Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Elfen Lies
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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I might have to disagree with you on something, Brian. When you said that nothing is perfect, you forgot to factor in "Cowboy Bebop" and "Serial Experiments Lain." Silly you!
#mycompletelyobjectiveopinionsFTW! All joking aside, I really enjoyed this column more than most due to your advice for the fledgling otaku (I would've picked those same titles), and for your thorough explanation on why there will most likely never be another "Elfen Lied" series. I've gotten in so many debates with people who are convinced that just because shows were great, companies will automatically throw money at a new sequel/remake/reboot/rewhatever. Instead of arguing with these people about how wrong they are, I can now just use your article as a handy reference point! Great work this week! :3 |
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Asterisk-CGY
 Posts: 398 |
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Elfen Lied was great only because in the first 5 minutes they built up the character of the secretary just to have her head get chopped off. Up till that point I have yet to have seen a show where random but seemingly untouchable characters die. Rest of the plot kept with that, which stung for what it did, but overall still an iffy story.
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Elfen Lied has its flaws, but I love the show.
The aforementioned secretary, hell, the entire first episode. I'd never seen something like that in a TV anime. Yes, I was younger then (good god it was in 2004!), but its still a shocking first episode. And then the rest of the series just has this fantastic air of dread, they are living with a time bomb and have absolutely no idea. |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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GATSU
Posts: 15298 |
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You're assuming he's doing it "right" for the sake of doing the story justice, rather than resorting to a Lucas-style cash-in of the franchise. 
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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Oh don't tell us you bought that! 
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poonk
Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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(P.S. Also just bought the mp3 for "SexyBack", which I'd somehow managed to never hear before, for similar reasons. I may live under a rock, I know. This is why MVs of all sorts are important promotional tools, imo.) |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5466 |
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Is it really hard to talk about AMVs despite the fact fans tend to flock over to the AMV screenings in conventions? Ugh, I really REALLY wished I posted last week week's question on http://www.animemusicvideos.org/ forums.
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DRWii
 Posts: 636 |
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It's been 2-3 years since I last popped in my copy of the series, but I remember liking the final episode of "Elfen Lied," for the most part. Yeah, I knew it was based on a manga and it didn't cover the whole story (at least, I'm pretty sure I knew that going in), but for me it resolved just enough to be satisfying, and felt like a perfectly good stopping point. The one real complaint I had about it was the scene where spoiler[Director Kakuzawa reveals he's a diclonius and seems to be preparing some evil scheme]. If they'd just taken out that one scene...
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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Elfen Lied is great. Sure it has some flaws, but in the sense of a truly "independent film" meant for the arthouse circuit.
At times, the character relationships seem contrived....but the series *benefited* from being only 13 episodes as a result; the relationships seem raw and fresh without getting tired out. NostalgiaCritic's team did a great review of it, pointing out all of its flaws and then saying "in conclusion...I LOVE this show! I am obsessed with it!" I actually think the ending was great; it closed plotlines in a satisfying way while keeping the story open for a possible sequel. The problem is more that it *did* end with only 13 episodes, not so much "how" it ended. that being said I actually think the anime is better than the manga (like Trigun), and if they DO make another 13 episodes it should have its own ending; I'm not fond of how the second half of the manga turned out. Still, I hold on to the memories of seeing this at my university anime club in 2006, and being shocked that *its one of the most violent and dramatically gut-wrenching anime series ever made that WAS NOT meant as a grindhouse project*. That is, its not an exploitation project; "lets have heads exploding for the sake of having heads exploding". The violence generally serves the plot, to highlight how dangerous of a situation they're in. So after the rollercoaster opening episode....it shockingly turns out to have an actual plot. ***They did go on to make a one-shot OVA episode. Its not a sequel. Its a "lost episode" presented as "episode 10.5" set between episodes 10 and 11. Well, the stuff in the present day is largely a framing device for an extended flashback showing how they were able to ultimately capture Lucy alive and take her to the lab in the first place. Yes, ADV bought the rights to the OVA. No, it has never been given an English dub or formally released. This gets repeatedly asked at conventions and I've asked myself; regrettably....how the heck do you release a 20 minute one-shot OVA episode? You actually *can't* just easily package it with the full series because the licensing rights involve different committees and you'd have to pay through the nose to get it included. Yes, Elfen Lied was enough of a financial hit that I wouldn't put this outside of the realm of possibility, but it wasn't a truly massive money-making machiine (surprisingly for an art-house type show which only aired on satellite TV *even in Japan*, it made good money. Better than good money. But not great money). I kind of hold out hope that they'd released a subtitled version on The Anime Network just to use the license. But I think Section 23 is keeping such things close to the chest until the Sojitz/FUNimation lawsuit, which in one form or another has been dragging on since before 2008, can finally be resolved. |
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RyanSaotome
 Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
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For me, when it comes to anime I've already seen, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the show if I'm not buying it. I didn't buy my favorite anime, Code Geass, after all. I'm just not one to rewatch anime. I have far too many shows to watch, video games to play, sports to watch and other things to do that I just don't have the free time to bother with rewatching old stuff, no matter how good it is. So it doesn't say anything about the quality of the anime if I don't buy it. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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If I had to pick an anime that would benefit from just a single episode, I'd say Gurren Lagann. The multidimensional mindtrap just did not get enough screen time.
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UltimateEye
Posts: 34 |
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I think Elfen Lied is a masterpiece, and it ranks among my favorite anime series of all time. I'm intrigued to see someone else who considers the anime to be better than the source manga; this is one of those rare occurrences where I believe the adaptation is better than the original story. Better not just visually, mind you (I think the manga's artwork is horrible), but the manga has too many unnecessarily depressing and perverse parts. I couldn't tolerate the limbless 'Diclonius radar', for one thing, and the wretched details of accelerated aging of Silpelits make me consider the anime to take place in a different universe, with different rules (To me, Nana is a normally-aging 13-year-old in the anime... Her vocabulary matches her physical age, after all). Where the anime ended was perfect; it was a cliffhanger, but that allowed the viewer to draw whatever conclusions they'd like to with the series, which I really appreciated. |
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Glory Questor
 Posts: 456 |
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Since I've been a creator since 2004, and presently coordinator of 3 conventions' AMV Contests and staffer for other AMV rooms & events, I probably would've sent something myself, but tbh, I missed last week's Answerman due to some computer room renovations. 
For a better follow-up to the question, AnimeMusicVideos.Org's Lip Flapper actually had a good number of articles concerning convention contests and the opinions of many AMV coordinators, judges, and fans on them. Check out the Org forums if you want to read them. 
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Julia-the-Great
 Posts: 328 |
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Didn't see last week's Answerman, otherwise would have replied to the AMV question! Drat!
I've been watching AMVs since approximately 2004, and have been a creator since approximately 2005. I've slowed down a lot due to lack of time/technical problems. When I'm watching AMVs, I'm looking for heart. I want to see that the editor understands the song, the lyrics, the anime, the flow. I don't care so much about flashy effects, or if the video quality is in HD. You can put as many video filters over your amv as you want, it's not going to make it a good video. I myself am a little sick of seeing "Shaky Cam" used as a shortcut for "good timing". My own personal style of AMV creating is never going to get me recognized at The Org (animemusicvideos.org). I edit with iMovie (when it's working) because I neither have the funds to purchase nor the desire to pirate a copy of Final Cut. Yes, it eats the video quality of the clips, but I try to make up for that with storytelling. I put hours of time into my videos painstakingly watching and rewatching them to make sure everything is up to my standards. Perfection? No, nobody's perfect, but we shouldn't have to be. The bizarre thing I've noticed, at least with my own work, is that I tend to get more feedback on YouTube. Positive comments like "this is cute!" or "this made me cry!" or "What anime is this?!" Okay, not very constructive, but at least they're saying SOMETHING and not just ignoring me completely, as is the case on the Org. (I thought YouTube was the place where comments go to eat your face off and kick you in the shins...) |
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