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What are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)


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Tris8



Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 2114
Location: Where the rain is.
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:09 pm Reply with quote
Spastic Minnow wrote:
Finally up to the 600's of Detective Conan.
Wow, that is extremely impressive, I tip my hat. I'm currently at the mid 300's, but I've taken a break. The repetitive elements got to me. I'll start it up again eventually, but in the meantime my DC appetite is filled with watching the movies. I love thrillers; they're really good!
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:49 pm Reply with quote
Well... According to a forum search (I've periodically marked my progress in this thread) I started around August 2010 and got to the 360's in March 2011... and had a similar fallow period around then. If you're like me you'll probably speed up again in the 400's when Kir and then Eisuke start showing up and seriously speed up when you start getting closer to the big 12 episode arc that just passes the 500 mark. After that it gets slow again.
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Tris8



Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 2114
Location: Where the rain is.
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:03 pm Reply with quote
Spastic Minnow wrote:
Well... According to a forum search (I've periodically marked my progress in this thread) I started around August 2010 and got to the 360's in March 2011... and had a similar fallow period around then. If you're like me you'll probably speed up again in the 400's when Kir and then Eisuke start showing up and seriously speed up when you start getting closer to the big 12 episode arc that just passes the 500 mark. After that it gets slow again.
That's a relief to hear! I really like DC, but it's dauntingly long. I had heard about the 12-part case; can't wait to get to that. The 6-parter where spoiler[Shinichi temporarily returned to his body was awesome.] And that's dang good time you've made. You're practically caught up and it only took you a year and a half.
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Botan24



Joined: 30 Apr 2011
Posts: 684
Location: Northern Michigan
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:58 pm Reply with quote
@ Gewurtztraminer, Yttrbio, and Tuor_of_Gondolin

Thanks for the collective opinions and heads ups involving Scrapped Princess. I'm on the fence still, so I'm just going to wait until the mood strikes, and I feel like watching more.

In any case, the cat-princess will have to wait because Fairy Tail part three has arrived! My husband and I are going to be marathoning this for the next couple of days. Smile

And in between I may re-watch BECK. I got through the first handful of episodes a while back, and have been meaning to finish it up. I love that series, its nice easy going pace, the english dub (songs included), and the overall story.
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dirkusbirkus



Joined: 10 May 2008
Posts: 699
Location: Manchester, UK
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:55 pm Reply with quote
Someone, somewhere on these forums recommended Bokurano to me at some point. I can't for the life of me find who it was to credit them, but regardless, I ploughed through the series today.

Some aspects of it I really enjoyed. Some of the systems were clever and I liked how each pilot had their own motivations for fighting and how their performance in battle reflected that. I also liked how just when it seemed things couldn't get any more glum, another log would often be thrown onto the misery pile. I was able to gain a good bit of affinity for some of the protagonists. So yeah, parts of it really worked for me.

Other parts didn't. The way the story is split between the characters, the amount of attention given to each seems disproportionate towards the end. I couldn't even remember spoiler[the name of the first pilot since he'd snuffed it right at the beginning], not until the mini-summary in the final episode. I think liberties were taken at times regarding plot devices (most notably the contracting system) and sometimes some of the bit players fell into cliché territory (the guy 'in charge of the money' not caring about human sacrifice, etc). I guess if you take a lot of that symbolically instead of at face value then it might work better, but when the focus shifted away from the 15 children I occasionally found my interest waning.

It was good for the most part, and I'm glad I added it to my list. I don't think it'd be a very accessible title for people new to anime, since there's a lot to be taken with a pinch of salt here, and I had to draw on a lot of my patience honed from years of watching meandering plots and patchy narratives. I'm not sure what sort of person I would recommend it to, if I'm honest. It does pack something of a punch with regard to its psychological impact but spoiler[each death became either deeply moving or completely trivial depending on how much I liked the character in question.]

Light-hearted fare it most certainly ain't.
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supercreep



Joined: 11 Dec 2011
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:58 am Reply with quote
I'm in love, and her name is Mawaru Penguindrum. Shame on me for waiting this long to see it, it's everything I want in an anime comedy. Not to mention the fact that it looks absolutely stunning. Im only two episodes in, but I am so hooked.

I also tried out Kaasan- mom's life, and while I found it interesting and cute that's not enough for me to invest in a series with over 100 episodes. The only time I ever invested in long series like that was Dragon Ball Z, and I have no plans to ever do it again. Maybe I'll use it as a once in a while type of thing.
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Errinundra
Moderator


Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Honey and Clover

I came to this as something of an admirer of its spiritual younger sibling, Nodame Cantabile and as a fan of noitaminA productions generally. Although Honey and Clover has its own appeal it never matches the more recent franchise. It almost seems to me that the makers learned from their mistakes and subsequently rectified them.

The major shortcoming of Honey and Clover, and its a fatal one for a romantic comedy, is that the characters were never able to get me to care for them. Over 26 episodes I became habituated to them but that's about all. The principal male characters - Takemoto, Mayama and Shuji - are too often just dull. The most interesting - Morita - starts off in a blaze of personality excess then spends much of the rest of the series either absent or as merely a source for Takemoto's anxieties. Of the two main female characters, Yamada, like Morita, is enervating at first but, as happens so often in anime, declines as her romantic issues come to the fore. Why are so many female anime characters diminished by love? They start off strong and confident, and end up lost and incapable.

The most disappointing character is Hagu, the diminutive prodigy and major love interest for the point of view character, Takemoto. For starters she must have one of the least appealing character designs I've seen in anime this side of the millenium. I'm sure she is meant to be cute and huggable but she just comes across as a rag doll that's been left lying around for too long. She also fails utterly to convince that she is the genius she is supposed to be. She has a shallow and immature personality and, while she may be a good technician she displays no sign of having any notable artistic vision or insights. There is no intended irony here: the creators simply fail to make Hagu convincing.

Part of the problem is that using visual arts as the series hook never, ever works. Honey and Clover isn't able to demonstrate how talented the characters are through their creations. It's a misjudgement on the part of the creators that is avoided in Nodame Cantabile. Yamada is the most convincing in this regard, probably because she is portrayed as an able technician, rather than a genius.

The most notable trope of the series is unrequited love and, boy, does Honey and Clover trowel it on thick. Constant frustration of desire inevitably becomes tedious - not only for the sufferers, but also for the suffering viewer. Unsurprisingly, the series gets duller as it progresses. Happily it extricates itself from the mire during Takemoto's bicycle trip - my favourite segment - but that's only for three episodes (and right at the end).

Nodame Cantabile avoids all the faults of Honey and Clover. The two leads - Noda and Chiaki - are fascinatingly eccentric. It avoids the trap of unrequited love altogether, focussing rather on the development of their relationship - milking its comic and dramatic possiblities for all its worth. Best of all, by using music, rather than art, it is much more convincing in portraying their abilities. Badly played or beautifully played music is much more apparent and, besides, few people doubt that Mozart or Nielsen are geniuses. Odd, isn't it? By having the characters' creativity once removed, so to speak, their talents are more easily demonstrated.

For all this criticism, Honey and Clover, is humorous and clever and it's a pleasure to watch an anime with older characters and aiming for an audience older than high school age.

I loved the visuals in the first version of the OP - especially the "saucy" knickers and the prawn fingers - but the singing grated badly on my ears. If not for the music I would rate it as one of the best OPs I've ever seen.

Rating: somewhere between good and decent. By comparison I ranked the first two seasons of Nodame Cantabile as very good and the final season as decent.

Should I bother with the second season of Honey and Clover?

Mount Head

I watched this short film after reading the recent Mike Toole Show where he gave it a bit of a wrap. It's a quirky tale about a man's scalp that becomes its own universe, much to his annoyance. It could be seen as a sort of commentary on people who try to live in isolation. Even their own head space works against them. Perhaps it's a commentary on otaku? I find it hard to judge short films. They usually have just one idea and rely on an eccentric visual style to get it across. Mount Head is mildly amusing for its ten minutes or so but it has nowhere near the impact of its near contemporary Comedy.
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:22 pm Reply with quote
I liked the second season of Honey and Clover better than the first since it was only half the length so everything had to be sped up just a bit and that seemed to make it work better (plus, the romances actually have conclusions). That reminds me, still need to see the second and third seasons of Nodame...

After trying out the first episode of Aquarion Evol with a friend (she needed cheering up so I proposed we watch it and talk through it on skype) I got a bit hooked on it's sparkly campiness and have started watching the first season. I think I might like Evol more because it's so over the top but the first season turns out to be a decent watch as well.
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HattoriHaze



Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 26
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:31 pm Reply with quote
I've finally started watching Genshiken. I just finished episode 2 (have to pause for a while, the TV needs to be freed up before I can continue) and I'm really liking it. It does a nice job of following the manga so far. Some of the voice acting surprised me (I expected Kasukabe to have something a little deeper or rougher, but that's probably my moe nee-san impulse. I expected something more like Uo from furuba), but the attitudes and flow are right. I kinda dig the animation as well, for some reason that I can't pin down it reminds me of Rideback Girl.

I can totally see where people are coming from when they say the story is a bit slow and bland (both for the anime and the manga), but I can't say it's true for me. Part of this may be because I can relate to the characters and situations. Even in parts that seem slow to others, I get a sense of nostalgia or recognition that keeps it fresh. Viewed from that perspective, the pacing is actually decent and it hits the mark. The spelling in the subs kinda throws me off sometimes, I'm used to the translated spelling, particularly of names (such as "Kousaka"), so when I see the subbing ("Kohsaka"), I hesitate for a moment.

Can't wait to continue it.
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:01 pm Reply with quote
supercreep wrote:
I'm in love, and her name is Mawaru Penguindrum. Shame on me for waiting this long to see it, it's everything I want in an anime comedy. Not to mention the fact that it looks absolutely stunning. Im only two episodes in, but I am so hooked.

Mawaru Penguindrum? A comedy? Oh, boy, are you in for a shock. While it does retain bizarre and humorous moments throughout it's run, the tone gets rather dark and serious further in.
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supercreep



Joined: 11 Dec 2011
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:03 am Reply with quote
Dorcas_Aurelia wrote:
supercreep wrote:
I'm in love, and her name is Mawaru Penguindrum. Shame on me for waiting this long to see it, it's everything I want in an anime comedy. Not to mention the fact that it looks absolutely stunning. Im only two episodes in, but I am so hooked.

Mawaru Penguindrum? A comedy? Oh, boy, are you in for a shock. While it does retain bizarre and humorous moments throughout it's run, the tone gets rather dark and serious further in.


Really? I'm actually delighted to hear that.
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HattoriHaze



Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 26
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:26 am Reply with quote
Okay, so I have a question. I just did a marathon run of Genshiken, but it stopped at an odd place. How many episodes are there? All I have access to is 1-12. Is that all there is?

I have to say that, while I enjoyed the episodes, I was hoping it'd go further. My favorite character hadn't even been introduced yet. Considering the way they drew out some of the arcs, I figure the arcs involving her would easily span another 10 or 12 episodes (if they really wanted to stretch 'em that far). A little help?
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The King of Harts



Joined: 05 May 2009
Posts: 6712
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:37 am Reply with quote
There's also a 3-episode OVA and 12-episode Season 2. You have to watch the OVA first because it introduces a new character that's pretty prominent in the second season.
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HattoriHaze



Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 26
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:53 am Reply with quote
So I did get screwed over. Thank you much! If I had a machine that could stream worth a damn, I'd be all over the OVA's and season 2. Unfortunately, I have to find another source. I got season one through the library system, and when I did a search, it didn't come up with a season two.

I liked the show, though, so I should probably just save up and buy it. Or buy a better machine. Hmmm...
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:13 pm Reply with quote
there is now, finally, a collection that collects it all.
http://www.amazon.com/Genshiken-Complete-Collection-Takanori-Ohyama/dp/B004GOKBXC/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1328720978&sr=1-1

Oh, there's also a separate Kujibiki Unbalance series but it's done in a different style than the KU OVA's, completely unnecessary to Genshiken, poorly rated and, well, very skippable
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