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


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Masakaki



Joined: 23 Mar 2012
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:36 pm Reply with quote
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:40 pm Reply with quote
^ I just console myself by thinking they're an idiot Laughing As other folk have said though, people's tastes just vary too wildly for everyone to like anything, and if you can't get behind a show, just move on. Besides, this forum would be far less interesting if everyone just agreed all the time...
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Masakaki



Joined: 23 Mar 2012
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:42 pm Reply with quote
[edit]

Last edited by Masakaki on Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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Botan24



Joined: 30 Apr 2011
Posts: 684
Location: Northern Michigan
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:45 pm Reply with quote
st_owly wrote:
^ I just console myself by thinking they're an idiot Laughing As other folk have said though, people's tastes just vary too wildly for everyone to like anything, and if you can't get behind a show, just move on. Besides, this forum would be far less interesting if everyone just agreed all the time...


Exactly why I posted my opinion of Spice and Wolf. I know its highly regarded around here, and I still find no glaring flaws with it (it's just not for me). However, it has generated some discussion which is fun. I love debating stuff, especially when my general opinion varies greatly from the majority. Don't take it too hard guys, conflict is part of life. Smile
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:51 pm Reply with quote
Aye. Too many people who dislike a show insist that everything about it is terrible, which is very rarely the case.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:54 pm Reply with quote
I'm currently trying to watch Noein and it is hard going. It's a hell of a note when you enjoy the location extra more than the show. When I got to the part where it was suppose to be only 15 years in the future, I sorta threw up my hands. Crying or Very sad
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The Lost Prophet



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 46
Location: Australia, Adelaide
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Code Geass R2 because it's awesome and I never fully appreciated R1 because I was a Deathnote fanboy when I first picked it up Anime hyper

Elfen Lied because I finally found the courage to confront all of the mindless slaughter. It is almost good, it just bugs me a little... I don't know, it feels a little immature.

Gankutsuou
. I can't get enough of the artstyle, and I love the drama. It so weird though, who would have thought that you wouldn't need to build roads on the moon?

Ga-Rei-Zero. I just love this quote: "In a real fight, there is no next time. You can't choose your opponent's strength. Losing would mean death. One must reflect deeply upon loosing".

I'm liking the cutesy, slice of life moments a little bit more than the action, sometimes it's pretty awesome though.
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misschidori



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 12:38 am Reply with quote
ManOfRust wrote:
Sometimes a certain story just doesn't work for you, no matter what anyone else thinks. The good thing is that these days there's no shortage of anime available to enjoy.

Amen. The beauty of anime is that there's something for everyone.

Well let's see...I've started watching a few more shows since my last post a few days ago...

Gintama because it looked interesting and is apparently an anime staple for many who enjoy anime. And I'll tell you something, from the very first minute, I was hooked. It's full of awesome quotes, humor, fighting and chase scenes. I especially love the character design. The animation is impressive as well. It's a good mix of over-the-top eccentricity and awesomeness.

Fate/Zero because I need to expand my anime horizons.

Fairy Tail because I felt like watching a mainstream anime. I haven't done that since spoiler[after the 3-year jump in Naruto.]

Sword Art Online because it looked good...and I heard it was good. Those are the only reasons I need to have to watch anything, really. Wink
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle



Joined: 12 Dec 2009
Posts: 1288
Location: Mastic Beach, NY
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:30 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
I'm currently trying to watch Noein and it is hard going. It's a hell of a note when you enjoy the location extra more than the show. When I got to the part where it was suppose to be only 15 years in the future, I sorta threw up my hands. Crying or Very sad


Just wait till you get to the end and find out what the villain's motivations are. Rolling Eyes
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle



Joined: 12 Dec 2009
Posts: 1288
Location: Mastic Beach, NY
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:46 pm Reply with quote
Recently, I finally got around to watching Trigun. I had picked up the original 8-disc release during the big selloff and it has been sitting in my collection for 4 years so I figured it was about time to watch it. Also, after the last couple of shows I watched weren't that great I wanted to watch something with the potential to be really good. I had seen about half the show on [adult swim] years ago and liked what I saw (only stopped watching due to my VCR breaking down).

On a desert planet with two suns, humans eke out a hardscrabble existence with the help of "lost technology"-that is, machinery which no one really remembers how to make anymore and only a few people know-sort of-how to maintain. A pair of female insurance investigators, Meryl and Millie, are sent out to find a legendary criminal known as Vash the Stampede, in order to try to minimize the collateral damage (and huge insurance claims) that seem to happen everywhere he shows up. What they find is a goofy, donut-loving peacenik whom they first decide cannot possibly be Vash; eventually, they realize it is, in fact, him, and that much of the destruction that surrounds him is not actually his doing. It seems Vash is devoted to the idea of "love and peace", and is even willing to take large amounts of abuse to avoid doing violence to anyone.

Like a lot of 26-episode shows of its day, Trigun kind of wanders around a while before getting to its main plot. Despite this, the show is consitently entertaining and well-written. It uses the time to develop the relationships between the main characters (including a "priest" named Wolfwood who carries a huge cross filled with weapons). It also gradually drops hints of what is to come-especially in terms of who-and what-Vash really is. Episode 13 is the obligatory review episode (though it does contain some new footage showing the personal toll of Vash's dedication to non-violence). Eventually, the real plot starts to kick in with the introduction of the Gung-Ho Guns, a group of bizarre numbered assassins led by a murderous psychic called Legato who come gunning for Vash.

I enjoyed watching this show very much, though I did not feel it was the masterpiece that a lot of fans seem to think it is. For one thing, the visuals aren't very good, even allowing for the age of the show. I also felt that Vash's peace-at-any-price attitude gets annoying after a while spoiler[(along with his constant willingness to take the blame for events that clearly are not his fault) and his final "revelation" that sometimes a person has to fight seems very sudden.] I also thought the ending was somewhat needlessly inconclusive, though it's not a bad end by any means. I rated the show "very good" because, overall, I found it enjoyable to watch and it's something I might well watch again sometime.

I also watched my Blu-ray of the movie Trigun: Badlands Rumble. This is a side story which supposedly takes place around about episode 9-11 of the anime. It concerns a thief called Gasback (who I keep wanting to call "Gasbag"-yes, like many anime villains, he talks a lot) who is obsessed with his robberies being "perfect" and has a bone to pick with Vash for "spoiling" one of his robberies years ago. The mayor of a small town (who has his own past history with Gasback) invites an army of bounty hunters in an attempt to keep Gasback from stealing his statue. Meryl and Millie show up as the mayor is trying to get the statue insured, while Wolfwood has taken the job of bodyguard to Gasback. Meanwhile, Vash spends most of his time harassing a female bounty hunter named Amelia, who also has a personal score to settle with Gasback.

The movie plays like an extended episode from the early part of the TV show, with no mention of any of the main plot elements from the second half. Being of recent vintage, the visuals are better, but the writing is weaker, with the regular characters being mostly relegated to comedy relief. Also, this is a minor complaint, but I really didn't care much for the way they made Wolfwood look in this. I know he looks more like the manga, but I still think he loses a lot of his "character" here, looking more like a generic "cool dude".

If you're a fan of the original series, then this is worth a watch; otherwise you probably won't get much out of this. I rated this as "good".
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Errinundra
Moderator


Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 4:01 am Reply with quote
Kemonozume

I watched this 13 episode WOWOW series as part of my ongoing Masaaki Yuasa project. Along with Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba and Mind Game I've come to greatly admire his distinctive vision.

Synopsis. Living throughout Japan are the Shokujinki - aka flesh eaters - who resemble normal human beings until they get aroused or until the need to eat humans becomes too overpowering to resist, at which point they trasform into monsters with gaping, fang-lined maws and powerful clawed arms. A dedicated clan of martial artists - the Kifuuken - has existed for centuries, whose one role is to destroy the flesh eaters whenever they appear. A rapid increase in the number of flesh eaters has forced the Kifuuken to adopt unorthodox measures, including armoured mobile suits and performance enhancing drugs. There is also the rumoured Kemonozume technique where a Kifuuken warrior amputates their own arms and replaces them with severed Shokujinki arms, giving them immense but nigh uncontrollable power. With the Kifuuken habouring its own dark secrets, the Shokujinki facing ultimate annihilation, and a third party, led by a former Kifuuken leader, creating mayhem, two unlikely lovers try to escape the violence around them and within them: Toshihiko Momota - the premier swordsman of the Kifuuken - and Yuka Kamitsuki - a flesh eater.


A first kiss goes horribly wrong. This young flesh eater got a tad over-excited.

The above outline might suggest to you that this could be a straightforward action series, perhaps tempered by an unlikely love story in the mould of Romeo and Juliet or Basilisk. Kemonozume is, however, brought to us by Masaaki Yuasa and that means the viewer is in for one hell of an unconventional anime, in both story and imagery. Indeed, Yuasa seems to be deliberately contrary in every aspect of the medium. Viewers who are familiar with his works, know that he brazenly eschews most expected anime conventions. Starting with the plot, an apparently straightforward premise is established - evil monsters versus brave warriors - and then immediately undermined by the carnal romance between Toshihiko and Yuka. You may even think, early in the series, that it is going to contrast the monstrosity of the humans against the anguished humanity of the monsters but, if you did, you would be seeing only some of the picture. Whatever directions the plot could have taken, Yuasa tries to pursue the most unexpected course, and in doing so uncovers characters' hidden secrets, or wanders off in odd digressions, but mostly spirals further and further into absurdity.


The big bad reduced to absurdity. Note the cleft chin suggesting genitalia - typical of Yuasa.

This last tendency is very characteristic of Yuasa, and isn't an altogether surprising outcome when his inclination is to pursue the unexpected obsessively. The problem is that, by the end of the series, the plot has been comprehensively undermined by its multiple holes and has worn out its welcome, thanks to it discouraging, nay trashing, any suspension of disbelief. (It's still great to look at though.) Absurdity is fine, if it serves another purpose. For sure, it's witty and, occasionally, very funny but it lacks the satirical posture and hilarity of Tatami Galaxy or the emotional impact of Kaiba. It just seems to be absurd for its own sake.

The visual style not only emphasises the absurdities but it also, paradoxically, compensates for them by being so refreshing and so entertaining. Yuasa's style is changeable, grotesque and very, very fluid. In my review of Mind Game I said there was no typical visual style. In Kemonozume the stylistic jumps seem to be blended more smoothly. Whatever the style, the overall effect is mostly grotesque, though not in the unpleasant way that characterises Yoshiaki Kawajiri's work but in an oddly appealing way. Where Kawajiri can make a supposedly beautiful woman unattractive, Yuasa can make a scowling face fascinating. Partly it stems from the novelty of his artwork but also from the fluidity of the animation. All outlines are highly unstable: solid objects take on a life of their own; faces are constantly mutating; and actions are always highly kinetic. I'd just about say that Yuasa has the best eye for motion of any anime director I know yet his means are always economical. I hope that the screens shots I provide give some idea of what he achieves. This is one anime where stills don't do justice to the animation.


Four faces of Yuka Kamitsuki. Your average tsundere or yandere has nothing on her.
In the rightmost image she and Yoshihiko are making love, much to his peril.


The downside of his stylistic contortions is that the viewer never forgets they are viewing artifice. It's always hard in a Yuasa work to step into the milieu or into the minds of the characters. This distancing means that the viewer will struggle to care strongly about what is happening. I find I admire Yuasa's works more than I love them. By the final episode I wasn't really emotionally engaged by Yuka or Toshihiko. I mean, I wanted to know what would happen, but there was no sense of dread or grief or loss or victory or resolution. Add this to the abovementioned descent into absurdity and, to be honest, I didn't really care how it all turned out.


The enormous size of Saiji the detective who is hunting the runaway lovers is never explained but it sure makes him a threatening presence.

That said, another of the very refreshing things about Kemonozume is the adult cast of characters and, mostly, adult behaviour of those characters, notwithstanding Yuasa's almost juvenile glee in violence, gore and eroticism. For example, instead of a blushing face and stammering, Yuka at one point simply says to Yoshihiko, "I'm aroused", removes her clothing and presents herself to him. Things aren't that simple because if she orgasms she's likely to tear him to shreds. One of their solutions is to pinion her with chains which, of course, is highly erotic in its own way.

Overall I found this the least rewarding of the four major Yuasa works I've seen, largely because, by the end, I wasn't stongly involved emotionally in either the unfolding events or in the characters. Rating: decent, approaching good.

***

In a complete contrast, since fininshing Kemonozume I've found myself hooked in by Kimi ni Todoke. The two series couldn't be more different. The ability of even the support characters to get me emotionally invested is marvellous.


Last edited by Errinundra on Wed Nov 08, 2017 9:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:07 pm Reply with quote
So, last night I'm getting a bit burnt out on my belated decision to watch Breaking Bad (great show but the personalities and actions are rather draining emotionally) so I decide I should watch some anime. I had been doing a slow rewatch of To-Love-Ru but while the show can be fun it is WAY on the opposite end of the intellectual spectrum and it makes me feel like my IQ is draining,

So, I'm now watching Nodame Cantabile, six episodes in and I realize this is one of those shows I'll be spending all my free time watching until I finish all three seasons. It's funny, it's got sweet characters, a little drama that may probably increase, a budding romance. It's got a lot to like.

I had actually decided I'd watch my exceedingly fancily packaged copy of Patlabor: The Movie, and got through 20 minutes when I remembered the problem I had with the movie from the first time I watched it years ago, I just don't feel a connection to these characters. So, I decided I should should watch the OVA series first. It was an impulse to start watching Nodame Cantabile while the OVA was downloading and if I watch the OVA, I should download the TV series too, right? Depending on my reaction though, I may not watch everything. I'm mainly watching enough to get a better connection to the cast of the movie.

the odd thing about these decisions is that I was originally looking for something (The Patlabor movie) that wouldn't be much of a commitment.
The best laid plans, eh?
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rheiders



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 1137
Location: Colorful Colorado :)
PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:41 pm Reply with quote
@errinundra

I saw that "first kiss" scene you mentioned as a WTFJapan clip on Youtube and assumed it was from some sort of weird hentai xD But after reading your analysis of it Kemonozume seems like something I might just have to check out. I always love reading your posts, by the way- your tastes are quite different from mine, but your posts are always so in-depth!
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Pixelationist



Joined: 12 Jun 2012
Posts: 111
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:11 pm Reply with quote
School Days for the first time, exactly half way through.

I know everyone touts Makoto as this legendary uber douche, and even at the halfway mark I am finding this pretty unpleasant viewing. I find myself just gritting my teeth and seething with annoyance the whole time.

Though to be honest, Makoto is perhaps one of the more realistic portrayal of a horny adolescent highschool boy than most, he's just exceptionally scummy by anime standards.
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ailblentyn



Joined: 28 Mar 2009
Posts: 1688
Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney
PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:21 pm Reply with quote
Struck a wonderful line in Marmalade Boy, which I'm currently watching. Miki has got lost in Manhattan, and a policeman is speculating about her whereabouts:
"I just hope she didn't wander off into Harlem..."
(Cue for Yuu's eyes to widen in horror at the contemplation of the unspeakable!)
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