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Shelf Life - Golgo Apparatus


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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:21 pm Reply with quote
I think one of the major "WTF" moments from FMP was in the first or second episode when a teacher inspects Sousuke's backpack and finds a gun in it.

I think she thought it was a fake or something, but I really thought it was in extremely poor taste, especially after Columbine. I know, I know, that was a long time ago, but it did strike me on a personal level and it took me awhile to laugh with the show again after seeing that little "gag"

That's just me though...

The line "She was carrying art-supplies for class...I mistook it for a terrorist attack" is completely gold though in my opinion, so I wouldn't consider myself a complete prude
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DavidShallcross



Joined: 19 Feb 2008
Posts: 1008
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:51 pm Reply with quote
Everywhere I have seen "high concept" used, it was in the sense of the Wikipedia definition, except perhaps with less irony. As in, Snakes on a Plane is high concept, Lord of the Rings is not. The general idea is that there is a one-sentence pitch of the film, which any hack screenwriter should be able to flesh out to a script. Nonetheless, if Erin has her own personal definitions, as long as she gives them to us at the start of the article, we can all get by.
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BeanBandit



Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 303
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Personally I thought the Golgo TV series was more then a tad disappointing. Felt like watching a PG-13 of something that should have been a hard R. That and I thought the animation was pretty poor for a newer show, especially compared to a lot of anime TV series being made these days. Not awful animation by any means but below par for what I'm used to seeing. Overall I thought it was pretty boring as well, pretty much after you've seen a few episodes you've felt like you've seen them all.

Only Golgo I thought was ever good was the manga, I don't know what it is but the serialized format just seems to work better in print then the movies or the TV series.

And is it just me or does every second episode of Golgo involve a hijacked plane in some way?
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unready



Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Posts: 398
Location: Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I disagree with Wikipedia's definition of a “high concept” film (at the time of this writing)...

Wikipedia has the same problem any Internet wiki has: content is determined by consensus. Even though that keeps things like the "truth" that be BP oil spill was caused by a North Korean sub torpedo from being canonized, it also means lame misunderstanding can become de facto.

Quote:
I always thought high concept films had big ideas, big budgets, lots of action, and big stars, like Die Hard or The Expendables.

Unless it's intended sarcastically, I've always understood "high concept" as the antonym of "formulaic" or "stereotypical." So when you say Die Hard and The Expendables qualifies, I'm going to assume you're going for sarcasm.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:23 pm Reply with quote
DavidShallcross wrote:
Everywhere I have seen "high concept" used, it was in the sense of the Wikipedia definition, except perhaps with less irony. As in, Snakes on a Plane is high concept, Lord of the Rings is not. The general idea is that there is a one-sentence pitch of the film, which any hack screenwriter should be able to flesh out to a script. Nonetheless, if Erin has her own personal definitions, as long as she gives them to us at the start of the article, we can all get by.


I would agree. I think the irony comes in with the fact that "high" is often used in a sense that denotes quality - i.e highbrow - whereas "high concept" usually is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Also, the presence of "big budget" or "big stars" does not make something high concept. Saving Private Ryan had some big stars and had a big budget, but it was not a "high concept" film.

I agree with Erin, however, that the premise of FMP - elite soldier ordered to guard seemingly "ordinary" schoolgirl and thus has to pose as a "ordinary" highschooler himself - is a high concept idea.
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Dimlos



Joined: 02 Mar 2008
Posts: 226
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:41 pm Reply with quote
Shenl742 wrote:
I really thought it was in extremely poor taste, especially after Columbine.
Why? Japan doesn't have school shootings and Columbine has nothing to do with Japan, so I don't think they're about to tip-toe around the issue.

Also, my opinion is pretty much the complete opposite; I consider Fumoffu the only FMP series not worth owning. Maybe it's because of the relative seriousness of the first season, but I couldn't get used to the non-stop comedy of Fumoffu. It just felt like a bunch of unnecessary filler episodes, like when a Jump anime catches up to the manga.

Don't see why it caused that sort of backlash, though. I do agree on the dub, as well, never really liked it.
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:21 pm Reply with quote
Dimlos wrote:
Shenl742 wrote:
I really thought it was in extremely poor taste, especially after Columbine.
Why? Japan doesn't have school shootings and Columbine has nothing to do with Japan, so I don't think they're about to tip-toe around the issue.


Oh I know that. And I know that the creators have no real obligation to react in conjuction to something that happens in another country, but nonetheless I was mildly offended by it, and I don't think saying "oh, they're just foriegn" gives them a total pass or should make me feel completly unoffended.

I know this is kind of sensitive issue, and I'm not saying FMP is bad or the creators are bad because of it, it's just something that it's something that comes from my gut, you know?
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neocloud9



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 1178
Location: Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:23 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I stand by my Second Raid review, Second Raid felt like a weaker re-hash of the same story from the first season.


Wow, really? Second Raid was much more dramatically effective for me. It just felt so...emotionally visceral, compared to the first season. Fumoffu's in a league of its own, for obvious reasons. <3
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UtenaAnthy



Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Posts: 694
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:26 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
One of my standards of Shelf Worthiness is that I want the series I purchase to be something I'd either like to re-watch or load to friends. Fullmetal Alchemist, be it Brotherhood or the original flavor, fits both requirements
.

My own standard is that I either know (because I've seen it before) or think it's very likely, that I will want to rewatch it, or alternatively that even if I'm unsure whether I will want to see it again, I do want to see it and it's extremely cheap (as I don't often take chances on stuff I'm unsure about I do not want to get a LoveFilm membership, it would be wasted considering the size of my current backlog that mostly consists of stuff that I'm quite sure I want to see more than once. Plus I'd rather spend the money I could spend on checking out a bunch of stuff I'm not sure about with a service like Netflix or LoveFilm on going to see a movie or two at the cinema. IMO, if something's not worth watching at least twice it's probably not worth watching at all (FOR ME, if you have a different view then I don't think you're objectively wrong, it's just that I personally hate the experience of watching something a second time only to find all value has been sucked out of it, and like having a physical product over a file on my computer, hence my opinion.)
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:23 pm Reply with quote
Shenl742 wrote:
I really thought it was in extremely poor taste, especially after Columbine. I know, I know, that was a long time ago, but it did strike me on a personal level and it took me awhile to laugh with the show again after seeing that little "gag"

Just in case you didn't know, the source for that scene was written in 1998. The Columbine massacre happened in 1999.

Just saying...

It's kinda like being offended by Cowboy Bebop for having an episode where a terrorist is trying to blow up several skyscrapers.
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Ian K



Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:32 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Why? Japan doesn't have school shootings and Columbine has nothing to do with Japan, so I don't think they're about to tip-toe around the issue.


Except they did just that in Shigofumi episode 3. A man takes class room hostage after his son (who was a member of that class) killed himself, assuming that the suicide must have been the result of bullying or some such. When the show was broadcast on air, all of the scenes of the man holding a weapon were omitted, which confused the heck out of fansub watchers trying to figure out why everyone was so scared of the guy and a SWAT team creeping up outside.

So clearly there is some resistance to the airing of certain forms of school-related violence. Maybe the difference between Shigofumi and FMP is that FMP is clearly a fantasy (albeit with a lot of real weapons) while the Shigofumi episode could conceivably happen in real life.
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eyeresist



Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 995
Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:54 pm Reply with quote
Ian K wrote:
When the show was broadcast on air, all of the scenes of the man holding a weapon were omitted, which confused the heck out of fansub watchers trying to figure out why everyone was so scared of the guy and a SWAT team creeping up outside.

So clearly there is some resistance to the airing of certain forms of school-related violence.

I think in Japan they are less concerned with not offending people, and more concerned with not promoting copycat behaviour.

Though by my logic, it means guns have become a lot more available in Japan over the last decade. Dunno if that's so.
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Otaking09



Joined: 24 Feb 2009
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:57 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
One of my standards of Shelf Worthiness is that I want the series I purchase to be something I'd either like to re-watch or load to friends. Fullmetal Alchemist, be it Brotherhood or the original flavor, fits both requirements


Maybe, but, really, why review FMA: BH twice?!

My biggest issue with BH was that, as close to the manga it was, it still wasn't a timeless work of art.
Maybe the manga is, because the manga did it better. I wouldn't know as I've only read 1-2 volumes past where the original anime cuts itself off.
I know this probably isn't the best place to do it, but my ultimate reason for giving the 1st season all the love and respect I can muster is because it boldly used it's source, and then went with that to create one of the best tales of humanity I've ever seen.

Brotherhood, as wonderfully executed it can be, doesn't really mean much at the end of the day... And I honestly preferred the 1st series ending.

I would still buy Brotherhood because it's quality, but it's not timeless.
The only 100% shonen I've seen thus far that I would consider timeless... would be Yu Yu Hakusho. [/spoiler]
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:04 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
Shenl742 wrote:
I really thought it was in extremely poor taste, especially after Columbine. I know, I know, that was a long time ago, but it did strike me on a personal level and it took me awhile to laugh with the show again after seeing that little "gag"

Just in case you didn't know, the source for that scene was written in 1998. The Columbine massacre happened in 1999.

Just saying...

It's kinda like being offended by Cowboy Bebop for having an episode where a terrorist is trying to blow up several skyscrapers.


And the anime started airing in 2002, technically, they didn't have to put that one scene in.

And it's not like Columbine was the first school shooting to happen in the US, I just used it as a point of reference.
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Ian K



Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I think in Japan they are less concerned with not offending people, and more concerned with not promoting copycat behaviour.


Or offending the people who are afraid that the show will incite copycat behavior.

Quote:
Though by my logic, it means guns have become a lot more available in Japan over the last decade. Dunno if that's so.


Apparently gun violence was on the decline when Shigofumi was aired, and gun ownership was going down. But fears don't have to be rational for people to get worked up over them.
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