Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
|
Goto page Previous Next |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Hentai_JP
 Posts: 605 Location: Toronto, ON |
|
||
|
For me, a true masterpiece is the one that deeply stirs my emotions, the one that shakes me to the core, it is something I connect and empathize with to the utmost degree. Kaleido Star is such a masterpiece.
Most vividly Kaleido Star strikes as an exceptional drama. The constant shifts of character dynamics and the learning curves Sora and others are going through are enthralling. I lost count of how many times the series left me completely flabbergasted, craving to see what is going to happen next and how the characters are going to deal with the changes. So yes, I definitely see why this Shoujo series is so loved. What is most beautiful about Sora is how earnest she is. She has to face many challenges and she doesn't always know what to do and not everything she tries is the right way but nevertheless she is honest in her effort. I couldn't help but root for her throughout - so powerful is the connection the creators worked so hard to establish. Sora's ups and downs are relived in me as I watch her gradual growth from a newbie to a Kaleido star diva. Simply put Kaleido Star is a very effective drama. It can be hilarious or it can be heartbreaking - you will laugh and cry with it. I revere any series managing such great accomplishment. Kaleido Star is not without flaws, it does get pretty corny in the final few episodes for example, but I have long learned to overlook lesser things for the benefit of the grand design, and as such Kaleido Star remains one of the few titles deserving a Masterpiece, for that is how I feel, right now. |
|||
|
|||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
||
Really? I'm surprised. Now, I wasn't enamoured with it, mind you. I found it to be quite unrefined in advocating its themes and also very loosely written (as in, it's all pretty stupid and the writing would not hold up to any sort of scrutiny). But I don't hate it. The message - that given complete freedom from societal controls, people are horrible to one another - may make you uncomfortable, and it was handled somewhat clumsily. But there is an undeniable kernel of truth in there. Last edited by dtm42 on Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3880 Location: New York state. |
|
||
|
Currently watching Blue Submarine No. 6. Chose to start watching it just for the nostalgia factor considering I never seen the series in its entirety when Toonami aired it years ago. A bit ironic though that I'm viewing it just around the day that Discotek announced they acquired it for licensing.
|
|||
|
|||
Fuzzy Pickles!
 Posts: 25 |
|
||
|
Currently watching:
Astro Boy (1980s): (Japanese subs) I was first exposed to the franchise by watching half of the English adaption in mid-2009 on YouTube and liked it then. Given that the Japanese version is now being legally streamed, I now see this as an opportunity to watch the entire franchise. Tenchi Muyo (OVA 3): Already seen the first two OVAs and really enjoyed them, now I'm currently on the 3rd one. Seeing them via Hulu. |
|||
|
|||
Pixelationist
 Posts: 111 Location: London, UK |
|
||
|
Maison Ikkoku - Okay it's long, too long, and agonizingly frustrating at times, but this is still one of my all time faves. Call Rumiko Takahashi a hack all you want but I am truly grateful to her for this show.
|
|||
|
|||
TF
 Posts: 356 Location: Belgium |
|
||
|
Naruto Shippuuden 197-> 224.
Catching up with Naruto. Nice to see Naruto has matured and become wiser. Only to see him revert to his childish self in the begin of the fillers 
|
|||
|
|||
zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
|
||
|
So yesterday, I had some friends over. More to nerd out than to watch the Super Bowl (for the record, we we're rooting for the Ravens as we live in Maryland, I actually heard fireworks later that night, which would not be the first time, people set them off during the playoffs too). Seeing how the three of us were all familiar with Fist of the North Star and how I had paid $2 for the movie of the same name, it seemed an opportune time to watch it. Oh, you thought I was talking about the anime movie that Discotek re-released a few years back? If you did, you are lucky for you do not yet know that this movie I am actually speaking of exists.
Here's the imdb page, just to reveal its existence to the rest of you. That is also the DVD cover. If you want a hint as to how bad that movie is, it is at least exactly as bad as it looks. And yet the strangest thing is that they still got more of the backstory right than The Last Airbender does, it's weird. First off, allow me to name the only two cast members that you have likely heard of. The first is Malcolm McDowell, who has been doing strange (and often awful) things ever since Clockwork Orange. However, he plays Kenshiro's father, which means he is actually dead before the series begin and shows up in poorly placed flashbacks. And once as a zombie which randomly pops out of the ground. The other is Dante Basco, which, if you don't know him as Rufio in Hook, you know him as Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender (and his descendant young Iroh in Legend of Korra). He plays Bat, who, in the series proper, has this awesome dune buggy thing and makes most of his usefulness by having a car, being able to maintain it, and having enough brains to stay out of Kenshiro's way instead of running in for hostage fodder like Lin tends to do. He will spend much of this movie being far more badass than Kenshiro and actually doing something. Yes, he's closer to being the hero most of the time than Kenshiro. Then spoiler[he dies]. Now, this is not something that will spoil the series because it inexplicably only happens here. Actually, it's like they looked at Hook, liked Rufio's spoiler[death scene] and copy pasted it for no actual reason. Seeing how this does not happen in the original, it could be a general surprise, but seeing how they case Dante Basco only a few years off of Hook, it's therefore sorta not. Oh, now to get to Lynn. First off, she's inexplicably blind instead of mute, but since it still happened from her parents' death and was an excuse for Kenshiro to use magic to cure her, let that slide. What is really weird though, was how she was somehow psychically connected to Kenshiro in such a way, that screaming really loud would make him come find her. Also, she was a mysterious waif all of a sudden for one scene that made absolutely no sense and made my one friend say "I think [this liquor] is starting to kick in" Yuria (called Julia, a common respelling of her name Americanized, so that's cool) was played by a woman who cannot act in English and as a result, sounded like a deaf woman trying to speak. She was pretty bad. Also, she was inexplicably asian while Kenshiro was British, and everyone else was white. I don't get it either. Jagi makes an appearance as the main henchman. Or that's what you would've said if they didn't call him Jackal, who did not have a dead cage to prevent his head from exploding (which is sorta what Jagi had). He also wears braces. Speaking of head explodings, only like three happen in the whole thing, and they ran out of budget so they cut away from some of them. Ok, so Kenshiro. Played by a kickboxer. When he tries the "ATATATATATTA!" thing Kenshiro does, the bad guys give this hilarious look to him like "are you trying to swat away a fly on me?" because it looks beyond stupid. Obviously it works anyway. All the fight scenes look horrible. But Kenshiro's scars, man! We had a tough time debating if they looked like large buttons or pepperoni much of the time. They were freakin' hideous and freakin' hilarious. Kenshiro sucked something fierce in the movie, but my two favorite fight scenes were when he walks into a room, only to be encountered in groups of 1-3 mooks who ran into his fists and legs, slowly piling up an entire room of what was presumably lightly dizzy people. Then, the last fight vs Shin (I guess at least they didn't try to bite off more than they could chew by going up to Raoh, and they didn't ruin Rei). Kenshiro takes off his jacket, then Shin smirks, and prepares to take his off looking all badass. But it doesn't work because spoiler[Shin has a short dress on underneath. So he looks like a guy trying on his gf's party dress, except with the intent to fight in it] I can't rightly remember what happened during that fight because I spent most of it spoiler[staring at Shin's dress], but it was still funny. So yeah, it was a right mess, and it was awesome for it! It's free to watch for Amazon Prime members, and it appears to be on Netflix. Clearly this was horrible and more so than I expected in an awesome way. The Last Airbender is still the worst cartoon to live action movie adaptation I've ever seen, but damn if this wasn't doing its darndest to compete. |
|||
|
|||
Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
|
||
|
I finished Vision of Escaflowne yesterday and really enjoyed it. In fact, I absolutely loved the first half or so. It was like a homage to the favorite book of my childhood, The Neverending Story, spoiler[a protagonist spirited away into a magical world where his/her dreams, hopes and despairs hold power over the events happening]. That's a setting alone that I can enjoy with all my heart, and the multilayered, interesting characters and their interactions made this magical world all the more real and interesting.
I really liked Hitomi as a protagonist, she felt very balanced and real, there were no spoiler[unbelievable over the top heroics, but she wasn't the helpless damsel in distress either]. The first half of the show was written so fell, I think there wasn't a single second spent on unnecessary things. Extraordinarily well paced, I would say. Later on this pacing felt out of balance every once in a while, some things got rushed that should not have been rushed, which made me loose my attachment to the main characters a bit at times. It almost seemed as if they had to cut some crucial moments, since there was no time wasted anywhere else on other things. Luckily, there were some really wonderful supporting characters whose journeys were no less interesting than the one of the protagonist. I am thinking of Millerna especially, such a well written character, starting of as spoiler[your typical love struck, naive little princess who spends her time daydreaming and being more in love with the idea of being in love (unrequited, of course) than considering her or her loved one's actual feelings. Her growing into a responsible, caring adult, overcoming (some of) her childhood fantasies without sacrificing her identity or happiness,] it was just fascinating to watch. I wish there were more supporting characters who get such development and depth in other shows instead of just serving as tropes or plot points. All in all, this was a wonderful, mature coming of age story with a fitting and mature ending that reflected the growth of basically all of the main and supporting characters throughout their journey. The character designs are unique, it took me a bit to get used to those noses at first, but one cannot say this isn't a spectacular looking anime. Both story and design manage to keep a wonderful balance between romance, adventure, mecha battles, supernatural, heroics, and yet real and complex characters who have flaws and are still loveable. And the music is, of course, brilliant. Another classic off my list, one that could be recommended to basically everyone - teenagers, adults, men, women, because it is just so well balanced. |
|||
|
|||
stove top stuffing
 Posts: 117 Location: "Orygun" NOT "Orygone" |
|
||
|
Currently watching 5 centimeters per second. The version with Hilary Haag and David Matranga. I like this version simply because I am a huge fan of Hilary Haag.
Anyway, watching this for the millionth time because it really hits home for me in a lot of personal ways. I am answering work emails while I watch. |
|||
|
|||
Ortensia1980
 Posts: 803 Location: some town near Amsterdam |
|
||
|
Just watched Hiiro no Kakera. I watched the entire thing and I don't know why. I thought that the heroine was incredibly annoying. You know that you're in trouble when you care about the heroine's love-potion selling friend more than her. Her harem of guardians was pretty useless (which to be honest had a lot to do with her) and the villains spoiler[,who had the upper hand up until the last ten minutes,] weren't particularly interesting either. The only guy who seemed even remotely interesting is first introduced when he grabs the heroine, sniffs her neck and then tells her that she doesn't smell like her grandmother
 and he was barely in it.
And don't get me started on those really awkward fanservice endings... And despite all that I'm still going to watch S2. Am I doing that because I'm hoping that it will give me some answers? Or do I just like torturing myself? I honestly don't know. Last edited by Ortensia1980 on Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
|
||
You're not the only one. I'm doing exactly the same... |
|||
|
|||
|
Ortensia1980
Posts: 803 Location: some town near Amsterdam |
|
||
|
Good to know that I'm not alone. I found an old topic about Hiiro no Kakera and there were more people that were wondering why they were still watching it
|
|||
|
|||
ailblentyn
 Posts: 1688 Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney |
|
||
|
Two shows simultaneously: Birdy the Mighty: Decode and Corpse Princess. And based on the first four or so episodes of each, I have to parrot what I gather are the standard opinions, in that Birdy is pretty fine and Her Royal Shikabane Hime is not (even if she does have a good opening song).
I'm really enjoying the artwork for Birdy. It seems so cheery, with its colours and fun. Any fanservice provided by Bridy's skimpy outfits is frank rather than sleazy, and she is given a cool enough personality to carry off the trappings. Corpse Princess seems just cheap, cheap, cheap. Cheap horror, cheap plots, lots of buttocks. I guess being dead means never having to wear underwear again. |
|||
|
|||
richter3456
 Posts: 41 |
|
||
|
Watching Chihayafuru 2 because I quite enjoyed the first season and would like to continue on with the story.
I'm also watching Psycho Pass because I enjoy watching anime which involve solving mysteries. I was watching The Twelve Kingdoms but spoiler[after they killed Asano] I kinda lost interest. They should have just ended it at episode 39. Asano was the only interesting character in that entire anime-to me personally; he had the most interesting situation and all the way to the end of the animespoiler[ he wasn't able to speak the language of that world]. I was expecting him to actually get back to his own world and survive, spoiler[but they simply killed him off]. Well it was still a good anime albeit I have 7 more episodes left to watch. Oh and yeah, I'm also watching Amnesia (which my friend recommended I watch), and Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT because I enjoyed the first season-although this season kinda pales in comparison to the first . |
|||
|
|||
supercreep
 Posts: 526 |
|
||
|
Finished up a couple of things:
Tsukihime I expected something more from this, which is probably what led to my eventual disappointment. The dating aspect was interesting, but the fantasy elements were left hanging. At the end, I didn't really learn much of anything about the vampires or Shiki's abilities. Those aspects felt very shallow. I did, however, enjoy the slow pace. Decent Noein Another case of being sucked into the hype and coming out un-wowed. Noein handled it's sci-fi elements and slice-of-life story much better than Tsukihime did, but I still felt like something was lacking in the end. I did, however, find spoiler[Atori's transformation] very compelling, but I would have liked to have known exactly why it occurred. The same goes for spoiler[Yuu's eventual transformation into Noein], which was completely glossed over. I was also irked by the nauseating overuse of the word "sorrow." Get over it, dude. The more human villain, whose name I can't recall, pretty much served no purpose. Very typical "I'm evil!" kind of cartoonish villain. I enjoyed it more than Tsukihime, and so it gets a very good. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group