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REVIEW: Coppelion Complete Series BD+DVD


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Cyclone1993



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 947
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:59 am Reply with quote
Ah yes Coppelion which a lot of people seen to dislike. I enjoyed the anime and at one point I stumbled upon the manga on Crunchyroll and I wanted to see how they compared to the anime. There really isn't a comparison the manga is much more fast paced. Of course that could be because I didn't have to watch it weekly. I stopped reading it but have every intention of reading more.

The show is a good looking one no doubt but its over reliance on taking in the gorgeous environment might be one of the reasons it feels rather slow.

But the manga is indeed enjoyable and I recommend it to people who liked parts of the anime but want to see more. I hope the manga gets a physical release at some point.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1827
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:25 am Reply with quote
The OP (Angel) and ED (遠くまで / Tōkumade / Far) by Angela are brilliant.

Short version of the OP has is here, capturing the atmosphere of anime well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tatHkCfPtA4
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Rogueywon



Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 251
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:46 am Reply with quote
I saw the first episode of this and it blew me away. Slow, haunting, melancholy. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of an apocalyptic twist on Haibane Renmei.

Then I saw the second episode and my hopes died. Then I saw the third, where the main cast get spoiler[strafed by a goddam B2 stealth bomber] and I just started laughing. I stuck with the show because part of my enjoys a good train-wreck. And my word the writing never managed to claw its way out of train-wreck territory.

The writing is pathetic, the dialogue is horrible, the characters are predictable and the politics are unsubtle, horribly cliched and ridiculously shallow (and the show loves to ram them down your throat). The show can't even get attention to detail right - spoiler[B2s don't have cannons and can't strafe] - which might be forgivable if the luscious artwork didn't call so much attention to fine points of detail.

The ending song is glorious.

What makes me cross about this show is that there is a huge amount of artistic and musical talent on display. Such a waste... they could have done great things on better material.

If you want a recent show that lives up to the atmosphere promised by the first episode of Coppelion, then From the New World is probably your best bet.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2518
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:21 pm Reply with quote
I totally agree Rogueywon, such wasted potential and a bit of a train-wreak, especially after the girls go to the old lab with the robot butler. If anyone is interested, Hulu is still streaming the subtitled series version and there was a dubbed version streaming too a while back (Hulu I thought, but now?). I sort of liked it for the first few episodes and in places after that, but I wouldn't buy a DVD. Manga avaliable on Crunchyroll with Premium Membership. From the New World is one of the best anime in years in my opinion for lots of reasons I won't bore you with, do check it out!
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Spleen



Joined: 29 Jun 2012
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:33 pm Reply with quote
I loved it. Gloriously silly. I loved the way deadly serious action scenes suddenly went into Keystone Kops slapstick without any cue or warning, which triggered several genuine laugh-out-loud moments. I can see why people disliked it - perhaps that's not how I was supposed to enjoy it.

Throughout the whole thing I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be funny or whether it was just, as others have said, a trainwreck. Aoi is a great example - as I mentioned when it was on, I could never decide whether she was supposed to be a comic "scaredy-cat" character or suffering from panic attacks. Hence I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for her.

At the time it was great fun but I suspect I should avoid a second viewing, as it won't be nearly as enjoyable and will tarnish my memory of how much I enjoyed it.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9848
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:49 pm Reply with quote
I couldn't get past the school uniforms. Someone spent a great deal of time and money to produce individuals who could go into a toxic area with out hazmat suits. At that point they send them in with the clothing and supplies they would have for a school picnic. Even jeans and hiking boots would have been an improvement. The manga is the same. Apparently the mangaka has never seen high school age kids that were not in uniform.
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Rogueywon



Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 251
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
I totally agree Rogueywon, such wasted potential and a bit of a train-wreak, especially after the girls go to the old lab with the robot butler.


Oh god, I'd forgotten about the robot butler. Apparently somebody thought that a dose of high-camp right out of a crap 1970s sitcom was exactly what their sci-fi dystopia needed. Seriously, all that was missing was the canned-laugh track.

Spleen wrote:
I loved it. Gloriously silly. I loved the way deadly serious action scenes suddenly went into Keystone Kops slapstick without any cue or warning, which triggered several genuine laugh-out-loud moments. I can see why people disliked it - perhaps that's not how I was supposed to enjoy it.


We all have our guilty pleasures. The train-wreck show that every neuron in our brain tells us we should hate and which nevertheless provides massive amusement in a way the creator almost certainly never intended. For me, it's a toss-up between Idolmaster Xenoglossia and Victory Gundam.
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Via_01



Joined: 24 Aug 2014
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:16 pm Reply with quote
Not here to actually DEFEND this show (I didn't like it too much either, though the manga was more fast paced), but I'd like to explain the possible reasoning behind some of the more, umm... riddiculous story elements used later in the story.

The story contained some sci-fi elements from the very beginning, but it was still centered around the struggle of these girls in a city devastated by the effect of nuclear energy. The author was probably planning to keep leading it down that road, maybe a more in-depth commentary, up to the beginning of 2011.

But then the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake happened. I think we can all more-or-less guess what that means. The nuclear crisis probably forced the editorial department to apply the censorship happen on Coppelion, and thus the author was forced to go a completely different way with the story, which sadly was something more sci-fi oriented and honestly not even half as good as it could have been.

Similar cases happened around Japan. The re-runs of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 were stopped, and I even remember that part of the Beelzebub opening was changed (there was a cartoony mountain rising from the ground and destroying what's around it).

But you know? Though for some it may seem like an extreme solution to possibly triggering the trauma of the japanese people, I actually kind of agree with this censorship. Mostly because my country also suffered an 8.8 earthquake a few years back, and now I feel like crawling under a table with my hands over my head every time I feel the ground shake. I appreciate it when people don't remind me that if the Earth is feeling grumpy it could level my city to the ground.
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Allen_ST



Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:51 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
I couldn't get past the school uniforms. Someone spent a great deal of time and money to produce individuals who could go into a toxic area with out hazmat suits. At that point they send them in with the clothing and supplies they would have for a school picnic. Even jeans and hiking boots would have been an improvement. The manga is the same. Apparently the mangaka has never seen high school age kids that were not in uniform.


Thank you!. I thought I was the only one who cared about this. Call me petty and I know that as anime fans we have to give them a bit of leeway with this sort of thing, but no, just no. I was interested in the concept since I love most things post-apocalyptic, but the uniforms made it a "probably not" and the poor reviews sealed the deal.
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ajr



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:10 pm Reply with quote
I came to the conclusion Coppelion makes a lot more sense if you assume the writing was somehow imported from, I don't know, somewhen between 1940 and 1980? It's got a kind of archaic grounding to it, a fusion of old and new. I think it'd be a lot more tolerable if the initial tone set was in a more lighthearted campy style. Delicious backgrounds though.
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kevinx59



Joined: 27 Jan 2012
Posts: 959
Location: In sunny California
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:25 am Reply with quote
I actually liked this show. A C+ is a fair grade ( the way people rage its like this is worst show ever made) though I'd personally raise it to a B-. It looks beautiful, and it just reminded me of pulpy 1960's/70's/80's sci fi movies and series. I think the music helped too, since there was one bg song that sounded straight out of a 1960's sci fi horror flik. Angela's music kicks ass too. And screw realism or logic, I liked the way the girls look in their school uniforms. Plus this'll probably be my first Viz anime I buy that isn't Pokemon.
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zztop



Joined: 28 Aug 2014
Posts: 646
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:49 am Reply with quote
How does the manga compare to the anime? Does the plot get better or worse?
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ChibiKangaroo



Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 2941
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:39 am Reply with quote
Rogueywon is right. This show was a train-wreck. Also right about From the New World. Watch that show instead, it is infinitely better.
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Cyclone1993



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 947
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:59 am Reply with quote
zztop wrote:
How does the manga compare to the anime? Does the plot get better or worse?


Considering this adapted probably about 80 chapters or so, there's a lot more that happens, and a lot more development. Plus overall the story just flows a lot better in the manga. The anime kind of drew things out too much in my opinion. I recommend just skipping the anime, and going for the manga.
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animefan1238



Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 299
Location: Ma
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 7:04 pm Reply with quote
Had a great start but for me it seemed to loose momentum a little past when they got to the bubble. Then ending isn't the best and the story could have used a little more push to make it really stand out. Great concept but the ending lacks a strong finish.
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