other than saying that appreciating things getting killed is "sophistication." 
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Maur
 Posts: 55 Location: SLC - Not Quite NYC |
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Within the first few sentences it becomes apparent that what the reviewer means to say is, "I don't like this kind of anime." She then goes into some contrived details to make it look more like a review and less like the cynical tirade that it is.
This is the part that really gets me. The majority of reviews seem to either over-glorify something they like, or over-demonize something they don't. And from these "reviews" you have to somehow extrapolate whether a title will be something you will enjoy or not. I don't mind critical reviews when they are funny or done with good taste, but more often than not they are just vapid and spiteful. Yes it's violent. Yes it's gory. No, Strait Jacket is not groundbreaking anime, but if you require having your mind blown every time and being revolutionary is the standard by which you measure things, then you will find most anime (and things in general) disappointing. I may be the lone voice of praise in an ocean of aspersion, but I really liked Strait Jacket. I firmly believe the reviewer here is projecting her distaste for the genre on the title itself. Maybe there wasn't enough comedy relief or cliche sweatdrops for some people's satisfaction. It's not the most original thing you'll ever see, but the things Strait Jacket does, it does well. I thought the voice acting was flawless. With an all-star cast, Freeman and many more, I could not complain (even I'm not that jaded and I've watched over 200 anime titles). Like others, I went into it with very low expectations, I figured, how good could it be if it's airing on Sci-Fi channel right? To my surprise, I found the setting intriguing and the premise fascinating, so much so that I went from "kind of paying attention" to giving it my full attention. It was very action driven and the pacing was perfect. It still spared enough time to flesh out or develop the characters enough to make them interesting. I suspect that perhaps it's not as character driven as some people would like, but I liked Strait Jacket for what it was. No different than someone who enjoys a good action flick. So the plot was "incomplete," but unless you are too busy looking down your nose from your high horse, you should get the sense that it was meant to be that way. Like an appetizer before a full course meal, it gives you an idea of how rich the story could be if they could make it into a series. So don't let this "review" fool you. I hate this kind of pedantic, condescending and deceptive reviewing so much I couldn't hold it in anymore and just had to register to at least give this title some form of intelligent consideration. Strait Jacket may not knock your socks off, but it is far, FAR from the worst anime you could see, and as good if not better than most. Edit: Also, I would avoid the link provided by lesterf, the Content section spoils the whole thing |
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toddc
 Posts: 164 |
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The sad thing is that I was looking forward to Strait Jacket mostly on account of its visual style. I would've forgiven it any lapses in plot if it only had lots of nicely animated shootouts and bloodshed. Instead, it just has the industrial revolution mixed with every mediocre monster-hunt anime in history.
Yes, the truly disappointing thing about Strait Jacket is how little action it actually has. For every brief, viscera-spewing demon murder, you've got scene upon scene of bland conversation or the unappealing hero stomping around in his magical Jin-Roh armor and glowing a lot. Entertaining anime can be stupid and violent, but it should never be boring. Also, the whole "you're not the audience" argument is and always will be a pitiful defense. Crap is crap. |
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lesterf1020
Subscriber Posts: 292 Location: Trinidad and Tobago |
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True. But one man's crap is another man's guilty pleasure. We don't all like the same thing or value things the same way. It would have been nice if the reviewer in addition to letting it be known that this is crap, provided enough info for someone to decide if they liked this crap. I have lots of guilty pleasures. Things I know to be crap but I love it anyway. There are also many great anime that either do nothing for me or I actively despise. I just want enough info to decide if something is my taste or not. Then you can judge and insult the anime to your hearts content. That's why I like Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli as movie reviewers. They frequently deliver brutal and fanboy reviews but most of the time they provide enough info for you to make up your own mind. |
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